It’s always a question. Sometimes we have better answers than others.
There is the mechanical approach: Study 225, Floral Composition or Noir 393. I do number my tapestries just to keep the confusion down. I have 1,219 documented quilts. I have to keep track somehow. I number them with their place in line, and add the year. This quilt is 1219-26.
It’s helpful. But that’s an awful name.
The name is something else. Your relationship with your piece starts sometimes before you start. An image that grabs you. Notes from a song. Colors in the garden. It gets inside you and swirls with your imagination. Sometimes that sugguests the name.
As you bring the piece into the world, step by step, you know a bit better what it is, what it means. Maybe. Sometimes I don’t for years. But you have to call the piece something other than “Hey you!”
Pretty Bird
If it’s a bespoke piece, I let the owners tell me. Their relationship with the piece is much more important. They tell me what it’s called.
Pinkie
Sometimes I do an art joke. The name should let people into the joke. Pinkie is an art joke. She was made as the spoonbill version of Reynold’s Pinkie.
Sometimes it’s a quilt in a series. I have a number of Floral Arrangements, because I’m fascinated with the idea of bugs as gardeners.
Fish Rising
The fish in the stream series echos that. The names aren’t all the same, but it’s such a strong image for me that I am compelled to come back to it again and again.
Royal Rails
Sometimes the creatures themselves name the quilt.
Rose Owl
Sometimes the components around the piece tell you what is going on. The roses and the moths display a warm spring night, scented by roses, and attended by moths.
You gather the pieces and you tell yourself stories about it. I find the background tells me the most. And it changes the story entirely. It tells you where and when this is happening.
This quilt started from some research where the octopus looked like they were creeping across the ocean floor. Even while swimming. I started to call him creeper.
He’s not that sinister. But he’s definitely hunting.
Sometimes, the title sticks. And you use it. Or you search for something else.
I can’t call this guy creeper. I’ve got to do better than that.
I have a commission that I want to share with you.
I don’t do these often because commissions are hard. Commissions demand a lot of communication that sometimes doesn’t work as well as it should. It’s hard to talk about something that is strictly visual.
But this is for a friend. And it’s a small piece. We’ve talked through what she wants. It’s a 7×10-inch ruby-throated hummingbird with a flower. I’m pretty confident it will be what this lady desires.
Because it’s a small piece, I’ve decided to do a series of articles and videos about making it. It covers different skills and processes. For you, it’s a look behind the scene to see how quilts are made. For my owner, she has full documentation. You can all watch step by step how this quilt is created.
She wanted a red-throated hummingbird.
It all starts with a drawing. I draw out sometimes just my subject. Because this is a commission I drew out a number of birds so my owner could choose. These drawings are on Totally Stable, which is an iron on, removable stabilizer that has a good drawing surface. I use it for all my patterns.
This is the bird she chose. I need that bird flying left to right. But because the pattern goes into the back side, the face side will be left to right.
I also need to zone my pattern. She has a green body, grayish wings, and a red throat. Zoning reminds me what threads to use in the top of my machine. Each zone will have several colors within that range that go on the bobbin side. Since we’re upside down, that’s where they’ll show.
What’s next? Stitching in. And figuring out how to make the video program work better. Next week
Want to see this completed? You’ll find the whole project on my Patreon Page.
Many of you have probably had classes with me. God bless you for that! I love my students for their enthusiasm, their creativity, their generosity and their company. We’ve all been on this journey together. I’ve watched us reach for stars, and sometimes catch them too. We grow with our art, by our art, and through our art.
But time catches up. I don’t really teach at guilds anymore. The travel is too hard. That doesn’t mean I’m not growing through my art. I’m still finding new things to do and new ways to do them. ‘And I always want to share them with you.
There’s another downside to not being able to travel. I’m in danger of losing my studio. Because I’m not teaching on the road, I don’t have a steady source of income. I understand it. We’re in a tight economy, and there isn’t always money for art.
So it seems we need to find new ways to do that. I do have a blog. I share on Facebook and Instagram, but I want to give you access to more. I want a place where you can get class booklets that are currently unavailable. Or look up a technique and see it demonstrated step by step. I’ll offer small projects that make a big difference in your skill level. I’ll feed you lots and lots of eye candy. I want to welcome you to where I live, in my studio.
