Friday, April 19, 2019

Getting Serious with the Pinwheels on Off the Wall Friday

Okay, enough is enough!  This week I had a come to Jesus talk with my self.  I said, "Self, you have playing around with the pinwheels for too long. At this rate this quilt is NEVER going to get done.  It is too darn pretty for you to do a pinwheel here and a pinwheel there.  Get over your laziness and just work on it regular!"











So that's what I did this week.  I took it out in my studio and started working on the pinwheels like it was a regular project, not just a project I do to keep my fingers busy.  Now you've seen it here and there on this blog but this time I'm serious!  Fabric on my work table, blocks on the wall, Work an hour or two a day serious!

I'm still not quite sure what form they are going to tessellate into but I did realize that I needed some very "Medium" blocks.  I have a lot of darks, a lot of lights but really no mediums and transitional blocks.  So that's what I was making this week.  I also discovered the world of 5" charm packs.  I had no idea that the smart fabric marketers have started selling 5" charm packs of commercial fabric lines.  AND these little charm packs are relatively inexpensive and full of a lot of variety.  Thanks to Amazon Prime, I was able to get some Stonehenge Gradation Chips from Northcott in a jiffy.  I still think that I'll have to do some Red Solo cup dyeing soon in the palette of the quilt to get some good transitional fabrics but we'll see.

Anyways, listening to Laurie R King's A Grave Talent, I happily am plodding along on the quilt.

Now for the sad news ....

This week, the quilt world lost one of the greats to cancer....Gwen Marston.  Over the last 30 years, Gwen has been teaching and lecturing her ideas of "Liberating Quilting".  Although she, like many of us, started with traditional quilting, she took the leap into creating in a more innate abstract  way.  With this new liberation for the structures of  the traditional , she found her passion.  She felt that  “…quilts like these hold my attention longer than their predictable, well-organized, color-coordinated, pattern-based, uptown sisters.”  Now a days, we can all appreciate that sentiment.  But 30 years ago, it was more groundbreaking.

In her quilting life she taught internationally, wrote several books and founded a popular quilting retreat near her home in Beaver Island, Michigan home.    She was a prolific quilter and with a quick google search you can find many examples of her videos, podcasts, and quilts.

She will be missed.





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8 comments:

Jenny K. Lyon said...

I love where your pinwheels are going - the colors are lovely! Yes, was shocked to hear of Gwen's passing. She was a huge influence on me.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Looks like you will be busy for some days ;) Pretty pinweels.
Sorry about Gwen...

QuiltShopGal said...

I love your Pinwheels. I also love EPP, but silly me had not thought of doing a project like this. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. I've been looking for a project for summertime travels. I have the papers and I'm sure I must have the fabrics. I'm now looking forward to creating these pinwheels. Thanks for sharing and inspiring #CreativeGoodness.

I'm also sad to hear that we lost Gwen Marston. She was such an amazing woman, quilter and creative soul. She will be missed dearly by many. But Heaven just gained a very amazing angel.

Gwyned Trefethen said...

I always enjoy seeing what you are up to. I write my blog before reading and then linking to yours. It shouldn't surprise me, but often it seems our topics/angle are similar. Your pinwheels - my petals and the need to knuckle down and get the work done. Your color placement allows for such depth, shadow and glow. It is going to be a stunning quilt.

One more art quilter who came of age with Gwen Marston as a mentor. She will be missed.

Norma Schlager said...

Your pinwheels are so beautiful! I love the way the colors blend from one to another. This is going to be a stunner.

quiltedfabricart said...

A huge loss for the quilting community. Gwen was and always will be an influence in my quilting outlook. She was a true quilting pioneer

LA Paylor said...

great, now come give me the same talk with my hexie project. Too pretty to let languish. Work on it like it's a real project! Yep!
Sad about gwen... such a powerful inventive person.
LeeAnna

Nina Marie said...

Thanks for the encouragement with this project. I spent 6 hrs yesterday and it was a really fun - got so much done!! One thing that struck me is when I went back and read my blogs on pinwheels - I had made a note that I needed more medium blocks. Then promptly forgot. That's what I mean about not treating this like a real piece. So glad I decided to take this off the back burner.