Since May in Ohio

Today I finished off two pieces.
Happily.
One I had dyed in Ohio at the Color Workshop & the other piece had a long history.
I'll start with that.

I can't remember where, but I found some yummy silk plaid ribbon, cut on the bias. And around the same time I found some shapes in Maui, in the work of a sculptor named Pascale that I wanted to experiment with.

Whatever I was or wasn't doing I couldn't pull it off. The work got put aside.

And then, as so often mysteriously happens, they came to hand. Maybe it was because they were in the color zone of the 2 yard skeins I had bought for my inspiration for the color course.

...and I'm off!

This is how it looked before it was quilted up.

...and after quilted up in red thread.

The other piece completed today....

details....

The method is African stitch resist. The hairy bits are where the dental floss thread kept the dye out!

One of the small quilts assembled in the workshop went through a big transformation.

Here's how it was...

..in the early stages of quilting it by machine. 

Then this occurred to me

then this... pinned on...

The color additions are cut from a scarf my mother wore in the 1950s. It came from Venice.

I love the depth created by this addition. And the machine quilting got way denser.

 Finally, a two color study... completed soon after I got back...

detail...

That's it for now.

Textile work -- Oh Solo Double Trio Mounted & Rained Out

August 11, 2013

I have planned this day for over a year, maybe longer.
I did several dry runs out there in the grove-in-the-park of choice.
Evenly spaced trees, 4 benches. No trees that wept sap.
Wainborn Park across the park from our apartment. West of us.

I watched the weather with a wary eye.
I thought Wednesday or Thursday I should send out the invitations, so I did that Wednesday evening. Commitment.
A half an hour before the mounting time I was still no-ing & yes-ing. I woke George up at 9:00 for decision-making. Go for it, we decided. What the hell.
So what I got out of the whole experience was a dry run of the process. Joke! (A dry run that turned wet!)

Douglas, George's brother-in-law, carried the precious bundle of quilts across the park.

The wind was up to 10 mph... a bit of a problem... with a few gusts.

The quilts run from 0 to 13 plus two others.

 This is the title quilt. On the back is the dedication: for all my children, biological, pedagogical, & magical.

The look of the whole thing.

When Rosamar said to me,"Don't do a children's book, break the mold. Do your own art about numbers," this was the first quilt I conceived of in 10 minutes or less. I was ready & the teacher came. Thanks Rosamar. Thanks for the whole thing!

I call the first one A Lot of Nothing.

This quilt is for 1.

 

right to left: 2 [Double, Double], 3 [Three Points of Interest], 4 [my four lenses for looking at numbers--any number, but in this case the #4]

 Right to left... 5 [what happens when you tie a knot in a ribbon], 6 [hexominoes], & 7 [my July 7th birthdays]

 Right to left... 8 [about numbers that have line symmetry or point symmetry], 9 [about some of the amazing patterns hidden in the multiplication table] & 10  [fingers & toes]

right to left   11 [11-point-stars], 12 [clocks] 13 [a deck of cards, 4 x 13]

 Right to left  The quilt about rational numbers, the quilt about the look of numbers, & the colophon quilt.

                               Now the backs....  Zero...   
    It started to sprinkle. I rushed around photographing the backs.

right to left: backs of 2, 3, & 4

                                    left to right: 5, 6, & 7

                                                    left to right 8, 9, & 10

The backs of 11, 12, & 13... left to right

 The backs of rational numbers, look of numbers & colophon.

By then I was in a total rush to dismantle because of rain! There was a flash & a clap of thunder! Faster & faster! I call George & Douglas, come quick!

That's it for now. I have my eye on September 1, the day before Labor Day for the next remount. Help me get good weather!!