SAQA Auction Donation

Once again, I am happy to donate a small art quilt quilt for the Studio Art Quilt Associates auction. You can read about my donations from previous years here and here and here.

My 2013 donation is titled Rocks, Rivers and Rooftops.

It's 12x12" -- as are all the auction donation quilts. You can view them on the SAQA website and on the auction Pinterest board. Plus, mark your calendar for the auction running September 9 to 27.

Here's a detail.

It includes lots of my favorite images and techniques --- the houses, the hand embroidery, handwriting as surface design, a painted stenciled twig and the arch over the top of the suggested landscape. Rocks too! They pop up in my work every now and then. You can see two examples in this post.

Ok... now here's the back story about this auction quilt.

About three years ago, I made a quilt specifically to enter in SAQA's Sense of Adventure juried exhibit. My inspiration was the amazing zip line adventure we had while visiting the island of Antigua, especially the cool tree house structures and platforms through out the rain forest.  You can see the quilt and some detail shots here. It was not accepted into that exhibit and I was never very happy with it. So...

Yep. I chopped out a corner, ripped some stuff off, added some pieces and some new stitching and finished the edges.

So much better! Was it hard? Nope. It might have been tough a couple of years ago. But this quilt has just been sitting in a pile getting uglier and uglier. I was READY to cut it up. Now I'm eager to cut it up some more and salvage some more small pieces. I actually really like that red plant with the one tall stalk. Stay tuned!

We're Moving Again!

I'm thrilled to report that our path is leading us back to our home in Texas! Here it is when we moved in on May 2, 2005. We were there for five years before we moved to Maryland.

Jeff's military orders at the United States Naval Academy will come to an end this summer. We've had an amazing time in Maryland and there are so many things and people that we will really miss.

But, we are very excited to reconnect with friends back in Texas! (And go back to some of our favorite restaurants.)

Remember my studio space in our TX home?

It's going to be great to settle back into creating art here too!

Another Fun Webinar!

I am so excited to be hosting another webinar with Quilting Daily!

As you can see, it's all about using sheers in fabric collage. The event will be live on Wednesday, May 22 at 11:30 am EST. I sure hope you'll join me! Participants will view a live digital slide show and hear me share tons of tips, details, suggestions and information about sheers. Participants will also be able to ask questions as we go. If you aren't available on Wednesday, you can still register, then download the webinar any time you want. 

I'll be sharing my sheer silhouette technique... as seen in this detail.

Plus we'll talk about the differences between organza, chiffon, tulle and other sheer materials. More importantly, I'll tell you how I construct collages with these materials and the interesting things you can do with them to create dynamic layers of design in your work.

Fourteen is Great!

Claire's birthday was last week. We had a great celebration. Of course, fourteen is much too old for a theme party, ahem. But she does like owls and they kept popping up! I made this cake for her and she thought it was super cute.

Isn't it fun to make something for someone and have them squeal with delight when they see it? I pretty much copied this cake.

I found this PERFECT wrapping paper!

Can you tell there is an owl on her t-shirt? And doesn't she look happy?!

She had four girl friends come for a sleep over but she wanted some kind of activity also. She requested stuffed owls. No problem! We picked out several fabrics and I drafted a simple pattern.

The girls picked their fabric combinations, cut the pieces and pinned everything together. I did the sewing while they giggled, chatted, texted, listened to music, shared pictures and played games on their phones. They they stuffed them and sewed them closed.

For a fun family outing with just the four of us, Claire chose sushi. It was fantastic! She's got such great taste!

Tonight we met Jeff for dinner since he'll be working late administering a final for his class.

Then I dropped Claire off at school for her French field trip to Quebec City! What an opportunity. She'll be gone for five nights with 115 other 8th graders, teachers and chaperones.

Wow... fourteen years old! Off to make her place in the world. It's going to be amazing.

Join me!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am hosting a webinar with Quilting Arts next week. It's called "using unexpected materials in fabric collage." It's Tuesday April 30 at 1 pm Eastern.

You don't necessarily have to attend live... I know not everyone is free during the day (or during the night for those in other parts of the world). You can still register and just download the event and listen and watch whenever you want.

I will get to do a real-time Q&A session with participants who are live. How fun is that?

Have any of you ever participated in a webinar? It's a new endeavor for me and for Quilting Arts. Participants will view a digital slide show on their computers that I will be live-streaming from my computer. (Oh the power of technology!) I'll be talking about my artwork, showing tons of examples and sharing techniques and tips.

I've had a great time preparing for this project. Here's an example of one of the small collages I created for the webinar. It's called Metro Grid. Can you guess what "unexpected materials" I used?

I think the webinar is going to be super fun and if it fits your interest and pocketbook, I'd love to have you join me! Plus... all participants are going to get an awesome discount code to use in future Interweave purchases.

I'll be offering another webinar in May. It will be about "using sheer materials in fabric collage." You know how I love tulle, right?! I'll keep you posted on the details.

Gee's Bend

I've still got images of folk art pieced quilts spinning around in my head after seeing Gee's Bend quilts in DC last week -- at a law firm! It's true. I've been to tons of quilt shows, but never one in a law firm.

My friend Kristin (who I met online years ago, of course) introduced me to my new friend Tonya (who I met online recently and now in person!). Tonya was contacted by a DC law firm for her insight about quilting. She says they found her simply because she has blogged about the Gee's Bend quilts. So, this twisted tail of connections and networking led us to an opportunity to view several quilts created by Mary Lee Bendolf and Loretta Pettway Bennett of Gee's Bend, Alabama.

They were really amazing.

I had an opportunity to talk with Mary Lee, pictured here in the dark purple suit. We were discussing the denim and pink quilt on the lower left.

I was looking at it earlier and discovered the pink was a cut up Old Navy t-shirt with a picture of a kitten. You could still see the Old Navy logo in one spot. Mary Lee explained that as she was piecing the quilt at one point she ripped out all the stitching and started over -- except she didn't say "ripped out," she used a much more colloquial phrase, but I don't remember exactly what it was. I asked her why. She said it just wasn't working. She didn't like the design.

These quilts are first and foremost utilitarian. They are true to that tradition. But they are also art and making those design decisions is part of the process -- as Mary Lee suggested when she talked about redoing the pink and denim quilt. The combination of the process, design, history and culture of Gee's Bend really make this an amazing collection. It was a privilege to see and TOUCH these quilts.

The law firm is helping Mary Lee and Loretta make connections with museums in the DC area with hopes that their works will become part of the permanent collections here in the capitol. (If you ask me, they would be perfect at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture which will open in 2015.)

Then we had lunch from a food truck!

And later we ate tons of chips and drank some margaritas.

Seriously: quilts, good food, drinks, friends... a fantastic day!

Spiral Flowers

The theme for April on The Sketchbook Challenge blog is spirals. I played with watercolor paints in my sketchbook and created a whole bouquet of spiral flowers.

You can see how I created them over on The Sketchbook Challenge blog. This one is my favorite.

But... it does remind me a bit of some "tie dyed" roses I saw at the grocery store.... which I thought were quite horrible.

I think I'll stick with the watercolor, paper, crafty roses. How about you?