Filming of an Oregon Art Beat Episode

Jean Wells during filming for "Oregon Art Beat"

OPB's (Oregon Public Broadcasting) show Oregon Art Beat will feature a story this coming Fall on Jean Wells Keenan:  quilt artist, educator, designer, author, shop owner, founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and recent inductee into the Quilters Hall of Fame in Indiana.

I'm in another quilt group with Jean, along with three other Fiberexplorations members.  We call it the ICD (Intuitive Color & Design) group.  Half of the members are from Salem, and half from the Sisters/Bend area.  The group came together after its members took Jean's Intuitive Color & Design class, Levels I and II (each class met monthly at her shop, the Stitchin' Post, in Sisters).   After working together for 10 months, all of us wanted to continue meeting and working together, as did Jean, so we're continuing our exploration of intuitive quilting, along with improving our critiquing skills.

So when Jean got the call about  Oregon Art Beat, she decided to invite the ICD group to participate.  Because teaching is one of the key activities that keeps her inspired and "fills the creative well," as Jean says, it was important to include that as part of her story.   When we met at her shop on July 19 for filming, we each brought an unfinished project to be critiqued.

When it was my turn, I went to my project on the wall and began explaining what I was planning .  In her very skillful way, Jean led the discussion that centered on the elements of design, and others chimed in with remarks and suggestions.  It seemed like a normal ICD group session, as long as I ignored the huge camera lens positioned a mere 6" inches from my face, and the hand-held mike poised above my head.   The 3-person crew included one of my favorite OPB personalities, Katrina Sarson (love her voice!)

Me, during the critique of my piece (Jean looks on)

Jean did a great job, of course, and never missed a beat.  After more than 2 hours of filming, she treated us to lunch while she and the OPB crew moved on to her home studio (with its incredible view of the Cascades). There, they filmed the second part of the story:  We'll have to stay tuned to OPB this Fall to see what transpired!

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

The six members of Fiberexplorations who participated in the Fabric Swatch Challenge were rewarded with this view of our quilts, hanging together, at this year's Sisters Outdoors Quilt Show:

Our challenge quilts in Sisters!

Another view

Individually, from the left:

Erika's "Meyer Lemon Tree"

Maureen's

Torrie's "Catch a Falling"

My "Natural Symphony"

Photos of Chris' and Joan's quilts will be added as soon as I can figure out the glitch that's keeping them from uploading!

Challenge quilt -- the home stretch

I've been working on this challenge quilt whenever I get the chance, and think the final elements are in place.  I struggled to find a way to unite the different sections and make the entire piece flow, and right up until the time when I'm stitching the 5-6 major sections together, new ideas/solutions come to mind.  Although one friend's opinion was that I was over-thinking it (and I do tend to do that), I knew I had to listen to my intuition, which was telling me that I needed to continue working on it and the answers would come, and they have!

Here's the top with some of the main sections stitched together and other layers pinned into place:

Almost complete

 The vertical chain of color & tucks is pinned into place.  Does it add the needed sparkle that links the sections together?

The quilting lines (next!) will also work to unite the sections.

 

 

The final deadline for finishing this project is this coming Friday.  Will I finish in time???

Put a Bird on It (or "White Dove")

Everybody's putting birds on their designs.  I've added one to my blog, and she's a beauty.

Our visiting white dove.

Is anyone missing a white dove?  This one showed up in our yard about two weeks ago, and has chosen a perch on our hawthorn tree as her new home.

Her right leg is banded, but is too small for me to see if there are any identifying marks on it.  She lets me get within about two feet of her before she gets nervous and flies off.  And that's another thing:  she's an awkward flyer, though her wings don't appear to be broken.

See how neatly they fold at her sides?  She looks like a sculpted work of art from this angle:

(Click on this photo, and others,  for a larger view.)

In the next photo, her beak is hidden behind leaves, but it's a good shot of her beautiful white feathers.

