The Newest Thread Medley Rug

Thread Medley is starting a new rug called Fall Quilt, the chart for which will eventually be available for rug lovers. At least I hope it will!  To watch Jan work the rug (it is a mystery how it will turn out which adds to the suspense for me) and to eventually purchase the chart, follow her blog.
https://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/fall-quilt-introduction/

https://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/fall-quilt-progress-2/

https://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2016/06/03/fall-quilt-progress-3/

https://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/fall-quilt-finale/

https://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/fall-quilt-a-redesign/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 20, 2016 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

A Pincushion Homage (Arlene Cohen)

Arlene's Pincushion and Ribbons

Recently Arlene and I realized she'd never shared her red and white pincushion with Blog.  She exhibited this at the 2013 ANG Seminar and won two major ribbons for it, too.    This is an original design, worked in sections on linen and assembled according to the plan Arlene worked out for it.

Arlene wrote this about the photographs she sent me:

"What a thrill that a long awaited book has finally been published!  In 2011, an extraordinary exhibit of 651 red and white quilts, all collected by Mrs. Joanna Rose, was on display in the Park Avenue Armory in New York City for six days.  It is an amazing collection and was an amazing display of it and I was so very fortunate to be able to see it in person.

We needleworkers find our inspiration in all sorts of places – sometimes in the beauty of a design created by others and sometimes in the stunning display of work in another (but related) medium.  Attending that exhibit and the ability to allow it to “live on” with me through an iPad app at the time, I evolved into the planning and creation of a needlework piece.  

Sadly, the iPad app stopped working a few IOS upgrades ago and it is no longer even available in the App store. But, lucky for us, the book of all the quilts, with some wonderful accompanying essays, has finally been published!  Getting it in my hands has encouraged me to share a bit about my pincushion project all over again.  I entered this in the 2013 ANG Exhibit in Anaheim and was thrill when it won both a first place ribbon (for Adapation, Non-Professional) and the Small Masterpiece ribbon that year."

I found a series of photographs of the quilts that inspired the pincushion on display here.
http://www.aiga.org/justified-2012--case-study--infinite-variety/

Here is the book Arlene refers to.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-White-Quilts-Infinite-Presented/dp/0847846520

Here's Arlene's Artist Statement that she wrote for the ANG Exhibit.

A Pincushion Homage to

Infinite Variety:  Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts

In March of 2011, I walked into the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, lookedp and all around, and was simply amazed.  Six hundred and fifty-one red and white quilts collected by Joanna S. Rose were on display in the most creative and stunning quilt exhibit that I have ever seen.  Along with the thousands of other visitors who poured into the Armory during those five days the display was up, I was simply enthralled.

Even while still there, I knew that I wanted to find a way, in my own needlework, to relive and reinterpret the experience.  In the days that followed, I was able to revisit each quilt individually since the organizers had created an iPad app for all to download and enjoy.  Yes, it was such a unique experience to have witnessed the display, but I also recognized the beauty of each individual piece, be it humble or dazzling.

I was not alone in my reaction and response to this truly extraordinary exhibit.    In the two years since, I have read about a number of quilt guilds that were inspired by this show and created their own red and white quilt challenges.  I am not really a quilter.  How then might I create a way to pay homage to this quilt exhibit using needle and thread?  I began to make sketches in a graph-paper notebook, breaking down many of the quilt designs to penciled-in squares. What to do with these graphed designs?  I imagined something simple, in keeping with the spirit of the collector and most likely the quilt makers themselves.  Mrs. Rose found most of these quilts in flea markets decades ago. As written in the exhibit’s materials, these quilts “are not prizewinners at fairs nor ones that have been passed down in families, cherished by several generations.  They are, rather, ordinary coverings, the creators largely anonymous, their provenance obscure, not meant for company beds or best use.”

In my needlework, I enjoy working on a small scale.  And so I chose the humble pincushion as the means to gather and recreate some of my favorite geometric designs from the quilts in the Armory display.  A small sampling from that magnificent exhibit, it is my homage both to the quilts and to their makers.

In the design process, I began by looking carefully at all 651 quilts on that iPad app, spending hours studying the entire collection and making a list of those that caught my eye both for the inherent beauty of their design and their geometric qualities. I narrowed my list to about fifty quilts, took screenshots of them, and printed them on paper.  This allowed me to see them all at the same time, with papers spread all around me in an array. 

Somewhere in my research on pincushions, I happened upon a hexagon shaped design, familiar to me as a quilt pattern often called Grandmothers Flower Garden, and the vision of the three-dimensional end product began to take shape.  I began to draw quilt designs on graph paper, some lending themselves to the hexagon shapes for the top of the pincushion and some better left for the rectangular sides.  I graphed many more than I knew I could use, although did not graph all fifty that were printed.

Finding the right thread was its own challenge.  The precise shade of red and the requisite fineness for the 32 count linen fabric were my guiding principles.  After some trial and error, I settled on a Gutermann silk thread.  I started with the hexagons on top using mostly cross stitches, anxious for the vision in my head to come to life on fabric.  However, even as I stitched, I knew it just didn’t look right:  I was stitching the hexagons right next to one another.  As at the Armory display, the layout of the individual pieces was critical – it might enhance or, in this case, detract from the overall effect.

Wisely, I set this pincushion project aside for several months.  The graphed designs held my imagination, but it would take some time before I could commit my mind and my fingers to taking up that red thread again and starting over from the beginning.

