Voluptuous spring!

Spring may have officially just sprung (the spring equinox was yesterday), but here near Charlotte, NC, it is in full throttle. I really hate the hot humid summers here – I was born a Yankee, so I wilt in the heat, after all – but spring is another matter. When I first moved to the south as a journalism graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I was astounded by springtime in the south.

If you have never experienced it, it can bowl you over. There’s just something so voluptuous and earnest about it. No dilly-dally peeking through the snow, no slow plod to the first glimpse of green. It just takes a few days of strong sun and warm temperatures and then – wham! – it hits you.

I went out for my morning dog walk this morning, and I took my camera with me to record what I saw. We had a good, heavy rain last night, and it seemed like nature just turned on the green this morning, and everything was blooming. It was so beautiful that I just had to share it with you.

Johnny Jump-Ups

Azalea

Forsythia

Lenten Rose

Anyone know the name of this? It is really cool!

Yellow Trumpet Vine

Bridal Wreath Spirea

Pink Dogwood

Dogwood

Dogwood

Wisteria

Loropetalum

This looks a lot like Lily of the Valley, but the blooms are more elongated.

Money Plant (Lunaira anna) is in the mustard family

Weeping Cherry

Violet

Take some time this week to slow down and take a close look at what is going on in nature around you. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and are not seeing much springiness going on yet, just wait … it’s coming!

Stargazer

This is a detail shot from a drawing I did for a post on The Sketchbook Challenge blog. You can read about it – and see the whole sketch, which I did from a photograph – on my post here. The theme this month is flowers. Nice to celebrate the arrival of spring today!

Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World

When I came back from teaching in Naples, I discovered my advance copy of Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World: Profiles of Major Artists, Galleries of Inspiring Works by Martha Sielman waiting for me. One of my pieces, “Freckles,” is featured in this wonderful collection of art quilts, all based on nature. 

Freckles (2010) by Susan Brubaker Knapp

Martha Sielman is executive director of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), the world’s largest art quilt organization. This book is the first in a series on art quilts edited by Martha and published by Lark Crafts. It is a 192-page paperback book. 

This volume includes work inspired by flowers, trees, water, leaves, animals, insects and birds. Several artists –  including my friend Nancy G. Cook – are spotlighted in sections that include several examples of their work. I really enjoyed reading these profiles, as they include information about the artists’ inspiration, techniques, and influences.

The book will be available in early April. You can purchase it – or pre-order it – online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble,

Painting in Paradise: Naples, Florida

I just got back from three days in Naples, Florida, with the Naples Quilters Guild. They were such a kind, friendly, talented group! Yesterday, I taught my Wholecloth Painting class in the beautiful courtyard outside guild president Judy Bauckham’s house. It was like paradise!

It is always interesting to see how each student’s work reflects her own style… even if she didn’t know she had one!

I have a passion for blue-and-white ceramics, and was swooning over this large vase. And look at the amazing etching on Judy’s doors.

This shot is of the courtyard before the students arrived:

I don’t know the name of this tree with the amazing yellow blooms, but I love them! This shot was taken outside of a community center where I taught my threadsketching class on Friday:

Nancy Polzien, who is a member of my home guild, Lake Norman Quilters, is a snowbird who lives in Naples in the winter. She picked me up at the airport on Thursday and drove me all over Naples so I could see some of the area before I spoke that night. She took me to the Naples Pier so I could glimpse the beautiful white sand beach!

What a great experience! Many thanks to Judy, Linda and Nancy – and the entire Naples Quilters Guild – for making it so much fun. 

New book by Jane Sassaman coming out in June

Jane Sassaman’s new book – Patchwork Sassaman Style: Recipes for Dazzling Quilts (Dragon Threads, 168 pages, $29.95) – is coming out in June, and I can’t wait to see it! Dragon Threads publisher Linda Teufel gave me a sneak peek of her latest book.
The basic idea is that you can take all those luscious large-scale prints, like Jane’s latest “Early Birds” line, and put together basic blocks with minimal piecing to produce very graphic, bold quilts. Like the one on the cover:

Jane Sassaman made this quilt using fabrics from her “Early Birds” collection.

