Fly Me to the Moon

Last year, Susanne Miller Jones challenged quilters to create a quilt in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of man's walk on the moon. In addition to quilts about the Apollo missions and astronauts, the quilts could celebrate the moon in all its aspects in literature, science, myth and popular culture.

My quilt, Moonflower, was one of almost 180 quilts juried into the Fly Me to the Moon exhibition:

It's an amazing collection of quilts! I'm honored to be part of a group of such talented and diverse quilters and in awe of Susanne's vision in creating this exhibition.

The first venues for the exhibition have been announced:

January 19-22, 2017: Road to California in Ontario, CA (all FMTTM quilts will be shown)

May 4-6, 2017: 14th Annual HMQS Home Machine Quilting and Sewing in Salt Lake City, Utah (all FMTTM quilts will be shown)

June 15-17, 2017: Sew Original Quilt and Creative Expos in Reno, NV (all FMTTM quilts will be shown)

January, 2018 Dates to be announced: Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show (all FMTTM quilts will be shown)

May 11 – 22, 2018 Bad Lauterberg im Harz, Germany (90 quilts will be exhibited)

More to be announced, as Susanne finalizes arrangements. I'll post about them here!

Want this traveling exhibition for your show? Contact Susanne! See her website for contact info.

It's not a mistake, it's a new design!

Everyone makes mistakes.  It's part of life. As an art quilter, I get asked by friends to do all kinds of things fiber related.  (I imagine that's true of people in many different fields, not just artists!)  This was one of those cases.

Our car club needed a backdrop for an event at the beach.  It sounded like a fun thing to do and something I hadn't done before so I agreed to do it. Life's an adventure!   Here's the backdrop in use:

My backdrop for the Funkhana

The main challenge in creating it (other than the size--I don't usually work so large!) was adding the lettering. I printed out the letters on regular printer paper. Then, I taped the sheets together with correct spacing and ironed a long strip of freezer paper* on top, cut out the letters and removed the typing paper. (Note to self--don't use steam for this part--it makes the paper stick a bit too much to the freezer paper, which makes it difficult to remove.) This left me with a long stencil that could be ironed onto the background. It mostly turned out great!

It was a learning experience, though. One thing I learned, though, was to NOT go back and add more paint after the freezer paper stencil got quite wet and started to dry--as the paper starts to lift up from the fabric. After finishing the painting I lifted the freezer paper from the canvas. Aargh! Leakage!

Leaks happen....

After throwing down my brush, jumping up and down and saying several magic artist words, I considered my options and set to work.  In this case, I was able to lift enough of the leakage by re-wetting to then paint over what was left so it looked good. Whew! One can't always do that, though.

Which brings me my philosophy on quilting mistakes. "It's not a mistake, it's a design opportunity!" Or, as my friend Lynda Prioleau says, "Put a button on it!" I'm really, really, really lazy. So I hate ripping things out and look for every possible reason not to do it. Honestly, in most cases, unless you tell someone, no one will notice...and if they notice, they won't think it's a mistake. So don't point it out.

Sometimes, though, things will bug you and you have to be creative. Fusing stuff on top is always good. Or adding buttons. Slice and dice to add more fabric in there. (I've done this when the border fabric I wanted to use wasn't enough.) Paint. Appliqué. And, every now and then, rip something out. I DO have a seam ripper. I did that when I inked the wrong date on a gift for a friend. I had to rip out a set in piece with curved seams. Ouch, that hurt! But that's always my last resort.

I have a quote that's perfect for those times when mistakes happen. I don't know who first said this, or where I got it--it's just written down in my sketchbook:

A favorite saying....

Words to live by. Everyone have a great day! And don't sweat the small stuff. As they say, it's all small stuff! *Freezer paper is white with a plastic-y coating on the back to make it waterproof. It's been used for a long time to wrap meats before putting them in the freezer. Reynolds has it; some grocery stores carry it. It has instructions on the box now for how to use it in quilting. The coated side will melt just enough to temporarily stick to fabric, making it ideal for templates and stencils. It peels off fairly easily when you're ready.

