Singular Sensations

Take a look at the Art Quilt Association website, you can see the seven juror choices for the exhibition that will be at Pacific International Quilt Festival next month.  'Reaping the Whirlwind' is in very good company!

All this has me thinking about entering the quilt in other shows- Cincinnati, maybe?  Or maybe the big one- Houston in 2011??

I'll be working to finish my Interpret This piece tomorrow and Saturday, but lots to think about while I'm quilting!

Over The Moon!!

  Reap the Whirlwind, 2010 

By Beverly Hart

Can I just say I am excited beyond belief??  Not only did my wholecloth pieced Reap the Whirlwind get juried into AQuA's special exhibit at PIQF, the juror chose it for the image on the postcard!!  I've been doing a happy dance since last night when I found out, I'm surprised I slept at all!

AQuA is a fairly large group, with lots of very talented artists.  To have my piece chosen for the card is absolutely incredible to me.

Here's a detail shot-

It rather boggles my mind that the quilting is what makes this piece, and I actually enjoyed doing it.  Two years ago, I'd have been stressed beyond belief.  Just goes to show, it's all about the practice, practice, practice.  That, and making all those pieces for the crap quota.

It has  been a GOOD weekend on the quilt front!  I got started on the quilting for my IT! piece, and get this news!

Rusting the Silk

The raw silk I discharged in the thiox bath last weekend has been stewing with vinegar and rusty stuff since Sunday.  Tonight I decided it had sat long enough with the rust, but it needed something else.  I made a half-strength batch of tannin, and poured it over, mushing the fabric to get it distributed.  I'll let it sit until tomorrow- then rinse and wash.  Can't wait to see how this turns out.

I got the bottom half of the wind turbines quilt done last night.  I also did some auditioning of quilting designs for the top, which will be different.  I think I know what I want, I just hope I can pull it off.  It will mean the bottom will be much more densely quilted than the top, so I hope I don't have hanging problems because of it.

Half the work week done, half to finish.  You know it has not been a good week when you are ready for it to be done at 10 am on Monday.

Color!!

This is what I spent the better part of last Friday dyeing while I was in Grand Junction---

It's an exercise I took out of Linda Knutson's book, Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers.  The squares along the outside of the triangle are mixtures of the two colors on the ends, and the squares in the middle are mixtures of all three primaries.  I did these in small containers and my fabric couldn't lie flat- hence, the interesting markings on them.  You still get the sense of color movement, however- and I can reproduce any one of these, since the formulas are percentages of each color, and measured by weight instead of volume.

Yes, I am missing the single color red (fuschia) in the bottom left corner.  I accidentally dyed two blues.  But I still have fabric, so I'll get it dyed this weekend.  I think I am going to sew these onto a piece of muslin- it is a fantastic reference, and was well worth the time and effort.

I'm also working on a wholecloth quilt, hoping to get it done for an exhibition with AQuA at PIQF.  The front is done, and I was looking for backs in my stash after I got home from work.  One piece I thought would work turned out to be just a little too small, so I'm going to piece the back.

These are value gradations I did years ago using Kona cotton and only fat eighths.  Can't think of a better use for them, beats having them sit in the basket in the closet!  As for the front, here's a sneak peek--

I'm doing something else I've never done before- trapunto.  I got the first batting stitched on and cut away last night.  If it works like I hope, I think it will be very effective.

So now I'm off to cut off the serging on all those fat eighths, so I can piece them tomorrow night.  That is mindless sewing I can manage after a ten hour day.  The actual quilting won't start until Friday morning, when I'm at my freshest.  More to come as I get that done!

Screenprinting and More

I got all the fabric I printed washed out this morning.  For the most part, I'm happy with the results.  On one piece the background seemed to wash out for reasons I can't fathom. Other than that, the fabric came out as I was hoping.

I love this deconstructed screenprint I made with a dish drainer Sandra Hoefner had.  I already have a use in mind for this fabric!

