Update from Deborah

Even after nine years, 12x12 is still such a cherished part of my life -- personal and artistic.

I flew to Portland just a couple of weeks ago especially to meet Helen, but also because Kristin, Gerrie and Terry live there. We had a fabulous get together. It's pretty cool to have five of the twelve of us in one place. Now I just need to get to New Zealand to meet Kirsty.



My "lorikeet" quilt has been in my mind a lot over the past year or so.

I've continued to explore the ladder as a personal symbol. This is Evening Climb, also 12x12.

Plus, Yellow Ladder is on the back of my new book!

That's right, I am thrilled that my new book is now available. It's called Art Quilt Collage: A Creative Journey in Fabric, Paint and Stitch. 

Several of my 12x12 quilts are included in the book. I included a list and a shout-out about the project on the About the Author page. 

I've got signed copies available in my Etsy shop. As a thank you I'm included a fat-eighth of original surface designed fabric with the first 50 copies purchased directly from me. 

I also write regularly about inspiration and how to convert inspiration into art. I hope you'll consider subscribing to my newsletter Three Bits of Inspiration.

Honestly, I look back on my work and experience with 12x12 as one of the greatest sources of inspiration and it's so thrilled to think it's been inspiring to others too.

2+ Twelves in New Zealand

Happy New Year!  There's a little Twelve by Twelve action coming up in New Zealand this month.

Both Brenda and Kirsty are teaching at Quilt Symposium Manawatu from 15-21 January 2015.  All their classes, including Kirsty's two day workshop Working to a Theme, are booked out but it's not too late to sign up for the lunchtime lecture on Saturday 17 January 2015  (12.15 – 1.00pm):

See:  Adventures & Inspiration from the Twelve by Twelve International Art Quilt Challenge

In addition, you are invited to the Living Colour! exhibition at:

• Te Manawa, Palmerston North, New Zealand in conjunction with Quilt Symposium Manawatu, 15-21 January 2015; Curator floor talk 12.30-1pm Tuesday, 20 January 2015;and
• Northart Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand: Wednesday 28 January (opening 6pm) – 11 February 2015.  Gallery hours: 10am – 4pm daily (closed Friday 6 February).

Living Colour! is travelling textile art exhibition curated by Brenda Gael Smith comprised of 32 vibrant works celebrating life across the spectrum.  The exhibition features Indigo Garden by Twelve, Deborah Boschert.

Fiber Art for a Cause

I am so happy to pass along information about an exciting new initiative raising money for the American Cancer Society. It's Virginia Spiegel's Fiberart For A Cause. This year her project is called "The 100." 

100 Artists - 100 Patrons - One Day
$10,000 To Fight Cancer
February 4, 2015
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html

Six of the "twelves" are included in "The 100" along with many, many other amazing artists.

Deborah Boschert

Gerrie Congdon

Terry Grant

Kristin LaFlamme
Karen Rips

Terri Stegmiller

Want to make a donation and receive a piece of art? Mark your calendar for February 4 and check out the details are here.

Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 through the generosity of fiber artists and patrons.

SAQA Benefit Auction 2014: Dream Collection

The annual benefit auction is the signature fundraising event for Studio Art Quilt Associates. Your purchases help increase the recognition for art quilts and the artists who make them while supporting SAQA’s exhibitions, publications, and education outreach. The 2014 SAQA Benefit Auction is coming up in September and Dream Collections are starting to appear online.  The dream collection set out below is comprised of works donated by six of the Twelves that are up for auction:
    Nightfall: Deborah Boschert             Sky Blue Pink: Gerrie Congdon            Undecided:  Karen Rips                   The Visitor:  Terri Stegmiller                    Eye of the Crow: Terry Grant                   Neptune's Necklace#1:Brenda Smith

Talking of SAQA, congratulations to Helen! Her work Graffiti 1 was juried into the “SAQA exhibition Wide Horizons IV that will premiere at the Carrefour Européen du Patchwork/European Patchwork Meeting  in Alsace, France:18-21 September 2014.  Don't forget, all 144 works from the Colorplay Series will also be on exhibition at this event.

Graffiti 1:  Helen Conway

Many of the Twelves enjoy the educational, networking, mentoring and exhibition opportunities offered by Studio Art Quilt Associates. If you’ve been thinking about joining SAQA, add the discount code “BGS” to the application form and you will receive a 10% discount on the membership fee.

