To Boston With Love

Saturday we went to see "To Boston with Love" at the MFA.  The flags looked great displayed all over the Shapiro Family Courtyard.  They were so colorful and festive.  I just kept smiling!

My Peace Hexies on display!

I found my hexy peace signs!  They stood out (to me, anyway) because they were on a white background.  I also met Amy, who I had corresponded with online (and purchased a pattern from) and Berene, who conceived the idea of "To Boston with Love".  It was also fun seeing flags from fellow BMQG members Alice, Jane and Alexis!

Alice's letter and Jane's peace sign and patchwork heart

Amy's "B Strong", "Love Heals" flag and her flag of the Zakim bridge

Alexis' dove and Citgo Love flags

Berene said she was exhausted but she was also pleased that her idea got so much response (over 1700 flags, according to Amy!) and that it all went so well.  Admission to the MFA was free so there was a line around the block at opening time.  Many people went to the museum to see the flags and to see the excellent Samurai exhibit!

Berene's flags:  peace sign, scrappy heart and love

Not many people can say they've exhibited at the MFA but now I can!

WIP Wednesday: A Break in the Hexy Action

I took a break in the "hexy" action to make blocks for "Quilts for Boston" and flags for "To Boston with Love".

After fighting with lovingly sewing hexagons for quite a while now, I really wanted to sew easy items. No curves or triangles or funny stuff for me this time round!  I decided to use my Pearl Bracelet fabric and some white on white bullseye fabric from Timeless Treasures left over from the hexy project. This fabric was already washed and pressed so I saved myself some time.  (By the way I bought that bullseye fabric before the pearl Bracelet Bright Star was available. Now thankfully I can use Bright Star for my hexy quilt. )

For the blocks I made 4 Bento Box blocks from Terry Brookshier's classic pattern.  Simple cutting and straight lines! It felt good to sew rectangles again!  

For the flags I decided to create peace hexies once I saw this post. Although the pattern is easy I needed it to be easier :) so I decided to use some leftover hexies and appliqué them on.

We had our Boston Modern Quilt Guild meeting last weekend. Generous souls from all over the world have sent hundreds of blocks in. Several members took blocks to make them into quilts.  There was a sew-in at gather here a couple of weeks ago so if you'd like to see some of the quilts click here.

If you are in Boston Memorial Day weekend, you can see the flags at the Museum of Fine Arts!  How cool is that??  Details here.

NEQM Car Cover

Here is a picture of the car cover quilt I promised in the Lowell Quilt Festival post! How cool is this? It takes me awhile to do things, but I get around to them, eventually!

Lowell Quilt Festival

Hello!

Yes, it's been awhile, as I was reminded by one of my readers last week. Hi DW! :) I've been busy this summer. Since I'm waiting for a thesis director to be assigned to me, I decided to take a Flash class at Massachusetts Collge of Art and Design (MassArt). I made a prototype of my thesis project. Hooray! The project is more concrete in my brain. I suppose I'll have more information on all that later. But basically, it's the reason for my other blog, FlexAIR (which I have not updated for months, by the way). I think I should rename it FlashAIR, since it doesn't look like I'll be using Flex. Anyway.... I finished that and started painting my upstairs bathrom. I thought I would paint it in a day. Hubby used to do this kind of work in another life and had other plans for me, like sanding the walls down first. Oy to the vey. Let's just say I've been doing it for a week and I'm not done yet. I have just the door to do, though, and I'll be finished. I could have finished it today, but I went to the....

Lowell Quilt Festival. There were some really nice quilts there. However, I have to say that the quilts of the 2006 and 2004 festivals were much better. I took so many pictures those years. In fact, in 2004, I went back the second day to get more pictures. I was not too heartbroken that my camera battery died today. I did happen to get the picture of the quilted car cover! How cool is that? It was quilted to advertise the New England Quilt Museum. I got a few pictures of quilts on my cell phone that I will have to figure out how to get on the computer. I don't currently subscribe to the email option on my cell phone, so I'll have to work something out. I took a picture of a really cool double wedding ring quilt. I was surprised it didn't get any awards, as was one woman who also admired the quilt.

There are also lots of vendors at the show. There aren't as many as have been in years past. I think the transportation costs has prevented people from far away from coming. I like to patronize the vendors who've come from so far. I also like finding out about local shops that I can visit.

