Quilts

Inspiration. . . and a Giveaway!

August 7, 2014August 7, 2014 Elizabeth E.24 Comments

In the book I just finished reading, Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, he writes that “Nothing is original.” He quotes Jonathan Lethem who notes that “when people call something ‘original,’ nine out of ten times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved.” And in our quilt world, I see this all the time manifest in the copyright squabbles, the this-is-my-original-pattern-syndrome and it’s only a variation of a log cabin, the insistence by some in the modern quilt movement that they dreamed it all up — this modernist stuff, without any regard for where the idea first surfaced. . . and then resurfaced. When I see this stunning quilt by Nancy Crow, made when many young quilters’ parents had not even started dating, I think, as did Kleon when he quoted the Bible, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

But Kleon goes on to say that this idea fills him with hope, rather than despair: “As the French writer Andre Gide put it, ‘Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” Kleon encourages us to note where our influences come from. I say, if you don’t know about some of the earlier quilters, try heading to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum and browse for a while. Take a look at these early masters and be inspired.

To inspire you, I’m giving away a copy of Austin Kleon’s book, a small little treasure, perfect for some end-of-summer reading. To win a copy, leave me a comment below and include a source of inspiration, whether it be another quilter, a photograph, an image, nature or something else–something or someone that provokes or triggers your spark of creativity. Rather than just saying “nature,” or “Michael James,” try to be specific, such as “the moment the sun drops to the horizon” or “Michael James’ ‘Aurora’ in his early work” so that we can learn from each other.

I’ll announce the winner on my next post, and send you a gift card from Amazon so you can order it yourself; for this reason, it will work for international as well as domestic. Have fun, everyone! This post will close on Saturday morning.

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Quilts

Quilts and Stitching in Art

June 21, 2014June 3, 2014 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

Okay, I had a fun time in Washington, DC this spring once I realized I could play I Spy and look for quilts. I think this is a good game that I should keep playing, and if you have a picture of a quilt in art — whether it be in a painting or a photograph in a museum — send it over and when I get a slew, I’ll do a post.

Okay, this isn’t technically quilting, but it’s stitching. This is a detail of Mending, by Isabel Bishop and hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. She writes “I have noticed regular denizens of [Union] Square [in New York City] who, sitting on the benches or on the fountain, easting, sewing or rearranging their worldly good in paper bundles, seem to be leading the most private of lives, entirely oblivious to the public character of the place. The not-beautiful forms of the fountain seem. . . to make a throne for the old man sewing his trousers; he is billowing old overcoat [becomes] a robe.”

This is a needlepoint stitchery in the gallery of the Washington National Cathedral that honors the 100 Most Famous Americans, all who have a red needlepoint pillow on a chair. Of course I was drawn to this one, honoring Elias Howe, inventor of the modern-day sewing machine. We ALL owe him a debt.

Sondra Freckelton’s Harvest is one of her still lives that capture “the quiet beauty of domestic, often feminized objects — quilts, garden implements, house wares, and fresh produce gathered from her own garden in the . . . Catskill Mountains.” I don’t know about you, but I was interested that a Smithsonian label-writer plopped in that phrase of “domestic, often feminized objects” when discussing Freckelton’s watercolor. Don’t tell our male quilters this.

And I knew she wasn’t herself a quilter, for who of us would plop down vegetables on top of this gorgeous appliqué quilt?

Mary Fletcher was born in 1940 and died in 1922, but her fine hand-pieced hexie silk quilt now resides in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. We are all jealous!

I decided she had an amazing scrap bag to have so many beautiful silks to work with.

And lastly, Honore Sharrer’s Tribute to the American Working People, who employed the polyptych format of medieval paintings to pay homage to the working people of America.

And here’s the quilt–in the upper left panel: a lovely scalloped Dresden Plate.

Grand Central Terminal Contest Quilts

March 8, 2014 Elizabeth E.4 Comments

The winners of the Grand Central Terminal Quilt Contest have been announced by New York City’s fabulous quilt shop: The City Quilter. This contest was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Grand Central Station, an amazing place with a beautiful entrance hall. After the glorious Penn Station in New York was sacrificed/torn down, a group of concerned citizens in the 1960s banded together to save Grand Central Station from an equally horrific end, and succeeded. It’s one of my favorite places in New York City, and I always stop there when I visit, as well as to pick up something good to eat from Zabar’s in one of the market places there.

Time Flies, But We Take the Train by Amy Krasnansky

This was the Grand Prize Winner, incorporating elements of the physical building, plus some commemorative fabric from City Quilter. They have created a Flickr page *here* where you can see more of the quilts.

Chasms 16: Under the Stars by Beth Carney

Here’s another favorite, with the tracks and trains snaking through the complete image. We recently watched the PBS documentary on the tearing down of Penn Station, which also included the history of how they built the train tunnels under the water to connect the mainland with New York City and Long Island. What a beautiful place Penn Station was, and how lucky we are to have Grand Central Station!

Jewel of New York by Cheryl Kosarek

Quilts · WIP

WIP, RP, BB Can’t You See?

March 5, 2014November 25, 2014 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

That’s Works in Progress, Rainbow Petals, Bee Blocks, can’t you see? I just liked the rhythm of it all, especially after the previous post, with Emily Dickinson, a reclusive but prolific American poet, writing about her sewing. And yes, that video was of my granddaughter, taking her first stitches.

So the Work in Progress is my Rainbow Petals quilt. This is a rainy-day-late-at-night photo, and we all know how those turn out, but if this looks familiar, that’s because it is. (Check your iPhone.) I first thought of this last summer, when — in bed recuperating from foot surgery — I watched the Apple Keynote talk about their new iOS7, and this logo kept flashing on the screen. I took a screen shot of it and tucked it away. I went to the Long Beach Quilt Show (final year) and bought sixteen different half yards in the Kona colors I thought would match, holding up my screen shot to double check the colors. My friend Leisa and I arranged them at dinner that night, numbering the labels so I wouldn’t mix them up. I’ve since seen another quilter try her hand at this. I had thought to piece it, but now I think I’ll appliqué it by hand.

I’m still thinking over those dark middle petals. While they “read” as black, they are actually forest green.

I also finished a first set of churn dash blocks for my Mid-Century Modern Quilt Bee and sent them off. I kept thinking about them, unhappy with how they had turned out.

So I made another set. I am one of those quilters who have ironed seams so long to the side, that I’m not very happy with my results when I have to iron seams open. If the block is too small, and the seams are pressed to the side, I just take a bigger seam and press again. But if the seams are pressed open, then it’s unpick, resew, re-press. As I mentioned on our Mid-Century Bee blog, I’m just Open-Quilt-Seam-Challenged.

Cindy, also from the Mid-Century Modern Bee, wanted a spiderweb block, with a low-volume (muted) text center and solid strips for the web. A great idea!

For March in my Always Bee Learning Bee, Marci wanted two Modern Maples blocks.

And yep. I did it. I joined the Modern Quilt Guild as an Individual Member because my closest guild was MILES away, across the great wide scorching plains of Los Angeles Traffic — or Orange County Traffic — and I wasn’t able to attend their meetings. Maybe in summertime?