Going to Pieces

The New and Improved Art Quilting Studio

2012-01-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

I have to confess that when Art Quilt Studios came out originally, I wasn't crazy about it. I WANTED to like it. I'm not sure if I saw all of those first issues, but I generally came away thinking that the publication's idea of art quilting was anything that had stitching on it, and that the editors had called upon their stable of collage artists, painters, and mixed media artists, given them bits of fabric and thread, and then published everything they made as "art." And not that it wasn't cool and fun in a spontaneous sort of way ... but I was disappointed that the magazine didn't seem to have much range, or feature any of the beautiful, complex, art quilts that so many talented artists have been making for years.

So when I heard that the magazine had been revamped and was starting up again, I was eager to find a new issue. I think I missed the first new issue, but I did stumble onto a Winter, 2012 issue recently. The magazine will be issued twice a year, by the way -- in June and December. You might be able to find the Winter issue still on magazine stands. And I really, really liked this issue. It looks like the editors figured out that their magazine needed more range of actual art quilters, and they really did put together a magazine that has a great and interesting assortment of art and articles.

There's great stuff in here, including:
   * an article by my friend Terri Stegmiller on getting a "painterly" look with fabric collage;
   * a piece by one of my favorite quilt artists, Valerie Goodwin, about using maps to inspire art quilts;
   * a terrific piece by artist Eleanor McCain on pattern, proceses, and color relationships;
     * a profile of artist Mary Elmusa by Rice Freeman-Zachary;
     * a colorful piece on the "grout quilting" small quilts of Robin Ferrier;
     * an interview with British artist Bethann Ash;
and more.

Oh,and it has that wonderful, nice paper and rich feeling that Stampington uses in all of its publications.

I really enjoyed looking at this magazine, and found a lot of inspiration and interest there. I'm glad to see it back and improved, and I'm looking forward to future issues.

Google Reader, MY Way

2012-01-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm continuing in my mission to organize, and today I made a change that will be a happy improvement. I love it when a small thing can be a big, happy improvement.

I use Google Reader to read the blogs I follow. I know there are other blog aggregators out there, but I've gotten used to Google Reader and now especially love how it integrates to Flipboard so I can read my favorite blogs on my Ipad as if I'm flipping through magazine pages. All along, my blogs have been listed in Google Reader in alphabetical order. So, even though they are organized neatly by title, they are a big jumble in terms of content. I follow, from time to time, a variety of blogs -- art and food and home dec and quilting and drawing and special needs issues and parenting and political commentary and reading and just fun stuff. I've often wished I could sort the blogs by topic, so when I'm in the mood to cruise the home dec blogs, say, they'd all be together.

Well, turns out it's no big mystery. I queried Mr. Google himself and learned that Google Reader lets you create different folders and sort the blogs on your list into them -- so you can have daily reads in one folder, less frequent things in another. And you can do what I did, which was create separate folders by topic, and sort the blogs into the appropriate folders. So now my blogs are sorted, into folders like "Quilt Art" and "Photography" and "Books and Reading" and more.

We'll see how it all works once I check it on Flipboard, but I'm quite pleased. Who knew it was so easy?!

One Word

2012-01-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

One Word Project from Christine Sneddon on Vimeo.

One of the websites I visit frequently for inspiration and general pleasure is The Shutter Sisters. It was started by several women obsessed by photography, and it features wonderful images, thoughtful words, and a mindful view of the world around us that I really appreciate. There's a flickr group, and other great related sites to explore. But one of my favorites is their "One Word Project", where they offer weekly prompts for photography that could really serve for any creative expression.

Chris Sneddon, one of the founding Shutter Sisters, put together a lovely video of photos that various members have taken to illustrate their chosen word for the month. It's lovely, and inspirational, and it does remind you -- well, me, anyway-- that the power of stating an intention is a powerful thing.

So enjoy, and if you like what you see, pop on over to the site or the flickr group for more beautiful photos. And happy weekend!

Out of the Inbox

2012-01-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

What's that, you ask? Look closely. It's my email inbox and it's EMPTY.

I don't think that has happened since I first set up my computer ages ago. But it's the result of the organizing flurry I'm in these days. I was largely motivated to search for an email strategy to help Roger, after I set up a new computer for him this past weekend and transferred over his files and installed programs and got it all up and running for him. He's never found a good email management strategy, and as a result tends to keep everything. I mean, EVERYthing. (I think I deleted over 500 Land's End ad emails.) I've tended to file emails away in a file system that makes sense to me -- but still, I'd keep emails in my inbox as a reminder to DO something with them... and then they'd scroll off the screen as new emails came in, and next thing you know, I'd lost track of something. Out of sight, out of mind, you know.

But somewhere recently I came across a reference to Inbox Zero. It's a basic strategy developed by a guy named Merlin Mann, and it's about thinking of your email inbox as mail that needs to be PROCESSED, not mail that needs to be handled/answered right away. It's brilliant.

You can read about it here in a series of articles, and you can watch Merlin's really great video explanation . It's well worth the time, I assure you. And it really does make you think about the difference between using your time the way YOU want to, and letting whatever lands in your email inbox control (or derail) your day. So basically the idea is this: to set up a few folders for sorting mail, with each folder named by the action required, which will be a VERB. "Reply." "Delegate." "Defer." "Schedule." That sort of thing. Then you get stuff out of your inbox by deleting the stuff you don't need and putting the stuff that needs handling in one of the processing boxes.

And then, you turn to those processing files as you have time. "Reply" is probably the one that you'll do that same day. The goal is not to have those files become enduring repositories for dead email either -- they're to remind you what needs doing so you can do it as soon as you can, but without taking time away from the immediate things or the other non-email things you need to do.

I'm feeling rather proud of myself. From there, I went on to figure out (finally) how to sync all of my mail and my calendar and my to do list between my PC and my Ipad and my Iphone. So even though I've still got piles of paper on my desk and an overflowing basket of laundry that needs folding, I'm feeling like one little corner of my world is a bit more organized today.

And that makes me happy.

Blogging: A conversation, or an announcement?

2012-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Someone on the QuiltArt list recently asked about how to generate traffic to a blog. I posted a response, and I thought I'd post it here because I'm interested what other people think. Am I naive to think about blogging as part of conversation? Or is that just me, liking blogs because I *feel* like I'm participating in a conversation when really what I'm mainly doing is reading someone else's half of the conversation? I'd be interested to know what you think.

So here's my comment to the list:

In my view, blogging is all about networking.

I’ve been blogging for over seven years, and I run the Artful Quilters Blog ring, a ring that connects blogs about art and contemporary quilting. Over that time and through my observation of a lot of blogs, I have a couple of thoughts about the world of blogging and how artists use them. The main thing, to me, is that the appeal of most blogs is that they set up a sense of a relationship between the blogger and the reader. That’s why a lot of people prefer reading blogs to trolling through visual websites – it’s far more personally, usually, and there’s a sense of communication with the blogger that’s akin to reading a letter from a friend. And it’s that relationship aspect, however “virtual” or distant, that in my mind is at the heart of being really successful with a blog. You have to think of it as a two-way communication, and your part of the communication isn’t just posting entries on a blog. It’s about responding to comments that are made. It’s about having some interest about who is reading your blog – not just in terms of statistics, but about who the individuals are. It’s about taking the time to notice who comments and go look at their blogs and leave a comment there. In my view, for all that blog readers want to read and experience your creative world vicariously, they want to see themselves in a conversation with you, even if you as the blogger are doing the bulk of the talking. I’m not saying that a blogger has to strike up a personal, direct friendship with every reader. But I think readers can spot quickly someone who is blogging as a marketing tool (however nicely done) and someone who is blogging to share and participate in conversations about the corner of the art world she occupies. I suspect (this is pure hypothesis) that if for every blog entry you posted, you took the time to either reply to a comment from a previous commenter, or go leave a comment on someone else’s blog, you’d slowly build the reputation as a blogger who isn’t just advertising and marketing in a pretty way, but who is interested in engaging in a conversation.

There’s a difference in tone that, to my mind, is instantly detectable, between a blogger who blogs only to talk about herself and market herself, and a blogger who blogs to generate conversation and some level of communication flow. I think it’s the latter type of blog that over the long run generates a bigger and more loyal following.

And here’s my other observation. A lot of blog readers are people who have blogs themselves. If they’re reading your blog, they’re also likely to be reading other blogs. So being part of the blogging community can enhance interest in your blog. Someone might see your comment on another blog and be intrigued enough to click on your name and find yours. People will list your blog as one they read – and one way a lot of people end up getting to new blogs is by following the links from a blogger they trust. Participation in a blog ring can help a lot too, because a reader who finds one blog on the ring can click and get to blogs on the same topic they hadn’t discovered. You can find out about the Artful Quilters blog ring here, by the way:

http://goingtopieces.blogspot.com/2012/01/seven-years-of-artful-quilt-blog.html

There’s a SAQA members’ ring. There’s a quilting teacher ring. All of those will add your blog to wider community and help people find you.

So my main advice for how to get more people to read your blog? Get out there and read other blogs. Comment on other blogs. And respond to those who comment on yours. Think of it as a networking process.

---

Seven Years of Artful Quilt Blog Ringing!

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

I owe a lot to the Artful Quilters Blog Ring. Back in January, 2005 -- yikes, SEVEN years ago now -- I'd just started blogging and was hunting around for other quilt-related blogs. I founds scads of knitting blogs, thanks to a blog ring box I found somewhere along the way ... I learned immediately how finding one blog I liked allowed me to click a button and find a host of others. There wasn't anything like that for art and contemporary quilting back then -- so, I jumped in and set up the Artful Quilters Blog Ring. Over the last seven years, we've grown to over 150 blogs! (When I think about it, enthusiasm, impulse, and naive ignorance have taken me to rather exciting places!)

Through the ring, I've made some wonderful friends. I've learned great techniques, and I've gotten more inspiration than I'll ever be able to use up in my lifetime. When I thought I'd enjoy a quilt challenge or two, I emailed some of the AQ bloggers, and we formed our Twelve by Twelve challenge group. I'd never have predicted that that would lead to a book, international exhibits, and amazing travel opportunities.

If you have a blog and are not on the ring, you are welcome to join! Here is the information:

Artful Quilters Web Ring
This web ring is for quilt artists and contemporary quilt makers to share their blogs, exchange thoughts about the process of art quilting, and share other bits of life that swirl around (and get in the way of) quilt making.

Do you want to join us? Here are the ring guidelines:

The ring is intended for blogs that focus primarily on art and contemporary quilting. While we enjoy traditional quilts, this ring is not for blogs about traditional quilting. Your blog can be about other things, too; it's fun to read about what else you are doing in your life. But if a reader finds your blog and can't tell that you make art or contemporary quilts, then this is not the ring for you. As a rough guideline, your blog should have some quilt-related content once a month or more.
The blog needs to be regularly updated. Any blogs not updated at least once a month will be moved to the queue. If you have not updated in over three months your site will be moved to the inactive list. You are welcome to re-join the ring if /when you start posting again. I understand that real life can and does get in the way of blogging, so there is no judgment implied if your blog is moved. It's just that people stop using the ring if they repeatedly travel to blogs with stale entries.
You must include the ring code on the face page of your blog, so that visitors can surf to the blogs of other members more easily. After all, that's the whole point of this ring. At a minimum, the ring code must include a link to the ring's home and the Next and Previous links. Anyone who has not added the code to their site within two weeks of application will be removed from the ring. If you have trouble finding the current ring code, email me at dphock(at)comcast(dot)net and I will help you.
This is NOT a commercial site. This ring is not for commercial sites, general quilt-gallery websites, or other non-blog websites. If your blog is merely a listing of items for sale or advertisement for your shop, this blog ring is not for you. You are welcome to sell things on/through your blog, but for this ring, I ask that your blog have content which is largely non-commercial.
You must have at least 5 entries on a new blog (some of which must be about art or contemporary quilting) in order to join.

To submit your blog to the ring, click HERE.

Shed a Little Light

2012-01-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Coming out of the dark

2012-01-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, we took a walk up the hill on the trail behind our housing development, and I took this picture looking back at our housing development, nestled into the hills on the left up there. And it feels like an appropriate illustration, because I've spent the last two months nestling in, focusing on home and family and inward, quiet things. It's been a funny time -- pleasurable in lots of ways, but oddly inactive, too. I've had little interest in creative pursuits -- so I've done very little in terms of art making. Instead, I've been reading and looking (ooh, Pinterest!) and trying to sort out some goals after the whirlwind of creative inspiration from Festival of Quilts in England and the International Quilt Festival in Houston last year. It's all swirling around in my head, and I'm chalking this quiet period up to an unavoidable need to let it all sift down into something that will come out in my creative voice eventually.