I will talk about the vendors I visited in upcoming posts. The first vendor I'll share is Fabric Peddlers of Nederland, CO. They are a husband and wife team who have a great rapport. The husband is a bit of a jokester, which keeps things interesting between them, I'm sure. I bought a beautiful Asian fabric. They have some other beautiful Asian fabrics that I'd never seen before. I could have done some damage there, but I bought just one fabric. (I went to the show with a $50 bill and promised myself that I would not spend more than that -- including the $12 admission and $5 parking). They also had beautiful Aboriginal Australian fabric and batiks. I guess the Aboriginal fabrics are becoming popular or I'm behind the times. Lots of vendors had them, so the latter is probably true.

Note... I will post the picture of the car cover after charging the camera!

Yves Saint Laurent

When I travel to a city, I like to go to at least one museum. When I'm in Montreal, I always check out the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal. Luckily, this visit to Montreal, we were able to see the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit. If you visit Montreal before the end of September, be sure to check out the exhibit. I mostly knew of Yves Saint Laurent from YSL perfume fame. I didn't really know of his work as a designer. He designed the trapeze dress. It seems so simple now, but to the "nipped in" waist of the 1950s, it was genius! He was also the first to dress women in tuxedos. He designed women's suits based on men's styles -- he was influenced by Marlene Dietrich for that. He took inspiration from many different countries, including Spain, Russia, India, and China. His fashions were also inspired by the continent of Africa. YSL was also the first designer to use black models in his shows. And who can forget the famous Mondrian dress?

He retired in 2002 and passed away this past June. I'm thankful that this exhibit was created. I now know there was more to YSL than perfume!

The exhibit will be featured at the de Young museum in San Francisco from November 2008 - March 2009. If you can't make it to Montreal, hopefully, you can see the exhibit in San Francisco.

Road Trip!

Hubby and I are off to Montreal for a few days to take in some jazz, food, and museums. I am taking along my Quilter's Travel Companion so we can check out quilt shops along the way. Won't Hubby be excited about that? On the way home, we will definitely swing by the hallowed Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH. I am still searching for fabric for the Bento Box quilt. I hope to find the rest of them there! I'll give a full report upon our return.

Candlelite Quilts

I've been searching high and low for fabric for my Bento Box Christmas Quilt (BBCQ). I went to the New England Quilt Museum this afternoon in search of a print or two. I asked the ladies there if they had any Christmas fabric. Not yet! However, I did manage to get the "Quilter's Travel Companion". It's like a "yellow pages" for quilt shops in the US and Canada. It also has listings of quilt shows, too. It's new for 2008. How cool is this? I bought it so I can look for new shops, because I'm having a hard time finding fabric. I was really only looking for shops in Massachusetts, but this can't hurt, right? I also have an idea for a little project. More on that later.

While I was there, I also purchased "The Quilter's Catalog - A Comprehensive Resource Guide". It is full of information on everything quilting. It has information on tools, fabric, notions, collecting quilts, quilt photography, quilt shows -- the works!

I was telling the ladies at the NEQM that I was having trouble finding fabric. They suggested I go to Candlelite Quilts in Chelmsford. Chelmsford! Where is that? She mentioned 495, and passing Route 3 and then Route 110. Quite foreign to me. Anyway, Hubby is out golfing today, so I figured, "why not?" I am quite glad I did. Candlelite Quilts makes its home in a cute little cottage surrounded by a white picket fence. Candlelite Quilts has a great selection of fabric. The pinks, browns, blues, and reds, florals, polka dots, and prints are fabulous! The staff is really nice and they didn't hesitate at all when I asked for their opinion on fabric choices. I bought two fabrics for the BBCQ, two other fabrics I liked and two Candlelite Quilt mugs.

They also feature designs for wool applique, redwork, and rug punching. There was a class on using a new type of quilting ruler going on when I arrived. Too bad I didn't make it there earlier! Candlelite Quilts is definitely a keeper! I'll return the next time I'm shopping for a project.

Eggceptional Potholder!

How cute is this little potholder? It's like a mitten for cooking! I found the pattern at one of my favorite haunts, the New England Quilt Museum. The pattern is called Potholder Ladybug by EmmaCreation Arts and Crafts. I didn't use the fabric that came with it, though. The part with the eggs was supposed to be sashiko instead. Though sashiko is one of my favorite pasttimes, I wasn't super fond of the pattern. How could I resist the new twist, anyway, after seeing the egg fabric at Fabric Place?

