UNTITLED summer '05

FIRST REAL ART QUILT, not yet quilted.
I met with my artsy quilting buddies and we were to throw together a still life of 5 unusually long glasses. I was incredibly nervous (even sweating) about cutting fabric without thinking for days ahead of time. After two I got bored and needed to add context. From this experience I've learned that, as in real life, I like to tell stories.
This quilt was completely fused in about 20 minutes.

"I LOVE NY" 4/05

This was my first challenge quilt, made for "The City Quilter" located in Manhattan. The challenge fabric is the grey mottled one with scenes from NYC, hence the inspiration and the title. I actually have never been in the shop because of my toddling responsibilities, but I hear it's quite artsy and cool. Perhaps next month when they reveal the new challenge fabric, now that my little guy is another year older, I'll finally make it there.

I am proud of this quilt for many reasons, but mostly because I did finish it on time despite the fact it was an extremely stressful time. It is a power quilt in that I learned many techniques and jump started my quilting repertoire. It was my first time foundation piecing, curved piecing, using thin borders, trapunto (the heart), and free motion and echo quilting (around the logo). The applique was hand done, but I had done that before on a quilt that is yet unfinished. I actually took the logo from an umbrella that I photocopied (that was quite a challenge, too). I had been wondering where I would get the logo from, and was unable to obtain it online. Then one day when I dropped my son off at school I noticed his teacher with the umbrella.

I designed the NY beauty block myself, with a little help from Dad and a review of angles, degrees, and protractor and compass. Of course I had to have 5 spires, and none of my books had a block with just that many. I used taxicab yellow and alternated with black to continue the bold NY statement in an internal arc, and the idea for that came from Ms. Liberty herself - underneath her spires are a series of windows (which I had the pleasure of viewing from the inside as a child, again, thanks to Dad).

Also cool to note, the thin black border is full of sparkles, and looked to me like freshly paved asphalt, with it's recycled glass shining in sunlight. Finally the zebra print to complete the "asphalt jungle." I had actually wanted to add some great features to this quilt, but I'll not speak of them here, as I believe this will be a revisited piece, and want to save them for "I Love NY II."

"SUMMER SUNSHINE" 10/05

Of this quilt I am most proud to date. I completed it in October and it is currently hanging in a local gallery. This picure is before some quilting and the before frame was added. When it returns I'll update the blog. It'll be hanging in my dining room for sure.

This quilt is based on a photo I took of my boys. Picture this: end of summer, still warm, Sunday morning 7am. The three of us are in a good mood, and the boys dressed in their summer pajamas - white oversized t-shirts - run outside to play, the elder still sleepy-eyed and not yet participating. The morning sunlight was magical. I suppose it helped that they were playing so nicely!

My goal for this quilt was only to see if I could capture the light, it's direction, and keep it somewhat as magical as the original picture. I feel I've succeeded. After this quilt I started looking at books of the classical master painters, and by far, my favorite is VerMeer.

"WILD THING" 11/05

Zvi finally enjoying his quilt after a two year wait!

I began quilting when my 4th was born, but Zvi got a little jealous, so I started this one too. This quilt was full of nasty dilemmas. Honestly, I cringe thinking about it.

For starters, the lime fabric had puffy stars on it that melted under even the coolest of irons, so every single patch created a problem. And of course, I had to make my own pattern and template with a wierd angle, even though I had just started quilting (what was I thinking?!). Since I had read so much about rotary cutting I decided it must be rotary cut, so I pieced together all of those fabrics at that wierd angle. When it came time to cut it I had to use the template because it was somehow not pieced together exactly right - in other words, my seam allowances were too large, and after cutting rows I had to skip every other patch because it didn't match the template. That required another trip to the fabric store, and more $.

Finally when the lime/blue patches were finished, I knew I needed a border. I had thought of using white, perhaps diamonds of blue and lime in the border, but I had just purchased EQ5, and loved the way orange looked. I didn't know it at the time, but orange and blue are complementary colors, which is why it worked so well. My sensibilities got the better of me however, and orange was declared off-limits by my conscience. Too harsh, too bright, too unusual, so not me, it said. I searched and searched online for inspiration, and then I hit it. Hancock's of Paducah what would I do without you? This print that you see above came in blue and a sea green, and they were all on sale. I bought them all. In person, sea green was not right, but I did use it for the backing. Then it was between the blue and orange. One quilt meet later and it was decided, the border would be orange. I owe it all to Lenni. She sealed the deal when she said, "Oh no," to me holding the blue, "that's too safe."

