When Artists Use Needle and Thread

I'm always impressed and interested in quilters who can just play around with their materials and let their feelings or inspiration take charge of what they are doing.  LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color comes to my mind when I think of that.

I also think of a fibre artist from my home province whose work I've followed for years, Judy Cooper.  A link to Judy's gallery of work is Here.

                     

 I've been a rather rule governed person and it shows in what I try to create in fabric as well.  By the book kind of thing.

I'm noticing more and more books and magazines moving away from what I think of as traditional quilting.
 These showcase more artsy types of quilted pieces that incorporate mixed media and techniques far beyond what a rotary cutter and a fat quarter could achieve, and of course, the results are completely different. For one thing traditional quilting usually involves making items of use; having to be able to put them through the washing machine comes to mind.  Or maybe, quilted wall hangings which become a little more of an art item.

 However, with this new trend and new ideas, quilters produce genuine pieces of art which is the objective. While many of these works reveal obvious skill and talent, I must admit, the beauty of others completely elude me.

I have checked out the book above several times from the library and each time find something new to interest me in its pages.  Patricia Bolton is the host of Quilting Arts, a t.v. show and has published several books on the subject of quilted art work.  Her book, The Quilting Arts Book is a compilation of the best projects from the Quilting Arts Magazine .  This is a magazine I always look at when I get a chance to go to Chapters.

                            

  Anyone who has old copies of that magazine around probably won't want to own the book however.

This book below receives excellent reviews on Amazon.com where it is available for around $18.  Award winning quilter, Deborah Boschert,  provides step by step instructions on how to incorporate different artistic elements into a quilting piece.  Even the projects shown on the cover look great to me.

                    

Not exactly quilting but I had to show you this as I really like it. This is a work from the talented hands of Gwen Klypak. Interesting and unique. I think those are yarn and silk threads.

                       

I'm interested in the idea of what these fibre artists are trying to achieve.

  I love how they have the where with all to use different materials, even metallic foils, to enhance their work.  The embellishments are sometimes beautiful and you can see that just from the few projects photographed for the cover of Patricia's book.  Pearls, buttons, bits of ribbons, lace, netting, paper...all these things become part of the picture.  The various fabrics can be coloured with crayons, painted, dyed, marked, stenciled...anything you can think up to do with it basically.

It is a little like seeing quilting in not one but many new ways.  And those ways are endless, as unique and varied as the imagination can envision. Sadly as much as I would like to create, I think I'm rather lacking in that regard.