The path to finished wasn’t exactly smooth.  I dyed the fabric…several times.  I was having a bit of a brain scramble, and not once but twice mixed up the proportions of red-yellow-blue.  At least I have some lovely browns, and fortunately I managed to make just enough of the creamy stone to make all three pieces!  The sky fabric is the first time I’ve tried a vat dye (versus low immersion) where you stir the fabric to get a smooth, even color.  But since the Los Angeles skies are screaming blue, I was so happy when this turned out just right, and on the first attempt (thanks to taking a few dyeing fabric workshops with Carol Soderlund).

For this piece, I decided to try something different…instead of fusing the entire top, shifting my piece of non-stick press sheet as I work (I LOVE my Goddess Sheets from MistyFuse!), I thought I’d fuse everything to water-soluble stabilizer, often used in embroidery or thread  sketching.  What I didn’t think through is that because the top is FUSED, the stabilizer wouldn’t disintegrate when wet.  In fact, it ended up looking like a crumpled paper bag.  Erg.

In the next post on this series, I’ll share what I did to fix the quilt (well, I hope I fixed it and didn’t make it worse!) and the two smaller pieces.  More coming soon!

When my fellow Frayed Edges and I started talking about the “Letters” challenge (see the posts in July about our Frayed Edges show at the Camden Public Library), I was working on my online lino-cutting class with Dijanne Cevaal (posts here and here and here and here).  I wanted to use writing on the fabric similar to how Deborah does, and also to perhaps make some linoleum blocks or screen prints to print onto the fabric. As I thought about the title for my pieces, I thought about the conversations that happen at the lunch tables at the Getty Museum…

Lunch was lovely! (and I have NO idea why the watermark is now smack in the middle of the photo!)

and realized that words make letters  make conversations.  Then I realized that it wasn’t just about the literal conversations, but about the interplay, or the conversation, between the sky and stunning lines of the architecture, between the museum patrons and the artwork, between the straight and curved lines in the buildings, between the buildings and the equally stunning landscape.   Conversations among the elements and principles of design–line, shape, form, harmony, rhythm, contrast, repetition….  and finally, the conversation between me and the materials:  white cloth,  dyes I used to color the cloth, and  thread.

Here are my three pieces (click to see larger):

I based the center piece on two photos:

This was the main photo; I used the two chairs on the far side of the table, but didn't like the position of the chair close to me

The chair in the foreground became the one on the near side of the table, but I had to account for the change in the location of the sun

And the smaller pieces were based on photographs I took of the buildings.

It is the contrast in straight and curved line, stark stone against the brilliant blue sky, and the shadows cast by the lines of the architecture and the lines of the bistro tables and chairs in the patio that sang to me.  At first I was going to make the center piece based on one of the buildings.  Then I realized I’d really to have a least a snowball’s chance in a very hot place of selling my work, and the chances of selling a quilt of the Getty Museum (located in Los Angeles) while based in Maine was pretty much less than zero.  So I switched gears and focused on those wonderful tables and lines and shadows.

With all the tumult in my life, the lino-cutting and screen printing, which I thought I would use to texture the cream colored cloth for the stone used to face the buildings and pave the courtyard,  just didn’t happen…I ran out of time and just didn’t get to explore the use of letters in the way I had hoped.   But I did write on the quilt to create the shadows on the table and chairs where there are vertical surfaces on the slats.  It is *really* subtle now that it is quilted…I’ll confess even I have a hard time reading the words! But I promise…the words ARE there (maybe it’s the way conversations fade and vanish into dim memory?).

Before I got to the writing, however, I had to make the cloth.

The fabric dyed for the tables and chairs, on my green-painted studio floor

Then I had to mess around with the cloth.  I couldnt decide how to make the shadows.  I tried darkening the light stone cloth.  I tried lightening the dark gray cloth.  I used various methods.  I didn’t like them!  It looked like paint on the paving stones–not shadows.  Somehow I needed more transparency, and any sheer fabrics in my stash were to shiny/cheezy-prom-dress stuff.  So I decided to try doing the shadows with thread at the quilting stage.  Hmmm.

I tried paint, pencil, ink, assorted other painats, bleaches and discharge agens. Nothing quite worked for the picture in my head. Hmmm....

Then there were the table legs…here, the freezer paper patterns for all the table and chair components that were metal.

