Hello all!
Here it is Monday and I didn't forget! Pictured here is a pocket from my upcoming set of dream pillows entitled "Winter Moon." They are cut, fused, and stitched, and the stars are seed beads, and sequins. The pocket will be stitched to a stuffed pillow and filled with an herbal sachet. There will be 6 in the set, and will sell for around $30 on Etsy. These have been really fun to make. Given this crappy economy we are in, I decided to try making practical art, and on a smaller scale. I would so love to make some money from my art this year. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that "Fractured Vases" was in the Plymouth Guild art show; well the opening was very fun and they gave my quilt a great spot. It was also very well received! My work is progressing slowly, though. This winter schedule we are in at work gives me practically no morning time; i feel like I am always scrambling to catch up! Plus my cat, Bowie, has been very sick, and of course it's up to me to get him to his appointments! And administer shots, and keep track of his meds...like I don't have enough to do. Got a call from that little gallery some of my stuff is in--Wee Gallery I think it is called. They want to know if I want to trade stuff and put different things in. I may just bag it. If I can't sell a framed mini there I don't see how I'll sell a quilt. Oh well. I guess I feel a little down; I hate this time of year. Till next time, folks--maybe I'll keep with the moon theme. I like it! Grimlets???

Winter Moon Dream Pillows

Whoops! A day late...I was so exhausted when I came home from work all I could think of was bedtime. Oh well, I'm here. This week I started something I hope to sell on Etsy: a series of Dream Pillows. A dream pillow is a small pillow with a pocket on it that holds an herbal sachet and is supposed to promote peaceful sleep and sweet dreams. My pocket will feature fabric art; in this case a very simple scene featuring trees, flying birds, and a full moon. I am having a lot of fun with this project; I would really like to find a way to make more money on Etsy. I will have pictures next week, of the scenes at least. Have a good week!

Fractured Vases

See, I'm back. I think it is in my head that Monday
is now blog night, so this will be a regular. Any-
way, this is the quilt I wanted to talk about tonight. This is my newest quilt called "Fractured Vases." After seeing it when it was finally I done, I realized that this was a little throwback to my quilting roots, and it was really fun to do.
It came about when my friend Janet and I were looking at an issue of Quilting Arts Magazine (Oct/Nov 2009, issue 41). Janet is a traditional quilter, and is always fascinated by the art quilts she sees. We were looking at a quilt called "The Cubist's Edge" by Frances Holliday Alford, trying to figure out how she made it, when Janet said she might actually try to make a part of it to help her understand the construction. I looked at her and said, What a great idea, I'll make one, too, and we can see how they both turn out! Frances' quilt consisted of 12 vases of flowers, but we decided to go with 4, as it would be smaller and easier to finish, as this was just an exercise. So we went into the project with no expectation and had a ball with it! After making 4 cut and fused vases of flowers, all different, we cut them into quarters and put them back together again. Boy was that tough to do ! I liked my vases! Janet stopped there, but I wanted to take mine one step further. I cut a band off each edge, allowing the width of the band, because I shifted them all to one side. If you try to see the bands you'll know what I mean. I wish I had taken a picture of Janet's, as hers looked absolutely NOTHING like mine, and was absolutely beautiful! Our color tastes are completely different, shapes were completely different. We basically followed the same steps, and ended up with 2 TOTALLY different quilts. It was a great exercise! Once I cut the bands, though, the quilt started to take on a life of its own. I saw that when I made those cuts, it made squares inside squares, and I wanted to emphasize that. I did so with lots of fabric paint, oil pastels, and top stitching, to make a light square inside a dark square inside a light square. I don't know that I will make another one in this style, but this was a great learning experience. I learned a lot by working in a different manner, and also from studying Frances' quilt. Oh, and this quilt will be hanging in the Plymouth Guild Art show that opens this Friday!

I'm Back!

