What’s Your Oldest UFO? was the question of the day at guild last week. I had to confess** to the Self Portrait.
I started this piece in a class with Pamela Allen in 2006. The class was great, I learned a lot and finished two other pieces, Flower Garden and Beach Town from that class. Those are great pieces, so why is this not a great piece. AND why is it not finished?
I have always thought the problem was the hair, that I couldn’t find the right hair. I don’t even know if I have tried to add hair. I have thought about adding hair, but I never seem to do it. I like the eyes, but wonder about a nose and lips.
I also like the flowers at the bottom. They need some enhancement, for which embroidery will be great.
Clearly this is more of an image of the way I think about myself or the way I was at one time in my past. I would like to finish it since it will involve beading and embroidery, which I really like. Somehow I can’t seem to do it.
Very confusing.
** confess is a strong term and I am only using for the sake of emphasis. There was no judgment and lots of laughter as we listened to each other.
I finally finished Down the Drain on Friday night. Completely finished: quilting done, binding on, sleeve sewn down. Done.
First, as I mentioned, I finished the quilting. Of course I could have stopped any time, but was clearly on a mission. I kept quilting minutely almost every single open space.
I finished hand sewing the binding on earlier this week. Normally, the combination of tightly woven fabric (an AGF solid) and Aurifil make for slow going, but the combination worked great! My needle went through the fabric with no problem and I sewed the binding in only about 4 hours.
I stitched the sleeve down in only about 2 hours. The whole process of making this quilting was so relatively painless. The experience was not and continues not to be painless. The actual process of making the quilt went so smoothly. I guess it was meant to be.
I finished quilting the art quilt, Down the Drain, a few weeks ago. I don’t know why I didn’t post it. My only explanation is life got in the way.
I am pretty pleased with my quilting. I found that doing the work on the 6600 was relatively painless. The border quilting is not perfect. I couldn’t have done perfect quilting if I had wanted, but I also wanted to express that life isn’t perfect, people aren’t perfect and we have a chance to improve.
I have machine sewed the binding and made the sleeve.
Once again, 9/11 is upon us. It sort of snuck up on me this year. There hasn’t been the hoopla surrounding the event as there was last year. I guess there has been too much other stuff going on.
What Comes Next, 2001-2002
What Comes Next hangs in my workroom so I look at it every day. In some ways, it can be construed as an altar, because I do look at it every time I pass by and hope that my wish espoused in this quilt is not too far away. It isn’t just part of the background even after so many years.
Like Down the Drain, this quilt was meant to be and came together relatively quickly and with few problems.
I still remember 9/11. I had an almost 5YO. DH was out of town with our BIL on a vacation. I didn’t even know what had happened, because I don’t listen to the news before I head off to work. My mom called me in a panic telling me to turn on the TV. I didn’t want to and couldn’t imagine why it mattered. I couldn’t imagine something like the actions of 9/11 happening.
What’s worse is what came after. The wars, ISIS, Al-Quaida, the European cities under siege, the huge debt that will crush us all one day. The mess that is the Middle East. I am not saying that those things wouldn’t have happened anyway, but I think a different response was required.
You saw the other day that I had finished the first layer, or perhaps it was the second layer?
I really kind of liked this look despite the slightly depressing look, but I was on a mission.
I used a satin stitch, but not a dense one stitch down the River. In some cases I will straight stitch first, but I didn’t in this case. I try to keep track of the settings so I can use the same density again. I often start with the density I used to sew on Merit Badges and then adjust from there. Despite the siren call of temptation, I always test the density before I sew on the actual piece. Have you every tried to rip out a satin stitch. It is doable, but I don’t find it to be fun.
After applique’ing down the River shape, I moved on to the broken hearts.
Art Quilt: with hearts in progress
After making some hearts some time ago I have a trick, so I used it to make the heart shape then cut into them with very sharp scissors (should have used my Karen Kay Buckley scissors) and made the broken part. I put fusible on the back of the hearts and pressed them down. I use Soft Fuse. I have used other products, but that is my current favorite.
I had to play around with the placement of the hearts. I wanted them on the background, not on the borders or covering the River. Once they were placed where I wanted them I satin stitched them down and added the tears. I think tears coming off of a heart is powerful imagery.
Art Quilt: Signs in process
The signs took a lot longer. I needed to add sticks and get the placement right, trim the shapes and write the messages.
I don’t know why I wanted these Easter Egg colors, but they seemed right. I didn’t even have to hunt for them as they magically appeared in a convenient stack of fabric.
Weird.
I fused the sticks, then found they didn’t show up very well, so I stitch around them to highlight them. I still don’t think they show up as much as I wanted, but I am okay with the look.
