Need good ideas for holiday gifts (or just because?)?  Well, have I got two great things for you–an e-Book to delight and inspire and beautiful items to use, enjoy art AND fundraise for cancer research all at the same time!

Virginia Spiegel had an idea: to raise funds for cancer research, one fabric postcard at a time, through a project she called FiberArt for A Cause (FFAC). That little idea grew and grew and grew, and to date she (with a lot of support from a lot of artists, happy customers and supporters, and a lot of hard work) has raised over $135,000! Yes, that is ONE HUNDRED, thirty five THOUSAND dollars donated directly to the American Cancer Society. The tulip photo above is one of Virginia’s (all photos used here with permission) that is featured in both her e-book and at her Cafe Press store to continue her fundraising efforts…read on for more info!

Next, Virginia has had several on-line auctions of art, and I was proud to donate a piece in honor of my dad, half-brother, and friend Linda. You can read more about The Wall here and here. And you can see the gallery from the 2007 auction here.

Now, Virginia has two more projects to help raise funds to fight cancer! First, she has compiled some of her newsletters into an e-book “Art Nature Creativity Life.” To read a sample chapter, click here. I am not normally a fan of e-books…I’m sort of old fashioned and like things on paper (it is that tactile thing that draws me to cloth, too!). But this book is glorious, and features not only her art quilts but also her photography–I’m so glad she posted a chapter online because now I believe! Here is one photo from a chapter of the e-Book, showing a bit of Virginia’s art journal:

Every year Virginia and her sister go camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and it is a chance for me to escape with them. The book has received rave reviews all around, and it would make a perfect Christmas gift for the person in your life who has everything, has been touched by cancer, or could use a momentary escape to beauty and art (and who doesn’t need that?)!

Her latest endeavor is another treat: FFAC gift items from CafePress, here. I’ve already ordered my Boundary Waters shirt and am starting my Christmas shopping list.

There are shirts, mugs, mousepads and totes in three different designs. All the profits from each item ($5) are donated directly to the American Cancer Society. Thanks to Virginia for her dedication to this cause, and for making it possible for all of us to share in her art and joy in the beauty of nature.

BOOK REVIEWS:

Karey Bresenhan’s book Creative Quilting: the Journal Quilt Project, (available here) came out about this time last year, and I intended to blog about it then, but life got away from me (what a surprise). Even if I didn’t have five (!!!) journals–small art quilts– in this book, I would recommend this 272-page tome heartily. I think this book will become a benchmark publication of where art quilting is in the earliest years of the 21st century. It is truly a remarkable, inspiring, and educational book that belongs on the shelf of every person who loves art quilts, whether they make art quilts or not.

So what is a journal quilt? The idea was to explore something each month–instead of writing in a paper journal, to document the month in cloth and thread and fiber and whatever, while also keeping a brief written narrative. The finished pieces were to be the size of a U.S. piece of copy paper: 8 1/2 x 11 inches, vertical orientation. I joined the QuiltArt list in late 2002 just as the first year’s journals were being sent in to hang in Houston. I signed up in early 2003 as soon as possible to participate the coming year, in part because I figured (happily I was wrong) it would be the only way I would ever have a quilt in Houston. For my January quilt, I wanted to involve my son, then in 3rd grade, since he was sometimes jealous of my quilting time. I asked and received the OK from both Joshua and Karey to use a piece of his second grade artwork as my very first journal:

I cannot believe, now, how many firsts were in that quilt: first time using metallic thread, first time painting on fabric, first time fusing sheers and beading on a quilt! Now, those techniques are standard fodder for me. It is simply not possible to over-state how much doing the journal quilts has contributed to my development as an art quilter. This is the quilt and the project that launched a career! Best of all, it not only made it into the book, but is also included at thumbnail size in the introduction. You should have seen 13-year old Joshua’s eyes grow wide and fill with pride when I got the book and promptly opened it to show him HIS artwork (as interpreted by me)! That look is a gift from him to me that I will treasure forever.

The book is divided into seven chapters:

1. Series
2. Stories
3. Flowers, Plants and Trees
4. Animals and Insects
5. L andscapes and Special Places
6. Faces and Figures
7. Abstract

Some of the most amazing works are those where the artist worked in a series in a given year’s journals. Maria Elkins and Rachelly Roggel’s are the ones that first spring to mind. I don’t think ANYone, in the six year run of this project has better utilized the potential for stretching and development through these quiltlets than Maria. By clicking on her name you can get to her gallery page, and from there view each year of her journals…prepared to be inspired and exhilarated!

The stories are equally amazing, from inspiring to heartbreaking. Some are humorous, like the woman undergoing chemo who left her hair on the sofa, literally (and used a tuft of fake fur on her pictorial version). Others are heartbreaking, documenting loss of loved ones and tragedies both personal and national.

The book is not a project book, but each entry shares the materials and techniques used by the artists. If it can be done to, with or on fabric, I think it was done in one of the journals! If you want to learn how to do a technique, you can go search out classes, technique books or magazines, such as Quilting Arts, that will teach you the how-tos. Creative Quilting is a book to savor and dip into at random, enjoying the journey.