Drool, drool, drool! Isn’t it spectacular? I fell in love with Jane’s style when her quilt Willow appeared on the cover of a national quilt magazine in the mid 1990s. You can see Jane’s art quilts – including Willow – on her gallery page. Here’s what Jane has to say about the book:

“This book has been written for all of the quilters who love fancy fabrics but don’t quite know how to use them and for the new ‘modern’ quilters who have already embraced personality prints and made them part of their creative palette. So the goal of this book is to show some basic ideas for using those big, bold and beautiful  fabrics.

“These quilt designs are inspired by simple traditional quilt patterns. Consequently, there is plenty of room for flexibility. So much of the creative decision making happens during the process of making the quilt. This process is part of the fun. The surprising relationships between fabrics can guide a quilt as you work.

“Quilting is an organic process which includes listening and looking for the character in the cloth... color, line, pattern, scale, and then mixing characters to make an interesting reaction. Just like in the kitchen, we can personalize the recipe according to the ingredients at hand or to suit your own taste and make it spicier, sweeter, juicier or richer. A personality print can add some unexpected and exciting flavors to these simple recipes.

“So these ideas are just a place to begin. You will see variations within each category and I will attempt to describe the creative decision making along the way.”

I’ll give a full review of the book when it is released by Dragon Threads in June! By the way, if you are curious about what publishers think about when they are getting ready to design a book, check out publisher Linda Teufel’s blog. She talks about what goes into deciding on cover photos and layouts, and the titles of the books.

I’m a Golden Quilter nominee!

I just found out that I’ve been nominated for two 2012 Golden Quilter Awards on SewCalGal’s blog.

Woo-hoo!  How nice is that?!

Blogger SewCalGal wrote “These quilters were recognized by their peers from around the world…” Gee, I’m blushing!

I’m nominated in the Best Designer category and Best Teacher/Instructor category. You can vote by taking the survey at the end of the post.  

Guess I better go out and pick out my evening gown and jewels for the awards ceremony!

Watch “The Quilt Show“ for free this weekend!

Here’s something you don’t want to miss this weekend! 

 In honor of International Quilting Day (March 17, 2012), “The Quilt Show" with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims will offer all of its 117 shows – numbers 100 through 913 – for the entire weekend of March 16-18. This means that for these three special days, everyone – not just members – will have the chance to watch the shows!
 “The Quilt Show” is an online TV show that can be viewed through the Internet by subscription. The shows feature fun interviews with all kinds of quilters and fiber artists, as well as lessons and information, and some great free stuff. As you may already know, I appeared as the featured artist in episode 901. If you didn't have the opportunity to see this show the first time around, now you'll have the chance to see it – and all the other terriffic shows at no cost for these three days.

“Heirloom Pumpkins” finished!

It’s done! Well, except for the facing. It is going to measure about 15-1/2" x 21". I love the blue with the orange and white.

This is the second of two projects I designing specifically for my Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat, which will be held in Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville) Oct. 4-7, 2012. I think there are still two spots left; if you want one, you should sign up soon!

Heirloom Pumpkins, Day 3

I've added some lighter thread colors on the main pumpkin in the foreground, and it is looking more dimensional. The photos in this post were taken outside, so the colors are more true. I took the previous photos inside, under artificial lights.

I added some orange and green thread in the shadowed area, which I think is helping to make this transition not quite so sharp.

There’s a lot more to be done on this orange pumpkin in the back. You can see that I haven't even started on the stem. I’m hoping to get some more work done on this today. I still haven’t decided if I should make the background boards or the sky.

“Heirloom Pumpkins” – Day 2

I didn’t too much thread sketching done on this piece today, but it is starting to take shape. I started by outlining the sections on the main pumpkin in the foreground with black. Then I added some yellow on the parts of the sections that are the lightest – the highlights. I’m not sure if they are light enough yet.