No, not white spaghetti, but to-be table and chair legs

Then the construction process began.  I decided to try something new.  Having tried it, I can tell you I will NOT do this again!   Usually when I create a fused top, it is an independent thing… I fuse the top on my non-stick sheet, moving around as needed.  This time, I decided to try fusing things to a base, in this case a large piece of embroidery stabilizer.  This stabilizer is (when used under embroidery or applique) water-soluble and turns into little bits of polyester fiber, which helps add loft to the applique or become a bit more batting.  What I didn’t think was that by fusing the fabric to it, I would make it impossible for the stuff to “dissolve”.  Erk.  Not so great.

Here’s the top in progress:

The initial "sketch;" I used my digital projector to project the photos onto the paper, then outlined and created the composition from a couple photos.

The fusing begins. I cut freezer paper patterns for the paving stones, then cut from various light and dark areas of the hand-dyed cloth to get the varied appearance of the terrace.

Placing the chairs and table top.

Checking out the sky fabric. This railing and table scene doesn't really exist... but I so wanted the contrast of stone and sky, and most of the tables are in a courtyard area. So I made up a terrace that has a railing and sky in the distance!

Next, I had to figure out what my made-up railing and side wall would look like.  Straight across was too boring, so I added the angled wall.

This looks like it can work

Finally, the top is done:

The top, done, before it started looking like a brown paper bag, wrinkled!

Next post I’ll talk about the quilting, at least the first part of it.

Back in early 2010, Kathy, Kate, Deborah and I started talking about having another show.  Since we had a fun time with the five-by-five challenge (see blogpost here), we decided to do another special set of quilts for this show.   Here are the four of us in front of the twelve  pieces.

"Letters" quilts and the four Frayed Edges

Using the wonderful press release that Deborah wrote as my start, here’s what I wrote to accompany the exhibit:

Letters

The Frayed Edges Challenge, 2011

For our first group show in 2006, also held here in the Picker Room, we worked on a group challenge which was a great success, so we decided to try it again.  This time, we chose the theme Letters, to celebrate the written word, our shows in the Camden Public Library, and our love of letters which all of us have used (some more than others) regularly in our art quilts. 

The centerpiece of the collection is a set of four triptychs designed especially for this exhibit. Each artist created two small art quilts with a third larger piece in the center. The artists embraced the theme “Letters” in many different ways. Kate, the Bowdoinham town librarian, used graphic novels (cartoon-books) as her inspiration, while Kate Daniels was inspired  by the children’s book Tillie Lays an Egg (and received the permission of the author to use the name and image inspiration).  Deborah explored images of letters in envelopes and words on cloth.  Sarah’s more subtle approach uses words as shadows on the table and chairs and in the quilting to explore the idea of conversations.

We opted for a single larger art quilt about 36 inches wide but of varying height to permit design flexibility, and two 12×12 inch squares on either side. The size of the smaller pieces were inspired by Deborah’s work and participation in a very successful group, Twelve by Twelve, (blog: http://twelveby12.blogspot.com/)  Their collection of quilts was published in a book this spring.  A display copy of that book is on the glass case by the doors, along with a non-circulating copy of Sarah’s book ThreadWork Unraveled and a non-circulating copy of Creative Quilting with Beads, which features projects by all four of us. 

And a photo of the four sets without us in the way (click to see larger):

The Letters Challenge

Green House Mantra by Deborah Boschert

DeborahsStudio.com

Green House Mantra by Deborah Boschert--click to see larger

To fully explore the theme “letters” for this triptych, I wanted to include obvious, but symbolic images. This led me to the idea of letters written to loved ones and envelopes received in the mail. There is something so personal and expressive about this kind of communication. I created a sheer envelope with just the idea of a letter inside. The collage of fabrics and shapes leading up to the house in the center piece might represent a porch or doorstep. There could be packages waiting or a message whispered through the windows.

I also love exploring letters, words, stories, voices and ideas in books. Tiny books are nestled in the leaves of the tall plants on the side pieces of the triptych. It’s as if the leaves are unfurling a message of growth. Several of the images, techniques and motifs in this triptych are regular parts of my artistic lexicon. I return to them again and again like a mantra. I love the repetition of stitching tiny wild flowers, cutting stone shapes, stamping painted circles and writing on fabric. The house shape acts as a foundation for these techniques and images. In the same way, a home provides a foundation for many other aspects of life.

