New Work for May Solo Show

Started on a new piece this week which will be for my next show in May. I like the color and quilting on this piece, but maybe I overdid it with the embellishment? I used a facing to turn the edges to the back and I like the effect, but it doesn't hang as flat as I would like. Will have to steam it a bit and see if that helps.

Here are the fabrics: a rusty gold cotton, a lime green/rust batik, and an Osnaburg that I rusted.

Lots of quilting, not sure how well you can see it in these pictures but it turned out nicely.

Embellished with a loopy yarn edging inserted in the facing, silk flowers centered with stone donut beads, and some additional beads for accent. Not sure what the brown beads are made of, but guessing maybe bone or horn colored to look like wood. The ones at the bottom are glass.

Love the rusted Osnaburg. Many people don't seem to know what Osnaburg is but it is a great fabric in quilts. It is similar to a muslin but a coarser weave and texture and a nice organic feel to it. I love to use it in many different ways. My sister and I split the large rusted piece we had put into a big garbage bag with a rusty old tow chain. Created some great rust coloring, but boy does that needle clunk when you hit the heavily rusted spots!

Working on a title for this one....

It's a "NO" from Quilt National

Before I get to my rejected Quilt National quilt, I have some other news. My quilt, "Blackberries and Dandelions" will soon be shipped off to the Art Quilts XV: Needleplay exhibition in Chandler, Arizona (near Phoenix) for a show that will be up from November into January. This is my first gallery art quilt show and I'm very excited about it. Sure wish I could be there to see it. Also, I had one piece, "From Winter We Emerge" at the Innovations 2010 show in Tacoma, Washington and it won Judge's Choice and a Peer Award there. Then this past week I had a phone call telling me that my quilt, "Red Sky", won third place in the Fiber Art category at AQS Des Moines!! That is my biggest award yet and has a nice cash award attached to it. Maybe I'll finally get that digital camera I've been hoping for!

"Jewel Of The Forest"

Now on to the Quilt National story!

This year I finally had a piece that I felt might be worthy of Quilt National so I submitted an entry. Unfortunately it did not make the cut, so now I can share it with you. This was a truly inspired piece and it created itself as it was made. I didn't know what I was going to do with the tree trunk when I made it. The piece evolved around it.

The fabrics on the left and right sides of the piece are my rusted Osnaburg which was wrapped around a large rusty chain. I painted the fabric that the tree trunk is on with fabric paint. The remaining fabrics are commercially made, including a hand-made marbled fabric (not by me).

The tree is made of molding paste that has been colored with PearlEx powder and then put onto the fabric with a palette knife. It was then painted to give it some highlights and shading.

I knew that something needed to be added to make the trunk more interesting and I spotted some coated wires about the right gauge. They were each less than 8" long and I had maybe a dozen of them. I found a wonderful multi-colored rayon flat ribbon in my stash and started winding lengths of it around to cover the wire and then left about 4" dangling at the end. When I held these up to the quilt the dangling ends just hung limply and it appeared that I needed to do something more. Of course then I thought of using beads and collected some that went with the piece and started stringing them in random "pattern" between loops of the ribbon (see pics). It worked wonderfully and the weight of the beads was perfect for the strenth of the wire. I securely stitched the ends of each wire to the top of the trunk so they would extend out from the wall and curve gracefully, draping like willow branches. They bounce ever so slightly when you walk by or if there is air movement in the room.

Enjoy the pictures. The quilt is now for sale: $1400.00. Be sure to let me know if you are interested!! ;o)