Playing = Learning

 This little quilt above -- "Domestici-tea" is as far as I've gotten, and am going to get, on the piece I've been playing with.  It's been a fun adventure, and I've learned a lot.  I'll make another version incorporating what I've learned here.  Because I like the idea of things in a teacup, but there's just too much wrong with this.

First?  It needs to not be so static.  I was torn between cutting tidy shapes and cutting wonky shapes -- and now that I see this, I think it needs to be wonkier to convey the whimsy I want.

Same goes for colors.  I was just pulling impulsively, but this is a little to sweet.  So next try, a different palette.  I'll have to think about that scallop on the bottom edge.  I put it on, thinking it added to the domesticity subject -- but I think it adds to the overall sweetness, and not in a good way.

And see that black stitching?  I wanted it to look sketchy.  But I realize that even though I was trying to sew lose sketchy stitches, this is still too tight.  It needs to be more exaggerated to look sketchy and not just like crooked sewing.

And oh, that felt.  Forget that!  Look at how bubbly this texture is:

I have pressed the heck out of it, but it's still weird and puckery.

Oh well.  I've had fun and it has shown me what needs to be different.  Maybe I made all the mistakes on this one.

It felt bumpy (ha ha)

On a whim this week, I started a new project.  Here's a glimpse of it, with wonky colors from the camera flash. 

But even while I'm having fun and liking certain aspects of it, something is going badly wrong.  Having just watched Deborah's video workshop in which she creates small collage quilts using acrylic felt instead of batting, I decided to give felt a try.  But, as often happens with my projects, it kept getting bigger.  It looks like it will be about 20 x 26, maybe.  And as I quilt, the whole thing is puckering up like crazy.  I've adjusted tension and pressed and pinned ... but I think it must be a function of the felt not having the same give as mostly-cotton batting.  So maybe as I stitch, the felt gives or stretches a tiny bit, but then it's still then it pulls back up?

I've had moments of thinking that I should stop. It's pretty bumpy and a bit puckery.  But then I decide to press again, and forge forward.  This isn't that big, and it's just for fun, and maybe when the stitching is even over the whole surface, it will at least look consistent.  Then I can press and it will end up looking like an old quilt that has had a bit of shrinkage for that quilty-bumpy look.  Perhaps I will just pretend it was intentional.

I'm already thinking I will remake this, using normal batting.  I like the imagery.  But I'm dismayed with the texture.  I'll be sticking to normal batting next time.

But have you quilted on acrylic felt?  Has anyone else encountered this problem? 

Review: Contemporary Fabric Collage Video Workshop

Here's my friend Deborah Boschert.  (She's shown here at the Houston Quilt Festival last year, signing our Twelve by Twelve book.  Doesn't she have the best smile?)  I just love Deborah.  She's not just totally nice, and fun, and beautiful -- but she's got oodles of creativity and the talent of making it look so effortless.  When we do our Twelve by Twelve reveals, I always look forward to seeing what Deborah will do, because I know I will love it and learn from it.

Those clever folks at Quilting Arts apparently agree, because they have just released Deborah's video workshop, Contemporary Fabric Collage.

Because it's by Deborah, I was pretty sure it'd be excellent, and I was eager to download the digital edition and watch it.  (Oh, I forgot to tell you -- It comes in a DVD version and a digital download for instant gratification!) 

I was right. Deborah has reduced the layered collages she makes so well into an accessible formula, which she demonstrates with clarity in this workshop.  She talks about fabric choices, adding sheer elements, and embellishing with hand-embroidery.  As I was watching this, I found myself having to stop myself from reaching for fabric so I could play along as she went.  One of the best things about this, I think, is how Deborah shows how free-flowing and unstructured the construction can be.  Plus, I've been totally inspired to add some hand-embroidery to the piece I've got going now.

You can get a taste of the video in this excerpt from Quilting Arts.  But really, I highly recommend it.  Even if I didn't already know Deborah and her art, after seeing this, I'd want to!

Scrappy Thoughts

I have a lot of fabric.  My closet is full of yards of  beautiful cotton fabric: charming prints of all colors, elegant batiks, lush hand-dyed fabrics.  I'm not shy about using it, either.  And yet, I seem to have this thing about scraps. I can't seem to throw them away.

Maybe it's the blessing/curse of the creative imagination: anything is fodder for a great creation.  We see the possibility in everything, so it can be hard to let things go.  I'm not one who saves every little bit -- I hear tell of folks who keep everything that's at least an inch square.  I have a hard enough time with the bigger pieces.  Last year, some friends and I decided to make "art parts" -- the description coined by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston for the scrappy blocks they made for their collaborative quilts -- and at some point in the future we figure we'll pool our blocks and make three fun quilts.

