Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2018 i Quilting Arts Magazine

NEARLY EVERY ARTIST I KNOW HAS ONE THING IN COMMON— THEY ALL SHARE A PASSION FOR COLLECTIONS. There is something soothing about grouping common things together, making sense of chaos by creating order where it didn’t exist before. The acts of compiling, sorting, arranging, displaying, and eventually disassembling a collection are, indeed, acts of creation. Our collections reflect our interests, confirm our insecurities, shed light on our values, and add context to the narrative of our lives. And we are not alone in this trait. After all, bowerbirds, magpies, and crows are known for collecting things of beauty. Many art quilters have collections distinctive to our craft: we amass fabrics, buttons, beads, and threads. We buy paints, brushes, dyes, and stamps. We find unique embellishments wherever we go. Once, on…

• Avoid holes. Don’t pin the mixed-media elements. Use basting spray to hold the pieces in place. • Needles used to sew on paper become dull very quickly. Save needles that are too dull for quilting and use them for sewing on paper. Mark and use a separate pincushion to keep them from your regular needles. • Plan carefully where you want to stitch. Paper is not as forgiving as fabric; once you pierce the paper with a needle, that mark is permanent. • Choose a sturdy cotton thread for sewing the mixed-media elements in place. A thread that is too thin will cut the light mixed-media sheet and disappear between the layers. Use the smallest needle possible for this thread in your machine. • When sewing by hand and…

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the International Space Station. Through the exploration and research of this station and other initiatives, we have started to answer some of the most pervasive questions—is there life on Mars? How big is the universe? Space—still a great mystery in many ways—continues to fascinate and inform the masses. Last year, more people watched the solar eclipse than the Super Bowl! What’s out there? What do we seek as we probe, test, and watch? Use fiber to explore the mysteries—and discoveries!—of space. Join fellow QUILTING ARTS readers and create an art quilt based on the theme, “3-2-1-Blastoff!” Share your quilt with us and we’ll publish a sampling of readers’ artwork in the October/November issue. Rules 1. Create an art quilt based…

I EAGERLY ANTICIPATE the arrival of spring in Pennsylvania, looking for the first pale palette of white, pink, lavender, and mists of spring green to replace the gray tones of winter. When I enter a fabric store piled high with brightly colored bolts I feel the same glow of excitement that I experience in the garden in the spring. The flowers of the wild dogwoods in the forest hover like white butterflies over delicate oriental bare branches and the redbud trees turn purple with tiny flowers like unshaven stubble on the bark. Daffodils burst from frozen earth, the fruit trees and magnolias unfurl their petals, and then the weeping cherry blossoms fall like waterfalls and scatter their confetti petals everywhere, blanketing ponds and paving stones alike. The cicadas and frogs…

DEAR QUILTING ARTS, I realized I have subscribed to QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE for nine years! You have chosen two of my Reader Challenge quilts to include in your magazine. My brain is spinning and working on the next challenge. Thanks for a magazine that inspires me to experiment with everything! Cindy Garris, Waxahachie, Texas. Dear Editorial Team, Thank you so much for your conviction that art plays an important role in freedom of speech and political activism. Quilts never exist outside of a cultural context. Thank you for featuring quilts inspired by current cultural and human rights concerns. Andrea Caswell, Newburyport, Massachusetts. We love to hear from you, our readers. What are you working on now? How has Quilting Arts inspired or educated you? What new techniques or influences are…

Q: Your pieces seem to have a signature style, using coordinating colors in both the improv blocks and the background negative space. Tell us a few of your favorite color recipes. A: It’s hard to pick a favorite! Sometimes it depends on the season—or how I am feeling on a particular day. Purples and greens are always fun to work with—they tend to be cool colors, but you can get a spark using a different value in moderation, like lime green. Recently, I have had fun working with warm colors like reds, oranges, and yellows, with a hint of cinnamon brown for contrast. Q: Saving scraps is something most quilters do. Is any scrap too small? How do you organize your scraps so you can easily work with a specific…

in the October/November issue we asked you to create quilts with the theme, ‘Role Models.’ Diligently, you stitched your heroes and pieced your mentors. We were motivated by the wide array of people who have encouraged you and your work along your journey. Stimulated by the diverse intereptation of this challenge, we chose some uplifting finalists. We are pleased to present these star-studded quilts. We hope you enjoy this gallery of our readers’ work. “My Mentor” JULIENNE JAWORSKI CARSONVILLE, MICHIGAN “One of my earliest art heroes is Georgia O’Keeffe. The simplicity of her art has been a major inspiration in my development. I’ve included her painting ‘Red Poppy,’ her portrait, and her name in my quilt. I strove for her simplicity.” “Courage” ANN RAMSEY • PRESCOTT, ARIZONA “Maya Angelou, you…

