Rayna and Ellen Anne fill their new books with innovative, creative spirit

Rayna Gillman's 'Scapes' quilt from her new book

People who love fabric seem to understand that we are all threads in this universal tapestry. We are all connected, some more tightly woven together than others. In the quilting community we are a tight-knit group with quilts as our common thread.

Learn to make beautiful flowers like
this one featured in Ellen Anne Eddy's quilt

It has been my pleasure for most of my life to be a part of such a community. In the past year, when it seemed like everything was 'too hard' or my energy was replaced by apathy or I just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide -- this community of quilters and artists pulled me through. Whether by blog, email, phone conversation, face-to-face, or Facebook, fellow fabric lovers have kept me afloat. Blogging, as you have noticed, has been set aside for far too long. But today, before the New Year enters, I want to offer up two books that you might want to take with you into this new year.

Both books are written by women quilters and artists who are among the most giving, generous, thoughtful, and caring friends a woman could ever want. I not only admire their character, but their skills and imagination. They take me to worlds I had never encountered. Their techniques and creations make me feel like I can do anything! Make me feel creative.

They are also strong women who have been my rock, whether they know it or not. They are Rayna Gillman and Ellen Anne Eddy.

I'm sure these are names you've heard before. Both have previously published books. Both have won awards. Both are teachers who bring joy and wonder and absolute fun to the process of learning and creating. And both have new books out, published by CT Publishing! What joy!



Rayna Gillman

 Rayna, author of Create Your Own Hand-printed Cloth, adds a second Create Your Own book. She takes her students and readers into a stress-free journey to original design that draws on her free spirit and sense of adventure and love of child's play: Create Your Own Free-form Quilts.

Rayna begins her free-form quilts with 'therapy strips.' She cut dozens of fabric strips from her stash of hand-dyed and commercial fabrics and sewed them together willy-nilly, just cutting and sewing, cutting and sewing. Her brain didn't have to worry about anything, it just rested as her hands and eyes took over. But the pile of strips was only the beginning. Add a rotary cutter, some more fabric pieces, and some more free sewing and you are beginning to get the idea of free form creative quilts. But she has a lot more unique approaches to quilt creation within the 94 pages of this book.

This is a process book, not a design or pattern book. It is a journey that allows you to play, experiment and throw the idea of 'mistakes' right out the window. It is liberating and is written with the Rayna enthusiasm that anyone who has taken one of her classes will recognize. See -- you can't think of your experiences with Rayna without smiling! I see that grin!

Another perk of this book: using up UFOs! Yes! A whole section on reinventing UFOs with strips and bits. That alone may be worth the $28!

One thing that this book reinforces for me is that there is no such thing as an ugly quilt. It really doesn't matter what fabrics you combine, how you stitch them, cut them, layer them -- the result turns out brilliant! It may be funky, it may be artsy, it may be surprising, but always, a quilt finds its own beauty. I needed reminded that what I create without pattern or design directions, but only with heart and fabric -- is a thing of beauty and a joy creating. The pages are filled with colorful, unique and imaginative quilts that will get your own imagination revved up.

But I said two books. Shift gears with me to thread painting and intuitive applique with Ellen Anne Eddy's Thread Magic Garden.

Ellen Anne encourages cutting shapes rather than using patterns in this book, which is focused on creating flowers. I must admit that if I could create a world as beautiful with my writings as Ellen Anne creates with her fabrics and thread, I would be a MOST delighted and happy woman. I fell in love with her 'other worlds' from the first glimpse of toad, moon, or ladybug. There is something truly magical about Ellen Anne's creations.

This book will help you move closer toward creating your own unique gardens filled with blossoms only you can imagine. She takes the process step by step, talks of flower shapes, construction, petals, stamens, and how to create them with perhaps a fabric center and thread petals, or free-cut petal shapes. She talks of perspective -- the angle with which you see a flower makes for a much different product.

Ellen Anne Eddy

If for no other reason to purchase this book -- it is filled with so many images of Ellen Anne's work. But there are other reasons. Her discussion of stitches, colors, various stitch techniques (couching, machine beading, etc. And perhaps some aspects of quilt making you hadn't considered such as 'creating a visual path' or 'progressive shading.' She also breaks down flowers into their individual shapes -- spiral, 'S' or 'C' shapes.... You will never look at a flower quite the same again.

It is an excellent introduction to thread painting or a book that will take you further into your own imagination. Spending less than $30 to spend time with Ellen Anne and Rayna adds another perk you'll get from these books. Their personalities shine through the encouraging words and their enthusiasm for their art.

