Innholdsfortegnelse for December - January 2019 i Quilting Arts Magazine

WHAT IS YOUR ARTISTIC LEGACY? That’s a heady question. The older I get and the more experienced I become with my craft, the less sure I feel about the answer. Like many art quilters, I began my quilting journey making practical quilts for my family, but quickly found that fiber art was much more meaningful and satisfying to create. I traded bed quilts for art quilts, and precision piecing for personal exploration. Many of the artists whose work is featured in this issue share that history. Others came to working with fabric and thread as a natural progression from fine art, painting, printmaking, or drawing. Whatever the provenance, their quilts speak volumes. Jane LaFazio’s legacy includes creating beautiful quilts inspired by travel (p. 10) and cultural experiences. Her recent trip…

I have always loved to travel. When I was a teenager, I looked for jobs that would take me to new places, such as Yellowstone and then Denali National Park to work. I couldn’t afford to just go, but if I had a job in the location, I could get there. I enjoy traveling because of the newness. I love discovering and learning new things. New locations, museums, food, and people give me a thrill. I love a life of variety—in what I see and what I do. Along with that thrill of discovery are the new colors, patterns, architecture, and landscapes. Maybe I’ll see a combination of colors that I’ve never seen together, or a simply gorgeous tile pattern based on corn. Landscapes of rolling hills and vineyards inspire…

CHECKERBOARD CHICK Batiks have taken on a life of their own lately, and Checkerboard Chick holds its own. Precise squares stamped row after row make up this intricate collection. The use of negative space adds a lot of movement to the prints, and the colorways are bright and inviting. Dive into this fresh batik with these fascinating fabrics. anthologyfabrics.com MARK TO MAKE MALKA DUBRAWSKY Malka Dubrawsky’s new line of fabric celebrates her personal style and color sensibility. Based on her own hand-dyed and printed fabrics, this collection now makes these designs available to a wider audience. signature bold colors and graphic printing bring the hand of the maker to commercial fabric in a seamless partnership. Malka melds traditional batik techniques and recognizable patterning into the modern sphere and offers intriguing…

you may be surprised to learn that the term “art quilt” did not exist until 1983. As Robert Shaw explained in his 1997 book THE ART QUILT, “Soon after launching THE QUILT DIGEST, [Michael] Kile teamed with curator and writer Penny McMorris to organize The Art Quilt, a [1983] traveling exhibition of brand new works by sixteen artists they considered trailblazers in the field … the catalogue declared, ‘The art quilt has emerged, and it heralds a dramatic and fundamental change in the history of quilts. It is art for walls, not beds, created by artists abandoning media like painting, printmaking, and ceramics to express themselves in original designs of cloth and thread.’” New techniques, processes, and motifs While many quilt artists continued to use commercially printed fabrics in their…

What are we looking for? • Artists with inspiring portfolios of work to be featured in our In The Spotlight, Artist Profile, Open Studio, and Q&A articles. Show us your work and tell us your story. • Unique techniques, new ways to use existing tools and supplies, and ideas we’ve never featured before. • If you are teaching, blogging, or exhibiting your art quilts, you probably have great ideas to share! How to submit • Write a brief description of your idea and email it to qasubmissions@fwmedia.com. Your submission should give us an overview of what you are proposing to write with enough detail and supporting information for us to carefully consider your idea. • Attach up to three low-resolution jpg photos of your art or process to your email,…

I love working with gel plate printing—and often print directly on fabric. These panels find their way into small art quilts or larger functional quilts. But, as a mixed-media artist, I also love to print on paper. With a passion for text, I love to get words into my work so I often print on old book pages. When I found my dad’s beginning Chinese textbook from 1956, I knew those pages (with the foreign text that I love!) would find their way into my prints. Even the angst-ridden pages of my youthful journals could be torn up and printed. One of the things that was missing for me in the print-to-fabric process was the ability to have that printed text I love so much appear on my fabric. So…

Ah, the love we have for our quilting tools! In the June/July issue, we asked you, our well-stocked readers, to make a quilt reflecting the theme, ‘I’ve Got a Notion.’ We received love letters to pins, zippers, embroidery tools, and sewing machines—in quilt form of course! It was hard to choose from all of the well-thought out and witty entries, but we are pleased and proud to share this gallery of our readers’ work. We hope you enjoy the following pages of original art. “Some of My Favorite Things” JANICE BOIDUK • BROOKDALE, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA “Upon entering my sewing studio, the first thing people notice are the items I use each time I sit down at my work table. Scissors, buttons, thimbles, and thread sit next to a porcelain…

wool dryer balls—made to help laundry tumble dry faster and softer, and to reduce wrinkles without the use of chemical additives from fabric softeners—also offer many creative possibilities. They make terrific pincushions! To make them cuter to display in my sewing studio, I added succulents made from wool felt, stitched to a base of moss made from wool felt and wool roving. A touch of fabric paint gives the succulents more color and depth. MATERIALS • Felted dryer balls (I used Wooly Felted Wonders dryer balls.) • Wool felt in shades of blues and greens (for succulents and base of moss) • Fluid textile paint in green and blue (I used Jacquard® Dye-na-Flow®.) • Wool roving in shades of green (for moss) • Heavy cotton thread (such as hand quilting…

