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My first show

In November of 2019 I hung my first solo show at  Monroe Community Church in Grand Rapids.  Getting ready for this show has been a great experience: prepping work to hang, creating an artist statement, crafting a story, learning how to ruthlessly curate, pondering selling works, …

Here are a few glimpses for you.

Infrastructure series worked on the green-gray wall.
Advent dyed fabric piece paired with two hidden infrastructure pieces that highlight the lifecycles that we experience in our water systems. 
The large dyed fabric on the left was inspired by the Advent season, a time of hope.  Using symbols from my Flint water crisis series, I explored how a messy system can find renewal through a community effort, including university researchers, contractors, and government officials. Our call in Advent and every day is to be agents of hope, peace, joy, and love in our communities and the world. 
The 12″ pieces on the left are from my Flint series and were hung in pairs. 

Special thanks to Brent for his assistance in hanging the show.  Couldn’t have done it without him!

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getting unstuck

Wondering why it has been over two years since I posted?  So am I!

I hit a creative roadblock that stalled my sewing for most of 2017 and even into 2018. Finally in September of 2018 I wrote down a list of quilts to finish with the goal of finishing by New Years Day 2019. (I will say that instagram also has changed my blogging habits … )

My scary list!

  • PIPE: 2 piece whole cloth
  • Big yellow quilt top
  • Large white quilt top with blue “cyclone”
  • PIPE: small, purples, white, khaki
  • PIPE: medium purples, white/khaki
  • PIPE: small, gray/blue, white/payne’s gray
  • PIPE: medium, circle with crosses
  • Infrastructure with binding tape
  • Infrastructure – gray green with pipes
  • Joe Cunningham Workshop Quilt?

After writing this list, I realized how many tops I had and that I was getting stuck on the quilting and I just needed to finish things!

Which, I began to do…

Pipes 1, Infrastructure 7 & 8, Cycle 1, September and October 2018

Then I got caught up in moving to a new house and a new studio… but once I unpacked I got back into the sewing…
Pipes 2, 11.4″x12.75″, early 2019
Pipes 2, closeup
Pipes 4, 10.5″x10.5″, early 2019
Pipes 3, 8″x9″, early 2019

Not quite by New Years, but progress is good!  Photographing in my new studio and house is proving to be challenging, so learning how to photograph quilts well is a work-in-progress!

Then came Lent, and a commitment to try some new things. This included trying resist dyeing on pieced quilt tops. The design board and the results…

Lenten Twelves 2, 12″x12″, April 2019
Lenten Twelves 1, 12″x12″, April 2019
Lenten Twelves 3, 12″x12″, April 2019
Lenten Twelves 5, 12″x12″, April 2019
Lenten Twelves 14, 12″x12″, April 2019

Then, on to the big quilts!

Worn, 21.5″x22.75″, May 2019
Closeup of Worn
“Worn” giving me inspiration in my studio!
Atonement, 12.5″x22″, Summer 2019
Cycle 2, 27″x39.5″, Summer 2019
Cycle 2 closeup

My scary list revisited in July of 2019…

  • FINISHED PIPE: 2 piece whole cloth
  • FINISHED Big yellow quilt top
  • FINISHED Large white quilt top with blue “cyclone”
  • FINISHED PIPE: small, purples, white, khaki
  • FINISHED PIPE: medium purples, white/khaki
  • FINISHED PIPE: small, gray/blue, white/payne’s gray
  • FINISHED PIPE: medium, circle with crosses
  • FINISHED Infrastructure with binding tape
  • FINISHED Infrastructure – gray green with pipes
  • Deferred indefinitely Joe Cunningham Workshop Quilt?
  • +FINISHED 5 Lenten Twelve Pipes that weren’t on my original list!
Also found time for sewing a baby blanket and samples for my daughter Kelsey of Lovely and Enough in the middle of these UFO’s.
What next?  Creative block still rears its head, but has mostly been sorted. So, I began to dive into a series on the Flint Water crisis that had been hanging around in my head for a long time and I just hung a show.  But, that is another story…
Thanks for reading and supporting my creative endeavors!
Blessings,
Jen
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growing design

Two years ago at the beginning of Lent (a season of 40 weekdays in the Christian church before Easter) I participated in a hand-made printed fabric swap hosted by Leslie over at Maze & Vale. I had dyed fabric for quilting before, but this was my first attempt at printing. Fun, but really challenging! I received great fabrics from my partners, but wasn’t sure how I would use them. 

Finally last summer I used a modified version of the tutorial from Ashley over at Make It & Love It to make a bag and used a few of the prints I received in the swap on the pocket (the great tan trees and green trees and sprouts). Its become my trusty library tote! I love the reminder of the encouraging women who were part of the swap. I have another bag using the other swap fabrics laid out and waiting on the unfinished object pile.

 

My daughter Kelsey participated in the swap as well … that may be how I was drawn into it? We did it together. Since then she has completed an art degree with a senior show focussed on art quilts using her own screen printed fabric and continues to design fabric and blog at Lovely and Enough while also in grad school.

This past summer Kels designed four sewing themed prints for a Spoonflower challenge just for fun. We ordered some fabric with no real purpose. Then I remembered the bag. I used tips from Suzanne at Just Another Hang Up to make a more robust bag with the same pattern. Kelsey’s fabrics are the outside and inner pockets, with a wonderful shot cotton solid for the lining. The bag is a great size for hauling notebooks and supplies to meetings!  (I may have used it a few times before I finally sent it to her)

  
This year during Lent Kelsey and I have decided that we are going to do a 12″ quilt every week as our way of being creative just because we can. I’ve picked a wonderful wintery palette of fabric and we will see what emerges.
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work in progress

I’m feeling the need for a revamp, and Kelsey says this blog format doesn’t always view well on portable devices, so I’m requesting your patience while I update my format! Thanks. — Jen