Lecture by Denyce Schmidt

I attended a lecture recently by Denyse Schmidt, courtesy of the DC Modern Quilt Guild. (Didn't think to take a picture until the end of her lecture, sorry!  I was too immersed in her talk.)

Denyse Schmidt Lecture at Northern VA Community College in Alexandria, VA. Sponsored by the DC Modern Quilt Guild.

If you're not familiar with Denyse, here's an excerpt from her bio:  

A former graphic designer and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Denyse Schmidt has been sewing since she was a young girl, taught by her mother. As a professional seamstress, Denyse worked on everything from tutus and bishop’s mitres to fine clothing. She brings these eclectic influences together in patchwork quilts characterized by simple graphics, rich color, and quality workmanship.

Firmly rooted in the techniques of quilt-making in this country, Denyse reinterprets tradition to make modern functional quilts that are fresh and offbeat. Her Couture custom quilts, in production since 1996, are pieced to order in her studio and hand-quilted by Amish women in Minnesota. Denyse Schmidt Works, a line of machine-quilted pillows and quilts with an industrial-chic aesthetic, are made at her studio located in a Bridgeport, CT factory building. Clients of DSQ have included The Philip Johnson Glass House, Ralph Pucci International, Takashimaya, The University of Michigan Art Museum, The American Folk Art Museum, and The Whitney Museum Store.  

You can find a full bio of her here.  

The lecture was really fascinating; Denyse talked about her quilting journey from a graphic designer to a quilter.  I was particularly interested in her approach to her business.  She had a great slideshow with pictures of her work and great motivational quotes along the way.  

  If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. --George Harrison  

 There were two main points I took away from the lecture.  One is to be ready for unexpected opportunities.  Denyse got involved in several business opportunities that she wasn't looking for, but that she said "Yes" to.    

  You can't wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.  --Jack London  

 Be ready.  Take a chance.  Don't be afraid.  I'm writing this, in part, to remind myself of this.  It's a good mantra.  

 The second, which is a kind of corollary to the first, is that there is life after failure.  Denyse talked about her failures as well as her successes.  It's pretty inspirational to hear someone at that level say they've failed...and then had success again.  

  When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel. - Eloise Ristad  

 We all have failures, large and small.  A failed quilt that we really believed in that didn't turn out the way we thought when we started.  A harsh critique.  A show with no sales.  A birthday where we forgot to send a card. A day where we made no progress on our art. We are our own harshest critic.  The world's full of people who have failed spectacularly, in full view, and keep moving on.  I'm forever grateful that my failures are mostly tucked away in a corner of my studio in a pile of UFOs (UnFinished Objects).  (Gotta go through those and rework some, give away some and throw the rest away.  *makes note on to-do list*  Others are tucked into sketchbooks--partially fleshed out ideas that didn't come together.  

 Speaking of UFOs, this is probably my favorite quote about failure and it is soooo applicable for quilters:  

  I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. - Thomas A. Edison  

 Doesn't that make you think of your UFOs?  Hey, if it worked for Edison, it works for me.  

 As I write this, it's a cooler-than-normal morning.  The windows and patio door are all open and I can hear the birds singing.  I think it's time to go to work and see what small successes (and failures) I can find in the day.    

 Have a great day!

Saying good-bye to a piece you love

 

This is Aspens ©2014.  Now in a private collection.

I made it to sell... so I sold it. And I was happy to see that someone else saw in it what I saw in it. But as I sent it off to its new home, I felt a pang of regret.  Sure, I know I could make another one.  But I won't.  Perhaps something similar, as I try to do series; but each quilt is unique.  And doing the same thing over again would bore me, so THAT's unlikely to happen.

I wonder--do other artists feel this way?  Do you make multiple versions of a single work (not talking about series).  I guess I see it more in things like ceramics and small sculpture.  That's got me thinking about it.  But I digress.

When I started quilting, I made things that I liked for me.  But now, I'm making things I like for others.  I like everything I do that goes in the show booth or in the online store--I have to believe in the pieces I sell.  But every now and then one is special to me.  It comes from my heart, not my head.  And these, invariably, are the pieces that sell first.  And that brings the pang of regret as well as the pleasure that something that touched my heart also touched someone else's.

