Once I got that straight, it was much easier to finish the quilt. I can’t show the entire piece, which is tentatively titled “Wonky Stripes,” because I still plan to enter it into the show and the work for this show can’t have been shown anywhere else before it’s exhibited there. Maybe it will get in and maybe it won’t, but I’m satisfied with what I’ve done and that’s a good thing!

I spent the last two weeks working on the pieces that need to be sent to the framer’s and I got them in to her, so she’s working on them. I’ll spend the next two weeks working on the larger pieces that won’t be mounted. I have an appointment with the photographer on Aug. 31, so hopefully the mounted pieces will be finished and the larger quilts will be completed so everything comes together at the end! I’ll keep you posted.

If you’re interested, my framer is Turner Framing and my photographer is Greg Staley . I highly recommend them both!

My shows are the Artsfest 2010 at Annmarie Gardens and Sculpture Park in Solomons, MD on September 18-19, the McLean Project for the Arts MPAartfest in McLean, VA on October 3, and the Great Falls Studios 7th Annual Studio Tour on October 16-17.  In addition, I’ll be having a solo show at Maison du Vin in Great Falls October 19-December 15. Mark your calendars!

Over the Rainbow is a new piece that I had a lot of fun with. I made a fairly large improvisational block for the center using bits and pieces of fabrics that I rearranged until I had a composition I liked. Then I framed the brightly colored center with tilted black and white framing borders. I auditioned quite a few black and white fabrics for the outer border and nothing worked quite right until I came upon that leafy print. It’s almost like a light bulb goes on when I hit the right fabric combination and I just have to be patient until it happens! This piece is mounted on stretcher bars with a solid red background that brings out the brights from the center. It’s 27″h x 24″w.

On a personal note, another quilt that’s been occupying me for much of the summer is this one for my son to take to college. It’s a simple abstract design based on a traditional nine patch. I wasn’t expecting him to want to be involved in the process, but to my surprise he was very interested and wanted to participate in every aspect of the design, from the color choice to the backing fabric to the quilting design. It was like accepting a commission from my son and it was a lot of fun to work with him to design exactly what he wanted. His favorite colors are black and red, and we threw in a little grey and dark blue for contrast. The biggest issue with this quilt was the fact that he wanted it to be quilted with one large red spiral. The quilt was too big for me to be able to do that accurately on my home sewing machine and I wanted very much to do it all myself, so I ended up taking most of the summer to hand quilt the spiral. It was a labor of love and it looks fantastic on the back! The picture isn’t the best, but if you right click on the image you’ll be able to see the stitching lines. He goes to college this weekend and I’m proud to say I finished it last week with over a week to spare! Even the binding is sewn down and it’s ready to go.

This is a great example of what I like to think of as “drawing with needle and thread.” I use a regular home sewing machine and a darning foot–there’s no marking ahead of time and no computer to do the work–it’s just me and my machine. I draw the images freehand directly onto the piece and if I’m in the proper zone, it just flows. Today was one of those good days!

I used several different colorways of variegated thread, depending on the background color, which gives an added sparkle to the overall design. This is a larger quilt–about 25″ high x 42″ wide–and it’s one of the new pieces I’m putting together for my show later this fall at the MPAartfest.  I’ve been busy the last month or so creating new work, putting together a brochure, designing postcards to send out for my shows at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden, the MPAartfest, and the Great Falls Studios Studio Tour. If you would like to be on my mailing list to receive a colorful postcard notification of these events, please fill out a contact form on my website here. I’ll only use your information to send the postcards a couple of times a year.

At left is a closeup of the chair that shows the  thread sketching on the chair seat and back and some of the dense quilting on this piece. In an earlier post I discussed my process to create this part of the scene. There is pebble quilting in the sand sections–one of my favorite motifs–swirls for the waves, undulating lines for the ocean and cloud formations in the sky area at the top.

I think it’s a good idea as an artist to step outside your comfort zones and try something new and different every once in a while. I don’t think I’m going to give up my abstract color work for realism any time soon, but it was fun to work on this piece.

I also have some fun coaster sets in this show, one set is black and white with red accents and the other is bright colors framed with black and white. Each set has four coasters and all of the centers are different improvisational compositions. They have a bit of hand stitching for accent around the centers.

If you have a chance to visit the Torpedo Factory to see the show, the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery is on the first floor in Studio 18 and the address is 105 N. Union St. in Alexandria.

