From – June 4, 2010

I had to choose fabric for a stash quilt for a get together tomorrow. What to choose? What to Choose?

I first pulled out the box with the musical instrument fabrics. This would work really well. Too well, I decided. I will put them back for an original pattern. Then my eye caught the drawer with the Route 66 and car fabrics. There were not enough different coordinating choices there. Too Bad!

Finally I lit upon my wine drawer. I have lots of wine fabrics and this would be a perfect choice. With theme and pattern in hand the job was half accomplished. I first picked out a background material and then combined the requisite number of coordinating darker fabrics, and then switched backgrounds and then switched again.

I think that choosing fabrics for a quilt is a wonderful way to play with colors and patterns and designs. And I absolutely love being surprised by the results. Sometime they don’t work out as well as I would like them to. Sometimes they blow me away. But always I walk away with the joy of having created.

The key is to not be afraid of experimenting with patterns and colors and stretching past what is conventional wisdom. When I was very young, before what my friend calls the colorblindness of the 70’s, my mother told me that pink and red should NEVER, NEVER go together. But I liked them in some things. The same was true of blue and green. She didn’t have the confidence to decide what she liked, she listened to others tell her what was proper. I guess I just don’t have it in me to conform.

So I play and there are few rules to guide me, just mistakes and successes. My mistakes have taught me more than my successes so I value them. Have a good contrast (I learned that). Don’t cut up more than you will be using (another learning experience).

So much of any art is play so go ahead. I saw a bumper sticker that said – Well behaved women rarely make history. I am giving you permission to break the rules and create. You too will be hooked.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – May 19, 2010

I was asked about the “REAL” necessity of pressing out the seams in quilting. I think that the questioner was trying to get me to admit that pressing is one of those steps that pro quilters kind of skip as they create their pieces of art.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I have yet to meet an even adequate quilter who isn’t compulsive about their seams being nicely crisp.

A well pressed seam will give you more perfectly measured pieces. It will assure that you won’t have folds in your top. It will make the sewing much easier by correctly matching up the corners.

The trick is to make sure that your pressing is done correctly. To really do the job effectively, press from the back of the piece and the front as well. Pressing the back seam allowance in the correct direction will make lining up the corners trouble-free and make the rest of the extra fabric less bulky when quilted. Pressing the top from the front will give you the opportunity to check for folds close to the seams. Pressing the fabric close to the seams flat is the objective.

Ironing, scrubbing at the fabric may stretch the material that has been so carefully cut and stitched. It isn’t ironing, it is placing the iron down on the seams and pressing down.

Any time you spend at the ironing board will be more than made up for in the rest of the sewing process and the pleasure of a beautiful final result.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – May 7, 2010

Part of the pattern for the Faberge Eggs requires a couching of the suede strips for stems or snakes or sailboat masts. Because I do not want to sew through the leather (too much stress on the fingers) I will use the embroidery technique of couching instead. I love couching.

Couching gives the sewer the opportunity to attach materials to the piece that would not otherwise be attachable through more conventional methods of needlework. Glue is always an option but it won’t hold as well. Coins, leather, feathers, lace or any number of items that would be problematic to sew through, can instead be couched on and securely fastened.

One aspect of this technique to keep in mind is that to keep the stitches that show (those coming across the top) level, you must make the stitch underneath the one that is sewn on the angle.

The thread coming over the top should be level and this is done by the needle coming out from under the object being couched on and then being inserted back into the underlying fabric to produce a level stitch. The stitch under the couched on object is the one that is at the angle determined by the length of the space between stitches that show above the couched on object. If you want more space between the stitches shown, make a greater angle under the object. If you want a denser look with your thread, have the needle come out from under, closer to the previous stitch.

Couching opens up all kind of options when talking about embellishments. Because quilting is such a wonderful way to self express, taking advantage of all of the techniques available to us in that expression is just another part of our tool box.
At times nothing else can be substituted for couching.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – May 3, 2010

According to the website Reflector.com the After School Art program for the ECU School of Art and Design had a special project. Sixteen of the participating third, fourth and fifth grade student received a lesson in quilting and community service.
During a special art show Monday, 16 young local artists will present to the Ronald McDonald House of Greenville a friendship quilt that they made with the help of one of their East Carolina University student instructors.

Sounds like a wonderful way to expose these students to the world of quilting and to have them participate in community awareness. They are able to learn to give but also that quilt making is indeed an art form.

That the teachers used quilting as a vehicle to serve the community is completely in keeping with the cooperative spirit alive and well in quilting circles.

Whether we are talking about the Aids quilts, Quilts of Valor, quilts for displaced children or the quilts made for the ill, the quilting world has a long and involved history of reaching out and sharing. A local woman makes scrap quilts for the local animal shelter. Guilds all over the world focus on one charity or another. Google “charity quilt” and find several hundred thousand results from free patterns to causes to organizations whose primary function is to provide quilts for those in need of a good snuggle.

