So Not Me, But I Like It

Thanks to the generosity of a recent acquaintance I now have a piece of vintage embroidery, and I’m curious to find out exactly what it is.

The base fabric is heavy and canvas-like, and the binding is lighter weight. The embroidery thread made it through a soak in Biz without bleeding. Alas, the stains are still there, though lighter. I’m wondering if they were caused by spilled tea. Any thoughts for further remedial action are appreciated.

I think it’s to be tied around one’s waist like a small apron to hold sewing notions like scissors, etc. If so, it’s for a slender-waisted person. I don’t think it’s to be tied onto a table or chair, given the curved shapes.

My dilemma is, what to do with it. It could make a cute pillow with the embroidered areas appliqued onto a base. I thought an oval shape might work with the sprays of blue flowers added on the side. Of course I have no fabric in stash that looks right with it. Or, I could wear it at sew-ins and confound fellow sewers with it. I can hear them now, saying “I thought you didn’t like that sort of thing.” That’s usually the case, but I love word play and the embroidery is nicely done.

All guesses and opinions are welcome.

Artistic Endeavors – If It’s In the Times…

My Sunday ritual includes reading a paper copy of The New York Times. Palm Sunday’s edition included a fat magazine devoted to style, which I browsed for possible paper collage materials. Instead I found some quilts and quilt-like objects in ads, plus an article on fiber art.

First, Hermes’ ad company must have been at QuiltCon. I don’t know what that pot is supposed to add except a touch of surrealism.

Then, a Sunbrella fabric ad showed pillows that look quilted to me.

The piece de resistance was three pages of Calvin Klein ads with languid models draped over and around quilts that are so much more attractive than the clothes. The two toned shirt and pants on the guy will set you back $2000. I like his blue shoes, though. They’d look good in the bedroom shown above.

The article features mostly woven fibers, but does mention Faith Ringgold’s quilts. One sold a few years ago for $461,000. It’s now owned by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Walmart money) but ISN’T ON VIEW!

Photoshop Fripperies

Now that I’ve completed part 2 of the Pixeladies’ photoshop classes I’m officially a menace to all pictures I’ve taken. It’s so easy to change up a photo’s looks with filters and assorted other bells and whistles. No more worries about composition as I can fix it. I don’t think that’s a good thing, as I can become lazy and lose the knack of composition. However, when you’re on a tour bus and you have only a few seconds to take a picture, it’s a great fall back.

Here are examples of my play with photos. The original photo is first (I hope), then the altered photo.

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I have no idea if I’ll use any of these in a quilt, but it sure is fun to play with the possibilities. I recommend the Pixeladies’ classes, but I don’t think they’ll offer the ones I took until next year.

Artistic Endeavors – Gee’s Bend’s Mary Lee Bendolph

The recent QuiltCon show had the fingerprints of Gee’s Bend quilters all over it. One of the more prominent of those quilters – Mary Lee Bendolph – is featured in a current (through May 27, 2018) exhibit at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. She was born in 1935, freely used whatever fabrics were at hand (jeans, suits, etc.) and is now involved in printmaking.

To quote from the exhibit website, “This exhibition, which is the first to examine works from five decades of Bendolph’s life, considers her quilts as objects with many meanings. At once functional necessities and aesthetic wonders, many of the quilts on view are also family documents and symbolic memorials.”

Here are a few of her quilts.

Husband Suit Clothes (Housetop Variation), 1990

mixed fabrics, including corduroy, cotton, denim, velveteen, and synthetic brocade

80 x 76 inches

Ghost Pockets, 2003

Mixed fabrics including denim, cotton, polyester, and synthetic wool

Overall: 72 in. x 85 in.

“In Ghost Pockets, Bendolph incorporates pieces of her husband’s jeans, complete with their faded patches, still-saturated seams, and the deep indigo “ghosts” of pockets that once held Rubin Sr.’s hands, his tools, and other personal items. She also uses strips of turquoise, pink, and creamy yellow cotton, taken from his pants and shirts.

