Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

I have several projects in progress and a serious to do list, but I couldn't resist starting and finishing a new project: a life sized salmon fiber sculpture/pillow.  I used batiks and some lovely new Gradient print from Moda. I used a copy of this pattern which was well written and illustrated by JanLee Irving, who is an Alaska resident. She knows her fish. This one has all of the fins that a wild Salmon has. Hatchery fish have their dorsal fin clipped for identification. They may be kept, while the wild ones can only be gently caught and released.

36" from nose to tail. My name tag is on the belly. 

Pattern for sale in my etsy shop. Written by JanLee Irving.

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You can see the embellishment details here: ribbons and rick rack. 

The fins are made from interfaced ironing board fabric, the metalic shiny gold stuff. 

One detail I'd edit: the original placement of the eye (see stitching lines?) looked odd. I used my seam ripper and moved the eyes forward. The mouth stitching also had to go.   

The gills are dimensional. The head is velvet remnant from a Sue Spargo tote that I made and wrote about in May of 2013. The center of the eye is black pleather, also from a remnant, from a Cat-woman Halloween costume I made for Caroline over a dozen years ago. See? It is important to save those cool remnants. They are still good. There is even a fancy word for that: mottainai, a Japanese word that means too good to waste. It is a beautiful term from Buddhism that is central to the mindful upbringing of most Japanese, (notably the elder, traditional people) that honors the preciousness of things.

Synchronicity. As I wrote this blog post , my sister, Pam, who is touring Japan, saw this at the Amuse Museum. 

This pillow looks great in our living room area, which has a Steelhead Quilt on the wall and a cotton fish blanket draped over the couch. For those of you who are not Idaho natives, Steelhead and Salmon are two types of fish that are anadromous. They hatch here on our Salmon River, migrate to the Pacific Ocean, and return to spawn. They have to navigate 4 dams and a serious assault by sea lions. It is no wonder their numbers are dwindling.

I have been working on several other projects, one a special commission. Someone in quilt club asked me a few weeks ago if I sew every day. Yes, I do. I am a lucky woman.   

BFD = Best Friend Dog

Phew! The Christmas, Hanukkah, and December Birthday rush is behind me. I am sew relieved. Of course I know it is coming each year, and yet I don't feel motivated to make stuff until the last month or so. Sew. I want to share two sweet projects that were completed after the rush. First, a little wall hanging quilt for Mr. Thimblepie. It is a puppy picture of our now very old labradog, Abby. Here she was at 4 months old, wet and sandy faced on the boat. (Now she is 12 ½ yrs old and quite white, lumpy and lovely.)

Abby loves riding on the jetboat.

I chose fabrics that would draw attention to her pretty brown eyes. I quilted it with metallic Sulky in waves that simulate the Salmon River. I mostly piece bindings, this project is no exception.

The other dog project was an item from my etsy shop donated to a silent auction fund raiser for a dog rescue group, handsome dan's rescue. The woman who purchased the item sent my a lovely photo of her now deceased dog, Rylie. She gave me artistic license to create a wall hanging and here it is:

The wonderful fabric for these two quilts is Moda fabric, mostly "Woof, Woof, Meow," designed by Stacy Iest Hsu.  The dog rescue group said they raised over $20,000 from donated items. I am glad I could help. I can't imagine life without a dog.

The River of Dreams

I went to a wedding dressed as the Salmon River. Here is the story. My friends are river guides whose theme for their recent wedding was the confluence of rivers. They got married on the bank of the Salmon River, and even arrived and left the ceremony in a drift boat. They served salmon for the wedding dinner. Their wedding cake was the image of the river.

As an artist and seamstress, I thought I should make a dress that reflected the wedding theme. Having just made a salmon quilt, and with leftover fabric strips, I designed this fun dress to wear to the wedding.  It has a big steelhead, and even river rocks at the bottom.

Now back to the quilt. I was asked to make a salmon quilt by an aunt whose nephew is doing salmon research in Alaska. She is unable to sew at this point, and seeing my fish quilt, she thought I could make her dream of a salmon quilt come true. So she sent me her collection of batiks, 15 yards in all, and said I could keep whatever I didn't use... talk about a dream come true!

I color set the fabrics first. Blues like to bleed. I prefer synthropol to set the dyes.

Then I laid out the fabrics in gradations of color, and cut 3" wide strips. I sewed them together, then pressed and cut them into panels which I staggered. I used big pieces of the batiks for the back of the quilt. I had a panel from another project with animals from Alaska. It really added to the overall richness of the Alaska story.

I thought a sockeye salmon would look artsy. Using the pattern I had drawn for my steelhead trout quilt, and an image from the internet, I came up with a big spawning sockeye.

The client asked me to put a label with a photo of her nephew (the researcher) and some sentiments on the back  of the quilt.

I quilted the quilt on my domestic machine. Wavy lines are my current favorite. Then I applied a flanged binding by machine. What a fun way to frame the quilt. Dark blue with a flange of salmon pink.

I tried a new method to photograph the entire quilt, draped in the shade in my yard. I was thrilled with the finish, and so was the client.  Here is what she said: "Jane, the quilt made it here and it is spectacular! I'm so glad you could make it...and it is way beyond anything I envisioned. Max will love it." 

Too Salmon Riverish

   Discussing a commission with a potential client. She contacted me through my etsy shop and gushed aobut my custom pet quilt. Wants one for her little doggie. Sent lots of photos of the doggie and her California Cliff May house. Said last year 1000 people toured her home and next year my quilt would make me famous!!!  I chose these colors after digging through the back of the locked travel trailer, feeling inspired and pleased,  hauling a big armload into the RV, setting up a table in the under construction house, taking photos, uploading them, sending, sitting in the HOT RV at the appointed time with no phone call, sweating. Finally an email back, these look too Hawaiian. Bah! They look Salmon Riverish to me, but not overly, just right. The big green zinnia turned into a splash by the lavender batik salmon.
   This is another case of clashing tastes. She wants soft, muted, pastoral pastels. ok.
   The photo above will be a quilt for me. I see embellishments, and maybe a driftwood hanging rod.