Author: Jaye

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.

Showing Off, pt.2

Yesterday, I wrote half a post for you as I got called away to do boring stuff.

Spiky Stars
Spiky Stars

For a long time, at least 4 years, Spiky Stars hung on my office wall. I love this quilt. It is one of my, if not my absolute, favorite(s). I made it using a technique I learned and modified in a Doreen Speckman class in the mid-nineties called Interlocking Triangles. She never did anything with this technique, probably because it is pretty labor intensive. I used templates to make this quilt and a lot of the patches are on the bias. I have a lot of designs to make additional quilts in this series. They just haven’t made it to the top of the list yet.

Seeing Red
Seeing Red

Seeing Red now graces my office wall. It is also a bullseye quilt. It started out as a round robin block exercise with Julie Zaccone Stiller and Adrienne Acoba. The exercise was inspired by a different bullseye project done by the Quilt Mavericks quilt group. We sent each other squares of red fabric and proceeded to add circles to them in the bullseye pattern. The interesting thing about this pattern is the way one can play with color. It is interesting to see the colors change as additional layers of fabric are added. When the blocks were complete, we cut the squares up and kept some of each block and sent other parts to the others, so the quilts are truly ‘sister’ quilts. The arrangement of the blocks is my own design. Julie and Adrienne arranged their blocks differently. Colleen Granger did a masterful job quilting Seeing Red. The project, as I mentioned yesterday, has expanded to the point where we are working on creating a bullseye quilt for each of the rainbow colors. Feelin’ Blue was the next in the series and, again, as I mentioned yesterday, Purple Passion is in process.

Seeing Red in context
Seeing Red in context

We actually hung the quilt twice. The first time, it was much higher up. We were outside my office (there is a glass wall in the front) looking at it when one of the name partners walked by. We must have looked odd, because he stopped and looked and told us it should be lower. He was right! We moved it down out of the shadow of the sofit (sp??) and I think it looks better.

One of the good things about putting up a new quilt is that I am actually seeing it. I had gotten to the point, I realized later, of not even seeing Spiky Stars anymore. I need to remember that and change the quilts out more often.

Seeing Red is a much smaller quilt than Spiky Stars, so it startles me a bit when I walk into my office. There is just a lot less fabric and a lot more wall. I don’t know if I will keep Seeing Red up, but it will be there for at least a week. Nobody has commented yet, but I will be interested to see who notices and what they say.

Showing Off

I am racing to get you some content before I head off for, essentially, a week and half of work travel, and (YAY!!) vacation. I won’t be able, probably, to post much during the work travel as I will be in a conference all day and then enjoying good food and drink with friends. We’ll see how the Internet connection is in the conference center this year. Perhaps I’ll be able to post some clips.

I have been thinking of viewing artworks in every day life and surrounding myself with artworks, lately. I looked at the back wall of my office this week and said to myself  “huh! that quilt has been there for 4 years; time for a change.” Then I went into my Assistant Librarian’s office, saw two more quilts and decided that one of them also needed to be changed out.

Feelin' Blue, Too
Feelin’ Blue, Too

This quilt has been on her wall for awhile and she really likes it. She says it has a calming effect on her. It is the second in a series of quilts in the JAJ Bullseye Project. In each round, the three quiltmakers,  Julie Zaccone Stiller, Adrienne Acoba and I each makes one quilt in the agreed upon color scheme. In this case, blue. This quilt was shown at 2005 Marin Quilt & Needle Arts Show.

You can read more about how to make a bullseye quilt here. I am sure there are other directions on the web and in books. You can also see my most recent attempt, a quilt top (not a quilt yet), in the series here.

Feelin' Blue, on display
Feelin’ Blue, on display

This is the quilt on display in my A.L.’s office. You get to see the trappings of our (well, her in this case) work. I could have cropped them out, but thought you might enjoy the quilt in context.

FOTY 2008, on display
FOTY 2008, on display

Here is the full view of FOTY 2008 (although I think you have seen it 12 times in the past 2 weeks, right?)  hanging in my A.L.’s office. She has a much bigger office than I do, and I have my degrees hanging on the only other available wall for art, so she gets two quilts and I get one.

FOTY 2008 in context
FOTY 2008 in context

Here is the quilt in context. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to change out the quilts sooner, but it didn’t. My quilts were rejected for display in the public parts of the office, because the Art Committee couldn’t get past the ‘craft.’ Instead they chose some baby puke brown paintings that I wouldn’t hang on my street much less in my house. I am probably bitter and don’t understand the concept. 😉 Now the quilts are up on walls I control and on display for all to view. I am happy.

I have to run off and do some stuff, like laundry, so I will post the quilt in my office later or tomorrow.

Creative Prompt #38: Glimmer

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

There is more information on the recently updated Creative Prompt Page.

Definition: 1 a : to shine faintly or unsteadily b : to give off a subdued unsteady reflection
2 : to appear indistinctly with a faintly luminous quality

A glimmer of hope

LG Glimmer cell phone

The Glimmer Man (1996) – Directed by John Gray. With Steven Seagal, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Bob Gunton.

