13th Steet Studio

Christmas in May

This year I am the person in charge of fabric and magazine exchange at my guild meetings. Many folks seem to be downsizing, or trying to, so there has been a LOT of fabric dropped off at the meetings.

Often more is dropped off than is picked up. I packaged up some of it and sold it at the guild's show. But some of the piles of carefully cut, but tiny, pieces seem to be too small for folks to see the possibilities, and too little to be priced and sold. Literally nickel bags. I can't seem to let them go, though, so here is a mini-quilt that I made out of some really pretty scraps of red and green:

Quilt Market

I've seen a lot of blogs talk about last weekend's Quilt Market in Kansas City. I was there too, but my thoughts about market have remained just as organized as this Alexander Henry exhibit:

So you too will have to read other folks' descriptions and reviews for market news. I don't know what to tell you. The hype and merchandizing were ferocious.

Thank You Internet!

 

Unitarian Exhibit

There is a lovely little church on the south edge of my town that lets artists show work in their fellowship hall. I have an assortment of quilts there now:

Scrap Cording

Here is how to make fabric bowls: Take a bunch of too narrow to be useful fabric strips and either sew or tie or loop together into as long a strip as you can manage during the next step.

Next step: tie your fabric strip to the outside of a bobbin, put the bobbin on its winder, and then spin the strip into a twisted cord. Or, if you have a cordless drill and a helper, make a strip the length of your house and tie a knot in one end of the strip. Clamp the drill chuck on to the knot and spin, spin, spin a long cord. Roll this cord into a ball and then zigzag along the length of the cord. (This is a great way to use up old, possibly weak thread.)

Now you have a cotton cord that can be used any way you'd like. I like to hold the cord together in a tight spiral and zigzag it into a circle.

If you bend the resulting circle up as you continue to stitch around it, it will begin to form a bowl shape. Keep bending and stitching...another great use for unwanted thread.

Bright colored thread can make interesting designs along the sides of the bowl, and loops and beads can add interest too.

Exhibit Bowling

Currently at the 1109 Gallery I have three pieces in their "Art by the Park" exhibit. Using the techniques I learned in a class taught by Nan Renbarger, I made three bowls...or maybe two bowls and a platter:

Sunflower Bowl

Taos Sunset Bowl

Turquoise Bowl

Ritual

I went through the ritual of entering a (hopefully) traveling exhibit put together by the Dinner at 8 artists a few months ago. This is an invitational exhibit, but entries still have to be juried in. There is a set size and theme. The first time I entered the theme was "Beneath the Surface" so I did a quilt about burrowing owls. It did not get in. Next, the theme was "The Space Between", so I did a quilt that was a mush of black and white print fabrics with some lines of colored prints. This one got in. This year the theme was "Rituals" but religion and politics were not to be used. I made a quilt about how my parrots wake me up every morning and alert me to the setting sun every evening. It did not get in. I wonder if the jury does not like birds? Or maybe they just want impressionistic mush? Or maybe my work just gets very weak when I use birds. Anyway, here is my quilt "Wake Up Call":

(The torn fabric is supposed to suggest being torn from sleep and the clocks...well you get the idea.)