Race to the Finish

I love making quilts – art quilts, that is. Finding photos, scanning, doing the photoshop work, uploading for printing then waiting for the package in my mail box. Pinning the fabric on the design wall, thinking of what-to-do, what-to-do. Finding the fabric to convey the message. Deciding to scrap the first idea for something stronger, piecing everything together. I love the stitching, more and more I love the stitching, relating it to the fabric and even putting a subtle message or two in the stitching. Even doing the binding is fun. Then waiting for a good sunny day to photograph the end product. I make portfolio sheets to record the piece: materials, size, date, title and techniques. The part I need people for is the finishing: the hanging device and label. Then I wish I had people to do that task.
I even have a pretty good system I learned from a workshop held by the textile conservator Robin Hanson from the Cleveland Museum of Art. It's how they hang tapestries at the museum. Velcro loop sewed onto twill tape which is them sewed onto the quilt back. The hook velcro is stapled onto your hanging rod. If you have a large piece and want to hang it yourself this is the easiest way to do it. Nail the rod up and press the quilt into place. Actually it's not that hard to sew the velcro on the twill tape, it's sitting down to sew the tape on the quilt. I guess it's a little on the boring side of life.
But once you do it, it's done. However, I always wait until the quilt has a venue. Maybe it's a superstition. Whatever. It works for me!
This is the back of Sonorous, which is going to the Ohio Craft Museum for the Ohio Designer Craftsman Best of 2014 show, it will also travel to Galipolis and Van Wert, Ohio. How to Fish in the Rain will be in The Artist as Quiltmaker Show in Oberlin, Ohio. I also have a piece in the Art Quilt Network show in the Zanesville Museum of Art. Not to brag but it sounds like a busy summer!