Elaine Quehl

Free Issue ... Read my Article

2012-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Machine Quilting Unlimited Magazine has published an on-line issue that is free to you if you sign up for their e-newsletter. They've reprinted a few articles from the past in this issue, including my article "Art Quilting as a Career". If you missed this article last summer, you can read it now by signing up. Just click on this link.

The Art Quilt Series/Student Work

2012-02-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

Last night I purchased these tulips at the grocery store. Even though we are experiencing warmer than usual winters in Ottawa, we sure don't have flowers, so some fresh spring blooms at this time of year can really cheer one up!

This morning as the tulip blossoms started to open a bit, it occurred to me that they looked a little like worn and jagged knee joints! Can you tell where my mind is these days?

The washing machine repairman came by today and pronounced my washing machine not worthy of fixing. I promptly went out to buy a new (well actually used) one. I like the old style, top loading washing machine that doesn't save water. If you are only dyeing for yourself I think the water saving machines are great, but I want to be able to easily rinse out 30 meters at a time. Besides, with all the dyeing I do, my washer takes a beating, and these old style washing machines are much easier and cheaper to fix. I've also tested and think I can dye sitting down using a chair on wheels and swivelling stool in the basement.

But let me get to the main reason for this post. Mainly I want to showcase some student work. Saturday I taught Part 6 of my Art Quilt Series at Dragonfly Fabrics in Ottawa. I've been meeting with this group one Saturday a month for the last six months. Our last class covered a variety of edge finishes, framing and mounting options, labels, documenting and photographing your work, entering shows, selling your work, and evaluating your work.

We managed to get a group photo. From left to right, standing in the back row are me, Suzanna, Carolyn, Josée, Ghyslaine, Lynn. Sitting in the front row, from left to right, are Jeannie, Madeleine, and Sue.

Several students brought completed or almost-completed works to class. Jeannie created this piece after our last class on Surface Design. She used foils and Shiva Paintstiks to create the leaves from stencils. Love that yellow-green colour scheme, one of my favorites!

It was certainly Ghyslaine's day to shine! She brought three pieces. The first is her completed design exercise, in which I had asked that students work with 5-7 values of the same colour.

Ghyslaine also completed a piece using "seat of the pants" construction methods to depict her two cats under the Christmas tree. The variety of green values she cut free-hand for the tree give it depth, and the composition is interesting because it shows just a small section of the tree.

Ghyslaine also just finished free-motion quilting the poppy she started in my "In Full Bloom" class about two years ago. It only needs squaring up and binding now. By the way, that's Linda Doyle, the owner of the shop on the right-hand side.

It looks like I'll be doing another multi-part series at Dragonfly fabrics next year, probably my "Uncommon Threads" class. Stay tuned for details.

Josée spent some time dyeing since the last class, in preparation for creating a piece inspired by a purple iris. She learned how to dye in this class.

I love when students send me photos of their completed projects started in my classes. I have two I've been waiting to share. The first is the tree that Sue B started constructing at the "Tree Collage" class I taught for the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild a few weeks ago. In this photo the collage has been built on muslin, which will be cut away later, and then the tree will be attached to a background. What a fabulous job Sue did with her values and knots in the tree. She later told me that she did experience some difficulty with thread breaking while trying to free-motion the trunk. I always suggest using a Topstitch 90/14 needle and a good quality polyester or cotton thread. I personally love Superior Rainbows, colours 855 and 856, for my tree trunks. When stitching through more than one layer of fusible, I do not advise using rayon thread or any other threads that may not be as strong or may be more difficult to use in your machine.

Last year Carol M. took my Liberated Strip Piecing class at the Country Quilter in Richmond, Ontario. A few months later I found the finished piece hanging in the Richmond Quilt Show. I love the bright colours and graphic lines. Carol actually sold this piece at the show!

Newfoundland: Warm Hospitality, Good Food, and Interesting Weather

2012-02-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

I blew into St. John's, Newfoundland along with the snowstorm on February 9. We were the last flight to make it in that night. Visibility was near 0 on the ride to Conception Bay where I would be staying with Regina McCarthy. I met Regina when I was lecturing and teaching at Quilters' Pleasure Weekend in Cornwall, Ontario last year, and ever since she has been trying to arrange my visit to Newfoundland. During my visit I was hosted by the Eastern Edge Quilters Guild and the Cabot Quilters Guild.

On Friday night I delivered a lecture and trunk show for both guilds. It was held at the Marine Institute of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. I'd say this is the most hi-tech lecture hall I've appeared at, and it came with a technician for the evening!

The quilts were are all spread out on the stage, and you can see members arriving for the meeting.

Here you can see Regina introducing me.

On Saturday and Sunday I taught for the Eastern Edge Quilters Guild. The topic for Day 1 was "In Full Bloom". This is a somewhat complex class and you can see that students only finish one or two petals in one day. I brought two bins of hand-dyed fabrics with me to Newfoundland. There was a pretty serious fabric frenzy the first day and about 3/4 of it was scooped up. I'd say 95% of the fabric I brought was sold by the time I left.

My hand-dyes are seriously depleted (this is a good thing!) after St. John's, Newfoundland and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories so I need to get dyeing before my Toronto tour in three weeks! I have figured out a way I can dye sitting down (my knee is still a big problem). The only problem is that when my husband put the bed sheets in the washer this morning the control panel started smoking. We either need a repair or a new washer. Hope that will be resolved this week!

By the end of my week in St. John's, Elsa had completed her tulip and I would say she did a fabulous job! That's Lorraine peeking out the left side of the photo.

Day 2's class was Liberated Strip Piecing. It is always so much fun to see students let go and cut and piece freely without rulers.

I was delighted to meet Karen Colbourne Martin and Judy Cooper, both well-known Canadian fibre artists, who came to my trunk show and classes. Here Karen contemplates her liberated design.

Another student, who was a bit shy about attention, was turning out a very interesting piece.

Since I tend to be a bit monochromatic in my colour schemes, I really enjoyed Jennifer's use of colour.

On Sunday night there was a catered dinner that guild members could attend. It was held at Joanne's home. I should mention here that Joanne is a medical doctor, and that there were several medical doctors and nurses in my classes, which somehow comforted me given the state of my knee. Regina's niece, who has a catering company, was responsible for this scrumptious meal of cod au gratin, chicken penne, lasagne, and several wonderful salads.

The chocolate cake Joanne baked was literally to die for! I felt a lot better eating it knowing that a doctor was promoting it!

When Regina booked me for this trip, she suggested that I take a day off between teaching for the two guilds. That proved to be a wise suggestion. So Monday I slept in and then went for a long lunch with Regina and Jennifer.

Here is Regina showing off her dish of cod tongues. I tasted them and they were really good!

I ordered cod on penne with a rose sauce. Yum!

After lunch Regina and Jennifer took me on a driving tour of the city of St. John's. I should say here that Regina is a very experienced and knowledgeable guide! She and her husband ran "McCarthy's Party", providing tours of Newfoundland and Labrador for 30 years. The company is now run by one of their sons. We started out at Signal Hill, which overlooks the City. St. John's is the oldest city in North America, being claimed as an English colony in 1583, although John Cabot is believed to have discovered it in 1497. Newfoundland and Labrador only joined Canada in 1949.

We drove through the old city, where colourful clapboard houses line the streets.

We made a stop at the Craft Council shop, where I purchased several pairs of socks hand-knit in Newfoundland.

After my tour, I was handed over to the Cabot Quilters Guild, where I stayed in the home of Brenda Lewis. Brenda took very good care of me (there's a picture of Brenda a little bit later in this post). Oh and I must mention that she lives in a rapidly growing town called "Paradise"!!

The next day I taught my Collage Tree class. Here is the class holding up their work at the close of the day. Most people do not finish building the tree trunk in one day.

On the last day I taught my Beyond Stippling, Part 1 class. We had wonderfully spacious classrooms for each class.

That night the Cabot Guild took me out for dinner. More fish and I was happy! From left to right: Brenda, Lorraine, Andrea, Marina, Elsa, Sharon and me. I breathed a sign of relief, as I made it through the week despite my knee problems! There were some painful moments when my knee locked, but sitting down seemed to unlock it. I'm still walking with a cane though.

What will I remember about Newfoundland? First and foremost the people! Their warmth, hospitality and helpfulness were truly outstanding and made my trip so much less stressful. A chair with wheels was provided for my workshops, I was driven door to door, and a complex network of quilters' husbands showed up at venues to transport my bags. I will also remember the wonderful food. I think I ate fish (halibut, steelhead trout and cod) nearly every day. Last but not least, I will remember the weather. Where else can one experience four seasons in one day? I experienced it all! A snow storm with whiteout conditions, freezing rain, gale winds and driving rain, fog, a little sunshine, and more freezing rain!

I returned to Ottawa Thursday night, and yesterday taught Part 6 of my Art Quilt Series at Dragonfly Fabrics here in Ottawa. I will be blogging about that in the next couple of days. I now have three weeks to spend in the studio, dye fabric, and take care of my knee before I head to Toronto.

The Good and the Bad

2012-02-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

Life often hands out good and bad at the same time. I haven't had the best of weeks, but two good things happened.

I have been awarded a Liebster award for my blog. It is apparently given to bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. My friend Carolyn, whose blog you will love bestowed the honour. She is always up to something creative.

Apparently there are rules attached to the Liebster Award-
1. Thank the giver and link back to her/him
2. Reveal your top picks and leave a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too.

I have not yet met rule #2, and that is to reveal my top blog picks. At the moment I'm preparing to fly to Newfoundland tomorrow, so I promise I will pick some of my favorite blogs upon my return!

Second, I was asked permission this week by Marina and Daryl of Quilt Inspiration blog to use some of my images to write a feature article about me on their blog. Marina and Daryl live in California and have a blog following of over 700 people. This is great publicity for me. So check out the images and what they have to say.

For the bad news. Well I have just been diagnosed with Osteo-arthritis. I had a really bad flare-up after my trip to Yellowknife, likely the big boots I was wearing caused some mis-alignment/injury to my knees. It got so bad last week I had to cancel a class because my knee locked and muscles went into spasm. The next day I had x-rays and learned of the arthritis. Both my grandmothers were very incapacitated in old age due to arthritis in their knees, so it wasn't welcome news for me. However, we have medications and surgery available today that can keep us mobile longer. I am experiencing relief from anti-inflammatory drugs and have been cleared to go to Newfoundland. I will, however, be using a cane, sitting more, and needing some help with my luggage. The hospitality and warmth of Newfoundlanders is legendary so I should be in good hands.

Home from Yellowknife

2012-02-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

I guess you got the impression that I loved Yellowknife and the North? Yes I did, and I haven't finished blogging about it yet. I left Monday during a minor blizzard, flying over Calgary (where I saw no snow on the ground), and home to snowy Ottawa. This is what the situation looks like at my little abode in the suburbs

The window upstairs on the right is my little studio, so I have a good amount of light, a view of the street and the maple tree when it turns golden in autumn.

I taught my Reflections class over two evenings, and then Saturday and Sunday was devoted to my intermediate and advanced free-motion quilting classes, Beyond Stippling, Part 1 and Beyond Stippling, Part 2. You can see the class at work here. Deanna, in the green sweater, is well on her way with her free-motion work. She is one of the young quilters, not too far in age from where I was when I began. Deanna just sent me the loveliest message on Facebook. She said that I was her most inspirational instructor so far. Isn't that nice?

Arlene, below, flew all the way from Inuvik to participate in the classes.

A group of us went back to Bullocks Bistro on Saturday night, and the place was packed. I tried the Arctic Char this time, and it was fabulous. It is very similar to salmon in appearance, but in taste it is much better, and it was about as fresh as it could get.

Of course if I meet any fabulous felines on my teaching trips, they always get featured on my blog. On my last night, Donna and Ray invited me down to their apartment for dinner, so I got to meet their two cats, Mulder and Eddie.

This lovely calico is Mulder. She once lived with her littermate Scully, who has now passed on.

After Scully passed on, Eddie came to live with Donna, Ray and Mulder. What an entertainer he is! He scuttled about, jumped on things, and hung upsidedown from the bathroom faucet to put on a show for me.

I'm teaching two classes locally tomorrow and Saturday. I'm also still unpacking but at the same time repacking since I'll be leaving for St. John's, Newfoundland in a week.

The Natural World Leads to Houston

2012-01-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is the cover for the upcoming book "Art Quilt Portfolio: the Natural World". While I was away in Yellowknife, I received an email from Martha Sielman telling me that the book is due to be released very soon. I should receive my complementary copy in March. I see that it will be available from amazon.ca on April 3, 2012. You may recall me mentioning that I will be one of the featured artists in this new book. I also learned from the email I received this past week that Quilts Inc. plans to showcase a special exhibit of the work of artists who appear in the book at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall. I was also asked if I could be at Houston to spend a bit of time in the booth to help sell and autograph books. Miraculously, I am not booked to teach in the period October 31 - November 4 when the show takes place, so I'm putting these dates on my calendar in ink and will keep my eyes open for a good price on flights! It can get a bit dicey finding a hotel room near the show if you don't book immediately after the previous show. Fortunately my friend Betty Busby, who is also a featured artist in the book, secured her hotel room right after the last show, and she has invited me to share her double room. It's been a few years since I've been to the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

The quilt on the cover is by Barbara McKie.

Meeting the Aurora: Yellowknife, Part 3

2012-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

They started softly, and I thought, OK what's the big deal? But it was like an evening of fireworks with the show being kicked up a notch each time they danced. And dance they did! These pictures do not in any way do justice to the show. I am an amateur photographer, and without the help of our guide Joe, I probably would not have selected anywhere near the correct shutter speed.

It was -31 degrees celsius and by the time we finished my camera was frozen to my tripod, my fingers ached and I was chilled to the bone! We had a large group of about 10 people chasing the aurora last night so it was a challenge capturing photos because someone (sometimes me!) was always opening a door to one of our vehicles to get warm, thus turning on the vehicle's lights and overexposing our photos.

You can see more professional aurora shots on the website of Joe's company, North Star Adventures. He runs a variety of tours, and is a fabulous guide and all around great guy! I think the tundra photography tour looks very very interesting!

I likely won't be posting again until I get home on Monday, since I'm teaching this evening and all day Saturday and Sunday. Workshops are being held in the classroom space at one of the local quilt shops (yes Yellowknife has two!), The Quilted Raven. It is a beautiful quilt shop with a ramp entry to wheel your supplies up, classroom and shop all on one level, gorgeous fabric and samples, and lovely decorative touches throughout.

Facinating People and Chasing the Aurora: Yellowknife, Part 2

2012-01-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

I woke to a crisp bright day here in Yellowknife, with temperatures at -29 celsius. This is a good thing as it was unseasonably warm here (-10 yesterday), making for snow and overcast skies. This has meant the cancellation of my aurora tour on Tuesday night, and a tour that produced no aurora last night. I am heading out again tonight between 11 pm and 2 am.

During last night's aurora tour we drove three hours in the wilderness outside Yellowknife. It was snowing and cloudy, but our native guide Joe, who is a Dene Indian, thought the snow and clouds were moving in a certain direction and would clear, but they didnt. We had seven people on the tour last night, including an amazing Chinese family from Toronto .. the wife/mother has been to many locations chasing the aurora (Whitehorse, Yukon and Finland). They brought the whole family this time and although they did see aurora on Sunday and Monday nights, the aurora eluded all of us last night due to cloud cover. You may have heard on the news about the solar storms taking place right now, which would normally make for a stellar aurora experience, but first we have to clear the clouds

Even though we saw no aurora last night, I had quite an education ... what a wild and harsh country this is. I saw the ice roads that the truckers use to get up to the mines. I learned there are 2000 lb buffalos in the Northwest Territories. Who knew? When we came to one of the vantage points on the route we would all get out of the truck and look around, and Joe would have to take a flashlight to check there are no packs of wolves waiting to prey on us! I also heard stories of the many people who have died when the ice gave way while driving on it (no I am NOT going on any ice roads or lakes!). Apparently you can hear it cracking sometimes when you drive on it, even though it is several feet thick. The wildness outside the city is mind boggling!

One thing is clear to me, I (and many Canadians) are and have been completely unaware and ignorant of the North. I have a feeling I will be coming back here again!

Since I didn't make it back from aurora watching until 2 a.m., I missed the dog sledding tour I was to go on today. Oh well. This evening I'm teaching the first half of my "Reflections" class.

On Tuesday evening I delivered my "From Inspiration to Art Quilt" lecture at the Yellowknife Quilters Guild meeting. I met many women who had moved here from all over Canada and love it here!

Since I was flying within Canada I was able to bring a small selection of my hand-dyed fabrics, which were well received. This is Donna MacDonald, the guild's Workshop Coordinator, who handled my sales while I talked to members about my quilts. I took about a dozen quilts with me.

Yesterday I walked around old town wearing nothing but sneakers and wool socs on my feet. At -10 the warm boots I brought with me would have been way too hot. I made a visit to the Gallery of the Midnight Sun. It sells hand-made arts and crafts from Northern Canada.

Then I had a late lunch at the famous Bullocks Bistro.

Known for its rustic appearance, irascible owner (Jane Sassaman had described him as the "fish Nazi" when I met her in Nova Scotia in September, as did many on-line reviews), and very fresh seafood. In fact, I found the owner friendly and helpful. I had the whitefish and it was lovely. When you get there the cook will tell you what fish and game are available that day. It is a strange mix of rustic and gourmet with home-made salad dressings in fancy bottles and a cappucino machine.

In the evening I taught my thread dyeing class. The guild here has access to a wonderful studio space used by the local mixed media group. Everyone seemed to enjoy dyeing thread.

I know readers love seeing eye candy, so here are some of my own spools of hand-dyed thread.

I did a demo of couching, bobbin drawing, and hand stitching with the hand-dyed threads. Facinating people here: one of the ladies in my class has flown here from Inuvik for the week.

Stay tuned for "Yellowknife, Part 3". I hope to have some aurora photos!

How to Beat the Cold: Yellowknife, Part 1

2012-01-24T15:02:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories yesterday afternoon, flying Ottawa-Edmonton, then Edmonton-Yellowknife. I am happy to report that all my luggage arrived with me! Tonight I'm giving a lecture/presentation to the Yellowknife Quilters Guild, who have hired me to teach four workshops as well in the next week.

I am staying in a lovely private apartment in the same building as Donna MacDonald, the guild's Workshop Coordinator. I enjoyed dinner out with Donna and her husband Ray last night. I have a view of the frozen-over Great Slave Lake from my living room window. Here's the living room and the window:

When I woke at 9:30 this morning the sun was just coming up, and below is the sight that greeted me. There is an ice road across the lake in winter that leads to the First Nations community of Dettah. In summer everyone has to drive around the lake.

I am staying only a few blocks from downtown, and today decided to venture there. It is actually quite warm today (by Yellowknife standards) at -18 censius. Have you ever heard car tires whine on the snow like they are driving on styrafoam? That is the sound I heard walking downtown. I noticed immediately that there is no ice or snow on the sidewalks! It seems the sidewalks in Ontario are always icy due to freezing rain or thaws that freeze suddenly. In Yellowknife things freeze over in November and there are no thaws during the winter.

As I walked downtown a number of people greeted me in a friendly manner, some even asked what I was taking pictures of. One woman took a picture of me.

I have quickly learned that the way to master cold temperatures is to dress for them. I made a trip to Marks Work Warehouse before my departure and found a warm hat and mitts (not gloves). And forget about vanity ... hat hair is the norm here!

