As 2022 Begins

 This is the groups of quilts I currently have on display in the stairwell of my studio.

Welcome to 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

I hope your year is colorful and that you are surrounded by quilts. 

Collection In Color

You may know I am a collector of assorted things. I don’t collect valuable things, just affordable things that appeal to me.

A relatively recent collection is Fiesta flatware. It is affordable and I love adding new colors. Of course you all know color is my middle name!

This is the Swirl pattern and it has been discontinued for quite some time so almost every piece I have is pre-owned. Most of it has been bought as odd lots.
I have quite a bit and probably will only be buying a few pieces in colors I don’t have if the price is right.
I have all of it in a lazy susan container and people can choose the color they want to use for a meal.

Size Doesn’t Matter–The Colors Of My Life

The first 7 pieces were included in Jinny Beyers book “Color Confidence”. Even though these had no relationship to anything I learned from her, they illustrated color in ways she shared in her classes.
When a quilting catalog advertised her book they showed it open to a page with MY quilts.
I was impressed when I saw how great they looked even when reduced to less than one inch.
And now for today’s enjoyment I am sharing more.

This one is a tessellation.

Another tessellation.

You may have a hard time seeing the shape in this one but it IS a tessellation. I purposely played with color and value.

This one uses shading and a “cutout” reverse to create a striking design.

This is an intersecting fields of color. The very first one in the series was also an intersecting fields of color but the colors and values have a very different f;pw here.
Although there are still 5 more I haven’t shown I won’t be showing them unless a whole lot of you beg me to do another post with the remaining 5.

More Squares Aren’t Square Quilts

The responses to my previous post were so positive. I had many requests to see more of the quilts from this series. I present to you more quilts using commercial fabrics and squares.

This is the second quilt in the series and the only one that uses strips for part of it.

I used a layout similar to the previous one using squares and light colors rather than the black.

This quilt and the next are examples of showing how rules are not always true about how color works.

Same layout as previous quilt with the same colors used in different positions.

Remember the quilt I posted yesterday with the one dark square in the center? This is the exact same fabrics used in the opposing order.
I hope you are enjoying seeing more of the pieces from the show.

As Sally Used To Say “Squares Aren’t Square”!

This is the quilt that unintentionally started my series “The Colors Of My Life”.

Jared is now a sophomore in college but he was much younger when this show opened.

One dark square makes a quilt complete.

This was the first piece I designed on the wall of my then new studio.

It’s ALMOST a tessellation. It needed the gray squares to make it work.
There are 20 pieces in this series and I love them all. I enjoyed playing with color, value, optical illusions and the third dimension in this series.
Nine years ago my show Quilts Of Another Dimension opened at Anderson Arts Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

It’s Not Finished Yet!

Y’all have asked to see this so I am sharing even though it is not done.

This is that yarn it took hours to untangle.
Everyone else said they knit it in an hour or two.
I’ll be lucky to knit it in 8 hours or so!
I don’t even like it as I don’t wear boas but it never said it would be a boa.
But I will keep it because I LOVE the colors…my current favorites. I'll come up with some way to wear it.
It’s a yarn that has been discontinued for several years.

My Life Is Filled With Color Everywhere

Color is a passion of mine.


Dyeing fabric is a passion of mine.


Seeing a range of colors like these examples makes my heart beat faster.


Creating with fibers and fabrics is a passion of mine.


These dyed silk fabrics make me want to play.


Indoors or out color is important to me.
When I chose the name Quilts plus Color for this blog I really nailed it.

Mystic Movement- A Favorite Of Mine

                        Mystic Movement   18.5 x 15.5 inches   $400

I love strong graphic images. Mystic Movement definitely fits that description.
I started this by simply sewing together some carefully chosen strips I had cut with no idea what was going to happen.
This happened and I couldn’t be happier with it.

It is another one of those pieces that will work in any decorating scheme with any colors.
Machine quilting enhances the design and gives the sharp edge necessary for strong graphic images.

What Ever Will Be, Will Be

I’m knitting again. This is just the beginning of something that will become clear in time.

Rambling Rose

This is a time lapse quilt.
I made the background planning on it being a quilt and realized it didn’t work.
It was put aside until a new idea popped up.
I did some applique with an assortment of odd fabrics and then it was put aside again.
Eventually I finished the applique and quilted it. All that was left to do was finish it with a binding and put a casing on the back to hang it.
It is not unusual for a quilt to take over 10 years to tell me what it wants to be. When I listen the results are worth it.

Everyone Will Want To Read This And See The Photos

I have been posting all of my completed Ice Tapestries that were not included in my show Florida Ice in Ocala, Florida that closed April 26th.
When curators are selecting the quilts for a show they look for a group that will make a cohesive exciting show. They certainly did a great job for this show.
But with this in mind, often some of the very best work can’t be included.
It may be too large for the space, may not work well with the other pieces that are selected or may be colors of which there is already too much.


