My work takes care of me

october 11

Making something slowly with one's hands is perhaps one of the most nourishing things one can do

october 15

As I get older I worry less and less about making a product that others might like.  Instead, I want to spend the time I have left allowing my work to be as intuitive as possible.  

I want to be led by feelings, not thought.

The Sleeping Giant peninsula
in the foreground, pier 2 of the new Prince Arthur's Landing waterfront park
with Mark Nisenholt's digital images of awake giants on lantern sculptures  
read about them here. 

Ned and I went to Thunder Bay last weekend to attend the celebration of life for Sandy, one of our longtime friends.  Thunder Bay is a special place for us because we met at the University there. He was in his second year of the new Forestry degree program and I was in Teacher's College. The city is finally developing the waterfront and we stayed in the new hotel right on Lake Superior.  I was so glad to be able to glimpse the Sleeping Giant from the window of our 7th floor room.  The Sleeping Giant is famous in the area and I’ve written about it on this blog before.   2013 here and 2008 here. 

november 3

Visiting Thunder Bay is full of emotion for both of us and we took some time to drive in our rental car through the grandeur of this beloved northern Ontario area.  Ned loves maps and we used an old map from his huge collection.  

november 3

It's one of our favourite ways to spend time together. 

november 3

About my work again:  

One of my ideas is to go back to making old folk patchwork quilts and using the fabrics that I come across in my studio almost by chance.  

I want to use what comes immediately to hand.

I want my work to take care of me and provide me with answers. 

november 3

I stitched during the drive, and also took photos out the window. 

november 4  

Back in Toronto, I was able to spend time with the grandchildren before their bed times and then in the evening, I continued stitching red thread into this yellow cotton piece.

The serenity found in a field of hand stitch is almost a religious experience.

november 5

On Tuesday we returned home via the north bound 400 highway.  It's a six hour drive from Toronto to Manitoulin.

Americans were voting for a new president on the day we drove home.  

november 6

I stayed up until 3 am to watch him accept the presidency.

The CBC newscasters and observers helped me to understand what seemed like an impossible event.  It was most certainly an historical one.  

I've named this quilt Prayer Cloth.

the front and then the back

Counting my blessings 2000  velveteen and cotton quilt 85 x 80 inches

Counting My Blessings (verso)  2000  embroidered cotton, hand quilted 85 x 80 inches

Today Yesterday Tomorrow  1994  painted and pieced cotton hand dyed quilt,
hand embroidery, hand quilted  76 x 72 inches

Today Yesterday Tomorrow (verso) 1994  cotton and embroidered grocery list,
hand quilted 76 x 72 inches

Something More Magical Than It Ever Was 1991 family clothing and silk, log cabin quilt
with photo transfers and painted cloth, 90 x 90 inches

Something More Magical Than It Ever Was (verso)  1991  transfer printed satin and cotton
with hand embroidery 90 x 90 inches 

My Children 1987 painted hand pieced silk from my mother's blouses,
rick rack and polyester border, hand quilted  crib quilt size

My Children (verso)  1987 hand pieced silk and polyester from my mother's blouses, 
 hand quilted , crib quilt size

The quilts in this post are  from my early days of quilting.  They are for the new archive page on my website, (judithemartin.com) which will go live there next month.  

Thank you to the family members and collectors who loaned pieces back to me so that they could be photographed digitally.  Thank you Nick for taking the photos.  Thank you Zoe, for helping me get them onto the website.

I made quilts to save and nurture my creative self.  I started in my early 20’s. I will continue to make them and I am thankful. 

The Welsh Quilt Centre

The Prince of Wales Feathers 82 x 82 inches, Llanrannog, west Wales, 1880

I visited the Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter, Wales on August 10, 2024.

The exhibition Merry Go Round was on display.

All the quilts are hand quilted with spirals and flowers in the traditional Welsh manner.

This year, in addition to the older quilts curated from Jen Jones' collection, small quilts by contemporary quilt artist, Mary Jenkins, were displayed on several small suspended merry go rounds. 

upper left wall, Handkerchief Quilt, Pembrokeshire 87 x 82, 1820 - 1840. 
Lower left wall, Brecon Star 75 x 70 inches, late 19th century
 right lower corner of left wall, A Present, made by a Welsh lady who emigrated to Canada and sent this quilt back to Llanelli, Wales.  Redwork embroidery was taught in Canadian schools. 1901.
on the two hanging merry go rounds in the foreground are small quilts by Mary Jenkins

upper wall, a quilt made from bandana handkerchiefs with lovely welsh quilting
lower wall, embroidered cat with Canadian Redwork, early 20th century
foreground, small quilts made by contemporary quilt maker, Mary Jenkins.  

