Sunday Quilt Inspiration -- Houston IQS {page 8}

These are the last of the Houston photos that I have. Well, those that are good enough to consider sharing. I'm not even sure just what I have here.

Life Stories Told Through My Quilts 

Family Reunion by Barbara Ann McCraw

Big Blue by Barbara Ann McCraw

Trip to the End of the World

Voyage en Namibie by Bridgit Didier 

Mount Fitz Roy by Rita Dijkstra

 Landscape Quilts 

Sunset Splendor by Barbara Triscari

 Fire in the Stone by Kimberly Lacy

And Yet She Persisted by Rachel Derstine

Antelope Canyon by Vicki Bonhoff

Lava by Marilyn Lone

 Hanging out to dry by Vicki Conley

See the Dawn in Wuling, Taiwan by Yueh-Yua Yang

Traylor Shaft by Anne Moats

 Classical Quilts in Modern Style from Brigitte Morganroth - Retrospective 

Big Bang by Brigitte Morganroth

Folklore by Brigitte Morganroth

Berg und Tal by Brigitte Morganroth

Jahresringe II by Brigitte Morganroth

Viewpoints 9: Living Planet 

Energies by Diane Wright

Full Steam Ahead by Alicia Merrett

 Rising Stars: Jill Kerttula

Virginia Beach by Jill Kerttula

Urban Voyeur: DC Crane by Jill Kerttula

Sidewalk 2 by Jill Kerttula

I didn't know that a quilter or anyone who wants to curate a group of quilts can suggest a collection to display. I kept wondering why there were so many small display, meaning displays of only a few (8-10) quilts. Or why a grouping of quilts by one artist. 

Hmm, interesting concept. I liked being able to walk into a "gallery" and know right away that all of the quilts had been made by one quilter or quickly realizing the theme or concept. What do you think about this idea of many small collections rather than only a few large categories? What would you like to see curated?

Sunday Quilt Inspiration -- Houston IQS {page 7}

I know, I'm late again with Sunday Quilt Inspiration, but on a positive note, the Christmas gifts are all in my spare bedroom! So Yay! for that, right? In other happy news, I found a few more photos from IQS that I could correct enough to post. I hope these inspire you!

                                        Painted Surface category

Allegory of  Life by Christine Alexiou

La Dama de Cedanyola by Marina Comerut Ramirez

What Remains by Ana Buzzalino

  Spiraled by Sherri Lynn McCauley

Auto Arachnid by Esterita Austin

Magical by Joanne Baeth

Byzantine Beauties, The Pots of Istanbul by Tami Graeber

 The Orion Nebula by Robin Hart

 Copper Enamel Ammonite by Kimberly Lacy

   Encrypted by Hope Wilmarth

 Wolf--The Eyes Have It by Rhonda Denney

 Iria in Purple, Color of the Year by Mary Ann Vaca-Lambert

 McMacaw by Debra Cline

 

Bald Head Island Beauty by Karen Ponischil

 Pages in My Book by Peggy Brown

Which of these is your favorite? 

Thanksgiving, school props, and painting (Adam's finish)

Lots going on in the Marcotte lot. Firstly, we celebrated Thanksgiving in grand fashion with two meals on Thursday. One for the parents at noon because Papa can't handle too many people. About three is his limit, so we cooked a second meal for the kids for supper. 

That also gives the boys a chance to visit with their wives' families, and they can drop in on their grandparents a few at a time. No one gets left out this way. It's lots more work, but worth the extra effort since it means making things easier for the aging parents and it helps the kids arrange holidays with their families. Of course, there's nothing left of the food. By now everything has been eaten as leftovers or put in the freezer. 

Saturday and Sunday everyone just tried to rest and do a few things around the house. Adam and Richard had a special project going on. They built props for an upcoming school play. Can you guess which one? If you said A Charlie Brown Christmas, I'd have to agree because these are definitely CB props, but the real truth is that no one has really told me anything except to come see the cuteness. And, well, it is all kinds of cute.

Even better everything is made from left-over wood from a job or previous project. Even the mailbox is recycled. We replaced ours a few weeks ago and it had not found its way to the trashcan for pickup. Apparently we generate more trash in the fall, when we tend to purge the most, thanks to the cooler weather.