But I'm thinking that this inward time is coming to a close. I'm feeling the urge to get back to work on some art quilts in progress. I've got images in my head that will make their way onto fabric. It feels good to have creative energy stirring again.

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? It's a rather fascinating (and yes, even addictive) site. It's pure visual delight -- collections of images, sorted by other people who "pin" favorite images to their "boards" much the way someone would post a photo to an inspiration board or tear a magazine photo out to paste into an idea journal. It's an invitation-based site -- that is, you have to have someone to invite you to join. (Clever marketing, really.) So if you'd like to check it out and have not been invited, leave a comment and your email and I'm happy to send an invite. You'll have fun poking around there.

I'm going to go watch the Golden Globes now. I so enjoy Ricky Gervais!

Being here, looking back

2012-01-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, you are always wondering what it is you've been doing with all of your time. I always have the feeling that I've been busy, but apparently I lose track of what I've done rather easily.

And I feel that especially acutely right now, as 2011 has ended and I am heading into a new year. It's a good thing that my friend Terry posted a slideshow about her year in photos, because it reminded me of how much I enjoyed doing that last year. Away I went to visit the Smilebox site for a reminder of how I did it, and then I spent a nice afternoon organizing my photos and remembering what it was I actually did in 2011.

I had such a good time doing it (you can see the slide show below) that I wanted to urge you to go and give it a try. Really. If you keep a blog, you can scroll through your blog entries to remind yourself of what you were doing when. If you use a digital camera and download pictures to your computer, you can probably filter your pictures by date so you can see a chronological progression of what you photographed.

Mostly, though, I think the experiencing of looking back at the year as a whole and thinking about what you did, little things and big things, is a very uplifting one. Maybe you didn't make many quilts (which is how I'm feeling about 2011) but I remembered I did some great traveling and soaked up a lot of inspiration.

My current inner mantra involves just Enjoying the Moment. But part of being in THIS moment can involve taking pleasure and satisfaction in the accomplishments of the past. So really, go check that out. And if you create one, let me know. I'd love to see it.

My 2001 in Pictures

2012-01-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

Free photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Greeting 2012 with Reindeer Antlers

2012-01-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful holiday and are heading into the new year with excitement for the year ahead!

We have started the post-holiday return to normal life around here, still savoring the lovely Christmas celebrations we shared with friends and family, and then a long visit with friends who came to visit from Maine for several days. We are still surrounded by holiday decor, and it'll stay up for a while yet. We all find it cheerful and 'm not ready for the big job of taking it all down, anyway. Our neighbors across the street decorate their yards to the hilt, and I am always amused by the Fu dogs wearing reindeer antlers that sit on their front porch.

Our fridge is still full of the rich leftovers from holiday meals -- this morning I saw a bottle of champagne with 1/4 left in it, a few pieces of crab leftover from our New Year's Eve feast of cracked fresh crab, the pan-fried noodles we brought home from a dinner at Francis Ford Coppola's "Rustic" restaurant the other night ... and I didn't even venture into the breadbox which currently holds a still-large amount of holiday cookies. Into the freezer those will go, I think, to save for a dreary January day. I am craving simple food.

So I am off to switch out another load of laundry, pop into the grocery store, drop some things off at the dry cleaners ... and maybe when those chores are done I can do my first sewing of 2012. At some point before Christmas, I started chain piecing some simple blocks for a donation quilt, and they are still in progress under the needle! Straight sewing will be just about my speed today.

Happy 2012, everyone!

Home after the Holidays

2011-12-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

We are back from a few days away, where we spent a fun and festive time with long-time friends. I love these days after Christmas, where the flurry of crazy activity is over and there's the sense of relaxing and savoring all of the preparation that has come before.

Even while we're tidying up from the Christmas clutter we left behind before we went away, we're preparing for a visit from beloved friends from across the country. So there's a bit more shopping and cooking and cleaning ahead, but then (hopefully) a relaxed period for just enjoying dear friends. The last time our friends visited it us, we had torrential rain for a solid week so we did almost nothing outside of the house. This year, I'm armed with a list of day trips but the freezer is stocked with soups and other meals just in case we're house-bound again!

So I will continue my blogging break, but in the meantime, I wish all of you a cozy and warm time as you say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012!

Imagining Snow

2011-12-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

A lovely gift, especially for those of us in sunny California who dearly miss the snow at this time of year...

Thank you, Chronicle Books!

Sugarplum Fairy delight

2011-12-19T12:31:00.001-08:00

A little holiday music -- and time to reflect on how much extra glassware you have around the house...

Comfort, Joy, and Hope

2011-12-13T11:39:00.001-08:00

Celebrate Hope, a photo by dphock on Flickr.

I've been very quiet here for longer than I realized. And I'm afraid to say that it'll be quiet a bit longer -- life is complicated right now, with a death in the family, lots of commitments, and the need to focus time and energy on home and family and enjoying the peace in each moment.

But even if I am not posting here for a bit, please know that I treasure your friendship and your blog visits! I am wishing each and every one of you the comfort and joy of friends and family during this holiday season.

An eggplant a day

2011-11-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

Some people are spending this week cooking food in preparation for Thanksgiving. This year, I'm thankful that my brother Gregg and his wife Kitt are worrying about the food -- I get to paint it and bring wine to dinner on Thursday.

My task this week is to paint eggplant. We are working with purples in the online sketching and painting class I'm doing. I'm still working on getting the paints to do what I want them to do but each time I do one, I get a bit better. But I'm having fun and enjoying the process. We're supposed to spend no more than 45 minutes on each picture, and I figure spending 45 minutes a day on this is pretty doable.

But fabric is calling, too. I clearly need a bigger studio. And more time. There's a house for sale across the street and last night when I was falling asleep I was fantasizing about buying it and making it my studio -- my fantasy long-arm quilting machine in the living room, a painting room upstairs over looking the back garden, etc.

But I know I am lucky to have a room, however small, dedicated to my sewing and other pursuits, and I can close the door on the mess and leave it all there. That is no small thing.

Mid-November

2011-11-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

While I work on cleaning up the mess in my studio (you know, so I can start making NEW messes), here's a picture to celebrate autumn.

Stay warm and cozy!

The fabric I couldn't resist

2011-11-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

I didn't plan on buying any fabric at the quilt festival in Houston last week. My closet is bulging as it is. But I figured that I'd allow myself to bring some home if it was something fabulous and something I'd not seen before. And then Deborah told me to be sure to check out Marcia Derse's booth.

How had I not seen her stuff before? It's gorgeous. Marcia dyes and hand-paints fabric which is then printed -- so it looks like it's hand-done, but it's far cheaper than what hand-painted cloth would cost. In fact, it's comparable to regular printed cotton.

You can see I couldn't resist the bundle of red fabrics, above... and a few more pieces called to me, too.

You can see Marcia's full line of fabrics here, and they are available for online ordering at Glorious Color.

And for those lucky enough to live near her in Ohio, there's an upcoming holiday show at Marcia's house on December 9 and 10 about which you can find details on her website under "schedule." It's probably a good thing I'm a long way from Ohio.

Carving out some time for fun

2011-11-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I went up to Bishop's Ranch for a play day with friends. It was the perfect day to be there -- the sky was a soft gray, rain was falling, and the air was full of the fresh scent of autumn. Our friend (and the ranch's artist in residence) Lisa Thorpe gave us a lesson on reduction stamp carving. So we brought our lunches and settled into the cozy art room to play with rubber and ink and paper.

Here's Lisa, demonstrating her carving technique. We started by drawing, and then carving a simple shape in both positive and negative.

Then we printed, one on top of the other with different colors.

It's trickier than you'd think, figuring out which lines should be on which stamp! We all agreed that the ones that weren't registered had the best, wonky energy.

Then Lisa showed us the reduction carving. She did a great article on this in the Sept/Oct issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, by the way. She calls it stamping back to front, color by color. So we started with carving little bits away, printing, and then carving more. We experimented with one simple design, figuring out what to leave and what to cut away with each print. Here's my final print, which had four layers stamped on it:

By the last layer, you've cut away most of your stamp -- so my remaining stamp looks like this:

Lisa, of course, has a lot of experience and has figured out just how much to leave to get those wonderful woodblock carving lines. The answer -- as with a lot of art -- is to just keep doing it!

I also did a tiny nest stamp.

I really wish this had the background carved away with the positive egg and line shapes remaining... but that's probably harder to do. And really, I didn't realize that until I printed what I had carved.

I brought my camera with me, and took the opportunity to take some pictures along the way. I'm getting to know a new lens (Nikkor 50mm/1.8) and I'm determined to just keep it on the camera until I get better with it. It has a VERY shallow depth of field to which I've not quite adjusted yet, which explains why there are so many out-of-focus parts in the following pictures! But still, you get a sense of the day.

Here is Ancella, concentrating as she prepares to stamp a first layer.

Pat M was having a good time (sorry for the lack of focus there, Pat!)

Sydne works on her sketch...

I actually love this shot of Pat's hands as she carves, although I wish I'd adjusted things to get more in focus. This is one of "my other" Pats, as Miss C would say. I have two close friends named Pat and often do things with both together. So in case you need to know, this is Pat D.

And of course, I had to shoot our tools...

It was a very fun and relaxing day. Lisa has done some great banners, stamping images on fabric and then stringing the pieces together artfully. Well, Lisa does everything artfully.

It was a lovely way to spend a rainy day.

Houston, 2011 in pictures

2011-11-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

I am still basking in the happy glow of my experience at the International Quilt Festival in Houston last week. It's impossible to explain how stimulating and inspiring it was -- but maybe these photos will give you a taste of it all!

Flashback to Birmingham, England

2011-11-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

I am still catching up from Houston, but in the meantime I see that our exhibit from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England was recently featured on Ricky Tims' and Alex Anderson's "The Quilt Show."

Thanks to Pam Holland for interviewing us and featuring our quilts so beautifully! And just so you know, I did not do all of the talking that day ... Helen Conway had a lot to say but her witty words are on a digital cutting room floor somewhere.

Houston Adventure

2011-11-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

I have spent the past four days at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, having a marvelous time. The full set of 288 Twelve by Twelve quilts have been on exhibit, and nine out of the twelve of us were able to attend and meet each other. Before I fly home tomorrow, I thought I'd post a few pictures to give you a taste of the excitement.

The adventure was made possible by Del Thomas and the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection, and I can't begin to express how grateful we are to Del for supporting our exhibit.

The exhibit looked beautiful and our quilts glowed like jewels.

We sold and signed lots of books.

We posed for a lot of photos ...

And felt like rock stars with paparazzi shooting our pictures.

We dined and celebrated the fun of being together (complete with cardboard faces of the three Twelves who couldn'tbe in Houston) and seeing our project accepted and appreciated so enthusiastically.

Now we are headed back to our respective homes, full of appreciation for how far we have come together and the surprising enormity of what we have created.

Come see us in Houston!

2011-11-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

I am headed today to Houston where I will be at the International Quilt Festival for the next four days! All 288 of our quilts will be on exhibit, plus nine of the twelve of us will be on the premises to meet everyone and sign books and sell postcards and generally share in the excitement.

If you are at Houston, please do come by and say hello!

If you are not going to Houston, you might share the fun by going to our website and Twelveby12.org and walking through the challenge sets again. It's astonishing to realize we've made almost 300 quilts together!

2011-11-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

Free To Be....Unbullied from MarloThomas .com on Vimeo.

Sweet Dumpling

2011-10-23T20:45:00.001-07:00

I am continuing to draw and I'm getting braver with my watercolors. At the grocery store I find myself choosing fruits and vegetables as much for their appeal as art subjects as for taste! I couldn't resist some autumn pumpkins and gourds this week.

Happy Fall!

Photoshop's Cutout Filter

2011-10-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Renate asked how I use Photoshop to help me define areas of color (which I mentioned when I described how I made my "Midsomer Tomato" quilt above, so I thought I'd demonstrate here.

First, you start with a photo. Here's one of some hydrangea florets that I took a few summers ago.

