I have been trying for quite a while to get my stash down to a reasonable level, while still holding on to everything I like. It doesn't work very well because I like almost everything, which is why I bought it all in the first place. I also like to hang on to things I've made.

I have managed to give away many boxes and bags of fabrics to various charities, but now I've started giving away things I still really like. This week I donated two more bags of fabrics, including some pieces that are large enough to make backs of quilts. I also went through some old projects that never got completed. Many of those blocks are now out of my hands. 

I understand that my donations will go toward quilts for children at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which was started by Paul Newman and serves children who have serious illnesses. Every child leaves with a quilt.

This first block, from a pattern by Bethany Reynolds, was supposed to be part of a quilt, but I must have tired of it quickly.  I only made one.

 

 

 

The next are my rows that a group I belonged to years ago were making for each other. It was called Row by Row. We each made a row for all the others. I never put my rows together. I gave them all away last week. I wish I had taken pictures of the rows I received. These are mine.

 

I don't easily get rid of things, so this was a big step in my quest to downsize and just leave room for the things I want most to do for the rest of my years. Having too much can be paralyzing. Wish me well as I continue this journey.

I'm submitting a 12"x12" quilt  to SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) for this year's benefit auction. I had completed this a few years ago as part of a set of three similar pieces which were exhibited in a Sisters in Cloth Quilting Arts exhibit at the Guilford, Connecticut, public library. Our group of twelve fiber arts has exhibited at the library frequently. 

One of my three was purchased by a friend.

 

 

I felt that this needed embellishing, and I love adding beads to my quilts when needed. This piece reminds me of a super nova, and that's what it is called, Super Nova.

 

The background is a fabric that I dyed, the blue is a commercial print. 

 

 

 

 

I see that I haven't been on my blog for five years! I must rectify that.

The SAQA 2022 virtual conference just ended yesterday. What fun and what inspiration. One of the best parts of the conference is getting to know fiber artists from around the world, albeit via Zoom. 

The speakers and their presentations were terrific. I learned so much and I came away looking at my work in a different way. The opening keynote speaker was Janet Echleman. I encourage to check out her installation art.

Also on the first day, Bobbi Baugh had me writing down a full page of notes and ideas about how to tell my story through my fiber art. The final presentation was by Jim Arendt, who inspired all of us tremendously. In between the two were many other wonderful presentations.

Lightening talks by artists and studio tours were another highlight.

The Spotlight auction raised a lot of money for SAQA. These are very small pieces that members donate (I donated one) and then anyone can bid on them. I'm happy to say that I won one of them this year, one  made by Carol D. Chewning. I was especially happy to win this one, with the theme of peace and the sunflower.

In many breakout rooms, we were able to have conversations with a group of four to six people. Last Saturday evening, about two dozen of us playing BananaGrams. It was such fun that we had another session on Sunday. Another session was held, but I slept through it.

Catching Up

I'm laid up at the moment after a bad ankle break that occurred while I was dog sledding in Norway.

It seems to be a good time to post some of my relatively recent work.



In August, I was part of an exhibit with Sisters in Cloth, Seasons on the Shoreline.

Each of us was given a piece of Carol Ludington's grey hand-dyed fabric, which was to be incorporated into our piece. The dimensions were unusual: 15-18 inches wide and 40 inches high.

For my piece, I used a photo I had taken of roses.

Its name is Rose Season.

The grey was perfect for the sidewalk.

 

I seem to have chosen my outfit to coordinate with the quilt.

Some of the other quilts made by my talented friends:

My granddaughter Anna recently graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in psychology. Anna and I spent many crafting hours together when she was younger. One week, while on a week's visit when she was maybe nine, we embossed velvet, marbled fabric, tried our hand at flower pounding, and got started on a quilt, which we finished. Oh, and we did some paper piecing. It was a very full week.