• Zippered handbag with a separate zippered pouch. Make sure your journal fits comfortably in your handbag. In the smaller pouch slip a small watercolor palette, a roll of pencils, pens, and brushes.• Glue stick. Use it for attaching ticket stubs, business cards, and other ephemera into your journal.• Folding travel scissors. These are perfect for trimming the small paper items.• Washi tape. Bring a couple of rolls in the appropriate colors or designs for the trip. I bought some with Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” printed on it for a recent trip to Amsterdam.• Colored pencils. A small kit of your favorite colors can be used to fine-tune the pages.• Folded campstool. Mine weighs less than five pounds and comes in handy if benches or a café are not available.•…

Dorothy Straughter’s quilts do not have a traditional backing. She pairs quilts together back to back, so In essence, they have two “fronts.” When asked how she determines which two ideas to marry to make the single quilt, she replied, “I choose them by their likeness in context or at times for their exact opposite meaning. I let the history guide the rationale. The thoughts or expressions in each quilt reflect against each other.”…

over the years I have created many series of work. Some are based on specific images that speak to me; others are based on poems or prayers. Working in a series allows me to more fully explore a particular concept or image. Sometimes you might not realize that you are working in series. If you find that there is a recurring image or theme that you respond to, then you are on your way to creating a group of related images, i.e., a series. Hands form the basis for one of my series. I traced my hand and those of family members as the starting point for the design. In the beginning, I kept the images life-size, but then started enlarging the size of the hand as the design work…

It is impossible to ignore how technology is changing our daily lives, but have you wondered how these developments might be changing the fabric you buy? In the textile industry, a massive revolution is occurring that will change the way most of our cotton quilt fabrics are produced in the next five to ten years. humans have been printing fabrics for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years using block printing, stenciling, and resist printing. When I see a plain piece of fabric, I feel the urge to add decorative elements, and printing is one way to add a repeating motif. In the beginning Two hundred years ago, cotton fabrics were produced with roller printing, using an engraved cylinder that was rolled across the surface of the fabric, depositing dye on the…

I’M GETTING TO THAT AGE IN LIFE where I’m so very grateful to be alive. I’ve lost family members and friends and acquaintances that have not been extended the same privilege that I have … to still be here in my sixth decade. What can I leave behind? What will my legacy be? Is it possible to touch the lives of my children and grandchildren when I’m no longer living? Basically, I wonder if I can leave a piece of my heart behind. When they were young, my children were the center of my universe; my life revolved around them in a real sense. School, their activities, and sports kept me running from one place to the next in a chaotic, frenzied way, never mind that my paid job also…

Deborah Boschert is an artist who layers fabric, paint, and stitching. Her work incorporates personal symbols including her latest obsessions: ladders and bowls. She mixes commercial prints with original surface-designed fabrics. She is the author of Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint & Stitch. deborahsstudio.com Robin Cornwell is a 35-year veteran art teacher and fabric artist. Her inspiration comes from the flowers and leaves she finds during her walks and in her numerous gardens. Her love of printmaking, pattern, and color is evident in her art quilts. Robin’s work has been shown in numerous galleries and quilt shows around New England. robincornwellembellishments.com Kim Hanson is a quilt designer, writer, and photographer working daily from her home studio. kimhansonquilts.com Jill Jensen is a mixed-media fiber artist and printmaker…

On a recent trip to Cuba, we dined at a lovely restaurant in an old mansion. When the check arrived, it was wrapped in a lace handkerchief. ‘Perfect,’ I thought as I put it in my purse and paid the bill. ‘I can use this as a base for my art quilt!’ We happened to go back to the restaurant the following week. I was quite pleased when the attractive maître d’hôtel recognized me and said hello. When the bill came, I was pleased to add another handkerchief to my collection. When the maîtred returned, he asked, ‘Where is the handkerchief?’ ‘In my purse,’ I replied. ‘I thought it was a gift.’ No, it wasn’t. He told me they have a hard time getting new ones … I gave it…

the concept for Dinner at Eight Artists began during a brainstorming session between the group’s founders, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison. The artists, who live in different states, first met virtually on the Quilt Art newslist, a vital connection that brought quilt artists together long before Facebook or Instagram. They met face-to-face at, of all places, the former “Tiara Parade” in Houston during International Quilt Festival in 2003. Over the years, these two found much in common—both personally and professionally—and their bonds have strengthened. In addition to co-curating numerous exhibitions, they have taught a number of workshops together and traveled to conferences. Jamie and Leslie feel that the privilege of reviewing the work for these exhibitions has been both challenging and rewarding. “It is bittersweet to present the Best…

I came home from a little spending spree at my local quilt shop one day and knew I needed to do something with all of lovely fabric I had just purchased. I started looking at books on quilting, but I was overwhelmed with the traditional designs and precision work involved. I finally figured out that I didn’t need to follow a design; I could put squares and rectangles together any way I wanted. I started putting pieces together by hand and eventually had a twin-size quilt made. I then experimented with wall hangings made from recycled materials—linen doilies, wool, and fabric from old clothing. I added needle felting and beadwork to these fabric collages. These pieces were one layer, sometimes with a backing, but without batting or quilting. During this…