Claire Sherman Art

Slow progress

Posted on January 27, 2016 by admin

I’m making very slow progress on this double layered amulet. I keep getting distracted by other projects. When I put the binding on, it will connect the two quilt layers together. I also plan to put beads and at least one Indian shisha mirror on it.

Posted in 12 x 12, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Experimenting with Seminole patchwork

Posted on January 13, 2016 by admin

Seminole patchwork samples

I’m experimenting with Seminole patchwork today. It’s the original method of strip piecing invented by the Seminole people (Native Americans), in the late 1800’s with hand cranked sewing machines. I’m doing a short “tips and tricks” demo on it at the Thursday night EBHQ meetup http://www.ebhq.org. Lately quilters use a lot of strip piecing, but it seems as if we’ve forgotten about the Seminole version.

Posted in Seminole patchwork, Uncategorized | Tagged Seminole patchwork | 3 Comments

Four color placemats

Posted on January 4, 2016 by admin

My college aged daughter asked for two placemats for her new apartment. She specified that they should be black, white, blue and green. This is how I started. I did not have a plan. I just cut wedge shaped strips, and sewed them together.

wedge shaped strips

This wasn’t interesting enough, so I cut it into strips.

cutting the strips

Then I used the strips as a border around some fussy cut centers.

I continued piecing in an improvisational manner, until it was the right size. Here are the finished placemats.

placemat #2

I’m pretty happy with them, except that the outside edges are a little wavy. Here’s what the back looks like.

back of placemat

These placemats are for the daughter with the dragon quilt. She chose the backing fabric as well as many of the other fabrics in the placemats.

Posted in Improvisational piecing | Tagged placemat | 4 Comments

WIP (Work In Progress) new amulet

Posted on January 1, 2016 by admin

Amulet, a work in progress 2015

Happy 2016! This is what I’m working on. It will be a double layered 12″ x 12″ quilt, similar to the one below. However I’ve been working on the precision of the satin stitch edge. I’m much happier with the new one, even though there are other things I love about the one below.

Amulet For Healing 2015 (12″ x 12″)

I pieced it with commercial cotton fabrics and batting, then embellished it with machine and hand embroidery, obsolete Israeli pay-phone tokens “asimonim”, glass and wooden beads, and two mirrors from India.

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Happy last night of Chanukah

Posted on December 15, 2015 by admin

Here is a chanukiah (or menorah) I made several years ago, lit for the last night of Chanukah. Every year I think that I should make a Chanukah quilt. Then I forget about it until it’s too late. I’ve also thought about making Chanukah or Passover placemats, just for my own use, not to sell. However that hasn’t happened either.

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Orange Is the New Purple II

Posted on December 11, 2015 by admin

C & J Wedding Quilt 2015

This is a quilt I made last spring as a wedding present for friends. These are some of their favorite colors. I had to buy a lot of new fabric for this quilt, because, I rarely used orange before making it. Then, the back of this quilt inspired another quilt, which I named Orange Is the New Purple, because usually my quilts have a lot of purple in them.

Here is Orange Is the New Purple:

Orange Is the New Purple 2015

Now, I’m working on a new quilt, using the same technique as the wedding quilt. I’m calling the quilt “Orange Is the New Purple II. I’m calling the technique, “improvisational stained glass”. I’m hoping to teach this as a class soon. However, I need a quilt to demonstrate the technique. Since I gave away the first one, I need to make another. I’m almost done quilting it with a walking foot.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, improvisational stained glass, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Quilts in the Addison Street Windows!

Posted on December 8, 2015 by admin

If you happen to be in downtown Berkeley, any time between now and January 15th, I have a quilt in the mini quilt show in the Addison Street Windows. This is on the same block with Berkeley Rep and Freight & Salvage, on Addison between Shattuck and Milvia, on the south side of the street. One of my quilts is in there, but it’s hard to see because there are so many quilts inside. Below is an unobstructed view of my quilt.

Joseph’s Stars 2014

I made this quilt for Amish: The Modern Muse, a show at the SJ Museum of Quilts and Textiles. I designed it by making five liberated stars in three sizes. I put them up on my design wall, with black fabric behind them. Then I arranged them, and rearranged them until I liked the layout. I sewed them together using large chunks of black fabric to connect them to each other. When I was done, I decided it worked better upside down.

The use of two different shades of black fabric in this quilt is a quintessentially Amish touch. When I ran out of one black fabric, I substituted another, just as the Amish would have done. I like how it makes a subtle window frame around the stars. For those unfamiliar with Amish quilts, they are known for their use of black and vibrant solid colored fabric. Amish quilters don’t use patterned fabric because it is considered too frivolous or worldly.

Posted in Improvisational piecing, liberated stars, Quilt Shows, Uncategorized | Tagged East Bay Heritage Quilters | 2 Comments

Quilt Therapy

Posted on December 4, 2015 by admin

Elisheva’s Dragons 2012

Since I blogged about my younger daughter’s quilt, it seemed only fair that I blog about the quilt I made for Elisheva, my older one. I made it during the summer, after her high school graduation, and finished it before she left for college. Instead of worrying about her going off to college, I worried about whether or not I was going to get her quilt finished in time. It was great therapy for me. I didn’t start it earlier because I was waiting for her to draw me the dragons for the center. Her dragons are vastly superior to mine. She also chose the colors. I’m very happy with how it turned out. The “liberated stars” are from Gwen Marston’s book, Liberated Quiltmaking II.

Posted in liberated stars, Uncategorized | Tagged Gwen Marston | 5 Comments

12 x 12

Posted on December 3, 2015 by admin

I’m in a group that we call 12 x 12. Twelve of us meet once a month, and make a 12″ x 12″ quilt or any other art that is that size. In the group are people doing mosaics, drawing, mixed media, and lots of quilters. At the end of the year we’ll have a show of everyone’s twelve pieces. In the Quilt Gallery 2015, above, there are two previous 12 x 12’s. Although I’ve already finished one for this month, (see above) I’m working on a second, because I lent last month’s to SAQA. SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) http://www.saqa.com is an art quilt organization that I just joined. They have a traveling trunk show of member’s work from the N CA/ NV region that will travel for the next year. Therefore I won’t get the quilt back for our 12 x 12 show. Coincidentally, the size for the SAQA show was also 12″ x 12″, which was great, since I had no time to make anything new.

Posted in 12 x 12, Improvisational piecing | Tagged SAQA | Comments Off

Good Enough to Eat

Posted on December 2, 2015 by admin

This is the quilt I made for my daughter, Shira, in 2012, from the food themed fabrics. It’s called Good Enough To Eat. The photo was taken at the Voices In Cloth Quilt Show. I made it as part of the “virtual round robin” from my online quilt group, the Lib-Quilters. If you click on the Publications tab above, you can read what I wrote about this group and the virtual round robin.

Good Enough to Eat 2012
(twin bed size)

Posted in Improvisational piecing, Uncategorized | Comments Off