the first farmer’s market

This weekend was the first Starland Farmer’s Market of the season. Yeah! I got some beautiful vegetables and wanted to share them.

I had never cooked beets before, let alone golden beets, but in the spirit of adventure and a little chili oil it all became a delicious dinner.

recent explorations in surfaces and stuffings

other makings

When I first moved to Savannah, more than 2 years ago, I made myself a little computer quilt to protect my precious computer from getting too banged up in a bag with other things. Since then I have made myself and a few friends variations on the theme. They are fun to make and I have several just sitting around, ones that didn’t sell at the Mutations Craft Fair! This week I made 2 more and I need to find a place to sell them.

They are simply pieced and lined with flannel for a cozy bed for the computer. The flap tucks in to the top.

the back

back and inside

Yesterday I got a wonderful stack of Alexander Henry fabric samples from Colonial Quilts. I just had to make myself a fun new bag today!! This is not a new design, but just a remake of bag I have and love with a fresh new fabric.

The linen pocket has a yellow ribbon that I got from the Swedish American Institute in Minneapolis. It seemed the perfect trim for the bag.

I like making my own bags because I can make the pockets just the right size for things like my cell phone. (Notice the new pink phone peeking out of the pocket. I’m not quite convinced that I am keeping this new piece of technology. . . for being so cute on the outside it is seemingly very hard to use on the inside.)

The strap is very reinforced!!

mini-quilt updates

About a month ago, before I started class again I made this little quilt:

I was feeling very anxious about starting again and it helped me to be able to say it in this little piece. I never photographed it because I immediately brought it into my office. And it’s funny because now it has come to mean something else- the reminder that tomorrow will be a new day and a chance to start again.

The white fabric is vintage wool that someone gave me, as well as the ticking, and the binding is natural linen.

This is the mini-quilt from last week:

side A

In addition to my exploration of the back and front connection, I am now adding “the stuffing”. This piece is the first try thinking about the filling of the quilt. The outside is filled with an old blanket scrap, solid and filled, to contrast with the transparency of the organza and then the open space.

side B, detail

side B, stitchings across the open space

The piece changes a lot when the light passes through it and it is placed in a more interesting place than the back of my door.

side B, in the window

Notice how the tree out the window fits into the space and becomes like another piece of the yellow linen.

As I continue to explore different “stuffing” possibilities I will post them here. Today I made a little quilt filled with plastic bags and lentils. Good times! My goal is to have 10 samples by my mid-term critique, in a little more than a week.

painting with lentils

I have finally started class again! hooray! I am very glad to be in class again- to have the motivation of checking in regularly with others and the input. BUT all that said, the last couple weeks have been very long as I adjust to working and taking class. The past 2 Fridays I have come home and totally crashed in exhaustion.

I am taking Studio 2 (again) and our first assignment was to create a drawing tool and 5 large drawings using that tool. It was really fun and very freeing to experiment and make a new tool. . . and to have a change from working with fabric for a bit. Given that I love cooking and spend a lot of time in the kitchen using my kitchen tools, I decided to make my drawing tool out of a couple of these kitchen utensils. By combining a pancake spatula and basting brush, end to end, I made the tool. With this tool I began to consider what my drawing materials would be- I knew it had to be something thick and I thought it would be interesting to keep it in the kitchen. And in the fridge, in the kitchen I had some left-over lentil soup and I thought it was worth a try to see what that would do.

drawing tool and tinted lentils

For my initial experiments I soon realized that I wasn’t going to be able to apply the lentils to the paper with the tool, but that I would need to pour and then move and push the mixture around. I also quickly realized that as soon as the lentils dried they cracked off the paper- there wasn’t enough natural binder in them to make it stick to the paper.

With these tests I was also trying to figure out if the lentils would work as a resist when paint was added. It didn’t really.

From here I decided to work on the application process, so I found a squeeze bottle and cut the top off. It was apparent that mashing the lentils by hand was both slow and left too many chunks. . . so I bought a food processor (something that I’ve been wanting for a while! yeah!). I added a lot of acrylic paint to the new, more consistent lentil mash and tried to draw with it through the squeeze bottle.

Although I had some control this way, I was also not able to move or manipulate anything once the lentils were on the paper. I was also had several explosions when I squeezed too hard, which was really fun. . . lentils everywhere.

So I though, well maybe I could just pour the lentils from a cup. This is what I got:

These were great with texture, but took 3 full days to dry and again I had very little control. What I loved was the texture of the lentils and I really wanted to be able to use my tool, which is great for scraping and moving. I also decided that it was important to simplify my still-life, so I got rid of everything and focused on one pepper.

In doing the above drawing I realized that I was finally getting the hang of my tool and materials. I started by pouring the lentil mash (mixed with acrylic gel medium) on the paper and scraping it around until it covered the entire paper. Then with the corner of my spatula I could sketch and carve into it to get the shape of the pepper. Now I had some freedom and several chances to get it right, hooray. I added the dark lines, which is lentil mash mixed with black acrylic, by dipping the corner of the spatula in the black mash and painting it on. I ended up pouring more mash onto the paper and moving things around until I got the drawing. This was really exciting because it was starting to look like something.

