"I Descended From Women Who..."

UP DATE: This quilt is going into a show at the Lawler House Gallery in Suisun, CA on Sunday, January 30 called, "Text, Texture and the Tantalizing Egg."

In October our on-line quilt group: Quilts Around The World were to make a small quilt 8" X 11" of a Self Portrait. I had at first thought I'd do my face in a Picasso fashion, and then the more I thought about it I realized my thoughts kept going back to the ancestral women in my life from whom I descended and the realization that they were all artists of one sort or another. I decided I wanted to make a quilt that honored them and show how I became who I am today because of them.

I took some old photographs of my maternal grandmother, Ella, and my paternal grandmother (seated) Golda and my aunts (dad's sisters in this photo:Rae, Ester, Molly, Freda); my mother Estelle and her sisters, Jane and Miriam, all of whom are wearing clothing they made themselves;

and finallymy self and my grand daughter. And note that in this photo my grand daughter is drawing a picture. She at age six also takes an after school class called Textile and Fashion Design where she is learning to sew.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you like. I transferred the photos to white silk and sewed them to a piece of white linen. I added some bits of lace and white buttons and beads. And then in black thread I outlined the photos as a way of quilting them. I then wrote in free motion style around the border of the quilt these words:

"I am descended from women who sewed and knit, drew painted photographed.

I pass on the you in me to my grand children with love.

Thank you grandmothers, mother and aunts."

I showed it to my six year old grand daughter and explained it to her, introducing her to her great great great grandmothers, great great great aunts, great great aunts and great great grandmother. I explained the art they all did. Sharing how I felt we do what we do today because of them. And she got it!

That is my self portrait!

Stop Bullying Now!

UPDATE: I picked this quilt up from the Lawler House Art Gallery show on Jan. 30, 2011. I was told that many, many people stood and read the quilt. This was a very good feeling to hear.

Second Update: Early May 4-8 2011 Stop Bullying Now hung at the Dixon May Fair and received 15 viewer votes!

Third Update: May 21-July 2 2011, "Stop Bullying Now" was accepted into the 34th Juried art show at the Vacaville Art League art gallery. It hangs there under a spot light very proudly for all to see!

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I made this art quilt with a message in October of this year. I dedicated it to Tyler Clement and other teens who took their own lives as a result of being bullied. It is currently hanging in a show in Suisun, CA at the Lawler House. The show is called "Quilts of a Different Matter".
I made a rather traditional easy quilt with one piece of fabric and a border and edged it for the background. I free motion sewed across the background with a spiral design of my own invention.
And then I wrote on pieces of white muslin free motion style again the words/messages and sewed them to the background.

I added some photos found on line from news stories about the kids who had succumbed to bullying and the candle light vigil held in their honor.

I added some beads for further embellishment.

I hoped my message would be clear.


It will hang at the Lawler House until the end of Janurary and then I may send it on to another show in Gualala, CA called Confrontational Art in Febuary.

As it turned out the timing was off so it does not go to Gualala after all.

"Wired To Quilt"

This is a little different from my norm of textile art quilts...

It's for a show called "Quilts of a Different Matter"...

They are "looking for art which references quilts..."

I did so I think in this mixed media piece using

acrylic paint on canvas, swatches of layered fabrics, buttons, jewelry wire, needle and spool...

reactions and feedback welcomed

Useable and Wearable Art

I have been having a lot of fun constructing and embellishing on these pocket purses. This first one is a four pocket "wallet" with covers made from cotton and batik fabrics, covers and each individual pocket lined with hand made fabric paper. Closed by a button and tie ending in beads. This one was purchased by a woman for her sister who loves Iris' as a birthday gift.

She will stuff the pockets she said with little gifts. They are good for holding anything that fits into a 4" pocket (jewelry, business cards, ATCs, hearing aid batteries, money, etc.)

My daughter wanted one to use for holding her jewelry when traveling on vacation.

Some are sewn together and some are held together with brads and jewelry wire.

For sale: $40 each.  Leave a comment to let me know your interest in one or

email me at lyn_fred1@comcast.net. Free shipping in the USA.
The one on the right SOLD. The one on the left is for sale until 11/18/11 then will be in the Pence Gallery Holiday Market sale in Davis.

