Yvonne Porcella Tribute Quilt and a few new toys
YES! My tribute quilt for Pokey Bolton’s ” Live Your Brightest Life: A Tribute to Yvonne Porcella“ exhibit is finished. It took me much longer than expected but I should have known that my re-entry into normal life after the move and remodel might take time. I am thrilled that I was able to submit.
I was not a direct friend or colleague of Yvonne’s, yet she directly influenced me. It has been my belief that you know someone has been influential if they impact people far beyond their own circle of friends. In a note which is to be sent to the family, I wrote:
“Yvonne wrote that she lived life to the fullest. I am grateful that she did. Even though I was not a part of her close circle of friends or family, her vision, which created Studio Art Quilt Associates, and her art have influenced me directly and I am grateful. Thank you Yvonne for sharing your love of the art quilt.”
I dug deeply into my considerable silk stash and made my piece entirely of silk, except a portion of the binding. My photo does not capture the glory of the silk, but I love how the light catches sheen at different points as you stand in front of the quilt. I was striving for a solid value contrast between the background and the floral motif. My goal was to honor her style through my interpretation, not to imitate her style.
I did not want to do my typical style of quilting on this quilt so I started out with matchstick quilting. So I got out my walking foot, gasp, and began to quilt. After maybe 8 rows, I was going mad with boredom so I took a right hand turn which made the walking foot stitching more tolerable. I am not one for walking foot quilting!
A bit of a detail here. The color is not true nor can you see the lovely sheen of the silks. It was an enjoyable process for me as all the while I thought about Yvonne and her life. I thoroughly enjoyed her autobiography and was charmed and fascinated by the details of her life that she carefully passed on. As I read her book I somewhat mindlessly wrote down meaningful phrases. I wrote some of them on the back of the quilt with a Fabrico pen.
And my tension had to be dead-on perfect or the top thread would have popped through to the back and obscured the message. I’ve included the phrases I wrote here:
Colors and inspirations drive me
I did what I was told
Sit girls. Don’t move.
My Mother’s daughter
Bicycle built for 4
Mending, curing healing the human body
Mary‘s meeting Him in her own hand-made shroud
Artist crushed to death by a Giant Kimono
Let’s just say the some well-intentioned people who offer to “keep the teacher”….
How big is your garage?
I still remember asking what is a dark and light value
My style changed at that point
My goal was to make an art quilt therefore each stitch should also be artistic
Oct 6, 1989
Remember, I am an art quilter, breaking the rules is my goal
Keep both feet on the floor
Maggie, how will we get this under the sewing machine?
I still have it
The nice police officer didn’t want to know about Violet Maude
I suggested she warm up the water bed to press the plastic
What it feels like to have friends that leave you but also change you
I taught myself about art
Fiber and fabric had been my first love
My life has been full, the past 4 years but a new way of living
My goal has always been to finish the work
Sometimes in art, bigger is better
My question to her was did she see me horizontal or vertical at 92?
Here lies Yvonne, She Got It All Done and On Time.
I am forever grateful to those who made it possible for me to live life to the fullest
I do hope it juries into the exhibit, but if not, it was a fun quilt and my way of honoring a great woman. I wrote why I named it “Y92” here.
I also got some fun new toys this week! I have been reading about these “quilt suspension” systems and been intrigued ever since I saw Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry’s system in her studio in Paducah. What a clever girl. By suspending a portion of the quilt, a great deal of the weight of the quilt was borne by the system, allowing the quilt to move much more freely.
I have seen a few systems out there but I did not bite-they either looked cumbersome or they were quite expensive. When I heard there was a Patsy Thompson Quilt Suspension System, I had to take a look. After corresponding with Patsy and even a phone call, I ordered her system:
See the clamp-type things rising from either side of the table? Her website has a great video to explain how to use the system. It arrived without directions, which concerned me initially. But guess what-you don’t need any directions! I had it set up in 3 minutes and after another 5 minutes I figured out the best places to put the clamps and off I went. Easy peasy. Ooops-I see the behind of my manekin provocatively standing in the corner!
The timing was right for me try ruler work again. I had tried ruler work before but I was just not into it. As time went on, I saw lots of quilts quilted on a domestic machine with ruler work and I knew I needed to give it another try. Having the quilt suspended definitely made this process easier. Oh, and that is an unauthorized use of the BERNINA long arm ruler foot (#96)-shhhh. The #72 for domestic BERNINA machines should be available in the fourth quarter.
Meissner Sewing was kind enough to lend me a slew of Westalee Rulers (brand name Sew Steady). So I hooked up a small unquilted piece to the suspension system and got to playing.
