Cherry blossoms galore

The show opened last night, to a room filling crowd. It was great fun to see the myriad ways that others interpreted cherry blossoms, and to meet some of the artists. I only knew two others previously.

There are so very many techniques in art quilting--abstract (mine) to yarn... and I bet I've missed a few. Some of the pieces were tiny, only a few inches by a few inches in size. Others were quite large. Some were three dimensional--fairies! Some had much embellishment; others had very little. And, oh, those embellishments! Again, quite the variety. It's an education just to look, and figure out how they did it.

Thanks to all who came to see the show.

Cherry Blossoms Exhibit

April 17–29
“Cherry Blossoms: A Textile Translation”

Opening reception will be held Tuesday April 17th from 6-8pm , all are welcome!
in West Vancouver at the Silk Purse Gallery, 1570 Argyle Ave.

FibreEssence is a textiles art collective working with embroidery, quilting, sewing, weaving and surface design using traditional and innovative techniques and materials. This selection of work evokes the spirit of spring and rebirth, coinciding with the reappearance of the cherry blossom in our community.
Co-sponsored by FibreEssence and the Vancouver Guild of Fibre Arts.

Amazing! One of my pieces has been accepted by fibreEssence for their upcoming show at the Silk Purse Gallery (1570 Argyle Ave, West Vancouver, BC). April 17-29, http://silkpurse.ca/

The theme is Cherry Blossoms: a Textile Translation. totally appropriate for this time of year. The cherry tree across the street is blooming profusely right now.

I'm using the colours of cherry blossoms, abstracting them by strip-piecing and reconstructing them. I have a whole new appreciation for the colour pink and red-purple.

 I've added texture by quilting an expanding spiral, trying to focus on the pinks.
 I can't wait to see the whole show!

Cherry Blossoms

I've been playing with the theme of "Cherry blossoms" this month.


How can I convey the exuberance of the colour pink at the height of cherry blossom time? the drifts of petals and sometimes sweet smell that comes with it?

here are a couple of tries at it...

Cherry Lane

Detail of the "branches" and "flowers"

And for something entirely different, here's another more abstract "tree", if you really want to call it a tree.

Landscape

Years ago, I took a course from the Anna Templeton Centre in St John's, Newfoundland, from Valerie Hearder. Make just a 5" x 7" landscape quilt. All hand sewn, and hand embellished. I just now realized it's not even sandwiched, or quilted. It is framed though, as I had one handy--it was framed the same day!
Made in 2000.

I didn't get back to landscapes for some time...






Then, a year later, between jobs, and living in my
cabin about an hour outside St. John's, I made a stole for myself. A vertical landscape quilt.

That's Cape Spear on the back, and Newfoundland trees and countryside on the front. I still use this one the most when preaching.

Now, I'm trying to picture landscapes again. This time I'm machine quilting, and trying more things. I wanted to portray winter in the Lower Mainland, and even had a photo for inspiration. Here it is.

How could I make the reflections real? How could I make a tree? It turns out that practice makes a great deal of difference. And so does standing back and looking critically. I had to keep adding bits to make it come alive. And here it is...

Colour Study

I've been studying colour with Judy Villett (http://judyvillett.com) over the past month or so. It's been so fun to take the time to think about and articulate the colour relationships I see around me -- I am usually only intuitive about it.

So this past week, I worked on a small Colour Study. It's 8 1/2" x 11".

I started with the print fabric, adding the solids to go with it. I used both cotton thread and monofilament for quilting, and zigzagged the edges.

Quick and fun. And satisfying colour-wise for me.

Exploring the world

My 6 month old kitten Tigger is starting to explore the outside world. I take it upon myself to accompany him on his almost daily outings. But boy, is it scary, for me more than him, I think.

Some history: an older cat of ours was killed on the street not quite a year ago. Blackie had no fear at all. His littermate Toes is so timid he's still around. Since he was lonely we now have Tigger.

Tigger is having a grand time exploring our yard, and the big trees, and the fence. He's learning that it's easier to climb up than down, and that often the way down is a big jump. Or a fall. I was much relieved when he only went up about 10 feet of the 60 foot pine tree. The cherry tree (in the neighbor's front yard!) seems much safer. That's the one he fell out of. Later he went way up, like 50' up! a cedar tree. See the photo.

Toes wants to show him all kinds of things--the way across the fence to the nasty neighbor's place; the way to the nice neighbor's cat door, the place to jump across the fence. Toes is not so patient though, and sometimes just disappears.

I can see that Tigger is more excited to explore and discover than he is frightened by loud noises and other things new. I just hope I can foster such an attitude in my quilting art....