If you’re unfamiliar with Patreon, it’s a platform where you can support me and I can share with you. You become my patron in whatever level is comfortable for you. There is a free tier as well. It’s a small and more regular way to keep art going and to be part of that art.
I’m currently working on a book called In The Studio, which is about the process of creating fiber art. Not the cleaned-up version. I want to show the zigzag process of design and creation. I’ll be offering this book live as I write it so you can see it first.
As a community, quilters have supported me in ways that still stun me. And when I come to you with a need, you’ve all responded so kindly. I would not have become the artist I am without your kindness, care, and support.
So what would you like to see? I need to know. I’m offering books and articles that have become unavailable, project and technique articles and videos, early access to In The Studio, my current book project, live question-and-answer sessions, mentoring, and quilt points where you can purchase a quilt with your Patreon contribution.
I want to honor that support by starting a quilt point program. Every dollar you send me through the Patreon Soar tier goes toward any quilt you wish to purchase. In love with a special quilt? Tell me, and I’ll hold it for you.
Are you interested? What can I offer you? Will you join me?
Last week I did my first class with the MAP kids at the Peoria Art Guild. Yesterday we did the follow-up class.
These are amazing kids. Already serious and accomplished artists at 17, they can do anything.
We did collage with all kinds of fabrics. We had three more kids arrive yesterday. They jumped right in.
The MAP program is a mentoring project for hight school students. They’re exposed to all kinds of art and processes. There will be a show of their work early summer. It should be eye-opening.
Here’s some of their wonderful works.
Working with them was a privilege. Can’t wait until summer to see their show!
One of the things I’m most annoyed about with age is the loss of old friends. I’m not just getting older. My friends are too. Sometimes it’s just space, distance, and travel limitations that make being close harder. Sometimes it’s recalcitrant beliefs. But as we get older, the ultimate distance is death.
At 72, I’m still asking who I might be when I grow up. It’s a different list than it was 20 years ago. But I know for a certainty I’m not there. When I lose people who I would like to be like. it unmoores me. We lost Ruth Rackster, right before Christmas.
I met Ruth Rackster through her daughter, Krystal, at St Francis’s Episcopal Church in Chesterton, IN. She was sitting with Elena, Krystal’s third child. Elena had a huge thing for ladybugs. She’d found some that had died and was inconsolate. But Ruth was there, consoling her. Somehow that turned into a lap that smoothed away the horror of the moment.
Ruth was a beautiful person, especially as she aged. But what she did best was radiate calm. I’m not sure if it was strictly a Christian thing on her part. It’s just what she brought to the party. She didn’t try to fix things, or tell you what to do, or what you should have done. She brought her presence and warmth to each situation, and that was real comfort in acceptance of what was going on, and of yourself.
It was a well-needed gift. The Levis had some hard times. Ruth was there, and she was a calm path past the current hardships.
I remember sitting at her table, tea in hand, over and over as she pulled me back into the light.
I’m glad she got to see her grandchildren grown into such excellent people. I’m glad she got to see Krystal marry the love of her life. I’m glad got to live in the light she radiated, as she illuminated us.
It just snowed here today. Not a lot. Just enought to remind us that summer has past.
I don’t quilt snow very much. I’m not a fan. Mostly I quilt the gardens and ponds in my head, where it’s warm and wonderful, and wonders never cease.
To help you bring your own summer back, these little flower quilts are all on sale for under $100 dollars. For your own sun room or to warm someone else’s space.
Would you like something a little bigger? We have those on sale too.
As a woman who was a 62 year old spinster, I’m not much of a romantic. But life is about surprises. It’s almost our 10th reunion. Don was the biggest surprise of my life.
He’s also impossible to buy any thing for. He wears clothes he’s had for over 10 years. If I buy him toys or tools, he rarely uses them.
I don’t quite understand that, but I find married life is not about understanding, necessarily. It’s about accepting. And enjoying the differences.
He does like cards.
I’m not a paper person. For years I’ve worked with fabric, and it’s my media. I make him cards in cloth.
