The Atrium at Ochsner's

The Atrium at Ochsner's, 19" x 29"

I have been participating in an Ellen Lindner class called Design Your Own Nature Quilt. This piece is 19" x 29" and is raw edge appliqued. The inspiration is from several photographs I took of the buildings and plantings in the large atrium between Ochsner's Hospital and the Brent House Hotel in New Orleans. 

Detail of lower foliage

Brochure

The Hotel opened in 1954 to accommodate families of patients who were being treated at the Hospital. The  benches, fountains, and plantings in the atrium offer a comforting atmosphere to this excellent health care facility.

What Was I Thinking? Progress Report-Finished

What Was I Thinking?   37" x 37"

This is my completed piece for Karen Musgrave's challenge with a pink/brown 50s fabric, using techniques from Rayna Gillman's new book Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts: A Stress-Free Journey to Original Design.  I must admit that the random piecing, slashing, rejoining of units is far from my normal method of working, but I thought the challenge would be fun, so I participated. It's sometimes healthy to get out of one's comfort zone and see what happens.

Bigboy approves

For a sense of organization, I made two types of strip sets--pink with vertical slashes, and yellow ones. The yellow ones are somewhat joined on the diagonal. The pink/brown challenge fabric was only used as vertical strips, randomly placed about the piece.

Connecting Threads SAQA Regional Exhibit

I just returned from Little Rock, AR, where I attended the opening reception of "Connecting Threads," a Studio Art Quilt Associates regional exhibit of Contemporary Art Quilts at the Butler Center Galleries of the Arkansas Studies Institute. SAQA regional reps Deb Kuster and Michelle Jones had done a great job of arranging and hosting our first exhibit for the LA/MS/AR/AL region.

The exhibit was curated by fiber artist Amie Adelman, associate professor of fibers, College of Visual Arts and Design, University of North Texas in Denton. Amie attended the opening and the following day presented a program of her works and also discussed and critiqued each work in the exhibit.

In the Beginning, 44" x 36" (left)   Pacific Coast, 15" x 18" (right)

Amie Adelman and Martha Ginn

 The exhibit will run through April 28 and includes 23 quilts from 15 artists in the region: Barbara Carlson, Darlene Garstecki, Michelle Jones, Deborah Kuster, Georgia Lewis, Judy Tipton Rush, Margie Trembley, and Ruth Anne Yax from Arkansas; Donna Leigh Jackins, Murray Johnston, and Dorothy West from Alabama; and Martha Ginn, Sheri Marshall, Sarah Scott, and Marcus Weekley from Mississippi.

Ruth Anne Yax and Amie Adelman

by Murray Johnston

by Michelle Jones

More Ghost Quilting

I have done more of the Ghost Quilting series. These are fun to make. I start with a center square, usually about 6", and either fuse to a background or sew on borders to create the background. These pieces are between 10" and 12" square, but I have made larger ones, too. I stitch around the main elements of the center design and extend out into the (blank) border, imagining what would be there (hence "ghost quilting").

Sometimes I add Neocolor II wax pastels to further enhance the center element. It is amazing how different these can be with a change of borders.

The edge treatment is by attaching rattail cord and zig-zag stitching about three times around.