Seeds Sown Long Ago

Sometimes things done and seen long ago plant seeds that sprout in the future. That's what is happening to me from time to time. Although I haven't been exhibiting and teaching for the last two years, I still had my work noticed by a magazine, Art Quilting Studio, and was invited to write an article. "When Photography Converges with Dyes, Fabric and Stitch" is published in the Summer 2021 issue. No you won't find me on the cover, but you will find my article inside.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, it has been hard to locate a copy of the magazine. Yes, I should receive a complimentary copy for being in the magazine, but it doesn't seem that the mail has been reliable. I've searched out four Chapters/Indigo stores in my city, with no success. One sold out quickly. Another has a huge stack of the Spring issue, so who knows if they will receive the Summer. Most Chapters/Indigo stores have also reduced the number of magazine titles they carry. There is a mixture of old and new issues on display. Not to worry, I've ordered a few copies from the publisher. They will get here when they get here. In the mean time, I do have a pdf of my article so I can at least show you what it looks like. This is the pdf they sent for me to proof. I made no changes except to add the name of the photographer (Patrick Blake) of my sunflower triptych, "Fleur du Soleil".

It also happens that my international Crossing Oceans Textile Artists group is having their first exhibition since the pandemic at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh, England. Our organizer, Jane Rollason lives half-time in England and half-time in France. For a while our works were locked in her home in France without her being unable to access them due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. If you click on the photo below you will be taken to a nice spread of our work and information about the artists.

I'm nearing completion of my fourth coffee cup collage, so I will be back with that soon. I am now fully vaccinated, and wondering "what now"?

September Activities

During the month of September I reserved a couple of weeks for vacation to a destination that has been on my bucket list for a while. I'll be blogging about that over the next few days. But here are a few good news items I wanted to share that have happened in the last few weeks.

I'm hearing reports that the show of the Crossing Oceans Textile Artists, on the theme of Nature, was a success at at Carrefour de Patchwork Europe. My Spanish friend Cecilia Gonzales, who was teaching there, sent photos of my pieces. It is a reminder to me of how much better quilts look on a gallery wall with appropriate lighting, rather than the pipe and drape of quilt shows. Cecilia and her sister Merce do some fabulous textile work. I met them last year when I was teaching in France, and did a blog post about their work. You can view it here.  Their website is www.desedamas.com.

A blogger from the UK, named Annelize, has done a very detailed blog post about our show, with very good quality photos. 

"Encore" was juried into the Infinity Art Gallery fibre art show. Just follow that link to see all the works in the show.

I was very pleased that "Returning 2", my donation to this year's SAQA Auction, sold on day one of Section 2 of the auction, raising $750 for SAQA. The auction continues for two more weeks, so have a look at the link and consider purchasing one of these one foot squares to help raise the profile of the art quilt and support exhibitions around the world. 

After my vacation I holed up in my office for most of the week, working on the pattern for my next line of fabrics. I thought I had finished the job before I left for vacation, but when the fabric scans became available I had issues with the colour loading properly. I've learned a lot this week and am feeling just a bit more confident with Electric Quilt.

I've also spent a lot of time cutting up fabric for promotional events, give-aways, and for sale. I've already had one give-away on Facebook of the Autumn Harvest line.

I've been thinking a lot lately how much activity I am engaged in on Facebook compared to my blog. So if you are on Facebook and also a reader of my blog, please do come and friend me on Facebook.

The Fall teaching season has begun so I'll be quite busy teaching for the next two months. When I get some time I'd like to make something with this colour way of my fabric line.

Encore Changes and Bursting into Bloom

You probably remember me featuring my quadriptych "Encore" on this blog before.

This is what it looks like now with the fifth panel added in the middle, and the fourth panel turned up-side-down. I sewed the hanging sleeve on the other end because I found panel four too similar in composition to panel three.

These are all being sent out to France for the Crossing Oceans international exhibition on Nature. Our group now has a Facebook page at Crossing Oceans Textile Artists. If you are on Facebook, come and like us there. Several members have been sharing their work, and this is where you will find information about our group along with our upcoming shows. While you are on Facebook, please friend me as well. 

Here are some more detailed photos of each panel:

Encore 1: Unfurling

Encore 2: Blossoming

Encore 3: Growing

Encore 4: Maturing

Encore 5: Returning

As you may have noticed, hosta plants are bursting into bloom everywhere! I spent a bit of time today with my macro lens.

I really love how some blossoms include both warm purples and cool purples.

In this type of hosta blossom, there is almost a braided appearance to the blossom.

Whether or not these end up inspiring some art quilts remains to be seen. I have a million ideas, and stacks of many types of photos, and am at the moment finally quilting the samples for my hosta patterns. I'll be sure to share here if these photos do inspire some work.

Show and Tell

Tomorrow I'm heading off to teach for a week at the Haliburton School of the Arts. I am pleased that before I leave I have finished all the pieces for our Crossing Oceans group show on Nature. You may recall that I posted a picture of this final piece a few weeks ago. I really wasn't very happy with it, until I took some Prismacolor Artist Pencils to it and shaded it, adding some depth and light and more complex colour.

