Isn't this just the most beautiful color orchid! It's a gift from my husband, Tony, for my birthday which is today. I love having a birthday in the spring as it's my favorite time of year. Everything in the garden starts to green up and grow. After such a harsh winter so full of snow, it's just wonderful having a spring finally. Still a bit cool here though so my attention falls to my indoor flowers, especially this new beauty.
I have such good luck with orchids bought reasonably at the Home Depot. The blue orchid is named Blue Mystique. Since they are so cheap, I'm always able to get new ones and I have them all over my house. The one below is a usual coloration for an orchid. This is also a gift from Tony. I have the same color orchid I bought last year in my kitchen and it has rebloomed this year but with fewer flowers. 
Having flowers in the house is so inspirational to me when it comes to finding my artists heart. Cut flowers are lovely for such a short time, so I really have loved having the orchids growing in my home. The bright magenta one below is a miniature orchid I picked up last year at HD. It sits in the west exposure window of my kitchen above my sink, catching a lot of steam from cooking and cleaning and just the right amount of sun. I was thrilled to see such a lovely show of flowers again this year. It has a sister miniature sitting next to it which has a yellow flower that is sending up a shoot with buds. Just about the time that the flowers fall off of the magenta one, the yellow one will be blooming.
To update my progress on Mermaids, I have been stitching the wave. It is so frustrating pulling and pushing this large quilt through the space on my Bernina, that I am actually considering getting a new machine. This sounds like blasphemy to me as I have loved my current machine for years. I have created pieces as large as 4 feet in one direction before but usually smaller in the other direction, either 2 or 3 feet. They are not easy either but by comparison to my 4 x 6 foot Mermaids, they were relatively easy. Most of my work has been on the smallish side up to this point, so I am getting a real education in how to deal with large quilts. My plans for quilts in the near future include many more large quilts, in the range of 4 x 6 or even larger.
I have loved my Bernina because of it's perfectly consistent and beautiful satin stitch, which is an essential part of the look and construction of my style. This makes it difficult considering a different machine as it would need not only to have a longer arm but a consistently perfect satin stitch. I have been thinking about a Janome but I haven't done any real research yet. I would welcome any suggestions, or opinions on machines from my fellow quilters. I guess that my birthday wish is for a sewing machine that meets all my needs!
As I am almost finished with the wave's satin stitching which holds all the pieces on to the backing and quilts them to the piece, I will be shifting focus to the two mermaids soon. The mermaids get fused and stitched over the existing wave. The wave is a commanding presence and is just beautiful. I don't want to destroy it by choosing poor fabric choices for the mermaids. I need for it all to flow visually and this is my next hurdle. I'm excited by the prospect and eager to start in.
Another thing which is on my mind is my trip to Denver, rapidly coming up in a month's time. I'm excited about meeting the women I have been talking with in the Visioning Project and about learning new things and discussing my craft. Not real happy about all the issues the airlines have been having lately. I am flying out and as always a bit nervous about that. I do love a good adventure though, and I'm about to have one!
I love how I start in on a quilt with an clear and planned idea of where I'm headed and end up in a slightly different place. This is the joy of art. The colors are chosen, the wave is cut and ironed and I have started stitching it down. Looking at the fabrics I lined up to use, especially knowing which were my expected favorites, I'm enjoying looking at which ones were and weren't used. The wave has a life of it's own. I used lots of fabrics with dots and "bubbles." The wave grows from the darkest, most saturated and even muddy teals up through mid-hues and into lighter, clear-color blues and aquas. It really has the look and feel of water, a cresting, Japanese inspired wave. I pulled it up out of years of summers on Cape Cod - my Mom and Dad's summer home and finally the site of my Mother's retirement. I have spent countless hours watching the ocean move, and spill. And now that I needed to create a wave, it came mostly from feeling; the smell of salt air, the glint of sun reflecting off a breaker, the feel of sand between my toes.
Sewing is a challenge, even though most of it so far is just long straight lines from left to right and back again. My Bernina, which I love for the constancy of it's satin stitch has a rather short arm. I am rolling and unrolling like crazy. It's a bit of a challenge! As I look at the wave on my work wall or taking up almost all of my work table, I am overwhelmed by how big it is.
