Honu Takes Off

Honu at Maine Quilts
Rana O'Connor 2014

Whirlwind month with lots of quilting activities and opportunities--Yea! Honu debuted at Maine Quilts and earned a ribbon. Judges comments included, "excellent choice of fabrics and placement to create stream of light." "Subtle seaweed design is well placed and well done." There were also some negatives, but we won't dwell on those! Honu is on his way to Manchester for World Quilt Show - New England XII where he will hang alongside quilts from Japan, the UK, Australia, South Africa and more. It is my favorite show, and of course we are going to spend a day lost in wonder.

Meanwhile, Art Quilts Maine had an exhibit at the Center for Maine Craft the month of July. Remember Chairs? They both sold, along with about two dozen Quiltini Pins! Guess I will be making more pins for future exhibits.

Speaking of which, I got a call from Maine Fiber Arts asking if 'Mom and Auntie Jean Play Gin' was available for an exhibit this fall at USM's Glickman Library. Mom will miss it, but she is happy to lend it. The dates are September 2 (my brother's birthday) to December 20 (my birthday.) Must be some symbolism in that! 

Classes are coming up, too. I'm teaching in Trenton August 22 and 23, at Sewing by the Sea. It's a technique class on turning photos into quilted wall hangings. Much like 'Honu' or 'Mom and Auntie Jean' in theory. The class is full and she is starting a wait list! That's exciting. Two classes are scheduled at Sew Portland this fall--the ever popular 'Beginning Free Motion Quilting', and a more advanced 'Thread Play' class. Participants will be given a piece of bold flower print fabric which they can cover with thread, both on the surface and as quilting. Kathy, who owns both stores, posted this video of me volunteering at her booth at Maine Quilts. I'm thread-painting the class sample, see?

A little R&R comes my way after the Trenton class with a long weekend's quilt retreat in Friendship. Ahh. Ocean, morning walks, afternoon kayaking, and all the quilting and sewing we care to do, with no interruptions. Can't wait.

A Revelation

That's what the first room of the Pilgrim/Roy exhibit at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts was to me. The room was dimly lit, as though by lantern or candlelight. The quilts in that room were shot through with cheddar orange--garishly bright orange solid fabric in backgrounds or piecing.  Except in that light, the way the quilts likely looked on the beds they were made for in the late 1800's, in that light they glowed, as though lit with an inner fire. It was magical and revealed why women of the era would have loved that color--who wouldn't?

The rest of the show? Quilt upon quilt of excellent workmanship, representative of so many styles we know and love. Log cabins--some of silk and velvet, Mennonite and Amish quilts of graphic simplicity, an intricate Baltimore Album. Another historical tidbit--the Baltimore Album was made by many women, each contributing a square. Ah hah.

Displayed alongside the quilts were examples of modern art reflecting quilting sensibilities. Vivid color combinations, abstraction and op art, or my favorite, a piece by Sister Mary Corita Kent, 'N is for Caution (Throw Caution to the Wind)' hung beside a double wedding ring with purple background and quilts without pattern, created with abandon. Quilts and Color.. If you can't get to the show, buy the book!

Center for Maine Craft

Alison and I met at the Center for Maine Craft located in the West Gardiner service plaza to hang the Art Quilts Maine exhibit. The Center is a high-traffic location--anyone travelling past Augusta goes right by, and a steady stream of people are in and out of the service plaza. Many take a break from their travels to enjoy (and maybe purchase) Maine crafts. The exhibit runs through July 31. The collection reappears later this year at Kimball St Studios in Lewiston, for the month of November. 

Quiltinis
Rana O'Connor

Six artists contributed to this collection. In addition to a few wall pieces (you can see my two Chairs on the back wall, for instance) I brought along a box full of Quiltini pins,a smaller item I developed and quickly got addicted to making earlier this year. Each pin is crafted from bits of quilted fabric sealed with a satin stitch. Then the fun begins! Embellishments include beads, glitter, stamps, rhinestones, paint and found objects.