Another woman wanted two of these individual pockets for her grand daughters' lunch money.

I worried about the pockets getting lost so sewed pins on the back so they could be worn on their clothing. Wha-la! Wearable art!!!

Then I got the idea to add a decorative ribbon through the pocket flap and wear it around my neck.

More wearable art that made quite the statement at a recent birthday party!

Want a 4 pocket wallet or an individual pocket purse?

Leave a comment and tell me which you'd like

how many, and you can choose from fabric ideas such as:

batiks, floral, kids fabrics, jean denim, leather scraps, or leave it to my

imagination.

Larger 4 pocket wallets: $40

Smaller 1 pocket: $20

Free shipping in USA

Outside USA add $2.50.

Jan. 4, 2011 UPDATE on SALES

I am happy to report that I recently sold three of the four pocketbooks and two of the single pockets at Pence Gallery in Davis, CA.

Prior to that I sold at least six others to friends on line who visit my blog.

Thank you all for your interest and purchases!!!

Stone Soup Start to Finish

I posted about this group challenge with the Quilts Around the World Group I am proud to be a part of in the post before this one. I thought that now that the quilt challenge is over it would be fun to see it from start to finish in one post.

We started with this photo sent to us from Kathryn. We were to make our own rendition of it. I pulled out my Melissa Bula book to remind myself how to do applique her style!

I piece all my pieces together...

and I top sewed free motion style, and thread painting style like crazy...

I used embroidery and beads for embellishments and here was my completed art quilt top.

I then according to instruction sent it off to Kathryn, who gathered each of 13 artists tops and cut them into 15 equal sized pieces. She sent us each a packet of 15 pieces including two of our own and two of one artist and one of each of the others.

MY FINAL FIRST STAGE QUILT TOP

Our next step was to put them all together into a whole quilt.

I decided to make mine like a stained glass window. I laid the 15 pieces in order on a black piece of broadcloth and hand stitched each piece to that and batting under it using white embroidery floss.


MY FINAL SECOND STAGE GROUP QUILT

You will recognize my piece in the #3 position of the bottom row from the left.

click on any photo to enlarge to see details


I laid it all out on a piece of black and white checked gingham and brought the back to the front

for a narrow border which I also hand sewed in place. I thought the gingham looked like a tablecloth.

I love seeing each artist's work next to the next bringing alive the original photo but in many, many different styles of artwork.

To see all of the finished quilts go to Quilts Around the World. (all are not done yet, so you may have to wait a few weeks for everyone to finish. I am in the habit of being a quick artist! ;-)

This was fun and I thank all the cooks who worked together to bring this challenge off!
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Cooks in order top to bottom left to right

A1 Lynn; A2 Fionie; A3 Kathryn; A4 Marion; A5 Linda

B1 Sue; B2 Linda; B3 Jane; B4 Simone; B5 Margeeth

C1 Chris; C2 Marloes; C3 Lynn; C4 Fran; C5 Robyn

Stone Soup Art Quilt Top

In April of this year Art Quilts Around The World, a group of women artists from The Netherlands, Australia, and the USA, took up the challenge to make this quilt top from a photo one woman in the group sent us all. We each interpreted it in our own way. You can see more of the tops by the others on that blog HERE.

click on photos to enlarge and see detailsOnce finished the tops were all sent to her and she will now cut them up into fifteen equal pieces to be sent back to us so each person will have a section of all the other artists' quilts. We will then sew them together to make a combined sandwiched art quilt.

This was made by first tracing the pieces on my glass slider door from the blown up photo. Then I backed the fabric with a stabilizer (Steam a Seam II) and cut out the pieces from my fabric stash choices.

I used heavy thread painting, embroidery and beading to embellish the top.

It was quite the challenge

Once I get all the pieces sent back to me I will post

the final stage of the challenge with

all the combined artists work and one piece

of my own.

I NEED YOUR VOTES!

I have entered a contest at Interweave and I would love to win their prize of a Bernina sewing machine and better yet, would LOVE to find my work published in one of their Quilting Arts Magazines! But I need votes!

