Week in Review 2015 - 02/27

Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci
as it looks today.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

One question I was asked recently is where do I find the various calls for entry that I submit my work to. The answer to that question has changed with time. When I first started entering exhibitions the only place I knew to look for calls was in quilt magazines. It is hard to believe that in the late 1990's internet promotion of calls just weren't that prevalent. Now there are many lists of art and fiber art calls. Here are few that I check regularly:

• www.saqa.com
• www.quiltingdaily.com/content/Call-for-entries.aspx
• www.callforentry.org 
• http://lyrickinard.com/calls-for-entry/
• www.artdeadlineslist.com

Detail of the beading on the largest blue
section of Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci.
I thought it would be fun to imply a sunflower.

The more calls you enter, the more those calls let you know of additional opportunities or remind you of their annual/biennials. Thus making the need to check lists less necessary.

The stems of the feathers are filled in with
a basket weave of beads in the red section of
Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci.

I maintain a tickler file for my calls for entry. The file includes a spreadsheet of all my exhibition quilts. I have all the particulars about each quilt in searchable fields so that I can easily determine whether I have any work that fits a particular call. There is a list in date order of upcoming exhibitions I plan on entering. Finally, there is a section of all the exhibitions I am currently in. The relevant material for each of these exhibitions has its own clear plastic sheet protector/sleeve. I file these by date of when my next responsibility is, such as when the quilt needs to be shipped. Once a chore is completed I simply move that sleeve to the next chore's date.

A system is only as good as the effort you put into it. I make it a point every Wednesday to search for new calls, complete upcoming calls and check what needs handling on exhibitions that I am in. Most Wednesdays this takes me less than two hours to do. 

With the business of quilting taking care of I am free to spend solid days working in my studio. That is precisely what I did this week as I beaded, beaded some more and then added more beads to Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci.

1) Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci - (Due May 1, 2015)

a) Continue beading - done!

2) Free motion quilting practice. - done!

A free motion quilting practice piece of
Leah Day's design, Ocean Currents.

I did take one break from quilting and tried my hand at Leah Day's ocean currents FMQ motif. This is a great one if you want to develop your skills at echo quilting. It also makes a lovely filler design for sky or water. Although I would probably vary the size of the echoes in order to more naturally create water ripples or the sense of a turbulent sky.

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 22.5/126

4) Perform a random act of kindness - done!

5) Night Vision - 

a) Add the label - On hold until I need a second label

I am on the home stretch with beading Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci. Even so, I expect I will spend most of next week beading the yellow section. I will give myself a break to do some free motion quilting and I have been spending an inordinate amount of time mulling over what design to execute next. Good thing I have the following plan to keep me on track:

1) Mondrian Tackles Fibonacci - (Due May 1, 2015)

a) Continue beading

2) Free motion quilting practice.

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

4) Perform a random act of kindness

5) Night Vision - 

a) Add the label - On hold until I need a second label

I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.

Week in Review 2013 - 10/04

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I spend a fair amount of time organizing, prioritizing and pondering things I want to do. Sometimes my plans can't be carried out due to happenstance. Sometimes, more often than happenstance, my plans don't get done because I am human. Life is full of so many delightful distracting pleasures. Just this morning I was mulling over how I would start this post. The quote "Life is short. Eat dessert first," sprang to mind. I figured I better find out who said it. This of course led to surfing the web where I learned that the original quote was "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." It was Ernestine Ulmer who is attributed to be the originator of the quote. Ernestine Ulmer? I'd never heard of her. Naturally, I had to find out who she was. Surprise, surprise, she is best known for being the originator of "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." Now we all know. Let's get to dessert, which for me is working in my studio and getting my art out in public.

My dessert consumption for the week went like this:

1) Complete Call for Entry for Nestling Oysters - Done!

2) ZenBlossoms  

a) Transfer pattern for ZenBlossoms to fabric. - Done!

Back side of ZenBlossoms

I have been dissatisfied with every method I have tried in the past to transfer a pattern to black fabric. I was convinced that there must be a better way. Here is what I came up with:

1) Instead of transferring my pattern to the black background fabric, I transferred its mirror image to white muslin. Why? I can see the pattern through white muslin, but not black cotton.

2) I layered the quilt starting with the black cotton, then batting and finally the white muslin.

3) I pin basted the quilt sandwich white side up.

