The Pi Project

The Pi Project
aka, playing with numbers!

This next year Pi Day will fall on 3.14.15!  A very cool combination!  In celebration The Pi Project plans to make a very long ribbon of fabric numbers, all sewn together, with the correct sequence of pi.  The public is being encouraged to participate by donating 9.5" x 9.5" numbers.  Details can be found here.  I decided this might be a fun project, so I spent the day making numbers!  And if you are curious, I didn't make them in order, nor did I intend to make this many!  I planned to make just a few, maybe three?  But then I started having too much fun!!

Fusible applique on commercial cottons

Made from individually cut batiked squares and fused to the background.

some of my batiked flowers, individually cut, and fused together, then cut in the shape of a 2 and fused to the background.

some fabric from my Urban Landscapes fused to the checkered background.

Fusible applique on some fun commercial cottons.

Individually cut batik circles fused to the background and top-stitched

both 8's use some of my hand made batiks, the first has hand-stitching, the second machine stitching.  I liked them both, so decided to send both!

Playing with them now!  Don't they look cute in this hopscotch layout!  Might be fun to make a quilt like this!

i Quilt

i Quilt
64.5" x 62.5"

At times I feel alone, but I am not. I am supported by many friends and family. These are the little "i" blocks that make up the big central "i". The other "i" blocks in the field are for all the people I have never met that support my life.

I am super pleased to tell you that my quilt has been juried into QuiltCon 2015!  Yay! I feel like a complete novice in this modern quilt movement, and so I am really happy that my work is considered worthy of showing with all wonderful and talented modern sewists!

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, I will share with you the little story of this quilt.  I had a lot of scraps leftover from making the Feral Cat quilt for my daughter.  I was also inspired (and continued to be) by the work of Heather Blair Pregger.  Her tuning fork quilts knock my socks off!  So I thought I would take a shape, the letter "i", and make it into a repeating block in a random sort of way...maybe like a floating grid?  Oddly, my daughter did not like the "i" blocks, so I set them to the side while I let her help make up a different back for her Feral Cat quilt.

After I finished her quilt, I got the "i" blocks back out and started making some more.  I wanted lots of varied sizes and varied fabrics.  I even incorporated some of my own hand made batiks and was pleasantly surprised at how well they fit in with the commercial fabrics!

Lime with grey rings and aqua dots

Aqua stripes with grey dotted bricks

But, I was struggling with the overall arrangement, and the difficulties of how to sew all this together.  Construction was not easy! It was after I started making the blocks that I decided to organize them with the central "i" made by the white blocks.  Sometimes, good ideas take a while to percolate!  I must respect the process, even if it is slow.

Eventually, I just placed the blocks I had where I wanted them, and then individually auditioned and made the rest of the blocks to fit the empty spaces.  This worked quite well, but was very time consuming.  I actually had visions of fabric flying, rotary cutters rolling, and blocks being sewn to fit with nary a thought in my head, all just improvisational pieced on a whim. My experience was really much more like an extended headache.  It took me a while to get the hang of making the other blocks to fit the spaces.

Then when I finished, I had the same problem I had with my daughter's quilt.  This one also needed a back!  What's up with that!!  I wanted this quilt to be my new studio lap quilt.  My old one is so battered and well used that it is falling apart.  And, with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to have something different on the back to suit my changing mood for the day.  I chose this, and added the extra fun of varying the size of the blocks again.  AND, I just LOVE the way this came together too!  AND, though it was a lot of effort to make all the blocks, they were super easy and did not tax my brain at all.  ALL GOOD!

Machine quilting and putting the bright pink binding on finished it up.  Now that it is going to QuiltCon, I will need to add a hanging sleeve.  Perhaps I can disguise it so that it does not interfere with the back?  Yes!! See below and see if you can see where the hanging sleeve starts!

Canoe

Canoe
8" x 10" x 2.5"

This is my contribution to The 100, Fiberart for a Cause, fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.  You will have a chance to get this fabulous little piece on Feb 4, 2015 (apologies for getting the date wrong in the previous post, oops!).

Anyway, I just LOVE this little piece.  It was made from leftovers from this quilt, which you may recognize!  This one reminds me of Austin, TX, my home!  We have a fabulous river running through the center of town, surrounded by a lot of development, but with a lot of park space preserved too!  There are several places along the river to rent canoes, kayaks, sailboats and rowing boats (those long thin ones!).  It is one of my favorite activities in Austin!  Getting back to nature without having to travel very far, and some great exercise.  I have seen many interesting animals along the sides of the river, from dogs playing with their humans, to coyotes, racoons, turtles, many, many types of birds, and occasionally fish.  

For this, I wanted to try folding the fabric like a little newspaper origami boat from my childhood, but I couldn't remember how! Thank goodness for the internet!  In no time at all I was busy re-learning how to do this.  AND it also works with fabric, though my original attempts were too large for this little project.  I was finally able to scale it down enough to slip in the little Guatemalan worry doll!  Do you think I should fashion her an oar?

Fiberart For A Cause

Fiberart For A Cause
to benefit the American Cancer Society

I am honored to be an invited artist for "The 100" to be held on February 4, 2015.  The goal for this fundraiser is to raise $10,000 in one day!!  How?  Check out the details here.

I'm sure you will want to be one of the very exclusive 100 patrons who will be randomly assigned artwork from an extraordinary line-up of international fiber artists!  Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 thanks the amazing Virginia Spiegel and the generosity of fiber artists and patrons.

Check back in to see what I will be donating.  I am so excited to be contributing to this great event!