I was honored when Karey opened the section on Plants, Flowers and Trees with three of my journal quilts, including a full page (nearly life-sized) reproduction, above, of this quilt which features one of my photos printed onto cloth and quilted intensively. Also included are my January and February 2006 journals:

2007 is the final year of the Journal Quilt Project. This year, instead of making a different journal each month, Karey asked us to make a single piece 17″ wide by 22″ long (or four pieces of paper together) that used at least three techniques that were featured in journals included in the book. When the International Quilt Festival in Houston opens to the public on November 1, I will be able to share my journal for this year.

Even better, nearly ALL of the 400+ journal quilts in the book will be on display in Houston, in the order in which they appear in the book. I wish I could be there to see them, but will be content that I have had the unbelievable opportunity to learn and grow through this remarkable project.

Today I have, alas, no pictures to share, but boy do I have two AWESOME links to share that are art quilt and textile related!  The first is about antique indigo…the actual indigo!  The second is about katazome artist Karen Miller.

First, Isabella Whitworth makes incredible silk pieces in the UK which you can see on her website, here. On a recent post to the Dyers’ List (a listserv for folks interested in dyeing fibers, both cellulose like cotton and protein like wool–to sign up visit this site). She mentioned that she had recently been to an indigo symposium in the UK and was able to see some pieces of contemporary cloth and yarn dyed with indigo that is over 360 years old!!!!!! The indigo was retrieved by divers from a shipwreck that dates to 1641; one expert was given some, and dyed the pieces. Totally flippin’ amazing! Click HERE to go to that particular part of Isabella’s website.  And after you’ve done that, be sure to check out Isabella’s gallery pages….sigh….lust for cloth…..inspiration!

The second treat is thanks to Gerrie Congdon, who is an artquilter, dyer of cloth, awesome gramma, and many other things besides, and relates to Karen Miller. Karen Miller is a West Coast artist who specializes in katazome, a dyeing-out-but-not-if-she-can-help-it art from Japan which in one cuts stencils (meticulously, using many, MANY hours) by hand, applies rice paste, then dyes / prints fabric. Karen was recently profiled on an Oregon PBS program which you can find (thanks for the link Gerrie!) at Oregon Art Beat.

For my Friday Harbor and West Coast readers, you may be intrigued to know that not only is Karen a marine biologist / scientist by training, but her parents (or was it her grandparents? I met her at the Assn of Pacific Northwest Quilters show years ago and the details are a bit fuzzy now) helped establish and get-going the U. of Washington Marine Labs at the edge of the harbor that lends its name to the town of Friday Harbor in San Juan Island, Washington. Way cool! I think she sometimes teaches at Coupeville Arts Center on Whidbey… if I were still on the island, I’d be there for a workshop!

If you love learning about fiber, old fiber arts, and contemporary artists, treat yourself to some websurfing and visit all of these links. I’m going back, and I could watch Karen’s segment on Oregon Art Beat many times (as soon as it was over the first time–all 6+ minutes– I immediately hit play again!).

ProChem is in Fall River, Massachusetts, the town literally on the edge of the state next to Rhode Island (to get to ProChem from the highway you drive through a few blocks of a neighborhood in Tiverton, RI). My dad was born there in (get this!) 1899, and no, that is not a typo…he was OLD when I was born, nearly 59!

Anyway, lately I’ve been taken with pictures of falling down houses here in Maine. This burned out shell on Shove Street in Fall River, maybe 2/10 of a mile from ProChem caught my eye every morning as I drove in to class (the motel is in a neighboring town). On the way home on Saturday afternoon, I finally stopped to take pics because I knew I’d really be sorry if I didn’t. The picture above is of an outside staircase, that went from the sidewalk to what presumably used to be the main living level of the former house.

This next picture is of the old basement /ground level. I love the old arched doorway to the stairs curving up… from the way it is made, I am guessing these were inside stairs to a back or side entry.

Here’s a picture of the charred window frame and old plastered stone wall:

And finally, to help you place things, a wide angle view of the arched-doorway wall and the house next door. It is VERY close…less than ten feet so I’ll bet it was scary for the owners of the new house when the old one was going up in flames!

The last three pieces hanging at Zoot are two “trees” pieces and the White Flower. This first piece was made for the “Changing Perspectives” challenge; the idea was to present something from a different perspective, or something that made you change your perspective. “Looking Inward” appears to be a night scene, perhaps with the aurora borealis. In fact, the two images are scans of my retinas; my eye doctor shared and gave permission for me to use the scans, which I manipulated in Photoshop Elements to change the colors (the red – green default for the examination equipment was a bit scary!) before printing onto fabric.

The quilt has hanging sleeves on both long edges (it is 14×24) so it can be hung as we would expect to see trees, or as the trees actually imprint on the retina: upside down. Here’s a detail:

Camden Sunset is another of several small quiltlets featuring a photo transfer of a beautiful winter sunset; I snapped this shot less than a quarter mile from our home.

Finally, White Flower is a piece I began for the Frayed Edges Grid challenge (see here for more). I liked this piece, but it just didn’t seem finished with just the white portion–it needed more. So I made another piece for the Grid challenge and mounted this white satin, painted, and heavily beaded piece. The green stamens are satin-stitched chenille stems which stand out from the surface. Overall size is 13×17, the white panel is 7×10 inches.

And here’s a detail of the center:

As with the other pieces at Zoot, these three are for sale. Looking Inward is $195, Camden Sunset is $165, and White Flower is $225.