I open it in Photoshop, and go to the "filters" menu, then under the "Artistic" filter options, choose "cut out." It selects color areas for you. One click, and voila:

When you choose the "cut out" filter, a menu will pop up that will allow you to slide bars to select edge fidelity, color complexity, and the like. You can slide them back and forth to see what they do, but they provide various ways of adding or subtracting detail. If you bear in mind that you're going to try to use the color areas you see as pieces of fabric, you'll remember that keeping it simple while including just the detail you need is the goal. Here's a simpler version of the same image:

Remember, you can add back detail with thread wok. So maybe all you want is a fabric base on which to thread paint more color and detail? Or maybe you want the fabric to do the work, so you'll want more detail? It's up to you.

Once I get to this point, I print out the image at what I want the finished size to be. (I often have to do this by taping 8 x 11 sheets together because that's all my printer will do.) Then, with a black relatively heavy-line black sharpy, I trace the color areas.

Here's a shot of the tomato one:

You can see that I take each color (in the tomato case, I had reds, blues, and greens) and I assign Dark, Light and Medium value labels.

Then I trace the whole thing onto tracing paper, and then I trace pattern shapes and assemble from there using the marked image as my guide. It's sort of tedious but it's really fun to see the picture taking shape. I don't follow this slavishly -- it's meant to be a fabric painting, after all, not a paint-by-number project. So use your artistic judgment and have fun.

I should add that I never use Photoshop Elements so I don't know if Elements as a "cutout" filter. Sometimes there is a filter called Posterize that can do similar things.

Twelve by Twelve on the radio!

2011-10-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Gerrie Congdon (one of the Twelve by Twelve "twelves") was interviewed by Pat Sloan on her online radio show at American Patchwork and Quilting Radio. I wasn't around to listen to the show live, but it's available on the APQ website to listen any time you want!

Here's the link:

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/radio/

And Gerrie talks about Twelve by Twelve on the Oct. 17 show (which shows up as the episode with LeeAnn Decker.) It's a great overview of the project and it's a nice way to get to know another of the twelves!

Midsomer Tomatoes

2011-10-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

When I was at the Festival of Quilts in the UK this past summer, I met Chris and De, the delightful owners of Midsomer Quilting in Bath. They have been early and enthusiastic supporters of the Twelve by Twelve challenge, and were the first to ask if they could exhibit the full set of quilts. And when I met them, Christ told me about how visitors to the exhibit were so excited at the thought of making small quilts on a theme that he announced a shop challenge on the theme of fruit. He asked if I'd submit something, and I gladly agreed. Here's the piece I just sent off.

I remember my puzzlement at learning, when I was a kid, that tomatoes are considered fruit because (according to the Oxford Dictionary) true fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant. We eat cherry tomatoes all summer long around here -- so that led me to picture them for this challenge. And it's doubly fruity! Cherry! Tomatoes! Brilliant, yes?!

I started with a photo of a carton of cherry tomatoes, then used Photoshop to identify color areas. From there, I used batiks to "paint" the tomatoes and machine quilting to add more color and dimension and texture. (It's 12x12 inches square.) I realized I really like working this way -- gosh, I should do it more!

Chris and De at Midsomer Quilting have been amazing supporters for Twelve by Twelve, and I'm happy to contribute something to their challenge. I only wish I could be there to see all of the entries when they are exhibited.

Hand me that pen...

2011-10-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm one of those people who grew up thinking she couldn't draw. I think it was partly because my sister Laura was a dedicated and talented artist who drew beautifully and I thought I just didn't have her talent. But over the years I've come to realize that drawing is one of those things that can be learned. I took some watercolor painting classes years ago and loved them but work and family pulled me in a different direction, and I've not done much actual drawing since. But recently, I've been working on drawing -- well, a loose sketching, really. And I'm having SO much fun.

I started participating in the drawing lessons Miss C is doing as part of her curriculum this semester, and we're watching lessons online by an art teacher in New York City. It's pencil drawing so it's learning about how to shade and shape using value and line. It's a whole different thing than I've ever done, and I'm finding it quite interesting.

And then, on a whim, I signed up for a short online sketching and watercolor class from Jane LaFazio, whose colorful and breezy sketch style I adore. During the first week, we drew "every day objects" -- hence the rotary cutter, below...

and this week, we're drawing things from nature -- today, for example, I worked with leaves and seed pods from a maple tree on my street.

I'm sort of surprised at my reaction to this. I love the peacefulness and meditative sense while really studying something to draw it. It's an intense concentration but restful at the same time. But mostly I'm feeling that this is doing wonders for my confidence. I'm not aiming for anything fancy, mind you, but I feel good at what I'm doing and I'm learning each time I try something new. So each time I finish an assignment, I think to myself with some surprise, "Hey! I can draw!"

Yep, I'm still sewing and working on the various projects I have going around here -- but now I can stop for 15-30 minutes and do a small drawing and I feel as refreshed as if I'd taken a nap. It's amazing.

Do you Travel in a Straight Line?

2011-10-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have posted some big thoughts on the zig-zag nature of my creative process over on the Tea and Talk for Two blog (where Helen Conway and I have an ongoing conversation about art and creativity going). Do pop over and comment on what YOU think about your creative process!

Improvising

2011-10-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a project I started working on at retreat last week. I'd been wanting to do some improvisational piecing, and had in mind a video I'd watched on Design Matters TV where Edwina Mackinnon demonstrated her "cut and come again" technique for making a whole bunch of small pieced blocks. A while back, I stumbled onto a bin of Hoffman solid cottons on sale, so I selected some colors for this purpose. I don't think I've sewn with solid colors since the 1980s when I was making Amish quilts. But what can I say -- they called to me. A retreat day to piece while chatting with friends seemed the perfect setting for this project.

So away I went. And I must say, I really enjoyed doing these. It was very fun, developing each little composition in a 4.5 inch block. No surprise -- the blocks I liked the best were usually the simplest ones. Some of them would be great larger quilts -- maybe you'll see that in the future!

In any event, by the end of the day I'd sewn over 100 blocks and I figured that was enough. I've been arranging and rearranging them on my design wall-- such fun possibilities -- but I liked the look of aligning the striped lines and I keep thinking about the San Andreas fault as I work on this so it will probably end up with some sort of earthquakey title!

The blocks are now sewn together, I know what I want the borders to look like, and I'll incorporate some hand-stitching in this, too.

Considering that this is all improvising -- moving forward without a plan or mental vision of where I want it to go, this process has felt good.

Friends to left of me, friends to the right

2011-10-07T10:26:00.001-07:00

I have spent the last 3 1/2 days away at my twice-yearly quilt retreat. What you see above was the view from my sewing table, and I loved looking up and out on a busy, happy, creative swarm of activity. But most of all I am once again struck by the inspiration and energy and joy I get from spending time with these women.

Here is Eleanor, who sits on my right. Usually, she comes to retreat prepared with tiny piles of cut pieces, which she then lays out in tidy piles for sewing. This year, she was sewing Freddy Moran style houses from her scraps, and what started as an organized bin of strips became an exploding pile of fabric. For those of us who always end up with a fabric mess, it was very satisfying to see.

Here is Pat, who sits to my left. Pat is usually working on a bunch of different projects at retreats, changing from one to another as the mood hits her. This time, she worked steadily on one major quilt, dong a lot of finishing details and hand work. As she has been working on her project for several years intermittently, it was exciting for all of us tom see it in the home stretch.

Retreats always end up generating lots of input and creative cooperation. I snapped this picture when I saw Eleanor, Ancella and Vicky huddling together to check the block arrangements on Ancella's batik quilt. I also figure I should record Ancella working with a brown and gray palette, as that is a rare event. She usually works in a "Put on your sunglasses" bright palette and we still tease her about the time she tried to make a pastel quilt that ended up with a lot of gorgeously vivid fuchsia pinks.

I could show lots more pictures of beautiful women working on delightful projects. But what I can never quite capture on film is the feeling of warmth and contentment and energy in the room, and that's what keeps me coming back time after time. It reminds me that quilting has always had a communal aspect, and the ritual of coming together to sew, even if we are not all gathered around the same quilting frame, is a powerful one.

I feel so lucky, and I know that the feeling of being with these ladies will carry me a long way.

What is this?

2011-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Does this look like a teabag to you?

I've been starting to experiment with digitizing my own machine embroidery designs. And this is my very first one. Why a teabag, you wonder? Well, I have set myself the task of exploring the theme of tea in a series of small art quilts, and that led me to thinking about tea bags, which set me on a course of drawing them... and then I decided to turn a little sketch into something that could be embroidered repeatedly.

It has some wonky aspects to it that need adjusting in terms of stitch density ... but does this say teabag to you? Or does it just look odd?

(My husband thought it was an iron.)

Inquiring minds want to know.

A new paradigm for education

2011-09-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

It is way past time to change our thinking about education. This is really worth the 10 minutes it'll take to watch:

My Cornwall Escape

2011-09-27T11:08:00.001-07:00

One of these days, I'm going to get to Cornwall. I've had a fascination with it since, I think, I first read The Shellseekers by Rosamunde Pilcher years ago. And I love watching British tv series. So imagine my delight when I discovered "Doc Martin," a BBC television series set in Cornwall in the charming fictional village of Portwenn.

The premise is that Dr. Martin Ellingham, a surgeon from London, has recently developed a revulsion to blood and can no longer do surgery. He retreats to his childhood village to be the general village doctor, where his daily life is populated by quirky people and curious medical mysteries. Interestingly, the brusque nature and social ineptitude of Doc Martin is obviously Asperger's Syndrome. But even while his dreadful bedside manner is a key aspect of the show, the story is not about a doctor with Asperger's -- it's an unfolding story of a withdrawn individual who slowly comes to life and becomes a vital member of a small community.

The first four seasons are available on Netflix via live-streaming. (it looks like some are available on Hulu.com, too.) I was sad to realize that last night I watched the last episode of the show. But today, thanks to IMDB, I discovered that the series has recently resumed after a two year break, taking off where the last 2009 episode left off, and there are some 6 episodes that have aired on British tv so far. I'm not sure when Netflix will have them, but I will look forward to returning to Portwenn in the future!

Azalea Encore

2011-09-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

So here is where I am with this piece. I'm still listening for the quilt to tell me whether it is done or not. Apparently it's speaking too quietly or I'm not paying attention closely enough -- so for now, this is where it sits.

If you click on the photo, you can see that I added a lot of machine quilting. My friend Loretta commented on how painterly this looks, which was gratifying as I'd been thinking of that fabric texture as impressionistic paint strokes. I'd sketched and doodled and tried to figure out how to add stitch to emphasize that. My conclusion was that it'd be best to suggest flowers and leaves and let the fabric texture create the brushstrokes.

But once I got the quilting on, it just sat there on all of that texture and seemed to compete in a confused sort of way. So I pulled out my new Inktense pencils and started highlighting petals and leaves with more color. I tried to add color while flowing with the direction of the fabric texture, again to use the fabric but also define the shapes more.

I think I'm venturing into the "Stop torturing this poor fabric" territory so I will put this away for a bit. I tend to like it more when I first see it walking into the room -- and maybe that sense of jumbled color and the suggestion of flowers and foliage is the best this can do. I'm not sure.

I still feel like it NEEDS something. But it won't tell me what just yet.

2011-09-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

I tend to get stuck in my head when I'm making a new quilt, so this week I thought I'd try something different and just experiment, without having a meaning or image or plan in my head.

It started with this streaky fabric, which was the result of an ice dying experiment last week.

I wanted to try to exploit the linear designs, so in an experimental mood I cut it up into bias squares, so that the linear design ran diagonally across each block. And then I started putting the blocks up on my design wall.

This was the result of just putting the blocks up randomly. I liked the texture, but I was feeling that there was no focal point. So I moved them around a bit more, thinking to put the lights in the center and work out into darker tones.

Um, no.

Then I thought, well, I'll just group the colors together in columns and see how that looks. (Of course, it occurred to me that the original fabric had colors in lines so why did I cut it up, then?) But I liked how this looked sort of landscapey, if you turn your head sideways to the left.

See what I mean? I actually like that, so I sewed the squares together.

And then I sat and stared. What to do next? How to quilt? I started in yesterday, stitching and trying to keep the streaky elements I like, and trying to respond to what I thought the quilt was saying it wanted to be.

There was a big period of time where I think the quilt was telling me it wanted to be wadded up and stuffed into the trash.

So, it's in the works. I'm not sure whether what I'm doing is making it worse or better. I realize that without a specific intent about the quilt to begin with, it's harder to decide where to go. I guess I just need to trust the process.

