My If I Wanted To Meet A Man In An Airport Coat

I mentioned this coat on Facebook yesterday and my friend Nancy Dunnavan asked me if my coat had been on FB. So here is the blog I wrote about it.
It is being modeled by my DIL Julie who is Greg’s wife.

I talked about this coat some time ago, but did not have a picture to show you.
The weight is similar to the weight of a trench coat, but it is so much more fun to wear than a boring old trench coat!
This is what I said on the previous post:
I posted about a coat I had made from my Slashed Coat/Jacket pattern. The subtitle of mine is "My If I Wanted To Catch A Man In An Airport Coat".
I didn't want to and I don't want to. But every time I wore it men would stop me and ask about it.
The first time it happened I was on the people mover at the Atlanta airport. A man struck up a conversation with me, which surprised me since I was past the age where men hit on you! He was very interested in the coat and very complementary about it.
This continued to happen each time I was in an airport and I was flying a lot back then. It was the perfect weight to go from cold weather to warmer weather.

This is the now famous coat.
This particular one was made with 4 layers of cotton.
The base layer is slightly heavier than a quilting cotton.
Layer 2 is a carmel color quilting weight cotton. (as are all the other layers)
Layer 3 is what makes this so fun and funky. It is made from diagonal strips of red, black and rust alternating in no specific design.
Layer 4 (the outer layer) is an olive quilting weight cotton.
Using 100% cotton is what allows these layers to fluff out when the coat is washed. It is one of those garments that just gets better and better the more you wash it and dry it in the dryer.

Both the front and back have a neat asymmetric design.
Since there are no seam finishes or edge finishes this is a relatively quick coat to make. All the lines are stitched in one direction and there are no extra patterns added to the stitching which also makes this a quick project.
I have made several other variations from this pattern, both jacket and coat length.
They all get a lot of attention each time I wear them.

My One Of A Kind Art Cloth–Will It Be For Sale?

I AM THINKING!
I just finished about 30 new pieces of my original art cloth.

Most of them have at least 3 layers of pattern on them which means I have invested a lot of time in each one. Some have more, some less. Layers create rich complex  fabric.

I am realizing I will never be able to use each and every one of them.

I am considering setting up a pop up shop for a week to 10 days on my blog to sell just a few special ones.
Let me know if this interests you.

It will be the first time I have ever sold any of my art fabrics.

I am thinking I would offer them to you at rock bottom prices of $50 to $100 for each one depending on complexity, size, and design. Sizes will vary from smaller than a fat quarter on up.

You could edge finish and hang as they are as ART,  add a backing, quilt them or whatever else you choose to use them for.

You could also just collect them. Each piece will be signed by me.

If you are interested respond to me at   kay@kaysorensen.com
with your email address.

If there is enough interest to make it worth my time I will pursue this. It not, I won’t.

The QUEEN OF ICE Speaks

I am the QUEEN OF ICE!
I have developed my own proprietary method of ice dyeing as an artist.
I am NOT a production dyer. As an artist dyer I use all that is within me as I create each new creation with new ideas.
Since my show opening I have had many requests to teach/share my methods.
My teaching days have been over for a long time and I have used that time to develop further as an artist.
If I attempted to teach/share at this time I would charge $1000 and hour….2 students at a time…. 5 hours minimum.
I am worth that. However I would be self directing anyone who took me up on this.
If you have been to my show you will realize the prices I sell my ART for are a bargain and they can add far more than the cost to your surroundings improving your life and those who enter it.
At this point I am adding a blog post I wrote some time ago which should help to explain this further. I feel I should share this at least once a month.
I have had a lot or responses from people who said they really understand after reading this post.

