Countess Ursula’s stunning gown inspired me to create an homage to my Nana, Rosella Van Belle, my mother’s stepmother. Nana was the Martha Stewart of her day. She cultivated a lovely rose garden, was a great cook, dressmaker and needle worker. She hosted a magical Christmas Eve celebration throughout my childhood. It was always a highlight of my year.
Nana, (After Anonymous), by Mary Vaneecke 2026
The digital collage includes a picture of her grandchildren singing Christmas carols, her Singer sewing machine, a fantastic bit of handmade lace, and buttons, patches, and the cover of a needle packet from her sewing box. There is some of her best-loved cookies on the table, along with a Christmas stollen. She is crowned with one of her bracelets.
Where Do We Go From Here?/The Center Does Not Hold, detail. By Mary VaneeckeWhere Do We Go From Here?/The Center Does Not Hold, detail. By Mary Vaneecke
No, I don’t have 2 actual boyfriends. The first class I took with Jane Dunnewold was about applying color, line, and shapes to plain fabric. She warned us that some of us would come to her with our ‘boyfriends’–fabrics we had created and loved so much that we wouldn’t want to change them. I have been hanging on to these boyfriends for years, wondering what in the heck to do with them. Here I have appliquéd a sheer silk organza boyfriend onto a Fuji silk broadcloth that was dyed using a Katano shibori method. Hand stitched with single strand embroidery thread (this was really tough on my hands and I won’t be able to handwork an overall design again any time soon).
I kinda like the new guy. What do you think?
You can see the work at Agua Caliente Park in Tucson. Show details below. I am looking forward to a productive and art-filled 2024 with some new friends and exciting challenges. What is on your calendar?
Abuela is Spanish for grandmother. I imagine her in her barrio (neighborhood) garden in my hometown, Tucson, surrounded by an ocotillo (a living, cactus-type) fence. She has her handwork and the blessed Virgin of Guadalupe nearby, with a grandchild at her knee. Abuela scans the headlines about America’s current immigration policy, and weeps.
My paternal grandparents, Firmin and Lucie VanEecke, lived the great American Dream. I have long let a quilt in their honor ‘percolate’ in the back of my mind. They met and married in Belgium between the World Wars and came here in 1923 by ship, as millions of immigrants have done throughout our history. World War I decimated Belgium, and they sought a better life here while feeling the separation and loss of loved ones left behind, most of whom they never saw again. Lucie and Firmin flourished in the US, had five children, nine grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. This work features hand-dyed vintage lace textiles, copies of their last letters home (in Flemish), and their wedding portrait. The piece is quilted with the phrase We Came to America in the languages of many other immigrants who came to America. In a private collection.
We Came to America, 45” x 48”, 2015We Came to America, detail
The Barrio Viejo (old neighborhood) of my hometown is home to many Mexican immigrants. Their distinctive gardens are often surrounded by an ocotillo fence, a living fence made of a cactus-like plant. The gardens will contain flowers like marigolds and sunflowers, and foods that remind residents of home. Neighbors share seeds and cuttings, and other fruits of their labor. What a lovely metaphor for migration and transplantation.
Materials include hand-dyed and painted handmade textiles (makers unknown), felted wool ropes, new fabrics, silk sari ‘yarn,’ window screen, felt, and machine stitch. In a private collection.
Woven Traditions I (top) and II (bottom). 49” x 30”.
This piece is inspired by the basket weaving patterns of the indigenous peoples along the Santa Cruz river, where I live in Arizona. Techniques include katano shibori, discharge, dyeing, burning, trapunto, and machine stitch.
It has been a busy winter in the studio and a lot has happened since Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts debuted at Houston Quilt Festival last fall.
For starters, Brewer Sewing is now distributing the book to quilt shops. Ask for it at your local quilt shop.
Individuals can buy the book from me at Amazon.com for the full $14.99 sticker price. (click here for more information) I want to support local quilt shops and won’t undercut their prices online.
I hope to bring my 3-D quilting classes online later this summer. Stay tuned for details.
My friend Lea McComas and I are making plans to promote our books at Houston Quilt Festival again this year. It’s a Jungle Out There will be touring with the Studio Art Quilt Associates Wild Fabrications show, and Houston will be the first stop on the tour.
