imitation and inspiration

Everyone borrows inspiration. It takes a while for artists to find their particular niche.

I'm not into representational quilts ... at all. I appreciate the craft and skill! But I am not drawn to them aesthetically.

Yet I created this little piece for James's third birthday. I spontaneously copied the wrapping paper I used for his gift and pieced this small wall hanging. I needed to create something. But as a rule, I don't set out to design representational quilts. Could I create these little quilt pictures to sell? I probably could, but it's not what drives me.

At this early stage in my quilt design life I am drawn to many styles and patterns of modern quilts, improvisational or otherwise. I have always loved busy quilts, but I feel myself also drawn to low volume quilts. I love wonky ones with uneven edges and simple ones with clean lines.

I feel like I'm in a creative crisis — a fun one, but my head is spinning. As I pin quilts at Pinterest each morning, with now 1,688 quilts pinned (!), each one inspires for at least one element — color, fabrics, pattern.

Copying someone else's pattern exactly doesn't appeal to me, even with different fabrics, and yet I am so drawn to people's patterns and styles! Of course the question is how to take inspiration, and make designs that are my own.

Whatever my own is.

I have a lot to learn about design: color, value, movement.

I received more quilt books in the mail. I can't wait to share those inspirations with you.

New York inspiration

The Calmady Children, Sir Thomas Lawrence
oil on canvas, 1823
Metropolitan Museum of Art

My friend Heather and I went to New York City for a long weekend to explore museums. The Brooklyn Museum and MoMA Friday, and the Met Saturday.

I was just thrilled to find Sir Thomas Lawrence's The Calmady Children when I entered one of the galleries in the vast Met. It's the cover image of my sewing kit, inherited from my mom (blogged in the last post, about my studio)!

Another panel of my sewing kit, Degas' green dancers were nearby in another gallery.

Dancers Practicing at the Barre, 1877, Edgar Degas
mixed media on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The main event we went for was the Matisse Cut-Outs at the MoMA. I was moved beyond my ability to express it. I know that I will be inspired for a long time by his simple graphic use of color and design. Because the Met didn't allow photographs to be taken of pieces they don't own, I don't have my own images. I'll share a couple from their site so you can view more if you want to explore.

This is my phone pic of a Matisse painting from the MoMA's permanent collection.
Dance, oil, 1910

I bought the catalog of the exhibit and have begun reading the stories behind the cut-outs and the exhibition.

Unfortunately, the book was in my carry-on bag, which stood on the baggage cart in the rain for some time. I think I may need to invest in a water-proof carry-on.

The living room is now the studio

One of the prettiest rooms in the house was rarely used, except as a walk-through. We had it set up as a living room with pieces of furniture I'd inherited from my parents and grandparents, as well as Lesley's piano. The light has always been just beautiful here, with windows that face both the rising and setting sun.

So when I set up my new sewing machine in this room last year on a folding utility table, we started making plans to turn the room into a studio. We took Grandma Olive's beautiful sofa to my sister Nancy. We moved the piano to a bedroom. And we moved in a harvest table Don had "slapped" together a few years ago for eating al fresco to be a dining / project table. (He sanded it thoroughly to remove glue and other unsightlies.)

We don't have a dining room, so when holidays come, now we can clear off sewing stuff and set the table for dinner. We used it for the food when the kids came for Christmas.

Don picked up a bulletin board via Craig's List for $10;
it's now my design board.
On it is the top of a shelter quilt ready to assemble.

Don plans to put "real" table legs on, probably using porch posts. But if you ask me, these saw horses work fine. I suppose they are not terribly elegant, but they are very sturdy.

This was my mom's waste basket in her study.

Two pin cushions are indispensable; my daughter-in-law Andrea made me this argyle one.

A collection of baskets for storage;
the tin on the right was my mom's sewing kit,
and it may have been her mom's too, I don't know.

I only just noticed after loading this photo of Mom's sewing kit that it has Degas' dancers;
I'm sure I had seen it but had forgotten; I've been inspired by Degas' dancers
for the past week, imagining a quilt in his soft shades of turquoise and orange.

I remember the inside looking very much like this when it was Mom's.

stash of homemade binding

for Christmas I got a new quilt book:
Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000, by Roderick Kirakofe;
the turquoise with brown dots is tissue paper for wrapping products before shipping;
oh! and you can see I have fabrics out in turquoise and tan dreaming about Degas dancers.

Peter made Santa in school one year.