Glimmer, a poem by Carl Sandburg

LET down your braids of hair, lady.
Cross your legs and sit before the looking-glass
And gaze long on lines under your eyes.
Life writes; men dance.
And you know how men pay women.

(odd poem, I know, but I was getting a little hard up for inspiration)

PIQF 2009: Last Thoughts

I am very grateful to have a show of this magnitude nearby. I always leave feeling like I must go straight home and play with fabric. I usually don’t get to play with fabric, but thinking about it is half the work.

While I don’t always like the quilts that people enter, I respect the fact that:

  1. they entered the show
  2. they had the discipline to get the quilt done
  3. there is an abundance of color
  4. the vendors show up, create beautiful booths and have fabric for me to buy
  5. quiltmakers have taken the time to get their quilts finished
  6. people are trying new things
  7. quiltmakers are still in love with their machines and continue to push them to the limit

I would like to see the Mancusos shake things up a bit. I am not sure how, perhaps rearrange the quilts and vendors, have a tote bag or ATC display, have a display of blogger’s work (there are some great bloggers not the least of which are Posy Gets Cosy and Sew Mama Sew).  It was nice to see some new vendors at the show (due to Houston being held at the same time) and the vendors being rearranged a bit.

Newest FOTY 2009 Blocks

FOTY 2009, Oct. 2009
FOTY 2009, Oct. 2009

I took a small hiatus from putting together the FOTY 2009 blocks (Zanzibar from Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle) for a number of reasons. First, the 9k was in the shop and I wanted to use the same machine to sew them. Second, I didn’t have the right fabrics to combine. Third, I was working on other projects. Etc.

Here are the latest iteration of this simple block. I did a bunch of fabric laundry and am nearly done, so now it is on to the pressing, cutting and sewing. I have only 2.5 more months to get the fabrics taken care of as I am planning on putting this quilt together at the CQFA retreat in January.

Blog Insight

One of my colleagues writes a women/leadership blog. I thought her post for today was pertinent outside of the law arena as well, so I thought I would repost it here.

It made me think about what I am writing here as well. Am I focused enough, niche enough to not just be another quilt blog? I hope so, because I want to write in such a way that people come here specifically for my content. There is always more I can do and know that I keep trying to improve.

clipped from womenlawyerleaders.blogspot.com

Blawgs as a Niche Marketing Tool
ne additional thought I had after that posting was that perhaps some women just think they don’t have anything useful to say in a blawg. This is also good point. An effective blawg must be focused (narrow is GOOD), current, constantly updated, well written, and compelling to the blawger. When I had the hubris to start this blawg a year ago, I knew that there was absolutely no point in blawging on my particular area of the law, because there are many, many fine professional publications that post up to the minute developments and analysis of tax and nonprofit law. So I was sure that a blawg written by me on the topic would never compare to those resources. Instead, because at the time I was looking for information about women lawyers and leadership challenges and didn’t find anything useful on the internet at all, it seemed like something I could write about.
O
blog it

Quilt for a Cause

I heard the most recent CraftSanity podcast, which included an interview with the Directors of Margaret’s Hope Chest, a Grand Rapids Michigan nonprofit that provides quilts to people in need. Their mission is: “Our mission at Margaret’s Hope Chest is to bring hope, comfort, and warmth to persons enduring hopeless situations in the Grand Rapids area through the gift of a beautifully crafted quilt.”

They have committed to providing a quilt for each homeless child in Grand Rapids for Christmas, which will be given along with a toy and a book. The organization that provides support for homeless children already has the toys and books. This means that Margaret’s Hope Chest has committed to providing at least 400 quilts!

They need help. I am providing some free ‘advertising’ for them, because I think their reason for being is really great. You can hear the whole story on the CraftSanity podcast, but the short version is that they created Margaret’s Hope Chest as positive way to deal with the grief over the death their mother / grandmother. She died of wounds inflicted when someone tried to snatch her purse.

The organization needs quilts and tops to arrive by November 15. If you have a quilt or top you are willing to send for a homeless child ages 0-17, or you are willing to make one, please send all donated quilts to:

Margaret’s Hope Chest
630 Griswold SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49507

For further information feel free to call or e-mail:

Carin Vogelzang
(616) 855-2862
margaretshopechest@yahoo.com

One thing they pointed out is they need quilts for male teenagers as well as little girls who love pink. Think of a child for whom you would like to make a quilt and make that quilt.

The quilt can be made from any pattern that involves squares.
I know this organization is probably not in your area, so if you want to do something, but want it to be local, send something to a local charity. They can always use a quilt or a crochet afghan or a knitted scarf.

