fiberhart

THREE DAYS OF BLISS

I've been looking forward to this workshop with national artist Judith Trager for ages- and, it was a wonderfully relaxing three days. The best part was not the workshop itself, but the chance to get to know other members of the Utah Surface Design Group better. Hard to do that when you meet every other month for a couple of hours! And, best of all, there seems to be sufficient interest in forming a sub-group for art quilters. We're meeting in August to talk organization.

The group in the workshop was varied- it ran the gamut from those who are just getting into non-traditional quilting, to two members who have had work exhibited in Quilt National and the Bernina Fashion Show. We had a blast painting, printing, and just creating fabric, and then learning to cut it up to make pieced backgrounds which then get more printing and painting! I actually got one project mostly done during the workshop, then finished it off yesterday.

I learned one valuable lesson- never take the supply list at face value. I had all the supplies on the list, but when Judith told us what we'd be doing the second day, I figured I would have to drive home to raid my stash. A couple of classmates kindly offered to let me raid theirs, which was great. Between what I had, and what they added, I was able to construct five blocks, four of which were used to construct a larger background, and the last which was used for this project. Once the background was completed, I was stumped- I had no clue where this was going. Second lesson- I generally do better when I start with an idea. It may get changed during the process, but I have a general direction in mind. With this, I got as far as adding the diagonal line with black tulle, which held lots of minced scraps. It still wasn't speaking to me-- but when I got home, Shannon took one look at it and said that it reminded her of an underwater scene. So, yesterday I quilted the background, added the grass, stamped the crab and two seahorses,and beaded it. Not a masterpiece, but fun. And yes, it is supposed to be wonky. I plan to velcro it to a mat board, and then frame it.
While we worked on our pieces, Judith created a small leaf picture, sharing her processes with us along the way:

And, here she is with the finished piece---




Renee, who organized this workshop, was the lucky recipient of this small, signed work! Here she is with her own creation:



The classroom was small and crowded- not really set up for messy processes like painting and printing. But, we managed- here's a shot of other busy at work.

I had a table right up front, close to Judith. By the end of the third day, I decided that Lisa in the far corner got the best spot- she had more room to hold all her stuff, and didn't have to deal with people walking around her. However, I hope the next time we do this it's in a large room with cement floors!
One last day before it's back to work. Think Shannon and I will take Sadie out for a walk, hopefully someplace up higher and cooler. Then tonight it will be watching the grandkids do their fireworks, and finding a fireworks show somewhere around here. May your Fourth be a safe and happy one!!