Bucket List - Radical Elements!

Submitted my portfolio registration for the SAQA Radical Elements exhibit!

A first - my very first ever entry to a SAQA exhibit - and my first ever portfolio entry - they select based on views of artist's work, then artists make something specifically for that exhibit...

AND (happy geek artist dance)...
the theme is the Elements of the Periodic Table - how could I not enter this exhibit! 

Leaping into the 47th year of my life, and I'm artist number 47 to enter!  

Okay, Hurricane Sandy - you can take the electric from my home, because my entry has been submitted! Below are my 3 quilts and closeups!

Cognition, currently traveling with the Power Suit Challenge

Chantilly Lace - currently traveling with the Arts and Old Lace Challenge

 

 

Try-angle Trees and Cutting Tool Clouds, currently on exhibit in my powder room

 

 

Bet you are wondering which elements that I picked as my favorites!

Ten Eleven Twelve! Number, order and humor!

Happy eleventh of October in 2012.

I love numbers, order and humor - and some things we get honestly.

Yesterday my Dad celebrated the 71st anniversary of his birth. Always good to acknowledge the numbers in order to maintain your sense of humor.  

My Dad's mom was one of my first role models for aging, humor and creativity.  She had a sense of humanity that I appreciated as a child.  I always felt like she saw me as a whole person even though the number of my years was less.  I love this photo of Abuela Marta with my dad, when he was very young, very blonde, with just a little Dennis the Menace look about him!

A recent email from a friend included: "I love that you see and respect his amazing personhood even though he's just five." Wow, without even knowing my Abuela, she paid me the greatest compliment, in letting me know I am carrying on her trait of connecting with people young and old with a respect of their wholeness.  

One of my favorite Abuela Marta memories is account of how she lost her good sewing scissors only to find them later in her refrigerator... 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Try-angle Trees and Cutting Tool Clouds

Can you see I've been having fun? Imagine yourself skiing thru the fall colored trees and looking up to see the clouds forming shapes?  Perhaps you should keep your eyes on the ski slope while skiing!

Went to the Sewing  Quilting Expo at the Dulles Expo Center this weekend.   I was so fortunate to be a passenger and I wanted to get my "stitching on".  So at 8:30am Saturday realized I needed some handwork to take.  Found the Scissors sunprint in my "altered fabric" box and fused it to some felt (oh yes, lime green!) - then looked at the shape of the scissors - in the class last week, I really saw how repeating elements helps the piece and thought , hmm - applique of a scissors shape was, well, kinda blah and I don't do blah very well.

So started looking at the fabric, where the blades open there is a very nice triangle. and there is a second triangle in the opening area near the handles.  So glad I decided to open the cutting tools - the largest one is actually a tin snip from the garage.

First I wanted to be able to practice some outline sewing - for the 3 scissors left to right- running stitch balanced, running stitch with longer thread than gaps, and backstitch. I liked the backstitch best so repeated it for the top scissors.  Added triangles at bottom, at first my thoughts went to "cutting the grass" so laid them out in a grass-like, organic order.  And did some free-motion applique with YLI thread. 

Did I mention that I love quilting... Not piecing, not applique, but taking a needle and thread and scribbling all over fabric at high speeds... At quilt shows I absolutely love running the longarms and just playing!  Yesterday, an energetic vendor was talking to me while I sewed some spiky flame shapes... She asked "what are your thoughts?" in a kinda getting me to open up about my intentions to purchase (it wasn't overtly pushy, but still doing her job)..  but I heard a question about what thoughts I was having - and I answered honestly - "I'm not thinking".  There is a methodical, meditative groove I get into when machine quilting (I know, it's drudgery to some).  If I could only do one of the steps of either piecing, applique or quilting - I choose quilting!

So thanks to one friend I had time to sew in the car, thanks to my other buddy, I was given the vision of skiing  thru trees and seeing shapes in the clouds... She insisted I see these stuffed koi fish in one of the vendor booths.  AND - I do love making me some three-dee objects, and fun to see what others are doing.  In the booth I was chatting up the sales person and behold, the topic of quilting came up - shocking, huh!  She had this steering wheel - but kinda square and shaped like a very blocky capital C. And she was no sales person, she was the Gypsy Quilter herself, Lanette Edens. Liked her right off - even when I thought she was just a sales person.

