Tuesday, December 30, 2008

How do you work?

I was just wondering how everyone approches thier work. I usually have some idea of what I want to do, I might even sketch out a rough copy of what it might look like, but in the end, I play. I find that if I plan out my work, it gets very stiff, very boring and doesn't have the impact that I wanted. I have also found that when I have my scraps of fabric all over the floor, the kids some time see something that I didn't. "Hey mom, why dont you add some yellow", " Mom, I dont like the black, change it to orange". Somestimes they are right. Sometimes my "adult" view, gets in my way. There also has been some discussion on one of the board I belong to, that one should remove their favorite fabric from the piece. More then once I have planned a quilt around an image or piece of fabric just to remove that piece in the end. So tonight, Im heading down to the living room to work (the studio is COLD). Here are a few of the things im putting together tonight. Feel free to let me know how you approch your work...

Friday, December 19, 2008

Tis the season...













Well it's less then a week until Christmas. The kids are wound up. I'm stressed out. I haven't started any of my Holiday gifts. I have a few more days, right? I did manage to get my tree up, and decided to put up my holiday glass village. I do love to get out the ornaments each year. The kids get all excited as they unwrap each one. My kids are given an ornament each year. They are expecially excited unwrapping the ones that are theirs. Other ornaments are old, from my grandmother's tree, my mother-in-laws tree or ones we picked up during my summer tag sale Saturdays.


This year I decided to put up my holiday village. I collected these little stained glass houses years ago and used to sell them to support my habit of buying them. They are made by a variety of makers, Forma Vitrum and Creative Craftsmen are the two that I have the most of. Well, time to get off the computer and get some sewing done. I have lots gifts to make and several art quilts just begging to get made. The kids and I have 2 weeks off, hopefully I will be able to get some sewing in. Happy Holidays to all.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

My Little Wall

I arrived at the location for the Open Studios right on time. We were each given a "wall". An 8ft by 4ft space. I crammed everything into it that I could. I would like to add another table to my area, and some signs saying who I am. It doesnt look too bad. There weren't very many artist setting up today. There were two painters, and the woman next to me does printing on paper. Interesting stuff. The newspaper photographers were hovering around the few of us that were setting up. I'm really hopeing that I wasnt making weird faces or cursing too much as I attempted to use my husbands power drill to screw in wood screws.

Still working on the Mary Quilt

Im still plugging along on the Mary quilt. I added alot of beads and things to around the face, i now want to do some crazy quilt like stiching on the background. Meanwhile, I am still going to put it up for the Open Studios.

These beads are just under Mary's dress. I might add more dangling beads to other parts, but not in black, in the pastel colors. Funny thing i noticed today while packing up this quilt and one of my first quilts (i like to bring it when i go places, i thought i would cover my fold up chair with it.) the colors and fabric patterns in my first quilt are almost the same fabrics that are in the Mary quilt. So 20 years later my fabric choices have run full circle. Hopefully my taste in clothing wont go back to the 1980's too!

Last minute work

Well, being the Queen of the last minute, I am working hard to finish up all my pieces for the Open Studios. I have two days right?! plenty of time! I have to set up most of the work today and was feeling very good about it, untill I recieved a message with a list of all the things I should bring. Now I am nervous. I just want to survive the show and maybe get a few good job head nods.
Here is one of the pieces that i will be displaying. I made it a year or so back, but it has never been seen. I have a morbid fasination with cemetaries. Always have.
And for a change of pace, here is Rainbow Swamp. Another older piece, but never shown. I did have to rebind this piece, i had tried something new with a binding years ago and it has always looked terrible. i finally got around to fixing it.
This is the Wood Witch. You might remember the face from a few posts back. This is where she ended up. She is not as washed out in person. I actually added alot more paint and darkened her up from the last time she was shown on this blog.
This is a little piece I made for my husband's birthday. I features a stone he cut for me in the uppper left hand corner. The right side of the quilt is a close up look at the stone. Well, that is it for now, I have alote of packing to do and have to get to the site tonight to set up. Ill post photos of the set up when i get it together.




Saturday, September 13, 2008

Journal Quilts returned

I just received my journal quilt back from Houston. I like somethings about it. But over all, not my favorite piece. I do like parts. The quilting is ok, the little circles and stiching i like. I dont like the words, or the skull. I liked it when it left here. Funny how one's view and direction changes so much in a year. Live and learn.

Painting the house

In the last few weeks, i have painted most of the trim of my house, painted a new table and the bookcase in my kitchen. My daughter has been watching and waiting patiently..... then she struck. "Mom, since you are painting things, how about painting my doll house". (please visualize, big blue puppy dog eyes). Sure. I bought this wooden doll house 8 years ago at a tag sale. The owner was mad, because her kids had decorated the entire house with crayons. So i scrubbed the crayons and primed it, it sat and sat in just a primed state until now. So here it is. All painted up. And yes, i know the deer is on the second floor, the first two floors are removable and she sometimes either just uses the top two floors or puts the other ones to the side. We have decided that there is a deck up there and he can jump to it!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Back to school, back to work.

