This is my most recent quilt, made especially for my dear friends Dan and Betsy.

This piece is made almost entirely from recycled, found or gifted fabrics- a shirt from Dan, fabric from a book binding project of Betsy’s, her Grandfather’s shirt, a pair of my pants.

side A

side B

Betsy and Dan have been such an integral part of my life in Savannah- they are included in most of my memories of the last three years. With great sadness I said “see you later” to them on Monday and wished them a safe journey up to their new home in Marquette, MI. I love you guys!!

The month of June is almost over and this has been the craziest month! I have only been home in Savannah for 2 weeks this month and am reeling in disorientation. It is fun to be away, but also so hard for me to keep up with everything and not be home. It is sort of appropriate and funny to feel this way as think about the work I started making last quarter.

After I did some of those explorations, looking at the marsh, I went to NYC for a week and was part of the SCAD Fibers presence at SURTEX and ICFF. While I was away, I gave myself the assignment of stitching one small piece every day. It was a good assignment and kept me stitching and thinking while I was in a new city. BUT, when I returned I was feeling so uninspired by the pieces. I thought- I know this stuff- I know the events of my life, I don’t need or want to memorialize those events.

I came back to the fabrics that I had treated (always come back to the materials) and as I was piecing them together they started to take on lives of their own- pieces put together created new surface shapes- and they looked like maps.

The Spring quarter was really about convergence and bringing together all these ideas I have swimming around in my head. What am I doing in that? Trying to understand myself and my environment in the same way I would if I were reading a map- looking for clues, landmarks, points of reference. But more than that, when I can find where I am, then I orient myself to the world around me.

The first piece is done with hand stitching and this one is done using my sewing machine.

This next one I added the compass as another orientation reference.

Another one- still to be stitched on.

As I start this new quarter I am about to begin my last studio class. I am excited and nervous and scared. This is it- stay tuned for further developments! Hopefully I will be back to my weekly posts as I settle into life at home again.

Also, back in the beginning of May I did a little research out at the marsh. I’m interested in the idea of the horizon- what it signifies as the perceived line between land and sky, known and unknown, physical and spiritual. I like that it also signifies all that we know, as we try to make sense of our surroundings, because it is as far as we can see.

group 1:

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

group 2:

#1

#2

group 3:

#1

#2

Back at the beginning of May, when I so pitifully abandoned my blog, I went with my fabulous friends for a brief excursion to Aiken, South Carolina. Catherine has been living up there for almost a year now and Betsy, Dan, Kevin, Alice, and I all piled into the car for a visit. I was amazed at the beautiful country- so beautifully green, rolling hills and a little drier/cooler than Savannah.

Aiken is horse country- they are everywhere, even downtown!

In the city there is a huge 200 (or 2,000 or 20,000) acre park. No motor vehicle are allowed, only people and horses. It was so fun to hike around in such dense and diverse vegetation.

We discovered a sand river that was really interesting–exactly like what it sounds– as swatch of soft sand carving into the land.

I also discovered these beautiful, delicate flowers:

Also as part of the weekend adventure we caught the end of a horse show- my first time to such an event!

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.

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!!

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.

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. . .

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.