penny-studionotes-2

When making each of the quilts that developed into my series about loss, I worked from compelling needs of my own; I had little thought of an audience.  But as others have seen the work, I have found out that it speaks to other people as well, and that is gratifying too.  I've recently received two requests to show my work, one in a museum, the other in a book.  I am grateful for this recognition, and the chance it provides for more people to see two of my quilts. The museum:  The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts asked me to contribute one or two quilts to their upcoming exhibit on the theme " In Death ", which will be on exhibit from July through December, 2017.  They left the choice of work up to me. I'm probably going to submit " Self-Portrait, Year 2: Beneath the Surface " and " Holiness ." The book:  I was also invited to include "Self-Portrait, Year 2" in a book being put together by the Modern Quilt Guild , featuring about...

I've also been working on the printed napkin project , started in the workshop I took with Claire Benn in October.  In the last week, I've made two more screens (bottom left and bottom right in the above photo), and I tried out six colors for the base fabric.  On all six, I used a dark value of Dharma's MX Indigo-colored dye when pulling the prints.  My thoughts on each of the above, with numbering starting with the upper left.   Lavender :  This screen was made by stamping with 2"acrylic squares.  I'm happy with the color.  I also like the design, though I've just made another screen with the same size squares, hoping that I get a better application of the matte medium that I stamp with.  I'd like to have more lavender showing after the print. Chartreuse:  For this one, I cut out bowl-shaped stamps from sheets of foam, and stamped the screen.  I'm happy with both the color and the design. Teal :  For this one, I drew on the screen ...

I've also been doing some embroidery.  It started back in the spring of 2014, when I began doing a variety of embroidery stitches on my "Plain Spoken" quilt.  I eventually ripped out all that embroidery on that quilt because I didn't like the look of the varying stitches on this quilt.  But I did like doing the embroidery.  I used some of the stitches for borders on hand-dyed napkins. And I've also used them on a series of embroidered hamsa gifts.  A hamsa is protective/good luck amulet, common to Middle Eastern cultures.  I made two for friends in cancer treatment.  The first was incorporated as a block into a quilt made by friends.  The second hangs from a loop of thread. This fall, I made four more as gifts for several adults in my congregation who I tutored  for their collective b'nai mitzvah ceremony this November.  This first of these I did  in a class with Laura Wasalowski, fusing pieces of my hand-dyed fabric. I liked th...

It has been many months since I've made a quilt.  I finished piecing " Holiness " in March, 2016, and then worked on a couple of other pieces about stones until deciding in June that the series was complete with Holiness.  The next couple of months were spent preparing for my August exhibition (with a side-trip to a workshop with Paula Kovarik).  I spent September preparing for a print-making workshop with Clare Benn in October.  For a few weeks after the workshop, I did follow-up work from that, lining up elements of the cloth napkins I'd like to be making.  But I really missed sewing, so I interrupted the napkin-making to come back to a quilt I had started in the spring, a wedding gift for friends.  The inspiration for this quilt was one by  Cecilia Koppman : La Torre de Babel (The Tower of Babel) by Cecilia Koppman I liked the neutral background and the splashes of color.  I saw a photo first, and only later the title of the quilt.  Not so...