Helen’s Blog

Interview with Kathy York: our most prolific QA cover artist!

Helen Gregory — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:28:00 GMT

Kathy York’s work is like that of all the contributors to Quilting Arts Magazine – it never ceases to amaze and inspire me. I’ve been wanting to learn more about Kathy and her work, and with her quilt on the cover of the current issue, now seemed like the perfect time. In fact, it turns out that Kathy is our most prolific QA cover artist! Her work is featured on these covers:

February/March 2010 February/March 2009 April/May 2007

Here’s what I learned from Kathy.

Helen: To the best of my knowledge you are a full-time mom. How are you possibly so prolific? Do you set aside creative time every day? Please give us an idea of how you schedule your creative time.

Kathy: A number of years ago, I decided to think of quilting as my job. This attitude helped me justify (if only to myself) setting aside time on a daily basis for my art. I wrote down some goals and set to work. At that time both of my children were in public school and I had all day to work and late in the evenings. I also get part of the weekend to work when the kids are with their dad. My mantra is: never do chores if no one is there to see you! I try hard to NOT get caught up in errands and cleaning during the day because it chews up your time.

This year, things are different. I just started homeschooling my son. He has struggled for years in public school because he is autistic, and it was a bad fit for him. He has Asperger's, which is a high functioning form of autism. He is incredibly gifted but really difficult to work with. On his good days, he is engaged in learning and moves quickly through his required material. This gives him loads of time to “play” with the things he is interested in, like computer programming and building 3D models on the computer. On those days, I can actually work in the studio, on a much shortened time scale, maybe 2 hours a day instead of 4–6 hours. But it is amazing what you can accomplish in 2 hours a day, every day!

On his more difficult days, it takes every bit of energy I have to get him out of bed, moving, and trying to learn. It is emotionally exhausting for both of us. Every step is a struggle. Because we are self paced, we can take needed breaks. These days suck the creative energy right out of me and I have to let go of my expectations for the day. My new strategy is to keep a journal documenting my hours that I work. I am finding that if I write it down, it helps me utilize the small bits of time that used to get lost from constant distractions and interruptions. At some point, I will analyze the journal to see what's working, and what isn't, and then make a new plan.

Helen: Kathy, I have seen many of your quilts win prizes in national and international shows. How do you come up with your quilt designs? Do you design specifically with a show in mind?

Kathy: I must confess that I am usually surprised and always delighted to win a prize at a show. It's a really validating and confirming feeling! I usually get more ideas than I have time to make. It can be difficult to choose which one to make first. Some ideas come from life events, others start with the inspiration of something I have seen. Last year's quilt, “Building Up,” began with a found object—an irrigation stake shaped in a cross. I thought it would be perfect to make the inside of little windows with batik, and it worked! It just happened to coincide with my observations of new developments in Austin, Texas, where I live: lots of densely packed living spaces with contemporary colors and shapes. [“Building Up” won first place in the Art-Abstract, Small category in “Quilts: A World of Beauty,” the International Quilt Association’s annual fall judged show.]

I rarely design a quilt with a show in mind, though I am usually conscious of the size requirements. Some good advice I got once: make what you need to make, and a venue will appear. When I listen to my heart, I am happy making art.

Helen: Every time I look at one of your quilts (or even the tote bag you designed for Quilting Arts Gifts 2009/2010, I admire the fabrics. And then I read your comments and learn that you’ve designed the majority of the fabrics. So this leads me to wonder if you have a stash of fabrics you’ve painted, dyed, printed, or otherwise designed. Or do you design fabrics specifically as you work on a project – or is it a little of both?

Kathy: It can go either way. Sometimes, I get an idea for how something is supposed to look. I shop for fabric, but cannot find what I am looking for. Oh, yeah, and I tend to be a bit inflexible once I've decided how it “should” look. So I set out trying to determine how to make it look right. As in: I needed yellow scaly fabric for fish, but there wasn't any, so I had to make some. That time I put the scaly pattern with wax on a screen and printed with thickened dye. It worked! Other times, I use fusible and cut the shapes I need to create the picture. Yet other times I might batik a piece of fabric with an end goal in mind.

However, once I learned to batik, I sort of got....well, obsessed. I walk a lot and often find interestingly shaped objects. The first thing I think is “can I dip that in hot wax?” I have to laugh at myself, as my children already do! My curiosity gets the better of me, and I start to experiment. Then I do end up with a stash of fabrics as my brain races with ideas to use them for!