Quilt Symposium Manawatu, New Zealand 2015

Quilt Symposium Manawatu 16-21 January 2015) is the premier quilting event in New Zealand. A wonderful week of quilting organised by quilters (on a voluntary basis) for quilters.  The Twelve by Twelve International Quilt Challenge is participating in this event in three ways:

• Kirsty and Brenda are part of the teaching faculty, presenting an array of stimulating workshops;
• Brenda is giving a lunchtime presentation (Saturday, 17 January 12.15-1pm) Adventures & Inspiration from the Twelve by Twelve International Art Quilt Challenge and there will be an opportunity to view some of Kirsty and Brenda's quilts "in the cloth"; and
• Deborah's distinctive work Indigo Garden is part of the Living Colour! travelling textile art exhibition, curated by Brenda, that will be on display at the Symposium.

Registrations are now open for classes including Kirsty's workshops:

• Working to a Theme (2 days)
• English Paper Piecing (1 day)
• Back to Basics Scrap Party (1 day)
• Stitch Some Magic(1 day)

and Brenda's workshops:

• Strata Various
• Stacks of Improvisation
• Serendipity Circles
• Scrap Queen Odyssey
• Power Stripping

Join us if you can!

A little Twelve by Twelve at AQC

Congratulations to the Australasian Quilt Convention as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in Melbourne this week.  The Twelves have many special memories from AQC.   The world premiere of the Theme Series was at AQC 2010.  Remember this?!

And works by Terry (Cacao y Canela), Diane (Blowin' in the Wind) and Brenda (Dreamlines #3) made cameo appearances on the program cover:

 

Colourplay was on exhibition at AQC 2013 with works by Helen, Kirsty, Terri and Nikki on the program cover: 

At AQC 2014, you can purchase our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge from Can Do books:

View Brenda's work The X Factor, a finalist in the AQC 2014 Challenge - Ten:

And see Deborah's work Indigo Garden in the Living Colour! exhibition curated by Brenda:

Brenda is presenting a curator floor talk, daily at 1.30pm at AQC 2014.  All welcome! (And, if you can't make it in person, check out the Living Colour! gallery and Living Colour! Catalogue .)

Living Colour Exhibition

Thank you to everyone that entered the Living Colour!  travelling textile art exhibition.  I (Brenda) received over 170 entries from all around the world - amazing!  The exhibition will premiere at the Australasian Quilt Convention (10-13 April 2014) and continue on tour until October 2015.  In the meantime, every other day, I will be posting a detail shot on the Living Colour blog at A Glimpse of Living Colour.  The detail shots can also be viewed in the Preview Gallery that will be updated weekly. Today's glimpse is a collage work by a Twelve - Deborah Boschert.

Fiber 5K to Fight Cancer!

No need to actually lace up your tennis shoes for this virtual race. 

It's as easy as donating directly to the ACS through Fiberart For A Cause
beginning January 15, 2014 at 10 a.m. Central
For each $1 you donate, we will be 1 meter closer to the finish line.
$5000 donated = We all reach the 5K Finish Line

Donate here.
Fantastic prizes from our very generous sponsors as we reach 1K ($1000 raised), 2K ($2000 raised), etc. with a Grand Prize Package when we reach our 5K goal.

12x12 artist Deborah Boschert is included in the 4K level of prizes. She's donated a copy of the Twelve by Twelve book and a copy of her dvd Contemporary Fabric Collage.

SAQA Benefit Auction 2013 at the International Quilt Festival

The 2013 SAQA Benefit Auction continues with the final tranche open for in-person bidding at the International Quilt Festival, Houston in Houston from 28 October to 3 November (with online bidding available on 28 and 29 October) . This is a great opportunity to purchase quality textile art and support SAQA’s exhibition programs. You can view the quilts in this tranche at page a and  page b of the SAQA website including these works donated by some of the Twelves in their distinctive styles.

Deborah's work Rocks, Rivers and Rooftops incorporates many of her favorite motifs and techniques: the houses, the hand embroidery, handwriting as surface design, a painted stenciled twig and the arch over the top of the suggested landscape.  You can read the surprising back story  to this piece on Deborah's blog and learn some of these techniques yourself in Deborah's new online workshop called Branches, Buds and Blossoms Fabric Collage.

