New Work on ArtBox csa!

New Work on ArtBox csa!

Our site has just gone live with new work for our ArtBox collaborative! (Art Box CSA is now closed.  Thank you for your support!) We have a limited number of new combinations of lovely small art work.  Here are my contributions, but be sure to check in, as we have added new artists in our lineup!

Zip Flower  (8" x 8" x 1/12")

Grey House (8" x 8" x 1 1/2")

 

My New Etsy Store

My New Etsy Store

My new store is officially OPEN!! It is called Kathy York Art Quilts (shop has been closed) and I will be offering small art quilts for sale.  You can use also use the button to the right.  I have 8 new listings and hope you will stop by for a visit! I will be adding more as these sell, so stay tuned!

Little House #5

Flower House

I have been thinking about doing this for years, but would always rather be making art than working on marketing and sales.  Well, some of the smaller pieces have been accumulating from different adventures.  Sometimes I make small pieces just to try out an idea.  And, sometimes I have fabric left over from a big project and make smaller and more affordable pieces.  This is a place for those pieces! 

Quilt Festival Pet Project Postcards

Quilt Festival Pet Project Postcards

I really wanted to make some postcards to help raise money for this no-kill pet shelter.  But honestly, I just didn't think I would have time to do it.  So this weekend, my daughter and I got out all my scrap fabrics that had fusible already on the back.  I gave her the scissors, a piece of white fabric (postcard sized), and told her to fill the space, and then press with the iron.  She is already familiar with using the iron and fusible applique, being all of 11 years old, and she set to work....and kept asking for more.  I am almost embarrassed that she made more than I did, but it is all for a good cause!  After she finished, I added some stitching to her work, and then converted the "top" into a finished postcard.  We were both super pleased with the results, and then I made two more.  Mine are in black and white, almost stark and minimalist.  For these animals the chance to live is just as simple as that, life or death.  It seemed fitting.  And, so I share with you our results.  And hope that you have a chance to buy one or more at the Houston Quilt Show to help with the fundraiser.  Or possibly you might have time to make some of your own and send to Pokey Bolton.  See project details here.  And your postcards do not have to have animals on them, they can be of anything!

Exquisite Journey

Exquisite Journey
90" x 45"

It all began at a quilting retreat in Vermont at France Holliday Alford's lovely home and studio.  Only I wasn't there, and didn't even know about it yet!  Frances is well know for her ability to get people together to work on fun and collaborative projects.  After the first round of efforts in Vermont, she extended the invitation to a few more!  I eagerly jumped in for a go, as did Leslie Jenison.  We got very minimal instructions, along with a sketch and a few photos.  Here is a link of an earlier post on my progress.  Eventually the first group, Frances, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Michele Muska, and Hoodie Crescent, (see Hoodie's post for more info on the creation of this wonderful quilt!) sent us their panels for assembling the quilt.  Leslie and I had each completed ours, and we took on the task of putting the works together.  It was a mighty job, but we were up for the task....and had a great time!  How we went from this....

 to this.... is a miracle of creativity and synergy!

This quilt is so fun!  It has a path wandering through it, and many wonderful details along the way. When we first put it together, we couldn't decide the order of the panels, so we kept rearranging until we found this one.  Then we noticed that it was slightly hard to see the path because each person had different colors in their paths.  We united them all with a string of multicolored batiked dots that I had piled in a little box in my studio.  They worked!  ...and added a nice element of whimsy and seemed to pull together all the colors.

Detail of Hoodie's panel.  Love the plastic fish embellishments!

Here's a closeup of sewing one of the dots on the quilt.

This is me pinning the circles on to see how they looked.

Here's Leslie trying to fit this rather large and un-wieldy quilt under the machine.  We likened it to try to fold a piece of plywood in half and sticking it under the machine, and then laughed so hard we had to take a break!

Closeup of the actual stitching of the panels.  It took 2 of us to hold and guide it through the machine.

Hoodie's houses

 I also thought it was interesting the number of recurring themes and design elements.  There were a lot of houses, a few trees, fish and birds in the different panels.  Here are the houses:

Michele's fabulous houses on the hill.

These are my houses, both in the tree and on the ground.

Here's another view of my panel with the ladder going to the clouds.

Here's a view of one of Frances' houses and an adorable owl charm hanging on her tree.

Bird and tree imagery:

A detail of Leslie's work.  Love her bird and the ball of silk ribbon in the center.  Goes together so well with her fabric choices!

Leslie's nest.

Michele's wonderful tree!

Victoria's dancing dolls, possibly my favorite embellishment on the quilt.  So joyful!!

Victoria's garden.  LOVE this tall flower and the stitching!

All in all, this was a fun and wonderful project to work on together.  Exquisite!  And I love the way the quilt incorporates both the individual and the group.  We were so proud and honored to have it juried into the group category at the International Quilt Festival this fall in Houston!

And, last, Leslie and I were playing with a blacklight.  I don't remember why...., but our quilt totally glows!  And, you won't see this in Houston (because in Houston, the lights will be on.. lol!) Here are a few photos, taken in the dark, with the blacklight, of our glowing designs and threads.  Enjoy!!