Chairs, Chairs in July

While developing a workshop for an August class at Sewing by the Sea in Trenton, I made several versions of Adirondack chairs. These two proved to be too small to be manageable for students. So fussy! Such tiny pieces! I never throw things away though--even if I never use them again, bits and pieces from old projects are pinned to the design wall as visual reminders, like the trial wine glasses for 'Mom and Aunti Jean Play Gin'. (The ones on the quilt are the second pair, created after the experiments on how to make it look like the glasses had wine in them.) Coincidentally, I had two green squares from an exercise in perspective also pinned to the design wall. Put the two together and 'Voila!' Just loved them! A little thread paint and quilting later, mounted on stretched canvas, and the two are nearly ready to hang at the Center for Maine Craft exhibit that begins July 2, featuring several artists from Art Quilts Maine. Swing by the Center if you are out and about this July--it's in the West Gardiner travel plaza where 295 meets 95, so you pretty much have to go by it if you travel past Augusta. Starbucks, rest rooms and Maine crafts--what a concept!

Old Fort Johnson

What a lovely day we had at Old Fort Johnson near Amsterdam, NY on Saturday! We started the day with quilt historian Kris Driessen, who brought many antique quilts to illustrate her discussion of dating and appraising quilts. She was very informative, talking about various fabrics a historian looks for to help date a quilt, such as double pink, or turkey red, and sharing some little known facts that we New England quilters take for granted. For example, quilts designed for four poster beds are an east coast phenomenon--western families did not have four poster beds, so that unique shape is unknown to them. Likewise, shirting fabrics were commonly brought home as cut-aways from shirt factories and mills found mostly in New England. The best part? Kris allowed us to pass her quilts and tops around to handle and examine the fabrics, note the stitching, admire the rich colors. After a grand picnic on the lawn (it was a gorgeous day and one of the women brought a to-die-for chocolate cake) we reassembled for my trunk show. I brought a baker's dozen art quilts--including the unfinished Honu. Like Kris, I enjoy letting others handle my quilts and discuss details of technique and style choices. We worked our way from Back Bay Winter, completed in 2006, to the present. I brought some of my Quiltini Pins--you can see my post on them here. Once I got started making them I found it hard to stop--I get more ideas as I work. I think I've made nearly 100 so far. They were a hit at the gift store!

Finito!

Friendship, Maine

Done, with a week to spare! Well, except for the label. I printed it out, so it is drying. Oh, and dotting the i's on the quilted names of places in Friendship. All that will have to wait til after the weekend. But this quilt is going with me to Amsterdam (upstate New York, that is!)

I've been invited to be part of a day-long quilt workshop at Old Fort Johnson, titled "From Antique to Art Quilts: Quilting as Artistic Expression." The Fort has a new exhibit, "Pieced in Time: Antique Quilts from Montgomery County" that I am really looking forward to seeing--if I bring white gloves do you think they will let me handle the quilts?

On Saturday morning, quilt historian Kris Driessen will present an hour and a half lecture on the influence fabric, economics, politics and other factors had on early quilts. I am on after lunch, with a trunk show of about a dozen art quilts. I'll try to tie my discussion in to Kris' a bit, and talk about the tools, fabrics and techniques that influenced the modern quilt revival, and have made art quilts (and a wide variety of other styles) so popular. Should be fun!

Progress?

Friendship, Maine 2013

Deadline looming so I should get going on the major construction bits still to be completed. I think I am finally done fiddling with the photos. Here is the original photo, and the print on fabric, embellished with thread, colored pencil and glitter. For all the time I put into enhancing this photo, I hope the finished piece is dramatic enough without going over the top. I don't think I am in danger of going over the top though--my issue is generally too much attention to details that no one but me ever notices! The flowers are thread-painted. Foliage, chairs, even the water and sky are hand colored with Prismacolor pencils. I added glitter to the water to mimic the effect of sunlight bouncing off the surface--it is blinding in person, standing on the shore squinting at the water--I'd love that effect to come through. If I can get this quilted this weekend, I think I have a shot at finishing the binding, label and hanging sleeve before the June meeting. Onward!

Friendship, Maine photo on fabric