in-progress floor cloth

Not done yet, but making good headway.

And now for something completely different....

Painted whole cloth quilt. 24"x31".

MS Arts Commission

A little late getting this posted, but I'm still excited about being approved for a grant through the MS Arts Commission a couple of weeks ago. The grant is for an apprentice to learn quilting. My apprentice is Marie Yonko (thanks for the recommendation Marilyn!) and she's doing a great job. At our first meeting we designed a medallion quilt and only used about a ream of graph paper doing it. Then we went shopping! Boy, did we go shopping! A trip to Stitch-n-Frame in Vicksburg, with a side jaunt to Diane Jordan's. $200 later we were ready to go. We intentionally designed the quilt to use a variety of techniques, some of which Marie has used before, some not. And because it's me, the first traditional block we used in the center is a 'variation' of the Bear's paw. Then we move onto some log cabin-ish trees and some HST mountains and some machine applique, and some other stuff as we build out with the borders. Each border will use a different technique and what we've already done looks great! We met this past Monday in the lobby of the Craft Center to work on it and Portico magazine was doing a photo shoot. She got a bunch of photos of us working and called back the next day to check the spelling on our names, so I'm hoping that means the pictures might actually show up in the magazine.

The ultimate goal is to have a finished quilt, from design to binding, in time for the Quilting Heritage Day on Sept. 18. Marie wil be doing all the work herself, including the machine quilting on her full-size quilt! We are usually in the lobby of the Craft Center on Wednesdays from about 10-noon if anyone wants to drop by and see her progress or watch us work. The periodic stops to talk to visitors gives us a little break now and then.

Other than that, I need to get myself in gear and get my submissions together by the end of the month to re-up as a member of the Craftsmen's Guild. There are at least 3 locals who I know are applying too. Good luck to all of you. Knowing your work, I have no doubt you'll all be juried in!

For anyone interested in the Quilting Heritage Day, we'll have a quilting frame set up at the center and you are all invited to come by and take a few stitches on a quilt. We'll also have exhibits and displays and demonstrations and vendors. It's like a county fair and we always have fun doing it.

For those of you who have asked about a surface design class, I'll be teaching a 3-hour introductory session over the Labor Day weekend, on Monday, Sep 6 from 9:00-noon. You can see the details at MSCrafts.org or call Sheri Cox at 601.856.7546 for more info and to sign up. If there is enough interest I can add a second class with different techniques.

And my oldest daughter made it to S. Korea safely and is well on her way to world domination! She seems to be settling in nicely and is incredibly excited about getting into the classroom, although she will be teaching elementary students rather than high school. If only everyone could have the same passion and excitement for their chosen profession.

Houston bound!

Houston, here I come! Well, here comes my quilt at any rate. Still not sure I'll be able to visit it since that's the weekend before the Congo Square festival in New Orleans. Speaking of Congo Square, we (Anne and I) got the official notification last week that we've been juried into all 3 New Orleans festivals that we applied for. Blues and BBQ in Oct, Congo Square in Nov and Treme' in Dec. We did well at the 2 we were juried into last year and we always have a ton of fun! The music at the festivals just makes it 100 times better than the money!

OK, back to the Houston quilt. A call for submissions went out a while back for NOLA: Still We Rise Again and I put it off and put it off submitting anything until a friend mentioned it in passing and I went back and read the guidelines. A full-blown design immediately popped into my head and off I went with it! Two days later I was overnighting the CD so it would get there on time. Nothing like last-minute scrambling. After all that, the notifications were 5 days late, but I was juried in so at this point I don't care! Marilyn Rose was also juried in with the Katrina quilt she made right after the storm with the NOAA hurricane maps on it.

