all the colors of karma

Unfurling the cephalopod  and spending time with that great black and whiteness in my peripheral vision has reminded me that I have been waiting to make something using only black and white fabrics. It started with the excitement and spontaneity of "Los Dados Encantada" and, of course, circles around to my dear lost friend Karma.

I've been gathering up various types of cloth for a while; the blackest blacks and the whitest whites and the blurry almosts in between. There were a LOT of failed dye adventures over the summer so this morning I rounded up a batch of those gray/green/muddy wretches, brewed up a serious black, and had a successful kitchen sink mini dyefest. The waste was scandalous!

I'm starting small - there are a few things I want to try by way of hand stitching - and I won't know what the design will be like until I start putting things on the wall tomorrow.

the cephalopod shuffles

Cleaned and oiled the machine; new needle all tested and tight and LO, comes Bloody Murphy and his law. Chuckling bugger.

After checking though half a dozen almost appropriate candidates for top thread, the color I finally chose ran out 20 minutes into the morning.

I've been agonizing over how and how much I wanted to stitch in the background gold and after dreaming it done (and quickly sketching it) I'll have to wait a few more days for that thread to be delivered and get on with it. Something Other, something Big and B&W is in the works but studio time is over for the day...off to the whine mines.

catsuit

And me with no stuffing in the cupboard! Off to Ho-Anns...I just remembered that there's a 20% discount today for having lived so long and still be fooling with fiber.

more later..

Now to cobble together a tail. He's got sass.

regaining footing

I've been feeling like home-made shit lately so I thought I'd start the day right by getting on with this WIP. It's going to have more machine quilting but I wanted to get a proper back on it and found the perfect thing in the closet, where all of the perfect things lurk. This piece is going to figure prominently on the website update..it makes a real splash I think.



Later we went to Goodwill to see what was new and cheap. I grabbed up this cotton sweater for half price and will be experimenting with hacking it into bunnies or something with legs and ears and this very cool lunch box which never saw a sandwich, cookie or carrot stick and is now stuffed with trimmings from my lavender  bush and stinking up the joint wickedly. Feeling better already.

DONE!!!

These two kindergarten quilts are now packed and will be on their way to NY in a hour or so as soon as the mobs at the PO die down.

 I heard that Martha Stewart put in an appearance at the show in Katonah on Saturday. I wonder what she would think about me dismembering a brand new top sheet from her best quality line (the white cloth) to make these two pieces? It's wonderful stuff, a micro fine twill is the best way I can describe it; super soft and weightier than sheets usually are. There's quite a bit more of it destined for the dyepot. And thanks to Melody for reminding me that I can dye indoors in the winter, I'll just have to pop my baggies into the warmed up oven.

Here are a few more pieces that went in the box on the way to several venues in the  Westchester/Fairfield vicinity over the next few weeks. Details when I know more.

A good day at the market..

I've just heard that "The Devil Helps Punch & Judy Get Serious" has been sold.

 Nice to know there are folk out there buying art that's not all hearts, flowers and kittens. I've got lots more dark twists in the cupboard.

are we Modern enough yet?

When I first saw "modern" quilting trending and making a splash I thought "so that's what I've been up to all this time" (since I chucked the notion of following a traditional pattern)

I have a feeling that if I dig back through the blog posts, I may not even find any references to this one. It was folded up in the very bottom of a bin and a pure pain to iron. I do recall that I stopped working on it because I ran out of black/dark cloth from a long ago foray to  MaryJos .

I hoarded scraps of those Timeless Treasures shells to the smallest shreds that you see here.

this one will be quilted over the weekend. Let's hope it holds up to the wash and dry in it's old age!

a little respite

I finally got around to covering up the schmutz that Jimmy got on the chest of this hoody the first day he wore it (and then wouldn't wear it again for the same reason) . I inherited it and always went around looking like I couldn't eat without a bib. It was a nasty slash of orange construction compound of some kind that was totally impervious to all attempts to remove it.

