quilts…

Bicycle Races

Because all quilts should be inspected before display by a cat,    20150108-IMG_2646

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and, if possible, bicycle tires should test out the terrain.20150108-IMG_2654

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Drunkard’s Path should not be an invitation to drink and bike, however!20150108-IMG_2652

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE”

Lyrics by Queen are free-motion quilted onto batik squares. And yes, those are real bike tread marks, with acrylic paint and a bicycle tire. 20150108-IMG_2649                  I had NO idea what to do for this challenge. I don’t really bike, and I didn’t really like the challenge fabric—(used as the bike frames, seat and handle bars) The Challenge dictated the size and I was a day or so to the deadline of saying. “Take my name off of the list,” when I woke up with the entire quilt planned and plotted in my head! Construction of it changed things slightly, and as I was quilting it, I was just not quite satisfied.   Suddenly, the appearance of tire tracks seemed absolutely essential, and thanks to a husband who was able to come up with a tire at 12:30 in the morning, I was able to finish this 36 hours before it was required to be handed in. (Hey, that’s pretty good for me!)

Machine pieced and quilted by Trish Casey-Green, 2015  Richmond Quilters Guild Exhibit at MAQF, February 26-March 1, 2015 The Bike Race is in RVA in September of 2015. I am missing MAQF for the first year since 2003, this is being auto-published while I am off enjoying the Grand Canyon!

2015—word of the year.

 

is… CONNECT.IMG_6108

 

Happy 2015!  As per usual, I fought the word. “What?” I thought, when, about a week ago, while not really even thinking about the word of the year, “Connect” jumped up and waved its arms in the air. “Look at ME!”

 

Connect, I thought. Huh. What in the name of anything can I do with YOU? And so, stubborn wench that I am, I ignored it, and listened out for a sensible word. Right. That never happens. Remember ENOUGH or CHOOSE or INSIGHT or WEATHER  or MOTION or BALANCE or DELIBERATE or INCLUSIVE? (I look at this list and think maybe my inner Buddhist is coming out)

So, I randomly thought of other words (NEVER works, by the way. Never.) I tried,while going about my week, to figure out what CONNECT could have to to with my art, my quilting, because that is where the concept of doing a word started for me.  And, yet.

 

This morning–today, January 1, 2015, I looked up the definition of the word connect while getting ready to write this blog post.

 

1794641_10203652074326362_1275265419_n-001Well, DUH. Connect. To Join, link, or fasten together. To unite or bind.

 

Right there, the first definition, is about quilting!!!!! What more does one do in quilting, at the most elemental level, than attach two pieces of fabric together? And what is the last step, but to bind the quilt? (We shall not talk, today, about all the intermediate steps, of reverse engineering, running out of material, mis-measuring…) Let’s keep it classy, ok?  But will this have anything to do with the bigger picture, outside the studio walls…?

 

Connect verb (used with object)   1.to join, link, or fasten together; unite or bind:   2. to establish communication between; put in communication: 3. to have as an accompanying or associated feature: 4.to cause to be associated, as in a personal or business relationship: to connect oneself with a group of like-minded persons;  5.to associate mentally or emotionally http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/connect

 

20140131-IMG_8214

I shall connect with my fabric, indeed! As soon as I finish writing this post, as a matter of fact, I have to scramble to finish a project.

But on the larger scale, connecting, connection; it’s the thing we all want more than anything, isn’t it? Isn’t it why we hug, or hold hands? Why we walk side by side, why the cat climbs on you the moment you have created a lap?

So, this year, the “connect” I want to work on is the one on one, personal connecting… Comment on this post, start a connection with me. I want to know better the people I know…Connect in real life and in this new small world of the smart phone, the internet, where all my friendships can be at my fingertips…

I think making the threads that connect us stronger is a wonderful goal.

HAPPY New Year!!!

This quilt is called Emails from China, designed and worked on while my daughter was in China in 2009. We stayed connected during that time via emails that came while I slept, and were answered while she slept…

Finding Fabric.

photoquiltfabric3Fabric2Quilt Fabric

There is a conversation going on over at a quilting group to which I belong. Art VS quilt, hand-dyes VS commercial, old fabric VS the latest pretties.

A rather typical conversation, actually! 

I am of the commercial collection side of the discussion, and I don’t like buying lines of fabrics, I can identify by designer only a handful of fabrics, and I don’t want ALL the newest fabrics in one quilt.

To each his or her own, but I enjoy digging through my collection and finding things to pair together that weren’t meant for each other.

 

(This reminds me of the conversation I had with my daughter when she was four. We were getting appetizers ready for company, and I wanted sliced cheese and apple wedges. In her four year old logic, she told me they didn’t go together, because mice and worms don’t go together! —Happy almost 30th Birthday!!!)

 

Back to the subject at hand, however.  Digging and digging, I cannot for the life of me find any scraps of these fabrics. It seems impossible that I don’t have a strip of any of them in the house, but…

I have this UFO that really needs to be finished. It has sat at the point where a normal person would say, take it to the quilter already. I am not satisfied with it. Something was missing.

I had an epiphany last week, and know what I need to do to make it work for me. But NOT a scrap of any of the fabrics are around!

I need possibly a 12 x 12 inch square of these fabrics. Not all of them, but definitely the black floral, and at least two of the other colors.

They are about 8 years old, ancient in quilt years, and I don’t know the manufacturers.

Anyone recognize any of them? Anyone have a scrap or two they would be willing to give up?

 

I have reasonable Plan B, but it is rather involved and not necessarily what I would prefer to do….

If you can help out, please contact me!

 

Thanks!