A little about the inspiration of the design. The traditional jazz funerals in New Orleans have what are called second-lines, which follow the casket, the family and a brass band. The funeral procession to the burial is somber, with dirges being played. After the burial, the music is upbeat and faster in celebration of the life of the deceased. The second-line consists of friends and acquaintances and mere observers, who join in the parade. Umbrellas and handkerchiefs are often used by the second-liners. The call for submissions specified the theme as: A juried exhibit featuring quilts that celebrate the unwavering spirit of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, rebirth, renewal and the recovery of a city devastated five years ago by Hurricane Katrina. I can't think of anything that personifies the spirit of New Orleans more than the second-line. What most people consider one of the saddest times in their lives is instead celebrated as a new beginning. After the devastation of Katrina and now the bleak future of the coast and wetlands due to the oil guyser, many people across the country expected her residents to give up. I never expected any less from them than to throw a party.

I used commercial batiks for both the coastline and the Gulf, and black Kona for the silhouettes. Hand-beaded umbrellas, mixed Angelina fibers for the "oil slick" and free motion quilting on the whole thing. Finished size is 36"x40" and there is a beaded spiral (hurricane) just below MS on the coastline.

So without further ado, New Second Line.

What I'm working on...

Periodically, the topic of what we're currently working on comes up on the QuiltArt list so I'm jumping in. We have some shows coming up so I'm trying to get ahead, instead of behind, on producing some work. I have a few pieces in exhibits and galleries right now that can be used for the shows, but not nearly enough. The upcoming event I'm most excited about is the Blues and Barbecue festival in New Orleans later this year so I'm sort of stressing the Blues aspect. The funny thing is, as I'm thinking of the Blues stuff designs, I'm getting flooded with ideas for other projects too. I have little design lists jotted down and scattered around my studio so I can come back to them when the time is right to put fabric to batting for them.

All three of these pieces use Lesley Riley's TAP for the faces. The transfers work beautifully on the burlap. I love working on burlap and I'm a recent convert to TAP, which I now love also. I've never been able to successfully transfer to burlap in any way that satisfied me before now, but this stuff is perfect for it. I did a quick and dirty demo of it at the June gathering of MQA after getting a ton of questions about it when I showed one of the pieces that I used it on. Thank goodness I bought the huge pack when she put it on sale.

Honeyboy Edwards, batik, burlap, cotton and upholstery fabric. TAP transfer and stamping. "The Blues is not going to never die."

Muddy Waters, batik, burlap and cotton, with TAP transfer and stencil. "That Mississippi sound, that Delta sound, is in them old records."

Robert Johnson, batik, burlap, cotton and upholstery fabric. TAP transfer and stamping. "Don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand."

New from old

This is a patio table and chairs I got at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. Stripped and scrubbed the metal and glass, and then re-painted the whole thing in bright colors. I also painted the underside of the glass table top and now I have a bright cheery set to use on my deck! The paint is dimensional fabric paint and craft acrylics so it'll be easy to scrape off and re-paint whenever the mood strikes.

High Cotton

This is a piece I did yesterday. I wish all my quilts were this fast from original design idea to finished piece. Raw silk, painted, dyed, stamped, stencilled. I first painted the sky with thinned latex, then moved on to the cotton field. Procion and Dylon dye powders sifted onto the wet fabric, a torn strip of paper for a resist to make the furrows, then stamping green dye on with a nylon bath scrubbie. The cotton is white Scribbles fabric paint stamped with a piece of bubble wrap. Crayons, markers and some dye for the tree line then a little thread painting to define the trees. Mounted on an old window frame. The bottom two center panes are gone, but the rest of the panes of glass are intact, including a BB hole in one of them. Total size 36"x32". If this doesn't sell by then it will be going to the Juke Joint Festival with me in Clarksdale in April.

We're not dead!

Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, posted and texted asking about Mark and checking in on us. And the food! Oh my goodness, the FOOD!!! He's doing great and headed back to work tomorrow. My work has suffered a little, mostly from time constraints, but I'm getting back to it now, slowly but surely. Anne and I are doing the Juke Joint Fest in Clarksdale in April and I'm looking forward to having to produce some Blues-themed pieces for that. Lots of ideas, just have to drag out the fabrics and stuff and get started. I've done one very traditional quilt over the holidays as a commission and I was extremely pleased with the way it turned out. It's been a while since I quilted a full sized bed quilt on my machine but it went pretty smoothly once I got a top-stitch needle that wouldn't shred the thread. It was good practice for me too since I started piecing a bed quilt for us last night. All these years of quilting and I've never made one for our own bed! I have 2 completed batik tops but neither of them are quilted yet.

