Earlier this week, I picked up three quilts from my photographer Chris Arend’s studio.
The three quilts he photographed were all part of the BAM High Fiber Biennial, but I was just now getting around to having them photographed.
The first quilt I would like to share is called Get On Up. It was the very last piece I made for the Bellevue show. I finished stitching it and zoomed to the post office to mail it off. So, while it is no longer a new quilt, I have spent very little time with it, and that just feels weird to me. To rectify that situation I’ll be hanging Get On Up in my studio for a while.
Get On Up is a reference to one of my favorite songs by James Brown. I love funk. And if any of you have seen me at Open Mic night at the Golden you also know that I love to dance. And funk is some of the best music to dance to.
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- Get On Up
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- The blue and red fabric is actuallly a blue fabric with a red fabric spliced in.
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- I like the swirly quilting on the dots.
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- Working with prints inspires my quilting. When I was working with only solids, I would frequently default to quilting lines. Circles and curves, x’s and o’s are much more interesting to me. They also help the quilting lie flat. Doing just lines some how warps the quit.
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- Mitering stripes is always painful.
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- Here is a full shot of the back complete with hanging sleeves. I took these photos.
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- For awhile, I paid Chris to photograph the backs of my quilts. I suppose I should go back to doing that. He does a much better job. But that means I must make sure that I have time to get the quilts photographed before I put the hanging sleeves on.
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- Walt wants me to quilt everything in neon so that the thread work will glow under a black light. Part of me thinks this is good idea, part of me thinks it is juvenile.
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- I’ve often thought about entering one of my quilt backs into a traditional quilt show. Would they love it or would they critique my tie off methods?
As with all of my quilts, as I stitch them, I name them. Sometimes, Walt or the kids will have a brilliant idea that captures the essence of the quilt. And sometimes Walt and I banter about it until we agree on a name that feels right for the quilt–that evokes part of the meaning that went into making the piece.
This quilt reminds me of a New Year’s Eve house party some where in mid-town Kansas City circa 1991. I remember Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine coming on the stereo and dancing to that music on the arm rest of a couch. There was no room on the floor–it was that crowded.
Now days, I’m always asleep before midnight on New Year’s Eve. And most of the time, I think that is a good thing.
