Bill's Batman: a birthday present

     Monday is Bill's birthday. He is a collector and has not forgotten that I (he thinks) gave away his Star Wars what-evers when we moved to London or he left the nest for college or to get married. As a child, Bill had numerous super hero action dolls whose costumes he cut, taped and painted to make authentic. I have a box of his improved, over-loved figures and would never part with his handiwork.

     Christmas came and went, but I had bought the book Scandinavian Stitches that featured a quilted container to hold collections. I also had some neat Batman (one of Bill's favorites) fabrics. Today, finally, I made what I could: a stuffed (not very successful but grandson might like) Batman, a little quilt (just trying to improve on the figure...maybe granddaughters will use w dolls), and HOORAY, the container. Joe and I may go buy a proper pretty box for Bill's collections, but I often enjoy making gifts, whether wanted or not.

click to enlarge photos

     The base and sides of the container are quilted (by machine and hand). I made bias tape for the top and bottom edges with a little tool from JoAnne's. Note I embroidered the flight of the bat signal which had been fused on and stitched.

      If you want to see a clever and artful Easter solution, check the container as a nest filled with birds (could be eggs) after you scroll way down on the Scandinavian Stitches book site at Amazon after you "Look Inside."

P.S. Synergy is amazing. The Yale Alumni Magazine arrived today with this cover:

Seductive Subversion: a journal quilt

    Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists just has to be one of my journal quilts since the show, book and dvd were so moving to me. I believe that  over 40 years ago in Manhattan, at a Pop Art show,  a door was opened to me and I began to paint. Seeing the show recently I felt the same again. The grafitti on the bat wall spells out the show title, "Beyond the Surface," Sid Sach's curatorial essay in the book.

Click on photo to see grafitti.

The door is pulled back.

    Sid Sachs is a hero for bringing attention to the women Pop Artists who participated in the Pop Art movement but were overlooked in the history books. Some ladies are still alive and their participation in the video is moving.

    The materials women used beyond the cool surface of the men's opened the world to the infinite materials used in art today. Maybe that is why I work in every medium except glass blowing. Certainly I appreciate all the artists in the movement for their wit/intellect and freedom to use any subject matter.

Pop Art Shows: Inspiration

     About a week ago, I drove to Tufts University to see the award winning art show Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958-1968.  I haven't been so inspired to get back to painting in quite awhile. If you go, make sure you find time to sit to view the fabulous DVD which includes women artists of the 60's and the same people now. The show has just won "Best Thematic Show Nationally" from the United States section of the International Art Critics Association. I had to get the rich catalog:

     It was Pop Art that first got me interested in painting. Joe and I had driven from New Haven to New York City and happened on the soft sculpture pies and goodies of people like Claes Oldenburg and Jim Dine or was it Wayne Thiebaud. This was at a satellite museum in the Wall Street district, more than 40 years ago. Anyway, although I had always made posters and sometimes won contests, I had no interest in being an artist.  But now I realized art could have an intellectual and witty edge. I went back to New Haven and started painting pictures for our first apartment and asked for a show at the local library. When we moved to Dallas, I painted Dallas: All-American City, about 2 feet x 4 feet.

(click to enlarge)

 

Sashiko: another portable craft!

    Portable crafts like bead crochet excite me. I always want a craft or a book in my purse. I just discovered another easily portable craft, Sashiko. It is "Zen" for sewers.
    Sashiko is a form of Japanese needlework with a fascinating history, which evolved, I have read, from patching fisherman's clothes long ago. Today these decorative running stitches are seen mostly in quilting and embroidery, a white thread on an indigo or navy loosely woven hopsack. I bought some red thread, special long needles with an eye big enough to handle the floss, and a fabric with a pattern already applied. Google the many images you can see or design for yourself. Many have a history.

