“Cauldron Bubble”

 

“Cauldron Bubble”
9.5" x 16.5"

 

“Cauldron Bubble” (copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp) 14.5" square. White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted. 

This is the fourth piece in my series on Shakespeare’s Song of the Witches from MacBeth. (The others are “Double Double,” “Toil and Trouble,” and “Fire Burn.”

“Resurrection Fern 1”

 

Resurrection Fern 1
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024
9x10"

 

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, interfacing, cotton thread, cotton backing. Wholecloth painted, stenciled, free-motion machine quilted.

“Unintelligible”

“Unintelligible”
Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp
32.5" x 58.5"

Striped cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, pigment ink, cotton thread, cotton batting, cotton backing. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted

 

Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older, but it seems like everyone is speaking in cryptic languages I can’t understand. What is true? What is right? What is real? What is logical? If we can’t understand each other, how can we live together on this planet?

 

“Double Double”

“Double Double”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024
42" x 70.5"

 

White fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting, cotton backing. Hand painted, free-motion machine stitched.

 

“Double Double” is a large piece I made this summer to explore ways to use different weights of Lutradur. First, I hand painted white fabric, smearing on orange and yellow paint with my hands and Bondo scrapers. Then I hand cut hundreds of circles out of Lutradur, and paint-dyed them before stitching them down to the fabric. After adding backing and batting, I free-motion stitched and quilted. 

 

The name comes from Shakespeare’s Song of the Witches in Macbeth (1606):

 

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good. 

“Beloved Blue Ridge”

“Beloved Blue Ridge” (19” x 9”)
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024

 

Want to win this piece, “Beloved Blue Ridge” (19” x 9”)?

Please help me raise money for Asheville and western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene. Rob and I love this area, and our elder daughter lives and works there. The organization I trust most right now to provide for immediate needs and longer-term issues like affordable housing, poverty and food insecurity is BeLoved Asheville. You may have already seen them featured on national news sources. If not, check out their Instagram and Facebook pages to see them in action. It is inspiring. 

 

The other organization I am supporting is the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund. It is providing funding and assistance to artists and arts organizations affected by Hurricane Helene. Artists are a huge part of what makes this region so special. They help bring tourists (the area’s financial lifeblood), and enrich the culture and weird/wonderfulness of the area. Hundreds of artists lost their studios, as well as their work, materials and equipment, during this storm. Many were not well-off to start with, and need help getting back on their feet. 

 

Here's what to do:

1. Go to BeLoved Asheville’s website: https://www.belovedasheville.com/

and click on the yellow DONATE button.

OR

Go to NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund’s website: https://www.ncartsfoundation.org/donate-nc-disaster-relief

and choose a way to donate. Enter the word “RELIEF” in the description for your gift.

2. Donate any amount that is $10 or more.

3. When you get an e-mail receipt for your donation, forward that e-mail to me at [email protected]

4. For every $10 you donate, I’ll put one ticket in the hat for you. (Donate $100 and get 10 tickets.)

5. At 5 p.m. Eastern time on Nov. 15, I’ll pull one name out of the hat, and send the winner “Beloved Blue Ridge.”

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

“Fire Burn (Orange Study)”

 

"Fire Burn (Orange Study)"
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
5.5 x 17.25"

 

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.

“Toil and Trouble”

 

"Toil and Trouble"
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
14.5" square

“Toil and Trouble” (copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp) 14.5" square. White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, Lutradur, cotton thread, cotton batting. Wholecloth painted, free-motion machine quilted.

“What Remains” is juried into Quilt National 2025!

“What Remains”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024
33" x 45"

White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, acrylic ink, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing, cotton backing. Digitally-altered photo, thread sketched, free-motion machine quilted.  

Artist's statement: Withering and decay are a natural part of the changing of the seasons and the cycle of life, and they are as inspiring to me as the lovely blooms that emerge in springtime. What remains can be beautiful, too. 

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that this piece has been juried into Quilt National 2025! 85 pieces were selected from 659 entries by LUKE Haynes, Ellen Blalock, and Martha Sielman. (Thanks!)

The opening weekend is May 23-25. The quilts will be exhibited at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, Ohio, through Sept. 1, 2025, and many will tour through October 2027.

From www.dairybarn.org: “Quilt National aims to demonstrate the transformations taking place in the world of quilting. Its purpose is to carry the definition of quilting far beyond its traditional parameters and to promote quiltmaking as what it always has been — an art form. The works in Quilt National display a reverence for the lessons taught by the makers of the heritage quilts. Many of the works hold fast to the traditional methods of piecing and patching. At the same time, however, Quilt National is fueled by the challenge of expanding the boundaries of traditional quiltmaking by utilizing the newest materials and technologies. These innovative works generate strong emotional responses in the viewer while at the same time fulfilling the creative need of the artist to make a totally individual statement.”

“What Remains” (detail)

 

 

“What Remains” (detail)

Luna and the Moon

Luna and the Moon
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
14" square

 

Cotton fabric, cotton thread, ink, cotton batting, interfacing. Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion machine threadsketched and quilted.

Amanita muscaria

 

“Amanita muscaria”
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
19.5” square

Cotton fabric, ink, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing. Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion machine threadsketched and quilted.

This mushroom is commonly known as  fly agaric or fly amanita. It is usually red and white, but subspecies or variations are sometimes yellow or white. It has hallucinogenic properties, but is poisonous (although death from poisoning is rare).

