She's Got a Plan

Elaine took a yard of hand dyed fabric and used it for all four sections of the New Big Leaf. I've always wanted to try it myself, but she has beat me to it. It will be stunning. The pattern isn't apparent, but there is a plan for all the madness that you see. Trust me.

Oh, To Sleep

I've landed in the best house in St. Albans, complete with a hand quilted and appliqued quilt on the bed. Rose, you couldn't have me sleeping in a better flower bed. Tomorrow is my class. Nighty-night.

Lecture Re-Do

Tomorrow night's lecture needed tweeking (not to be confused with any other tweeking) today. I rebuild it every time I present it. I'm looking forward to my drive to the northern part of Vermont, as it should be a glorious spring drive.

Little Progress

Little progress is still progress. Most of today was finishing a submission for a show, and with that task done, it was back to stare at the wall. Can't make another till this is off. So, I keep on.

From One, Many

It always surprises me that I can get so many variations in color from one yard of my shibori dyed fabric. I'll pack this up and take with me to my St. Albans, Vermont lecture and class this weekend. To sell, of course.

Hap, Hap, Happy

Part of my day involves running the office side of things. Which means the dullness of communication, correspondence, and calculating. My new wireless printer gave me my first spit of a print today. And, lookie, it's a modern quilt.

Get Outside

I've had my head stuck in a dye pot, so with this crisp spring day facing me, it was time to get out. This Sycamore tree, with its double branching, had me thinking more about duality, or opposing shapes. For me, this is a recurring theme.

Try Outs

Now with a new stretched screen, and a dye cut stencil, I'm ready to tryout some prints. I'll add more to this. It's working just dandy. I'll bring the screens to Montreal and Pro Chem's classes, so others can try silkscreening.

I Only Iron Fabric

As a kid, I was given the task to iron. Mostly I burned the handkerchiefs. Now it is rare to iron clothes, and last summer's blouses are silently waiting. My hand-dyes come first.

Underdye Underdogs

The "underdye" is my name for treating the fabric with dye using no soda ash or mordant. I'll roll these on pvc pipes, and then shibori dye them. This is garish color, but the results are luscious. You'll see.

Taping Job

Dick Blick  has some inexpensive screens for printing. I've stretched some sheer fabric, tapped the cord in the groove to hold it in place, and now will tape out the screen. I've some ideas to try out with printing. Hope for that tomorrow.

If This, Then That

Chunking through the meters. (Not to worry about the color -- the dark will yield beautiful violet.) With dyeing comes washing. And washing, and washing.

Heap of Love

UPS dropped off my 150 meters of pfd today. With a high in the 70s, I cut off yards, prewashed it, and spent the afternoon underpainting some fabric for shibori dyeing tomorrow. Make hay while the sun shines.

Two For a Good Cause

For nine years, Rochester Contemporary has asked artists to give (up to four) works for their annual fundraiser. The 6x6 show features thousands of works by famous and lesser known artists, each selling for $20. I've managed to meet the deadline for a few years, today 2016 was due.

Not the Olympics

Lynn carried through with all the improv prompts today in class. We had a hearty bunch of quilters that worked without a break. Well, lunch was al fresco at least. Thanks to GVQC and this nice group of women, I had a lovely day.

Looking at Old

For today's quilt group critique, a friend brought us an young/old quilt to look at. The red squares in this nine patch block unified the work, and the adjacent to the center blocks were mainly dark. So, there is some pattern to decipher. Bits of polyester with cotton make the fabric choices.

History Happens Here

Today's meeting of the Genessee Valley Quilt Club had Pam Weeks (blue shirt) for a lecture on quilt history. She explained 200 years of quilting in her hour talk and we were all great students. We all got an A, she got applause.

Curves

Sewing curves is like putting the cookie to the mouth, or putting the mouth to the cookie. Bev left that worm in my brain. Either way, you gently walk it two pieces the machine and gradually meet both edges. Discovering how to sew gentle curved sans pins made my life richer.

Leaf Forms

I'm doing some improv cuts (warming up for my class on Saturday) to fill in the area on top of my lily pod that will be leaf forms. Happy to use my hand-dyes, and I've added some commercial plaid for a reality check. Ha! Check!

Line Up

To remember what goes where, line up the parts for the cutter as you take them apart. Then reassemble in reverse order. Just check that you bought the correct blade. Who ever heard of a "scoring blade"? Geesh.

In the Zone

To be in the "zone." Thats when the activity takes over, and the world falls away. I've made thickened dyes for monopronting. The roller applies pressure to my print, and I'll let the fabric batch overnight.

If It's On the Wall, It's Finished

Got the Bow Ties quilt finished, and it's always fun to see it hanging up. I'll make another come this summer. For now, there are other things in the queue.

Cut Your Heart Out

A friend let me play on her Silhouette Cameo, which cuts what you draw. I tried some stencils in Mylar, and will use them for my upcoming printing classes in Montreal (May is Salon 2016) and Fall River (Pro Chem in August). Tonight was printing, tomorrow is washout.

Freeform Quilting

One more look back at AQE with a detail of Selected Stories by Elizabeth Brandt. With abstract and contemporary fibers, should the work require quilting, the methods vary. I appreciate the freeform drawing that is used here, on a piece that is equally free in forms and shapes.

Wild With the Needle

Barbara Watler can handle thread like no one's business. Part of the AQE show in Wayne Art Center, this piece "Convergence" (detail above) may start with fabric beneath, but is fairly covered in hand stitching. It maintains bold strokes and never whimpers.

Dogs Greet Ghosts

Someday, someday, I would like to meet Dinah Sargeant. I was blown over when I saw "Spirit Dogs Greet the Ghosts" (detail above) at Art Quilt Elements yesterday. Her mastery of space, her ability to pull and push figures in and out of the frame, and her free-drawing with fiber, are unlike anything I know.

Elements Condensed

The Wayne Art Center's exhibition "Art Quilt Elements" was on my way home today, hence a visit. While I enjoyed the works, I did not enjoy the lack of breathing room. There was not even space between the pieces for labels. Good art requires good space.

Fishtown

After the city center, it was time to see another part of Philadelphia. Tiles in the floor of the cafe let me know I was in Fishtown, and the patterning hints to a bygone era. The layering of the two, with the circle cut, makes is modern.

As We See Ourselves

Being part of a conference (SAQA in Philadelphia) means meeting others who are as passionate (or not) as you are about a topic. So, it may be that you see yourself in others, or they in you. And that is enough to break the ice.

Enough is Not Enough

today was a visit to Isaiah Zagar's work at the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia, where means bits and bits combine to make a whole. This picture doesn't even start to encompass the scope of the work he's done to form his mosaic art in this "installation".