Kristin Shields Quiltmaker

Indigo Blues

Indigo Blues was made for a very dear friend's 50th birthday.  It includes some true Japanese indigo blues and some imitation indigo prints.  I actually started this project several years ago and had in mind to make her a table runner.  When I went to the cupboard of doom (aka the WIP drawer) this summer I found this project and decided on the spur of the moment to make it into a lap quilt.  I enjoyed the process, mainly 'cause it was nearly done.  The columns of strips were already put together.  I only had to go to the stash to find the appropriate fabric for the connecting columns.  

I machine quilted this one with simple straight lines, about 3/4" apart.  My straight lines are never really straight though.  I mailed this off about a week after her birthday and it's been happily received.  I even have a photo of my friend with the finished quilt and it delights me to see her big smile.  The cupboard of doom isn't completely cleaned out, but I sure did make a big dent in it this summer.  For now I will be working on some new projects so I don't when I'll get back to it.  

The last couple of months have been so busy with taking classes, teaching classes, travel and a nasty cold that I haven't done a whole lot new to show you.  What I have done has been documented on Instagram, so check there if you are curious (see the link in the sidebar).  You'll also see lots of photos from our travels.  I am finally back to the studio this week though and will soldier on despite a lingering cough and low energy.  The weather has turned finally and so there are good studio days ahead, I'm sure.  More to come when I've got something to show!

PS:  Remember I'm teaching Liberated Stars at QuiltWorks next Friday, October 24, 10-4.  Click here for more info.

Soaring on a Winter's Evening

This is a small quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago for the Studio Art Quilt Associate's 25th Anniversary Trunk Show in 2014.  This is not a juried show, but of the quilts received, some will be juried into a group that will remain in a permanent collection at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY.  All of the quilts sent in will be part of traveling exhibits for 2 years.  I'm just happy to have something to send in!  

This piece measures 7" x 10", the standard for this show.  I really love working this small and I really love this piece, so I'd be happy to get it back again someday.  

I hope to continue making smaller pieces like this next year.  After the new year I'll be working on a piece for The Undercover Quilters 2014 challenge.  I plan to do something similar for that.  More on that later.  

The Spirit of the Wood

My Novel Idea quilt is done!  The Spirit of the Wood was inspired by The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, which was chosen as the Deschutes Public Library Novel Idea Book this year.  This fabulous story was itself inspired by the Russian folktale of The Snow Child or The Snow Maiden.  It is set in Alaska in the 1920's and tells the story of a childless couple who somehow come to know a small girl who survives in the Alaskan winters in the company of a red fox.  Previous posts are here and here.

I read this book during the snowiest part of our winter, just after Christmas, and it was magical.  There are so many passages that are evocative of the time and place, so many opportunities to be creatively inspired.  I took notes and could have made a dozen different quilts.  It was very hard to pare it down to the things I most wanted to have in my quilt.  In fact, if I had the time I have two other ideas I'd love to make into quilts!

The fox was the very first thing I wanted to have here and it was a bit of a challenge to try to get an approximation of the colors and the eyes.  Faces are always a challenge for me, but in the folk art tradition, eyes do not have to be symmetrical and perfect.  In this quilt, the Spirit of the Wood may be the fox, the owl, or even the trees.  I needed a title that wasn't just "The Snow Child" and spent a 1/2 hour browsing the pages to find something that would fit.  How perfect is this name given that embroidered "S"!  

While there were many different animals mentioned in the book (I made a list of over 30), I didn't notice owls.  However, this one just begged to be included and adds the touch of color I wanted up there by the moon.

The "S" could signify snow child, snow, snowflakes, snow angels, stars, swan feathers, spirit or even Shields.  I think it looks a bit like a cloud in the sky.  

Subtle elements I included are the snow angels and swan feathers, both important to the story.  In addition to the wonderful plot of this book, there are many references to hand sewing and embroidery.  I tried to emulate Mabel's hand stitched snowflakes.

The book title is couched to the bottom of the panel with some of my hand spun yarn and embroidery floss.

The panel itself is made from a vintage table runner that already had the crocheted edging.  I cut it in half and dyed it in indigo last summer, before I knew about the book project.  I love reusing vintage textiles this way.  In fact, the "S" fabric is an indigo dyed vintage hanky, the snow is made from two different vintage (and well used) kitchen linen towels.  The edging at the top is an indigo overdyed linen table cloth.  It's the only part that was machine sewed because I was running out of time and my fingers were too sore to contemplate hand sewing it down.  The trees and fox were hand dyed by me (except the trunks which are a commercial batik).

I hope you enjoyed this mini tour of The Spirit of the Wood.  This piece will hang in the QuiltWorks gallery for the whole month of April.  The reception is Friday, April 5, 5-7 pm and there will be 50-60 quilts in this Snow Child exhibit.  I've seen many of them and it's going to be amazing!  We hope the author will have a chance to see the quilts when she comes for her lectures the first weekend of May.

Blue and Orange

Blue and orange seem to be taking over the studio.  I was just standing in my studio, looking at my table and realized that this is quite a coincidence.

First there was the liberated cat quilt that I got out and started making more blocks for over the weekend.  

Then there were the piles of fabric I just pulled for a liberated star quilt for Ryan.  You see, his graduation is coming up and I just realized that he'd be due a quilt!  Hurray, another quilt to add to the growing list.  Fortunately, I know I will love to make this one and I think it will do double duty and be in the show this July too.

For the past two days I've been obsessed with trying to make a plan for my next Novel Idea piece.  This year the book that has been chosen is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.  If you haven't read it, you must!  It is a marvelous book, universally liked by everyone I've talked to and very quilt friendly.  After two days of poring over books, illustrations and re-reading passages in the book, I've chosen a simple folk arty design with a fox, some trees, and a hand dyed moon.  Nearly all the fabrics are ones that I hand dyed and they also include several vintage linens, including the marvelous background piece with the attached lace.  I'm looking forward to this one!