"TOO SAFE!" This has changed my quilting life, folks. I am a conservative person in my life choices, but have a very bold personality. From then on I decided, "Of course, I don't have to be safe!" Now I refuse to be. So what if some people won't like the quilt that way, or you might have more people like it if you're conservative, so what! So what if you do it and even YOU hate it!!! It's a statement, an expression. If you're feeling mixed up one day, why can't you make a mixed up quilt that makes no sense? Isn't what we love about our quilts the memories they conjure up?

Finally, I couldn't bring myself to cut off any pinwheels mid spin, so I had to blend it into the border. This was a slight relief since at least with the blues I didn't have anything melting on my iron. I purchased an extra thick batting for my first time machine quilting. I had to quilt around each pinwheel, so it would stand out. This was more of a nightmare than the melting stars!

I've learned not to be so perfect after making this quilt. My neighbor and quilting buddy Ellen keeps telling me, "Just finish it, just do it, don't worry so much about being perfect." It took me a while to listen, but I did. More on that another day...

Stalling

This is not as easy as it looks, folks. Somehow my real computer got surged and fried, and I may have lost all of my pictures. We won't know until hubbie decides to take it to his tech guy.

Even before that, getting pictures on this blog has proven insanely difficult despite blogger's promises that it's so easy. I am slightly computer savvy, too. Once the big computer is up an running again (please God!) I'll get it right and we can progress with this blog. If anyone has any tips I'd surely appreciate it!

Art Quilting Begins

As soon as I have pictures available for my past quilts, I'll be posting them to the blog. Lately I've been doing a lot of work on hubby's laptop so I can be around the children during homework, play, fights, etc. My pictures are on the other computer.

I've recently been inspired with the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. I started to feel a quilt coming on, and did some research. All of the wonderful historical art associated with this are so graphic and horrifying, focusing on the actual act - the moment that the father was to sacrifice his son. This was his only son after too many years without, from his beloved Sarah, so surely while his faith was unwavering he must have been truly miserable to the depths of his soul.

I want to focus on the moment before this, and bring out his love for his son. Furthermore, not much attention is really given to his son, who, according to Jewish tradition, was 37 years old at the time. Isaac therefore was a willing participant who inherited his elderly father's steadfast faith. I also want Isaac's sacrifice to become clear in the work.

Wanting is nice, but will I be able to pull it off? I don't draw, but last night I drew, and the idea came across beautifully, even though it is far from a work of art. I can't wait to get to my medium, the beloved cloth, to work magic. Even if it doesn't come out the way I envision, it will still be a quilt, and lovable as such. I will post the drawing and each step of the process when the work is well under way.

Entry Into the Blogoshpere

This is quite exciting. I am finally entering the blogosphere, and what better way to do that than to connect with fellow quilters.

I just began quilting 2 years ago, and it didn't take long to get obsessed, as all you quilters out there know. I started out with the goal of making a mariner's compass quilt perfectly. I enjoy being perfect with quilting because my life certainly isn't. Isn't it comforting to have something come out (almost) perfect?

Well, not much was getting done trying to be perfect, and my stash just kept building and building. I was also quite lonely being a quilter in New York City. Not too many people quilt here, which is quite understandable, because it's such a rush rush lifestyle. In fact, most people look at me like I'm crazy, for sure thinking, "why on earth would you want to do that?"

Then a new neighbor moved in next door. Ellen used to quilt 20 years or so ago. I was so into it she caught the bug again. To make a long story a little shorter, she is an art teacher and accomplished painter, who got me into the art quilts that are so intriguing in the quilting world now.

Fast forward 2 years, I have two quilts in a local gallery and they are far from perfect. For one of them, I made a radical departure into the art quilting world, only because Ellen (and my other quiltmates who I'll introduce you too shortly) were in my head saying, "Just do it, just get it done. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't matter if you choose the right fabric." The result amazed me, as I FELT through the process instead of THINKING through it.