Dreaming Down Under

Here's a snap (sorry it's not the greatest) of my "Dreaming Down Under" (c) 2007 that is in Myrah Green Brown's Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks from the Global Village. It uses Myrah's foundation pieced patterns in a quilt of my own arrangement.

On the QuiltArt email list, Myrah asked for volunteers to make quilts from her patterns. Intrigued by her concept of global symbols, I volunteered! I had fun working with Myrah's patterns. I enlarged the two figures in the center so that they would be appropriately sized with three each of the other two Australian symbols she assigned me, and extended the hair into the borders. The fabrics are mostly Indonesian batiks, but there are a couple of commercial fabrics, one of which is visible in the detail shot, which were designed by Aboriginal artists.

Thanks to Myrah for letting me be part of her project and for creating such a great book!

(Foundation piecing is still not my favorite way to make quilts, though there are times when it is the best way to get the effect I want!)

A Gazebo for Jo Ann (private collection)

Here's some pics from a recent commission I completed. An online friend wanted a Christmas gift for his wife. We discussed several possibilities and settled on a gazebo theme. He sent me some photos of what turned out to be a gazebo on their beloved home which they had recently sold. I knew that they take care of their grandkids, so I zero'd in on the tire swing as an element that had to be in the quilt, as well as the wooden bridge and the great twisty tree branch. I took some poetic license to arrange the elements (all were NOT visible at once in any of the photos he sent). Once Jeff agreed on the design, I was off and running!

Close up of the gazebo showing some of the quilting! The white deck furniture was very narrow thin pieces of fusible and a bit of a pain! But I was pleased the way it turned out. The gazebo needed them. The fabric I chose represents both the light and shadow on the gazebo and the crosshatched lath composition.

I asked about any wildflowers (none were in the pics he sent) and he said Texas Bluebonnets. I found a fabric which depicted a bit of a storm-at-sea quilt but worked very well for the dark and light of the bluebonnets. You can also see some of the beading I scattered to represent other wildflowers.

The tire swing. I used a black on black floral for the tread and a dark gray fabric for the rest.

This was a great commission to work on, I really enjoyed it. I put a big push at the end to get it done a day earlier than planned, but it still got stalled in Baltimore during the big snow of December 19th. Jeff and I were checking the UPS tracking about every fifteen minutes, but it made it to Texas for Christmas.

All pictures and text copyright Betsy True 2009, 2010.

Tree Quilt

Working on my tree quilt, based on a photo I took. Here it is just after pin basting it on my gigantic table. I'm quilting it now.

Betsy

Fibert Art Exhibit in Leesburg

I went with my friend Betty Ebert to art exhibit in Leesburg at the Gallery 222. The exhibit, Fiber As We Know It, was of works by a group of fiber artists called New Image Artists. 23 works were in place and represented a variety of styles and techniques. The works were beautiful and said a lot about where "quilting" is today. There were foundation pieced and appliqued works and also painted, stamped and discharged works. Though some of the techniques were traditional, these were definitely not your grandmother's quilts. I enjoyed seeing how each artist used the techniques to express their vision. I know several of the artists and enjoyed seeing their recent work. Unfortunately, the exhibit closed on Saturday, but here are links to websites for the artists involved:
B. J. Adams
Mary Beth Bellah
Jeanne Benson
Sara Brown
Candace Edgerley
Lesley-Claire Greenberg
Cathy Kleeman
Dominie Nash
Sue Pierce
Ginny Smith
Sandra Woock

The Gallery itself was a delight, as it was part of a larger artist cooperative. Links to both the Gallery and the New Image artists are embedded above.

Japanese Maple Quilt by William Steck

As those of you who read the blog from time to time know, I love sharing quilts by friends and students. Here's one by a former student and friend! This is "Japanese Maple Quilt," 43.5 x 36.5 inches, by William Steck. Years ago as a fairly new quilter, Bill took my class which was an introduction to Ruth McDowell's techniques and has gone on to take several workshops with Ruth. He does great work. This is just a lovely, lovely quilt and very timely for this time of year! Thanks to Bill for letting me share it on my blog.

Ruth was in town to teach classes at the Quilt Patch (www.quiltpatchva.com) and to give a lecture, which I attended. It was great to see Ruth and see some of her newest works up close and personal. I bought her latest book, Design Workshop, too. She told me that her book "Pieced Flowers," long out of print, is being reprinted! This is a fabulous book, and a great one to add to your collection. Check her website www.ruthbmcdowell.com for details on both of these books.

New Business cards

There was a discussion of business cards online at the QuiltArt email list. I recently ordered two new sets of business cards from Vistaprint.com; I chose to have images on both sides of the card for the first time. I ordered a "serious" set and a "less serious" set. The "serious" set uses my quilt "Winter Chair", now in a private collection and the "less serious" set uses the self-portrait I did in a Sue Benner class. They're pictured below with both sides of the cards. I also use the "less serious" self-portrait as a kind of logo and it is on my hangtags.

The "serious" set:

The "less serious" set

My Color Lecture (and test of using Scribefire to post to the blog)

Here's the first slide in my color lecture "Use All the Colors!"

I wanted to test using Scribefire to post to my blog; it works pretty well, so far! I'm able to upload an image exactly where I want the image to be (Blogger puts them automatically at the top of the post, and you have to drag them to where you want them).  Now I'll try publishing this to see where it goes.