From the Quilts of Valor Website at http://www.qovf.org

It is wonderful that the teachers at the ECU School of Art and Design chose this method of expression and hopefully, several of the students will be bitten by the quilting bug. But, this is only one of the many, many recipients of quilters worldwide, past and present.

It feels so good to snuggle up in a beautiful quilt. We understand that sensation and feel a need to share, and, of course, to find those who will appreciate our gift.

To read the entire article, go to:
http://www.reflector.com/community/art-students-make-quilt-ronald-mcdonald-house-32773

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – April 24, 2010

This is the last of my comments on the article written by Julia Kollewe addresses her first paragraph about the popularity of quilting.

“Is it a surprise that the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Quilts exhibition has been a huge hit and quickly outsold blockbuster shows Baroque and Maharaja? Perhaps not. Quilting remains immensely popular with the ladies in Britain and across the Atlantic but is not generally regarded as art – unless it is done by Grayson Perry or Tracey Emin. You might change your mind when you see this show.”

I have stated that I strongly advocate the concept of quilting as art; I wanted to talk about the popularity of quilting. It amuses me to talk to those in my universe who are not involved in quilting. The image lingers of little old ladies saving up their egg money to buy a few supplies for their quilting. Not So.

The quilters of Gees Bend serve as a tremendous reminder that spectacular results can come from very sparse resources, however, in general the quilting industry is said to be in the multiple billions of dollars. Just the example of the Paducah Quilt Festival, the American Quilter’s Society put out the statement that:

The Kentucky Tourism Council has selected the 26th Annual American Quilter’s Society’s Quilt Show & Contest as one of their 2010 Spring Top 10 Festivals & Events.

Held in Paducah, April 21-24, this annual competition showcases more than 500 quilts and wall hangings created by both national and international quilters. The festival includes the finest workmanship and most imaginative quilts in the world, along with a merchant mall, hands-on workshops/lectures by world-renowned teachers, and a fashion show. With a $20 million dollar economic impact, the Quilt Show is celebrated throughout the town…

When the International Quilt Festival first hosted their Long Beach, California event, the organizers grossly underestimated the level of participation resulting in huge issues with parking and bathroom faculties and food availability.

This is an industry that continues to grow in popularity and participation.

To read Julia’s article in it’s entirety go to:
http://www.t5m.com/julia-kollewe/art-review-the-vas-quilts-show-has-got-it-all-sewn-up.html?fmt=news

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – April 22, 2010

In the review about the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Quilts exhibition – Quilts 1700-2010 in London, Julia Kollewe writes a little about the ten works specially commissioned for this show as she describes the contemporary additions to the exhibit.

“Ten works specially commissioned for this show are dotted around the exhibition, for example a video quilt by Clio Padovani, entitled Quilting Point, and Box I and II by Diana Harrison, shaped like boxes that have been unfolded. Unlike the older quilts, they have no practical use.”

My reaction may be defensive but I thought that this piece has “no practical use” as Andy Warhol’s Turquoise Marilyn has no practical use.

A description by Diana Harrison of the process, motivation and inspiration for this quilt can be found at:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/quilts-1700-2010/videos/diana-harrison/index.html

Julia explains several other of the contemporary inclusions but, I think, completely misses their point. Diana was expressing a passage of her life. Jennifer Vickers made a statement regarding the Iraq War. Michele Walker’s contribution spoke of her mother’s battle with Alzheimer. Grayson Perry expressed his views on the Right to Life question and Kirsty Fenton demonstrated her views on child labor in her quilt as examples.

The point is not that we are making blankets (and expensive blankets at that). This is an art form. I agree with some of the views expressed and disagree with others, but that can be said of just about any other art platform. That Box I will never grace a guestroom bed has nothing to do with the value the artist gives her creation. The usefulness of the Mona Lisa and the value of that masterpiece can be debated but it cannot be claimed that they do not exist.

The subject matter of the contemporary quilts is probably not what I would choose. Julia calls them dark. I agree with her on that count. That, however, is a function of the creator of this particular exhibit and the artists. The darkness of subject matter in the quilts do not suggest anything more about contemporary quilting than the violence in a Scorsese and Tarentino movie represent all of film making in the early 2000s.

To read Julia’s article in its entirety, go to

http://www.t5m.com/julia-kollewe/art-review-the-vas-quilts-show-has-got-it-all-sewn-up.html?fmt=news

She talks about the early pieces as well as the more contemporary.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – April 20, 2010

Quilt making today is chocked full of opportunities to utilize many, many technologies or none at all. One of the things that I look for inquilting classes is the chance to learn more of those technological and design opportunities. Julia Kollewe writes a review of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Quilts exhibition’s Quilts 1700-2010 in London. The article is an interesting assessment of the pieces on exhibit. I was particularly taken by the descriptions of the early pieces. You can read the entire article at:

http://www.t5m.com/julia-kollewe/art-review-the-vas-quilts-show-has-got-it-all-sewn-up.html?fmt=news

Where I think that she misses the point of some of our art is in her analysis of the more modern pieces and I think that her evaluation falls short in two areas. She seems to be making judgments based on a very limited number of pieces (65 quilts). Near the end of her article, Julia opines that –
“It is clear, though, that we no longer have the abundance of time needed to make a minutely stitched and intricate quilt. The contemporary quilts on show are nearly all machine-stitched or made up of large pieces of cloth sewn together.”

