emPATHy - Project Quilting

"emPATHy," art is 2.5" x 4", made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 8, Challenge 4: Brighter the Better, Feb. 2017 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for "Brighter the Better":

Your project must be bright and colorful - and the more colorful, the better.

I don't think that Bright and Colorful is much of a challenge for me, most of my items are pretty colorful.

This piece has several small pieces of blue, red, and pink fabrics arranged with tulle on top. It was then quilted together with black thread and the black seed beads were added by hand.

The pink triangle looked like a path to me, especially after I added the beads. I've always liked how the word "path" is in the word "empathy" because I think that being empathetic to other people can sometimes be a process.

More about emPATHy

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Brighter the Better link up.

Confetti is Good for the Soul - Project Quilting

"Confetti Is Good For The Soul," art is 4.5" x 3" in a 7" x 5" frame, made for Project Quilting, Season 7, Challenge 1: Confetti, Jan. 2016 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for  "Confetti":

Your inspiration for this challenge is confetti.

For this project I decided to use the confetti technique that Noriko Endo made popular. For this technique you use very tiny pieces of fabric that are piled up, covered with netting, and then quilted down. One of my on-line quilting friends, Sally Manke, also uses this technique to make her award-winning art quilts.

This is not a technique that I'm fond of, mostly because it's really hard to control and make those tiny pieces stay where you want them long enough to quilt them down. And because I was out of town most of this week, I knew my piece would end up being pretty small.

More about Confetti is Good for the Soul

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Confetti challenge link up.

Falling in Love - Project Quilting

"Falling in Love," 10" x 20", made for Project Quilting, Season 6, Challenge 4: Have a Heart, Feb. 2015 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for  "Have a Heart":

Your project must include at least 12 hearts of any size or technique.

I found the perfect piece of blue and purple hand-dyed fabric and a picture frame with a mat that had three cut outs. I marked the areas that would show (plus 1/4" buffer).

I laid the fabric on batting (no need for a backing fabric since it would be framed) and did some quick straight line stitching to keep it all together.

I found 12 small hearts cut from felt in the colors of light blue, lavender, dark purple and even one in gray and pinned them so they'd show when matted. I also added some small pieces of netting that had sparkles in it.

I don't usually take photos in progress (I don't want to stop the creative flow) but I knew the hearts would start to get hidden and I wanted to prove that I had all 12 hearts.

I sewed these down then started couching some yarn that was mostly dark purple but had some other colors in it. Then I added some loose threads and other ephemera and covered it with a purple netting and sewed that down, quilting at the same time.

I cut the pieces apart so they were 5" x 7" and taped them to the back of the mat. I didn't have to cut them but I wanted to make sure they laid as flat as possible. I like to use acid-free white artists tape.

Here's a close-up of the top part. The dark purple heart is on the left side, just below the lavender-colored heart, under where two pieces of yarn cross.

Here's the middle section. Again the dark purple heart is hiding under where the yarn crosses at the bottom edge near the middle (left to right).

This is the bottom part and it has the only gray heart.

More about Falling in Love

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 Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Have a Heart link up.

Waterliles Fabric Mosaic

"Waterliles," 10" x 10", made by Pam Geisel, Oct. 2014

The colors in this fabric mosaic were inspired by the color's in Monet's Waterliles paintings, only instead of painting, I used small pieces of fabric arranged on a backing fabric and then covered with netting and stitched down. Because it is three or more layers held together with stitches, it is technically a quilt.

This mosaic is 5" x 7" and is matted and framed in a black wood frame that is 10" x 10".

More about Waterlilies

Northern Lights - Project Quilting

"Northern Lights" 20" x 10", made for Project Quilting, Season 5, Challenge 4: Across the Universe, Feb. 2014

Challenge recap for  "Across the Universe":

Use the theme "Across the Universe."

While I was thinking about this challenge, it occurred to me to do something with an image of the milky way, but last fall I made "My Very Educated Mother Just Said Uh-Oh, No Pluto" so I wasn't ready to revisit that. I was looking at some photos of the universe, and one reminded me of photos of Northern Lights.

