Just browsing through my drafts, and found that I wrote this and never posted it in October of 2011. It's still not quilted - maybe it will take less than four-and-a-half years to achieve that!
First, here's the photo that inspired me. I'm not sure it's the best example of negative space, but I was inspired. The source is: http://narrativetangotoursblog.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/foto-rutas-top-5-tips-for-taking-great-tango-photography/#comment-12 or http://tinyurl.com/mjj6d27 . I left a request for permission, but didn't hear anything either way . . . thanks to them for not quashing my creativity. I found too late that I needed to lighten up the picture very much to get the detail I wanted. But I'm still happy with the result.

 And here's my interpretation of the photo. I think I will change his foot, again; then I have to decide how to quilt it. There won't be a border, and her skirt will go off the edge. And looking at the picture, I expect I'll cut the other three sides close. It's hand appliqued, though not super-fine. The hat is wool with ink, sleeves are black Radiance, his leg is discharged (unsuccessfully) cotton sateen, her arms are hand-dyed and inked, and her skirt is velvet/een. Oh, her hair is a cotton quilt fabric that I was thrilled to find in my stash.

Thanks for looking, and comments are most welcome! - Lisa

A Good Week

Last week was a good week. Finished the layout on the ten-year-old quilt and started assembling the top (more below.)

The progress on the Kickstarter campaign, or experiment, has been gratifying - I'm halfway there and have 11 days to go. So, if you can, please use this as an opportunity to add to your stash of dyed or PFD fabrics, or schedule a one-on-one class. And if you can't, can you share the link? I'm going to use the funds for coaching to make my business better. I love what I do - the making, selling and teaching - and really want to keep doing it as long as possible. I need to do it better. Do I deserve the support I've already gotten? It has been humbling to have so many folks give me such a vote of confidence. Deserve - no, not just as a matter of begging. But the other way to look at it is as a 'sales drive' with the proceeds earmarked for this specific project. So I hope you can "shop-pledge" through Kickstarter before Friday, August 8.

My sister came to visit for a couple days (so I actually cleaned) and we went to the Quilt Odyssey show in Hershey. I took a few photos with my phone:

This quilt is made with Radiance, and the sheen is wonderful. And of course the design and execution are awesome. Margaret Soloman Gunn made this.
Also saw this quilt by Lee Ann Paylor - nice to see an online friend's work in person.

And - almost forgot! My Pythagorean Prism quilt (made of hand-dyed and commercial Radiance, and it's a reward on Kickstarter) will be part of the BAQS exhibit at Chatanooga! Here's a detail:

Thanks for looking - and sharing and clicking and re-posting!

New this week

Got the other halves of these two samples in the mail yesterday. They're for a wedding dress, or gown may be a better term. The upper set is screened, painted and stamped paint, the lower set is dye with the same techniques. In this case wash-fast acid dye; both samples are on silk organza. I love the creative ideas Kathryn and her brides come up with!

The second picture shows some of the blocks for a quilt I'm working on. Started working on these 10 years+ ago, and they finally are all done - 257 of them. I did a test drive of the layout a few months or more ago, so when I did the layout this week, it only took a couple hours to fiddle with it. You can see some paper ID tags sticking off the corners. So now I'm assembling the top - four blocks in all 16 rows are joined. And I'm chaining the whole thing, unless it gets massively unwieldy, but I know that all the blocks, rows and columns are in the correct position that way. And I'm going to quilt it on the household machine, so I'd better get used to unwieldy!

The third picture shows the detail of another piece dyed with vat dyes - first in a purple bath, then printed with thickened grey dye. You need to enlarge it to see the coppery halo around the grey printing. I like it!

Now I had another idea to try . . . once I finish housework, anyway.

My ‘300 Words’ Essay–Update

Almost two years ago, in July, 2012, I submitted an essay to Quilters’ Newsletter for their 300 Words About Quilting column. It was published in the February/March 2013 issue of the magazine, available here. At the time I wrote, I  had made 172 blocks, with 84 to go. Now I have just 27 to go, and all of them are prepared. I’ve also done an initial layout, but that will doubtless change. I’m really excited! I’ve posted the essay on my pages, at right, along with a picture of the finished blocks. I’m really excited! (Said that before? Too bad!)

Can you mail an elephant?

That was the subject line of an email I sent when I needed to get this quilt back. It's part of "Celebrate the Day with Quilts - An Art Quilt Challenge" by Shannon Shirley. My quilt is one of 72 in the book - six quilts per month celebrating some of the well- and lesser-known holidays on the calendar. It was included at Quiltfest Destination Savannah last month, and will also hang at The NQA show in Columbus, OH, and the PA National Quilt Exposition in September. For more dates see Once in a Rabbit Moon.

Home again, and some news

Last night I spoke at the meeting of the Berry Basket Quilters in Medford, NJ. My usual speaking engagement is a trunk show, starting with some early quilts, and ending with the latest quilt in the works, with lots of hand-dyed fabric in between. It was fun, because I can always talk dyeing!

My friend Karin is in the guild, and I stayed the night with her, and we talked quilting, fabric and dyeing most of the time we were awake. I also spoke about my business and the recent craft show experience. One goal with a real deadline was applying for state-wide juried status with the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. So, the deadline is tomorrow, November 15, and I got my submission done today! And, by the way, I have already been juried at the Lehigh Valley Chapter level.
One of the quilts I am submitting for jurying is not currently in my hands. It is with Shannon Shirley, and it is going to be included in an upcoming book to be published by Schiffer Publishing. But if I am selected for the jurying session (no guarantees) I'll be able to get the quilt here in time. And the really cool part is that Shannon told me it will be included in the exhibit at the upcoming Quiltfest Destination Savannah in the end of March, 2014. Keep your eyes open for it, and I'll post a picture of it on this site when the exhibit is unveiled.

