baby quilt series: no. 6

Marble Mania, 2009, 32" x 42"
COLLECTION OF MAURINE NOBLE

The cottons in this baby quilt were marbled by Elin and Maurine Noble at an all-afternoon demonstration.

The center area has a haphazard pattern of fabric strips while the border has precisely lined-up strips. The stitching parallels the piecing—both random and perpendicular.

baby quilt series: no. 5

Dungaree Baby, 2009, 34" x 42"
COLLECTION OF PAMELA BELYEA

This is a true scrap quilt made with Maurine Noble castaways. The composition is a response to fabric at hand. The top includes pieces of hand-dyeds, an African printed cotton and a green pseudo-camouflage fabric.

Scissor-cut. Random pieced. Machine stitched-in-the-ditch.

lap quilt series: no. 8

Rubino, 2009, 44" x 66"
COLLECTION OF HEIDI OB’BAYI

Bold in color, this red and yellow quilt is made with scissor-cut designs that are then precision-cut into 11" squares. The fabrics are an assortment of handprinted, hand-dyed, global and recycled cottons.

baby quilt series: no. 4

Goldilocks Baby, 2009, 34" x 43"
COLLECTION OF MEGUMI KANZAKI

This baby quilt is made with three different hand-dyed fabrics and a vintage print of the three bears in their woodland home. Scissor-cut, the pastel marbling is stitched-in-the-ditch.

The story square is hand-stitched all over—with the handiwork completed on airplanes to and from Ohio.

the hocking hills of ohio

Dairy Barn, Athens OH

Maurine Noble and I jetted to Ohio on Friday for a weekend of quilting adventures. We stayed in Connie Davidson’s new remodeled B& B in Millfield, filled with charming quilts.

On Saturday we toured the 2009 Quilt National show at the Dairy Barn. After reviewing half of the 87 winners in two hours, we took a cafe break, and went back to check out the rest. I bought the show book to remember all the incredible compositions.

Monday was another day of treats. At Lunn Fabrics Studio in Lancaster, I met Debra Lunn and Michael Mrowka. These hippy artisans, with long careers in fabric design, are leading the batik division of Kaufman. Maurine and I were able to buy some of their prototypes from Java by the pound.

Another stop was at Nancy Crow’s farm outside Baltimore. John Stitzlein, Nancy’s husband, took us on a tour of the teaching barn as well as a peek into the family home—with its global art collections. Great trip!

lap quilt series: no. 7

Calico Comfort, 2009, 43" x 63"
COLLECTION OF SARAH FAIGIN

Almost all the fabrics in this lap quilt are vintage calicos. Two exceptions are the pink stripes and the botanical print—both on white. These fabrics create contrast in the expanse of small prints.

Although the geometric design looks precise, the pieces are scissor-cut and unmeasured. Extra strips of fabric have been inserted into the design to make the rows of framed squares the same length.

insect pin cushion

Insecta porcupina, 2009, 8.5" x 6"
COLLECTION OF HANNAH MAE COX

This month’s Art Chix theme was “Insects As Weapons.” I was inspired by Shannon in my quilting group who made two pin cushions in the last month—an apple and a pear. I decided to make an insect pin cushion for the assignment.

Everything about making this mini-beast was new. I tried different leg designs and after three hours settled on little stuffed appendages. I made the antennae twice, finding the first set was too heavy.

Bamboo batting was my choice for filling. It was incredibly satisfying to stuff the fabric form. At that moment, the character sprang to life.

Art Chix enthusiastically embraced this little guy. To see the rest of our group’s projects visit: 8artchix.blogspot.com.

lap quilt series: no. 4, entry 2

River of Life, 2009, 42" x 62"
PURCHASED BY MARY GOLDERSON FOR HER NIECE

After many months of hand quilting, this project is complete. There is hand stitching around the fish and throughout the broad bands of solid color. There is machine stitching-in-the-ditch around the Chinese Coins and between the fabric bands. The pieces are all scissor cut with no measuring to create a more naive look. The finishing details include an organic beige cotton for the backing and a 1" binding.

The inspiration for the quilt came from the fish fabric that Maurine Noble brought back from South Africa two decades ago. I just couldn’t cut up the gorgeous pattern, so I used it in very large pieces.

jane’s modern quilt

Lap Quilt by Jane Belyea, 2009

When I visited my 82-year old mom in Victoria in May, we treasured hunted at local thrift stores for quilting fabrics. We used the “crease test” to check the cotton content—if we pinch pressed a fabric and it held a crisp crease, it was cotton.

