Sorry about having been seriously AWOL (absent without leave)…. A week ago I got back from a week just north of San Francisco for my mom’s 89th birthday and have been scrambling ever since (making gifts, wrapping gifts, packaging and mailing gifts…). My dear and wonderful sister-in-law came up from LA (Joyce, my late half-brother’s widow) to Mom’s in the Bay Area, too. It was a wonderful reunion… wish we weren’t so far apart! We need to do that more! I’ll blog about that trip, dyeing fabric (which is the closes I’ve come to quilting in too long a while), and the Frayed Edges December meeting (which DOES involve a quilt…Kathy’s work of wonder!) in the coming week or two…. I expect everyone else is as swamped as I am!

We had a significant Nor’easter on Sunday which added another 8 inches of snow to the nearly 10 on the ground—before the temperature started rising twenty degrees at about 6 pm (from low 20s to 40 at 11 pm!) and it turned to rain, which sank to the bottom of the snow and made the Mid-Coast of Maine a skating rink…sidewalks are hazardous. But the landscape is glorious.

The Frayed Edges are intrepid (and busy) souls, so three of us gathered at Kate’s house in Bowdoinham despite the storm and resulting yuck on the roads–we just drove veeerrrrryyyyy sllllowwwwwlllyyyyyy. Deborah, living near Dallas, was with us in spirit and our hearts, as was Hannah who was home with a sick daughter (bummers for both!). On the way, I snapped these pics of the ice on the trees about a mile from Kate’s… what awesome beauty!

I know I’ve said it before, but I LOVE winter, and I love winter in Maine. Imagine getting to see this sort of beauty and inspiration within (literally) a snowball’s throw from the garage doors and while walking the dog-beasties?!!! I’m on to do a small challenge quilt by the end of February on “Winter,” and I think after my walk at 5 yesterday (pitch dark!) I’ll do moon on snow with trees…… Here’s the neighborhood:

In the backyard:

The woodpiles:

Taking a gamboling puppy out for walkies (bunnies do the bunny hop, ‘Widgeon does the pug hop!)—and the deeper the snow, the more his short little doggie body loves it!

St. Francis on watch…. this was in my late father-in-law’s garden in southern California, moved with him to Washington state, moved to our house on San Juan Island when he died (St. Francis’ feast day is the same date as my birthday… I knew I liked him!), and then came to Maine:

The snowy branches, undisturbed by winds, look like the tracery on medeival cathedral windows:

And the trees in front of the Squibb’s house and the dangly branch next door:

I’m thrilled to be able to share a wonderful new book about art quilting written by Deborah Boschert about our Frayed Edges Project called 5 Artists, 5 Views:

and yes, I’m in it / a part of the book. Some of you may remember that in August, The Frayed Edges (my mini-group) had an exhibit at the Camden Public Library (to see more, click here and here). For that show, I had an idea to create a group project: each of us would contribute one photo, then we would each make a small quiltlet based on those five photos. The project was SO successful that Deborah Boschert wanted to create a small book discussing the project and how others might do something similar.

Deborah has finished the book and blogged about it here, and best of all, the book is ready for sale in her Etsy shop for a modest $20 plus shipping; these books will make wonderful Christmas gifts (I’ve already ordered several!). I hope it will also be an inspiration for all art quilters, and would be art quilters who are looking for a way to start!

Deborah designed the book to be interactive. You open the lovely embellished vellum envelope (above) to find a book with interviews, hints, tips, ideas and inspiration, and a stack of photographs

including the five original inspiration photos (Kathy’s umbrella photo is on the bottom left) plus a photo of each of the 25 pieces in the 5 x 5 grid. When you read the book, you can sort through the photos to look at all five of the umbrella pieces, or stack all the ones by a given artist, or lay them out in the 5 x 5 grid we used to display them.

The booklet, half-page sized, is (I think) 30 pages. It includes:

• About the Project
• About the Photographs
• Artists
  • Hannah Beattie
  • Deborah Boschert
  • Kate Cutko
  • Kathy Daniels
  • Sarah Ann Smith
• Suggestions for Similar Collaborative Projects

I’m so thrilled Deborah has prepared this book, and that I am a part of it, and that we are all a part of The Frayed Edges! Wooohooo! I hope some of you will order and enjoy the book…and as always, ASK QUESTIONS!

Need good ideas for holiday gifts (or just because?)?  Well, have I got two great things for you–an e-Book to delight and inspire and beautiful items to use, enjoy art AND fundraise for cancer research all at the same time!

Virginia Spiegel had an idea: to raise funds for cancer research, one fabric postcard at a time, through a project she called FiberArt for A Cause (FFAC). That little idea grew and grew and grew, and to date she (with a lot of support from a lot of artists, happy customers and supporters, and a lot of hard work) has raised over $135,000! Yes, that is ONE HUNDRED, thirty five THOUSAND dollars donated directly to the American Cancer Society. The tulip photo above is one of Virginia’s (all photos used here with permission) that is featured in both her e-book and at her Cafe Press store to continue her fundraising efforts…read on for more info!