Playing With Crayons is one of my favorite pieces, because it is a great example of my fascination with colors and the way they interact. I had the idea to create diagonal bands of color across the surface of the quilt, so I pulled out as many different fabrics as I could in each of the color families and started making wonky log cabin blocks and putting them up on the design wall. It was so much fun to see the design emerge and  the fabrics “talk” to one another. There must be over 100 different fabrics in this piece and it’s quilted in an allover spiral design, which you can see better if you double-click on the image. Crayons is a bright, cheerful design that makes me smile every time I see it. I hope to be able to revisit this design soon in a more muted color scheme to see how it translates in earth tones. What do you think?

I’ve been just showing up in my studio every day this summer and working on several projects, including the color study detail at right, which is my latest. These pieces are great fun, but the progress doesn’t move in a straight line. Often I need to leave the piece for a few days to let the idea percolate in my brain, so I have more than one project in the works and I can switch off between them. For a while, nothing was coming together and I was frustrated, more so because I have a number of shows coming up in the fall and I want to have a good portfolio of new work. But last week, the stars aligned and the inspiration began flowing again–Yippee! I do think that it’s a direct result of persevering and showing up every day that did it–along with a dose of artistic inspiration from the museum.

I’ll be showing my work at the Great Falls Farmer’s Market on Saturday, July 17, from 9 AM – 1 PM. I always enjoy these events–it’s a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones, so please stop by and say hello if you’re in the area!

I’m also excited to report that my quilt “Amber Harvest” was chosen as one of two pieces that were put on the Brush Gallery website to advertise the “Art Quilts Lowell 2010″ exhibit. Click on the link and scroll down to the exhibit information for August 11-September 11, 2010.

I know you’re thinking that sounds a lot like work and you would be right. That’s one reason I don’t do a lot of applique. But my work is rooted in the traditions of the past, since that’s how I learned my craft–even the contemporary abstract pieces. Fiber art appeals to me because of its tactile nature. I want the work to be dimensional–that’s why I spend so much time on the quilting part. The stitching sinks down into the batting and creates wonderful ridges and lines and shapes in the unstitched areas. Applying the applique and beading to these pieces by hand is all part of the process.

For some reason this photo isn’t as crisp as I would like, but I wanted to share these thoughts and the piece is at the framer’s being mounted onto stretcher bars. When it’s all finished, I’ll show it again.

You can see last year’s beach piece here–it’s called “Sunrise on the Beach” and it has been sold and gone to a new home.

This event is incredibly well managed by the McLean Project for the Arts and it’s a fun day full of art, artists, music and food. It’s a fine art show, so you’ll find top quality painting, photography and sculpture, in addition to fine artists in ceramics, jewelry and of course, fiber.

Mark your calendars–I hope to see you there in October!

Creating these pieces is intriguing for me, because it’s all about the process. There’s no pattern to follow, no instructions to guide me. I have to get with the flow of the process and let the color and design choices I make dictate what comes next. It’s exhausting sometimes and I’m full of doubts about whether I’m on the right track. But ultimately I think this is the path I want to explore right now.

I don’t have a name for this one yet and obviously it’s in the very early stage of design–the green chunks of fabric are just pinned in place and the blocks probably aren’t finished. I really like the curved piece in the central block and I think I need to repeat that shape somewhere else. I got a little stuck on this one before I took my break because I started thinking about how I would quilt it and nothing came to me. While it’s important to think about the quilting while the piece is in progress, it shouldn’t overtake the design. So I’m not going to worry about that until the piecing is finished. I also like the idea of using several different greens in the background to liven up the plain areas–the quilting will be important here. My thought was to expand on the idea I used for Amber Harvest and put three improvisational blocks in the design instead of just one. Perhaps there will be another small block in one of the lower corners as well.

The lesson learned here is important to take breaks every now and again to let the ideas percolate in my head without forcing them. Stay tuned!

Amber Harvest, at right, is part of my Color Block series exploring improvisational piecing and solid colors. This was the first piece I used only one large improv block set onto an asymmetrical background. I really like the combination of warm colors with clear cool accents. I also tried a new quilting idea on this one. I quilted echoing curved lines over most of the piece, then offset them with a round pebble motif in the upper right corner. Right click on the image to get a better view of the quilting.

Beach House is also part of my Color Block series. I created a horizontal band of improv piecing in this one, sort of like a landscape. The name came from the small house shape in the center and I quilted waves and pebbles in the lower section and a cloudlike motif in the upper portion.

I’m really enjoying the process on these pieces and I’m excited that they are going to this show. There’s more to explore with this idea and I have a couple of more pieces in the works. Creating the compositions is intriguing–almost like putting together a puzzle–only I don’t have the completed picture to guide me! It’s also interesting to come up with quilting motifs to complement the design. For each piece I challenge myself to come up with at least two or three different motifs that work well together and add interest to the whole.

I hope I’ll be able to get up there to see it!