Terry checks in...

Terry Grant here, enjoying these updates from my 12x12 sisters!
Where am I, nine years in?—right where I was the last time you heard from me, just west of Portland, in my little studio in the woods.

We built the studio in 2011 and I spend most of my days out there. It has a small loft with a comfy futon for guests. Brenda was the first Twelve to stay here, followed by Diane and then both Kristin and her husband Art stayed with us while they house-hunted just before their move to Portland. So the studio has an additional life as the Twelve by Twelve B&B!

I continue to make art quilts. Several years ago I began using the fabrics from men's shirts purchased at thrift stores and over dyed to achieve the colors I wanted. The plaids and stripes suggested architectural elements to me and I made many works using the shirt fabrics to create memories of our travels in South America and Mexico.

This piece, "Basilica of Quito" was recently accepted for our local High Fiber Diet group exhibit. I have continued to use these fabrics in other work that is not architectural in theme as well.

"Cloth Remembers" has been traveling with the SAQA International exhibit Redirecting the Ordinary.
Recently I was intrigued by an idea to use only stripes, and made "Roses". It will be in an exhibit of art by Oregon artists in all media in October.

Travel continues to inspire most of my work. "Camas Prairie, Idaho" one of the pieces inspired by last year's USA road trip, is now part of the SAQA Concrete and Grasslands show.

My grandchildren live nearby and we spend many happy hours together. I even get them involved in a few crafty fiber projects!

My blog continues, but posts are fewer and farther between these days. I have had the pleasure of writing regularly for the beautiful online magazine, Through our Hands, the brainchild of the wonderful Laura Kemshall and amazing Annabel Rainbow. I will soon be sworn in as president of our terrific local fiber arts guild, so I have the next year laid out for me.
Though the Twelve by Twelve projects have come to an end, our very special group will always be a part of my life and brings me such joy when things like Kristin's move to Portland, and Helen's and Deborah's visits happen! We came together by way of the Internet, and by that same means we stay together and continue to share our lives. Face to face visits happen as well. My visit with Diane last winter was lovely. We made books and talked for hours. Someday I will meet Kirsten and Francoise face to face, and a beautiful circle will be complete.

It is still thrilling to me to remember how our our "little" online collaboration became so much more, including, unbelievably, a book. A couple years ago I took on the project of designing and preparing a second, smaller book of our Colorplay quilts, which will be available on Amazon. Watch for an announcement soon!
Thanks to all who have followed along on the journey. You've not heard the last from us...

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Hello from Kirsty!

How exciting to be writing a Twelve by Twelve blog post after so long! It will be obvious that I'm really rusty - the formatting is all over the place and, after three hours of fiddling, I've given up trying to fix it :)

In the midst of Twelve by Twelve, I opened a small quilt and craft shop in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia where we were living. The shop was great fun and it was interesting to be involved in a different facet of the quilting industry. But after three years of living The Shop it was time for a change and, on the spur of the moment, one Friday, I decided to close the business. By Saturday of the following week the shop was completely bare and I found myself packing up my life once more to go with Peter to a small mining town in Western Queensland where we stayed for nine months.

At the end of that project, Peter mentioned that he was interested in going to Christchurch, New Zealand. He didn’t have to say it twice! I am from New Zealand and I was very keen to move back there. Christchurch experienced two very large earthquakes in 2010-11 and the city is still in the midst of extensive re-building. For a civil/structural engineer it is an exciting place to be but also a place where he feels that he can genuinely contribute to community needs. I had never lived in the South Island of New Zealand before and was a little surprised that after only a few days in Christchurch I felt that I had found my true home and now I never want to leave this beautiful region. It is a spectacular part of the world.

Although we thought that we would be living alone for the first time in thirty years, that didn’t actually happen and our two children (now in their mid-twenties) are living with us, as is our daughter’s fiancé. I’m going to be the Mother of the Bride in May 2017! Additionally, my sister moved here a few months after we did and soon after, had a third daughter, so for the past 20 months I have been caring for her baby girl a few days a week. This little one is such a joy! Peter works from his office in our house, so he also enjoys having the baby wander in to see him several times a day.

What about sewing? Well, after I closed the shop I must admit that my passion for sewing had left the building! For more than twenty years of my life I had scarcely had a day when I didn’t use my sewing machine so it was a shock for both of us when it remained untouched for over a year! Instead I began knitting, crocheting and spinning.

Slowly, my interest in sewing returned and for the first time in my life I found myself really enjoying hand sewing. I even made a hand-pieced AND hand-quilted quilt for the very first time ever, in 2015. I currently have a half-done La Passacaglia, an appliqued medallion quilt in progress and a huge box of basted hexagons for paper piecing at some point.

