More Artist's Altered Book Project and Rosemary

Our Wetlands by Gabriele DiTota

I received the third page for my Artist’s Altered Book Collaboration, and is it a beauty! Well, another beauty! My theme is “Leaves, Trees, Rocks, Water, Anything Nature Related,” which is pretty broad, just like the pages I’m receiving. Gabriele DiTota made this page, which she titled “Our Wetlands,” with such realistic depictions of muddy bank, cattails, water, hillside, and sky, that it evoked such comments as “I can almost hear ducks calling overhead,” and “I can imagine soft whimper of a baby from a basket.”  What a rich image and feeling it evokes.

I have a huge rosemary bush at the edge of a flowerbed by my driveway. Occasionally I trim it and deliver cuttings to the chefs at two of my favorite restaurants (Patio 44 and Tabella’s). But the bush is still shielding the flowerbed from sunlight so I did more severe trimming. Here is what it looks like after stuffing two bags full of cuttings. I wish it would root so I could share the growing plant, but it seems resistant to propagating.

I’m looking forward to presenting the program in New Orleans April 30 for the Gulf States Quilting Association quarterly meeting.

My son drove here from Dallas last week and did lots of fix-up projects. The weather was perfect for replacing the outdoor security lights and planting caladium bulbs. He enjoyed my cats Rah-Rah and Elizabeth, and the girls enjoyed him; Tarbaby took several days to warm up. After three days of non-stop activity, a little relaxation with the girls was in order.

More Artist's Altered Book Project

by Carol Jones Frank

I have received two pages for my book. Carol Jones Frank sent this one, describing it as fantasy leaves floating on water. It has silver stitching simulating bubbles and froth on the water--beautiful! Carol says often her art features the idea of floating: "that of stopping time, being ethereal or otherworldly."

by Nanette Zeller

Nanette Zeller's page came next. She watercolored a sweet gum leaf and added some copper tape and hand embroidery. Sweet gum trees are some of my favorites because of their wonderfully colored leaves in the fall, running from bright yellow through orange and bronze all the way to deep purple. The seed pods are treacherous to step on but have a special beauty in their intricate design. I was interested to learn that the sweet gum is a host species for luna months.

I have made two more pages which I will send. Janice Dawes' theme is "Life Began in a Forest." Here is the page I made for her:

for Janice Dawes

for Carol Suto

 

Carol Suto's theme is "Habitat." I chose to feature apartment living for her page. Thinking of the crowded conditions many people live in makes me even more thankful for my home and yard.

These pages can be made using any technique or even a combination, so it is interesting and challenging to decide what to make and what methods to use. We are supposed to send and receive one page a month, but most of us are enjoying the process and tend to get ahead of schedule. No problem with that.

Shapely Challenge Revealed

The big Reveal finally arrived today at Pine Belt Quilters. My "Shapes On The Green" tied for first place and then came in second in the runoff. There were 20 awesome quilts--a real treat for all to see. They are pictured on the guild's website under the Guild Activities/Shapely Challenge tab.

Shapes On The Green 

The year-long challenge was to make 20 twelve-inch blocks using required shapes (four blocks every two months), using five fat quarters for beginning fabrics and adding any other fabrics desired, as well as setting as we chose. The variety displayed in these finished quilts showed a lot of creativity in our guild. It makes us know we will have a beautiful quilt show this October! Although I generally make art quilts, this returning to pattern drafting and selecting fabrics for blocks was surprisingly satisfying. Adding the scalloped edge and hand-sewing the bias binding were good reminders of skills I had developed over the years. The quilt is 81" x 89."
Here are the 20 blocks in rows. Row 5 is on top, then Rows 1, 2, 3, and 4. Row 1 shapes were only squares. Row 2 shapes were squares and half-square triangles (HSTs). Row 3 shapes were squares, HSTs and rectangles. Row 4 shapes were squares,HSTs and tri-recs. Row 5 shapes were squares and concave/convex (as in Drunkard's Path).

I added a 1-1/2" border to each block.

Before scalloped edge

Detail of quilting

Detail of quilting

Artist Altered Book Project

I'm enjoying participating in an Artist Altered Book Project. Here's how it works. Janice Paine-Dawes set this up for the ten of us who asked to be included. We each choose a theme and size we want for our book and create a cover. Then once a month another artist sends us a page for our book while we send a page to another participant. Janice has sent us a schedule to follow as well as setting up a Yahoo group so we can post our work.

My book's theme is Trees/Leaves/Rocks/Water--anything nature-related, in an 8" x 10" portrait format. Here's my cover:

I've made a page for Joani Share with the theme People, Places or Things, 6" x 8".

Here is my page for Leni Weiner with a Bird theme, 8" x 10": It is based on a photograph taken by my photographer friend Carol Clark and she gave me permission to use it. See more of her work at   www.facebook.com/carolclarkphotography.

I'm eager to begin receiving pages for my book!