And this morning I'm bolting from the studio for a while and trekking over to Whole Foods. I stole an hour walking in the park yesterday - today I'll get my footwork, sunshine and retail therapy all at once, if I park waaaaay out on the lot at the store.

shifting stance for a better view

"Skull Canyon" by Meghan Wilbar

Nothing from me but here's some eye-candy. I see:

organic (away from the grid)

vistas (away from arm's length)

more of the rainbow 

(the in-between colors too)

What do you see?

"High on Pink" Joan Snyder

"Into Spring" Allison Stewart

"Memory Map Vt Summer"  Emily Miah Stewart

"January" by Patricia Carrigan

"Aired Out" Emily Mason

more production

The first snow carving quilt is finished and I have enough blocks like this one for two, maybe three more depending on how I lay them out and how large I make them. It's hours in the day that I don't have enough of.

The market presented itself unexpectedly and I have to take advantage of it. Still having fun balancing utility and fun design. I wish there was a safe and reliable way to incorporate my own hand dyed cloth in these but kids quilts have to be made to take a lot of wash, wear and tear and I know from personal experience that the hand dyed vintage cloth would be sad shreds before too long.

There will be time enough after the holiday for full-on art making. By then it will feel like pure luxury.

snow carving finished

I've put the last visible stitches in "snow carving". There will be some more construction stitching on the back to secure the damask to the batting - damask has a tendency to relax, stretch and get baggy if you let it. I'm thinking the next venture in bedworx will be on a field of white and natural muslin to relax the look a bit.
I did it with Summer Garden and this one and loved the outcome.

Can you see the patch I added to cover up the tiny pink stain? I'm going to wash and dry it again with a color catcher and  hope it's finished bleeding.

Saturday basket

This greeted me first thing this morning when I came into the studio for the laptop. I've had a vision for a much larger utility quilt based on this design.

I was not feeling too precise this morning so, instead of the very straight and exact hand quilting that I want inside the color fields, I picked up the frolic below that's been languishing in the hoops waiting for my mood to improve. It did.




Both sides of my brain appear to be in working order despite the ongoing caloric overindulgence. Come Monday I am checking into food prison somewhere after a lengthy purge.

more snow carving

This one just out of the dryer and I am so delighted with the results. Overall it's 39"x42" .  I'm going back over the squares of color and doing some hand quilting in white to anchor the backing damask. More pictures when it's done.

The blocks of color are eight to ten inches wide and I have another 20 of them ready to be set in white.

One tiny corner of one piece of hand dyed fabric bled a small pink shadow less than one by one half inch. I've paved it over with an inset of white and gone back over the patch retracing the machine stitching that was there. If there's a better way of dealing with bleeding color, let me know.

Thanksgiving day

For the first time in adult memory I did not cook and serve a turkey for my crew at home. Instead we drove up into the north Georgia mountains to meet my future daughter-in-law's family for the first time.

It was almost balmy out so we ate outside on the deck and later gathered around a campfire out front.

The food was terrific, the company and setting even better. It felt great to be welcomed into this happy tribe.

The extent of my duties for the day? Open a bottle of wine!

writing in the snow

I had forgotten how expressive free motion quilting can be given the right combination of surface, thread and a well set-up machine.  I didn't even waste time with a practice piece, just jumped right in and before I knew I was speaking in tongues with the aliens... again.

this is inspiring me to think again about whether and how to use machine quilting on the big works in progress that are so stalled.

wonky snow jewel

To keep the frenzy of production work in perspective, I got the blue horse (or is it a blue cat?) out of the UFO pile and hooped it up. No more vacillating about machine or hand stitching this one will take more time - time that I am going to make and effort to give it.

Meanwhile, back at the factory, things are going smoothly because I am still working with the colors/fabric that appeal to me the most (there are two more courses of three not showing ) . The backing for this quilt is a beautiful damask tablecloth - not vintage, because it has to hold up to use - but with an exquisite pattern.

