Morning Glory Studio

away for awhile...

...and now I am back! Hi. I just returned from my annual  week+ of quilting and stitching and gathering with friends in my favorite place: Sisters, OR. I've been home for three days and am slowly returning to life in these parts...but, oh, how I long for those days in Sisters. I really, really heart that place and my trip this spring was especially wonderful 'cause we had great weather...almost a continuation of the super spring we've been having here on the east coast. There were a couple mornings when it was still cool enough - for me - to don a hat and gloves as I walked to class...but by 11:45 am, the temp had climbed considerably.

This was our third foray of Intuitive Color and Design,  (a class taught by Jean Wells - author of a book by that same title and founder/owner of The Stitchin' Post - a wonderful quilt shop and the international Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, held annually in July for 37 years. My friend Pat and I went last year and are talking about going again in 2013).  In this year's class we again focused on color and design and I used this photo for my inspiration.

A lot of class time is spent making fabric, i.e., cutting up fabric and sewing it together again to create different shapes and combining colors based on our intuition and inspiration. I have come to the conclusion that I am very deliberate and slow as I work through my process: thinking about how I want to interpret a piece, put together color, value, create a design, add interest via texture, etc. I also know me well enough to realize that I am a big picture thinker and to see things in small detail is a real stretch, so I spend perhaps a lot more time trying this piece of fabric with that...

This is my piece on day 4  of class...trust me, it has gone through a couple more iterations and will go through a few more before I get to the point where I am satisfied that I've accomplished what I  see in my mind. At this point in the process, I am focusing on the colors; eventually, I  am planning to add the trees and electrical wires as design lines, probably via quilting stitches. 

Whatever, the best thing is I have lots of neat fabric to audition and cut up and sew together and all the time I need. The only thing missing is Sisters and my friends... guess I'll just have to rely on memories and the photos I took. TBC...

Cheers~ 

proceeding...

Honoré here: Thursday, my friend Nora (whom I met in Sisters in April and who is in the area for the summer, in order to escape the hot AZ weather - ha!) met in a classroom of a retail fabric store to have a stitchin' get-together. She worked on some of her pieces using the techniques we learned in Sisters at our Intuitive Color & Design workshop...

and I, proceeded with tracing templates onto fabric for Christian's quilt...

This weekend, I've been sewing blocks...so far, I've completed seven. Only five to go and then, all of Block #1 will be complete. I have been trying to time the stitching of a block...just to get a handle on how much I can accomplish in a given hour - 75 minutes. Barring any interruptions: telephone calls, breaks, time out to eat, and machine thread jamming, it has taken me approximately 60-75 minutes per block. At least I have an idea of the amount of time I'll need to devote over the next couple days to complete the twelve Blocks #1.

Each block has 21 pieces and I have to iron each seam as I put the pieces together. I've set up a production line: block pieces to my right ...

and an ironing station on my left...

I just swivel my chair from one side to another; cuts down on jumping up and down tho' I I still need to get up occasionally to trim a strip. The exercise is good.

My mother was always a good one for plotting out a project timeline; she would make a sample to see how much time was required as well as to figure out and practice on whatever she was creating. She used the same approach for writing an annual report for work, creating a piece of weaving, or painting the entire interior of her house, which she did, alone over a period of two - three months. I always admired her for that approach and wished I had adopted it sooner.

Here's a preview of the finished blocks...

...and a close-up of one with a Make Life center...

I'm eager to see how this is all going to turn out but I've a ways to go...to be continued.

Cheers~

"sisters east," continued...

Honoré here: More from Saturday's outdoor/indoor quilt trunk show...I left off with the amazing needlepoint stitched by Sue. This photo is a crazy quilt-top she made and uses as is, since it's very heavy (velvets, silks, heavily embellished,etc), she says...

Margaret's great grandmother made this crazy quilt, circa 1870's (my apologies for the glare in the photo; I was shooting from an angle)...

Pat's in the process of making a quilt for her grandson who plays the guitar and will be a college sophomore this fall. All the blocks have a musical notes motif...

Pat also made this Window in the East quilt and surprised her daughter with it - a wedding anniversry gift (that's Pat's daughter's big grin at the very top of the photo)...

I just love the colors of Addie's quilt...

and Sandra's is dazzling - just look at the color play...

Nora, whom I met in Sister's this past April - we both attended the Intuitive Color & Design workshop - made this quilt for her granddaughter---amazingly, the fabric is not old; it just looks that way...

I end with this last photo, a quilt in progress from Nora, using the Intuitive Color & Design technique and a fitting tribute to Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and our own sisters east affair.

We had a great time and I hope you did too.

Cheers~

learning journey trip wrap-up...

Honoré here: I just got around to changing the calendars for June this morning. Can't believe how fast time flies. This month, I plan to make some changes to the blog, including a new posting schedule...but more on that later. Time now for the wrap-up and update to my learning journey trip end of April/first of May to Oregon and Washington states.

The day before I left to return home, my friends and I went to the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pendleton, OR, homeland of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla people. Adjacent to the Institute is the Wild Horse Resort and Casino, which is owned and operated by the confederated  tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. We had lunch at the casino's restaurant, located on the fourth floor - which enables one to see this magnificent view...

...do you see my camera reflection?

At the restaurant, we were greeted by this fire...

Since taking the Intuitive Color & Design workshop, I find my self looking at everything and asking the question: how might I express this in an art quilt? 

Our return trip to Walla Walla presented more fantastic views of the Pacific Northwest landscape...isn't this just spectacular?

Again, as I look at the picture, I am envisioning all sorts of possibilities, from an "accidental landscape" to an abstract  wall quilt. Oh what fun there is on the horizon!

As a new designer, it's important that I see my design in progress.So, when I returned home, I moved my sewing machine from one room to another - primarily because I needed design wall space. And I also set up an ironing spot that I could access from my sewing machine while still seated. I put my new techniques and design wall to work last week and here's a sneak preview of a wall art project in progress, on my new design wall...

The pieces with the colored pins are waiting to be quilted and the all-flower piece is slated to be the back side of an 8 x 8 x3 deep stretched canvas box. I may change my mind about the back: use a solid and perhaps applique a flower to it...

At the beginning of this post, I alluded to a change in my posting schedule and this is it: effective today, I aim to post Wednesdays and Sundays, minimum, per week. I may post more frequently but hopefully, no less than the stated schedule. We'll see.

This weekend, I am attending a quilt show with one of the women - a new friend who also attended the Intuitive Color & Design Workshop. Looking forward to our get-together. Til Sunday,

Cheers~

on the road to Walla Walla

Honoré here: Union Station in Portland, Oregon ...

 

The old train stations across the country are magnificent and many have been rejuvenated to recapture their grandeur; unfortunately, this one hasn't. Still in all tho', traveling by train and sitting in the station was a welcome respite from the bustling activity in airports.

My trip to Walla Walla WA was a beautiful, scenic train ride up the Columbia River gorge. The magnificence of the landscape in the Pacific Northwest is only hinted at in these pictures ...

I think this picture especially is great inspiration for either a landscape quilt or an abstract design or both; I love the shadows on the mountain...

...these wind mills also have potential for an abstract quilt...

I arrived in Pasco WA about 8:45 pm and was picked up by my friend. We drove for about an hour to Walla Walla. I'd had a pretty long travel day so we didn't chat too long before I called it quits for the night.

Walla Walla is well  known for Whitman College and the state's maximum security prison. Today, Walla Walla has a new,world-reknown reputation for its wines. On Sunday, I went to a wine-tasting at Leonetti Cellar, a winery which has been judged one of the ten best in the world.

 

Years ago, this winery started out as a family vineyard; today, you could probably wait seven years to get on the buyer's list. 

The wine was superb...

...as were the grounds...

I took this picture of the cellar thinking I might translate it into a design one day...

I find that since my workshop, I don't see things in quite the same way...my brain's always asking: could this become a quilt design? What do you think? Interesting, no?

Next: more inspiration and going home

Cheers~

workshop - days #4 and #5

Honoré here: The last two days of the workshop were a whirl wind: we spent time working on our individual and very unique designs in between making fun, fun pin cushions plus learning how to make fabric shadow boxes, using 8 x 8 x 3" deep stretched canvas boxes. (Instructions for the pin cushion are included in the current issue of Quilt Sampler and the shadow boxes, in Jean's book, Intuitive Color & Design, if you're interested.)

I have long coveted the shadow boxes and have started making fabric for one; this picture of me holding a box is one of Jean's creations, just so you can get a visual of what I'm talking about.

...and this is the beginning of the fabric I'm creating for my shadow box...

Since I have no idea how it's going to turn out, I'm eager to finish it...and that's the nice thing about designing intuitively - the element of surprise. This is the pin cushion...it's great way to use up scraps and practice technique..

