Journal Quilts

A neighboring town asked me if I would like to display some of my fiber art in their community room for a month. I had just taken down my solo show at the Brookfield Craft Center Gallery and I didn't know if I would have anything that hadn't already been shown there or elsewhere in other local shows. I said that I would check out the spot and see what I could do.  It turned out that the space was just a large bulletin board covered in beige fabric and I thought that my Journal Quilts would be a good fit. If you don't know what I mean by Journal Quilts, here is the sign that I hung.

I thought that I was going to hang these by putting five on a dowel and hang the dowels using the special hooks that the library used on that board. It looked terrible!  The rods sagged, the hooks showed, what to do?  I had brought some appliqué pins with me to hang the signage and it turned out that they were perfect for hanging the quilts, one pin in each corner. The pins are just 3/4" long and pushed all the way in, so they were barely visible.

Here is the whole display.  The five quilts in the center were not Journal Quilts, but five (out of six) 9" x 12" that I had made in an art quilt workshop with Jane Davila and Ellin Watterson.

This year I chronicled things in my life, including a trip to see The Gates in NYC.

I used a different technique with Ginkgoes each month.

Again I chose highlights of the year including my son's Law School graduation and a trip to Italy.

This year I decided to challenge my self by using something recycled each month and further challenged myself by making each one a landscape.  I used paint chips, credit cards, men's neck ties, clothing labels, and Tyvek.

These were the quilts made in a workshop with Jane and Ellin.

When I thought that these were going to be hung on a dowel, I didn't want to have to make new sleeves for them.  Some still had the common sleeve that was used in Houston and I just had to cut them apart and do a little resewing.  I fused some of the sleeves on for the first time and it worked just fine, but it tuned out that I didn't need the sleeves after all.  I also didn't need the new dowels I had bought and fitted with screw eyes, but that's OK. It looked so much better this way.

The exhibit will be up until the middle of October at the Bethel, CT library.  There is no opening or publicity, as there was at the Craft Center, but if you are in the area, you might want to pop in and see them up close and personal.