This post contains a sampling of my art quilts for Cindy Blumkin at Art N Soul on 101 :-)

"Homage to Nature" - A Series of 5 Mounted Art Quilts

Each quilt in this red, yellow and green series measures 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" and is mounted with invisible, monofilament hand stitching to an 11" x 14" painted, stretched canvas.  The original designs are free motion quilted with continuous line stitching.  Color was applied with Tsukineko fabric ink.

"Joy" - No. 1 in the series, "Homage to Nature"

"Fire and Ice" - No. 2 in the series, "Homage to Nature"

"Profusion" - No. 3 in the series, "Homage to Nature"

"Confluence" - No. 4 in the series, "Homage to Nature"

"Vortex" - No. 5 in the series, "Homage to Nature"

Series 1 - 6"x6" Art Quilts (A Dancer's Gift)

Recently I have been reading the dancer/coreographer, Twyla Tharp's, book, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life, and have taken a couple of her habits and started using them as my own.  Every morning she arises, heads to her empty studio across town and starts to move.  This stimulates her mind and body to create new movements, dances and fully choreogrphed works.  She also explained how the body, not just the mind, has a memory and through repeated exercises, the body will remember, even years later, the movements in a particular choreographic creation. 

This made absolute sense to me, especially when I thought about the act of typing.  My fingers  know where the keys are but my mind does not.  Thus, upon arising each morning I now head directly to my studio, sit down at the sewing machine with a stack of already prepared 6" sandwiches of fabric and batting, and start free motion stitching. 

In the past week the following series of 6" art quilts has emerged.  Every day I am amazed at what comes from my free thinking, morning mind.  When the day comes to a close I color the designs with fabric inks.  In the hours between early morning stitching and nightfall other works seem to miraculously come to mind and now I have 3 larger quilts in the making...and all this came about from adopting a couple of techniques from a dancer's book.

"Sunshine Through a Prism"

After last week's rain that was followed by a bit of a cold snap, this morning's sun beckoned me to the garden. As I sat among the birds and the freshly washed green all around, the sun shone on little puddles that still remained from the rain. Colors from the garden were reflected in the water and danced on its surface like sunshine through a prism and I couldn't wait to turn on the sewing machine to create a work that would capture the essence of these images in the 12"x12" patchwork block below.

Four of My Quilted Art Works on Fuller Arts Center Gallery Page

Website Posting of Exhibit

"Wildfire: A Tribute to Wildland Firefighters"

(hung at right)

Fall Fiber & Fashion

This is a link to the Fuller Art Center's Fall Fiber and Fashion Exhibit in which 4 of my quilted art works appear.

Quilts on The Wall Blog Entry

Stacy Hurt certainly knows how to make a blog look great. Thanks to Stacy for posting the notice that four of my works were juried into the Fuller Lodge Art Center's Fall, Fiber and Fashion exhibit

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg48gCfBqnuH_jVCDPp0oOez7lvyOebfnrVj1cbsxT1aE-9bXYsR7dC2ZDtwVzjQdrZnjwDZQwT1RC_hK6e9qGIVibPw3IPzjInezGqIFkadKQD5X0yN6g6-MWSmaLVeY0_pwmIx8TWU1Fw/s1600/Escape+and+Return+(HF2)Friedman.jpg

http://quiltsonthewall.blogspot.com/

Four Quilted Art Works Juried into Fuller Lodge Art Center Exhibit

Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico, is opening it's Fall Fiber and Fashion exhibit commencing October 1st and running through November 12, 2010. I am most pleased to announce that 3 of my art quilts and one of my wearable art works has been juried into the exhibit.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/FullerLodgeArtCenter

My Art Quilt in Etsy Treasury

"Autumn Stillness"

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c77bb3471896d91dfe82cf5/the-leaf-peepers-are-coming

I just received notice that my quilt, "Autumn Stillness" has been included in the Etsy Treasury, "Leaf Peepers." It's a nice collection of various art expressions in autumn colors.

Hand dyed thread painted leaves lay upon a densely free motion quilted pattern of leaves on a painted canvas cloth backdrop in emulation of the last leaves of Autumn. The reverse is also hand painted with fabric paints and features a unique 4" hanging sleeve of hand painted and individually crafted leaves. (14 1/2 "x 28") Hand dyed thread painted leaves lay upon a densely free motion quilted pattern of leaves on a painted canvas cloth backdrop in emulation of the last leaves of Autumn. The reverse is also hand painted with fabric paints and features a unique 4" hanging sleeve of hand painted and individually crafted leaves. (14 1/2 "x 28")

Front of Quit

Front detail

Reverse of Quilt

Detail of Hanging Sleeve

New Art Quilt:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54793802/crane-art-quilt-escape-and-return

"Escape and Return"

This quilt was designed to honor the greaceful crane and the efforts of those seeking to protect this elegant bird. It depicts cranes as they take flight to clear skies from the dense air of a wildlife reserve that has been set ablaze to clear dense growth that retards their natural feeding habitat. Soon the air will be clear and the controlled burn will make it possible for these elegant birds to return to their breeding grounds to forage for the nutrients that are essential for their successsful breeding and for their noteworthy longevity.

"Escape and Return" is a 21 3/4" x 28 1/2" a one of a kind, original design that was executed with the use of a 3 silk screen printing process and the crane figures were further enhanced for visual dimension with Tsukineko fabric inks. The diagonal swath of color across the quilt was achieved by the application of 3 shades of these inks. Various quilting techniques include echo, stitch in the ditch, outline and free motion circular stitching. The piece is double fold bound with satin fabric and is hand stitched to the reverse side which is signed and which also has a 4" hanging sleeve, the top of which is imbedded into the binding at the top of the quilt. Care has been taken to make this quilt immediately ready to hang.