The new July/August 2014 MQU issue. Order at www.mqumag.com or find it at Barnes and Noble (among other places).  The Quilting Ergonomics article on the cover is mine! WOOT!

Editor Kit Robinson asked me, a while back, if I would like to do an article on ergonomics at your sit-down sewing machine, and I jumped at the chance.  I’m not a physician, and I start the article by saying that “no one size fits all,” so be sure to check with YOUR health practitioner, but I have learned some things that will make your life easier when you are quilting.  I talked about quilting aids in the last issue (which I apparently in my busy-ness forgot to blog about…coming soon!   Naughty Sarah!) and in this issue I talk about making your space work for you.

After all, if you are thinking “Ouch” or “oh my aching back and shoulders” you’re not thinking about where your next stitch goes.  So that’s what this article is all about!

Thumper decided to read the MQU ergonomics article while I had the camera out to take a picture. Ahem.

So for this article, I put on make-up, sucked in my gut, and got hubby to come down and click the shutter after I set up the tripod and lighting for all these photos–so now hubby is published as a photographer!   Thanks Paul and Kit for the byline for him!  It was much easier than using the timer and me trying to dash and get into position before the shutter tripped.  I’ve clearly got pictures of what NOT to do as well as what you should do.  Speaking of which, I really should get back to doing those crunches and stretching exercises!

Another big thrill was seeing as I flipped to my article that Brenda Gael Smith had an article on the hanging system used in Australia that has artists putting velcro on the backs of quilts to adhere to the rigid walls used there.  Helps the quilts hang beautifully!   So then I went to see what all was in the magazine, discovered there is a companion article about the Living Colour Textiles exhibit and one of the quilts included was mine!!!! (and yes, I still need to do that blogpost about dyeing the fabric and making this quilt…too many things to do, not enough time…it will come, I promise!).   Anyway, here’s that page–what a delightful, welcome surprise!

Living Colour Textiles exhibit curated by Brenda Gael Smith.  Amaryllis, bottom right, is my entry.  To see the exhibit, go to livingcolourtextiles.com/gallery.html 

Gotta run:  today is the last day of Eli’s sophomore year, and it is a busy one.  Exam this morning, memorial service for a cross country teammate who died of a brain tumor just days after receiving his diploma (thank heavens the school graduated him, he missed most of the school year); I’m planning on a LOT of kleenex.  After that there is a picnic at his house and the runners are going to run his practice course in his honor and memory (and I’m tearing up just thinking about it).  Then, finally, the delayed wrestling team potluck and awards.   Phew!  But we get to sleep in tomorrow.  More anon!

I came across this video somewhere through some list that I’m on, and thought I’d share as it is one of the most detailed explanations I’ve seen of the batik process, particularly about the discharge process which removes color after the first round of dye and wax.   Hope you enjoy!

Ice Storm by Sarah Ann Smith (c) 2014, part of the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show and selected to be among 50 works in the collection of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky

It pays to check your ISP’s spam folder.  I found the news that my small art quilt, Ice Storm,  is one of 50 selected, out of 407, from the SAQA 25th Anniversary Trunk Show, to be in the collection of the National Quilt Museum!!!  SAQA is the Studio Art Quilt Associates.  Here’s the announcement in the May 2014 SAQA e.Bulletin:

The trunk shows have started traveling!  It was so incredible to see all the pieces together at the conference.  These pieces are from Trunk A: (note:  images not copied since I haven’t asked the artists for their OK).

If your area would like to borrow a trunk show, please contact your regional representative to make arrangements.

Congratulations to the following artists whose trunk show pieces have been chosen to become part of the permanent collection of the National Quilt Museum  in Paducah, Kentucky.  Jurors for the selections were Trudi Van Dyke and B.J. Adams. (List not copied.)

For the full list of selected artists and to see the 8 trunk shows created from the 407 quilts, please go here on the SAQA website. All these quilts are 7 x 10 inches, mounted on black mat-board to 9 x 12 inches. I am beyond thrilled and honored to be selected:  there were SO MANY wonderful quilts.  I wish there could have been more going to the Museum.