Helen: You have such a wonderful sense of color. And your palette is always so cheerful. Do you intentionally stick with a bright, cheerful palette?

Kathy: I have no idea where my sense of color came from or how I choose my color palette. I just know when it isn't right for me. I remember going to the International Quilt Festival in Houston for the first time and being completely drawn in to Laura Wasilowski's and Melody Johnson's quilts. Now when I enter Laura's booth, with Frieda Anderson, I feel right at home. It's the colors that create the mood I like.

I do know that using bright colors helps me create works that are sometimes darker in meaning for me. My quilt “Falling through the Cracks” [on the Quilting Arts February/March 2010 cover] started with jewel tones on a black background. It was hideous and sat on a shelf for a year. Then I switched color palettes and was able to jump into the project and get to work.

Helen: What are your favorite/least favorite aspects when making a quilt?

Kathy: My absolute favorite part is selecting the color palette! And fabrics! And then, sharing my inspiration with others. I love it when my work really connects with someone else and then they tell me about it. It is wonderful the way art starts communication.

The least favorite part is when my machine is acting up, or the day ends and I have to stop working.

The most difficult part is starting a new quilt and then letting it go when I have to ship it.

Pokey unveils our new CD Collections!

Helen Gregory — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:26:00 GMT

One of my resolutions is to take (and post) more photos from our interactions around the office. Because we're most often busily working at our computers, the photo ops aren't plentiful, but I am keeping my camera close at hand for when the opportunities arise. So when Pokey ran into my office to show our latest arrival, I had to capture her enthusiasm. Here she is showing the new QA and CPS CD Collections - a full year's worth of issues on one CD! So, truth be told, I share Pokey's enthusiasm - it's pretty amazing to have all the 2008 QA issues on a single CD!

Don’t miss out! Deadlines you don’t want to miss

Helen Gregory — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:36:00 GMT

Happy new year from all of us here at Quilting Arts!

We hope you managed to squeeze in some creative time during the holidays, along with special time with family, friends, and great food. In fact, if you created any unique gifts or projects, we want to see them! Please check out the submissions guidelines, and then email your query to: submissions@quiltingdaily.com. This is the perfect time to submit to Quilting Arts Gifts—while gift and holiday project ideas are fresh in your mind. Don't miss out - the deadline is March 1.

And speaking of deadlines, hopefully you’ve been focusing in on your inner animal, because time is running out! Your entry is due in our office on Tuesday, January 26. The contest details can be found here.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with. I need to give some serious thought to my inner animal – she must be hiding in me somewhere. I immediately gravitate to dogs, due to my deep connection with current and past pets. A few of the common threads between me and our treasured dogs are happy personalities (with plenty of quirks), a passion for food and hikes, and a love of leisurely days at the beach. (These days I do more throwing than chasing of balls, and I have not yet ventured into chewing bones, however.)

Here’s a peek at our previous dog. Yes, she usurped my beach chair! We're looking forward to seeing your inner animal art quilts.

Quilting Arts Happenings-Gifts and More

Helen Gregory — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:45:00 GMT

I’ve finally come up for air! What a Quilting Arts summer it’s been—and we’re already well into October. The New England landscape is absolutely gorgeous with the fall colors. Here at QA headquarters, we’re busily working on the next issue of Quilting Arts (December/January 2010) and scrambling to nail down the last-minute details for our booth at International Quilt Festival—please stop and say hi at booth #1244 if you go.

Taking a moment to reflect on what we’ve been working on over the past months—it all started with:

Quilting Arts Gifts Winter 2009/2010. Hopefully you already have your issue, but if not, it’s available here. Isn’t it a fabulous collection of holiday gift and décor projects? As we worked on the issue, I wanted to make each and every project. (Now it’s time to get serious…) Don’t you just love the fiber-wrapped pipe cleaners in Jill Amanda Kennedy’s bracelets (p. 72)? I can think of lots of uses for these embellishments, so I was thrilled when they showed up again in a totally different way—in the September/October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors (see Jill’s “Trendy Bendy Brooches” on p. 44).

While we were working day and night on Gifts, I managed to host my niece and nephew (ages 2 and 4 at the time) for an overnight. In preparation, I did not stock up on food; instead I purchased supplies for various Gifts projects that I didn’t already have on hand (pipe cleaners; Funky Foam—see Lucie Summers’printed ornaments on p. 50; and Velcro®—see Diane Doran’s bookmarks on p. 118).