How I Came To The Point Of Creating My Ice Dyes-Rerun 2018

These are 3 of my experiments on the journey to create the BEST. I consider the above so-so but it takes a lot of these to achieve the best.
Thanks you to everyone for all your comments about my most recent piece which I consider the BEST of the best Florida Ice.
This never could have happened without a lifetime of learning involving fabrics and color.
Many have asked how I do this and it is not something I can share.
For one thing, the results are serendipitous.
And the other thing is unless you have lived the same life I have for 78 years you will never achieve these results.
I am no longer teaching, but am pursuing my own art.
To attempt to share this would not be fair to myself, nor to people who would try it and not get the results I do.
When I was doing one on one teaching for a fee I had a student ask if she could come and learn everything I knew about color from me in a one day session as she would have to travel a distance to get to my studio. It would not have been possible as she had not lived my life. I could have taught her about color theory but even if I did that until she did exercises,etc she still would not have learned what I attempted to teach her.
I can only suggest you take as many color and design classes as possible from the very best instructors and do the work from the classes.
Don’t concentrate only on working with dyes, but with paints, fabrics. yarns, food and papers.
Then play with your chosen materials until you get results that please you.
Devote every waking moment to your art as only then will you achieve your potential. You can multitask and think about your art being influenced as you live your daily life and think about what you want to do and how you will start.
You are all welcome to follow me on my BLOG and sign up to the email list on the page which will notify you each time I post to the blog.  In addition to my art I share parts of my life on my blog. There are times when a week or more may go by with no posts as I have nothing to post. The blog address is: http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/
And in closing I am going to share some not so successful things I’ve dyed recently so you don’t thing I get a winner ever time.



The above are some less than lovelies but it takes creating a lot of these to find my direction to make the BEST!
Even the less than lovelies are useful for backs of quilts or they can be cut up and used in piecing. So all is not lost no matter what happens in my work.
And now 3 years after I originally wrote this post, some of these less than lovelies have been made into very successful pieces with some overdyeing or quilting!
I wish you success on your art journey wherever it takes you.

Florida Ice Poster

Ocala Cultural Arts created this poster for my show.
It has my Artist Bio, Artist Statement and a very brief explanation of what ice dyeing is.
I hope you will be able to enlarge this if you would like to read it.

Negative Positive Quilts

I just completed these small negative positive quilts.
The quilting done with a zigzag stitch was an accidental discovery I made. My grandchildren were creating fused quilts faster than I could quilt them for them. I put Jessica’s under the needle and started quilting. It didn’t take me long to realize the machine was not doing a straight stitch. I decided it really was a great idea and have used it on everyone since.
I have framed them. I have not figured out now to take photos of something behind glass in a frame.
In fact, these images were scanned so they are much better than any photos I DO take.
Can YOU see the pattern I created?

My Hand Quilter-Robin Koehler

Robin and I finally met in person when she came to visit and go to Ocala to see my show.
We visited, had lunch, went to Ocala so she could see my show Florida Ice, came back to the house and visited some more.
We had a lot to share with each other.
Don’t forget this name as you will be seeing more of her in the near future.

A VERY Special Quilt

I  can’t take credit for designing this quilt. This is the first and last mystery quilt I every made. It was designed by Jinny Beyer for one of her seminars.
I did select the fabrics to make it my own. I brought the lily fabric with me to the seminar. We were given the directions to cut and piece the twirling patchwork.  I selected the fabrics to coordinate with the lily fabric. The measurements were very odd sizes.
I finished the top during the seminar and was very pleased with it.
Like many things I make it didn’t get quilted. I had it pinned and thought I’d machine quilt it, but somehow it wanted to be hand quilted.
When I became aware of Robin Koehler and started to have her quilt some quilts for me I knew this was one for her to do.

She designed the quilting pattern and it is perfect to highlight the piecing.

She also designed the perfect quilting for the lily print and the borders.
I couldn’t be happier with it.

You Can Never Have Too Much Money Or Too Much Red Fabric!

I’m sharing more of the Dye Dogs that became gorgeous fabrics from the red shibori bucket I did recently.

This was a silk screen image on white fabric. I wanted to add some color and texture to it.

Although you see a lot of blue in this one, the final shibori dye was done with red dye.

