Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

the efforts of others

I love seeing what other artists make of the cloth that they buy from me.
Made for one of Jude's online classes,
 Helen was kind enough to send this.

It always amazes me when my cloth is seen through other eyes and and felt through other fingers, to see what's made of it after I have thrown up my hands at a loss - yes, dear customers, you only get the fabrics after I am well and truly finished with them. If I had hours to waste I could backtrack and give you the provenance of almost all this fabric...hours!   

If you've made something, anything, with fabric purchased at Random Acts of Dyeness, send me a picture and I'll show the world, with your permission of course!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

time constraints

After working the weekend and using yesterday to catch up on errands, I woke up this morning fully convinced it was Sunday, fell back on my face and wasted half the morning of what's really my Monday. Ugh.

To compensate for the disjoint in time, I set about building my friend's Pink quilt with wild abandon. Ripping, ironing and piecing without a measuring tape or pattern in mind is very freeing.  Once the top is finished I plan on some very organic machine quilting - more fun for me and a good warming up for working on the Big One.

Monday, March 28, 2011

stalling



 one of many neocolor sketches from last night. it's still on my mind.









I'm still thinking about how I want to proceed with the new piece on the wall. I like it for it's simplicity and vigor and don't want to screw it up, bog it down with a technical misstep.




I gave fleeting thought to finishing it like "Beach" - only two layers, aside from the design elements and all hand stitched. It was finished as a functional summer quilt, one of my "flings' and I spent most of last summer stitching on it. The pale blue in this one is cotton lawn, the blue in the one on the wall is silk chiffon. Is the energy and immediacy of the new design cancelled by miles and hours of my very small Kantha stitching?

It feels that way to me.  I am more inclined to layer it over a light batting and machine stitch it, the way it did with "Innocent Bystanders" or "Roadkill"

So the question, dear readers, is machine or hand stitching..and why?

detail from Roadkill

Friday, March 25, 2011

new on the wall





Just something to think over in my sleep.

this is big, 4x8 feet (hear it crack in the wind!)




I met my friend Jan for lunch at our traditional place los Hermanos Taqueria in Lilburn where the California Quesadilla is  so reliably delicious I don't know why we bother with the menu.
One of Jan's sons, Ryan,  has been recruited to be on the Taiwanese version of American Idol!
Does anyone know how to access Taiwanese TV via the internet?