Yellowknife is popular with Japanese tourists, and they were well-represented on the small plane from Edmonton. They come here to view the aurora borealis (northern lights), as Yellowknife is one of the top locations for northern lights in the world. Word on the street is that there will be a solar storm tonight and the aurora will be in top form. I am heading out on a late night tour after my lecture. Hopefully there won't be too much cloud cover as that might obscure the aurora.

The City of Yellowknife also has several businesses catering to Japanese tourists:

I stopped at the highly-rated (on TripAdvisor.com) Javaroma coffee house. It was teeming with activity, and I had one of the best cappucino's I've had anywhere since Italy last summer.

I decided on lunch at the Saigon Noodle House. A great choice!

Here is a view of the main street of Yellowknife:

There is still evidence of its early gold mining days:

Today Yellowknife is a government town, a popular tourist attraction, and recently experienced a boom due to a new diamond mine north of the City.

Stay tuned for photos of the aurora (I hope) and photos of my teaching week.

Working with Velvets, Silks, Organza in Quilts

2012-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I started dyeing silk/rayon velvet, silk dupioni, silk organza and cheesecloth, in addition to cotton lawn. I sell these fabrics in my Textile Temptation packs. While I have found using the velvet very easy and straightforward, despite the fact that it is slinky and stretchy, I am finding the organza a little more challenging. Why? Well because I want to make use of the organza's main feature: its transparency!

With the velvet, I simply draw my design on the paper side of a piece of fusible web (normally Steam a Seam Lite), cut it out roughly, iron it to the back of my piece of velvet, then cut the design out on the line. To adhere the velvet to my quilt, I pull the backing paper off, position the velvet on the quilt and hold a hot hot hot steam iron over it, very close, but not touching (you don't want to disturb the pile). This is enough heat to melt the fusible and affix the velvet to the quilt, and of course I typically free-motion quilt very densely.

Here are some samples of quilts I have used velvet on.

In Branching Out, I applied fusible web to the back of velvet and cut out my collage shapes just like I did with the cottons in it. The velvet adds a little more texture to the trunk.

In Forgiveness, (a white magnolia), I used velvet in the centre of the flower. In hindsight I wish I had used one darker in value or with more value variation in it.

Around the centre of this white poppy, I used a dark purple velvet, a mottled velvet in the tentacle-like structures that reach across the middle, a purple silk organza beneath, and a bit of green duprioni silk.

Here is the full view of the white poppy. The purple areas bleeding out of the centre are silk dupioni. My goodness it was a pleasure to stitch through, I could see the relief forming, and I vowed I would stitch on more dupioni in future.

In Seduction 1, I used velvet in the five round shapes surrounding the upper part of the stamen. The velvet provided the lovely texture that was present in the Hibiscus flower that was the inspiration for this piece.

I must share the comment I received about this piece in my guest book at my show at the Shenkman Arts Centre last year. A man wrote that I had a "very good understanding of the male orgasm"! Sometimes what people see in our art says more about them than it does about us! On the other hand, sometimes we don't always understand why we express ourselves the way we do and what it means.

The challenge I have with silk organza is that it is transparent in addition to being slinky. Most fusible webs are a little too opaque for my taste. I did try a small sample of an end-of-season hosta leaf using Misty Fuse, and it was not very successful, mostly because I am not adept at working with a fusible that does not have a backing paper.

Last week I decided to test several brands of fusible web to see which offered the greatest transparency. I took a strip of white silk organza and fused it to another strip of white silk organza in four places using four rectangles of four different fusible products. Here are the results.

1. Misty Fuse
I used white Misty Fuse, and it is definitely the winner in terms of transparency. The problem? I hate working with Misty Fuse because there is no backing paper.

2. Shades Soft Fuse
This product is easy to use because it has a backing paper, and among the fusibles that have a backing paper, it is the most transparent. The down side is that it can only be purchased in the U.S. (as far as I know) and it is quite expensive. A SAQA colleague of mine, Philippa Lack, sent me a small sample. She loves it on silk and I can see why.

3. Trans Web
My third choice in terms of transparency is Trans Web. I've seen it in Canada but not very often, but just discovered that amazon.ca sells it! Given how inexpensive it is (when you can find it), and given that the transparency is only very slightly behind Shades Soft Fuse (above), and that it has a backing paper, I think I would probably go with this product if I decide that I want to fuse my organzas.

4. Steam a Seam Lite
My favorite brand of fusible web, Steam a Seam Lite, is far too opaque for use on sheer organzas.

I am still thinking that to make use of organza's sheer quality, it might be best to not use a fusible. So I tried something else. I used four colours of organza, in order from top to bottom, brown, terra cotta, grass green and golden yellow. I pinned the four layers well, and then on my sewing machine I stitched vertical and diagonal lines through all four layers. After I was finished I cut away the layers I needed to to showcase the colour of organza I wanted visible. Sometimes it involved cutting from the front and sometimes from the back. For example, the green was third from the top and second from the bottom, and when I had cut away the top two layers the green looked too yellow with the layer of yellow beneath it. So I had to also cut the layer of yellow away from behind it. This process will require a lot of planning and very very careful cutting away to reveal the desired layers. Even on this small sample I've already accidentally snipped into the wrong layer twice!!

One more thought I have is to trace my design on freezer paper, iron the freezer paper to the organza to tame it, and then cut out shapes. That still leaves the problem of how to stitch down the organza without it slipping and sliding away. Fusible would tame it, but fusible isn't as sheer as I might like.

Those are my experiments so far. I will keep you posted if I have any other ideas, and would love to hear yours.

and the winner is ...

2012-01-14T22:36:00.000-08:00

M-R Charbonneau is the winner of the custom-dyed meter of fabric. I had the pleasure of delivering the fabric in person to her at the Collage Tree class I taught for the Ottawa Valley Quilters' Guild today. We managed to get a picture of the two of us and the fabric! M-R had requested something in maroon, wine and purples. This is what I came up with.

Hop on over to M-R's blog Quilt Matters to see what she is up to. I would describe her as a young, avid, and modern quilter, with a huge blog following!

Sixteen members of the guild showed up today to learn how to collage a tree. Here is Irene, the guild's wonderful workshop coordinator, who I have had the pleasure of dealing with for the past two years. To her left is Betty.

In preparation for this tree class, and the one coming up in St. John's, Newfoundland in February, I dyed about 40 meters of earthy bark-like and sky fabrics this past week. The warm colours you see are my experiments for M-R's fabric and some reds and pinks to fill out that depleted range of colours in my store of hand-dyed fabrics. They are always popular for my In Full Bloom class, and I will be teaching one of those in Newfoundland too. Of course I can't take my full store when I fly but I do take a small selection.

Winter has definitely arrived in Ottawa, with a big dump of snow this past week. Then the temperatures started plummeting. This morning we were at -19 celsius (-2.2 fahrenheit). Tonight, as I write this blog post, we are at -26 celscius (-15 fahrenheit). I am actually glad of this because I am hoping to accustom myself to cold weather for my trip to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in about a week. I see from weather reports that it is actually -42 celsius (-43.6 fahrenheit) there tonight. YIKES! Yellowknife is approximately 500 km (or 300 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, and is one of the best places in the world to see the aurora borealis (northern lights). I'll be there for a week, teaching and lecturing weekday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday, so I will have some time to see the sights. It will mean braving the cold!

A New Year

2012-01-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

I'm a tad late in making this post but my excuse is that I came down with a cold on New Year's Day. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! At our house, we (including Ms. Kissabelle above) enjoyed lobster on New Year's Eve.

For many people a list of New Year's resolutions accompanies the start of a new year. Not for me. I gave up making resolutions many years ago. However, I keep a list of goals throughout the year. For some time now I have had a condensed list written on a yellow sticky note, attached to my computer. On it are three words:
1. Studio (reminding me to spend some time in my studio each day that I am home.
2. Exercise (reminding me to move every day). This is a tough one for me to stick to!
3. Cook. I've been doing very well on this one for at least a month now. The idea is to get back in the habit of cooking, and as a result I will eat better. The challenge will come when I start travelling again later this month.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm celebrating three occasions this month: 1) one year of blogging, 2) four years of being a full-time quilt artist and teacher, and 3) nine years since I began teaching and selling hand-dyed fabrics. So to honour the occasion I have a blog give-away. The first person to post a comment in response to this post will receive a meter of hand-dyed fabrics in your choice of colour/s. In other words, you tell me what you want and I will custom-dye it for you this week. I'll be in my basement dungeon dyeing a fair bit this week.

If there is any particular topic you would like to see me post about, any questions you might have, please ask. I want this blog to be useful and educational.

All best wishes for 2012!!

Greetings of the Season

2011-12-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Among my family and friends I am known for making a very short shortbread, so many of them have grown to expect a tin of it at Christmas. This week I baked five double batches, my favorites being the chocolate shortbread, maple shortbread, and nut crescents. If you lived closeby, I'd offer you a plate of cookies and a cappucino like the one above that I helped myself to today!

While I mentioned this in my last e-newsletter, I would also like to repeat here in case you aren't a subscriber. At the end of my fourth year having a full-time career as a quilt artist and teacher, I would like to say thank you!!! Thank you for coming to my classes, for purchasing my hand-dyes, for reading my newsletters and blog, and for all the other ways you show support. It really is all about YOU ... without you I wouldn't be here writing this blog, and looking forward to a new year that holds a busy teaching schedule. Thank you for the honour of being able to share my workshops with you!

As a holiday gift, I would like to share something with you. These are the tips that I share in one of my lectures ("From Inspiration to Art Quilt") on how to move into making art quilts and how to make your quilts more artful. I also encourage these habits in students who sign up for my Art Quilt Series. Some of what I say may be familiar to you, or it might be new, or it might be a reminder.

As you've probably heard me say many times, I was never considered creative as a child. That label went to my sister who seemed naturally gifted at drawing and painting. She is now an accountant and the Controller of a small investment company. Not that accountants can't be creative, but my point is that she simply doesn't do much art anymore. I, on the other hand, have had to work very hard at being creative, and I now make my living through a creative profession. The best approach is to never say to yourself "I am not creative", but instead to say, "I'm working on my creativity" because creativity is like a muscle that needs to be developed.

1) Keep yourself inspired and visually stimulated.
a) To keep yourself inspired it is important to embrace newness and change. I find myself more creative after I've been in a new enviroment like after a holiday or trip away from home. But it doesn't have to be an expensive or exotic change. It could simply be a change in the route you take to work. You know how when you travel the same road to work everyday you don't even notice what is around you anymore? Try a different route and notice all the new things along the way. Visit a new park or garden.
b) Look at other art in other media. You are sure to be inspired by the colours, subject matter, and styles of art at galleries and in magazines. I find looking at art regularly helps to train your eye for good composition and design.

2) Keep a sketchbook.
We always think we will remember that brilliant idea we had yesterday, but we have so much on our minds that we won't. Write it down, sketch it out, you don't need to be good at drawing. Once you've recorded the idea you can play with it in your sketchbook. Invest in a set of coloured pencils to play with adding colours to your design.

3) Learn new things
Anytime you learn new things your are exercising your grey matter, and that will be good for your art. Newness is inspiring. Go to classes to learn art quilt methods, and don't forget art classes as well. It is all transferrable.

3) Set goals
I write lists of goals regularly. My list includes prep I need to do for teaching, classes I need to develop, articles I might want to write, fabric I need to dye, shows I want to enter, and very importantly, work I want to experiment with or work I want to finish. Because I tend to leave new work until after everything else is finished, I have a small goal setting group with two other artists who are also keen on getting into the studio and we try to support each other and talk about the obstacles we encounter.

4) PRACTICE! There is nothing that is going to make a bigger difference to your art than practice! The more art you make, the more you learn, the better it gets. It took several years for me to make the move from fairly traditional quilts (even though I seldom followed a pattern exactly) to the point where I was making original work. Don't wait for inspiration to strike. A regular studio practice will take you places. Better that it be 15 minutes a day than not at all.

5) Pay attention to the things you tell yourself! Never allow yourself to put yourself down. You have a right to make a mess and to experiment, and you are learning, so let go of the expectation of perfection. Even the most accomplished artists have to battle negative self-talk on a regular basis. It is all a normal part of the creative process as our anxiety over the outcome of our efforts rises. If you can talk yourself through such times, you will come out ahead of the game.

Besides those five double batches of shortbread, I also baked a batch of peanut butter dog bones for a very special niece that I will meet for the first time this Christmas. Meet Sunny, my sister's new dog. She's 18 months old and I'm told a very calm and well behaved dog. Isn't she beautiful? This was taken a few days ago in Southern Ontario. We have absolutely no snow here in Ottawa.

My very warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and just all around wonderful holiday season! Stay tuned in the new year for a blog giveaway as I celebrate one year of blogging, four years of being a full-time career quilter, and nine years of selling my hand-dyed fabrics and teaching. Lots to celebrate.

Lazy Days

2011-12-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Until today, I have not blogged very much in weeks. I have a secret to tell: I have been incredibly lazy the last two weeks! I have been loafing about the house in my flannel pajamas a lot, but I did finish my Christmas shopping, and I did get all my 2011 papers organized and off to my bookkeeper-accountant, who by the way is working out great. Best decision I ever made to deal with the HST headache. Ive also got a few Christmas lunches to go to and will be putting on the Elaine Baker hat in the next few days. I make a mean shortbread.

At the end of November my sister and I escaped for a week to the Florida Keys. I was just too lazy to blog about it. I do think it is time to share some photos as you have received enough verbiage from me today and will probably welcome some visual stimulation and some photos of warmer places. I think part of the reason Ive been feeling so lazy the last two weeks is because I let myself put my feet up in Florida. I got lots of sleep, ate too much, loafed on the beach, and even read two books!! This pace seemed to carry over when I returned. I have been getting worried about the fact that I just havent been able to get started in the studio. I am so out of the habit, that I will have to redevelop the habit. Little by little, it is coming back this week. Because I have a break of a few weeks in my teaching schedule, I am starting to do some research on how to work with sheer silk organza. Ive dyed quite a lot of this stuff and have been waiting to get to work on something.

But back to the Florida trip. I am glad we planned this trip, because just weeks before we left, my sisters canine companion, Savannah, died suddenly from an allergic reaction to a wasp. She was gone in minutes. So I think my sister really needed to get away, and we have been trying to coordinate this since she turned 50 almost three years ago.

We flew to Miami, then rented a car to drive out to Islamorada. Since it was low season, we got a great deal on the lovely condos we stayed in.

I booked these because they are right on the water, so if we had a day we didnt feel like going anywhere, we could just hang out at our condo.

This view to the side of the pool relaxed me immediately.

We did make a trip to Key West one day. While there we visited some interesting sites like the Ernest Hemingway Home, the Audubon House & Tropicsl Gardens, the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Gardens and an unusual restaurant called Blue Heaven.

Of course the gardens provided lots of foliage for inspiration.

The Hemingway House was particulary interesting.

Hemingway loved cats, had many in his lifetime, including some that were polydactyl (had extra toes). Many of the 50 or so cats that live at the Hemingway House today are descended from the original cats and carry the polydactyl gene. What I also thought was fun is that visitors to the house are not allowed on the furniture, but the cats are! Check out the mitts on the first two cats!

I made a few other friends too at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Gardens .

Obviously food laws are more relaxed in Key West because these chickens are all around you when you eat at Blue Heaven. In fact Key West is full of chickens, descended from the fighting chickens that were brought there from Cuba. You will even sometimes find them roosting in trees.

I am developing a real obsession for stools, benches and chairs. I photographed this at Blue Heaven as well.

This is Bucko, who lives at the Village Gourmet restaurant in Islamorada. Like in Europe, people in the Keys seem more relaxed about having animals in restaurants.

I think Bucko looks an awful lot like my sisters dearly departed dog Savannah. This is a picture of them taken last fall.

OK, thats three blog posts in one night. I must be getting my groove back! The other thing Ive been doing the past two weeks is reading cookbooks. Over the years, I have completely forgotten how to cook because of my busy schedule and being away from home so much. I have decided I need a new hobby so I dont become too one-track minded. Cooking will be it. The goal is to eat better too.

I apologize that there isnt a single apostrophe in the above post. It has disappeared from my keyboard. This is often caused by a cat walking across my keyboard.

In the Beginning ... Getting your Work Out There!

2011-12-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

As I alluded to in my previous post, I am going to talk about how I ended up becoming a career quilter. In so doing, I will also talk a little about the contribution of quiltmaking to my mental health and the importance of sharing your work with the world.

It started innocently enough. The year was 1996, I was emotionally distraught over my mother's Alzheimer's and recent institutionalization at a nursing home. Suffering from anxiety and depression, I sought an activity that would occupy my mind and focus me for a while.

I signed up for a beginner quiltmaking class at my local high school. I do remember thinking that quilting is hard, and way too precise, but I persevered. I think my sanity at the time depended on it. But then something happened. I got hooked on the fabric, I got hooked on the peace I felt while I was creating. I had tried meditation and yoga, but nothing quieted my mind and made the cares of the world go away like quilting.

I had a new hobby ... well perhaps more like an addiction. I joined a guild, some mini groups, went to as many quilt shows as I could, took all the classes I could, and tried a bit of everything one can try in quiltmaking. I was very, very prolific, even though I had a full-time job.

Sometime in the late 1990s or around 2000 I saw my first art quilts. I knew I wanted to do that, but had never been considered creative. I spent the next few years working very hard to come to a place where I was making my own original work. It did not happen overnight.

In 2003 I was invited to be Artist in Residence at our local quilt show. The Marketing folks for the Waterloo Quilt Festival happened to attend our show, saw my work, and I was soon invited to have a solo show at the St. Jacobs Quilt Gallery. Quite frankly, if I hadn't received that little bit of recognition, I don't know when I would have been ready to put my work out there? My solo show was well received, and after that I started entering juried shows.

Another important thing that happened was losing my job in 2003. That's really when I started teaching and began my business selling hand-dyed fabrics. After a year of this, I went back to work for another five years. Until my schedule got so full with a job, a part-time teaching job on Saturdays, making and exhibiting quilts, and running the hand-dyed fabric business. Bottom line is that I had to build that business up for five years before I could afford to quit my job.

This brings me to the subject of getting your work out there! That is really what it is all about. If you want to have a career with your quilts it is critical that the world see your work. But even if you dont want to have a career, there are all kinds of reasons to submit your work to shows: 1) the joy of it ... these shows bring joy and wonder, so how wonderful it is it to be a part of them; 2) Better to have your work in a show than on a closet shelf; 3) Validation; 4) Resume building; 5) The desire to win ribbons. I think the main reason I entered shows in the beginning was #1 above, for the sheer joy of being part of a show. I still feel that way, but now that my career is dependent on my quilts, I do it for the exposure and resume building as well. I can't say I've ever done it for the ribbons. Although they are nice, I am just happy to be part of the show.

I am sometimes asked by other local teachers, "how did you get that teaching gig" (so far from home)? It goes back to getting the work out there. If people don't know your work they are not very likely going to invite you to teach for them. So you have to get your work out there, and that means beyond your city or region. Remember that show I mentioned where I was Artist in Residence? At that show I won several ribbons in the art quilt categories. I will say, however, that there werent very many quilts in that category and they were relegated to the back of the room. I decided to branch out from there to enter in shows where art quilts were more celebrated. So I decided to be a little fish in a big pond, rather than a big fish in a small pond.