This is one of those pieces that is so much better than the photo.

Each piece is manipulated differently and I can’t even tell you how I did them. I purposely to NOT keep records as I want to play and experiment to get my original designs on each one I dye.
I never know what to expect when I rinse, washout, dry and iron my projects.
The red batch produced so many wonderful pieces.

My Florida Family’s Favorites–Florida Ice Show

These two quilts were favorites of my Florida family at the opening of my show.

Whisper was the favorite of my Florida daughter Lauren Bedford Chenette.

Hex A Gones was the favorite of another family member Tina Romstad.
My solo show runs through April 26th at the Ocala City Hall at 110 SE Watula Avenue in Ocala.
It is open M-F 8 am – 5 pm.
All work is for sale by contacting me at: kay@kaysorensen.com

Red Magic

I did shibori dyeing over some dye dogs and got some amazing new pieces to work with.

Over twenty years ago I painted this with thickened dyes. I was surprised how the red dye really made this come to life.


This is the before.
This was a green piece with some glue resist I believe. I was not expecting results as wonderful as I received with the red dye.
The photo below is the before picture.


This piece was given to me and it had been painted. The red really made it sing.

Four of us got together and carved our own printing blocks and then a few days later we got together and printed with them.
Since these were test pieces I didn’t use wonderful fabrics to print on. The red dye definitely brought this up enough notches that it is now something I will use in a composition.
There will be more to come in the future sharing my results as there were 20 pieces in the bucket.

An Awesome Miniature Quilt

I developed a technique for piecing miniature quilts about 35 years ago called Magnificent Miniature Patchwork.  I taught the method all over the Midwest and beyond.
My work was featured in several magazines including the Japanese magazine Patchwork Quilt Tsushin.
The quilts we created were to scale - 1 inch to 12 inches  - of a full size bed quilt. This measures 11 inches square.
This particular one is an off center log cabin and I have used silver lame in the centers of each block.
It finally got quilted this year when I started having Robin Koehler do hand quilting for me. Her work is AMAZING and she also binds most of the ones she quilts for me.
Her stitches are so perfect. I love her work best done on solid colors as they really show off the quilting.
Since she has been quilting for me I have been able to reduce the number of works in progress and I have several more ready for her to quilt.

Post Olympic Quilt

I doubt you will be able to see the quilting on this one even if you enlarge it. The thread blended in so well on the vertical lines of stitching I did I had a hard time seeing the previous row to space them.
This on is quite different that the Olympic ones as it uses much less dyed fabric. The quilt block was a sample I made for a class I taught. It is surrounded with the only piece of hand dyed fabric I used.
The black striped piece is a silk sash I bought and never used.
The background is a fabric I used in my guestroom decorating.
I guess this might be classified as recycling!

My Friend Kay Is Here For A While

She came all the way from North Carolina to attend my show opening on Friday.
Spent time visiting local friends and family and is here now.
We have not run out of things to talk about and I doubt we ever will.
So great to see her and spend some time together.

Sun Fun Flower

                          SOLD


Although this Ice Tapestry quilt has been sold it is still a part of my solo show Florida Ice until the show closes.
When the show closes the new owner will take possession  of it.
If you are looking for art for your home or place of business all the work in the show is for sale.
I am not scheduled to be at the show at any special times. When I know I will be there I will post a heads up on Facebook.
I appreciate this photo taken by my friend Carol Gordhamer. It shows the details so well.

Florida Ice–Everybody Moves To Florida Eventually

I couldn’t believe how many friends from Wisconsin were at the opening of my show in Ocala, Florida on March 16th. Almost all of them live in Florida now.
Don't miss the photos of the Ice tapestries in the backgrounds.

John and Sharon Reisselman lived a block from us in Wisconsin. Me. John’s sister Betty Falcon who I have known for years and her friend Renee Kloet from Salem, WI.

My long time friend from Paddock Lake, Jean Antes. She came with Sandy Murphy from Salem, another long time friend.



