 |
Maria Michaels Designs |  |
April Newsletter First, an important note regarding the links on these pages. Clicking on them will open new, separate windows. Bookmark the ones you would like to visit again, but then be sure to close each one before clicking on the next. Too many open windows can cause your computer to slow down and some older computer systems to crash. News This month's newsletter is late, mainly because our older son was married a week ago. It was a busy and wonderful time for our family. Don't miss reading our next newsletters as they appear. Look for our upcoming contest with a wonderful quilt book as a prize! Although my aim is to publish a monthly newsletter during the first week of each month, in future they may arrive irregularly. My plan is to keep as close as possible to schedule, however these newsletters take a good deal of time to write and prepare and although I enjoy doing them immensely, I also need time for completing our new quilt patterns. I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter and look forward to receiving your comments. Maria Featured Quilter - With A Difference!
Fraser Smith is a talented quilt maker extraordinaire! Just look at two of his wonderful quilts, "Hibiscus" to the left and "Floating" below! Extraordinarily beautiful, are they not? Do you want to be amazed even further? Fraser Smith's quilts are not made of fabric, batting, and thread. He creates them from basswood stained with watercolors or oil-based pigments! He generally starts with a block of wood 5 feet long, three and a half feet wide, and four inches thick made from several large pieces of wood glued together to achieve the size needed. To carve the wood he chooses from about 60 chisels and gouges, a carving disk, an angle driver, oscillating sanders, scalpels and tools, using those that create the results he wants and that work the quickest. He does not use models for his extraordinary work. Instead, he designs the patterns on his computer. The software he uses does not give him an exact likeness of the quilt, but does help him with a general idea of what he wants to do. An average quilt weighs anywhere form 80 to 130 pounds and can take him about three months to make, though some take him as long as six months. Fraser makes about four quilts a year. His work is shown in galleries and at the Smithsonian Craft Show every other year or so. "Floating" is on permanent display at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.
After working in architecture for a year, Fraser moved to Florida, started buying the necessary wood and tools and began sculpting. During that time he supported himself by working as a waiter, a carpenter, and a handyman. After five years he was able to quit those jobs and support himself entirely through his art. Fraser did not have any quilts in his background, but was always fascinated with quilt designs and the amount of work and time that went into making one. Though he was not sure he could carve one, the challenge involved inspired him to try his hand at it. It took him a year to create, "The Cats of Morpheus" which sold very quickly. That was 20 years ago and he has made 33 other quilts since that first one. Fraser loves quilts and the designs in them. He appreciates the sense of community engendered by quilts, the memory of quilting bees and family and family values. His work is a wonderful tribute to quilts and quilters. He has been asked if he would consider producing his patterns for quilters, but as he states, he gets to break rules that quilters either cannot or would find too difficult to accomplish, and quilters find it easy to include things in fabric which would be difficult for him to create from wood. Fraser feels that his job as an artist is to have people appreciate and enjoy his work without needing an explanation for it - to have them like it even when they do not realize that is is sculpted from wood - to have them stop and look at it because they feel his quilts are beautiful. He certainly accomplishes his goals, and very admirably! Besides quilts, Fraser carves jackets, hats, and other things - keepsake items, objects that connect us to events or people from our past, and things that people save. Be sure to visit his site and see them and more of his wonderful quilts. All of his work is sheer magic. Quilt Tools Katie's Scallop Radial Rules™
Marie Seroskie of Katie Lane Quilts has developed tools that quilters and garment sewers will not want to be without. When she appeared on America Sews with Sue Hausmann, I was immediately impressed with how easily perfect scallops can be designed, drawn, sewn and applied to anything our imaginations dictate using her Radial Rules™ and her methods. Marie also collaborated with Shar on the design for a quilt using the Scallop Radial Rule™ which was presented on a segment of Quilting with Shar. That segment demonstrated how to make a delicate, complementary, scalloped border on an appliquéd quilt. The Radial Rules™ come in two sizes - one for mini scallops and one for large scallops. Each provides two shape variations as can be seen in the photos to the left. The lower arcs are the ones used traditionally to make scallops and the upper arcs provide another choice.
