Four-in-Art: Maps

It's time for the big reveal of our Map quilts as part of the Four-in-Art small art group I was recently invited to join.

I posted a couple of weeks ago about how I've always wanted to explore making art quilts but have just never taken the plunge. This fun little group has given me that chance and I'm looking forward to experimenting and learning about my personal style.

Our overall concept for the year is Urban with this particular topic being Maps. Last weekend I had the good fortune to attend Quilt Market in Houston and got to see several quilts made as part of a special exhibit entitled Maps sponsored by Quilts on the Wall. Here are two of my favorites.

Gone By Laura Bisagna, Winchester, CA
Laura's quilt depicts her home and others that are "gone" after a wildfire.
It's difficult to see but the black spaces are actually cut away to create holes in the quilt
representing houses that were destroyed by the fire.

Layered Marks From the Sky by Carol Nilsen of Laguna Beach, CA
An aerial photograph of a runway and taxiway inspired Carols' quilt.

Notice a common theme? Aerial views. That's essentially what maps are all about isn't it? An overview of a place or thing that helps us get our bearings in relationship to ourselves and our location . . . some maps even help us find the bearings of our lives. You can "put something on the map" thereby bringing it to prominence. Or you can "wipe something off the map" thereby obliterating it entirely.

For my map quilt, I chose something personally meaningful that I hope will never be wiped off the map. Something that will always be a part of the map in my mind and hopefully that of my children as well.

Now I am not an urban person by any means. Never have been and never really want to be. I'm a small town girl through and through. So I decided to express my urban map by depicting what was urban to me growing up. My hometown . . . Kentland, Indiana . . . a map as I still see it in my memory.

I love the loose improvisational style that so many art quilters do so freely but also realize that doesn't come easy to me, so rather than fight it too much on this first quilt, I just went with what does comes naturally to me. Structure and grids. I'm a planner and inherently a pretty structured person and the idea of a grid lends itself perfectly to the rural farmland around my hometown. The fields and rural roads are all pretty well laid out on a grid.

With this underlying structure in mind, I started cutting and piecing little bits of fabric into a grid. I chose not to be too literal with my interpretation, but rather to work from my general memory. I pieced and ripped out and pieced some more.

Finally my base "map" came together. I used an variety of greens to represent the fields surrounding town. Grays created the general town plan with three darker squares representing the significant places in my life . . . the business my Dad ran, where Mom worked and where my first job was, my church/elementary school . . . and of course HOME.

Then I stitched in more detail. The intersection of the two main highways in town, the railroad, the ditch, the downtown area . . . all two blocks worth. The main streets in town. The park across the street from our house. The dark gray color of our house along with the red flowers Mom always planted.

The last step was bringing my own personal story into the picture.  I selectively cut words and phrases from a piece of Madrona Road fabric to tell my story. The front of the quilt was purposely kept simple to reinforce the simple life of living in a small town. These words were hand stitched in place to again reinforce the simple ways of small town life.

The final step was binding. Since Kentland is surrounded by cornfields I chose a corn print from my stash to surround my map. But once it was sewn on I didn't like the look. It was too distracting from the town itself and the main concept. So I painted the corn green along three edges leaving just one side yellow to represent the corn hybrid test plots on the edge of town.

Here is my finished Urban-Maps quilt. I'm calling it "My Urban - A Place to Call Home"

"My Urban - A Place to Call Home" front

"My Urban - A Place to Call Home" back

On the quilt back I pieced together a narrative that tells my story . . .

Once upon a time, a baby girl was born

the family settled in a little house

And as she grew, she explored and roamed

and filled her deep well with knowledge.

But the road beckoned . . . 

All grown up, she traveled across the land

stitch by stitch she pieced her soul together

the winds led to her soulmate

they were deeply in love

eventually settling in the Old West

to raise their littles 

in a steadfast place . . .  to call home.

I grew up in this small midwest town where farming was pretty much the only industry. But even in a rural farming area, I was a town kid, not a country kid. Living in Kentland was my "urban" for the first 18 years of my life. Since those early years I've lived in several smaller cities and states but am happily back in a relatively small town. Different state but similar small town feel. Ten times the size of my hometown but still small.