Created more than a decade after Rubin Sr.’s death, this quilt represents Bendolph’s resistance to a Gee’s Bend tradition: that of burning the clothing of the deceased. Instead, Bendolph saved articles of Rubin Sr.’s clothing to make quilts. “That way,” she said, “you always be with me…you’re always covering me.” The back side of Ghost Pockets has a large strip of red flannel overlaying a multicolored, patterned piece, intentionally giving the illusion of a quilt on top of a quilt.”

Swarthmore College’s List Gallery is the exhibit’s next stop.

Just for comparison’s sake, you can check out the winners at the 2018 QuiltCon here.

 

Effervescence

The last of my bullseye quilts is now complete, and I like to think it’s the best of the bunch. If nothing else, it had the longest maturation time of any.

Here’s the final Bullseye Bubbles (25.5 by 33.5 inches.)

Once the green organza additions began, I felt the need for more bubbles, this time in purple, and spent much time rearranging all those shapes.

After I had them all fused down I worked on a quilting design. I printed a photo of my top in B&W and put a clear page divider over it. Then, I used a dry erase marker to try out quilting designs. Talk about high tech!

Did I make changes? You bet. I needed more bubbles, so I quilted them after I had finished the swirly bits. Are they lovely, round, even bubbles? No, not even close. But that didn’t stop me from adding more.

I’m over bullseyes for a while, but I’ve learned never to say never.

Artistic Endeavors – Protest in Art

Art has been used for many ends, including social criticism.  Honore Daumier, George Grosz, Francesco Goya and William Hogarth are a few of the well known artists who addressed their times through their art.  Graphic Witness, a website devoted to social commentary through graphic imagery from about 1900 on, has some lesser known examples.

Council of War – Daumier

Pillars of Society George Grosz

In these politically fraught and divided times even quilters are using their medium for social comment. The protest quilts exhibited at the recent QuiltCon as I understand it, weren’t part of an organized exhibit, but reflected the views of their individual makers. These quilts addressed women’s rights, guns, incarceration, racism, police brutality, and many other flash point issues.

I have mixed feelings about such quilts in that I look for artistic qualities in how the message is conveyed. Some are heartfelt but I don’t think they’re aesthetically pleasing. I am indeed a snob. Here are a few I felt were effective in combining art and message.

Jessica Wohl White America

Liz Havartine She Was Warned

Juli Smith B4U

Karen Maple Black, Brown and White in Orange

Miriam Coffey The F Word

For a more traditional approach to a social commentary quilt, check out what Love Those Hands At Home is making. And bear in mind that not all social commentary quilts are social protests.

Lucinda Ward Honstain The Reconciliation Quilt (1867)

 

 

 

The Denim (And Other Old Stuff) Challenge

One of the good (and bad) aspects of art quilt groups is their love of challenges. It’s good to have a starting point for a piece, but I find it can distract me from more long term work. If I have a choice between analyzing and fixing what went wrong on an existing piece and plunging into a new piece, guess which I pick.

At first I wasn’t going to join a recent challenge to use denim and/or old shirts in a piece. I had already used my husband’s shirts (with his permission) to make Shirtsleeves, and I didn’t have any all cotton old jeans.

Then, my husband asked if I could use a pair of his old jeans and a shirt. It was kismet, so I began my challenge piece under the influence of Rayna Gillman’s latest book, Create Your Own Improv Quilts.

I saw that I didn’t have enough denim, but did have damask tablecloths and napkins I had dyed shades of blue.  More kismet. I decided on 6 inch squares as my background, and fused lightweight interfacing to the damask before I cut it. If you don’t stabilize it, the damask will stretch out of shape.

I loved how the denim look changed depending on which side I put up.

Next, I began to slash the squares diagonally and sew strips onto the larger piece. At this point I decided to finish each square with the smaller piece I had cut off. I liked how it made the center small diamonds see-through.

Rayna’s version fills the centers with color, but I thought more color might be too distracting for mine as the background was already different colors. I think my version looks quite different, which shows how versatile some loose guidelines can be for improv work.

