Sewing Days

Pat, Nancy, and Priscilla are hard at work. Some of Nancy's Japanese brush paintings on rice paper are displayed on the back wall. The artists inspire and motivate each other as individual projects evolve. All participants speak to their positive response to the shared studio time.






Pat tries on her new coat she is making from the Turkish Coat pattern. Her fabrics include some wonderful blue indigo fabrics that she has been collecting.














Bev holds up Pat's coat so we can see that Pat has also created a wonderful pieced lining. This photo also features Bev's new gloves which were a Christmas present to herself -- She likes red leather!













Priscilla's wolf quilt is starting to take shape. She has been auditioning several fabrics for filling the areas around the wolf pictures. We look forward to the progress as the final choices are considered.

Famous one and flowers

Marcia was featured as the lead article on the magazine section of the Sunday edition of the Canandaigua Daily Messenger. Clicking on the picture will bring the narrative into focus.














The article continues with a second photo of Marcia and husband, Bill. The title of today's blog is derivative of the good-natured ribbing Marcia takes from her quilting friends as publicity seems to follow her around!








Paper whites always add winter delight to any room. A left click will bring into view a painting of a Massachusetts seaside in winter. It was a gift from Bill's great aunt who often painted in this area. She worked in both water colors and oils.














The Christmas cactus stays true to the season as it blooms again. We have had it for several years, and it was orginally a gift from our friend, Dorothy Schriver.

Sewing with Priscilla

Priscilla is working on a new jacket. The pattern is the Wild Onion, where the jacket is constructed all in one piece. The red and blue plaid fabric is the flannel base on which Priscilla is building the jacket.

Priscilla has scrunched and then embellished the blue fabric on the left with thread work.





These are strip sets of fabric that Priscilla has constructed by interspersing plain silks with patterned cottons.
















This is the back of the jacket with the fabrics that are being auditioned for it.







This picture is for our friend Pat Pauly who said she's been envisioning the horses in the snow. We had a few flurries this morning, and while the horses could have been in their stalls, they chose to come outside to watch the snowfall.

Kreative Blogger Award

Wow! I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger award by my friend, Jeanne Beck, who writes so wonderfully about her art-full life. Be sure to check out her blog!

And, now to comply with the award...

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog. (done)

2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog:
Jeanne Raffer Beck http://exploringthesurface.blogspot.com/

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

It's hard to pick, but in no particular order, I nominate:

Melody Johnson http://www.fibermania.blogspot.com/
Lots of color and lots to see, whether Mel is quilting, knitting, painting, home decorating, or enjoying her new country property.

Priscilla Kibbee http://priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/
Wearable artist and art quilter, Priscilla is also a world traveler who searches the foreign markets for wonderful fabrics and specialty items for embellishing our garments and quilts.

Elizabeth Barton http://www.elizabethbarton.blogspot.com/
I haven't met her, but this artist does wonderful work and shares her thoughts on the creative process.

Marcia Murphy http://www.fabricsandfashion.blogspot.com/
Marcia makes beautiful hand-dyed and designed fabrics and creates wearable art with her fabrics. Several of my friends and I have been fortunate to acquire some of her fabrics and clothing items.

Beth Brandkamp http://quilterb-bethsblog.blogspot.com/
Beth is our "go-to" person for all things to do with fabric dyeing. Check out her blog for great information on fabric dyeing, including marbling and shibori. She also has great pictures of her favorite birds, shells, and flowers.

4. Put links to the blogs. (done)

5. Leave a message for your nominees. (will do)

I enjoy these blogs, along with several others, and feel very fortunate to have such great inspiration at my fingertips!

Winter's Day

One of Inspector Suki's favorite visitors is Priscilla Kibbee, who often comes to the studio to teach classes and/or work on her own projects. Suki tries to open Priscilla's suitcase and knows from past experience that the top lifts up and gives her access to the inside. If the zipper remains closed, she just curls up on the top!





Each year we grow a new crop of flowers and ferns for decorative purposes. We have a five-foot diameter wreath made from our grape vines that hangs in the garage. We try to refurbish it each year for a dash of winter color!












We have the results of the heavy snow of winter on its first full day (how appropriate!). We are close to Lake Ontario and get the benefit of cold winds coming across the still relatively warm waters.
We have a new snow-plowing service this year, and as he lives nearby, gives good and frequent visits. As both of us are usually not required to travel, snowy days don't present much of a problem. Marcia busies herself in the studio and Bill revels in the electronic media that floods the internet. Happy days!

Photos at Schweinfurth

The Canandaigua Daily Messenger newspaper asked Marcia to come to Auburn to pose for pictures with her quilts that are hanging at the Schweinfurth Museum. We'll be watching this Sunday's edition to see what's included... !!









