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Reflections, Eli and the whooshing sound of time disappearing

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

I am delighted to report that I will have a quilt in this year’s Dinner@8 exhibit, Reflections, which will debut at International Quilt Festival, Houston, in October 2014. I’m honored and humbled to be in such company as the other artists included, many of whom I know and am happy to call friend.

Eli, Cross Country 2014 (c) SarahAnnSmith.com

Eli, Cross Country 2014
(c) SarahAnnSmith.com

This year’s challenge was to make a 24″ wide by 60″ long art quilt to the theme of Reflections.  Curators Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison wrote:

A mirror image. A response to a thought or word. A memory. What glints back at us as we gaze upon the water. The throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.  What will your reflection reveal about you?

For more information, visit their website, here.

For once in my life, I decided not to be literal.  Instead I thought about our sons.  Four years ago, for one of these exhibits, I made a portrait of Joshua playing his guitar.  Now, at the same age, I wanted to portray Eli, who is an honor student and star athlete.  Though his “first” sport is wrestling, it doesn’t really play well with a long and narrow format!  BUT, running does.  So I chose cross country season!

For my entry, I wrote something along these lines:  When I reflect on how fast time has passed by, I am nearly paralyzed.  Like me, Eli prefers to “Do,” not ponder.   At sixteen, he is literally and figuratively running headlong into his future.

For this piece I dyed the red fabrics (same batch as those used for the amaryllis quilt–clever how I managed that one, eh?) and some of the ground and foliage fabrics.  The remainder are commercial batiks.  As usual, I have quilted it very closely.  I hope to share more details with you on that.  For now, here’s a detail photo.

Detail, Eli, Cross Country 2013. (C) 2014 SarahAnnSmith.com

Detail, Eli, Cross Country 2013.
(C) 2014 SarahAnnSmith.com

 

Mother’s Day 2014–name that gnome (and flamingo)

Monday, May 12th, 2014
Happy Mother's Day 2014!

Happy Mother’s Day 2014!

What a WONDERFUL day!  Hubby surprised me with a lovely card signed by all the kids and a hand-screened kitchen towel of lupine on snowy white cotton.   He said it wasn’t for the kitchen because getting something for the kitchen for mother’s day wasn’t cool, that we could use it maybe in our bathroom.  But I decided kitchen is GOOD and hung it from an old hay fork pully, (how does one spell that?) and it is cheering up the kitchen.  And on Saturday I dropped in to Megunticook Market to get something, say hi to Joshua, and he offered to cook dinner!  WOOT!

Here's our very own sous-chef plating up our chicken and cashew lo mein.  SLURP!  It's always a challenge to cook in a different environment with different layout and pans, but he did great.  Except for our two-watt stove.  We really need a range that can heat a pan hot enough to sear!  It's on the growing "to do" list!

Here’s our very own sous-chef plating up our chicken and cashew lo mein. SLURP! It’s always a challenge to cook in a different environment with different layout and pans, but he did great. Except for our two-watt stove. We really need a range that can heat a pan hot enough to sear! It’s on the growing “to do” list!

Then, to my astonishment, in ADDITION, he said he and Ashley had a gift.  A gift besides the meal?   So I was told to come outside and close my eyes.   DELIGHT!  Hilarity!   A promise I’d made to myself fulfilled by my oldest son!   I’ve sworn for years I wanted a Travelocity roaming Gnome and a tacky pink flamingo.  Sometimes the gnome would lead the flamingo, sometimes vice versa.

The gnome and Flamingo in their first perch

The gnome and Flamingo in their first perch

But we need to NAME THEM!  I think the gnome may be Sven the Svelte (since he so obviously is not), but the flamingo?  Someone suggested Nathan Lane’s character in Bird Cage / La Cage aux Folles, but Albert is sort of ehn.  Hank Azaria’s charater’s name, Agador is a possibility.   So what do all of you think?   We totally need FUN names.  A bit of swish might be good.

And the family portrait with Mom.  We did this photo two years ago, but this year the black flies were more annoying!   Gosh how they have changed!

Mother's Day 2014

Mother’s Day 2014

Mother's Day 2012--two years ago

Mother’s Day 2012–two years ago

LIFE IS GOOD!   And do suggest names for the gnome and flamingo!

