Day: September 14, 2010

Denyse Schmidt on FLOR

Continuing Odds and Ends Tuesday, I found this blog post.

Denyse Schmidt has some great things to say about art quilts, classic quilts as well as color in a variety of styles of quilts.

clipped from www.flor.com

Musings - The FLOR blog

Denyse Schmidt: The Modern Quilt
Denyse: “I had been admiring old quilts (late 19th century, but also early 20th century), but found that what I loved about them – simple color palettes, lots of solid fabrics, a spareness and sometimes quirkiness – wasn’t being widely referenced in contemporary quilts. Art quilters were making quilts to be hung that were more conceptual or about making a statement, home quilters were using traditional palettes with way too many prints and colors that were murky, and the commercial world – quilts made overseas for department or specialty stores, were not very exciting. I loved the history and lore of quilting, the community and family feeling of it, and the tactile-ness and collective memory of fabric combined with designs that are very graphic. As a designer, I wanted to get other people to see quilts in the same way that I did, to bring this amazing craft to a wider audience”.
  blog it

Odds and Ends Tuesday

“Be compassionate to yourself” is the message that stuck in my head after listening to Melanie Testa interviewed by Rice Zachary-Freeman on the Voodoo Lounge podcast. You have to listen to this podcast. it is very calming, Rice talks just enough, but not too much and she lets Melanie tell the listeners everything. It is a wonderful.

A few weeks ago, I talked about Christine Barnes. She has replicas of the color wheel I showed in the post on her website for sale. I mentioned it before, but took a look at some of the books and things she has for sale also. it was interesting to see the Interior Design books.

Malka Dubrowsky has a lovely Dresden Plate quilt she calls The Cupcake Quilt up on her site.

Did you see Vicki Welsh’s recent Field Tripping in Fiber? Aside from including my Chocolate Box, she has some other GREAT quilts. One is called the Cupcake quilt by Malka Dubrowski. I am not sure why she calls it a cupcake quilt, because it looks like a Dresden Plate variation to me, but who am I to judge? Cool name, regardless. there is also a pattern for a pleated handbag. I like the idea of pleats on a handbag. I am not sure if I like this particular handbag. I am so happy that she surfs quilt sites and compiles them in this newsletter like post.

Take a look at this orange sewing machine. Isn’t it cool looking? I would love more information, but I wasn’t able to see the name very well. I think it might be the Brother Innovis Quattro 6000d. Cool looking, if nothing else.

Periodically, I listen to a radio program called To the Best of Our Knowledge. I have gotten into discussions about whether the show is actually discussing the best of ‘our’ knowledge and whose knowledge that might be. Regardless of the philosophical meanings behind the name, I enjoy the show, because they discuss different topics with artists, physicists, philosophers, writers, professors and a whole host of other people I would never, otherwise, hear about. I missed the Superheros show a week or so ago, so, for the first time, I went to their website to see if the streaming would work. I was pleased that it opened right up and worked well with the Quicktime player. The Superheros show also included a segment on Wonder Woman’s new fashion look and the controversy surrounding it. The discussion was interesting and it made me, of course, think of the fiber involved. Does that new jacket hamper her flying?

There are a lot of other interesting shows on that site. You should check it out for good listening ideas when the podcasters on hiatus.

I am still thinking of a spiky border for my Zig Zaggy quilt. I saw one on Flickr that I really liked the other day. The problem is that I like the whole quilt as well as the border. I am still not sure if the Spiky border will go with the Zig Zaggy quilt.
The Textile Collection:  http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/ST.html
VADS is the Visual Arts Data Service that contains over 100,000 images that can all be used in learning, teaching, and research.  The Textile Collection, from the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, is one of 46 collections available on the website.  There are two ways for visitors to peruse the 1051 image collection.  There is the “View all images” link below the search box, and the browse method allows visitors to choose from such categories as “Function”, “Maker/Designer”, “Raw Materials”, “Cloth Structure”, and “Process”.  Process includes such categories as batik, knitted, machine woven, and wax resist.  Visitors should check out the “blocks for printing” under the “Function” category, to see many beautiful blocks that were once inked up and pressed onto fabric. These blocks were then deployed to produce patterned fabric for clothing, linens, and other items.
In case you didn’t hear, Bonnie Leman, founder of QNM died last week. I didn’t know she was sick and didn’t see an obituary. She did a lot for the quilt industry and her death is a huge loss to quiltmaking. We are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of the fruits of her labors. Fred Bloebaum also died last week. She was a teacher at a local school called the Sewing Workshop. She was also the creator of the La Fred pattern lines.