Beauty

We're trying to keep our two cats away from her, especially when she flies down to eat the bird seed that's been kicked from the feeders by other birds.  She also likes to sunbathe on the ground!  She stays next to the hedge, but is otherwise unprotected from the other three sides.  

How do we locate her owners?  We've put an ad on Craigslist.  I was thinking about calling churches in the area to see if they've recently hosted a wedding ceremony where doves were released.  Doesn't that sound practical?  But first I have to finish my challenge quilt!  This is the final deadline week.  Will I finish on time?

  

She keeps an eye (!) on my cat, sitting below the tree.

We love having her here, but also realize that there's probably a local flock of white doves, minus one, that would be happy to welcome her back.

Back on track with challenge quilt

Putting it all together

With a little help from my friends, I'm back on track!

Torrie came over and helped me audition fabrics for the green section, and we both agreed on this batik.  Its subtle printed design gives just enough movement to this section, which will be enhanced with lots of horizontal lines of quilting, Barbara Shapel-style.  (Not straight across or evenly spaced, but lines that are more organic.)

Both Torrie and Lisa voiced their agreement that the blue-green "squiggly" print needed to be used, and it works to introduce the blue in the next section.
I'd already sewn some vertical strips with tucks and really liked them (seen in Lois Ericson's book Options), so I made more and pinned them along the length of the left side. 

Detail of tucks going vertically down the left side

More tucks close-up

I liked my original sketched design for the bottom section, but when it came time to construct it, it felt too boring.  I also wanted to try another version of tucks from the Options book, so I made a few practice rows and pinned them to the bottom.  This might be a good thing!    Another design line will be created when these sections are joined together and the horizontal seams are added.  (They'll fill the bottom section of the quilt, and the multi-colored vertical strip will extend over it to the bottom.) 

Detail of tucks in the bottom section

I'm wondering about making a longer version of the navy-and-blue-green-yellow wavy piece (on bottom right of design board -- 1st photo) and adding it as the bottom of the quilt.  I guess the answer will come by the time I reach that point. 

Less than 2 weeks and counting!

Fabric Swatch Challenge has me Stumped!

My original sketch (excluding the brown "rafters"!):

Original plan for 36" x 42" quilt

I like the SERENE (open, peaceful, simple) feeling.

Audition #1

 I pieced the yellow-orange section, then the 3 top curves.
I'd envisioned the green sect. under the top curves to be one solid piece of green, densely quilted with horizontal lines, but didn't think it was interesting enough, so began making sections of soft piecing.
[NOTE:  All white areas within the green sect. are intended to be filled with green, this photo & next.]

The blue sect. was going to be this one long piece, with one pieced-section just to the left of center, but auditioned a section of curved piecing here (folded under; it's actually twice as wide)

Audition #2

Extras for piecing

More extras for piecing

 Here, the middle blue section's removed, and add'l green-blue pieces are inserted. (The intention was to "blend" the greens into blues, but add'l blues weren't added anyway!)

Also, not sure I liked the add'l shades of green.  Suddenly it seemed too chunky and messy, not at all serene.
 [No, that's not a #1 in white!]


Here are more sections of piecing prepared for inserts, etc.  The blue strip on the far left was to be sub-cut and added as an insert for curved pieces as in the next photo below -- the blue section on bottom right.

Same for the pieced strips of green.  They were used in the same way in the photo above, as inserts in a soft curve.
















 

Audition3

 In Audition 3, I've moved the greens around to balance them out.  Added the wide blue strip in again, and let the green-blue pieced curves intersect the blue area.
I kind of like that part, but still need more in the blue area.  But what?





Last night I played around with it some more, and just for the photos, added some plain green under the top curves so eliminate the distracting white spaces.  Very tired of looking at it.  Worthy of rescuing?

  

Audition #4

 Of course, I've only shown you the top 2/3.  The bottom is figured out, so no need to discuss that section.
What do you think?  Do you like the curved piecing?  (It would be softened up so the pieces flow together, which they don't do now.)  Or do you think I should go back to the original plan of using one green fabric, with dense horizontal quilting lines across it for texture?

