"From Matilda to Mary to Me" - Juried in to Sacred Threads

"From Matilda to Mary to Me"

This is my art quilt about advice passed down from my Grandmother to my Mother and then to me. I made it in the year after my Mom passed away, and I think it was part of my grieving process.

I was thrilled to learn that it had been juried in to the Sacred Threads 2017 exhibit. Sacred Threads is "an exhibition of quilts expressing life's journeys - Joy, Inspiration, Spirituality, Healing, Grief and Peace". Each quilt is entered into one of these categories. I entered mine in the grief category. To learn more about Sacred Threads, click here: Sacred Threads

The exhibit will be in Herndon Virginia. The dates for the show are July 7 through 23, 2017. The exhibit will be held at the Floris United Methodist Church, located at 13600 Frying Pan Road, Herndon, Virginia. I wish I knew why that street was called Frying Pan Road. 

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Design Steps for an Art Quilt

  This is the inspiration photo for one of my recent art quilts. I am making a series of art quilts of people showing "attitude", and this photo grabbed my attention immediately. I love the posture that she has, the way her eyes look at the camera, and of course her wonderful sense of fashion. She is very sure of herself!

For this series I am doing some pieces in a portrait fashion, and others on a whole cloth where I paint the image and the background on one piece of fabric. Portrait pieces have the image mounted on a separate background. For this one, I decided a portrait style was more suitable.  My plan is to create the image of the girl separately and then place it on a background that serves as a frame for the image.

My first step is to make a line drawing of the girl. I traced over the photo and got the major shapes and lines. Then I enlarged it to a full size print out at my local FedEx Office. They have a large format printer in their self service area. I have become good friends with that printer and know how to get my enlargements done without waiting for someone to help me. What a time saver!!!

This image is about 2' x 3 '.




I use the enlarged drawing as a template for the parts of the piece. By parts I mean individual clothing pieces and body parts.  I used to cut out freezer paper templates for the various parts, but not any more. I simply place the enlarged drawing on my light pad, place the fabric over the drawing, and pencil in the outline of the part on the fabric. Then I cut out the piece and paint on it to modify as needed.

I trace the outline of the image on a piece of muslin too. I mount the various parts on the muslin as I complete them. Here is the muslin I used for this piece:



The muslin serves as a connector to keep all the parts together, and it helps to prevent the background colors from being seen through the image. I use a muslin that has a tea stained color, light brownish. That color is good at preventing background color from coming through, and it add a bit of warmth to the top colors.

I'll show the making of the clothing next. It was fun finding the crazy color combinations that she was wearing in the photo.


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Another Great Attitude!

I have been working on a series of art quilts depicting people showing "attitude". I'm always on the look out for people standing in a pose that says something about confidence, sassiness, or "I've got something on my mind".  I try to get a picture if I can right then and there.

Another one of my sources for photos of people with attitude is from friends and family.  I spotted the photo shown below on a friends Facebook page.  The friend is the Mother of the little girl shown. I love the combination of clothes and confidence shown by the little girl in her "look". I got permission from my friend to use her photo, and I have made an art quilt inspired by it.  I'm going to show the making of this art quilt in my next few posts. For today, however, I'm just going to show the photo that inspired me.

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Flying Geese Quilt Show - This Weekend!!!

The Flying Geese Quilt Show is this weekend! I belong to this guild and am always proud to have my quilts displayed at it. They have many fun things at the show, like vendors, auctions, raffles, and of course, quilts.  One of my favorites is the boutique. It is a wonderful little place to buy one of a kind items. They are high quality hand crafted items. You will find great gifts for your loved ones, and for you too!  This year I made some note cards for the boutique.  I show one of them below.





The show is Saturday June 3rd, 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday June 4th, 10 am to 3:30pm.
The show is at Soka University (1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo, CA).  $10 entry for both days. Free parking.


 I hope you have a chance to make it to the show! I really think you'll enjoy it!

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