Seasonally Challenged

2011-09-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Because it is September, I've shifted into autumn mode. I've put flannel sheets on the bed, and when I dress in the morning I put on a cozy shirt and jeans and slip my feet into my fleece-lined clogs. I make myself a cup of tea and contemplate whether to put the fixings for chili or soup in the slow cooker. Then, I open the door to the garden and realize that it's going to be another Indian Summer day over 80 degrees, and more likely over 90.

I could tell you that this is an aberration, but truth be told, I've always been a bit out of synch with the weather. Even though I was born and raised in California, I think I'm a New Englander at some deep core level, and I'm living with their seasons no matter where I am. Which explains why, when I was in college in Southern California, I showed up at my friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner wearing a turtleneck sweater and wool skirt and knit tights -- when it was 75 degrees out.

I do not know what mental climate zone my daughter lives in. All she wants to wear are tank top, shorts and bare feet. All year round. I am frequently accused of over-using the motherly "Aren't you cold?" comment.

At any rate, I'm feeling decidedly Septemberish. Perhaps I'll go outside and look for some leaves to rake.

Blocks of love

2011-09-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've been making quilt blocks this week for a commissioned quilt. Well, maybe that's a stretch. My daughter is the client, and she had very specific requests for a new quilt for her bed. In fact, when we first started talking about what sort of quilt she wanted, her descriptions were so specific that we got onto Equilter.com and she chose the fabric, she sketched out for me how she envisioned it going to gether, and then we laid it out on Electric Quilt software so I could make sure that she was going to like the look of what she was describing.

I do love technology.

I have to confess that before I started sewing these, I had a general reluctance about it. I returned from Festival of Quilts with so many ideas in my head that I want to explore -- but I felt that I had to get this done before I can explore any of those. This just didn't feel like any reflection of my own creativity.

But I started cutting and sewing, and at some point it dawned on me that I was really enjoying it. I was thinking about Miss C, and how much fun it had been to see her choose fabrics, and how excited she was about seeing what she envisioned become real. And so even while this isn't reflective of MY creativity exactly, it's reflecting hers, and that makes me quite happy.

So this has really become a labor of love. Funny how easy it is to lose sight of the joy of doing something for someone you love.

Ice Dyeing (or the dyeing you can do during hot flash season)

2011-09-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

In the current issue of Quilting Arts magazine (Aug/Sept 2011, #52) there's an article by Lynda Heines about "ice dyeing." When I read the issue, I read the article and thought, "That looks fun, I'll have to try that some day." And I promptly forgot all about it.

But then about a week later, I went to my monthly Practical Design group, and two of the women there showed fabric they'd dyed using the Ice Dyeing technique. It was gorgeous, just gorgeous. And they bubbled on about how easy it was -- so I was inspired to go home and get it going the very next day.

Here's the thing about this method: you don't have to mix dye solution ahead of time. Now, I know that's not a huge task, and of course once you mix the dyes they keep for a while. Still, when I'm in the mood to play with dyeing, I want to get to the dyeing and having to do all that advance preparation discourages me some. Silly, I know, but there you have it.

At any rate, the beauty of this method is that you don't pre-mix dyes. (It also means that you have to be MORE careful about wearing a mask and not exposing yourself to dye powder carelessly.) But basically, the method is this: You set up a rack over a tray or tub, put soda-soaked fabric in a flattened wad (or folded bundle) on the rack, put ice cubes on the fabric, and then sprinkle a bit of dye powder onto the ice. As the ice melts, the dye powder dissolves and contacts the fabric. You let it sit for 24 hours, then wash it all out. The specific details and instructions are illustrated beautifully Lynda Heines' article.

So away I went. And the results have been exciting and very fun.

In fact, this is so fun and easy it's hard to stop.

So far I've dyed half-yard pieces. Today I'm going to try a bigger piece and see what happens. But I highly recommend experimenting with this -- it's very fun.

Swift Success

2011-09-04T16:48:00.001-07:00

Last night was the long-awaited Taylor Swift concert. The Teen adores her and last winter, when she indicated she might be willing to brave the noise and crowds to try a concert, we obtained tickets for the one concert in our area. At Miss C's request , it was a girls only night, so our party consisted of Miss C, me, and our dear friend Beth.

Beth and I were in college together and are both in our 50s now. So although we attended many a concert in our young and adventurous days, it has been some time since each of us had been to a concert other than the reunion tour of some middle-aged guys singing to a nostalgic middle aged audience. So, that explains why last night was surprising and fun for us -- ahem -- more mature ladies, too.

The Teen knew what to expect. She's been working for the past week on a heavily glittered sign to wave at key moments. Unlike us, she was not at all astounded by the masses of pre- teen and teenaged girls with their hair artfully ringleted like Taylor Swift's and wearing country girl dresses and cowboy boots. Beth and I, however, were amazed at the number of girls dressed alike and/or adorned with Taylor- inspired sayings and images and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter. Were we just not sufficiently motivated groupies back when we went to see Kenny Loggins and Neil Young and John Denver? Dressing alike and waving signs just didn't occur to us back then.

Of course, part of Taylor Swift's appeal is the ordinary-girl-who- created-a-fairy-tale-for-herself thing. She sings about being outside of the popular crowd in high school, the importance of being true to yourself, of finding a love who will love you for who you are. They are messages any mom would approve of and messages, it is heartening to see, that many girls seem to heart. The fact that Taylor sings them while dressed like Cinderella doesn't hurt either.

The most surprising thing, to me and Beth, at least, was how for the 12,000 teens in attendance anyway, being at the concert seemed to be less about listening to Taylor Swift sing and more about screaming and shrieking and singing along with every song. Really, we could hardly hear Taylor. It made me wonder if that's what those early Beatles concerts were like, with so much screaming that you couldn't hear the actual music.

As far as Miss C was concerned , the event surpassed every expectation and she came out with a beaming smile and eyes glowing and talking a mile a minute. For me, seeing Miss C happy and singing along and clearly enthralled was truly wonderful. (And, I couldn't help thinking, it was a testament to the power of willing participation and focus, for if surely there was ever an event designed to bring on a migraine or Aspie brain overload, it would be an arena full of screaming teenagers, loud music, and bright flashing lights.)

So, it was a success all around. But it did make me feel old, or certainly rather sedate. Maybe I need more glitter in my life.

Meeting the Beatles

2011-08-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

While we were in England, one of our "must-do" items was going to Liverpool to see the Beatles sights there. Roger is a hardcore Beatles fan from way back, and I was happy to see what there was to see. For Beatles fans, Liverpool is pretty much Beatle Mecca.

So off we went to Mathew Street, an alley of a bunch of small bars and pubs and clubs. Here, at The Cavern, was where the Beatles first played regularly and were "discovered." By the way, I think I took this shot at about noon. By 4pm, there was music blaring out of most doorways, the strong smell of beer permeating the place, people spilling out of every doorway with drinks in hand and cigarette smoke clouds above their heads, and mobs of people passing through.

Here's the entrance to the actual Cavern --

but wait, we learn that it has been rebuilt, albeit with the ORIGINAL Beatles-soaked bricks.

Everywhere you look on that street has a Beatles reference.

There were some funky artistic tributes...

And of course there were shops for Beatles merchandise...

(Disclosure: Certain T-shirts may have been purchased.)

Around the corner, out of the alley, was The Hard Day's Night Hotel which took the Beatles theme from funky/seedy to posh and expensive. We roamed through, looking at the photograph-covered walls inside, but to my mind the best thing about that place was its logo:

It was said to be an image of the guitar frets and finger positions for the first, great chord of "Hard Day's Night" AND also the position that the Beatles stood in when performing. (That'd be Ringo, back there.) A clean and appealing logo, don't you think? Not obviously Beatlesy but referential nonetheless.

Our day in Liverpool inspired my response to the current Twelve by Twelve challenge, which is "Orange." It will be revealed on Thursday, Sept. 1 on that blog, so you'll have to pop over there to see how!

Print Play

2011-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'm rather a novice in the surface design department. Sure, I've bought a lot of books, and I've got a lot of supplies -- but I don't get in there and actually DO it all that often. I chalk that up to laziness, really: I don't have a convenient set up, so I have to store everything in the garage, then pull it all through the house outside to the back patio when I want to experiment. So the spontaneous "I'll just print up a quick piece of cloth" doesn't happen around here.

(And yes, I KNOW there are industrious artists who are making exquisite pieces of cloth in their bathroom sinks with 4 square inches of counter space. So I am glad to have the patio, even if it means that a few garden plants take on the cast of whatever colors I'm working with for a few days.)

So. Last week at Festival of Quilts (just last week!) I bought a few thermofax screens for screen printing. I've done that once, and it was, as they say, dead easy. And I've got this orange quilt to make for Twelve by Twelve, and I'd been thinking about background fabric, and it dawned on me that I could PRINT the background fabric... et, voila!

I was experimenting with printing a big-textured screen and then over printing with a small textured screen. It looks weird here as a piece of cloth but I think it could have interesting possibilities cut up.

My happiest surprises involved printing on fabric I'd dyed previously and hadn't liked all that much. I had a batch of weird maroon-ish shades and I screened some Decolourant on that, then set it out in the sun for the afternoon ... and I really like the result.

They are still not colors I'd be inclined to use, but at least they are now in the category of "might use" instead of "Yuck - never."

I even discharged onto some old dye prints I'd done last summer, and they turned out well, too. (The only one I photographed looks a little weird, but you get the idea....)

All in all, it was worth the hauling stuff back and forth. And it might even make me want to do it again.

Introducing Alice Fox

2011-08-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that I was at Festival of Quilts a week ago ... give or take some hours that I gained flying back to California. I'm still dazed from the whole wonderful experience.

One of the things that was quite different from American quilt shows was the existence of gallery stalls for artists and fiber art students. They were about the size of vendor stalls, but they were constructed of clean white walls which defined the art gallery space beautifully, and in each stall an artist displayed work, showed sketchbooks or sold books, and was available to chat with visitors.

One of the galleries I couldn't stop staring at belonged to a fiber artist named Alice Fox. Mark that name, because she is amazingly talented and her pieces were unusual and stunning. I think the work that she was showing in her gallery space was the work shown on her website as "Fabric of the Building." The pieces there were mostly in neutral colors -- soft creams and whites and greys with touches of black, and they incorporated stitch in a lovely, restrained but always necessary way. The work was understated but compelling. I just loved it.

I didn't realize until I was reading Alice's blog after Festival that Alice had a miniature quilt which was awarded a "Highly Commended" rating in the show, and that she also won (as co-winner with another student) the Graduate Showcase bursary. She won a hunk of money to further her work and a space at next year's Festival. I am not surprised.

I wish I could be there to see what she shows then. I still can't stop thinking of the elegance of her fiber work.

The Cumberland Pencil Museum

2011-08-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

You may recall that I have a thing for pencils. In fact, I've used them in quilts from time to time, as here in a Twelve by Twelve quilt (the challenge color palette was purple and yellow)

and here, in this quilt (which I apparently never photographed finished, so you are seeing the top here) called Daily Detritis:

So you can imagine how excited I was to learn that when we were in England in the Lakes District, we were near the Cumberland Pencil Museum, "home of the world's first pencil!" Helen happened to mention that there was a pencil museum in the area and I suspect she is still puzzled about why I was so eager to go there. I guess you have to have the school supply/stationery store obsession to understand.

In any event, on one rainy day when we'd planned to visit Castle Howard (where Brideshead Revisited was filmed), we abandoned an afternoon of walking around sodden gardens in pouring rain in favor of an indoor visit to the pencil museum. I was thrilled.

I will apologize now for the poor quality of the photos. It was dim enough inside that I had to use the flash and although there are probably some Photoshop tricks for removing those horrid flash glare spots, I don't know them. But look past the bad photography at the exciting PENCILS!

There is something about items lined up that appeals, too -- so this display of a variety of very old pencils just enthralled me. The museum had exhibits about how, in the Cumberland mines, they discovered graphite and started using it to make pencils, and there were exhibits showing the machinery that formed it into tubes, inserted it into wood blocks, and carved it all into an actual pencil. You can read about how pencils were made here, on the Pencil Museum's site.

If you are now thinking, "this woman is a weird pencil geek!" I understand. And I agree. But that's okay.

But back to the pencils. They was a wall showing pencils from different periods. It's kind of astonishing how little pencils have changed over the years, isn't it? I guess a good, functional design is worth keeping.

And look: pencils "thought to be" the world's oldest colored pencils!

And those nifty flat pencils:

and old advertising signs:

and displays of vintage pencil tins, including one produced to commemorate the marriage of Charles and Diana:

There was even a display of pencils arranged like a quilt block, don't ask me why. (I looked for the explanatory placard and didn't find it.)

