The Latest & Greatest

From May 10 to June 20, four of my newest postcards will be displayed at the Magenta Gallery in the Centre Mall.  I think they are gorgeous (!!!), and now I do not want to sell them.  Three of them are replicas of photos I took of the sky & landscape that I adore.  Honestly, I surprised myself with them.  They weren't planned.   I just took out my supplies, picked a photo, and reproduced it with tulle, threads, and decorative yarns.  It was like second nature - like paints should be to an artist.  

Unfortunately, I am no techie, and have no idea how to upload photos off the camera.  So now you have to wait for my husband to do it.  : )

My next project: to organize my sewing space!  It's actually insane what a disasterous mess can be made by creating a 4x6inch work of art.  lol  Perhaps I should factor clean-up into the price?  lol

keep it pretty,
~Monika 

Public Displays coming up!

I'm so excited about finishing this quilt.  It's so big, and so very fresh looking.  It will hang in the big McNally Robinson's Booksellers in Saskatoon from May 26th until the end of August.  It will be for sale, along with my living room quilt (which will not be for sale).  But it will be summer, so I figured I could live without my blankie for the season.  It's all fall colors, entitled, "Autumn in the Meadow".  It will be so wonderful to have it back in my arms for September. 

Another exciting venture for me: from May 10 until June 2o, I will be displaying some of my fibre art at the Magenta Gallery in the Centre Mall along with other members of my quilting guild.  They need to be smaller pieces.  I'm considering my thread sketches of my children, and some postcards.  Ooh I cannot wait!  It's been 18 years since I've had my art in a gallery.  Coincidentally - it was charcoal self portraits. 18 years.  Sheesh.


I'll keep you posted on what transpires.  

Back to the sewing room to 'put my foot down'.  haha.  Get it?  


peace &
love, Monika

a very quiet day...

It is VERY quiet.  I have lost my voice!  I have silently spent the morning cleaning, baking blueberry muffins with my daughter, doing yoga, and then sewing big brown buttons onto a show quilt.  I'll be making the binding as soon as I get off the computer. 

Blogging is weird.  It's like talking to no one publicly.  ?  Maybe that's why I've never been into it.  I did spend last night loading quilt photos just for you!  I am shocked at how many quilts I made the first year of owning my Janome!  No kidding people were shocked.  "How do you find the time so do all that sewing when you are home with three kids!?".  Easy... I don't read novels, and I clean only after the end of the day.

Sewing is my therapy. 

Sewing is my expression. 

Only last year did I finally claim the label, "artist" for myself.  I come from a line of artists.  I've always had it in me.  I proudly display my Grade 7 Art Award plaque on the wall of my sewing room now.  But I've never LOVED paints.  I love what artists create with paint.  But I've never felt the emotional pull while using any type of paint medium.  I've tried them all!  Chalk was already claimed by my mother... and too dusty for me!  I'm pretty comfortable with a stick of charcoal.  That comes like second nature.  Making pottery turned me off for some reason... too dirty?  Not into sculpting.  So I gave up the dream to be an artist, and just kept sewing.  I spent years and year of my life doing daily journalling and collaging as a form of self discovery.  But I just kept sewing on the side and enjoying the 'craft', because no one called it 'art'.

Then Molly showed up.  She's the total stranger who free-cycled her sewing room stash to me.  She lives a few neighborhoods away.  So I rode over to her house on my bicycle with a little trailer in tow to pick up the goods!  Included was a box of magazines.  HOLY HEAVY!  I packed it all up in the trailer, with the exception of one magazine.  The cover was just spellbinding and I had to put it in my basket so I could peek at it as I rode home. 

It was soooo pretty!  Magical!  There were shiny things and pretty things and all of it was put together with thread on to fabric.  I floated all the way home, reading the cover title outloud a few times.  "Quitling Arts.  ART.  Quilting.  Quilting Art."  Art made of fabric and threads...  EUREKA!  I tingled all over.  I sprouted my wings.  This was it!!  This was meant to be.  THIS I can do. 

So I got home, and plopped down on the floor, laying out all these magazines.  I read and read and soaked in every picture.  I cannot explain what I felt.  It was like I found a new path, and it was meant for me, and even more - I was ready!  I had the tools and the abilities and I could just jump right in. I can sew and collage and call myself an artist for real!  lol

Back to earth... Wow - look at me.  I'm blogging!

Alright... back to motherhood, housewifery, and getting that binding done.  : )

peace

~Monika Kinner-Whalen

I'm really going to do this now!

Why do I find blogging so difficult? 
...Probably because I would rather be sewing!  In a short 3 years, I have made over 50 quilts, a dozen table toppers, several aprons, and nearly 40 pieces of art ranging from landscapes to postcards.  So here I am, attempting to brand myself to the world (or at least my friends and family).  I design everything I make and always have, the only exception being the aprons.

I have my established style now.  My quilts are generally earth tones, with pretty white on white floral prints. I love to work with white, chocolate brown, cranberry, wheat, and avacado (hungry yet?).  Tiny flowers are in the fabric of everything I make.  My backings are always a coordinated flannelette for warmth & weight.  I try to make every part of the quilt pretty - even the binding.   I love to add piecing or scallop the bindings. I never sash blocks. I like my quilts to be one large design.  I take pride in my stitches, and in the little details on fabric that I find (and hoard). 
 
The quilts are all made with pre-washed cottons. The battings range from cotton to bamboo, to 80/20 cotton/polyester blends, all of which tend to be low loft for machine quilting. In some cases I use embellishments such as buttons, or colorfast permanent paintsticks.

If you are not a quilter and don't have a clue what I'm talking about, then come on in to my blog and look and enjoy. Soak it all up. It's worth it. I have quilts and art for sale, and am available for commissioned work as well. ...Because everyone loves a good quilt! 

Don't forget to check my art pages here as well.  I love fibre arts!!