The Last Quilt of 2015

 STILL BLOOMING
Hand dyed cottons and silks, fused, machine quilted, hand embroidered French knots. Mounted on painted wood panel. 12x12" $100 plus shipping. Email me. SOLD

 
Detail of the silks, so shimmery.


It's been a busy wet week here at Chez Johnson. Rain kept us indoors, much to the pups' dismay. But then weather has been horrible everywhere, and one doesn't have to shovel rain, so nevermind.
We have a guest staying for a while: my sister Brooke!
This is so fun for me, and we installed her in my studio. That meant clearing a space and finding new spots for lots of my stuff. Since this will be happening in our move, it is a good exercise in decluttering and finding out just exactly what I have, where.
It was actually quite easy to reconfigure half my studio and bring in a dresser, twin bed and chair/ottoman. And now she gets to use my many twin quilts, which is a bonus. No doggies allowed.
To prove that I could still work in that room, I got out my fabric, made this piece and then put all the fabric away as tho nothing had happened. Now you see it, now you don't.

This quilt began with my fave combo of colors, purple, orange and green. One can't go wrong with these. Add a little pink, red and yellow and zing, it all works.

Design Wall Installation

Wow! It's been a week since I posted anything. How lazy and/or busy I have been (your choice).
Today I felt like getting back to normal and after Dave and I cleaned out the garage and moved some stuff to the upstairs storage area, I got this nice email asking about my post on the design wall installation that I use, and reuse every time I change my studio arrangement. It is totally flexible.
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Pam in SW Florida asks:
I am wondering about the Command hooks and your design wall statement. how thick is your design wall and how do you hang it with Command strips?
Thank you

I use 1" thick styrofoam insulation from Lowe's and the large Command hooks that hold 5 lbs.

Since this is the third time I have used the same design wall, I had to cut it to size again and cut out a space for the wall outlet. Using a craft knife and straight edge I drew the shape and cut it easily. To attach the two panels, I chose to do them horizontally this time, to fit in under the ceiling light fixture.

Here's the wall, just propped in place. Because my last studio space had a very low ceiling, I had cut these panels down to fit. Not wanting to buy more, I decided I could still make use of these, if I hung them horizontally instead of vertically. They are about 7'4" wide instead of 8 feet. The bottom panel was also cut down to fit above the baseboard. Since I am making smaller works for the foreseeable future I really don't need an 8x8 foot design wall.
 I put two hooks on the bottom side and two on the sides of the bottom panel. Then I pinned the batting to the top panel and placed two hooks on either side of that panel as I anchored it in place over the edge of the bottom panel. It was easier than it sounds and I did it alone, so take note.

 
 Surgery on the styrofoam for the outlet. The leftover batting shows the previous hole, pinned in place now, and hardly noticeable.
And then the fabric all pulled out and scattered... I washed the floor in the new studio and took the dogs out for a final walkies around the block and even tho it was after 4pm, I thought I would start something creative in the space.
It was pretty lame, so I will put it aside and try again.

I hope this helps. Happy New Year everyone!!!

Penultimate Day before Christmas Post

Essentials #2. Hand dyed and commercial cotton, fused, machine quilted and mounted on painted wood panel. 12" square. $100+ shipping, Email me.

  It's been a great year and I am so grateful for your responses and comments. Thanks for continuing the conversation, and let's look forward to lots of new art for the new year. And a new house! Merry Christmas!

Two Days of Christmas

We're getting down to the wire now, so let's have another two-fer day!
Merry Merry!
Layerings #2
Hand dyed cottons, silks, ink on cotton, fused and machine quilted, 10 x 10". Mounted on painted wood panel.
$100+ shipping  Email me. SOLD

 Connections #2

Hand dyed cottons, silk, stamping, commercial cottons, fused, machine quilted and mounted on painted wood panel. 12" square. $100. Email me.

 

I painted this panel with shades of turquoise, green and a tad of black in the mix. It becomes part of the whole composition this way. 

And black has become a part of my repertoire but in a more subtle way, often mixed with another color to mitigate the intensity. Not to mention gray and white! How did I live without these neutrals? ha! 

Three Days of Christmas

Hotcakes #4

Hand dyed cottons, ink drawing, mono-printing, stenciling, and commercial prints, fused, machine quilted, 16x20.25". $150 Email me.

 I never know what will happen when I start to make a new piece. That is the great excitement that I experience in the act of creating. I love this!

 

Four Days of Christmas

Connections
Hand dyed cottons and silk, stamping, ink drawing, commericial stripe. Fused and machine quilted. Mounted on painted wood panel, 12x16"
$110 plus shipping.
Email me.

Some time ago I made some fabric with my stamps and ink pens, fused them and put them away for a while. Today they appear in a composition for the first time. Because white, gray and black have made their way into my designs, I now have a way to use these decorative fabrics. It's a way of connecting my mixed media work with my quilting. Hence the name Connections.
For the frame I used both orange and fuchsia paint to tie into the colors used within.

 When I show a piece with my rotary cutter, I am showing scale as well as the difference in lighting. The photo above was taken hanging on the wall, while the one here is taken flat on a table. It flattens out the surface, so no quilting shows. 

 I climb on a step stool to get this shot.

Here the panel is hanging and the painted edge is visible.

Five Days of Christmas

Lemon

 Hand dyed cottons and silks, hand embroidered, fused and machine quilted. 12" square painted wood panel. $100 + shipping Email me.

 Then of course a dash of Lime becomes necessary. This one is mainly hand dyed cotton sateen with some silks thrown in.  Fused and machine quilted. 12" square painted wood panel. $100 + shipping. Email me. SOLD

Six Days of Christmas

Less is More Series #14

 
Hand Dyed Silks, Cottons and a commercial stripe. Fused, machine quilted, mounted on acrylic painted cradled wood panel, 12x9x1" $100 each + shipping.
Email me.

Less is More #5

Less is More #6

 These compositions can be hung horizontally or vertically.

Seven Days of Christmas

Art Deco Panel

Hand dyed cottons, fused, machine quilted.

14x24". $250 Email me. SOLD

It has been almost a year since this piece was made and originally posted, way too close to Christmas to get much notice. When I looked for the photos I noticed that it looked different than I remembered. The long vertical orientation was what I posted, but then I saw it horizontally and thought Ooooooh! It works both ways.

 

 Just playing with direction.