No photos this time, but I'm determined to post more regularly on the blog (and remember to take pictures when I finish something!) so maybe I'll have more interesting posts in the near future.

Treme' Gumbo Festival

Anne and I have a booth at the Treme' festival this weekend in New Orleans and I'm doing recycled, painted clothing. These are some of the pieces I did at the studio today. The pink with the purple design on it is a suit and the design on the pockets is repeated around the hemline. The denim is a skort and the big Fleur de Lis are all over the black blouse, not just on the front.

The khaki colored blouse is an absolutely gorgeous Liz Claiborne with metallic paints. All clothing is either linen or cotton or a blend of the two.

Good News/Bad News

My husband goes into triple bypass open heart surgery at noon today. That's the bad news. The good news is that we had no idea he had heart problems and it was caught during a doctor visit for a totally unrelated complaint.

We are very happy with his team of doctors and optimistic about the outcome. His biggest worry is if the Saints can go 11-0 tonight (he should be just about coming out of anesthesia for kick-off) and my biggest worry is how the hell I'm going to learn to cook without frying anything, or smothering everything in gravy, or tossing out the bacon grease as seasoning. 50 years of cooking style down the drain!

The best thing is knowing that I still literally make his heart skip a beat, even after 26 years of marriage, when I walk in the room. I saw the ekg that proves it!

It's a wrap!

The show is over, the quilts are back with their owners and the building is empty once again! All in all, it was a wonderful show and we had some incredible quilts on display. The workmanship just blew the judge away and renting the pipe and drape hanging system showcased the work beautifully. The last 2 of us were out of the building less than 2 hours after the show closed. We were amazed at how quickly and smoothly the take down went this year. Good thing too, since I got home Sunday evening with a 102 fever and I'm not sure I could have lasted much longer than that. We had an incredible response to the opportunity quilts and did very well with the quilt sale. Lots of good comments on the width of the aisles and the quilts not looking crowded. I think 150 was a good number for the exhibit and I'm glad we cut off entries at the actual cut-off date. The weather was warm and humid, with a couple of very light showers so using the patio area worked well also. At least people had a place to sit down for a few minutes. The Craft Center seemed pleased with the Saturday sales in the gallery and our general stewardship of the facilities. That's always a good thing, since we love having the show in their building and don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. If you'd like to see the building check it out at mscrafts.org It's absolutely gorgeous and really showed off the quilts with lots of natural light and open space.

When I was asked to take over as director of the show, I was scared to death to step in, and spent weeks feeling like I was in over my head, but I had a tremendous amount of help from everyone, especially a core group of committee chairmen who never once failed to offer suggestions, support, advice, opinions, and on a couple of occasions (well, maybe more than a couple) a shoulder to cry on or an ear for me to rant into. There is no way in this world that I would have been able to pull this off without the help of everyone involved, from the people who entered the quilts to hang, to Myra, Lucy and Ann T. who got us from point A to point B.

Again, a huge thank you to everyone involved in making this show such a success. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

More clothing

My stress level must be higher than I realized, since I'm still sewing clothing. This one is for my sweet Madeline, Ben and Kaylee's first born. She's the closest thing I have to a grandchild yet.

I started out with some vintage embroidered organza and went from there. I had one long thin piece of it with a finished edge and one shorter, wider piece with a selvage. The long piece with the lace edging became the bodice and bottom overlays and the sleeves, and the selvage piece became the crown of the bonnet. The original intention was to use a classic Vogue pattern, but I wound up only using the sleeve pattern and even re-drafted that to get what I wanted. #40 satin ribbon was pleated for the brim of the bonnet and candlelight satin ribbon used throughout the rest of the dress. White cotton lawn for the dress with the candlelight embroidered organza over it. Candlelight sparkle organza for the collar overlay. Fully lined with a white cotton slip.