It was so hot and dry in Grand Junction that our screens dried very quickly after we put them outside.  This one had to sit with the clear print paste on it for ten minutes or so before I started getting any dye on the fabric.

Here's two more pulls from the same screen, and another image that I got from Jan Warren.  She made a flour paste resist on her screen, then drew into it.  I absolutely love the image!

I also just used some of my thermofax screens with thickened dye.  This one came out nice.  I'd tried to deconstruct an image of leaves, but it barely shows up- looks more like part of the original dye job.

This is another one I did with one of my thermofaxes.

I plan to add more layers with this one, so I'm actually glad the print lightened quite a bit- like a shadow.

This is the one the background washed out of.  Originally this really was a medium light shade of blue!  I did a deconstructed screenprint of a large stamp I made, then went over it with bubble wrap and red thickened dye.  Definitely not my best piece.

I did a couple of other things while I was there.  I took this rusty piece, wrinkled it up on a pan, and shredded steel wool over it and in some folds. 

 I left that for a couple of days, and took it to Junction with me.  Then Thursday night I dumped a cup of tannin water over it, and left that overnight.  I took it with me to Jane's studio Friday and left it outside to dry.  Then I washed it at Susan't Friday night- I couldn't wait to see it, it looked fascinating after I dumped the tannin on it.  This is what I ended up with!

I think it is drop dead gorgeous!  Can't wait to do more rusting while the weather is hot!

I now have two projects I have to get quilted and done by the end of August.  One is ready for the needle, the other is still in the design stage.  So I will be busy, no more trips planned.  And somewhere in there I also have to find time to work on a tee shirt quilt for a son- I want it done before Christmas!

I haven't disappeared. . .

I've just been in Grand Junction for a couple of days, playing with other AQuA members.  I dyed a 66 piece set of color samples, and printed fabric- some deconstructed screenprinting, some just screenprinting.  And I finished that large rust dyed piece of fabric- it turned out awesome!

I never seem to remember to take pictures when all the action is going on.  We had about ten women, most of whom had dyed before.  But Beth (in this picture), never had- and she left with some wonderful fabric.

This table has the color samples it took me all day to complete- 4 inch squares.  Once I get them mounted on muslin or posterboard or something, I will have an invaluable color reference.  Ironing these will be part of the work today.

That shelving unit behind hold the most wonderful rusty objects- Jane has lots of them.

So now I am cleaning up in the studio and washing out the printed fabric after steaming it last night.  Pictures will follow later, but now there is work to be done!

Sewing for me, Part 2

I got another top done today- a lightweight jacket out of the cotton-linen I dyed and discharged.  I think I'll enjoy wearing this one!

It still needs to be ironed- I gave it a wash and rinse in Milsoft, since it was feeling pretty stiff.  That helped quite a bit.  All I have left to do is sew on three buttons!

I've also been working on a small piece from the fabric I rusted a couple of weeks ago.  I did some quilting, which was a bear- no matter what needle I used, it went THUNK.  I managed to get the bit quilted on the top, although I shredded some thread in the process.  I don't think I will use Kona muslin to rust again- it is just too finely woven to needle easily, and then you add the rust and it's a nightmare.  Fortunately, this one will be mounted on foam core and matted- so my back will not be inspected by the quilt police!

I'm going to do a bit more quilting after the hand work is done.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to quilt the light colored background.

I'm leaving Thursday for Grand Junction again for a couple of days.  No teaching this time, just a couple of play days at the Fabric Arts Studio with other AQuA members.  I'm hoping to dye some color samples to test out working from weight instead of volume with the dyes, and do some deconstructed screen printing.  And, I'd like to do some soy wax batik.  That should keep me busy for a couple of days!

More from Grand Junction

We took a bit of a break the second afternoon to do some 'show and tell.'  Since we did overdyeing, everyone had to wash out fabric we'd done the first day in preparation for the second.  Some washed out more than the fat quarters for overdyeing- it was so much fun to see how everyone's fabric turned out.