If you only show at the local fall fair or quilt guild, there is a limit to how many people will see your work, and your career will probably remain local or regional. What if the people who really love your work are not the ones who live in your own area? All the more reason to get your work out in the big wide world where there is a chance that someone who loves your work will see it. And if you want a career, that is really the best way to build it.

Yes, there is the risk that your work will be rejected. My work has been rejected in many places, so I just move on to the next place because my career depends upon it.

Textile Arts as Women's Therapy, Part 2

2011-12-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

Today I received a complimentary copy of "Using Textile Arts and Handcrafts in Therapy with Women: Weaving Lives Back Together". You may remember that I blogged about being interviewed for this book back in May in a post called "Textile Arts as Womens Therapy". I am one of several artists that were interviewed for this book, and photos of two of my works also appear in it. You can see which by accessing the link above. The author, Dr. Ann Collier, is an academic at the University of Wisconsin, a clinical psychologist, and a textile artist herself. Her website is called "Dr. Shrinks Fibres".

The book is geared at textile artists who might want to explore personal issues through their art, mental health professionals who might be interested in the theory behind it, as well as teachers of textile arts. Dr. Collier goes on to explain how, in the latter group, she has noticed student issues come to the fore in workshops she has taken, often issues the teacher was unprepared for. What teacher has not heard about the many ways that textile arts have saved a woman's sanity? I certainly have, I've lived it myself, and believe that textiles can do that.

I'm taking this book along with me to read at Christmas. I suspect it will remind me of how and why I got into quiltmaking in the first place (more on that in my next blog post), and how quiltmaking makes a big difference to the mental health of women.

It's kinda cool being part of a scholarly study, especially since I also once tried to tie quiltmaking to my academic studies. In 1999 I wrote a paper about quilts and quiltmaking for my graduate course in Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies. I used to have a prominent link to it on my website, but I now only include a link through the resume on my website. The research I did may be dated now. I had even tried to work my Masters thesis topic around quiltmaking, the general argument being that it provides a meaning system similar to a religion (my graduate studies were in Religion & Popular Culture). I didn't quite work it out, and got so gob-smacked by the quilting world that I never did finish the thesis. And that is OK; life has a way of taking us to the places we need to go.

If you are interested in the link between textile arts and women's mental health, you will probably find this book of interest.

Study With Me in Italy!!

2011-12-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

A wonderful new school, the Abruzzo School of Creative Art, has opened in Introdaqua, Italy, about 2 hours east of Rome. It will focus on textile art, fibre art, art quilts, felting and mixed media art classes. I will be teaching a brand new five-day class, "Fabulous Flowers and Foliage" there June 27- July 3, 2012. They've just started putting together the roster of teachers for 2012. You you can read more about the School on the highlighted link above.

I've also just distributed my latest e-newsletter, which includes information on where I will be teaching in 2012. I am very thankful to have a full schedule in the coming year and to be able to make a living from what I do for another year :-)) If you'd like to sign up to receive my e-newsletter in your mailbox four times a year, you can do so here.

Dye Safety

2011-11-24T21:50:00.000-08:00

This past week I was discussing the safety of dyes with my new on-line friend Carolynn. She had given up using dyes 30 years ago over concerns about the health risks associated. I advised her to email Paula Burch about a specific concern she had regarding the presence of benzene in Procion MX Fibre Reactive Dyes (these are the dyes I use). Paula Burch is an expert on dye chemistry (and has a Ph.D. in Biology) from Rice University. Paula responded with a most thorough and informative post on her blog.

This reminded me that I had written an article regarding dye safety in my quarterly e-newsletter back in February 2009. I also had contacted Paula Burch for an opinion about the scary stories I had been hearing that I suspected were just that: scary stories. I've reprinted my article below, or you can access the original e-newsletter in my newsletter archive.

In the last few months I have heard a number of scary stories and misinformation circulating about the safety of dyes. For example, at an out of town quilting conference I met a world-renowned quilting teacher who reported to me that most of the early fabric dyers have died from exposure to dyes. I am plagued by a rather questioning and cynical nature and this sounded very dubious to me. The safety of dyes is a regular topic of discussion on the on-line DyersLIST, of which I am a member. We all take the issue seriously and if this story is true we would have heard about it there. When I see some evidence that the dyes I use are harmful (when used responsibly) I will be the first to discontinue their use, but I won’t be swayed by heresay.

It also occurred to me that the early dyers started out in the 1970’s (with the advent of the Art Quilt Movement) when most of them were probably in their 50’s (the average age of most students in my classes). This would put them now well into their 80’s and 90’s, which is a very good life span. Many of the early dyers who started dyeing at a younger age, like Caryl Bryer Fallert, are alive and well and have reported that they didn’t always take proper safety precautions (such as protective masks) in the early days.

Whenever I want to find out the scoop on anything dyeing related I turn to the experts on the DyersLIST. In particular, I value the opinion of Paula Burch, who holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Rice University . The topic of Burch’s Ph.D. dissertation was dye chemistry, oxygen radicals, the photodynamic effect, and DNA damage. You can visit her website at http://www.pburch.net/. In the dyeing section you will find valuable instructions about dyeing and information about dye safety.

It is important to distinguish which dyes you are talking about because not all dyes are created equal. I am speaking here specifically about Procion MX fibre-reactive dyes. Some of the early dyes used may very well have been more dangerous than what we use today. There seems to be a trend now among some dyers toward using more natural and eco-friendly dyes. But as Paula Burch states, “The claim that natural dyes are inherently safer than synthetic dyes is the result of ignorance.” Many natural dyes require the use of mordants that contain metals that can be highly toxic. Paula's response to my question is still available on-line.

Be aware that you can always ask for the MSDS safety sheets from dye suppliers. In fact, many companies have them available on-line. I have researched these for the dyes I use, and they all state that there are no high or moderate level risks associated with Procion MX fibre reactive dyes, but all contain some warnings with regard to people with a pre-disposition to asthma.

Burch goes on to say that “No hand dyer has ever been killed by exposure to Procion MX dyes. The real risk of working with Procion MX and other fiber reactive dyes is that of developing a respiratory allergy to the dye. You must be careful to avoid breathing the dye powder in order to reduce your risk of developing this problem.”

Burch also offers the following wisdom on the environmental impact of Procion MX dyes. “If you are dyeing by hand, by yourself, there is no harm in the relatively small quantities of dye that you may dump down the drain. There is more danger to you and your
children in the neurotoxins commonly applied to your neighbors' lawns as insecticides, and the fertilizers applied to your neighbors' lawns are far more harmful to the environment than the dyes you dispose of, as fertilizer run-off leads to the production of oxygen-free dead zones in the oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.”

The dyes and chemicals we use in the fibre-reactive dyeing process should always be treated with proper precautions. This means a safety mask or respirator to prevent inhalation of dye powder, protective gloves, and dedicated dyeing tools. Dye powder is very fine and light and can easily become airborne. Because it is attracted to wet or damp surfaces, placing a damp newspaper on the surface you are working on while mixing dyes will help cut down on the amount of powder that can circulate in the air.

If you are a dyer who would like to learn more about dyeing and have access to a group of knowledgeable experts, you may be interested in becoming a member of the DyersLIST.

What Magazines Do You Read?

2011-11-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

What magazines do you like to read and subscribe to? I thought I would share my list of favorite magazines.

1. Professional Artist

I confess that the main reason I subscribe to this magazine is because Creativity Coach, Eric Maisel, writes a column for each issue. At present, in fact, the website features his column from the current issue. In it he discusses the reason why so many artists start projects but don't finish them. Check it out. I think you will find it interesting. I've read many books by Maisel, and studied with him, both on-line and in person. Professional Artist also contains some very useful articles about things like pricing your work, teaching workshops, marketing yourself, etc.

2. Quilting Arts

While I don't subscribe to Quilting Arts, I do usually purchase it from the newstand. I buy it strictly to keep on top of trends, learn about techniques, and read feature articles about particular artists.

3. SAQA Journal

The SAQA Journal comes as part of my SAQA membership. The Journal is a fabulous resource for professional artists and is probably the only really serious magazine out there for those focused on the quilt as fine art and making a career as a quilt or fibre artist.

4. Machine Quilting Unlimited

I subscribe to Machine Quilting Unlimited mainly because I am a teacher of machine quilting, and it helps me keep on top of new trends. I also like the "In the Art Studio" column that appears in each issue. Machine Quilting Unlimited has been very supportive of my work as well. After Kit Robinson spotted my quilt at a show at the Whistler Museum of Art a few years ago, my work was featured on the Jawdropper page, and I was invited to be the "In the Art Studio" artist this past July. As an aside, watch for a blog post coming up that talks about the importance of getting your work out there. None of this would have happened if I didn't send my work out into the world. There is a lot of material in the magazine that is more relevant to long-arm quilters, but not every magazine can be all things to all people.

5. Canadian Quilter

What can I say? I am Canadian, I teach mainly in Canada, and I like to keep up on what is happening on the quilt scene in Canada. The Canadian Quilter comes as part of my membership in the Canadian Quilters Association.

Aside from these I sometimes purchase art magazines that feature the kinds of art I like. I encourage students to look at art in other media and in my Art Quilt Series classes circulate art magazines among the class to encourage students to do the same. I think looking at art in other media helps one develop a more artful eye and helps you become more attuned to good design.

Just in Time for Christmas

2011-11-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed that they started playing Christmas songs on the radio in early November this year? People will be all Christmased out by December! I for one am celebrating already because I have just narrowly escaped jury duty (at least for now). But in the spirit of the season, and while there is still time to order them and receive them before Christmas, I want to introduce you to two new books that will make great Christmas gifts for any artist, art quilter, or art quilt lover on your list.

Martha Sielman, the Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is fast becoming a major author and curator in the art quilt world. Following on her hugely successful Masters Art Quilts, Vol 1 (published in 2008), Lark Books has just recently released her Masters Art Quilts, Vol 2.

Just like in Masters Vol. 1, Masters Vol. 2 brings us another 40 outstanding contemporary quilt artists with luscious photos of their work and an essay about each one's artistic influence and methods. This time Sielman delves into the interesting backgrounds of many of these artists.

Masters Vol. 1 is still available and comes highly recommended by me. It focuses more heavily on North American artists, whose names we are all familiar with (such as Hollis Chatelain, Jane Sassaman, Joan Schulze, Yvonne Porcella, Katie Pasquini-Masopust, Susan Shie, Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs, Michael James, and Velda Newman). It also includes Canadian artists Pamela Allen and Cher Cartright.

Masters Vol. 2 is far more international in scope. While it does include names well known in North America, such as Jane Dunnewold, Paula Nadelstern, Laura Wasiloski, Elizabeth Busch, Emily Richardson, and Tim Harding, it also contains a lot of artists that are new to me, and some that I have only recently learned about. Dorthy Caldwell is the one Canadian featured in Vol. 2. I find myself particularly enamoured with the elegant portraits by Dutch artist Leslie Gabrielse, and the very poignant and emotional portraits by French artist Genevieve Attinger. American artist, Alice Beasley's portraits and still lifes are absolutely captivating as well.

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) also publishes a book each year called "Portfolio". This year's is Vol. 18, and as always it includes one art work by each of SAQA's Professional Artist members. I own copies from the last 5 or 6 years. Each year I enjoy poring through Portfolio, enjoying the variety of styles and being inspired by the creativity of my colleagues.

Both books can be purchased from the SAQA Bookstore.

The Art Quilt Series

2011-11-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

I've been on the road so much that I have not been blogging much about what I've been doing locally. Since September, I've been teaching my "Art Quilt Series" of workshops once a month at Dragonfly Fabrics here in Ottawa. The series runs until February. The class has 8 students, which makes it a bit more personal than when I ran it at a local community centre. It is also the same class I've been teaching in a one-week format at the Haliburton School of the Arts the past two years.

Today was Session 3, and the topic was fabric dyeing. Students were introduced to two types of low-water immersion dyeing. One exercise involved learning about colour mixing by dyeing a 12 step colourwheel using three parent dye colours. The second exercise involved learning my very free method of dyeing multi-coloured fabrics. Students who had already taken a dyeing class with me got to work on another dyeing project of interest to them.

Some students also brought their completed design exercises from the last class, when they were introduced to two methods of designing. The first method is a fly by the seat of your pants method that involves cutting free-hand and responding to the design as it develops. There may or may not be a photo used as inspiration. Students are required to select a composition (i.e. horizontal, vertical, diagonal, radiating, etc.) that will enhance their idea and to have one of the elements and principles of design dominate.

In this first work Josée used seat of the pants design, with the aim of evoking a feeling of impatience, and in that light she named the piece "Waiting". The vertical composition is certainly appropriate for this since it commands a feeling of strength and dominance. I almost feel like hurrying up because I'm afraid this guy is going to lose his cool! The choice of warm colours to depict impatience is also a good one ... cool colours would have conveyed calm.

Lynn, who describes herself as usually meticulous, said she let herself go with this design and we all described it as her satchel of creativity. Very appropriately, she chose to create a piece in an irregular shape for this.

The second design exercise involves creating a pattern to work from. Students are required to work with a range of 5-7 values of the same colour for this one, and are once again asked to choose a composition to enhance their idea.

Josée created this abstract design in a value gradation of blues. We looked at it in four different orientations and agreed that, from a design point of view, it worked in all four! When seen vertically, some saw an embryo, horizontally some saw water. The curved lines running in an almost diagonal direction give the piece a wonderful feeling of movement.

This is the design Jeannie came up with for the second exercise. She chose to do an iris in a value gradation of purples. We all loved the focal point in the upper left corner, which drew our eye into the piece before moving around the flower. Jeannie brought the piece to class with a heavy dark border pinned to it.

I suggested she consider not using a border, and once she had removed it, most of us agreed that the piece was now able to breathe. The border was too harsh and really boxed the design in.

I am not a big fan of sewing borders on an art quilt once it is finished. All too often I think they are added as the logical next step because that is what we do with bed quilts. I probably wouldn't bind this work either, but instead face it, and perhaps mount or frame it. Small works like this have more presence when appropriately presented. All this reminds me that I should dig up the article I wrote called "To Border or Not to Border: It's All About the Design" for the Fall 2009 SAQA Journal. I will want to post a link on the side of the blog where it is easily accessed, but first I have to figure out how to do that.

The (Not So) Glamorous Life of a Travelling Quilt Instructor

2011-11-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

This year I would have loved to travel to the Houston Quilt Festival, but I had already been booked to teach well in advance. When my colleagues and friends go off to the SAQA/SDA Conference in March 2012, I will be on the road teaching. The teaching dates were booked well before the conference dates were advertised. I have this fantastic facility in my community called the Shenkman Arts Centre. A satellite of the Ottawa School of Art is housed inside and so there are wonderful art classes only 5 minutes from my home. I'd like to take an art class this winter, but discovered that I will miss at least half the classes due to my teaching/travel schedule.

Recently it was suggested to me by a colleague that I might consider cashing in some of my air miles and travelling around the country to promote SAQA. First of all, I have only begun to have teaching engagements that require flying so I don't have any airmiles. But perhaps the biggest point I want to make here is that I CAN and DO promote SAQA on nearly every teaching trip I take. In addition, I provide brochures and back issues of SAQA Journals in my Art Quilt Series classes and my classes at the Haliburton School of the Arts. I've noticed that there is a certain attitude among some of my colleagues (fortunately not many of them) that I am being selfish in pursuing my teaching career, and that I only do things that benefit me. If I had a full time career in any other field, no one would expect me to book trips to promote SAQA, nor expect me to curtail my career for volunteer work. Isn't it just possible I can do more to promote SAQA by being out there being a living, breathing example of someone who has made a career with her quilts?

I recently heard a story about a west coast teacher who came to Ontario to teach for several guilds. At the end of one engagement she waited for the next group she was booked with to pick her up. No one did. I found this a strange story ... that is, until recently.

I have lectures and workshops scheduled in the Greater Toronto Area over a two week period in March 2012. There are gaps between some of these engagements. Since I have no place to stay during many of these gaps I have arranged to drive an hour to Waterloo where my sister lives. Some teachers would have asked all groups to share in paying for or providing accommodations during these gaps, but I did not do so because some of these groups are small guilds and the cost would have been prohibitive. However, in some cases I am charging for mileage to bring me back to Toronto from Waterloo.

Recently I received an email from a group about an hour and a half outside Toronto. They were interested in having me come to their city to deliver a trunk show and lecture. The timing was such that I would be coming to them from Waterloo, but would have had a one night gap after my lecture and before my next engagement in the Toronto area. I asked that this group accommodate me for that one night. In response I received an email telling me that this guild's policy is to not provide accommodations for trunk shows, and that the next group on the trip should be providing this. Well the next group in this engagement had also only hired me to do a trunk show and was already providing me with a billet on the night after the trunk show. There was no way on earth they should have been responsible for a billet on the night before the trunk show as well. So because I had no place to sleep that night the booking didn't happen. It seems to me a bit unreasonable, and even downright unhospitable, to expect a teacher to travel hours from her home in winter and not even provide a bed and pillow. If your policy is to not provide accommodations for trunk shows, then you can expect to only have trunk shows by local people.

In addition, this group expected the next group to pay the mileage to get me back to Toronto. I could maybe see that point, except that the contracts had all been signed with the groups in the Greater Toronto Area, and at this point I cannot add additional charges. However, the guild in question was not even being charged for any portion of the mileage to get me to Toronto, something that the Toronto might have legitimately protested.

So there you have it. I write this email not as a general WHINE, but so you can get a glimpse behind the scenes of a travelling quilt instructor. The reality is that I delivered 71 workshops this year, travelled a total of 14 days to get to and from these workshops, meaning a total of 85 days away from home, not including days where I had gaps between bookings. That means I was away from my home for 3.5 months of this year. It does affect whether or not I can do a lot of other things (including housework ;-)), but I wouldn't trade it for any of the mind-numbing and soul-destroying office jobs I worked at. It is still the best option for me.

A Hosta Class and Pattern?

2011-11-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

I am frequently asked when I might publish a pattern for a hosta quilt and offer a class to teach it. The method I use to create many of my hosta quilts is similar to the one I use when creating my floral quilts, although some of my hosta quilts do have an additional layer of complexity that is not taught in my "In Full Bloom" class. Because I have a class to teach the florals, I have always thought that when one learns my method for creating them, one will also be equipped to create a hosta quilt.

Part of the reason I have not offered a class or published a pattern is my concern that having copies of my hosta quilts out there might devalue them. They will no longer be one-of-a-kind. Although my primary focus is not on selling my work, I do sell some of it, and have sold more hosta and foliage works than any other series I have made. Collectors might not be so happy to know there are copies out there. It is also these quilts that have gotten me into many shows, more than any other works.

Most of my classes are designed to help students make something unique. I encourage this, and don't necessarily want to encourage others to copy me. One exception is the "In Full Bloom" class. It is impossible to design an original floral quilt in a one day class, so I provide patterns in the one day class so students can learn about value and how to construct one of these quilts while using one of my patterns.

There are a few patterns out there that have been made so many times that you will see them in every guild show. There are some that if I never see a quilt made from them again it will be too soon. Many people, particularly across Ontario, have taken my In Full Bloom class, and I often hear about students entering them in their guild's show. It has crossed my mind that one day someone will say the same thing ... "there is another one of those damned Elaine Quehl poppies";-))

But if this happens, do I want to be remembered for poppies or hostas? Good question.

I taught a lot of In Full Bloom classes last year, and it got to the point where people started expecting me to provide the hand-dyed fabrics for them. I simply can't keep up all the dyeing when I'm away teaching so much. Would people expect the same if I taught a hosta class? Would they want to use the same fabrics I use?

