NYC Part I

My hubby and I spent a weekend in New York City. We met some cousins for dinner, shopped for silk (of course), checked out the Christmas Windows and visited The American Folk Art Museum and generally walked our feet off.

The AFAM is a meer shadow of its former self. Due to lack of funding, it closed its doors at its primary location. There is now a small exhibit space near Lincoln Center. Currently there is an exhibit of alternative quilts by 3 artists.

The artist and her quilts that really fascinated me was Sabrina Gschwandtner. Her quilts are created from 16mm film discarded by The Fashion Institute of Technology. The film strips date from the 1950's to the 1980's and were predominantly industrial documentaries pertaining to the textile industry.

She based her quilt construction on the traditional log cabin pattern that focuses on light and dark.

She sorted them and sewed them together. Each of her "quilts" were backlit and really glowed. It made them magical.

The "quilts" had an appealing fluid appearance attributed to the rippling effect from the stitching.

You could actually see some of the images on the film.

This was such a great marriage of subject matter and technique.

I took lots of photos of the windows plus inspiration photos- to be shared soon.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Wednesday's Wanderings #36 - New York Beauty

New York Beauty

I always look forward to going to New York City. 

 I grew up on Long Island and often took the train into "the city" to hang out, meet boys and shop.  It's too far for me to drive now and quite frankly, I think you need your head examined to compete with the taxi cabs.  I'm not sure they have brakes and I know they don't have turn signals.  LOL

A few years ago, I discovered the Bolt Bus.  It is a wonderful way to travel from Philly to Manhattan for not a lot of money.  Do you remember the slogan - something like "leave the driving to us"? That's what I do.  Plus there's Wifi on the bus.  I either sew or read or do Internet stuff.

Yesterday I met my friend Angela in NYC.  I met her a few years ago at a Pro Chem fabric dyeing workshop and we have kept in touch.  She lives in CT and she knows how to get around, especially on the subway.  I just follow her like a little puppy dog.  The 911 Memorial and a little shopping and good eats were on our agenda.

The Chrysler building is one of the more famous and identifiable buildings.  If you are a quilter, does the architecture on the upper levels of the building remind you of anything?

They remind me of the New York Beauty quilt block.  Was this block designed based on this New York skyscraper?  I thought maybe.

I did a little research.  The Chrysler Building opened for business in 1930 and was the tallest structure in NYC until the Empire State Building opened 11 months later.  The NY Beauty block was previously called "Rocky Mountain" and  first showed up in quilts in 1850.  Mountain Mist then renamed it as New York Beauty and published it in 1930.  Coincidence? or not?

If you want to give it a try Ivory Spring, has a pattern on her blog called "Sausalito" and a link for some really great directions using this new fabric from Timeless Treasures, with lots of photos for easy to follow how to's.

Or does it remind you of the crown on the Statue of Liberty?

Not the real one, LOL!!

We did manage to squeeze in a little bit of shopping.  I steered clear of buying fabric, but  when it came to the bead shops, and there are many.  Here are a few of my treasures including this little tool I bought for measuring the size of beads :

"Made with Love" charms- I can't wait to put one of these on one of my embellished beauties

This is the first time I have seen sequins with a pattern.  Had to buy some.

And these charms would look great hanging off the bottom of something.

This is the charm I bought that I attached to my block.

I decided to turn my New York Beauty block into a little gift for Angela - a pincushion. 

 Surprise! (She's camera shy.)

Sometimes you see quilt patterns in the strangest places.