Last but not least, I am going to the Chicago Quilt Festival this month to demonstrate my techniques at the free Open Studios booths on Thursday, March 26, and Saturday, March 28.Superior Threads will be selling Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts at the show, along with all their gorgeous threads.
I am delighted to be a part of the International Quilt Festival in Chicago next month. I will be demonstrating techniques from my book Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts on Thursday and Saturday, March 26 and 28 as part of the Open Studios events.
Framed! I
It’s going to be great fun, and in between, I get to see my sister and wish my dad happy 85th birthday! I just hope it warms up about 70* before then….
Please join me for my new workshop series. I will open a second session on Tuesday afternoons if the Thursday sessions fill. The Supply List is below.
Shibori Salon Supply List
Shibori is the Japanese word for using pressure (created by folding, stitching, clamping, or binding) to create patterns with dye on fabric or paper. This is a survey course in Shibori with Procion dyes. I will provide dye solutions in a variety of colors at each session, along with dye recipes and info on the dye process. In later sessions, I will also provide a thiox discharge bath. You will make several small fabric samples for future reference or for use in your work.
Required supplies (bring to each session):
A selection of silk, cotton, linen, and/or lightweight rayon fabrics up to ½ yard pieces to start (you can work larger on a couple of pieces later if you wish). Boring or ugly commercial fabrics and batiks may be good candidates for the kind of work we will be doing. Bleached muslin or PFD fabric is fine, but you can also take fabrics out of your stash. New or used clothing (whole or cut up) will work, but keep the pieces small to start. You don’t need to ‘scour’ your fabrics in advance, but you can if you wish (blasphemy, I know).
Clamps (small C clamps or hardware clamps)
A large handful of rubber bands of various sizes
Hand sewing needle with a fairly large eye (I will provide thread)
Clamps (small C clamps or hardware clamps; many different kinds will work.)
Bamboo chopsticks (several clean pairs)
A large handful of rubber bands in various sizes
A handful of coins or small balls in different sizes
2-3 pairs of knee-hi stockings or panty hose. Patterned is fine if that is what you have.
Ziplock bags (at least 5 in the one-gallon size, and 5 in the smaller size)
Dishpan
Several small and medium plastic containers with or without lids
Dishwashing gloves or medical gloves
Blue Dawn dishwashing detergent (you will need this at home to washout your samples)
ball of cotton or hemp twine or string, any weight
Please plan to wear old clothes and/or a smock, sturdy shoes, and a hand towel to use a a drip rag.
If you wish to track your processes (i.e., dye color, manipulation, etc.) for each sample you make, bring a Sharpie pen and notebook to mark your fabrics and write your notes, or sew Tyvek strips to your fabrics and note the changes on the Tyvek.
Optional supplies (please bring these if you have them available):
18’’ (approximate) length of PVC pipe (3-6’’ in diameter)
5′ of 1″ polyester rope
Matching pairs of square, rectangular, or round plastic or wooden shapes
If you want to try dyeing paper, bring sheets of Abaca paper (brand name: Tissuetex, available online at www.meinketoy.com and other online shops. This paper will not disintegrate in the dye solution or washout. You are welcome to bring other papers for experimenting. Test first for durability!)
**Pair of heavy duty rubber gloves
**Pair of silk glove liners (available at outdoor/hiking stores)
Quilt Fiesta is here! As usual, I have been busy in the dye studio getting ready to stock my booth for the big show. I look forward to this weekend all year. It’s a chance to see my quilt ‘people’ and hang out at our booth with my friend Trish Hastings-Sargent. Here are a few of the items that will be available at the the show….As always, I have some new styles and color combinations this year. Hope to see you at the show!
Some new Shibori Chic scarves will be on offer…prices range from $30-$40.Love the way this long sleeved T came out of the final dyebath…. It’s one of a kind and $45.This new twist-front shirt looks great with a scarf. $70 if you buy both ($30 for the scarf, $45 for the shirt)
A gorgeous one-of-a-kind rust, green, and gold turtleneck. $45This $40 T has been through 3 dyebaths, and looks great with a beautiful, soft rayon knit infinity scarf ($45).Pastel peach shirt $(45) and elegant drapey infinity scarf ($45).
And of course, I will be selling my new book, Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts, too.
