Quilting on the Edge

Be Inspired Photo Hunt April 2009

 

Welcome to my blog! Most of my blog posts are either about art quilt projects I'm doing or commentary on my experiences in day to day life.  I recently started a new feature I call Tuesday's Ten, a list of ten items on a topic I select. I hope these lists can be inspirational to you as well. Hope you stop by regularly and even share a comment now and then. Sign up to receive my blog entries by email if that is easier for you. Much of my work is available for purchase, so let me know if you're interested by contacting me by email.

 

Tuesday's Ten: Book Titles as Inspiration

I have always had some sort of bookcase, even more than one, wherever I've lived.  This goes all the way back to even my days of being single.  The one in my bedroom caught my eye the other morning and I started looking at the books there and realized how book titles could be inspirational for art quilts.  So today's ten lists book titles I have that could be interpreted in cloth:

Cold Mountain (purples and greys and blacks?)

Small Change  (varied sizes of circles?)

Sea Glass (this one would be fun)

Sweeping Changes  (swooping lines)

Solitude (a very personal interpretation I think)

Ain't I a Woman (a self portrait?)

Night (stars, sky, moon......)

Kitchen Tables (long rectangles and flat surfaces)

Being Home (another personal interpretation)

White Oleander (a literal interpretation perhaps)

I tend toward the abstract in my work, and I can imagine a good start to all of these quilts based on the book titles. Is there any title that speaks to you?  Look in your own bookcase......you needn't have read the book to be inspired. 

Ginny's and Jane E's on Anna Maria Island

Here's where I had coffee this morning after my walk.  Ginny's is only 2 blocks from my home, and my husband and I often take a break in the afternoon with a coffee and scone, sitting right here outside, enjoying the passersby.  Lately, there are many, as this is high season on the island and we are crawling with visitors.  Bikers, walkers, runners, the trolley, lots of cars, scooters.......you name it, it's moving by!  But this morning it was quite a bit quieter, altho still busy.  I was alone for this visit and enjoyed the time to sort of gather my thoughts and jot down some ideas for future quilt projects.  I don't do this often enough, on my own.  I usually start my morning quickly and jump right into my work for the day, which is often preceded by a time of working on a quilt project of some sort.  Today I took the time out and it reminded me how much I enjoyed doing so.  Do you have a favorite place for a personal time out?   If so, go there today and see where your mind travels.

Tuesdays' Ten: Favorites from the Past

This Tuesday I decided to list ten items that I played with  or enjoyed when I was young.  Maybe you'll remember some of them!

Comic Books:  Little Lulu, Nancy, Archie and Veronica

Jacks:  little red ball with ten metal pieces

Jump Rope

Lois Lenski library books

Sorry:  board game

Transistor Radio

Record Player in a carrying case:  first record was "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors  (how on earth do I remember this?)

Hula Hoop

Autograph Book:  Red plastic cover with a teenager photo on it

Plastic Indian Girl Doll:  souvenir from visting Wisconsin Dells

On a trip out west a few years ago, I bought another Indian Girl Doll very much like the one I had years ago.......I saw it in the store and remembered it instantly. And I know, somewhere in a box, I have my autograph book from eighth grade.  What strikes me when I look at the list is how inexpensive and simple many of my favorites were........yet, they were mainstays in my life.  Did I ever get to sixsies or sevensies with jacks?  Do you remember jacks?  This was fun to recall this Tuesday!

 

Art Quilt: Hand Dyed and painted fabrics

 I felt the creative urge a few days ago and decided to make a small quilt with only my own handdyed or painted fabrics.....this piece is 15 by 18 inches.  I can't remember where the ideas for the images came from, but as I cut them, I created different stances for their bodies to show different moods or attitudes. That's how I came up with the title MoodMakers.  Sort of another version of muses..........these would be invisible forces that help create our moods. Like when you have one of those days when you're in a crummy mood for no apparent reason.......maybe it's the MoodMakers at work?  Anyway, that's how this piece got a life of its' own.  I'm pretty happy with how the fabrics interacted to create the background.  Using personally created fabrics makes a piece truly your own........and it cannot be duplicated.  What do you think?

Tuesday's Ten: Short Stories - Ten Opening Sentences

Another Tuesday has rolled around and this time I decided to tackle my creative writing interest.  Many many years ago I took a course in writing for children........enjoyed it, never published anything.  One thing I know about writing though is you must grab the attention of the reader right from the start....at least, that's how it is for me as a reader.  So my list today includes ten sentences I think could be the opening lines of ten short stories or novels.  Here goes:

The police never came.

His face glowed even in the darkness, even through the closet door.

It was the sort of day when he knew he had to pack up and leave.

The soiled plastic bag was all she had to fashion a tourniquet.