I can't believe it's been since last June that I wrote in this thing! I went back looking at the pictures and it was nice to revisit! I just watched the movie "Julie and Julia" where Julie writes a blog about how she cooked all 540 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, and she was so disciplined about it! It brought me back here, that's for sure! I'm afraid part of the problem is that I am in the throes of menopause and I get very easily distracted, but enough excuses. I'll try to get you quickly caught up on what I've been up to.
The rust and blue Grimlet I just sold on Etsy last month. I have made 2 quilts, one of which is pictured. It is an abstract of a group of crocuses, and the second is another abstract about flowers, but I want to write about that one separately. This past December I had another Grimlet appear in a magazine called Haute Handbags; that is pictured, also! That was a real hoot, to see one of my pieces in a magazine! Then, of course, the holidays got in the way, and I took a little hiatus from all art, but I'm back. And since this is a good night for it, I am designating Monday night to be BLOG NIGHT. That's right, folks, I'm shooting for a weekly entry! And since I worked a 10 hour day today, I'm exhausted and going to bed soon, but it will be a lot shorter than 7 months till I'm back!

New Grimlet

Hey, all. I'm bordering on exhaustion here, but I wanted to get a picture of my latest Grimlet up. This one is for sale on Etsy. I bought the latest issue of Haute Handbags the other day, and I realized I better get going on Grimlets, as mine will be featured in the Fall issue. I think I am going to make a haunted house style next, and I really liked the crow bag I did for Rhonda, so I would like to reuse that theme as well. I think with my next one i will try to simplify the design process a bit, maybe paint more, or stencil more. They take a little too long to pit together. But I will work on that. i am in another bad sleep cycle, so I will sign off now. I'll be back soon, as I just want to chat next!

Learning Experience

What you see off to the side there is the first quilt I have done in a long time that just plain didn't work!! I was so excited to do this quilt; it would have been second in a series of quilts about the sides of buildings (following Cayuga Reflections). I loved the photograph I took this from. But as I was sewing it and adding the texture I thought I wanted.....you know you get this nagging feeling in the back of your mind that something isn't right. And, boy, I tried to ignore it and justify what I was doing, but the truth of the matter is, it just doesn't work and it 's too busy and too monotone and too complicated!!! And what a relief it was to finally be able to admit that and get on with it!!! So I am going to let it rest for a bit. I probably won't go back to that piece, but in the future I may start another one, as I still love the image. And I am still very much interested in the sides of buildings as quilt inspiration. I think I will always have a love for the geometric design and grid placement. That's my roots, I guess. So on to crocus quilts, as I ALSO still love flowers!!

Well, here it is! This is the newest addition to my family. This one was my first entry as a juried artist in the Russell Gallery at Art Guild. It didn't sell, but I think people are starting to remember me. In the current show I have put Cayuga Reflections, and it seems to be getting quite a bit of attention!
It certainly has been a very busy time, but I think I am finally getting caught up a little. I changed my business name today to Karen M. Tripp Textiles, mostly for tax purposes. But I like that! I have a new quilt cut and basted. It's #2 in my series of quilts based on the sides of buildings. Cayuga was the first. You can see that picture a little further down. I am finishing up a Grimlet I had been working on, plus I made a cool one for Rhonda. That's it up there. I would like to make a few more to put on Etsy, but I would like to find a faster way to make them. Maybe the next one will be an experiment.

I have also put some things for sale in a gallery called Oh My Gallery in downtown Plymouth. It's run by Kim Haigh; I used to work with him at Joann's. I have two quilts and four framed minis. I took some beautiful photos of crocuses the other day. I think there may be a crocus quilt in my future. Just a small one. I bought this sheer fabric that is inkjet printer ready and I'd like to experiment with that.

Speaking of crocuses, I am certainly waiting for the warm weather!! This winter was a terrible one, so cold and snowy. Hilary gave me my birthday present already; my birthday is July 8 but I am happy to have it now--we have great seats at a concert that includes Cheap Trick, Poison, and Def Leppard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait, should be so much fun!! Summer and concerts just go together, don't they? And birthdays. Summer is just my favorite time of year.

I went to see Ma today, as her birthday is tomorrow. She will be 74, but she might as well be 104! It really upsets me to see how she is growing old. She doesn't EVER go out or do anything. I offered to take her out to see my show, and then out to lunch, but she didn't want to-too far, did,'t like the long ride. It kind of hurt my feelings that she didn't want to see my show. I hate to say it, but she is my example of how NOT to grow old! That is the main reason I keep up with exercising, so I will be mobile. And I have been exercising! I have a new DVD, Biggest Loser Boot Camp. Killer exercises! I love it. And I have been running again. Need to get back my cute runner's butt!

Guess that's it for now. Going to try to get a bag on Etsy. It's Lost night tonight!