Ever since I made "Mountain Mist" for last year's Project Quilting, I'd been wanting to make another fabric mosaic similar to that one but with Northern Lights. I decided to make a companion piece to "Mountain Mist" so that meant this one would be the same size. Luckily I already had the frame.

The first thing I did was sort through the hand-painted fabric I have to pick a piece that looked like a sky that could have Northern Lights in it. The I played around with some mint green wool roving and two different colored yarn. The yarn on the left was multi-colored but wasn't twisted very much so I combed it out to make it looser, more like the roving. The yarn on the right was also multi-colored but it was twisted pretty tight.

Once I decided on placement, the roving and the first yarn were lightly fused to the backing fabric using MistyFuse. The tighter yarn was couched to the background (you can see the stitches in the photo).

I cut out the tree silhouettes then stitched them to the background. I put netting over the whole thing (to help hold the roving and yarn in place) and stitched it to the background. Then I added another row of tree silhouettes. I used the same black fabric for all of the trees so you can see how much the netting lightens the color that's behind it.

Finally I matted and framed it but I decided to leave the glass out of the frame so it feels more like a fiber piece.

More about Northern Lights

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Across the Universe link up.

Synchronized Swimming and Pastel Color Study in Fiber Art exhibit at the Pique Galleria in Cincinnati

"Synchrozined Swimming," 22" x 22", made by Pam Geisel, July 2007

I made this art quilt back in July of 2007 using blue fabrics in a variety of shades blended from light to dark. It is pieced and machine quilted.

There is some hand quilting and beads in the four corners that I see as fish jumping out of the pool as if they are doing synchronized swimming.

More about Synchronized Swimming

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"Pastel Color Study," 6" x 8", made by Pam Geisel, March 2008

This framed fabric mosaic was made in March of 2008. Pastel rainbow colored fabrics were arranged, covered with tulle, then quilted in place and framed.

This close up photo shows the tulle and the quilting.

More about Pastel Color Study

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Both of these pieces, and more, are in the "Fiber Art" exhibit at the Pique Galleria in the Walnut Hills neighborhood in Cincinnati. The show is an eclectic collection of contemporary art and fine craft showcasing the versatility and wonder of threads. The Pique Galleria is located at 2803 Woodburn Ave. in Cincinnati, OH. There will be an opening reception on Fri., Jan. 24 from 6-9 pm.

"Home Tweet Home" in Miniature Show

 

"Home Tweet Home," 3" x 2", made by Pam Geisel, April 2013

We had a great Yellow Springs Street Fair last weekend and are looking forward to the Yellow Springs Art Stroll this Fri., June 14. There are several galleries open late that night including Would You, Could You In a Frame who is hosting their biennial "Miniature Show." All of the art in the Miniature Show is 2" x 3" or smaller.

My piece, "Home Tweet Home" (above) is shown unframed because the shop frames all the pieces, so I haven't seen it in the frame yet.

The Miniature Show runs from June 14-July 6. The gallery is located at 113 Corry St. in Yellow Springs and is open Tues.-Sat. from 10 am-6 pm. The opening reception is this Fri., June 14 from 6-10 pm. 

More about Home Tweet Home

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Village Artisans is hosting an interactive gallery "How Does Your Garden Grow." The walls in the Hall Gallery will be covered with large, blank paper and guests of all ages and skill levels are encouraged to draw their own garden visions with the crayons, markers, and color pencils provided.

Village Artisans is located at 100 Corry St. and will have refreshments from 6-9 pm on Fri., June 14. Several other galleries and restaurants will also be open late. To find out more about what's open, visit the Yellow Springs Chamber website.

Mountain Mist - Project Quilting

"Mountain Mist," 20" x 10" (frame size), made for Project Quilting
Season 4, Challenge 2: My Favorite Color, Jan. 2013

Quick recap of the challenge: "My Favorite Color"
1. Your color scheme will be white and one other color. Use as many shades of that color as you wish, but do not add any other colors to the front of your project, including embellishments.