Not long after we arrived in Christchurch I bought an Elna Grasshopper and sewing on this old machine suited my new desire for slow stitching. It has also gradually re-enthused me for machine sewing and my two latest projects have been machine made.

All of my projects are now very much in the category of Nest Feathering! I make things that I think are beautiful and that I want to have in my home. My interest in making art quilts is kind of minimal. The appeal of quilting for me was always about the blend of beauty and usefulness and I take great pleasure in making useful objects.

I am still teaching from time to time and still enjoy that very much. Quilters are extraordinary people and I love the company and inspiration of creative makers. Quilting still feeds my soul!

Within a week of our move here, we had the most wonderful visit from Karen and Ted. They felt like old, old friends even though it was our first meeting. Out of all the Twelves, I have still only met Karen and Brenda. I would dearly love to meet the other Twelves. These women mean so much to me! I was heartbroken to not be able to be in Houston with the others when our book was released. When Diane started our group none of us imagined  where it would lead us and the impact it would have on our lives.

These days I no longer blog. My online activities are primarily to stay in touch with my family and close friends, who are spread far and wide. From time to time I wonder about starting a new blog… who knows? My days are filled with my family and friends, our crazy busy household which often includes a visitor or two, making whatever has stirred my creative soul and daydreaming about our goal of building a house in the country.

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.

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.

The Twelves: Where are they now?!

Hello, Twelve by Twelve friends!  Diane here.

Remember us?! It's been a long time since we last posted on this blog, but as today -- September 4 -- is exactly 9 years since we first posted on this blog, we thought an update was in order.  Brenda had the idea of our posting about what we've been doing since we ended our collaborative quilt adventure, and we agreed that each of us would take a day and tell you what we have been up to.

One thing is for sure: what started as a small, personal art challenge turned into something that took us places we never imagined we'd go. It brought us new friendships, amazing opportunities, and such fun adventures as we watched (and occasionally followed) our quilts as they traveled around the world.

So the rosy glow of our 5-year adventure still makes me smile, with pleasure and real gratitude.

For me, the last 3 and a half years since we finished our challenges have seen quite a few changes.  My art quilt making has slowed considerably (I'm going to maintain that it hasn't ground to a halt -- I'm just taking a break. A long break.) I'm not sure why my interest turned to making contemporary traditional quilts and modern quilts, but it did. And I'd had fun, making quilts for no particular reason. Here's one I finished recently, made from selvedges I've been saving over quite a few years:

I have also taken a bit of detour into drawing and painting, which continues to be a surprise and a pleasure. I've taken a load of online classes, mainly to make myself have to paint regularly. And I've found, as many of the teachers have promised, that the simple act of painting every day really has made me better.  Most recently, I took a great class from an idol, Roz Stendahl, on drawing life creatures from life -- which meant a month of drawing people and animals. Great fun, and I think it did get me past the anxiety of drawing things that insist on moving.

I also looped back to an old passion for handmade books and started making them again which was like reconnecting with an old friend after many years.  I got so involved making them that I started up an Etsy shop (Dizzy Dog Creations) where I add books for sale from time to time. My books aren't traditional -- I call them "jumbly journals," in a sort of crazy quilt/collage style mix of papers and contents that some people call junk journals. They are fun to make and I go through periods where I make books obsessively.  I've made a few commissions too, which has been great fun. You can watch a video flip through of a travel journal here if you are interested!

During these last few years, I started judging quilt shows which has been very fun. It probably sounds corny, but I consider it a true privilege to be trusted with the task of looking at the quilt someone has slaved over with love and passion and so much time, and I take the responsibility of providing feedback very seriously. I especially love judging art quilts, and educating quilt guilds and show-runners about the importance of judging art quilts on art principles and not just on the technical parts of quilt making.

In my personal life, I've seen a fair number of changes. My sweet dog Gemma (who was my model for the "Lorikeet" challenge in the color challenge series) succumbed to back problems about 18 months ago. She was such a lovely dog, but it was time to let her go. For the longest time, I found an odd consolation in the bits of dog hair I seemed to find around the house no matter how well I cleaned!

After about a year and a half of dog-free living, I decided that I was ready to add a new member to the family -- an adorable English Cream golden retriever puppy named Starlie. (I figured another black dog would be too much a reminder of Gemma, so I went in the direction of a white dog.) She is just 12 weeks old as I write this, and is a total sweetheart. She's also hysterically funny in that floppy goofy way that puppies have. I feel like the mom of a toddler again, so I'm spending a lot of time on the floor and out in the backyard chasing an endlessly energetic little creature. Not much art time right now!

