giving

Can you read this? It says "GIVE MORE".

I gave someone a quilt. I know she appreciated it
and understood how many hours went into making it.

Today, I made a small gift for a 9 year old.

I am mailing this zippered case tomorrow

 I hope she likes it.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte.

Don't ask me why

About 4 years ago, I started sewing together strips, end to end, left over from my cotton fabrics, making one very long fabric string...which turned into a knitting project.

It goes with what I believe in - using what you have, making it work, managing. There is a word for this in italian- ARRANGIARSI. The people in the south of Italy understand this concept. They use it when they cook. They create wonderful meals from little!

Not sure how I will use it. Patience. The right use will show itself in due time.

I will keep knitting.

I do love the colours and texture.

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

This weekend Toronto held its 50th outdoor art event.

booths at Nathan Phillips Square

booths with the view of old city hall 

Amanda McCavour 's booth was my favorite.

Amanda and her installation

It was so fun standing under it and looking up!

Alice Vander Vennen is a textile artist that has exhibited at this show several times.

Alice in front of her work. She arrived at
 textile art through sculpture.

Dave Hind described his work to me as "quilts made of metal".

detail of the above work

Even the visitors were artists!

Dolores and her beautiful dress

 Dolores used the crocheted doilies her mom made
and appliqued them on a white dress.

It is good to see other artists' work. 

Where was I?  Didn't apply...too many trips to Italy!

Omni News interview

Click here to view the interview. (THE INTERVIEW IS NOT AVAILABLE AFTER SEPT. 1, 2011)

Click Italian News Ontario-July 7, 2011, which is on the right of the video screen.

The interview is at 17:50 minutes.

The interviewer, Laura D'Aprile, filmed all the works in the show. Two of them are mine. She also got some shots of some of my other art works and blankets that are not exhibited in the gallery.

My grandparents in circa 1965, Montreal
One of my pieces is about her.

quilt designs

Quilt: from the latin "culcita" meaning matress.

A quilt is a textile item consisting of three layers, a top-usually decorative, a middle- a padding of some kind, and a back or lining.

The three layers are held together with stitching or "quilting" which has the twofold task of uniting the layers and creating a decorative texture at the same time. (loosely quoted from the Italia Invita catalogue, 2011, in which, I might add, they have a nice little bit about me and my work, including photo of my work!)

catalogue page

I am always on the look out for some new, quilting-design inspirations.

bottom of a cappucino cup

metal door, Concordia Sagitarius, Italy

shadow

facade across the street from Casa Mila, Barcelona, Spain

  

facade, Verona, Italy

booklet showing plans for a floor heating system

points of a cactus

cement covered in flowers

T-shirt design

design in cement wall, verona

design in cement wall, verona

design on moroccan cup

window wrought iron

stone wall, verona

my quilting hands

How can this be?

I am working on a new piece in my series, MAPS. I have had this work, shown below, on my design wall for about one week as I think of how to proceed.

The base fabric is yellow which I dyed myself. It was dyed with a natural dye of skin of pomegranate and tumeric.

the yellow is a little stronger than in this photograph

I painted the yellow fabric using a colour I created myself with the Colour Vie paint system. I stamped it using repurposed plastic to create a pattern.

so far I am very pleased with it

Then I took a walk downtown and saw this!!!!!

paper used as lining in the store window at Chanel in Toronto

How can it look so similar to what I am doing? Isn't there anything original anymore?

I will still continue on my path with this piece but how discouraging!

change of plans

Because of a timing issue with the programming the TV interview has been moved to Thursday, July 7, on OMNI 1, somewhere between 8 and 9 pm.