Lisa as Miss November

Here's the cover of next year's calendar, where our member Lisa Encabo is Miss November!
 

No, wait, I have that all wrong . . . it's Lisa's quilt that's featured for the month of November!  She entered Quilting Arts' 2012 calendar contest (theme:  Are You Feeling Pet-ty?) and won a spot with her artful depiction of Cutie, memorialized for all time as the playful dog with an awesome appetite.   RIP, Cutie.

(Her 12" x 12" quilt is the one in the middle, last row, as shown on the back of the calendar, below.)

Back cover of QA's 2012 calendar

Art in Salem

Our downtown (Salem, OR) has an art walk on the first Wed. of each month.  I haven't been in awhile, but decided to take our house guest, Dean,  who's here this week for classes at a regional weaving conference.

First we hit Venti's for some "good, clean food" (and it was!).   Actually, there was another reason:  to see Dayna Collins' mixed-media show, which is hanging at Venti's through the end of June.  We sat at one of the two booths, where Dayna's "littles" hung on the wall next to us.  Those were my favorites!

Here's the postcard about the show:

http://alleyartstudio.blogspot.com/2011/05/next-up-at-ventis-fearless.html

(Back of postcard)

The other highlight of the evening was finally discovering the gallery Pheromones.  I remember reading about it, but forgot it was there.  Wow, was I amazed!  The artist, Christopher Marley, collects natural artifacts from around the world, then mounts and frames them into the most unusual assemblages.  What are these artifacts?  exotic beetles, butterflies, and other insects with iridescent, gem-like colors; tiny, intricate fossils; botanicals such as carnivorous pitcher plants; and deep sea organisms.   The colors are brilliant and 100% natural.  No touch-ups with metallic paints, no varnish to add shine.  (I know; I asked!)

An insect mosaic from Pheromone Gallery

Many of these insects came from South America, where their native habitat was being destroyed and converted to farmland.  However, Marley's team is helping reverse that trend by training locals to collect these insects, which helps their economy and places more attention on the importance of preserving the natural habitat.

According to the Pheromone Gallery's brochure, "Leading environmentalists and entomologists agree that insect collecting can actually aid in the preservation of insect species by offering an economic incentive to preserve the habitat in which this 'sustainable rainforest crop' thrives."

This is a fascinating show.  Though some parts of it felt downright creepy to me, all I had to do was shift my focus away from the spider crabs to the intricate, gossamer wings of a dragonfly, and I was back to seeing beauty.

Don't miss this!  It's like a trip to a science museum, jewelry store, and art gallery all rolled into one!

Check out this book!

I miss my camera!  I hadn't realized how much I depend on my little digital camera until it stopped working about 3 weeks ago.  I use it to take photos of work in progress, things that inspire me, and for images to post on this blog.  Yesterday I took a break from work to pull some weeds, and within the space of 5 minutes had found three snakes!  My instinct was to run for the camera, but then I remembered . . .

The need to add some color to this page determined the topic.  Today's mail brought a copy of  the book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge:

It's rich with inspiration!  I'd already seen most of the quilts on the group's website and on individual members' blogs, but the book offers so much more (www.Twelveby12.org).  Each chapter highlights one of the groups' challenge themes and is narrated by one of the members.

Twelve by Twelve is an international online art quilt group.  Every two months, its 12 members responded to a new, one-word challenge theme by making a 12" x 12" quilt, then posting it online on "reveal day."  Often, the challenge "word" had different meanings to different members.  In addition, there were no other limits or restrictions included in the challenges, making the realm of possibilities even more fascinating.

This group isn't finished working together.  According to their website, they're in the middle of another challenge, with a reveal date of  June 1, 2011.

I'm glad this book arrived on a Friday.  I have all weekend to devour it.  Oh, wait! I meant to say that I'll be sewing most of the weekend, but will be able to stay up later than usual to dive into the book .