But in the bigger scheme of life, Kentland will always be "HOME" to me.

Everyone in the group came up with wonderful ideas. It's going to be so much fun making this art journey with all of them. Take a look at their mini maps by following the links below.

Amanda - What the Bobbin
Betty - Flickr page
Carla - Lollyquiltz
Elizabeth - Occasional Piece Quilt
Nancy - Patchwork Breeze
Leanne - She Can Quilt
Rachel - The Life of Riley

To Market To Market . . .

I'm going to Quilt Market for the very first time later this week and am soooo excited!  Just to be there to see all the new fabrics and quilts and fabrics and quilts . . .  and fabrics is going to be so much fun.

One of the quilts I will get to see is my very own "Rhythm & Blues" which was accepted as part of the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase. I feel very honored that it was chosen to hang along side all the other creative quilts that modern quilters are making all around the world. The whole Modern movement is really making headway into more traditional venues and best of all is introducing many new people to the joy of quilting.

At the last minute I decided to make a market tote bag, a business card holder and a lanyard.

Finished the tote bag today and love how it turned out. I used this tutorial by Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie. It's a great bag with 6 pockets on the outside. I altered it a little to fit my needs by making it bigger. Figured I would need more space for all the lovelies I hope to fill it with at Sample Spree. Now if only I could fill it with extra $$$ first so I could buy more.  : )

Tonight I plan to make a business card holder for all these. I finally got real, official business cards printed up. They arrived yesterday and I'm pretty happy with how well they turned out although they are very very slick. I splurged and had a photo of my Cascade quilt printed on the back. This pattern is my best seller and still one of my personal favorites.

We'll see if I get the lanyard done. Jennifer at Ellison Lane recently had a nice little tutorial on making a double sided version that prompted me to think about it.

So these are my main WIPs for this week. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

While I'm at Market, I plan to soak in all the inspiration. I'm prepared to be totally overwhelmed. And I hope my new comfort shoes will actually be comfortable.  haha . . . I can hope right?

If you're going to Market, I'd love to meet you. I'll be at the Modern Quilt Guild Meet Up Saturday evening. If not, I'll be posting next week about my Market experience. Stay tuned.

Four-in-Art; My Art Quilt Journey

I've been asked to join an art challenge group called Four-in-Art. Elizabeth of OPQuilt was so inspired by seeing the quilts made by the Twelve by Twelve artists that she posted on her blog wondering if anyone would want to make little art quilts with her. The group originally began with four members making four small art quilts a year based on chosen themes. Each quilter creates their own interpretation of the theme and the quilts are shared via blogs and Flickr. After their first year they decided to expand and I jumped at the chance when Elizabeth asked.

I've kept a sketch book of quilt ideas for years. I've poured over art quilting books for years. Have I actually made what I would consider an art quilt?  Nada nope . . .  not yet. But thanks to Elizabeth and Four-in-Art that's about to change.

The overriding theme for the coming year will be Urban. Now that in and of itself will be a stretch for this small town girl. I am most definitely not a city person and have no desire to be. But the first topic within the urban theme is Maps. Maps I can do. I love maps. Have a whole box of old maps. Love aerial views too. Have a book on aerial views from space. So this first topic will be a great place to begin my art journey. The hard part is trying to decide what approach to take.

With aerial views in mind, I started by pulling some fabrics that might work with my idea.

Next I started cutting and ended up with this . . .
Don't we all end up with this somewhere along the way?

Then I started sewing and things began to look like this . . .
Notice the seam ripper. It got put to good use.

I'm linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesdays. Since the reveal for our finished art quilts is quickly approaching, this is a WIP that needs to get done pretty soon. Tune in November 1st and see how my first "art" quilt turned out. I can't wait for the first reveal to see what everyone else did.    : )



Follow along and see what we all create.