Living Colour Textiles-Amaryllis

Saturday, May 10th, 2014

The Living Colour Textiles exhibit (you can see it online here and blogposts here), including my Amaryllis quilt, is going on tour–wish I could go with it!  And good news for us in the US, it and the exhibit will be at AQS Grand Rapids s next year, 2015.  I, alas, won’t make it, so if you get to the exhibit, I hope you enjoy it!

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014.  See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Amaryllis by Sarah Ann Smith (C) 2014. See the Living Colour Exhibit at http://livingcolourtextiles.com/

Here’s where it is going:

  • QuiltWest, Craft & Quilt Fair: 21-25 May 2014 with curator floor talks at 1.30pm Wednesday-Friday (inclusive)
  • Sydney Quilt Show, Craft & Quilt Fair: 9-13 July 2014
  • Bunker Cartoon Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW:  8 August (opening 6pm) – 13 September 2014
  • Brisbane Craft & Quilt Fair: 8-12 October 2014
  • South Australia Festival of Quilts: 13-16 November 2014
  • Supported by BrotherGrenfell Art Gallery, Grenfell, NSW: 22 November-20 December 2014
  • Quilt Symposium Manawatu, Palmerston North, New Zealand: 15-21 January 2015
  • Northart Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand: Wednesday 28 January (opening 6pm) – 11 February 2015
  • Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford: 21 March (opening 2pm) -22 April 2015
  • AQS Quilt Week Grand Rapids, Michigan: 12-15 August 2015

Thanks to  Brother International Australia for generously supporting Living Colour!

You can order the catalog directly from Brenda (good if you live in Australia) or Blurb (good if you live in the US or Canada or not-Oz), a lovely small book (about 6 or 7 inches square) with a page for each of the 32 works that includes a full photo and information about the quilt/quilter.  Photography is great, layout is great.  Price in the US is a modest US $17.25 plus shipping!

From Quilting Daily: Demystifying Mistyfuse

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Mistyfuse is by FAR my favorite fusible!  I’d been thinking (for years, sigh) of doing a good long post about using this wonderful product, when what should appear in my in-box on May 6th but this post, which is reprinted in its entirety with permission.  If you’re interested in the Mistyfuse Kit click here or, even better, click on the Interweave button on the sidebar to the left (just below my book/dvd/print):  type “fabric fusing fun” into the search box, then use the code in the button on the left to get a discount!    Here’s the fused collage I demonstrate in my DVD, which of course uses Mistyfuse:

Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic, No. 1, the start of what I will call my Quilting the Good Life series!
Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic, No. 1, the start of what I will call my Quilting the Good Life series!
In the copied post below, the things that appear to be links in the text below did not all copy.  To read more of Vivika’s blog, click  you can read the post below on Vivika’s blog, here.   To order Mistyfuse direct from the source, find Pigwidgeon, our pug, in the left column (where it says Sarah Ann Smith Mistyfuser) and click on him to go straight to the Mistyfuse site. And to see Jamie Fingal’s blog, visit her at Twisted Sister blog.  Jamie is also half of the Dinner@8 Artists who have curated some great exhibits for the past five plus years, and I’ve been quite lucky to have been part of the past four.  Check out Dinner@8 here.

And if you’d like to see how I use Mistyfuse, click here to see a preview of my DVD (available on my store page and as a download through Interweave–use the Interweave button on the left to click through to Interweave to order with a discount).

Fusible Web: Demystifying Mistyfuse

5 May 2014

Many art quilters find fusible web indispensable for quilt making. Fusible web is basically a sheet of glue that melts when you press fabric onto it with a hot iron, sticking the pieces of fabric together.

 

jamie fingal uses mistyfuse for quilt making
Quilt artist Jamie Fingal uses Mistyfuse
fusible for all her quilt making.

Because art quilts are not meant to be washed, fusible web gives you the freedom to cut and press on small pieces of fabric without the fuss of turning under or satin-stitching the edges. You fuse your fabric, cut it as you wish, and make a quilt with little or no measuring or endless seaming.

Every quilter has his or her favorite fusible, depending on the types of fabrics they use, the kinds of quilts they make, and often personal preference.

On the sturdier end of the spectrum , fusible interfacing lends structure to quilts and 3-D fiber art projects that need more support.

Mid-weight fusibles that often come with a paper backing work well for general art quilting purposes. Fusible fleece provides lightweight loft and can be machine washed and dried.