4) I machine quilted/basted along the pattern using a pale coral thread as my top thread (I can't see white on white) and a mid value blue thread in the bobbin, so I could see it against the black and it would blend in with the secondary colors I will eventually quilt with.

5) I removed the pin basting from the white/backside. Then I pin basted the large open areas on the black front side.

b) Layer and baste quilt. - Done!

c) Stitch pattern from the backside so that the bobbin thread marks the pattern on the top side. - Done!

This is the front side of ZenBlossoms.
It will finish at around 48" H x 32" W

d) Let the free motion quilting begin. - I am still waiting for my thread order to arrive. 

3) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignments Leah comes up with next. 

a) Foundation Piecing - Done!

Confession - One of the reasons I struggle so with Leah's free form foundation piecing methods is that I am spatially challenged. I find it excruciatingly difficult to work out how fabric will flip from back to front. Since this method is done by "eye" it took me 45 minutes (I actually timed it) to figure out how to layer the first piece that required thought. The section you see here has taken more than 4 hours. Practice is definitely helping. However, even in the groove I only add 10 swatches in an hour. I figure I have another 8 hours to go.

Start of the braided tress for Express Your Love II

b) Free Motion Quilting - Done!

Feathered Noodle motif

Free motion quilting is a totally different story. I barely have to watch Leah's videos before I have worked out the pattern. Some I can work out just by looking at the finished project. I might have named this latest motif Elephant Ears. It reminds me of the pastries.  Before I started practicing free motion quilting on a weekly basis, feathers were as diabolical as free form foundation piecing. Now, I don't even have to think, Feathered Noodle flowed easily. This is one I think I will return to again and again. 

4) Visioning Project - Read and practice the next two Facebook tutorials. - Guess I should have checked my list. I did one tutorial and thought that was all I had scheduled for myself.

5) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - Hip, Hip, Hurrah! - DONE!!! 

"Canyon" was made as one of the assignments in Pictorial Painting,
a class of Craftsy.com taught by Annette Kennedy.

Facings is one of my least favorite aspects of quilting. It definitely doesn't count as dessert. It is more like eating liver. It does feel great to be done with it.

I'm hoping next week will be a dessert buffet, but it looks like quilting ZenBlossoms may have to wait. I just checked my thread order and see it headed to Montana instead of Wisconsin. My zip begins 549 and it went to 594. Thank goodness I have Leah's assignments to fall back on.

1) Finish a bobbin's worth of FMQ on each of my three studio days ZenBlossoms

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignments Leah comes up with next. 

a) Foundation Piecing

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) Visioning Project - Read and practice the next two Facebook tutorials. 


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Weekly Report 2013 - 07/05

Oyster Bay is finished except for the label!

 Tips, Techniques and Thoughts

Today I am seeking your thoughts versus sharing one of mine. It seems all Calls for Entry for exhibitions of quilt art require one full view of the artwork and one detail of the artwork. The purpose of the detail image is to allow the curator or juror a better look at the techniques used in the artwork. It is recommended that the detail view also read like a stand alone artwork. My photographer aka my husband has provided me with 5 possible detail shots of Oyster Bay. Please let me know which of these details you feel best accomplishes the goals of a Call for Entry and why you chose this one. The contestants are:

#1 Detail of the two oyster shells resting on the sand

#2 Detail of the two oyster shells cropped along the lower edge,
but showing some ocean and sea foam

#3 Detail of the single oyster shell showing sand and sea foam

#4 Detail of the single oyster shell and sand

#5 Detail of the sea foam and water

You've probably surmised that despite it being a short work week in the USA I managed to focus on Oyster Bay. Here is what I accomplished this week.

1) “Oyster Bay” (deadline 8/20/2013)

a) Face the quilt. - Done!

b) Make and attach the sleeves. - Done!

c) Make and attach the label. - Step one has been accomplished. I always include a finished picture of my quilt on the label. I have the picture.

d) Add Oyster Bay to my website. - The pictures have been taken. 

2) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

The assignment from Leah was to practice Universe Spiral. This design is a tweak on McTavishing. The difference between McTavishing and Universe Spiral is that McTavishing begins with a gentle wiggly line that is echoed, as does Universe Spiral, but Universe Spiral adds a circle at the end of the line that is filled with an "*". Since I am on tear with my beach series, I further tweaked Universe Spiral by swapping out the "*" and inserting various sized circles within the circle to emulate sea foam. I chose to practice on some fabric that suggests the sea. I have chosen to call my variation Ocean Currents.

