Wish I had said that

The curators for the Design Museum Holon in Israel have mounted a grand exhibition devoted to Craft called GATHERING - From Domestic Craft to Contemporary Process.

Listen to this:

"We are an unstitched society suffering from a lasting socio-economic crisis that has made us ferociously protective and egocentric. It is time for mending and gathering, thus restoring the fabric of society: picking up the pieces and bringing them together in a patchwork of possibilities; a quilt of substance, able to absorb shock and fear." - Lidewij Edelkoort

If, in my efforts to create art, I can touch this nerve, this truth, I will have accomplished my goal.

Edelkoort explains the show’s context: “We are an unstitched society suffering from a lasting socio-economic crisis that has made us ferociously protective and egocentric. It is time for mending and gathering, thus restoring the fabric of society: picking up the pieces and bringing them together in a patchwork of possibilities; a quilt of substance, able to absorb shock and fear.

More Information:

http://artdaily.com/news/71480/Design-Museum-Holon-opens-new-exhibition--Gathering--From-Domestic-Craft-to-Contemporary-Process--#.U9kYh6i7nIq[/url]

fun with triangles

Half-square triangles have an infinite variety of ways to be put together. These color study units I have been working on give me a way to release some creative problem-solving time. Here are some of the ways they can work.

half-square triangle diagramsI think I will do something like this:

roughed-in composition for color study quiltI like how the white breaks up the geometry, forcing the viewer to complete the pattern in their imagination. I think I might add a wide white border too.

perserverance

tearing out againPundit quilt in tear out phase

Sometimes it takes an incredible amount of patience and faith to get a piece done. This one has taken me to the edge of that plain. Once again the thread is not cooperating, once again I am tearing out. The stitch length was wrong, the tension inconsistent and the patterning lost cadence. I thought that I could live with it yesterday but when I came into the studio today I reached for Mr. Tweezerman.

Hoping that the damage to the fabric and batting can be rescued on the next go around. This one is going into the washer (and maybe the dryer) upon completion. I want it to be puckered.

Planning the threads

One of the most challenging parts of free motion quilting is to figure out how and where you will stitch. I use a simple technique that helps me visualize different patterns before I commit to them with thread and sore shoulders.

Using a piece of acetate to experiment with line

Using a large piece of acetate and a dry erase marker I sketch my ideas onto the acetate directly over the quilt. If I don't like the first pattern I can simply wipe it dry and start again. The lines are fairly thick because I have yet to find a dry erase marker with a fine point (note to Sharpie...please develop this for me). Drawing the lines gives my hands and brain a trial run for the real deal.

Once I have decided what I want to do I mark a boundary for the pattern on the quilt with a chalk marker. My favorite of these is the one pictured here, it has a roller at the tip that makes a thin dotted line with chalk. You can get white, blue, yellow and pink chalk. I tend to stay with the white stuff. I'll often hang the acetate near my machine so that I can see it while stitching. I'll do this stitching in the morning when I am fresher.

Outer boundary of stitch pattern marked with chalkOnce I am done with the stitching I am sometimes left with loose ends that need to be buried. I do this after dinner in front of the TV, tweezer and easy-threading needle in hand. This pic shows a different area of the piece where I decided to stop the background pattern where the black circles define a thought bubble.

Loose threads will need to by buried in the quilt sandwich later