It’s a wonder I was able to submit this art quilt on time for the call for entry into Art Quilt Elements 2024 at the Wayne Art Center. It’s a wonder my piece was juried into this very pretigious exhibition which runs from March 24 to April 27. I am even more amazed–absolutely gobsmacked! — that my piece, “Entangled,” was given the SAQA award, for being”compelling, dynamic, and innovative,” according to Bruce Pepich, one of the jurors. I almost didn’t get it in: Days before the deadline and just before leaving on a plane for the Netherlands, I stayed up most of the night to finish the piece. I ..read more

After following the dazzling techniques Pat Pauly taught me for printing fabrics and creating strong compositions with them, I feel pretty proud of my latest art quilt. This piece started with a fabric that featured yellow-gold leopard spots on a white background. In Pat’s Glorious Prints class, I added visual texture by stenciling, squeegeeing, and “drawing” big, black arcs with a squeeze bottle. For maximum kickiness, I brought in black fabrics stamped by the Textile Workshop and discharged by Lisa Reber of Dippy Dyes, plus graphic black & white commercial fabrics–a large checkerboard an ..read more

The skinny quilt is finished! I sure hope my Kenyan collaborator Meryline Ingaso likes it, and that folks out there will want to bid on it when the Advocacy Project holds its auction of art quilts later this year, which will raise funds for services that will benefit Meryline and her Sister Artists. But first, here’s the skinny on African crested cranes: thanks to storyteller.travel for this info and video! 1–The African crested crane is quite the looker: light blue eyes, bright red neck, and gorgeous plumage on its head. It stands at over 3 feet tall and from wing-tip to wing-tip can measure ..read more

Let me introduce you to my most recent art partner, Meryline Ingaso, who lives in Kangemi, an under-served neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. She writes: Hi! I was born 17/12/1996. I am an orphan, a mother of two kids, all girls. The first, 6, is in baby class. The second, 3, is not yet in school. I earn a living as a mentor. I do voluntary work to empower girls on how to protect themselves in this pandemic. There have been a lot of challenges e.g. buying food and paying rent. But I get a little support from washing cloth to people. That’s how I survive. Beautiful, inside and out. Hard-working ..read more

No excuse not to refresh your skills, broaden your outlook, and fall in love again with fabric when there are so many great instructors teaching on Zoom these days. No better teacher (in my book) for sharing how to advance and enhance your skills in improvisational piecing and composing than Pat Pauly. I had the pleasure of taking her new class, “Make It/Break It” this week. My fabulous classmates, all FOPs (fans of Pat) were attending live and online from Germany, Canada, and different parts of the USA. Because in this day and age, we can do that. Pat puts her mark on her work by exclusivel ..read more

“Aurora,” by Libby Cerullo Standing upright, their branches like outstretched arms, certain trees certainly take on the spirit of a human being. Quilt artist Libby Cerullo has a really lovely series of trees in diaphanous frocks. Here’s how Libby works–and I trust she will correct me if I’ve got this wrong: A photo she has taken gets transferred to fabric, using a service like Spoonflower. A following stage involves dressing her subject with appliques of chiffon or organdy with a translucence that allows the photo to show through. Makes me want to dance until dawn! On a recent trip to Denmark ..read more

No, not quilts this time. But I just have to share the sublime work of Cheryl Levin which I caught on the last day of her exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance on Valentine’s Day. Here’s the description on DVAA’s website: “Forms for a Continued Life is an exhibition of ink drawings by Cheryl Levin shown alongside sculptures and fragments by her late husband, metal worker Robert Phillips (1962-2012), and their son, Electrical Engineer and Generative Artist Aidan Phillips. This visual art exhibition contrasts weight and form to investigate impermanence, collective grief, and emergence of life fro ..read more

Because we have a son and daughter-in-law and baby grandson living in Aarhus, Denmark has graciously allowed us to visit — with all due process of Covid testing, natch. Denmark is on lockdown, with only grocery stores and pharmacies open. Even so, walks in icy, mostly gray January and February weather yield lots of cool sights re: architecture, design, and art. And plenty of inspiration for quilting, I daresay. The above mural continues, as shown below. It occupies the wall of a driveway leading to a parking lot. Believe it or not, the “gallery” below takes up two facing walls of another pas ..read more

Yes, friends, The 12 Days of Christmas meets The 12 Days of Quiltmas 12-Days-of-Quiltmas-3Download You undoubtedly know the old English Christmas carol that enumerates each day by the gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. In London, in 1909, Frederic Austin popularized the arrangement of the song we know today. In Philadelphia, in December of 2020, Eleanor Levie fiddled with the lyrics for the Village Quilters of Catonsville, MD to perform on Zoom. (Appreciate your sharing — non-commercial use only–with credits for me and Frederic.) Click Download in the gray oval abov ..read more

If anything good has come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been that 1–forced to stay home means more time for quilting, and 2– a good kind of pressure to share online. Just in time for Mother’s Day weekend, let me present some of my favorite, funniest quilts about Mothers… First, Psycho Moms Bake a Cake, by Katherine L. McKearn and Diane Muse. A real oven mitt and apron give you an idea of scale. The fire in the untended oven reveals the truth: that getting together and schmoozing with a chum is more important than successful productivity. Psycho Moms Bake a Cake, by Katherine L. McKearn an ..read more