WIP Wednesday

This is a first for me . . . getting bee/guild blocks done ahead of time instead of the last week of the month which seems to be my norm. Maybe it's the fact that September was my month to receive blocks from the Mid Century Modern Bee so I didn't have to make any blocks last month.  Maybe it's that I will be gone the end of the month so want to have things done before I leave. Whatever the reasons, I like the feeling of being a little ahead of the game. If only it would last.  sigh.....

One of the first things I tackled was the tomato paper pieced blocks for part of a larger fruit and veggie quilt the Boulder Modern Quilt Guild is making to thank Alfalfas grocery for letting us use their community room to hold our sew days.

We recently had a paper piecing lesson given by Sharon who is one of our members. She did a wonderful job leaving me with a renewed interest in paper piecing and feeling confident for this group project. That confidence quickly collapsed as I attempted these pesky little tomatoes.

On the first two I accidentally trimmed off the part I had just sewn on when I trimmed the seam allowance. Then there was the piece that wasn't big enough and then sewing along the wrong line. I am not a screamer but this had me screaming loud and long. On top of all the problems, I don't really like how the blocks came out but at this point they're done. Done done done! 

I also jumped in to make the Mid Century Modern October block for Elizabeth over at Occasional Piece Quilt. She's already working on her Christmas quilt and asked for green and white blocks. Birds in the Air was the block I chose to make for her. Hope it will work with all the others she'll get.

I don't think I ever posted about the August blocks for this bee either. Mary at Mary on Lake Pulaski asked for pink X&+ blocks to make quilts for her two granddaughters that are on the way. Very fun little blocks to make and so very sweet with all that pink.

I received several wonderful blocks from my Mid Century Modern beehive for my month of September. They whipped up the most wonderful assortment of blocks for what will become a new pattern from SpringLeaf Studios in the next month or so. More on that to come soon.

Here's the fabric selection I sent them as a point of reference. I was looking for strong pastels in sherbet sorbet type colors. Boy did everyone deliver. There were only one or two duplicate fabrics out of 19 blocks and only one or two that are fabrics I have in my stash. Just what I wanted . . . lots of diversity. Can't wait to clear my design wall now and get started on arranging all these fun bee blocks.

Another design has been on the wall for awhile as I've been working on different versions of yet another pattern. I just finished up the second top using this lovely jelly roll of High Street by Lily Ashbury for Moda. Love the colors . . . grays, soft yellows, oranges, pinks and a touch of fushia.

Stay tuned as both these projects get finished up and introduced in the next few months.

I'm linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday post. Hop over and see what else is going on.

A Fresh New Start

I let myself get sidetracked this week with a little diversion. As you may know from reading my blog, I love leaves. All the wonderful shades of greens . . . all the beautiful shapes . . . and of course all the many leafy fabrics. Over the years I've amassed quite a collection of leafy prints. Many are more traditional in nature although now I'm gathering more and more modern versions as well.

I've had a sketch for a leaf quilt for years and thought I'd break out the stash and start cutting this week. The main design consists of a checkerboard in the quilt center and the Scrappy Trip Along block tutorial was perfect for getting these blocks underway.

I broke out the leafy stash . . . this is only part of it!

I cut lots of strips to size, producing lots of little trimming scraps . . . love these little bits of color.

I started sewing a few blocks together . . . many more to come.

I know this is a form of procrastination for other things I should be working on but what the heck. I'm getting something done.

With all the terrible flooding that happened in Colorado recently I am feeling so very very grateful that the little creek behind our house didn't flood any worse than it did and feeling heartsick for all the people who are now without their homes and belongings. I'm thinking these leafy prints might be just the thing for a charity quilt. What better way to symbolize a fresh new start than green leaves representing new growth? I hope to turn these blocks into a charity quilt for flood victims.

If you are interested in helping, one option is Cover Colorado: Quilts For Flood Victims sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

eQuilter.com is also offering to distribute quilts to those in need. You can see what Luana of eQuilter had to say in this recent newsletter.

Linking up for WIP Wednesday with lee at Freshly Pieced. Take a look at what a few others are working on this week.

Hope you are making progress on your WIP's.

