Passing Storm

"Passing Storm" - 25"x30" - 2004

The horizontal strips of hand dyed fabric and "dry" colors evoke a feeling of the southwest. The storm has passed and the sun in shining on the horizon. Storms are a welcome event in this part of our country. That there will be another sunny day is inevitable. This relfects my optimistic feelings about life ... rough times will be followed by good ones. Or, as my family has heard me say many times, "...and this too shall pass."Technique: Crinkle quilting.
Materials: hand dyed cotton fabric, cotton thread, acrylic paint, oil pastels, acrylic medium

This piece is available at MB Gallery in Chicago, Illinois.

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Turning Point

I had taken a week long workshop with Susan Shie at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, Tennessee back in 1997. Susan had brought for sale small acrylic paintings on fabric that she had made. I bought the cat that is the center of this piece because it looked just like "Snatch", the cat belonging to my son and his wife. Also, she had painted in stripes that looked just like the striped fabric I was working with in my main project for that workshop. There was no way to resist buying it.


I had fun using Susan's "relaxed" construction techniques (no cutting templates, and exposed raw edges) as well as embellishing it with big stitch embroidery and doodads. The spontaneity of making this piece around Susan's whimsical painting as well as being exposed to her work and influence for a week was a turning point for my developing style. Up until then I was most comfortable designing within a grid. I designated this piece as a collaboration between Susan and me.

"Snatch 'n Fish" - 12"x14" -1997
acrylic painting, hand-dyed & commercial fabrics, cotton floss, beads & stuff
In the collection of Kemper & Terra Durand - Evanston, Illinois

In the Spirit of Gee's Bend Quilts

There are three pieces in my Gee's Bend series that was inspired by the utilitarian quilts made by the ladies in that area of Alabama. I emphasized the irregular shapes and assymmetry that gave drama and energy to those quilts with curved piecing as well as through the distortion caused by my quilting technique.

"In the Spirit of Gee's Bend" - 26"x30" - 2005
Exhibited at 2005 Dogwood Arts Art Show (juried) - Knoxville, Tenn

The colors symbolize the aspects of these women's lives that I perceived by studying their quilts at the Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit as well as hearing and reading their stories. Blue denotes the freedom of their creativity. Orange stands for the joy in their singing and quilting together. Red signifies the intensity of their lives. Purple and black alludes to the harshness and sorrows they suffered.

"Magic Carpet" is the second of this series. Mystery, levitation, soaring ... be ready to take a flight of your imagination.

Magic Carpet - 16"x19" - 2005

The last one of this series is the "Spirit of Africa." The energy and essence of Africa radiates from within this piece.

The Spirit of Africa - 16"x19" - 2005

Technique: Made in the "crinkle quilting" technique I developed. It involves setting wrinkles into the surface fabric. This wrinkled fabric is layered with batting and flat backing fabric. Hand-quilting between the wrinkles with two-ply strands of cotton floss creates the "crinkled" texture. The threads that frame the piece are the beginning and ends of my stitching lines. Paint and oil pastels are applied to emphasize, mask, or accent elements within the compostion. An acrylic matt medium is appied as a finish to protect the quilted surface.

Material: Cotton fabric, marbled fabric, cotton thread, paint, oil pastels, acrylic medium

All three framed pieces will be exhibited next week at the "Festival of Quilts 2006" - Folklife Museum here in Farragut, Tennessee as part of a special exhibit, "Nellie's Needles" (comprised of 21 quilts).

Into the Light

"Into the Light" - 38"x44" - 2001

Description: A visual interpretation of gaining wisdom through the various stages of life ... from unenlightened childhood to enriched maturity. (Although, my son Brian upon hearing my title asked, "Why don't you just call it Bug Zapper?")

Technique: Hand embroidery, hand and machine applique, trapunto, machine quilting, marbling

Materials: Cotton and silk fabric; cotton, polyester, metallic and mono-filament threads; fabric paint, army blanket for batting

Exhibitions:
2001 - Dogwood Arts Quilt Show & Competition - Knoxville, Tenn
awarded 1st Place
awarded Excellence in Machine Workmanship
2002 - "Patchwork Pleasures", Folklife Museum - Farragut, Tenn
2003 - "Sew Near to My Heart Quilt Show" - Cincinnati, Ohio
2006 - "Festival of Quilts 2006" - Folklife Museum - Farragut, Tenn
Special exhibit, "Nellie's Needles" comprised of 21 quilts

Purchased for Private Collection in Evanston, Illinois

Beyond the Rainbow

After my mother and several friends lived through the experience of breast cancer, this piece evolved to reflect how their diseased breast(s) affected their lives. A cancerous breast becomes detached, or isolated, from "normal" life. It is the main focus in the center of an out of kilter personal universe. All that is happening to the treated breast is reflected not only in the life of a woman but in those who love her.

