In the news.....

 This week has definately been a week in the news for me with both an article in the new issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and a new video just posted on the Quilters Newsletter Magazine website TV channel.  Coincidently both items are about my public art commissions as well.

The Quilters Newsletter video is my second one on their website TV channel and I talk about some of my past commissioned projects and the process of submitting proposals.  If you have never looked at the Quilters Newsletter website, they have a great series of videos by different speakers on various topics, all available free of charge.

I am also thrilled to be featured in the current February/March 2013 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine.  I was interviewd by Jane Davila for her Minding Your Business column about my public art commissions and they included some great images of past projects of mine. 

The top image is of a quilt that was commissioned for the entrance lobby of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer, Alaska.  Shown below is another project of mine completed for the lobby of the North Star Behavioral Health System Childrens Psychiatric Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska.

So if you're interested and would like to find out more, I've added the video link in this post as well as on the sidebar to the right and track down the new issue of Quilting Arts Magazine at your local store or from their website.  

What's in a name?

 Sometimes quite a lot, especially when it has to to with public perception of a work of art.

I have been thinking about a particular landscape quilt idea I would like to do for some time.  It would be a winter scene loosely based on scenery I drive through quite frequently in Wyoming.  I even had the name for the quilt which was very exciting to me as I am notoriously "name-challenged" when it comes to my pieces.

The name I had picked out was "Old Woman Creek", which is an actual place filled with ancient cottonwood trees along a meandering stream.  But several people I mentioned this to were not at all enthusiastic about what that title brought to mind.  When I hear the name I think of this picturesque spot in Wyoming but apparently others had more unpleasant images in mind.

So I countered with another location name that sounded equally interesting to me, "Mule Creek".  This is also an actual location in Wyoming that I drive through frequently and it also has similar interesting and ancient cottonwood trees along a creek bed.  "Mule Creek" met with rave reviews, perhaps conjuring up images of the Old West instead of old women.

Interesting what can be in a name and you can probably guess what the final title of my new piece will be now! 

Playing around in a small way

                  In between larger projects, I have been playing around with a few compositional exercises.  While I enjoy and prefer working in a large size, I wanted to challenge myself to creating small compositions.  Compositions that relied heavily on line, value and the fabric patterns themselves to convey my subjects.  Plus a little bit of quilting to create details such as the trees pictured on the left.

As you can see by my original patterns, I tried to keep things very minimal and not draw in any actual details.  Both of these pieces measure 6" x 8" to give you an idea of the scale of the work and I did use piecing for the construction.

As it is the love of fabric and fabric patterns that drive me, it is fun to be able to play a little and concentrate on that aspect of designing.  And with only a dozen or so different pieces to each mini-quilt, every choice of value, color and pattern is important - there is no being lazy and hiding a poor choice amongst another 50 pieces of fabric!  But if one idea doesn't work, it is easy to start the next one when you are working on such a small scale.

Endings

Ending a project and ending the year.  I like being able to start the new year with a blank design wall and a new project to think of.

Here is the finished piece - all that is left to do is take it to the photographers'.  I think it is crucial to have quality, high resolution images of your work if you are interested in entering exhibitions or promoting yourself as an artist.

While I know several people who are very good at taking photos of their own work,  I am not one of them.  As you can probably tell by the images in this blog, I am not a professional when it comes to taking pictures and I much prefer letting someone else do that.  Luckily, I have found a great photographer nearby.

So it's time to quit staring at the blank space that is my design wall and start staring at my fabric stash to see what I can find for my next project.

Quilting Patterns

 Deciding on a quilting pattern for each quilt is always a challenge for me.

I also have to confess that this is my least favorite step of the whole quilting process.

I start thinking about how I am going to quilt a piece as soon as I start sewing the fabrics together.  Some decisions are obvious and easy, others are more of a problem. 

  First, while I try and match the colors of quilting threads (or choose a contrasting color for effect), my color choices are rarely that critical in the final result.  My fabrics are so highly patterned that usually the thread color is not that apparent.  So I have learned to relax and not worry too much about thread colors.

I also do not try to mark my fabrics as it will just be a line that I will not be able to follow and I do not want that pressure of concentrating on sewing an exact line.  I much prefer picking a general area to cover or using the edge of my embroidery foot as a guide to make further parallel lines as shown in the photos here.

With the subject of birds in flight I wanted to use flowing lines.  And since the birds themselves are fairly small, I wanted to leave them unquilted so they would "pop" from the surface of the finished quilt.  So I have decided on choosing various areas of the background to heavily (for me) quilt groupings of parallel lines.

Notes, comments and scribbles

As I'm taking my fabric pieces down and sewing them together, I refer constantly to my original pattern to see how the sewing should be done.

You can also see all the notes and comments I make to myself as I am selecting my fabrics.  These are things I want to remember such as where to put certain unique fabrics or value placements.

I also give nicknames to different fabrics or numbers to them if I have a selection of similar fabrics for a certain area.  This way I can make notes of which fabrics I will want where as I work on different sections.  I can write down my thoughts for whole areas and think things through before actually cutting up any fabric.  Doing this also helps speed up the cutting process as I can do several pieces of the same fabric at once as well as several different fabrics at once rather than one piece at a time.

Ready to sew, but wait a minute....

I have a rule before I begin sewing together all the pieces on a new project - always sleep on it, no matter how excited you are to continue!

With piecing, it is best to make sure you are happy with the overall look before proceeding as I do not want to rip out seams to insert a new fabric piece.  Nor can I simply applique (well I could, but that would go against my self-imposed piecing rule) a new piece over a fabric that I dislike.

So when I am done with my fabric choices, as I think I am now, I always wait another day before sitting down to the sewing machine.  And I spend time sitting and looking at my design wall, then popping back into my studio off and on for a fresh take on things.  Many times I have looked at my new piece the next day and something has practically leapt off the wall, begging to be changed and I cannot believe that I did not see it sooner.