Chaos Controlled: The Fiber Arts of Mary Vaneecke features many new and small works as well as my shibori chic scarves and clothing. Please come to the opening reception Saturday, January 10 from 7-9 pm. I will give an artist talk on Saturday, January 31st at 2 pm.
Art House Centro Gallery is in Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave. (next to the Tucson Museum of Art).
Hope to see you there. Here is a sneak peek of the hanging yesterday. I love the small shibori ‘monoprint landscapes’ I just completed for the show (center).
Another improvisationally pieced ‘modern quilt’ to go with a dining theme. Its sister quilt, Chopsticks and Edamame is here. The digitized quilting design is based on a traditional sachiko design called steam or fishing net.
Chopsticks and Udon, 2014, 44” x 27”detail, Chopsticks and Udon
The use of negative space and plain fabrics just begs for fabulous quilting, and I tried to keep the tension of the perilously stacked coins going with the navy-on-navy background quilting.
This was my view one sunny morning last year. Coupeville on Penn Cove of Whidbey Island is a beautiful place.
So this is what I am missing this week: 5 days of dyeing fabric with the fabulous Elin Noble on beautiful Whidbey Island. There is just too much on my plate (and maybe not enough in my wallet) right now to justify the time and expense: Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts is about to be published, another book with Jane Dunnewold on dyeing is in the works, Quilt Market in Houston is less than 2 weeks away, Christmas and show quilts are due to customers, etc., etc., etc. (as the King of Siam might say).
But this photo will be my screensaver this week, ’cause a girl can dream, can’t she? Serenity now…
Dining Destinations: Chopsticks and Edamame, 2014, 45” x 35”detail, Dining Destinations: Chopsticks and Edamame
This piece is another of my ‘Modern’ quilts. It features commercial fabrics and improvisational piecing. The digitized quilt design in the black areas is based on a traditional Japanese sachiko pattern called ‘steam.’ Edamame are steamed fresh soybeans. I think there is a Pad Thai quilt in my future!
Chopsticks and Edamame will be part of the Studio Art Quilt Assciates’Food for Thought exhibition. The show will debut at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky, in April 2015 and will then travel to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England, in August, 2015.
Here an elegant southwest sunset fabric is the focal point, with a cactus flowers print providing the 3-D affect. Learn about this technique in my book, Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts.
I used my 3-D technique on this elegant Asian panel and coordinating fabric to create wisteria vines draping off the quilt. Find out how in my book, Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts.
This quilt is a smaller version of It’s a Jungle Out There, a finalist at the Quilt Festival in Houston. Learn how to make it in my book, Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts.
Yeah, I know, I have not posted much here lately. I was travelling. And writing a book. And working my fingers madly to the bone to finish some work for upcoming shows.
Book? You ask. Yep. When my 3-D monkey quilt was accepted in Quilt Festival at Houston this year, I realized that up 50,000 people are going to see that sucker. And it was the most fun I have ever had making a quilt. You know how you try something on a piece, but you are not sure it’s going to work? And then you see, once it’s done, that it doesn’t work, and you have to try something to fix it? That didn’t happen with this quilt. It was one long, fun process from start to finish. The quilt just makes me smile. I wanted to share that with my quilting students.
I’d been toying with the idea of writing a book. My friend Lea McComas was in the process of writing her thread painting book. I decided to jump in with her and go for it. We will be taking our respective tomes to Houston Market and Festival. My Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts is in the final editing stage and will go to the graphic designer, my friend Janet Windsor soon. More on that later.
For now, I leave you with some detail shots of 2 pieces that I recently finished. For now, back to the quilt pile.
I am honored to be a part of this exhibition, curated by Carol Shinn, who does wonderful thread paintings. I will be at the International Folk Art Festival in Santa Fe this weekend, and will miss the opening at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery in Fort Collins, CO. Don’t you hate it when you can be in two places at once?
New Legacies 2014 at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery in Fort Collins, CO
My piece, Off the Wall II, will be a part of the exhibition through August, so check it out if you are in Colorado. It will be the first time it is seen publicly outside of Tucson.
It has been a busy winter in the studio and a lot has happened since Wild and Wonderful 3-D Quilts debuted at Houston Quilt Festival last fall.