My daughter Caroline, who was 11 when we started, is now just a few months' shy of 21. She's grown into a lovely young woman, with quick humor, sharp intelligence, and real gifts with art and with animals.

My marriage also ended in this interim period. Many of you have gone though a divorce, and know the odd ups and downs and  emotions that seem to pop up at unexpected moments. But life as a single woman feels very, very good, and I'm feeling a strong sense of peace and hope for what lies ahead.

I continue to stay connected to the Twelves. Just two weeks ago, I had Helen and her husband Dennis (known as Thirteen after his labors on our behalf when our quilts were at the Festive of Quilts in Birmingham some years back) as guests in my home. I've also had very fun visits with Terry (who came to Sonoma County where we talked endlessly and made books together), with Gerrie when I was up in Portland a while back, and with Brenda when she was in California visiting her husband's family. I know my paths will cross with the other Twelves one of these days, and I am particularly determined to meet Kirsten eventually.

So that's what's up with me.  Check in tomorrow to find out what Deborah Boschert has been doing!

call for entries - a matter of time

Time is a fascinating concept and it's the theme for my next curatorial project.  Explore the fourth dimension in cloth and submit your work for a travelling exhibition on tour in 2016/2017.  Entries close 15 January 2016.  See a matter of time for more information.

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.

Colorplay comes home

 

 
My Twelve by Twelve Colorplay quilts arrived home this week, after a long period of traveling the world without me.  Do they have stories to tell! Gemma, the "Labikeet" quilt made for the "lorikeet color" challenge chosen by Brenda Smith, loved being on display in Belgium this past October.  Apparently the quilters in Belgium are not used to seeing such vividly colored dogs and were highly amused. 
 

My "Wisteria" quilt (made when Gerrie Congdon chose chartreuse as her color challenge)  had tales of the oohs and ahs it overheard while on display in Alsace, France this past September.  I also got a long, involved story Kiluea overheard about a scandal involving a french quilter, her new sewing machine, and the rabidly jealous old machine who was intent on sabotaging things in the studio. Those French sewing machines are hot-blooded, I guess.

The "Kiluea" quilt (made for the Kiluea-inspired challenge that Kristin LaFlamme chose when she was living in Hawaii) enjoyed seeing Michigan, Portland, Oregon, and Iowa back in the summer and fall of 2013.  Kiluea claims that she didn't find many volcanic friends in those areas but was surprised that Michigan in August was hotter than she expected.

 

The "Birds Flying High" (made in response to Francoise Jamart's blue and white challenge) quilt loved seeing Australia and New Zealand in early 2013 and truly felt that they'd flown far, far from home.  They continue to chatter among themselves in their newly-adopted Australian accents.  You'd think they'd have brought me a souvenir or two, wouldn't you?  But no.

 

 

My #2 Pencils (made in response to the "purple and yellow" challenge chosen by Karen Rips) are still blushing and swooning about meeting Chris Howell of Midsomer Quilting in Chilcompton, England. Chris is quite the charmer and his enthusiastic love of the 12x12 quilts has made him a favorite among my quilts.  I think a few of them wanted to stay there with him and his many quilting fans.  I expect they'll be sending off pining love letters now.

The "Imagine" quilt (made for the "orange" challenge selected by Terry Grant), is most sentimental about its time touring the International Quilt Festival shows in Houston, TX, Cincinnati, OH, and Long Beach, CA.  It reports that it felt like a real star with the flocks of admiring quilters touring the full 12x12 exhibit of all 288 quilts, and was glad to have sunglasses with all of the paparazzi taking photos.  I think returning to my quiet house is going to be quite the let-down for this spoiled celebrity quilt.

And the others? They're not talking.

Maybe they're tired and jetlagged.

Or they're sulking about having to leave their Colorplay friends.

The "Spices" quilt seems to be in a particularly dark mood.

Perhaps it's depression, given that the bright lights of their glory days have come to an end.

You never know, I tell them.  And besides, I remind them of what amazing doors they opened for me and my dear 12x12 compatriots.  What a wonderful, wonderful life they've had.  Now, I think I need to find a place in my home where we can get reacquainted, just me and them.

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.

Lorikeet at the château

Especially for our princess lorikeet, here's a picture taken this morning a bit before the opening. :-)

We had about 500 visitors today, which is rather good for a Thursday, I think.
Some people knew already about the group and the Colorplay series, and there were a few real Twelve by Twelve fans among them! Most visitors were interested to hear about our story and had lots of interesting questions to ask. I think I talked almost non-stop from 10am to 5pm. Now I need a little rest.
More pictures tomorrow.

La vie de château

Our Colorplay quilts are all set for their final exhibition together!

At the National Show of the Belgian Patchwork Association, 2-5 October, in Enghien.