Paint on Fabric? Sure!

You don't have to color inside the lines for this quilt/fabric art exhibit that "Celebrates Elders". Janice just called me and asked if she could use paint on fabric and the answer is yes!

There are SO many new ways to work with fabric these days! Paint, crayons, pastels, dyes... People stamp on fabric, use bleach to get reverse images, over dye... In a recent Quilting Arts magazine one fabric artist talked about how to put old, wet metal in fabric and let it rust to “print” an image on the fabric.

There are so many different threads these days! Metallics, variegated colors…you can thread paint, sew yarns onto fabric, embellish with beads, found objects like beach glass nested in a knot of threads or string…

Don’t forget that people use iron on photos—most craft and fabric stores have photo transfer paper.

And even the most basic traditional methods (piecing and hand quilting) have a timeless beauty all their own.

Next week I’m meeting with Tessa to review ribbon embroidery which gives color and dimension to pieces. She’s using it on a crazy quilt she’s doing. Ribbon embroidery is a common embellishment on crazy quilts but I’ve seen it on shirts and jeans and very small fabric art pieces to fill on space with color on color.

So paint on fabric? Yes! Color outside the lines. You have permission.

Need Help?

We're re-doing our kitchen, had a wonderful (but time away from quilting) weekend touring the crown of the Statue of Liberty, had a nice night in Easton, MA watching our son perform at a basketball game...so much gets in the way of completing the piece for "Celebrate Elders" but I know it will get done in time. I got a call from one quilter who is stuck. She needs a tutorial on silk ribbon embroidery. I'm glad to help! If you or your group needs help or advice on a technique to complete your piece for our exhibit. Give me a call. If I don't know how to do what you need I'm sure I can find someone who does.

In the meantime my piece is getting sat on by cats in our house. This weekend I hope to get back to it. I decided to use a photo of "the old country" from a book I have. I'm also going to do another wallhanging for auction. I think I'll do Grandma's Fan--a traditional design.

So much to do, so little time, but it all gets done doesn't it!?

Thanks for your efforts and let me know where you are in the process.

Paper Piecing Project

Irena Pydych, of Irena’s Workshop in Turners Falls, is working on a piece in memory of her mother, the late Helen Warchol. Irena's piece is several paper pieced mariner’s compass blocks that you see in the photo and then more appliqué will follow. Set in a starry might sky it is beautifully accented with silver in the compass and sky.

Paper pieced, crazy patch, free motion thread painting... You options are limitless! If you haven’t started your piece to “Celebrate Elders” there’s still time. If you have a previously done piece that celebrates an elder in your life YES!! You can submit it!

We’re looking for enough quilts to have a solid exhibit in 5 locations. If we get less we’ll have a travelling exhibit. Viewer’s choice at each location will win $100.

This has been a full week for me and the weekend is even more so. My piece sits on the dining room table where I sew and my cats sit on it (In our house they are called “The Quilt Testers”). Even when I’m not actively working on the piece I’m thinking about it—between meetings, while I drive in the car, as I wash dishes or start another load of laundry. When I have time to put my hands to fabric again I’ll really make progress!

Previously Made Pieces are OK

I got a call from Connie in Greenfield. She had made a quilted wall hanging in honor of her mother some years back. "Is that OK to submit?" she asked. YES! As long as it's close to the required dimensions--we may be able to take ones that are a bit bigger if space allows. Scroll to the Jan 7 entry and print out your registration form and a poster. Thanks for helping us get the word out!

This weekend I pulled out old issues of Quilt Arts magazine and started some thread painting. My quilt revolves around a story my Oma used to tell me when I was little. An immigrant from Estonia, she and my mom (her daughter) taught me all I know about handwork. I remember many nights sitting by my Oma's knee in her room listening to her stories. Later in my life I heard from my mom how difficult and treacherous life in Estonia had been for them especially as WWII escalated. But the stories Oma shared with me involve her home and her day to day life. She was remembering life in the late 1800s and early 1900s which as you'd expect involved trade and barter. She raised spectacular chickens and the birds and their eggs got her what she and her family needed. Look for chickens and eggs and the flower garden she painted for me through memories in my piece.