My favorite color is green. Specifically, sage green.

This project is a fabric mosaic. I arranged several layers of green fabric on a background layer. The top third of the piece has two alternating light green batik fabrics. The middle third has an olive green batik fabric that has a tree line cut across the top of it. And the lower third has a piece of green-blue batik fabric with spots on it.

I separated some off-white wool roving and spread it across the lower part of the middle third to represent fog behind the pine trees in the foreground. These pine trees were cut from two different dark green batik fabrics and have fusible web on the back, which stuck to the roving a little too well, which made them difficult to move afterwards. I couched a piece of yarn across the bottom of the line of pine trees to even them up and give some different texture to that area.

I also used some green wool roving across the lower third and both white and green roving in the upper third, again to give it a whispy effect.

I covered it all with some sparkly green netting then quilting it all together with two different green threads. I cut the mat a little larger so the edges of the piece and the pale green background fabric show, then I framed it in a wood frame.

More about Mountain Mist

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Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the My Favorite Color page.

The Heart is Color-Blind Fabric Mosaic

"The Heart is Color-Blind," 9" x 9"

This framed mini quilt was made for the Village Artisan's "Mysteries of the Heart" exhibit. Each artist was encouraged to finish this sentence:

"The Heart is ____________________ ."

I decided to go with the sentence" "The Heart is Color-Blind" so hand cut 44 pink and 100 green fabric circles and arranged them like a color-blind test only instead of a number in a circle, it's a heart in a circle.

The circles were fused to a white background and the white background was quilted with white thread. I didn't quilt the circles because I didn't want to add any additional texture to that part of the quilt. The quilt is framed in a wood frame (outside dimensions are 10.5" x 10.5".

The exhibit at Village Artisans runs through February 24. There will be an artist reception on Fri., Feb. 10 from 6-9 pm.  Village Artisans is located at 100 Corry St. in Yellow Springs and is open Mon.-Thurs. 11 am- 6 pm, Fri.-Sat., 11 am-7 pm and Sun. noon-6 pm.

"Where the Land Meets the Sky" fabric mosaic

"Where the Land Meets the Sky,"  6.5" x 4.5", by Pam Geisel, Sept. 2011

I made this fabric mosaic, "Where the Land Meets the Sky," for the 7th Annual Tecumseh Land Trust Harvest Auction. Since the purpose of  the Tecumseh Land Trust is to preserve agricultural land, natural areas, water resources, and historic sites in Clark and Greene Counties in Ohio, I thought this piece would be appropriate.

Small, thin pieces of green fabric were layered on a blue fabric with white fabric clouds. It's covered in tulle then quilted and framed.

It's true that we don't live near the mountains or the seas, but there is a certain beauty to the farm fields in the mid-west and I'd miss it if we lived somewhere else.

The Harvest Auction is this Friday, September 30 from 6-10 pm at the newly open Hollenbeck Bayley Creative Arts and Conference Center at 275 S Limestone St. in Springfield, Ohio. Pre-sale tickets are $35 per person.  

More about Where the Land Meets the Sky

New Note Card Sets

Last year after I made the "Glen Helen" art quilt series, I had a set of note cards professionally printed. I was so happy with the way they came out I decided to have a set printed using the "All That Jazz" art quilt series.

And while I was working on that, I remembered that two years ago I made the "Feathers" art quilt series, so I now have note card of that series.

There was also the "Seasons" fabric mosaic series I made last fall and I thought those would also make a nice set of note cards.

And finally, I decided to have a set of note cards made using images from fabric mosaics I've made.

All these notecard sets, plus some fabric quilt square note cards are available in my Etsy store.

Recent Local Art Events

Me with "Pansies" at the DVAC exhibit.

Last Friday night, Apr. 29, was the Dayton Visual Art Center's Annual Art Auction, held at Sinclair Community College. There was food, wine and lots of art.  I really enjoyed seeing the outfits and jewelry that people wore, very artistic.