I completed this piece in the nick of time–just before the entry deadline, stitching it and sending quick mail to get it there in time!   And let me tell you, it was a bumpy ride to finished! I had just finished viewing and reviewing Diane Rusin Doran’s wonderful Digital Surface Design video workshop (blogpost here, if you are interested in purchasing the DVD or downloading this video, use the link to the Interweave Store to the left in the sidebar) and wanted to try some of Diane’s techniques with a photo from the brutal ice storm earlier in the winter.

In this next photo, you can see how I began to quilt the outside edges.  From the fact that the edges are sliced off you can gather that I DID NOT like the way it looked!

First effort at quilting the outer edges. Yuck. Chop ’em off and figure out Plan B.

I figured rather than pick it out (which would make me miss the deadline), I’d create a quilt on top of a quilt. So I did.  The back of the quilt tells the story:

The back side of Ice Storm.

I printed the photo a second time.  I quilted just as much as needed to be done to fit underneath the new, smaller, nicely bound “top” quilt.  Then I stitched in the ditch of the binding of the top quilt to secure it to the lower layer.   Add binding, call it done, and send it off by Priority Mail without even stopping to take really good photos!  EEK!

And now, it is going to be in the National Quilt Museum, once the trunk shows finish touring that is.  Use the link above to get to the page on the SAQA website where you can see all 407 quilts.  SAQA did LOTS of work to take photos, name them all with the artists name and upload them by the trunk show into which they were put.  Quilts selected for the museum are marked with an asterisk.  I’m in Group A, but those selected are in all of the different trunk shows.

So it’s a good day!  And I’ll close with a detail of the quilting and corner.  Sure glad I worked my tuckus off to get it done!

Detail, Ice Storm, (c) Sarah Ann Smith.

All I need now is more time to play with the techniques in Diane’s workshop–I have this idea…….

For the first time in more than 30 years, I got to visit New York City, thanks to the Northern Star Quilt Guild and my friend Deirdre Abbotts!  On Tuesday of last week I gave my Journal Quilts and Journaling for Quilters lecture to the Northern Star Quilt guild in Somers, NY.  Thanks so much to one and all for inviting me down–I hope I get to return to teach!  When the engagement was booked, Deirdre suggested I plan on staying with her and she’d take a day off work and we’d go to the City and play–So we DID!  FUN!

Cheers! With Luana Rubin and Deirdre Abbotts–see below for more info

The week before heading down, I found and fell in love with Gudrun Sjoden’s clothing, website here, and discovered they have just ONE store in the US:  in New York!  So we went, and I indulged.  No pics of the clothing, and I forgot to take pics of the inside of the store other than this one, but I can tell you I could have dropped four figures on clothing in there with no difficulty.  Fortunately, I restrained myself (a bit).  And I figured out what sizes I take in her clothes, so now I can order online.  <Beam>

Behind the cash register at Gudrun Sjoden’s NYC store–I <3 this line!

Deirdre lives about an hour’s commuter train ride from NYC, so after a brief stop we headed in to the city armed with our fare cards for use on the train and subway.  Because we got there in the late morning, we shopped a bit, went to Purl Soho, walked around Soho a bit (which seems a lot more skyscraper-ish and less Bohemian than I remember from 30 years ago) and went clothes shopping (where Deirdre got the deal of the week on the sale rack).  We then had a late lunch at Le Pain Quotidien at the recommendation of the shop clerk.  SCORE!  Seriously, some of the best tasting food I’ve had in years.  A simple open-faced sandwich, but every component was succulent and savory:

Two “tartines” at Le Pain Quotidien in Soho. The drizzled sauces were incredible…I’ve written in hopes they’ll share some of the ingredients since the place has a website with some recipes given. YUM!

Deirdre had noticed that Luana was in town, so we texted back and forth hoping to meet up for a drink or something after Luana’s business meetings and play (Denzel Washington in A Raisin in the Sun).  Luana thought they’d be out at 3:30, so Deirdre and I decided to subway up to the theatre (near Times Square–what a zoo), but turns out that was intermission time.  So we just HAD to go to City Quilter while Luana watched the second half before meeting her for wine and appetizers at her hotel, near Grand Central.  I brought home a couple of their custom prints…fun!

Cheers! Raising a glass to friendship!

I’ve got a couple more posts with buildings and inspiration!   Stay tuned–here’s a sneak peek:

How lucky we are that the titans of industry 150 years ago poured money into buildings that are art!

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

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