Little Red Roosevelt Island Tram Quilt

This is the finished version of my little Roosevelt Island tram quilt, which is 8"x10". I like to work small, but I had so much fun with this that I am going to work on a big tram quilt. And thank you to Dick Lutz, who took the photo I used for this piece and has not only given me permission to use his photo as a basis for my quilt, but offered some of his other tram photos for future work.

The photo of the finished quilt was taken outdoors, and since I am not a professional photographer, looks a little off, but it really is rectangular and not at all lopsided. It is just meant to be art; art quilts are usually intended to be hung and are seldom used on a bed like a traditional quilt.

If anyone is wondering about fiber art and art quilting, here is a quick lesson:

Art quilts are any kind of art that is done that uses fabric and fibers. They are usually done as a 'sandwich' consisting of a top design, some kind of batting, and a backing fabric. A lot of traditional quilters feel confined by traditional patterns and have branched out to do their own designs. I came to art quilting another way...I am a textile designer who has always sewed and done crafts as well as dabbled in all kinds of art like watercolor, weaving, silkscreen printmaking, oil painting, ceramics and jewelry design, so I consider myself a mixed media artist who also does fiber art. I am not a traditional quilter at all. My latest passion is needle felting.

Journal quilts are small pieces that are done regularly, monthly or sometimes weekly, to either test out new ideas, materials and techniques, or to document what is going on in your life. JQing was pretty much invented by Jeanne Williamson, and Karey Bresenhan did a journal quilt project a few years ago and produced a fabulous book on it. If you want to know more, check the website quiltingartsllc.com, which is the site for Quilting Arts Magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors and Studios Magazine (look for me in the Spring 2009 issue of Studios!)

Roosevelt Island Tram

For the past two years, I have been doing an 8"x8" journal quilt each month. Now that I am living a nomadic existence (3.5 days in NYC each week and 3.5 days on Long Island), I have not been keeping up with my fiberart. This is the beginning of my January 2009 JQ. It was done from a photo of the Roosevelt Island tram. I take the red tram back and forth from the isle of Manhattan to the wee isle of Roosevelt, three days a week. It hasn't been stitched and edged yet, but I liked the way it looked so far. Hopefully I will have time to finish it soon. The tram is scheduled to be shut down this summer for repairs and modernization, so it is a tribute both to my new job on Roosevelt Island and to the tram itself.

Mr. Jones

This tribute to the Counting Crow's song, Mr. Jones, didn't get finished in time for the Rock On Challenge for Quilting Arts, so I decided to use it when the Fiber Art Traders group announced a bird ATC swap. The song Mr. Jones mentions Picasso, a gray guitar, and colors of red and blue, black and gray...so I did a cubistic design using those colors and a guitar, and of course, a couple of crows.