I do need to make a living, so if interest in my classes should ever wane, will I want to start teaching a class on how to make a hosta quilt? Maybe that will depend on what series I am working on at the time. If I have moved on to something else, it might feel OK to teach a hosta class. Still I would rather encourage students to find their own imagery, although I know not everyone will want to do this.

What do you think? Hosta class or not?

The Burlington Fibre Arts Group at the Burlington Arts Centre

2011-11-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

I returned tonight from a week long teaching trip (5 days of classes, two days of travel). I taught three classes at Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph and two days of classes for the Burlington Fibre Arts Guild in Burlington.

The Burlington Fibre Arts Guild is a small group of fibre artists who are members of, and meet regularly at, the Burlington Arts Centre in the city of Burlington, Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is located on the western end of Lake Ontario.

I was invited to teach my two-day "In Full Bloom" class. Students bring their own photo and create their own pattern. You can see the group hard at work here.

During my visit I was billetted at the lovely home of Jacqueline Harris and her husband Ed.
By the end of the second day there were a few pieces well underway, and some nearing completion. The flowers are built on muslin, allowing flexibility in possible backgrounds when finished.
Barbara:

Sandy:

These are Karen's daffodils.

The Burlington Arts Centre is a wonderful facility with galleries and display areas.

In the middle is a lovely greenhouse, with an inviting area to sit and relax.

The beautiful gift shop is packed with art in a variety of media.

I have three more workshops to deliver in the Ottawa area before Christmas, but teaching related travel doesn't begin again until January 23 when I head to Yellowknife. This week I have to get receipts and paperwork from the last several months organized and to my accountant. You'll be hearing from me more often for a while because I have some topics I want to talk about. Stay tuned!

Quilts=Art=Quilts

2011-11-01T22:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. I delivered a free-motion quilting class at the Country Quilter in Richmond, Ontario on Saturday, and after class we headed to Auburn, New York to see the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Centre. I did not enter the show this year, but it has been a tradition for several years now that friends and I take a road trip to see the show. I also wanted to be there on opening weekend since my friend Deb Bein had a work in the show and would be driving up from Poughkeepsie, NY. We arrived in the area around 8 p.m. Saturday night for our reservation at one of my favorite restaurants, Rosalie's Cucina in Skaneateles, NY.

On Sunday morning there was a brunch held for all exhibiting artists and visitors at the lovely Springfield Inn. Elin Noble, one of the jurors of the Quilts=Art=Quilts show spoke before the brunch about the jurying process. We learned a bit about what it was like to jury this competitive show, and Ellen advised that we should not try to guess what the jurors and judges are looking for, but to make what we need to make as artists. She also shared that she had a work rejected from three different shows prior to recently winning an award at a show for the same quilt. One of my friends wrote on a piece of paper "CRAP SHOOT" and handed it to me. Sometimes it does indeed feel like a crap shoot entering a juried show.

Outside the window of the restaurant at the Springfield Inn, I noticed hostas turning gold.

After brunch we headed to the Museum to view the quilts. I managed to capture Deb with her work, "Generation Gap"

Deb is always full of beans and always has a name tag that in itself is a work of art to wear to every show she is juried into. Here is the tag she was wearing.

Isn't it cool? She often makes name tags to coordinate with the quilt she has in the show, but in this case the nametag coordinates with her outfit (and another quilt she had in a different show).

I was also pleased to chat with Pat Pauly from Rochester, NY, whose work I have admired for some time. She had two works in the show and let me take these photos. First is Mummy Bags/Canopic Jars, which she won first prize for. Congratulations Pat!

This is the other work Pat had in the show. I'm afraid I've forgotten the title.

All in all, an enjoyable show. A little more abstract and a little less diverse than last year's show, but always a pleasure to see art quilts where they show best, on a gallery wall!! Quilts=Art=Quilts runs until January 12, 2012.

Frequently Asked Questions

2011-10-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

There are a number of questions I am frequently asked about products I use, so I thought I would address these in a blog post.

What batting do I use?
If I had a dollar for every time I am asked this question, I would be a rich woman! It happens after nearly every trunk show, and in nearly every workshop I teach. Here is the answer: Quilters Dream Cotton. The majority of my quilts contain Quilters Dream Cotton in "Request" weight (their lowest loft batting). I don't need warmth for art quilts, and using a light-weight batting keeps the quilt flat and light for shipping to shows and storing in small spaces. I am often asked if I've tried bamboo batting, etc. No, I haven't, I am very happy with Quilters Dream Cotton, Request weight, and have no need to change. I also doubt that my work would look very different with another batting, it just might be thicker or loftier. I'm far more concerned about improving my design than changing my batting.

What cotton do I use for my hand-dyed fabrics?
I use "Combed Cotton Lawn" from TrendTex Fabrics in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. They are a wholesaler, so you can ask any quilt shop you frequent to order it for you (Item 1377, Colour 10). In order to buy wholesale from TrendTex you need to be a business and you have to meet their first-time minimum order policy of $1,000. I love the high thread count of this cotton, and have not found one that dyes more vibrantly. It is pfd (prepared for dyeing) so you don't need to scour it (just wet and wring before dyeing), and it has a beautiful sheen that shows off the vibrant colour to its maximum.

Why doesn't my raw-edge applique fray?
Two reasons. One is the high-quality, high-thread count cotton I use (details above), and the other is the Steam a Seam fusible web I use in my work (details below).

What fusible web do I use?
I prefer Steam a Seam Lite. There are four Steam a Seam products (all sold by the Warm Company):
1. Steam a Seam: Regular weight fusible with one backing paper.
2. Steam a Seam 2: Regular weight fusible with two backing papers.
3. Steam a Seam Lite: light-weight fusible with one backing paper.
4. Steam a Seam Lite 2: light-weight fusible with two backing papers.
I prefer the light-weight fusible web with one backing paper (Steam a Seam Lite). I don't need the second backing paper and it gets thrown out anyway. Any Steam a Seam product with a "2" after it will have a backing paper on each side (two papers). This means the product has more of the pressure-sensitive, re-positionable adhesive (on both sides actually), but I find the lite one has enough of this property to keep me happy. I find Steam a Seam products easy to use, consistently reliable, and the pressure sensitive adhesive lets me build a design that stays together until I'm sure I want to make it permanent with an iron.
BEWARE: Steam a Seam gets old if you don't store it in an air-tight container! When it is old it starts coming away from the paper and is harder to use.

It only occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, while teaching at the QUINCE Jam Retreat, just how much Steam a Seam gets sold because of me. A student who was registered in all of my classes at this retreat reported that she needed a total of SEVEN meters of Steam a Seam for the classes. Hmmm ... maybe I should tell the company.

What sewing machines do I use?
My main sewing machine is a Bernina 150 that I purchased in 1998. It is simple, easy to use, and good quality. It has all the important features I love: needle down, good stitch, good tension, and a knee lift. I can put the free-motion foot on, drop the feed dogs, and proceed to quilt. I really have no desire for a more updated machine. I also have a small Janome Gem Platinum that is a dynamic little travel machine. It is light, has many of the features of the bigger and more expensive Janomes, and cost very little. I take it with me when I want to sew on the road or when I need to do a demo in class.

Does my sewing machine have a stitch regulator?
No it doesn't. I learned to free motion quilt before stitch regulators. I also love the humanness of "unregulated stitching". It is almost like a hand signature.

Do I have a special quilting frame or long arm?
No. I do all my quilting on my domestic sewing machine.

What kind of sewing machine needles do I use for machine quilting?
For more than a decade, I successfully used the following:
"Quilting" for cotton or polyester threads
"Embroidery" for rayon threads (loosen upper tension 1 or 2 notches)
"Metallica" for metallic threads (loosen upper tension quite a bit, often down to 1.
This system worked so well for me that when I heard about Superior Thread's advice to use a 90/14 needle I paid little attention. However, after testing it, and seeing how much simpler this would make the life of my students, I have switched to recommending Topstitch 90/14 needles only. It means students only need to buy one type of needle, and it works!

What kind of thread do I use?
I have a huge stash of threads I've collected over the last 15 years and will use any brand from that stash if it is the right colour for the project. However, when I go to purchase threads these days it is almost always Superior Threads. The company educates about its products to ensure that you will be successful using them, and all their threads are manufactured in Japan where most of the best quality threads are being made these days. We have our own Canadian educator, Anita Zobens in Dundas, Ontario, who also sells Superior Threads from her website.

Am I ever going to use commercial fabrics again?
That depends. 99% of the time I use my own hand-dyes because low-water immersion dyeing produces a mottled look that mimics the look of dappled light you will see in nature. My work is mostly inspired by nature. There are many batiks and some other commercial fabrics that can produce this look as well, but for the most part I prefer to dye my own and can get a wider range of values this way. I can't see me ever using calicoes and florals or patterned fabrics again, but never say never.

Too Much Fabric, Part 2

2011-10-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

A friend wrote this morning and told me she was killing herself laughing about my "rob Peter to pay Paul" method of organization! She then reminded me that there was an important stash of fabric missing from my photos, and that would be my fabric store! Well the truth is that my fabric store doesn't fit in my house anymore so it resides in the trunk of my car, where it is always with me when I go on the road. People all over Ontario shop from my trunk!

Then I remembered the two bins of fabric under the guest bed. These are my older hand-dyes, from the days when I used a variety of cotton fabrics. I use these as backings, for samples, and sometimes take some of them to my Art Quilt Series class in case there is a colour students need for their design exercises.

This reminds me that there is also a bin of these fabrics in the back seat of my car because I couldn't bear to bring it back in the house and mess up all the organization I've accomplished.

And there is the drawer in the guest bedroom desk that contains pieces that didn't fit other drawers because they contained many colours, as well as some of the better older pieces. Sheesh. The chest I posted yesterday that contains the hand-dyed fabrics organized by colour is also in the guest bedroom. I really wish there were room in my studio, but that would mean moving the three large bookcases out, and I can't even bear the thought now.

I put the new pantry together today, and determined that if I put all the bins of green hosta fabric inside, there won't be enough room for the thread. So one bin is sitting on top of the pantry. The thread fits into the pantry (multi-coloured containers that used to be drawers in my old rickety thread stand). My two stacks of hand-dyes in meter sized pieces also fit. Things are looking up.

Ok, I put the backing sheet on backwards (brown side showing inside the pantry, white side on back. I'm glad it has doors because I'm not taking all those little finishing nails out!

Let's not talk about the bin of colourwash fabrics under the master bed. I can't bear to get rid of them, even though I have no plans to do colourwash again. Maybe by next week I'll actually get to do some creative work in this organized studio!

Oh, and did you know the term "master" bedroom has been changed to "main" bedroom? Someone recently corrected me as "master" has connotations of the male being the master of the house. I like this new language :-))

Studio Organization - How Much Fabric is Too Much?

2011-10-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

After seeing the spacious and well-organized studios of some of the quilters I stayed with on my last teaching trip, I came home in the mood to get organized. I spent the last few days combing through IKEA,JSYK, and Canadian Tire, looking for storage solutions.

Every time I dye fabric for my store, I end up keeping a little bit for me. For the last few years I have been putting that fabric whereever I could find a space. There were piles and collections of unrelated fabric all over my studio, in my studio closet, and in the guest room/computer room next door. I simply couldn't stand it anymore. But I also couldn't stand the mess that my stash of batiks and commercial fabrics was in or the state of my studio closet.

So the last few days I've taken all those piles of fabric, sorted them, and placed them in the appropriate drawers. I have a large chest of drawers that contains about half of my hand-dyed fabrics. At the moment it is nicely organized, although the drawers are groaning with the weight!

There is a green drawer, but you should know that it only contains all the greens that I don't use in my hosta quilts. More details on that in a minute.

There is also a blue drawer. Yes, I realize there are a few green pieces in here, but they are part of a blue to green colour run, and there just wasn't enough space in the green drawer for them!

There is a mostly purple drawer, that also contains some pinks and blue-reds.

and a drawer with warm colours (yellows, oranges and reds). You should also know that this drawer doesn't include the bin of fabrics I use(d)? for poppy quilts, or the bin of red fabrics I pulled when I was working on Red Stool.

Finally, there is a drawer with neutrals and warm earthy tones.

This drawer does not include the bin of end-of-season hosta fabric.

Or the 3 bins of green hosta fabric: a bin of lights, a bin of mediums, and a bin of darks.

There is also a drawer in another piece of furniture that contains all the hand-dyes that were so multi-coloured they didn't fit into a particular drawer.

I've also been working on organizing my studio closet. I purchased 10 collapsible bins for the two upper shelves at JSYK. They are very light, which is an important feature so they don't create too much stress on the upper closet shelves. In a former life, when I was a clothes horse, I once caused the upper shelves to collapse with too many sweaters. I store light things in these bins, like batting, stabilizers, organzas, etc. I also purchased several bins to organize my batiks and black & white fabrics. The bins will allow me to pull the entire drawer of the colour I want without having to move a stack of fabric to get to the one behind. You can see one bin there that is holding a mixed variety of fabrics. I tossed pieces of fabric that fit nowhere into this bin, and will sort it later (later is always my favorite time to tackle messy and unpleasant tasks!).

On the right side of the closet, I organized all my commercial fabrics by colour, and also sorted them into bins by colour. The problem? The bins from IKEA don't quite fit the shelves the way I had hoped, so there are still stacks of fabric behind them.

After all this organization, I find that my two large stacks of hand-dyed meters don't fit back in the closet.

Maybe they will fit into this great little pantry I purchased this morning at Canadian Tire for the great sale price of $49.99 (regularly $89.99).

The idea when I purchased the pantry was to get rid of my rickety thread storage unit:

and find a way to store my thread in this cabinet. But it looks like I might need the new cabinet for the 3 bins of green hosta fabric, the bin of end of season hosta fabric, and the two large stacks of hand-dyed meters. Maybe I could move the thread to these wonderful drawer units I bought at Home Sense last year. They sit to the left of my work table.

Right now they contain some of my photos and surface design products. I suspect the 10 small drawers of thread won't fit in these 6 drawers though, and if they do, where will I put the "stuff" that is in them?

Is there such a thing as "too much"? I confess my stash has gotten the better of me, and I think I need a bigger house!

Norfolk County Teaching Trip

2011-10-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I returned from my two week teaching trip. I spent the second week teaching in Norfolk County, Ontario for the Norfolk Quilt Guild and the Norfolk Twilight Quilt Guild (the former meets during the day and the latter meets at night). The largest community in the region would be would be Simcoe. One of the things I love about this area of Ontario is that I can pass through Paris, Delhi, Scotland and Boston in the same day! During my trip I was billetted in three different homes over the week.

I began the week with a lecture and two workshops for the day guild. During this time I stayed at the home of Terry Anderson and her husband Rick. We went out for dinner a few times, including a visit to the Beach House at Port Dover, where we indulged in famous Lake Erie Perch. When I arrived at Port Dover I felt as though I was in the Caribbean! Palm trees grace the shore over the summer, but they are moved someplace warmer over the winter. However, Norfolk County is in a Carolinian growing zone, so I also noticed quite a few other crops and plants that I don't see in other parts of Ontario (tobacco, ginseng, peaches, etc).

Left to right are Terry, Darlene, Mary and me!

Because this guild chose workshops that produce larger and more time-consuming pieces I don't have photos of any finished pieces yet.

I spent the next four days with the evening guild (four workshops and a lecture). The Twilight Guild organized a day retreat and named it the QUINCE Jam Retreat (Quehl in Norfolk County Extravaganza). What, you may ask, is a Quince? Apparently it is a coarse and bitter apple. On-line encyclopedia Wikipedia doesn't recognize it as growing in Canada, but it does! Generally it is used for jam. I had never seen one before, but student Mary Ann Rich brought one to class for me, and it sat on my table as our mascot each day.

For the first two nights I stayed with April Maxwell and her husband Paul. Below is a photo of April holding the piece she composed in my "Fast and Fun Fused Designs" class. April is a potter and President of the local Potter's Guild. I wish I had taken a photo of her pottery studio and display area. I did come home with a few pieces of pottery though!

April and Paul share their home with two very large and beautiful cats, Marty and Duff. What an adorable pair of felines they are! I am not a small woman, but you can see I am pawsitively dwarfed by Marty! What a lovable bundle he is. I couldn't decide between the photo with his eyes open or closed!

This is Duff. He wasn't so sure about me, but he did show up to cuddle in my bed for about 5 minutes the first night.

I spent the last two nights at the home of Terry Sonnenberg and her husband John. They share their home with felines Atticus, Caruso and Macy. A feral cat named Cato also shows up outside for meals. That's Terry you see working away near the front of the classroom.

Atticus followed me to my room my first night there, and made himself comfortable in my bed as soon as I turned the blankets down. He purred, rested his head on my arm, and stretched his paws to touch me. He left the next morning without waking me. By the second night I was yesterday's news and he didn't come back.

The cats at Terry's house have a beautiful conservatory in the woods to enjoy. It is surrounded by glass windows on all sides.

This is the handsome Caruso. I did see Macy but she is shy and I was unable to capture her photo.

Members of the Norfolk Twilight Guild worked hard and made further progress on their collage trees than any class I've taught before. Here are some of the students in the class showing off their trees. When finished, the extra muslin needs to be cut away and the tree appliqued to a background.

As usual, there are too many photos of student work to share here, but I did want to draw attention to this lovely piece that Stella made in the "Fast and Fun Fused Designs" class.

It is good to be home again. It took me most of today to unpack and put things away. I have deadlines waiting: class descriptions, learning outcomes and marking schemes for next summer's classes at the Haliburton School of the Arts, and preparations for Saturday's Art Quilt class. It is also time to do the research for and purchase a digital projector so I will be prepared for trunk shows I need to fly to.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-10-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging from Waterloo, Ontario (about a 6 hour drive from my home in Ottawa), where I am staying with my sister between my teaching gigs at Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph and two guilds in Simcoe, Ontario. In Ontario we are experiencing spectacular weather this Thanksgiving Weekend. Temperatures reached 25 degrees celsius (77 degrees fahrenheit) today.

Greenwood Quiltery is housed inside a beautiful historic home on Woolwich St. in Guelph. Greenwood Gallery is just above the shop, and the current show features the work of Dwayne Wanner of Burlington, Ontario.

The garden at the back of Greenwood Quiltery always welcomes me from the parking lot into the store.

Yesterday, Saturday, family members were invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with residents of St. Jacobs Place, the retirement residence where my father lives in St. Jacobs, Ontario.

On the left is my father, Norbert, and on the right is his friend and table mate, Leonard. Both men are 87 years old! My father typically refuses to eat his vegetables, and this day was no different. He has taken an attitude that he will only eat what he likes. At 87, perhaps I will do the same.

On Thanksgiving weekend we have a tradition of driving to the country, past the farm where I grew up and where my father was born as well. Most farms in this area have been bought up by Old Order Mennonite families, and it was no surprise to see this buggy just as we approached the farm (you can see the farm on the horizon line to the right)

Things look quite a bit different from when I lived there, but the house is still the same, built in the 1860's.

Here it is

We headed along my favorite road, Hessenstrasse, past Mennonite farms. The house and porch below caught my eye!

I pulled closer thinking they were quilts, but I do believe they are actually hooked rugs.

You will never see orange or yellow in the clothing or quilts or rugs of Old Order Mennonites. There is always purple, blue, green and magenta.

