Forced Weekend at home

So last Friday - I had right foot surgery and the doctor required I stay off of it for at least this weekend. Can you imagine no driving for 2 weeks? So it gave me a good reason to finish these two wall hangings for a quilt show in October. The quilting and binding are done. Both are originals. The first the "Many Moods of Chico" comes from my cute springer spaniel- Chico. After several digital photos a good pose came out. Then with the templates from the photo- It was play time. This was the fun part. There could be an addition to the border- a red stamp of paws-- sort of scattered around. A pattern has been prepared and this wall hanging could re-designed for another favorite dog.
The second one- " Rings" was an exercise in black & white. With circle templates this project just developed with the fabric telling me where they wanted to play. Although there were templates, additional ring shapes were added to increase the dynamic. I am pleased with both of these.
So this is mostly my quilting life and where I am still venturing. The weekend (although forced inactivity) proved to be successful. Sewing with my left foot is very possible. What I learned is I can exercise my creative side either as a quilter- artist-- or as a contemporary artist. They are not mutually exclusive. An artist can develop techniques from both worlds. The enjoyment is the most important part. These are my dreams to relish.

As an aside, my husband was a real sweety. He took off on Friday and made sure all weekend that I didnt stress out and stay off my feet. He even did the vacuuming. So that is why I married him 38 yrs ago. Today Monday - hobbling around the house is possible and recovery is progressing with no pain medication.

There are several other projects still to do- decorative pillows with silk appliques and embroidery, a small purse for my other sister, and two landscapes from my photography in Kuaia and Florida. My interests have gone to trying something new, take a project and push it in a new direction. From a book called- "Reflets d'or et d'argent" Art Textile by Ina Georgeta Statescu,( in French) - there are embroidered designs she created for a courtier in Paris. She was responsible for embellishing his gowns. The work is stunning and gives me food for thought. Her gorgeous designs were enlarged into wall hangings. I found this book in a quilt shop in Florida; it is published at "les editions de Saxe" in Lyon, France. So many things can be done- this is the joy of the dream.

The Many Moods of Chico- my cute pet- "Andy Warhol" style 

Rings wallhanging for quilt show 

Looking for ideas

So I'm searching for ideas. There are requests for art quilts. Yesterday I found one from Art Quilts On Line and the theme is "Every Woman". So I worked on the idea over night and this morning the inspiration came out-- What has happened to me that is thoroughly female? mammagram. Maybe not one of those most pleasant times but a necessity of life for a woman. On Google images there was an image of an actual mammagram; the tissue of the woman's breast looks like the surface of the moon or a dyed fabric. The idea keeps brewing.

I am torn between exploring my creative ideas and returning to projects where I feel comfort. I have given myself 6 mos in a retired state to try these new creative ideas. Yet there is so few ways of determining whether my ideas work in an art quilt work or not. It seems its important now for me to go ahead and see what happens. Someone told me you must go thru many rejection notices before you figure out what works. I just finished a new one I call "Reception". I'm hoping to get some ideas.

The quiltart message board has so many woman down on several outside issues but so few are really talking about the world of a quilt artist. This is new for me and I need to explore. The tone of that message board has become negative.

"Reception" latest art quilt work 

This is the Giraffe Images series prepared for the Art Quilt class 

This is the other part of the Fiber ATC's 

This is part of the Fiber ATC's 

These are the new pieces completed in May 2005 

Latest work

The month of May was busy and I have some pictures for you. There was Fiber ATC, Landscape theme, there was an Art Quilt Class which had 4 quiltlets done and a commission "Jungle Blooms. The ATC's were small but they gave me new ideas for a piece with koi. I liked them once I got into that small mode. The 4 quiltlets were good "Giraffe Images" which had its own little show last Thursday 6-2-2005. It amazed me how you could come up with 4 different pieces on the same theme. That was true for the other 4 students in the group. I was busy and I couldnt complete 6 pieces which were done by the other 4 ladies. Then there was the commission for a lady in Michigan. It was prepared and mailed out on Monday last week - right on time It measures 53 x 73" and the customer called and left an excited message on my answering machine. She loved it. Now it appears on my website www.quiltdesignsbyjeanne.com along with the giraffes. This month I have two classes with Quilt University and Art 2 Mail cards (24) plus prep work for a Bernina club class at the end of the month. In addition I have 2 pieces that I have drawn and should be started now. In July there are 2 more classes. The quilt university class "On Land & Sea" has a landscape quilt to complete of a beach in Kuaia. This comes from my own picture. So I keep rolling along.