HI. Karen Pulaski here!!

Hi Mavens. I'm happy to be part of your talented group.

  I've been sewing for most of my life. I started my career in the bridal field. For 13 years I made or altered bridal dresses.
   I made the move to teaching quilting 20+ years ago. I've added children's sewing classes to the mix as well.
   I enjoy all the aspects of the quilt. Machine applique is what I really love.

 I am however not a pro with the computer. I'm going to try to post some pictures for you to see. If they don't show up you can go to my Face Book page, Karen Pulaski Fiber Arts to see what I've posted so far.

I've enjoyed seeing the posts from Nantucket. I'm disappointed that I couldn't be there.

Thank you
K

Learning on The Third Day in Nantucket

Jane taught us about water soluble media, and all of us tried out hand at all of the many products she brought.  In the first of the photos below, you can see us gathered around the big table as we listen to Jane.  In the second photo, Sara, Jane, and Gail are working with some of this media.  After we got home, Jane sent us emails with the information she had shared in written form.  

Rita then showed us her "confetti art quilt" and demonstrated this technique.  She had a design planned for us to practice with, and all of us took turns adding confetti (tiny snippets of batik fabrics) to this art quilt.  The next day, Rita showed us how to cover the "confetti art" with tulle and how to apply pins all across the quilt to secure it.  Then Rita demonstrated that the tulle and the pins really DID keep the confetti in place!

All of us show some of what we did with Jane's media!
Back row:  Lois, Sara, Andrea.  Middle row:  Rita, Carolyn,Jane,
Kneeling in front:  Alice, Gail, and Nedra.

Jane, Gail, and Sara at work on the confetti quilt.

Alice and Nedra add some finishing touches.  Uh oh!  Where did those kitties
come from????  (This is my all -time favorite photo of the week!
Thanks to the "Cat  Bomb" app for iPhones and iPads!)

Gail and Sara at work

Rita about to pin the tulle to the confetti art quilt

So the confetti really does stay put!  Behind Rita
are Jane and Tricia, and then Nedra is sitting at the table.

Day Two in Nantucket

I confess that I am using our schedule of events from now on--the one that Tricia first sent to us--, and I realize that things had to be changed up.  So I might get the order of our presentations wrong!

Two others who "presented" and taught us exciting techniques and/or products to use in making art quilts were Andrea and Sara.  Andrea lugged her Thermofax machine via her car, to Nantucket, which was truly going "above and beyond"!  She demonstrated several different methods of screen printing.  All of us got to experiment with the first method, which involved making stencils from freezer paper.  Those (unlike me!) who had come prepared with something to be sent through the Thermofax machine got to try that method as well.

Sara had a thorough and fascinating demonstration of all the myriad apps on the iPad that can be used by art quilters.  I was so enthralled by her words that I failed to take any photos of her as she presented.  I know those who have iPads probably took notes hard and fast.  Not having one, I did not.  But I did come away longing for an iPad and planning to put that on my Wish List for Christmas, birthday, and Mother's Day!

Wednesday evening we had reservations at Nautilus, truly a "happening" place where all the beautiful, YOUNG folk of Nantucket hang out.  It is a tapas place, and we feasted on a variety of "little plates."  I want to hear from you Mavens out there who were there.....  Dare I share at least ONE of the funny stories about this evening--the one that involved my saying "tapas" and another misunderstanding?  Let me know.  If this is "legit", I will add it to this account of Wednesday!

Here are some photos from (I hope!) Wednesday of the wonderful five day retreat in Nantucket.  The captions explain; click to enlarge:

Chief and his cab--he picked us up daily and brought us back to Tricia's house

Mary's house--the studio's windows can be seen behind the fence.  A wonderfully big studio with plenty of work space!

Carolyn silk screening--arm and shoulder belong to our silk screening guru, Andrea!

The retreat group in front of Nautilus.  Left to right, front row: Tricia, Rita, Alice, Gail, Jane.
Back row:  you can barely see Carolyn, Andrea, and then Sara, Tricia, and Lois.

Nedra and Andrea

Rita and Carolyn

Tricia, Gail, Lois

Alice and Tricia

Andrea and Sara

Carolyn and Nedra

Material Mavens on Retreat in Nantucket--Our First Full Day!

After adventures too numerous to mention (thanks to heavy fog!), all nine of the Mavens who accepted Tricia's invitation to come to Nantucket for a five-day retreat arrived safely.  Our first full day there, Lois led off with the presenting/teaching, showing us examples of her outstanding thread painting and then teaching us how to achieve some interesting treatments for edging.  After lunch, Carolyn (with minor assistance from Alice) demonstrated the curved piecing technique that she and Alice learned at Quilting Adventures in March from the outstanding art quilter Sheila Frampton-Cooper.