We made our yearly visit to Nauman's Pumpkin Farm, where I delighted in photographing autumn sights.

I found these late-season hostas behind the house. Notice the blossom pods still on the plants. I don't remember ever seeing this before in autumn.

The end-of-season sunflowers also provided lots of photo opportunities. Spectacular colour and texture!

I always love the drive down the lane, under a canopy of trees, leaving the farm. Most of the trees haven't changed colour yet as we have not had enough cold nights.

After dropping my father back at his residence, I visited the St. Jacobs Quilt Gallery. I have a show coming up here in July-September 2012. This is the first gallery I ever had a solo show in 2004. I named that show "Homegrown", and next year's show will be called "Encore" since it is my second time here. The current show is one of traditional quilts purchased at Mennonite Relief Sales.

Today my sister and I headed to Stratford, Ontario to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Stratford Festival. The tickets came compliments of Kerry Gage, who works at the Festival. Kerry and her family purchased one of my quilts this past spring for their mother, Sherry Clarmow's birthday. Kerry kindly gifted me with two tickets. The show was well done, and being a comedy, elicited lots of laughs.

The Avon River runs through Stratford, and the swans and ducks are a familiar site.

I loved the reflection of an autumn tree that shows through below the willow on this picture.

I've caught a virus and am battling a sore throat, headache and lots of sneezing. I am trying to rest my voice as I have had past experiences trying to teach with laryngitis. I have two lectures and 5-1/2 classes coming up next week, so I need a voice!

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"Naturessence"

2011-10-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sharing some photos taken today at the opening reception of our show, "Naturessence".
The Museum did a nice job with signage at the entry to the show.

Cathy and I posed for many photographs today.

The reception started with a speech from the President of the Museum, Al Jones. We were surprised a few days ago to learn that our opening reception would be combined with a goodbye reception for two residents of Almonte. It did, however, result in a larger crowd.

Cathy and I both spoke briefly, thanking everyone for coming out on such a cold and dreary day. Cathy thanked me for the hand-dyed fabrics I produce that she uses in much of her work. I thanked her for suggesting a joint show two years ago. The waiting period to show in the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum was about two years when we applied.

Everyone mixed and mingled, enjoying sweets, coffee and tea.

Cathy's journals and my scarves were nicely displayed in the gift shop.

The show runs until December 11, 2011.

Recent Dyeing Episodes & The State of the Studio

2011-09-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

A quilter from Waterloo, Ontario recently wrote with a specific idea for a piece of hand-dyed fabric she envisioned. She described it as light blue in the middle, surrounded by soft yellow, then golden yellow, then gold, rose, blue and purple. The colours are supposed to represent the colours associated with Healing Touch Therapy. I love requests like this as they stretch me to try new colour combinations and new ways of applying dye, so I said I would give this one a try. I am not quite sure I was successful, but I know that even if Wilma doesn't like the result, someone will see these fabrics in my "store" and love them. One thing that might be a problem is that my colours go from light blue in the middle and spread into the other colours she requested until you reach the end of the fabric. I think she might have been looking for something more like an aura or halo effect. I was using two meter pieces of cloth, so they are only about 42" wide but about 80" long. It was hard to move all those colours along the width of the fabric without them all mixing and becoming mud. In the photos the two meters are placed across a washline in my dungeon (er I mean basement), so what you see is only half of the piece of cloth. The half on the other side of the line is almost a mirror image of what you see here.

If you ask me, I think these would make great stitched landscapes.

But just because I enjoy these kinds of challenges, please don't refer clients to me who wish to have garments dyed! I get emails all the time, especially from young women, who want to dye their wedding dress to reincarnate it for another purpose, or mother's of the bride who find the colour of their dress is too much like the bridesmaids' dresses. I am not a garment dyer, and I don't work with synthetic fabrics. I would not touch a bridezilla's dress with a ten foot pole, and I am not even sure where you would find someone who would.

My last dyeing job a few weeks ago involved dyeing about 20 scarves to sell in the gift shop at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum during the show that Cathy Breedyk Law and I have hanging there until December. I also have some scarves for sale in the boutique at the Ottawa School of Art. The scarves are silk/rayon velvet, and have been dyed using a pole and the Bomaki Shibori method. They are rather hard to photograph as they have a wonderful sheen that seems to cause a bit of glare. Here they are.

I'm also prepping for the classes I'm teaching in the next two weeks, so my studio is a disaster. There is a separate container with supplies for each of the workshops I will be teaching. There isn't a place left to sit, in what is really only a 10'x12' studio. The studio should look rather neat once everything is moved to my car!

But the question is ... will all of it fit in my car?

Back from Nova Scotia

2011-09-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

I arrived home from Nova Scotia late last night. I'm unpacking my suitcases as we speak, and thinking about repacking them again for the teaching trip I leave for in a week's time. I'll be teaching three days before Thanksgiving weekend at Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph, Ontario, and spending a week after Thanksgiving with two quilt guilds in Simcoe Ontario (Norfolk County Quilt Guild and Norfolk Twilight Quilt Guild). I'll be teaching at the QUINCE Retreat for several days. What in tarnation does QUINCE mean, other than a variety of apple? Well they have named their retreat the "Quehl in Norfolk County Extravaganza". Cute, eh? It will indeed be a bit of a a Quehl extravaganza as I will be delivering two lectures and 6 different workshops.

Today in Ottawa we are enjoying a perfect summer day, although it is obvious that fall arrived while I was away. A number of trees in my neighbourhood have turned colour in the week I was away. Yesterday was also a perfect summer day in Halifax, where I spent a few hours on the waterfront before flying out.

I indulged in one last lobster sandwich before heading home.

It was amazing to see how much progress my students made in class between the first and last day. I think this illustrates how much practice can help improve free-motion skills. I saw some lovely texture develop, that was particularly enhanced by the great lighting in our classroom. This is some of Vivian's stitching:

This one is Vicki's.

I had a good laugh when Dorinda stitched her full set of notes to the back of her practice sandwich.

I have found myself in a similar situation many times! I often keep photographs of hostas, flowers and trees next to my sewing machine to provide inspiration for stitching. Do you know how many times I have accidentally stitched them to the back of the quilt? And in the early days when my studio was the dining room table, how many times did I stitch the table cloth into my work?

We gathered on the last day for class photos. This is my very talented and hard-working class.

There was a silent auction of donated items at the retreat, and I am happy to say that I placed the winning bid on a print of Laurie Swim's piece "From Our Back Yard". I am particularly fond of her Backyard Series as it reminds me so much of sights I saw in my rural childhood.

There was a banquet on the last night of the retreat, with much partying and merriment. In fact, some retreat members said we sounded like a fraternity. We were all required to wear facinator hats to the event, and then a photo was captured of the teachers in this attire. Oh the indignities that quilting teachers suffer ;-))

Jane looks like she has a propeller on her head, Daphne looks just plain giddy, and I'm looking away as though I can't believe this is really happening to me. After all, I'm the one who never watched any part of the latest royal wedding, and very little of their visit to Canada. But then I didn't even watch TV the entire week I was in Nova Scotia.

This week I'm actually home to attend our SAQA Central Canada meeting in Ottawa, and will be teaching Beyond Stippling, Part I at Dragonfly Fabrics on Saturday, and attending the vernissage of my show with Cathy Breedyk-Law on Sunday. Please join us at 2:00 p.m. at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario. If you wish to have a sneak peek at our show, Cathy has posted some pictures I took the day we hung our show on her blog.

Greetings from Nova Scotia, Part 2

2011-09-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

After several days of rain forecasts it finally did begin to rain tonight in Nova Scotia. I don't mind at all since I have had four more lovely days than what the Weather Channel predicted. The Mayflower Quilters Retreat began yesterday at the beautiful Pictou Lodge. The pictures on Pictou Lodge's website do not do the place justice. It is remote and beautiful.

Each of the teachers at the retreat has their own little cabin. This is mine.

At 8 a.m. this morning I opened my cabin door to head for breakfast at the main lodge and was greated by this sight.

My class, a 3-day free-motion machine quilting class, with 15 students, is taking place in this gorgeous classroom. That is the Northumberland Strait just outside our windows. I am afraid I am spoiled and ruined for good ... can any classroom ever live up to this again?

Here is a shot of the three teachers teaching at this year's retreat. On the left is Jane Sassaman from Harvard, Illinois (just outside Chicago). In the middle is Daphne Greig from Vancouver Island (North Saanich), and on the right is me.

All the attendees appear to be having a fabulous time, the food is great (planked salmon tonight) and each night before dinner the cash bar opens. Fortunately the weather has been so good that everyone spills out on the patio

Once again I am taken by the friendliness and warmth of Nova Scotians! Wish you were here.

Greetings from Nova Scotia

2011-09-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Halifax on Sunday night for a couple of days of R&R before I teach at the Mayflower Quilters Retreat in Pictou. Although I was supposed to fly directly from Ottawa to Halifax, WestJet cancelled my direct flight and shipped me Ottawa-Toronto-Halifax. How much sense does it make to fly an hour west in order to fly two hours east?

I spent the last two nights at the Atlantica Hotel and Marina, which I got for a steal during this off-season period. It is a lovely resort with views of the ocean from the dining room, sitting rooms, exercise room, indoor pool, hot tub, as well as many of the guest rooms.

Weather in Nova Scotia is often at its best in September, but as I watched the Weather Channel prior to my trip I swear I saw them add a day of rain each time I looked. Given that the reports change daily, I thought, surely they will have to start removing some of the rain symbols once the week is full of them!! Locals claim that these weather reports often bear no resemblance to what is actually happening here. In any case, today was a beautiful day, while yesterday was cloudy with a few showers late in the day.

Today I drove down to Lunenburg to visit with one of Canada's most successful and well-known quilt artists, Laurie Swim. Laurie is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (NSCAD), and has worked in the quilt medium for the last 40 years. I would say that makes her a pioneer in the art quilt movement. I have long admired her and her work, and I really wanted to talk to someone and ask questions of someone who is well ahead of me on this career path. I will never forget the first time I saw a show of Laurie's work at the Waterloo Quilt Festival in 2003. I would say that she has been influential in inspiring me down the art quilt path.

Laurie maintains a gallery on Lincoln St. in historic Lunenberg, where she sells her original art quilts, books, prints and cards. Her husband, Larry Goldstein, manages the gallery and looks after the publishing end of her business.

When I arrived at the gallery, Larry showed me to Laurie's studio, which is just above the gallery. I found Laurie at her sewing machine working on her latest piece.

After a viewing of her studio, we walked up the street to have lunch, and then returned to her studio and gallery. At the end of my visit Laurie took me to her apartment next door, where I was thrilled to find "At the End of the Day" hanging in her living room. It remains one of my favorite pieces.

Laurie was a gracious and sharing hostess and I have much food for thought as I move ahead with my art quilt career.

I drove to Pictou later today and will begin retreat activities tomorrow, with workshops to follow on the following three days. I will blog soon!

SAQA Benefit Auction

2011-09-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

In its first week, the 2011 SAQA Benefit Auction has already raised $16,675 from sales of 83 one foot square art quilts. Part 2 of the auction begins at 2:00 p.m. eastern time on Monday, September 19. My piece, "End of Season 2", on page 2b of the auction goes up for sale that day.

Let the Show Go On!

2011-09-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

What a week! I put the finishing touches on three pieces for my upcoming show with Cathy. We hang it tomorrow! Today was the day to photograph all the new pieces, for both show entries and my website. First I had to move half a room to get to my photography wall, set up the tripod and remember where I put that little gadget that screws into the camera to connect it to the tripod. Then I had to set up the photography lights, find the extension cord, photograph some of the pieces on a white background and some on a black background (for my website). Then I realized one of my dowels was too long so I had to recut it. In the midst of all that I found a cat "accident" I had to clean up. How much easier it would be to be able to leave all this to a professional photographer, but then I'd actually have to get things finished well ahead of schedule wouldn't I?

So here is Red Stool, all finished. You can see a larger photograph on the home page of my website, which I updated today.

Let's just say that Red Stool stretched me and caused me anxiety. I flew by the seat of my pants the entire time I was creating it. In the end I decided to let the legs dangle and the top have an irregular edge. I had a moment of panic when it was all finished and I discovered that the top edge flops. Momentarily I thought that maybe this is a good thing? I mentioned it to my friend Deb, who is also a quilt artist, and was delighted and relieved when she felt the same way! The two upper leaves on the left side flop down a bit, kind of mirroring the dangling legs.

Here is "Curtain Call". This piece was made to replace "Exhale", the piece I sold this summer at the Haliburton faculty show. The piece that sold was supposed to be my entry to the SAQA Synthesis show, but since it sold I had to make another. The submission deadline is September 30, so this piece will hang in my show with Cathy until I need it for the Synthesis show (if I do). It is inspired by the same end-of-season Hosta leaf, but a slightly different composition. I think I prefer this composition and the fact that it seems to have more light. You can visit my website to view "Curtain Call" and "Exhale" (the piece that sold) side by side. This one isn't mounted on canvas or framed, but I do have a canvas waiting to mount it on in case I still decide to do that tonight.

"Curtain Call" and "Exhale" were both inspired by this photo of a hosta leaf that I took in Vermont in 2009.

I think I can still see even more inspiration in this photo.

Speaking of Vermont, one of the good things about living in Ottawa is that a trip to Vermont takes only four hours by car. In the last three years I have visited four times, all of them in autumn. I am, however, really nervous about going again. On the first of these trips I tripped and hit my head on my car door (a dent on the door is still visible). There was a lot of blood and paramedics tended to me! On the second visit (in which the above photo was taken) a mouse moved into the glove compartment of my car and travelled all the way back home to Ottawa with us. On the third I forgot my medication at home, and on the fourth (which was a teaching trip) I came down with positional vertigo that lasted two months. I still love Vermont but Italy has treated me better!

Finally, in preparation for my upcoming show, I mounted my triptych "Crotons" on one inch deep canvases. The quilts are flush to the edge, but the sides of the canvas have been painted green.

You may recall that I painted this piece with thickened dyes last year while I was teaching my Dye Happy class. I need all the new work I can summon for this show.

Tomorrow we hang the show, but tonight I still need to decide: mount/frame "Curtain Call" or not?

"Naturessence"

2011-09-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

Please join Cathy Breedyk Law and I for the opening of our show, "Naturessence" at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte, Ontario, on Sunday, October 2, 2 p.m. The show will hang at the Museum from September 21 to December 11, 2012. For more detail and a map to the Museum, click on the publicity card below.

The Killer Photo

2011-09-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot the killer photo of the trip! Here it is, taken in Castiglione d'Orcia

Sunflowers, Cats and Other Memories

2011-09-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

I've created a couple of sunflower quilts in my time, and never tire of seeing a field of these flowers, or a sunflower growing near a well-aged wall.

One of my favorite memories of the trip happened the day we thought our GPS had led us to nowhere. We found ourselves driving down a narrow country road, and crossing a dry creek bed. Around the bend we saw the most amazing sight: a "sheep" dog leading a herd of sheep, with a modern-day shepherd following behind in his Toyota! We managed to capture photos and did eventually find our way back to San Gimignano.

We captured photos of cats and dogs wherever we went. Since cats don't travel well, I can be pretty sure these are "real" Tuscan cats. The dogs, on the other hand, mostly belonged to other European tourists.

Of course we have very fond memories of the friendly people and the food:

One of my most memorable meals contained figs stuffed with soft sweet cheese, on rocket salad.

I really miss the cappucino I had in every village I visited!

Now back to work!

Views, Windows, Doors, Walls, and Arches

2011-09-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

It is September 1 once again, and in my mind that signals the start of a new year. Must be a hold-over from all the years I worked in universities and colleges, where the new academic year begins in September. For me it is a signal to get moving, get back to work, get my nose to the grindstone. In the next two weeks I have to finish Red Stool, make a piece to replace Exhale (for the SAQA Synthesis show), prepare to hang our joint show at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, prep for and teach two classes here in Ottawa, and get ready for my teaching trip to Nova Scotia. My sister has been visiting this past week, and now that she has gone home it is time to post the rest of the photos from Tuscany and get to the "to do" list above. Don't worry, I won't post all 1500 photos, just a selection of my favorites.

The following photos were taken in or between trips to San Gimignano, Castaglioni D'Orcia, San Quirico D'Orcia, Castellina in Chianti, Radda in Chianti, Volpaia, Vertine, San Gusme, Colle di Val d'Elsa, and Monteriggione. Most of these towns and villages are well off the beaten path.
Let me start with a typical Tuscan landscape, as we witnessed on many drives in the countryside:

In Castaglioni d'Orcio we captured this view of the Val d'Orcia (Orcia Valley). Many towns in Tuscany are named for the valleys they overlook.

Check out this gorgeous restaurant perched on the cliffs of Volpaia. Yes, we had dinner there, although all the tables upstairs were reserved so we had to eat on the terrace below.

Here are my collection of windows, walls, arches, and doors. Generally if you click on the image you will open a larger version and it will contain the title of the image, which will give you a hint of where it was taken, if you are interested.

No collection of Tuscan photos would be complete without the sunflowers. They shall come in the next post, along with one of my favorite memories of the trip.

A Week in Paradise

2011-08-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

After two days in Florence we picked up our car and headed to San Gimignano. My husband seemed to fret for weeks about driving out of the Florence airport, but it was quite straightforward and we made it to San Gimignano without a hitch (the GPS we rented was invaluable!).

Arriving at our Agriturismo, Guardastelle, we found ourselves driving up a lane lined with cypress strees. An Agriturismo is basically a farm vacation, and there are such accommodations all over Italy. Susanna and Fausto, the young couple who run Guaradastelle with a passion, also grow grapes and produce wine.

We had a bedroom called "Sybile" in the main farmhouse. There are also several small cottages scattered around the property.

You can imagine my delight on my first morning at Guardastelle, when I woke, looked out my window and saw this paradise:

Each morning we enjoyed the Tuscan landscape while eating breakfast on this beautiful patio. I also sat here at night, under a Tuscan moon and stars, listening to the crickets sing while I checked my email.

The scenery everywhere around this area was classic Tuscany: peaceful, idyllic and beautiful.

We were so busy seeing the sights that I didn't even get into the pool until the last day. I wished I had had an additional week in which to relax at Guardastelle and use the pool daily.

From the patio, the town of San Gimignano with its medieval towers and walls was only a 1 km walk (3 km drive) away. Using my zoom lens I was able to bring the sight closer.

San Gimignano is a beautiful town, and you will see some of its doors, windows, walls and arches in a future blog post. Shopping there is also great, and I enjoyed it more than Florence because the shops are concentrated in a small area and geared at tourists. Although tour buses visit San Gimignano daily, there are still many quiet streets you can enjoy on any day, good restaurants, and lots of gelato and cappucino!

In my next post I will share some of the achingly beautiful sights we captured in the countryside and small medieval villages we visited.