It was fun choosing just what to keep in the studio, and no doubt this will evolve over time. Don picked up this old wooden desk and chair at a yard sale. He is the absolute king of yard sales. The spool rack was a gift from Don's sister, from her MIL's farmhouse in Pennsylvania. I did not notice "Honor Student" until I took this photo.

A box from my box collection, with sewing feet and tools

Don found three, three of these caddies that he'd gotten
from my dad's garage when we cleaned out their house;
Dad seems to have made them from an old dresser.

I put out the Radko ornaments this year for the first time in a very long time.

The design board with a shelter quilt top ready to assemble

This barrister had classics in it in the family room,
books we've already read; so we packed them up
to pass on to the kids, and we moved it in for my first fabric storage unit;
I'll show you the one at the other end of the room
when it's empty of dishes.

Another of Dad's tool caddies, with fabric scraps;
I'd like to think he would be tickled pink if he knew I was using these.

Soon I have to put away Christmas. Don's mom died Saturday after a six-month illness, and we are mourning the loss of a sweet, kind, gentle woman. When I met her in the mid-1970s I was just about to join the quilting revival that was going on, though I didn't know that's what was happening at the time. I read about it in my new book, Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000, by Roderick Kirakofe.

setbacks or just new material

i can't type much but i have to post something. i had carpal tunnel surgery and my laptop died. one of these at a time would have been all right, thank you. together they were a little much.

before surgery i made ornaments (similar to above, plus a tree), sold a set, and want to keep adjusting them to sell next year.

i promised myself after ten birds of the air quilts sales i would make a shelter blanket for project night night. (my tenth sale was the set of ornaments.) i love what they do: give kids age 1-10 a bag with a blanket, stuffed animal and book. i want to make a simple 5" or 6" block quilt using lots of fabrics from my stash. jane brocket's book is inspiration. so colorfully happy!

i must say, my sadness over [possibly (not sure yet)] losing all my photos and poems if data can't be retrieved from the deceased laptop, when compared to what one must feel losing a home or livelihood, is not much. here i am on a new laptop, provided by the university, sitting by a fire, recovering in the comfort of my home.

Mother Goose quilt finished

What a joy this commissioned quilt has been! Working on it, and then discovering surprise connections.

A very nice friend asked if I would sew a quilt for her friend's baby "A" due in April. The shower is the weekend before Christmas. My friend thought shabby chic colors would be lovely (aka aqua, pink, ivory), and that's where we were headed. But then I remembered the Mother Goose fabric I've had for some time, a gift from my stash sister Nancy. She has collected bins of fabric in South Carolina on her trips to Myrtle Beach and is giving them to me as she down-sizes. Mother Goose has just been waiting for a baby quilt. I shared the concept with my friend, and she loved it.

So I built twelve wonky log cabin blocks around the characters and landscape elements.

This is a scrap quilt, and nearly a charm quilt, meaning that each fabric is used just once.
In addition to fabrics from Nancy, I used vintage fabrics from the 1970s,
some of them left from dresses I made for Lesley,
some from my friend Jeanie's stash (!), and some new fabrics.

The back is more farmy than girly. My friend and I agreed that a too flowery-girly back might overdo it. The wind was blowing when Don snapped me holding it, so the perspective is wrong. It really is straight.

"A" before piecing the quilt

The happy surprise is that the baby shower will be at Cranbrook's Kingswood school, where the mama-to-be and my friend attended, and the mama-to-be's parents taught. This is a very special school, deeply inspired and inspiring to culture and the arts. I attended a writing workshop there when I first began writing poetry in the early 1990s. I was so inspired by the design of the school architecture, furnishings and textiles, all coordinated by the Saarinen family in the early 20th century, that it shaped my own aesthetic and remains deeply embedded in my heart. That this quilt will be received in that space deepens my love for this project and baby!

Roy Slade's thorough look at Cranbrook shows some of its beauty. He talks about how his nearly two decades there were life changing. Amazingly, one weekend there was that for me. See what art can do!

The finished quilt is 42" x 55"

free motion heart quilting

Warm & Plush 100% cotton batting

Update 6/3/2015: Anna Wisjö Photography has posted beautiful photos of sweet baby Adelaide, and in one of them, I am honored to say, she is lying on this quilt. <3

sneak peek of a current project almost done: wonky Mother Goose baby quilt

one of 12 blocks on the front

the baby's initial on the back

Small glimpses because I can't wait. I will sew binding on this weekend, and then give the quilt to the friend who commissioned it for her friend's baby, due in April.

There are some very special surprise connections for me in this project, which I will share soon.