So a few months ago, I pulled out my scraps, which I'd been stuffing randomly into a huge plastic bag.  Or two.  Or three.  And I spent a lovely afternoon sorting them by color, placed in even more separate plastic bags which are stored in a little rolling cart under my table so I can wheel them out and have instant access should the urge to sew scraps strike.

And you know? Having them all sorted HAS made me want to sew with them.  I've made all sorts of art parts, although I've found I run out of enthusiasm quickly when I'm not sewing with a specific project in mind.  And recently, I saw a scrap quilt in the beautiful book "Sunday Morning Quilts," and was inspired to pull out my white-background scraps and make my own variation.  It'll probably be a donation quilt, but considering that it has been a fast and simple quilt, I feel amazingly satisfied because I've used scraps.  I've just finished quilting it today, and I'm looking forward to sewing the binding on in front of the tv tonight.

I know I'll get to that fabric in the closet soon. But in the meantime, these scraps are calling to me.

What about you? Do you save your scraps?  Do you use them?

Judging the Judges

About a year ago, someone called me out of the blue and asked if I would be interested in judging a quilt show in my area.  I was pleased and flattered, but my first thought -- and then immediate answer -- was that I'd never judged a show and really didn't know anything about it.  I will cut a long series of events and phone calls short, but the upshot of the situation was that I hooked the show people up with a friend of mine who is a well-trained and very experienced quilt judge, and then she invited me to observe the judging with her and another experienced judge. 

As these things happen, that fascinating experience turned into other opportunities.  Curious, I asked those judges how one learns to be a quilt judge, and ended up signing on to help them resurrect a judging course that used to be offered on the west coast, but hasn't been available for years. 

Fast forward to now.  I've had the opportunity to shadow-judge numerous times, and I have found the process tremendously interesting.  I have been greatly encouraged to observe the complete respect, appreciation, and objectivity with which the judge's I've seen have approached the quilts they judge.  I'm also assisting Helen Powell, Jody Ohrt, and Dawn Licker, the judges behind the West Coast Quilt Judging Academy, as they prepare to offer their quilt judging certification course in October, 2012.  The course will be offered at Pacific International Quilt Festival, in Santa Clara, California, and should be an amazing opportunity to get instruction, tips, and lots of hands-on mock judging experience with knowledgeable quilt judges. 

I have to admit that I've had a lot of questions, and a little bit of ambivalence, as I've embarked on this new learning experience.  I mostly make art quilts, and we all know the rumors about (or have experienced) the "poor relation" status that art quilts get at some shows.  Almost every art quilter I know has a story about how some carefully thought out design aspect of an art quilt was remarked upon unfavorably by a traditionally-minded quilt judge applying traditional quilt "rules."  Still, I figure there's a need for quilt judges who know and respect art quilts, so that's the approach I've taken.

And, as I said, I've shadowed a number of different judges over the past year, and every one has impressed me with her genuine effort at not basing her decisions on subjective views, on really appreciating every quilt before her, and recognizing that art quilts need to be judged with a view to the artistic decisions of the maker.  It's been a humbling experience, as well, to see so many quilters put their work forward to be evaluated and shown.  I have to admit that, even with quilts I don't intend to show, what I've learned has made me slow down and take a bit more care with my own quilt process along the way. 

If you have any interest in entering any show, you might try to get involved in watching the judges.  Volunteer to hold quilts or be a scribe, so you can watch and listen to how the judging works.  I'm betting that you'll learn a lot and look at your own work in a new way.

Cheers to the Pine Tree Quilters

I have just had the pleasure of observing the judging of the quilts for the Pine Tree Quilt Guild quilt show in Nevada City, California. What a wonderful assortment of quilts of all kinds --with an impressively skillful set of art quilts. It will be a very good show! If you are in the Nevada City area on May 5 or 6 (this weekend), you should pop in!

Now I'm resting my tired feet, enjoying a glass of wine, and visiting with my aunt who just happens to live outside of Nevada City. All in all a delightful day.

 

Driving by Number

Today is reveal day for us over at Twelve by Twelve.  For 2012, we are using 20x12 as our challenge size and the theme this time around was "map."

In making my piece, I found myself thinking about my experience with California freeways over my life, and so this is my response.  I had a great time making it.  You can read more about what inspired this quilt, and see the 11 other map-inspired pieces here.