Tuscany: Florence

2011-08-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

I have always said that before I turn 50 I want to see Italy and Greece. Instead I have managed to see Italy twice before my impending 50th birthday. We just returned from a 10 day trip in Tuscany (two nights in Florence and seven nights at an Agriturismo in San Gimignano). My husband and I both fell in love with Italy last summer during our trip to the Amalfi Coast, and knew in a future trip Tuscany would be our destination. Virtually everything about the trip was perfect, although the weather was a little hot. Most days saw the thermometer rise to 36 degrees celsius. It is not unusual to see 30 to 32 celsius on a summer day in Ottawa, but I tend to stay indoors in air conditioned comfort on those days. Italy is just too beautiful to spend your time indoors. It helped that there was no humidity like we experience in Ottawa, and that we had an air conditioned car and room, and a swimming pool in San Gimignano. Still there were days the heat slowed me down but I tried to pace myself and cool myself with gelato :-)

We started out in Florence. Florence is not a large city (certainly not anywhere near the size of Rome) so it is easily walkable, and what I love is that much of it is blocked to cars so there isn't the intense traffic of Rome. There were, however, a lot of tourists in Florence!
I was thrilled to see Michaelangelo's David. While the original is housed in the Academia Gallery (which we visited, but were not allowed to take pictures), there are two copies of David elsewhere in Florence, this one in the Palazzo Vecchio. The sculpture stands over 14 feet, and took three years for Michaelangelo to complete.

We also toured the Uffizi Gallery, which contains many other Renaissance masterpieces, such as the Birth of Venus by Boticelli.

The Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) spans several blocks and dominates the skyline of Florence. I never did see the inside of it as I simply didn't have the patience to stand in a line of tourists that was several blocks long. Construction of the Duomo began in the 1200's, although it is built on the site of an earlier church.

The Ponte Vecchia (Vecchia bridge) is just as beautiful in person as in the tourist brochures. This bridge has been here since Roman times although it was rebuilt in the 1300's. It is the only bridge in Florence to have survived bombing during the second world war.

Florence is known for its leather products, and I was stunned at the number of vendors and shops selling a huge variety of leather products in all kinds of colours. The selection was overwhelming.

My husband gets credit for capturing this photo of a mime entertaining the crowds in one of the city squares.

I loved the architecture of these arches that run along the Via Vecchia.

I will be blogging with many more pictures over the next couple of days. Florence was just the appetizer of this trip. In my humble opinion, the best part of Italy is the countryside and the medieval villages, which are achingly beautiful. You can also avoid the tourist crowds there.

Threads: Uncommon & Unforgettable

2011-08-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I returned from Haliburton, physically exhausted but mentally and emotionally rejuvenated. I haven't watched a TV, listened to a radio, or read a newspaper in two weeks. I didn't even miss them. I slept in my own bed with a cat on my hip last night. Life is good.
Here is the wonderful class I had last week. They were enthusiastic and worked hard, but also worked hard at having fun!

Tuesday night we had another faculty reception at Rail's End Gallery. I have been told by a colleague that I don't smile enough on my blog, so here I am smiling! I know you've seen enough of "Exhale" for now.

We experimented with a wide variety of ways to use thread, including thread sketching. Here is Nancy's Luna Moth, which she thread sketched and then coloured with artist pencils.

Lise's thread sketched horses.

Susan's thread-sketched bird and foliage.

Mary Lou's thread sketched dahlia.

We spent a day dyeing thread.

After washing and fixing the colour, it was a glorious sight to see skeins of coloured thread drying on the rack.

Once dried, the thread needs to be transferred to a spool if you are going to use it on your sewing machine (either in the needle or the bobbin, or for couching). An umbrella swift can make the job faster, but a pair of feet are always readily available (these are Betty's by the way).

Up above she is winding the thread onto a spool.

We experimented with a variety of thread painting methods. Here is Penny's thread painted lily.

Korleen's dragonfly stitched on a piece of water soluble stabilizer. The dragonfly will be cut out and the stabilizer dissolved.

We also tried a bit of thread lace using tulle netting and water soluble stabilizer. We also tried some hand-stitching with the hand-dyed threads. I must have been caught up by something because I completely failed to take pictures of the samples that were developing on the last day.

This past week I stayed in the teachers' cottages. My lovely roommates were Lila Lewis Irving and Helen Donnelly. Lila is a non-objective painter with an impressive career. Helen is a professional, theatrical and therapeutic clown. We had wonderful discussions in our cabin during breakfast.
Helen on the left, Lila to the right.

There were many dinners out with friends, and probably too many desserts. Here is Anita Zobens, owner of Cotton Mill Threadworks, who came to take the class, but also made everyone's week easier because she brought a selection of Superior Threads with her.

Lise get's the prize for travelling the furthest to take the class. She drove all the way from eastern Quebec.

Tomorrow I have to get weighed. It won't be pretty.

I will be back at the Haliburton School of the Arts for two weeks next summer. When everything is official I will announce the dates and classes.

In Between

2011-07-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to go to Greece this summer, but with the political agitation in Athens, and considering how crowded with tourists the Greek Islands would be in August (the only month I would be able to get away), I decided against it. Instead, Jeannie, one of the students in my Art Quilt class, brought Greece to me with the art quilt she made in last week's class. I feel like I'm right there on the Mediterranean.

Instead of Greece, I'm sitting in a coffee shop with WiFi getting my email fix. Just finished up The Art Quilt class on Friday and am about to start Threads: Uncommon & Unforgettable tomorrow morning. My sister left yesterday and I moved into the instructor cottages that belong to Fleming College.

I had a great time with a full class of 12 students last week.

By the end of the week each student had to complete two design exercises, one using a "seat of the pants" method, and the other designing their own pattern. I asked them to choose a composition that would enhance their idea, and have one of the elements and principles of design dominate their piece. In the second exercise they had to use a value gradation as well. The boat scene above by Jeannie and the waterlily pads below by Joan were both made using a pattern the students designed.

I can't possibly include all 24 pieces here but will just highlight a few:
Joan's lilypads absolutely glow.

Barbara's seat of the pants piece has a wonderful diagonal composition that gives a sense of movement, and the little touch of red helps provide a focal point just off centre, but without being overwhelming as it might have been if the leaf had been solid red.

Karen created "Fire and Ice" using a seat of the pants method, but inspired by creativity exercises we did on the first day. In this case the inspiration came from the written word, a poem title by Robert Frost.

Cat's diagonal "seat of the pants" piece also has a nice sense of movement, and a wonderful light and airy quality.

It is a gorgeous summer day here in Haliburton and I am now going out to see what inspiration nature offers me today.

The Red Dot, Otherwise Known as SOLD

2011-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm halfway through my week of teaching The Art Quilt at the Haliburton School of the Arts. Last night was the reception of our faculty show at Rail's End Gallery here in Haliburton.

As soon as I walked into the gallery and spotted my work I noticed the little red dot on the label and description to the right of my piece!

Much to my surprise and delight, my piece "Exhale" (see blog post of June 19 titled "Exhale") was one of othe first works to sell. A couple who came in from Toronto purchased it on Sunday. This is an all-media show, showcasing the work of all the instructors in the summer arts program, so a huge victory for fibre art to have a piece of fibre be one of the first pieces to sell! Now truth be told, I had kinda hoped to be able to use this piece to submit for our upcoming Canadian SAQA show, "Synthesis". Submission deadline for jurying is September 15 so I will either have to scramble to make another work or not participate in this show. We shall see how my schedule pans out. Let's not forget that I am trying to create work for my upcoming joint show with Cathy Breedyk-Law, and also planning to take some vacation a little later this month.
In the mean time, I have a great group of students in the Art Quilt this week. I will blog more about that and their works on the weekend. Today we did a day of fabric dyeing, and student Barb Shea shares the following photo of me demo'ing how to dye multi-coloured fabrics.

Breathing Easier

2011-07-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while as I have been busy prepping and packing for my two weeks of teaching at the Haliburton School of the Arts. After a four hour drive from Ottawa today, I have arrived in Haliburton. This is what my car looks like when I am heading out on a two-week teaching trip!

I could not have fit another thing in my car!! I had to get a little ruthless too about what I could take. When there is dyeing taking place there are a lot more supplies, and when cottaging is involved there are sheets and towels, and pillows and groceries!

I have almost 24 hours to relax now before everything starts. Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon I get to move all my stuff into the college. But in the mean time, I get to enjoy this:

This week I'm sharing a cottage with my sister, and next week I will be staying in the teachers' cottages. Not sure who my roommate/s are yet, but they will be other instructors teaching at the College.

I could feel myself breathing easier about 20 km before Haliburton when I came to my favorite view, where I can see the lake through the trees. Not sure what lake it is but that image is etched in my mind from previous trips.

I will try to blog this week, but it may not happen until the weekend when I am in between classes and have more time.

I hope you are enjoying your summer and taking time to breathe!

Threads: Uncommon & Unforgettable, Part 2

2011-07-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more samples of the experimenting we will do in my upcoming Threads class:

Here is a bit of needle lace I created to make a Japanese gate. Eventually I will add a garden beyond the gate.

Another thread sketch, inspired by a photo I took in San Diego in March:

I'm still playing at stitching by hand with the hand-dyed threads. I love the scattered seed stitch used as a background filler.

I also tried thread painting a Monarch Butterly. The orange areas in the wings feature my hand-dyed organza. In hindsight I should have used a nice orange hand-dyed fabric, as the orange organza is transparent and only looks really orange with an orange background.

And speaking of orange, that reminds me that I also threadpainted an orange slice:

The next few days will be spent writing the notes for this class and reviewing and updating notes for the Art Quilt class. Next week I'll be packing up for the trip!

New Work

2011-07-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to bed and wondered why I couldn't sleep? Well could it be because I had been working with the colour red up until 2:30 a.m.? Yes, I put the red stool on "Red Stool". Here it is. There are still a few values to tweak and decisions to be made on how to finish it. Am I going to leave the legs dangling off the bottom and have an irregular edge on the top?

I tried adding a dark green behind the foliage and the lower edges of the stool legs and then scanned it into my computer.

Not bad, and it does balance out the stool a bit. What do you think?

My striped dahlia (still unnamed) is quilted and faced as well. I decided on facing because the stems and leaves travel off the piece, and a dark binding would have just cut them off. I wanted them to travel off the edge.

Threads: Uncommon & Unforgettable

2011-07-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've been working on numerous small samples in preparation for my new class, "Threads: Uncommon & Unforgettable" at the Haliburton School of the Arts, August 1-5. The class will cover a multitude of ways to use all kinds of threads, including hand-dyed (which you will learn to dye yourself). Students will be trying a variety of methods for using thread on quilts by making small samples, that can either be put together in a sample book or framed for a set of small works. Although I've used most of these methods in my quilts at one time or another, the small samples will give ideas and inspiration for students to work small, and are giving me a chance to review best ways to create these works and document processes for student notes.

We'll be doing a little thread sketching. Thread sketching is done through the quilt top (without batting) keeping the thread raised higher whereas during machine quilting the thread sinks into the sandwich more. Thread sketching gives a "sketchy" kind of look to your quilt top, especially when you do it in black. Don't worry, you don't need to know how to draw.

On this one I did go free-hand and sketched without a guide. At a certain point if you are adding too much thread you really do need a hoop.

This was thread sketched, and then coloured pencils added.

We'll be trying a little machine quilting with hand-dyed pearl cotton.

Heavier weight hand-dyed pearl cottons are great for couching, which is what I did in this sample. In between I have quilted with a 40 weigh rayon thread.

The snowflake below is achieved through bobbin drawing using "Razzle Dazzle" thread by Superior.

The bottle fly below is threadpainted separately with stabilizer and hoop and attached to the quilt. There will be a piece of white silk organza in your kit (included in the supply fee) if you want to try insect wings. I really love this little bottle fly and yes, he is the same fly as in the thread sketch at the top of this post!

One thing that is new to me is hand-stitching with hand-dyed threads. I mastered 9 different stitches yesterday and I AM IN LOVE. What is not to love about french knots using hand-dyed thread? I always expected the fabric to pucker, but not if you attach a batting to the back and do all your stitching through the front and batting. At the end you can attach a back and all the knots will be hidden.

A big problem with writing your class supply list a year before your class runs is so much happens in that year that you have new things you want to add. So if you are taking the class and reading this post, please bring some favorite photos and images. I will also have lots of my own with me that you are welcome to borrow and use, but it is nice if you get to work with your own favorites. If you have artist pencils, do bring them, but if you don't please do not spend the money. We may only use them for a little bit and you are welcome to borrow mine. Also, I forgot to add practice sandwiches to the supply list. I'll be emailing the class in a week or two when the registration list is more stable to communicate the above.

Also, guess who has signed up for the class? Anita Zobens, owner of Cotton Mill Threadworks and a Superior thread educator. As many of you know, Haliburton has an art supply store on campus during summer classes, but there is nothing for sale there for fibre enthusiasts. I've asked Anita to bring a selection of Superior Threads and stabilizers in case there is anything you need. Although I am a huge fan of Superior products, there will be no sales pressure and sales will be restricted to lunch hour and after class to preserve teaching and learning time. My store of hand-dyed fabric will also be available, and the same policy applies (sales only during lunch hour and after class). The threads for dyeing that will be in your kit are still sitting somewhere in Canada Post's backlog of mail, as are the yorker bottles you will need for dyeing the thread.

Now it's back to more experimentation for me!! I still have some samples of bobbin lace and stitching on tulle to prepare, and a set of notes to write!

Creativity Coaching Training and the Creative Process

2011-06-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Several things happened yesterday that reminded me of my promise to write a blog post about my experience taking the Introductory Creativity Coaching Training with Eric Maisel. The first incident was a good one. In his e-newsletter yesterday, Eric actually quoted something I had said about his workshop in the article I recently had published in the SAQA Journal. Imagine that! America’s foremost Creativity Coach quoting little old me! But the second thing that happened yesterday illustrates the reason why I love Eric’s books and what they, and creativity coaching, can do for you.

I had been working on machine quilting the striped dahlia (still un-named) over the past two days. You can see the quilt top in my blog post of April 26. Today I came to that point I come to in nearly every work I make. I decided I didn’t like it, that it was sloppy, that the design didn’t work, that it looked awfully like everything else I’ve ever made, and on and on that inner monologue went down its self-deprecating path. Guess what? As a result of all my study into creativity, I now know that creating is a process with ups and downs. The tendency to have these kinds of thoughts is a normal part of the process, and if we don’t realize this we are destined to quit right there. Well I don’t usually quit, but I get distracted when the going gets tough.

Having the entire day in the studio I wanted to make the most of it. I was tired of the dahlia and annoyed that it wasn’t turning out the way I’d hoped, so I turned to other work. Next in line was an experimental piece I’ve been working on using my hand-dyed organza. I have been trying to capture that translucent look of Hosta leaves after the first frost. Well this was not a day to do anything too experimental. After my frustrations with the dahlia I had way too much invested in the outcome. If one more thing didn’t turn out to my satisfaction, I might want to distract myself on the computer for the rest of the day to avoid the anxiety resulting from making work that fell short of my vision. My other option was my Red Stool piece (blog post of April 11), still hanging unfinished on my design wall. I go back at it in fits and spurts. I have been avoiding it because it is hard and involves a boatload of work. But I do know that if I keep running away from the tasks involved in completing it, I will be magnifying them in my mind. I will get through it one leaf at a time and one stool leg at a time. After reading many of Eric’s books, taking a Coaching the Artist Within workshop and the on-line Introductory Creativity Coaching Training, I now know that I need to push through when such blocks hit. So I did. I kept on quilting the dahlia and now I am certainly happier with it than I was earlier in the day. When it is finished I will post a picture.

While I normally enjoy finishing pieces, I am already dreading the facing/binding step of this quilt as someone told me last week that the edge on one of my faced pieces is not perfectly straight. I do not consider myself a perfectionist at all. I prefer work that is finished to work that is perfect, but after this comment I can fully understand how creators can become paralyzed by perfectionism. This time I am going to try putting my facing seam half an inch from the edge rather than the quarter inch I have been doing. According to Kathleen Loomis, the half inch seam enables one to fold back the facing straighter. I do have a love of wonkiness these days over straightness, but if you are going to go wonky you should really embrace wonky and it should look like it was intentional. If one side of the quilt is only slightly wonky I do not think I will convince anyone that this is the result of anything more than sloppy technique.

So back to the Creativity Coaching Training. My training lasted 16 weeks and was conducted on-line. All coaches in training were assigned several clients, chosen from a pool of individuals who had contacted Eric and requested to be matched up with a coach in training. I chose to work with three clients after being warned by Eric that not all clients stick with the program or even begin the program. He says that it is just too scary for some people to confront their own defenses, failures, tricks and disappointments. And that is what we, as coaches in training, were encouraged to do during the 16 weeks. Each week we received an on-line lesson and were required to forward a written response to Eric and our classmates after reflecting on the week’s questions. The lessons forced us to look at our own selves as honestly as possible to engender a deeper understanding of the creative process.

In creativity coaching, we ask our clients to “put their dreams on the table”. It is often hard for struggling artists to say what we truly want because we may not be ready to make the changes we need to make or to face the demons we need to face. Many creators both want success and also fear it. If we are successful we have to accept what the success we worked for has brought. Sometimes that means we have to extend ourselves too much, work harder than we had hoped to meet deadlines, and learn to deal with the demands when everyone wants something at the same time. Sometimes it means having to deal with others’ reactions to our success, and often it means working when we are exhausted.

For many people it is easier to fantasize about being a successful artist than to actually do something. And so we come up with excuses. Mostly we convince ourselves that we don’t have time. But how many of us don’t spend an hour watching TV each day? So when we say we don’t have time it may be about something else or about our priorities. What we don’t realize is that often we are making a conscious choice about how we spend our time when we sit in front of the TV. We might also have so many ideas that we become paralyzed and do nothing. However, as Eric points out, not choosing is a bigger issue than choosing wrong. “The inactive artist is not lacking in time or talent, but has often only failed to choose and commit.”

For many would be creators, anything but creating is often unconsciously seen as their real work. In other words, the creating doesn’t happen until everything else is finished. I know all too well about this. I know how to do these other things on my list, but I don’t know how to make my next work or whether it will live up to my vision.

A creativity coach helps a client set goals and supports them while they work toward their goals. A coach asks questions that help facilitate changes that might be needed to reach those goals. A coach can make a client see that they are not defective when the negative self-talk starts, but that this is just part of the creative process.

One of the major things I have learned from Eric is that the successful artist may not be any more talented than the unsuccessful one, but the key factor is that they showed up more often. By that I mean they have a regular studio habit. I really see how important this is … even if only 15 minutes a day. I struggle with this because of my teaching and travelling schedule. But when I am home I struggle too. It took me two weeks after getting back from my most recent teaching trip to get back into a regular studio routine, but it is now happening!

Near the end of the afternoon yesterday an email came in from a friend in the US. She had received the latest Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine with my article in it. Because of our postal strike here in Canada, she had offered to scan the article and email it to me so I wouldn’t have to wait! Some of the negative self talk from my day in the studio spilled over while reading the article. I heard myself say some self-depracating things. As a result of Eric’s books and Creativity Coaching Training, I know that this kind of thinking (even if true) does not serve me at all. That is also what creativity coaching is about … asking clients to pay attention to the inner dialogue. When you give up, watch what you were saying to yourself just before you gave up. Learn to dispute it and question it and ask if it serves you??

At the end of our Creativity Coaching Training we were all encouraged to hang out our shingles as Creativity Coaches. I won’t be doing that yet, but I do hope to use what I have learned to move forward as an artist and to help my students meet some of their goals.

Exhale

2011-06-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Things are happening in my studio! This week I finished, mounted and framed a new piece called "Exhale". It needs to be shipped to Haliburton this week for the Haliburton School of the Arts Faculty Show at Rail's End Gallery. All instructors are invited to submit a work for a show called "Breathe", that will run during the Summer Arts Program. Since the piece is relatively small (20"x24" plus float frame) and since it is going to be hanging in a gallery beside work in other media, I decided to frame this piece. Below is a detail shot:

I've also put in a number of hours this week experimenting and preparing samples for my new Threads class at the Summer School. As a result of all the studio activity here is the current state of my studio!