Ben's family gown is "too fragile" to be used any more and Kaylee's family lost everything in the storm, so we're starting over with Madeline. I did the basic construction on the dress, Ben's mother is doing all the hand work on the lining and contributed the organza from her own mother's stash, and Kaylee's grandmother will embroider the name on the slip, so all of us will have had a hand in making it. Nick will be coming home from Okinawa around Christmas to be the godfather.

Back to my roots

Woke up this morning with an idea for a jacket made out of a vintage pulled threadwork linen tablecloth in my head. So of course, since I have nothing else to do I made it. It probably would have gone a bit faster if I'd actually made a pattern for it first, but I'm happy with it anyway. I hate I had to seam the center back, but there was no way to get the pulled thread design symmetrical without doing it. I might have made the arm scythe a bit deeper had I started with a sloper, but maybe not. Ignore my son's blue shirt under it. It didn't photograph well without the contrast and that's just what was closest at hand to use. Hey, I was just glad I got photos of it at all.

It's funny, but I was thinking earlier that even after all these years, sewing is my release and relaxation. After all the details and minutia of dealing with the quilt show stuff this past week I think my brain just needed a break. I have several quilts here that need to be worked on, but none of them struck my fancy so I went back to my own "comfort food" of sewing, which is clothing. It surprises me at times that I don't do more wearables because I love to sew clothing. Maybe I know myself well enough to know I don't want to over-do it and burn myself out on something I love.

Festivalgirl's shirt

My friend Chrissa's "Lily Flower (Fleur de Lis) Bouquet" shirt.

guild commission

This is the quilt I'm working on right now for the Craftsmen's guild. It will hang on the back of the piano to hide the "guts" of it when it's in use. Morrison Brothers Music donated the piano and I used colors to pick up the stained concrete floors in the guild hall. The background is fabric that was rust stained on the piano sound board in my front yard, so the striped effect of the rust is from the actual strings in a piano. The walking people are an adaptation of the Craftsmen's Guild of MS logo, but the crafts they are usually carrying have been replaced with musical instruments. The outlines are couched pearle cotton and each one took about 2 hours! That much handwork from someone who doesn't even sew buttons on by hand is pretty strange, but it seemed to be the best technique for the effect I wanted. The piece is about 54"x36" and will be bound in black. Some quilting with gold metallic along the rusted string lines is next. The walking people are a little more apparent in the real thing than they are in the picture.

Satchmo Art Show

Whooo hooo! Second place in the Satchmo show in New Orleans the other day! The show will be up through the end of August so maybe it will sell too. It was a real thrill to win, not only because it was a New Orleans show, in New Orleans, honoring a New Orleans icon, competing against New Orleans artists, but also because I won with a quilt! It's sometimes a struggle to get fiber and textiles accepted to art shows, although the biggest hurdle seems to be having a category to enter them in. I've never been rejected for an art show, (rejected for several quilt shows though) but there have been art shows I never entered because the work didn't fit into any of the categories.

The reception and show were at Crescent City Brewhouse on Decatur in the French Quarter and they did a nice job with the food and drink. Half a dozen of my local friends in NOLA showed up and we had a crowd at the table. Of course, I was off at the bar when they announced my name as a winner! My cousin went up and got the certificate and prize for me and I sort of hated missing out on hearing my name, but I'd have probably passed out from the excitement anyway and I had on a dress (YES! Me in a dress!) so that could have been embarrassing. When I got back to the table and they told me I'd won, I blew it off assuming they were referring to the fancy participation certificate. It took a minute to sink in that it was an actual prize with a ribbon and everything. I floated on air the rest of the night. Well, maybe longer than just the night, even though it was a long night.