Love. LOVE, L-O-V-E the tool, it' really does live up to it's name "The Fabulous Fabric Glide", the feel and motion is really close to that of the long arm and the control is amazing.  Before this tool, I would wear the white Micheal Jackson like grippy gloves - better than barehanded - but not that comfortable.  I was able to do some ridiculously tight quilting - see in a nice turquoise Robison-Anton thread "Marine Aqua" - I do love the 40 weight Super Brite Polyester - one beacuse I have it - two cause it has a nice shine and the poly is stronger than rayon so can also be used in come construction.  Note to garment sewers - never ever never never use rayon to seam a garment - top stitching is fine, but seam construction in rayon can lead to unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions. 

Thanks for letting me go off on a quilting and thread tangent!  Back to the project at hand!  Here is a needle-eye view of my Fabulous Fabric Glide - hanging right behind the machine I quilt on.

Before I did that quilting I fused on some appliques.   The second shape in the scissor was the oval handle loop - so instead of circles, I cut ovals to and cut "triangles" out of the oval flower-cog...

flower-cog-oval...
flog-val? 


My goal for this project was not to make art - but to experiment - so tried different stitching on the flogs - no two the same.  I can use this as a reference for adding handstiching to flowers. And if it was for a project I thing I would have done the same stitching inside each one - I think some variety is nice, now that I see it.  Maybe in future do a few styles of stitching - on purpose!

I love the bottom one with the V's and the single french knot... Never would have come up with this stitching pattern if I had not done the others.  And I didn't undo or go back - in the left of this photo the one with the single bar on each pedal is not my favorite, but that's the one I did that led my to the V's.



Here you see it hanging in our powder room, the walls are the same mossy green as the flogs, not yellowish as it looks here. 

And that raises two questions
Question number one
- Should I be providing "powder" if I insist on calling it a "powder room"?  Or it it BYOP?

Question number two
- What is "a scissor", singular?  The 2 handled tool is called "a pair of scissors" or a scissors, plural...

Just saw this in Wikipedia.  It's a bit odd...

"In New Orleans, some believed that putting an open pair of scissors underneath your pillow at night was a sound method for sleeping well, even if one might be cursed."

I don't recommend sleeping with scissor open or closed under your pillow!

Series-ously on a mission! reveal

Seriously on a mission!  from Deborah Boschert's class Small Art Quilts: Designing a Series 

I am very pleased with my four-sided angular shape motif throughout the series 


top row from left to right
Mission Church                                  Raise the Flag                     Twin Towers

 bottom row
                  Eleven                      Power of 3               Home is where the weeds are...


 

Circles in background are repeated in the curvaceous weeds and the alien flowers roundishness.

The open frames in the Power of 3 is simple from a distance, but up close a bit more complicated... and almost too busy, but did repeats of 3 from the 3 stars, 3 french knots in the green frame and 3 orange cube shapes...

 Love, Love, Love the weaving - does have an American Lung Association thing going on in the weaving on Eleven.  Quite pleased with how the weeds along the bottom turned out!


Quite a nice surprise that the colors and style complements my family room! I realized that while sitting in this chair doing the handwork.

Totally unintentionally, the color scheme and style really go in my family room.  Seriously, goes with my mission style lamp, my $29.99 painting from Ollie's and my orange focal point wall.

 

next up, a glimpse into the evolution of this design and adventures in learning!

Seasons of Sewing

cool mornings, warm days... makes me wonder which way to go!

I've got 2 traditional quilts that need binding and I'm looking forward to some handsewing time under a warm quilt.

As the earth revolves around the sun, while rotating, I think of my evolution as an sewing artist too... Birthday month introspection!

Throughout my school days, I doodled echo lines around words.

Later, I sewed garments, curtains, reupholstered furniture, machine embroidery... then I fell in the rabbit hole of quilting...

quilts of my own design (didn't know the term art quilt or traditional quilt) it was just play!  This was a slow design process, but oh so enjoyable...  Love the bike close up in the center with the Kermit leg, and the Vanna White posing Kermit!  No pattern, just drew it!

 
traditional quilts following traditional patterns made it faster and got me to hone skills, piecing, binding and machine quilting - repetition is great teacher.  Tried lots of techniques like this small stack and whack












took classes, like this one at Bears Paws West (no longer in existence in HoCo) made art quilts following patterns,

playing in three dimensions, the garment sewer in me loved this, shaping, using my Marks pinking shears (my oldest pair of scissors), following patterns but adapting them.





