To return to my progress on Be Inspired, the next figure I tackled was a teacher.  In our selection process, we realized that some professions inspire:  doctors, nurses, teachers.  Since this is for a school, of course we had to include teachers (and on the first panel, please!) as inspiring figures for kids.  Using a photograph of a classroom, I modified it to have the whiteboards in use in the middle school, wood floors (in the old 5th/6th grade wing of the building), and look sorta like a Camden-Rockport Middle School classroom.  On the blackboard, I will quilt “I touch the future, I teach” which is attributed to the late teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, but I expect is a phrase that has been around a while.

This section took forever to complete…there were so many little pieces, and during the quilting so many thread-color-changes, that it took a full day to just do the fusing/collaging in fabric.  Here is the initial sketch/tracing:

And with the classroom pinned onto the quilt:

The newest issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited is out, complete with my article on Negative Space or what I like to think of as “the spaces in between.”  I promised a download of the leaf and vine motif from the feature quilt, Little Brown Bird, which I’ll share in another post.  For a full discussion of negative space, you can buy a copy of the magazine here, but here is a quick recap.  Think of a chair with slats on the back:

The spaces between the spindles on the back are “negative space.”  The chair itself is the “positive” image.  Likewise, the spaces between the legs and rungs are negative (or “in between”) space.

For the article, I created some examples based on the principles of Notan.  The definitive book is Notan:  The dark-light principle of design by Bothwell and Mayfield.  The Yin/Yang symbol is the class example of positive and negative space.  Each teardrop shape is identical to the other, but one is dark and one is light.  The two are perfectly balanced, and the proportions of the small circle within the teardrop, the shape of the large end of the teardrop, and the entire circle are all geometrically related:

Here is the vine motif I developed:

If you like this motif, I’ve prepared a PDF which you may download for your personal use.  Since it is under copyright, please don’t sell it or use it in classes you might teach (without receiving my written OK first), or other nefarious stuff… please DO use it in your quilts, modify it, and have fun.   Also, this is my first time trying to create a down-loadable PDF, so I’m hoping it works!  To download the PDF version (with the black removed so it doesn’t eat up your ink), click here: leafandvinemotifpdf

Enjoy!

A while back, I shared a tiny tease from Little Brown Bird, a small wholecloth art quilt here.  Well, here is all 16×20 inches (or thereabouts) of it:

I made this quilt as an illustration for my Machine Quilting Unlimited article (July 2009 issue) on Negative space.  I developed the vine motif as part of the illustrative exercises, then decided to put it into use in the quilt.

The fabric is one of my hand-dyes, and is relatively monotone yellow-green.  I quilted it using five shades of green thread (Superior Threads’ 40-wt. polyester, with green Bottom Line — a fine 60-wt polyester — in the bobbin). The darkest shade of green is used in the bird, the next darkest for the straight lines and vine/leaf motif, and the lighter shades to shade/lighten the background.

Here is a detail of the bird:

And here is another of the leaf/vine motif:

If you visit my blog on June 16 (obviously it will not be “live” until the 16th!) blogpost, you can download a free PDF of the leaf/vine motif for use in your own quilting!

I request the pleasure of your company in a totally uninhibited, majorly deliriously insanely happy snoopy dance…… (cue the drums and trumpets):  MY BOOK COVER IS OUT!

Yes, folks…. it is really gonna happen!   The major editorial work is yet to be done, but the projected publication date is Fall 2009!

The book covers using thread by machine on the surface of the quilt, so it touches on applique, free-motion stitching (I can’t bring myself to call it embroidery) and quilting, plus lots of tips and tidbits and good stuff–choosing threads, understanding your machine’s tension and all that.  The book is also written so that both art and traditional quilters can use it and find inspiration and technique.

I was surprised at the quilts AQS selected for the cover, but understand why:  both of these teaching samples showcase the stitching, and the photography is simply outstanding.  (And the one on the left is in a class I’ll be teaching in Houston in October about using Fiddly, Fussy Threads!) And I really love the dangling thread on the “d” … after all, quilters come with threads attached!

Much closer to actual release date, I’ll have information here about how/when to order (yes, I will be selling it from my store page….but that’s still a few lifetimes away…like October or November).  Hmmm…timely for Christmas gift giving???? Heh heh…..and now, back to jumping and flailing wildly (and making my kids grateful I’m doing this inside the house and not  in public LOL!)…let’s CELEBRATE!

This past week I was invited to lecture and teach in Simsbury and Avon, Connecticut, for the Farmington Valley Quilt Guild.  It was so much fun, and quite a large guild, too!  On Wednesday evening I presented a lecture, The Decorated Quilt: Beads, Embellishments and other Treasures, at the Eno Memorial Hall in Simsbury.  There were easily over a hundred women there in the HUGE hall. I was lodged at the Simsbury 1820 house (guess when it was built):

The Simsbury 1820 House

I’ll do a couple more posts about the trip, including pictures of the town, windows, and other cool fodder for quilts and design ideas!

I had sent down some of my postcards (made by me and received by me) and ATCs to help advertise the class:

The next day, at the beautiful, modern public library in Avon, CT, about twenty women joined my class on Fabric Postcards, which is a non-threatening introduction to art quilt techniques and making fabric postcards.

I set up next to the only flat, blank wall so I could do something new to me:  using the videocamera and digital projector to project what I was de monstrating onto the wall behind me.  This way, EVERYone in the class had a view as if they were sitting next to me (or on my lap!).  It took some getting used to… I’d forget to make sure my hands were in the range of the lens, so they got good at reminding me LOL…thanks ladies!  I think this will work, and I definitely got better as the class went along.

Each student had a spot at their own table, but we set up a workstation area for paint and another two for ironing.  The class included my “chunk and jigsaw” fusible applique method and using angelina, so that took place at the ironing stations.  I also taught painting techniques using textile paints (Jacquard opaque, Setacolor transparent, and Lumiere metallics) using direct application, stencils, and printing (with mats, bubble wrap, stamps) and Shiva paintsticks  in both direct application and rubbings.

The ladies were grand, I got to meet folks I’d only met before on line (hi Judy!  hi Vivika!), and learned from them…something that always happens when you teach!

Here’s a view of the program room where our class took place:

And here are a range of postcards–if yours is among them, drop me a comment and I’ll add your name to your card!

Easter eggs using sheer, fused fabrics--By Marie

and

Textile paints and Shiva Paintstiks--by Diane

and

colorwash abstract under tulle--also by Karen

and

Karin's license plate is "Outdoors"

and

An array by Betty

and

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and hope the students learned and enjoyed too!  Thanks to Judy R., co-program chair, for finding and inviting me and doing all the work her position with the guild entails, and thanks to all the ladies who took their time and talent to come to my class.

Thanks Betty for filling me in on who did what!