Yep, that’s right: ugly. I recently did this cool exercise with my local fiber art buddies, the Dirty Dozen Fiber Artists. We used a book called “Paint Mojo” for prompts about making an UGLY painting. The prompts included things like using a dark neutral in certain ways, painting words, using crayons as a resist, dripping…
Slowly, over the course of a couple of months, I began to notice the same group of colors. First, was a Croton plant. What pretty oranges and greens! Then, I noticed the mess on my table, which had the same colors. I decided to work with green, yellow-green, and orange. I pulled out all the…
Last summer, I made a quilt called Beet Salad. I put a lot of work into it, including dyeing all the fabrics especially with this quilt in mind. This was the final result. Although I liked it, somehow it didn’t quite meet my vision. I wasn’t sure what it needed. Recently, (when I finally put…
I’m not sure where I heard that quote, but I agree with it. And, I’ve been doing plenty of experimenting lately. Yes, you guessed it: I created a big failure rough draft. I’ve been doing quite a few abstract quilts in a style I call “Slice and Dice.” As the name implies, I slice into…
I got brave and decided to cut into some of my specialized fabrics. These are hand dyes that have a variety of motifs, scales, or colors. They’re not “yardage” and are a little more challenging to use. These were my starting three. The left fabric reminded me of kiwifruit, so I began to think of…
After starting a new quilt at a retreat, it was time to continue at home. Now, where was I? Something like this. I studied the arrangement and knew I wanted to change a few things. (Remember the abundance of that favorite fabric bottom left?) While that was percolating in my brain, I looked for areas…
Whew! After LOTS of rearranging and trial and error, I’ve finally finished this piece. And I’m quite happy with it. The finished piece is 36″ x 26″. It’s available for $695. The yellow in this detail shot looks a little yellow-green, but it will show you the circular quilting pattern, done both on the machine …
It’s great to have my quilts, once again, traveling to real live art and quilt shows. Especially when I win an award! Such was the case with this quilt, Miscommunication. It won third place at the 2nd Biennial Fiber Arts National Juried Exhibition in Bedford, VA. How nice! This exhibit is on display through August 21st, if…
As I worked on my two-colored “beet” quilt, it became obvious that composition was going to be SUPER important in creating a successful piece. Because the yellow showed up so sharply against the reds and purples I knew the yellow circles would form the focal point of the piece and they’d need to be arranged…
I’ve been having fun making units for my current quilt. It features the colors of red and yellow beets, represented by wonky circles. Follow along with my quilt design decisions. This was an early start. Initially, I made all the circles very imperfect. But, as I began to play with composition I began to question…