"Beyond the Rainbow" - 31"x25"- 1998

Technique: Hand-quilted, hand applique, hand embroidery and needle lace, machine pieced.

Materials: silk fabric; hand-dyed, upholstery & commercial cotton fabrics; acrylic paint; beads; mono-filiment, metallic, and cotton thread; polyester batting

Exhibitions:
1998 - Dogwood Arts Quilt Show - Knoxville, Tenn. - awarded 1st Place
- "Scattered Pieces and Gathered Treasures" - Holland Arts Council Museum- Holland Michigan.
2000 - "The Millenium Art Show" - Knoxville, Tenn.
2003 - "Sew Near To My Heart Quilt Show" - Cincinnati, Ohio - Amercian Cancer Society Special Exhibit
2006 - "Festival of Quilts 2006" - Folklife Museum - Farragut, Tenn
Special exhibit, "Nellie's Needles" comprised of 21 quilts

This piece is for sale - $1600

Quilt of the Day

Beginning with today, I've decided to do a daily posting of a photo of one of my quilts rather than post nothing at all. I'll try to find the time to include a comment.

Since last fall, it's seemed like I live my life meeting deadlines. Right now it's finishing up this quilt for the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild challenge for 2006.

"Warm and Fuzzy" 36"x48" (click on photo to enlarge - click again to see details)
Fuzzy chenille yarns are couched around each heart as well as the borders. Lots of machine quilting adds texture, too. Plus the images within the center hearts are things that can make a child feel warm and fuzzy inside.

It's due at this month's meeting which is tomorrow night. The theme for this year is "hearts". All submitted quilts will be donated to the Saving Little Hearts organization at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Some will be given to children undergoing heart transplants and major heart surgery. Others will be auctioned at one of their fund-raisers. Eight quilts will be selected by an "outside" judge to comprise our guild's entry to the American Quilt Society (AQS) show in Nashville next August. Last year our guild was awarded the grand prize (link to photos and blog) at that show.

Dogwood Arts Quilt Show

The Dogwood Arts Quilt Show is just about the only competition that I enter. It's a judged show with cash awards held here in Knoxville. It draws really good quilt entries from all over the country as well as many local ones. For me, this show serves as a way to share quilts beyond my circle of friends and family. It's also a personal measuring stick to see how my work stands ... that I've still got "it". Here are my three entries.

"Imelda's Dream" ( 70"x7o") - Awarded an Honorable Mention
Each shoe in its "lit" display cube is a translation of a heel designed by Christian Louboutin, a Parisian shoe designer. He paints all the soles of his shoes red. The glow of the lights is achieved with oil pastels. I had great fun designing and constructing the shoes two years ago. Last spring they got names and boxes. Giving them all a venue took just about every moment of studio time since I got back from Michigan. It's contructed with my collage technique of layering all the elements under tulle netting. The machine quilting holds everything in place. This may just be my last large machine quilted piece. It was a real struggle wrestling this much quilt through the sewing machine.

I'm very pleased that "Imelda's Dream" also received the "Just For Fun" special award.

"Regeneration" (60"x34") - Awarded Honorable Mention
I was inspired to make this tryptic when Lee and I hiked through an area that had burned ten years earlier in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I had a strong emotional reaction to the tender new growth under the still standing burned trees. It was a glorious early summer day under a clear blue sky. There were flowers blooming everywhere among the new growth trees. I couldn't help but think of how perceived destruction is often necessary for regeneration. A prominent example being chemotherapy.

I want to express my appreciation to Kate Cox who intoduced me to the technique I learned in her "Fabric Landscapes" workshop. It was pefect for expressing the feelings evoked that most memorable day.

"Dancing Squares" (86"x86") - Awarded Honorable Mention
All kinds of squares joyously dance through this quilt. The design evolved through a "round robin" design exercise with my daughter-in-law, Jeanette Jancius Durand, and niece-in-law, Diane Cross Durand. We had each designed and made the center panel for a quilt. Then we swapped those and added to it. The challenge was to make the addition unique and to have it work with what was already there. At the end we each had a large piece that the three of us had contributed to. I continued adding onto mine to make this bedsized quilt.

This quilt is the first of the wedding presents I intend to make for my grandchildren. I can easily handle machine pieceing and hand-quilting large pieces. Since I want to hand-quilt these, I thought I'd better get started even though the oldest are only seven years old (the 3 boys were four when this one was begun). I can-hand quilt anywhere...the cottage, the beach, the mountains, in the car.....

Thank you for visiting my show quilts. I hope that you clicked on each photo to enlarge it and then clicked again to see details. To view the rest of the winning quilts in the Dogwood Arts 2006 Quilt Show go the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild website.