Art Quilt: Top finished
This is very much a quilt where you get one view from afar and need to come closer to get a more detailed view.
After sewing the background together, I thought there might be a small chance I was done and could move on. No dice. I would like to say that my Muse gently stroked my hand encouragingly. No such luck. The VIMH #2 was impatient and insistent. “keep going,” she said (loudly). She has no patience because she knows I know what I am supposed to do. When I don’t do it she has no patience for my prevaricating.
I thought the piece needed an inner border to keep the center motifs contained. I thought a dark border would work. Not being done with those 1.5″ squares yet, I cut about a gazillion more out of black and white fabrics. The fabrics were mostly dark, but the white provides a little space.
Down the Drain with border #2
I cut enough for two rows, then put them up on the wall.
Down the Drain with border #2- different sizes
The effect seemed kind of heavy to me, so I put one row up and compared the two. One row seemed best to me, so I sewed those together and put them on to the quilt.
Except.
River of Sorrow and border n.1
I really wanted the ‘River‘ to go underneath the border. I fiddled with that concept a lot, then finally gave up.
Part of the problem was that I was going to have to applique some of the squares and I really didn’t want to do that. I also didn’t think it added anything to the quilt overall. It was hard to tell, though, and it made me sad not to be able to work out the technical details.
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow-detail
I got busy trimming the River as I didn’t want a 20 inch third border.
I needed to make the water filtering into the drain end up in the corner but not on the edge, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to applique the drain.
I was still trying to figure out how to get the inner border over the River shape. This point in the process decided me, because I was already thinking about quilting and how I would manage that with this border on top.
Trimming the bottom of the water going down the drain was also a problem because of the angle of the viewer. I looked at water sluicing into a drain, which didn’t help me, because I was looking at it from on top. Even if I stood on my head **in** the sink, I wouldn’t have been able to get the same angle. Finally, I decided that my viewers weren’t stupid and would figure out what I was trying to say. I am not 100% happy with the outcome, but sometimes one has to make compromises.
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow complete
After trimming, sewing, ripping and sewing again, I finished the second layer.
The weather has been very gray lately, so the quilt, being predominantly grey at this point, looks depressing. It isn’t really. The grey made into the second border is a bright clear grey. Even thought I don’t get the interwoven feel I was trying for, I am pleased with how this came out.
Kind of dramatic, huh? I am not sure what else to call the shape. I have used this shape two other times – both on political quilts.
I knew the approximate shape I wanted, so I made a paper template by taping a bunch of pieces of newsprint together.
Then I cut out the fabric. Then I trimmed the fabric. Then I shaped the piece until I had it the way I wanted it.
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow
Finally, I was able to put it on the wall. It didn’t stick, so there are pins you can’t see.
Down the Drain: River of Sorrow-detail
I wanted to make the shape look like it was going down a drain. I needed it to look like it was constrained in some way and forced to flow down.
I wanted the black border squares to go on top of the Shape. At this stage, I pinned the border over the shape to move in that direction.
The part of the ‘water’ that goes down a drain was hard to approximate. The shape you see in this picture is what I ended up with.
After I got the approximate shape, I took fabric ink and a rubber stamp alphabet and wrote on the shape. I wrote words that described what I observed was going down the drain.
I always have a hard time naming my political quilts. Their names end up being straightforward and somewhat unsophisticated. I guess I have learned to go with that.
As I said yesterday, I saw Sarah Ann Smith’s quilt, Speak Up, Speak Out and a whole bunch of stuff coalesced in my mind. Mind you, I didn’t even really know that all that stuff was rolling around. I have been feeling stressed out since the Inauguration and all of the stuff stressing me out suddenly came together.
Background 1
As I said, I started working on my project from a couple of drawings in my journal. I had no measurements beyond “not big” when I started working on the background.
I, again, used Mary Mashuta’s Pushed Neutral technique. I have done this in the past with other neutrals and now I use the same techniques with colors. This time, I worked with grey. Some of the greys are a little dark, but I keep telling myself the darks create disharmony, which is one thing I was trying to do. This quilt should unsettle you. I think, ultimately, the whole idea worked.
Background 2
I did move some of the squares around to get the right mix of locations with darks and lights of grey.
A few weeks ago I posted a Spark about having a secret. It was purely coincidental with the project I was working on.
Down the Drain: basted and ready to quilt
I needed to work on this project, but I did not want comments or to provoke the storm I know will come with this post. I wasn’t quite ready. I still am not ready. As long as I still have freedom of speech I will post this quilt. I knew about the Threads of Resistance project and I would love to be a part of that, but I don’t do well with challenges. I wish I did because I’d love to be a part of that show.