So, I guess I'm all about the blue and orange.  I just looked back at some older posts and realized this is not a first for me.  Both of my quilts in the Sisters Quilt Show flyer are blue and orange and that January AAQI quilt, Dandy Lion, is blue and orange.  Hmmmmm..  Wonder what that says about me?

Dye Series Part 8- The Last, Indigo

You knew indigo would show up sooner or later, didn't you?  That's a pile of stuff that was dipped in the vat without any shibori techniques (plus a little sample of something overdyed in walnut).  I decided I needed to use the itajime shapes on indigo and thought this is probably the best use for them.  There is no need to let the shapes stay clamped on unless you are going to re-dip the pieces.  So, I made moon after moon, and some of Jude's butterflies.  I over dyed commercial cloth and dyed over thrift store linen.  All around, a very good time!

The orange is a thrift store shirt overdyed with indigo.  Makes nice spooky sorts of moons.

I did a lot of quarter moons too.

What fun.  Indigo is always an experiment for me, but now that I've got all these shapes, they'll start showing up in some slow cloth pieces over time.

I hope you enjoyed the Dye Series.  Maybe you noticed the page in the header.  You can click there to see all the posts in one spot and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

My October has been terribly busy with a full week Rosalie Dace workshop last week, a guild workshop on Tuesday, community quilts day on Wednesday, and today is homecoming.  My son has been chosen as a Homecoming Duke so it's a busy weekend.  Next week what may be my last days of class with Gwen Marston since she will be retiring next year.  Meanwhile I've got hundreds of photos from activities this summer that I wanted to post.  Don't worry, I won't go overboard with that.  This blog has really been in the background these last few months, but I hope to get back to more regular posting in a few weeks.  

I hope you are having a wonderful autumn.  It's my favorite time of year and leaves are starting to turn.  We are set to get our first real rain of the season this weekend.  Hopefully, that will keep down the dust and smoke that have gotten a little out hand this year.  See you soon!

Tea is done!

I just finished this piece and it's off to QuiltWorks for the gallery show today. Tea is No Minor Beverage is inspired by The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It measures approximately 20" x 20". Here's my quilt description:

Tea is No Minor Beverage

Renée, a Paris apartment building concierge, has one true friend named Manuela.  They meet for tea and pastry on a regular basis.  Renée tries to hide her talents and interests from the people who live in her building.  As the book progresses, Renée’s true character emerges and she develops deep friendships with Monsieur Ozu, a wealthy and cultured Japanese businessman, and Paloma, a precocious 12 year old girl, both of whom live in the building.  Tea brings these characters together and seemed to me a fitting symbol of them all.

p. 91:  “So, let us drink a cup of tea… I know that tea is no minor beverage.  When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.”

This piece is created with hand appliqué; hand embroidery; hand dyed fabrics and threads; and cotton, linen and silk fabrics.

This is what it looked like last night.  One of the things I did was to couch down a sample of handspun mohair that I made a couple of years ago.

In the past couple of days I added a bunch of quilting stitches.

Today I was adding the glass beads and buttons.  I just ordered these blue glass buttons from Etsy and got them the other day.  I had no plans for them, but they seemed just right here.

I think the back is always interesting to see.  The heavier lines are created by quilting with a back stitch.

Finally a tiny hedgehog had to be on the back and my signature.  This is what I finally came up with and I like it a lot.  My signature post should be coming up soon. 

***Lastly, I haven't heard from Val yet. Please email me soon, Val.  I don't have your contact info in your comment. **

AAQI for November

Little Blue Lamb was just finished for my Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative piece for November.  I keep rolling along with the Quilt-A-Month club.  This piece was started in Jude Hill's Patchwork Beasts class in September 2010.  A little more stitching, some batting, a backing and a facing and it's done.  I like using my old class samples for this sort of thing.

I realized a few days ago that I don't have a photo of my October AAQI quilt.  I thought I had taken one, but can't find it anywhere.  The photo isn't up at AAQI yet, but you can keep track of it here if you like.  Tulip Fields started with the class sample below, from a workshop that Jean Wells did for our guild last month.  She gave us most of the fabrics you see below to use for experimentation and said that they weren't a very good palette.  That was enough of a challenge for me to make it work.  I added some extra bits and even more when I did some applique and stitching.  This one should be up in the next week or so.

Right now, the AAQI people are at the International Quilt Festival in Houston doing an amazing job at selling some 1500 mini quilts for AAQI!  I have 4 quilts there as far as I can tell and 2 have sold so far.  Nine Daisies and Through the Window I have sold!  Zoom and High Desert Sun are still available at last count.  Over $20,000 has been made at the festival so far!

Last night

Made a design decision last night and even got to execute it.  More stitching today- hurray!

Magic Feather #4

Magic feather #4 is done and I'm working on 5 and 6. You can learn more about the Magic Feather Project here. I had fun doing the protrusions on this one. I think the most fun is making it up as you go along. I love the freedom to not know what's coming next.

And a note to say that my new Etsy shop is up and running!  Thanks for checking it out at the link in the header.  More items will be added as time goes on and I get my act together.

Tea continues and a bit of early Autumn

Tea is No Minor Beverage continues, with lots of added stitching.  

I didn't notice until I took these photos, that my stitching has echoes of the pattern in the saucer.  It's funny how the mind works.

Meanwhile, early autumn in Bend has been glorious this week! It's been just lovely during the day and I can hardly wait to get out for a walk. Yesterday Ryan and I took Scrabble for a walk to the library and stopped for a few photos along the way.