I'm not even going to think of the mermaids until all my wave stitching is done. Then I will drop them in on top.
Last night I got an unsolicited and very unusual complement from my husband. He is trained in art and is a jeweler by trade. He loves extreme realism in paintings and sculpture. His own drawings and paintings were exercises in extreme realism. He respects my work, but does not really have an affinity for it. He does have a good eye though, and his comment was that he thinks I am finally working on "a prize winner," as he put it. Put a smile on my face. I think he's on to something though. I am finally working from within to create this piece using everything I have come to learn about art; color, line, composition, repetition, etc. and blending these with as much of my heart and soul as I can muster.
I am working as much as I can after work on my day shifts - just trying to plug away at this to get it done in time to photograph it for entry by June 15. I must be out of my mind! Been thinking about how to use what I am learning with "Mermaids" in the next one, "Medusa." I have been collecting fabrics for "Medusa" too. Always thinking ahead! I just picked up a black and white snake scale print. I'll be hand painting over it to create stripes and diamonds on the snake skin. I'm looking forward to doing this. But for now, I have a quilt to finish and very little time to do it! Back to the sewing machine!
Spent the day working on Mermaids. It took quite a while to cut the backing and batting for this one. It is pretty big and I like to have a good 6 inches all around as an extra safety net to offset take-up with the quilting. It is quite a challenge also to figure which pieces go down under others.
I still do not have my sky fabric in hand. I actually called the company today but only got a message machine. Something's got to be up as they sent it Priority Mail and it was 8 days ago that I received a confirmation email. The sky fabric is key to getting things really going. It is the backing for the top two thirds of the quilt. I only have one night shift this week and Friday is a day off. Hopefully I'll get the fabric tomorrow and I will be working a couple of hours each night I work day shift.
OK, so I wasn't planning this, I just read one of my e-mails from SAQA about a regional meeting at the NE Quilt Museum....and I had the day off. I hadn't been able to catch the opening of the quilt show, "No Holds Barred," and I wanted to take a look at all the wonderful quilts. It takes a good hour and a half to get there on the highway, so I intended to make a day of it.
I expected the museum to be open by 9am. The SAQA meeting was to begin at 10am. I got there 45 minutes early. So I walked around a bit in downtown Lowell. The museum is right across the street from a locomotive museum. They refurbished this baby and it's a permanent "sculpture" set by a stream and next to the old rails.
It boggles my mind that someone actually thought to build something as complex as an engine to pull cars full of people and products. And here I am playing with my computer and stitching together pieces of fabric. The museum opened at 10 and I settled in to the meeting upstairs. Met some wonderful people and got inspired by their work. It seems that the MA/RI region needs to expand a bit in Little Rhodie. I think that would be a really good thing. There was one other woman in attendance from RI, Allison from Barrington. Perhaps the two of us can get our heads together and get something moving here. We aren't the only two art quilters in RI I'm sure. The quilts, as always, were amazing and ever inspiring! There is a lot of talent in this corner of New England.
After the meeting I tagged along with a group for lunch. The food was delicious but of course, the conversation is what made the afternoon so much fun. Thanks to all who made me feel so included on my first excursion into the world of SAQA, Valarie and her lovely family, Celeste, Valerie, Michele, Judy and Judy. It was such a fun day.
And when I got home, lo and behold, packages with yummy fabrics, a Quilting Arts magazine, the backing fabric I have been waiting for, (but no sky yet), added to my museum acquisitions of a few fat quarters and some info on upcoming shows and quilt festivals. What a lovely day. Tomorrow, after work, I look forward to hitting my machine in a big way!
This is one part of quilting that I really don't like. Washing and ironing all the fabrics before cutting. Since I am a bit stuck waiting until my backing and sky fabrics get here in the mail, I decided to get a head start on the washing. Above are the mermaid colors going into one wash, and below are all the wave colors getting washed together. One thing that is good is that if any of them release a bit of dye, being batiks no one will ever know.