Because she has cystic fibrosis, which is nicknamed "sixty-five roses," the term being coined by a child who had the disease and mispronounced it, I wanted to give her something with a rose. I have many photos I've taken of roses, but I chose this one to give her.

No, I didn't just print the picture. Well, yes, I did print it, but on fabric. With my ink jet printer, I printed one copy on cotton, and another on silk organza. When the two are layered, the result is shimmery, almost 3-D.

Next I put together both prints with batting and backing, tacking the layers together, and then quilted.

After writing a personal note that I sewed to the back, I framed it.

Baby quilt becomes a 2-year birthday present

I've not been completely idle as far as quilts are concerned. (But nearly.) In April I gave this baby quilt to a dear little boy that I love. The quilt had been in the works for the two years since his birth, but I think it's still appropriate. Doesn't every child like animals and farms? I hope so.

 

I had a limited number of intact squares of the farm fabric, but managed to do some invisible piecing so as to have enough to make a quilt large enough for a toddler bed. One of the blocks in this detail is pieced.

 

Here's my most recent work. I painted this scarf during a fun day at Karen Loprete's house a few summers ago. Sisters in Cloth members were invited to join the CT Fiber Arts Collective members for a silk painting "play date."

I never felt the scarf was finished, and left it in a pile of UFOs. Last week I decided to try the Sharpie marker and rubbing alcohol technique on it. 

If you aren't familiar with this, here's  how it works:

Make marks on your fabric (I've done this with paper, too) using Sharpie markers. Next, drip 91% rubbing alcohol on the marks. That's it. I love the outcome.

 

The next scarf started out white. I made short strokes on the scarf, 1/2 to 2 inches long, using four colors of fat-tipped markers. I love the way the alcohol drops make the colors spread out into floral looking designs.

This is a perfect scarf for spring.

 

On the Fringe: Explorations in Fiber

Two of my older pieces have been juried into this exciting exhibit--the first for the Connecticut chapter of Surface Design Associates. The group first met in May of 2014 and has been meeting about every three months since. I'm fortunate to be part of this very talented group of artists. Although everyone works in fiber of some kind, the work is varied and ranges from weaving to dying to painting and so much more. I recently took a workshop with Leslie Giuliana on working with encaustics.

Graphic Patchwork Table Runner completed

Vivika DeNegre, in her Quilting Daily email this week, showed a tutorial for a simple but beautiful table runner. I needed a house-warming gift in a hurry, but I usually get too stressed to start and finish a project in a few days (and I usually try something too ambitious). However, my studio was finally in good enough condition to work, so I thought, Why not? If something went wrong, I'd have to go to Plan B, whatever that might be.

The design, Graphic Patchwork Table Runner, is by Amy Ellis.

The charm square packages that can be purchased would make this even easier than it was. I didn't have any, so had to pull fabrics that would go together and cut the 5-inch squares.  Some of my Kaffe Fassett fabrics seemed perfect for this project.

For quilting, I used my walking foot and the serpentine stitch. Although I've used this stitch before, I was inspired by my recent download from Interweave, Modern Machine Quilting with Catherine Redford, to use it here. My machine and foot allowed the width to be 5mm, and I lengthened the stitch to a 3. Starting in the middle, I made my first row of quilting down the center seam, which I had pressed open. For placement of the rest of the quilting, I used the edge of the foot and stitched back and forth until done.

I really like the look of this quilt and may have to make something similar for myself or other gifts. I hope the recipients of the this gift will like it as much as I.

You can see some of Amy Ellis's other designs here.

Tag Sale Results

Barb and I sold some items at our tag sale, but we still have plenty to work with. We may do another sale, but not at my house. I had lots of bags of scraps that didn't sell and have been trying to decide whether to try and do something with them or to toss them. As someone who can't stand to throw out anything that might possibly be used, the latter action was going to be painful.

But, good news: I learned that someone who works with autistic persons will take the scraps, along with my bag full of empty thread spools. I've got both the small cylindrical kind and the cones. I feel so much better to both learn that I don't have to make something out of these items and that someone else will.