In her work Awareness, Karen stitched a piece of fabric with wool felt underneath to shrink it up for texture.  After bleaching, she overdyed it a very pale blue, which took away the cream color.  Raised circles, created with buttons, adds extra interest.

Terri's Kitty Rides Back features a portait and two kitties in stencilled fabrics made from her very own stencil designs.

If you happen to be attending the International Quilt Festival, Houston in person, be sure to check out the following exhibits that also features works by some of the Twelves:

• An Exquisite Moment  features works by Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Diane Perin Hock and Karen Rips.  There is also An Exquisite Moment Catalogue available for sale;
•  Tactile Architecture and What's for Dinner special exhibits feature works by Deborah Boschert..

Deborah's Workshop

Hi, it's Deborah Boschert. Just a quick note to say that I'm offering a new online workshop called Branches, Buds and Blossoms Fabric Collage. The workshop sample includes all the techniques from the workshop... fabric selection, composition, surface design, stencil, hand embroidery, embellishments.... so much fun stuff!

You can read all the details and registration info here. 

Two of the quilts from my 12x12 collections also are good examples of the style and techniques covered in the workshop.

Here's Pink Pencil Experiment. It's so fun to look back at these quilts. I really love this one... maybe even more than I did when I first created it.

This is "In Light Of" from the gray challenge of the ColorPlay Series. The white bare tree shape was created with a freezer paper stencil. It's very similar to the tree from the workshop sample.

Using Sheers in Fabric Collage

I'm thrilled to be offering another webinar through Quilting Daily (the same folks that do Quilting Arts magazine, TV show and dvds). This one is all about using sheer materials in fabric collage.

I just went back and did a count of all my 12x12 quilts --- the Theme Series, the ColorPlay series and the 2012 Series. Guess what... I used sheer fabrics in 18 of my 29 quilts. 

Here is my quilt, Garden Gate, from the Rusty theme of the ColorPlay series. It incorporates a sheer silhouette of a crocus created with tulle. I will be discussing this technique --- and many others -- in the webinar.

The live webinar is TOMORROW May 22 at 11:30 am EST. If that fits your schedule and you're interested in hearing all kinds of things about sheer fabrics and the cool ways you can use them in your artwork, you should register! You'll get an email confirmation right away, then you just log in tomorrow. If you can't attend tomorrow, but are still interested, register anyway and you'll get a code to download the audio and video of the webinar anytime you like.

One of the cool things about webinars is that anyone anywhere can join in. I think it's just amazing that our 12x12 project has fans all over the world and I'm excited that some of you might be able to join me tomorrow.

Join Deborah in a Webinar!

I am really excited to tell you about a webinar I am hosting with Quilting Arts next week.

It's Tuesday, April 30 at 1 pm Easter, but you don't necessarily have to attend live... I know not everyone is free during the day (or during the night for those in other parts of the world). You can still register and just download the event and listen and watch whenever you want.

I'll be talking about all kinds of unexpected materials that you can use in art quilts... including foil candy wrappers like I used in my quilt for our Chocolate theme.

Have you ever participated in a webinar? It's a new endeavor for me and for Quilting Arts. Participants will view a digital slide show on their computers that I will be live-streaming from my computer. (Oh the power of technology!) I'll be talking about my artwork, showing tons of examples and sharing techniques and tips.

I've had a great time preparing for this project. Here's an example of one of the small collages I created for the webinar. It's called Metro Grid. Can you guess what "unexpected materials" I used?

I think the webinar is going to be super fun and if it fits your interest and pocketbook, I'd love to have you join me! It is so amazing to know that our 12x12 project has reached people all over the world and this webinar is a pretty cool opportunity to connect and learn more about how I create my artwork and some of my tips and ideas about creativity... even though we might never be in the same place.

Plus... all participants are going to get an awesome discount code to use in future Interweave purchases.

I'm also eager to hear what unexpected materials you've used in your artwork!

Terri's Stencil Blog Hop

Our very own Terri Stegmiller has designed 14 stencils produced by Stencil Girl Products. Join Terri, Deborah, Brenda and other artists on the Stencil Blog Hop to celebrate the release of this fun new line; explore the creative possibilities of stencilling. and maybe win some stencils of your own to play with!