Tessa's piece is old and new

Tessa White-Diemand is new to quilting but a quick study. She's enjoyed making small projects on her own and made a square for the 2009 quilt raffled to benefit Meals on Wheels. She made a paper-pieced house for that quilt. It was her first time paper-piecing and she did a wonderful job!

In her piece for the "Celebrate Elders" exhibit Tessa brings her grandma's fabrics and the traditional crazy quilt design together with her new skills. The embellishments will add to her creative arsenal.

"I got this idea from my aunt who was making blocks using crazy quilting during a regular class we attend taught by Carol Barnes in Turners Falls. Each block contains at least one piece of clothing from my late grandmother, Elsie Diemand. When picking other fabrics to use for the project, I focused on ones that reminded me of her in some way. My final project will be a wall hanging with various embroidery and embellishments. Learning this new technique has taught me to be more flexible in my quilting projects and to trust that the final design will flow together," Tessa said in a recent email.

Whether we submit pieces to a show or just create things of beauty for ourselves, friends or family, we celebrate someone that went before us. Elders and what they give us or leave behind provide a firm foundation for us to grow.

The Jan 7 blog entry has registration forms and more info about our upcoming exhibit. We'd love to have your work be part of it!

An aside: The Textile Company on Power Square in Greenfield is having their annual sale from Jan 10 to the end of the month. 20% off makes being creative that much easier!

When Marjorie Reid of Greenfield was a beginning quilter, she signed up for a workshop. When she got there she realized she was over her head.

"It was for pros and I had just started. The instructor didn’t seem to have time for me,” she said.

Phyllis, an older woman in the workshop and experienced quilter, took time for Marjorie. They made a connection that lasted beyond the workshop. Phyllis’ patience and her understanding of the joy of fabric allowed her to help Marjorie move forward, not get left behind.

“When she got back to her home in Pennsylvania she designed a wall hanging and sent me the pattern. It was a “challenge” piece--we were both going to do one in our own fabrics and share with one another,” said Marjorie.

Phyllis loved curves and you can tell in the piece Marjorie will share in the Celebrating Elders Quilt Exhibit. Marjorie did it by hand to get the curves just right.

Phyllis finished her piece and they shared their results but shortly after Phyllis died unexpectedly.

Marjorie has gone on to develop and refine her quilting skills. The piece Phyllis designed hangs in Marjorie’s south facing sewing room that looks over what once were farm fields in north Greenfield. Recently for her eightieth birthday Marjorie’s children and grandchildren (who can her Giba) took photos of all the quilts she’d made for them and put them in a book. It’s a celebration of a quilter whose skills go down in time.

Who has contributed to your love of fabric and handwork? Don't you think it's time to celebrate them?

Claiming Your Space

All the holiday decorations have been put away and I've finally got my "sewing room" back! It's really our dining room but I learned to sew on the dining room table of my childhood home and I like traditions.

Have you claimed your work space and some time for yourself now that the holidays are over? I'm hoping you're working on your "Celebrate Elders" piece for our upcoming exhibit (Scroll down to the Jan. 7 blog entry where you'll find a registration form and display dates).

The piece I'll submit to the exhibit has fallen out of my head and onto the dining room table--it is a pattern and sketches now. I'm celebrating my Oma (my mother's mother), an Estonian immigrant who lived with us. I learned to sew sitting at Oma's knee. She told me stories and did handwork while I fumbled through the basics: hand sewing (for hemming, buttonholes, darning...), embroidery (for pure fun--I put this on my Levis when I was in middle school), knitting (which no one was doing then--it made me feel quite "ethnic" but I still did it and loved it) and crochet (which was "hot" in middle school because we had a lot of Jamaican girls who did glorious doilies with variegated thread). When I needed a break from all my handwork, I'd paw through Oma's button box--each button had a story all its own that she was glad to tell. I'll share my work-in-progress later this week.

In the meantime, other quilters have work ready or in process. Tessa White-Diemand, Marjorie Reid and Irena Pydych have gotten the blog started. Check the blog in the next day or so to see their work. It might inspire you! Send me your work! I'll post it so it might inspire others!

A Notion to Quilt in Shelburne will be a display site. They have also made this theme a shop challenge. Check them out at www.anotiontoquilt.com.