My Hiatus is Coming to a Close

It's time to get into the swing of things.  The natural rhythm of my year leaves me with a 3 - 1/2 month hiatus from lecturing.  During December, most guilds have a holiday themed meeting.  January and February are my months to be in Key West and then the first half of March is for travelling home, unpacking and maybe a couple of  quilt shows.

I am now getting ready for my first lecture of this year at Helping Hands Quilt guild in Dover, DE.  "Turning Travel Into Treasure" is my newest lecture.  I share many fiber pieces that I have created based on my travels over the years.  As I prepare for the presentation, it's like a walk down memory lane, packing each quilt and reminiscing.  Sometimes the memories overcome me. 

In 2011, there was an outdoor art installation in Central Park, in NYC, called The Gates.  I was drooling over photos and wishing that I could walk under those tangerine flags. I grew up in a suburb of the city and have such fond memories of visits from my childhood. One day, my husband said, "let's go!".  Really??  He took a day off from work and we drove the 2 hours North.  It was a glorious, crisp, clear day and I walked and walked and walked under all those flowing pieces of fabric. Then  a volunteer handed me a small piece of the tangerine gate fabric.  I knew I had to use it. 

 I won't share all my stories now.   I could write forever, because many of my quilts are inspired by  my travels.  I'll just share a few photos.

"Filigree Fantasy"  inspired by all the wrought iron balconies and doors in Barcelona.

"Houses of Key West"

"Casa Talavera" inspired by tiles in Mexico

"Concentricity" inspired by sidewalk tiles in St Augustine

Are you inspired by your travels?

Come to one of my lectures if you want to see more eye candy  and hear more of my stories. 

 Click HERE for my schedule.

Jeanne- Claude and Christo, The Artists

Jeanne-Claude and Christo were responsible for some of the most over the top outdoor "art" exhibits that this world has ever seen.  They were a married artistic duo that wrapped the senate building in Berlin  and 11 islands in Biscayne Bay , Florida with yards and yards of fabric and placed umbrellas on the California coast and in Japan simultaneously.  Jeanne-Claude with her blazing red hair died suddenly in 2009. Yesterday there was an article in the Wall Street Journal Magazine about their love and their life's work and how Christo is trying to continue without her.

It reminded me of 2005, when they installed "The Gates" in New York City.  The gates were curtains of tangerine fabric hanging from metal arches placed throughout the pathways in Central Park.  The installation lasted for only 16 days.  At that point in my life, I was an avid walker.  I had lost a lot of weight (over 100 pounds) walking my feet off everywhere we travelled.  I would put on my headphones and joyously walk to the beat of happy music for miles and miles.  I so wanted to walk with my music up and down and around Central Park through all of those gates under the billowing fabric, but we lived in Philadelphia - about 2 1/2 hours away. 

My husband was a workaholic back in 2005 and spent the weekdays working or traveling many, many hours a day and then spent the weekend recharging.  I mentioned how much fun I thought it would be to see the gates.  He surprised me by saying, "let's go".  And so we did.  It was a beautiful sunny winter's day.  There was snow on the ground which made the curtains glow even more.  I walked and walked and walked,  And then took tons of photos.   There were even people in the park handing out 2"x2"  pieces of the tangerine curtains. My husband and I each took one.

Of course then I had to make my own art.  The piece I made was 8"x11".  I printed one of the photos in black and white on fabric. I then stitched over the branches of the trees with brown thread,  the metal posts with orange thread and then I added 3-D orange fabric curtains.  It was embellished with buttons and beads.  I called it "Joyous Gates".

I also made a few ATC's (Artists Trading Cards) using the same technique.  For these small pieces, I actually used the pieces of the tangerine fabric that were being passed out.  (Since I needed more little squares of fabric  than I had, I was able to buy more on e-bay.)

I sold my larger piece during a quilt exhibit, but framed some of the ATC's to preserve my memory.