An Update from Gerrie

It has been some time since the Twelves checked in with our readers. I hope you are still out there. Mr C and I sold our big house with my big, fantastic studio. I have my sewing machine at home in our multi-purpose room (it is also the TV room and guest bedroom). I have a small studio a mile from home where I do all my messy stuff. The thing I miss most is a big design wall so I have been imited as to the size of work I do.

I also had a serious knee problem last year which resulted in knee replacement surgery in May. I am still in recovery mode so it has been almost a year since I have had the energy and ability to work for long periods of time. I am so looking forward to getting back in the studio.

Here are some examples of what I have done, recently. I was honored to be featured in John Hopper's Inspirational online magazine. I was one of the textile artists that he feature on his blog- The Textile Blog. He had us show some of our recent work. This is the cover of my Ode to a Tree quilt using my hand dyed fabrics. I pieced the letters that spell our tree. This was juried into the Oregon SAQA show.

Here are some other pieces:

This is Sonoma Summer.

Look! I pieced a quilt. This is called Pick Up Sticks and it has been juried into one show, but not the one I made it for!

 

This is a small quilt that I made from hand-dyed silk. I had to cut a ton of little leaves. It is Autumn Arbor.

This is my SAQA auction piece for this year. It is totally hand stitched on shibori fabric that I purchased from Elin Noble. I named it, Getting My Stitch On.

 

This is what I am working on now - more hand-stitching. I started it in an Extreme Embroidery Class that I took at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. It looks like a mess right now!!

I hope you are enjoying this chance to catch up with the Twelves. Being part of this amazing group of women has been a highlight of my artistic life. I am especially thrilled to see the growth and success for our younger members, Deborah, Helen and Kristin. Deborah has a book! Helen has had an exciting solo show! Kristin has a quilt in Quilt National. I am so proud of them - kind of like a quilt mom.