The stress started on my birthday, which was January 20, not just because it was inauguration day, but also because I was at an event where people were happy to see President Obama leave office. They didn’t like him because he was black. For them it was No-Bama Day. For me, even though I didn’t know it at the time, it was the beginning of a stressful, distressing time.
I walked around waiting for my ATM card not to work, to be made subhuman, like in the Handmaid’s Tale. I started really to fear that the better country we were making would be dismantled. You might think we don’t need the EPA or the ACA and that is your right. I do not want to create a Sh*tstorm and this is not a political blog. I feel we do need clean air and health care for everyone. My feelings coalesced when I saw Sarah Ann Smith’s quilt, Speak Up, Speak Out.
Sarah Ann Smith’s Quilt Speak Up, Speak Out
When I saw her quilt, I realized that another in my political art quilt series had been brewing in my head without me really knowing. I thought “this is the quilt I wanted to make.” I said so to Sarah and she said to make my version.
I thought about it for a long time, then I drew a picture in my journal. I thought that would be the end of it, but I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. I drew it again, a little more refined and more to scale.
I drew it over an over, continually refining, adding detail. The whole process went so smoothly that I kept going into piecing and cutting and sewing and quilting.
As I write this, the piece isn’t quite finished, but it will be soon (YAY! Another finish!). What happens to it after that, I don’t know.
Shockingly, I have been quilting. I have been working, pretty much, on one quilt for a month and I am finishing up the quilting.You’ll see the quilt soon
Quilting a quilt
Yes, **I** am doing the quilting. Don’t expect greatness, because mostly I am doing straight line or straight-ish (as Kelly would say) line quilting.
I am really happy with the 6600. This machine is made for quilting. It has a built-in walking foot that works like a charm. I had very few tension problems even with different weights of Aurifil. While I miss not being able to piece, I am not dreading quilting like I was with my other machines. I think the larger space between the needle and the harp helps, too.
This year is the 15th anniversary of the September 11.
If anyone says September 11, I don’t, first off, think of our YM’s friend’s birthday. I think of those planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the passengers taking over the flight that eventually crashed in the field in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. I think of how quiet the skies were for days after and waking up to a phone call from my mom telling me to turn on the TV. I think of not being able to get hold of DH and taking the YM to pre-school. I think of going to work and having to turn around and go straight home before the train stations closed and the trains stopped running. I remember watching TV for hours with DH and seeing the same images over and over. I think of the years of violence that followed.
As you know, I don’t always write about September 11. This year I am thinking about it particularly because of the violence that I perceive our election cycle is causing.
Fireball
I made two quilts to do something to mark-commemorate-remember (I don’t really know the right word. Send a message?). The first was done very quickly and sent off to Houston to be displayed in a commemorative display at Quilt Festival and Market.
Fireball is a reaction to all the fire that was shown on TV. It is a woven quilt. I have made a few woven quilts, though not in a while. I cut the strips and wove them together, then quilted over the top of the weaving. The strips were not finished.
What Comes Next, 2011-2012
The second quilt is also an art quilt. It took me longer and was my wish/prayer for the future. It is called What Comes Next. clearly my wishes were not acknowledged because the things I wanted to come out of that terrible day were not what came out of it.
This quilt has similarities to my Blood and Oil quilt in some of the shapes and motifs I used. Someday I’d like to use those paper doll motifs again.
The last days of the CQFA Show Primal Green 2 is at the San Francisco Public Library. I went to see it one day on a trip to the City, but this is as much a reminder for me to see it again as it is to encourage you to go.
Did you go and see the show? The 24th is the last day to see it. Primal Green2 is a show of environmental art quilts at the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library.
The Wallace Stegner Environmental Center is one of the special collections at the Main Branch and, after a year of work with the Library, CQFA has over 20 quilts and other fiber art on display. The quilts all have an environmental theme. The show will hang until Friday April 24 and be available to viewers during the Library’s normal open hours. Don’t wait until the last minute! Oops! It is the last minute. Go TODAY!
We had a discussion at the CQFA social on Saturday about Workshop projects and how they are not always the kind of projects one wants to finish. There are a lot of variables going into the workshop -the right fabric and supplies, working in an unfamiliar environment, etc. – that conspire to make you learn something, but not always like the end result.
Serendipity Lady – Beginning Work
That is not the case with Serendipity Lady. I have wanted to do this design ever since I made stained and leaded glass panels back in the dark ages. Caroline’s workshop at CQFA last spring (?) gave me the means in fabric and the inspiration to make this dream a reality.