 

I am much more pleased with it now. Originally it was flat and boring. Now it has a bit more life and glows a bit.

I was going to add a fifth piece in the middle of my quadriptych, making it a pentaptych (work with five pieces), however, I do not think it works because the composition is too similar to the second one from the right (below). But that is fine as it can hang on its own. We are not required to have four or five parts that work together, only that we have five pieces of a certain measurement. The pieces of my quadriptych may not be hung together in this show anyway.

For someone who has worked with a hosta theme for several years, it is only recently I have started studying actual leaves up close and in person. My work up until now is all based on photos I've taken. Last week I realized that the type of hosta, that grows at the side of my house, is really very interesting up close. Look at all the different greens in it! I placed the leaf on my scanner, scanned a photo, and then played with it in Photoshop. One can while away hours playing with filters in Photoshop!

I've been saving up a few photos that have come in from recent classes. This is a photo that Bev sent after our last Dye Happy class. She did some wonderful gradations. two-colour runs, and parfaits. I love the earthy greens resulting from the green and purple dyes.

Cathy sent this photo of her "earthy" colour wheel after Quilt Canada.

Lynda also sent photos of her earthy colourwheel and some of the multi-coloured fabrics she did in my "Intro to Fabric Dyeing" at Quilt Canada.

Eleanor sent a photo of her finished piece from my "Liberated Radial Piecing" class at the Prince Edward County Quilters Guild in May.

I love receiving photos from students, so please don't hesitate to share them. 

Changing Gears after Quilt Canada

You may be wondering why I haven't shared any photos of the quilts at Quilt Canada. I am not deliberately depriving you. There is no photography allowed at our National Juried Show, but catalogues were available for sale at the front desk, and will be mailed to all members of the Canadian Quilters Association with their Fall Magazine. You can, however, view the award winning quilts at this link. I literally had to beg to be allowed a photo with my quilt ;-)) Here I am.

It is a busy week here. I wrote up my Northcott pattern and am having it tested as we speak, so that shortly I will be stuffing 1,000 pattern packages to ship to Northcott to arrive by August 1. I am also working on more poppy sketches for my second line.

In the mean time, I have finally built the fifth work I plan to send for the Crossing Oceans group show on Nature. Our first appearance is at Patchwork Europe in September. The plan was that this piece would fit right into the middle of the quadriptych above (photo of my piece at Quilt Canada with the ribbon), making this a pentaptych. Yes I had to look that one up as I did not know the term for an art work made in five pieces. All of the five pieces are designed to either stand alone, or work together. I think they have more impact as a group. This final piece still needs to be quilted. That is on the agenda for early August.

I am off to celebrate my father's 90th birthday this week, and from there I am heading off to spend next week taking an art class. The instructor has agreed to let me work in fabric ... he is very enlightened! I spent considerable time this week prepping. I had a full 25 yard bolt of the Steam a Seam that was released last summer but then pulled from the market. Thank heavens they did pull it off the market, because I had a hard time pulling the paper off.  A little patience was needed and I am all set with about 80 colours of fused fabric. You can see the update on Steam a Seam here. Progress is being made and we can expect to see Steam a Seam making its way back on the market later this fall.

News (Shows, Articles and Workshops)!

Checking in tonight to share news and some photos of recent workshops.

I learned yesterday that "Encore" was accepted and will hang at the National Juried Show of the Canadian Quilters Association in St. Catharines, Ontario in June. In the mean time, it took a little detour today. I shipped it, and other work, as well as a lovely stack of hand-dyed fabrics, to the office of Quilting Arts Magazine in Massachusetts, whether they will be photographed for an upcoming feature article about me. Stay tuned! The expected publication date will be the June/July issue, but I will let you know when the date is definitivelyconfirmed! I am very happy to be showing "Encore" in Canada and in the US (in Quilting Arts Magazine) before it travels to Europe for the "Crossing Oceans" international group show.

Sunday I taught Part 5 of my Art Quilt Series here in Ottawa. A few students brought some of their design experiments. This exercise was about working with value (while also keeping other Elements and Principles of Design in mind).

Isn't Barb's blue dog just the coolest?

Monique's Chinese lanterns are so graceful.

Inez chose to depict a milkweed pod. Great choice of complementary colours.

You could walk right into Mary's forest scene.

Ruth's dynamic close-up of a portion of sunflower focuses on the green area below the flower. (I can't think of the technical name of that part of the plant right now?).

Monday I was off to Perth, Ontario, to teach "Liberated Radial Piecing" for the Lanark County Quilters Guild. It was great to spend time with this group again. What an innovative and relaxed group of quilters.

We had a wonderfully large and bright classroom. I actually got some exercise while moving around between students ;-)

Most students in the class had worked with free-form cutting and piecing methods before, so there was no one intimidated by trying this.

The process starts with making a series of strip sets, all cut and pieced without rulers.

After that, wedges are cut to form the radial design.

Bev brought her finished poppy quilt that she started in my workshop at the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild about a month ago. She did a fantastic job with the values!

I know I've been quiet this month. We had a two-week trip to Spain to celebrate my husband's retirement. I will share some photos shortly. 

Teaching travel is gearing up, and I'll be off to visit the Windsor Quilters Guild next week.