How Fast can you make an art quilt?
Last week I had a few meetings with a friend – Cathy Kleeman who mentioned that SAQA is having an art quilt exhibition in Chicago and Long Beach. The Exhibition is called “A Sense of Humor”. I thought – oh- that sounds like fun! One small problem – it was due today! I strated sketching two days ago – came up with a design and started making the whole thing yesterday (Thursday!) Yep! I finished it by 5:47pm tonight. I had 13 minutes to get the entry, check and CD of quilt in the mail to be postmarked by 1-30-09! I was on hyper speed! It has been a crazy week. We had 2-4 inches of ICE! I have been chipping away at my drive for the past three days! We had no school Monday – Wednesday and my 13 year old has been home with the flu! FUN! But I had it in my mind I was going to get that darn quilt in! I did it! See pix below! It is 30″ x 38″. My artist Stement was simple: “I used to think this was funny…hot flashes…now that I am 47… ah …. not so much! LOL” See the pix of the whole quilt and the detail I sent in for the submission. It is a juried show so I will be notified my March 16th if I got it. The cool thing is that the entries that get in will be published. It is a comment on Hot Flashes! Hormonal Harriette drapes herself over a chair with a fan and handkerchief with the winter cold rushing inside freezing the poor kitty’s whiskers!
Is it Hot in Here?
Is it Hot in Here? detail
Is it Hot in Here?Detail 2
That was a crazy ride to try to get this quilt done in 48 hours! It was relatively big too! 30″ x 38″. So now I am exhausted! I will bed down early because I have to teach a class in Mt Airy tomorrow. It is my Art Creations Class. I love that class!
Did I mention that we also got a new puppylast week? It is a lillte girl Bijon that we named Lacey. I have a pix below. Cole and I are taking her to puppy classes. She sure does pee alot! I have to take her out in the middle of the night – which is not a big deal because I cannot make it through the night with out getting up to pee myself!
Lacey Belle Gabel - born Nov 8, 2008
So besides, shoveling ice, caring for Austin with the flu, making a quilt in 48 hours – I have been patterning the Philadelphia City Stamp. I will start the samples next week! I got an online order for one already!
I will let you know if I get in the SAQA show with my “Is it Hot in Here?” quilt!
Stay warm – enjoy the superbowl – or at least the super sales at all the quiltshops on Superbowl Sunday! 
NEW!!! 138 Series
I have been asked many times if I sell my quilts – well – now I may just start doing that! Last week I had a great playdate with an awesome artist – Ann Quinlan. BTW-Anne is featured in Cloth Paper Scissors the magizine – this month! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her art! (her blog: http://www.twinpixiestudios.typepad.com) She is also featured in Jewelry – a bead and jewery magazine!
Anyway – we got to gether to hang out and less than 10 minutes later we were flinging paint and talking up a storm! It was so much fun to create art her way – that I thought – Oh – this may be a great start to making quilts for sale. It is not the tedious precise manor in which I usually work. It was free and spirited. After Anne left – I worked on my fabric a bit longer and it ended up as in the photo above. I was able to journal all over the quilt. I loved doing that. So I got to thinking – ummmm- this is so much fun I will make a series of these and sell them. I was thinking that if I made a series of 10 – and charged roughly 100-125 dollars for each that would be a good income. I am saving right now to buy a mid arm! I LOVE the hangers for quilts that are made from bamboo. They are fabulous from Ten Thousand villages. I thought if I were buying a quilt I would want the whole set up! So I came up with 138. It works out to 120 for the quilt and 18.00 for the hanger – the 138 series! I think I will make my first ten on this theme – daisies and runi. The quote says:
Observe the wonder as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent. – Rumi.
Isn’t that awesome? It is a great quote about the simplest thngs – like three little daisies.
So keep posted and once I get my first 10 done in the series I will post and be having them for sale at 138.00 – cool hanger included!
Obama Quilt on CNN’s i-report
On the following link you will find my Obama quilt:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-180040
Very Cool!
My Interview – The Alliance for American Quilters
Last Friday I was interviewed via telephone by Karen Musgrave of the Alliance for American Quilters. The link is:
www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos
This site is dedicated to preserve quilters stories and will be stored in the Library of Congress. The interview is about the Obama quilt. There is not much more to say – just check it out.
Philadelphia City Stamp Sketched!
Today was a busy day! My biggest accomplishment was that I completed the sketch for the Philadelphia City Stamp! YEA! It is posted above. The stamp includes the most famous buildings in the Phillie Skyline: the US Customs House, Liberty 1 and 2, Melon Building, City Hall and the Bell Atlantic Tower along with the liberty bell on top and scullers on the Schuylkill River. I also made two different sketch colorations – do you have a preference? See below.
