Happy Violets and Elements of Design

 I went for a long walk this afternoon. Spring is really and truly here.

I love this time of year. The baby leaves are just starting to emerge and every where you look...violets!

I know that some may think of them as a weed...popping up in the pristine green grass...but to me they are so cheery. It reminds me of when I was young and my mom would always buy the domesticated version--Johnny Jump-ups! I spotted these white and violet versions on my walk. It just cheered me up.

This morning, I was across the river in Maryland to see a lecture by quilt artist and teacher, Carol Soderlund. She was giving the program at this month's  Potomac Fiber Arts Guild meeting. I don't normally get to the meeting; I'm often teaching a workshop. But the workshop didn't fill and I decided to head on over, especially when I heard the topic: The Fifteen Elements of Design based on architect, Christopher Alexander's writings.

I've only just recently been introduced to Mr. Alexander, thanks to Lisa McGarry over at arzigogolare. She has been blogging regular installments about some of his design principles from his book, A Pattern Language, and then going about Florence to record visual representations of those principles. It's been very enlightening.

Christopher Alexander was not happy with the architecture popping up in the 1960s and so decided to examine and analyze objects that he considered beautiful to figure out what it was about them that made them beautiful. After examining thousands of objects, he distilled his findings down to fifteen elements of design. Carol Soderlund used quilts from Quilt National 2012 to illustrate all fifteen principles. It was a beautiful, colorful and educational program. It got me wondering if I think enough about design principles when I work.

It was something to contemplate while on my walk this afternoon.

Mending Redux and "Seed" Fabric

 This evening my son headed back for his last semester of college. It is very hard for me to believe this! How is it possible that four years could go by so quickly?

Last night, he asked if I could do some mending again of his favorite cargo shorts. So today I was patching over patches! I happened to find a piece of salted fabric I'd created with browns and blacks that seemed to blend well with the camouflage fabric in the shorts. These shorts are evolving into an art piece! Eventually, I will have to steal them away and really go at it with the stitching!

Today, I also had some correspondence with Karen Anne Glick. If you don't know of her or her work, she is a very creative quilt artist who has challenged herself to make a small quilt a day. These pieces are very spontaneous and are always accompanied by a short poem or Haiku. They are wonderful visual surprises!

Her quilt today featured pieces of the White Challenge fabric she won from me for playing along in the Searching for Roy G Biv Challenge.

Here is the block I used to create the fabric. It is made of pieces of rolled gift wrap glued to corrugated cardboard.

It was a surprising block and after printing with it, I was reminded of pumpkin seeds. Karen Anne was reminded of sunflower seeds and of a special porcelain sunflower seed she received as a gift. The seed is from an amazing art installation by Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei. There is a marvelous video about the installation on Karen's blog today.

That's all for now. My eyes are a bit tired from all the hand stitching I've done over the last few days. Time to relax and get reused to my empty nest.

Day 30: Browsing for Ideas

 I've been a homebody this weekend. It's been chilly with a brisk wind and some snow. I've been happy to stay inside puttering around.

I've been thinking about future projects and sketching a bit.

Today, I pulled out a selection of quilt books.

I like the contrasting white tied threads.

A flower garden or people joining together?

This grid idea might work well with some of my printed weed fabrics.

Exes turned on their tips could become stars.

  I like to browse through these books to get inspired by the color and design...to see how others tell their stories with cloth and stitch.

I love the suns/stars and the little house in the middle. This might be a good jumping off point.

What is it about quilts?

Detail from Little Trickster

What is it about quilts?

I am not a quilter, though I think I have a quilter's sensibility.

Detail from Blue

Many of the designs that end up on my dolls look a bit like quilting blocks...though some more like quilting blocks gone askew...

Detail from Rammie

Last night, I gave my Playing in the Kitchen talk for Friendship Star Quilters in Gaithersburg, Maryland. What a welcoming group!

After my talk, there was show and tell, where members get to come up and show what they've been working on or share quilts with the group.

Now, I am truly a lover of art quilts. But there is just something about the utilitarian quilt...all that work, patience and love embedded in the fabrics and designs. All that tradition being passed between generations. Quilts for celebrating good times and to give comfort to a sick loved one.

There is just something about that that is very special!