Oh!  And I'm the featured artist over on the Dinner @ 8 blog!  You can read my interview here! 

Coming Back

I have to apologize for my blog absence.  Since January, I've been in a very contemplative place, and not a particularly bloggy-chatty mood.  I've been doing lots of inner work and personal journalling and goal setting, and while that's been very good for me, it's made me rather absent and boring around here. 

But there is nothing that can shake me out of myself like the twice-yearly retreat I attend up at Bishop's Ranch here in Healdsburg.  I've written about it lots of times, but basically I fling my sewing supplies into the car, drive the 15 minutes from my home through vineyard-covered hills to the ranch, and I feel like I leave the world behind.  I get to hang out with 50 interesting, vibrant, and creative women and spend all day (and some late nights) sewing and chatting and nibbling on snacks. It was a very fun time.

The shot above is a view from a patio area near the building in which we gather.  (I realize, seeing the photo now, that I have some work to do learning about depth of field camera settings in order for it not to look like there's a  flat scenery backdrop beyond those benches.  Doesn't that look weirdly flat?  But it's a real scene, I promise you.)

My first ranch project was to make something for the April challenge.  A few years ago we started handing out a piece or two of fabric, and who ever wanted to play would return the following April with something made that included the challenge fabric.  You might recall some of my past challenge responses: my David quilt, and my toilet paper quilt "Over or Under?", and my "Tex Goes to the Quilt Show" quilt.  But this year I just wasn't inspired. I liked the fabric, a rather charming print with whimsical birds, but between life stuff and lack of ideas, I just didn't do anything.  The guilt of not participating in the challenge caused me to make this tote bag at the very last minute.

So while it wasn't clever or artistic, I found that once it was together I quite like it and suspect I'll use it a lot. (FYI, it's about 18 inches wide and 16 inches tall.)  After the excitement of the challenge reveal, we received our 2013 challenge fabric -- red and white with cows all over it, which is suitable as the ranch is next to a dairy farm and we get regular -- um, shall we say olfactory REMINDERS of the ladies' presence.  Stay tuned for cows in April, 2013. 

When I was doing the last seams to put the bag together, I had to sew over some very thick layers and I got the dreaded THUNK-pop sound of a needle breaking.  I had no difficulty finishing the bag, but when I went to move on to the next project, I discovered that the needle bar had been whacked off center, so that the needle wasn't aligning properly and stitching was going to be a problem.  Ah, time for a trip to the repairman for the old Juki!  Luckily, as I was commuting to and from home during the retreat, I knew I could just bring my Bernina in the next morning.  But an afternoon with no working machine -- what to do?

Well, it just so happened that I'd brought along my watercolor paints, thinking I might have time to do a pod for two for the week's assignment in the Designs from Life online class I've been taking from Jane LaFazio.  Because we were supposed to paint "something from the mountains," I'd brought along a pod from a magnolia tree I'd found last time I was at the dentist.  So, instead of sewing, I spent a nice bit of time drawing and painting and making this sketchbook page:

I returned the next morning with my little Bernina 153 and I was back in business.  To sew, I'd brought bags of scraps, sorted by color.  Two friends and I are planning to collaborate on some scrappy quilts, inspired by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston, so I figured I'd sew a bunch of "art parts" with my scraps.  But you know what?  I discovered that sewing block after block without a specific purpose becomes somewhat boring after 50 blocks or so.  It was fun for a while, and I was feeling virtuous about using my scraps -- although I had a moment of dismay when I realized that I wasn't really getting RID of the scraps, I was just changing the SHAPE of the scraps before I took everything back home again.

As luck would have it, my friend and ranch-next-door-neighbor Eleanor saved the day by pulling out a book she'd just gotten:

It's called Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison, and it's full of simple but stunning modern scrappy quilts.  My scrappy sewing was reinvigorated, and by wednesday evening, I had these n the design wall:

So that's what I've been up to.  Now I'm home and getting ready for more fun ahead over the next week -- some travels, a visit with my favorite Auntie Carole, a chorus concert... it'll be busy.  But I'm determined to show up here more often.

Happy end-of-April to you, and may you find May flowers on your path!

May the Rabbit of Easter bring you much of the chocolate

This is one of the funniest Easter stories I've ever heard. It's a little ritual to listen to it together every year.



Thanks to David Sedaris and This American Life for bringing it to us, and Happy Easter to you!

