Cindy Grisdela ~ art quilter

I’ve spent the last two days taking a class in machine quilting from Ann Fahl–an award-winning quilter from Wisconsin. I had seen her quilts at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival for the past few years and really admired them, so when she came to my area to teach a class, I signed up. Although I’m happy with my quilting expertise, I think there’s always more to learn, especially from people who’ve won prizes for their work.

Ann creates wonderful applique quilts of gardens and animals, especially her cat, Oreo, and adds inspiring machine quilting to the backgrounds, pulling the viewer in and giving something interesting to look at close up. I don’t do much applique, so I decided I would learn more if I made a class sample that was more me, so to speak. Thankfully Ann seemed to understand.

My goal with this piece was to create a variety of quilting motifs going all over the surface of the quilt without regard to the piecing. This is harder than it sounds. Although I’ve done it before, I thought the time dedicated to this in class would be well spent. You have to really think about what you’re going to do next and where you’re going to go using this technique.

The jury’s still out, since I haven’t finished the piece. In addition, I used a different kind of thread than I’ve used before–a shiny rayon–variegated of course. It gives a nice little sheen to the quilt surface, although it takes more concentration to “drive” than the cotton thread I usually use. If you click on the image above, you can see details of the quilting.

As I hoped, I did come away from the class with several new “nuggets” that I’ll be able to incorporate into my own work and hopefully make it better.

At right is “Twilight Sky,” the commission piece I just recently finished and delivered to the client.  It’s a skinny horizontal piece, about 26″h x 56″w and the couple commissioned me to make it to hang over a high narrow window in their home. This is the first time I’ve made a quilt to double as a window covering and I was interested to hear how they liked it.

I heard from them recently after the piece had hung in their home for a little while and they’re thrilled with the effect. During the day, when there’s light in the window, the piece has a stained glass feeling and at night it looks like a piece of art for the wall, they said.  I couldn’t be happier! The quilt is made from batiks, which have a very tight weave, and the light from the back shouldn’t affect the front. Although I’ve never had a problem with batiks reacting poorly to light, generally it’s a good idea to keep the front of the quilt away from direct sunlight. This picture was taken on my design wall before the piece was delivered, so it isn’t hanging in its new home, but I asked the new owners if I could share it because of the interesting story behind its creation.

Fiber art on the wall offers a unique effect that’s different from a painting or a photograph. There’s something about the dimensional, tactile quality of the art form that creates warmth and buffers sound in a room.  Contact me if you’d like to learn more about it. Obviously the window covering idea only works if you’re covering a window that you don’t mind being covered all the time, but for some windows like the one my clients have, it was the perfect solution.

Wow–I didn’t realize I’d gotten way off my posting schedule–sorry about that! The Great Falls Studios Spring Art Festival was tons of fun last weekend, but the people in charge of scheduling the venue accidentally overbooked it, so we had to take the entire show down Saturday night and put it back up again at 6 AM Sunday morning–it’s taken me all week to recover. Thanks to all who stopped by the show–it was great to see you!

In the last two weeks I’ve also curated and hung two group shows for Great Falls Studios, one at the Great Falls library at 9830 Georgetown Pike, and one at Keller Williams Realty at 6820 Elm St. in McLean. If you’re in the area, stop by and take a look.

I’m thrilled to report that “Jazz Rhythms,” at right, was accepted into the Denver National Quilt Festival. The show will be held April 29-May 1, 2010 at the Denver Merchandise Mart, 451 East 58th Avenue, Denver, CO. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get to the show–my quilts get to travel more than I do!

For those who have been following my progress, “Jazz” is part of my Color Block series that uses improvisational piecing of fabric in solid colors to explore color and line without the distraction of pattern in the fabric. This is the largest piece in the series, at 57″ h x 36″w. Creating these pieces is intuitive and spontaneous, which is rapidly becoming my favorite way to work. I created the units in “Jazz” without any plan in mind, put them up on my design wall in the studio and played with them until I had an arrangement I liked. I particularly enjoyed adding in the wonky stripes to move the eye around the piece. I liked them so much that I took the quilt partially apart after it had been quilted to add more! Not something I would usually recommend, but in this case it seemed necessary. “Jazz” is handquilted with perle cotton in concentric circles to soften some of the hard lines of the piece.

I’ve been busy getting ready for the Great Falls Studios Spring Art Festival this weekend, April 10-11, 2010. It’s going to be held at the historic Colvin Run Schoolhouse again, which is located on Colvin Run Road in Great Falls. I’ll have my art quilts, plus quilted pillows, fabric journal covers, coasters and note card of some of my quilts to show.  That’s my booth setup at right.

In addition, 17 other artists will be there in a fun historic environment at the schoolhouse. It’s a great opportunity to meet local artists, some of whom are award winning, both locally and nationally, and pick up a gift for someone special, or maybe for yourself! There will be oil painters, watercolorists, photographers, jewelers, potters, a weaver and a woodcarver, so there’s bound to be something for everyone.

Stop by and say hello if you’re in the area–we’d love to see you!

I finished “Fractured Landscape” just in time to send it in for the early bird April 1 deadline for the Studio Art Quilt Associates 2010 Benefit Auction. The auction is a major fundraiser for the group, which is a non-profit organization that promotes the art quilt. The donated quilts are posted on the SAQA website until the auction begins September 20, 2010. Each piece is 12″x12″, or One Foot Square. It’s a reverse auction, with prices starting at $750 and declining each day to $550, $350, $250, $150, and $75. The auction is virtual, so it takes place entirely online and it’s a lot of fun.

This quilt is another in my Color Block series. This series explores the relationship between line and color using only solid fabrics without any other pattern. Creating these contemporary color studies is intuitive and spontaneous, which is my favorite way to work. This piece was built using purchased hand dyed solid fabrics and some odds and ends from previous projects. It’s almost like using sourdough starter–I keep scraps and odd blocks that didn’t fit into earlier projects and invariably they become the basis for something new.

If you click on the image, you should be able to see the free-motion machine quilting, which includes stylized flower shapes, pebbles, clouds, bricks and other interesting motifs.  The name suggested itself as I was quilting the piece–the curved top edge looked like a mountain and the bottom edge like a walkway, with interesting structural shapes in between.