The truth that we quilters know is that there is a growing resurgence in the use of intricate hand work, but that does not define our art. As technology advances so does our ability to express ourselves. That the author of this particular exhibit chose modern examples that fit this particular description says nothing about the quilting world as a whole.

I was disparaging of machine embroidery until I purchased an embroidery machine. I now have the ability to make determinations about which techniques to use in which projects. I also have the ability to produce more because the technology allows a faster production. Do I still hand embroider? Absolutely, and sometimes it is even more time efficient but, my uses of each method are determined by the project.

When doing appliqué, will you use hand stitching or Steam-A-Seam prices together and run a machine (or not) over the edges with a nice decorative stitch? Will you hand sew the binding or machine stitch it? Did my quilt pattern design come from a program or is it drawn out on graph paper? Is your quilting hand stitched, machine quilted with you directing the needle or computer assisted? All are viable options and none produce a less valuable expression on the part of the artist.

Technology should be used as an option in a quilter’s tool box. Just as in my decision to use this fabric over that fabric, I will evaluate the materials and technologies I will use for each of my creations depending on the design, recipient and use of the quilt involved. That our fore-mothers had only a needle and thread available to them is no more relevant than that they may have had only a stream and rocks or a tub of cold water to wash those quilts in. Today we have other options and in subsequent generations they will have even more. It is not necessarily that I don’t have the time to do intricate stitching. If the project demands that type of construction, I sit and sew a “minutely stitched and intricate quilt.”

The reality is that quilters all over the world do what they do to express themselves using the technique that best allows that expression to come to fruition. I marvel at the options. I am sometimes overwhelmed by the many choices available to me. But, I am grateful that I have the technologies to pick and choose from in performing my art.

George III reviewing the troops (detail), Unknown maker, 1803–1805. Museum no. T.9-1962.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – March 30, 2010

I love sewing gifts. As a matter of fact, a good 90+% of all of my quilt designs are eventually given away. I find it very satisfying. It does, however, mean that those close to me are continually forced to endure my various homemade creations. I really enjoy looking through all of my quilt patterns to find just the right gift for my special recipient.

This is my latest quilting project. I had to come up with some little hostess gift for a friend we were staying with in Atlanta. They are in the midst of building a wine cellar/tasting room as part of a basement renovation and this was my contribution.

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – March, 6, 2010

I spoke of stoning my Faberge Eggs. There were folks with very good imaginations trying to figure out what that meant and how it would be accomplished. My youngest daughter was a competitive figure skater for a number of years and in that environment, the term was very well used and everyone knew the meaning. Stoning figure skating costumes is an ongoing process that mother in ice rinks all across the country participate in.

Because of this background, I also know just where to go for the best prices for the stones I use. I keep talking about Swarovski Crystals. I, in fact use Preciosa, Czech crystals. I don’t know what the difference is except for the price and they look the same to me. So, stoning a project is designing a pattern and then gluing, in my case individually, each stone to that fabric. I have stoned skating dresses, formals, ballroom dance gowns, wedding dresses, shoes, phones, church vestments and now quilted Faberge Eggs. It is fun working with all of the glitz and sparkle. And how could I possibly produce a replica Faberge Eggs without the jewels that made them so special in the first place?

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Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!

From – March 4, 2010

The idea of quilted Faberge Eggs came to me when I was trying to figure out what to do for an Easter project. I was originally thinking about an appliqué bunny and Easter basket. I considered a more serious religious theme with crosses and shrouds. So, I went to one of my favorite sources of quilting inspiration, Google Images.

The process I use is to search Google Images for some theme, in this case Easter. I saw the expected bunnies and baskets and empty tombs. Many of those would have been wonderful choices for a quilt pattern starting point. The ideas started flowing and I not only considered appliqué but also piecing projects that could have a definite Easter vibe.

However, I also saw Faberge Eggs. I have always thought that they were beautiful. Decorated eggs can be fantastic. Carved eggs fascinate me. But to look at the real Faberge Eggs is astounding. The work that House of Faberge did from 1885 to 1917 is breathtaking.

The thoughts came fast and furious. I could do an Easter Faberge Egg type throw. No, with all of the materials available to use, I should incorporate my work with vestments and wedding dresses and develop a course to unleash some beautiful creativity in my students.

The end result is a series of Faberge Egg panels to be collected and assembled into a wall hanging with lots of bling and glitz and sparkle.

We are bringing out the patterns and instructions. This is the first: St. Patrick’s Day. Next will be Easter. After that I can do a spring theme. Ohhh, this is too much fun!

Click here to Join Us in the Online Quilting Classes Community!

Karen Dennison
Learn, Grow, Share – And most of all – Create!