Terri  shows off one of her parfaits.  She also had a talent for making fabric that reminded me of the tie dyes of my teenage years!

Another Terri with what I think is a parfait, also.  Do you see the three foxes that everyone in the group saw?

Mary got some lovely results with different ways of manipulating the fabric- larger pieces, too.

Susan, my hostess, is hiding behind her fabric.  I love what she got with grape and yellow!

I can't remember who did this gorgeous piece- Jeannette is getting a closeup look.

Gjeneve not only dyed fabric, she was throwing thread and other snippets into the dyepots.

I think Jan got this stunning piece of fabric.  It really looked like an adobe wall, and that orange just glows.

Christie did some wonderful large pieces of fabric.  She got markings on this one that were really unusual.

This is just a sampling of what was created the first day- everyone was exhausted, but happy with what they created.  I don't have any pictures of Carole's fabric, but she posted a lot on her blog- here's the link. 

As for the dyers- Betsy definitely got the prize for most colorful dyer at the end of the day!!

What better way to spend a couple of days!!

Preparations

I have been busily running around and getting myself organized to leave Wednesday afternoon for Grand Junction.  I'm really looking forward to spending two days playing with dyes and fabric with AQuA members!  Saturday I'll get to attend the monthly meeting, then leave to come home.  It should be a nice respite from work and all that.

I do have one piece of fabric marinating in the dyepot today.  I was so fascinated with the results I got with the red and green piece, I had to try it with another set of complements- so I did turquoise and orange, which I toned slightly before adding it.  We'll see, just like the red/green pot, the dye liquid looks like mud.

I have finally made the last revision to my handout, and have most of the equipment I need for the dyes.  I've started my packing list.  One day into it, and I'm thinking the best 'take-away' I got from Laura Cater-Woods was the idea to write down every night what you need to finish the next day.  Then you don't need to worry about it any more, since it's written down!  My memory is such Swiss cheese any more, I know I've remembered something important in the middle of the night, only to forget it again in the morning.  We'll see if keeping this up improves my sleep!

I'm enjoying a glass of wine as I write this.  In a bit I think I will go downstairs (to the printers), print off my last revision, and put all the handouts in their baggies while I watch another episode of Upstairs, Downstairs.  That series is turning out to be every bit as addictive as I knew it would be.

Tomorrow, we'll see how the turquoise/orange piece turned out.  Til tomorrow--

CQC and AQuA

I hung out in Grand Junction on Saturday after my workshop, mainly so I could attend a meeting of the statewide guild in Colorado- Colorado Quilt Council, and a meeting of the Art Quilt Association, the art quilt group in Grand Junction that I joined last spring.

The reason for attending CQC was to hear Barbara Olson from Billings. Unfortunately, the business part of the meeting took so long that we only got to hear about twenty minutes of her talk before we had to leave for the afternoon meeting. I did get a closeup look at a couple of her quilts- they were pretty amazing. This statewide guild has lots of members- I about fell off my chair when the treasurer gave her report. The group has a six figure bank balance, and I'm told that the figure doesn't include their CD's!!

The AQuA meeting was mainly for members to bring quilts for a challenge called Artifacts. Eighteen quilts were brought to be juried by Carol Shinn, who was doing a two day workshop for the group on Sunday and Monday.

Once all the quilts had been shown, they were on the floor where we could walk around and choose a member's choice award. I had a hard time, there were some well thought out and executed pieces. Here's the group, milling around to choose-



There was also a lively discussion about the future direction of the group- shows, workshops- the same kinds of issues we're struggling with in the surface design group in Salt Lake. AQuA has done a good job of finding venues for their art- this group will be hung at PIQF in California this fall.

I may not make more than three or four meetings a year, but I really enjoyed this group. They are articulate, encouraging, and have several members who consistently produce stellar art. I'm hoping to complete at least one piece for a show at Mesa Verde next year- Susan told me a number of pieces sold, always a nice thing! That would be next on my list of "to do", after the small pieces due at USDG in September.