Next, Virginia has had several on-line auctions of art, and I was proud to donate a piece in honor of my dad, half-brother, and friend Linda. You can read more about The Wall here and here. And you can see the gallery from the 2007 auction here.

Now, Virginia has two more projects to help raise funds to fight cancer! First, she has compiled some of her newsletters into an e-book “Art Nature Creativity Life.” To read a sample chapter, click here. I am not normally a fan of e-books…I’m sort of old fashioned and like things on paper (it is that tactile thing that draws me to cloth, too!). But this book is glorious, and features not only her art quilts but also her photography–I’m so glad she posted a chapter online because now I believe! Here is one photo from a chapter of the e-Book, showing a bit of Virginia’s art journal:

Every year Virginia and her sister go camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and it is a chance for me to escape with them. The book has received rave reviews all around, and it would make a perfect Christmas gift for the person in your life who has everything, has been touched by cancer, or could use a momentary escape to beauty and art (and who doesn’t need that?)!

Her latest endeavor is another treat: FFAC gift items from CafePress, here. I’ve already ordered my Boundary Waters shirt and am starting my Christmas shopping list.

There are shirts, mugs, mousepads and totes in three different designs. All the profits from each item ($5) are donated directly to the American Cancer Society. Thanks to Virginia for her dedication to this cause, and for making it possible for all of us to share in her art and joy in the beauty of nature.

BOOK REVIEWS:

Karey Bresenhan’s book Creative Quilting: the Journal Quilt Project, (available here) came out about this time last year, and I intended to blog about it then, but life got away from me (what a surprise). Even if I didn’t have five (!!!) journals–small art quilts– in this book, I would recommend this 272-page tome heartily. I think this book will become a benchmark publication of where art quilting is in the earliest years of the 21st century. It is truly a remarkable, inspiring, and educational book that belongs on the shelf of every person who loves art quilts, whether they make art quilts or not.

So what is a journal quilt? The idea was to explore something each month–instead of writing in a paper journal, to document the month in cloth and thread and fiber and whatever, while also keeping a brief written narrative. The finished pieces were to be the size of a U.S. piece of copy paper: 8 1/2 x 11 inches, vertical orientation. I joined the QuiltArt list in late 2002 just as the first year’s journals were being sent in to hang in Houston. I signed up in early 2003 as soon as possible to participate the coming year, in part because I figured (happily I was wrong) it would be the only way I would ever have a quilt in Houston. For my January quilt, I wanted to involve my son, then in 3rd grade, since he was sometimes jealous of my quilting time. I asked and received the OK from both Joshua and Karey to use a piece of his second grade artwork as my very first journal:

I cannot believe, now, how many firsts were in that quilt: first time using metallic thread, first time painting on fabric, first time fusing sheers and beading on a quilt! Now, those techniques are standard fodder for me. It is simply not possible to over-state how much doing the journal quilts has contributed to my development as an art quilter. This is the quilt and the project that launched a career! Best of all, it not only made it into the book, but is also included at thumbnail size in the introduction. You should have seen 13-year old Joshua’s eyes grow wide and fill with pride when I got the book and promptly opened it to show him HIS artwork (as interpreted by me)! That look is a gift from him to me that I will treasure forever.

The book is divided into seven chapters:

1. Series
2. Stories
3. Flowers, Plants and Trees
4. Animals and Insects
5. L andscapes and Special Places
6. Faces and Figures
7. Abstract

Some of the most amazing works are those where the artist worked in a series in a given year’s journals. Maria Elkins and Rachelly Roggel’s are the ones that first spring to mind. I don’t think ANYone, in the six year run of this project has better utilized the potential for stretching and development through these quiltlets than Maria. By clicking on her name you can get to her gallery page, and from there view each year of her journals…prepared to be inspired and exhilarated!

The stories are equally amazing, from inspiring to heartbreaking. Some are humorous, like the woman undergoing chemo who left her hair on the sofa, literally (and used a tuft of fake fur on her pictorial version). Others are heartbreaking, documenting loss of loved ones and tragedies both personal and national.

The book is not a project book, but each entry shares the materials and techniques used by the artists. If it can be done to, with or on fabric, I think it was done in one of the journals! If you want to learn how to do a technique, you can go search out classes, technique books or magazines, such as Quilting Arts, that will teach you the how-tos. Creative Quilting is a book to savor and dip into at random, enjoying the journey.

I was honored when Karey opened the section on Plants, Flowers and Trees with three of my journal quilts, including a full page (nearly life-sized) reproduction, above, of this quilt which features one of my photos printed onto cloth and quilted intensively. Also included are my January and February 2006 journals:

2007 is the final year of the Journal Quilt Project. This year, instead of making a different journal each month, Karey asked us to make a single piece 17″ wide by 22″ long (or four pieces of paper together) that used at least three techniques that were featured in journals included in the book. When the International Quilt Festival in Houston opens to the public on November 1, I will be able to share my journal for this year.

Even better, nearly ALL of the 400+ journal quilts in the book will be on display in Houston, in the order in which they appear in the book. I wish I could be there to see them, but will be content that I have had the unbelievable opportunity to learn and grow through this remarkable project.