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:: May 21, 2007 In Search of: Tammis Keefe
Geez, sorry for making you stare at my belly for all those weeks there. I haven't been making anything but I had to think of something to post just to get that picture out of the way! I have posted about Tammis Keefe before. I still don't own any of her designs ... her hankies average about $10 + shipping on eBay so I haven't been able to justify it. The next best thing is to collect images, so I just gathered any decently sized image I could find from current eBay auctions and put them up on the Tammis Keefe Flickr Pool (hostessed by Ms. Bella Dia). Is this legal? Probably not. I just feel compelled to do something to get her work out there. Really what I'd like to do is start a website. But, there is so little information out there on her. It does seem that many of her designs were featured in an exhibition at the FIT Museum in New York in 2000-1, called "A Woman's Hand: Designing Textiles in America, 1945-1969." So I thought of trying to contact the exhibition co-curators Lynn Felsher, then-curator of textiles at the museum, and Joanne Dolan, then-associate curator of textiles, but there is no email address for either that I could find on the internet. Probably because they don't want to be emailed by fools like me! Hmm, well it's a long shot, but if any of you have any leads to FIT Museum personnel or vintage handkerchief/linen collectors, it would be much appreciated. Thanks! posted by in Textile Arts :: Comments (6) :: link :: October 1, 2006 Austin Area Quilt Guild Show 2006
Damn it's been a while since I posted. Mostly because finishing the Pie in the Sky quilt has taken up most of my time an energy for the last few weeks. But now it's finished and being displayed to thousands of people at the AAQG biennial show!
It took me forever to decide how to quilt it. I made some attempts at the Orla-Kiely inspired design but it was NOT going to look good with my free-motion skills, and of course I didn't feel comfortable with, well, ripping of that leaf pattern (even though, as you might see from browsing through the print + pattern archives, I think a lot of designers do it. Maybe O.K.'s not even the one who came up with it?). I needed something that I could do with a walking foot, and came up with these randomly-sized, randomly-placed starbursts. It contradicts the nice symmetry of the quilt, so I ended up not liking that aspect, but once it was all said and done, it looked OK. Still, it did not turn out with ribbon-winning quality. It was hard to keep a nice consistent stich length and tension, the lines converging in the middle of the stars didn't always meet up perfectly, there was some ugly backstiching to secure the ends, and yellow Chaco Liner I used to mark the top ended up STAINING THE THREAD in places. Bummer! Still, I was proud of the piecing and was not at all embarassed to have it hanging in the show. What more could a first-timer ask for? I have to run because I'm volunteering at the show all day today. More pictures on Flickr. I will post more about the show later then take some detail shots of my quilt once it's home so you can see some close-ups in better lighting. posted by in Austin , Finished Projects , Quilting , Textile Arts , _____-Alongs :: Comments (18) :: link :: February 8, 2005 Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend Documentary
Did you catch the hour-long special The Quiltmakers of Gee's Bend this week of PBS? If not, it should be airing intermittently on your local station and is highly worth taping or TIVOing. Turns out those women can sing, too. posted by in Quilting , Television , Textile Arts :: link :: November 20, 2004 Popular Craft
"Unlike outsiders and brut artists, crafters demonstrate how creative ideas spread through the culture and are adapted by individuals of relatively ordinary talent. These efforts enrich the visual landscape even when they don't attain higher aesthetic elevations. The most talented craft artists can turn the inauspiciously unoriginal and accessible into something even greater. This is real artistic power." The Art of Popular Craft at Interesting Ideas posted by in Inspiration , Textile Arts :: link :: September 17, 2004 Lisa Solomon
Lisa Solomon: art from textiles and embroidery posted by in Inspiration , Textile Arts :: link :: July 17, 2004 Valerie Goodwin
Map/architectural quilts by Valerie Goodwin posted by in Inspiration , Quilting , Textile Arts :: link :: June 16, 2004 Cozy of the Week
Cozy of the Week is an interesting new weblog from Larissa Brown of Stitch Marker. Her description of the project: "Because as an artist and a knitter I'm fascinated by things that enclose other things, stitches that come together to form a protective layer over things that may or may not warrant or want protecting." posted by in Textile Arts :: link :: May 28, 2004 Gee's Bend and Me
My urge to take up quilting had its origins in general textile lust. I went to the University of Texas fine arts library to hunt for this book (more on Lucienne Day later) and thought I'd browse the shelves for quilting books to see if I found anything inspiring. I have to agree with Brandy Agerbeck's assessment of the current quilting tradition: it's way too anal for me. I would add that it's hard to get inspired when so much of fabric you see is hokey as all get-out. I don't mean to denigrate any quilting, because I know how much skill and patience goes into it, I just mean that most of the mainstream fabrics and quilt designs are not my thing. Then again, I suspect that I just may not have developed the taste that is actually well worth developing, and that I lack the skills to see individual fabrics as part of a bigger design. Back at the library, the big hardcover book Gee's Bend: The Women and Their Quilts was sticking out. I picked it up and flipped through it. My thoughts were, OK, yes!, this is what quilting is all about. Gee's Bend quilts have gotten a lot of attention in the art world and most crafters know and love the tradition. But if you haven't heard of them, here are some links: Quilts of Gee's Bend official site Some Gee's Bend quilts look simple, and though their creators used improvisation under the constraints of whatever fabrics happened to be available at the time, there's a mountain of knowledge and experience that went into them, not to mention the un-reproduceable aspects of the women's lives and circumstances. I figured this out as I attempted my first quilt project, which was going to be an improvised Chinese coins quilt with unevenly cut strips. But improvising on my first attempt was probably not the best idea. The patchwork for that style shouldn't be a big deal, but you know, I just don't have the expertise to step outside of right angles yet. Not only that, I didn't understand how to combine different colors and prints, and it showed. They didn't work in the traditional OR rule-flouting way. I never even got to the actual quilting part! This is all to say that I wish there was a quilting version of Knitty or Stitch 'n Bitch, to give people who are interested in quilting but are put off by the aforementioned anality and hokiness an enticing entryway into the tradition. In my mind, it would involve articles about Gee's-Bendian design principles, Denyse Schmidt worship, and quilt patterns that won't make my bed look like Frank Bielec threw up on it. Maybe I'll start it. Right ... with my proven history of keeping websites current. That's why I'm putting the idea out there. For free! Take it and run! Teach me the ways of the quilter! posted by in Inspiration , Quilting , Textile Arts :: link
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