What a Show!

I had a wonderful experience at the One of a Kind Show in Chicago! It was Thursday - Sunday last week-a group of 600 artists. The show is advertised as a way to buy unique gifts, and talk to the artists themselves. I had never done a show before, and really enjoyed the time I spent at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. There were so many people there, and I got a lot of positive comments from people who stopped to see my booth. It was also fun to talk to other artists whose booths were near mine and hear about their experiences selling their art. I had postcards made to hand out, and most of them are gone! Now I am going to let it all sink in; the comments, thinking about what sold and what didn't, comments from other artists-and decide what the next step will be. It was fun to sell some of my ColorForm quilts!

How to Work?

Last week was frustrating; any time I had at the design wall seemed to be a matter of putting up fabric and taking it down. I must have handled most of my fabric, changed my mind, and went from small to big to small again. Finally last night I decided I needed to stop and think-what am I trying to do, and how do I usually do it? When I make a small quilt I am working from scraps of fabric, and often the shapes appeals to me, as well as the color. When I am working big, I start with the color, then need to make it a certain shape. After I find I like a certain design, I refine the shapes and lines. But can I do that bigger? I will have to try again! It is so hard to see what I am doing because I can't stand back from the design wall very far. This quilt is about 30 x 37, and I want to try bigger now.

New Work

Where have I been in the last month? I have been working on 2 larger quilts, but haven't finished them yet. I am enjoying the fall weather, especially since the trees in our yard haven't dropped many leaves yet. I had a fantastic trip last week up to the north shore of Lake Superior, where the peak fall color is mostly over, but is beautiful none the less. I forgot I hadn't posted a picture of my latest ColorForm quilt, which is #15 and is 17 x 25. I am planning on putting it in the Illinois Artisan booth at the One of a Kind Show in Chicago. I am looking forward to having a booth at this show-booth #3121, so if you are in the area Dec. 1-4, stop by!

ColorForm 14

This new ColorForm quilt is 21 x 29. I am going to have to make several more of these smaller quilts before the show I will be in at the end of the year. Several have sold already. Unfortunately, I found one had some orange fabric that had bled onto the white fabric; it was so disappointing! It looked like it was an older piece of fabric, that was not put through enough wash cycles.

I have also bought long cardboard tubes to store each quilt, and can be used when they are sold. I have written the name of the quilt at the end of the tube, and made a long bag out of fabric to put each quilt in. The tubes were not expensive, but shipping was almost as much as the tubes cost! But I think it will be a good way to store quilts individually, rather than layering several on one tube, which makes it hard to find what you are looking for.

new ideas

These are some of the things I have been working on at the same time as the quilts: the pillows are 14" x 14" and 12"x 16". The quilt squares are 5" and are mounted on a stretched canvas. These will be in the One of a Kind Show in December. I am trying to come with a few things that are affordable!

ColorForm 13

I have to remind myself not to make 3 quilts, and then try to do all the quilting, binding, and sleeves all at once! Sometimes I think it makes sense to continue designing, and not lose the momentum. But I do get tired of all the hand stitching. This quilt measures 18 x 23.

BIG

Let me start out saying this is a bad photo, I know. I didn't pay attention to the fact that there was some sunlight when I took it. So I will have to try again when there is no sun, and it is not raining. This quilt is 101" x 64". It was interesting working this big where you are not making blocks, and putting them together. You have to change the way you think. Sometimes I would put something on the wall and the size was all wrong. So I am happy to say I accomplished something-I can make a quilt that is big!