Gloria Rickard Harden and Pat Schaltz Brodsko were high school classmates of mine.

Eileen Straub Mirr and Lynn Maher are also friends from WI now living in Florida who I have known a long time.

Kay Falcus from WI, one of my sister Karen’s college friends.
I will be following up with other pictures of people who attended the show later.
I also will be sharing photos of the work occasionally...just enough so you want to see them in person!

Opening Reception For Florida Ice

What an amazing time at my opening reception.
I could not have done this without the help of some very special friends and Ocala Cultural Arts.

My friends Carol Gordhamer, (me), Beth Sherman and Robbie Porter Payne were right there for me taking photos, talking to people about my work when I was busy talking to others and any time I needed anything.

My friends Pete and Beth Sherman chaffeured me to the show, carried everything in for me and then chaffeured my home. Pete had the car washed before they picked me up!


When it was time to take my pieces in for the show it was more than I could handle myself so my neighbor Gary on the right drove me and the work up there. These are my neighbors Betty Freese, Donna Oxandale, Carol Baxter and Gary Baxter. I have wonderful neighbors.

My Florida family was there for me. Florida Daughter Lauren was able to take time out of her work day to be there. My middle son Andy was there doing anything he could to help and he also is the one who designed and made those great new business cards that I had available both at the show and before. His special girlfriend Tina was a big help all around. (Andy also attended my show in Wisconsin a year ago and was my chaffeur for that show.)

Ashley Justiniano was the Curator for the show which was sponsored by the Ocala Cultural Arts Department. She was so efficient and a delight to work with.
I feel so fortunate to be able to share my work with so many people from our area and other parts of the country. I will be following this post  with more photos soon.
The beautiful floral arrangement came from my son Jeff's office and family in Wisconsin.

At Last The Opening Reception Is Here For Florida Ice

                                                           TRANQUILITY
It seemed so far away, but somehow the months and days passed until today at 12:30 FLORIDA ICE opens with an artists opening reception from 12:30 – 2 pm.
Am I excited to be able to share all of these pieces with all of you? You bet.
It is always an amazing surprise to see my work hung in a solo exhibit as the curators know how best to present the work I have spent several years creating.  When I walk in I will see my work with new eyes as it graces the walls of Ocala’s amazing City Hall grand entrance hall.
I hope you will be there.
Photos are allowed. You have my permission to share some online if you include my name and FLORIDA ICE. I also request that you do not share the entire show, just YOUR favorites.

YOU ARE INVITED

You are cordially invited to the exhibition opening of Florida Ice a solo exhibit by Kay Sorensen on Friday, March 16, 2018, 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Ocala City Hall, 110 SE Watula Avenue. Light hors d'oeuvres will be provided. The exhibition runs through Friday, April 27th.
The Ocala City Hall is handicapped accessible.
It is open M-F 8 am - 5 pm.

How Did I Become The Queen Of Ice?

The journey started when I was a toddler and my Mom dressed me in a teal corduroy dress for my studio photo. This was my perfect color to wear even though at the time I am sure I didn’t realize it.
Over the years color and fabric have been my passion and I have never strayed far from that path.

Although Sacred Spirits is not included in this show it shows you the breadth of what I have achieved with my technique.
I’ve taken fabric dyeing classes occasionally but my own research and development are responsible for what I have achieved.
I was christened the QUEEN OF ICE by Sita Rao who I met in a dyeing class in Ohio, even though we live relatively close to each other.
It was the ART I was able to infuse into my own proprietary method of ice dyeing that made me deserving of the honor she bestowed on me.

4 MORE DAYS Until The Opening Reception Of "Florida Ice, My Solo Show In Ocala, Florida

Even though the show is not open yet I want to thank everyone for their overwhelming responses and help as I am on the final countdown.

The show is open to the public and please consider this YOUR personal invitation.
I will be at the Artist Opening Reception and hope to see YOU.
The show runs through April 27. The City Hall is open M-F 8 am – 5 pm like all government buildings. We are fortunate their are no holidays where it will be closed within this time period.
There are no weekend or evening hours.
My lists are keeping me on track as I race to the finish for the opening.