Below are a sampling of photos from our two sessions.  See the captions for explanations!  As always, to enlarge and to see details, click on the photos.

One of Lois's beautiful thread paintings.

Lois talking to us and Carolyn listening attentively.

Gail, Carolyn, and Rita around the big table where we worked; Lois showing more of her thread painted examples.

Carolyn shows the edge treatment that she produced that first morning.

Here all of us are, showing our work.  Front row: Jane, Gail, Nedra.
Back row:  Sara, Alice, Rita, Carolyn, Andrea, and our wonderful hostess, Andrea.

Jane cutting out her sample of curved piecing.  Jane was one of several who normally is not comfortable piecing, but of course, these "uncomfortable" ones demonstrated much competence!  Behind Jane are Gail (at the ironing board), Rita, and Sara.

Lois that afternoon (another one not fond of piecing!) at work on her sample.  Sara is in the tie-dyed shirt.

Tricia and Andrea at work on the piecing.

At home at the kitchen door at Tricia's house.  Left to right, Alice, Sara, Rita, and Tricia.

The Neighbor Composite

I am back at home after our long driving trip and finally back on my computer.  At last, then, I can post Randy's wonderful composite of the Neighbor quilts.  As usual, I will let him explain the how's and why's of his arrangement

  So I’ll have to admit, I anticipate reveal day as much as does Rita.

To create the composite for each reveal, I download all your creative work into Photoshop. The only “tweaking” I do to each image is remove the distracting edges caused by a slight over-lap on whatever background the quilt was photographed against. It’s easy for me to do – often difficult to do in the camera.

Next I put all those beautiful quilts on one screen and lean back and try to visualize a layout theme. At first “Neighbors” created a bit of a challenge – and you are most welcome to disagree in the comment block. But just look: If you put colors together, the themes clashed; formats together rarely work; so next I study under-tone subjects and the light went on. By under-tone, I mean, is there a common theme of buildings or animals or patterns.

Row one
It just had to be – a row of buildings. Consider an urban aerial photo to our dream of a hidden nature retreat to “urban sprawl” – it’s all there. But in today’s crowded world, you have to work to get away from “neighbors.”

Row two
How can these two quilts NOT be together, even the bull’s eyes [all four are menacing red] said so. Both even share a grin, from the delightful “flower” [sorry Kathy, you said it was just a “blond touch”] on Jersey Girl’s head to that “feeder bird” on the water buffalo’s back. Strange fact, those birds often build a nest up there and raise their young. 

Row three
I was surprised to see five of you pick animals as your Neighbors theme and thus row 3. Yes, chickens are birds J and a barking dog who likes to dig help make the connection.

Row four
A quick glance would make you think this row was “patterns”, but then there is a heart-felt Neighbor story to remind us our obligation to each other. Then Alice and Sara’s beautiful colors and patterns turn our creative minds to what is important in…..

Row five
….people! Janet shared her life with us to show how important neighbors are to all of us. And what a finish/beginning with Judy and Carolyn’s quilts and their stories. WOW!

Thank you all for letting me briefly participate in your journey.

Randy

P. S. Carolyn, I’m going to sneak in a personal note. As  kid I remember the “ice man” making his rounds to our house because we ha a true “ice box.” He would deliver a block of ice ever so often. We always raided his truck on hot summer days in hopes of finding left-over ice chips that he would give us.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Jane’s “Neighbor” Quilt

My first thoughts about this challenge centered around Mr. Rogers’ television show. I still hear him singing about the beautiful day in the neighborhood. I tried to design a quilt with houses showing the diversity of our neighborhood. I just couldn’t come up with something I liked.

I also thought of discussions at church about Love Your Neighbor and Who Is Your Neighbor? That sent me off on images of a handshake.

Finally, I thought about “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”. I found out that it came from a poem by Robert Frost titled Mending Wall.

Our next door neighbors decided to raise chickens for the fresh eggs. I was a bit concerned thinking about roosters that crow, the smell and general mess chickens can make. I also worried about our dog and how she would react to having chickens beyond the fence. All has gone well. No roosters. We get fresh eggs sometimes. Patches doesn’t bark, but she has tried to dig under the fence…

Techniques:

The fence posts started as a screen print to which I added paint. I quilted it and added water soluble media (Inktense Blocks and crayons). The green background was a hand dye which I had texturized with Shiva paint sticks. The dog and chickens were various fabrics fused to the background with some dyed cheesecloth for the dirt. It was a lot of fun to make. The perspective was the hardest part for me.