One of the first rulers I tried was the Spiral Template. I was pleasantly surprised that despite the fact that I used it inaccurately, I ended up with a spiral that was evenly spaced. This is not meant to be a knock-your-socks-off quilt! I’m just playing. I rarely get to play so this was a treat!
There will be more adventures in my near future with both the suspension system and the ruler work, so stay tuned. As always, I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.
I want to pet your Yvonne quilt to feel the silk. You inspire me to stop hoarding my silks. And thanks for alerting me to that quilt suspension system. I know the drag of gravity on anything larger than 18 inches has been a problem for me. I’ll have to think about that option.
Girl after my own heart Joanna-I’d love for you to be able to pet it! I love the different sheens on the quilt-the Radiance is rather showy and some of the others are a bit more shy but still shiny. And it was hard for me to cut into my silks. Of course I cut and fused lots and lots of silk that was not used in the piece since my path was not clear, and I used the last bits of some of my very favorite pieces, but why not use it for Yvonne? I’ll be reporting in on my experience with the suspension system so you’ll know more. It’s a totally affordable system and it is absolutely sturdy and very simple to use.
I’m so glad you participated in the Yvonne tribute project. Sorry I didn’t get around to this, but I think it’s a great idea. Love seeing what everyone came up with.
You can’t enter everything Martha! I can’t wait to see the exhibit.
You have just rocked my domestic machine quilting world! This is ingenious! Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome Laura! Let me know how it works for you-I’d love to know.
Absolutely stunning! I have a couple of questions: did you use the same color thread throughout for the quilting, and if so, what color. Sometimes I think the color changes, and then again, it looks the same?
Also, I have not heard of ruler work – is that another new technique, or am I behind the times? Haha
Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece of art!
Oh thank you Connie! I did use the same color, Twist by Superior, in Med/Dk Olive. I auditioned many threads both by pooling over my project and holding a strand between my hands and placing the thread over various colors. The olive seemed to do the best so I went with that. Ruler work just means that you snug a special ruler up to your ruler foot on your machine and it allows you to make lines without bobbles because you echo the line of the ruler. That used to be the domain of long armers but now domestic sit down machine people are doing it also. So I’m trying again.
I am giggling, Jenny. I thought you were setting up to groom a new pet! These are grooming arms! Love the alternate use.
Oh how funny, I did not realize they are grooming arms Janice! Hey, works great for quilting too.
Your quilt is a wonderful tribute to Yvonne! I also love to work with silk, mostly Dupioni, because of the shimmer it gives. And I like your matchstick quilting. Great job, all around.
Ah, a fellow lover of silk! Isn’t it just divine? It was fun to honor Yvonne with this.
Thanks for sharing about your new quilt suspension sustem – I always value your “reviews”! I recently finished a queen sized quilt top and have been wondering about the weight of it while quilting, so I will wait to hear more about what you think. (I don’t plan to quilt it right away.) I looked at the templates as well and that circular one looks very cool. Do you have that one? I was debating quilting circles on the new quilt top and was thinking it would be a nightmare to turn the quilt. Also – I can’t rememebr from past posts, but do you use anything on your hands/fingers when you machine quilt?
P.S. Your tribute quilt is luscious!
I haven’t had enough time to really play with it but I can’t imagine I wont’ like it. Yes, I do have circular rulers-haven’t played much with them either. But if you want larger circles, I think some sort of ruler is the way to go-nigh impossible to quilt free motion on a domestic without a bobble.
I saw Caryl B-F’s system a long time ago, and was intrigued by it. This seems like a simple way to get a similar effect. I will be interested in hearing about how well you think it is working for you.
I just need some time to quilt!
Jenny,
What a lovely piece you created to honor Yvonne. I still remember my first fabric painting workshop with Yvonne many years ago in Elk Grove. I’ve kept a few special pieces of the silks I painted on that day.
Yep! Grooming arms! I never knew the name, but what an ingenious use for these tools. I just took Petey for his second lion cut. Finally realized after 4 years that it is the perfect cut for an American Eskimo in our hot summer weather. There is at least one of these arms at each grooming station. I’m intrigued and will go check out the links provided for Patsy’s system.
I just learned about ruler work while taking Folsom Guild’s July workshop with Gina Perkes. What an eye opener!! I came home with two rulers. Still looking for the perfect foot to use with my Pfaff, but in the meantime I’m quilting carefully with the free-motion foot.
Thank you Carol and so good to hear from you! Yes, Patsy’s system is so well priced and very well designed. I would love to see what you are doing with the rulers. I’m still on the fence and it would be fun to get your take on it. I’ll bet you can get that foot somewhere local.