Tomorrow I will give the Janome a new needle, a quick cleaning and work some equally wonky white feathers in around the color blocks. Don't I sound confident?  I am NOT.

time well spent

Like Nellie, I'm turning out wonky log cabin blocks to be turned quickly into functional, warm quilts. These are going to be set in a dazzling field of white, like flowers in the snow.
It's satisfying work and adds up quickly to something that will matter, one way or another.

more shopkeeping

I'll be working on stocking up the store this weekend.

I've been digging through the bins and there are treasures galore! The holidays are upon us, like it or not.

More later!

the joy of being useful

Here they are, fresh from the dryer, all warm and nicely cobbled from the experience.



To me there is nothing quite as satisfying as completing a project that is useful, well made and fun to look at. Some little person is going to drag one of these two blankies around with them as long as they can get away with it. It will give warmth and comfort for many  years.

In my present frame of mind, all other studio activity seems self-indulgent and rather pointless.  These two will be for sale and I have another started that will be donated to the Red Cross hurricane relief.

I sent two quilts to Japan last year. I figure I owe NY at least the same effort.

enough digression

and monkey business, I have three large pieces in varying stages of completion and need to come back from fooling around.

two of the three are troubling me and and I don't want to rush into the home stretch on the third.  All this futzing around with blankies and obtuse techniques..I know what's really going on - stonewalling with the works in progress is all.

spectacle

Staggering around the internet yesterday I came across the blog of Sheila Frampton Cooper with great images the quilt festival in  Houston. One of the winners in particular slayed me - "ElaTED" by Ted Storm. I remember a similar fascination with another one of her quilts, "Nocturnal Garden".

Then this blog post at Wonkyworld came into my radar and I finally did some research on "broderie perse"

Are you shocked that I would be absorbed by something so traditional? I have always loved chintz-the colors, the gloss, they all appeal to the Magpie brain.

The technique of clipping elements out of the whole cloth and reorganizing them to my own satisfaction and all that obsessively tiny stitching has grabbed me by the tiny attention span. I watched the video four times and still cannot get the buttonhole stitch..maybe if I watched it in the mirror.

I found a half napkin with my embroidered initials in the scrap basket. The reverse applique Easter eggs were raided from another UFO and the cranes clipped out of a scrap of chintz gifted to me some time ago..there were only about four whole birds left because I've been using up wings on other things. It's my day off and all I wanted to do was a little hand stitching.

wicked commerce

Sat down at big J this morning to get this top wrapped up into what I call a Kindergarten quilt..bigger than a baby blanket, smaller than a twin.  It was pure fun to free piece the top which has both commercial and hand dyed cottons, no vintage in this one. It's backed with a wonderful commercial print of dancing blue waters and I used one of the IKEA fleece as batting.

The design is a little wonky - at the last minute I wanted some length and added on that keyboard looking business, kinda like a counterpane (she tells herself). Waste nothing!

For about thirty seconds I thought about hand quilting it...then I remembered who I am making these for and why. These quilts have to take the licking, get washed, dried, and keep on kicking - and they do just that when I machine quilt them! I'll post this one for sale in the store for a while and then off it will go to NY when I get the word that the venue is back up and running after Sandy.

the (better) lost week

I know it's the worst kind of sin to wish away ones  days but this week has been so hard on everyone in so many ways.

 I would shout TGIF from the rooftops except that I have to work this weekend but just reminded myself that the weekend clients can be quite entertaining and I can further amuse myself by practicing my Downton Abbey accent on them with an effort to pare down the snobbery case by case. Yeah, I watched a few episodes and I'm hooked hard.

I have busied myself with this little gem of a crib quilt constructed from a tiny fraction of the commercial batik fat quarters I was recently blessed with. So much cloth! So little time!  There's a little more machine quilting to go here and then into the washer and dryer with it to get the full effect of how it will be when it's gifted away.

On the shopkeeper front, it's restocking time.

I've packed up half a dozen baggies with very small pieces culled from this huge pile of hand dyed treasures. Read more about Bites over at Random Acts of Dyeness.