Quilting the Shapely Challenge--With Help

My Shapely Challenge quilt is all assembled, bordered, layered and basted. Now for the quilting. This step really had me stumped. It turned out about 85" x 95" and I wondered IF I could handle the quilting myself and if so, HOW to quilt it. I have a Sweet Sixteen machine, but still worried about actually doing it. After much thought I realized that all the planning wasn't going to get the job done and I just needed to get started. Elizabeth is my constant companion and loves to curl up on whatever I am working on. Since it is important not to have anything restricting the movement of the quilt or dragging on the quilt, I kept moving her. When I would leave the quilt and come back, she was in another "more comfy" place.

Rah-Rah thought Elizabeth might be getting too much attention, so she joined her and got as close as she could.

After I was through she finally got to get under the machine head--where I wouldn't let her be while I was quilting.

Now for the binding. The reveal is at Pine Belt Quilters' March 9 meeting; I will post a full picture then.

Color Bars and the Ole Miss Museum

The Color Bars class was a success, if enthusiasm can be the measurement. We had such a good time I forgot to take pictures, but here is one that Linda Flanders sent after she completed a piece using the different exercises we did in the class. She is calling it a Sampler since it displays a sampling of free-form techniques.

"Color Bars Sampler" by Linda Flanders

What a thrill it was to see 58 of Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's quilts at the Reception of her 40 Years of Color, Light, and Motion exhibit at the Museum at Ole Miss in Oxford. The exhibit runs through April 16. If you don't get to see it in person, Caryl has provided a link, click here.

Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry and Martha Ginn

She had her first quilt (very traditional) she made 40 years ago on display and showed her progression into quilts as fine art. I picked up Rita Warnock in Madison on the way to Oxford--much more enjoyable than driving alone. 

Martha Ginn and Rita Warnock

Then I spent the night in her home (under one of her masterpiece quilts!) before the SAQA pod meeting on Saturday. We had the "reveal" of the Ag Museum pieces that five of us had been working on. Sections 3 and 4 are still in progress, but we got an idea of how they will look presented together.

J Marcus Weekley, Martha Ginn, Cathy Reininger, Julia Graber, Rita Warnock

The pieces are 36" high and 24"-30" wide and are finished with facings. The photo behind Julia shows the entire scene that these five pieces depict.

Color Bars Class and Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry

What an exciting week! It started off with the birth of a new great-grandson in Dallas on Saturday, Tucker Knox Kuykendall. Then Wednesday I teach my Color Bars class here in Hattiesburg. On Thursday I drive to Oxford (250 mi) to attend the Reception and gallery talk of CARYL BRYER FALLERT-GENTRY: 40 YEARS OF COLOR, LIGHT, & MOTION, a 58-quilt retrospective opening at the University Museum at Ole Miss. Woo-hoo!

Color Bars is an improvisational way of creating art quilts and I love to make these and teach the class. For people who have always worked from a pattern, this free-form way of cutting and stitching can be called "permission to do your own thing and ignore the quilt police." I am inspired by the works of Rayna Gillman, Dianne S. Hire, and Kathy Loomis, and there are many quilters today who enjoy these techniques.

Color Bars #2--Black

When I first saw Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's quilts in Houston in the 1980s I became her fan. Her Corona #2: Solar Eclipse that won Best of Show in Paducah in 1989 is my all-time favorite quilt and is a part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the American Quilter's Society. It is also pictured in The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts.

Corona #2: Solar Eclipse by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry

Caryl has many pictures and full description of how she created this masterpiece on her website.

 

Starting a New Year

New beginnings are always exciting. But I'm starting this new year by completing something from last year. And that gives a good feeling of accomplishment, too. My guild, Pine Belt Quilters, has had a "Shapely Challenge" in progress since March of 2015, with five steps given semi-monthly through November. We have until March 2016 for the reveal of our finished quilts. We drew for five fat quarters and could add anything else to make the twenty 12-inch blocks using specified shapes for the five steps (squares, half-square triangles, Drunkard's Path, etc.). I loved the fat quarters I drew:

These suggested to me that deep rose and various shades of green would guide the rest of my choices. After all, red and green are compliments.I selected several deep rose fabrics:

Here are some of the greens I used:

Of course, some neutrals to allow the roses and greens to be the main characters:

I had one yard of green E. E. Schenck Diawabo called Elite Gelato which I thought just right for setting the squares. Luckily, I found an Etsy source to buy more and discovered a neat blogger I will enjoy following, Tierney Hogan:

 Here are my groups of fabrics on the green background:

Choosing patterns for the five steps using specified shapes was like Quilting 101, and even though I have mainly transitioned to making art quilts, the challenge was interesting and nostalgic, and drafting and cutting templates was good to sharpen skills I learned many years ago. But the most fun was working with the colors and balancing them four blocks at a time.


I'm eager to post the blocks and the setting I have chosen--but since we are not to reveal our work for two months, I will wait.