For $4.00 CDN Mum picked up some boldly printed cotton with pink, teal, yellow and blue throughout. Here is the mid-sized quilt that she made with her bargain fabric. My dad likes the quilt so much that he made her agree to not give it away (which she does with all her wonderful quilts!).

lap quilt series: no. 6

Elusive Wisdom, 2009, 43" x 62"
COLLECTION OF SHUNA & GEORGE CERRATO

Here is my hand-dyed fabric in action. Creating the mottled fabric, curved piecing, stenciled oil stick artwork and overly wavy edges were all new for me. There is a sense of risk in trying different techniques. No peril of course, but it is engaging and exciting.

The lap quilt debuted at this month’s Art Chix gathering. Presented for the theme, Dirty Laundry, the imperfectly dyed fabric reminds me of soiled and stained cloth.

the send-off quilt

Crow Barn Quilt, 2009, 70" x 44"
COLLECTION OF MIKE GORE

Heading off to college evokes feelings of high hopes and adventuresome expectations. To remind Plymouth’s high school seniors of their spiritual home, our church sends them off with a comfort quilt made by the Piece Makers.

For the 15 graduating seniors, our busy quilting group produced 18 quilts this year. The three extra quilts were given to the Plymouth Healing Communities ministry.

My quilt is actually the work of three Plymouth women. Maurine Noble made the central black and white sections at a week-long Nancy Crow workshop. I designed the quilt top with scrap fabrics and did all the finishing. And Susan Jones did the bulk of the hand stitching.

The recipient, Michael Gore, is the son of a leading Plymouth family. Mike’s a bright young man with leadership abilities, public speaking ease and a witty sense of humor who loves to race bicycles.

baby quilt series: no. 3

Hello Bunnies, 2009, 34" x 40"
COLLECTION OF JANET SAULSBURY

Made with 15" wide cotton that I bought in Tokyo at New Year’s, this baby quilt is scissor-cut and machine quilted. The top is made with big pattern blocks while the back has solo bunnies, fancy-cut, in a central sashed composition.

In retrospect, I should have made the back the top, and vice versa. The delight of the little bunnies and the bright pink with the mottled gray on the back is the more exciting side.

lap quilt series: no. 5

African Night & Day, 2009, 42" x 60"
COLLECTION OF JANET LANE

High contrast: black top on white back. The front is made with Dutch wax-resist fabrics from Vlisco and Woodin. The back is a silk-screened tablecloth from South Africa. The hand of all the fabrics is crisp and cool.

Although I scissor-cut the pieces, the final look is quite precise. This is because I could cut along the graphic patterns of the fabrics with the black backgrounds. The quilting includes mostly stitch-in-the-ditch with some hand stitching.

The fabrics were brought back from Africa by Maurine Noble when she taught quilting classes there.

in search of imperfection

Connie Colton is the force behind the Quilt Qua website.

This article by me was posted on QuiltQua.com today under: Articles.

In the Fall of 2007 I saw two quilts shows in Tacoma. I drove down I-5 from Seattle to view the internationally acclaimed Gee’s Bend quilts at TAM (Tacoma Art Museum). Then I walked a block to the Washington State History Museum to see a show of contemporary quilt art.

At TAM, I paid my money and went straight upstairs to the Gee’s Bend exhibit. The show spanned early quilts to ones that had been made in the last decade. The most graphic of the quilts were my favorites. I was surprised that the craftsmanship of the quilts hadn't improved much over the years. Some of the newest ones were just as slipshod as the vintage examples— with sloppy stitching and bulky seams.

Down at the History Museum, I was wowed. The contemporary quilts were exceptional in all ways. I liked the innovative use of colors, shapes and finishes. In fact, I was so inspired that I went home and immediately mimicked one of the patterns for a pillow top.

Not being impressed by the Gee’s Bend show troubled me. If everyone else was gaga about the work, I needed to give it more consideration. I decided that the exhibit had given me a gift—permission to be as messy as I wanted with my quilts.

I’ve taken this signal to heart personally. In the last year I have abandoned my rotary cutter. Instead I cut my fabric with scissors, sometimes merrily whacking away. I piece randomly. I want to sew fabric together until I know I am done—like Jackson Pollock who threw paint on his canvas.

There is real excitement in approaching a quilt project with a vision instead of a pattern. I often think for a long time about the fabric before I make my first cut. Other times I get experimental and just want to see what will happen when I start piecing willy nilly.

