That was fun!

There are still lots of houses being built in my neighborhood. I love the framing stage of the construction. The house looks like a giant skeleton. The outside and the inside seem to occupy the same space.

After years of admiring construction sites, I finally took some pictures last week. The inspiration was fresh and I went right to work on this quilt.

Framing Flourish, 31x36"

I'm continuing to use my favorite elements... the stamped circles, the hand writing, the embroidery, the sweeping hillside and the simple house shapes...
I especially enjoyed stitching the yellow vine across the beams of the house image.
I also mastered the embroidery technique of keeping my right hand beneath the quilt and my left hand above the quilt and just passing the needle through. So efficient and meditative!

Framing

I love the stage of construction when the framing is complete and the house looks like a massive skeleton. There is a lot of construction in the area we live and I never tire of this moment in the process.

I finally took pictures one morning several days ago.
The same house was covered with dry wall panels by the time I picked the kids up from school.
It's a fleeting moment when the inside and the outside blend with that beautiful linear structure.

I'm working on a quilt inspired by the images and ideas.

Snapshots

I had a great day spending time with creative friends yesterday. Really just so lovely and inspiring!

We were playing with Yupo paper. Apparently it's a plastic product and this creates interesting results with paint and ink.
Here is on of my pieces in progress.
Karen hosted us. Her home is full of beautiful plants and amazing art and other fabulous details.
We started with coffee and crumb cake muffins. (I think of Kathy every time I make them.)
Ink!
(Quite a stretch for me... I am usually all about fabric and paint. You wouldn't think paper and ink would be a stretch, but they were.)

I also really enjoyed watching LOST last night.

There was a larger portion of my afternoon -- between my art outing and the end of the day watching LOST -- that was awful. But, I won't go into that.

Let's just say, I'm trying to keep standing tall.

Inspiration

I have many many more pictures from Hawaii that I haven't posted -- I think I'm still absorbing the experience.

Here is a brief look at the "plant" category from my photos.

At the Dole plantation...

I'm entranced by the banyans.
Isn't this amazing?! Like a royal headdress...
I've never seen a wildflower in such an exquisite shape. (Purple and green, obviously.)
Such graceful shapes.
These trees were all over Waikiki. The leaves are green on the top and red on the bottom. Dramatic!
I read in the paper this morning that Dallas had the 4th worst weather this winter of all cities in the US compared to their average winters. We were lucky to escape for a week.

Thrilled!

I am thrilled to announce that my quilt "Spontaneity and Stability" will be included in the special exhibit, Beneath the Surface, curated by Dinner at Eight Artists (Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison). The show will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach July 22 to 25, 2010.
The exhibit will be sponsored by Moore Sewing Centers and Brother International. How great is that?!

The quilt is inspired by the balance between adventure and routine, growth and stillness, spontaneity and stability. A rock solid foundation encourages soaring and branching out to new experiences. The key to creating a cohesive strata is finding space for both big ideas and little details. To begin exploring these ideas, I used a jar to stamp a grid in the background to represent balance, but it fades in and out and some parts are rather gloppy -- like real life. I added bits of hand stitching reflective of the repetitive but meditative patterns in life.
Images of home and community are at the foundation for nourishing growth. Details and layers of meaning find their way into tiny crevices and, unexpected blossoms thrive in the rocky soil. These are represented by frayed edges, bits of newsprint from the Asian market, sheer layers, positive and negative shapes and stream-of-consciousness handwriting.

Of course, you recognize the detail that I used for my new blog header! Several of my artist friends will also be in the show including fellow Twelves, Terry, Gerrie and Karen, plus Sarah, one of the Frayed Edges. Such great company! I'm honored.

This and That Family Stuff

I've got tons of pictures piling up in my iPhoto files. It's a bit overwhelming... but I'm not thinking about it too much. I've grabbed just a few updates to post.