Two classes with Barbara Shapel

 Gorgeous, luscious, yummy, free-motion quilting

by Barbara Shapel!!!!

Barbara Shapel's free-motion quilting

Lucky me! I got to take two workshops with Barbara Shapel (from Washougal, WA) at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR on April 14 and 15.  The first day began with Barbara's discussion about which threads to use with which needles, thread tension, ergonomics, and other info necessary for successful free-motion quilting.

On day two, she also covered the "needle-thread-tension-sewing speed" topic before demonstrating her specialty, threadpainting.  If you're not familiar with the term, imagine a scene entirely "painted" with thread, and that's what Barbara creates with her sewing machine.  Flowing lines and layers of thread, laid one upon the next, magically become a graceful heron,

Barbara Shapel's threadpainted heron.

or an owl in flight with shimmering feathers:

Barbara Shapel's threadpainted owl

Her threadpainting is just as beautiful on the back as it is on the front:

Barbara's owl from the back

This gifted teacher spent several years of intense trial-and-error teaching herself to free-motion quilt with her home sewing machine.  Before there were books on the subject and other teachers showing the way, Barbara worked on her own, experimenting with different threads, needles, batting, thread tension, stitch setting and speed, hand placement, hoops, gloves, etc.  Over that period, she developed a systematic method of FMQ'ing that's practically fail-proof, and which has won her many quilting awards and made her a much-sought-after teacher.


If you ever have the opportunity to take one of Barbara's classes, GO FOR IT! (and fast; as they'll be sure to fill up quickly!)

Progress on our challenge quilts

Torrie's "Small Wonders" piece

At our April meeting, Torrie brought her finished piece for the "Small Wonders" quilt challenge, sponsored by the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR. For this challenge, partipants create and donate a small quilt (between 18" and 24" in size) for a fundraiser benefiting nonprofit organizations in Sisters. The quilts are displayed in the Sisters Library during the month of May, where visitors can vote for their favorites. Prizes totaling $500 will be awarded. If you can't get to Sisters to see them in May, the quilts will also be displayed (and sold!) during the Sisters Quilt Show on Sat., July 9.

I love the cheerful, high energy feel to this little quilt, which incorporates pieces of all the fabric swatches from our in-progress Fabric Swatch Challenge. But Torrie's not finished working with this color palette yet; she still plans to make a larger quilt for that challenge! It will be a different design (and larger -- at least 36" on each side), using the rest of her fabric swatches from our exchange, plus fabrics from her own stash.

I've made some headway on my own piece for our Fabric Swatch Challenge. I first sketched some design ideas in my design journal, chose the best parts, then drew the layout (an abstract landscape) on large tracing paper, choosing a 36" wide x 48" long format. Yikes!!! That's HUGE for me; I usually work much smaller, like 9" x 12" journal quilt size. But it's a good challenge for me -- and that's what a challenge is all about, isn't it? Pushing yourself to try things a different way, testing yourself, getting out of your comfort zone, and seeing what you're capable of.

The next step was to gather the pieces from our fabric swatch exchange and audition others that worked well with them. The fabrics were folded to fit together in their assigned areas of the traced layout, then photographed:

The "draft" layout of my design.

Since taking that photo, I've stitched together 2 rows/sections: the blues and greens and the yellow-oranges.

I strayed from my original plan when placing fabrics at the bottom of the design; I've decided to change it back to my original idea. The dark brown vertical piece has also been nixed, along with several other changes.

Again, that's what I love about art quilts -- that new ideas can be considered and decisions made all the way through the process; nothing's set in stone. That's freedom!

Final note: I really want to be the buyer/owner of Torrie's "Small Wonders" quilt, but I'm afraid I'll have some stiff competition. If anyone out there has some influence in helping me make this acquisition, I'd be most grateful!

