Spring Hesitates

Spring is creeping towards us. The temperature hasn't changed much. It doesn't get truly cold here: high 30s, low 40s. That has mostly been the forecast since February. But the light has changed. The days are longer and the garden is awakening. Time to go out and see what made it through the winter. The wisteria took a beating but shows a bit of green. The climbing hydrangea has grown fat buds showing green through their brown skins. The bleeding heart (planted in a pot!) looks energetic and ready to grow. I have visions of strong arches of dangling pink and red.

Maybe better to say I have hope...

The cold suits the daffodils. Crisp and sharply yellow, coming up directly through last fall's debris. The small, neat ones first and big ruffled pink, peach and orange later.

Simple Charm: Hot and Cold

Often when I think about techniques I want to use or start the planning process for a new quilt I forget how effective simple shapes and straightforward piecing can be. I know this about myself. I am attracted to the complicated and arcane but often end up loving essential shapes and trouble-free methods. This piece is a striking example of both.

The piece was assembled with batik scraps and a great deal of care went into the placement of the warm and cool colors. The artist has also made skillful pattern choices. Many of the scraps are figured with grid or dots that seem to "float" above the surface of the quilt.

The artist is Sue Erdreich, 47 by 37.5

Blushing Triangles: Best Wall Quilt

This beauty won Best Wall Quilt at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XX. It was also hung at the Quilt Fest of NJ in a tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Mid-Atlantic show. The artist describes it as the "fourth in a series based on an original digital painting." It is machine pieced and quilted. She also mentions that the fabric is silk not cotton.

The triangles look as though they may have been cut from hand-dyed or hand-painted fabric since the colors merge into each other a bit. The quilting is particularly striking. The stitching itself radiates from the centers of the diamonds and the thread colors largely match the fabric colors, intensifying color and creating depth with texture. In strategic areas the thread colors contrast adding a luminescent quality to the piece. Created by Gloria Hanson, 40.5 by 41.5 inches.

Better Than TV

I've been blogging and quilting for some time now. This blog didn't start out to be about quilting really. Over time, as I got more interested in creating "fiberous" things the blog became more about that. Now I've become aware of the seemingly endless parade of other quilters who blog! They have become better than the evening paper, better than TV, and I've got my few I need to check into every day or so. It is very neighborly. Like city block of quilters I can stroll along and see who is doing what today.

Controversial Quilts

Mark Lipinski has got himself into trouble! Didn't you just know it was going happen? I guess he reproduced pictures of some quilts with images on them that a few people found objectionable and a Jo-Ann Fabrics in Hudson, Ohio pulled his magazine, Quilter's Home, from the shelves. I don't subscribe to or buy it regularly. When I do I enjoy it, but it sort of has the feel of a "woman's magazine" and I've never been a regular reader of that kind publication. However I applaud his courage for publishing things related to quilting that I know he thought might be controversial. I'd certainly buy it if I thought there were any copies left!

21st Century Comfort

On a Friday evening, feeling just a bit worn after a long and incredibly hectic work week it is comforting to sit with a cup of tea and my lap top and find beautiful things to look at on line. Here is one: A Field Journal: Natural Historie Notebook: Drawings I love contrast between the symetrical composition and the delicate illustrations. It is a delightful blog.

Update December 28, 2020:  It's been 11 years and A Field Journal is no longer.  This photographer is now on Instagram: still taking pretty pictures though. 

Best of Show: Saffron Spring

The quilt is breathtaking and it has a perfect name: Saffron Spring. When I read it I actually sniffed the air a bit! I had a moment of expecting to smell a blend of daffodils and saffron.
It was created by Barbara E. Lies. She describes it as a traditional medallion-style whole cloth quilt and, strictly speaking, it is. However, the pierced, nested square borders and the amazing machine quilting move it into a category beyond traditional.

The detail shows off the trapunto and the soft yellow couched cording that accents the center design. The fabric itself looks to be a randomly mottled yellow. The flowers may be stuffed with tinted batting? The center motif is also accented with embroidery.

Simple Squares

I love these simple squares of color by Mary E. Stoudt. This one is 50 x 34. It is just irregularly-sized pieces of color layered on khaki. It is dominated by the primaries: red. electric blue and a warmer, duller yellow. Grayed tones are mixed in also. The squares are of multiple sizes, raw-edged and appear to by just stitched down with some edges left loose adding dimension.

The second, by the same artist, is a bit smaller at 41 x 32. It is also composed of squares, roughly the same overall size and laid more regularly. Some of them seem to be behind the ground fabric with a square cut out over them, almost like reverse applique. These are great color studies. The emphasis is on the color. They also have really interesting texture.

The Obama Quilts

One of my favorite pattern names is Burgoyne Surrounded. Quilting has always been influenced by current events and that, in my opinion, was the unofficial theme for this show. Two quilts documenting and commemorating the election and all the hope and change that went with it.
The artists are Sherry Shine and Olga Butora. The Quilt is hand painted, drawn with charcoal and embroidered. It is machine quilted.
Sylvia Hernadez is the artist of the second work to reference Obama. The quilt patterns are from a book about Underground Railroad quilt patterns. The text is from Martin Luther King Jr's I have a Dream speech. I believe the face is hand embroidered.
This detail shows the face more clearly.

Quilt Fest of New Jersey V

Today I drove to Somerset for the New Jersey Quilt Fest. The show itself is a bit smaller than the PA one but it comes at a good time - not that there is a bad time for a quilt show!

I thought the quilts were especially wonderful this year. This particular event doesn't seem to have funded prizes associated with it. The Mid-Atlantic winners from a few weeks ago were featured and there were several really interesting challenges. As usual I took lots of pictures. My goal was to focus on technique and ideas today but of course sheer beauty will always catch my eye!

I literally saw quilt from a distance, not quite on the other side of the Convention Center floor. The color is brilliant. It looks like hand-dyed fabric. It is machine quilted with orange thread, maybe variegated. The design is original, an intricate log cabin-type geometric. Combined with the twisting and ray-ed quilting, it's like an op art painting. The artist is Kay Preston.

Dying for Color

This weekend, between snow storms, I drove to the suburbs to take a short class in dying wool with acids. I love to dye cottons and the idea of coloring protein-based fibers with acid dyes was always a bit intimidating to me. It sounded more complex and a bit dangerous!
It was so much fun. The instructor brought packets of Kool Aid and easter egg tint. Vinegar acted as the acid and in the end it was much easier, and neater, than dying cotton! The wool batting and wool yarns "eat up" the color in the water until it is clear again and the colors are far more intense than I thought they would be -- plus the wool smells like Black Cherry and Tropical Punch. I can't wait to do it again.