Here is Professor Moskovi of Duck U.  I wrote a whole little back story for him.  One of these days I will get all my ducks in a row (I've made at least 6, all but 2 have flown the coop!) 

Felt Doughnuts, love working in felt by hand!

Sewing the sprinkles on the pink one was laborious, but fun!

 stretching a technique, here's watercolor background, broderie perse dog, and freemotion zigzag applied black eyed susans. Inspired by a good friend's dog "Daisy" so it's "Daisy in the Blacked Eyed Susans".  I spotted this last week at her house.  It's the first piece that I ever sold, not for money, but for a steak dinner... mmm

art quilts of my own design - these 3 were created in Ideas for Art Quilts class with Deborah Boschert.  Looking forward to this Saturday as I'm taking her class, Small Art Quilts: Designing in a Series.

and now having fun with surface design (dye, ink, paint, beading, needle felting)...












Like the earth revolves, I get back to a different season of sewing, a little older and wiser.  I've got ideas of for a garment and a young neice asking to sew with me, hmm...

Goals - time to stop blocking them

Fall is sneaking up on us, with promises of a new year. 
My thought turn to goals, dreams and aspirations. 

Goals - I should be an expert on this!
Why not, I've spent time in goals, I've blocked them, dove on them, let them in (disappointingly) but rarely made them.  I'm talking sports of course, favoring defensive positions in field hockey, indoor field hockey, camogie, and ice hockey where I really was protecting the goal.

In sports, art and life, I blend a certain amount of skill, single-minded focus, full field awareness, practice, with a smidgen of reckless abandon, love of the game and plain old joy!

Here I am with the Washington Wolves, March 2012.  

I wish the team a fabulous 2012-2013 season. 

With certain sadness, I stopped playing the beautiful game of ice hockey goalie, which is a really different game than just ice hockey!  The experiences and memories, I keep forever.  The garage full of sweaty gear spread out to dry, yeah that part I don't miss! Funny that the game of my life, was very lopsided - 10-1 against a team from Montreal.  We were so overmatched and mesmerized by their skill.  I swear there must have been over 70 shots on goal that day! Our team scored the only goal against them that tournament.

Sometimes the score says you lose, but inside you know you won!

Edges - is there no end to the madness?

I shared the 12x12x12 with my informal art quilt group, Metrothreads last Saturday.  I meant to share some lessons from working small, and I realized that I got caught up in the fun of show-n-chat and may not have given specific details as promised on tips for working smaller... I'm sure there are a lot more tips for working small... but here's a couple that jump out at me..

SCALE & VALUES

check out the 12x12x12 in miniature... Peace, Love and Joy (top left) got a little bit "mushy, squishy", but the flogs still show up.  The rest seem to have some good pop.

That's not small enough, let's get really small and see what happens!

I think that small, large and medium works need to have appeal at different distances - from a distance, I've see art quilts that go mushy and don't draw you in.  I squint at my art as I work (or take off my glasses) if I like it squinty, I'll like it from a distance.  I also take photos from a distance and look at them on the small camera screen.  Oooh, now you know more of my secrets!


EDGES

I think putting a traditional bed quilt binding on an art quilt is like wearing a cocktail dress with Danskos.  And I do love my Danskos (and so much more than I love cocktail dresses!), but they take the focus away from the dress and make you question what scenario led to that outfit - did the house catch on fire and you grabbed the closest shoes? Was it "laundry day, nothing clean"?

I love juxtaposition, like in steam-punk - but I think a lot of art quilters don't do traditional bindings becase they want to show juxtaposition...maybe they see it as expected, easy, safe and they know how to do it already!  But like scale changes things - If your big quilt bindings are great, good, okay, so so, or not even so - it's going to magnify mistakes, so great is now just good, good is okay, and so on.  So if you can do great bindings on big quilts, do it on small ones, but maybe try single fold and try small widths.  If you are in the not so great category, I think you have a decision to make.  Try facings, "try it, you'll like it." (Yes, I am heavily influenced by 70s TV).