I kept looking over at Barb's things, thinking that she had things I could not live without. In the end, we did trade a couple of things.

FABRIC, YARN, CRAFT SUPPLIES SALE

Fabric & Yarn Sale

Saturday, July 25

9:00-1:00 

28 Arden Street, New Haven (Morris Cove)

We can’t store it all!  Two artists/quilters are reducing their stashes.  

Quilting, Sewing, Knitting,

Arts and Crafts Supplies

*Fabric *Yarn *Books *Patterns *Beads

*Paper crafting supplies *Drawing supplies

 and more.

Sentinelle is finished

This is my sentinelle piece for the upcoming Sisters in Cloth exhibit in Stony Creek at the Willoughby Wallace Library gallery, which is opening Friday, March 27.

The wood block prints were purchased from Dijanne Cevaal and each of us decorated our print according to our own aesthetic. I often embellish with some (or many) beads, but this one is strictly embroidered.

I've had some positive comments on my Facebook page, so I think I may have to do another. Dijanne has a new similar design, Queen of Chartres--along with other block prints. Click HERE to see them.

The act of sitting and embroidering while I was recuperating from pneumonia was quite therapeutic. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this needle craft. Perhaps another sentinelle or a Queen of Chartres will be upcoming?

Sisters in Cloth has an exhibit coming up this month. The show runs March 27 through April 29. I have two pieces in it (although I'm still working to finish them).

The show includes a collaborative project, Fiber Journeys, which connects one piece to another by a pathway. The second part of the exhibit is our collection of sentinelles. We purchased the wood blocks from Dianne Cevaal and embellished/decorated them according to our individual preferences.

Having been sick over the winter, I reconnected with my love of embroidery. My sentinelle piece includes old embroidery stitches and some new ones I hadn't used before.

Happy New Year

2015

The years pass so much more quickly as I have celebrated more and more birthdays. My mother-in-law said that many times, and I've found that she was right.

We are well into this century and I am in my seventies. I won't be achieving everything I had thought I would, but I am doing what I like. I teach math at a community college, which is very gratifying, and at a local state university. Freshman math. The things most people hate, but I try to make it as painful as possible. And I love my students.

The main drawback to my continuing to work is a lack of time and/or energy to pursue my art. If it weren't for Sisters in Cloth, I might never get any quilts done. In November I completed this quilt for our recent exhibit at the Guilford Public Library. It has now been transported to another exhibit at Brookside Quiltworks in South Egremont, Massachusetts.

I enjoyed making this quilt, as it used traditional techniques but non-traditional fabric. (I love making all those points and corners come together.) Except for the white, of course, the fabric was all from one piece of my snow-dyed fabric. The pattern is Greek cross, but the lack of sashing between the blocks gives it a very different look. I also quilted it differently from the way I might have back when I was doing more traditional quilts.

Happy New Year to all.

Around the World Blog Hop

 

I'm delighted to have been invited by Mary Lachman to take part in this blog hop. I hope to visit many new sites and hope to get visitors to mine. As I said in my previous post, my blog was hacked and disappeared. I'd been working on it for many years and had many delightful posts, as well as a list of bloggers that I enjoyed following--also lost. This worldwide blog hop is serving as an incentive to start working again.

I invite you to also visit Diane Cadrain's blog.I know Diane through SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates). She can be seen knitting small items, such as leaves, flowers, or backgrounds, that she may include in her next quilt. I had the pleasure of walking by and viewing Diane's quilts on display at the UConn Health Center for three months as I made frequent visits there for dental work.

Diane is a member of The Connective Fiber Arts Collective (CFCA), a group of very talented women who frequently exhibit their work around the state. I am happy to be friends with many of them.

Mary is also a member of CFCA and SAQA. I was first drawn to Mary's work when I saw her unique felted art that incorporated lace and doilies into her pieces. Mary is a delightful person who is also a scientist and the author of a book, Moth in the Window, a beautiful book focused on her grandfather's poetry.

