Window CCXXXVII, a donation to SAQA and another skinny In Box

 

(Above:  Window CCXXVII. 12" x 12".  Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused to white synthetic felt with machine stitching and melting techniques. Click on any image to enlarge.)

I am very proud to be a peer reviewed professional member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and look forward to the annual fundraising auction.  Each year, members donate a 12" x 12" art quilt.  The on-line event is open to the public and takes place in the fall.  I've donated for years.  This year, however, I used the occasion to experiment!  This is the first "Window Series" piece that was not created on black synthetic felt.  It is also the first to be machine stitched using a colorful, variegated, 100% cotton King Tut thread.  I'm really pleased how it turned out!

 

(Above:  A kitten Steve and I rescued from Patrick Square in Clemson.)

While it is true that I've been using white synthetic felt for over a year, I've always hand-stitching squares and rectangles in my "In Box Series".  In fact, I've just finished another, skinny, hand-stitched In Box piece on white felt.  It was put together for an adventurous trip in the van with a stray kitten.  Steve and I found this little fellow (about four months old) under a very low scrub that wasn't providing much shade on a day when the temperature was approaching one hundred degrees.  He wasn't meowing; he was literally "screaming" his distress.  In addition to the heat, he was on a busy street in Patrick Square's business area. No one was looking for him.  We took him home.  Our two cats were not happy.  We let him go outside but gave him food and water for more than a week while trying to locate his family ... and trying to place him in a shelter or with the Humane Society.  (The Pickens County shelter only accepts dogs; the humane society was overflowing and wouldn't accept him.)  I register him on a couple "lost pet" websites. Nothing.  I posted him on Facebook and got lucky!  A nice lady agreed to adopt him.  Problem:  She lives outside Myrtle Beach, a four hour drive from us.  So ... on Saturday, we drove to her seventy-acre property and she took him in.  The kitten wasn't happy unless he was in my lap.  So, I didn't start stitching until we dropped him off.  A day later, I finished In Box CDLXXXI.

 

 

(Above:  In Box CDLXXXI.  Custom framed:  21 1/4" x 9 1/4".  Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused on white synthetic felt with hand embroidery and melting techniques.)

(Above:  Detail of In Box CDLXXXI.)