This is the mushroom made famous in the Mario and Smurfs franchises!

Castle Hill

 

Castle Hill
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp
17.5 x 11"

I attended my godson’s wedding last weekend at a gorgeous venue outside of  Charlottesville, Virginia. We arrived early and sat in our car waiting until it was time to go to the ceremony, and I took a photo of the beautiful meadow, some in sunshine and some in shadow, with the lovely mountains and forests in the background. This piece is based on that photo, and I'm giving it to my godson and his new bride. 

Batik fabric, cotton thread, interfacing, cotton backing. Raw-edge applique, free-motion quilted.

Zinnias

Zinnias
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024
8" x 10"

A beautiful bouquet from a friend inspired this piece.

Cotton fabric, cotton thread, ink, glue, interfacing, cotton batting.
Raw-edge appliqué, free-motion thread sketched and quilted.

Giant Leopard Moth

 

“Giant Leopard Moth”
17x19"
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp

This is the Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia). Cotton batik fabric, cotton batting, cotton backing fabric, cotton thread, glue, ink.

 

“Join the Chorus”

"Join the Chorus"
(Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp) 18x16

"Join the Chorus" (Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp) 18x16" Cotton fabric, ink, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting. Raw-edge applique, free-motion machine quilting. 

My periodical cicada obsession continues. I had already finished this piece, and sewn on the facing, when I decided it wasn't done yet. It just looked too simple, and the oak leaf design I'd quilted in the background was confusing, and not reading as leaves. So I pulled out my trusty paint and painted the background with a darker blue and some metallic gold/green.

Before

 

Cicada Dance 1

 

“Cicada Dance 1”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp (2024) 17.5" square.

My latest in a series of pieces I planning that celebrate the periodical cicadas in Brood XIX that emerged in our area this spring.

Cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread, acrylic textile paint, interfacing. Wholecloth painted and free-motion quilted.

For information on my wholecloth painting technique and materials, please read my blog post here: https://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/2014/01/faqs-wholecloth-painting.html

 

“Crossroads”

 

Crossroads
9.5" x 11.75"
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024)

Cotton, dupioni silk, linen, paint, cotton batting, cotton backing, interfacing. Improvisationally pieced, free-motion quilted.  

“Jubilee”

 

Jubilee
25.5 x 35" Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp

Commercial cotton fabrics, surface-designed fabrics, acrylic textile paint, dupioni silk, cotton thread, cotton batting. Improvisationally pieced, hand painted, free-motion quilted.

 

Brood XIX

“Brood XIX”
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp

 

The hatching of Brood XIX (the Great Southern Brood) cicadas was an extraordinary event for us here in Orange County, North Carolina, this year. These are periodical cicadas that only emerge every 13 years.

I was thrilled to watch these insects  – that look so different from our annual cicadas (smaller, with orange veining on their wings, and red eyes!) emerge from their exoskeletons, dry and unfold their wings. For the first time since 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president, both Brood XIX and Brood XIII (the Northern Illinois Brood) emerged together, with overlapping areas in northern Illinois. “Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (New York Times)

18 x 10.5" White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, cotton thread. Wholecloth painted and free-motion quilted.

 

 

 

 

"Barbara's Buttons"

 

Barbara’s Buttons
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024

11.5" square. Cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton backing, vintage buttons. Raw-edge applique. free-motion quilted.

"Stepping Stones"

 

Stepping Stones
Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp

A small piece made from scraps; an experiment in pattern and color and stitch. 

12.5" x 19.25" Cotton, silk and surface designed painted fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread, cotton backing. Pieced and free-motion quilted.

"Garden at Dawn"

"Garden at Dawn"
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024)
15.5" square

I started this piece years ago, for a demonstration on Quilting Arts TV on how to use acrylic textile paints to achieve a watercolor effect. I’ve been going through some pieces that were set aside over the years, as I was busy helping my dad and my children, and then moving and re-settling in Chapel Hill, and decided to finish this one. 

Cotton duck, acrylic textile paint, perle cotton, cotton batting, cotton batting. Painted, free-motion machine quilted, hand embroidered.

 

Dragonfly Meetup

 

“Dragonfly Meetup”
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024) 15.5” square

 

I’m teaching a class later this week where students create a thread-sketched dragonfly, and decided to finish up a piece I started while demonstrating in previous classes. Cotton fabric, cotton thread, cotton batting, interfacing. Fusible appliqué, free-motion thread sketching, free-motion quilting.

Festa Della Terra 2024

For the past four years, our friend (and the wonderful realtor who helped us find our current home), Natalie Marrone, has been holding Festa Della Terra. It’s an “artful food drive” held around Earth Day that benefits PORCH, a local organization with programs that distribute fresh and non-perishable food to families, pantries and schools. This year we set our goal to feed over 600 families in our community for a full month! It was held this past Saturday in Natalie’s backyard, featured artists, musicians and refreshments. People were invited to come and to bring bags of food or a cash contribution. 

It was lovely to see all the art hanging and displayed amidst the trees in their fresh green spring leaves. 

Looking to buy or sell a home in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro/Hillsborough/Durham NC area? I highly recommend Natalie as a realtor! You can find her here: https://www.nataliemarronehomes.com/

 

Anatolii Tarasiuk

Deenie & Flip

David Hinkle

R. Scott Horner

Natalie Marrone

Will Ridenour

My display

Talking to visitors

My work hanging amid the trees

My work on the treehouse