Destroyed Jeans Project

December 31, 2005

With lots of nieces and nephews visiting this holiday season, it was fun to take them to the studio. I like it when projects there evolve on their own momentum. After spending an afternoon at the mall looking at $140 Abercrombie destroyed jeans, Sol and Heather decided to buy $7.95 jeans and create their own.

After using a top secret assortment of Russ’s power tools and bleach, Heather got the great idea to cut her name out of denim to stitch on her jeans.

They did the cutting, and I took the side seams apart so I could free-motion-quilt the lettering down the side. After Sol’s jeans are washed again, they will fray like Heather’s.

What surprised me was that Sol found a box of my cast-offs and wanted them quilted on the back of his jeans. And the best part about the project was when my seam-ripper accidently gouged a big hole in his jeans, it didn’t matter a bit.

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Happy Christmas to All!

December 25, 2005

This quilt is an example of self-fullfilling prophecy. December has flown, and while working on the quilt, I didn’t get anything else done. So three days ago, Russ was indeed on a tall ladder stringing a complex light construction in the front yard and I was feeling a little blue with no other decorations up. And so…

(following is sung to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas) Two days of shopping, one day of wrapping, no time for baking, and a stack of unmailed holiday cards.

But this season I kept working on art and spent time with family and friends, so that’s what’s important, right? For those of you I promised Christmas cards and haven’t sent yet, we’ll just be creative and change the tag line to “Happy New Year!” You’ll understand, I hope.

Right now I can’t sleep due to a sore throat and ringing ears, sitting on the sofa wrapped in a blanket and a mountain of kleenex. But I’m also glowing from a wonderful Christmas Eve with family today, another celebration starting tomorrow.

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Instant Gratification

December 15, 2005

The other day I bought some pre-cut mats on sale and went around the studio looking for things to put inside. I found this teapot and turquoise arc that were already cut and didn’t work in another quilt. So I made this little still-life really quickly. Almost instant gratification!

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What about the Zipper?

December 11, 2005

Thanks everyone who responded to my post about the retro fad. I felt better after your positive comments about my style, and also I realized that although there seems to be more retro-looking designs in fabric and home decor — it’s just that. There’s no story that goes along with the designs, and that’s really what my work is about right now.

I’ve done a couple of snowflakes now and I like how they’re turning out. But I had a secret agenda for this Christmas quilt, and isn’t there always a secret agenda? This time it’s a zipper!

I’ve been wanting to incorporate a zipper in a design, but this pink one wasn’t really what I had envisioned.

I like the black and brass one better, but now my question is — is this stupid? Russ came in while I was working on this and wanted to know what he’d see if he opened the zipper. I hadn’t thought about that.

Maybe I should just leave the zipper out completely. I need to redo the vest anyway, because it’s supposed to look more puffy and “quilted” — ha ha!

The rest of the quilt is going pretty well, except the cord that I was planning on using for the Christmas lights looks too thin. I guess I’ll just have to cut it out of fabric.

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Viking Mega Quilter

December 9, 2005

Here’s a photo of my new Viking Mega Quilter next to my Bernina Artista 180. You can see how much bigger the area under the arm is. Great for quilting bigger projects. I won a Viking Quilt Designer II and although it’s a great machine, it duplicates many things on my Bernina that I never use. So I traded it in for the Mega Quilter and Inspira Frame (the frame probably won’t be in until January. Will have to give you a review of that later.

So far I’ve only used the new Mega Quilter on one project, but it only took one hour to quilt a background that I estimated would take about four — it’s really fast. But maybe not so good for really detailed work. We’ll see after I get more practice.

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Abstract Musings

December 8, 2005

The week before Thanksgiving I worked at least fifteen hours on an abstract design for a commission, and I must say, it was really looking crappy! So bad in fact, I took it off the design wall, stuck it in a drawer, and refuse to post any photos.

