Taking Off

I know that I haven't posted for awhile and it's going to be even longer since I am leaving for Japan tomorrow.  I'm so looking forward to this trip.  I had been to Japan with my husband 28 years ago as part of a larger Asian tour.  I fell in love with Japan and always wanted to go back and see more of the country.  On that trip we saw Tokyo and Kyoto, this time we will see a bit more.  Since I am now a widow, I'll be traveling with my sister and three friends as part of a Tauck Tour.  We've traveled with Tauck before and it is a fantastic way to go, strictly top drawer.

What I'm not looking forward to is the 14 hour non-stop flight in coach.  Ouch!  It was $8,000 to upgrade to business class.  Thanks, but no thanks.  We are going one day early to help  a little with the jet lag and not sleeping on the plane.

It would be nice if I had a laptop and could blog as I go,  as some people on QuiltArt are doing, but I only have a desktop, so I'll have to post my pictures when I return. 

Sayonara! 

Fiber Revolution, Part 2

As promised yesterday, here is the rest of the Fiber Revolution show currently showing at the Art Gallery at the University of CT Stamford, CT campus.

Cindy's Friedman's garments from several Bernina fashion shows are here. The garments have multiple layers which you can't see here, but if you go to her website, you can see them all.

The blue wall.

Trio II Egyptian by Kris Moss      This is one of two structures that Kris had in the show.  I couldn't get a good picture of the other one.  You can see part of it in the background.

Sea Turtle- Gliding Along  by Jutta Halpin

Reflection in Blue  by Eileen Lauterborn

Glacial Cascade 2  by Virginia Abrams

Queen of the Hill Goes Clubbing   by Cindy Friedman

Queens Are Wild  by Cindy Friedman

Paradise by Rachel Cochran

One Never Knows  by Linda Rogers

Nature's Ornaments  by Deborah Schwartzman

Masquerade Unzipped  by Cindy Friedman

La Bustier de Mme X  by Katharina Litchman

Nest  by Judy Cuddihee   It was very hard to photograph this properly.

Jack's Journey  by NIke Cutsumpas

Hanging by a Thread  by Gwyned Trefethen

Gated Community  by Jeri Riggs

Endangered Bliss  by Susan Ferraro

Fiber Revolution Show

Yesterday I attended a SAQA meeting run and organized by Susan Ferraro, SAQA rep for CT.  It was held at the University of CT Art Gallery at the Stamford, CT campus, currently home to a Fiber Revolution show, Fiber for the Imagination.  The show will run until Oct. 30 and you can find out more about it and get directions here.  I'm only going to post about half of the quilts today, so please come back tomorrow to see the rest.  Here they are in no particular order.

The "purple" wall.

Windows 1-6 by Natalya Aikens.  These are six individual pieces mounted on stretcher boards.

Reverberations  III  by Benedicte Caneill

Luminous Suns  by Carol Schepps

Nike Cutsumpus and her quilt, Safranum I

NIght Noise by Kevan Lunney

Men in Menopause by Lisa Chipetine

Me and my quilt, Fern Dance II

Lost in the Amazon by Katharina Litchman

Earth Bubbles by Judy Cuddihee  This piece is very three dimensional.

Cutting Corners by Barbara Mc Kee.  I'm afraid that this photo is not very sharp.  Sorry, Barb.

The photo imagery is incredibly sharp in the quilt in person.

Circle Composition by Benedicte Caneill

Despite III  Both Sides Now by  Melissa Fowler

Blushing Triangles 3  by Gloria Hansen

That's it for today.  Please come back tomorrow and see the rest.

Tag Sale

Last Saturday my book club, Purple Circle, had a group tag sale at Judy's home. Judy got married recently and you can read about it here.  She and her new hubby were merging two households so they decided to have a tag sale to get rid of some of the unnecessary "stuff".  At a book club meeting we agreed that we all have a lot of that stuff and wouldn't it be fun to have a group tag sale.  The group has been together for 25 years and thought that this would be a nice legacy if we donated all our proceeds to charity.  Since breast cancer affects so many of us and one of our group is currently going thorough it, we decided to  make the Susan G. Komen for a Cure the recipient of our money.

It was an iffy day, weather wise, but the rain did hold off till late in the day. We had about 12 tables laden with our oldies but goodies and more big things on the ground. Judy's house was the perfect location with its long driveway and huge parking area where we had our tables.  She lives on a cul-de-sac so there was plenty of customer parking in the street. Not everyone in the group could make it for one reason or another, and some members came and went, but there were plenty of us to hold down the fort.  We got rid of a lot of that "stuff" and what was left was loaded into our cars and taken to Good Will. 