It's that time of year, all the kids are heading back to school. I have three heading out. Chris, who is in 5th grade, Josh and Jessica who are both in 2nd grade. I have only one job lined up so far. I have to show up to teach music on Monday. So the rest of the week is mine to do what I have to get done, just as long as those three people don't get in my way. Now I don't mean my little darlings, I'm talking about ME, MYSELF and I. Terrible procrastinating beings that find excuses to do anything but what they are supposed to be doing. I can hear them now.... Clean the house, finish painting the porch, don't you have email to answer, what about going to the market, what's for dinner? I have to tell them to just step back. If i want to get all my quilting done, I have to approach it in more of a business manor. GET IT DONE.

Well, my little housewife can get her work done. I added the laundry basket and hanging dresses. I like it. Its a bit of a departure from my more dark subjects.

This is my Pair of Pears, just another fun piece. Looks like crap on the computer screen, I swear its much nicer in person!

This is a close up of the ribcace for the split personality quilt. There will be alot more stiching. Now i have to get my full body quilt started... I have put this one off for way to long. NO MORE PROCRASTINATING!

Sunday, August 31, 2008

My new table


Freecycle is a wonderful thing. I recieved this wonderful tredle machine last weekend. It has been out in a barn or in a shed or something, and was looking a bit shabby. I removed the sewing machine and added a thin plywood top to the existing top (remember the top has a hole in it for the machine!). I painted it the light olive color on the top and left the drawers and metal work as is. I really like the look of it on my porch.

Painting

Well, I am still painting. But not on quilts. Seems like I had this great idea to touch up the paint on the trim I installed around the windows and to repaint my front door. So off to the paint store to get one gallon of paint. I came home with 4 different colors. FOUR. Why so many you ask? Well while I was there I thought that the base house could use some touch ups. White. Then the door color (Steel blue). Somehow I decided that adding two other accent colors would be nice (light blue and a light yellowy olive). Great. I started the project very energetically but it has become a very large and slow project. Funny, most of my projects start this way and end up more then I can get done. As of right now, the front door has a new coat of paint along with, the back door, the side door, the door to the front porch, the trim on the new windows, the trim on five old windows, the ceiling of the porch, and the little details on the columns on the front porch. I'm NOT DONE. Most of the color is done, but I know have to touch it up with the white. Now mind you, I have painted most of this with a 1.5 inch brush and a little tiny .5 inch brush. At least 2 coats all surfaces. The porch might not be done, but I am!!
Here is the front door, check out the gift card curtains. I plan on adding more of these curtains to other windows.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Still Painting


Im finding that i really like to paint, or, rather sketch with paint. worked on my brainscan quilt tonight and finally figured out what to put in the big blank space on the right. A full figure. Im happy with it.
I also painted up a little pointy face person/elf/whatever. I really enjoy painting the faces. I have been triing to work on different face shape. This one is painted on some commercial fabric (white on white print) that i dyed about a week ago. I dont think that you could find a better fit for the face then this fabric, i would have sworn it was made just for this image.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Maybe a deadline will help.

I signed up for Open Studios. What have I done. I just gave myself a deadline of October 1st to finish up all these half done quilts. Hopefully the deadline will keep my on track and away from starting more quilts. If you are in the area on October 18th or 19th, visit me in downtown North Adams, Mass. I will have more details on where to find me later.
http://northadamsopenstudios.com/

Short Attention Span Quilting

Welcome to short attention span quilting. I can't seem to finish a quilt, but boy can i start them. I was up in the studio last night and as much as i tried to stay focused on finishing the quilts from the previous post, i found myself starting three new ones. This first one is ok, I started to quilt it and relized i put way to much stitching in the face, She took on an older appearance then what i wanted. I will continue with this one and i really would like to add hands and leaves to this one. I also need a bit more defination in the face.
This little FATC, just went out to a swap this week. The theme was Enchanted. This little piece is machine felted with a hand painted face. I really like this little one.
More painted faces. Do you see a theme for this week. My paints are getting quite the work out. This little wood fairy will be surrounded by leaves also. I also see some large brances going thru the quilt. I want to work on the eyes a bit more, maybe use my pencils for a little detail. Im really a terrible painter who has no control of a paint brush, so detail work is really difficult for me.
Finally the last piece i started last night is this little housewife. I need to add some color to her lips and highlights to her eyes. I see a basket of clothing and some dresses hung in the background a way to finish this piece up. I also have to add some more fabric to the bottom for her feet. They wern't originally in the plans, but plans change so fast around her some days.

And don't you just love this fabric? So not like me. I have recently found that even though im big on batiks fabrics, that i have begun to love some of the fabrics that started me sewing in the first place. Some of these piece are from the box of fabrics rescued from an old farmhouse. I really didnt think i would be able to use these fabrics, but have found them to be quite interesting to work with.