Gift yourself this New Year! You won't regret the investment!

It turns out that I have a copy of Rayna's book to give away! To enter leave a comment on this blog entry telling us something fabric/quilt/thread/stitch related that you will do in the New Year. One winner will be drawn on Jan. 15th from those who leave comments.

Jean M. Judd asks the controversial question: Art Quilt or Quilt Art?

Jean Judd, who is spending a few days in sunny Arizona for the Mesa Contemporary Art Exhibition, was amazed when I commented that I found it refreshing the way she uses traditional patterns in her art quilts. My words pressed on a sore spot, a point of controversy in that no man's land between art quilts and traditional quilts. For me, her quilts are the best of both worlds. Thank you Jean for guest blogging. You are definitely a Subversive Stitcher: Armed with Needles!

Pictured here are her Choir of Angels, Photo 2. Wyoming Valley #2, and Photo 3. International Harvester quilts -- Dawn

By Jean M. Judd, Textile Artist

Since 1991 I have been making textile artwork focusing on incorporating traditional quilt blocks and techniques, into quilts that really are quilt art according to viewers and collectors alike. Many of my pieces have been juried into both fine art exhibitions as well as traditional and art quilt shows.

In 1998, I read the book “Surprising Designs from Traditional Quilt Blocks” by Carole Fure. This is not a pattern book or technique book, but a way of looking at complex traditional quilt blocks and discovering the unlimited design possibilities using just one block in a quilt. It really was a turning point for me in how I looked at making my art quilts.


The first result of this discovery was Choir of Angels Tapestry Quilt (81”x81”). I started this piece in March of 1998 and didn’t complete it until 2005. The quilt was designed from the center, out to the final binding. The block that I used was the Wyoming Valley block originally designed for the Nancy Cabot series in the Chicago Tribune newspaper in the 1930s. The block had 65 pieces consisting of triangles and squares.

The quilt is heavily hand quilted and was juried into the 2006 Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Albany, New York. The quilt won the Catherine Hastedt Award for Hand Workmanship and was featured in some of their newspaper articles.

Other judged quilt shows that it has been entered in, have brought mixed results. At NQA’s show in Columbus, OH the same year, the judge’s comments were that it was in the wrong category as it wasn’t traditional. The World Quilt competition in 2007, the piece was entered in the Innovative/Contemporary category and the judge said it belonged in the Traditional category. This is where I started to decide that it was all subjective. Everyone has a different opinion on what is considered traditional quilts and what is an art quilt. Now I refer to all of my work as textile artwork and let the viewers’ decide.

Subsequent quilts made using the Wyoming Valley block, turned out very differently in design from the Choir of Angels Tapestry piece. Wyoming Valley #2 (108”x108”) was started in February of 2002 using commercial sports fabrics for the focus fabric. The center of the Wyoming Valley block was used as the focal point when designing this quilt.

This quilt, Wyoming Valley #4, was designed from the center out and uses a very unusual bright orange. Each section used a different sport fabric and the edges of each block were designed to make the background work as a receding border. This piece is also hand quilted and was finished in March of 2003. The Wyoming Valley block is used in a regular orientation here.

 

In Choir of Angels Tapestry, the block orientation is on point Wyoming Valley #4 (93”x81”) was started in 2003 and completed in 2006. The International Harvester emblem design was used with permission of the company. This time when using the Wyoming Valley block, I concentrated more on what happened at the block joining and made multiple borders appear. The center square of the block isn’t the focal point in this design.

Wyoming Valley #4 was juried into the AQS show in Nashville, TN in 2007, and the owner was amendable to letting me have the quilt back in order to send it to Nashville for display. This quilt is on the owners’ bed during the winter months, and then is displayed in the great room on the wall during the summer. It is a great way to be able to use a large quilt all year around, and for it to fulfill both its roles as bed quilt and artwork.

Many of my clients are looking for large quilts to fill huge wall spaces and they want them to still retain the aspects of a traditional quilt. They are very interested in the unique textures created by the hand quilting and the unusual designs I use in the hand stitching.

I have 2 more commissions for textile artworks using this quilt block. They will both be 101”x101”. The first one is already pieced and ready for hand quilting. This one, Wyoming Valley #6, looks nothing like the preceding quilts. It is always exciting to see what will come about in the design process. When it is completed, it will be featured on my web site. You can see detail images of the featured quilts there as well.

Thank you to Dawn for asking me to be a guest writer on her wonderful blog, Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles. There are some very talented trailblazers featured here and more to come, I’m sure. Continued Success, Dawn!