Winner Announced for the latest Rayna Gillman book

I'm pleased to announce that Beth Mastin of Rumney, New Hampshire has won a copy of Rayna Gillman's latest book, "Create Your Own Free-form Quilts"

When she heard about her good luck, Beth responded,  "Wow! What a great surprise!!! I've really been wanting to get this book, especially after one of my friends brought it to our last Fiber Divas meeting! Can't wait to tell them that I actually own a copy!"

Congratulations Beth. I'll be sending the book within the next few day.

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.

Nanny's Gift of Memories: Rayna Gillman

When Dawn asked me to write a blog post, I was delighted; this is one of the most interesting blogs in the ‘sphere.

I’m Rayna Gillman and I print my own cloth. (Sounds like the beginning of a 12-step program introduction and I’m so addicted to doing this that maybe I should consider it). You may be familiar with my book, Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth, published by C&T.

I never considered myself an artist: my seventh grade art teacher told me on the first day of school that I couldn't draw, after he saw my rendering of a tree.

Because my grandfather was an artist who drew and painted, I equated making art with the ability to draw, so that was THAT. I began quilting because I could use color, texture, and design without drawing. My grandmother was really my prime influence in several ways. First, she had an instinctive, fearless sense of color. Second, she improvised. Third, she gave me a raft of memories and a love for the past.

She used leftover threads and yarns and scrap cloth for whatever her next project was, which meant she never planned ahead. If she had orange, green, red and purple remnants at hand, that’s what she used together and they always looked wonderful!

"Darling," she said to me, "you can put any colors together as long as you use them more than once."

That advice and ability to improvise were among the best gifts I got from her! This early “art” quilt put that advice to the test. (Celebration 1997, first photo)

If you look at the purple and green hand-dyes in this piece, you’ll see I tried to cover them up with other fabrics. But I soon discovered that printing on them worked better. (Postcards 2, 2003, 2nd photo)

In my piece, Cacophony(2003, photo 3), my original intent was to cover up the blotchy raucous yellow fabric I had dyed. Without planning ahead, I just kept adding layers till I had covered the fabric and suddenly it was a whole-cloth quilt that was juried into Art Quilts at the Sedgwick (now Elements).

Once I discovered I could improve almost anything by printing in layers, I was off and running. And it became clear that if I didn’t like one layer I could add another and another. But I learned it was better to stop before the fabric became mud and that if you have to ask yourself whether it needs more, the answer is usually “no.” Improvisation is great but a little drop of thought as you go along can make something better.

If you were to ask which printing process I like best, the answer would depend on which day it is. This week it’s screen printing; next week it might be soy wax batik. Sometimes I love using paint, other times, thickened dyes. I love it all and I love teaching it all.

I improvise when I’m designing, too: a legacy from Nanny. Scraps and leftovers, randomly pieced, cut up and reassembled and moved around on the wall till they pleased me. I don’t know any other way to work: if I were to plan ahead I would feel as though I had already made the piece and I would never actually make it. (Usha's Quilt, 2005, photo 4)

The third way my Nanny influences my work is in my return, time and again, to memory and a sense of the past. A poignant photo of unknown relatives she gave to me led me to collect and use old photographs of people in my work. Sometimes I use image transfer, sometimes a screen: I don’t know who they were – but they are alive for me.(Kaddish detail, 2003, photo 5)

An antique collector, she taught me to look beyond the first layer to see what was behind it: old buildings, passports, newspaper clippings, a piece of china: everything has a story. If we don’t know what it is, we can invent one.(Time and Again, 2005, photo 6)

Layers. Whether It’s layers of cloth, layers of meaning, layers of the past, or layers of paint and dye, my work explores it all – improvisationally and without worrying about whether the colors coordinate. I didn’t start out to write about my grandmother’s influence but it is there, beneath the surface – and even on the surface.

Rayna's book has become the bible for many of us striving to learn the techniques of fabric painting and various other techniques. And her book provides quite an array of ways to alter cloth: stamp, screen, stencil and then the more amazing gelatin plate printing, soy wax batik, rubbings, discharge printing and on and on. Again and again I have heard fabric artists exclaim, "I just took a class with Rayna and we had such fun!" I can't think of this teacher, artist, woman without seeing her smile.

In the section of her book 'about the author' it says, "Noted for her instinctive sense of color and her improvisational approach to design, she encourages students to work spontaneously." That sounds a bit like children at play -- and I'm a firm believer that we need to let the child in us play more often.

Her book is packed with photographs that whet the appetite to dip right in and give it a try. The directions clearly lead from first to last step with many tips and suggestions in between. And if ever there was a woman that advocates 'recycling'-- it is Rayna who uses EVERYTHING as a found object for rubbings, stampings, or some unique repurposing.

Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth by Rayna Gillman belongs in any multi-media fabric artist's library or in any creative mum's home where she looks for ways to encourage her little ones to play with creativity. -- Dawn