A Forest of Birches

In preparation for the Amherst Family Center's 21st Annual Apple Harvest Festival I'm cranking out as many quilts as I possibly can. I have no shortage of ideas and so it is only the problem of time and energy. Last week I did two apple orchard scenes, one misty threadscape from my imagination and I completed another series of birches - hey! - I had five more in me!

This week I loaded up about eight yards of muslin backing and I am doing a few birch variations, another threadscape and several views of the Notch one after the other. It is hard to wait to see how they came out, but the practical time savings makes it worth the wait. Once I am finished with all that I have pieced I can take the whole roll off the machine and cut them into the individual quilts. This may sound confusing, but it isn't.

If I'm lucky I'll have time to do some batik table runners and my ultimate goal is to do a big piece based on an old apple tree that I can use as a center point for my tent. I have some beautiful gold and brown fabric that caught people's attention last time and I want use some more in my new scene. Wish me luck, cause I'm going to need it!

Oh, and check out my friend's blog http://www.firehausstudio.com/in-the-process/ to see what she says about my quilting. Thanks Liza!

There is an ongoing debate about the difference between art and craft. This Saturday, as I participated in the Amherst craft fair "Art on the Common," I continued the debate in my head. As I watched people shop, as I talked to my customers and as I sold my quilts I came to the conclusion that the number one difference between an artist and a crafter is that I assume I will be able to sell my work unlike my artist friends who work on their art for art's sake and not for money's sake. Birch trees are in, so I make birch tree wall hangings. Ok, it is true that I like birch trees and I do like my design and choice of color. I sold all but one. My local landscapes sold out. I will make more.

But what about all the "crazy" ideas I have in my head? Well the other difference between art and craft is that crafts will fit in a tent. My more artistic ideas will only fit in a large space. They won't even fit in my house. This fall I am going to set aside time for my art. I will experiment more in between the times I am sewing what I know will sell. I will meet with my art quilter friends to talk about design and theory.


However, I have to admit that selling out of my products is cool, I loved the customer interactions I had and I am very thankful to all the people who support and encourage me.
I can be both a crafter and an artist. I know I can.

This past week has been about cards. Cup cakes, onions, peas, corn on the cob, cairns and chicks. There is a certain satisfaction in making paper cards: watching the pile grow, penning my logo on the back, inserting a finished card in a biodegradable plastic sleeve. And I know people love them. But eighteen cupcakes in one day is just too much for the "artist" in me so I will have to get better with my production calendar!

The Seven Continents

Here is my latest commission The Seven Continents (70" x 40") . Starting from left to right: North America (Pioneer Valley, MA), Asia (Korea), South America (the Amazon), Africa (Kilimanjaro), Australia (Ayers Rock and coral reef), Europe (Innishmore, Ireland) and Antarctica. A few of these scenes are personal - the Oxbow as seen from the top Mt. Skinner, the Amazon where my sister spends her summers tracking monkeys, the coral reefs of Australia that my Uncle studies and the beaches where my grandparents wintered and the cliffs of Innishmore where I dangled my feet in 1991, the year I spent criss-crossing Europe.

This quilt was extremely challenging. Not only did I have to pick the scene for each continent, but I had to really work hard to make the seven continents flow together in a way that made sense both in terms of composition and color.

The client told me she had fun watching the process and I am happy that I could finish it within a few months.

The Birch Tree Quilt is Sold

The end of April was a whirl. I set up my new tent at the Amherst Women's Club May Faire and Art Show and thanks to beautiful weather, a massive email on my part, and some loyal friends I had quite a few customers including a woman who fell in love with my Birch Tree quilt! She loved it so much she bought it after much deliberation. I can't really explain how I felt about the whole transaction. It was amazing to have found the person who was meant to have it and it was incredibly weird for me to hand it over to her. I hope she enjoys it as much as I have.

Thank you to everyone for helping to make my art possible. Now that I have a tent I am planning to participate in more sales. Hope to see you there.

Maine Anniversary Quilt

I said I would write a blurb for this blog every month and I'm sneaking this in on the last night of March. This quilt was a lot of fun because I used huge pieces of cloth to make an image portraying Maine as I remember it and as I saw it viewing Google Images. I used a contrasting thread for the quilting and the greenish gold really shows up nicely on the pine trees. I appliqued the leaves as I quilted and I am pleased with their randomness.

Now I've moved on to a commission based on the seven continents and I am glad to report that I'm still having fun...

Two Season Lake Champlain Quilts

When I saw the hand dyed sky blue fabric, I knew exactly what scenes I wanted under it. Half a yard later - two scenes of Lake Champlain from my childhood home. I've been sailing many times in my father's yellow sailboat. I've only been ice fishing a couple of times, and never in a pick-up. But lots of people do drive their vehicles out on the lake, pull their ice houses into place and set up camp for weekends of fishing. A really fresh fish jumps in the pan and Lake Champlain perch are sweet and flaky. I am reserving the other half a yard for a scene near where I live now, that is unless I can't resist another lake scene. It's funny, I never think of moving back to the islands, but when I am quilting, sometimes it feels as if I never left.