     Fundo (counterweights) is a design developed during the Edo period drawn from the idea of market balance scales.  I bought my materials at the New England Quilt Museum. Then I picked up Mary Parker's book from the library to learn more of the history of the many patterns. My fabric had the pattern printed on it with enough backing for a pillow. I hope to put my hand on the sampler for coasters and stitch up this pillow. The Purl Bee has a tutorial.  I will definitely do more.
      Note: In the Comment section you can subscribe by e-mail to be notified when a new blog is up (I think! :*)

Life with Snow Cones: a 4-in-1 journal quilt

   When it rains it pours; and in Boston this year, when it snowed, it kept snowing! However, we kept moving and the roads were clear, though tight. Driving at night, one found landmarks obscured by snow cone after snow cone. These snow cones did make a great roof atop bushes for all those sparrows outside my door.

    It seemed, as I have said before, we were all a little bit off-kilter. Our lives were a little off-center and there were probably more journal quilts I could have made on events, but I will summarize to these four:
1) I lost my iPad...thought it was at the mall after an Apple lesson;  but the next morn found it on the snowed-in passenger side of the car, 2) In the middle of all the snowfall, the trusty Toro snowblower died after 25 loyal years; but we found one of the last snowblowers in Boston at Home Depot by another name. 3) I had to have some skin surgery that "didn't get it all" and went back in for another cut and stitch. 4) Too much sun meant I need to have more surgery on the lower and upper lids of the right eye; and this was postponed, when I was ready to go, at the last minute. All a bit discombobulating :*)
     Since a journal quilt captures a "significant" or memorable event in a week, you can see I have been negligent not to get these made faster. Another event yesterday was that after I dropped my iPad in a case in a padded purse at my One to One lesson at the Apple store, and it was dented, Apple replaced it. I love Apple. Let's loop that story in with the upper left iPad symbol,

Valentine finale: another soft birthday card

       On grandchildren's birthdays, I try to remember to make a soft, sewn birthday card. Erika was born on Valentine's Day. This morning I copied two photos onto printable fabric sheets; and I was thinking about the new goldfish she asked for and the present I sewed for Erika and her doll.  I cut the soft prints the same size and fused them with Wonder Under to different colors of fleece. Following some individual quilting around the edges and on appliques, I finally stitched the two fleece/photo pieces together, finishing with pinking scissors and then gold puff paint for the 5. These back-to-back images are on the soft fleece Erika loves.

         At my website among the journal quilts I have two other fabric cards: Erika's 4th and Hannah's 6th. I hope tonight at the family celebration of her birthday, Erika will be amused to be featured as a mermaid. I should add some more gold paint around, but I got spooked the card would not dry in time for dinner tonight. I smeared it once trying to take a photo, but it cleaned up with water. However, one can always use a hair dryer with acrylic paints.

   
     

Snowing, sewing, stuffing: back to Journal Quilts

   At beading the other day at my house, we remarked that the snow, which fell, and fell again, and then fell some more, was throwing people not "just a little bit off-kilter. We were making silly mistakes. Our alignment was skewed in performing.  Not important things, but we are a bit exhausted from it all, even if we aren't overwhelmed. I have gotten behind on journal quilts (apologies), but there is great pleasure in feeding those birds and sewing Valentines to distribute!

    This is a lazy journal quilt and it took fewer that the usual two hours to create. I took a photo of the early snow on our house and printed it on an EQ Printables fabric sheet, let it dry for 15 minutes and then rinsed it, as instructed, for 10 minutes to get rid of excess ink. I put it on the radiator to dry, layered it with batting and a 10'' square of muslin for the back. After trimming the print, I fused it with Wonder Under to 10" square of a snowy calming light green. Next, I "quilted." I may use the tales of my being discombobulated by the snow in other journal quilts which I try to make once a week and need to double up on.

      P.S. The fabric I printed on could be used for your grandchildren's faces on little stuffed dolls or other projects where you want a thread count so fine that texture is not apparent. You can make your own inkjet printable fabric as well. Just Google.