The Last "Rose" of Summer

No, this is not really a rose.   But it is the Last of Summer.  One day this past spring  when I was in the Lowe's in Hendersonville, NC, I bought a clematis vine in a pot with the intention of planting it in my yard there.  But before I could get it planted, we made the decision to move back to Charleston--so the pot came with me.   Clematises don't do as well in climates with lots and lots of heat (i.e. Charleston THIS summer) but I planted it anyway and it got the same watering that the rest of the flowerbed did.  And three days ago, this is what I saw--one beautiful, perfect bloom.  Will it bloom again next year?  I don't know but I sure do appreciate the gift it gave me right now.

Best of Show!

I got an exciting call from Quiltfest in Jacksonville the other night.  They were calling to say that my quilt, Arabian Mystery had been named Best of Show.  To say that I was excited would be an understatement.  And then, they told me that my other quilt, Say It With Flowers, had also received a First Place Ribbon.  Whew!  How much can one heart stand?  Well, I managed--and floated on air the rest of the evening.

The only "downer" for me was that I wasn't able to go to the show this year (which I usually do every year).  We have a family medical issue this year so it just wasn't possible but last night, my friend Janice called me and said that she was standing in front of a beautiful quilt that had a Best of Show ribbon on it and that she was telling everyone there that she knew the quilter who made it.  I tell you, it was almost as good as actually being there!  And so thoughtful of her.

Both of these quilts are my original designs.  So often, people ask me if I draw out the entire design and then start working on it.  I wish that I could say that I was that organized or insightful.  But the truth is that I'm never quite sure where it's going to end up when I begin.  I change placement, colors and designs, take off parts, add others, pick out inches and inches of close quilting.  I just keep at it until it tells me it's done--and hope I'm hearing the right message.  Sometmes, it works like I had hoped it would and sometimes I learn a LOT of lessons about what not to do and what to do next time.  It's a great adventure, isn't it?

Dyeing For Quilters

I recently sign up for a dyeing class on Quilt University with Marjie McWilliams.  This is the second class I've taken with her and it is lots of fun--and ocassionally frustrating.  I know that I'm not always as precise as I should be in various aspects of my life.  For instance, I'm kind of a dump measurer when it comes to cooking.  Sometimes, it turns out great and others, well . . .you know.  But that doesn't work when mixing dyes for precise repeatable results.  I'm trying though.  I'm trying.  Here are my fat quarters that I dyed in Week 1.  Believe it or not, one of those was supposed to be totally brown.  I actually did follow the directions but Marjie said in the next lesson that the green dye  tends to "run" and "travel" up the fabric so you have to turn it midway through the process to try to prevent it.  So, better luck next time. 

In a way, this is like deja vu all over again.  For the 15 years that I was a potter, I did much the same thing with the glazes on my pots--measuring, mixing, hoping for the best.  There were variables but most of them tended to occur in the kiln, not in the mix and measuring of the glazes (dyes).  Sometimes it was magic and other times--for the analytically inclined--you tried to figure out what happened--not always successfully (I avoided chemistry in high school--that should tell you something.).

And these are the results of my second week's class.  We used different recipes this week---with everything aimed at helping us to understand how we get the results we do.  My brown (upper right hand corner) was a little better--but still with a lot of green.  I was really pleased with the blues and the greens (the ones that were SUPPOSED to be green, that is).  And o.k., I'm working on being more precise.  At least, I can always blame the water.

The Arts Company

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Seneca, South Carolina (a small town near Clemson) to see a special exhibition of work from the art group that I used to belong to called Focus.  It was held at The Arts Company, a gallery owned by Warren Carpenter, and had the theme of "wood" as Warren is not only a gallery owner, but also a wonderfully accomplished woodworker.  Although Seneca is a small town that has lost much of its industry, it has blossomed into a community that supports the arts--in  particular the quilt arts.  There were 5 or 6 different exhibitions last night.  The only confusing thing in this small town is getting around to the different locations.  There were addresses such as 111 East South 2nd Street and 122 West South 1st Street.  For the directionally challenged (namely ME) this was a challenge --a challenge made greater by the fact that some of these streets stopped and then started again a couple of blocks later.  Whew!  It was well worth the search though.

The first work is foundation pieced and is by Marge Edie.  This picture does not begin to do it justice.  It is based on a hand carved box that her husband gave her a a wedding gift on the day they were married and she has had it on her dresser ever since.  She worked long and hard on the design and the choice of fabrics and I think she succeeded in achieving the three dimensional aspect of the original box (which she had displayed there, also).

The next work is a wooden fence with the mountains inthe background.  It is by Veronia Moriarity who is a pharmacist in her day job.  She is so talented and turns out an incredible amount of work considering the busyness of her life (Of course, it helps that her husband is the cook in the family!)  I think she did such a wonderful job in her use of color in the pieced background.

Diana Pickens created this very angular forest scene.  She has been doing a lot of innovative work using stripes in her pieced projects and I this also has that feel even though there are NO stripes.  She has the kind of mind that can easily figure out how things can fit together in a quilt and is quite an inspiration to this "seat of the pants" quilter.