Commercial break 

Do you realize that  "try it, you'll like it." is an Alka-Seltzer tag line?  

In my flawed memory it was Life Cereal... that was actually different... 

"I'm not gonna try it—you try it!" 

Life Cereal commercial with Mikey, who actually likes it!

we now return you to your regular blogcast

You know from 2d paper art and photography - framing is an artistic element- and those who come from traditional quilting know what a good border will do for a bed quilt.  But the border also needs to be in scale with the item - a 2.25" double fold on a bed quilt has a appropriate scale look that it doesn't have on a small quilt.  I've played with faux binding using piping.  Wrapped fused binding or zigzagging can be appropriate for a small quilt.

DANCE THE FACINGS FANDANGO
Facings, like the palette cleansing sorbet, mmm such a great finish!  If you've never done facings, it's little harder at first, but soon you get used to the steps and can spin around the room and wow the crowd.  What is just a little harder, gives a look that can be flamboyant.  The pay offs of dancing the Facings Fandango include:

• puts the focus on the quilt
• nice crisp edges
• not limited to straight edges
• better hang-ocity - give quilts more stability in an unstable world!
• gives you options (front, back, matching, contracts, insertions)
• you can say "Facings Fandango", who wouldn't want to say that?

Check out, Day 11 Life on the Edge  for brainstormed ideas for quilt edges,








Thanks for having fun with me today!

Frivolous Swivelous!

A new favorite tool (especially for cutting freezer paper stencils!)


Fiskars Fingertip Swivel Detail Knife


Gotta be the swivel
Look for the purple handle - the one with the other color handle and larger blade doesn't swivel - both have the same finger loop style.





Really good for any cutting that needs smooth curving edges - as if you were writing with a pen.  A little different in how you hold it, but I find it more natural than the pen-style exacto that has a swivel head. Allows you to cut without the natural angle most tend to use when we hold a straight pen.

Oh, yes I have 2 of these.   I could tell you that it's cause they are so good that one is not enough!  Truth is when I was doing the freezer paper stencils for days 3 & 4, I couldn't find mine and was near a craft store so just bought a second one.  As you can see the first one just wanted a friend and came out of hiding! It's is good to have one in the upstairs sewing studio and the downstairs artistic annex.

I've used for freezer paper stencils, and freehand paper cutting as well... 
Is anyone using the swivel knife to cut anything else?

Please help me and you could win something fun, frivolous and super swivelous!
What do you think? What should I call my favorite tools..."favorite tools" didn't have the  flavor of Fun From A to Z!  Maybe something something:favorite tools... any ideas on what the something something could be?

1. Trusty Tools (alliteration but not super fun...)
2. Terrific Tools
3. Coolio Toolios (this might be a rap singer!)
4. Favorite Tools
5. Cool Tools 
6. Fun Favorites (doesn't actually say tool)
7. Fun Finds (same doesn't say tool)
8. ??? do you have a better idea??? please share!

Let me know in the comments section what you think- one lucky winner to be picked on day 1 of the actual month of my birth, October 1, 2012...  vote early, vote often (especially if you have a suggestion!)

Forest Ranger!

So what do you want to be when you grow up? In high school, the result of a career questionnaire was that it recommended I be a Forest Ranger.

I thought that was the biggest joke.

Now that I am closer to the half century mark than I am to the four-oh, I wonder... What would have happened if I listened to those results?

I do love nature and find a peaceful joy in solitude, I could see myself lecturing on and on about some aspect of nature, informing and educating.  My dad will attest that I don't let people litter! I look good in tan and green.  I love wearing hats & boots...  maybe there was some truth in those results!

Plus you seen the hat?

And since I'm being introspective, I realize that my childhood teddybear does "bear" a resemblance to Smokey the Bear.  Most likely Smokey was designed to look like a teddy bear so that my generation would know that we had personal responsibility for nature.  We also learned responsibility from his friend and fellow national symbol USDA's Forest Service, Woodsy the Owl.