For a school assignment, Benjamin made a diorama representing a store that provided either a good or a service. He chose Chili's (which we love).
Benjamin had a birthday recently. He requested a fondue dinner -- cheese appetizer, meat cooked in broth entree and chocolate dessert. We had eight little brownies with candles!
Earlier in the week, on his actual birthday, he enjoyed this fancy sundae! That big smile is his reaction to the re-lighting candle!
Benjamin also competed in a spelling bee recently. It was a great event.
Of course, Claire is busy too! She had a piece of art in the school district art show. Her piece is the yellowish one way above her head. It was her submission for the yearbook cover art. She really has great drawing skills!
This week is spring break, so yesterday we went letterboxing. I found a series of four boxes in near-by Denton called "Fab Four." We went to three locations, searched diligently and succeeded in finding all of them! Claire stopped to pick dandelions along the way.

Such a Great Show!

There are two wonderful "special exhibits" at the Dallas Quilt Show this year. (Still going on RIGHT NOW... head on down to Market Hall today!) The Dallas Area Fiber Artists have an exhibit that shows the amazing talent and diversity of the group.
It includes garments, art quilts, weavings, artist books, felt sculptures and more. I'm honored to be included! I'll post images of the work I had in the show later this week.
The other special exhibit included sixty-five 12x12 inch quilts made by members of the Twisted Stitchers and their friends.
Here is a peek at just one corner of the exhibit where we grouped the four dog quilts together!
You can see my "blue, white and black" quilt from the last Twelve by Twelve reveal on the left. That's Sarah's pug right in the midde. Tonya made the dog next to the pug and Carol created the smiling lab. On the right edge you can see just a peek at Tonya's other dog. More pictures of them soon!

Dallas Quilt Celebration!

Yesterday I spent most of the day helping set up two special exhibits for the Dallas Quilt Celebration this weekend. It was so fun and these exhibits are going to be most excellent!

Here are a few of the Twisted Stitchers.
We each created 12x12 inch quilts and invited our art quilt friends to do the same. Our exhibit is called "Twelve Square Inches." It's a bit of a play on the concept of two degrees of separation... all our artist friends are separated by two degrees since we all know at least on Twisted Stitcher. We hung 65 quilts and they look amazing!

The Dallas Area Fiber Artists are also having a show of members' works.
DAFA is an amazingly talented and dynamic group! We hung quilts, garments, weavings and felted sculptures.

If you are in the area, don't miss the Dallas Quilt Celebration. In addition to these two special exhibits, the judged quilt show is always excellent and I am sure there will be vendors who have items that I simply can not live without.

I'll be there most of the day on Friday and in the late afternoon on Sunday. I'm hoping to see you!

Blue, White and a Bit of Black Reveal

Today is the reveal of the latest in our "colorplay" theme for the 12x12 Art Quilt Collaborative. You must check out all the amazing quilts on our blog. Francoise picked our theme of "blue, white and a bit of black."

I made three quilts for this challenge. That may sound productive and ambitious, but in reality, I was displeased with each of them at various points and kept starting over. I suppose, in the end, there are elements I like about each of them. I'd have to keep creating for days and days to really exhaust this interesting palette.

This is the one I chose for the official 12x12 reveal.

Blue Meditation on Balance

For this next version, I let some fabric hang over the top and bottom. It's still 12x12 measured from the very edges, but I like that it feels like a slightly different dimension.

Blue Meditation on Edges

Lastly, something slightly different. I incorporated some sheer, hand-dyed fabric that was used to wrap a lovely gift from my friend Robin during a wonderful "ladies lunch" while I was in Hawaii. (Also used in the piece above.)

Branches and Blossoms
I'll have more 12x12 news in the next couple of weeks. There is going to be a big "special exhibit" at the Dallas Quilt Celebration of 12x12 quilts! (These will not be the quilts from our official 12x12 Art Quilt Collaborative, but it will include quilts by artists working in the same size format.) If you're in the area, I hope you are planning to come!