It might just be time for a little straightening up. I remember the days when I only had one large table. Now that I have two, they are both always filled up, proving that no matter how much space you have it is never enough! In the end it is always the studio between the ears that matters most.

Kissing Joy

2011-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

This morning when I looked out the window I was delighted to see that the poppies are blooming. A couple of years ago I finally captured some great photos of them in a way that inspired a quilt called Kissing Joy. The name was inspired by William Blakes verse,

He who binds Himself to Joy
does the Winged Life destroy...
But he who kisses Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity s Sunrise...

Given the delicate and brief life of a poppy, it seems to me that encountering one, and even capturing a great photo, is a moment when you get to kiss joy.

For the photo below, I set my camera to Macro and placed it right up against the poppy.

Of course on my walk in the garden this morning, three cats accompanied me. Here is Mudgie McMenace doing what he does best!

Johnnie, my retired studio assistant (now that he is blind) ventured into the garden too. He finds his way around by sound now, earning him the name Sonic Johnnie.

Kissabelle was too busy eating grass to raise her head for a photo.

Student Work

2011-06-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of months I have received photos of work from students or taken photos when I've met up with students again. It is my pleasure to present here a gallery of work by some very talented students!

First the poppies, because poppies are blooming in my garden as we speak (and another blog post about that is coming!) I have a two day "In Full Bloom" class where you get to make a quilt from your own floral photograph, or a one-day class where you use one of my designs. The poppy is always the most "pop"ular!! Barb Ramik sent me this photo of her poppy, all built and ready to be placed on a background. Luscious colours!

I was able to capture a photo of Greta Atkinson's poppy while teaching in Guelph (which is where Greta lives). Love how she has moved into the pinks in her poppy.

Heather Hager shows her finished quilt top from my Liberated Strip Piecing class. Love the curve of the central section and her bold use of colour!

Hilary Kelly is the first to send a photo of a completed work from my Liberated Radial Piecing class. This piece has lots of impact, and she has finished the edge with a striped binding that mirrors the colours in the radial design.

Janice Toonders shows off her piece from my Reflections class. Lots of movement and bold design.

Chris Burbridge sent a photo of her Reflections piece. Rather than add a border, she has effectively worked darker valued blocks around the edge to form her border. You can also see how different her results are just by the way she has turned her blocks.

The ArT QuILT ExPERIENCE

2011-06-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the opening of The ArT QuILT ExPERIENCE in Cazenovia, NY. Cazenovia is a lovely town east of Syracuse, and about a 4 hour drive from Ottawa. The show of 64 quilts from 11 countries is split between two galleries, one at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, and the other at the Reisman Gallery of Cazenovia College. The photo above is of the show catalogue, available for purchase at the show. The cover quilt is "Cityscape 9" by Beata Keller Kerchner of Reinach, Switzerland. It won First Place in the show.

Jonathan Holstein delivered a facinating lecture just before the opening of the show. Mr. Holstein is well known in the art world for launching a show of Amish quilts at the Whitney Museum in New York in 1971 that caught the attention of art critics. Holstein found that many of the antique quilts he and his wife, Gail van der Hoof, were collecting mirrored the design elements of abstract art seen in the New York art world at that time. He wrote two books, "Abstract Design in American Quilts" and "The Pieced Quilt: An American Design Tradition".

Here you can see Mr. Holstein and Bonnie Robinson (one of the organizers of the show) holding one of the works in the Holstein collection. He also spoke about the rigid boundaries that tend to exist in the western world between art and craft. Some other cultures have more fluid boundaries. I have much food for thought after this lecture!

So, on to the show now! Having just attended the Canadian National Juried Quilt Show a few weeks ago in London, Ontario, The Art Quilt Experience Show immediately reminded me how much better quilts show on gallery walls. The lighting in galleries is flexible and shows quilts off to their best advantage. The show was wonderfully diverse in style and there were many compelling works of art. Here are just a couple of my favorites. As to be expected of me, they are nature-themed works. The first is "Autumn Bluster" by Jenny Hearn of South Africa. Jenny also happens to be one of the artists featured in Masters: Art Quilts, and a master she is indeed! You have to see this piece up close to appreciate it. But it is also a work with major inpact from a distance.

This is "Pod" by my friend Betty Busby of Albuquerque, New Mexico. I love the elegant simplicity and movement in this piece, and the colour palette is similar to the one I'm starting to work with for late-season hostas.

My friend Jean used my camera to take a photo of me with my entry "Losses 2".

Guess what else I found in Cazenova? Luscious hostas just starting to bloom! Here's a picture I captured, which may just provide the inspiration for a work I have planned on Hostas in four seasons.

In the mean time, the hosta quilt I'm working on called "Red Stool" (a red stool in a hosta patch) is not going so well. I have to put it aside this week to make my work for the Haliburton faculty show. Hope that works out to my satisfaction!

The Summer Day

2011-06-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

I know it isn't officially summer yet, but here in Ottawa it is a perfect summer day IMHO! Days like this always make me think of Mary Oliver's poem "The Summer Day". At one time I used to have an inventory of poetry that has inspired me on my website. My website started to become too confusing and cluttered so I removed it. Mary Oliver's poems really speak to me because of her love and appreciation of nature. Here is her poem ... asking you in her last line what you plan to do with your "one wild and precious life"?

The Summer Day
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

When Can I Call Myself an Artist?

2011-06-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

My husband claims that I seldom answer a question directly. Typically my responses leave him more confused than before he asked! Likewise, I once had a boss who told me I had an annoying ability to see issues from all sides. Can I help it if I see the world in shades of grey (or shades of green if you have seen my hosta quilts!)? So you will need to keep all of this in mind when you read what I have to say. On top of that, this is a question that will never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction, and certainly not by me! I merely offer my own thoughts and opinions here. I’d love to hear from you!

I have been asked this question by students on a few occasions, and after the most recent occasion I felt inspired to write on the subject. I realize I may be opening a can of worms. Please note that no one is saying that all quilts must be fine art to be valid, nor are we saying that there is anything wrong with craft. What I hope is that this post will spark an interesting discussion.

My short answer to the question “When can I call myself an artist?” is that it is entirely up to you to decide if you are an artist. You get to call yourself artist or not. However, you have to be strong enough to wear this title with confidence, and therein lies the problem.

There appears to be a lot of baggage associated with the word “artist”. Sometimes people think you are telling them that you are “special” or “good” when you use the label. To call someone an artist is often done to laud their talent and can be the highest compliment. The artist herself can often feel that the label is just too arrogant for her to use. My husband, being a modest kind of guy, has sometimes been embarrassed when I tell people, upon meeting, that I am an artist. He thinks only other people can decide if you are an artist and worries that I might seem self aggrandizing.

But consider what happens when I use the word “quilter” to describe my occupation. Invariably the person I’m chatting with responds with stories about their grandmother’s patchwork. Most people have a very limited understanding of what a quilt is, usually related to a cover placed on a bed. I use the word “artist” because I think it more accurately describes how I think and what I do these days. For a long time I called myself a Contemporary Quilter, but at that stage I would say I was still a lot more influenced by the work of others.

The decision to use the label artist came in 2006 and I did not personally have the constitution that could do this without outside recognition (I wish I did!). That was the year that the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery used a photograph of one of my works on the cover of their Summer brochure. This was not just a brochure about the Grand National Quilt Show that used to be held there every year, but was the cover for all of their summer programming. There has been further reinforcement over the years. For example, while I was hanging my solo show in one of the City of Ottawa Galleries two years ago, two young men walked by and I heard one say to the other “look at the artwork”. I think this is often the reaction of people who have not been fortunate enough to know about the art quilt world. A friend of mine sent her art quilt to an art quilt show at an art museum, and when she told another friend her quilt was in a show the friend responded, “that isn’t a quilt, that is art”.

I am not optimistic that we will ever come to an agreement on the definition of an artist. To answer that question, we have to first ask ourselves “What is art”? I belong to a couple of on-line groups where we all fear that the debate about what is art will raise its ugly head yet again. The word “art” is sometimes used so loosely now that it means almost nothing. On one side are those who see every creative endeavour as art. On the other side are those with such stringent criteria that almost nothing is art.

For me a quilt artist is someone who creates art, but simply uses the quilt as the medium for their art. The Free Online Dictionary defines an artist as:
One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value, especially in the fine arts.
Many quilt artists, including me, would like to see quilts listed alongside paintings, sculpture, literature and music. This is what Studio Art Quilt Associates is all about … pushing the quilt forward as a fine art medium.
SAQA defines an art quilt as “a contemporary artwork exploring and expressing aesthetic concerns common to the whole range of visual arts: painting, printmaking, photography, graphic design, assemblage and sculpture, which retains, through materials or technique, a clear relationship to the folk art quilt from which it descends.”

For me self-expression is an important component of any definition of an artist. Wikipedia defines the word artist as follows:
Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. An artist also may be defined unofficially as "a person who expresses him- or herself through a medium".
This notion of art as self-expression is definitely a modern notion. At one time in history an artist usually only created what he was commissioned to do by a patron, aristocrat, royalty or the church! There was little freedom of expression.

During my workshops I often ask students to introduce themselves and tell me and the class a little about themselves. I have noticed a tendency for quilters to place themselves in either the traditional quilt camp or the art quilt camp. I think there is a widespread misconception that anything that isn’t a traditional quilt is an art quilt. I don’t see it that way. I think that a contemporary quilt is a closer relative to the traditional quilt than an art quilt is. A contemporary quilt can still be made from a pattern or can be a copy of another quilt. A copy of an art quilt is not an art quilt in my books. Art is something that is your own vision. Naturally I then also have reservations about labelling quilted work that is copied from art in other media as “art”. Others may differ with this opinion. Photographer Harold Feinstein gave me permission a few years ago to use a photograph of his as inspiration for a quilt. The problem, as I see it, is that my interpretation would be too literal. I haven’t been able to bring myself to use the photo as I feel it is not my vision. Harold set up the composition and captured the light. I would be copying his art.

There are some who only see artists as those with formal art degrees. They are entitled to their views. One thing I will say is that if you are going to call yourself an artist it would be wise to study up on the Elements and Principles of Design and look at art in other media to train your eye. This is one of the areas I have had to work at and one of the weaknesses in some of my works. I recall hearing an IQA quilt show judge say that the art quilt category showed some of the poorest design of all the categories exhibited in Houston. Traditional quilt designs have stood the test of time and likely continue to be popular because they show strong design elements, but don’t always fall under the definition of art because they aren’t an original design.

It is your decision to call yourself an artist, but you must be strong enough to weather criticism of your work. The only way to escape criticism in life though is to do nothing (definitely not an option). I have been criticized for not putting stems on my poppies, for using photographs as inspiration, for creating realistic work, for using too much colour, for using green too much, for making too many hosta quilts. None of these bother me too much anymore. Learn to please yourself and stop worrying what others think.

Worrying about whether you are an artist or not takes a lot of energy. This energy would be better spent in the studio being creative (making art?) Go to your studio and dig deep and create something from your own vision.

I really love this definition of an artist by Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures”.
I think quilt artists do the same, but they do it with fabric and stitch. A bit vague maybe, but to me this definition says it all! No one can give you a foolproof definition of art or artist. There is something of yourself you put in your art that distinguishes it from someone else’s art. It is your style, and you cannot help but have a style, unless you are copying someone else’s work. I’ll leave it at that.

MVTM Show and Ottawa Magazine

2011-06-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ottawa Magazine has picked up on our show at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, however, the opening date is incorrectly listed as July 21, 2011. Please note that this is an error. The show actually begins September 21, 2011. We (Cathy and I) I will be posting further information as the date nears. If you click on the photo above you will get a larger readable version.

June 2011 Newsletter

2011-06-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've just distributed my latest e-newsletter, which you can access at this link. All of my previous e-newsletters are archived there as well. If you'd like to sign up to receive my e-newsletters in your mailbox, you can do so at this link.
http://www.equarelle.ca/EQContact.htm

Cover Girl!

2011-06-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

The front cover of the July issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited has just been revealed and my name and article are listed on the cover. On the inside you will find my article "Art Quilting as a Career ", along with many photos of my work. Some months ago I was invited to be the featured "In the Art Studio Fabric Artist" for July, which involved writing an article and submitting photos. Read my story about how I turned my art quilts into a career. MQU is a subscription only magazine, but you can order back issues on-line.

Photos of the PAQA-South Show

2011-05-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

Lyric Kinard has posted pictures of the "Movement" show put on by the Professional Art Quilt Alliance-South on her blog. This is the show that I was a poster girl for! Enjoy the show.

Another Show for Standing Ovation!

2011-05-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Further to my blog post of May 15, in which I announced that "Standing Ovation" had found a show ( Infinity Gallery's on-line International Fibre Art show) I am pleased to announce that "Standing Ovation" has also been accepted into the "Art Quilts at the Whistler" show at the Whistler Museum of Art in Lowell, Massachussetts. The show runs August 10 - September 3, 2011.

Quilt Canada 2011

2011-05-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I made the 7 hour trip to London, Ontario to attend Quilt Canada. I was feeling a little disequilibriated (is there such a word?) when I left, but 7 hours alone in my car with great music did wonders for my equilibrium. Wednesday night began with the Opening/Awards ceremony. I had a blind date to attend with my on-line friend Jackie White. Jackie lives on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and is the comedian of the Canadian Quilters Association. You will know her from the humourous article she contributes to each issue of the Canadian Quilter Magazine. She also accomplished the amazing feat of having four entries juried into the National Juried Show!

On Thursday I was up at the crack of dawn to teach my Flip and Sew Curves class. Here is a photo of most of my class near the end of the day, along with the works they created up to that point. Students came from all across Canada.

Friday was my day to see the shows. That included the Invitational show, the National Juried Show, and the show of FAN (Fibre Art Network of Western Canada). Unfortunately I have few pictures because this is one juried quilt show where photographs are not allowed. The only two photographs I was allowed to take in the juried show were of my own works and they were taken under the supervision of a show volunteer. I was pleased to find Sun Temple hanging immediately inside the front door:

Here I am with "Forgiveness".

I would have loved to include photographs of two of my favorite pieces here. The first is called "Morning Meditation" by Carol Goossens of New York City. I have tried to find a website or blog but she doesn't appear to have one so I haven't been able to contact her to share a photo. Carol won a ribbon for Best Representational Quilt. My favorite quilts in any show are usually not the same ones chosen by the judges, but this is one case where I think the judges got it right. One of my other favorites was "Seasons Song" by A. Joyce MrcKinnon of Thunder Bay. She has been exhibiting in Canada for many years and I am a great fan of her work but alas she does not have an on-line presence either. I did manage to capture a photo of Vivian Kapusta's piece at the FAN show and got her permission to include it here.

I really loved the texture on this piece and the directional background. I felt like I was walking into the world of Emily Carr.
I headed over to the merchant mall to check out the wares, and managed to capture a photo with Anita Zobens of Cotton Mill Threadworks. I've met up with Anita at several shows I've taught at now, and she asked me some time ago if she could borrow some quilts that had been quilted with Superior Threads. No problem! I happen to love Superior Threads. Here we are with my quilt "Luscious".

Friday night I was back on duty for "Meet the Teacher Night". It was well attended by folks from all over Canada and hopefully this will lead to one or two teaching bookings.

After leaving Quilt Canada on Saturday I headed up to Ailsa Craig to attend the Quilts of the Netherlands show. I had been hearing glowing reviews of this show and they were right. I was pleased to find a good number of art quilts displayed, and really enjoyed the different aesthetic from that found in North American quilts.
From there I headed to the Grand National Quilt Show in Kitchener. I had two works in this show. I think my favorite piece was the grand prize winner, "Aglow" by Anna Hergert. At this juried show photographs are allowed. I am always blown away by Anna's work in person. She uses sheers very effectively and their full effectiveness has to be seen in person!

See You at Quilt Canada!

2011-05-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'll be heading off tonight for my trip to London, Ontario for the Quilt Canada Conference. Even though I've been making quilts since 1996 (15 years!), I have only been able to attend two Quilt Canada Conferences in that time. Canada is a BIG country and the conference moves around each year. The last time I attended was when the conference was held in my own city, Ottawa, in 2006. This will be my first time teaching there. I'll also be teaching at next year's conference in Halifax. As I travel and teach frequently throughout Ontario, I'm sure it will be a wonderful few days of meeting up with old and new friends and acquaintances. Watch for several of my works around the show. I have two pieces in the Juried portion of the show and one in the Invitational (teacher's) show. At the merchant mall, I also have two quilts hanging in the Cotton Mill Threadworks booth, and one in the Greenwood Quiltery booth.
Hope to see you Friday night at Meet the Teacher night. There promises to be prizes, and one lucky winner will walk away with a bundle of my Spring Parfait hand-dyed fabrics (pictured above).

I'm A Poster Girl!!!

2011-05-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, here at the age of 49 (and soon to be the big 50) I find myself having the pleasure of being a poster girl. I just learned this morning that PAQA-South (Professional Art Quilt Alliance-South) used an image of my work "In the Act" on the poster they created to advertise their annual juried show. The theme of this year's show is "Movement". The show runs until July 24 at the Durham Arts Council in Durham, North Carolina.

Textile Arts as Womens Therapy

2011-05-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ann Collier is a Faculty Research Fellow in the Psychology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has a contract with Jessica Kingsley Publishers to write a book entitled Weaving Lives Back Together: How and Why to Use Textile Arts and Handcrafts in Therapy with Women. Ann found my work on the internet and was intrigued by my artist statement in which I state that my quilts serve as metaphors for my inner world and the human condition. Ann has been researching how women use textile arts in their daily lives to cope with life. I had lots to say about how my quilts helped me cope with my mothers alzheimers and subsequent death, the loss of my job, and even body image at an earlier point in my life. Ann will be using her interview with me, as well as two images of my work, in her book. One of these images is from the body image series I worked on in my early days as a quilt artist. This piece is titled Femmes FAT-ales (2003), and is a celebration of women in all shapes, sizes and colours.

The other image chosen to appear in Anns book is Standing Still, a piece I made in early 2008 after leaving my day job. You have probably seen this one before!

Standing Still (and Act 3) are currently on display at the Grand National Quilt Show at the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener, Ontario until September 13, 2011. Standing Still is also one of 3 of my quilts included in the book 500 Art Quilts and was juried into Art Quilts at the Chandler at the Chandler Museum of Art, Chandler, Arizona in 2008.

Ann has a website called Dr. Shrinks Fibers. She is conducting her second research study into the role of handcrafts in womens lives. If you would like to help with this project, please visit her site, click on Research and follow instructions to fill out her survey. Nice for us textile enthusiasts to support research that is about us!

The Importance of Good Presentation

2011-05-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Since I make fairly large quilts, I don't often frame or mount them. In fact, until recently I was a bit of a hold-out on the whole framing and mounting issue. Quilts are textiles after all, I said, so why do they have to conform to the same standards as paintings in order to be considered art? Do sculptors frame their work? No! The first time I walked into a gallery show of art quilts in the US I felt as though I had come home! Many of these shows, in fact, do not even accept framed work!
Over the last several years, however, I have come to realize the importance of an appropriate frame or mount for small works. This gives them presence and ensures that no one mistakes them for potholders. This past week was surely a lesson for me on the importance of a good framing job. Since I prefer to work large, I sometimes don't take my small works seriously, but when my friend Meredith Filshie saw "Meditation", the small work pictured above, she wanted to own it. A deal was made and the work became hers. Recently my local fibre arts group, Out of the Box, hung a small show during the show of the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild. I was scrambling about with teaching and deadlines and didn't really have any new small pieces to contribute. Meredith offered to submit the work she had purchased. While I had put the work in a small cheap frame, Meredith saw that there was greater potential. She took the piece to a professional framer and that changed everything. My little piece "Meditation" won Viewer's Choice in our show (meaning it received more votes from viewers than any other piece in the show). I think half the prize goes to Meredith for realizing the importance of a good framing job and making it happen.