Thinking about Intent

This is probably my first completed art quilt.

It was made for a guild challenge in 2002, and won a prize for best original design, I think. The challenge, as you may guess, was to work with the Shoo-Fly pattern. I had also learned a little by that point about transparency and wanted to try using that in a quilt. I’m still proud of it – I accomplished what I set out to do: finish a quilt for the challenge – and I think it exceeded my expectations once I saw it all together.

Some months later I realized that the resulting quilt was also a piece of mourning for the events of September, 2001. The colors are somber and the quilting made me think of ashes falling. Not part of the intent, and the quilt stands alone fine. Is it art? Is it better for having a title? I don’t know, but I still like and am proud of the quilt. Thanks for looking – Lisa

A show catalog in the mail

I went to the PO box today, hoping to pick up a check. That wasn’t there, but I got something even better – a catalog for a solo show by Kate Stiassni at The White Gallery. (She has pictures of most of the quilts on her Portfolio page.) When I dye solid fabrics, it almost always is for her. Her show continues until January 27. Yay, Kate!

Deadlines are past

Well, I did my usual last-minute work last week, and got work submitted before the deadline – barely. One was a submission of photos of my quilts for inclusion in Mary Kerr’s upcoming book about art quilts. Of course, I didn’t pay for professional photography, and when I realized I hadn’t taken sufficiently high resolution pictures, my photoflood bulb burned out. And my dog ate my homework.

The second project was a little more understandable, but still somewhat Mickey-Mouse’d. (Oooo, I hope the denizens of Orlando and Anaheim aren’t offended.) Anyway, I have been working on a piece of fabric for about 8 months, contemplating how to add a layer of black over the snow-dyed cloth. My sample piece includes:

• black paint
• black and clear deColourant
• black and clear Shiva Paintstiks
• black and various other very dark colors of Tsukineko ink
• deep navy vat dye
• metallic paint and ink
• black stitching

About 10 days ago I finally hit on using a potato dextrin resist and thickened dye.  Then  I washed it out and used thickened bleach over a new application of dextrin. Here’s a picture:

I really, really like the look and want to do both layers again to a large piece of cloth. Problem is I didn’t have time to do that to the piece of fabric for the quilt submission. So that can wait for a future piece. All that said, I do like the look of the final cloth for the quilt. Without more ado, here’s a picture of the quilt, and a detail:

 

 

 

 

 

I’m happy with the result, and now I have to wait to see if it is accepted in the Deep Spaces exhibit. Fingers and toes are crossed!

Wrong-color quilt

I was reading Kay Sorensen's blog post on color: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-have-ocd-think-color.html and had to post these pictures:

Is this wrong? I still like it. Below is  a picture of it under construction converted to black and white. That really shows how important value is!

 Kay, I do know what you're talking about, but from both sides. When I sell Tsukineko ink in the booth at shows, I always arrange them from neutrals to - browns - orange - yellow - green - blue - purple - red. Hubby is bothered that this is NOT Roy - Gee - Biv, the way he learned in science class.

Bad brakes and the happy dance!

OK, the day didn’t start out quite as planned. Had to wait for the UPS driver so I could sign for a package. Then it was off to the show in Oaks. Well, the pesky idiot light on the dashboard wouldn’t go out – it was the brake light. Not something to ignore!  Problem is, the van was completely loaded with fabric and fixtures. Exquisitely loaded, if I may brag on hubby. So, back home, load everything into the pickup truck, with the fabric on the bottom, and follow the van to the garage. Shout-out to Scootie’s garage – Ken came back after his dinner to replace the ruptured brake line(s). Get that man a pickle! Finally, two hours after we first set out, we headed down to the show.

Then things started to improve. After beginning to unload, a spot at the door opened up, and we grabbed it. Unloading proceeded well, and at least it’s a beautiful day – no rain on the goodies. Everything came into the booth, and DH took a break. So, en route to the restroom, I decided to check out some of the quilts. There was a list of winners there and – shriek – I won!!!! Here’s a picture:

That’s it for tonight – very pleased about the quilt, AND that it wasn’t raining, AND that we were only blocks from home, going slowly in the van. See you at the show!

Quilt for Lancaster almost done

Hi - just wanted to post a picture of the quilt detail showing the great colors that resulted. All that remains is to finish the binding. After the Christmas projects are done, no doubt.

Book is now available!

The long-awaited day is finally here! Jane Townswick's new book, Artful Applique II, is now in print, and for sale on my website. It's very exciting to see my work in the book, including on the 'Tools & Supplies' page, plus the back cover. That's because of Jane's great design. All but one of the design chapters are illustrated with work by her students; my Crown Imperial happened to be the one chosen. But the shape of it is so neat that it appears in the other locations too! Here's a link to Amazon's 'Zoom' page; my block is the furthest to the right, on the top row; the one in the middle row on the right below. The background I dyed, and the stamens are discharged black overdyed with fuchsia; doubtless there are other fabrics in the block that I dyed. And finally, here's a picture of my finished quilt:
Thanks for looking!