Dinner at Eight Artists presents Beneath the Surface, a special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA – July 22-25th at the Long Beach Convention Center. Sponsored by Moore’s Sewing Centers and Brother International and the Dinner at Eight blog.
I can finally show you Mother Lode, which was accepted into this special exhibit along with many excellent art quilters across the country. I think a trip to Long Beach and IQF is in order.
Here is a detail:
It seems as if I have been on a tear to finish things since the beginning of the year. Tomorrow, I can check off two more things from my list. I have finished Mother Lode and photographed it tonight. I will burn the CD tomorrow and pop it in the mail. I will also ship Sunset Composition to North Carolina for the PAQA South Illuminations show.
I was quite perturbed when I finished quilting Mother Lode because It was just a tad longer than the required 48 inches and I really wanted to face it which would require a half inch more for seam allowance.
I decided that it was important enough to come up with a solution. I had a strip of the bottom fabric that was already fused. I cut a 1 inch wide strip of batting the width of the quilt. I cut the fabric 1 and 1/4 inches wide and fused it to the batting. I butted the batting strip up against the end of the quilt and fused the overlap of the fabric to the bottom of the quilt top. I then quilted it to blend in. Voila! I had the length I needed to sew facings. Whew!
This is for a juried invitational show so I hope that after I have gone through this that it will make it into the show. Either way, I will eventually be able to post a photo.
After several days of glorious weather, we are having a cold spell. There was some talk of snow or freezing rain, but it looks as if we will be spared.
I finished fusing Mother lode to the batting and found a great batik for the backing.
I had to run to Fabric Depot to find some thread for the unusual color palette of this quilt. Several dollars later, I was back home and started the quilting.
Tonight, I had a wonderful time at a Literary Round Table at Trinity. We listened to some Leonard Cohen music and discussed the meaning, poetry and spirituality of his lyrics. So now I have Leonard’s music running around in my brain. One of my favorite lines is from Anthem: There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in. This has so much meaning for me, an imperfect and “cracked” being.
Finally, the pink season and pink snow has come early to Portland.
I have the pieces for the BIG quilt cut and fused to a large sheet of Teflon. I have cropped out some areas for sneak peeks. The title is Mother Lode. Heh!
I just love how the different fabrics interact with each other — sometimes my choice and sometimes, serendipity.
Of course, those who know me, know it is all about the fabric.
So, that is what I have been doing today. Tomorrow, I hope to get it fused to the batting. I may have to run out to get backing fabric for it. I am not sure if I have anything large enough in my stash. then the quilting will start.
I meant to post this link last night and forgot. There was a lovely interview with my daughter, Steph, here.
Title: Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a river erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternatively eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the inside. The result is a snaking pattern as the stream meanders back and forth across its down-valley axis.
The term derives from the river known to the ancient Greeks as (Μαίανδρος) Maiandros or Maeander, characterised by a very convoluted path along the lower reach. As such, even in Classical Greece the name of the river had become a common noun meaning anything convoluted and winding, such as decorative patterns or speech and ideas, as well as the geomorphological feature. Strabo said: “… its course is so exceedingly winding that everything winding is called meandering.Source: Wikipedia
I love this piece. I loved making it. I would happily live with it.
Titled: Prairie Fields and Circles
Detail
Last night, members of High Fiber Diet brought their pieces for the Bird’s Eye View to our meeting. They all came home with me. On March 7th, two other members will join me in jurying the show.
I am currently working on two pieces that I can’t share — maybe glimpses. I didn’t get much done today. I sorted and folded my artist cloth and got some inspiration. I screened some images that may or may not go onto my next 12 X 12 quilt, which is due March 1st with the theme, blue, white and a touch of black. Not sure if I want to go literal or abstract.
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