As this is the company that makes Derwent Fine Art Pencils, there were art displays featuring the uses of Derwent colored pencils - even a limited edition colored pencil portrait of Will and Kate that came with a beautiful wooden box filled with all of the types of pencils Derwent makes, for the low price of about £500. (I was tempted, but I resisted.)

I learned that one of my favorite Christmas books and movies, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs, was drawn with Derwent colored pencils.

And then there was a gift shop, with discounts and pencil seconds. After much consideration (and contemplation of the baggage weight allowance issues), I purchased a very nice box of Derwent's Inktense pencils.

The other item I couldn't resist was a necklace made out of colored pencils.

It has a very pencilly smell so when I wear it, I flash back to that very fun day. Isn't it funny how the oddest side-trips can turn out to be vacation highlights? I loved this quirky place, and my family and Helen and Dennis all admitted that it was more interesting than they thought it would be.

Even if you're not quite as pencil-obsessed as me, you might find this an entertaining outing if you're nearby. There were lots of great kid activities there too, with a hunt-for-information game and a drawing station so they could try out all of the supplies. Oh, and there was a cafe for tea and cake!

Honestly, what more could one want? History. Technology. Art Supplies. And cake.

Home after Festival of Quilts

2011-08-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am home from the amazing experience of being at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England with the Twelve by Twelve quilts. Click HERE to read and see more pictures on the Twelve by Twelve blog -- I'll write more soon but I am too jet-lagged today and am headed to bed!

To Festival of Quilts, hurrah, hurray

2011-08-09T15:29:00.001-07:00

At some point, probably once I am back home in California, I will get a chance to catch my breath and calmly summarize all of the wonderful things I have been doing here in England. But that time is not now, because I am headed down to Birmingham where I will be at Festival of Quilts.

This is down right exciting for a host of reasons. First, all 144 of the original Twelve by Twelve quilts will be on exhibit there. Seeing them online is very nice indeed ( if I do say so myself) but is nothing compared to seeing them in person. So if you are in the vicinity, do pop in.

Second, I will be there with two other Twelves, Helen and Françoise. I have not met Françoise in person before so that will be a highlight of the trip for me. And we will be hanging out at our stall at the show to meet people and sign books. How fun will that be?!

But wait, there is more! I will get to meet, finally, my City and Guilds tutor Edwina MacKinnon. She has been a lovely and encouraging tutor by email and I am enamored of the work she shows on her blog. So that will be quite nice.

I have tickets to several talks which promise to be interesting and inspirational. One is by Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably about working in Kaffe's studio.

Another is by my idols Linda and Laura Kemshall, who will talk about their creative process.

And another is by textile artist Fiona Wilson, whose work mesmerizes me. Helen and I happened on one of her quilts in an exhibit at the Quilt Museum in York last week, and I could have stood there all day gazing at it.

Oh, and there's a quilt show going on the whole time too. So that means lots of quilts to look at and vendors' stalls to visit.

And all of that fun goes on for FOUR WHOLE DAYS.

After that, I will spend a day in court with the Honorable District Judge Helen Conway which, for an American lawyer like me is no small thrill.

Then, I shall drop into my seat on an airplane with happy exhaustion and head for home. So if you don't hear from me for a bit, you will understand why.

More fun in England

2011-08-07T05:51:00.001-07:00

I can't even begin to describe the wonderful time I have been having here in England. Helen and Dennis have been delightful and patient hosts and have arranged to show us a number of their favorite places. We've been on the go so much that I've not had much time to fully absorb it all. Before falling asleep each night, I've made a quick list in my journal of the various things we've done and places we've been, which is a good thing or I would surely be mixing things up already. But I've taken a lot of pictures and once I'm home I'll be able to organize it all.

In the meantime, here are a few photos to show what we've been doing:

Helen and I went to a pottery festival on the grounds of this gorgeous stately home, Hutton-in- the-Forest.

While in the lake district, Helen's mum and dad toured us through the hills.

Having realized how close we were to the Scottish border, Roger, Caroline and I took the train to Edinburgh for the day. What a gorgeous city with ancient buildings in every direction. We'd walked the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh castle and along the way I took this picture of the Governor's House.

We took a side trip to the city of York for a few days where we found more gorgeous old stone buildings.

While in York, as part of Helen's birthday celebration we had a deluxe afternoon tea at Betty's, where they apserved the most perfect raspberry tarts I've ever seen.

Which brings us to today, where all of us are camped out on lovely squashy couches at a cafe called Cedar Farms Cafe. Here is Helen on the couch beside me, reading a bit of the Sunday paper.

And now we are off for more adventures. AND after all of this, Festival of Quilts next weekend in Birmingham. I am a lucky, lucky woman.

St Helens, day 1

2011-07-28T07:22:00.001-07:00

Here we are! After a long day of airplanes and airports and airport security, we arrived yesterday in the lovely town of St Helens where we will be staying with our friends Helen and Dennis. That is their lovely garden pictured above, and in my jet-lagged delirium, I am enjoying the chance to sit quietly and gaze out it. Today is a recovery day after 24+ hours awake and what seemed like one very short night sleeping like the dead. As write this, Helen is at work; Roger and Dennis have gone off in search of a pay as you go cell phone and a few other goodies; Caroline is upstairs napping; and I am sitting here in the lounge waiting for the delivery of two of our three suitcases which managed to take a side trip to who-knows- where.

But we are here, which feels miraculous. We have lots of fun days of talking and sharing and sight-seeing ahead, and then Festival of Quilts at the end of it all. The fun has just begun!

UK here we come

2011-07-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready to travel to the UK this coming week, for a fun and friend-filled vacation. We'll have a grand time visiting our friends Helen and Dennis and touring Northern England, and then at the end will be the quilty excitement of the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. All 144 of the 12x12 quilts will be exhibited. I can hardly wait and have been busy getting ready for our big UK adventure.

To that end, I've done a bit of shopping, and have been tempted by these goodies, if for no other reason than to torment Helen who is already wincing about the Royal Wedding pay-as-you-go cellphone I will be using there.

Comfy walking shoes? Check.

Some extra warmth for layers? Check.

A good carry-on bag for the plane? Check.

Something casual and stylish for daytime wear? Check.

A hat, in case of inclement weather and/or bad hair day? Check.

A stylish handbag?

I'm confident I'll blend right in with the locals. They won't even know I'm a tourist, I'm sure.

Joy in Tahoe

2011-07-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

We have officially entered the travel portion of our summer, which has been preceded by a crazy combination of rushing and planning and doing and accomplishing and checking things off of lists. But last week we flung our lists aside and drove up to Lake Tahoe for the annual family week.

And it was lovely. But the highlight of the week this year was spending time with our 4 year old niece Boitumelo. She was born in southern Africa, and her name means "Joy" which is fitting as she is a very happy, bouncy kid.

As little kids do, she took to her big cousin Caroline with rapt fascination and wanted to emulate everything she did.

But the memory I'll hold close was the morning we took Boitumelo for her first pony ride. Despite not having seen many horses in her native Lesotho, Boitumelo decided early on that she is going to be a "horse rider" when she grows up. When asked what horse riders DO for work, she will fix you a serious look with her dark eyes and say "Ride horses!" Well, duh.

So the first pony ride was a Big Big Deal. Boitumelo promptly fell in love with her lovely white pony "Merrylegs" (who, by the way, seemed to have very tired legs and didn't seem very merry except when she was headed back toward her hitching post).

Her ride consisted of her being led several times in a big circle around a field, accompanied by me (aka Auntie Diane), Uncle Roger, and her moms. We made quite a procession and I kept thinking that she looked like a princess being escorted by her servants.

I loved seeing the amazed concentration on her face the whole time. And all four of us grown-ups just grinned the whole morning, too.

We have a few days at home before we head off on our next adventure -- to England!

Techno-happy

2011-07-06T11:00:00.001-07:00

In the midst of the crazy things going on around here, I have felt compelled to do some serious updating of our household technology. Our upcoming trip to England has been one main ~~excuse~~ reason. Because, of course, one needs to sort out one's access to home and world before setting off to venture to another continent.

First, the cellphone issue. We wanted to make sure that we could get calls from the US and the discovery that my little old Blackberry is not global capable set up a whole set of decisions. I will spare you the details but I will show you the outcome:

Is this not the most delightful thing you've ever seen?! My friend Helen found this pay-as-you-go phone for me for the bargain price of £1. I can't imagine why the British aren't snapping these right up. It even comes with a "God Save the Queen" ringtone. I am thrilled. Helen has commented that it will also be useful as a finding device should we become separated -- all she has to do is ask the nearest person "have you seen my American friend?" and everyone will point at me and my obnoxious Royal Wedding phone.

And then there was the "do we bring laptops" question and again, after some pondering this was the outcome:

iPad. I am writing this very post on it, in fact. It is quite wonderful and it promises to make the 13 hour flights to and from Europe quite fun. I can get lost just reading about apps, never mind downloading and using them. (By the way, if you have any great app recommendations, I'd love to hear them.). Hmmm, I wonder if there is a Royal Wedding IPad cover? (Just kidding, Helen! I have a tasteful solid red one.)

But wait, there's more. In the process of making the IPad decision -particularly the "wifi only or wifi+3G" question -- I learned that the price difference between the wifi only and the wifi+3G was pretty much the same as an Iphone4 . No brainer, yes?

This actually makes great sense given how much I dislike my old Blackberry. But all this stuff at once has me in a techno-whirl. This probably means that all of my airport and airplane time will be spent reading the instructions for all of these exciting things.

Now that it has taken me all morning to figure out how to write and post a blog post from the IPad, I'd best get some chores done. But I will be humming "God Save the Queen" as I go.

Not much here, so go here instead...

2011-06-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I feel like I'm spinning in all different directions with the different things going on around here. It's routine stuff (work, household chores, doctors' appointments) and preparing for exciting family times (parents moving closer -- yay!-- and upcoming travels far and excitingly farther. Dear readers, I'm afraid the blog has slipped far down on the list of things clamoring for my attention.

BUT I must admit that I find a few minutes now and then to take a mental break and visit some of my favorite blogs. And because I'm lacking for my usual fascinating (ahem) blog fodder, I'm sharing some of my recent delights with you:

Pam over at Three Many Cooks is sharing great ideas for creating your own signature ice cream mix (warning -- do not read this one when you are hungry and/or very hot.)

Jeni at In Color Order is making me want to dive into my floral prints to jump into her "Warm/Cool Quilt Along" (and frankly I think I'm showing remarkable restraint for not having chucked all of my chores to do this... but then again, I could cave at any minute.)

Katie at Color Me Katie is, as always, making me smile with her latest exploits with Improv Everywhere -- watch how they surprise carousel-riding kids with an impromptu horse race!

Julia at Hooked on Houses has me dreaming about what it would be like to buy and live in Katherine Hepburn's former house in Connecticut.

Cynthia at Sip and Bite is making me crave all sorts of delicious goodies -- including a buttercrunch toffee that looks scrumptious.

Vivian in Japan takes me away from my daily life by letting me imagine what it would be like to pick up and move to Japan.

Kris at Kristina Klarin continues to make me swoon with her gorgeous photography and her eye for such luscious color.

Happy blog-hopping!

Cropping instead of cutting

2011-06-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

What you see here is what has become of this piece of painted and stencilled fabric so far. I cut up the fabric, fused and stitched it onto a ground, and have applied a few more birds and some machine quilting. I decided to work extra big, figuring I'd sort out the final size and shape later.

So yesterday, after folding and pinning for a while with the thing up on the design wall, it occurred to me that taking a photo and playing with different crops would make this decision so much easier. I just LOVE my digital camera.

So I started with a basic ordinary crop.

How would it look with less green on the sides but more on the bottom? Hmmmm.

What about square?

Maybe even more green at the bottom?

Maybe off center?

Perhaps a tight crop that cuts off elements ....

So far, the second one down strikes me as a balance I like but it's ordinary. To my surprise, the last one with cut off bits has the most energy to me. I will mull on this for a while. What do you think?

What day is it again?

2011-06-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

One of the consequences of having husband and daughter both done with school and home all day during the summer is that every day feels like Saturday. I lose track of what day it is, and I am even more scattered than usual, darting between household business and real work and family and sewing and art projects and just enjoying summertime.

But yes, there has been a bit of activity in my little studio -- I'm having a good time moving forward on several different projects. Remember that painted fabric I showed you recently? I've done some things with it and I'm now involved in quilting it which is a lot of fun.