Counting Down–My Solo Show Opens in Only 3 Days

I am so excited to be able to share my “Florida Ice” show with everyone.
 
Sun Fun Flower uses circular quilting, one of my signature styles. The other areas are quilted with designs appropriate for the areas.
All the work is my own proprietary method of ice dyeing.
All the work was done in my Florida residence. The finishing is done in my Wisconsin studio.
The show opens March 16th with an opening artists reception from 12:30 – 2 pm. It runs through April 27th at the Ocala City Hall. It is open M-F 8 am- 5 pm.
All work in the show is for sale. They are all original work using my proprietary methods and designs.
All are one of a kind and can not be reproduced.

Monet’s Garden - My Solo Show Opens In 5 Days

This is one of 4 pieces from my Monet’s Garden series that will be a part of my show “Florida Ice”.
These pieces can be hung individually in a smaller space or hung as a grouping in a larger space. They are the kind of work that puts everyone in a good mood when they look at them.
Each is a one of a kind piece of art that can not be reproduced because of the proprietary methods I have developed for creating my ice dyed tapestries.
There will be an artist reception March 16th from 12:30-2 pm. The show runs from March 16th to April 27th
The Ocala City Hall/Municipal building is located at 110 SE Watula Ave in Ocala, Florida. The City Hall is open M-F 8 am -5 pm.
There is no admission charge and there is a large free parking lot.
All work is for sale.

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.

Florida Ice Opens At Ocala City Hall One Week From Today

                                           GOOD VIBRATIONS
This is one of my Ice Tapestries that will be featured in my solo show. All work in the show is for sale and they are all one of a kind and can not be reproduced.

One of these works of art can set the tone for a room or finish a room where something is needed to complete it. The colorations in my work are selected so they are at home in any style or color scheme.

Of course they are great over a sofa, in a dining room, in a family or great room, stair well or any other place that can be completed with a piece of gorgeous art.

You also will find they are welcoming in a business reception area as well as a board room or private office space.

I hope I have given you some ideas so when you see the work you can find an appropriate piece for your surroundings.

The artists reception is from 12:30 to 2 pm March 16th and closes April 27th.  The City Hall (Municipal Building) is at 110 SE Watula Avenue in Ocala. If you are travelling in Florida Ocala is on the way to everywhere and City Hall is just a short distance off of Hwy I 75.

I am so excited to be showing my work in this awesome space that showcases it as the art it is.
I hope you are able to see the show and find some art that calls your name and that will enrich your life.

The title “Queen Of Ice” has been bestowed on me for my own personal signature style.

All My Olympic Quilts

This is Olympic Quilt 1. It is a Gold Medal quilt. It set the bar high for what was to follow. Figuring out how to quilt this one was a challenge and I started, did what I knew I needed to do to start it, stepped back and took my time until it told me what to do next. I loved the dialogue the quilt spoke with me.

Olympic Quilt 2 also is a Gold Medal Quilt. The spiral quilting plays well with the linear lines of the quilt itself.

I was not so sure that Olympic Quilt 3 would make Gold.

When it was turned into a perfectly stuffed pillow it too became a Gold Medalist.

Olympic Quilt 4 was also trying to be a contender for Gold.

It also made the Gold status when it too became a pillow. The quilting was done horizontally to contrast with the leno weave of the silk fabric.

Olympic Quilt 5 came out of the reject pile and was quilted in a grid to make the save.

The “pillow save” also created another Gold Medalist.

Three gold medalists which work together, or as I like to call them 3 ART pillows.
My friend Debbie wanted to see all of the Gold Medal quilts and try to find the commonality between them. There definitely is a commonality, but it is not obvious unless you have been following my work for a long time.
Let me know what you see as the commonality.
(I also did Olympic dyeing and Olympic scarves)