Just Around The Corner

Christmas really is just around the corner and, as usual, I'm not ready. BUT, I'm working on it! So many of us this year are really having to watch our pennies--myself included-- and I've taken this into account as I think about what to give as presents. Actually, I have always enjoyed making presents as I feel they are more of an expression from the heart than, say, a gift card from Barnes and Noble (although I wouldn't mind getting one from there myself!). But I truly think that we have lost--more and more--the true spirit of giving during the Holiday season. And maybe not just the spirit of giving--maybe even more, the spirit of RECEIVING. So many of us want the newest, jazziest gadget and don't have much room to appreciate something handmade that doesn't meet that criteria.
Well, handmade it is this year--out of necessity--and, you know what? I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I just finished making this wool pillow tonight and the best part is that it is made from recycled wool fabric. We have a wonderful thrift shop in North Charleston where I shop not only for clothes for myself, but also for wool clothes to take apart, felt and use in sewing projects. Even some of the beads on the snow people are from my mother's old bead necklace. Something old made new again.
The pattern came from The Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts magazine. There are a lot of nice projects in this issue. There are several wool pillows, but also a lot of projects that are primitive and others that are made from paper and fabric. There are a couple of autumn projects also that look like they would be fun to do . . .some other time.
One thing we have done for the past few Christmases is to give donations to Families Helping Families. My sister-in-law's family does this also and we count it as giving to each other. It lifts all of our hearts and as we, in some measure, make certain that those who have less than we do will have a blessed Christmas, the true spirit comes into our lives and WE are the ones who are blessed.
One last note: As my husband and I were walking this afternoon, we stopped to visit with our 89 year old neighbor. He took us into his house and showed us all of the wooden clocks he has built over the past thirty years. What a collection! And he is still going at it. He was in the middle of making a walnut wall clock and it was such fine work. I just hope that when I get to be 89 years old, I'll still be making quilts.

And Yet Another Progress Report

I've been home by myself for a few days and have really been using the time in my studio. I've been working on Christmas gifts (can't show them yet!) and on my applique quilt. And this is how far I've gotten at this point. I've added more applique and a border. I am constantly amazed at my husband's innate intuitive ability to know whether a new component will work or not. I had originally made a paper-pieced (Ugh) tone on tone block for the outside border. He took one look at it and said, "No." He pointed out that with all the curved lines in the applique, the sharp edges of the paper-pieced block were jarring. And while he was at it, he also said that I needed some kind of floral fabric in the border.
Well, I listened--as I ALWAYS do (yeh)--and decided he was right. I softened the block and added the floral and really am much happier.
And this is what I want to point out as a life lesson. In so many facets of our lives, we often are too close to the situation to have clarity of vision and it is many times helpful if we hear what someone else has to say. We don't have to follow that person's advice but it is at least good to hear other options that, hopefully, allow us to step back for a moment and view a given situation from another perspective. Does it always work? No! But sometimes, sometimes.

And at our Guild last night, we had the delight of hearing Ellen Anne Eddy and seeing her wonderful art quilts. One of the great things about her talk was that she was interesting to listen to whether you like art quilting or not. Her humor was infectious and brought many a laugh from all of us there. I'm taking her class on Saturday and am really looking forward to some Thread Magic!

Snow Family Again--In Camden, SC

Yesterday, I traveled to Camden, SC to once again teach my Snow Family quilt. What a great bunch of women and how wonderful it was to spend a day with them. We had the class in the Fine Arts Center there and not only was it a wonderful, airy space in which to work, it was also an historic building with many historically preserved details.
Let me tell you, these women were ready! They had bought their patterns ahead of time and had done all of the prep work so that they could really move forward on class day. And work, they did--with great humor and conviviality. They are used to being together and sew projects regularly. I enjoyed hearing about their guild projects, their trips to other places (quilting related, of course) and about the Camden area, in general.
Here are some of the quilts from yesterday:

This particular quilt was very interesting because of the sky background. She had had the tree fabric for quite a while and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. I agree! The first technique I teach in the class in the curved seam landscape--joining sky to snow. So you have to decide what will go with what BEFORE you actually put the pieces on the background. She took a risk and it was successful.
This next one used some of the sky fabric I brought with me that I had used in my sample. I really like the "feel" of this sky because it sort of gives the sense of the cold of winter.

And this next one used the same sky pattern in a different color way. Look how far she got--she even has the "Welcome" sign in place.




And then we have the "early
dawn" effect with the next sky.
And, finally, a very "cheery" snow family with brightly-colored fabrics. There were several other quilts that were almost to the same completion stage but weren't fused down enough to have their makers hold them up for picture-taking. They ALL did such a great job and I loved it that they all chose such different color palettes. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished quilts.
Thanks, ladies, for such a wonderful day.

Orangeburg Class

This morning I drove up to Orangeburg, SC to teach my Snow Family class. I originally designed a quilt from a Christmas card I received from my niece. This second version was a complete re-do, changing a lot of the elements and colors. I then wrote to Laurie Korsgarden, the artist of the original version and asked her permission to teach the "evolved" version--and she very graciously said yes. "Why ask permission?" you might ask. Well, because it was the right thing to do. She could have said no--and that would have been the end of it--but I'm so glad she didn't!