And then I've been experimenting with something and I have no idea where this is going to end up:

This fabric has been hand-dyed, fused, discharged, paintstikked, masked, and painted. And I'm not sure what's next.

But I'm having fun. I hope you are too!

Who was that little kid?

2011-06-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned here recently that my parents are in the process of moving out of the house they've lived in for the past forty years. As they are going through everything, my brother and sister and I end up bringing home stuff we can't bear to see go. My brother is currently having fun going through old family photos, and every few days I get another batch of them in email -- it's like instant flash to childhood.

So here you see the three of us kids -- my sister Laura, the oldest, there on the left, my brother Gregg, the youngest, in the middle, and me on the right. Don't you just love the angle of the bangs?! And there, in the background -- all that midcentury modern furniture, some of which still lives in my parents' house and will go with them (long upholstered into something different from that orange, thank goodness) to the new house.

And here's me and Laura posing for what I think is an Easter picture. I can remember how it felt to sit on that brick planter edge to pose, and I remember that jeweled pin that seemed like the height of elegance (Laura and I both had them but I don't remember where we got them).

I wonder what Gregg will send next...

In the Works

2011-06-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, I have so many things in the works and I am pulled in all sorts of directions. How I am longing for a week -- even one entire day! -- with nothing to do but play with fabric. Perhaps I can squeeze it into the schedule this weekend. Meanwhile, here's one of the projects I am excited about.

I made this fabric by drawing the lines with a tjanting tool and acrylic paint, then added color with diluted acrylic paint. I tell you, just the drawing process is meditative and mesmerizing.

Then these fellows were added with a stencil...

So I am eager to keep going but real work and family matters distract me. Darn. You'll have to tune back in to see where this goes.

Container full of inspiration

2011-06-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am continuing to inch forward in my City and Guilds' patchwork course. For a recent assessment piece, my task was to design and construct a container based on something architectural. I decided to use as my inspiration architectural elements from the Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire -- I lived near there and visited it often as it was a fascinating and beautiful place. So I started thinking about the white clapboard buildings I love, the brightness of fall leaves against the white buildings...

And the lines of the picket fences and granite posts...

And that got me thinking about the beautiful wooden boxes for which the Shakers are famous...

So so working with all of those ideas, I made a fabric oval container. I used stitch-and-flip piecing techniques for the inner and outer walls of the box; and I machine stitched and then painted leafy branches hanging down.

I decided this looks rather nice holding my small collection of wool roving!

I'm not heading into making more of these, but it was a very satisfying project to put together elements that were meaningful to me and make them into an object.

You can do it

2011-06-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week here -- all good, just busy -- but I thought I'd share a few words of encouragement while I'm busy elsewhere:

Kid Gives Speech After Learning To Ride A Bike - Watch more Funny Videos

Quilting Arts likes us!

2011-05-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

I just received the June/July 2011 issue of Quilting Arts, and there's a lovely review of our Twelve by Twelve book! Thanks, QA! I am so looking forward to sitting down and reading the rest of the issue.

Elusive but Beautiful

2011-05-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Shhhh. Keep very still. There's a smiling teenager nearby.

This is sort of like spying a gorgeous butterfly in the garden -- if you move toward it too fast, it'll fly away.

I moved cautiously,and after a moment of consternation...

she relaxed and let me take some pictures.

I think she even liked it.

Such a lovely creature.

Old Things

2011-05-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here I am! I've been absent lately due to a host of little things ... you know how there are some days when you set out to do one thing and you never even get to that? It's been like that around here. One of my tasks has involved upgrading the operating system on my computer, which has meant a whole lot of little glitchy computer things ... but I think I'm back up and running now.

My mom and dad are in the process of moving out of the house they've lived in for 40 years, and so I've managed to bring home boxes of stuff from my life in that house. My brain tells me to PURGE PURGE PURGE but there is the sentimentalist in me and, despite the fact that I've not even seen these boxes for 20 years (and I should just chuck them unopened), I can't resist opening the up to dig through some old memories.

So here's what I found this week. Does anyone remember Marriott's Great America? I worked at the Great America in Santa Clara, California (right across to the convention center where PIQF is, btw) for a summer and a spring break or two. It was the perfect college-student job, with a whole lot of fun if you didn't mind the incessant noise and crazy people (we used to swear that they checked their brains at the entrance gate.) Finding the park's event buttons which we were required to wear brought back a lot of memories. I worked mostly on the park's flagship attraction, the double decker carousel right at the front of the park. And yep, from time to time people got sick on that ride, even.

In the same box was my beloved Barbie, who is showing serious signs of aging. Her mascara sure needs a touch-up, and she's got some serious neck issues. Note the ~~cracks~~ wrinkles in her neck. She needs a good turtleneck ... or any clothes at all, really. (They'll turn up in some other box, I'm sure.) But the curl in her hair has held up for 40 years, which is something, and there's not a strand of gray.

And then there's the troll doll.

Strangely, I don't remember naming him... her... well, it. And my sister and I played with them endlessly, in their shoe-box houses. This little guy ... girl... thing seems to have aged better than Barbie, I'd say.

I can't wait until my parents get into the storage area above their garage, where my Barbie dream house and my sister's Barbie's Dress Shop have been hiding all these years. We're already looking forward to a Barbie play day.

Using it Up

2011-05-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

If you've been to a quilt shop, or a quilt guild meeting, or read a sewing or quilting magazine in the last few months, then you might have heard about the American Patchwork and Quilting drive to collect one million pillowcases for charity. It's an appealing idea: corralling quilters and seamstresses to make a simple item that can be useful to lots of people, and encouraging them to donate them to their local charities. My local group provides pillowcases to a camp for children whose lives have been touched by cancer -- each kid gets his or her own pillowcase and then takes it home with them. It's sort of hokey -- and yet, it's a lovely, cheery way to touch someone's life.

Last week, I had another burst of energy in the get-stuff-out-of-the-closet kick I'm on, and I pulled a stack of fabric down from the top shelf to get it out of there. I had a big stack of bright flannels -- I think I bought them years ago thinking I'd make a few of those rag quilts... or maybe it was for those make-your-own-chenille throws... I don't even remember. But as I was setting them into a bag to give away, it struck me that they'd make a good bunch of pillowcases.

Using a "roll it up" pattern my friend Pat had given me that makes for a really quick and fun pillowcase (and you can see it demonstrated with instructions here) I started cutting hunks of flannel and next thing you know, I had 11 pillowcases. AND an empty shelf in my closet. It felt great.

By the way, is this a middle-aged thing? That it feels better to get stuff out of the house then it does to go shopping for new stuff and bring it home?!

Gotta Share

2011-05-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Improv Everywhere is at it again -- and poking fun at some people sharing everything, every minute...

I keep grinning at "I can't wait to share that with my cat ... Wait, is there an app for that?"

A Random Thursday

2011-05-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm having one of those random thursdays, where the day ahead promises to have me ricocheting back and forth among all of the little things I have to today. Nothing horribly pressing, but just a random collection of stuff that needs to be done. You know -- call the doctor about an appointment. Pack up some riding pants that I ordered for Miss C online and have to be returned. Take the load of stuff to the Salvation Army. Pick up dry cleaning. Clean the vegetable bins in the fridge. Exciting stuff like that.

I tend to get distracted when I'm working down a list like that -- there are other, more fun things to do around here. Like what's on my design wall, for instance -- I have made big flying geese with a bunch of scraps and I'm assembling them as shown. It's fun and so pinky which I always want to be sewing with in the spring. My lovely Bernina (do you all name your sewing machines? This one seems so grand that she deserves a name but I've not settled on one yet.) had a thread jam in the bobbin case that I wasn't unable to untangle at home, so she's at the dealer's for a thorough poke through her innards. I've set up the trusty Juki so I can piece away at remarkably high speeds.

Oh -- one more random thing. Thanks so much for the suggestions on how to photograph big quilts! Sadly, Kristin, I don't have an upstairs balcony but I am amused by your bungee cord-rigging suggestion. I think I'm going to try Terry's method of pinning quilts to the garage door. I save my old sewing machine needles for tasks like that, as they don't make large holes in the quilts but they work like sturdy push pins. Hey! Maybe I can do that this afternoon!

Ta ta!

Dotty

2011-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

I should be spending my fabric time figuring out what I am going to do for the upcoming 12x12 challenge which requires that we use a "spice color" palette. So far I've not had any appealing ideas come to mind, so I'm just letting it be, hoping something good will float to the surface of my distracted mind.

But meanwhile, I've been continuing my mission to use up fabric in the closet. And that explains this quilt, which I made from a bundle of Moda "layer cake" squares I found on sale a few years ago. I do love polka dots and these fabrics are so bright and cheerful! This ended up almost twin-bed sized, to my surprise, but as my goal was just to use up the fabric I'm glad it did. This is destined for the Valley of the Moon Children's Shelter, my favorite place for donating quilts.

By the way, I always have a hard time figuring out how to photograph large quilts -- my design wall isn't nearly big enough. So this morning I pinned the quilt to a big roller shade that comes off of the patio arbor outside and gave that a try. Hardly what the Quilt Photography experts would recommend but it got the job done. (I have heard of people using their garage doors. Perhaps I'll try that next.)

Ladies, Start your Machines...

2011-05-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Unless you haven't stepped into a fabric store in the last few years (and I feel sorry for you if you haven't), then you might not know that the tidy roll of fabric above is known as a "jelly roll." It's made up of 40 strips of fabric 2 1/2" wide, usually some assortment of colors or prints designed to look quite nice together. It makes for a delicious bundle of color, and it's not surprising that because they've become so popular, bunches of projects that use them have proliferated wildly.

Which leads me to the concept of a "Jelly Roll Race." I'd read about it on someone's blog some time ago, and it involves using one jelly roll to construct a quick quilt top that measures 48 x 60 inches. The race aspect just makes it silly and fun -- so when I learned about it, I figured it'd be just the sort of goofy thing that would be a fun retreat game.

The directions for making the quilt top are really easy. You essentially sew the strips together end to end, so that you have one long strip 1600 inches long (which explains why this is also sometimes called the "Jelly Roll 1600" quilt. You then fold it in half, sew, cut and fold it in half again, until it is quilt sized. You don't worry about fabric placement -- the strips themselves make the pattern. And it's a whole lot of straight seam sewing, which even a beginning sewer can do.

You can watch a race here, courtesy of Heirloom Creations:

So that's what we did one evening at the retreat last week. It was loads of fun and led to lots of giggling -- AND a gorgeous bunch of quilt tops:

You can find the detailed directions on making one of these here. Be careful, I think they might be addictive.

Wanna Play?

2011-05-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and to all of the great moms out there -- and of course to the great kids who've made us the mothers we are!

And because I'm celebrating Mother's Day by, among other things, NOT doing the tidying and house stuff I would normally do, I thought I'd share a scene from the dining room yesterday. When I came home from the quilt retreat, I piled the two quilts I'd machine quilted on the dining room table -- and Willow immediately made herself right at home.

And Willow up on the table meant that Gemma, our black lab mix, was circling the table, thinking that Willow might want to play. NOT.

"I said, NO."

Wait, where'd she go?

Is she over there?

She's down there again. NO, I don't want to play.

I think it'll be a stand-off. Or make that "sleep-off." (Excuse the blur.)

Back from the Ranch

2011-05-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

So remember I told you that I had to use that cowboy fabric in a challenge quilt for my ranch retreat? Well, here's what I did.

I started thinking about how, at the Bishop's Ranch site of our retreat, our group is known as the "Ranch Hands." And that led me to think about what a cowboy would expect if he heard that the female ranch hands were putting on a show, which led me to suspect that he would NOT show up for a quilt show. So I settled on the idea of putting a confused (and disappointed!) cowboy in the middle of one our show-and-tell shows.

Over the years at ranch retreats, I've taken tons of pictures during our show and tell. I started working with photos in Photoshop, to scale my friends up to a size that would work in proportion to that rather large cowboy. Once I had the images scaled, I printed them onto fabric with my inkjet printer. I still find my inkjet printing results to be pretty muted in color no matter how I boost the saturation before I print, so I took Tsukineko inks to paint fresher, brighter colors onto everyone. That cowboy is pretty garish (not to mention, ORANGE) so I was trying to make the colors a bit more compatible with his tones.

Then I fused everyone into position -- arranging the quilt show was the most fun part, I think -- and then stitched it all down with monofilament thread. And yes, I put myself in it:

That's me, holding up the black and white quilt.