The Mini Scallop Radial Rule™ (pictured above left) is used for small wall hangings, place mats, pillow cases, and other smaller projects. With it, arc lengths of 2", 3", 4", and 5" can be made. The Large Scallop Radial Rule™ (seen on the left) is used for larger wall hangings and full bed quilts. With it, arc lengths of 6", 7", 8", 9", and 10" are made. Just look at this sampling of the lovely items which you will make with these tools!
Marie is a very talented quilt and tool designer. She is the creator and designer of all of the beautiful patterns seen above, on page two of this newsletter, and on her web site. She starts with a drawing in her art book which she then scans into her computer, layers, and continues with the design process. The first tool she came up with was her Korner Radial Rule™.
After developing and producing the Radial Rules, Marie commented on the fact that there was nothing available - besides dinner plates - to make scallops on quilts. Within two weeks, Jim came up with a design that was the starting point for their final product. Marie worked with the prototypes of all of their creations and developed ideas and projects for them. She even took an old quilt, removed its binding, marked the scallops, and put on a new binding. In the process, she experienced just how easy it is to do - and as mentioned above - with no mitering to be concerned about.
You are sure to recognize Marie's Original Thread-Wraps® immediately. They are very popular for keeping our threads neat and untangled. She came up with this great idea on a Sunday afternoon in 1993 as she says, "Out of sheer frustration over a spool of nylon thread with no place to put the end!" This handy product is available in quilts shops and is now being introduced into bead shops for the various types of "strings" they use. This talented quilter and her husband have also written three books: The Complete Book of Tables - A Companion to Katie's Scallop Radial Rule™ (a companion to using her Scallop Radial Rules) Easy Lap Quilting (which includes 6 complete, full-sizes patterns and which will soon be sold out and unavailable) Stained Glass Techniques (especially good for beginners - with 61 illustrations including 17 colour photos). Alex Anderson of HGTV's Simply Quilts invited Marie to share her stained glass techniques on her show. Click on the link for a description and illustrations of her special technique. As mentioned above, Marie was asked to appear on the PBS show America Sews by one of Sue Hausmann's staff members. She flew to Ohio for the filming and found Sue and her staff to be most gracious and accommodating. Sue made her feel comfortable and after a run through their demonstration the segment was taped. Marie explains that being in front of the camera is not as frightening as we might think, especially when the host, producer and director make you feel right at home. Marie says that many of us think up good ideas for solving a problem, but that the trick is to do something with that idea right away. It took many phone calls, appointments with owners of plastic producing places, being thought of as having "lost some of our bolts and marbles," and promises not kept. She and Jim wanted a high-class product with clear, accurate printing, and fine laser cutting, and that is precisely what they got and what they offer. Katie Lane Quilts was born in 1990. The name was taken from the cul de sac in Orlando where Marie and Jim lived at that time. Visit their site to read more about everything mentioned here, to see an illustration on how to use her Radial Rules™ and to order their wonderful tools and books. There is a web special on right now - if you purchase the Mini and the Large Scallop Radial Rules™ with the companion book, "Complete Book of Tables," you will get 25% off the normal retail price. You can also look for Katie Lane products at your local quilt shop. If you do not see them, ask for them. Click here for page 2 of this Newsletter for more photos of Marie's scalloped designs, our book review, our questions and answer section
© 2002 - 2005 Maria Michaels Designs. All Rights Reserved
|
She loves browsing and was with her husband in store that carried a large variety of woodworking tools when she spotted a marking tool made of molded plastic. It was meant to be placed on the end of a piece of wood so that a pencil line could be traced around its curved edge. of the tool. Marie bought it, took it home to her sewing room, and figured out how it could be applied to making easy, accurate rounded corners on quilts. Her husband, Jim, an engineer took her concept and helped her to create this great quilting tool which comes in two sizes.