The bottom right is a little wonky. I doubled the thermal batting and it made the laters a little too thick. I am glad for the extra batting, though. No heat gets through this baby! Next time, I'll trim that. I will do a pattern review at some point. It's fairly easy. I whipped this up in a couple of hours. There is a loop at the very top that came out surprisingly well. I hope I can duplicate that!

Yes, I spend way too much time at Fabric Place. I was there last weekend because hubby wanted to go to a sports store in the same mall. How convenient! I was good, though. I didn't buy anything. My next quilt project will be a Christmas quilt. I am not going to buy anymore fabric unless it's for that project. We'll just see about that!

Direction - The International Textile Design Show

In a previous post, I mentioned that I am starting my textile design business. I met the artist and clothing designer, Sigrid Olsen, at a talk she gave at the Peabody Essex Museum awhile back. I told her about my plans, and she suggested I attend Direction, which is exactly what I did this week. Hubby and I got up super early so I could catch the 6:20 am (!!) Acela out of Back Bay Station. I arrived at Penn Station at around 9:45 or so.

The show was held at the Penn Plaza Pavilion, which is just across 7th Avenue from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Upon first glance, the show was smaller than I'd expected. But, I wasn't disappointed. I got my badge and went upstairs to the booths. Each booth housed a design shop that presented its wares to buyers. Basically, the buyers walk around, choose a booth, introduce themselves and have a seat. Design shop reps show them their fabric designs one-by-one. The buyers choose the ones they like and the reps set them aside. I saw some people taking orders, which is the ultimate goal, of course. I do hear that the textile design business is a tough one, but just about everyone was really nice.

I talked with a few people and showed them my portfolio from my U4ia class at MassArt (Massachusetts Collge of Art and Design). I got kudos from everyone on the presentation :) and I got some good critique on my work as well. Of course, they were not there to help me get started, they were there to do busines for themselves, so I do appreciate those who took the time to talk with me.

There were so many beautiful designs. There are truly talented artists out there who are doing this work. I am not an artist, per se, but I do have an eye for design, and I think I can do well. I talked with a few students from FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in NYC. They were part of the "Forward Leap" section of the show, in which students from several schools displayed their work. The FIT students were all in a one-year textile design program. I'd already read about that program and have been wanting to do it since I found out about it! It was interesting to see their work. There are so many people who want to do this work, I've discovered. Still, I'm not deterred just yet.

There were forecasters as well. Forecasters do a lot of research to determine what the "in" thing will be the next season. They forecast style, motifs, themes, and colors, among other things. This must be a big business, because although they were out-numbered by the design houses, they were well represented. There was also a booth on fashion inspiration, Studio C Vintage. Reps from such companies travel the world to gather vintage clothing and fabric and sell them to fashion and design houses. They do insure that their items are in the public domain, so if you do base something on an item, you are safe legally. The idea is to use these pieces as inspiration, not to directly copy them. The rep there was so nice and helpful. She looked at my book, carefully, and really gave me some good points. She is a Cali girl, like myself. We have to stick together! Should I need some vintage inspiration, I will definitely use their service.

I attended a seminar given by Steve Greenberg of Pointcarre. Pointcarre is a textile design software package. He demonstrated what to do with a print once you've purchased it. If you own a print, you can manipulate it in anyway you wish, by removing or adding motifs or changing colors, for example. I used U4ia, as I mentioned, which took some getting used to (and that's putting it mildly). Pointcarre is much more intuitive.

I spoke with Steve after his talk. He told me that U4ia is no longer being distributed. (It looks like Lectra, the U4ia vendor, now markets a product called Kaledo.) Well! I was told a U4ia license costs thousands of dollars, so that doesn't surprise me. The FIT students all used Adobe Illustrator for their work, which is much less expensive, comparatively speaking. Of course, Illustrator can be used for all types of design, so there are limitations when using it for textile design. Pointcarre is specifically for textile design. I got the impression that it is quite expensive as well. Being a programmer myself, I have an idea of what goes into writing such a package, and I can't say I blame them at all.

What is a visit to NYC without a visit to Mood? More on that in the next post!