The acceptance of imperfection pleases me. It allows me to appreciate anything that I create. “Keep moving forward” I say to myself instead of being overly critical of my work. I am not perfect and neither are my quilts these days.

chard, kale and mustard leaves

Vegetable Leaf Table Topper, 2009, 13" x 36"
COLLECTION OF GRACE LYNCH

This lap project has accompanied me on many excursions since the holidays. Last weekend I finished up the hand stitching on the Clipper, coming home from a weekend in Victoria with my parents.

All the piecing is scissor-cut. I like the organic look that comes from the non-precise shapes.

To finish this project, I need to hem 20 dinner-sized napkins that are in the turquoise- and wine-colored vegetable leaf fabrics. Then I will ship the runner and napkin set to Grace Lynch in New Jersey—the guardian angel of my daughter, Victoria, at CIA . Grace has a humongous collection of Portuguese cabbage leaf china that she uses at family gatherings.

The ceramic dachshund was made for me by my daughter Vik in a high school art class.

the stash

In D. Lisa West’s basement, we rinsed our dyed squares in her laundry sink and fixed the colors in two plastic bins. Then we ran all the fabric through the washer for a final rinse and the dryer for a light fluff. Two and a half hours later all the swatches were ironed.

Somehow we did not create any chocolate brown cloth. I thought that when we experimented with three or more dyes, we would make mud. Generally our fabric is bright, mottled and very appealing.

baby quilt series: no. 2

New Day, 2009, 39" x 44" front+back
COLLECTION OF LESLIE ROSS

For Art Chix this week, I debuted my latest baby quilt. The theme for the meeting was “Illumination.” With a pink sun and an early morning song bird, my piece expresses the joy of each new day.

The fresh blue and white fabrics are interspersed with unusual choices such a painterly pattern, and marbled and hand-dyed fabrics. Scissor-cut and randomly pieced, the quilt is machine stitched-in-the-ditch.

dyeing workshop

I spent today at Karen Williams and Leah Kaufman’s art studio, dyeing 30 fat quarters of cotton. We started by creating a series of tints and shades. Then we mixed secondary colors with two dyes. Our final lesson was creating complimentary color mixes.

Was it easy? Yes, because Karen had everything set up and showed us exactly how to get known results. She is like a scientist who has tried and recorded every color combination.

The day ended with experimental dyeing. In 24 hours I will see what I have created. That’s when I’ll rinse out my wads of damp fabric, set the colors, and iron my dyed cotton squares.

Karen Williams is a mixed media artist whose work revolves around fabrics, beads and thread. You can learn more about Karen and her art at skunkhillstudio.com.

march piece makers

African Night & Day, 2009, in progress

Ten ladies came to this month’s Plymouth Piece Makers meeting! That is pretty remarkable because when I first joined, three to six would gather for a “show and tell.” One time there were only two of us.

Our group is finishing up our annual assignment of making quilts for graduating high school seniors heading off to college and such. This year there are 16 students—five girls, ten boys and one transgendered youth.

At the meeting, three more quilts were added to our Youth Forum stash. We’ll make the goal handsomely with all the talent and energy of our burgeoning group.

youth reigns supreme

Prince William’s Kichaka, 2009, in process

My 18-year old daughter, Vik, has trumped me in the quilting arena. That is, with two artist friends Max Woodring and Ana Kochetova—who created the black and white animal squares.

The recipient of the quilt will be the new baby son of Olivia Britt, an art administrator at Gage Academy of Art. Olivia leads the teen art programs at Gage—where Max, Anna and Vik have all been Teacher Assistants.

Vik plans to hand stitch the quilt with orange thread to match the orange flannel backing, except around the animals—where she’ll use black thread just inside the edge of each shape.

oil sticks and freezer paper!

Owlet Artwork and Textured Surface

I headed to SODO today to check out the new studio space of Leah Kaufman and Karen Williams. The Studio Warming event was very different than I expected.

Instead of showing off their artwork, Leah and Karen invited me to use some of their tools and supplies—to learn something new. Karen creates advanced fiber art. I was intrigued by her colorful stencil work.

Next thing I knew, I was cutting out a freezer paper stencil and ironing it to a piece of black cotton. Then I used yellow and orange oil sticks to apply color over a piece of textured string fabric.

The whole exercise was mind-blowing. I can imagine all the ways I can add oil stick artwork to fabric for my own quilt projects!