Splash*Kaboom*Pow by Kate Cutko

Splash*Kaboom*Pow by Kate Cutko--click to see larger

barnofopportunity.blogspot.com

The “Letters” theme had me thinking immediately of individual letters as graphic elements, each letter having its own negative and positive space.  In the world of graphic novels (comics) letters often stand alone as strong graphic elements.  While I do not pretend to be a huge fan of graphic novels, as I librarian I see that this genre draws in readers of all types.   I do love to look at the art in the pages of graphic novels.  In these 3 pieces I went with classic comic book action words, and direct, bold color so that the letters could be as powerful as their shape and their meaning. In the center piece I included a small glimpse into the artwork of Tin Tin, Zita the Spacegirl, and Jellaby.

Conversations by Sarah Ann Smith

Conversations by Sarah Ann Smith -- click to see larger

you’re here at my link!

Letters make words make conversations.  These pieces were inspired by the stunning architecture of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where there are conversations between buildings and sky, architecture and art, friends and sisters, landscape and architecture, sea and sky and stone and seabreeze, and in my case, artist and cloth, cloth and thread, friends and art. 

I began with photos from my visit, words to recall that day, white cloth and dyes to create the colors of the sky and stone and wood and glass.  The words include those specific to that day:

Sea breeze sister friend Leonardo dragon teaching aching feet dragons lunch bougainvillea rough smooth stone water sound shadows…

And words about art and design:

Line shape form function rhythm repetition harmony contrast unity space ….

Tillie by Kathy Daniels

Tille by Kathy Daniels -- click to see larger

Studiointhewoods.blogspot.com

Which came first, the chicken…or the letters? In this case, it was the chicken, observed at a country fair and stored in memory until called forward and committed to fabric and stitch. As she hung on the design wall, a chance statement from my 6-year-old granddaughter turned her into what she is today: “Nana, you’re making Tillie!”  Tillie is a chicken from our favorite book at the time, Tillie Lays an Egg, by New Hampshire author Terry Golson.

Letters, printed and written, are showing up more often as design elements in fabric art as well as other mediums. They can stand alone, as Tillie does, BOLDLY, or can be part of a story as the smaller 12×12 side pieces attempt to portray. With Tillie, there’s no guesswork in who she is and what she’s about!

In a while, I’ll share the process of making my series. Stay tuned!

The fun began when Deborah arrived in Hope, Maine, at my house to spend the night on July 8th.  We had a WONDERFUL visit, during which I forgot to take pictures~!  In my last post about the visit, I shared with you the Coastal Quilters meeting and Artists’ Reception.  Then we got to relax!  Kathy and her husband are moving down to the coast and will be building a house in the coming months. For  a short while, they are staying  in Camden, and her hubby graciously volunteered to stay with a family member so we could have a girls-get-together-sleepover and yakking at their rental.  After the reception, we went to Kathy’s and decided to start things right….

When we got together a couple years ago, near Kate's, she fixed us mojitos and we sipped them under the pines, near the shores of Merrymeeting Bay (which has to have one of the coolest names in all of geography), with a bald eagle in the branches above us. We decided that we needed to do the mojitos again, so after the Artists' Reception, we decamped to Kathy's rental house...

Kate has mastered these drinks, and yes…we WERE all able to walk to dinner at Long Grain (an INCREDIBLE pan-Asian, Thai-inspired small restaurant in Camden..it opened almost a year ago, is frequently so full they have to turn diners away, and they don’t need more than the computer printed paper in the window…no sign…we all know where it is!).  Before dinner, though, we sat on the back porch and talked and took photos:

Me taking a picture of Deborah taking a picture

and

Kathy taking a picture of Deborah

and

Deborah looking happy

and

Kate with the perfect mojito looking happy

and

Kathy looking happy (and I was behind the camera looking happy)

and

Kate looking happy and laughing....ya think we were are having fun?????

In the spirit of “let someone else cook” we also ate breakfast out…at the Bagel Cafe.  I think we STILL look happy!

Bagels for breakfast!

Then we packed up from Kathy’s and headed west…just a little ways West….

On Sunday, after breakfast, we convoyed nine miles west to my house, where it was a glorious Maine summer's day. I had bought a Jacquard Indigo kit, and we mucked about with cloth and an indigo vat!

I later draped mine over a pine tree by the deck:

My indigo pieces on the nearby pine; a few of them washed out more than I had hoped, but I'll figure it out eventually

and

a late lunch....notice the circle necklaces? Those were a thoughtful gift made by Deborah for being "in her circle of friends." LOVELY!

We wrapped up the day with sandwiches from the grill press.  I discovered this AWESOME recipe in Daniel Leader’s Panini cookbook (here) that calls for goat cheese with chopped basil, marinated artichoke hearts (Kathy gets to eat the extra bits), sundried tomatoes (I made some using his other recipe but mistakenly put the oven to timer, not cook-time, so when the oven should have turned off at 1 a.m. it kept baking  until I woke up at 6 and realized what I had done…luckily nothing smoked, but they did look more than a bit black and dead! so we had to use from the jar!), and–my addition–caramelized onions.  I LOVE the sweet addition of the onions to the salty tang and tartness of the other ingredients.