Winston knew this was his last chance to save his sister.

Avery could have been the first to notice the orange deposits on the shore rocks.

Even after walking a few miles down the road, he could still hear the dogs barking in the burning shed.

She only had one place left to look for her birth certificate.

The only way out was blocked by debris from the storm.

She arrived back home at dusk and immediately noticed the door was ajar.

so.....there they are.  I think some are pretty good, others aren't that intriguing.  Do you have a favorite?  How about writing an opening line of your own?  

Trying Batik Technique

  I've been using my fabric dyes and paints lately, and came across a small bottle of a liquid batiking product, so I decided to try it out.  Here's a photo of the first step in the process......the fabric is a hand dyed piece I didn't particularly like very much.  I applied the batiking solution in this branch pattern, free hand.  I let it dry for 24 hours, then I ironed over it through parchment paper.  This is how it looked when I first applied the solution........when it was dry and ironed, it was barely visible altho you could feel it on the surface of the fabric.  The next step was to then dye the fabric......the batiked areas did not take up the dye.  After the dyed fabric dried, I rinsed it in cold water and the batiking solution was removed, revealing the fabric pictured here. What do you think?   I used a purple dye mixture, and the fabric was previously colored a pale orange/brown tone.  I think I was successful at the batiking process.  This is a small piece, only about 14 by 16 inches or so.  I'm anxious to see how I end up using  this piece in an art quilt.  Have you tried the batik technique before?  

Tuesday's Ten March 9 2009

I've decided to start a new feature on my blog today in an effort to stimulate my own creativity and get to know myself better, and if you're a follower of my blog, for you to know me better.   It's called Tuesday's Ten, and will give a list of ten somethings on a topic I select.  Today will be 10 sounds that are inspirational to me, in no particular order.    Here goes:

distant sound of rumbling thunder

the sound of church bells ringing at noon in a crowded city

hearing birds really early in the morning

swishing palm fronds

a bike whizzing by on a quiet afternoon

the dripping of raindrops after a storm

piano music heard through a window as I pass by

gentle waves hitting the shoreline

the sudden roar of a crowd at a game when something good happens

a sewing machine working after a period of not working

I'm limited to ten items, so these are the first ten that came to mind. Maybe today you can try this exercise as well.........who knows what you'll come up with?  I'll be happy to read them if you want to comment here or send them by email!

 

 

Design Wall Projects March 8 2009

 Here are three of my recent UFO's placed side by side on my design wall.  UFO's stand for unfinished objects. I think anyone who ventures into creating has a nice stack of these somewhere in a bin or closet.  Ideas that struck at one time that were begun but not completed.  All three of these are layered with batting and backing and are waiting to be added to if needed and quilted.  The two pieces on the right are both using fabrics I have painted or dyed. They've been hanging here on the design wall for about a week or more, waiting for me to be motivated to complete them.  So far that has not happened.   It is useful to expose these pieces though since their presence brings them to the forefront in my mind and sometimes I am lucky and I figure out what to do to complete them.  Here's another one:This piece is made by weaving fabric strips.  I want to add another design element to the surface of this one, and have experimented with black outlines of squares that are interlocking.  That doesn't seem to be where this piece should go, so it too is another UFO. I like the complex nature of this piece, and the variable lines seen on some of the squares.  I still don't know how it will be completed though.  Sometimes I will just 'call it done' and began quilting a UFO and that process alone will generate ideas.  Sometimes I get on a path where I decide that I'm going to finish all my UFO's, but usually after a few I get distracted by another new project or idea and back the UFO's go into their hiding place.  How do you handle your UFO's? 

Beach Sit Part 2 March 1, 2009

  So after I finished thinking about happiness as I noted in the previous posting here, I began people watching.  I was far back on the beach that I couldn't really hear people, but I could see them.  Since I was listening to music, I realized it was like I was watching a movie and listening to the soundtrack of the movie.  It's interesting when you combine the feelings from the music with the actions of people.  It can create some interesting scenarios, sort of like little movies.  Try it sometimes. Then as I watched all the beach walkers, I thought about all those who have walked this shoreline from the beginning of time........just imagine that for a second.  Millions of people have been drawn to walk along this beach when they were here.  It seems to be such a powerful draw for people, that there must be something we find or feel when we walk along the shore anywhere. Finally, I finished my beach sit with two sketches for possible art quilts in the future.  Working titles are "Once Upon a Beach" and the "Facets of Thought".  This may seem bizarre but I often find titles for my quilts long before anything else happens with them. Sometimes I never actually create them, just the act of sketching or identifying a title is enough.  I don't know what will happen with these two ideas, but a few days later I'm still pondering the first title, so maybe that will indeed be a physical creation.