Baltimore Goes Crazy

 

You have six days to get to Baltimore to see the best crazy quilt exhibit I've ever seen at the Baltimore Museum of Art.



Run, walk, drive, take a train...it's absolutely worth your effort.

A small show of seven quilts...


What it lacks in size it makes up in quality.



The quilts are in amazing condition...


Anita Jones, the textile curator at the BMA, has outdone herself this time and we should all send her a thank you note!



The quilts are approachable and well-lit...
 

And you can get your face right up close and personal to see all their glorious details.



It's the best way to view a crazy quilt.

Even better, photography is allowed.



Here's just one detail to whet your appetite...what I believe to be a painted Baltimore Oriole and bee next to a sunflower.



The quiltmaker moved to Baltimore so it's possible that she included the Oriole to honor her new home.

There are so many beautiful details to these quilts that it will take me days to share the hundreds of close-ups that I was able to take.

That's the consolation prize for those of you who can't come to Baltimore.

The show is over next Sunday, November 29,  so I wanted to get this posted so that anyone who can go before next Sunday will make the push to do so.  I wouldn't steer you wrong!



Will try to post more tomorrow but it's a busy week.

Stay tuned...

Shell Wax

 

Last Fall when I went to Chincoteague, VA to stitch with friends, Jim came and joined me for part of the weekend.

We had never been to Assateague Island so one morning we woke before dawn and headed East to the beach for sunrise...

The sun held promise for a new day and for warming the salt spray chill that blanketed the beach on that crisp November morning.

Except for a flock of terns and gulls...

We were quite alone.

So Jim fell into his tide line ritual of walking the wrack line...a beach intent Sherlock Holmes looking for clues in the interstices between sand and sea...

What he found that day amid the shells of oyster, atlantic clam and cockles...

Was a predominance of black scallop shells.

"Let's take some home", I said, inspired by our good fortune and taking their plentitude as a sign that I should use them in some special way.   I had been wanting to make a gift for my stitching friends that gather in Chincoteague, to honor our friendship and the special time we share together every year and these scallops were just the inspiration I needed.

So we collected 20 or so of the black scallop shells and took them home where they sat in a jar for almost a year until it was time once to return to Chincoteague this past week...

I took two of the largest and deepest shells...

And pressed them into a silicone putty that I'd found at a craft store in order to make a mold.

To prepare the putty, you have to mix a 1:1 ratio of Component A and Component B together.  It has a limited working time and you can see in the mold on the left below that the compound had already started to set before I pressed in the shell.  I was quicker mixing and pressing the second time around, and used the impression on the right as my final mold.

I found a candle making supplier for microcrystalline wax online and melted the pellets on low heat in a $2 saucepan I'd found at the thrift store [Note: area must be well-ventilated]...

In searching for microcrystalline wax, there are two types available, a soft, tacky version and a hard version.  I bought the hard version.

I had taken beading classes from Diane Dennis and from Laura McCabe over the Summer and both artists used microcrystalline wax exclusively to condition their fireline beading threads.  Laura McCabe spoke very highly of the archival properties of microcrystalline wax, mentioning that she had used it previously in conservation work.

In the past, I have used beeswax to condition threads for bead embroidery and for goldwork but I liked the microcrystalline wax a bit better.  It was less tacky resulting in a smoother thread than beeswax so I thought it might be nice to share my newfound favorite with my stitching friends.

I poured my melted wax into my little silicone mold...

Twenty times...

Et voilá!



A wax shell thread conditioner to place in their stitching workboxes.

A gift from the sea and from me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Coming Soon!

The Embroiderers' Guild National Seminar is coming to the East Coast November 2-6, 2016!

Check out this enchanting ort box designed and taught by friend and mentor Canby Robertson...



This is just one of three of Canby's classes being taught at Seminar next Fall.

Inspired by a set of 17th Century Blackwork sleeves in the Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, her class will explore the last phase of English Blackwork, a period when blackwork evolved into a surface embroidery technique that tried to replicate the linear quality and shading of early printed illustrations.

Measuring a petite 3.5" tall, this compact folding six-sided box is packed with technique and exquisite detail...

Designed and stitched by Canby Robertson.  All rights reserved.

And the stitches!

Designed and stitched by Canby Robertson.  All rights reserved.

Based on 17th century stitches, Canby's stitch and thread choices are masterful.

Stitches such as blanket, herringbone, trellis, coral knot, reverse chain, double reverse chain, and double reverse chain bring the flora and fauna of this diminutive design to life.  So much to learn!

Like this use of seed stitch with super fine Sufine thread...

Designed and stitched by Canby Robertson.  All rights reserved.

An expert reproduction of shading in early print illustrations.

Plus, it's not only beautiful, it's useful.

Designed and stitched by Canby Robertson.  All rights reserved.

The hexagon collapsible box is made from six plastic hotel key cards so it folds flat to pack away in your work box.

I just love everything about this box!

Designed and stitched by Canby Robertson.  All rights reserved.

Lucky for me, I will be a pilot stitcher for this box in March but you can have a chance at taking this workshop from Canby at National Seminar 2016.

Canby is one of the most signifcant and influential embroidery teachers I've ever had.  Her classes are rich in content, history, design theory, and materials knowledge.  Where many teachers provide only core instruction on how to replicate their designs, Canby's classes explore the thought process behind the design; reveal the what, why and how of stitch, thread and color choices; and provide a framework for critique and improvement.  The skills I've learned from her have been foundational and highly transferable to my own design process, expanding my skill set and staying with me long after the workshop is over.