I added white thread on the areas where the pumpkin had some warty, lumpy blemishes.

I want to blend the area where the orange of the pumpkin fades into the deep shadow. I’ve already added some sage green there, and will go back in with some oranges, too. You might not be able to see much of the green thread in these photos, as the lighting conditions were kind of dark.

I’ve started to add some shadows to define the segments on the green-gray pumpkin.

I am wondering if I should sketch in the boards on the wall behind the pumpkins. It kind of looks like a dark October sky, and I am liking it. I could just quilt the sky to suggest clouds and keep it simple. If you have an opinion, let me know what you think.

“Heirloom Pumpkins” – Day 1, PM

After working on this for about four or five hours today, I have most of the fabrics ready to fuse down. I’m liking the change to the blue background. The light yellow was just too blah. The black looks really dark at the bottom of this piece right now, but I think once I add some black on the dark orange, and some orange on the dark black, it will be a more gradual shading. There will be some detail added in the black area.

On the orange pumpkins, I stayed in the medium value range, since I'll add a lot of lighter and darker thread on top.

In the photo below, you can see how it started out. The light blue is just a background fabric that got completely covered up with the pattern pieces. The black lines on the positioning overlay (clear upholstery vinyl) help me place the pattern pieces exactly where they need to go.

In this photo, I have the dark areas at the bottom placed, and am starting to add the darker orange on the main pumpkin:

I am almost ready to start thread sketching. This is always exciting to me, since the piece totally transforms and comes alive.

“Heirloom Pumpkins” – Day 1

I am starting to prepare to cut fabric pieces for my new work, “Heirloom Pumpkins.” I researched the varieties in my photo, and discovered a great, big world of heirloom pumpkins with intriguing names like “Long Island Cheese,” “Cinderella,” “Red Kuri,” and “Jarrahdale.” There are heirloom varieties from Australia, France, Japan and New Zealand that are now common at farm markets near me. If you are interested in learning more, the website The Daily Green has great information and photos. What wonderful biodiversity there is in my favorite squash!

This is the second of two projects I am designing specifically for my Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat, which will be held in Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville) Oct. 4-7, 2012. I just finished “Passion Flower,” which is the other project. You can read all about it in my previous posts.

The varieties in my photo appear to be Fairytale (the orange one in the foreground), Muscade de Provence (the green/orange one behind the Fairytale to the right), and Lumina (the white ones in the background).

I started digging in my bins of hand-dyes and batik fabrics, and found a good range of oranges, browns, whites, grays and blacks that I think will work. Instead of using beige or pale yellow for the wall, I'm going with a blue-gray that I think will be a nicer color combination with the oranges and whites. You can see it in the upper right, above my pattern. 

I’m sure I won’t use all of these fabrics, but I like to have a good range of values and colors before I start, so I have a bigger selection. I’ll start by finding a good medium value orange fabric, for example, and then find values lighter and darker, but in the same color family.

The photo below shows some of the whites, grays and tans I'll use on the other pumpkins. The light wasn’t so great on this photo, but it still looks like I’ll need to find a lighter white to use on the lightest white pumpkins in the back.

Okay, I'm off to start cutting out the pieces! I’ll post again when I have something to show you.

Quilt styles explained

I’m featured today on The Learning Center, hosted by Pat Sloan. The topic is quilting types and styles. Pat asked some well-known quilters to talk about a style they often work in. My post is on art quilts. Ever wonder what is meant by a “modern quilt style”? Don’t have a clue about what an ATC is? There are photos and descriptions here that will make everything clear!

“Passion Flower” is done!

It’s done! I finished facing “Passion Flower” this morning. The final size is 15" x 19-1/4". Here are some detail shots:

This is one of the projects that will be offered to students at my Oct. 4-7, 2012 retreat, Once in a Blue Moon Fiber Art Retreat. This afternoon, I’ll start work on the second project, which is based on my photograph of these pumpkins at a farm stand several falls ago: