San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles - '21 Quilt National Exhibit through April 16th!

It was a delight to attend an in-person book talk by Peggy Orenstein, author of 'Unraveling'. The book is about her during the pandemic to learn how to make yarn -- that included shearing a sheep, carding and spinning the wool, and dying the wool with natural ingredients (e.g. flowers, bark, etc.). When done, she would knit a sweater with the colored yarns from all this work. It was good discussion. I was interested in the talk because of having been asked to illustrate a friend's poem that involves sheep shearing, carding wool, and knitting. Now I have resources to check into as I learn about the process.

Aside from the book talk, the entry fee included admission to the current museum exhibit which is a portion of the 2021 Quilt National pieces that are on tour. There were some great pieces in it! The exhibit is up through April 16th, and if you haven't seen it already--I recommend it.

These are images of just a few of the quilts on display. I've chosen an abstract quilt, a piece entirely done with buttons and beads, and another made with toilet paper tubes (that tickled my funny bone). The quality of Quilt National pieces are consistently high-end with extraordinary artistry from unique or avant garde concepts to materials, narrative and workmanship. So, anytime you see Quilt National in the title, the show is worth seeing!

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Visiting The Hague and Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Paris!

Since late March, I've been planning an international solo trip that included meeting up with friends. The planning is what makes a trip an adventure, and it was definitely fabulous -- now that it is in the rearview mirror -- so to speak. During my two weeks abroad, the sights visited included the: Mauritshuis, a lovely art museum (The Hague, Netherlands) Binnenhof (The Hague, Netherlands) Delft (Netherlands) Kasteel de Haar, a castle (Haarzuilens, Netherlands) Museum Speelklok (Utrecht, Netherlands) Walking Tour of Amsterdam (Netherlands) Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Dutch Resistance Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) De Oude and Nieuwe Kerks aka old and new churches (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Sainte Chapelle/Conciergerie (Paris, France) Giverny - Monet's residence at one time (outside Paris) Versailles (outside Paris) Musee d'Orsay/VR Event titled 1874 Impressionists First Exhibition

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Concertina Dazzle Days

If you don't know what a Concertina Sketchbook is, it is folded paper (back and forth) that looks like the bellows of an accordion when done. Concertinas can be home-made or purchased, and they are fun to work in. The photos above are of three continuous two-page spreads from my own Concertina (the one on the right - the latest). The mark-making was done with Sharpie markers, Posca pens, Micron pens and Sakura PenTouch markers. All the shapes and color choices in the images above were spontaneous as well as the details. There was no plan. What I like about these is that each two-page spread collaborates with the next one and so on (as the designs spill over from one spread to the next). As new ones are created, they add to the wonderful visual feast. One of the things I love doing with these also -- is to crop sections and digitally mirror them to form symmetrical designs. The results are occasionally delightful. In fact, this one was made from such a process and has a n

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