Ocean Currents Sample - Front Side

It has been a while since I shared the back side of any of my work. One thing that has become obvious from my focus on practicing free motion quilting is that the number of bird nests and hesitation spots on the back are greatly reduced.

Ocean Currents Sample - Back Side

An advantage of sharing the flip side with you on the blog is that the actual pattern for Ocean Currents is much more easily seen. 

3) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the lesson that demos how to quilt the Canyon piece. - Done!

b) Quilt "Canyon." - Just contemplated.

4) Unplanned Bonus - I started designing my next artwork based on cropping a section of Oyster Bay using Photoshop Elements and changing it to grayscale and then rotating it 90 degrees. 

The germ of an idea for my next Beach Series quilt

There is nothing like starting a new quilt to fire me up. I can't wait to get to work on Monday and start creating. Here are my known plans for what I would like to accomplish:

1) “Oyster Bay” (deadline 8/20/2013)

a) Make and attach the label.

b) Add Oyster Bay to my website.

2) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

3) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Create the acetate overlay for aligning piecing

b) Cut and place the pieces

4) Pictorial Painting

a) Quilt "Canyon."

I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Weekly Review 2013 - 05/31

 I did it! I made the June 1^st deadline for entering “Adoration” for consideration in the ArtQuilts Lowell 2013 exhibition at the Brush Gallery. It was at the Brush Gallery, more than a decade ago, when I saw my very first collection of art quilts hung in a gallery setting. I was mesmerized. It became my goal to get my work accepted into one of the Brush’s future exhibitions. I have been privileged to have my work selected twice before. The theme this year is “Tangled Up in Blue.” Getting juried into an exhibition is always a crap a shoot. I’m willing to roll the dice on this one.

Tips, Techniques and Thoughts:

"Adoration's" formal exhibition photograph. Note how the edges
of the quilt can be seen, but any distracting background cannot.
Also, if you click on the image to enlarge it you should
be able to see the quilting, not just in clothing, but everywhere else.

I have been entering my work in exhibitions since 2001. This has taught me that I cannot predict with certainty whether my work will be accepted or not. Sometimes I get into an exhibition I think is a stretch. Other times I am rejected by an exhibition that I felt was a sure thing. I do know that if I want my work to be considered seriously and not rejected outright that the caliber of my photographs is vital. I don’t have access to a professional art photographer. My husband graciously agreed to learn how to photograph my art. I have learned how to resize his photographs and extract the art from the background in order to adhere to the image requirements of any call for entry. The best resource for learning how to photograph your quilt is Holly Knot’s instructions. Gloria Hansen’s book, “Digital Essentials” is where to turn once you have a digital photograph that needs to be prepared for call for entry, website, blog or on-line gallery such as Etsy.

While I wait to hear from the Brush Gallery I will continue to work in the studio. Here is what I focused on this week.

1) Adoration

This is the detail image I submitted with the entry. Note
how it could be work as a full quilt. Also, because it is
a close up the quilting is easy to see.

a) Finish quilting “Adoration.” – Done!

b) Bury dangling quilting threads – Done!

c) Square up the piece in preparation for facing. – Done!

d) Face – Done!

Bonus – Completed entry for the Brush Gallery, including time spent to provide a high-resolution image of the Adoration removed from its background and a detail image.

2) Express Your Love

"Express Your Love" has been cropped. This works well for
a blog image, but is a definite no no when submitting an
image to a call for entry.

a) Finish last week's assignment from Leah Day. – Done!

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. – Started.

Bonus – Finish quilting Express Your Love!!

3) Signature experimentation

a) Design a new signature motif.

4) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the lesson that demos how to quilt the Canyon piece.

b) Quilt "Canyon."

5) Plan the next art piece. – Done!

Now that “Adoration” has been submitted to the Brush Gallery I can return to finishing up the projects I set aside and starting my next art piece. Here is my plan for the week ending June 6, 2013:

1) Adoration

a) Attach the sleeve

b) Make and attach the label

c) Add to my website

2) “Oyster Shell Shards” (deadline 8/20/2013)

a) Piece the three background strips

b) Create the oyster shell template

3) Leah Day

a) Express Your Love

         i) Square up quilt

         ii) Make binding

         iii) Attach binding

         iv) Make and attach label

b) Finish last week's assignment from Leah Day.

c) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

4) Signature experimentation

a) Design a new signature motif.

5) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the lesson that demos how to quilt the Canyon piece.

b) Quilt "Canyon."