After that Kathy headed home (with our HUGE thanks to her hubby for making the sleepover possible), Deborah followed Kate to her house an hour south, and I collapsed (briefly)!  I was so fried with stress from Mama’s passing and all the other STUFF, that I don’t know how I made it except that it was so wonderful to be together.  Nothing like being with friends and like-minded souls who love art and playing with cloth and color and having fun together!

WOW… what a whirlwind it has been, and what a lot of fun we had.

"Letters" quilts and the four Frayed Edges at the Picker Room, Camden Public Library, on July 9, 2011

Deborah Boschert, our “expat” member now living near Annapolis, Maryland (for those of you not in the US, that is near Washington, DC) flew up for the weekend to visit, so Deborah, Kathy Daniels, Kate Cutko and I had a glorious weekend.  The reason for the gathering was our second show (the first was in 2007, and is here and here and here) at the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library.  On July 1, Kate drove over an hour from her home to help me hang the show, and was I ever grateful for the help!  A week later, Deborah arrived and spent the night with me in Hope.  The next day, July 8, we gave a program on the show for the Coastal Quilters in the morning:

Deborah Boschert talks about her "long and skinny" piece which hangs over the glass display case in the Camden Public Library's Picker room; this is a first for the Coastal Quilters--rather than meet in the usual Lions' Club location, we met "on-site" in the library! Thanks to all who were able to come!

We had a short break on a glorious summer’s day , minus Kate who had to work her morning  job as Bowdoinham town librarian, and ate on the back deck at Marriner’s for lunch…astonishingly, we all look good in this photo! Clearly we are happy to be together!

 

Lunch at Marriner's, on the back deck over the Falls. L to R: Deborah Boschert, Kate (Kathy) Daniels, and me

Kate arrived in time for our 2-4 p.m. Artists’ Reception, which was well attended—I expect that is was almost all Kathy’s friends and relatives, and we so appreciate their coming!

Viewers at the Artists' Reception looking at our Letters pieces

Eighteen months ago, we starting noodling about the idea of a group challenge/themed pieces that would be new for the show.  I’ll blog more about the pieces in a later post, but the photo at the top of the post shows all the 12 pieces.  We each made two 12 x 12 inch pieces (inspired by Deborah’s participation in the Twelve by Twelve project, here) and a center piece that was 36 (or thereabouts) inches wide and anywhere between 16 to 42 inches tall.  I was inspired by the quilt exhibit by tACTile, a group of quilters from the Australia Capitol Territory (ACT), which you can see here.  But we decided since other groups have taken the idea of a line running through all the pieces, to not do that for our series.  Our theme was “Letters,” which we thought was a good one for a show in the Library and because each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, has used letters or words on our quilts.

At one point, Joshua drifted through (to see if I’d take some stuff home for  him, actually), but he kindly consented to let me take his picture with the portrait of him…he has grown up a bit!

Joshua playing air guitar in front of the quilt of Joshua playing guitar... I think I'm glad I didn't have to quilt the beard that he has had since shortly after the photos I took for the quilt! And isn't that a cool lion on his t-shirt?

We had lots of thoughtful visitors:

Kate chats with a gentleman who really seemed to enjoy the show and spent lots of time looking at the pieces.

and

Kate chatting with the architect, Deborah at the far end of the table, Kathy speaking with the artist who did the recent show with the colorful goldfish paintings

and

Deborah's three pieces on the left, Paul (hubby!) looking at Kate's graphic novel-inspired pieces

and

More of Kath's friends and family, plus a really nice couple who are part-time Maine residents and drove an hour just to come up for the show...way cool!

and

Kate and Deborah looking at the room and show

and

"Letters" quilts and the four Frayed Edges. We are standing in the same order as our quilts: Deborah's inspired by letters home, Kate's graphic novel-inspired pieces which will find a home at her Bowdoinham Library, me with pieces inspired by the Getty Museum, and Kathy's chicken who became Tillie of Tillie Lays an Egg (with permission of the author)

and that’s it for the day….  I’ll post again about the Frayed Edges FUN as well as our Letters Quilts.  Of course, I think I had better go take good pictures of the quilts…would make blogging about them a lot easier, eh?  That’s it for today…stay tuned!