Sun Tiger

This piece is my entry into a juried show coming up soon.  I thread-painted the black areas on the butterfly on top of white fabric.  That is not one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Of course, the white showed through.  So, in addition to thread, I painted the black with black fabric paint.  The pale yellow areas are also fabric paint.  The piece is about 20" square.

The Richest Chord

I belong to an art quilt group that has been making 12" x 12" challenge quilts for the past year. Our most recent challenge was to base a quilt on the theme of music. I had a number of thoughts but decided to try to depict my favorite chord in fabric. As you can see, my piece grew substantially beyond 12 x 12! It is 18" by 45" before adding the border/frame. So I hung it in my living room and kept it for us.

My favorite piece of music is Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.  I've been playing it on the piano for fifty-five years!  There is a chord in the last movement that is so full and rich that I've been known to play it over and over when no one else is around.

So there is the chord or chord series that has given me chills for all these years.  Now to get my piano tuned and start playing more than once or twice a year.

Return to Eden

Return to Eden - 30" square

This piece was juried into the "Journeys" show at Waverly House Gallery.  I was delighted to learn that it was judged "Best of Show".  The show continues through the end of November.

The quilt was a joy to make since the fabrics told me what they wanted to be and where they wanted to be and I simply listened.  I usually buy very little fabric but went wild this fall buying lots of different fabrics and not just the batiks that usually want to come home with me.  The new fabric really helped give me a burst of creativity.  

Wallflowers

Wallflowers II  - 31" x 40"

This quilt was a joy to make.  I started by making several flowers with no idea what I was going to do with them.  Then it seemed they needed a stone wall to lean against.  I sewed everything down, including the leaves and flower that project into the sky.  After seeing some great pieced skies at a quilt guild meeting, I came home and did some major unsewing and changed the sky.  It was a great improvement.

This piece will be exhibited at Waverly House Gallery during the annual "Meet the Artists" weekend September 9th and 10th.  If you are around Springfield, come see it and me.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

COON - 9" x 12"

FANTASY FLOWER - 9" x 12"

I made these two small quilts for the AAQI monthly auction.  If you are not familiar with AAQI, please visit the website at http://www.alzquilts.org.  The organization has raised a substantial amount of money for research on Alzheimer's disease primarily through the sale of small quilts.  The founder, Ami Simms, saw first-hand the devastating effects of this disease with her mother.  Although her mother has passed on, Ami has remained faithful to this cause.

My sister has this disease and I have watched it destroy her day by day.  I hope you will take a moment to look at the little quilts and consider making a bid or participating by making one of the auction quilts yourself.

Thanks for looking!

THE BRUBECK EFFECT

This quilt was my entry in the Voices of Inspiration juried show at Waverly House.  It was accepted and sold the first evening at the artists' reception.  I didn't get a good picture of it so I need to head to Waverly and get a better one. 

My introduction to jazz was a Dave Brubeck concert at Drury University in 1964.  I can still remember the unexpected joy of listening to him play.  I bought a book of his work and attempted to play some of his songs on the piano off and on for many years.  When I saw him play the second time I was up close where I could see the size of his hands.  They were huge.  After that I realized I could never hit those chords with my wee hands but I still had a good time trying.

Blue Sonata

I recently finished this quilt as a commission.  It had to fit a specific space so its dimensions (25" x 58") are unusual.  I love to make these "slice and dice" quilts with the curved piecing - something very satisfying about getting all the horizontal tedious work done and then rapidly finishing the piece.  I believe its new owner is pleased.  Now I'm tempted to make one for myself since the unusual width looks good in several places in my house.  But that's sort of like the cobbler's barefoot children.

Villa Teresa

This small quilt (16" x 21") was inspired by a photo taken by Teresa Rhyne in the south of France.  Teresa is an attorney in her "day job" but among her true loves are books and fine wines.  She and her SO Chris lead "Words and Wine" tours to France once or twice a year.  And she takes wonderful pictures.  Teresa was kind enough to give me permission to use her pix as quilt inspiration. 



This is another of the pieces in my architecture inspired series.  It was inspired by a picture of a courtyard in Sicily.  It is on display at the Pool Art Gallery at Drury University in Springfield, MO as part of the Threads of Memory show presented by Uncommon Threads.

What to do with those indigo dyes

REFLECTIONS

After I did all the indigo dyeing in June it seemed like I needed to make something using the fabrics.  This piece, approximately 30" square, was inspired by a photo my brother took in Monte Carlo just before he put on a tuxedo and checked out the casinos.   His picture showed the yachts moored there as well as a building I thought was a church.  Wrong again, it was a casino.  The houses with all their windows overlooking the sea were what appealed to me.  The name of the quilt is inspired by the sky reflecting into the sea and both reflecting off the windows.  The sky and the sea were made from a beautiful silk scarf I dyed with the indigo.  It was just right for what I needed so I cut it up.  Now I've ordered another indigo dyeing kit because I want to give some indigo dyed silk scarves as gifts.

For those of you interested in indigo dyeing, the kit I used is a Jacquard product I ordered from Dharma Trading Co.  The original mix lasted almost a month before it gave up its ability to dye.  It also got smellier as time went by!

Textile Improvisation Team Challenge

A small group of women get together once a month to try new techniques, laugh and sample ice cream and cake.  Okay, occasionally we have pie.  We decided to make an art quilt sampler for the Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Guild's biennial quilt show.  The only rules were that each quilt had to be 14" square and each had to include a piece of a blue-green batik to give us a bit of continuity.  Other than those restrictions, we each could do whatever we wanted.  We are quite good at "whatever".

JoAnne Simonson made an abstract dragon.

Karen Carroll has just gotten into inchies and featured them in her quilt.

Vicki Strohm has two dragons - in the lower right corner you will find an observer.

Vivian Terbeek is making some large ocean-inspired pieces but scaled down for this one.

Norma Roberts made this jolly wonky log cabin inspired quiltlet.

And I made a little cabin in the fall woods.

I made a black quilt to tack the little quilts to for display at the quilt show. 

If you are in the Springfield, MO area September, 23, 24, or 25, please

come visit our quilt along with several hundred other fine quilts.