Although I didn't get as clear a photo as I would have wished of this next quilt by Marilyn Wall, I hope you can see the man hiding in the trunk of the stump (Hmm, that almost rhymes).  The man is Warren Carpenter so she certainly placed him in his element.  Marilyn has been doing a lot of work lately that deals with turning black & white photos into pieced faces.  She has been working on getting the shading just right and it certainly works in this piece.

And this is another piece by Marge Edie which is obviously a forest of trees--with plenty of wood for Warren to use in his work. While we were in the gallery, we picked up several of his turned bowls and they were light as feathers--not an easy thing to achieve without gouging a hole in the side.

This last piece is by Bonnie Ouelette--who I don't know but I admire her work.  The background is handquilted with many, many tiny stitches and the woodpecker is composed of many, many, many, many tiny seed beads.  If  you click on this closeup you can probably see more of the detail.

And there were several more quilts in this display--each of them uniquely demonstrative of some element related to wood.  And after we had spent a while enjoying all of them, we went into the larger portion of the shop  that was filled to overflowing with wonderful handmade crafts from around the entire United States and many, many people who were out for a lovely evening of cheese, wine and art.

The exhibit will remain open until the end of October.

Personal Grounds

This past Saturday, our quilt art group went to the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston to see an exhibiton--called Personal Grounds-- by Susan Lenz, a fabric artist from Columbia, South Carolina.  I think that each of us came away from there feeling as if we had had an experience that touched at the core of our beings.  There were many, many framed pictures--each with the same background and framing to give a sense of cohesivness to the body of work.  Each picture was of a real person with a real perspective.  I think she put the word out and people sent her their images with their own stories to share.  Susan transfered these images to fabric and then added hand embroidery and beading along with other embellishments.                                 

This first picture shows a girl who has a college education and nothing is turning out like she thought it would.  She NEVER thought she would have to apply for food stamps (and I think there are a lot of people in that same boat today).  And the sceond picture is one that centers on the thought that we should live our lives in such a way that we won't have regrets later. (Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read the smaller words). We should ALWAYS let those around us know that they are cared for. 

There were far too many pictures to tell about each one but here are a few:

There was a girl covered in tattooes and the writing around her said "Marked for Life"  There was a pictureof a young man and around him it said "With Dad--Again."  There was a man who had a red ribbon on his shirt and the writing around his head said "Didn't Have Safe Sex."  Not all of the pictures were sad--many of them were celebratory--but each one of them had a deep impact.  It was the kind of exhibit that one must experience slowly so that mere images become transformed into real people's lives--lives that we are not so far from really.  I came home enriched by the experience and so greatful that I had the opportunity to see it.

My friend Pam came over one day last week and we each made one of these Halloween cats.  Isn't it cool?  It stands 21" tall and has sand in the base to give it stability.  The pattern is by Threads That Bind and is called Stitch-n-Stiff Cat (#166).  We both have been dealing with some health issues of our husbands and decided that we needed to do something that was just fun. (I know, I know, maybe going out and drinking margarities might be more fun, but you just have to work with what you've got).
Anyway, I read through the pattern and decided that there must be a better way.  It called for black wool--which would have been nice, I guess--but I had black cotton.  So, I used that and ironed on a fusibile interfacing to give it stability.  And then I used tracing paper as the applique placement guide instead of some convoluted system described in the pattern.  The other really neat thing I used was Saral Transfer Paper. That way we could directly trace the letters onto the fabric and use the triple stitch on our sewing machines to write them--instead of hours and hours of hand stitching.  (While it's true that Halloween is still a while off, we really wanted to finish this project before it comes).
So . . .it's finished.  And it was a lot of fun besides.
And oh, when you stuff a cat's tail, only stuff a tiny bit at a time and push it all the way to the tip end each time.  Otherwise, you'll end up with a rock-hard tumor in the middle.  Ask me how I know.

Little Blessings

I think that we so often get caught up in the business of our days that we miss the beauty around us--beauty that has the mighty power to calm our spirits when in the midst of turmoil.  Amongst other things, I have been really in the dumps about our continuing warm weather and waiting to see if a hurricane has OUR name on it.  But yesterday my spirits were lifted by the smallest of blessings.

I was walking on the street by our house and happened to look down. What I usually see when I get the feeling to look down like that is money--a penny, nickel, dime or quarter.  It's really kind of spooky sometimes.  But on this day I saw a leaf--an ordinary leaf, to be sure.  However, this leaf didn't belong in our neighborhood.  You can see in the second picture the usual size of the oak leaves around us.  And there are a couple of trees that have somewhat larger leaves.  But NONE that big.  So I have decided that that leaf just blew into my path especially for me--just for me--to let me know that soon autumn will be here with all of its cool, crisp days and I just need to hang on . . .hang on . .

 And this same afternoon, I was struck anew by the outrageous glamor of the Beauty Bush berries with their lush clusters of brilliant purple just daring anyone to try to upstage them.  This is a "freeby" plant that grows prolifically in the lowcountry as mockingbirds generously spread its seeds on their travels through the neighborhood.  This particular plant is not exactly in my yard; that is to say, its roots reside in my neighbor's yard and the fecund branches drape over the line for me to see and appreciate.  When our neighbors bought their house they wanted to make a clean sweep of the property line, wiping out everything that wasn't a "regular" shrub.  Fortunately, I was able to convince her with a "wait and see" argument and I guess she "saw" beause the beauties are still there four later.  And on this particular afternoon I was very, very greatful.