When the kids got in the car with me, they broke into a cherished chant: “We want to sew! We want to sew!...” We had a blast in my studio that weekend. Ok, so no actual Gifts projects were created, but the issue provided great inspiration. When my niece reported back to her parents about the weekend, she told them about creating with “those things that you clean the pipes with.”

I will update my blog over the next several weeks with reflections on the many other products we’ve all been working on so diligently over the past several months, including Quilting Arts Workshop DVDs, the new Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop DVDs, and of course, International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene! Please check back. And in the meantime, please share your Gifts stories.

As always, stay tuned to Pokey’s blog for the latest and greatest. And don’t miss Cate’s blog for updates on Studios—lots happening there!

QA/CPS Calendar Girls

Helen Gregory — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:55:00 GMT

We were thrilled to receive our office copies of the 2010 calendars! Not only is the gorgeous Quilting Arts 2010 Calendar now available, but you will also want to check out the first-ever Cloth Paper Scissors calendar! Both calendars look beautiful, so we must thank all of you who participated in the calendar contests. The guidelines for the 2011 Quilting Arts Calendar Contest have been posted. We hope you'll participate. And please stay tuned for the next Cloth Paper Scissors Calendar Contest—you won't want to miss it.

Here we are with our new calendars (from left): Helen Gregory, Barbara Delaney, Pokey Bolton, and Sally Murray.

Interview with Melanie Testa CPS July/August issue

Helen Gregory — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:54:00 GMT

As a follow-up to Melanie Testa's article "Visual Journaling with Found Papers & Ephemera" on page 68 of the July/August issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, I asked her several questions:

HG: How do you store all of your found papers?

MT: I have plastic bins that are large and flat, and I organize them (loosely) according to the papers I am in love with most! A very personal system to say the least.

HG: Do you have a storage container for the "dirty" papers and a separate storage location for the papers you've cleaned?

MT: No way! As I said, this is all about what pumps my creative juices. I don't think the dirt really transfers, and washing paper is easy, much easier than you might think anyway.

HG: The article opens with a photo of an intriguing spread from your journal. Please tell us about this artwork.

MT: You must be talking about the red bird piece. That piece of ephemera, the bird-I mean, is freezer paper originally used as a resist in cloth making. As a resist, the shiny side of freezer paper adheres to cloth and creates a resist, blocking off an area of cloth from being printed; as a collage element, this same attribute presents a challenge. The shiny side of the paper does not glue well. To work through this, I sanded the shine off the freezer paper with 200-grit sandpaper.

Once that was complete, I looked in my stash of papers and found the Asian paper. The two seemed to 'go' together. I first glued the Asian paper, then the sanded bird resist. When I start painting a piece like this, I like to embrace the random, I like to allow myself creative freedom. Not every bit of paper needs to be covered, using a pen to bring an aspect back to the forefront, utilizing drips and dots—the decorative aspect of art making and knowing when to take the piece away from myself is all very important.

When I found the antique thread label and placed it upside down, that became the point where I knew the piece was coming to an end, Finding completion, I stepped that collage element back by copying the color and gradating it down and away from the label. I didn't want the stark edge of the label to dominate the piece; I think this worked well to draw the eye away from the fact that I placed the label upside down. I don't really want the viewer to connect with the words so much as the effect of the label.

HG: What's the name and address of your favorite coffee shop? I've never been to Brooklyn, so it's time I visit (and I believe you mentioned chocolate chip cookies - can't get them out of my mind).

MT: Le Petite Cafe, in Carroll Gardens, is on Court between Nelson and LeQuere. It is a gorgeous little cafe; there is a waterfall in the back room, and there are plants growing in the rock facade around it. There is a metal tree in the room that holds votive candles. A journaling paradise if you ask me. They also have a great double chocolate and cherry cookie. I'm just sayin'.

Thanks Melanie!

Don't miss the image below, Melanie's journal composition featuring the interior of the local coffee shop. For more from Melanie Testa, visit her blog.

Quilting Arts Headquarters Update

Helen Gregory — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:53:00 GMT

There’s so much happening here at Quilting Arts headquarters! It’s good I sat down to write this entry because it reminded me to check on the status of the QATV 400 DVDs. In addition to the QATV DVDs, which will be available very soon (another season of fabulous guests and inspiring techniques!), here’s an overview of some of the things we’re working on around the office.

Quilting Arts Magazine
The latest issue of Quilting Arts Magazine (June/July 2009) is now out. Hopefully you’ve received your copy and are finding plenty of inspiration. We hope you’ll use the “Magazine Discussion” section of the “Forums” to share your thoughts about the issue. We are thrilled to have so many of you participating in the online community!