My goal is to get Phillie, Chicago and maybe one other city done for the Pittsburgh Market. Yep! I am finally going to market for the first time. I almost backed out – nervous about the idea. Gary said Let’s Go for It! So we are! Gary and possibly another helper (hopefully my sister) will come along. Gary has a ton of experience in trade shows and he is really brilliant with marketing. I almost backed out because of the economy and everyone is saving on travel – but it is hard to pass up since it will be so close to MD. I will use this to judge whether or not Houston makes sense in the Fall. (…or some fall to come)
Today I also went to my Bethesda guild and listened to the guest speaker and showed my Obama quilt. I was very happy that is was well received. I think tonight I will call up the person who commissioned the quilt and show her. I am nervous about that as well! It can be nerve racking to have to present your work to someone who has commissioned it. What if she hates it?
I think I have a few more Obama quilts in me. I want to try a whole cloth painted quilt with the Obama them.
Okay – enough for today – I will keep you posted on what is happening next in the Zebra Studio. I have to go back and continue to take down Xmas stuff! YUCK! I usually have it all down and put away by New Years – but it got up late this year and it will go away late too!
Have a great week!
It’s a NEW Day! – Debra Gabel’s 2009 Obama quilt
It's a NEW Day! by Debra Gabel 50" x 54"
This is my final quilt to honor the election of our new president Barak Obama. It will hang in a Art Show in DC on the inauguration. (See details of show in previous blog entry)
I originally start ed this concept several months ago when Obama was running for the democratic nomination. I wanted to portray Obama as looking into the future as he is America’s great hope for some radical changes and unity that is so desperately needed here in the USA. I pieced the flag with scraps that represent all of the diversity in the US. The dove is the symbol for hope. The dove holds the leaves – green leaves – hopefully we will become more green as a nation. I named the quilt “It’s a New Day” after Will I Am’s song (singer from the Black eyed Peas) which is about Obama and the changes. It is an amazing song! Check it out!
I started the quilt as a pencil sketch. Once I had a rough concept I searched for an appropriate image of Obama – and finally made a composite of my own from several images and manipulated the image on photoshop to get a division of gradation. I made a very detailed acetate overlay map of Obama – the figure. I selected 12 grades of skintone and made several patterns from freezer paper. I turned all the edges and stitched the face together. Once his face was a unit I made scrappy red fabric by taking red scraps from my scraps bag and sewing them together randomly. I did the same for the white and blue. Once I had my scrappy fabric pieces I made a flag and again used freezer paper to make patterns. I purposely placed him on a flag because I remember being moved as he said….We are not the red states of America, We are not the blue States of America – we are the UNITED states of America. Originally I was going to have the edges of the overall quilt be random and end at the edges of the flag and his shirt. However he looked so good on a black background that I ended up placing a black border around the inside design. I bound the edges with a stripe (of course!) and I piped metallic gold cording in between the background and the binding.
I placed my embroidery watermark on the bottom right as I always do. (See pix) I made ONE red stripe in the upper left top corner symbolizing the first month – #1=January. I placed two red stripes in the upper left on the side for the year 2000, and nine red stripes in the border on the bottom for the year 2000 + 9 = 2009. All together by looking at the quilt you can see the initial image – my watermark and the month and year it was made 1-2009. I have been making all of my art quilts with this unique marking. It has become my own trademark for my art quilts.
Detail of "DG" logo signature watermark
Top sigle red=January Two side reds = The year 2000
9 Red stripes for the year 2009
The last touch were the addition of the three stars. The stars certainly represent the states but they also represent the trinity in hoping that God will walk with him on his huge journey ahead. He is a brave guy to take this job. I really hope everyone can be patient to help get our country back on track!
Dove sybolizes hope and going green
This quilt was made for the inauguration and also as a commission. I plan to show the quilt to my patron very soon. It is going to be tough to let this go. I do plan to exhibit it for a little while before it goes to it’s permanent home.
Pictured above is the back label. It reads:
It’s a NEW Day!
“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America – there’s the UNITED States of America.” 2008
“We are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the the UNITED States of America. ”
2004 Keynote @ Democratic Convention
~ Barak Obama 2008 ~
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ”
~ Abraham Lincoln 1863 ~
This quilt was completed on January 4, 2009 in honor of Barak Obama, our 44th elected President of the United States of America. It was designed, pieced and quilted by Debra Gabel. (www.zebrapatterns.com) All Rights Reserved©
Below is a picture of the overall back of the quilt with the label in the bottom corner.
Face detail of turned edges on all pieces
I would love to hear your comments! Happy New Year – and It’s a NEW Day! Thank God!
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