Mini Art Quilts

This isn't really new work, but the first time I've shown it online.  The Northern Star Quilter's Guild, of which I am a member, puts on a fabulous quilt show every May.  One of the exhibits this year was a showing of mini art quilts made by members of a small art quilt group that meets each month before the regular meeting.  The members decided to make  small quilts, either 6"square or 8" square illustrating a technique that had been shown or talked about during the year. I just got my two pieces back today and thought I would share them here.

The first one, Ginkoes, illustrates discharge stamping.  I used a Hot Potato stamp, a Clorox Bleach pen, and hand dyed fabrics, some by Cherrywood Fabrics and some of my own. I liked the surprise of what color would show through.  I kept the quilting to a bare minimum.

The second one, Lichen, was a lot of fun to do.  I took Tyvek paper and painted it dark green, cut it into rectangles, then put them between parchment paper and ironed with a hot iron to shrink and distort it.  I mixed three different colors of metallic pigment powders with acrylic medium and brushed that on top in certain areas. I stitched them to black felt that had been fused to Peltex, then went all around the edges with three different colors of metallic threads, joining the pieces at some points.  The finishing touch was gluing down some fancy beads and pearls in similar colors.  I am very fond of this piece, but it only looks good up close.  From a distance it just looks very dark.

These pieces were attached to white card stock and lettered beautifully by Debbie Bein.  They were attached to black ribbon and suspended in front of black fabric, so that the white squares seems to be floating.  It was a very dynamic  display and go a lot of favorable attention.

There's a Fungus Among Us

My sister, Ruth, sent me pictures of this very interesting fungus she found growing near the golf course she plays on Long Island.  At least we think it is a fungus.  I couldn't resist dragging them into Photoshop Elements and playing with the colors.  I'm not sure how they would work in a quilt, but I'm thinking about it. 

Succulents Revisted

This past Saturday our Fiber Revolution show in Stamford, CT was cancelled due to the impending remnants of the hurricane.  I decided to make good use of this "found time" and finish up the quilting on this little quilt.  I had done a similar one a few weeks ago, but that one is going to the Silent Auction at Quilt Festival in Houston, never to be seen by me again.  I wanted to have one for my portfolio so I made this one.  It's a slightly different format and a little bigger, 26" x 18".  It uses the same digitally altered photos of Hens and Chicks, a garden succulent, and my hand dyed fabrics. You can see those pictures on my Aug. 17 blog, Succulent Succulents.

Here is a detail.

I like the way the quilting shows up on the back.  Click on each picture for a better view.  

  

 

Seeing Red

Today the Scrapbag Quilt artists hung their show, "Seeing Red"  at the Library in Newtown, CT.  The show will hang until Oct. 3.  The challenge was to make a quilt 24 inches square interpreting the word red in any way , with the stipulation that the quilt be at least 50% red.

We do a different challenge every year, but this year our group has dwindled in size and we were afraid that we might not have enough quilts to make a good show, so we asked local members to make two, if possible, and invited alumnae to participate.  Lynne, who has moved to Vermont, sent us two beauties and Anita, who is living in Arizona sent us one and five more from her local quilt group, the Back Street Mavericks, for a total of  six wonderful pieces.    We ended up having 20 quilts to hang and the diversity was amazing!

Loraine Sample, Gilbert, AZ   October Moon and Lynne Croswell,  Ludlow, VT  Strata

Carolyn Cooney, Danbury, CT   In Full Bloom

Norma Schlager, Danbury, CT  China Memories

Carolyn Cooney, Danbury     Barnside

Barbara Drillick     Brookfield, CT   Study in Red

Barbara Drillick   Brookfield, CT     Red Ferns

Barbara Polston     Ahwatukee, AZ        Primarily Red

Susan Vassallo     Gilbert, AZ    Red Tide

Anita Vecchia     Gilbert, AZ      Sailor's Delight

Alice Garrard   Redding,  CT   A New Guise for Old Ties   (Made entirely from Neckties)

Norma Schlager   Danbury, CT    Poppies

Susan Vassallo     Gilbert, AZ    Jeweled Pomegranate 

Nike Cutsumpas     Danbury, CT     Red Orchard

Nike Cutsumpas    Danbury, CT     Cochineal

Margaret Clayton-Amey    Oxford, CT    Butterfly in a Red Garden

Loraine Sample    Queen Creek, AZ    Botanical

Janet Bunch   Woodbury, CT    Hot Topics