2012 Series by Deborah

Throughout the 2012 Series and the entire Twelve by Twelve collaboration, Deborah has developed and refined her own personal set of  shapes, symbols and motifs using layering and collage techniques.  Deborah shares these techniques in her video workshop, Contemporary Fabric Collage: Design, Stitch and Finish which  includes chapters on fabric selection, composition, using sheer fabrics, stitching by machine and by hand, and unique finishing options. The workshop is available as a DVD and as a digital download.  Both are currently on sale (at least at the time of writing).

Sugar Maple

After dancing around various "sweet" inspirations, I finally settled on maple syrup. I am intrigued by various bottle shapes and have made a few collage-style art quilts with a bottle as a central shape. Since maple syrup comes in a very recognizable "jug" bottle, I thought it would be fun to start there.

I added a painted silhouette of a sugar maple tree and various fabrics... rust dyed, hand-dyed, commercial and heavy decorator fabric, even some organza.

I love those tiny blue stitches. They are tedious to stitch and only visible upon close viewing... but I still love them.

I wanted an interesting motif to stitch in the upper part of the quilt. After some research, I found a chemical structure for the leaf of the sugar maple. Aha! I simplified it a bit and removed the notations about the elements.

My ubiquitous arch and a bit of fabric printed with leaves. (Originally, that fabric were table napkins that I made years ago for Thanksgiving dinner. I never really liked them as napkins, so they are in my stash for just this occasion.)

This quilt may not scream "sweet" upon first glance, but that is one of the things I have always loved about our 12x12 project. There was never any rule or strict expectation that any of our quilts would be "obvious." In fact, "obvious" is sometimes far too easy and doesn't encourage growth. This project has generated so much growth for me personally, professionally and artistically. It has been the very sweetest of experiences!

Flash Back!

As I was preparing to enter an upcoming show, I discovered that two of the pieces I had intended to enter did not fit the size requirement. Grumble! I decided to try to create a new piece of work on a tight deadline. Rather than start from scratch, I thought it would be interesting to reinterpret an existing piece. I chose my 12x12 quilt from the Brown/Sage/Blue theme in the ColorPlay challenge.

Spring Suggestion, March 2011

12x12

Using the same basic colors and composition, I was able to put together this quilt in about a week. It was really fun!

Shelter and Stream, December 2012

39x39

I entered this quilt in the upcoming SAQA exhibit called Deux. I work about my experience preparing my entry on my blog last week. I discussed creating new art work, choosing which quilts to enter, titling the quilts, photographing and filing the paperwork.

Here you can see a few of the subtle changes I made from the smaller version.

The blue strip became wavey shapes. The cream colored Y stitches became leafy stalks and the brown felt leaf morphed into three leaves.

My participation in the 12x12 project continues to be such an important part of my artistic life. I really didn't imagine using my 12x12 artwork in this way, but now I'm looking at other pieces and thinking how they might inform new works!

Driving

Driving

My first car was a 1974 Ford Maverick. My parents bought it for me when I was 16 or 17 mostly because I needed to drive to school and work. Honestly, I don't remember too much about it. I'm not much into cars. In fact, I had to email my dad to ask what year it was. White top? Two doors or four doors? 

What I do remember is forging my independence at that age. I suppose my parents had that in mind too. It won't be long before my own daughter is 16 and as hard as it is to imagine, she will need increasing independence and responsibility too.  A car can make that possible.

I worked at a retail clothing store at the local mall and I remember driving back and forth to work through the wide, open, flat landscape of central Nebraska. Through wheat fields and industrial areas. In all seasons. When the sun was shining and when the moon was rising.

I don't include photographic images in my work too often, but I am really pleased with how this car works in my fabric collage. (In fact, as I look over my 12x12 galleries, I have never before included any kind of photograph.) This seems like the perfect occasion to include a picture -- a literal Maverick!

The other motifs, colors and symbols in the quilt are a loose combination of things I enjoy and references to the car and my memories of driving it. The color palette of the whole quilt is inspired by the brown car with the white top. I chose this smaller rectangle of white fabric because it had that contrasting white shiny stripe --- just like the striping on the car.

The gray blocks could be industrial buildings and the grid could be parking lot lines. Those green embroidered stalks could be lines of wheat.

I think the quilt has a feeling of wide-open, whimsical possibility. But, it's a bit dark and jumbled. Isn't that what it feels like to be sixteen or seventeen?