Out of My Hands...

I have just taken 8 pieces down to Gallery 51 for the upcoming "Threads" show. I get very nervous before a show, I am always afraid that someone will figure out that I suck right before the show and remove all my work from it. I wonder how many other artists out there are doubtful about their ablities, who are wondering if they are any good? Can you ever feel really positive about your work? Would that stop you from progressing? And worse then that.. I have to stand with my pieces on Thursday night for the opening.. the gallery is fairly small, so there is no excaping any comments. Look for me.. Ill be the one hiding under the rock. So, here is one of the pieces that I sent down. I really wish I had more time.. I thought of somethings to change and to add as I was taking out to the car. Well, there is always the next quilt! Another one that I started this week and decided to send down is "see no evil, speak no evil". This one is all hand quilted. Now, I have to get started on the next show in September. They want quilts from my crosses series. And wanted to know if i could make more on the theme of rocks. ROCKS? Well, we will see, I have some ideas to toss around.

Progress

I am finally making progress on my final quilt for the upcoming show. I still have a long way to go, so fingers crossed that I can pull it together in time. I am heading back up to the studio to start "fleshing" it out and finish painting. Monday, I should be able to start quilting. Needs to be finished by Friday. Well, no more stalling... back to work.

Poster for Threaded

I just recieved a peak at the poster that will be accompaning the Threaded Show that opens on the 25th of June. I was very excited to see my quilt "Trees" on the front of the poster!

Running against a deadline

Here it is, two weeks before I have to have all my work ready for an upcoming show "Threaded" being shown at Gallery 51, and I am at least 6 weeks behind. If you need me.. I will be in the studio all week. I am easily distracted, so please don't temp me with food, movies or .... look, there's a squirrel!! The first piece is finished. Well, ok, not totally finished, I have to bind it. but I consider it done when the last of the quilting is put in it. Everything else is stuff I can do as I am driving to the gallery. I like how this piece turned out, it is a bit more muted in person and the yellows don't stand out as much. There is alot of quilting in this piece and I got to play with some of the new verigated threads I purchased recently. For those of you on facebook, you might remember my recent freak out about the cost of purchasing thread.. so worth it though when you get quilting... The next piece, is just in the begining stages. I am auditioning fabrics to go with the moon man and tree. The man was originally in the tree quilt above, but was cut at the last minute and only the eyes remained. I like the idea of the old flowers with the dull greys. This piece will test my abilities to control black, white and greys. the little piece of sparkle black with gold flecks amusing me and might make another ring around the moon. The fabric on the right, another tree? stay tuned. The final piece is one i started tonight. Im really not sure where this is going, if anywhere... but we will see, my crap quota is really full this last few weeks, so I really hope the next few pieces will build up my confidence that I can really make something decent. And the final piece just finished up is the Baggo Quilt I did for the FiberPirates. I really tried to make this into lots of interesting things, and the more I forced it, the worse it got. I finally relized that I just have to make something that I am happy with and hopefully the person that recieves it, is just as pleased, or at least not horrified. The fabrics I recieved were the green with gold flecks in the background and the purple lip fabric. I painted and quilted it and I did warm up to the colors.

Faces, Faces and More Faces

I finally felt creative and energized enough to head back up to the studio. I have a lot to do in the next few months and really have to get myself into the habit of just getting up there. I am still working on quilts with faces. I worked on three older pieces tonight and started one new one. The face quilt is working out ok. I wanted to add all sorts of stuff to the background, but I don't really like the way it takes away from the face. I'm thinking of just quilting this piece with just the brown back ground and then add paint and pencil to the background (just browns, blacks and whites). Opinions?The next piece is the crazy face I painted. I added the newspaper and painted it. I also added some fabric pieces to the hair. Now to add a boarder and quilt it... Maybe add some pencil work in the white dress. So now we are down to the full body x-ray quilt. This one has been in the making for a long time and has stalled out again, and again. I have all the x-rays that I need to finish it up, and plan on printing them out this week and getting the basic body put together. I will then be adding flesh, color and other details. The final piece that is the one that I started tonight. I wanted to try something with a more loose feel, something with different textures. I have started this one with black fabric and have added newsprint and white paint. This piece will require more paint, fabric and not sure what other things I will add to this one. As you can see it will be a part of a face, you can just start to see it on the black. The drawing next to it is what I am working off of. It is a one minute sketch that I did this afternoon. I'm liking it so far.

The things we collect

It is funny how some collections begin. Some start off as a joke that keeps going, and going, and going (this is how I ended up with over a 100 cow items in my home, and not nice ones, really tacky ones). Some are just little things you pick up over the years. Some are collections that you make great effort to support and pick up more of over the years, and some collections just sneak up on you when you weren't looking. I collect a lot of items. I no longer hunt for items to add to specific collections due to money and space. But I will occasionally pick up something if it is a great deal. I am a scavenger, I like to shop at tag sales and good will stores. So I found this cute little sewing chair many years ago and have found a few more here and there. Soon, there were seven of these chairs. So skip ahead to today. My parents bought me a birthday gift and gave it to me a few days early. I opened the box and inside were the most charming little chairs!! They were purchased at an auction. I thought I would share them here. I know they are not entirely sewing related, but the work that went into these old chairs are amazing. They are now living on one of my china cabinets so I can enjoy them every day.

learning to draw again

I have noticed lately that more and more of my quilts include drawings or painted sketches. I have also noticed, that I really forgot how to draw. I haven't really sat down and worked on it since college, and that was a very very long time ago. So a few months ago, I got out an old sketch book (with not a single page used) and started working on faces. I'm not looking for realism here, but I do want it to be recognized as a face! I had read in a book somewhere to draw with pen. I don't know about you, but I have always been more confortable with a pencil. I decided to try it. The point behind it is just to draw and not worry about weather you make a mistake or not. I also do not take very much time for each drawing, usually 30 minutes tops, most take less. It is very interesting to me to look back in the book of the drawings done only a couple of months back and see how much they have improved. They have a long way to go, and I haven't even tried to take on bodies, hands and feet. But there is definate progress going on. It will be interesting to see how these drawings and future drawings play out in quilts. So get out your pens and a piece of paper and get drawing.