Bits and pieces

All of our lives are a combination as the Irish say of bits and pieces. A bit of a memory, a piece of a conversation, a color that flashes on the TV or a memory of the music you love.

I have a varied idea of art. I started with graphic design in college, did some painting, took a portrait drawing course and was still looking for what most artist’s call their “voice”.

This was my exploration or bits and pieces of finding myself as an artist. I became good friends with a co-worker who tried her best to convince me to look at quilting. Thank you Marci H., but I have yet to do a regular quilt.

Too static, too technical for my “can’t cut anything square personality”.  The next step was to be crazy quilts. A form of quilting that basically started during the Victorian age. You take bits and pieces of fabric from dresses, shirts or whatever before it is thrown out. You take them, do a patchwork of a quilt then add some embroidery to dress up the seams.

Today this form of creative exploration has morphed into what ever you want it to be on fabric. It does use the basis of traditional quilting, three layers and embroidery of some kind but also includes found objects, antique lace, buttons, beads to meet the creators voice.

I use cotton, hand dyed velvet and silk fabric sometimes with a printed image on fabric that is pieced onto a base of muslin. I then add trims, rick rack, or other laces to the seams, add embroidery, silk ribbon work. beads or buttons to embellish the block.

I have the wondrous fortune to meet once a month with like minded artists of this kind. We take part of a round robin by exchanging pieced blocks with each other to embellish for each other.

This way if there are 9 who are involved in a round robin, I have nine blocks that I pieced but only 8 of them have my own stitching on them. I just love how each and every one of them are different but each block has their own “signature”. I can look at one block and know that was done by Marci or Pam. And I have 9 blocks to make a small quilt but did not do all nine myself. This is a treasure for certain and I am blessed to have such company to call friends.

I love the no rules freedom that is crazy quilting. I also know that all the bits and pieces that I bring to my crazy quilting shows in my choices, colors and stitching. I know that these same crazy quilters can see me in their blocks by knowing my stitching choices, the type of trims and bead work in the same way I recognize their hand work.

Here are some examples of the crazy quilting I have done in the last several years. I truly love doing this art and will continue as long as there are bits and pieces to put down to fabric.

Let me know what you think…Happy stitching.