Saturday, December 14, 2024

Murmuration

murmuration 

This is a post about a new quilt top, murmuration.  I want to write about the process and how it made me feel as I machine pieced pinwheels from silk samples that were given to me by my daughter April and her friend, Em J, who works in film costuming. 

I want to write about how I let this obsession happen and how I loved that it happened.  I was in a rare place of creativity and had to keep sewing and pinning to the wall until finished.  

I used silly rules things like having to sew the four half square triangle blocks of a pinwheel together when I ran out of pins and then eventually having to sew two pinwheels together when I ran out of pins again.

And I want to tell you how I used my body, not my mind, (unless it was my mind that made up the limits and rules). For example I didn't let myself change the size of the gifted strips of cloth.  If they were 5 1/2 inches wide, I left them that size and therefore had to pair them with another strip the same size.  Eventually, when I was forced by to change colour, I would trim the larger piece, and that is why there are smaller triangles.  They are the trimmings from the wider strips.                    

I also added some pieces from my own supply of shot silks, but chose not to have any reds or yellows in order keep to the rather sombre palette in the original fabrics.  

Usually when I work I turn the phone timer to one hour but for the ten days that it took me to do this piecework, I turned it to two hours at a time.  Even then, time went by so quickly.

And yet, physically, I tried to slow everything down.  I used my body and moved a fair amount for each step.  I cut the four squares needed for a pinwheel at my cutting board and then marked them carefully with the diagonal lines for seams and then I would walk around the table to my sewing machine and sew them together and cut them.  Then I had to get up and go to the iron in order to press them flat, and then walk into another room to the pinwall and place them.  Then I sat for a while in my chair and look at it all, eventually getting up to go back to the cutting board to cut out two more sets of squares.  My rules said that they had to be a different pair than the previous time which made it interesting for me.  My point is that I did not try to cut a whole bunch of squares at one time, or do any chain piecing, or iron everything at the same time.  Each block was done one at a time and then looked at.  Regarded. It was like painting with my body and the sewing machine and the iron and those beautiful silks.

I wanted to tell you this thing about moving my body more than I needed to because of the feeling that it was necessary to slow down the machine sewing.  I used the wall as if it was a piece of paper or canvas and worked by intuition in that arbitrary placement.  I was obsessed with getting the whole thing finished though, because of the placement.  It wasn’t as if I could just pile up the blocks and put them in a drawer, I had to finish it in the one go.  At least that's how it felt.  Urgent.

When I finished I put my coat and boots on and took my cane so that I could manage my way down the gentle slope that was deep in drifted snow and pinned the sewn assemblage on the line I have there, down in the cedars.  


It had snowed three or four inches overnight and the east morning light was delightful on the moving lake.  

Now I've chosen a backing cloth from the silk fabric that my instagram friend, Fabia, gifted me earlier this year (two shades of gold), and I will hand stitch this not-square shape.

I love that it is shaped like a cloud and I may make another.  

The thing is, I thought I'd lost this almost erotic passion of losing myself in creativity for such a long period.  I realized that I was in that rare place where reality was outside of me. I was in a dream world and I knew it.  I was in another place.  I was aware of this and I loved it.

It's hard to write this so it makes sense, but maybe you understand.  

I think you do.  

Monday, November 25, 2024

a pilgrimage


pilgrimage:  noun

a journey made to some sacred place as an act of devotion

a visit made to a place that is considered special, where you go to show your respect


I visited the Royal Ontario Museum when I was in Toronto last month.  The main reason to visit was in order to see this quilt, then on display in the special exhibition of  Quilts: Made in Canada.  

I met my brother and Kirsten there.

Pieced Triangles Quilt 1880
  Maker no longer known. 
 Asphodel-Norwood Township, Ontario. 
 Roller-printed cotton, plain weave

Look closely at this quilt: it's made of over 8000 light and dark triangles, each less than 2 centimetres long and hand-stitched together to create an intricate pattern from the smallest scraps.
The patient maker who sewed it worked outwards from the centre, creating a series of rectangular frames that slowly increase to build a quilt.  (wall text)  



I look at the movement of the colours
I sense the amount of time that each triangle took to place.
I appreciate the passage of time that this quilt has remained even though the maker has passed on.
I marvel at the accuracy of the intricate handwork.
I understand this woman.  
My imagination is engaged.
My interior world is entered into.
Her repeated touching reaches me at an intimate, personal level.
The sense of touch is powerful. 




"The impact of art touches something buried deep in embodied memory.  It is a mystery."  

Sunday, November 10, 2024

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.

Saturday, October 26, 2024

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. 

Friday, October 18, 2024

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.   

Thursday, October 10, 2024

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.