Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

SAQA Auction Quilt

This is the small quit that I made for the SAQA Benefit Auction. I decided to let them do the photography and I am so glad. You can see every stitch and the color is true. A similar quilt was made for another venue and I was so disappointed with the color in the catalog. My quilt looked tan and very unappealing.
Please go check out the auction to see the other fabulous quilts. They are all 12 inch square and will be available in September. Details for bidding are on the website. My quilt is on page 3B

Saturday, June 19, 2010

"It's the Berries"

Does that phrase ring a bell with any of you? It's slang from the twenties, (no, I'm not that old)
that is right up there with "It's the bee's knees" It means that it's a good thing and that's what I named this quilt made for my small quilt group's challenge, "Common Object, Uncommon View".

I think that this challenge has given me the most grief of all the many challenges we have done. I have been thinking about it for along time and have taken lots of pictures, but nothing clicked. So I decided to go with a simple color change. Remember to click on each picture for a bigger view.



I took this picture last summer. I'm not sure what kind of berry it is, but I thought it was a pleasing design. I took it into Photoshop Elements and changed it into four different colorways and used the Posterize filter on each of them.


Then I printed each one on fabric and put them together with the black fabric shown above. I stitched around each berry several times with black Jeans thread, a very heavy thread, to give it definition, then sewed a seed bead on each blossom end.




On the black blocks, I used the corresponding colored jeans thread and the same color seed bead. Now that I see the close-up, I see that I have to erase some of the white chalk pencil that is still showing.



The quilt measures about 19" x 28" and a narrow black binding will finish it off. It's not due until September, but I wanted to get it out of the way. I might do a second one and have an idea or two. We'll see.

Monday, June 14, 2010

This and That

Sorry to have been away for so long, but I've had a pretty busy week. My sister was visiting for a few days and we did so many things. One of them was a visit to the NY Botanical Gardens to see the Emily Dickinson gardens. Just a few pictures below but it was glorious! I took so many photos; I'll have plenty of blog fodder for Wordless Wednesdays.









One of the best things we did was see Billy Elliot on Broadway. I think it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. It's a wonderful story (if you haven't seen the movie, rent it. You'll love it.) The Broadway show is a musical with incredible dancing. The talent of the young people, especially the one who played Billy was amazing. He could do ballet, tap, jazz, and sing and act (all with a Welsh accent). There are actually five young actors who take turns playing Billy, due to child labor laws. I'm sure they're equally terrific. I laughed and I cried and thoroughly enjoyed myself. If you only get to see one Broadway show this year, this should be it.

We ended her visit with the Greek Festival in Danbury at the Greek Church. Of course we go for the food and it was delectable, as usual. And fat and calories don't count if it's on church grounds. Isn't that true?

She left Saturday morning and that day I went to a flower show with a friend and out to lunch. It seems that all the fun things involve eating out. But who's complaining? Not me!

Now I'm trying to play catch-up in my studio. I did get some work done yesterday and hope to finish this current piece soon.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Mahopac Show


The opening at the Mahopac Library was a big success. We had a pretty good crowd and hopefully more will go to see it while it is there until June 30. The space is lovely with dense cork walls that are a good contrast to the white canvases on which each work was mounted.
You can see that there was great diversity to the show. There was no theme, yet the white canvases united them all.
Each picture is clickable for a bigger view.








Here's Nike admiring Natalya's lovely piece.



My piece, "Recapitulation".


The view from the reception room at this beautiful library.



Friday, June 4, 2010

Another Opening, Another Show

This Sunday will be the opening of Fiber Arts North East's show,"Fiber + Thread + Art II" at the Mahopac Library in Mahopac, NY. Last year's show was such a success that we decided to do it again and we already have our date for our third show. If you are in the area, please come. We will have wine and light refreshments and you'll get to see some great art.

Our group meets monthly under the direction of Jane Davila where we share ideas, have some fun challenges, learn the ins and outs of being an artist, and try to keep our creative juices flowing.

I was so pleased to have my art chosen for the postcard. That little strip of gray and red and turquoise on the far left side is a small section of my quilt, "Recapitulation"


Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Eureka!

No this is not just a piece of black fabric. You might have to click on it to see what's on it. I needed to transfer a design onto black fabric and was pondering how to do it. I could use a transfer paper, but that is so hard to remove. If I were using a light colored fabric, I would trace it on a light table, but that wouldn't work on black. Would it? Well, much to my surprise it does work. I traced my design using a red Sharpie and had no trouble seeing through the black fabric. I used a white chalk pencil, which will rub away when needed, but stay there while I'm sewing it. This will be included in the piece I'm currently working on. So far so good!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Accepted!

It's been awhile since I've had any new art to show. I seem to be in a creative slump, bereft of new ideas and having several unsuccessful attempts. So I was very pleased to receive the "fat" email telling me that I've been accepted into the show at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA. The theme of the show is "From Fine Art to Fiber: Reinterpreting the Masters". I entered two quilts, but only one was accepted. It's my "Poppies" that you've seen before. The fine art to which I was referring was "Field of Poppies " by Monet. I'm very pleased to be in the show and have heard from several others whose work I admire that will also be there. The opening for the show is in August and I hope to be there.

I am working on a new quilt and I'll show it when it's farther along.