Kelp Forest has sold!

 

 Kelp Forest did not make the cover of Quilting Arts magazine but it did have a feature inside. It went on to the International Quilt and Fiber Festival in Everett, Washington where it sold. I will miss having it to enjoy once in a while but the reality is we can't keep everything we make. I have too many old pieces rolled up in plastic and under the bed. 

 One way I have found to repurpose some of them is to cut them up. SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) has a couple of online fund-raising auctions every year. I make a window frame to the requested size and move it around the quilt until I find a spot that looks good. It needs to have some composition and balance and look like it was always intended to be smaller. Since, like many artists, my style has changed over time, I wouldn't probably ever hang these pieces in a show. (I hope no one ever asks for a retrospective show, though) Here's an example of one I cut up this year. It has many more potential spots for cutting. The original was called Paint the Town, done for a red-themed show..  The cut out
I titled Stalctite. I added some beads and stitching.

 

I have been busy in the studio lately, but not creating. We put new carpet and composite flooring in the room.  It is a wool carpet with a lovely pad so my feet will be happy when I stand at my cutting table designing new work. Now to put only the valuable stuff back in and not the junk!

 

Oregon Inspiration

 Spring is a beautiful time in Oregon. In addition to all the blooms in people's yards the farmlands come to life as well. A common sight here are fields full of plants being grown specifically for seed. Of course, in order to have seed there must be flowers. Sometimes there are huge swaths of color covering many acres. One of those seed crops is the mustard plant which looks somewhat like the color of processed mustard. It is hard to take your eyes off these fields when lit up by the sun. I had to make a  piece like this when a friend sent me a picture she took along the roadside a couple of years ago.  

This piece is only 8" by 11" and was made for a benefit auction at the SAQA conference in San Antonio in April. I'm happy to say that it raised $175 for this great organization.

Since the original was a little dark I tweaked it in Photoshop in order to get a truer look.  Here is the edited photo which became the quilted piece.

  

This Spring she sent me some new photos that could become an even more exciting piece.  We decided it is a field of California poppies in front of a field of erysimum, also known as wallflower.  Such a stunning combination!  I wonder if the farmer planned it that way?  I can't wait to make this one up. Hard to believe but I might even have fabric in these colors already in my stash!