Meeting size restrictions

I am the co-rep for SAQA’s region Europe/Middle East, and moderator for the regional blog. The establishment of such a blog had been strongly suggested by the board, and after some hesitation at first I finally caved in and agreed to do it. The SAQA Europe/Middle East blog has been online since the end of October 2012. Ever since then, it’s been leading a rather dull and uneventful life, as contributions by members have been scarce and far between, and I had said from the very beginning that I would only be doing this in a function as moderator, not usually generating posts. A brief lively period occurred last September/October, when we had a give-away of SAQA’s second collection of Aurifil threads, which had been donated by Alex Veronelli of Aurifil. During that brief period, I came across and (with Lisa Walton’s permission) copied the idea of publishing posts about the making of SAQA members’ contributions to the annual SAQA Benefit auction. In the newsletters, we have repeatedly asked our members to take a few documentary photos, write up a few lines about the inspiration and the process, and submit it for publication on the blog.

It’s still early in the year, and I am hopeful that there will be more contributions than the one from the Netherlands that I have been promised.

In order to fulfill my own duties in this project, I decided soon after Christmas that I would get an early start, finish my contribution, and get the documentation done.

As I have been working with reflector fabric, and trying to include text in some of my recent work, I wanted to make a small quilt that featured both. I came up with the idea that that bore potential for a contemporary interpretation of the Nine-Patch, and set to work.

The text is a contribution to the discussion of art and meaning, and spread out over the Nine-Patches that make up the Double Nine-Patch.

Lettering on the back of reflector fabric, in mirror image

Everything went fine until I had it all finished – and measured the sides. It was one inch larger than the 12” requirement. 

Checking back with the organizers of the auction, I was told that they had accepted 13” squares before, but that the two from last year had not sold. Now, I did not want that to happen with mine, so decided this would have to find a different solution.

Yes, obviously I do have a size problem, it happens to me all the time. Not to worry, though – except for the fact that I won’t be able to use this as my blog post for the “Grand Gallery”, and I will have to come up with another idea for that purpose and the auction, this little one will find its way into my exhibition at the Fagus Werk in Alfeld in October. For this I am making five pieces size 40 by 40 cm (16” square). Accordingly, I have mounted this little one on additional darker blue background fabric and am now waiting for the wooden frames on which it will be displayed. And I made sure that there is enough blue fabric around the original part so that the finished piece will actually fit over the wooden slabs! Don't want to run into yet another size problem, at least not with this piece.

One item on the list crossed off. But another still open.

Contribution to "Decorating with Textiles"-Series on TAFA-blog

On the TAFA-Blog, you can find my contribution to the current "Decorating with Textiles"-series on the blog. Please check it out here.

Inspirational pictures

Patterns and texture in abundance!

Surprise, surprise...

Today I received two pictures and an inquiry by my friend Béatrice Bueche, the owner of the Butterfly garden that I have mentioned before (see pictures on my German blog), who came to the opening of my exhibition in Freiburg. 
She had only now downloaded her pictures of the opening from her phone and was surprised to see this:

Taken without a flash...

and

... taken with a flash.

Béatrice wanted to know what had happened. This is what it is:
The second picture shows wonderfully how I have used reflecting fabric in Shapes 10. Which is not noticeable in daylight, of course, and doesn't really show on photographs, either. Unless you use a flash.

High Noon

16 - our neighbor houses mirrored in opposite window

17 - at the piano

18 - talking a walk to my new tree

19 - working on the January fabric club selection

20 - inbetween dye charges

21- guest at the bird house

22 - on the Autobahn towards Freiburg

23 - in a shop in Freiburg

24 - view into my exhibition

25 - rest area

26 - mirror image

27 - my co-students at Spanish

28 - the brightest moment of the day?!?

29 - making a hat for my son

30 - prepared for shibori dyeing

31 - mirror image

UFO for Mayan families

Inbetween finishing the last piece for the exhibition in and actually leaving for Freiburg there were a few days that seemed a bit less packed. I had already started on the next pieces in the Shapes series while I was waiting for the threads with which I had wanted to finish Shapes 10, and certainly could have continued working on that. But I also felt an urge to start preparing for a class that will begin in the end of the month. So I figured it would make sense to clear out and put away the contents of the box that had been traveling back and forth with me to the Log Cabin class I taught at the community college in Landshut last fall. That way the box would be ready to hold materials for the next class.

When teaching Log Cabin, I always sew a few blocks myself – partly for the demonstration, partly when the students are busy and I wouldn’t have anything else to do but walk around making them nervous by constantly looking over their shoulder.

Last fall’s results were part of what came out of that box. I sort of had forgotten about these blocks... When I counted them, I thought they were too many to just let them sit around somewhere waiting for another Log Cabin class. So I  made six more blocks, 

sewed them together, found a backing,

you will have to forgive the lighting -
the picture was taken late at night under my studio lights.

and sent it all off to Bonnie Bucknam for her Quilts for Mayan Families project (for which I had donated a piece already last year).

Felt good to be able to do something like that so quickly – not counting the hours which I had spent in the fall...

Bonnie in reply sent me some pictures of the quilt I sent last year, now quilted and finished:

While I was finishing the Log Cabin blocks, my son was working on another UFO, from the results of demonstrating the technique of fast half-square triangles. He has claimed that it was his turn to be the recipient of a  quilt, and (to keep him occupied) I had enlisted his help: arrange them the way you want them, so we can figure out how many more we need. A few weeks ago he had started with the first attempt, 

but now he has changed his mind and wants a “barn raising” arrangement. 

working on arranging the first quarter

It will be a little while before it is completely finished. But it's on its way.

Back from Freiburg

I have just returned from a few days in Freiburg, where I had the opening of a small exhibition of my works in the gallery space of "quiltart".

Here is Sophie helping me with the hanging - she is almost ten inches taller than I am, and of course used to the hooks in her gallery:

Sophie Maechler hanging Shapes 7, 8 and 9

If you are an attentive reader of this blog you may have noticed that the blue one during its evolution originally was referred to as Shapes 8. However, I saved finishing the binding for when I was finished with the yellow one, too - meant to be Shapes 9. Which led to confusion when stitching the names onto the backs - and when I wanted to put Shapes 9 onto the yellow one, I realized I had already put Shapes 9 onto the blue one. Because I had already closed the seam I really didn't feel like ripping it out again and simply changed the numbers. Not that it makes much of a difference. They could be hung in a different order, too.

Here are a few other views into the gallery:

Attentive guests at the opening:

And a shot of me:

With an official statement about my change of hairstyle, because so many people asked me about it: I really prefer to have my hair completely short. But as my hair colour is changing, the quality of hair changes, too, and I looked like a hedgehog fresh from a severy fight every morning I got up. So my hairdresser suggested to let it grow longer a bit, and she was right, as the increasing length pulls it down a bit. But this as about as long as I am going to let it grow. Looks better than I thought it would, too, I think.