memories of summer

Sometimes the title says it all. Think of that perfect day in summer--blue sky, the grass is green, the possibilities of the day are unlimited and yet there is no need to test the limits. I call this quilt "memories of summer". What do you think?

memories of summer--32 x 48"--quilt--Ann Brauer 2019

autumn solstice

It may be hazy, hot and humid this week but soon indeed "autumn solstice" will come.

autumn solstice--30 x 60"--ann brauer 2018--photo by John Polak

autumn solstice--detail--ann brauer 2018

sometimes it is the small decisions

Finally the quilt is pieced. Whew!!!  But still I must quilt it. Which means I must choose which color thread to use. It should be easy, right? Well, not always. Now I like to use the same color throughout. I find that this gives a cohesion to the piece that I want. But this is where the issues begin. Sometimes I like adding just the bit of yellow or gold to brighten the piece but I am not sure it is the right decision for this quilt which has so much dark in it.

process--quilt--ann brauer--2018

Instead I test colors. For me the easiest way is to hold up the spools of thread and imagine what the color will look like against the quilt. I love the thought of this magenta. After all the quilt is shades of plum and purple. Lavender and mauve. And this would accentuate all those wonderful rich hues.

process--ann brauer--quilt 2018

Then I realize that the bottom of the quilt is teal. The magenta will stand out significantly against the teal. Mmmm. Maybe this is not the right color after all.

process--ann brauer--quilt--2018

I try again with this bright rose. Again it has the warmth I am seeking but still it may be too bright for the mystery of this quilt.

process--quilt--ann brauer 2018

As they say. Third time is the charm. What about the brick red. Not the color I had been initially imagining but it does add just a bit of the warmth and it won't stand out quite as strongly with the teal.

process--quilt--ann brauer 2018

Not too bright against the teal either is it?

process--quilt--ann brauer 2018

Yes, this will work. And so I begin. Simple rows of stitches done free hand using my 1965 Singer 281-3. A machine I love so much I design my quilts around it.

process--quilt--ann brauer 2018

But a seemingly endless process. I just sit there and sew and sew and sew.  When will I finish? I can get a bit of coffee or maybe some water when I reach a set goal. When I need to change bobbins I can check my e-mail. Oh the games I play to get it done. It goes on and one and on. Like my father, the farmer, when he plowed fields. Up one side and down the next yet gradually there is progress and this is after all part of the process.

How do you do it? What keeps you going during those endless rows? And how do you choose the color of thread to use?

explorations--I begin

It did sound like an interesting show to enter. About twenty quilt makers were selected to each create a quilt that was 30 x 50 inches and highlight a particular process. So I entered and was among the chosen.  Of course my technique is quilt as you go--can you imagine my being selected for any other method? That was the easy part.

Unfortunately though I had to make the quilt. The first step of deciding what to make is often the hardest. What would illustrate the method, look artistic and fit the size requirements? My mind was alive with ideas. But....

I kept sketching. Would it look good at 30x50 inches? Oh why had they not chosen 32x48 inches which I find a much more satisfying size?  Or given us the option of making a horizontal quilt--again a size that can look great over the sofa or bed?  But this was taking up valuable mental energy.

I had to start. Many were already finished with their quilts. I couldn't let them down. I got gentle reminders. from the volunteer working on the project. She was so kind and patient.  Still I fretted.  Why did I agree to do this? I don't even like the focus on process?  Shouldn't it be on the artistic expression instead? Isn't process just the tool to say what you want to say? I could delay forever but I had promised. I was just procrastinating. I needed to make a quilt I could be proud of. Then it dawned on me.  My quilt "mountain sun" was 30 x 70 inches and I liked it. If it could work at that size, then surely it could work at 30 x 50 inches.

mountain sun--30x70 inches--ann brauer--2018

--image by John Polak

Now of course I didn't want to make a quilt just like this. That would be no fun. But I had customers through who had wondered about the quilt in plum--or maybe burgundy. That would be a fun challenge. I was curious to see what would happen.  Wouldn't I love to develop that colorway and then maybe make a couple of longer quilts for my booth. I feel such a need to go large these days. But more on that later.

Time to start. I press the back fabric. Amazing how wrinkled it gets on the bolt.

explorations--pressing the fabric--ann brauer 2018

Then I baste the batting onto the back. After all this is quilt as you go so the batting is included in the sandwich.

explorations--basting the batting to the fabric--ann brauer 2018

That always feel like a major step. I am committed. How do you decide what quilt to make? How do you begin? How do you show process? How much do you think process is relevant?

36 years and still standing--prairie scene

I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm in Illinois. One of those wonderful magical places that one often only read about. Although the farm was along a river which gave us a few rolling hills, there were also long views of the distant sky. Would the bands of rain we could see in the west fall where we needed them? Would the sun break through the clouds before it set?

Normally we stored the hay and straw in the loft in the barn but one year for some reason my dad baled it and stacked the bales just west of the barn.

I can remember as a child scaling to the top of this pile and sitting there with the best view around just looking at the horizon and dreaming of what lay beyond.

prairie scene--quilt--ann brauer 2017--photo by John Polak

Do you have a memory of a place that you return to try to capture in all its aspects?  What do you think?

Day 2 of my 36 Day challenge.

It's a new day and a new year

It's a new day and a new year. I think there is a song that goes something like that. One of those ear worms that I can barely hear but I think is there. Finally though it is 2017.  Nuf said about 2016.

This is a blog about quilts after all. Now those who know me realize I am not great for setting goals or making lists. I don't do resolutions very well. Indeed I find that it just frustrates me since I can never live up to all my goals or resolutions. Instead I try to set out tasks. One task at a time. I get it done--or as done as it will be for now--and then move on.