Does your art come from your head or your heart?  Or a mix of both?  Do you feel that regret when you sell it (if you sell) or give it away?  Maker's regret, I call it.  'Bye, Aspens, you were/are well loved!

Aspens. © 2014 Betsy True.  Private collection.

 

The Fabric of Identity

I recently had a chance to visit the new Textile Museum at the George Washington University.  The current exhibition is Unraveling Identity:  Our Textiles, Our Stories.  This is a great exhibit that explores what we wear and what it says about us.

Among other things, it has a some wonderful Asian pieces, Mae West's shoes, and this fabulous piece, Lady Walking a Tightrope, by artist Yinka Shonibare.

I think we're well aware that clothing has long been an indicator of social status; and it's still one of the keys most people look to, though the differences may be more subtle now. And using clothing to make a statement is also nothing new.   The exhibition steers clear of a lot of the obvious US tropes--hippies, beatniks, cowboys, etc, and instead draws from its very large collection to show us things like Mae West's shoes, below.

It was apparently very important to Mae that she appear taller than she actually was (5 ft tall, according to Wikipedia), so she had these platform shoes built.  The skin tone part on the top would be hidden by her long dress.  They were part of a collection of shoes, very interesting!

I was particularly taken by this jacket, worn by a Buddhist pilgrim in Japan.  The red inked markings are cinnebar stamps for each temple that the pilgrims received when they visited a site.  The jacket was white at the beginning.  So this is a version of the state map decals we used to put on the RV.

There's much, much more in the exhibit. It's the largest exhibition in the Museum's history, reflecting its new space.   There's a huge central space that you descend to from the main entrance, down a great curving staircase.  Docents were GWU students.

If you attend with someone who's not so into textiles, but does like history, there's separate exhibit about the history of Washington, DC, the Civil War and the Making of Modern Washington, that entertained my husband while I poked around the textile exhibit, trying not to set off any alarms. (I tend to get close to the pieces without touching them, but sometimes it's too close!)  My only complaint is that labels were hard to find for some of the pieces.

I visited the Textile Museum several times in its original location, and am very pleased that it has reopened in this new facility, though I do kind of miss the quaint old building it was in.  From Wikipedia:  "The museum was founded by collector George Hewitt Myers in 1925 and was originally housed in two historic buildings in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood: the Myers family home, designed by John Russell Pope, and an adjacent building designed by Waddy Wood.  You'll still see pictures of the old buildings if you do a search on Google, so don't be confused.

Access was easy; we took the Metro and it was a short walk.  There are restaurants in the area--make a day of it! The museum is open:

Monday, Wednesday-Friday: 11:30 AM–6:30 PM
Saturday: 10 AM–5 PM
Sunday: 1–5 PM
Closed Tuesdays and university holidays.

Prefer to drive?  Directions are here.

Sparking creativity

I'm trying to do some exercises to spark creativity.  One of them is to take a picture every day.  And I'm trying to do it, at least some days, with my macro lens for my iPhone. The cool thing about doing this is that looking through the camera forces you to see things in a different way.  To really look at them.

This is a poinsettia leaf--one of the two tone ones.  It's on my deck and it rained last night and I thought it would be a cool picture.  And I like it.  My husband thinks it looks like a medical slide, LOL, which shows how people see thing differently.  He sees pathology, I see a quilt!

I think I'll send this to Instagram tagged as a quilt ideas--sort of my virtual sketchbook.  Anything that  gets me thinking about a quilt is a good thing.  What things do you do to get inspired?

Scrap Quilts: From Antiques to Art

I'm giving a lecture today at Sully Plantation, in Loudon, VA at noon. Looks like it's going to be a damp day. :) I'm going to be discussing Scrap Quilts, From Antiques to Art. It's a little bit history, a little bit quilt theory, and a little bit trunk show. I'll post some pictures later, but I also wanted to post some of the books and sites I found as I did research for the talk.

There's an exhibit, Scrap ART, August 16-October 16, 2011 at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/exhibitions.html

Wish I could go!

And there are good virtual tours of collections here:
Great Lakes Quilt Collection

Smithsonian Institute of American History

Here are some great books about quilt history:


And here are some of the latest books on making Scrap Quilts:



I do love scrap quilts! It's soooo much fun to examine the quilt closely and look at all the fabrics!

