I’ve been working on this art quilt off and on for quite a while. I vacillate between ” This is too insanely wild” and “Oh I’m just having a little fun”. I ask myself “If I ever finished it, would I have the nerve to put it in my shop?” I haven’t got a clue, but in the meantime, I still just having fun.
I have to admit it, lately I’ve been a little neglectful of my blog, posts have been a little sparse. The problem is, I’m running around in circles, like a dog chasing his tale.
Recently I received a copy of the final edit from the editor of Art Quilting Studio magazine. Having a small feature is exciting. It will include links to follow for anyone who would like to see more of my fiber art.
The magazine comes out on June 1st, that will be here in no time. As I thought about it, something occurred to me. If anyone has an interest in seeing more of my work, I need to have plenty of work to see. I’ve gotten a little on the low side. Possibly, I’m obsessing a wee bit, as I am prone to do. After all, I do have work to show, ” Yet I ask myself, is it enough?” So the fretting and worrying begins, I need to make art quilts immediately, more art quilts and even more quilts. The race is on!
Making an art quilt takes a serious amount of time, “no matter, I can do it” I told myself. I was off and running. My sewing machine and I have become very close lately. I’m working hard. I’ve finished a new one and am racing onward. Next”…..Below I’ve posted the newly completed poppy quilt. I’ve yet to give it a real title, so for now it’s poppies.
The other thing that has kept me jumping around and blogging less, is something I’ve been talking about for the longest time. I think that it’s about time I have a website.A real website which displays my work, possibly offering it for sale, although the jury is still out on that one.
I have began to think about it again, the article will have links that people can follow to see more of my work, one of those
should lead to a respectable fiber art website.
I do have this blog, I have an Etsy store and I have two, count em, two Face Book pages [ one too many, but that’s another story] None of these are what I would consider a respectable fiber art website, which represents who I am as a fiber artist and the work I create.
Since it’s unlikely that I’ll find a fancy smancy web designer, who is willing to work for free or would accept quilts in payment for his services, I am left with my final option. This is as likely to occur, as finding a web designer who works for free. The time has come, I knew would. It has come down to my last option, it’s up to me to to build a good ole do it yerself template kind of website. The kind that “they”, the possessors of the skills and knowledge, are “selling”. “They” claim these websites are so easy to build, that any idiot can knock one out in a couple of hours. Well not this idiot!
“They” find it unimaginable that people exist who are so inept that they are unable to turn on a computer without calling tech support. [“What’s this button for? How do you turn this thing on? What’s the TV screen for? Are we going to watch a movie?” ]. The possibility has never crossed “their” minds that not everyone has knowledge of computers, look at your customers face and age, that can be an important clue. A fact which becomes immediately evident the moment they open “their” mouths.”They” could be speaking Chinese for all I know. I have no idea what “they” are talking about, what do these strange words mean? Anything beyond “Hello, I’m Brad. Can I help you” is unintelligible. Apparently not Brad.
So…build a website, me really? Me? Ha, Not going to happen in this universe or any other, for that matter.
I apologize for my neglect, but you can see what I have been facing, so please bear with me.
Here is one of my finished art quilts. I do want to state for the record, I hope you don’t imagine my hasty agenda has resulted in fiber art that I have skimped on.
After hand painting the background fabric and silk poppies, I appliqued my silk flowers onto the fabric backdrop. The scene consists of a green mound covered with low flowering plants, the poppies have grown from this area. A sky that although blue, has begun to darken, suggesting an upcoming storm. The mound, is covered with low growing plants, having delicate mufti colored flowers. Poppies have sprung up in this field.
The final step is the thread painting, or what is often called free motion machine embroidery.Thread is used as a paint and brush, You may wonder why this step is necessary, since much of the composition has been painted already and most of the flowers are going to be covered anyway by extensive thread painting? The reason? It adds so much to the over all look. It provides the base to build on. The layers of color, are deepened. The thread painting enhances the under painting. Thread painting offers the opportunity to create additional detail, texture, pattern and dimension.
So here is my art quilt, poppies.
Recently, after a week of daily proclamations made on my blog, that I was going to finish this quilt that very day! Yet with my continued dillying dallying,I embarrassed myself enough to get working on it in earnest.
All my self pressuring has paid off! I can announce with relief, I have finally finished it.
An unrelated but hopefully amusing side point,
A small unrelated side point, I reread this post for editing and noticed that I’ve developed a sloppy writing habit. My use of exclamation marks, is on the excessive side. I’m easily excited and it’s hard to express excitement without exclamation marks, it’s addictive. It is similar to the over use of air quotation marks, made with your fingers while saying, something like, “She “thinks” she’s so smart”. Another bad habit, less common, is winking constantly. In the past, I had a problem with this.
My favorite aunt was a winker. She used it with enough restraint that it was fun, as if she was sharing a private joke with you. To an awkward 12 year old,my fun, outgoing aunt made me feel special I wanted to be fun and outgoing just like her, when I grew up.
Years later out of the blue I winked at some one, just as my aunt might have done.I began to wink more,but as I found,it can get out of control. I started winking so much that it became involuntary.It popped up at the most inappropriate times. No one wants a wink after the death of a loved one,[“How are you doing?- wink” or “You have my condolences-wink”. The receiver of the wink must have questioned my sanity or wondered if I had an eye tick.! That said, I’ll try to restrain my explanation marks, just as I have promised to be briefer, sure I will..[wink wink].
My excitement is overflowing!! Having this off my mental “to do list”,which plagues me until I finish whatever I start is great.I love this quilt, it’s the pressure caused by the pressure to complete it that I didn’t enjoy.