Turning 80

It's hard to believe I turned 80 yesterday (December 26), given my impression of what 80 looked and acted like up to this point in my life. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at reaching this age, since my parents lived to 89 and 91. I was loved by a wonderful man for 57 years; I have two children who make me proud. My art brings me pleasure and lets me express my love of all things. And music. Shortly before my dad died he said, "oh, what would we do if we didn't have music?" I laugh at this often, especially when hearing an organ at full volume, remembering how his tastes stopped many decibels lower.
I suppose it is natural to be philosophical at milestones such as birthdays and year ends. This statement that my daughter quoted on Facebook recently really caught my attention: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I like that. . . it seems to be a good way to live these next several years. With my cats.

Elizabeth, Rah-Rah, Tarbaby at 6 months old sharing a box

Tarbaby, Rah-Rah, Elizabeth at 2 years old sharing the headboard

Christmas Decorations with the Cats

Christmas decorations get more simple each year. My cats thought the Santas were especially for their enjoyment, and I found each one snuggled up on Santa's robe at one time or another. 

Rah-Rah often visited the nativity set, perhaps because it was on the table by her favorite window. She still is fascinated by the moving objects on the computer screen.

Elizabeth loves to lie on her back with her front legs stretched out, hoping for a tummy rub.

Lest it seems I took a holiday from quilting, here is a child's quilt I made from nine Bingo "cards" our guild made and played with in November. I also made a baby quilt for my next great-grandson Knox Kuykendall (due in January) and one for my great-niece Peyton Rose Woodland. But these were delivered or mailed before I remembered to take pictures.

The Bingo blocks were made in five colored rows using different types of fabric. Instead of B-13, N-40 or G-55, the caller said Yellow-floral or Green-paisley or Blue-solid. We paid money into our Children's Quilt fund and will make quite a few quilts from the Bingo "cards" that were made. See Pine Belt Quilters blog for November and December for more Bingo pictures.

The Mule Barn wins 2nd place in SMAA art exhibit

It's always affirming to win a ribbon in an art show, especially when competing against several other types of work. Our South Mississippi Art Association's annual show was held this weekend, with 110 pieces entered. My work goes in the "Other" category--meaning not oil, not watercolor, not photography, not drawing, not sculpture, not wood, not pottery, not stained glass. So "Other" contains mixed media, collage, fabric art, digital art, and anything that doesn't fit elsewhere. A second place ribbon is a big win in this stiff competition. A large mixed media collage by Andrea Kostyal won 1st place.

The Mule Barn, 24" x 36"

The Mule Barn depicts a section of the Ag Museum in Jackson. Five sections will be stand-alone pieces but can be displayed together to create the entire scene. Five artists are working on the piece, pictured below. My section is second from the left.

Here is an in-progress picture while decisions were being made about how to approach the piece.

Elizabeth was my constant helper

And It's Already December

Last month my quilt guild (Pine Belt Quilters) played Bingo using fabric "cards" we made in colored rows, so instead of hearing B12 or G55, we heard calls like Yellow Batik or Blue Floral. I assembled nine "cards" into a children's quilt with screaming chartreuse sashing and black cornerstones with tennis shoes for the border.

 

We hosted Susan Cleveland for a workshop, and I finished the project started there. Sometimes the busy-ness of the season makes us forget that we actually got something done.

I enjoyed heading up a group from my church in making two new felt cutaway banners to celebrate the blessings of the fall season. They are 96" long and 48" wide and hang beside the baptistery. These are felt over netting, allowing the bricks to show through. The designs are by Fashions by Sarah and are the same type we made last fall for advent. The four advent banners can be seen here.


I made a trip to Dallas to visit my son and his family the weekend before Thanksgiving. Brittney, my oldest granddaughter, is expecting a baby boy next month, and there was a shower for her. Lots of pictures. One of my favorites is of the six sisters, with photos standing in for Kelsey (at Oklahoma Baptist University) and Katelyn (married living in Michigan). L to R: Kiesha, Kaley, Brittney, Christy.

Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a dedicated cat lover, but that little dog in Dallas really won my heart. Meet Willow:

Exhibit at University Baptist Church Gallery

My church, University Baptist in Hattiesburg, recently remodeled the Parlor into an Art Gallery through a generous gift from the family of the late Phyllis Downey, a dear friend and artist. We believe there is a strong connection between Faith and the Arts and will enjoy celebrating creativity here. The first exhibit was acrylics by Myra Meade, followed by exciting children's art they created this summer during their Mission Bible Days. Currently the exhibit is fiber art by Gloria Green and me. The exhibit will hang through December.
Click on any picture to enlarge.

West and north walls by Gloria Green

North and east walls by Martha Ginn

East wall by Martha Ginn

South wall --The Elements by Martha Ginn

Sorry for the poor quality of this photo. The pieces are Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, and are framed under glass, making it hard to eliminate the glare. Fire is on loan from a private collection.