LOVE THE QUILT, LOVE THE QUILTING NOT SO MUCH

Okay, I have been working......Really! And while I seem to be up to only 2 posts a month so far in this New Year of the Golden Pig, you gotta admit it's a vast improvement over late 2006, with a blog every 7 weeks or so. Am I right? Okay, no more excuses.

So I've been working away on quilt tops for this show in September, and so far I've got four done and at least 3 more under way.....Plus a quilt I have to finish for another bloody art auction/donation, plus other stuff I shouldn't be working on because they're gifts for myself or friends and while gifts for friends are way too much fun, I'm supposed to be a grown up and focus on the task at hand. And gifts for myself....Really, who has time for that?



I LOVE designing quilts. I love the making part of art. I love going through all the fabric scraps or candy wrappers or whatever I'm making a quilt out of at the moment, and putting them together. I've never liked jigsaw puzzles, but this kind of puzzle I like. It's so exciting because anything goes with a quilt, whereas with a jigsaw puzzle, it's the same every time and the pictures are boring. So everything's perfect, right? I love making quilts, so I make quilts and the world's a happy place. But here's the rub: I don't like quilting. If you're not up on quilt construction, sewing bits of fabric together to make the top is called "piecing", and sewing the top, the batting (the fluffy stuff in between that keeps you warm) and the back together is called quilting. Piecing is the design part, the FUN part in my humble opinion, and quilting is the tedious finishing work that shows what a fine craftsperson you are. It can really make or break this thing you've been working for countless hours, and it always stresses me out. That's why I've got four quilt tops done and no finished quilts. I've been having all this fun, and now it's time to "Nut Up!" as someone I know likes to say, and get quilting. I feel like I've been banished to a dark cave with a needle and thread and when I emerge I'll be wrinkled and old, like someone in a Grimm's fairytale. The pathetic thing is I've banished myself, so who am I to complain?

WHAT'S UP

Alright, I've got work up in three different places right now, so here the skinny:

"The 5th of July" is on display in the Hoffman Gallery at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts (Portland, OR) right now for their alumni show, and will be up through February 22nd.



I also have a piece in "Shelters: 100 Artists" at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem, OR. That show opened February 6th and runs through March 3rd. I don't have a photo of it, but thier web site does: www.zeekgallery.com

And I have three framed quilts from the Letter Series up at Shoalwater Cove Gallery, in Ilwaco, WA. They will be up until I switch them out for something else, I guess.

So, if you are visiting any of these locals in the near future you can pop in and have a look-see. Thanks for checkin' in.