Open letter to my Material Maven neighbors

I am still here and am finally getting to add my comments.  Our infant grandson was with us for a week until yesterday which explains why I posted at very late 30 and have not commented  until now. Here goes...............  Rita

My Nosy Neighbor - Mrs. P.

MRS. PICKERING AT HER WINDOW

CLOSE-UP OF MRS. P

When I was a small child in the 1940's, we lived next door to Mr. and Mrs. Pickering.  My quilt is in honor of Mrs. P. 

My mother called her “the nosy neighbor” because she was frequently seen peeking out the window to see what was going on with all the neighbors. The Pickerings seldom had visitors, and to my recollection, were childless.

The neighborhood children made fun of Mrs. P. and sometimes called her “Mrs. Pickle-nose”. But I confess that I had a special fondness for this frail, bent-over, old lady with gray hair wrapped up in a tight little bun. Although she and her husband were likely only in their 60’s, to me they appeared ancient! 

The Pickerings had an old-fashioned, oak ice-box which meant that ice was delivered regularly. On special occasions when I was invited inside, I was fascinated to watch the iceman place the frozen block of ice into this contraption that was so different from our “modern” refrigerator. 

As I remember my childhood, I think my love of flowers must have been born in Mrs. P.’s cottage garden. I especially loved her snapdragons.  It was she who taught me how to use my young fingers to pinch the blooms into “mouth formations” so that I could pretend they were “talking” to one another.

For this quilt, I drew a pattern for Mrs. P. and used colored pencils to create the features on her face. Using Wonder-Under 805 fusing, I appliqued the designs onto various fabrics - cotton, commercial hand-painted and batik. As all elderly women in those days, Mrs. P. was not complete without her daily apron and lace collar!  

Aurifil and 40 wt. thread in Studio Colors by Ricky Tims were used for construction and machine quilting. The valance was quilted using a design pattern on my Bernina 550QE. Ribbon for tie-backs completed the curtains.

Gail's Neighbors--The Good Samaritan

How did we get from a bible story to "Good Samaritan" laws?   A universal theme of neighbor interpreted in the style of Van Gogh.  I used ribbon to simulate the broad brush strokes of our master artist.  This was fun and the perfect venue for trying new techniques.

Judy S.- May Day Flowers for our Neighbor

When I was young I lived in the country and we had one neighbor right across the road from us. One of the fun things we did was put a cone of flowers on the neighbors door on May Day. What a joy to give the gift of flowers from our own garden. In Missouri spring means pansies, tulips and daffodils. Maybe that is why I love yellow flowers. 

Janet's Neighbors - Janet and Janet Kay

[Posted for Janet by Rita]

When we moved to Oklahoma City in 1956 we found a present sitting on our front porch.  A little red headed girl covered in freckles named Janet.  She was four and lived next door with her mom and dad Ray and Virginia Edson.  She was an only child and we had a big family and she just blended in. Since she was there first she went by Janet and I became Janet Kay, I still am when I'm in Oklahoma.  Her dad worked in refrigeration and brought home big boxes we used to make cars and houses and the best one, an igloo shaped box a store had used for advertising and was throwing out.   They had a station wagon and her dad would load up the back with neighborhood kids and take us to Orange Julius or to Lake Hefner to play on the fishing dock.  Heaven help the car that had to sit behind us at a stop light.  Her mom worked at the state capitol in an era when nobody's mother worked so Janet was at our house all the time.  We loved to go to her house because she had an air conditioner and a television.  We both had red hair and freckles and when we got a little older we would try anything to get rid of them. In case you are wondering lemon juice does not work. We don't have as much red hair any more but the freckles are still there.  Ray was kind of grumpy but you could tell it was just a front and I thought Virginia was the most beautiful, glamorous woman in the world.  When my mother died she took me to their house and sat and rocked me for hours, something I will never forget. Ray and Virginia moved eventually and her parents moved in next to us so we got instant grandparents.  Janet spent so much time at our grandmother's house she called her grandma and would spend the summer out at the farm with us.  We don't have neighborhoods like this anymore.  Every mother on the block was your mother and if she told you not to do something she meant it and then your parents got a phone call.  I especially loved summer, very few people had window air conditioners and after supper the parents sat out in the yard while the kids played till it got too dark to see.  You formed bonds that lasted a lifetime. Ray and Virginia will always live in my heart.