The problem was that my piece had so many small pieces that cutting out the pieces straight from the fabric became an issue. I went back and tried a few times and failed – or didn’t succeed as thoroughly as I would have liked. I didn’t want to simplify the pattern and I didn’t want to blow it up larger either. Struggling with the mechanics of making a piece does not make it fun. Finally, I put it aside to mull over.
This was disappointing, because I came home so jazzed about this project after the workshop. Creating is a struggle, but for this one, I just wanted it to work. Sadly, that is not the way ‘making’ works.
In the mulling process, I came up with the idea of making templates for each piece. I was about to embark on that line of thought using the kind of cardstock (tagboard??) I used to use for cutting the templates for stained and leaded glass panels when I had lunch with Maureen and Dolores.
I mentioned my problem to them and how I wanted to use templates and asked their advice. They both immediately went to freezer paper and patiently explained how to use freezer paper to make the templates. I couldn’t really envision the process in my head. It became clearer when they kind of walked me through the process, reminding me to trace the design backwards.
What Process Looks Like
Again, I was really excited so I came home, taped the design to my sliding glass door and retraced the pattern backwards. Then I traced the backwards pattern on to freezer paper and sat in front of the TV and cut it out.
Again, those tiny little pieces were not my friend. At the moment I have them all paperclipped together, but that is only because I keep forgetting to get an envelope each time I go downstairs.
Serendipity Lady – Weekend Work
Next I started applying freezer paper to fabric. Then the real fun began. I threw out some fabrics after putting them near other fabrics and the picture really started to take shape. I am not done and I haven’t glued down the pieces yet, but I really had a lot of fun making some serious progress.
My mind is whirling with the possibilities of adding a few beads, embroidering the eyelash, etc. Fun!
My friend, the environmental librarian, asked us to do the show again.A lot of the same parameters were applied to this show that we created for the last show.
It is on through April 24, 2015, so you can go and take a look as well and check out some books while you are at it. 😉
I finally was able to go and take a look. I stopped in before going to lunch with a friend who works nearby. I missed the CQFA group viewing because I was in Houston.
Display Cabinet
There are a number of quilts displayed there. I thought they were hung very well. One of the display cabinets had Caroline’s fish purse in it. I love that piece, because of the whimsy. I wonder what the general public thinks about it?
The green piece on the top right is from the color challenge (I bought the fabric for that challenge and never did the piece – or haven’t yet done the piece).
The signature book was tucked in a corner so I don’t know if people saw it and were writing in it. The last book for the show had some odd comments, but had some really nice comments as well.
My Quilts in Display Case
My quilts were well displayed and I was pleased. You can see Beachtown on the left. What you can’t see is The Flower Garden on the right.
The quilts were all behind glass for security, so they were difficult to photograph. Still, they have to be there, because they will get stolen and touched. I was just taking photos so you could get an idea of how the show was hung not so you could get a perfect rendition of the quilts.
My Whole Cloth Quilt is also in the show. I didn’t get much of a better photo of it than I already have . The stitching is too subtle for a regular camera.
Virginia’s Quilt
One of the quilts is so great. It is a regular traditional quilt from far away. If you look closer at the quilt, you will see that the fabrics are covered with bugs. LOL! This is by Virginia and I love the bugs.
There are many more quilts and I will see about creating another post about them. The show is really worthwhile and I hope you will go and take a look.
After YEARS, this piece is finished. I am pretty pleased with it. I think it looks good and I did a good job on the quilting (click on the photo to see the quilting close up).
Please do look at the quilting, because it was a pain to do and I am pretty proud of it.
As you may already know, I started this piece in a class with David Walker, held in Capitola, in 2003. I can’t remember who sponsored the class. I want to say a shop, but I am not sure that is right.
The piece includes Machine quilting, fusible Applique’ with satin stitching, and reverse machine applique’. This is one of the few art quilts where I have not added beading or hand embroidery with Perl cotton. I just didn’t think the piece need it even though I had planned on doing both.
Finished: See – back
I was pretty proud of how you could see the quilting so well on the back, but after facing and labeling, there isn’t much to see.
I actually sewed the label on by hand, which I don’t like to do, but really had no other choice. The piece didn’tlend itself to including the label into the back.
This piece is based on a Chinese character, the character for our word “See”. I made it as a reminder to really look at things, not just glance at them, snap a picture and move on. It is an ongoing process for me to really look and see things.
This has more significance than just a finish, because it means I can cross it off my UFO list. When I do that, it will mean that I am one step closer to having only current projects, albeit a lot of them, but current projects only.