New Wardrobe Addition

2011-05-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

I confess I used to be a clothes horse a long time ago in another life. This year I kinda set the challenge for myself to go an entire year without purchasing anything to wear on my body. I say "kinda" because I wanted to leave open the possibility that I could purchase an item if it was something I absolutely had to have. Haven't seen anything like that this year, but I confess I haven't set foot in a woman's clothing store in 2011. I made it a little past 4 months with no purchases, until this past week when I picked up the neatest white jeans jacket at Walmart for $25. I don't shop at Walmart much. I don't care for stores that are the size of a warehouse and I worry about all those people who were paid next to nothing for the goods they produced that we so cheaply purchase and that we so cavalierly throw out. I know this is a contradiction when I shop for classroom dyeing supplies (cups, spoons, plates, etc) at Dollarama!!! However, this jacket fit perfectly, was nicely constructed, and I had visions of turning it into a piece of wearable art with dyes and soy wax batik. After bringing the jacket home, I realized I also had a casual black jacket hanging around my closet that I had bought for $8.00 on a sales rack at Winners about 8 years ago. Wouldn't it be fun to discharge it with bleach? Yipee, an evening of creating a few new wardrobe items on only $25! What better way to distract myself from the studio and from preparing for the next 3 days of teaching. Well that was last Thursday, and as it turns out the once white jacket didn't turn out so great. I think I can still salvage it but it will likely be something different from what I envisioned. I am, however, VERY happy with the discharged jacket. It seems these days that most black cottons (most of which are produced in China) discharge to an orange colour, but I was delighted as I watched this one turn to a lovely taupe colour. I don't know if this information will help, but this jacket was manufactured in Bangladesh, so maybe that accounts for the nice colour it discharged to. I folded the jacket down the middle, then fan folded each side, then bound it with plastic twine. Tossed it into a solution of 50% bleach and 50% water. It only took about 5-10 minutes before the bleach had done its work. After a rinse, a soak in Anti Chlor, and a wash, I have a new jacket for only the cost of a bottle of bleach. What do you think?

Rear View:

Rear detail view:

Front view:

Front detail view:

Standing Ovation has Found a Show!!!

2011-05-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Pardon my excitement, but I am so totally delighted to announce that "Standing Ovation" has found a show!!! It was one of 32 artworks selected from 160 entries to Infinity Gallery's on-line International Fibre Art show. You can view the entire show on-line at the links I've provided above. "Standing Ovation" will also be on display at the Invitational Show of teacher's work at Quilt Canada/Quilt Ontario in London, Ontario from May 24-28. You may recall that I blogged (Understanding Juror's Decisions) a couple of months ago about the four entries I made to Quilt Canada's National Juried Show, of which two were accepted and two declined. "Standing Ovation" was one of the declined pieces, but still remains my favorite piece of the four I entered, and that is why I submitted it to the Invitational Show of teacher's work instead. It is particularly gratifying for me to have this piece appreciated at an art show, and a wonderful lesson on why we should never let a rejection get us down.

SAQA Virtual Gallery & Benefit Auction

2011-05-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

My piece "Vagabond Song" was selected for this month's Virtual Gallery on the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) website. This month's curator is Kathy Lichtendahl, and she has named the show of about 20 pieces "A Walk at Dawn". Vagabond Song was inspired by the most amazing tree I encountered on an autumn photography trip in Vermont. The title is inspired by one of my favorite poems, of the same name, by Canadian poet, Bliss Carman: "There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood, touch of manner, hint of mood, and my heart is like a rhymn with the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time".
Click on the Virtual Gallery to see all the works in the show.

I am also delighted to be back in my studio for a few days this week. Yesterday I created my One Foot Square for the upcoming SAQA Benefit Auction. I donate a piece to this auction each year. There are already donations from other artists in the on-line gallery, where you will find more information and details about the auction. Proceeds go toward SAQA's exhibitions, education, outreach and show catalogues. I am really enjoying working with the new colours I've dyed to represent end-of-season hostas. Here is my piece, still unquilted. I am thinking about shading with some artist pencil in the lower right corner.

Hmmm ... it occurs to me that both of the above photos are a little out of place given the gorgeous spring weather. Not to worry, I will be back one of these days with some spring inspiration!

A New Day and Feedback Welcome

2011-05-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

It is a new day! I’ve decided to put my HST woes in perspective. Not a single customer complained about having to pay HST on the hand-dyed fabrics they purchased this past weekend at the Ottawa Valley Quilt Guild Festival of Quilts. The show was well-attended and a resounding success for me and many other vendors, and I sold at least 60% of my stock. My store is very picked over, but I’m lying low today as I’ve caught a virus and have lost my voice completely. I need to rest it so I’m ready for three days of teaching starting at the end of the week. I also had a chance to informally interview potential bookkeepers at the show, and am happy to say that I will be hiring a bookkeeper this year. I do everything in my business (except for some of the ironing), but I am going to give over the one job that will suck the joy out for me. I have no formal training in bookkeeping or accounting, although I carried out such tasks in day jobs I’ve held, and was even allowed to manage budgets in some jobs (pretty scary I think!!)

I just returned from the UPS store where I shipped my quilts to the National Juried show and Invitational show at the upcoming Canadian Quilters Association’s Quilts Ontario conference. The young man that works at the UPS store, and frequently handles my packages, is always working to get me the best deal, and I was really touched today by his concern that I would have to pay $93 (two boxes, one for the National Juried Show, the other for the Invitational show) to ship my work. He was stunned that this cost comes out of my pocket. I, on the other hand, know that this is what it costs and don’t resent it one bit. It is money well spent. I believe that getting your work out there leads to teaching bookings. Well that and “word of mouth“ recommendations. On the other hand, my UPS friend reminds me a bit of me, and how apologetic I sometimes feel when I ask for teaching and lecture fees, when I price my quilts and hand-dyes, etc. In my creativity coaching training lesson this past week, we talked about cultivating certain qualities in our clients, the kind of qualities that contribute to a successful career in the arts. Qualities mentioned were: assertiveness, single-mindedness, passion, curiosity, desire, enterprise, effort, and self-promotion. I think I have all of these qualities, but fall down in the assertiveness department. I may be assertive about some things, but I do have a very hard time stating my prices without apology. I am working on this!

This brings me to something I would like to start a discussion about. I love to discuss things and hear other viewpoints. A boss of mine once described me as one of those annoying people who can see all sides of a situation. Here is the situation. Twice I have been contacted by the same person who wants to purchase a pattern to make my “Kissing Joy” quilt (photo below).

I do offer the pattern for one of the poppies (the lower poppy) for sale when students take my “In Full Bloom” class. I haven’t even developed the second (upper) poppy into a sellable pattern that others would be able to read. Putting patterns in a sellable form so others can understand them is painful for me. I work from patterns that would be considered “fly by the seat of your pants” to other people. I am not particularly interested in selling patterns in any substantial way. My philosophy when teaching is to try to encourage students to find their own voice and creativity. When I teach this class in the one-day format, I always include information about how I create my design and how students can make their own pattern to produce their own original work, even though they begin by working from my pattern. It is my philosophy as a teacher to share everything I know. I know many won’t go beyond working with my pattern, and I know often this is simply because they don’t realize the largeness of their own talents. They doubt they can, but I don’t doubt they can. I know they can.

I typically only sell my floral patterns in conjunction with instruction. The writer has assured me she can make the quilt without instruction, in-person or written, since she is an advanced quilter. Here is my dilemma. I try to show my work in art shows as well as quilt shows because I believe that original art quilts are art just as work in other media is considered art. Although sale of quilts constitutes only about 10% of my income, showing my work in galleries and museums establishes their value as art and I can charge art prices for them. I am not willing to sell my work at craft prices. I’ve spent far too much time on them and the time to create them is precious to me. I would rather keep them than sell at low prices. So, my concern is that if numerous copies of the full “Kissing Joy” start appearing across Canada it will devalue the original ”Kissing Joy” should a collector want to purchase it. Wouldn’t a collector be upset to find that it isn’t a one of a kind anymore?? Just because I teach a class called "In Full Bloom", am I obligated to sell any of my floral designs? What do you think? Is this a place I need to practice my assertiveness?

By the way, here is a quilt a student made from one of the 4 patterns offered in my "In Full Bloom" class. Jennifer brought it to the show on the weekend for me to see. She did a great job with her values, and she has inspired me to make something pink.

Last Chance at These Prices

2011-05-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

Increasing prices are all around us, so you probably won't be surprised by the news you are about to read. The price of my hand-dyed fabrics has remained the same for quite some time now. Because of increased demand for both my fabric and my workshops, and because cotton, and the water, electricity and gas used to produce hand-dyed fabrics have all increased in price, I am at a point where I have no choice but to increase my prices. This weekend at the Ottawa Valley Quilters' Guild's Festival of Quilts will be the last opportunity to purchase my hand-dyes before my prices increase. After the show, there will be a price increase of 11.5% on the items I currently produce. Some items (such as single coloured hand-dyed fabrics) will likely be discontinued, as these can be produced by anyone. I expect I will produce fewer pieces, carry a smaller inventory and focus on more exclusive items.

In the United States where commercial fabrics run about $8 - $10 a yard, a nice hand-dyed fabric costs between $24.00 and $26.00 a yard. In Canada where a commercial fabric runs about $18.00 a meter, I definitely need to increase my prices from the $26.00 a meter I have been charging. After filing my taxes this past weekend I was forced to face the fact that there was little profit margin on my hand-dyes after utilities and labour were taken into account. Every piece of hand-dyed fabric is handled through at least six highly laborious processes: 1) measuring and ripping/cutting the fabric to size and pre-wetting it; 2) dyeing the fabric, 3) rinsing and washing; 4) hanging on the line to dry; 5) ironing, and 6) cutting, bundleing and labelling.

I would like to thank the many customers who have supported my business over the past 8 years and hope I can count on many more years of support. I would like to also remind you that I have numerous dyeing classes scheduled this year (visit the Teaching Schedule of my website) at very reasonable rates so there is every opportunity to learn how to dye your own fabric should you wish to keep costs down.

Finally, I would also like to mention that, even though my prices remain the same this coming weekend, I am now forced to charge HST on all sales.

Hope to see you at the show!

What Price Success?

2011-05-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

This post follows the good news about my article "A Surprise Career as a Quilt Artist". Most of the time I am very happy with my choice in careers, and most of the time I am upbeat in my posts, so I apologize that today I am not going to sound so happy. I also apologize that there are no pretty pictures to go with this post.

I have actually been feeling rather stressed the last two weeks. Why? Taxes were looming, I was busy and left them too late, and had to do the work myself. I filed my taxes this past weekend and learned that my gross income has now reached the level where I am required to register for HST (harmonized sales tax). In Ontario a gross income of $30,000 or more means you have to collect HST on all services rendered and all goods sold. It also means you can claim back all the HST you paid out on items purchased for your business.

I have always felt that we should not discuss our incomes publicly, but I think I am going to make an exception here because I think it is OK to talk about it when you have a point to make and if your income is low;-)). On the one hand, it is a wonderful thing that my business has grown to this point, and that I’ve actually managed to make my living doing what I love for the last three years. Although I am not a high earner, I feel I have been successful given that I am able to get by doing what I love. But, today I ask, what price success? My reward is that I get to do a boatload of work to track and remit HST on everything I do and sell when my NET income is far below my gross income. It seems like such a lot of work for so little.

This brings me to some things I want to say about the realities of being a quilt artist and teacher, and some of these things may actually offend some readers. I have conversations with people regularly that demonstrate to me that some do not understand that this is more than a hobby to me. This is my career. Last week I was asked by someone how my husband feels about me gallivanting around the country? My response was "I am not gallivanting, I am working". My husband is happy that I have a job. I have had people ask me why I am working so hard and when I am going to slow down and take some time off. I remind them that when I had a conventional job I got anywhere between 2 weeks and 6 weeks vacation, depending on where I worked and my years of service. I am my own boss now, and if I want to go away for a week, I can do so as long as I have no professional commitments at the time (i.e. teaching, lecturing, shows, etc). I do take a few weeks of vacation each year, even though I may still do some work during them. When you have your own business there is always something to do.

I used the word "professional" to describe myself a few sentences ago. I have never particularly liked the word because it sounds hoity. I am not using it to describe my behaviour, but rather to communicate the fact that I do what I do as a profession, making my living from being an artist, teacher and dyer. I am proud that I am able to do this, and I am willing to sacrifice some things to be able to do what I love. I don’t usually comment on other people’s career choices, but I certainly receive comments on mine. A while back I was on a teaching trip and was billetted at the home of two retired teachers. The husband of the quilter decided to tell me that he thought it must be a horrible job doing what I do, to which I replied "I love what I do". His next comment? "Well you can't possibly make much money". Well maybe not as much as a high school teacher, but I may be just as happy (OK, today I'm not).

For most people making quilts or art is a hobby. This may be why there are some who don’t understand why I work so hard and push myself so far. I do belong to a professional association, but there are a huge number of members who have become quilt artists in their retirement. They may have a pension to support them now and don’t need to push themselves the way I do. At 49, I have to be successful at what I do or I will quite simply have to go and find a regular job. Finding some success as a quilt artist can be a lonely thing. You have different interests than learning the latest technique. You might want to talk about the challenges of travelling so much, about how to price teaching, what shows to enter, etc. Where is my community to talk to? Who can I call today to talk about their experiences with HST? Is there another quilt artist and teacher in Ottawa who is charging HST?

I am not looking down on hobbyists. However, I think that because quilts and art are viewed as a hobby by many, and particularly because quilts are viewed as a woman’s thing, is what contributes to some individuals and groups not understanding why I charge the rates I do or why I charge mileage. In what other business would someone travel across the country to teach for $400 a day and in what other business would they not expect reimbursement for travel? I need a car to do my job. If I can't afford to buy another car on the day mine wears out, it will be a sign that this business is not viable. Why would I travel without reinbursement? Would you? I am also worried that the extra expense of charging HST to groups is going to make it less likely they hire me.

That, my friends, is my whine for the day. I don’t want to whine too much because I really do love my job most of the time, and everyone is going to tell me to get a real job if I don’t like things the way they are!! This too shall pass. If you have comments or opinions to share I’d love to hear them.

A Surprise Career as a Quilt Artist

2011-05-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Back in February Kit Robinson of Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine wrote and asked me to be the “In the Art Studio” fabric artist for the July, 2011 issue of Machine Quilting Unlimited. This involved writing an article of 1500 words and submitting a number of images of my work. I was thinking about what angle I wanted to present in my article and decided to name it "A Surprise Career as a Quilt Artist" because I was remembering that a career counsellor had suggested I try to make a living as a quilt artist back in 2003. I did not take her seriously at all. The article traces my journey to where I am today (more on that in my next blog post). Machine Quilting Unlimited also featured my quilt "Opening Act" on their Jaw Dropper page back in their November 2009 issue.

I subscribe to this magazine because, as a machine quilting teacher, I need to keep up on trends related to machine quilting, but also because it features wonderful articles about some of my favorite artists like Jenny Bowker, Betty Busby, Nancy G. Cook, Deidre Adams, Carol Taylor, and many others. This magazine is subscription only, but you can also order back issues from their website.

A Show for Every Quilt

2011-04-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Remember those quilts I showed in my March 17 post called Understanding Jurors Decisions? Two had been accepted and two (including Losses 2 pictured above) had been rejected from the Canadian Quilters Association National Juried Show. I just received word this week that Losses 2 was juried into THE ArT-QuILT ExPERIENCE at Stone Hill Quarry Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. The lead juror for this show was Jonathan Holstein, a well-known quilt collector for more than 40 years, and well known for hanging those Amish quilts on the wall of the Whitney Museum in New York in 1971 and pronouncing them art! Many historians trace the modern art quilt movement to this event. Mr. Holstein will be present to deliver a talk at the opening on June 12, 2011. Just goes to prove that there is a show for every quilt.

Creating in the Middle of Things, Part 2

2011-04-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

I spent last week teaching workshops at the Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph, Ontario. During this time I stayed with my sister in Waterloo. She goes to bed early and I am a night owl. This time I was prepared to actually create some of my own work on a teaching trip. The fabric was dyed, the pattern designed, and all I had to do was start creating. I am happy to say that I was successful at completing a complete quilt top during this trip! OK, some values need to be tweaked a little, but here is my striped dahlia.

In my December 8, 2010 blog post titled Why I Wish it were Summer I shared a photo I had taken of a striped dahlia and the shibori fabrics I had dyed on a pole to create the flower. This project seemed a little easier to create on the road than Red Stool (post below). That one is just too hard to take on the road.
I taught 4 different workshops last week. Below Sharon shows off the piece she created in my Liberated Radial Piecing class. By the end of the class she had almost completed this very cheerful radial design.

Upon my return to Ottawa, I was invited to meet Helen Heaney, President of the Austrian Quilt Guild, at the home of friend and student Anneliese Villeneuve. Anneliese is just about the closest thing to an angel on earth you will find. She devotes much of her time to volunteering with Victorias Quilts, a charity that delivers hand-made quilts to cancer patients. Anneliese has been a wonderful supporter of my art quilt career for many years. Helen has been President of the Austrian Quilt Guild (which Anneliese is a member of) for eight years, and has seen the membership grow from 250 to 700 during her time there. I shared some of my quilts with her and she had fun shopping out of my store of hand-dyed fabrics. Here we are, left to right, Helen, me and Anneliese.

Upon arriving home I was also able to pick up the more than 100 meters of fabric my friend Denise ironed for me while I was away. Several teaching bookings have been firmed up during this time so I have contracts to prepare and those dreaded taxes to finish! It will be a week of paperwork and more teaching locally.

Carolina on my Mind

2011-04-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

That old James Taylor song has been rattling around in my head since finding out last week that In the Act has been accepted into the Professional Art Quilt Alliance-South (PAQA-South) show in Cary, North Carolina. The theme of this year's show is "Movement", and I thought this piece does show some movement, but also I think the title (which implies action) hints at movement. So far this piece has had a successful life. It was accepted into Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Memorial Arts Centre this past fall (see my post on Quilts=Art=Quilts), and perhaps most exciting of all, art quilt diva extraordinaire, Hollis Chatelain wrote to me and asked permission to include a photograph of the quilt in a slide lecture she is creating.

It must be spring because lots of quilts are leaving for shows. The following two pieces have left for the Grand National show at the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener, Ontario. This year's theme is "Balancing Act". I do not usually make pieces for specific themes, but rather enter them when I have something that fits the theme (or can be made to fit the theme ;-)). I came up with these two (Act 3 and Standing Still), and entered both just in case one didn't make it in. They were both accepted.
Act 3:

I decided to exhibit Standing Still one more time before it is too old. It was made in 2008.

Now I just need to find a show for Standing Ovation
.I'm working on that one, but for now it will be in the invitational show (teacher's exhibit) at Quilt Canada London.