Texts from Hillary

Have you seen the tumblr series of photos based on the picture of Hillary Clinton using her smart phone?  A press photographer captured her picture, and it's become a funny trend of matching it with another picture to add what Hillary's text would be.   It's a riot.   You can check them out here. 

I just love Hillary.

My Very Own Dog Art

About two weeks ago, I had a sudden crafty urge, brought on no doubt by a whole lot of Pinterest and DIY blog hopping.  The crafty urge happened to coincide with my changing the look of the master bedroom, and I'd been thinking about changing the art on the walls for some new interest.  And look what I made!

You might recognize the subject, our lab-weimaraner mix Gemma.  Then again, you might not.  But trust me, it's her.  I spent a lively hour one afternoon following her around, camera in hand, trying to get just the right profile shot of her.  You know, when you try to get down on a dog's level to take its picture, the dog usually rushes right toward you.  I have the dog nose prints on my camera lens to prove it.  I finally enlisted the help of Miss C, to put Gemma on a leash and walk her around until she stopped in a good profile pose.

(Nope, this isn't the one I used but you get the idea.)

I followed the great instructions I found on Karah's DIY blog "The Space Between," and all I needed was the canvas (I didn't have an old one lying around, as she did).  I've got tons of acrylic paint and it's always nice to do a project that uses what you already have.  So I got to be crafty AND virtuous. 

You'll notice that her dog pictures featured a very flat background.  I wanted a streaky look, which is a good thing because that's what I got.  And now Gemma (so quiet and obedient!) stands watch over the bedroom dresser. 

 

One of these days I'm going to paint that dresser.  But I'll have to wait for a big crafty urge to come along.

South African Drumbeat

When I was at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England this past summer, I met Magie Relph, the delightful owner of the African Fabric shop.  I bought a basket and a bit of fabric from her, and Magie admired the 12x12 quilts, and before I left I'd agreed to participate in a mini challenge with some of the other Twelves using some South African fabric called "Shweshwe."

The fabric is not what I'd have recognized as African, and when I did a bit of research, I learned why:  although it is now made in South Africa, it originated as discharged indigo fabric which was imported from England.  A South African textile company eventually started manufacturing the fabric with help from a UK investor.  And while it started as primarily indigo and brown fabrics, it's now also made in vibrant oranges, pinks, purples, and reds. 

At any rate, that quilt up top is what I did.  My inspiration was the patterns from other South African textiles, sort of like this:

 

I started by cutting a variety of shweshwe prints into strips and piecing them together.  They're so pretty, aren't they?  I tried organizing them them randomly...

and then I tried doing a light-to-dark arrangement...

and that's what I ended up using, so sewn they looked like this:

Look, even the scraps look pretty in these bright colors:

Then I layered the strip pieced under a layer of black fabric, and onto batting and a backing.  I'd drawn my design onto tracing paper, aiming for a loose and primitive use of patterns.  I arranged the patterns to create (in my own mind anyway) hills at the bottom, then grass, then flowers, then huts -- a symbolic landscape of sorts.  I layered the tissue paper on top of all of the fabric, then sewed through all of those layers with small stitches. (It made a great crinkly sound when wrestling it all under the sewing machine!)

Then, I started peeling the paper away, and cutting away parts of the black fabric to reveal the shweshwe fabric underneath.  (Yep, I know -- why did I put the paper on the black layer?  I had a reason at the time -- which I can't remember right now but trust me, there was a reason.  But after having to pull all those teeny bits of white paper off of the black fabric, I was wishing I'd sewn from the back where the teeny bits wouldn't have shown so much!)  And look -- my very sharp Havel scissors go perfectly with the color palette, don't they?

So here's the finished quilt again.  It has the sort of hand-drawn, primitive look I wanted.

Here's a detail shot.  For some reason I really like those hilly shapes and how the blades of grass look.

You can click on their names to see what Gerrie and Terry did with their shweshwe fabrics!

If you'd like to use some of these beautiful fabrics, they are available through online ordering.  In Europe, do try Magie's African Fabric shop.  In the US, Magie will ship here ... but if you want to avoid international shipping, a google search will show you where you can order them within the US.