Adam retrieved it from somewhere, banged the dents out (it had been run over by a tractor) and mounted it on a freestanding pole. Then he painted it a very bright yellow. The flag was missing, so he even built a wooden flag that moves up and down. 

And now we're on to my current project. I'm working on another cotton painting. It's much like one in neutrals, beige and brown that I wrote about here. I also painted two in blues and wrote about those here.

I didn't like the beige one until it grew on me, then it became my favorite. I planned on painting a few using a green background but that hasn't happened. I supposed green needs to be higher on the list. At any rate this one is still a wip. 

The cotton bolls are still too dark and I need to add to the stalk. Cotton plants, you see, have many sharp limbs that do not bear unless the earliest flowers or seed pods are lost--as in eaten by a cow or destroyed by a storm. Then the plant is poised ready to put out new seed pods as soon as the early ones are lost.

It's interesting how much you can learn about a subject when you begin a "little" research just so your art is more authentic. Anyway, I'll show pics when the painting is complete and the frame is complete, and I pair the two. That may be a week or so, since my husband insists on making frames as though they will be seen from the front of the artwork. They are not but he's a perfectionist. And I am asking for a favor, so I guess we'll wait for a perfect frame.

In case you missed the pictures I took at IQS, all the posts are here:

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 1}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 2}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 3}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 4}

Houston 2018 International Quilt Festival {page 5}

Painted and Quilted and Framed...Oh My a Finish!

I'm not sure which should be listed first, since I both paint and quilt these pieces at the same time. In fact, sometimes I paint then quilt too soon. I can't seem to wait when there's something in my head wanting to get out. 

I've discovered that not waiting can be a bad thing: the needle picks up the paint and the thread dredges through that small, tiny little drop. You can't imagine how much paint can get carried from one stitch to another and another and another.

In other words, it makes a mess. Take the stitches out, right? 
That requires touching the paint and spreading it around via the seam ripper. Bigger mess, that. Okay, so let it dry. Ha! removing stitches that have been stitched and painted on...let's just say it ain't easy and it sure ain't fun!



Honestly, the best option is to stay out of the paint while it's wet. And since it's rough on the needle once it's dry, it's probably a good idea to stay out of the paint altogether. Such a difficult idea to stick with.


But handling the paint and the needle just right means creating a three-dimensional effect, which I really like. On this painting, the largest cotton boll has a high relief that protrudes from the background plane, but it also has a sunken relief caused by the quilting process.  

My goal is to learn more about how to create a variety of reliefs and to learn how light plays on the piece as a result of the quilting and relief work. 

I experimented with the quilting by creating interlocking circles and then echo quilting the shapes that these circles created. I also experimented by playing with size. This one is 12" X 20" and my sweet husband made the frame for me. 

At first I didn't like the piece. I thought the background and the painted sections blended too much. But now that it's finished, it seems to be growing on me. I honestly believe that seeing through my camera lens is what changed my mind. Somehow it has a different look and mood. 
Definitely it has improved my mood!

Thanks for visiting. Please make suggestions and leave comments. I'd love to know what you think.

Linking up with

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cotton...real cotton

My husband is the best! I mentioned that I'd like to have a stalk or two of the cotton that is now drying in the fields. 

The fields are not far from our home, so it wasn't a huge issue, but still, he made the effort for me. I've been playing with painting cotton on canvas after I learned how in a class at school last spring. I wrote about the class here and some of the works that I created here and here. 

Now I have actual cotton bolls, stems and leaves to look at as I paint. I am hopeful that I will be a better painter if I can look at the actual thing rather than try to remember the details.

All of these came from one plant, which was easily three feet tall--too tall to handle. I trimmed the plant by cutting each stem down near the trunk and removing most of the dead stuff.  I tried to arrange the stems like I do with flowers, but these babies are stiff and do not bend. 


They also are hard enough to bite like thorns, so I ended up shoving them down in the vase and leaving them alone. They live in the studio on top of my old card catalog chest. I can move them so long as I touch only the glass vase. 

Now there are no excuses...it's back to painting for me! Thanks darling husband!

What projects do you have no excuses for anymore?