If you can take a class from her at National next year, you should.

In addition to the ort box, Canby will also be teaching a one-day lettering class which I highly recommend and have enthused over before in this blog post here when I took the class in 2009.  Folks tease me when I say Canby's lettering course changed my life, but it did.  I've used the techniques learned in that class over and over again...




I've signed up to take Canby's third class, Diminutive Rose: A Study in Soft Shading, where I hope to learn more about shading, texture and color theory.

If you're not familiar with EGA, it is a national organization comprised of many local chapters.  You can go here to search for a chapter that might be in your area.

Much of my instruction and embroidery learning has occurred through the programs and workshops of my local group, the Constellation Chapter, which is in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Though I've been very involved locally, I have never attended a national seminar so I'm looking forward to my first conference next Fall.  Alexandria is not very far from where I live in Maryland.

The other teacher I'm hoping to learn from is Katherine Diuguid, professor at NC State University.  Trained at the Royal School of Needlework, I've been following Katherine's blog since I met her at the Winterthur Needlework conference in 2014.  My absolute favorite piece of Kat's is her goldwork Beehive and I've been lusting after it since she posted her progress on her blog last Fall.  When I saw it being offered as a class at National, I was over the moon!  Fingers crossed that I get in.

Early registration is now open from Nov 1-Nov 30, 2015 for members.  Hope to see some of you there!

Halloween Candy

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

I haven't seen my Crazy friend Irene in almost a year so it was a real treat for her to show up to stitch with me this Halloween.

And look at her work in progress...

I can always count on Irene to bring a visual treat.  She was the one who came with those delicious autumn-themed fan blocks a couple of years ago.

And this year, she didn't disappoint...

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

She's making a crazy quilt block that will be octagonal, inspired by the colors she stitched in this canvas design by Orna Willis...

Orna Willis design stitched by Irene Leizer

So you have to imagine an octagonal frame around this piece...

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

It's such a joy when we see work that mirrors the colors of the season...

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

And I love how she is using the stitches in Orna's design to inform her own seam treatments and embroidery designs..
.

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

It was such a treat for my eyes to spend time with this block...

Original artwork by Irene Leizer

And better for my waistline than all the candy I'm handing out this evening!

And if that wasn't enough, it did my heart good to see her using her Harikuyo needlebook...

Alas, the very talented Irene does not have a blog :o(

But you can see her cool fan blocks on this post here and more details of her needlebook on this post here.  And if we're lucky, I'll see her more frequently than once a year so we can all be inspired by her work more often.

Oh.  And if you were wondering about the very cool hat label that's pieced into her block...



I found it for her on this trip to Tinsel Trading in NYC.  Lucky for you, Tinsel Trading has an Etsy site and the hat labels are available here.

Happy Halloween!

You Can Lead The Bird To The Berries But...

This weekend the cedar waxwings descended on my Yamazakura Cherry tree.

 

 To fill their bellies full of bitty ripe cherries...

Most of the time they are so busy, bobbing and weaving and picking and flitting, that it's all I can do to snap a few shots...



This year to my great surprise, I noticed a pair of waxwings perched on a branch and staying put.

Slowly I moved to where I could see what was going on and set my camera on continuous burst...



At first, I thought it was a loving couple but when I watched the back and forth that followed, I recognized the behavior immediately...

It was exactly the same behavior that I observe at my feeders in late Spring when new bird parents bring their fledglings to the gourmet smorgasbord that I set out for them.

The newly fledged birds sit there dumbly amongst all the seed and continue to chirp for their parents to bring their food even though the food is right in front of them.

And so that's what was happening here.  The fledgling is on the right and the Mama is on the left trying to teach the young adult how to forage and eat his own berry...

Time and again the adult passed the berry to the youngster...

And time and again the little one would try to get the berry centered in his beak...and not quite get it...

And not knowing what to do, he would pass the berry back...

And Mama would pass it back again.  

This time I thought for sure that the baby bird would get it.  I mean that berry is pretty well centered in his beak.   I think Mama was thinking the same thing...

But no.  It wasn't going to happen.  

Just when the kiddo decided to do the flip...the quick motion of tilting back the head and letting go of the berry so he could quickly gobble it up...it got off center...again...

And he passed it back again...

And she tried again...

And he aborted again.  

It reminded me of when I used to put cheerios on Jack's highchair and he would pick them up and try to feed me...and I would eat one...and pass one to him and he would shake his head no and laugh, with his lips pressed shut...and pass one back to me to eat...and so it went...

Except Mama wasn't eating this berry-o and this little guy wasn't getting the idea that he was supposed to.

It went on for minutes.  I have hundreds of pictures of this dance.

Until finally, he squished the berry in his beak and just like that, it was gone.  Down the hatch...

A little cheer erupted from my heart as I watched Mom fly off to pick another...

And Junior just sat there, waiting around...not even trying to pluck his own berry...

For the sake of that Mama bird, I hope I observed the first berry eating lesson of the day and not the tenth!

And we think human parents need patience.

[Note:  Last year's Cedar Waxwing post is here if you're interested.]

[Back update:  Thanks for all the back well wishes.  I'm still lying on my belly and typing this.  Can't sit for any length of time still but I am slowly getting better.  Here's hoping I'll be stitching by the end of the week.]