I break for games

You know how sometimes you just need a little break from reality?  (You do, right?  It's not just me?)  Lately I've found that a few minutes of Iphone and/or Ipad game playing creates such a happy little break.  Here's what I've been playing:


Draw Something

    This is sort of an online version of Pictionary, where the goal is to draw something that someone else can guess.  In Draw Something, you can link up with friends (via email or Facebook), then you take turns drawing something and guessing what they've drawn for you.  It's not real time -- you open the game and if someone has taken their turn, it'll be there waiting for you to play at your leisure. It's very fun, with drawing skill far less important than identifying the visual cues that will trigger the answer.  I've played it both on my Ipad and my Iphone, and it's way harder on the Iphone's small screen.  (My friend Kristin drew an amazingly detailed 4-person illustration of ABBA with an Iphone and her finger.  I'm still marveling over that!)  

Zed's Alchemy

My sister Laura turned me onto this very clever and addictive game, and I've not been able to stop playing it since.  (Thanks, Laura!)  It's another one for the Ipad and Iphone, but it seems to work equally well on both devices.  The idea is that you start with four basic elements: earth, air, water and fire.  By dragging one onto another, you create more things.  For example, fire + earth = lava.  Fire + water = steam.  The more you drag and drop the things you have made, the more things you create. (The game says there are 380 things you can make, starting with those 4.  I'm up to about 120 so far.)

But it's a riot.  And there's a funny sort of logic to it.  If you find the "Life" element (a little DNA strand!), you can add that to stuff to see what you get.  Life + dust = mites, as it turns out.  It gets you thinking... let's see, how can I get mammals? A tree?  From a tree, what can I get? 

The simplicity of this game is what makes it brilliant -- that and rather funny humor.  Can you create a beetle?  If you get one beetle and drag it onto another beetle, you find yourself with The Beatles.  It's very charming with lots of fun surprises.

You can thank me (in a few hours after you've gotten sucked into one or both of these... )  I just heard Miss C shout from her room that she created "omelet." 

Swirl, Sniff, Sip

Quilt content!  Bet that's a surprise, huh?  But I recently finished a submission for an exhibit on the theme of "Rituals," and I thought I'd show you. It's 24x60 inches, which is 5 feet long.  Big!

As I thought about the rituals theme, I found myself thinking about the rituals associated with wine tasting.  I live in the wine country of northern California, so the wine industry is a huge part of life here.  When we moved here, we weren't huge wine drinkers... well, no more than the average household, I'd say.  But once we settled here, we made so many friends in the wine business -- wine makers and grape growers and buyers and  tasting room employees -- most folks here have some connection to the business.  We used to joke that we were the only people on our block that didn't own our own winery, which was almost true.

In any event, our wine palates have become educated and we have learned a lot about wine without even trying.  It's a way of life here.  So I got thinking about the shapes of wine glasses, and how there are reasons for using a specific shape for a specific wine, and the steps involved in properly tasting wine... and of course, it occurred to me also that a wine bottle was the perfect base shape for this tall, vertical size! 

Here are some of the progress shots.  I started with hand-dyed fabric, onto which I stenciled a swirly grape vine.  I stitched down a bottle, then used tulle to create the effect of a transparent champagne glass.

Here it is with all three glasses in place (I was wishing I'd put that white wine glass a bit more to the left, but oh well...)  I'm very pleased at how the tulle worked to make the glasses.  Each glass is a double layer of white tulle, which I outlined with white oil pastel crayon.

Using tissue paper outlines of the words I wanted to add, I tried various placement ideas.

And I ended up here, having stitched through the tissue paper, then pulled the tissue away to paint the words on with Lumiere gold textile paint.  I love that stuff.

You can see in the finished quilt above that I add some more swirls with a stencil, painting them in with a purple-gold Lumiere paint that gives a really interesting irridescent effect, and then I machine quilted it.  As usual, I got started in with machine quilting and ended up with a pretty dense quilted texture.  Here's a close-up:

I had a very fun time making this.  Gosh, I'm in the mood for a nice glass of zinfandel.  Wonder why?

Out of the Comfort Zone

If you find yourself in Northern California, anywhere near Ukiah (which is straight up Highway 101 from San Francisco, just beyond Sonoma County, on the edge of Menocino County), I urge you to go visit this beautiful exhibit of art quilts at the Grace Hudson Museum.  I attending the opening of the show last night, and served as a juror for the exhibit, and so I can say with assurance that there are some stunning quilts in this exhibit. The theme for the show is "Out of the Comfort Zone," and there is a good array of work with different styles and materials.

After carefully examining the slides during the jurying process, I so enjoyed seeing the quilts in person.  Despite how detailed slide images are, they just can't measure up to seeing the real thing!  I was especially delighted to meet the artists.  I talked at length with Lisa Bowles, a young artist whose pieces you can see here (Vegas the Wonder Dog) and here (Point of Departure) and ended up spending my juror's honorarium on another small piece of hers!  I also so enjoyed meeting Leila Kazimi, whose quilt "Messenger" won first prize (it's on that link page if you scroll down).