Me with "Fireflies" and some other wonderful art at the ODC Best of 2011 reception.

Two days later on Sun., May 1 we went to the Ohio Designer Craftsmen's Best of 2011 artist reception at the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus.

My piece, Fireflies, is the large black and gray piece in the photo.  It was hung inside a glass display case from fishing line so it looked like it was floating.  There were some black and white and gray pieces in the display case and they all worked together very well.  By being in the case, my piece had a lot of light on it, which really made it stand out and sparkle like, well, Fireflies.

There is a lot of really great work in the show including several other wonderful fiber pieces.  The show will be at the Ohio Craft Museum, 1665 W Fifth Ave. in Columbus, until June 19.  Hours are Mon.-Fri. from 10 am-5 pm and Sat.-Sun. from 1-4 pm.

The show then travels to the Southern Ohio Museum, 825 Gallia Street in Portsmouth, Ohio from July 8 to Aug. 27.  Hours are Tues.-Fri. from 10 am-5 pm and Sat. from 1-5 pm.

Then the show travels to the School of Art Gallery at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio from Oct. 11 to Nov. 11.  Hours are Tues.-Fri. from 11 am-5 pm.

If you can't make it to any of the shows, or if you want to see a preview, the Ohio Craft Museum has all the Best of artwork on their website.
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Local Art Exhibits in March

Yellow Ribbon Fabric Mosaic on exhibit in Yellow Springs

Women's Voices Out Loud

March 1-31 Program and reception Saturday, March 12 at 7 pm John Bryan Center, 100 Dayton St., Yellow Springs, OH 45387

Uncommon Threads V: At the Library

Miami Valley Art Quilt Network Exhibit March 2-April 13 Mon., Tues., Thurs. 9:30 am-8:30 pm Wed., Fri., Sat. 9:30 am-6 pm Sun. 1-5 pm Dayton Metro Library, 215 E. Third St., Dayton, OH 45402

Why I haven't blogged this month

Red Carnation, a fabric mosaic

I have finished the custom orders that will be Christmas presents for people I don’t know, several of them given by people I don’t know. There is a relief to being done with these. Often the people that hire me say “I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished” and I want to reply “me, too,” partially because then it will be done, and also because I will know if it came out well.

Yes, sometimes I have doubts. While I can see the progress in my art that seems to get better every year, sometimes when I start a project I doubt my abilities. Often it seems that the client is requesting something that I’ve been thinking of trying, but it just hasn’t made it to the top of my list yet. Like…

Making a quilt from clothing (aka "Heriloom Quilts"): A few years ago I was asked to make a wall hanging out of a wedding dress, bridesmaids dress and flower girl dress. Cutting the fabric was a little difficult emotionally, if I ruined this I wouldn’t be able to just refund her money and give the dress back. But it all went well and the client loved it. This year I made some t-shirt quilts. The stretchy material that makes t-shirts so comfortable also makes them difficult to work with, unless you attach some interfacing, which means more time needed to finish the quilt.

Fabric mosaics from actual photographs: Most of the fabric mosaics I’ve made have either been abstract or an abstracted representation of something. One client asked me to make a fabric mosaic of a carnation (see above). Daisies, sunflowers and tulips all have defining characteristics that make them obvious what they are. Carnations, not so much. This client has also asked me to do a fabric mosaic of a house, place of business, and this year a sport event and a relative’s pet.

Using an ink jet printer to print on fabric and then quilt it: I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. I’d love to scan in some of my original watercolor paintings and quilt on them. For this client I scanned in pages from a favorite children’s book (with permission from the author and illustrator) to print on fabric and then quilt.

I’m happy to report that all of the custom projects I worked on this year actually came out better than I had expected them to, and the clients that I’ve heard back from are all very pleased with the results. It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone is going to receive a gift that I made and that it’s possible it will be one of the most special gifts they’ll receive this year.

I promise to post photos of these projects soon…while I know it’s a long shot, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise by someone accidentally coming across their gift before they’ve received it.

(You can see the photos of the custom quilts I made for Christmas 2010 here.)

I've also noticed that this is my 100th post.

A Night of Art in Springfield

Pink Lemonade Fabric Mosaic

The Center City Studios Art Show will be this Sat., Sept. 25 from 6–11 pm at the Liedertafel Club, 1901 Burnett Ave., Springfield, Ohio. There will be art, music, dancing, karaoke, painting demos., door prizes a cash bar and fabulous art available for purchase. There is a $5 entrance fee.

Come out for A Night of Art and have some food and some fun!

"All the Colors" and "Sunrise" at the Springfield Museum of Art's Annual Members' Juried Exhibition

"All the Colors," 43" x 43"

This is my newest art quilt. It came about because there were many batik triangle pieces left over from another project. Each triangle is 2-1/4" tall and if I sewed them together with a 1/4" seam, they'd end up pretty small.

Instead of being pieced together, the 200 triangles were laid on the black background and rearranged many, many times until I was happy with their placement. The triangles were sewn down during the quilting process. Each piece was sewn down three times but they don't lay completely flat, as you can tell from the side view (below).

I'm really happy with the way it came out and I like how the triangles tend to curl, which makes them feel more organic.

More about All the Colors

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"Sunrise" fabric mosaic, 14" x 11", made by Pam Geisel, March 2008

I made this fabric mosaic back in March of 2008. It has small pieces of fabric arranged, covered with tulle, quilted in place, then framed.

This close up shows the tulle and the stitching which was done in different colors.

More about Sunrise.

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Both of these pieces are included in the Springfield Museum of Art's Annual Members' Juried Exhibition. "All the Colors" will have it's first public viewing in this show which runs from Sat., April 17 through Sunday, June 13, with an Exhibition Preview Reception on Sat., April 17 from 5:30-7:30 pm. The museum is located at 107 Cliff Park Road in Springfield, Ohio and is open Tues. through Sat. from 9 am to 5 pm, Thurs. until 9 pm, and Sun. 12:30-4:30 pm.

Women's Voices Out Loud is this Sat. March 13

The 31st Annual Women's Voices Out Loud, a celebration of women's experiences as told through visual art, stories, songs, poetry, and dance, will be held on Saturday, March 13, starting at 7 p.m. at the John Bryan Community Center, 100 Dayton Street in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Admission is free.

Visual art pieces are hanging in the Bryan Center, 2nd floor, through March 24. A reception for the artwork will take place during intermission. I put my fabric mosaic "Sunrise" (above) and my art quilt "Checkers and Pick-up-sticks" (below) in the show.

Swindler and Sons Florist Fabric Mosaic

This is the fabric mosaic that I made for a friend to give to her grandmother for Christmas. below is the photo I worked from, which is the family business. The photo was taken in December, but I decided to have a Spring/Summer version so instead of wreaths, I put in some hanging pots bursting with flowers.

The sign is hand-written since the letters would have been too small to try to make with fabric scraps, and the fabric that I used for the windows was hand-painted.

Fabric Mosaic Flowers: Yellow Flower and Cone Flower

 

"Yellow Flower," 10" x 8", made by Pam Geisel, March 2008

I made both of these flower mosaics back in March of last year.

"Yellow Flower" is a fabric mosaic my arranging small pieces of fabric on innerfacing, covering with tulle, then quilting it in place and framing it.

I was inspired by a photo that I took of a flower on the colors didn't come out correctly and instead of the background being green, it looked blue. I thought it was cool so I went with it.

This piece was awarded a People's Choice of Merit at the Fairborn Art Association's Spring Fine Arts Show in May 2008.

More about Yellow Flower.

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"Cone Flower," 5" x 7", made by Pam Geisel, March 2008

"Cone Flower" is another fabric mosaic made from a photo that I took. Cone flowers are common in southwestern Ohio.

I love the way the different pinks add dimension to it.

More about Cone Flower.