wormhole: first look

just got the top to wormhole done and i'm pretty excited about how it turned out.  in the blacks alone there's cotton, wool, flannel, and corduroy.  next step is to make the "sandwich" of top piece, batting, and backing fabric, mark the quilting lines, and pin it together.  i think i'm going to hand quilt the wormhole and machine quilt the black background and docking station.  later on, i'll go in and embroider stars, windows, and ship embellishments, but that's not for a while.

and, as of today, i am officially a full time quilter.  i was working another job here and there, but that's over with now and i'm left to my own devices.  i'm gearing up for march (the architectural digest home design show).  hopefully that will go well--fingers crossed.  i've got a bunch of stuff lined up for that.

sooo close

been busy in the studio working on wormhole and getting ready for yesterday's show.  here's my progress so far.  this is the lower left of the wormhole pattern pinned to the fabric and reassembled.

then it all got pieced together

this is the top right corner of wormhole pinned and put back together.  this is where the piecing gets really time consuming.

... and top right corner completed.  i can't wait to see the whole wormhole top finally put together.  one more section to go!

i also got the mini cargo blanket done and off to it's new home. i believe it's for a child, hence the baby blanket proportions, with the month of march on the top.

lastly, i'd like to thank everybody for coming out to the show last night!  it was a blast.  really nice to see some old faces and meet new ones.  thanks for all the support.

one night only!

my friend jason kachadourian is putting on a one night only show with me and some other great artists.  if you're in greenpoint, brooklyn on saturday night jan 22nd you should check it out.  you can view one of my quilts, and i'll also be selling intergalactic transport patches and my own pirate flag pennants.  it's from 7-11 at 717 manhattan ave, apt 3a.  dollar beers, music, and art; you can't loose!

Jason Kachadourian presents One Night Only, a show of work by people who know each other and people who should. 

New work by: Patrick Costello, Jason Kachadourian, Sam Kalda, Jimmy McBride, and Mark Price.

The five featured artists use pattern, collage and a variety of other means to freeze a moment in time. They obsessively examine their relationship with the environment that surrounds them. By abstracting, modifying and re-using the familiar, they create images that represent select moments in a perpetual process. 

This One Night Only is the second in a series of one night, pop up exhibitions that will take place in any available location.

1st quarter done

because the quilts are so large and they would be a nightmare to piece together all at once, i break them down into quarters.  normally, the sections are roughly square, but because of the design of the wormhole the sections are all kinds of crazy shapes. 

this is the first section done.  the first two sections are going to be kind of plain because they're the ones that are just ships docked against a black background.

because of the number and size of the ships (a lot, and tiny) i decided i was going to have to do something that i hate--applique.  i ended up using wonder under and ironing them onto the black fabric and then sewing the edges with a zig zag stitch.  it actually turned out better than i expected, and i'm happy with the results of the way the ships look.

because velma, my fancy new machine, doesn't do zig zag stitches, and i needed to deal with the edges of the ships and ethan's new shirt's button holes, i ended up getting a second machine.  i got a singer 4423 "heavy duty" model sewing machine.  it was pretty cheap and got good reviews and has worked great so far.  it's nice having a machine that can do more than velma, but isn't going to have to take the wear and tear that she takes.  i've named him henry in honor of the mouse (that i already named henry) that has decided to squat in our apartment for a while.

lastly, i got the diamond design drawn on the mini cargo blanket and it's all pinned up and ready to start sewing.

all cut out

finally!  i got all the pieces for wormhole cut out.  there's roughly 450 pieces (650 with all the little ships, but those are going to be ironed on) all individual and hand cut out.  this is my least favorite part of the process; maybe i can get an intern or studio assistant or something to do all the stuff i don't want to do--here's hoping.  the next step is to start piecing everything back together. this becomes the big reveal because even though i made the pattern and picked out the fabric, i still have no idea what the overall look of the quilt will be.

....and, i just sold a mini custom cargo blanket (3' x 4') with a red back and the star chart for the month of march on the front, so that's also in the works for this week.

also, i just want to say a big thank you for everyone that has viewed the video and posted comments on the  etsy site and my blog.  the response has been overwhelming with support and good wishes.  i'm glad people are enjoying what i'm doing and watching the process as much as i like doing it.  thanks!

etsy video

earlier this summer i was contacted by the great people of etsy and they wanted to do a video portrait of me for their website.  of course, i was psyched to do it.  ...and they even wanted to do it in character as my space trucker! score.  in november we finally got around to filming it, and it just went live on the etsy site tonight.  check it out!

i'm thrilled with the results and am so appreciative of everyone over at etsy for all their support.

epic studio day

actually, it was 2 studio days, but it seemed all encompassing.  it started because i got a call from my friend wanting a winter bike hat.  ethan's been asking for them for the shop anyway, and we have already had our 1st blizzard of the season, so...  i made some new winter bike hats.  flannel plaid exterior, fleece lined, with a pull down ribbing to protect your ears.  and they're hot.  literally.  i start to sweat if i wear them too long.  pick one up at b's bikes in greenpoint:  262 driggs @ eckford.

 then ethan needed some upkeep on his shop jeans and a hole in one of his shirts.  check.

and finally, over the holiday ethan picked out some fabric for me to make him a new shirt.  he's been rocking the 3 red and black plaid flannel shirts i made him for 2 years now, so it was probably time for a change.  i'd like to think i've gotten better than the uneven pockets plaguing those shirts.  this time i hunkered down and spent way too much time aligning all the plaid, but i think it was worth it.  you almost can't even see the pockets!  awesome!  i haven't gotten to the buttons yet, but you get the idea.



and since i made ethan a shirt, i thought i should have a new one too.  i've been meaning to make it for a while; in fact, the fabric is from 2 years ago.  it's my same shirt design, but i added ribbing wristbands, and snaps.  score.  looks like this is my winter shirt of 2011.

wormhole!

i finished the pattern for the next quilt today.  it's going to be a quilt depicting a wormhole docking station.  i found a great image of the wormhole that i think is from star trek DS9.  i watched a lot of star trek TNG growing up so it's nice to be able to pay tribute to that in some way.  i toyed around with the ships at the docks; they were a lot bigger, but the scale was wrong compared to the size of wormhole that i wanted to represent, so i ended up making them really small.  the only problem is it'd be a nightmare to try and piece the ships into the black background.  i hate applique, and i'm really not satisfied with the way applying fabric with fusable backing looks, but i'm going to have to work with it.

i've settled on fusing the ships to the black background and then outlining them with a zig zag stitch to hide the raw edges.  i drug maureen out of the closet to test it out, but i don't know if she'd make it through all of the ships, so i'm thinking about buying a second machine.  just a basic one that i can do those very specific things on.  velma is great, but she can't do zig zags or button holes, and ethan bought new fabric for his 2011 shirt, so i'm gonna have to put buttons on that anyway.