Photo Editor/Photographer and RIT graduate, Rikki VanCamp met us there and was the director of the project.













Marcia was placed in various positions near her larger work, Jet Trails #6, which is near the entrance to the main display area.


Rikki captured many photographs of Marcia (including this one from a chair!).












Marcia's other quilt (Jet Trails) is displayed in an adjacent room on the wall to the right of the seated and posed artist. We look forward to seeing the result of Rikki's work, and Marcia is pleased and honored to have been selected by the newspaper for this feature!

Off to Form Not Function

This is Blocks #5, which has been selected for exhibition in the 2009 Form Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie. The Carnegie Center for Art & History is in New Albany, IN, and the show runs from January 9 through March 7.

The quilt is 28 x 62 and was quilted with 12-weight varigated thread.








The shipping of quilts is part of the process for the practicing artist. When the rolled quilt won't fit the box and folding become necessary, bubble wrap helps keep wrinkles at a minimum. It also helps to fold the quilt with the front folded outside. The label at the lower left identifies the work and the artist.






The folded quilt is ready for sealing in plastic to protect it from moisture and dirt. A spreadsheet keeps track of where various quilts are being displayed and also contains deadlines for submissions for future shows.






The hanging rod completes the packaging. UPS provides online service, including printing of both the sending and return labels, as well as scheduling next-day pickup (in case you wondered for another reason -- along with email -- why the US Post Office has a $1.5 billion deficit this year!).

Saturday at the studio

The new studio contains well over 750 square feet and is filled with flat table tops, a sofa, and assorted chairs (one of which is permanently set up as a tented resting place for Inspector Suki). She, of course, chooses the highest stack of comfortable folded fabric as her spot. I wonder if, like the princess in fairy tale stories, she could feel a pea buried in the layers of the matresses. I'm betting Yes!









From last week's jacket class....
The back of Marcia's kimono jacket becomes more complete. The beautiful hand-woven silk (which Priscilla brought back from her last trip) is framed by equally spectacular hand-dyed fabric by Marcia Murphy from Long Island. The long strip on the left has been sewn and is ready to become the neck band.












These are the two front panels for the jacket and the sleeves.
















The cold winter weather calls for homemade warm bread. Our old breadmaker was hauled out of storage and produced a loaf of "Cornell" bread (complete with soy flour). It toasted up just fine, and topped with homemade preserves, provided a delicious desert!

More Class Pictures

Priscilla offers more information as she consults with Linda and Nancy. Linda takes notes as "pearls of wisdom" flow from the master. In the background you can see why the assembled artists love the lighted design walls in the studio -- they are full of nascent projects!!






Priscilla continues her journey to the "Dark Side" (from wearable clothing artist to quilt artist) as an orange quilt begins to take shape. This will be a "miniature queen-size" production and possible border choices are auditioned at the right side.











Prisiclla's alternative choices are in view as the potential for a quilt using wolf-based fabric is considered. She is known for her fondness of wild creatures, and her fabric stash seems to contain amazing samples of collections accumulated over the years of jacket making. Name an animal, and she probably has it!






This is a close-up of the beautiful back panel of Caren's jacket. She started with a photo that she printed on fabric and then embellished it with thread painting.

Jacket Class - Day 3

The final day of the class featured students hurrying along in their projects to get final advice and counsel from master teacher Priscilla Kibbee. Linda models the front of her completed butterfly vest. Priscilla's miniature king-sized quilt is in the background; it's names is "There's a zebra in there somewhere."












The back of Linda's vest is featured, as Priscilla adds a picture of the front of it to her substantial archive of student-generated clothing art. Linda is an accomplished artist and has created a wonderful piece of wearable art.

Priscilla gives instruction to Caren on proper placement and procedures to insert and sew shoulder pads. She also pinned and verbally presented steps to complete the sleeves. Caren took notes (another good student) and will show the final version at an upcoming meeting.










Inspector Suki surveyed the daily activities from a comfortable perch. Today she chose a folded piece of Priscilla's fabric because it was the softest spot she could find!! And it certainly must have been prepared just for her use!!

Jacket Class - Day 2

Marcia works on the back panel of her kimono jacket, stitching a wonderful piece of hand-woven silk that Priscilla brought back from her last trip to Thailand. The material is delicate and precious, and according to world-traveler Priscilla, very scare and hard to find on her recent trips to SouthEast Asia.







Linda has made great strides on her butterfly vest. (She took it home and worked on it last night -- a very good student!) All agreed that her overall choice of fabrics and construction skills are resulting in a superior garment.










Nancy models the front of her Quilter's Vest. The pocket on her left side adds to the elegance of her design features.
















The back of the vest draws a lingering look. Clicking on any picture will bring a good close-up into view, and we strongly suggest it here. Isn't the detail wonderful?