Friday, July 18, 2008

What's New

Well, for me its always, either producing a ton of work, or nothing. I finally recovered from working on all the school/kid related quilts and have had time to work on the quilts that im making for the grant i recieved from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. I hope to have 6 pieces to present to them by the end of the year. So far i have 5 started and i have to start on the key piece this week. The full skeleton. Here are a few of the in progress pieces. I started to quilt the Mary piece.. FINALLY. I really like the look of the gold thread, but tying them off in the back is taking way to long! And sorry to the quilt police, but my quilt backs are NOT pretty. This piece for some reason is VERY HEAVY. and difficult to work with.
The next one is "RED". not yet quilted, im hoping that the quilt work will pull this one out. I like the simplicity.. but it might be too simple.
"Split personality" I just made last night. Im thinking of adding a rib cage to the two heads. lots of painting, i really have been enjoying the process of painting, something that i thought i would never say!
Then next unnamed piece has just the back done. lots of hand dyed commercial fabrics and one piece of fabric done with the shaving cream technique of marbling. (very fun, but very messy). Im looking into adding news print, watches, and old lace on top of this one.

well, folks. there you have it. And thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for the funding of this project.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

First Grade Quilting Project


One more student piece. This one was done by the first grade class at the local elementary school. My twins both are in this class i was suckered into helping them do this piece. I was really supposed to be just someone to bounce ideas off of... but somehow I ended up "just" getting the fabrics, then I ended up putting the thing together. It is a large quilt. 72 x 72 inches. And for someone who is more comfortable doing quilts in the 40 inch range this was a monster. Im really seeing the need for a longarm after doing the last 4 large quilts. I cant wait to get back to journal quilts! lol. The children did such a wonderful job on this piece. They did all the drawins in transferable crayons. The teachers on this project are just the best. They really brought out the artist in all of them. They also were incharge of having the kids sew on the 150+ that they put on to keep this monster together. They all should be very proud of the work they put into this piece. I wish i had a better photo. I did hear that it might be hung up in the school, so if that is the case I will snap a shot of it in September.

One more quilt for the charter school


Here is the last quilt for the charter school. I just finished it up tonight and will be able to get it back to them before their school year ends. It was a wonderful experiance and the kids were just great. I hope to return to the school next year for another project.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

More Student Work










These two pieces were done by a local charter school. I worked with the 6th grade (60 kids, 3 quilts and only 24 hours to complete them!) They are fairly large, around 3.5 ft by 6ft. The top quilt was done in the science class and they did the universe. Whole cloth background with fabric paint and plantes that are on patches. the white "universes" dont show up very well, they are made of angelica fibers. there are lots of beads and sparkly things on this piece. The bottom piece had the theme of "green village" and the kids were encouraged to use recycled materials. the little trees are made of fabric and newspaper. I just adore this piece.


Student Work


I have been very busy working, just not on my own stuff. Now that summer is here I hope to return to working on my personal work. For now, I have some wonderful work some of my students have done in the last couple months. These are from a local Elementary school where I ran an afterschool art program. The kids were age 10-12. The assignment was to do a face. They had a great time making these, a little crazy with the fabric paint! Over all it was a very successful class and I hope to run a few more next year.







Thursday, March 27, 2008

Still working


Another day in the studio. I'm triing really hard to keep my self up and working. It is difficult when I see all the mess in my house that needs to be cleaned to keep focased at quilting. Here is the quilt that i have been working on. The top is nearly done and soon i will be able to quilt it. I really like the quilting process and love working on the machine. I also am looking forward to embellishing this piece. Let me know what you think!

Gallery Show


Hi all, I'm staying busy, it is still too wet, cold and frozen to work outside. This is not always a bad thing, i dont have to feel guilty that I am quilting instead of working on the house. One of my journal quilts will be at a gallery in Somerville, MA. Looks like about 27 artists from all over the USA and sevareal artists from outside of the USA. Here is the promo photo. This is my second "art" show this year.


Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Finally back in the Studio

After stalling and triing to get that creative spark back, i finally got back in the studio. Well not really in the studio, it's still too cold up in the attic to work, so I have taken over the kitchen, living room and library. I'm sure my family will be glad when it warms up and I head back upstairs. I finished up a UFO that had been kicking around. I made it nearly 10 years ago and it is very traditional. It was a gift for my mother-in-law and when she passed away, it came back to me. I didnt quilt anything back then, just tied it. so i untied it and finally quilted it. It is a bit wonky, but at least it is done. So now ive started 3 new quilts.

The first is another in the skull/x-ray series and I am not sure where it is going yet.

The second is another x-ray series, these are brain scans of a friend of mine. It needs more.
The thirds is from my religious series and is very unfinished. the background will be a varity of fabrics done like stained glass. not sure where it will go after that. Yes, i have a small spark of an idea, and it has to develop as i go. I dont make patterns, i dont stick to ones if by chance i did. I work very spontanious, which is why when the creative ideas are not flowing, iI come to a dead stop. Ill post the continuous progress on these. I have two models coming over this weekend for a photo shoot (ok not models, kids from the neighborhood). Model sounds so much more impressive. So i will then start my full body quilt. More and more ideas coming on fast. hopefully i can get them out before i start to crash again. Nothing is better then a little manic energy before the depressing crash!