One of the tasks that had been lurking over me for years has been a new web site. I loved my old web site--I could do it myself. It was simple to update and while it was not the most elegant web site out there, it had come to have a presence after so many years. Alas though Apple had quit supporting myself, it was not Google friendly and certainly did not work on Mobile devices. (Yes, I had had it for a l-o--n--g time.)

It takes time and energy though to update a web site. Sure I could have paid someone but let's face it--quilt makers don't earn a lot of money. Even if they have been in business for 35 years. At least I don't. I wanted to be able to update it when I needed to--not when I had the money and could hire someone to do it. And I had no clue what I wanted it to look like--even that takes time and energy.

So it sat on the back burner through the studio floating. The new studio. My new quilts. Until finally I could no longer do even the most simple updates. UGH!!!!

OK--time to take matters into my own hands and find a decent template system. One I could manage. That would be SEO friendly. And one where I could understand how to operate it. I tried first one template system. And tore my hair out. Then another that a friend had recommended--no dice. Finally I realized that I was thinking in the same language as WIX and opted for that. Now this is not an ad. Or even an endorsement. But for me it worked. It lets me add my Etsy shop which has been my saving grace throughout this whole experience. It even lets me add my blog post from blogger. I can do this.

So now--I can actually think about what I want to say in my blogs. And I do have a lot to say about inspiration and art. I haven't given my loyal readers input on the OOAK Show in December or my recent trip to Mass MoCA. (Now that was inspirational). I do have a lot of catching up with old friends and making new ones. New quilts to add to the web site. Work on it in my spare time.  And best of all I was able to bring over my old domain so it is still www.annbrauer.com.

Theoretically I can do this while preparing for the Baltimore Craft Show in February, the Paradise Marlboro Show in March, a wonderful gallery show of quilts I am honored to participate in this spring and of course the many events of the Shelburne Falls Business Association.

Which comes full circle to the concept that it is indeed a new day. Get the pun in the quilt.

Happy New Year. Together we will survive.

inhaling blue

OK--it is spring. Today the sun shines. The sky is blue. The irises are out in their intricate outrageous splendor. Such wonderful intense colors. So many complex patterns. Such fleeting beauty.  I rush out and try to examine all the subtle changes. The tiny ruffles and flourishes. Can I store these wonderful colors deep within me? Nourish my soul, so to speak.  I try to capture them in clumps. So much color at once--I breathe deeply and yet my mind sees more than my camera does. I try to remember their names. The changes in the details. And yet that is not their essence--at least not for me

Instead I pause before each one. The new ones that have just opened this morning. The ones that are blooming for the first time ever in my garden. The old favorites. Some in clumps so big they flop over. And in my mind I of course--for you knew this would indeed return to quilts--plan the deep deep blue quilt that I must make. The haunting skies that I must try to capture. The quilt that has been teasing me at just the back of my brain. I see just snippets of it--too uncertain to dare begin--and yet I know that today is the day. Today I must sketch and start. I must try to capture it. For isn't this the essence of the blue--the irises that dance for just such a short time? At least that is what I think today.

Consider the dark intense perfection of teal velvet. So rich I could sink into it.

Or the exuberance of mountain lake. So brilliant that the clump dances in the wind even as I take its image.

mountain lake--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

mountain lake--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

The complex colors of Berlin ruby wine.

Berlin ruby wine--siberian iris--Ann Brauer

The delicate clumps of papillon. It takes a year or two to establish and then it just grows and grows.

papillon--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

One of my newer iris--Miss Apple. Oh I do love the colors. So haunting. So special

The promise of tall, dark and handsome. Yes, it blooms just a little later but it is so present when it arrives.

tall, dark and handsome--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

The wonderful colors of in full sail.

in full sail--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

And dare I forget creme caramel. Not blue--but so glorious.

creme caramel--Siberian iris--Ann Brauer

 Oh I could go on and on. But yes, it is time. My "boss" reminds me I have quilts to make. Fabrics to play with. So many things to do. So do you have flowers you look forward to every year? Do you find that the gardens around you inspire your art? What do you think?

tomorrow is another day

Boston Strong! Boston Proud!

Watching all those who put so much at risk. Love watching all the crowds cheering the responders on for their hard work and sacrifice.  Puts it all in perspective doesn't it?

Sure I grumble. But only a little. After all I had worked really hard getting ready for CraftBoston. I knew it would be a great show--the first thing I saw as I unloaded my van was my quilt up there marking the aisle. Sweet, huh? What a great omen!

For more info on the show, visit http://www.societyofcrafts.org/cbspring/springinfo.asp   
I will post when I know for sure it will be open. Hope to see many of you there.

sewing it together

Isn't there a song about snowy days and Sundays? Well, I guess the song was written in California but I am sure you get the gist.  Time though to get some tasks done.

Now one of the tasks is to write again about how I join the blocks together. Sure, I have written about this before but it is some place in the depths of my blog posts--I have been doing this for several years after all. So for those who are not interested, well there is always some snow to shovel--and if you don't have any, I can offer you some . And of course, you can alter this method using your own methods. Why not?

 As you probably know I piece the quilt in blogs and pin it to the display board.

I take two blocks that I want to join and pin them right sides together.

And sew a seam.

 

Then I cover the seam with a binding.

Which I whip stitch in place.

Press the seam open and repeat.

 

And repeat and repeat. Turn up the music. Take a break. And repeat.....

See that wasn't hard, was it? Just a bit long and a bit tedious.  Oh well, isn't that part of making quilts?

Good luck. And do let me know if you come up with any other variations on this method. I know I am always hunting for an easier method.