But, commit my mind and my fingers I did.  Spreading out the hexagons made all the difference for visual breathing room on the top.  I then realized that the diamond shaped areas in each “corner” of the hexagon needed attention.  There was already enough variety in the hexagons on the top and so I chose to stitch a simple skipped cross stitch to fill each diamond. When I began stitching the rectangles for the sides of the pincushion, I realized the size I had planned was just wrong.  If I stitched them as I originally intended, the height of the pincushion would be out of scale to the width.  At this point, I decided to make a three-dimensional paper mock-up of the finished product. The graphs of the rectangular sides show how my thinking evolved.

I knew how I wanted all these pieces to come together, but I struggled to make the finishing of my little pincushion precise and crisp. Then again, a pincushion is supposed to be a functional item and sometimes function and beauty can go hand in hand in less than precise ways.

To this day, I am intrigued and fascinated by the magnificent exhibit that inspired me to create this piece.  From time to time, I search on the internet to see if the vague plans for a future mounting of the exhibit or a forthcoming book have come to fruition.  The answer for now is not yet.

My pincushion is my homage to Mrs. Rose’s collection of red and white quilts and the extraordinary exhibit of them.

Thanks for sharing, Arlene!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright October 3, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Take One Needlepoint Canvas....

Summer Louise first stitched a geisha canvas from The Collection UK, then she used it as the central pattern in a kimono fabric quilt.  The end result is magic.
http://summerlouise.blogspot.com/2015/01/kimono-needlepoint-quilt-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright January 14, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Laura Does That Seductive Thing Again--AND AGAIN

You know how Laura Perin posts photos of her stitched charted pieces occasionally and tempts me to buy charts? And I don't even LIKE stitching from charts?!   Well, she did it again.
http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2014/11/fall-color.html

http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2014/11/more-fall-favorites.html

UPDATE:  More temptations.
http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/2014/11/celebrate-bounty.html

Beware, she is the daughter of the devil and will tempt you, too!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright November 10, 2014 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Finishing Friday: Great Works

Today's Finishing Friday isn't really about the making up of a finished project, it's about finishing a major project.   Connie has finished an original project inspired by the quilters of Gees Bend.  Follow the links to see more photos.
http://freestyleneedlework.com/after-gees-bend-project/

Jan has finished a very large patchwork rug that she bought partly started years ago.  She picked it up in 2010, determined to slowly finish it.  And she did!  What a labor of love!
http://threadmedley.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/wow-patchwork-rug-finale/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Touch--Don't Touch

Kathy's been working an embroidered quilt top, showing progress photos on The Unbroken Thread.   Today's posting is especially interesting as she raises the question about stitching things that are meant to be touched versus stitching things meant to be put away, kept out of the reach of little (and big) hands.  We all know models in shops and exhibit items are irresistible--hands seem drawn to them.  Are we making a mistake not stitching for touch?
http://www.theunbrokenthread.com/blog/2013/12/03/gaelic-autumn-quilt-square-2/

No matter how you feel about folks' touching your needlepoint, check out the textural acorn tops Kathy created by the artful scattering of French knots.  That's something I want to remember to use!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Quilting in Space

Thanks to DMC's blog mentioning the video, we can all see Astronaut Karen Nyberg talking about the challenges of making a quilt block while working on the International Space Station. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0c1CijmH7o

I thought **I** had trouble keeping up with my scissors...!!!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

The Needlework of Aging Women

This book --which will come out next January-- is about quilters and sampler makers over forty in American from 1820-1860.
http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/A+Stitch+in+Time

Now if someone will only realize that there is more needle art being made now than ever before!

(Thanks for the tip, Tara!)

By the way, if you know the author you might want to drop a hint that their title is offensive to those of us middle-aged and above, but I expect that between 1820 and 1860 anyone over forty was considered bordering on ancient.  Which just goes to show one's modern day prejudices have no place in historical research.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
@ Copyright 2013 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.

Your Assistance Will Be Appreciated

Needlepoint Tool Time just had a wonderful retreat so they are planning to do this again in 2012 in San Francisco.  There is a link on their home page about next year's fun.  Please note that Tisha is planning to collect retreat information for all over to post on her website.  If you know about an upcoming retreat, why don't you let her know so she can include it?  Her email address is NeedlepointToolTime at msn dot com.
http://www.needlepointtooltime.com/

Quilters in Joplin, Missouri also need your help.  SuDu has information and a link if you are a quilter who can help out.
http://sudukc.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/joplin-missouri-needs-stash/

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

A Quilter Goes to Woodlawn

I discovered this report on a quilter's trip to Woodlawn this morning while looking to see if the promised Flickr photo album has been created yet.  (The answer to that seems to be No.)
http://pursuitofquilts.blogspot.com/2011/03/woodlawn-needlework-exhibition.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com

Shoulder Pads and Japanese Quilting

Luna from Leigh Designs' Ladies of the Night Series

I hoped to have both of Luna's shoulders done this morning but I didn't finish the purple folds on the right side last night.  The shoulders are both painted with gray and purple shading but I am stitching all the crease lines in purple.  I thought two colors for the fold lines was a bit much considering what I was doing with this design so I am only using a dark purple on the black cloak.  (I may use a bit of gray thread in back stitching to differentiate the different black areas at the end. Or I may not.)  You'll see I haven't done the bangs or her jewelry yet, either.  That fun stuff has to wait until I have both shoulders and bangs finished.

In other news, Barbara mentioned this Flickr album full of Japanese quilts from the 2011 Tokyo quilt show.  (Navigate using the arrow at the right of the little thumbnail photos.) The colors are amazing.  Shows like this help me pick colors for geometric pieces.  I choose a piece I particularly like and pull colors from it.  It is sort of like picking a skein of Watercolours that appeals and then going with the colors incorporated in the overdyed cotton skein, but the range of colors shown at the quilt show is much greater than the 200-250 that Caron uses currently.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22514067@N00/5393169351/in/set-72157625919155444/

Thanks for the tip, Barbara!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com