These aren’t my art quilts. They’re funky, and sentimental,, and full of commercial fabric. And the fabric of our lives. But if we can’t be silly…..well, you have to be a bit silly. So here is his current collection.
They say you spend the first part of your life figuring out who you are, and the last part stretching into the other parts These quilts are that stretch. They’re a measure of Don more than myself, who is much more of a romantic.
I’m a big believer in documentation and in keeping track. The last quilt I finished was numbered 1,162 since I started counting my quilts forty years ago. I figure there were about 100 before I started counting.
So I was pretty shocked when I found I had 12 unlabeled quilts from this year and it got me to think about labels.
At one point I embroidered labels with a pfaff.
Years ago, I had a gallery person remove labels from quilts of mine, because she wanted to be the only port of contact for people to reach me. That was before we all knew how easy it is to find anyone on the internet. Some of those quilts were stolen later before I replaced the labels. I have forgotten her name and her gallery. I’ve never forgotten what she did. She didn’t mean harm, but there are always unintentional consequences. There is no way I will ever see those quilts again.
I now make labels that are glued and stitched into the back of my quilt. You cannot remove them without permanently obviously damaging the quilt. Once I found this method, I never looked back.
Recently I found a method that makes fabulous labels I can personalize exactly to my needs. Avery labels used to have computer programs for you to use to print labels. I haven’t seen those in years, but they do have a service online where you can design labels either in batches or one by one. Printavery.com has a full-service label printing program. I use the 5264 6 label sheets for large quilts. They are 3.3″ x 4″. You can put both text and pictures on the label. I also use the 5263 10 labels sheets for smaller quilts. Those are 2″ x 4″.
The labels are all well and good, but a paper label is longterm useless. So instead I print my labels on June Tailor Quick Fuse Fabric Sheets for Ink Jet Printers. These sheets are a regular size 8.5″ x 11″ piece of fabric with fusible on the back. You can print them and cut them into whatever label sizes you want. They fuse beautifully with a hot iron.
So what do you need on a label? Your name and the quilt’s name are kind of the basics. Then it’s a matter of intent. The quilt for your beloved child, or someone laid up in a wheel chair is personal. I’d whatever you feel the need to say. Uncle Bob, Christmas 2024, made with love. For your new baby Beth from Granny. Whatever.
Commercial needs are different. What I want out of a quilt label is to identify the quilt, and make it possible for someone to reach me if they need to. I also want a label they can’t pry off with a crow bar.
I’m working with a large body of quilts still in house, so I need an inventory number of some kind. That number is the next number on the list plus the year it was created. So number 1162-24 is the 1,162nd quilt I made, finished in 2024. Hopefully, I won’t screw up and put down the wrong number. It has happened before. But remember, I also have the name of the quilt on the label.
I use my studio name, Thread Magic Studio, because it too is an identifier. If they type that in on line, they’ll be able to reach a current address and phone number for me.
I used to pick on picture for the year for all the quilts. Now I put the picture of that quilt on instead. It’s an instant identifier.
I’ve debated the next part for a while. Currently, I have my shipping address and phone number. But things change. If I’m sending out an older quilt that might have old information, I check and replace the label. If I’m sending out a large quilt to an owner, I ask them if they would prefer a label with their contact information on it.
Should I add a website and an email? It’s not a bad idea, but there’s only so much space. I can’t personally read anything in size 9 type. I think internet information is more likely to change than physical addresses.
So this is what label sheet looks like. I’ll cut it apart with a rotary cutter and round off the edges.
Some Tips
There is sew-in label fabric available which I do not like nearly as much. The fabric isn’t as nice and it doesn’t fuse. The packages all look much the same so check.
This does require an ink jet printer. Don lothes them, but a laser printer will fuse the fabric to your printer. Very unhappy.
You probably want to feed these sheets one at a time through the printer. They do jam sometimes.
You can print anything you would on regular paper. But keep in mind what it looks like. The preview section on the program will you check.
Clean your iron first. Or use a pressing cloth. The iron fabric tends to smear easily.
Is it worth the time? I find it so. I can’t keep track otherwise. But any quilt you make deserves to recognize you as the artist, and the information to find it’s way home.