It's asking a lot for if you aren't already a member at Interweave you must become one to vote.
The website is (click on the word here) here which will take you to the site. Sometimes an "ad" box opens up. Just close it. Then click on Photo Galleries. Then click on the top one that says Bernina Stitch It challenge. On that page click on Most Popular. Mine is around # 5 or 6 now.
You have to JOIN first before you can vote.
Join by clicking on the red JOIN tab in the upper right hand corner of that page.
Then you go here to vote for Nest Building by Lynn Cohen (that's mine). You will be sent an email. Wait for it, click on that and then go back to the photo of my quilt and click on it. You will then see a larger photo of it and the words VOTE FOR THIS! next to it (on the right). Click on that and you will have voted! Thanks you for doing so.

This was done by bobbin sewing with silver metallic thread on a mirror copy photo placed on a piece of white cotton; then turning it over, cutting it out and sewing it raw edge applique style to the background. The background is cotton heavily sewn free motion style for grasslands and water in cotton threads with silver metallic thread for the reflection on the water.
Brown variegated thread was used for the nesting materials also free motion sewn, then real twigs were collected outdoors and sewn by hand with invisible thread to the nest and to the sides.

Thanks for taking the time to vote! It's much appreciated~!
Here!

Garden of L. Eden Completed and Sold on Commission

In November 2009 I received an email from a woman in NY inquiring about the possibility of commissioning me to make an art quilt for her daughter on the occasion of her Bat Mitzvah.

176 emails, five months later , after many ideas shared, fabrics sent, 100s of hours spent sewing by machine and by hand both sitting and standing, embroidering, beading, quilting, I finally sent off the completed quilt last week and it was received by S. in NY yesterday. She loves it. I am so pleased. Her daughters name is L. Eden. I chose to do a theme called

Garden of L. Eden.

This is written in Hebrew at the bottom of the quilt.

Pomagrantes in her hair (on thread painting portrait) represent the fruit of knowledge

in the Garden of Eden.

Her face is a garden of felted wooly bits and beads for flowers and leaves.

The quilt traces her life from birth to teen. The "Hand of Miriam" or Hamsa contains

the Hebrew Letter Chet, which means life, and sounds like "Hi"...holding the cell phone.

I spent many hours standing to hand quilt this 4' X 3' art quilt.

S. supplied much of the fabric including linens, and silks from India.


I made this "Dolly" from a photo S. sent me of the childs favorite childhood doll she called "Dolly". The blue jean shirt was also worn by her as a baby.

Here she is peeking out of the shirt she once wore.

The other pieces around the central parts are squares with parents,

both sets of grandparents, 3 brothers and 2 family dogs, making this a true

memory quilt.

Also represented by squares of fruits and wheat/barley are the

Seven Spieces of Israel (Shivat Haminim in Hebrew). Other squares represents

her love of her summer camp, the torah portion she will read at her Bat Mitzvah

ceremony in September; and a picture of her and her mother

lighting the Sabbath candles.

The back of the quilt features her baby kimono turned into a pouch

to hold written sentiments by family and friends on this occassion.

This is surrounded by more photos of family and friends.

I added a letter from the artist about the making of this quilt, a

quilted butterfly representing her metamophis from infancy to teenhood.

It was such a pleasure making this piece of art

and then having it received with such love and appreciation.


You can see more detailed photos of the quilt front and back

on my flickr photostream by clicking here.

Thread Painting

I made this thread painting for Kelly as a page for her traveling sketchbook for the blog called Artshine. The art there is a mix of mixed media, watercolors, and textile art.

This piece is a mere 8" X 8" square...fun to do too.

Simply rayon and polyester threads on a sandwich of off white muslin.

Seeds of Hope One and Two

UPDATE: May 2010 Seeds of Hope I and Seeds of Hope II both made it into the juried Art Show at the Vacaville Art Gallery! Seeds of Hope I won Second Prize!!!

I made these two art quilts in October 2009. How I neglected to post them here I do not know.

The larger of the two is 31" X 31.5"

I enjoyed using my embellishling machine to felt the wooly bits that make up the flower heads and stems. The sky and fence are hand painted cotton fabric. A heavy textured fabric makes up the border. It is both machine sewn free motion style and hand embroidered.

Approximately 1000 beads are hand sewn on the fleece background.The Seeds of Hope I

31" X 12"

Click photos to see enlarged details

Both art quilts hung in my Solo Show in Davis, CA in November 2009
and at Mojo Flow Studio, Davis CA in December 2009