love shack

innocent crush house blocks
Originally uploaded by simply plain jane

... so i really couldn't watch all those new fabrics spin around in the washer and dryer with out playing with them first... so i cut 2 inch strips off of each of the fat quarters and had a date night with my innocent crush ;-) i may pay for not pre-washing the fabrics first, oh well...
i have been really loving house blocks lately as i dive head first into quilting. for a while i felt like all this sewing was a detour from my ceramic work and painting that i had to take while my children were young.... but i'm beginning to realize that it has developed so naturally from my artistic interests all along. one of the reasons i love ceramic art is because of its functionality. i love the idea of people using, physically interacting with my artwork... that seems to give it so much of a life beyond the original creation of the piece.
i love that a quilt has such a physical presence, so many ways to experience it, places to use it... and of course people to love it... i love that it is something that can have such a long life, such a story to tell. i love to think of the generational aspect of a quilt's life. we have some quilts that have been in my husband's family and i love the connection i feel with his great aunt, whom i have never met. by studying her fabric choices and the stitches her hand's made i feel like i know her, perhaps in a more intimate way than i do my own great aunt....
i know that i am rambling, but i have wanted to express my defense of quilting and fabric arts. sometimes i hear a voice in the back of my head telling my that i am not really an artist... my friends from the art department that went on the get MFAs and show in galleries are 'really' artists and i am just wasting my degree. i know that is ridiculous, i just need to remind myself sometimes. seriously- anyone who has seen the quilts from gee's bend shown in a museum next to abstract expressionistic paintings cannot deny that they most certainly hold their own... and i personally would argue that they have a depth that i often find lacking in "professional" art.

but, back to these darling house blocks. isn't the image, the idea of a home...especially an imperfect one, such a comfort? i'm always drawn to them...

(if you click on the link under the picture you can see some close-ups... my computer isn't cooperating with me right now, so i can't post them directly)