I don't have any really "finished product" pictures from today's class because I was trying to squeeze a 2 day class into 1 day. My main goal was to let each person go home with all of the techniques in the quilt so they could finish up without the frustration of not knowing how to do it (I also sent them home with my email address in case they had questions!). But here are a few pictures to get the flavor of the day. You can see that we had a great space to work in--everyone had their own area to spread out--and you might be able to tell that we were in a church space! All of the women were enthusiastic and worked hard all day. And they PROMISED they'd send me pictures when they were finished. I really enjoy seeing how people interpret and change the pattern as they go along. Several of them had decided to use 3-d elements. It was great.
And so, Saturday I head to Camden, SC to teach the same class. It'll be another great bunch of quilters that I'm looking forward to meeting. What a life!

America Speaks

Well, our election has come and gone. And now, we hope for the best. So much has been said by both candidates over the past months and, as average citizens, we have no realistic way to know if any of the promises given have any true hope of being fulfilled. However, there was such an historic aspect to this race--no matter which party won the election. Could you have imagined 20 years ago that we would have both a black man and a woman in a presidential election? And in that I find hope--hope for us as a people who can look beyond stereotypes and view the greater picture.
I agree with what Corky said in her blog--http://fiber-thoughts.blogspot.com/--. We spend far too much time and money on these elections. Do we truly know any more than we would have known in a greatly reduced time frame? And when one thinks about what that money could have been used for in reducing some of the problems that both candidates referred to--well, it just boggles the mind.
On a lighter note--we were some of the more fortunate ones yesterday--it only took 45 minutes to cast our ballot. We went in mid-afternoon and that seemed to have been the best time.
Now let's get on with it and help to make our country the very best that it can be!

Another Progress Report

Here is the latest work on one of my ongoing projects. I finished the blanket stitching around the 4 square sections and then designed, appliqued and blanket stitched the center section. Now I have to wait for the next step to come to me. A friend asked me today how I envision these steps in creating a quilt--do I just get a "feeling" or do I actually "see" what comes next. What I explained to her was that I get my best ideas while I'm walking by myself. I don't use an IPod anymore--for several reasons (1) They're bad for your hearing and I can't afford to lose anymore than I have to. (2) I can't hear bicycles coming up behind me and (3) It is in the silence of my mind that ideas come to me. I can't tell you how often it is that I return from my walk and say to my husband, "I had this idea . . ." and he starts groaning because it is going to involve him doing something! However, in addition to thinking up things for him to do, I very often am struck by an inspiration for my quilting--and it is most often a concrete image that I try to get on paper as soon as I get home so I don't lose it. I read somewhere that we think better when we stand but I think we also think better and are more open to creativity when we aren't bombarded by noise--at least that is what works for me.
On a completely different subject: Do you think it knew its days were numbered?
We have a maple tree in our yard that was slated to be cut down as soon as my husband was back in shape enough to do it. My mother-in-law planted it a while back but she also planted an oak tree about the same time--as well as a river birch-- and they are now all competing with each other. We did cut the birch down but it wasn't enough. So . . .it was the maple's turn to be returned to the earth from which it came. Until this past week. I swear it knew--it just had to have--and what did it do? Well, it put on its best suit of clothes and said, "How could you POSSIBLY do that to me. Look how beautiful I am." Well, it was right--how could we cut down a tree that worked so hard to bring us this beautiful show in the lowcountry? It never had looked so nice before. . . .maybe the weather conditions were perfect this year. I don't know. But this little tree will stay on to live another year. We will just trim the branches of the large trees surrounding it and give thanks for this totally unexpected autumn glory.

What A Weekend!

This past weekend, our annual State Quilters' Retreat was held at the Baptist Conference Center, White Oak, near Winnsboro, SC. And what a weekend it was! We had glorious weather when I arrived on Thursday--just the right touch of cool with a show of color in the leaves. And then the next day, the skies opened up, the winds spent their fury and trees were uprooted. But NOTHING can stop a group of quilters from their appointed rounds at the vendors' booths. The great thing about White Oak is that all of the buildings--except the motel rooms--are connected with covered walkways so, we could shop, eat and sew without getting TOO wet.
I taught my wallhanging, A Taste of the Lowcountry, to 12 great women. We all had a really good time and all of them were able to get their projects done to the point where they could take them home and, hopefully, keep right on working on them. Didn't they all do a great job?
One of the students from last year came by the room and showed me her almost-completed quilt from that class. What a nice surprise that was and she had done such a great job. She changed the color-scheme and added elements of her own--and that is what I LOVE to see happen. One picture that I don't have to show is the student this year who was REALLY original. Instead of a palmetto tree, she choose to use a merganzer duck and put it in a horizontal setting. She left on Saturday so I wasn't able to get a photo of her progress but I'm looking forward to seeing it next year.
I really like to teach classes that last two or three days because you have such an opportunity to get to know the wonderful people who choose to take your classes. Everyone has a story and in learning a bit of their story while you spend time with them, you really come to appreciate them in a way you couldn't have otherwise. I feel that I came away from this weekend with 12 new best friends. What a blessing.