Winter/Spring

I was struck this weekend by the differences in Oregon's micro-climates.  Here in the Willamette Valley, it's been "spring" for a few weeks:

Daffodils:  evidence of spring

Yet, 2 hours away in Camp Sherman, nestled on the western side of the Cascades, it's still winter.  This past weekend brought snow, rain, snow, snow, rain, and snow.  In the late afternoon, I glimpsed movement in the yard and caught these trespassers napping:

One, two deer . . .

Three, four, five, six . . .

I enjoyed the rare company of my son the last weekend of his college spring break.  But when he left on Sunday, I stayed at the cabin, sick with a stomach flu.   I spent many hours watching the weather changes, listening to the rain drumming on the metal roof, then experiencing the total silence of a winter snowfall in the woods.
Later in the afternoon,  I closed the curtains and took several deep winter naps, catching up on lost hours of sleep.  In between, I watched a film about Andy Goldsworthy and his art . . . twig sculptures bound together with only thorns, rocks balanced one upon another, ice shards molded into graceful curves, autumn leaves trailing in a colorful display over river rocks.  And hearing him talk about his art and what it means to him, well, all I can say is that it filled me with inspiration.

A must-see!!!

More Surface Design!

Discharging and replacing color with Decolourant Plus, using lime, red, and a bit of purple in the center.

I'm having so much fun NOT sewing!  What I mean is . . . well, I intend to sew very soon, but first I had to make some interesting fabric.  (Not enough in my stash???)

I was playing with a new product from the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, OR that both DISCHARGES and ADDS color  all at once!  It's called Decolourant Plus "Color Replacer for Fabric and Papers."  It's much safer than using bleach, doesn't degrade your fabric, and comes in a 4-pack.  My set included 3 bottles of discharge-and-color:  lime, red, and purple. 
  

Again, on black fabric

 The 4th bottle contained no color; it was just the discharging ingredient.   I added some turquoise paint to it and stamped these:

Plain DeColourant with turquoise paint added

On my own hand-dyed gray and turquoise fabric

The last piece was a combo - plain with a tiny bit of lime (looks kind of yellow)  in the upper left, and simply plain discharge in the upper right (using a self-carved stamp in both those areas):

A bit of overprinting

All the above were commercial stamps, except the hand-carved stamp shown above.



The next challenge is to cut the stamped images apart and arrange in a wall quilt.  Simmer, ideas, simmer!

Erika sparkles at "Art at Zena" reception

 A smiling Erika Close, next to one of her "Art at Zena"quilts

As one of the artists featured at the Art at Zena exhibit, Erika looked pretty in a wearable art jacket she designed and made herself.   Tonight's artists' reception was well attended, with art lovers and supporters drifting through the exhibit of mixed media pieces, handmade wooden tables (made from wood found at the Zena property), stained glass, metal, and of course, fiber art.

Erika's three 16" x 10" quilted pieces were hung side-by-side, next to several mixed-media pieces.  I overheard several comments on "the quilted art," all of them positive and admiring.  One woman asked me if I knew who made the three pieces, and when I pointed out Erika, the woman exclaimed "She made all three of those?"  Obviously, she was very impressed.

Fire in the Field by Erika Close

Farmhouse Figs by Erika Close

Ferns in the Forest by Erika Close

Erika's family was by her side during most of the evening, including husband Justin, their son and daughter, and her mother-in-law  Maya (also a Fiberexplorations member!). 

In her Artist's Statement for this exhibit, Erika spoke about her experience:
The "Art at Zena" project sponsored by Willamette University has been a wonderful journey through that creative process.  Just being on the property and around the people that have had such a wonderful vision of what it could be has been so inspiring.  Their ideas to conserve and bring back the farm and surrounding property to be a sustainable hands-on place of learning is going to be an inspiration for many generations to come.  The day I spent there with the other artists was a very thought provoking and insightful afternoon.

If you missed the artists' reception, the exhibit continues through April 30, 2011 at Salem's Bush Barn Art Center.