Just Over the Edge

Made especially for a North Coast Artists Guild LIVING ON THE EDGE show, my quilted wallhanging "Just Over the Edge" uses the hues we see on a bright, sunny day as we gaze over land’s edge at the sand, the rocks, the harbor seals, the ocean, the breaking waves, and the sky. I hand-painted some of the fabrics; others were purchased hand-dyes in silk and cotton, as well as commercial fabrics, combined in a way that was just over the edge from what I’ve done in the past. The finishing is Sue Benner-inspired, “just over the edge” as well.

This small 20" x 18" piece is now on exhibit at the NCAG show -- which features 57 artists and 120 works of art -- at Gualala Arts Center, Gualala, California, up from January 6 - 29, 2012. At the Opening on Friday, I was pleased to see a First Place - Quilts ribbon hanging next to it. Painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, jewelry, digital art and other fine art predominate over the show's few quilts, but I was happy to hear the judge Donna Seager of the Seager Gray Gallery in San Rafael (Marin County, CA) tell me when she handed me my prize check that she had really liked both of my entries. Big Grin.
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Happy Campers

Eleven lucky women made the most of summer quilt camp at the Point Bonita YMCA in the Marin Headlands last week. If you only saw the bunks and showers, you'd say "masochistic" instead of "lucky," but once inside our workroom, it was a whole other story! We arrived Sunday afternoon and by Tuesday night I'd finished a quilt that I sent off to Art in the Redwoods (opening Friday in Gualala, CA). Called "Evolution of a Sea Ranch Studio," the piece depicts the journey my husband and I've been on since 2008--designing an addition, going through the homeowners' association's design review process, and then getting it built (still not done).

After that, I made pants for my grandson and completed a wildly colorful top out of Sylvia Einstein Circles of Hope blocks--letting go of perfectionism and just playing with the kind of wonky blocks and bold border.

Good food, good laughs, good camaraderie, new techniques shared . . . and inspiration abounded. I am so grateful for the time to create, to finish projects, to enjoy a break from the quotidian, and to connect with my sister quilters.

As we slid into the second half of the week, I decided to piece a Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos quilt, inspired by my new friend Leigh. After a trip to New Pieces for fabric, I pieced that queen-sized quilt in no time when a couple of other quilters took a break from their own projects one evening to act as my sous-seamstresses. In a day and a half, it was ready to sandwich and quilt--a project that would have taken a month and a half if I hadn't been away and singleminded! (Multi-tasking isn't all it's cracked up to be.)

Next, I took some blocks left over from my "Sea Ranch Through the Redwoods" quilt, made a couple more, and put them together as a top to donate to East Bay Heritage Quilters' outreach program, which donated over 1400 quilts last year to babies, children, and others in need. During that one week of camp, I think Deanna, EBHQ's lead philanthropist, must have finished 15 tops to donate!

I practiced "precision piecing" on a couple of blocks for a Christmas quilt, but had no patience for the process, especially while tuned into all the conversations in the workroom; so I moved on.

I took some of my recent handpainted fabric and made a small composition for a wallhanging, fusing and quilting it, so all I have left to do is to bury the thread tails and add the binding.

 

I can't wait for our next quilt camp in January, and then again next August! Look at the setting . . . by the lighthouse, with an evening view of a full moon over the Golden Gate Bridge.

And we had dark chocolate caramels.  Wow!

Wedding Quilt: Sage and Butter Tessellations

In quilting with an open heart, I am often blessed with spiritual rewards as I sew. With this quilt for my daughter Brenna and her soul mate, I worked with their color palette (sage green and buttery yellow) and their desires for a nature-inspired but not flowery quilt. As I pushed the color scheme (because I just had to), I felt that each new color brought a prayer for their union.  And so, the label reads:

"As you walk the labyrinth of life together, may your lives be as sacred as sage, as rich as butter, as sweet as chocolate and as grounded as the earth in all its seasons. May surprises fascinate you like an iris blooming in the meadow. May your days be bathed in Light and, while you sleep beneath this wedding quilt as each day flows into the next like a tessellation, may blessed dreams guide your paths and help you to be beautifully joined in love forever."

100" x 100" - Shown on a queen bed

Today My Bernina Buddy Was Awesome (Again)

I needed help with designing the big quilt label I want to machine embroider and attach to the big wedding quilt I just made as a special gift. After two days trying to get the design ready on my V6 Bernina software, I stopped in to see Donna at The Cotton Patch today and we sat down and worked on it together for maybe 30 to 40 minutes.  What a doll!  I think it's almost ready to go sew!

My Mentor, Hollis Chatelain, Is Coming Soon

Hollis Chatelain is coming to teach a 2-day quilt design workshop and to lecture in Gualala (Mendocino County), CA, followed by a 5-day Masters' Series #10 workshop at my Orinda, CA home in September 2011. Check this link to sign up for the few remaining openings in the Gualala workshop, or contact me for more info: Hollis Chatelain Quilt Line Design Workshop at Gualala Arts.  For more information on Hollis, an internationally acclaimed textile artist, see HollisArt.com.


I have been a Hollis fan for over ten years and cannot recommend her highly enough!  

This quilt -- "Dualism Deconstructed" --  that I designed as "homework" for my last workshop with her has just been juried into Images 2011, the New England Quilt Museum art quilt exhibit that is part of the Lowell Quilt Festival to be held in Massachusetts in August.

Quilt of Valor

I made this quilt to donate to a wonderful nationwide program called Quilts of Valor. Along with many others from my fellow Pacific Piecemakers Quilt Quild members, it will be delivered to a wounded veteran recovering at the Palo Alto Veterans' Hospital. It's based on a block sometimes called "Sweet Sara" (by Laura Nownes, I think).  If you look at the detail photo, you can make out the border quilting which I did free motion--I really like how that turned out (except at the stop and start points -- oh, well). And you can also see the hand-stitched perle cotton red star, like others scattered throughout the quilt. The user will be able to see those up close.

To fit the theme of a guild challenge show that opened Friday night at Gualala Arts, in Gualala, CA, I named the quilt "Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue." On the pedestal is a patriotic pillowcase, using fabrics mostly from the back of the quilt, which have the pledge of allegiance and LAND OF LIBERTY printed on them. We send the quilts in pillowcases or tote bags to protect the quilts and also for the service men and women's use.  I send this quilt with love, gratitude, and prayers.

"Flight of Fancy"

My Just finished art quilt:

This small quilt will be on exhibit along with my Quilt of Valor donation quilt at "Rhapsody in Hue," the 2011 Pacific Piecemakers Quilt Guild challenge show opening at Gualala Arts on April 1, up through May 1.  All but the woven orange are my hand painted silks and cotton fabrics. With hand embroidery and hand and machine quilting and the addition of emptied and painted teabags brought home from a fancy destination wedding hotel, my inner child had fun making this one!