Think Green at Waverly House

Waverly House Gifts and Gallery's spring juried show is on the theme "Think Green". I was happy to learn that my two entries were accepted. And I was really happy to learn that several of our local fiber artists also entered and had work accepted. There were more than a hundred entries with only half of that number accepted. Five of the artists with work juried in are fiber artists. Fiber arts are truly considered art in our small city - primarily thanks to Uncommon Threads, a spin-off from our quilt guild. This group paved the way over the past few years for recognition of quilts and fiber as art in our community.
This small piece (12" x 16.5") is BOB'S RAIN GARDEN. My husband has begun work on a rain garden in our back yard. The idea is to plant water-loving plants in a place in the yard that gets a lot of water and then to divert more water from your roof to sustain these plants. The water then doesn't run off but maintains plants that help improve the environment. I like the idea of root systems invading the layers of earth so that was part of my inspiration for this work.

LUNCH AT THE SUNSHINE CAFE (22" x 18") resulted after I spent an hour working on a more serious piece about global warming. I decided it was super boring so pitched it and decided I want to make a big green salad. I think this piece is funny but I believe I'm the only one! There's something humorous to me about that big fabric fork and the egg. Oh, well, you can't explain your own sense of the ridiculous to someone else.

Upcoming Gallery Show

The opening of my first ever gallery show is coming up October 3rd at Waverly House in Springfield, Missouri. The following works are a preview of what I will be showing.

COON (18.5" x 28.5") pictures a raccoon foraging in a dry creek bed. The beautiful background fabric in the upper half is a hand-dye I ordered from Dijanne Cevaal in Australia. It added just the right touch to this autumnal scene. The coon is thread-painted.

SAW WHET OWL (21" x 31") evolved after I did some research on owls and learned about this small bird. I thread-painted the owl. After placing the owl and the branches, I decided he should be in a fir tree and spent days free-motion stitching all those needles. I'm in no hurry to repeat this stitching adventure.

MATING SEASON (approx. 18" X 27") is a jolly quilt with lots of color. It was one of those pieces that come together rather quickly because of the joy of working with all the color and shapes. All the frogs are thread-painted.

GUSTAV'S GARDEN II (18" X 22") was inspired by a painting by Gustav Klimt. It was originally intended to be entered as my 2007 Journal Quilt but after I finished it I entered it into the juried section of the International Quilt Festival and it was accepted as a finalist.

STUDS TURTLE (approx. 18" x 26") is another jolly quilt with its turtle, lizard, dragonflies, leaves and flowers. Its background is a piece of my hand-dyed fabric.

SCENTUOUS (33" X 42.5") was inspired by a beautiful hand-dyed cotton sateen from Jeanettes Fabric To Dye For. I couldn't cut it up so used the whole piece as the background for some vines, irises, an out-size marigold and then a thread-painted skunk worked its way into the grass at the bottom.

RAIN FOREST FROLIC (34" X 39") is a piece I made a couple of years ago. I love its colorful dart frogs and the giant beetle. The border fabric is a hand-dye from Ellen Anne Eddy who is one of my quilt heroes.

SOLITUDE (approx. 18" x 24") was also made a couple of years ago using another of Ellen's hand-dyes as a background. It has a peaceful feeling I've enjoyed seeing on my wall.

LATE BLOOMER (49" x 64") has just returned from its journeys as part of the In Full Bloom IV Exhibit of the International Quilt Association. The blooms on the quilt are hand-painted and then thread-painted. I spent a long time working on this piece and had a wonderful critique from Cynthia Morgan that helped me improve the work.