I have reworked the cartoon twice since last night. I am really happy with the movements of the water now. They were a bit forced before. I can tell you that the drawing itself is of two mermaids swimming within a large, breaking wave. There is a lot of movement and depth. I hope I can pull it off with the colors I choose. My brain gets so ahead of my hands though. I can already see how it will be finished, the quilting, the beading, the contrasts and the many intricate patterns on the fabrics. One of my "things" is to use very busy fabrics, next to each other with the colors playing off each other. I am just loving some of my fabrics for this one. In the picture on top, I will be using a piece I bought over 5 years ago. It's the one with the seashells on it, and I will be using it for the tail of one of the mermaids. In the second picture, some of my favorites are the navy blue with the coral on it and there is a piece hiding a bit on the far right which is very intricately drawn with dots and teardrops. The later is a piece I recently found on line at Hancock's with a whole grouping of other "friends." I could literally spend a fortune on batik fabric.
Well, I need to put the first wash into the dryer now and get the second load going. A woman's work is never done!
While I will be talking much about how this is going, these are the only pictures you will see of Mermaids until it is done and I know whether or not it is accepted in a show. I was just perusing my latest Fiberarts magazine when I found a call to entry for a show in Lowell, MA whose theme is the sea. Hmmmm........ I would have until June 15 to finish this one and get them an entry. I'm going to try, anyway. Above are my choices for lights, medium and dark tones for the water.
Violets, yellows and greens comprise the spectrum for the mermaids themselves.
...and here it all is sitting on my work table. I'm only missing one key piece. My sky. I just can't seem to find just the right mix of pale blue, pink, yellow, peach and gray. Still searching all my fabric haunts for that one key piece.
The cartoon was completed for this one a while ago, but I am tweeking some of the lines. I need for it to seem very fluid and not stiff at all. The size is so large that I need to put it sideways on my table and it's width exceeds the width of my work wall by about 18". Nevertheless, I am very excited about this being a challenge to finish in time for a show. We'll see how it goes. I am still hand stitching the wolf at night. Once he is done I will have to shift gears to "Mermaids" almost all of my spare time to get it done. Wish me luck!
As a post script to this post, I have found a wonderful backing fabric, 108" wide and I think I have found my sky. Thanks to Hancock's of Padukah and Seawatch Fabrics! I'll be watching my mailbox for the next few days.
Isn't this just the most beautiful color orchid! It's a gift from my husband, Tony, for my birthday which is today. I love having a birthday in the spring as it's my favorite time of year. Everything in the garden starts to green up and grow. After such a harsh winter so full of snow, it's just wonderful having a spring finally. Still a bit cool here though so my attention falls to my indoor flowers, especially this new beauty.
I have such good luck with orchids bought reasonably at the Home Depot. The blue orchid is named Blue Mystique. Since they are so cheap, I'm always able to get new ones and I have them all over my house. The one below is a usual coloration for an orchid. This is also a gift from Tony. I have the same color orchid I bought last year in my kitchen and it has rebloomed this year but with fewer flowers. 
Having flowers in the house is so inspirational to me when it comes to finding my artists heart. Cut flowers are lovely for such a short time, so I really have loved having the orchids growing in my home. The bright magenta one below is a miniature orchid I picked up last year at HD. It sits in the west exposure window of my kitchen above my sink, catching a lot of steam from cooking and cleaning and just the right amount of sun. I was thrilled to see such a lovely show of flowers again this year. It has a sister miniature sitting next to it which has a yellow flower that is sending up a shoot with buds. Just about the time that the flowers fall off of the magenta one, the yellow one will be blooming.
To update my progress on Mermaids, I have been stitching the wave. It is so frustrating pulling and pushing this large quilt through the space on my Bernina, that I am actually considering getting a new machine. This sounds like blasphemy to me as I have loved my current machine for years. I have created pieces as large as 4 feet in one direction before but usually smaller in the other direction, either 2 or 3 feet. They are not easy either but by comparison to my 4 x 6 foot Mermaids, they were relatively easy. Most of my work has been on the smallish side up to this point, so I am getting a real education in how to deal with large quilts. My plans for quilts in the near future include many more large quilts, in the range of 4 x 6 or even larger.