My studio mate Anne had one of her shrines accepted also, and we were both down for the reception. It meant a lot to me that she was there to share the win with me. It has been a terrific learning experience for me to be working with another artist to bounce ideas off of and get good (honest!) feedback from, and I've grown as a result of working with her. Not only from her specific input, but just being exposed to the way she works and watching her decision-making as she creates her own art. The whole studio thing has worked out beautifully for all 3 of us I think. I'm producing more, and getting better exposure, and refining my work. I've accomplished as much in 6 months at the studio as I would have in 3 years still working for home, both in volume and quality of work. Even hanging the joint show at the Craft Center last month was a lot of fun once I decided on WTH I was going to do for it. Apparently, I picked the right thing though, since I sold 2 pieces right off the bat.

Without further ado, here is the piece. It now has a red ribbon hanging on it too!

more non-traditional surface design stuff

Of course, after posting the last list, more things come to mind. Maybe if I made a list before beginning to type it would be easier. As it is, I'm just winging it with whatever comes to mind after I start writing.

• Political signs - Those corrugated political signs make great work surfaces. They're sturdy, a good size to work with, free, and have a plastic surface that makes them reusable many times. You just have to remember to collect some after an election.
• Fingernail polish remover - Does good copier transfers and bleeds Sharpies to either remove the marks altogether or make them sort of watercolor-y looking.
• Alcohol - Plain rubbing alcohol also bleeds and blends Sharpies for a sort of tie-dye effect.
• Aloe Vera gel - Thickens inks and thins acrylics. This usually needs to be washed out after drying.
• Instant grits, mashed potato flakes and oatmeal - Mixed thick, spread on fabric and dried, these make good crackle textures for surface design.
• Vinegar - Wet fabric with vinegar, wrap around rusty items, cover with black plastic and you get rust stained fabric. Also removes odors if fabrics are washed in it.
• Bleach, bleach pens, Soft Scrub or Sunlight gel with bleach - Used to discharge fabrics. Each one works with different fabrics, but the experimenting is part of the fun! Always remember to neutralize the chlorine with Anti-Chlor or a similar product afterwards. Any fish tank chlorine remover (available at the grocery or dollar store) works to neutralize the fabric.
• Tea bags - The most common use is probably for tea-staining but you can also use wet tea bags or strong tea when rust staining to get a grey/black with the orange. Loose tea can kill some odors in fabrics too. Place the tea in a closed container with the fabric for a few days.
• Spaghetti, string, yarn, wire - Cooked spaghetti arranged on one of the aforementioned political signs (weigh it down so it dries perfectly flat) or string/yarn saturated with thinned Elmer's or thick wire make good rubbing plates, as does dimensional fabric paint just by making your shapes on the surface and letting them dry. They can all be mounted on a piece of cardboard or wood block to make stamps with.
• Bar soap - Slivers of left-over soap can be used for markings on fabric that will be washed. A bar of Irish Spring (get them free at the St Paddy's parade in New Orleans!) in a closed container will kill odors on fabric. Ivory soap can be used to spot clean delicate textiles.

This is not a comprehensive list by any means, and I'll continue to add things as I think of them. Again, please feel free to add any others you think of in the comments.

non-traditional and economical quilting supplies

Many of the supplies and tools that I use in my own work come from the grocery, hardware or office supply store. I'm a firm believer in never looking at only one way to use something. Please feel free to add any other suggestions for non-traditional supplies or uses in the comments. I'm always looking for easier/faster/better ways to do something.

