A Quilt-centric Summer.....

Sometimes all deadlines seem to collide into one small window, right?   Usually, it seems to happen near the holidays but, for me, it happened in June.  Many deadlines came to a head, and a few unanticipated opportunities that I simply could not pass up.  So, what I am trying to say is that, at times, I am my own worst enemy.  It seems that a good deadline is often needed to propel me across the finish line with some of my art projects.
I will write a separate post about traveling to Cleveland to tape two segments for "Fresh Quilting", but I wanted to write about the studio activity surrounding that and other projects.

First, I wanted to show you our little "quilt-turning" while the San Antonio Modern guild 

had its retreat in Kerrville at the Creations retreat center.  Have you heard about it?

Creations is an amazing quilt shop:  so well-curated!  They purchased the house across their shop parking lot and renovated it into a fabulous retreat center.  We love driving up there twice a year!

The "camp counselors" organized this quilt turning and each attendee brought a quilt to discuss.  We toured each others' rooms to see the quilts.  Fun!

I was surprised and thrilled to see Urban Artifacts was being carried in the shop!

I reside on the same shelf as Marcia Derse, and that gives me a lot of joy...

I knew Marcia's fabric would play well with mine, and vice versa.

 Okay, so I probably didn't really have time to go on that retreat but I MADE time to go because I love my sister guild-members and I didn't want to miss out on the fun.  Our guild is the best, people.
There is such generosity of spirit, acceptance, and mutual support with very little "drama".  I am a happy member.

Hi from the studio!  I'm standing in front of part of my very-full design wall.

These UFO's are haunting me...

Now, here is what I worked on back in my home studio:

"Hedgehog Social" is a digitally-printed piece that is based on a quilt I constructed

last year.  I took the photo of the quilt and altered the colors in PicMonkey, 

then printed FQs on the Spoonflower site.

The beautiful graffiti quilting is done by Joanna Marsh.

The theme of the month was:  facing the quilts!!!

Joanna Marsh, of Kustom Kwilts and Designs did the marvelous quilting

that I denoted for this piece, as well as the beautiful graffiti-style work on the Hedgehog quilt

and all the obsessive matchstick quilting that I requested on the others below.

Her work is just amazing and I am grateful to be able to collaborate with her.

This is another digital piece, part of a series that has begun this summer.

It is called "Summer of Love: Psychedelic Produce" (I know... it is a bit crazy)

This is an altered image of a cross-cut Napa cabbage.

I improv-cut and re-pieced the central portions of all four cabbages.

If you look closely you will notice that there are two tones of pink and two tones of yellow, a "glowing" one and a "flat" one (hello Nancy Crow-language).

I love the way this little subtlety makes the quilt sparkle.

Isn't the quilting amazing?!

Here is the back, a custom-printed Tula Pink fabric.  Gorgeous!

I love to put facings on most quilts as I love the clean edge they create. 

My facing has a curved corner.

This piece was created with solids sent to me by the sponsor of my segment on Improv Piecing

for "Fresh Quilting" series 200.  The quilt was ruler-free cut with a rotary cutter and machine-pieced.

Joanna quilted it with narrow matchstick lines that are slightly organic.

By the way, my new and perfect batting combo for pieces that will go to shows is this:

Quilter's Dream Orient (a silk/cotton blend) as the base, topped with Quilter's Dream Wool.

This combo is lightweight, will quilt to a very low-loft, and the wool prevents creasing during shipping.  It is just what I have been searching for.  Most double-bats get so weighty! 

This is just great.

This quilt is another digitally printed image, altered in PicMonkey and printed FQs from Spoonflower.  The image was taken under the pier at Wrightsville Beach NC when I traveled there

to stay with a friend after Quiltcon Savannah.  I created the negative space borders to reference

the architectural details seen in the pier.  I love this quilt!

Same batting:  Quilter's Dream Orient topped with QD Wool.

Organically matchstick quilted by Joanna Marsh.

This quilt, called "Interchange I", is a ruler-free improv quilt I constructed 

as part of a Nancy Crow workshop called "Sets & Variables".  This had a specific 

set of parameters that I had to adhere to:  size and two blocks were high contrast value, 

the two others were to have colors that were of the same value.  It was

quite challenging!  The quilt was longarm quilted by the wonderful Gina Pina from Austin.

This quilt has a single wool batting and the quilting echoes the basic shapes of the 

composition in 1/2" lines.  

I need to get a full image shot of this quilt, another from the Improvisational exercises workshop,

an advanced workshop with Nancy Crow.  This may be one of my very favorite quilts ever made.

I love this quilt so much.  It is very special to me, and I am just teasing you with this "quilt pile"

on my sewing table.  I was frantically putting the facing on it before I went to tape the 

"Fresh Quilting" episodes.  You will see it hanging in that blog post....

Next up: a detail from  "Resist Tyranny", a curator-piece I constructed to be part of 

an exhibition called Threads of Resistance.  

and here I am in Lowell at the New England Quilt Museum, standing in front of the quilt.

At the reception held at the home of my friend Sue Bleiweiss, on the right.

L-R:  Judy Coates Perez, Michele Muska, myself, and Sue.

So.  That was a LOT of quilt finishing inside the month of June.  Plus, I went to Los Angeles for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, flew to Cleveland for the taping of Fresh Quilting, and squeezed a quilt retreat into the mix.  Hey, it keeps me out of mischief.