Blanco Uptown Quilt Show

Blanco Uptown Quilt Show
October 12-14

If you are looking for something fun to do in the Texas Hill Country this weekend, you might consider visiting the 2nd Annual Blanco Uptown Quilt Show (click the link for hours and location).  The theme is a celebration of Lady Bird's 100th birthday and we (the Austin Art Group) were honored by a special request to show our quilt, Artists' Garden!  We couldn't be happier, especially after having just won a 1st place ribbon and a Creativity Award in the Austin Quilt Show!  It is always nice have your work appreciated!

Artists' Garden

I also submitted 3 quilts with a flower theme to be on display at the show.  If you click the title of the quilt it will take you to the original post about each quilt.  And they are:

Vertigo

Garden Girl and Kite Boy

Duck and Cover

Breast Pockets for Flatties

Breast Pockets for Flatties

A simple request for my friend, Melanie Testa.  She is hoping to make it socially acceptable for "flatties"...women who have lost a breast or both breasts to breast cancer and not have the reconstructive surgery and not wear the prosthesis after mastectomy.  She needs 1000 of these pockets in 3 weeks.  See her post here.

Meanwhile, I am thinking of my friends who have had breast cancer, the survivors and the ones who have died.  In their honor, I have made these breast pockets, and I will probably keep working on a few more.  I applaud Melly in her uphill battle.  No one deserves to feel marginalized or belittled after surviving such a terrible disease.  Can you help?

Here's a few more...

New Work for Art Box CSA

New Work for Art Box CSA
8" x 8"

I am not sure of the launch date, end of Oct? First of Nov? (Art Box CSA is now closed.  Thank you for your support!) However it is coming up.  And, I have been working on some new ideas.  The first references work that I have done earlier, and I still really like the simplicity of the design and the colors.  This series is called Grey House.  The new part about this set is that I started working with a neutral gray and white palette for the background squares.  I love the way it helps the turquoise and other bright colors practically jump right out of the box! 

Grey House

The second set was inspired by a new batik fabric I have been working on for a completely different project.  I made enough to have extra to use on the Art Box pieces, combined with a zipper and a flower, it is delightful!  I hope you will think so too.  I love the way this piece has so many different levels, from the bottom layer which is exposed from the open zipper, to the middle level of the yellow background, and last, the top level of the quilted flower with the center cut out.  The flower is also one of my batiks, mentioned in an earlier post.

Zip Flower

Be sure and visit our Art Box website for the sale of these beauties.  I'll let you know when, and til then there are still a few left from our initial offering!

Urban Tree

Urban Tree

83.5” x 39”

Some projects take longer than others.  I started this one and 5 others in the summer of 2010.  I was on a roll.  Having recently completed a big stash of batiked fabrics, I had one idea after another for what to do with them.  Over about 6 weeks, I fused 6 quilt tops.  Then life slowed down a bit.  I ended up homeschooling my son which left little time to get to my stack of work waiting for me.  But, the creativity was still there, just channeled into a different venue, mostly algebra and science.  Occasionally sneaking into the studio, but progress was slow.  Then I injured my hands, with broken bones and ripped tendons, and dislocations.  What I thought before was slow, was now at a standstill for many months.  But, I was fortunate because I healed, and then started working again.

Slowly, one by one, I have been making my way through the stack.  Two of them were lucky enough to get to go to Houston this year.   Urban Tree, is in World of Beauty.  It is entered under the name "Tree" because I forgot what I was calling it when I did the entry forms.  Too funny!!  

Here are some detail shots for you... These first three are of the same block, quilted in different ways. I thought it would be fun to try to make this graphic designs look slightly different with the quilting.

 Here's a shot of one of the buildings...

Here's another building...

Here's a side shot to show more of the quilting...

And a process shot of the back before I started adding the hand quilting..

And the trees were made using some batik techniques.  Here is a fat quarter of trees that I made for the background trees...

Capital of Texas QuiltFest

Capital of Texas QuiltFest
Friday Sept 14 to Sunday Sept 16

I am delighted to announce that my quilt, Building UP, won an Honorable Mention in the Art Quilt category!

And even better, our group quilt, Artists' Garden, won a First Place in the Special Events category, and it also won a Creativity Award.  This is so special to us because we had such a great time working together on this quilt and nice to be honored for our efforts!

Artists include:  Connie Hudson (project coordinator), Cindy Henneke, Annie Smith, Frances Holliday Alford, Leslie Jenison, Sheri McCauley, Kathy York, Barb Forrister, Suzan Engler.

And, another surprise, our group quilt, Rainbow Pixel Project, also won an award, Honorable Mention in the Group Category.  Group members, Kathy York (project coordinator), Leslie Jenison, Sheri McCauley, Frances Holliday Alford, Barb Forrister, and Connie Hudson.

I also have two other quilts hanging at the show.  An all time favorite of mine, High Rise,

and Fifty, Female, and Fearless.

If you are in the area, stop by.  The show is wonderful.  It is at the Palmer Auditorium.