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January - Masked Woman
The
reason:
I've been teaching a nine-week class entitled "Woman Warrior."
In the spirit of the class, I've decided the
theme for my journal quilts this year will be "Woman." To start the series, I used a motif that was a sample from
the "stamping" portion of the class.
The
process: The central motif was stamped on fabric with metallic
acrylic paint. I appliquéd it with metallic thread using an open zigzag stitch. No ruler
was used for this quilt, except for the binding.
All the cuts are made freehand, and nothing is measured -- an
extreme departure for me!
The
result: Wow!
This little quilt is just as free-spirited as the techniques used to
create it, and each time I look at it, it brings back wonderful memories of
the very special
group of women in my "Woman Warrior" class. |
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February
- Japanese Woman
The reason: After telling a class that it's better
to cut into your fabric than to save it, I decided to follow my own
advice and cut into one of my own precious "saved" pieces of fabric.
The process: The
fabric is very sheer, so there's a layer of muslin underneath. The
outline of the shape is quilted with metallic thread. There's very little quilting in the piece -- it's a study in the
beauty of the fabric itself.
The result:
The beautiful Japanese woman brought back memories
of illustrations in a book I'd
loved as a child, "Japanese Fairy Tales." I
searched through my old photos and found a photo of myself at age 4 or
5 holding the book. On a whim, I searched e-bay for the book,
found it (you really can find everything you'd ever want on
e-bay!) and ordered it. . . maybe there's a series here. . . |
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March
-- Mexican Moon Woman
The
reason: One of those home decorating catalogs arrived in the
mail, and instead of tossing it out as I usually do, something told me to
take a look inside. I found a photo of a ceramic piece from Mexico that
inspired this little quilt.
The process:
Instead of just the same old appliqué, I threw in some
free-motion satin stitching and some threadpainting, using a few
outrageous neon polyester and rayon threads. The
background is free-motion quilted using a twisted rayon thread. I
like the way the light "twist" makes the background
shimmer.
The result: A success! The design
seems
appropriate, in retrospect, since this month I noticed an incredibly
spectacular full moon.
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April
-- Moon-Gazing Woman
The reason:
Again, a piece of fabric from my stash yielded this moon-gazing
woman. I'd used a piece of this fabric
for a tote bag a few months ago, and thought it might be nice to
incorporate it into a journal page.
The process.
Although the original background was a heavily patterned jungle
print, I thought it might be interesting to see how she'd look
on a solid background. I added a few
elements and tried to tie them together. A layer of tulle was added
to soften the elements, and then beading was done to highlight the
quilting lines.
The result:
The woman seems like an "every-woman" to me as if she's too busy contemplating the
moon to be bothered with being polite. I wish I would've have had a little more time to put
some detail into her, but the deadline loomed . . .
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May
- Cameo Woman
The
reason: While browsing through a magazine at the
supermarket check-out counter, I saw a line drawing that appealed
to me, and tried to commit it to memory so I could draw it out when
I got home. As soon as I pulled into the garage, with ice cream still melting in the car
trunk, I ran into the
house and got this little sketch down on paper.
The process:
I've been working on a design for a large "fat
ladies" quilt, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to find
out how that red thread would look against the yellow
fabric I'd been thinking of using for the "ladies". As I stitched
it reminded me of
an elegant old-fashioned cameo, so I cut around the
design making it as tiny as possible, and worked a
narrow zigzag stitch around the raw edges.
The
result: Isn't she pretty? |
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June
-- Hippie Woman
The
reason: I've been thinking about the 60's a lot lately, and how
they influenced my life, my morals, how I live my life. An Alexander
Henry print from my stash provided the face of the 60's, at least
the way I remember those years. . .
The
process:
Inspired by last month's cameo, the quilted face was cut out and re-applied to
a background. In early September I re-visited this little quilt, after a
comment from my son, Jordan, convinced me she needed some more
"life." I added beads, beads and more beads . . .
The result:
She reminds me of the love beads and bell bottoms and Beatles and
bongs . . . All you need is love.
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July -- Japanese Woman II
The
reason: My oldest son spent most of this month in Japan
with his girlfriend, Natsuko. He returned with wonderful stories,
gifts and fabric, too! Among the gifts was a package of small
prints from his girlfriend's parents, who had learned that Jordan's
mother is a quilter. The small print on the right is one of those
beautiful prints.
The
process: The
woman in the print is a perfect hostess, graciously offering tea to a
visitor. The trim is from a trip to a quilt show
in August . . . yes, I'm running a bit behind in my journals this
year!
The
result:
She is one of my favorites. Elegant and serene, she symbolizes
many admirable female qualities. I especially like the special touch
added by the trim.
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August
-- Happy Quilter Woman
The
reason: Sometimes all it takes to be really happy is to sit down
and quilt. But other times, even quilting isn't enough to make you
happy. . .
The process: My
box of pre-fused fabrics yielded all that I needed for this little
quilt, except for the couched "hair."
The result: Are
quilters generally happier people because they quilt, or because they
hang out with other people who quilt?
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September
-- The "Little Fat Lady"
The
reason: I exhibited a
large piece in a Fiber Revolution show this month that I called
"The Three
Fat Ladies." I was very happy with the piece, along with the others in the
Fat Ladies series, and decided to do this mini-fat-lady
to round out the 2003 journal quilts.
The process:
Threadpainting is the only technique. It's different from the others
in the series in that it's the "negative image" -- light
thread on a dark fabric background.
The result:
I
like the negative image very much, and I'm thinking about using it for my
next piece in the series!
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