When fusing sheer fabrics, fabric that you want to drape or shape on a quilt, or quilt art with many layers, many artists choose Mistyfuse®.  Mistyfuse is a gossamer fusible that virtually disappears when ironed onto fabric and doesn’t change the hand of the cloth.

It comes in white, black (good for dark fabrics) and ultraviolet. It comes in sheets or on a bolt, and there is no paper backing. You just cut the size you need, lay it on your fabric, cover with a silicone sheet (baking parchment or a specially made reusable “Goddess Sheet”) and press with a dry iron.

Jamie Fingal always uses Mistyfuse when creating her art quilts, because the product allows her a lot of versatility with her fabric choices, she says.

“It fuses beautifully to wool felt, other felts, silk, sheers, photo transfer fabric, cotton, metallics, and even leather and velvet,” she says.

mistyfuse fusible web
Mistyfuse fusible web is so sheer you can clearly see the silicone
Goddess Sheet and a cutting mat below.

Jamie offers the following advice for using Mistyfuse to make a quilt:

1. Use the ultraviolet variety on sheers because it disappears when you layer the sheer fabric onto another piece of fabric

2. Save all your leftover snippets for future use. “I store all of my Mistyfuse scraps in a gallon zipper bag that I keep at the outer edge of my table-away from the iron-because you never know when you will need a small piece.”

3. Pre-fuse several pieces of fabric at a time and store them for later use so you are ready to go when you want to start creating. “I store all of the fabric that has been Mistyfused in bins by color, for easy retrieval.”

To teach you how to make quilts using fusibles–including Mistyfuse–we’ve put together a Fabric Fusing Fun: Complete MistyFuse Kit. It includes Mistyfuse, a Goddess Sheet, and three Quilting Arts WorkshopTM videos that teach you how to quilt with fusible web, by Jamie, Sue Bleiweiss, and the team of Laura Wasilowski and Frieda Anderson.

There are limited quantities, so be sure to order your Fabric Fusing Fun: Complete Mistyfuse Kit now.

Living Under the Rainbow

Monday, May 5th, 2014

What a glorious sight!  Hubby said look at the sunset, so I dashed for the camera, went out on to our COLD and breezy porch (current air temp is 50 but feels about 42!)to take pics, then turned around and saw this

Sunset to the west, rainbow from end to end over Hope and the midcoast to the East

Sunset to the west, rainbow from end to end over Hope and the midcoast to the East.  The rainbow was so large I couldn’t fit it all in one photo!

So here are left and right:

Rainbow...left side (northeast)

Rainbow…left side (northeast)

Rainbow, right, southeast

Rainbow, right, southeast

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes me want to pull out the paints!

Sunset, west (duh!)

Sunset, west (duh!)

I’ve been busy (what else is new), this time writing an article on  the bane of my quilty existence, for Machine Quilting Unlimited, but don’t know if it’s OK to tell you the subject, so I will refrain for the moment!

Eli’s track season is in full swing–here is the last meet.  At least we went prepared this time:  long sleeved shirt, fleece lines vest, winter down jacket, gloves, hat with earflaps and stadium blanket.  And needed it.  By the time we left the field it was 39, with wind chill about freezing or below!  How the kids could function in tanks and shorts is beyond me!

Eli at the end of the 400 metre, ran it in about 57 seconds which, given the cold, was pretty good!

Eli at the end of the 400 metre, ran it in about 58 seconds which, given the cold, was pretty good!

Javelins in the ground

Javelins in the ground

A mistake of a photo, but I kinda like it....

A mistake of a photo, but I kinda like it….would abstract well into a quilt….

Not the best photo, but it is rare that I actually get Eli and the javelin in the same photo!

Not the best photo, but it is rare that I actually get Eli and the javelin in the same photo! Though it looks light, it was pretty late in the afternoon and using the Sport setting doesn’t always work well that late in the day, but I need to remember to re-set the camera to sport and TRY! 

And Eli was the first leg on the 4×400, which of course is the last event of every meet which means we stand around for hours in the cold!

Getting ready for the 4x400

Getting ready for the 4×400

And more of the sunset, because who can resist those colors?   I’ll share more about my Amaryllis before too long!

The view from the end of the front porch, looking west

The view from the end of the front porch, looking west

What a SKY!

What a SKY!