I even fired up the embroidery part of my machine and figured out how to add the caption, which reads "Tex heard that the ladies at the ranch were putting on a show... but this wasn't what he imagined."

The quilt was a big hit when we revealed our challenge quilts -- but I'm most pleased that I've created a wonderful souvenir of my great friends and fun times at the retreat.

Happy May Day!

2011-05-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

It is May 1st! There are so many things I could be doing today. Setting up a May pole, decking the patio in ribbons and decorations, having a May Day luncheon. Basking in the beautiful sunshine outside, enjoying the flowers blooming in the garden -- well, okay, enjoying the THOUGHT of flowers that WILL be blooming as soon as I weed and sort out the mangy flowerbeds and pull all of those weeds... Or I could do a burst of spring cleaning, clearing out the old clutter to make things organized and tidy.

Yep, I could do those things today. But I won't. Instead, I'm packing up my sewing gear to head over to Bishop's Ranch this afternoon for our 2011 spring retreat. And (although I'll be home to sleep in my own comfy bed each night), I'll be escaping to the retreat for most of the week.

So there is much fun, laughter, activity, production, and good food ahead. What better way to celebrate spring?! I'll see you next weekend! Hope you celebrate May's arrival in with your own fun adventure!

Quilting with Cowboys

2011-04-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

I have finished a quilt this week, but I can't show it to you. And it involves this "Cowboy Hunk" fabric. Nope, I'm not kidding -- but I can at least add that I didn't choose this stuff. (If you must have some for yourself, you can find it on Equilter.com by searching "cowboy hunks." I'm not kidding. And you can even get it in different colorways.)

This coming week, I'll be off on my twice-yearly quilting retreat at the Bishop's Ranch. A few years ago, we started doing a challenge for the spring retreat, and last April someone chose THIS cowboy fabric as the challenge fabric. So our task was to use it in a quilt, any way we chose. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do, and I came up with an idea I love -- so I've been finishing that up and I'm delighted with it. I can't wait for the reveal at the retreat, which will happen at the tail end of it all.

I'll show you the quilt when I'm back.

BUT I can say that I had some new and exciting adventures with my Bernina 830 which I am continuing to love. I had a good experience sewing with monofilament thread on it, even sewing through fusibles with it which can be tricky on any machine. I incorporated some lettering in the quilt which I machine embroidered, and figured out how to embroider a long sentence and make it all line up despite having to move the hoop. So the whole thing was a fun experience, and isn't that what it's all about, after all?

A Walk in the Sunshine

2011-04-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day in Sacramento, where Miss C and I are visiting my friend Beth for the weekend. We thought we'd take a walk on the abandoned railroad track path near Beth's house.

Beth's dog Emmy is sauntering along with us, enjoying the smells.

I keep falling behind, because I'm enjoying the wildflowers.

...and enjoying photographing the flowers. There are tons of California poppies around here.

Emmy wants to know if I'm coming.

So do Beth and Miss C. Okay, okay, I'm coming!

I think they've had enough of the pictures. I'm just doing my job as Mamarazzi, but I get the point.

I'll go back to just enjoying a walk in the sunshine with my daughter, my best friend, and a very mellow dog.

Those Same Tricky Questions

2011-04-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

In our homeschooled World History course, Miss C is learning about the Renaissance. I ordered this DVD set, called "DaVinci and the Mysteries of the Renaissance" because it not only addressed the life of Leonardo Da Vinci, but also because it included several other videos on the arts and sciences of the time. Today, we watched the video titled "The Artists."

And here's what struck me. Looking at the art of the 14th and 15th centuries raises the same questions artists ask themselves today. What is art? How does culture impact art, and art reflect society? If a patron enables an artist to make new work, what does the artist owe the patron? To what extent would or should an artist vary his or her vision to please the audience? It's really rather humbling to recognize that artists like Michelangelo and Da Vinci and Bruneleschi and Titian stumbled over these same issues.

If you can find The Artists video part of this series (check your library!), it's well worth watching. There are lots of comments by current artists and art historians, talking about how artists of the period help us understand why art is important. The video doesn't just address art history -- it addresses art's place in our lives regardless of the age in which we live.

La la la, yak yak yak, yum yum yum

2011-04-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

The wisteria is in bloom all over the neighborhood, so it must be spring!

Today's an action-packed Sunday. The Healdsburg Chorus is heading into our final concerts of the season, and this afternoon will be the busiest one, I think. The music is so pretty -- including Shenendoah, Once Upon a Time, some Gilbert and Sullivan, some silliness, and a rousing medley from Sound of Music which is so fun to sing and always gets the audience's toes tapping. It's a shame to have to stop singing the songs just when we have gotten good at singing them!

Today is an auspicious birthday day -- Happy Birthday to my dad and my friend Pat!

Various friends are coming into town for the chorus concert, and then we'll celebrate by a fun dinner out this evening.

So that explains the title post -- it sums up the day. Hope you have a beautiful Sunday ahead!

Leaf Dissection

2011-04-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we revealed a new set of quilts over at the Twelve by Twelve blog. The theme was "chartreuse," and this piece above was my contribution. When I finished it, I was happy with it -- and yet, I have some ongoing ambivalence about it.

I think it comes down to my mixed feelings about using realistic images in my quilts. There's obviously something that draws me in that direction -- my literal mind, surely, but also a real pleasure in seeing something real depicted in fabric and thread. I love the work of artists like Marcia Stein and Velda Newman
It's a direction I've taken often in our 12x12 challenges. (Here, and here, and here, for example.)

And, when I think about it, I enjoy developing the skill to translate an image into fabric and thread. I think it was my favorite part of working on this Wisteria piece, actually -- the process of really looking, and fine-tuning the values and contrasts, getting the highlights and shadows in there, finding and adding bits of subtle color. So all of that felt good and I really did have a grand time making this.

At the same time, I have a sort of "So what?" reaction. Perhaps the more realistic a piece is, the less appealing it is -- after all, why recreate a photograph when you have the photograph? In some ways -- aside from the technical aspects -- creating the most realistic interpretation may be the easiest route. Abstraction of an image -- capturing a sense of the image as well as the emotional tone and energy -- is a lot harder. It's what I love love love in the work of Sue Benner and Patty Hawkins. Ah, well, it's clear I've got a long way to go if that's what I'm aiming for. And, I suppose that's the question: what AM I aiming for?

In any event, that's not a question I can answer today. Instead, I'll show you a bit about how the wisteria leaves piece developed. I started with this base, hand-dyed green fabric fused to the lavender base.

From there, I started thread-sketching. I discovered that what looks good up close may look too bland from a distance. I'd add what seemed a dramatically contrasting thread -- say, red -- and then I'd step back and it would almost disappear. At one point, thinking I was nearing the end, I got to this point:

But when it was up on my wall for a bit, it just didn't have the punch of the original photo.

Too little contrast, too many medium to light values. Too much of the same color of green. So I went back in with more thread, and a bit of shading with my beloved Neocolor II crayons, to darken things up.

I suppose I could have fiddled with this for a lot longer, adding some blue here, some yellow there. But it was time to stop.

I'm going to try to make myself head in a more abstract direction next time. Oh, heck, it's all about having fun, right? So I'll do whatever appeals at the moment.

Chartreuse, Revealed!

2011-04-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Over on the Twelve by Twelve blog, we're revealing our chartreuse-inspired quilts today! Head on over to see how I used this photo as my inspiration, and to see what everyone else did, too!

Ten Cents!

2011-04-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

If you haven't tried a) watching one of Interweave/Quilting Arts' video workshops, or b) downloading a digital workshop to watch from your computer's hard drive, then TODAY is the day.

Interweave is offering two digital download videos for TEN CENTS each. That's two hour-long workshops for twenty cents!

One if the video pictured above, Lyric Kinard's "sampler platter" of surface design techniques. The other is Malka Dubrawsky's video workshop called "Shape Shifting: Using Shibori to Mimic Pieced and Appliqued Designs".

I've seen Malka's shibori workshop and it's great instruction. I've just downloaded Lyric's on surface design and will look forward to watching that one. It's really easy to download these... and practically instantaneous. C'mon, it's twenty cents. You won't be sorry.

(I'm not affiliated with QA or Interweave, just a big fan of the dvd workshop and delighted at getting anything for ten cents!)

Before Your Very Ears

2011-04-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Go grab a beverage and head on over to Annie Smith's Quilting Stash website. Her newest podcast features an interview me and Helen Conway! We sat down with Annie last October, at PIQF, to talk about 12x12, our book, and Helen's first visit to PIQF.

If you hurry, you might be in time to leave a comment on Annie's blog and win a copy of Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge, too!

(By the way, it's easy to subscribe to Annie's podcasts for free via Itunes. Search "Quilting Stash" and it'll pop right up.) Thank you, Annie, for sharing this interview with Helen and me with your listeners!

And now I wait...

2011-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

I had an unexpectedly open morning, so I took the opportunity to play a bit with something I've been wanting to do. I've been laying out masking tape on fabric ...

and I've stencilled in color using Shiva Painstiks. This has not only been fun and relaxing -- it's also been feasible with minimal input from the left hand, which is still surprisingly sore.

I was thinking how much fun I'd have machine quilting when all of the color was added, but then I started thinking about how these paintstiks have to cure ... so I looked it up. And they are supposed to cure for 3 to 5 days!

Darn. So much for an instant gratification sort of project.

Music in the Air

2011-04-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

When I looked out the bedroom window yesterday morning, I found this music note floating in the sky.

Amazing, isn't it? I think it's a sign.

Our Healdsburg Chorus concerts start tonight and we are performing a few times between now and April 18. Our first concert is at a local Salvation Army rehab facility where the audience, although literally captive, is always enthusiastic.

One Hand Clapping

2011-04-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Well, my plans for the end of the week took an abrupt turn. On Wednesday afternoon I set out with Gemma (our lab/weimeraner mix) for a long walk, and when we were on our way home, two chihuahuas came yapping and charging across the street at us, Gemma got excited and in the process of trying to control her, I got tangled in her leash and fell over. I did that instinctive thing of putting my hand out to break my fall -- and as a result, I have a VERY sore left hand, wrist and arm.

Luckily, nothing was broken -- I'm just a bit sore. I'm discovering how limiting it is to not be able to grip my thumb to my forefinger! (In fact, my friend who had thumb surgery tells me that doctors consider a hand to be 90% disabled if the thumb is hurt.) I'm told I'll be back to normal in a few days.

Anyway. So much for the plans of starting a new art quilt and loading the car with boxes for the Salvation Army. I did, at least, get to sit quietly and refine my sketches for the piece in my head.

Today I'm off to have lunch with a friend. I think I can manage my fork one-handed.

The Storage Space Blues

2011-03-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

I recently installed a behind-the-door storage rack to hold stabilizers and other oddball things that end up rolling around my studio... and that experience led me to creating this little Quilter's Fable for you (based on one of my favorite children's book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff:

If you give a quilter a studio, she's going to want to create storage space.

And to create storage space, she'll want to go to The Container Store.

At the Container Store, she'll buy some Elfa storage equipment.

To assemble the new storage equipment, she'll need to get out the power tools.

When she gets out the power tools, she'll assemble all of the storage equipment and be delighted with her new space.

Once she has more storage space, she's going to want to buy more fabric and supplies to put in it.

Once she has more fabric and supplies, she'll discover that the storage space is full.

And when she discovers that the storage space is full,

She's going to want a bigger studio.

Red and White and Art all Over

2011-03-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

To anyone who has ever doubted that traditional quilts are art: look at these photographs from the "Infinite Variety" exhibit of red and white quilts at the American Folk Art Museum in NYC. (Oh, how I wish I could see this in person!) The exhibit is on display through March 30, 2011.

The museum is encouraging all who attend to photograph the exhibit and post their photos on Flickr.com, so you can enjoy a full-screen slideshow by going here.

Sketched

2011-03-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of DVD workshops. I can't always get to where a great teacher is teaching, and I can't always adjust my schedule to take a one or two day class. But with a DVD workshop, I can put on my PJs and plunk myself in front of the TV or computer, and get a great lesson. I can watch it in parts if I want, and I can keep it on while I'm trying the technique being shown. Here's one of my absolute favorites: "Mastering Machine Stitching" by Susan Brubaker Knapp.