Everyone have a great day, and do some quilting! (Oh, and next weekend, I'm going to be at Art on the Avenue with my friend Lynda Poole Prioleau...more on that later, too!)

Betsy

Sketching

I just finished taking part in the ArtHouse Coop's Sketchbook Project. Fred mailed my sketchbook for me (I was sick with the flu). 28000 artists signed up for the project!! Of course, some will have dropped out, but there will still be a boatload of sketchbooks. ("I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.") They will be on tour, and the tour comes to Washington, DC in April. I can't wait to see some of the other sketchbooks.

Here's a link for more on the Project:
http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

and a link to pictures from last year's Sketchbook tour.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthousecoop/sets/72157624036428164/

I'll post a couple of pages from my sketchbook when I get them on the computer.

-- Posted from my iPad!

Hey, I'll be vending at Art on the Avenue, Alexandria, VA on October 2, ...

Hey, I'll be vending at Art on the Avenue, Alexandria, VA on October 2, ...
 
Come join us at
Art on the Avenue
Saturday, October 2, 2010
 
We’ll be in Booth E193 between Randolph & Raymond Streets
on Mt Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, VA
 
Betsy & Linda
www.betsytruedesigns.com
www.matlyndesigns.com
 
map & directions at www.artontheavenue.org
 

OK, now what?

I signed up for the Sketchbook Project. The idea is to sketch on a theme (I selected "in flight;" thought it would work well with my interest in birds) and create a sketchbook that will then be submitted to the project in January 2011. Pretty much anything goes--sketchbooks don't include just sketches anymore.


You can rebind the sketchbook, have pages that fold out, use paint, ink, fabric, etc on the pages as long as you keep the original dimensions. If you're interested in the project, go to http://www.thesketchbookproject.com!

The sketchbooks will be on tour and be part of the permanent colection at The Brooklyn Art Library.

There is something intimidating about a new sketchpad. I've read of people scribbling all over the cover just to make it seem "used." What will I do? More later!

Location:Grimsley St,Alexandria,United States

Obi what can you be?

OK, I know it's a bad title, what can I say? Too much sunshine in California. But I discovered a Japanese Art & Antique shop in Pacific Beach. I only had a minute but found this $9 obi. Love it and as you can see, it's already been decostructed! (It was great to rip something apart because I wanted to, not because I had to undo a mistake!)

Oh, Obi, what will you be? Stay tuned!

Quilting in San Diego

I'm working on a couple of different projects while here in San Diego--a couple of commissions, a burlap challenge with my quilting buddy Lynda, and a couple more things, but I got distracted when I found these packages of batik strips (I did buy them to use in the burlap challenge, and they will go in that). I also found a rubber stamp set by Kate that allows me to stamp the cutting and sewing lines for hexagons. So now I'm doing a batik Grandmother's flower garden thingy... Going to Rosie's Calico Cupboard in San Diego (La Mesa) is always dangerous for me.... I also found some wonderful things at Quilter's Paradise in Escondido. Another awesome quilt shop, and HUGE. Next year, I'm bringing an additional suitcase just for fabric! 'Cause I need more fabric.

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.

My Palm PDA Cover

I decided I need a new cover for my Palm T/X PDA. The old one, which was attached by a narrow spline that slid into a groove on the Palm, was just a cover. I wanted something where I could keep the most used SD cards with the Palm at all time, so I decided to make one. Here's the result. It was kinda fun, so I may make more, so I can change them when I get bored. It's spring, so I made happy flowers. I only used scraps I already had with fusible on them, except for the ultrasuede, that was a scrap without fusible. The spine is on the left, there's a piece of fabric that goes from the roughly 2" x 3" cover. I made the spline from a tiny piece of template plastic and fused it into a folded piece of fabric. The lower picture shows it open, with the little pockets for SD cards. I used ultrasuede for this side to be gentle on the screen. The cover and the ultra suede were each fused to a piece of Timtex(TM). The little pockets were stitched on. The cover was quilted, then the spline hinge was placed between the two pieces of Timtex which were satin stitched around to join. Kind of fun.