Moved by the Spirit?

So, yesterday, I was helping out at church for a reception for a woman from our congregation who was being ordained. I don't know the woman personally, but know who she is/recognize her/have heard lots of wonderful things about her. For some reason, on Saturday night, the thought popped into my head that I should make her an art quilt to celebrate her ordination. I started it at 8 pm and finished it (yes, finished it) at 11 pm. It's about 17" x 30" and was the easiest quilt I have ever made. The colors came together with no effort, I encountered no snags with the sewing, and even the binding, which I typically loathe doing, went quickly. And I think it came out nice, too. While not the most elaborate piece of work I've ever done, it's got a simple and soothing quality. I honestly do think that sometimes Spirit moves people to do things, and I think this was one of those times. I never thought I'd be saying something like that, but there you have it, I am.

The funniest thing is that I realized that I needed to introduce myself to this woman, so that when she opened the gift, she'd know who it was from! I did so, and although I'm sure she's still wondering why someone she doesn't know made her something like this, at least she can put a face to the name!

Color Shift

So, I was messing around with a bunch of 4" squares of fabric over the weekend, and I ended up creating a really cool piece of fiber art with them. I took 48 different squares (i.e., unique, no repeats), sewed them together, then cut them apart,and resewed them together a couple of times to form this beautiful and colorful curvy pattern. I then put a border of this gorgeous wavy green fabric around it, but I purposely made it off kilter. I then added a layer of puffy polyester backing to this assemblage, and then added another border to the whole thing. I added cotton batting and backing, and sewed flowing lines of free motion quilting using a variety of threads. The result is shown to the right. Look what can be done with 50 different fabrics! You can't see the 3D effect that the extra layer of batting adds to it in this picture, but in person, it's quite cool (if I do say so myself).

It's around 30" x 20", and the name/title that came to mind was 'Elemental Color Shift.' My daughter, a fan of 2 word names, thinks that 'Color Shift' would be better. We shall see.

Streaming Consciousness

I did a lot of sewing this weekend. A friend commissioned me to make 2 long autumn-themed tablerunners for a memorial service. I had a ton of fun picking out the fabrics (yes, despite the fact that I have literally hundreds of yards of fabrics, I of course could not find everything I wanted in my stash). I also finished up a really interesting wall hanging that I think I'm going to call Streaming Consciousness. Here's a full view:

It's probably about 40" long by 20-something wide. The colors are, of course, my favorites (greens, blues, and purples). I also did a lot of hand embellishing with fibers and a few beautiful beads. Here's a close-up:

I also spent some time finishing up 'The Upward Spiral' which I showed in progress earlier. I've got to start selling some of this stuff because my 'studio' is getting awfully full!

Fall-My Favorite Season (well, other than maybe spring, winter, or summer!)

I love living in New England and experiencing the change of seasons. I do, however, wish that winter were 1 or 2 months shorter and spring was maybe 1 month longer. That aside, I love the 4 seasons. It's tough to say which is my favorite, but I do think that fall and spring are a tie. I love the way the trees look in the fall and the way the air smells. I love the cold mornings and evenings. I love the clear blue sky. In the spring, I love the smell too, which though different from fall air, is equally clean and pleasant smelling, and the color that replaces the grey of winter. The crocuses and tulips and daffodils make me so happy, as does the forsythia.


At any rate, it's fall, and as usual, I wish I were a painter so that I could capture the beauty of the trees and the season. I'm not a painter, but this year, I have been experimenting with some fiber art to try and approximate the beauty that surrounds us at this time of the year. Here's one attempt:



In person, the colors in this are pretty close to what you'd see in real life. The border is much brighter and more intense. In this work, I tried experimenting with a little acrylic paint on the tree and leaves, as well as some Angelina Fiber. I hand sewed some fibers on the border. In person, it's quite vibrant. I'm happy with it. Here's a close up:



I'm not sure what to call this. I'm thinking something like "That's Why They Call it Fall" or maybe "Swan Song for a Tree" or "The Beginning of the End of the Beginning" or "My Favorite Season" or ...I don't know. We'll see.