spring arrives bringing snow, flowers and an art exhibition

 It feels like ages since I wrote a blog post and well maybe it is but everything takes off in the spring time and there is that little pocket computer that draws me into a black hole of Instagram fun which circumvents the previous goal of being a blogger who is posting stories as they happen.

 My life feels so full of good stuff I feel guilty sometimes wondering when the dream is going to end. That doesn't mean there aren't stresses and worries but I like to focus on the joy and delights and marginalize the other end of the spectrum here on my blog. I also like to use this place to make a record of what has been good and beautiful in our lives here on 10th St. NE in Washington, DC. With the long winter we had and the snows and cold spells I had almost forgotten the joys of spring would be coming along. It was especially odd to have yet another snow storm on the first day of spring but we are fortunate to have warmth in the city this time of year that pushes the earliest flower right up through the cold snowy ground and reminds us that it is time for things to change. The sun comes up in a different spot than it has done in a while making the crystals in our windows cast bright dancing spectrum's around the room. It happens every time we have a sunny day but this time of year it is more directly shinning through the window and that makes it more intense. It was an inspiration for the bowl I made and donated to the Smith Healing Arts Center's annual funds raiser show of 125 artists work. I was invited by my former boss George Hemphill to submit an Alchemical Vessel for this years exhibition. I had a bit of a hard time digging up a idea for a vessel that could be made like my quilts with fabric and thread but in the end there was a great little trick with ropes, thin strips of fabric and long hours twisting, sewing and building a fabric bowl. Much like a clay coil pot only the glue wasn't clay but thread, its a technique used to make rugs too I believe. I started out with a small bowl to try one way then built a second beginning that seemed more pleasing to my eye with less exterior threads showing. Orange was the start up color and then the rainbow fell into place ring after ring...

slowly building rings in a spiral up and out to match as best I could the shape of the ceramic blank canvas most of the artists were using as their canvas I really didn't expect it to take so long. Each day it was growing slowly and the anticipation of the next rings of color helped me move forward day by day. 

In the end I added a foot and a label to the bottom and finished with a little fabric hook to hang it on the wall then whisked it off to the gallery with my statement to be photographed and installed and added to the catalog. Each bowl will bring a $150 for a ticket to the guests which they get to select according to the first come first serve ticket purchases. But you can also go see all the bowls Tuesday-Saturdays at the gallery on U.Street NW near the corner of 17th. from March 27th through May 22nd. The benefit is May 1st. for more information on getting one of these great art bowls check out the Joan Hisaok Healing Arts gallery's website. 

I went by yesterday and really enjoyed the show and began wishing I had a ticket. The glossy photo catalog will be available next week!  

Pink Improvisation with spirals, a new quilt

It began with a few pieces of pink and gray fabric from my last project. I intended to make a more improvised patchwork that stepped away from this year's obsession "the log cabin" block. Improvisational piecing these larger square and rectangle pieces together and using a pale palette was a pleasing variation on the bold colors and repetitious piecing I have been doing with log cabins. Modern quilters call this a "low volume" quilt. I would say it is a low value palette. It is when the colors are of such a pale value that they almost blend together to appear as one. This ends up giving a very pleasing restful appearance in the finished quilt. It's not quite a whole cloth quilt but the use of close values makes the quilting stitches important like they are in a whole cloth quilt. 

I began free hand marking and quilting the spirals on Labor Day. 

The spirals are a departure from my usual straight line rows of quilting.  I like the look of the rings as they go round and round almost like the rings on a still pond when you throw in a hand full of pebbles in, making ripples. 

This quilt has a continuous bias tape made of a bright coral color printed fabric. I found two new prints at Finch Sewing Studio in Leesburg, Va. during a DC Modern Quilt Guild sewing day. The binding and the backing are made out of a fabric line called Winged which recalls butterfly wings in the patterns. I chose a bold color binding to draw out the softer pinks in the low value top. 

working on the last step a coral print bias binding

Throw quilt spread out on the bed showing the hand quilted spirals 

completed hanging on the design wall 

new oval label adds the last detail

It measures about 41" x 66" before washing and drying and is made with a organic cotton and bamboo batting that was light and drapes very nicely. The backing clung to this batting like no other I have used it was clinging just by static attraction.