Cloth Paper Scissors
The July/August issue is off to press. We’ll share more about the issue very soon. For now, know that it’s a really cool summer issue—with lots of ideas for artful travel and images of some of the “Life’s a Beach!” reader challenge results, along with a terrific line-up of interesting techniques from talented artists.

Charm Swap
Thanks to great efforts on the part of our entire QA/CPS team, the Cloth Paper Scissors charm swap is almost completely “swapped.” We were overwhelmed by the tremendous number of participants and were pleased to see so many fabulous and varied charms. Don’t miss the photos of our in-house charm swap—coming soon in an e-newsletter. In the meantime, we thank all of you who participated in the swap; be on the lookout for your charms! Some of the charms will be featured in the September/October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.

2010 Calendars
The 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar and the first-ever Cloth Paper Scissors Calendar are amazing! There’s no way to pick a favorite, so I’m going to be giving friends and family one of each. Stay tuned for details.

Quilting Arts Gifts
This is going to be another spectacular issue! Props are being gathered for the upcoming photo shoot. It’s looking like the winter holidays around our offices. I know Pokey will update soon with the latest.

Studios
Stay tuned to Cate’s blog for all the news about the current and upcoming issues!

And there’s much more underway here, including the very exciting special issue—International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene and planning for the next series of Quilting Arts TV. Can you believe it’s already time for Season 5?

Bonus Photo!
For anyone who made their way all the way to the end of this post, I’ve dug out a photo from last fall’s Make It University!™ with Cloth Paper Scissors at International Quilt Festival in Houston. I can spot a number of QA and CPS contributors in this photo: Lesley Riley and Robbi Joy Eklow are in the background; Jamie Fingal, Leslie Tucker Jenison (I think!), and Deborah Boshert can all be seen in the foreground. Barb Delaney, is that you on the far right? Please comment if you can identify anyone else. Hope you'll join us at Make It University in Long Beach.

Quilting Arts TV - Series 400

Helen Gregory — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:15:00 GMT

While we're working to prepare the final details for the covers of the "QATV" Series 400 DVDs, it's fun to reflect on the TV taping...now that we've been home for awhile. I can't believe that Pokey and I spent a whole week and a half traveling together - and we were still getting along well at the end. While my primary responsibility during the week was to oversee the QA Workshop DVD tapings, I tried to help in the background with the TV taping. It was thrilling to meet so many talented artists, and to see them "doing their thing" up close. I'm always amazed at how many unique artistic approaches there are to creating art quilts and related projects.

Here's a photo from the set. Alisa Burke (left) and Pokey just finished taping Alisa's "QATV" segment on making a fabulous mixed-media clutch from recycled materials. Jeanne Cook-Delpit (right) was our trusty Bernina guru. The machines worked beautifully throughout the taping.

Because an entire season of "Quilting Arts TV" was being taped, Pokey had to constantly change outfits between segments. Here she is with Melanie Testa. Pokey and Melanie were performing the garlic routine while the crew was busily preparing - here Pokey is being hooked up with the microphone.

The entire crew, under the direction of producer Kathie Stull, was fabulous, and we are already looking forward to the taping for Season 5.

QA Workshop DVDs

Helen Gregory — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:21:00 GMT

It was a whirlwind working on the new series of QA Workshop DVDs. I had the opportunity to work with all of the artists during the preparation and taping. They are such pros at what they do! I thoroughly enjoyed watching every single Workshop taping. I felt like I was getting a private lesson from each individual artist. Each artist's work/technique/approach is so unique and different from the next. And while some Workshops include more basic techniques and others more advanced, I believe they all will appeal to a wide range of skill levels; I found plenty in each Workshop to apply to my own art.

One of the great features of this new set of Workshop DVDs is that they were filmed on the set of "Quilting Arts TV."

Probably the toughest part of the taping is the "hurry-up-and-wait" dilemma. Here's Lyric Kinard, thoroughly prepared, with her trays of Workshop materials all arranged and ready to go. Like all the artists, Lyric arrived early for make-up. And then she had to wait her turn for the taping.

Here's one more sneak peek at the behind-the-scenes process. I am carrying Melanie Testa's just washed supplies (yes, I'm wearing gloves, holding her Plexiglas printing plate in my left hand). In between chapters we did a quick switch of materials (and quick clean-up as needed). The chapters are a really great addition to the DVDs - allowing one to navigate back to certain sections with ease.