I'm So Disgusted!

Well, I thought I was doing the right thing.  I went to a craft show yesterday and took my camera so I could share pictures of the beautiful things I saw.  Well, I saw some beautiful things--even bought a couple--but completely forgot to take pictures!
So--today I went to another craft show and took my camera AND remembered to take pictures.  But there was just one problem--I had the camera on the wrong settings and took videos rather than pictures. (I guess I know how to take a video now).  Again, there were some lovely and different crafts but, unfortunately, a picture truly is worth a thousand words.  I can tell you all about a potter's work that had sweet grass weavings combined with the clay to make a truly unique work of art, but without the pictures . . .

I do have one picture for you though.  While I was there, I bought two small purses from my friend Dotty Roberts.  She is a wonderful fabric artist who makes hand-dyed fabrics and then adds other elements--which increases the dynamic quality to her work.  And these are the purses:  Aren't they beautiful?  I think the purse on the left had decolorant used to make white areas and then she used fancy stitching within that space.  And then she used some metallic thread on the solid areas.  The purse on the right has several different techniques--I think some stamping and beadwork and another technique before the stamping.  I was going to give them as Christmas presents BUT I'm becoming quite attached to them.  They may have to stay with me.

Age of Reason

My granddaughter Kate celebrated her 18th birthday today.  It made me think back to my own 18th birthday--which was, after all, only yesterday.  Our world is so different now that sometimes I feel as if I'm living on a different planet.  Some things are better, many things are not.  However, I do think that an eighteenth birthday is still special.  It is the official beginning of young adulthood.  College is close and the nest begins to feel a little tight.  My granddaughter is so busy that her family birthday party had to be fitted in at 10:30 this morning.  She had to start early to make the most of her once-in-a-lifetime day!

Anyway, we knew that she really just wanted money (wouldn't we all like a little more?)  But I couldn't stand to just hand her over an envelope.  So I made her a little cosmetic bag.

I saw the project in the latest issue of Stitch magazine.  It appealed to me because every young woman needs something to put her cosmetics in and it so happened that I already had on hand the fusible vinyl that the pattern called for.  I am a pretty experienced stitcher so I really didn't have any problems with the construction; however, I did feel that it could pose a problem for people who depend on graphics to help them to understand the written word.  There was only one illustration for the entire pattern and I thought that there needed to be at least two more.
The other problem was one of my own making.  The iron-on vinyl didn't add as much heft to the bag as I thought it would and I used a batik as the main fabric.  As a result, I ended up with a somewhat flimsy bag. The pattern called for a paper zipper (whatever that is) but I used a regular non-metal one and it worked fine.  I downloaded an embroidery design from Embroidery Library (Paisley Dragonfly Circle) and was very pleased with the way it sewed out.
But I was most pleased with the fact that Kate loved it and immediately used it to stuff all of the money she got for her birthday in it.

One Color Quilt Challenge

Our art group just completed a challenge in which we made quilts that used only one color--although we could use as many shades of that color as we wanted.  I chose green as my color (which I JUST read on the internet is considered the color of LOVE.  Hmmm.)

This design came to me as I was waiting for my husband who was in the operating room having a pacemaker implanted.  I couldn't focus on reading anything but the pencil had a mind of its own.  The really weird thing about it was that the quilt design included foundation piecing--which is not something that I would normally choose to do of my own free will.  I have to cut HUGE chunks of fabrics to do foundation piecing because I just don't get it.  I'm always ending up with open spaces in the design because the piece I cut wasn't the right shape--or something.  The solution?  Cut a piece large enough that there's no way it can't work (and even then sometimes I have to rip out and do over).  It's something to do with seeing backwards and my brain just doesn't cooperate.  So, it was quite a surprise when I came up with this design.
At any rate, I finished it and it was fun doing it although I ultimately had to applique fabric on top of some of the foundation pieced fabric because there wasn't enough contrast in my original choices.  Applique on top?  You betcha--no way was I going to rip out more paper piecing and start over,  Uh uh.

A New Class

When I have been teaching classes, so many students have asked me if I would teach them how to freemotion quilt the way I've done it on my own quilts.  Well, my answer has always been, "The way you can do that is to practice, practice, practice.  And maybe have a sip or two of wine before you start!  And nice music doesn't hurt either."  I know that although that is true, one does need to have a point from which to begin.  So I've designed a class to get students started on adding feathers to their repertoire and it is called Adding Freemotion Feathers To Your Bag Of Stitches.  In making samples for the classes, I played around with several motifs and narrowed it down to two styles and then to one finished sample.  This particular sample is quilted with 100 weight silk thread , a #60 microtex needle and 60 weight thread in the bobbin.  There are, of course, various exercises leading up to the finished sample.

So many quilters seem to think that adding feathers to their quilts is difficult and I hope to show them that it just takes practice and the correct thread, needles, tension and an adventurous attitude. 

Separated At Birth?

No, I'm not a twin and no, I wasn't separated at birth from anyone--at least I don't think so.  But I had the most amazing experience when my two cousins came to visit last week.  Le, the cousin on the left lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Annie, the cousin on the right lives in Santa Cruz, California.  (You could see a little more family resemblance if I were wearing my actual hair color!).  I have seen Annie a couple of times in the last few years, but I haven't seen Le since I was 12 years old.  Annie and I had gotten along so well when she did visit me before that she felt that she should really make it possible for Le and me to reconnect as Le is a quilt artist and has many of the same interests.  I am usually nervous in situations that involve the unknown but, strangely enough, I was excited--in a good way.  And when they came down the ramp at the airport it was as if I had just seen both of them yesterday.  There was an immediate recognition of kindred spirits.  So, although we weren't separated at birth and we aren't twins (however, Le does have a twin sister), there seems to be some kind of genetic, cellular link that has transcended time and distance.  I truly think of them as my sisters of the heart.

While they were here, I was definitely a tourist in my own town and went many places that I never take the time to do ordinarily.  We wandered around the streets of Charleston, gawking at things that tourists do; we went to the Heyward-Washington house and saw some beautiful, priceless period furniture; we went to an incredible jazz concert; we walked through the old market--and the list goes on.  The weather was perfect for everything outdoors.  We even watched an outdoor wedding in a local park (talk about voyourism!).

But one of the magical things that was part of this visit was the art we saw everywhere we went.  This week I have been doing sort of a word study on "creativity"--looking at quotes related to making creativity a consistent part of my life.  One of the quotes I came across was by philosopher, George Kneller .  He said, "To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted."  And that is exactly what we did last week.  We looked at cobblestones on the streets of Charleston, we took picture after picture of the gorgeous ironwork on gates (including the famous Sword Gate).  We went to the incredible Angel Oak on Johns Island and marveled at its magnificence and we saw this beautiful little flower in my aunt's yard--and on the way there, we saw a huge piece of floral art made from old paint cans..  We went to Charlestowne Landing with my art group and looked at tree bark and old fortifications and they even came with me to the Tri-County Fair to judge the quilt show there.  Everywhere we went, we went with enthusiasm and we saw beauty (and potential quilts).  I think that I truly looked at things "afresh" and much of what made that possible was that I was sharing these experiences with others who also look at things in an artful, unhurried way.  The things that I had taken for granted came alive and enriched my life.  And as I look at these pictures I also am carrying with me the joy, love and downright fun I had with my two so very special cousins.