Thursday evening, a group of us went to dinner at a new restaurant in Sisters...very nice. Friday, our last day - boo hoo - was spent 1) wishing time would stop and 2) working away on the week's projects. Too soon, the clock read 3 PM and we, reluctantly, started packing up to go home. I stayed over til Sat morning and then made that drive, over the river, through the woods and up and down the mountain pass. I arrived at the  Portland International Airport and then, taxied to Portland's Union Station, where I boarded the train for my trip northeast to Walla Walla WA...another adventure, to be shared in my next post.

Hope all's well with you...and oh, by the way, did I mention that I'm on call for jury duty, again? Went today and was dismissed for the day; hopefully, that'll be all the time I'm required.

Cheers~

workshop - day #3

Honoré here: On our third workshop day, Wednesday, we were challenged to become "designers" in every sense of the word. Each of us had chosen a picture or photo we wanted to translate into an abstract design. I selected this picture I took of an access ramp on one of my walks last month...

                 

I really liked the line and flow of the ramp. Our first step was to blow up our picture and reproduce it in black and white. Next, we used a small square to isolate a portion of the blown-up picture and traced that onto tracing paper. From that isolated portion...

               

we drew/drafted our design and then plotted it out, using fabrics, on our design walls. We had also brought fabrics to use and of course, there was the Stitchin' Post's entire inventory - 7500 bolts of fabric - at our fingertips, should we just not have the right piece.  I don't have my fabrics - they're en route from Sisters, but I used this picture - another I took on one of my walks - for ideas for my color palette...

And then, we began to "make fabric," sewing strips of fabrics together horizontally and vertically and using the skills of making gentle curves and narrow inserts to create our abstract designs. The entire process was/is fun and reminded me a lot of Project Runway, without the competitiveness among the designers.

Being a "designer" is fun and it was especially interesting and inspiring to see everyone's creations evolve. Our machines were justa hummin.'

We capped off the day with hors d'ouvres at Jean's lovely home, where we got to see her studio and many of her quilts, which her home so wonderfully showcases, framed by these wonderful Sisters...

Next: Coming to an end...sigh

Cheers~

day two - challenge # 1...

Honoré here: Our first day was spent getting to know one another and Jean Wells. We had brief intros and an introduction to Jean's journey in intuitive color & design techniques and then, right before lunch, we began our our first challenge! 

Each of us selected five pre-cut strips of fabric - color was our choice - and then proceeded to make fabric; My colors  -  left to right strips: navy, light beige, red, teal and brown. And on the rectangle, a green. If you count, you'll find more than five colors - like where did those yellow and green strips come from?... well, I borrowed them from Linda, one of my table mates.

Using our newly made fabric plus the remaining strips, our assignment was to make nine log cabin blocks: 3- dark frame/light center; 3 - light frame/dark center; and 3 - med or light center/med or dark frame. Each square had a  2.5" center and the sides (logs), approximately 1.75" to 2" strips.

As we made blocks, we became adventuresome: using our newly created fabrics, the rotary cutter, our sewing machines and imagination, we began to get creative with our blocks. What fun! Especially watching everyone's squares develop as we pinned them on our design walls. Seeing one another's progress fueled our creative expressions.

These are my and my table mates' blocks:

Mine...

Linda's... love that palette and those creative designs; tempted to "borrow" it...

Nancy's...so bright and vivid and the designs are in keeping with her palette, don't you think?

Ostensibly, we were experimenting with value but in fact, we were liberating our imaginations and creativity, buoyed by our skill and techniques as sewers/quilters. Learning to use the rotary cutter to cut gentle curves was a stretch and sewing those curves together or making/inserting narrow strips was an even greater stretch for many of us---but we did it!

On Tuesday, we continued with our challenge - joining our squares together to form a design. After lunch, our assignment was to select 1-2 bolts of fabric to use to border our nine-patch square. Jean went around to each of our design walls and auditioned (held up) our choices for everyone to see and then we "voted" as to which fabric/s we liked best. This part of the challenge was our introduction to colors and how they interplay. Lesson of the day" "leave the door open."

Auditioning my fabric choices...

This?... (Jean's in the lace sweater)

...or this?...

...and the winner is...

My new piece is proudly displayed on my design wall at home - and that's a whole 'nother story to share. I have to select the backing and quilt it and then it will  be done. I bought some fabric - naturally - at the Stitchin' Post and am waiting for it to arrive.

Next, day three of my learning adventure.

Cheers~

P.S. This post is for you, Pat.