The new midarm quilting machine arrived Thursday evening on a pallet--several big, heavy boxes.  Friends helped me take the pallet apart and get it into the studio; later son Phil came over and put the casters on and assembled most of the thing.  Today I have to attach the bobbin winder and rearrange furniture in the studio to accommodate the Sweet 16 and its large table.  I really want to sit down and play with it, but practicality demands some significant housekeeping first.  Still, I foresee some good times in the near future.  I had set aside a couple of quilt sandwiches in anticipation, so I don't have to invent a project to practice on.

First, though, I have to drive over to Live Oak Art Center in Columbus TX to pick up my pieces that have been on display at their Members Show.  If I go now, I can probably miss the worst of the thunderstorms predicted for today.

Merry Christmas to the studio!  Suggestions for a name are invited (not that I've named any of the other machines, but it could become a trend).  The Santa was discovered in the attic over my garage when I was moving in.  He's clearly from the 50's-60's and a bit yellowed, but I cleaned him up and will have him outside once the house  painting is completed.

When I went into the studio this morning and looked at the Shibori pieces, I thought they looked a little too peaceful.  There was nothing happening.  This is fine if you're using the art as a focus for meditation or something, but there was nothing to catch the imagination.

Ah, it's the dreaded focal point.  Some images can get away without one, or challenge the viewer's mind with the lack of it (think of the big Rothko Chapel paintings at the Menil and some of Jackson Pollock's paintings).  But I had originally thought that the arc of embroidered xxx was the focus of this little piece, and I guess it was the most likely one.  Still, it didn't do much for me.  Just too darned agreeable.

Fortunately, I had some butterflies left over from "A Good Day at Saint-Remy."

It's remarkable what that little dose of color and change of value can do.  And that's why I don't throw away my extras--there's always a use for scraps, patchwork, painted images.

When I think about it, this would have been more interesting with another kind of bug, maybe a cicada or a praying mantis.  But I don't have any of those prepared and don't want to spend more time on this exercise.  Look for more provocative bugs in a later piece.

One of my resolutions has been to send a contribution to the trunk show sponsored by the Studio Art Quilt Association (SAQA).  These small art quilts (7" wide by 11" tall) are sent out in trunks to display wherever requested, often for quilt guilds or local art centers.  Members of the organization send samples of representative work, or maybe something new that they've tried.  It can't have a lot of embellishments hanging off, nor can it be a 3-D piece that sits on a pedestal, so some of the weirder/more innovative pieces don't travel in this show, but it is a good way to demonstrate the diversity of the art quilt world.

So, what to do?  I had a small piece of textured fabric that I had stitched, gathered, then dyed with indigo.  When it dried and the stitches were snipped out there was a pattern of concentric arcs in sort of a light yellow or ivory against the light blue.  I sandwiched it and did some hand stitching in the arcs one evening, liking the result.  Of course, I forgot to photograph any of the process steps, so you'll just have to use your imagination.   The next day I decided that it was rather boring, so stenciled some green ferns in transparent paint across it.  This was a great improvement.  Once the paint dried, I quilted around the ferns with the machine.  I cut the 7 x 11 piece for SAQA and had a larger piece left.  Then I stitched the edges of both rectangles with one of the fancy machine stitches, and I was done 

This is the one I'll send to SAQA.  Not trying for anything dramatic in this small scale.  Just a quiet, contemplative day among the ferns.


You have to look hard to see the hand stitching in this photo, but it's a nice effect.

This is the leftover piece, Shibori/Indigo/Ferns II.  Not sure what I'll do with it, maybe a small Christmas gift for somebody.

While I was working on these I had a call from a newspaper reporter asking if I'd be willing to be interviewed as their "Local Artist of the Month."  Well, sure, so he sent me the questions and requested a photo in the studio.  I've completed the questionnaire and had my friends who are painting the house take a photo for me--so here's the latest.

I wish it weren't so washed-out looking, but it was the best we could do on short notice.  I need a John Boehner tan!

Anyway, that's all the artsy stuff for now.  During the next two days I have to get ready for the big Christmas Parade and Santa's Workshop.  Apparently I'm driving a golf cart in the parade to represent First Book-Eagle Lake.  Maybe a trial run tomorrow--I've never even ridden in one, but I don't think they go very fast, so maybe I won't run over anybody.  A new take on "Grandma got run over by a reindeer"--Grandma flattened Santa with a golf cart . . . .it could become legendary.

Just received word that my piece A Good Day at Saint-Remy has been accepted to the Texas Quilt Museum's exhibit "Butterflies and Their Beautiful Kin," April 3-June 29, 2014.  Following the exhibit in LaGrange TX, it will tour with "Butterfly Whirl:  Contemporary Quilt Art" through January, 2018.  How cool is that?  Possibly an excuse to visit some of the (as yet unannounced) future venues.

Special thanks go to Pam McManus, my dyeing partner, and to the unknown crochet artist who created the dresser scarf/center panel in taupe cotton.  And, of course, to Rick Wells, who made this great photo and paid special attention to showing the shadows made by openings in the piece.

I had spent the cold day Saturday with friend Shirley Ferry, touring some of the fine houses of Eagle Lake.  Then we drove over to Columbus TX, to the Live Oak Art Center, where I have two pieces in their Member Show.  Because we were there at the beginning of the reception, a reporter for the local paper took some photos (no other artists had showed up yet).  I may get a mention in the local paper, the Colorado County Citizen, next week.  Here's a photo Shirley took--I was very pleased with the placement and lighting  of my work.

The photo is a trifle overexposed, but you get the idea.  I have to say that after seeing it on the wall, I have plans to add a little enhancement when it comes home later this month.  Some of the woven arabesques need to be brought out with paint, probably greenish-bronze.  The more I think about it, the more I'm itching to get my hands back into this piece.  I guess nothing is ever really finished in the mind of the maker.

OK, time to make some cookie dough for  baking later today.  Stay warm, my friends.