From USDA
Smokey Bear’s expressions can change, but should never be menacing or frightening. He must always be portrayed as caring and informative, appealing to children and adults alike. The key to Smokey Bear’s expressive nature is generally shown in his eyes. It is important that any reproduction of Smokey Bear incorporates his caring, expressive eyes.



Rolling around in my little grey brain cells are several themes...

•  clear space and creativity
•  names (especially multiple names!)

"It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within--not without."  - Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's  eccentric detective.


Did you know... she was born Agatha May Clarissa Miller? and died as Dame Agatha Christie Mallowan?

thanks for having fun with me today!

Getting Better with Age, AMDG

My birthday month has started - birthdays are like baseball, they don't always follow time the way you would expect.  The birthday month (ok, I admit this is my own invention - but it's a good one)  Ok, the birthday month begins one month prior to my actual birthday and ends one month after.  So yes, the birthday month is really 2 months long, and in my case spans September, October and November.  So this is my "new year" and I turn my thoughts inward.  Interestingly enough, I saw a little old lady today who had just a smidge of resemblance to my Abuela Marta, my paternal grandmother, sewing teacher, and one of my creative mentors.  When this stranger gave me a smile today that had my Abuela's playful humor and a sparkle in her eye, it gave me joy to know Abuela sent me smile-mail from heaven.

In Tempe, Arizona I found this beautifully aged copper post cover at the aisle side of  the pew at Old St. Mary's Church.  I loved that it was worn, wrinkled and tarnished.  There is no way that new copper can compete with the beauty of this aged metal.   The church is a national historic landmark built in 1903.  It's not a traditional parish, it's associated with Arizona State University as the "All Saints Catholic Newman Center Mission".

Interesting snippet heard from our local priest ... sometimes when we think to ourselves "wow, that was lucky", that those opportunities could be free gift of grace from God. 

I've always loved being lucky! 

Personally, I love my luck even more now thinking that those lucky times were gifts of grace from God. Padre also elaborated that those gifts aren't shared willy-nilly as he spoke of the need to do good works along with having good faith.  I'm considering it a good work to put to this out to the blog-sphere, that this is part of who I am. 

As a human, I have many parts and it's a balance since they are all important parts of me - artist, worker, leader, wife, daughter, sister, stepmother, friend to humans and animals, humanitarian, god-loving-atarian, fun finder, and maybe philosophizer too!  When I was younger I walked past these 4 letters "AMDG" everyday - at least twice to-and-from classes.    And I think that God would be pleased to read that when I create art, I may not always think or say that I am doing it for God, but that in my quiet stillness of stitching thread through fabric, I feel closer to those who came before me and to the Creator, the great I am.  I live my life AMDG, I make art AMDG!  I was lucky enough to be Jesuit educated, other trained by SJ's know exactly what AMDG means.  "For the Greater Glory of God."

In a world filled with people, some with different faiths, some without and others struggling, I find myself not sharing about my faith, because I think that's separate from x, y, or z activity that we share, or that it will offend or exclude.  But I can't honestly say that my faith can be separated from the other parts of who I am and for me to share my thoughts on life without acknowledging my simple faith would be offending myself and excluding myself.

My favorite prayer is one of faithful surrender "not my will, but Your Will", I have a comfortable relationship with God.  I say He reads my Facebook posts, so why wouldn't He also read my blogposts?  The "Big G" and I are close that way.   So on this first day of my "birthday month" special thanks and love to those who created me, Mom, Dad and the big G!

Here's some great parting thoughts from St Iggie and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (both of which I think would agree that faith is so intrinsic we can't separate it from the day to day parts of who we are).  Mother Teresa share the name Teresa and an abundance of names. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, "Blessed" because she was beatification Oct. 19, 2003 (only 4 day after my birthday.  She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and simply Mother Teresa.)

signing out with my big name...
AMALIA TERESA PARRA MORUSIEWICZ


"By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."
―  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

All the things in this world are gifts of God, created for us, to be the means by which we can come to know him better, love him more surely, and serve him more faithfully.
As a result, we ought to appreciate and use these gifts of God insofar as they help us toward our goal of loving service and union with God. But insofar as any created things hinder our progress toward our goal, we ought to let them go.
― St. Ignatius of Loyola

Love is shown more in deeds than in words.
― St. Ignatius of Loyola

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
―  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta