Robert Kaufman what are you doing to me?

Oh my goodness, Robert Kaufman. Why do you make such beautiful, juicy kona cotton? And why must you have 221 incredible colors to choose from? And why did you tempt me into using them by donating charm packs for everyone in my quilt guild? Did you realize what this would do to me? Don't you realize that it takes me eight whole hours to make just a fraction of these by hand?  Probably not. Are you even a real person, Robert Kaufman?

I'm totally having an existential crisis over this. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just pick fabrics out of a stack and not have to go through all the labor of making my own? It would make the whole process so much faster if I could skip the dyeing step. I wouldn't really say I'm losing sleep over this (it takes a lot for me to lose sleep over something) but I have been chewing on this issue since Thursday. I realized today that what it comes down to is I love dyeing fabric. It is my favorite part of making a quilt. I love making different color combinations, weighing the fabric, figuring out the equations, mixing stock solutions, adding small amounts of dye to a dyebath with a tiny syringe. It's all fun and interesting and always a different challenge. So, yes. It would be much easier to buy these incredible Kona cottons. But it wouldn't be as satisfying, and I wouldn't be in control of the colors, they would always be someone else's.

 

But seriously, y'all. All I could do Thursday night was fondle my charm pack and flip through all 43 little 5" squares, constantly trying to find my favorite in the bunch. These kona cottons are so beautiful and the people at Robert Kaufman are so generous.

meep meep moop. sorry for the neglect.

Poor little blog has been sitting here all by herself for months with no Kim. I have been such a strange combination of too busy and too lazy this winter. Everything was going well before Christmas. I was excited to be on winter break and I had a big project to work on (a twin size skyscape quilt). Then some stuff happened that turned me lazy (including snow). Now I only have a week and a half until spring semester and I am freaking out, yet still unable to get off my ass and make something. There are too many ideas in my head and not enough time to execute them all, so I find myself sitting around and looking at Etsy and worrying and watching True Blood instead of just working.

Maybe if I write out my ideas here, that will start something going. Right?
1. More paint chip quilts - focus on color theory
2. Skyscape/Landscape quilts using silk and linen based on my winter sky photos
3. Different patterns (embrace the triangle)

I have been a little productive. I'm re-making the Orange Paint Chip quilt and the Purple/Yellow Skyscape quilt. The tops are done, I just need to dye the backing and binding, and then quilt them. I also made these sketches in Photoshop:

 This one is RGB, the green/blue column is a bit off - too gray.

 Here we have CMYK (but it's really MYCK)

 This is a modified color wheel. I'm not so good at color blending in Photoshop, but the colors are supposed to mix and become more neutral in the middle.

The End. For now, but hopefully not for long.

inspiration: the sky from my bedroom window

Every morning I open the curtains in my bedroom so the sun will help Simon wake up. For a while it was dark when I did this. But with the time change it has been getting light out while I'm still at home and every morning right around 7:10 the sky is amazing.

11/21 - do you see that jet stream?

I mean truly honestly amazing. Shockingly so. I am still trying to figure out why the sky is such a revelation to me, when it has been around my whole life.

11/10

 

 

 

 

The night sky is pretty great, too. I guess.

11/18

11/19

 I am completely awed by the difference in cloud structure, color, quality of light, and mood within a span of a few days. These skies only exist for a short amount of time, so unless you are really paying attention, they are easy to miss. If I wasn't such a slave to time, I would wake up with the sun every morning and take a picture. A project for winter break perhaps.

cough, cough, etsy, cough

I am officially a Sicky McSickerton with runny nose, cough, headache, and general unpleasantness. It's no fun. It's hitting especially hard now that I am back home in KC, away from The Most Adorable Nephew Ever.

Instead of an invitation to my pity party, I will leave you all with a very short blog post and some eye candy. Check out this treasury I made on Etsy.

Sneak peeks:

 Moldy Linen Pin by elinart

Quilt Card Set by krankpress

Again, the link for the treasury with a side note that anyone who wants to send me a Christmas present need look no further than this delightful list (hint, hint, no pressure).

pretending to be a designer again

option 1

Alright ya'll.  I'm coming at you again for some advice/help. This time I'm requesting input on postcard designs. I am making an effort to "put myself out there" as it were and finding that I need an actual, physical object to give/send people with my information on it.

option 2

This thing is going to have an image on one side and just a small amount of information on the back (like my email, website, etc.). I've been playing around with some detail shots of my quilts to try and come up with a postcard that is colorful, shows the texture of the fabric and stitching, and has my name on it. They will be 4" x 6".

option 3

I would really appreciate some feedback. Nothing is precious, I could use help with which image is best, orientation of the card, where the text (my name) should be, etc. I want to try and order them by late this week.

option 4

Thank you, thank you, thank you to anyone who writes me a comment with suggestions!!

Quilts from TSA part 3

So I meant to post this a week (or two, or three?) ago. Things happen. But please don't let the late-ness of this post in any way hinder your delight or amazement of what I am about to offer.

 In the market part of the TSA conference, which turned out to be very dangerous for my wallet, I encountered a table stacked high with brightly colored, hand made quilts. Quilts for Kids Nepal is a microfinance project, based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Its mission is to provide work for economically-challenged women and to finance education for underprivileged children.
Founded in 2006, the project operates in an encampment of Indian street beggars located in a large field in the Boudhanath neighborhood of Kathmandu.

This is the quilt I bought. The quilts are entirely hand -pieced and hand stitched. You can't really tell from the photos, but the quilting is all done in thick running stitches of varying colors of thread. It took about 45 minutes to decide which quilt I would buy and the back of this one is what sold me. The back is solid maroon fabric, and you can clearly see the lines of stitches. Also, note the tiny triangles of fabric and fabric tassels around the edge of the quilt. Amazing.

 The quilts are made from materials either found or purchased at local tailoring shops in the Boudhanath neighborhood of Kathmandu. Often they are made from scraps of old saris or from the pieces left over from the making of Buddhist monks' robes.

Go to the website and you can see more pictures and read more information about the program. 100% of your donation to Quilts for Kids Nepal goes to fund women's salaries as well as school tuition, school uniforms, shoes, pencils, books and backpacks for the kids.

productivity vs progress

This was a very productive weekend in that I got a lot done. However, I'm not really sure if I'm making progress. I've gotten off track slightly, but I think it's good.

This is what's up. Months ago, like way back at the end of August, I started a twin size quilt. It was in the "Skyscape" series, but based more on bright summer skies and green fields. Here it was in progress (hanging on my studio wall):

This thing had something like 26 hand dyed colors in the top and 35 hand dyed colors in the bottom. It was crazy. It took me about 4 days just to dye all the fabric, not to mention cutting and sewing the strips together. Twin size might not sound very big, but it was 66" wide x 88" tall, which is way bigger than me. The quilt top sat in my studio for quite a few weeks and was always in the back of my mind as this huge thing I had to tackle, but didn't want to. So on Friday I decided to cut it up into two smaller quilts. I planned, and sketched, and did math to figure out how best to cut this quilt top up to make two really great quilts out of it. Then I cut it wrong. I measured twice. I think I even measured 4 times, but to no avail. 

Here is what I ended up with:

The first one, I'm happy with. The second I was really skeptical of, but Jaime suggested cutting the big yellow piece on the bottom mostly off and now I'm feeling better about it. I'm going to cut it tonight. Both of these are back to my comfortable size of about 40" x 50". Both are quilted. The first one has the binding almost all sewn on. The bottom one needs to be trimmed up and then bound. The more I look at them, the happier I get. 

There is also a secret third quilt in progress. If I can keep using the dining room as my sewing studio and tear myself away from the Sookie books, I might complete three quilts this month. 

And this was the sky last night as I was working. Strange and beautiful. This might be the color palette for my next quilt.

Quilts from TSA part 2

The International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE has an amazing exhibition up called South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. All of the quilts were truly incredible - all hand pieced and hand quilted, with an amazing use of color, pattern, and repetition. I was particularly mesmerized by the Ralli Quilts from Pakistan. I have known about Rallis for a few years, but this was my first experience seeing them in person. Its impossible to know what the future will bring, but I have a feeling that the impact of seeing these quilts in person will change my work.

 

detail of the above Ralli

 

 

 

 Ralli from Pujab, Pakistan. This ralli has the traditional Punjabi patterning with a mixture of geometric blocks and fine line applique. The appliqued blocks remind me of paper cut artwork and Hawaiian Quilts.

From Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan. Features fifteen 8-petaled lotus flowers in bright colors. The multiple, patterned borders are typical of the region. 

 

All of the hand-stitching and hand-applique make me feel pretty lazy for machine stitching everything. I need to reconsider time and commitment in my work and the expressive quality of a hand-made stitch. 

Quilts from TSA part 1

Okay friends. I feel totally rejuvenated and inspired and ready to make some amazing quilts. All because of the Textile Society of America Conference that was last week in Lincoln, NE. It was a great conference and I'm still mentally sorting everything - the people I met, the amazing quilts, weavings, embroideries, and other fiber work, and the lectures. Not all of the lectures were mind-blowing, but enough of them were great that the mediocre ones will soon be forgotten. There were way too many highlights to showcase in this one blog entry, so I will pick out my three favorite quilted things from the conference to share in three parts. Parts 2 and 3 will come later this week.

First: I got to see Anna von Mertens' quilts in person. (that sentence does not properly describe my excitement about the event).There was an exhibition of 6 of her quilts at the Project Room. In one room there were two quilts, Dawn (Anna Zerissa Morse Thurston, born February 6, 1841, Surry, Maine) and Dusk (Anna Zerissa Morse Thurston, died April 11, 1886, Oakland, California) 2008, hand-dyed, hand-stitched cotton, 54" x 100" (each piece). In the other room were four of her Aura Quilts, two are pictured here:

Philip IV's aura, after Velázquez

2009, hand-dyed, hand-stitched cotton, 80 x 38 1/2"

(with me)

Mona Lisa's aura, after Leonardo da Vinci

2009, hand-dyed, hand-stitched cotton, 34 3/4" x 25 3/4"

I have been a big fan of her work for about 4 years but had only seen pictures of her amazing quilts. As you all probably know, fiber work does not really translate into photography. These quilts, well, I just don't know what to say about them. The color is the main thing and it is bright, dark, light, juicy, smooth, vibrant. They are all hand quilted and you can see (if you look closely) the portrait that they are based on in the stitching. If you don't know her work, go to her website now.
coming up later this week:
Part 2 - Ralli Quilts from Pakistan
Part 3 - Quilts for Kids Nepal

issues and goals

I have been so busy lately. I'm sure you don't want to hear about it because everyone is busy, right? But I feel like the three week chunk of time I am inhabiting is unbearably busy. Luckily, Simon bought groceries yesterday and made a big fall dinner of roasted pork with rosemary, butternut squash, apples, and cabbage. I can't think about food when I am this stressed out. I'm to the point of stress where I just want to shut it all out, put on my winter pajamas, make some hot tea, and read my Sookie Stackhouse books.

So I'm just going to whine for a minute. Everyone is invited to my pity party. I'm taking this class called Artist Inc where artists learn how to be grown ups about everything from marketing, to paying taxes, to talking and writing about our work, etc. It's good for me. I'm grateful to be in it. The bad thing is that last week we had to make one manageable short term goal and we had to tell the people in our small groups what the short term goal was. Mine was to finish the quilt I've been working on since before school started. There's not much left - just iron the top, make the sandwich, quilt it, trim it, and sew on the binding (I guess that's kind of a lot). So I made a plan where I broke it down into manageable chunks and I really thought I would get it done. It felt so good to have a plan and a goal and people holding me accountable. I haven't touched the quilt all week. Fail.

One of the reasons is that I spent all weekend getting ready for my workshop in Columbia next weekend, preparing two slide shows for class this week, doing my other Artist, Inc homework, AND getting things ready for Apartment Therapy Design Showcase final round. Poor me, right?

So I don't have any pretty picutres to share. I don't have any progress to report. I don't have any inspiration photos. Blerg. You can see a video of me over at AT talking about my skyscape quilts.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/design-showcase/skyscape-quilts-by-kim-eichlermessmer-design-showcase-2010-finalist-128070