Finished!

Here is my finished piece, Outside the Box. I strongly suspect this will be my donation for the 2012 SAQA auction as it is a 12" square.

  I had a good deal of fun playing with various stitches to embellish my sketch.

You may remember, the idea came from my appreciation of the importance of getting 'outside of our boxes' by traveling, stretching ourselves. It is then that creativity flourishes.

A Unique Quilt Raffle

A fellow member of our local quilt guild, Chris Wickert, has donated one of her quilts as a raffle fundraiser for a local hospice, Isaiah House. Chris is a truly exceptional quilter whose workmanship we have all come to admire for its high quality.

The quilt she has donated is called "A Rose is a Rose... " It is hand appliquéd and hand quilted, queen size (81 X 94), and was made by Chris in 2001.

Isaiah House performs an incredibly valuable function in our community here in Rochester, NY and is in threat of closing if it cannot raise sufficient operation expenses. 

The raffle tickets cost $2 for one ticket or $5 for three tickets.  If you would like to help out, you can  send a check (made out to Isaiah House) along with your contact information including phone number to Chris at Christine Wickert, 94 Camberley Place, Penfield, NY 14526. She will fill out your ticket(s) and put them in the ticket pool. You can contact her at cwickert@frontiernet.net if you have any questions.

The winning raffle ticket will be pulled some time before Christmas 2011 (date to be determined).  You need not be present to win.

As I said before, Chris' work is amazing. This is a great opportunity to give to a good cause and perhaps win a truly special quilt.

Rioult Dance

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend a performance by the Rioult Dance Company. If you ever have the opportunity, they are really amazing. The company is based in New York City but travels throughout the year.

Their precision, their artistic ability, the interplay of movment, set, costuming and music is absolutely stunning. They performed three pieces in Rochester, NY and each was more impressive than the last. The final piece, "Bolero", based upon the well-known music of Maurice Ravel, was choreographed with the same compositional characteristics as the musical score - their dancers repeat small repetitive movements over and over in a way that is totally mesmerizing and really builds to a climax.

Equally impressive to their dance performances are their outreach efforts in the New York City schools. Through DanceREACH, an arts-in-education program, the company offers performances and workshops in both dance movement and choreography.

Here is a brief promo video of the company that I found on YouTube.

Great start to October!

I received word this weekend that my art quilt, Homeless, was a finalist in Infinity Art Gallery's online Political and Social Art exhibit. It will be display on their website for the remainder of the year. What a nice way to start October!

And, if you happen to be near LaConner, WA this weekend, my quilt, Wintergreens, is on display at the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum Quilt Fest.

Exhibit on Fire!

There is an exciting fiber art show in the Denver area if you are going to be anywhere near there before October 8. The show, On Fire, is by Regina Benson and is on view at the Ice Cube Gallery. I am slightly frustrated as I won't be able to see it in person. However, one can gain some sense of the uniqueness of this exhibit from some excellent reviews and photos on the web.

On Fire features a selection of huge works by Regina that were inspired by the Colorado wildfires last summer that threatened her home in Boulder, Colorado. Regina often works in large scale - I was able to see some of her work that is included in the SAQA Sightlines show - and it is impressive. One set of photos from On Fire can be seen in an article by Nick Lucchesi in the Denver Westwood blog. I have included one of those photos here:

What I found really fascinating was a description of Regina's technique for creating the effect she desires on her fabric. Michael Paglia wrote a review of the show for the Denver Westwood blog. He discusses how Regina created the cloth she used for a 40 foot long enclosed walk-through piece. Here is how he described her process:

Benson colored the cloth through an elaborate multi-step process, with the results having the look of burning embers. She begins by dying the fabric numerous times in colors including red, yellow and black. To create the illusion of something burning, she discharges the dyes to different color saturations ranging from amber to black. Benson lays the fabrics on the snow outside her studio, then applies hot liquid containing sulfur applied with a brush or a sprayer to partially remove the dyes until the desired tone is achieved. The melting snow underneath the fabric is also used as part of the process. As the snow melts, the fabric wicks up the water and further dilutes the dyes in places, thus changing the colors in those spots.

If you can view the show, I suspect you will come away impressed. At the least, I suspect that you can share in my admiration for this amazing fiber artist who is able to express her vision in such dramatic and complex methods.

A Fun Project!

Last week I was easing my way back into life after India. As I started up my Bernina once again, I wanted a simple, yet practical project that would even allow me to play with that embroidery side of my machine.

My newly organized stash and quilt-related supplies actually mean that I can find things that I purchased along the way - imagine that! I found a pattern by Jamie Kalvestran for "Fat-Quarter Scrap-bags" that I must have purchased a while back.  It was what I needed to create this cute little bag.

The pattern was extremely simple and the directions were very clearly written. You can actually create the bag using only one fat-quarter.  I just went online to find a source and found a great website by Jamie. The pattern I used didn't seem to be available but a very similar one is found here. I also learned that Jamie has some interesting blogs on fabric design listed on the website that I expect I will follow.

A Place of Peace

The last day that we were in India, we visited a Memorial Site for Mahatma Gandhi - the home where he spent the last four months of his life before he was murdered. It was a moving experience to walk through the site - quotes capturing the essence of his philosophy line walkways. I am so glad we took the time to tour it.

The two rooms that Ghandi used  while he was living there have been preserved. The words, Simplicity is the essence of universality, are framed in one room.

Finally, the path he walked to where he met his assassin have been marked with footsteps.

India is so complex, so busy, so dense in population and activity. The site contrasts so dramatically with its environs and, in doing so, makes a powerful statement for the man whom it pays tribute to.