The top is done, named (Damask and Denim,) and just needs quilting inspiration.

Artistic Endeavors – The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

I’m thrilled that so many renowned art museums are making their collections available online. I’m even more thrilled when a digital collection allows me to search for public domain images, so I can find images to use in my art.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) gave me many ways to search its collection – by public domain images (over 20,000,) by most popular, by time period, by object type, by on view, plus an advanced search that allowed me to zero in by many facets, such as exhibition history. Some of the search headings seem a bit quirky, like cherry blossoms. Here I found a contender for the longest title.

Act IV: Envoys from the Shogun Approach Lady Kaoyo and Group at Enya’s Castle, Bringing Sentence of Death to Enya, Lady Kaoyo Is Surrounded by Cherry Blossoms Gathered to Cheer Enya during His Incarceration Japan, circa 1835-1839

As further icing on the cake (no such thing as too much) LACMA has hundreds of textiles in its collection that are in the public domain. Admittedly, many are textile fragments, but from what I saw, these pieces aren’t on public view. The only way you can see them is digitally. A brief pause for a message from my soapbox – many museums don’t display their textile collections. You can see them only online.

The following works in the public domain caught my eye as I browsed.

 Chamba Rumal with Scenes of Gopis Adoring Krishna

India, Himachal Pradesh, probably Kangra, late 18th to early 19th century Textiles; embroidery
Silk embroidery on cotton
30 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.

I think the gopis look like they belong in “The Simpsons.”

Quilt for Four Poster Bed, ‘Variable Star’

United States, New England, 1725-1750, Textiles; quilts
Pieced and quilted wool, 104 1/2 x 102 1/2 in.

I love the blocks where the maker ran out of fabric and made do. At over 100 inches each way this quilt must have made a bold statement on a bed.

Quilt, ‘Log Cabin’ Pattern, ‘Pineapple’ variation

United States, Pennsylvania, 1870-1880 Textiles; quilts
Pieced wool and cotton, 88 x 88 in

 I love the diagonal red stripes that show up occasionally in this one.

Here’s one public domain image I thought would make a striking quilt.

Shoeshine Stand, Southeastern United States

Walker Evans (United States, 1903-1975), United States, circa 1936

Photographs, Gelatin silver print

  As I hope you’ve seen, this site has lots of entertainment value if you like images of art.

A Long and Winding Road

I love improv work in quilting, though I get frustrated with the number of iterations I do before the product satisfies me. Despite my resolve to do more planning ahead I can’t resist playing around with my sewn together fabric bits without any clear goal in mind.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. While I thought about how to quilt a piece I cleared my mind by sticking some already constructed bits on my design wall. Here’s the early stage. (All the photos in this post are unedited and somewhat blurry.)

I was trying for paths of color through and around my bits.

I’ll fast forward through permutations of the vertical orientation, which I thought was too elongated, to a horizontal arrangement. What used to be on the top is now on the right, and I’m trying a different bit in place of the orange and brown bit. I’m also testing a turquoise edge.

I’ve compromised by using half the darker constructed bit, and I’ve given the lone turquoise triangle (put there to fill in a gap) company. From here on I spend most of my time playing with those triangles.

I’ve emphasized the triangles by putting darker triangles on top to create a reverse shadow effect.  I’ve added a ginkgo leaf cut out of the orange/brown fabric.

I’ve added another leaf and am trying another bit in the top left hand shape.  I’ve graduated the sizes of the triangles to get smaller as they swing around to the left. You can see my outline as I take the photo.

 

I’ve dropped the insert in the upper left (a mistake to do so?), swung the triangles closer to the top edge, changed the leaf position a bit, and added more darker triangles. At some point I used Inktense pencils to darken the lighter fabric bits in the darkest central area. Those pencils also got used to add more orange to the light upper left bit. I’ve evened out the edges and stuck it in the closet with a potential backing fabric.

Right now I’m heartily sick of it and will leave it in the dark for a while. Maybe it will fix itself, or the quilt brownies will come in and work their magic.