Tomorrow I start a course about pattern at the Victoria College of Art with Lesley Turner. I plan to use a personal symbol I developed in the past which includes the diamond shape. I have basted together the piece below, which I began in Jude Hill's Spiritcloth online class last year. It's a story about my creative process and there's much stitch and embellishing left to do on it.
I have completed the chicken's head:
Here is the surprise I got - more colour outside the circle then within! I don't really understand why this would happen, but now that I know it's a possibility I might put it to further 
Last night I heard Inge Heuber speak at my quilt guild. She is a pioneering artist in quilt art from Germany who makes textile art with the seams on the front using many colours she hand dyes on cotton. While her work is in numerous publications, has hung in prestigious shows like Quilt National, and is in the collection of the New York Museum of Art and Design, what I will remember beyond that and the beauty of her quilts is her long term dedication to her art form even when she knew no one else quilting in Germany, when she received no recognition or money for her work and yet she knew it was what she had to do - it was not a hobby, but her life's work. You can see her interpretation of one of her beloved places into textile art here: http://www.ingehueber.de/pageID_639797.html And today is the final day of the Spiritcloth class I've been taking from Jude Hill.
As our class parts ways, I am appreciating having taken a dip into Jude's world along with others for sharing and learning.
The story I have been working out in fabric reached a conclusion with the final 'surprise is the key' block. I last left my story rabbit inside the tunnel with the Blue Imp of Intuition - where she fell asleep and dreamed of a magnificent fenced garden, lush with lettuce, crunchy carrots and tender beet leaves. How she wanted those vegetables, but what if she was caught? Her heart pounded as she slipped inside the fence and snuck around, while secretly sampling here and there. When she awoke, she realized that the dream might be telling her something about how to outwit the question monster guarding all the questions locked in the treasure chest. She saw that she had risked going into the garden partly because of wanting nourishment to stay alive, but also, she had to admit that it had been a thrill to play hide and seek. So it was the sense of fun in life that had allowed her to risk discovery as a thief in the garden, and since that sense of secrecy with potential discovery was fun, what if it was the lure of the unknown that was the key to unlock the chest of questions - as in - surprise itself was the secret that would forever allow her access to the questions? As she had this thought, she felt certain it was true and the monster withered instantly because 'surprise' also means to attack unexpectedly and now that the rabbit had discovered the secret of the monster, it was no longer a surprise. And the chest burst open and all the questions took flight like bats into the tunnel and she knew that no matter how far down the tunnel she went, there would always be the lure of more surprises leading her to find and ask the questions. And that is when the story began... The moon fabric is the backing for what I am thinking of as my teaching cloth, since to me it illustrates my creative process. The last photo is trying on an applique technique from the online Spiritcloth class I'm taking on some of my hand dyed fabric. I chose a rainbow for the beginning of a new story because I think of rainbows as symbols for unlimited potential.
I wanted to use a pieced component in a next story, so I dug out one I'd forgotten I'd even made and this elephant and moon story I had started in the Cloth to Cloth online class suggested it had a place for it. When I placed my triangular pieced component on it, it fit perfectly as a mountain for the elephant to be climbing - only it was made of bright fabrics that I felt drew my eye away from the focus between elephant and moon, so I wondered what if I kept the same shape and used some organza instead, to be like the moon reflecting on the mountain? As I basted the mountain on, it kept niggling at me - why was the mountain transparent when it 'should' be very substantial rock - and represented by perhaps, darker, opaque fabric, maybe with organza on top? And it came to me that sometimes what seems like a mountain to climb can actually be less substantial over time - more 'see throughable', knowable and doable - so that 'reaching the moon' is a real possibility. Just yesterday, I dropped off 'Weaving the World' to the largest juried show in our area. It may not get into the show as about 1300 people apply and only about 300 make the cut, but what matters is that it symbolizes 'arrival' for me - arrival in a next level of being an artist. Since I first attended this show, something in me knew it was a mountain I was meant to climb, was the moon I was called to reach for. And now I have and what once seemed so huge and far away from being attainable is now much closer. The second photo is something I began playing with last night.
I am loving the dialogue in Jude Hill's online Spiritcloth workshop, with it's gathering of participants bent on sharing our creative expressions, exploring our questions and being inspired from that. This is my native way of working only it's amplified with others sharing and delving into their questions, as well - like being plugged into an electricity outlet! I have decided to do a series of six inch blocks that will unfold a story and I will put them together at the end. For the first block I wanted to reveal just part of something - a flirt of face and tail. The second block is of the Question Monster who keeps and guards all questions locked inside a treasure chest. Stay tuned...
The sun sets and a crescent moon reflects the ending of the Cloth to Cloth online workshop I've been taking and the beginning of the Spiritcloth online workshop that starts today. The river of life flows on, as do my stitches - a sprinkling of stars and lines of latitude have appeared, now. I wonder what's around the bend?
I've decided to have the embroidery thread knots on the surface with longer tails as a fringe on the topside - and to curve my sky stitches using variegated thread. The bottom photo shows where I've unpicked a dart and hem in a pair of soft old jeans - I'm sure I'll find an interesting use for these little pattern surprises - especially since I will be taking Jude Hill's on-line spirit cloth workshop in just over a month. Last night I heard a bit about Quilt Canada, as some fellow members of my art quilt group had been to Calgary taking workshops and viewing the show. Susan Purney Mark was one of three judges for the National Juried Show, so there was plenty to talk about and it is always wonderful to share what we are working on.