What I have been doing more than anything is teach math. I try to get some projects done on the side. This is not the ideal way to be an artist, because often I have inspiration and a desire to create, but there is a pile of exams to correct.

If you check an earlier post in this new blog, I took a class, along with other members of Sisters in Cloth, with Kate Themel. She is one of the most talented women I have had the privilege to meet.

I have just finished a small piece for a Sisters in Cloth exhibit at the Guilford Town Hall. While going through the fabrics I have painted or dyed, I came across a piece of mono-printed fabric--created in a class with Rayna Gillman--that contained a leaf image. I cut off that part; it was about 6 x 8. After free-motion stitching around each leaf, I painted them with Inktense pencils. Here it is, framed and ready.

This picture had a white circle in the middle--the reflection of the flash. I was very happy to be able to cover that with the paintbrush in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

I'm afraid you won't find too many posts here. The blog I had had for years was hacked. All those lovely posts, gone. That turned me off blogging for quite a while, and has held me back from spending a lot of time on my blog. But, here I am, desiring to be part of the world-wide blog hop. Mary Lachman sent me an invitation to take part.


I joined Surface Design Association in May, when a Connecticut chapter was formed. Many artists who are members of SAQA are also members of SDA.

The CT SDA has its first exhibit taking place right now at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, CT.












I have a pillow included, which is made from my snow-dyed fabric.


I have to admit that I love this pillow. While the patchwork design is a simple one I created, it is the fabric that makes the pillow beautiful. 

I interfaced it completely to make it more durable.

I like making a buttoned back so that the cover can be removed for cleaning. It took me a few tries before I got the buttonhole technique correct. I was a bit rusty. My buttonhole automatic foot does not work with buttons of this size.

I also am exhibiting a few pieces of fabric that I've dyed:

This piece has very pretty areas. I don't like the overall look.

Maybe there are a few more pillows to be made.

Hurrah! I finished a quilt.

The quilt I started in Kate Themel's class is finished. I didn't declare it complete until I added the sleeve and a label, which took a couple of weeks after the actual quilt was finished.

Here it is. I just love the background fabric. All fabrics are by Carol Eaton.

I'm considering making another because I love Kate's beautiful pattern. I probably should make one of my own design, but then I'd have to struggle so much to decide on a design.

Continuing with the magnolia quilt

I've posted pictures from Part II of the class Sisters in Cloth took from Kate Themel.
Link to that post on the Sisters' blog here.

Here's Kate explaining what we'll be doing:

And here I am trying to follow her directions. I'll post more pictures as I progress with the quilting.

Class with Kate Themel

Sisters in Cloth are lucky enough to be taking a class with Kate Themel. In Part I  we used her patterns to create magnolias. We did as many as time allowed, which in my case was two. Homework was to make as many more as we wished.

In addition to Kate's patterns, she provided us with kits containing fabrics dyed by Carol R. Eaton. We got to choose our colors. Isn't that background gorgeous?

Here is my piece ready for tomorrow, when we will quilt our masterpieces.

It's going to be fun to see everyone's creations. You can see Diane Wright's here and the Sisters at work here.

 I am really looking forward to the free-motion quilting, not one of my greatest skills. Maybe I'll be better after tomorrow.

Starting Over

My blog, Fiber Art by Ruth Anne, was removed by Google. Maybe the blog was hacked. I don't know what happened, but I spent an awful lot of time trying to get it back.  Finally I decided it's not worth it, so I'm starting a new one.

This quilt, Community and Variety, was my entry in a recent Sisters in Cloth exhibit at the Guilford Public Library. The exhibit, Food for Thought: Inspired by the Library, was for the most part rather loosely interpreted by our members.

Below are the self portraits that  we created. Anyone who knows us well enough can pick out which portrait is which Sister.