I have been sharing the ones that weren’t in the show for the last several days.
In case you missed some or all of them I am including the links to each post here for your viewing pleasure.

http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/05/more-ice-tapestries-for-your-viewing.html
http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/05/and-more-ice-tapestries-for-your.html
http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/05/sharing-even-more-ice-tapestries.html
http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/05/ice-tapestries-last-and-some-of-very.html



All you have to do to see them is click on each link, or click on the top or bottom link and then scroll up or down. I hope this makes your day even better than it already is!

Ice Tapestries- The Last And Some Of The Very Best

                                                       Sacred Spirits


                                                    Red Delicious


                                 Scrolling Down The Avenue


                                                       Limenosity


                                                        Karma


      Monets Garden 5                            Monets Garden 6

 
                               In Full Bloom

I hope you have enjoyed seeing all my finished Ice Tapestries.
I think it is quite obvious that I don’t do the same thing twice.

What isn’t obvious is the sizes of the pieces as I try to make them all fit this space.
Karma is the largest piece measuring 103 wide and 50 inches high.
The last 3 are the smallest and the rest are somewhere between.

I have others that are waiting to tell me what I should do with them and they also are patient enough to wait until I have the time to do the work.

Each piece is a labor of love and I take my time being sure I do it justice as it becomes a finished piece of ART.

Sharing Even More Ice Tapestries

I hope you can see the many different designs I have been able to get by the way I have manipulated the fabrics. I keep no records of what I do so each and every one is different and a surprise.


                                               Wurlitzer

                                                                      Ice On Fire


                                   In The Gloaming


                                                 Geode Diptych


                                                                Spiral Ice


                                       Crimson Sky

My art is part research and educated application, part experimentation and a lot of serendipity.
It has taken me my entire lifetime to be able to create the ART I am making today.

An Extra Post Sharing A Great Quilt With Great Quilting!

This quilt has everything!
Color, Design, Amazing Ice Dyed fabric and Super Quilting
I wanted to showcase it all by itself on a post so you could enjoy it all.

What Is On Today’s Agenda?

My son Greg and DIL Julie arrived last night so they could see my show before it ends.
We will arrive before the show will be taken down at 1 pm and see the show and take some pictures and possible a few short videos.

Then with the Cultural Arts Coordinator we will take the show down, pack it up and bring it home.

The show opened on March 16th. It’s hard to believe it is over. The time went way too fast.

I hope if you live close to Ocala or were travelling through you saw the show.
Or maybe you can get there today between 8 am and noon to see it before it comes down since the City Hall opens at 8 am.

This is the only solo showing of my work in Florida and it has been very well received.
It was a pleasure to work with the Cultural Arts Department and I was extremely pleased the way they showed the work as ART.

Who Loves Red?

All of these fabrics were Dye Dogs before they all met in the same pot of red dye.
On a future post I’ll share some close-ups of some of them. I am in love.
For now this is a teaser showing parts of a lot of them.
I’m very tempted to just put them all together as if I were putting a jig saw puzzle together as they look so great together.
It’s really hard to pick ONE favorite from this batch.
There are even a few more that are trying to play with each other on the design wall at this time.

Olympic Cowls

This cowl was made from one of my Olympic Gold Medal pieces of silk double georgette fabric I dyed.
The construction only took about 10 or 15 minutes after I had the machine threaded and the first seam pinned. It’s beautiful, drapey and one of my best colors to wear.


Once that was done I made this one with a piece of semi-sheer printed silk I bought in Austin, Texas when Frances Holliday Alford took me shopping when I visited her about 12 years ago. It is another one of my best colors.
I am going to feel so great when I wear these.

How I Fell Down The Rabbit Hole Of WIPs

When I became a serious quilter I thought every quilt had to be KING size because our bed was king size.
If not king size, then at least bed size.

This one actually got finished and resides in the Master bedroom.

I have finished many of that size including the 8 Millennium quilts I made for my 8 grandchildren.
There are at least 8 of those king or almost king size quilts that are WIP.
Fortunately I woke up before too many years.

Paisley Star mandala was an early quilt that is now owned by a collector of my work. Lots and lots of very close hand quilting.

Evolution spoke to someone who never thought he wanted a quilt and it found a home as art for his office.



And then I veered off in the opposite direction creating miniature quilts and the worlds smallest quilt.

Somewhere along the way I settled on making quilts for the wall, art quilts and quilted clothing.

I made quilts from fabric dyed by others but said I would never dye my own fabric as it was too much work. NEVER say NEVER.

And that is what I am currently doing….dyeing white fabric and making ART from it to add pleasure to my life and the life of others.
I hope you have enjoyed following this brief journey from where, what and why I started until today.