Maybe you remember Susan's wonderful 4-part "Thread Sketching 101" series of articles in Quilting Arts magazine (issues # 43, 44, 45, 46 from 2010). Remember Susan's amazing thread-sketched picture of yarn?! You could practically feel the fuzzy texture. And her peacock feather? Astonishing. I was mesmerized by the detail Susan can create with thread on fabric -- so I was excited to see this DVD. When I watched it the first time, I was impressed by Susan's clear instructions and her comfort demonstrating what she does on camera. It really felt like the DVD gave me the chance to be in the room with Susan, watching while she walked through how she does what she does. She really made me feel like I could do it, too.

But I'm raving it about the DVD now because it's only now that I've given myself the chance try a thread-sketching project. For the 12x12 challenge (to be revealed on April 12 -- stay tuned!) I decided to thread sketch an image from a photograph I took. I fired up the DVD again, and I've been working with Susan's instructions to guide me along the way. It may not be up to Susan's level, but gosh, I've been having a great time with it. And it's looking better than I could have imagined. So even though I can't show you the result yet, I can tell you that I'm loving the thread sketching and Susan's DVD has really helped me do it.

It's accidental that I've written this, just when there's a discussion taking place on the QuiltArt list questioning the value of this sort of material for "serious" quilt artists. But I think it's a mistake to discount the importance of learning new techniques and trying new ways of working with our media. Even the most sophisticated and innovative of artists had to learn how to use the tools of their trade sometime, in some way. I'm the first to admit that I'm not making anything that anyone would call "serious art" (whatever that is) but I love trying new techniques and expanding my fiber art tool box. So I think it's great that the folks at Quilting Arts and Interweave Press make learning new techniques so accessible and affordable.

I've seen several of the DVD workshops that Quilting Arts/Interweave sells, and I love having them in my library of resources. But this one is GREAT, and if you're at all interested in improving your skills with thread painting, I'd say this DVD is a must.

Feel free to look around...

2011-03-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

You all know that I read a lot of books. And since I like to talk about books, I decided to put my talk about reading and general books reviews together in one place -- sort of like they're now on their very own book shelf! See that tab right above this post? Click on "Books and Reading" and it'll take you to my ramblings about whatever it is I've been reading.

By the way, I've decided to keep my quilt and art-related book reviews here, where I've always mixed them in. So feel free to go exploring on my new pages! (They are actually separate blogs, so if you want to, you can subscribe to them and be notified when those specific pages are updated.)

Blog Love: Painted Threads Projects

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I read a lot of blogs, and there are so many that I enjoy. But some stay at the top of my "must read" list because of how they inspire me and amuse me and keep me excited to see what will be there next. I thought I'd start share some of my favorites with you -- maybe they'll join your favorites, too. So welcome to the first installment of "Blog Love!"

I've long ~~drooled over~~ admired the amazing art quilts of Judy Coates Perez. Her painted quilts, always beautifully quilted, just sing with color and joy and gorgeous detail. Her collaged quilts combine tones and images so gracefully, and incorporate patterns and textures and different fibers in creative ways. In fact, Judy is the reason I now have a small bowl of soggy tea bags in various stages of drying on my kitchen window sill. Her use of stained tea bag papers has inspired me to try incorporating them in my collage and altered book play.

But, in addition to her regular blog which makes for fun and inspirational reading, what I really love is Judy's Painted Threads Projects blog. Judy uses that blog to feature tutorials on all sorts of fun projects, from felted soap bars, to metal work projects, to carving rubber stamps, and more. She also includes great series of posts showing in detail how her amazing quilted pieces were created. The only downside to reading this blog regularly? It makes me want to do all of these different projects and try all of these techniques! (See tea bags, above.)

You just have to love someone who shares her process and techniques so generously. You can also spend an hour hearing Judy tell her own creative story, thanks to Lesley Riley's interview with her on Art and Soul Radio. Lesley's podcast is always inspirational, but her interview with Judy has been one of my favorites.

So go take a look -- feel the blog love!

Comfort Quilts for Japan

2011-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Quilters Newsletter Magazine and the Japanese publisher of Patchwork Tsushin are collecting comfort quilts for those impacted by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Those of us in the US can send quilts to Quilters Newsletter, which will them forward them to Japan for distribution by the folks at Patchwork Tsushin. Quilters who live outside of the US and want to contribute can email Dana Jones, the editor of QN, to receive instructions on how to send quilts directly to Patchwork Tsushin.

Here’s how you can be part of this important worldwide response:
•   Send quilts of any size from baby to adult to:

Dana Jones
Quilters Newsletter
741 Corporate Circle, Suite A
Golden, CO 80401

•   Mark your box: “Quilts for Japan.”
•   Send quilts as soon as possible and no later than April 30, 2011.
•   Enclose your name, address, phone number, and email address with the quilts.

Quilt, Christened

2011-03-22T08:09:00.000-07:00

Willow is usually first to find a new quilt and take a nap on it. And she's done it again.

Give me Celebrity Rehab any day

2011-03-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

There is one thing about the whole "let's watch Charlie Sheen fall apart on TV" thing that is reassuring and pleasing me. (One thing. The rest is sad and troubling and just icky.)

It's that I can't bear to watch it.

And why is that a good thing, you ask? It's because I have an embarrassing fondness for reality tv. It's like my own little late night, junk food substitute. So I tune in to see what appalling things the Real Housewives are up to, I watch Bethenny cope with a new marriage and motherhood and a growing business, and (thank you, Karen) I watch Joan and Melissa figure out how to live together in LA without killing each other. I regularly tell Roger that, as a psychologist, he needs to watch Celebrity Rehab, because it explains addiction in a way I've never understood before. That show is horrifying and painful and sad to watch sometimes, but there's compassion and education and genuine hope grounding that show. (He's not buying that, by the way, and declines my offers to watch it with him.) I actually don't feel guilty about my love for Project Runway and Top Chef and Work of Art -- those involve watching the creative process in action, and they're just plain fun. But the other stuff? It's not exactly life-enriching.

I know. I don't admit this to many people. (So you'll keep my little secret, right?) I just find it entertaining in a mindless sort of way.

I actually do have some standards. I can't take the mean, conspiratorial competitiveness of Survivor. I can't take the glorified a-holeness of Dr. House. (A lot of folks love this show, I know, but it just twists my stomach up in knots to hear how House talks to others. I used to work with a guy like that, and I think I'm still traumatized.) And just so you know, my favorite tv tends to be of the PBS and BBC variety. I'm nothing if not wide-ranging in my viewing tastes.

But I can't stand to watch Charlie Sheen coming unglued on screen. And turning away from that is a good thing.

Drum roll, please...

2011-03-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of redecorating my bloggy home here. I started out to add an image to my banner, and one thing led to another... So it's really more like I got tired of my little one bedroom fixer-upper, and I found myself in the middle of a construction project to add rooms and new stories and all! (And a gazebo! Don't you think one NEEDS a gazebo?)

I'm not sure when the whole thing will be ready for the open house. But it could happen soon (html goddesses permitting). So when you over for a visit, don't be surprised if it looks a bit, dare I say, LOVLIER.

I'm gonna go apply some paint to the gazebo now.

And the winner is...

2011-03-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Today's lucky winner of the Charmed Circles pattern is....

CORY!

Send me your address via email and the Charmed Circles will be on its way to you!

(And Happy Birthday! How did the Random Number Generator KNOW?!)

For everyone else who would like to make this pattern, you can purchase your very own here!

Funniest TV Bit, Ever

2011-03-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

Guaranteed to make you laugh!

Surprise! It's That Quilt again! Win the Pattern!

2011-03-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hey! I like this again! See, what'd I tell you about the blocking? Between adding more quilting and blocking this, it's all flat and pretty.

Leave a comment here if you'd like the chance to have me send you the pattern and I'll pick a random winner on Thursday, March 17!

Adventures in Embroidery, continued

2011-03-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of my first attempt at embroidering a quilt label. I get a ridiculous thrill from watching the machine sew all by itself.

Just a bit later -- here's how it turned out:

My first embroidered label!

Amazing what a little quilting will fix...

2011-03-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

Remember this? I've been quilting today. And if I ever doubted that having an even amount of quilting on a quilt makes a difference, I sure don't now.

After I quilted in those leafy centers, I had a big bubbly, ripply mess. I was hoping that blocking would fix it, but I knew that what this really needed was more machine quilting to make the density even.

So, today I put Pandora Radio on (have you tried it? You plug in a few of your favorite artists and then it plays a personalized assortment of songs and artists like the ones you've picked. It's GREAT) and I buzzed along.

It's finally all quilted. So I just need to finish sewing on the binding and block it and it'll be DONE!

Check back for a blog giveaway -- I'm giving away this lovely Charmed Circles quilt pattern (because having done this once, I'm never gonna do this again. :-)

Feeling Mod

2011-03-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

My "Flight Path" quilt is featured today on the "Modern Day Quilts" blog. I'm honored -- thanks, Heather!

If you've not seen the blog, go take a look -- there are some delightfully fresh and original quilts there.

Why am I doing this, again?

2011-03-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Some time ago (a year ago, maybe?) I started this "Charmed Circles" quilt. I'm not even sure why. Well, really, I do know... my friend Nancy made it and showed it at retreat and I really loved the modern wedding-ringish thing, and I wanted to make something in the aqua/brown palette. So I ordered the pattern and away I went. I had a bit of a struggle with the machine quilting concepts, so I thought I'd share my process with you.

I spent one quilt retreat piecing it all together (which, with all those curved seams and corners meeting up, wasn't QUITE as simple as I thought it'd be, but it wasn't bad). And I had this plan for how to quilt it.

(Ignore the rumply part. I am. :-) ) I had some great fabric for the back. I stitched around all of the arcs. I thought I'd leave the seed shapes plain (or maybe stitch the strips within them) and then, for the in between pointy-squares, I planned to do a loose sort of stitching, from the back, to follow the pattern of the back fabric. Wonderful thought, yes? But it looked dreadful. Tight and too much quilting and just messy. I concluded that after sewing four of those squares. So I ripped and ripped. Ugh.

And then it sat while I pondered what to do. Finally, I spent a quiet half hour at Starbucks one afternoon between errands, and I doodled possibilities. I'm not big on marking quilts and following lines, so I knew I wanted something I could free-motion and have fun with.

I wasn't kidding when I said I doodled. And I doodled some more.

I started liking the leaf shape. And to make it a little clearer, I put some clear vinyl down on top of the actual quilt top, and used a dry-erase marker to test out possibilities:

And then I decided to go for it:

I can hardly wait until I'm done with this thing. (And, oh goodie, bias binding and scalloped edges are what are still to come!) I know I will like it again some day but for now I'm just tired of the darn thing!

By the way, at present it's sort of rumply but I have confidence that blocking it will even it all out. Really, it's amazing what blocking will fix. Trust me.

Only 7 more squares to quilt...

Random Ringing

2011-03-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to cut down on the time I spend at the computer each morning -- I enjoy reading blogs and poking around so much that I can lose a whole lot of time that way! And as we know, there are so many interesting people doing so many cool things!

But, in an effort to get moving and productive a bit earlier, I now have my morning coffee or tea while I check emails first thing, and then I satisfy my "discover new blog fun" urge by allow a few pokes at the "Random" button on the Artful Quilters blog ring to see where that takes me. The ring has 125 art quilters on it right now, so there is a lot of activity and inspiration right at the click of a button!

Here's some of the fun I've discovered:

Colleen is playing with color and making lively small quilts

Carol is making charming bird quilts

Linda is learning to use Adobe Illustrator and making wonderful small quilts with her illustrations

Kathy has made some wonderful small quilts with charming hand stitched embellishments

Candy is dyeing up a storm and making me want to dye fabric, too

So go ahead, go over there and hit the "Random" button -- what fun will you discover?

Mean!

2011-03-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned here that my teenaged daughter, Miss C, has had her own difficult experiences with bullying at school. I should not have been surprised -- but I was -- when she showed me the latest computer animation she was working on. Digital animation is her passion, and she has taught herself to do incredible stop-motion animations, using imagery from a game she likes and using a variety of software including Photoshop. I love seeing her explore her creative passion and how she continues to learn new techniques and try different things. But most of all, I'm so impressed at how she's use her creative expression to tackle subject matter that is so personal and has been so difficult for her.

So, to Taylor Swift's song "Mean,", here's her newest animation:

Putting the Wonder back in One Block Wonder quilts

2011-03-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

Remember those "One Block Wonder" quilts that were sparked by Maxine Rosenthal's book of the same name? It was quite the fad for a while there (yep, I made two -- one finished, one still to be quilted).

But just in case you're thinking they are sort of boring and passe? Check THESE out, by Bruce Seeds. They're beautiful and he's done some stunning original things with this idea.