Thank You, Karen

I enjoyed seeing "walls" and reading your personal quilting story in American Quilter Sept 2012 issue! Gwen

JOY

Due to traveling I just received April/May Q Arts and enJOYed Karen's article! Gwen

Awesome Karen and JOYous....!

thankyou!

thankyou ladies because of you and the word "JOY" I have a peice in Quilting Arts magazine!

Congrats Phyllis on your quilt Peeper making the Denver call for Entries!

Hi ladies, loving the recent posts!
Very colorful Transitions, Phyllis and touching to our hearts on your Escape
And I love the simplicity of your Escape, Betty though I'm sure it wasn't simple to make!
I am in CA for another month? Without my machine ... so I am working totally by hand...haven't done that in many years and it reinforces how much I enjoy machine quilting!

transitions

 Well, we are getting these done, little by little. I decided to paint, and threadpaint  my granddaughter's gleeful face as she is surrounded by birthday balloons, emblematic of life's major transitions

Transition - Shifting Shapes

Here is my simple response to the Transition theme. "Shifting Shapes" was fun to create.

Escape - Run Away

Here is my response to the challenge theme Escape. The name of this work is "Run Away". That's one of many ways to escape.

Escape as a theme (kinda like sky) actually made me think of the opposite, and I decided to make a tribute to my mother, who would like to escape from the progressive limitations of her mind. Names tend to escape her, as does short term memory. I was hoping that her ability to express herself through her once incredible paintings would remain, but the last time we painted together, her flowers were muddy, unfocused, and clumped tightly together. And she could't really tell what was wrong, but knew it wasn't right. So now, even as her paintings are being honored with a show in the Oregon state capitol building, those neurons  are also gone.
 This piece will probably go to Ami Simms' alzheimer auction once we've finished with our project here.

Escape

Hi Ladies! Ive been working on Escape. Nope not done, but I call it "Escape to the Seaside"
Yo! Yo! Linda Z. what's our last challenge word?

Escape preview

journey's beginning

I repurposed Solitude temporarily and wanted to share what I did!

Contrast Piece

Passing Lane

Well, better late than....later? Thank goodness we all seem to be similarly overcommitted, and nobody's counting. Good stuff coming from everyone though.
 My contribution to "contrast" references speed. Does it equal freedom? Do those plodding along in the mud resent the high fliers? Or are they more likely to crash and burn? The piece is wholecloth painted, slightly whimsical style in tune with its less than profound statement!  Oh, well. It was fun.
Now for something really escapist...

Contrast

Vivien Zepf

This piece came to mind as our nation's political parties debated how to address America's budget.  We're all part of the same country, but boy, do we all have different and conflicting ideas as to how to solve problems.  It can be wonderful and debilitating all at once.

Though I know the symbolism's not immediately apparent, the background references the fields covering so much of our country.  The hole represents the gap in the budget and the square represents the financial debate -- you know, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.   Finally, the quilting can be equated to lines of communication that sometimes intersect but lots of times, especially when it comes to a heated topic, can go 'round and 'round in circles, never coming close to meeting.

This is not my most elegant, difficult, or successful piece but I did consider how to abstract my thoughts and feelings into it.  That was something new for me and I'm satisfied with the effort.  Let me also say that working with a hole in the quilt sometimes makes things difficult.  This is called "The Debt Crisis: Trying to Fit a Square Peg into a Round Hole".  

Hi ladies,
I have been busy "escaping" by reading Twelve by Twelve which I have thoroughly enjoyed!

Contrast

I'm glad I'm not the only one crazy for color! this peice is also about the contrast between reality and imagination. I believe that the creative journeys that we all take will save our brains in the end!

Not sure if I said that right, but it's what Im thinking..

Onwards to ESCAPE!

Karen

CONTRAST

Color immediately came to mind...values and complementary combinations. Then straight lines versus curves and busy versus quiet ( quiet being black!)

solitude

So, here is my SOLITUDE peice. I really didnt like the composition so I cut it into a square. I hope that's acceptable. I also mounted it on a frame painted white.
I have related to the mermaid for a long time...I imagine she swims around quite alone most of the time except when she wants to tease some sailorboy.
CONTRAST is on it5s way!
Karen

Solitude at Last

This piece has been sitting around the studio unmounted until yesterday! I worked with the idea of the labyrinth as a place of solitude and the spiraling around of meditation that to me embodies the idea of the pursuit of solitude and peace. It is done with a combination of fabric and aluminum foil and the lining of a Benefil dog food package, a very nice flexible mylar and paper laminate. I made the spiral with a cardboard layered composition and then covered it with the aluminum foil, painted it, them removed the underlying cardboard before stitching it to the fabric pieces.