Maryville College show

Church Columns. Inspiration is Fantoft Stave Church outside Bergen, Norway.

Here are some pictures from my exhibition at Marvyille College in 2011, at the Denso Gallery. It is a beautiful space, with great lighting. It was my first one woman show, and it had quilts from 2000 to 2011. All my favorite techniques were there - plus some. This really marked the transition from hand quilting to machine quilting. There is a lot of curved piecing, pictorial quilts and architectural inspiration here. Everything is original designs. Several quilts are from my Easy Arch technique which is my favorite for quick piecing blocks.

Jelly beans.

                         Hand-dyed scrim with seed stitching. Buttons collected from good friends.

Every Woman is a Queen.

I made a pattern from a woven tapestry (from the middle ages) depicting 7 princesses. Love the stylized images, and the modern fabrics gave it an updated look. Machine quilted.

Afloat

 One of my favorite pictorial quilts, using my Free form machine applique technique. The photo is of mom's neighbor's rowing boat in Norway. Machine applique and machine quilted.(Photo by Erin Cogburn)

Sea Side Snapshots.

Combination of Easy Arch blocks, in different settings and photo transfer.  Erin took more photos of the neighbor's old boats and rusty oil drums. The photo transfers are assembled in a collage style. Machine quilted. (Photo by Erin Cogburn)

Lunch on Yellow River. (private collection)

One of my absolute favorite quilts. The photo was taken by a very good friend on a trip to China. One of their stops was a monastery  along the Yellow River. The setting there just had to be a quilt, which I did with her permission. Machine quilted. (Photo by Linda Claussen)

Winter crocus

A simple quilt from Easy Arch blocks, using black, white and purple. Machine quilted.

Crossroads

Crossroads 2

Both Crossroads and Crossroads 2 are from Easy Arch blocks. The crosses are added to give them a 3D  effect. Love working with black and whites. My stash is getting out of hand, so I better use more of it! It is a little hard to see, but these two pieces has a lot of seed stitching on them, that has become my substitute for hand quilting. It adds both color and texture. And it is an excuse for dying pearl cotton.














From one of my trip to London, which I wish was more often, I took lots of photos of grand old buildings and city architecture. The one that screamed the loudest to become a quilt was of the toss-aside marble birdbath behind St.Paul,s Cathedral. This was so much fun to assemble, it is all pieced and machine quilted. The leaves are copied onto fabric and cut out.

Birdbath at St.Paul,s (detail)

Birdbath at St.Paul,s (London, UK. Private collection)

The Church of the Cross (Bergen, Norway)

Another architectural one. This is from a photo of one of the oldest churches in Bergen. This is were I went to University, and the city is full of buildings and middle age history. A very old and beautiful town with a harbor. This is a side door of a church in the middle of town, Korskirken, very simple stone walls and  very ornate wrought iron door hinges. Free form machine applique and machine quilted.


A very small snapshot of my father, taken when he was 5 years old, was a very inspiring starting point for this piece. My father was not one to hog the spotlight in a picture or otherwise, and might now have liked being portrayed on a quilt. But he was always supportive of my doings, so I think he doesn't mind. Now this quilt is permanently hanging next to my sewing machine, and is still inspiring every day that I work. (Free form machine applique, and machine quilted, using fabrics from my father shirts, which mom sent me after he passed away in 1993) His face was enlarged and printed onto fabric on my home printer.

Treasured Memories.

Felting: Nuno felted collage

Have been working on nuno felted collages last year. It is quite interesting how colors and textures change when silk fabrics and wool fuse together. Most of the silks are my own hand-dyed, but I throw in a few commercial prints too. The first one is a big piece with red wool on the back, which gives it a reddish overall look as the wool comes through to the front. The second piece is smaller, with blue and orange wool on the back. You can see where the orange show through. The silks I used are hand-dyed silk organza. The organza is a little stiff before it gets felted, but gets softer after the felting process. It takes the dye beautifully, and I love to work with this fabric.

Red collage 

Northern lights

Tippen

The material used in this piece came from a hand embroidered tablecloth from the 1930's, salvaged by a friend of mine and then quilted on a piece of black felt. 

 

Dye Na Flow  paints were used to create this color effect.  Here's a close up look at the dispersed color.  This piece is now in a private collection abroad.