But the urge to play with abstract design remains strong, and so here are some other experiments on my design wall. Should I sew them together? I notice in the photo that the block design is much more dynamic if I crop it so that the blocks do not form perfectly to the border. Interesting lesson….

After my failed design attempt, I was so mad at myself I saw red — literally. I threw this composition together in a couple of hours and it relieved some of my stress, but it looks like something someone else would do, so I don’t know whether it’s worth the time to finish it.

This composition is very small, but I like it for some reason. Mainly an accident it is. But Gabrielle’s got me thinking about doing small works — why do them? Why not. I guess for me the question is also, should I resist these urges to attempt abstract work and continue on a series of narrative pieces that I’ve been doing? Or should I keep exploring ideas I have for abstract patterns. I see them in my mind’s eye, but can’t seem to get them down in drawing much less fabric….

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No Two Flakes are Alike

December 8, 2005

So here’s sort of what I’ve been thinking about in the abstract department. Although it’s not exactly abstract, I have ideas for a series of pieces that are more pattern-based. Not so serious, kind of like “groovy decor for your home and office.” There are certain objects that appeal to me for some unknown reason - martini glasses, kokeshi dolls, bugs, and snowflakes. BTW, while looking for inspiration for snowflakes I found this fantastic site.

But I’m sort of bummed about the retro image lately. Today I picked up a magazine at Hancock Fabrics, and it was full of “retro” crafts, clothes, and fabric. Has it become that mainstream? If so I don’t want to do it anymore, I mean I thought I was different, but now seeing that magazine I’m having doubts.

I must be suffering some kind of artistic self-doubt. The drawing I did yesterday was indeed a prototype for a Christmas card, and Gabrielle pegged it immediately! Am I so transparent? Anyway, if you want one, send me your mailing address privately, and I’ll try to send you one when they’re ready.

I worked on the drawing and made changes. Now it looks more complete. It’s time to start another quilt if I’m going to stay on my one-quilt-a-month schedule, so do I do a Christmas one? It seems like it would be a hard one to exhibit because it’s so seasonal. Or do I work on my flakey design?

I need some PaMdora clones to help me get all this work done. Except I know better because I read the series where Calvin cloned himself, and the clones all took off and had all the fun and left Calvin with all the work he was trying to avoid. It was a classic Calvin and Hobbes episode. Boy do I miss them!

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Illustration Friday: Blue

December 7, 2005

On Monday we were installing Russ’s newest sculpture at the Washington University School of Medicine, so I haven’t had much time to post this week. But I wanted to get my Illustration Friday drawing done for Blue.

It was a little inspired by the below freezing weather we’ve had lately, but also a bit of Elvis’s song Blue Christmas….

I’ll have a Blue Christmas without you
I’ll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here with me

And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That’s when those blue memories start calling
You’ll be doin’ all right, with your Christmas of white
But I’ll have a blue, blue blue blue Christmas

I was also thinking about calling the drawing “No Two Flakes are Alike.”

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Finally!

December 1, 2005

Actually the Husqvarna machine that I won arrived at the dealer’s shop last week just before Thanksgiving. After a short demo, I found it was very nice and had a few buttons that I would love on my current machine. But it also duplicated many things that I don’t ever use, so I asked to trade it for the Viking Mega Quilter — bigger, faster, but straight stitch only.

I had to wait yet another week, but the mega quilter finally arrived yesterday, and I put it to work immediately to quilt the background on my current project. It’s a monster compared to what I’m used to — huge, heavy, and sews like crazy. I was estimating that the green background would take about four hours, but the mega quilter did it in little over an hour. Can’t wait to try some more! And for the quilting frame to come in — maybe not until January :(

In the meantime, this is a new record. I started this drawing for Illustration Friday on Friday night and finished the entire quilt before the next Friday theme was posted! I’ll put it on my website when I get better photos (does anyone else have trouble photographing lime greens?)

This is just a photo of the background with all the little stuff out of the way. If I had been thinking better, I wouldn’t have fused the long arm down before I started quilting the table.

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