• Freezer paper - Applique patterns and stencils. Most of us already know of and use this one.
• Glad Press-N-Seal - Quilting patterns and beading uses. Draw your quilting pattern on the wrap with a water-soluble marker, stick it to the quilt and you have a pattern to follow. You can also stick a piece of the wrap over a beading project. Just put the beads where you want them and stick the wrap over it. You can roll the wrap back a few inches at the time, attaching the beads as you go. Great for just rolling the work up with the beads already in place without losing your placement.
• Elmer's glue - More uses than I'll be able to remember. A thin line around an applique pattern drawn onto the back of the fabric before cutting keeps the edges from fraying, similar to Fray Chek, but can be washed out. Use instead of Wonder Under to attach appliques until they are stitched down, then wash it out and you won't have the change of hand you get with WU or the bleed-through you see with thinner fabrics. Make your own silk screens by coating a piece of fine tulle with glue in every area where you don't want the paint/dye to show. Use as a resist for dying and batik. A thin wash can preserve colored pencil work on fabric. Elmer's can pretty much be substituted for any use of gel medium or Modge Podge. Add paint or dye to Elmer's and it remains after the glue is washed out.
• Reynold's Release Non-Stick foil - NOTHING sticks to this stuff! It makes a great palette for paints, protective surface for fusibles, base layer for Elmer's glue silk screens, and "parking place" for adhesive labels.
• Bamboo skewers - As a pusher when sewing small pieces. No metal flying if you accidentally get it under the needle. Point turner. Paint mixer. I've even used them as hanging mechanisms and surface embellishments for small art quilts.
• Placemats - Bamboo placemats have a ton of bamboo sticks or slats in each one that can be used as hanging bars for art quilts and embellishments. Fabric placemats can be used as a base for art quilts. They come in a huge assortment of fabrics, weaves and colors. Check out kitchen towels and napkins too.
• Laser Level - Great for squaring up a large quilt without a long ruler or hanging a quilt straight.
• Carpenter's chalk line - Another way to square up a large quilt. Also makes straight quilting lines (I only ever use the yellow chalk, red and blue stain some fabrics.) I've seen the suggestion of replacing the chalk with Corn Starch but have never tried it.
• Sheet rock ruler - 4 foot long ruler that is WAY cheaper than a 4 foot long quilting ruler!
• Full-sheet adhesive labels - Useful as a carrier sheet to print fabric in your printer.
• Graph paper - Useful for designing or enlarging patterns.
• Spring hair clips - Used when hand-turning a binding. Cute decorated ones are 12/$1 at the dollar store or plain silver ones are 18/$5 at the quilt shop. You decide!
• Spray baste - Of course the intended use of sandwiching quilts, but I also use it for tacking stencils down, tacking patterns to paper/mylar to cut stencils, and to place applique pieces on the background before stitching.
• Make-up sponges - These make great stencil brushes.
• Salvation Army store - Clothing, curtains, tablecloths, wedding dresses, etc. have lots of fabric, buttons, and trims for next to nothing in cost. Check out the purses while you're there to use for leather scraps.
• Plain safety pins - Beyond the obvious uses, you can tie bright scraps of fabric to a handful of safety pins and use them as "look-at-me"s to mark places on your work that need to have thread tails buried, mending, repairs, or anything else that you might tend to forget.

I'm sure there is bunch of stuff that I've left off, but this is a good start on some of the things I use almost on a daily basis that are more cost effective and useful than having a studio full of specialized tools.

MQA June gathering

Another June gathering under our belts, and it seemed to go smoothly. It was nice to be a participant rather than in charge of anything this year and I enjoyed being able to visit and chat rather than have stuff to do. A few minor changes this year but nothing huge. They moved the meeting part to the auditorium, which didn't work for me at all considering my claustrophobia of sitting in a long row of seats surrounded by others,rather than having it in the big room. But they did have the vendors in the area where the stage in the big room usually is. I managed to get out of there with only a few yards of fabric, but that's not really surprising considering I'm buying much less commercial fabric nowadays. White pdf and muslin....that's another story....I was sort of surprised there was no coffee Saturday morning, but that was quickly corrected when Cheryl hunted down "the little maintenance guy" and had him make a pot.

We unveiled the "River Runs Through It" challenge at show and tell on Saturday afternoon and I was amazed at the variety of techniques and looks for the pieces. This photo by Myra Hester shows 7 of the 8 pieces (Linda McInnis has piece #1 but she didn't make it to the gathering....we'll see it at the quilt show in Sept though) all lined up in order. I am always happy and proud to see the results of the challenges.

Each participant was given a piece of muslin with 2 lines across the bottom that had to be water between the lines. The lines connected up from one piece to the next so there is a river running across the entire assembly of pieces. We used facings, rather than bindings, so there would be no breaks between the pieces. I'm very pleased with the final result.