This was my first in the series and the largest painting I think I’ve ever done, 36″ x 45″. Working on the floor at this size was quite a challenge and when I was finished I that it was a disaster. . . BUT it dried much better. I think now would also be the time to say that this is a really smelly process. As much as I am excited about the results that I got with this experiment, it was also a long week of a very stinky apartment.

#1, realistic (dry)

#2, from memory

#3, negative space

#4, with right hand

#5, the essence

I am very excited about the newness of working like this! It has started to open my eyes. . . and I’m thinking, thinking, and mulling-over. How does this now translate into my work? I am loving the texture of these and the raw and gritty quality. And it was surely fun to be painting!! How do painting and quilting come together?? Stay tuned. . .

wide-open spaces

Last week, the mini quilt I made was a reaction to a particularly home-sick moment. As much as I love living in Savannah, my heart is still out West where there are wide-open spaces and the sky is big. When I get this way, I head to the beach because there I can feel that same sense of space- looking far and far away to where the ocean meets the sky.

Side 1- Colorado spaces

Side 2- Georgia spaces

The color on each side is silk organza, layered for different intensities of color. The quilting lines following in waves the shape of the colored pieces so that the blue shows up on the gold side and the gold shows up on the blue side.

detail from Georgia side

detail from Colorado side

I am this quilt- effected by both places, influenced by both places, wanting to be in both places.

spring break skirts

I am long overdue with writing posts. . . I will be writing a couple today! About 3 weeks ago we had spring break, and although I didn’t have the week off I did have 2 long weekends in a row and it was a lovely break. As it is now getting to be spring and soon summer, the time is right again for wearing skirts, my favorite sort of clothing. These two skirts were my attempts at making some new clothes for myself.

Cotton gauze bias cut, tea length

Linen swishy skirt

I bought quite a bit of fabric, so now that I’ve tried these patterns out I want to be making some more!! but that might have to wait until the next break. . .

I am so in love!

Today I bought a walking foot for my sewing machine and I don’t know how I ever quilted without it. I mean, I knew it was supposed to make things so much easier, but with the hefty price tag I put off purchasing it. . . well today I got and it is a total dream! Definitely note-worthy on the blog. And since there is no actual love interest to report, I can at least comment on the inanimate objects in my life.

Spring is Unfolding

Unfolding, side a, with the light shining through

This week in Savannah it seems that Spring has arrived . . . as evidenced by the azalea bushes all blooming with pinks and reds and whites. It has been a little chilly and I did turn the heat on again yesterday, but Spring is definitely in the air. I feel thankful for the time change as I sit here at 6:00 pm and it is still sun-shiny outside!!!

My little quilt this week is an ode to the unfolding of leaves and new plant growth that comes with Spring. I have two spider plants in my studio and the shapes are a loose interpretation of those plants.

Unfolding, side b, with the light shining through

Again I am working on the back and front of the quilt. I stitched and appliqued on both sides. I think the openings allow this to really play, especially with the transparent fabrics (all cottons).

detail

stitching detail

side b detail

a new quilt & and an old quilt

Side A (raw silk)

This time to explore the relationship between the front and the back I took the thread ends from one side and brought them through the other. What was the top thread (lime green) is pulled to the other side and tied; what was the bobbin thread (turquoise) is pulled to the front side and tied.

side A detail

It’s not reading terribly well, but I like the idea of using the thread ends from sewing machine and doing more with them than snipping them off.

side B

side B detail

Now for the last couple months I have been working to repair an old quilt and I finally finished it this weekend!! It has been a big project! A woman I met at Mutations Craft Fair asked me if I would be willing to work on this and I said I would give it my best shot. I had never attempted anything like this before, but I was glad for the chance to try it and glad for the income it would provide.

Quilt before

When I got it, the quilt was not in total disrepair, but had come apart in many places. Thankfully it still had all the fabric and all the batting! I began by taking out the previous repairs that had been done in black thread (groan) and fixed all the top piecing, making it whole again. Some of the batting inside had come apart and I patched that back together. And finally I did the hand quilting in long lines and stitched the binding back up.

Front, after

The beautiful part of this whole project is the story. The woman (Pat) who I have been working with was recently remarried and this is her husband’s mother’s quilt. They had to move her out of her home and while they were going through everything Pat found this quilt and rescued it from the trash. Her idea, and this is what we did, was to fix this heirloom and give it to her husband for his birthday. Pat and her husband (I can’t remember his name) came by this afternoon and picked it up and it was wonderful to be part of this precious gift. He was very surprised to see it again and I hope he will enjoy having this part of his family history for a long time to come!

Back, after

After I had been stitching it for a while I began to notice two very distinctive stitching styles, other than my own. I wonder how many people worked to put this quilt together? Just two? or a whole group?

detail of fabrics

more detail fabrics

I love these old fabrics. They felt very thin in my hands, like they had lived a long life.  I wondered: did these fabrics have a history before this quilt? or were they chosen specifically for this use?