BETSY WHITTEMORE
This summer had grandkids (9 and 11), and they both really loved putting fabrics together and using my machine!!
I’m making a big quilt for my grandson, 11, who is very attached to his baby blanket! I know! So he and I are collaborating of incorporating it into a big quilt for his full size bed. He chose and approved of the fabrics. His blanket is a crib size fleece camouflage, with “Boys Rock” appliquéd on it. It’s going to be very cool. And it is imbued with a lot of love and spirit.
BETSY WHITTEMORE
BETSY WHITTEMORE
DEBBY LEVINE
The sweater is made from an old Pingouin yarn (I used it back in the 1980s) that I purchased last year from Alyce MacDonald. I intend it to be worn as a sweatshirt when it ever gets cooler. The garment I made in the 80s has long since been given away as, no surprise, it stopped fitting me a long time ago.
The cap is made from a very soft and luxurious bison blend yarn that I totally splurged on at Stitches, a knitting expo, several years ago. I made it two layers as the yarn is very thin and I wanted to use it up on something just for me. There is enough left to use as a color pattern on another cap or some mittens. We’ll see.
DEBBY LEVINE
The cap is made from a very soft and luxurious bison blend yarn that I totally splurged on at Stitches, a knitting expo, several years ago. I made it two layers as the yarn is very thin and I wanted to use it up on something just for me. There is enough left to use as a color pattern on another cap or some mittens. We’ll see.
DEBBY LEVINE
Handspun alpaca blanket. The question is: does it need a grey border? Please direct comments to Dalevine01@gmail.com
DEBBY LEVINE
A cardigan using my random collection of Shetland wool, some of which I have had since the 1980s.
WENDY DUNLEAVY
This is the first painting I've done in years, motivated by my son who actually wanted a screen print. When I became frustrated by the difficulties of achieving exact registration with old, partially blocked screens and blending ink that had begun to clot, I switched to painting instead and tried to create something that was informed by a variety of printing methods. Although my primary material is acrylic paint (three tubes of which I discovered were completely dried out), I also used screen printing ink and water soluble block printing ink to get the effects and range of colors I wanted. This made varnishing a challenge because some techniques might have damaged the non-acrylic parts of the painting. I learned a lot of useful tricks by watching instructional videos and talking to a very helpful employee at Preston Art Center. My new goal is to finish another painting without resorting to such make-shift materials and methods, a job that should be easier with six new tubes of acrylic paint!
VICKIE WHEATLEY
These are photos of 2 “Anxiety” quilts I’ve been working on with the idea of entering Quilt National for the first time. “Disruptions” (detail shot) is finished. “Glitches,” however, is not going to make the September 5th deadline, and will most likely end up being a “cut it up and try again” experiment. I made the mistake of buying a new machine 2 months before a deadline and in the midst of a pandemic. I thought this machine would make the quilting process easier as it has a wide throat space and a powerful motor that should sew over all the bulk I present it with. It is a brand I’ve never had before and totally computerized, which is also new to me. So, long sad story short, either the machine needs an adjustment, or I do. I could not manage 3 lines of matchstick quilting in a row without skipped stitches. I tried everything. Everything helped a little, but not enough. I finally decided to give up and take the machine in for an adjustment. After a day in the dumps, I now feel free. Free of deadlines and skipped stitches and ready to just play, experiment, do what I want, and return to the very glitchy quilt some day in the future. Maybe.
VICKIE WHEATLEY
"Glitches" before quilting, when there was still hope.
