A collaboration quilt using Amy's sketched birds.
A detail of a sweet house finch.
The back. I love this artichoke print from Rowan....it captures all the colors from the front.
The top was pieced by Amy. She sent it to me, and I added the borders and quilted it. This is an original design created by Amy.
I just took the last stitch on the binding, finishing this collaborative quilt. Amy made the birdhouses. I then did the center framing and sent it back. Amy added the outer frames, including the blocks that make up the final border, a blend of a log cabin and windows all in one. I loved quilting in all those little shapes. If you look closely, you will find two kitties peering over the top of the bird houses.
A detail of the quilting...
And the back....
There are always questions of forum and function and use and display, and these are things I think about a lot. I was working on a Creative Mom Podcast the other day and thinking about how my recent visit with Opal showed a bit of a shift in the kinds of projects we're working on... I keep pushing for bigger pieces... "lap-sized, at least" has become my mantra. Maybe, just maybe, it's because in my small space there's so little available room for wall displays of fiber art. But, there is always a chair or a couch or a lap... which could use a beautiful quilt. That guides my thinking... I think.
A recently completed piece, however, is on the small side but the height of function - a form-fitting computer sleeve for my laptop. I wanted something I could drop into my tote bag or Timbuk2 and head out the door with, knowing the computer was protected within. The piecing for this took me a while because I couldn't settle on my palette or direction. In the end, I love it. And, the loop and button closure is perfect!
Details: Amy pieced the panels; Opal added to them, quilted them (with extra layers for protection), and assembled.
Last week I visited Amy at her home in San Francisco which is about 900 miles to the south of mine. The days were busy with work and play. The weather was perfect. We went to a quilt show put on by the San Francisco Quilters' Guild, and we were inspired by the many quilts we saw there. We went to the 1000 Journals Project exhibit at MOMA. Sometime in the week, we went fabric shopping. We walked through the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, and enjoyed the beach where her two boys played in the water and chased a chocolate lab. We visited several parks. Everything was inspiration for color and line in our quilts. We drank coffee and even more tea. We ate, we laughed, and talked a lot about our work, sketching new designs, and sewing pieces together to see if they worked. Nine new projects were started, and now we will work on them both here and there. These photos show a peek at Amy's design wall in process.
Amy and Opal are two artists living in different states on the west coast who have teamed up to create fiber art together. Their journey and process is captured here.