The high ceilings of the town hall upper floor allowed for a lot of the older quilts to be displayed. 

grey patchwork above the bed:  Lampeter Velfrey Tailor's Sample Quilt, machine pieced wool remnants, hand quilted, 88 x 81 inches 1895
on the bed is the Breconshire Tailor's Sample Quilt.  It has a blanket as a batting and is so heavy and irregular that it is awkward to display on the wall. Machine pieced wool, 88 x 81 inches, 1880
in foreground, more of Mary Jenkins small corduroy and wool quilts inspired by Welsh quilts

detail of the Breconshire Tailor's sample quilt (on the bed in previous photo)

Thomas Quilt, naive patchwork using victorian fabrics, sophisticated welsh quilting,
made in Newcastle Emlyn, 72 x 70 inches, 1880

detail of Welsh quilting on the Thomas Quilt

Brecon Star, cotton prints, hand quilted, Brecon, Wales 75 x 70 inches, late19th century

The most compelling thing in the 2024 exhibition was the Merry Go Round in the middle of the room that displayed four of the Jen Jones' collection.  All of them are red and white, and most are hand quilted using the famous Welsh technique.

Welsh quilts often used found textiles such as shawls, handkerchiefs or bandanas and added borders and the lovely intricate quilting.

Paisley Panel Quilt with Saw-tooth Border  hand quilted with lots of spirals,
Newquay, Cardiganshire, 85 x 82 inches, 1890

Cotton bandana medallion quilt

detail of the Thomas quilt (named by Jen Jones in memory of her pet cat)

One of the reasons we went to Wales after the Birmingham festival was so that I could make a pilgrimage to Lampeter to visit this famous shrine of Welsh Quilting. Founded in 1971 by Jen Jones,   please click on her name to read more about her passion for the Welsh quilt.   

never giving up on the art

september 28  hand quilting on something started earlier this year

 

september 29  hot wax, black cloth, a beautiful day

september 30  town studio

october 1 a new beginning

october 2  hot wax encaustic in Barb's studio

  october 3  visited the Cambridge art galleries with Barb
 Justin Ming Yong's two-sided piece, Sun In Eyes in foreground

october 5 recovered my studio bag with pieces of cloth that came to hand 

october 7 adding quilting stitches to the sleeve for Far Away Stars

october 8  packing up Far Away Stars / Cloudy Day to ship to Quilts=Art=Quilts

october 9 town studio

Blog update:  

For the next couple of months, I need to concentrate more on the neglected website. judithemartin.com  

My Process and Judy's Updates will continue as they are because they are both super easy to write, but the main blog, Judy’s Journal will morph to a photo journal (like today's post) for the next little while. 

Although I will continue the monthly emails until at least the end of the year, I may switch over to substack for updates.  We'll see.   

Thank you friends, for your continued support.   Never give up on your own creative practice.  

while everything else continues, unexplained and unexplainable

What is there beyond knowing that keeps calling to me?

I can't turn in any direction but its there. 

I don't mean the leaves' grip and shine or even the thrush's

silk song,  but the far off fires,

for example,  or the stars, heaven's slowly turning theater of light,

or the wind playful with its breath;

or time that's always rushing forward,or standing still 

in the same - what shall I say - moment.

What I know I could put into a pack as if it were bread and cheese,

and carry it on one shoulder, important and honourable, but so small!

While everything else continues, unexplained and unexplainable.

How wonderful it is to follow a thought quietly to its logical end.

I have done this a few times.

But mostly, I just stand in the dark field in the middle of the world, breathing in and out.

Life so far doesn't have any other name but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.

I simply go on drifting,

In the heaven of the grass and the weeds.

What is there beyond knowing, by Mary Oliver 

from New and Selected Poems volume two published 2005

These images are from the road trip through northern and mid Western Wales that Ned and I did the second week of August.  

All of them were taken from the passenger seat of a moving vehicle by me.  

We enjoyed this trip together very much.

The feeling of being with him in the middle of this fairy world

will stay with me for a long time and I am grateful.