1.      My sister Jo Ann, Janet and my sister Jeannie going to a birthday party with a prize for the best homemade hat.  My mom made all of the hats and Jeannie won first prize.  1956

2.      Jeannie, Jo Ann, Janet, Jerry and me, the thumb sucker. 1957

3.      Ray, Virginia, and Janet on vacation, Janet does not recall where but this is about 1956.

4.      Virginia, my mom Lorraine and a very unhappy Janet.  This was such a surprise, I only have about three pictures of my mom so this was such a treat.   1959

5.      Ray and Virginia, she was so beautiful and there are very few pictures of Ray and he rarely smiled, date unknown.

6.      Me, my headless sister Jeannie and Janet, I'm not sure why she needed the swim cap to play in the blow up pool. 1958

7.      Janet, Jo Ann, Jeannie and the fat baby is me.  1956

8.      Easter Sunday – Jeannie, Jo Ann, me and Janet.  Easter meant new clothes, gloves, hats, purses and my favorite, patent leather shoes which were for Sunday only. 1958

9.      Janet Kay and Janet.  My mom made all of our clothes and now I know why I love rick rack so much. She also made matching outfits for their dolls.  I liked Lincoln logs. About 1958

10.  My mom, Jeannie in a shirt my mom made from bandanas, Janet and me. 1962

11.  Janet and me in front of her dad's station wagon.  We so wanted to be baton twirlers, the cheerleaders wore wool skirts down to their knees and sweaters but the baton twirlers had sparkly uniforms, who wouldn't want to wear that?

12.  Janet in front of her dad's old station wagon.  I put this in for a reason, the bush at the corner of the house had these spiky berries that we used for our mud pies.  We had a mimosa tree that provided seed pods and pink flowers and we made lovely pies.

13.  This picture is priceless to my family, we do not have any pictures of my sister June when she was a baby.  My mother was already sick and she does not have a baby book or any pictures so to find this in the package of pictures Janet sent was unbelievable.  We are so grateful. 1963

14.  Janet, Uncle Charlie, and me.  He was not our real uncle but everyone called him Uncle Charlie.  On the back it said “Put me in a watch and call me Crystal”.  My sister said he said it all the time, we never did know what it meant.

15.  Me, Donna Maize, my sister Jeannie, someone we don't remember and Janet with her new dog.

16.  Me, Janet and my sister Jo Ann “hiding” behind the tree.  I have my beloved brownie camera in my hand, I never had any film but I was a devoted photographer.

17.  I'm the hobo, Janet is the witch, and my little sister June is Mickey mouse.

18.  My sister Jo Ann's wedding, Janet is on the left end, I'm on the other end and my sister is the bride. Too bad it is black and white, all three of us are red heads. My sister made all of the dresses for her wedding and two of my sisters. 1965

19.  Janet's birthday party, her mom took us all to see The Sound of Music, Janet is holding the album at the edge of the picture.  How fitting since this is the fiftieth anniversary of the film.

20.  Janet getting my little sister June ready for the wedding, you can see the beautiful blue of the dresses.

21.  Janet on Easter Sunday posing in front of her dad's car.  Her parents did not go to church so she always went with us.

22.  I'm not sure what is going on here, we are out in the garage and when I first saw the picture I could not figure out who the two boys were.  It finally hit me that it is my sister and her best friend Donna, let’s just say they had not blossomed yet.  1963

23.  Janet and I serving cake and punch at the wedding of the girl who grew up across the street from us.  This was back when the reception was punch, cake, and pillow mints.  1983

24.  On March 7^th of this year they had a 70^th birthday party for my sister Jo Ann.  I could not go but Janet filled in for me. Left to right back row, my sister Jeannie, Janet, sister June, front row sister Jo Ann and my brother Jerry.

25.  Last picture, I have no idea what was going on but this is the last picture I have of Janet before they moved.       

I am so grateful to Janet Edson Simpkins for all the hard work she put in digging out old pictures for the quilt.  What a treat to see pictures of my mom and that precious one of my sister.  June and I were so young we don't remember my mother so a picture of her is priceless.  So to our sister from another mother thank you and you will always be a beloved member of our family.

P.S.   I was unable to find any copyright information for the image on the cover.  I had an autograph book with the same pony tail girl when I was little.  I asked the lady who was selling it on Etsy to check and she could not find a copyright on the photo album which she estimated to be from the early fifties.  Any copyright infringement is totally unintended.