Repurposing

Do you ever repurpose clothes and other fiber related items in ways that bring new life and new uses to old things? I've been intrigued with quilts made from vintage sheets and clothes remade into something new and fashionable. Even have a small collection of vintage sheets I've gathered with the intention of making a modern quilt one of these days.

When Stitch magazine issued a call for entries for their winter edition, I decided to give the sustainable, upcycled category for fashion and home a try. Each issue has a few different categories featuring a variety of sewing projects. Everything from clothing and home decor to quilts can be found within their pages.

Since the call for entries was for a winter issue, I decided to play with recycling old sweaters and woolen jackets into a home decor project.

Using the sleeves from a variety of sweaters and a couple of jackets, I created a series of 6 vase wraps. I think they give a warm cozy feeling to the vases. I used winter whites and grays for a soft subtle palette and filled them with twigs that had tiny berries still clinging to the branches.

These two use sleek ribbed sweaters.

Here I used a baggy tweed sweater and a delicate lacy one.

The final two used woolen jackets for a slightly more tailored look.

This has been a year of submissions for me as I try my hand at getting published and I've been fortunate to find success with two Interweave publications; Stitch and Modern Patchwork as well as GenerationQ Magazine. If you've ever considered submitting a quilt or other sewing project . . . do it!!!

  

Here's a link to the submissions page for Interweave. And here's a link for GenerationQ.
Now go submit something. You'll never know until you try. Maybe I'll be reading about your project in the next issue.  : )

I'm linking up with Cindy at Live a Colorful Life for a Really Random Thursday post. Hop on over to see what other random things have been happening in the quilting world.

What's old . . . is new again

Lately I've been trying to get my studio under control a little at a time. The scrap piles have been sorted and a scrap system begun that I can honestly say is working and quite useful so far.

Of course, the problem with the "little at a time method" is that there are always unfinished areas still needing to be organized and then whole new messes develop as I work. I think I need to accept the fact that my studio will always be a work in progress just like my quilts.

First off came making room for a group of stripe fabrics I've been collecting here and there. I have lots of design ideas for stripe fabrics with more popping into my head every day.

Do you ever start a collection of fabrics by picking up a fat here and there and then realize you have way more than you thought, or dare I say even need, once you get them all in place? I had no idea I had this many stripes and must admit this is only half the collection.

The main area I've been tackling recently is sorting, organizing and disposing of old publications. I love magazines and books and over the years have accumulated quite a library. My style has changed over the years and some of the old publications just aren't where I'm at today. My new favorites are Generation Q, Stitch, Quilty and Modern Quilts Unlimited.

Some of these older issues will go back on the shelf, some into the donation bin at my library and some will go to the next modern guild meeting to giveaway.

As I sorted through pile after pile of magazines . . . some over 15 years old . . . what I discovered is how often what is old is new again. I can't tell you the number of times I came across a quilt design from years ago that was very much like a quilt I just recently saw on a blog or online somewhere. New fabrics, new spin on an established design. Thus what's old is new again.

Was the newer one simply copied? I'd like to think INSPIRATION is a much better word. In many cases I would bet the quilter who did the newer version never saw the earlier one. In this age of instant digital access it can be extremely hard if not nearly impossible to be completely original.

We are all inspired by something, somewhere we've seen. It might be lurking in the recesses of our brain from years ago. It might be something brand new we just saw or experienced that has nothing to do with quilting. The important thing is that it inspired us. It moved us. It awoke our creativity and the need to make. Bringing this creativity to life by making allows us to express ourselves and give meaning to our work. Rather than simply copying, I hope we are truly creating.

I encourage you to let the inspiration in your personal world bring new life to your work . . . create your own vision. If starting from scratch with a quilt design of your own is intimidating, try a pattern but put a spin on it to make it your own.

If you're not sure how this works, check out my patterns which offer many different options so you can bring your own personal creativity and style into play. I have three new designs in the works too so stay tuned for new pattern releases in the next few months.

I'm linking up with Cindy's Really Random Thursday for this post.
Have fun creating.  : )