Cindy Grisdela is an award-winning fiber artist with over 30 years of experience creating eye-catching quilts. She specializes in improvisational quilt designs and dense free-motion quilting. She travels extensively showing her work, giving lectures, and teaching workshops. Cindy is the author of ARTFUL IMPROV: EXPLORE COLOR RECIPES, BUILDING BLOCKS & FREE MOTION STITCHING. She lives in Reston, Virginia. cindygrisdela.com Judith Karabelnik is a ribbon-winning art quilter who documents her family, garden, and the world around her in her art quilts. She spends the summers in rural Pennsylvania, and winters in California. She has degrees in chemistry and pharmacy, yet is happiest dabbling in the arts and found her medium in fabric art quilts. The emotions she wishes to convey in her work are joy, peace, and warmth. Susan Brubaker Knapp…

• Protect the foil with parchment paper when applying heat to maintain the brilliant metallic finish. • Save your scraps. Keep all the leftover foil pieces for future projects, even small bits are useful! • Use “open” stencils. When using foil with magazine clippings, look for simple stencil designs that don’t cover all the background lettering or designs. This will allow the text with different fonts and different colored images to peek through the shine. • Plan for success. Always do a test sample when using an iron, as different brands and age influence the heat each iron produces.…

‘Word’ is the fourth series from the international fiber art group, Viewpoints 9. Now entering their seventh year collaborating on a virtual artistic journey, artists consider a single word prompt for inspiration in our bimonthly challenges. Selections from the Home, Migrant, and Serenity challenges premiered at the International Quilt Festival, Houston, in 2017. Each word is interpreted into a quilt, revealing bits of the artists’ stories and feelings, an exploration of new techniques and materials, or a recognizable motif from the artist’s own voice. Hung side by side and all measuring 18" × 36", the works from a single prompt are always intriguing. Often the work of a particular artist is evident, but on occasion there are striking similarities in the work. Despite language and culture, experience and interests, we…

“When composing a quilt I rarely adhere to a set plan, relying instead on improvisation. Reminiscent of color field painting, I begin my work with a feeling, place, or theme.” In my work, I create what I call a “scaffolding” of fabric, piecing, and quilting that allows me to reference many ideas on a single plane and adds meaning to each quilt. The raw materials are textiles from domestic culture, fashion, family heirlooms, and scavenged prints. I integrate them with fabrics that I have embroidered, stained, dyed, or designed. These materials are pieced together to create the main imagery of the quilt, like a collage. This cloth is then beset with hand stitches, evocative of the slow process involved in construction, and functioning as a layer of “drawing” on the…

Both fresh and dried plants work. I live near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and most of these grow nearby but I get some from the florist. This list is for the leaves plus any other plant parts noted. Make sure that plants from the florist have not been dyed. Golden rod flowersMaple keysBirchGrape vines and grapesDay lily flowersWalnut pods ChestnutCatalpa podsSumac seedsEucalyptus seedsPlumStrawberry roots and runners Raspberry fruitHibiscus flowersFernsSageCorkscrew hazelQueen Anne’s laceBeets (vegetable) Purple cabbage (vegetable)Onion skinsCoral bellSeaweedOak leavesTea…

• Photograph your bundles before wrapping so you have a record of the materials you used. • Wrap all bundles as tightly as possible. Wrapping ensures good contact between the rust and the fabric. • If the fabrics dry out before the rust has fully transferred, soak them again in the vinegar and water solution. • Rust stains can be removed from your iron. Clean your cool iron with a damp, soft cloth and a bit of household cleansing powder if needed. • Rust dyeing is great on its own, but can be enhanced by combining the process with botanical plant dyeing. • Dried plants can be reconstituted— soak or spritz with water. • You can also cover your flat fabric/ plants with iron or alum “blankets” (fabrics presoaked in…

I dabble in many materials and techniques; my curiosity takes me in lots of different directions, and I find it productive to allow myself to play and experiment. As a result, I end up with lots of bits and pieces of stuff that are lovely, but I don’t quite know what to do with them. I’ve recently discovered that this detritus can find a home—in mixed-media fiber art pieces. “The Source of Her Power,” and “Magpie’s Hoard” are examples of recycling my studio leftovers. Most of these pieces start with a base of bright, hand-dyed and batik cotton fabrics sewn together—sometimes in a tidy grid, and sometimes rather haphazardly. Then, I dump out my studio leftovers on my workspace and start positioning them on the surface until I come to…