ATC for Ruth Walters

Not the best photo ever, but I wanted to share this ATC made as a good-bye token for friend and fellow Fibervision member, Ruth Walters.  It is 2.5" x 3.5" and working at that size is a challenge!  I started with a piece of red hand-dyed fabric and printed from a Thermofax screen featuring art by Judy Coates Perez called Floribunda.  I then fused some greeny-yellow hand-dyed waves on to it and added some beads.

Ruth has moved to Santa Fe to be closer to her family as her health has become a challenge and she will certainly be missed.  She's a delightful woman and an extremely talented artist and it has been a pleasure and privilege to know her.  When I first moved to Santa Barbara in 1985, Ruth had a store in the downtown area that featured beautiful hand-made objects.  You could buy locally made art in price ranges from $10 to $5,000.  It was a wonderful store and, being mostly broke at the time, I loved that I could go there when it was time to buy a gift for some occasion and be sure to find something fantastic in my price range.  The quality and creativity of the merchandise was a direct reflection of Ruth's artist eye.

I didn't know Ruth then, but was fortunate to get to know her later in her fiber-arts years and have always been in awe of her talent.  I can remember several well-know art quilt teachers who would wander by her table during a workshop and make suggestions, not knowing that she had her own clear vision and would end up with a work that would blow the rest of us out of the water.

Happy trails, Ruth!  Your unique energy and talent will be missed around here.

Baby Quilt In Progress

A friend is having a new baby granddaughter and asked me to make a quilt for the little one.  I always enjoy making a quick trip around the world a la Blanche Young's Tradition With A Twist because it gets me rooting through my stash for those perfect six fabrics.  Usually I don't have quite the right combination of fabrics and end up buying two or three to add to my stash pieces, but this time I had all but one on hand.  I bought the gray-green with yellow and pink circles and am glad to have some left to add to my stash.  Here's the quilting in progress, I'll post a picture of the completed quilt soon.

Buddha Abides 2012

Today I was fortunate to have this piece, Everyday Kwan Yin II,  accepted in the annual Buddha Abides exhibit here in Santa Barbara.  As usual, I was working on this right up to the very last second and so failed to get a picture before the ingathering.  After this photo was taken I trimmed it to straighten it out some and put a binding on it.  

The center area is a paper collage that I backed with Wunder Under so that I could sew through it without the paper tearing and falling apart.  There is a tissue paper collage that is painted, stamped and drawn on, then I printed a photo of my piece Everyday Kwan Yin and fused that on to the tissue paper with more Wunder Under.  The whole thing was fused to a piece of hand-painted fabric and machine quilted.  Sequins and beads were added to represent some of the bright shiny objects that distract us on our paths to becoming an everyday Kwan Yin.

Times Flies

Today I was messing around with paint and pens and discovered that my thoughts about time seemed to be showing up on the paper.  Recently someone I know died way too young, I've been trying to catch up with a backlog at work, had to be on interminable hold taking care of unavoidable personal business, losing track of time while reading or watching television, enjoying relaxing, unstructured days off from work,  and pondering what I'd like to accomplish in the new year. Too little, too much, rarely does time seem just right to me lately.

PIQF 2011

Our fiber arts group, Fibervision, had an exhibition at Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California over this past weekend.  This is a picture of my piece, Filtered Light.  I took a picture in the redwood forest at the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz mountains last October when Jim and I were hiking in that area.  The quilt is meant to celebrate when the sun broke through the overcast and, as the light filtered through the trees and warmed them, allowed the release of the magnificent balsam odor which is a signature of redwood forests.  I am very pleased with this piece and overheard lots of positive feedback from viewers at the show.

New Views II

Today was the ingathering of the pieces that will be in Fibervision's latest exhibit, New Views II, at the Cabrillo Pavillion Arts Center beginning tomorrow. We've got 60 pieces, almost all of it new work waiting to make its debut. Hope you can join us this Thursday, September 29th, from 5:30 to 7:30pm for the artist's reception.

Progress on Baby Trips Around the World

Last month I posted a photo of the fabrics I am using to make this quilt for my grand-nephew. Today I spent a lazy Labor Day reading magazines, watching an old movie (Above Suspicion with Joan Crawford and Fred McMurray) and sewing a bit on this quilt. All the "blocks" are finished, it is just a matter of sewing them all to each other now and this is the first complete round. It is one busy quilt!

If I had to do it over again I think I would have paid more attention to the value changes and less attention to the prints on the fabric.