I WANTED TO MAKE AN ART QUILT

Venice Beach, FL

Lots of the pictures shown don't have a thing to do with my post, but I think words are easier to swallow when you have something exciting to look at beside them. And there are a lot of words in this post.

A window in Cloppenburg, Germany.

It's long, but I hope you'll take time to read on.

Pix taken in Detmold, Germany

Art Every Day Month is on my priority list for November...but then again, it's always at the top of my list. 

Another window in Germany but I can't remember which city I was in.

Making art that is.

Pretty sure this is the bridge connecting Matlacha to Pine Island in Florida

Back in 2k4 and 2k5 I wanted to make an art quilt.

Pine Island Sound

I spent 2 or 3 years checking out books at the library and going to quilt meetings and oohhhing and ahhing over all the beautiful work I was seeing. I also collected bits and pieces for those imagined and hoped for art quilts during this time. I was a major wanna-be. 

This one lives on the Pine Island Sound side of Sanibel Island. (Say that fast three times).

Then, one of the ladies whose books I'd borrowed from the library, Mary Lou Weidman, came to my quilt guild to teach a class - and that was the beginning of me being physically involved. In art.

A piece of glass I wish I hadn't sold.

She was teaching a workshop about making a 'Story Quilt' and I struggled for weeks ahead of time to figure out which story I wanted to represent. What I really wanted to do was make an art quilt. But I didn't know much-a-nut-n-honey about how to go about it.

Bokeelia, FL...looking North.

I carefully went through my stash - choosing fabrics for the upcoming workshop with Mary Lou - finally, with a specific story in mind - 

My first little landscape quilt - inspired by all those trips out in our little boat in the fabulous waters of SW Florida

and when she came to my personal space and looked at what I had, she gently suggested, I not use this piece, or that one, and those won't work so well either....etc., etc., etc. until I had about 1/3 of what I needed. She generously shared some of her fabric with me that afternoon.

View to the West out of my Cape Coral, FL kitchen

She then encouraged me to give myself permission to purchase fabrics that night so that I could make the blocks she was teaching. 

This bag, a gift that went to Germany with me, is what got me started attempting to create my own thing.

I worriedly went to the fabric shop and had NO idea who, what, when, where or how to put together what I needed...but came out with fabrics in colors that made my heart sing. (And they also went with those that Mary Lou left in the 'save' pile).

I WAS making things during my 'era of fear' just didn't have much invested so not so worried about results. (It has a penis made out of pantyhose sewn inside the zipper...which I only showed to a few select friends).

But...My Story changed, because the colors for the original idea would no longer work...in my mind. And anyway, I wanted to make an art quilt.

This is the back side of the above bohemiannie! bag.

I plunged in and made blocks which turned out delightfully beautiful and left me with a big, blank, black, fabric canvas in the center. 

I had completed my first ever workshop and was a happy camper.

Watching the sun set from my friend's dock on the Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral, FL.

Then...

My sister's view from her old house in Moon, VA

I had NO idea what to put on that big, blank, black, fabric canvas. But I knew I wanted to make an art quilt.

Taken from an air boat in the wild of the Florida Everglades.

So it hung on my closet door for two years. Yep...2 YEARS because I didn't know what story to put on it...and I was afraid of it.

Camels came to a charity function on Pine Island, FL. The one on the left actually kissed me...then spit on the little boy next to me.

FEAR had me hesitating to do ANYTHING because of the money and time I'd invested in it and it was so pretty as it was. Well except for that big, blank, black, fabric canvas in the middle.

Pine Island Sound on the way to Burnt Store Marina.

Then one day...after talking to my mentor and dear friend Carol Holsopple, I charged that big, blank, black, fabric canvas with determination to make an art quilt and sewed fabric down all over it!

Taken from our little boat in Charlotte Harbor.

And another year went by because my free motion sewing skills were nil and I was afraid I'd mess it up.

Miss Kitty helping me overcome my fear of working on the quilt.

Then one day...I decided...I'm over the investment...even if it did take me three years to get there...and I chose to treat that quilt as though it were a practice piece.

So, with Miss Kitty's help, I free motion stitched like there was no tomorrow.

I'm thrilled with the way it turned out.

See how much my hair grew before i was brave enough to show it to my group at AQU. Or was it that it took me that long to bind it?!?!? Hmmmm

It's been juried in to several exhibits, the first one at Harborside Convention Center in Fort Myers, FL where my daughter and brand new, fresh from God, Sophia, attended the opening with many friends.

It was featured for that exhibit in the newspaper...

 and now hangs on my best friend's bedroom wall.

I named it..."That's My Story and I'm Stickin To It". 
(Insert smiley face here).

Now...I said all that to say this...


EVERYthing I do is a practice piece. There are no mistakes. Only learning experiences. There is no right or wrong way...only my way. There is no fear...only un-abandoned FUN and JOY in creating the next piece.


And I've been making art every day ever since and Love, L-O-V-E, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE every minute OF it.


So...while this post isn't about what I've done yesterday...or today...it IS about what got me making art every day...


and I hope it will encourage you to do the same.

PS...I'm also linking to Pink Saturday, Paint Party Friday (because I paint with fabric and thread),Blog Link Love, My Romantic Home, Sneak Peak Friday and Artists In Blogland. Some of my favorite spots to visit.