Thank you!
clipped from craftsanity.com

Quilting for a cause
Calling all quilters! Margaret’s Hope Chest, a Grand Rapids-based quilt charity, needs your help to make 400 quilts to give homeless children living in shelters over the Christmas holiday.
Today my art & craft column is about Carin Vogelzang, and her mother, Carol Peters, the women who turned a family tragedy into an inspiring cause. Carin, of Toronto, and her mother, Carol, of Grand Rapids, co-founded the quilt charity Margaret’s Hope Chest in honor of Peters’ mom, Margaret Herrema, who died after she was critically injured during a purse-snatching in 2005. They have given away 102 quilts since founding the charity in Margaret’s name in 2007. Read the story of how Carin and Carol are giving people hope one quilt at a time.
blog it

Last Infinity Blocks

Infinity Blocks, Oct. 2009
Infinity Blocks, Oct. 2009

These are the last two Infinity blocks. I had exactly enough white to make two more blocks. I tried, while I was making the majority of the blocks, to choose tone-on-tone fabrics. For these last two blocks, this fabric called to me. I think it is perfect. I really like the movement.

I have sent the last group of blocks off to my SIL. Now I have to add this project to my UFO list and figure out how I am going to finish the project.

PIQF 2009: Day 2

Glitter Inspiration
Glitter Inspiration

We spent the whole day that show again. The BoNash booth had these tubes of glitter. I have no idea what they were doing, but I loved the colors. The stack of color was wonderful.

I have decided that, while there aren’t a lot of murky colors, murky colors are coming back. (NOTE: Dear Color Council, please do not add any murky colors to your list of the most popular colors of the year for any of the next 50 years. Thank you!) There were a lot of fabrics with grey and brown in them. In terms of quilts on display, there were lot that we saw today that had different browns in them. Usually they weren’t the nice rich chocolate brown, but more in the beige and taupe range. Note to readers: please make cheerful quilts.

Glitter Inspiration, detail
Glitter Inspiration, detail

I am physically and mentally unable to buy murky fabrics. . I bought the following:

Fabric, PIQF, pt.1
Fabric, PIQF, pt.1

The bottom left fabric will be a bag, perhaps the inside of a bag.

Fabric, PIQF 2009, pt.2
Fabric, PIQF 2009, pt.2

There is another bag and a half in the photo above. I need to get going on bags as I have a lot of fabric for bags in the hopper.

Creative Prompt #37: Gracious

This is a tribute to my friend, Pinky Davidson, the epitome of kindness, a gracious, well mannered woman who took a genuine interest in all of her younger friends.

Gracious definition: marked by kindness and courtesy

Good gracious!

Gracious living.

Gracious me!

He is such a gracious host.

Sew Gracious Blog – lots of ads for her Etsy Shop, but the Wordless Wednesday is interesting.

See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.

Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.

The Creative Prompt Project, also, now, has a Flickr group, which you can join and where you can post your responses.

There is more information on the recently updated Creative Prompt Page.

PIQF 2009: Day 1

Here are some more impressions of the second day of the show. It is really the first official day when anyone can go in, but it was my second day.

Lots of spiral and circular designs.

There were 4 rear ends: one woman, two elephants and a giraffe. I think there were more last year. I wouldn'[t think to put rear ends in a quilt, but it seems to be popular.

After a second look, I decided that the muddy colors are still popular this year,, though the cheerful, happy colors have more of a presence.

People still seem to be working on figuring out how to use the large scale prints (Amy Butler and Heather Bailey, for example).

TFQ pointed out that there is a disparity between the fabrics int he quilts (lots of tone-on-tones and low contrast prints) and the quilts the vendors are selling (lots of large scale and high contrast prints as well as conversationals).  We are going to look more carefully at this tomorrow.

Hand-dyed fabric is being used as fabric again rather than the centerpiece of a quilt.

Way too many portraits. Portraits are hard to do and often look distorted because of the quilting. I don’t like the quilt versions, as a general rule, but there were some interesting elements on the non-face portions of the pieces I saw today.

I found the Nosegay and it was very well lit. It would have been perfect place for a nice shot of the whole thing, except for the chain across the front. I also notices that in the quilt show venue, it didn’t look as large as it does at home.

I stood around near the FOTY 2008 quilt and heard people discussing it. Positive comments and I was thrilled when one woman took about 10 details shots of the piece and wanted to see the back. I am really glad a few people liked it.

Tarts Again

The Big Drip
The Big Drip

Yes, I am obsessing. This is the last time I will force you to read my obsessive, compulsive rantings on, what I am now calling, The Big Drip. The reason? The Big Drip is done. It is glued and appliqued down for eternity. Or at least until the glue from the fusible rots away and the fabric underneath is no longer viable.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out and will be even more pleased when I am at the point where I can embroider a stem on the cherry. Stay tuned for that drama! 😉

Fluttering Hearts
Fluttering Hearts

After successfully appliqueing The Big Drip to the piece, I had the idea that, perhaps, I should add some other little, appliqued embellishments to some of the other blocks.

I have to admit that the big grey teapot needs some spicing up. I cut out, and am trying, these little hearts. They do add a bit of a spark and draw the eye up towards that corner of the quilt, which is good. I don’t want the piece to look like I copied Mary Engelbreit. I also want it to be fun and not cutesy. Let me know what you think.