Fresh Plus

Fresh Plus
35.5"x 34.75"

I have completely fallen for the Modern Quilt movement.  The fresh lines, contemporary designs, and great colors appeal to me.  So, I am trying my hand at a few.

I made these batik window blocks earlier...These have just been overdyed for a second time and still have the wax on them.  I am rinsing them on the line outside, and letting them dry before bringing them inside to boil off the wax. 

and finally paired them up with some white sashing and a bit of pieced orange sashing to create the orange plus motif.  Then finished it off with some hand quilting in the upper right corner.  I love the offset nature of the big blocks, and the organic feel of the batik.

How to Make a Tiny Art Quilt

How to Make a Tiny Art Quilt
Process of a quilt for ArtBox csa

First, I start with inspiration.  I had an idea to make this fabric.  I headed out to the garage and pinned some white fabric to a frame.  Then, one by one, I drew these circles with a tjanting tool.  It went a lot better than I expected (as I was expected a lot of wax dripping, but I got lucky, or perhaps enough skill now...). 

Then I mixed up about 6 different colors of dye, and one by one, painted in the centers of the circles.  This took a long time, but I was hopeful it would look good when I finished.  After dye painting the centers, I let it dry, and then painted over the dye with more wax.  Then I was able to dye the entire piece in turquoise.  Next step, wait 24 hours for the turquoise to set, and then rinse in cold water, and boil out the wax.  I always wash my batiks in detergent in the washing machine to finish the process.  I loved the results and decided to use this fabric for my next series of art boxes!

 

The first step to creating the work was to layer two pieces of white cotton fabric (approximately 12" x 12") with a layer of batting in between.  I traced the canvas on the white fabric lightly with a pencil to define my composition area.

Next, I gathered enough supplies to make all six of the art boxes, hoping that this would save time.  I pre-cut as much as possible.  The list includes, the dot batik fabric, centers of the flowers pre-cut, left over batik flowers from another project, dyed turquoise batting, zippers, green stems from fused fabric, green leaves from a commercial print, and yellow squares (these will be trimmed to 8" x 8") with batting and white fabric layered.

I took the precut batik dot fabric and fused it into place.  The top edge has been turned under to finish, and lies right on top of the pencil line along the top of the square I drew.

Next step, I added some fusible to the back of the zipper.  There are probably different ways to put on a zipper in this curvy shape, but I thought fusible might be easiest.  I turned down the top edge of the zipper and fused it to itself and the same with the bottom of the zipper.  I slowly pressed the zipper into place as I held it and curved it to match the shape of the fabric under it.  This only works if the zipper is unzipped as shown in the photo.  Next, I top stitched the zipper in place.  I used a zipper foot to do this on my sewing machine.

Next I prepared the flower.  I fused it to the turquoise batting, and machine quilted around in circles and then around the edge.  Next, with sharp scissors, I cut out the center.  I used a large eyed needed and six strand embroidery floss to whip stitch around the center of the cut edge.  Last I trimmed the batting to be visible just beyond the edge of the flower fabric.  It is now ready to add to the quilt.  But first....

I placed the yellow quilt sandwich (yellow fabric on top, batting, white fabric on the bottom) on top of the zipper section, making sure that the yellow fabric will completely cover the pencil marked square on the white fabric.

Then with the pencil again, I light traced the lump of the zipper onto the yellow fabric.  I used this pencil line as a guide to machine quilt the yellow block, sort of echoing the shape of the curve of the zipper.

With a rotory cutter and mat, I used a grid ruler to cut the yellow into a perfect 8" x 8".  Then I cut this apart with scissors along the pencil line of the zipper.  The part where the zipper and batik dot fabric shows through is tossed aside and will not be used.

The curve along the zippered shaped is gently trimmed with scissors to get a good fit.  Then the yellow quilted sections are placed on top and satin stitched into place.  I used pins to hold it while I was stitched just the zippered edge. It was difficult to stitch near the zipper pull, so I alternated zipping it up or down just a bit to stitch through that section. Next step is to fuse the flower center, the flower stem, and the leaf.

I pinned the quilted flower into place and machine stitched along the batik blue edge to hold it in place.  I also satin stitched the leaf, and hand quilted the stem with the embroidery floss again.

Next, I machine quilted my name in the lower corner,

Then satin stitched the rest of edges of the yellow block to the white background carefully missing the edge of the "Y" in my name!

The last step, I did not take photos of , sorry!  I fold the little quilt diagonally through the corners (right sides together) and machine stitch a right angle to the edge of the white fabric, and then trim the excess.  This shapes the little quilt into a 3D small box and the canvas slips right in leaving the quilt perfectly positioned on the edge of the canvas.  The final edges are folded to the back and stapled in place to the back of the canvas.  I sign the back of each canvas and name the quilt.  This one is called Zip Flower.

You can purchase one of these quilts at our ArtBox csa website (ArtBox csa has been closed).

On the Quilt Scene with Quilting Arts

On the Quilt Scene with Quilting Arts

I knew that my quilts were being considered for publication in this magazine, but I didn't know if they had gotten in or not....until someone got a copy and told me.  It was pretty exciting, but I was looking forward to seeing for myself.  Then I got a copy and I was blown away!  The images were so beautiful and they gave me close ups of my work.  TOO NICE!  Thank you so much Quilting Arts!  And the other photos in this issue were awesome, some of my absolute favorites.  Feels like this issue was made just for me!

On the Quilt Scene, Community Gardens

Show catalog, and on the Quilt Scene- Tree

And, I am a fairly good photographer, if I do say so myself! But I have a hard time getting the colors accurate, and well, these photos are perfect! 
And, after arriving at the quilt show in Houston on Sunday, we got a show catalog.  Low and behold, one of my quilts was in the catalog.  It was for the exhibit Rituals, and my quilt Morning Commute with Sweet Jane was there! 

Houston International Quilt Festival

Houston International Quilt Festival

Another year at the Houston Quilt Festival.  It opened yesterday, if you don't count Wed night which is open to IQA members for a special preview.  I am happy to have so much of my work there, but wish I could be there now!  This year I have 3 quilts in the judged show and a number of quilts in other exhibits. Two of the entries in the judged show are in the group category. It is so interesting to see what our different groups come up with for a project.
Here are our group quilts..

 

Balancing Act

Exquisite Journey

and my entry in the Whimsical category.

Urban Tree

I also had a new quilt juried into Tactile Architecture.

Community Garden

Community Garden detail

And I have a quilt in Dinner@8, a juried invitational, this year's theme was Rituals.

Morning Commute with Sweet Jane

Let's not forget the last portion of the SAQA fundraiser...

Square in a Square

And I have six postcards in the Friends for Life fundraiser.  You can see them here.
Last, I think this is my first time in the photography exhibit called  Eye of the Quilter: Favorite Things.  I submitted 3 entries and this is the one that was selected!

Succulent

Synchronized Swimming returns for another lap around the block!

Synchronized Swimming returns for another lap around the block!

A while back, I wrote an article about how I made the 3D fish for this quilt, Synchronized Swimming, and it was published in Quilting Arts Magazine.  Well, they have collected a number of articles about embellishments and are offering it in an Ebook.  I am delighted to find out that my quilt will be in the book!

Synchronized Swimming

Over-The-Top Embellishment for Quilts and More

Also, if you haven't had a chance to visit my Etsy store please check it out (shop has been closed).  I have a number of small quilts for sale, most are canvas wrapped (though not all), and I will be adding new items frequently!  I have also updated the shop profile to include photos and the story of my new store.  Fun!
Thanks for stopping by!

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!!