So if you're up for a trip to Ukiah, the exhibit is worthwhile -- as is the rest of the museum which is a little gem of history.  While you're up that way, you can find delicious sushi at Oco Time, or have a bistro dinner at Patrona's (which is what we did after the show.  Asian chili cod dinner to DIE for!)

Let Yourself Fly!

Let Yourself Fly!, a photo by dphock on Flickr.

Last weekend I went to the local Citrus Fair (and yes, there is a competition for big items made out of citrus fruit but that is a post for another day) and took this photo. Such serendipity to catch these riders with arms outstretched!

It's a Fashion Accessory

The Pack Leader can't come to the blog right now.  She and that girl with the long hair went out (and the girl was wearing those muddy boots that smell like horses, yum!) and left me here with this stupid thing on my head.

It all started at Christmastime.  Even though I'm still youthful and active, my doctor told my mom that the reason I was limping from time to time was that active, athletic dogs like me can have arthritic changes starting in their knees.  I was doing fine, with the occasional special treat and rest on my comfy bed next to the fireplace.  But then at Christmas, my pack treated me to two nights at the doggie spa.  And THAT would have been fab, but for a mouthy, uncouth bully dog in an adjoining area.  He provoked me so that I had to tell him a thing or two, which involved a whole lot of barking and some jumping and lunging at the gates to scare him good.  Turns out that did in the ligament in my knee, so I had surgery to stabilize my knee last week.

I came home with this lovely blue wrapping (which beautifully matched my collar, I might add.).

It was kind of comfy, actually.  But once the vet took that wrapping off, boy, does my leg ITCH!  I can't wait to get at it for some serious nibbly scratching and licking.   So now I have this thing on my head. I'm not sure if I'll have to wear it forever, or what.  But dang, I can't reach my leg to give that incision a good clean-and-scratch.

 I heard the vet tell the Pack Leader about something she can slip into my treats to make me drowsy and relaxed.  All I know is that after I had the last treat, all I wanted to do was look at all these COLORs.  I can stand there all afternoon.  Psychedelic, dude.

I'm going to nap now.  And I'll be dreaming of racing around the backyard to get those irritating birds off of the lawn.

Inviting Happiness

 Some years ago, our household went through a very dark and gloomy time.  Miss C was suffering from severe, daily migraines, and probably as the result of feeling sick all of the time, plunged into a period of deep depression.  Not surprisingly, it's really hard to be centered and happy when one's child is sick and miserable.  During that time, I struggled a lot to avoid sliding into the black hole with her, and one of the things I did was read some books about happiness.  Gretchen Ruben's book The Happiness Project was just out then, and I started following her website and others of a similar vein.

And during that time, I started some things that have worked really well for me... And have helped our family, too.  They are not new or original, but I thought I'd share them here because, well, it's always good to remember that happiness is a matter of outlook, really.

1.  Keep a gratitude journal.  Every day, make a list of 5 things you're grateful for. Oprah is right.  This is a lovely thing.

2.  Consciously notice nice moments.  Make it a point to recognize one thing that brings you pleasure.  The graceful slope of that hill  in the distance.  The song you like, playing when you walk into the coffee shop.  That patch of sunlight on the corner of the couch.  And you know, the more you notice, the more you notice.

3.  At the end of the day, write down 3 good things that happened or you noticed.  We do this at the dinner table every night, share our 3 good things.  It started out feeling corny and forced but now it's automatic and it's often hard to stop at just three.  We have learned a lot about each other, too, discovering what each other's daily good things are.

4.  Here's one I've never read in any book but I think it's really useful: in the evening, write down (or share) one thing you're looking forward to tomorrow. You could do this in those moments before you fall asleep, just thinking about what you are looking forward to in the next day. Again, it can be small.  That first cup of coffee early in the morning.  Using your favorite pen at work.  Getting to listen to NPR in the car on your way somewhere.  If you can't think of anything you're looking forward to, then plan something-- a quick phone call to a friend, a mid-afternoon trip to Starbucks for a latter, etc.  

If you have any rituals or "tricks" for being mindfully happy, I'd love to know what they are! 

 

Twelve by Twelve turns 20! (by 12, that is)

 I am a bit late (sigh, no surprise there) to tell you that on Sunday, we revealed our first set of the new challenges over on the Twelve by Twelve blog.  After four years of making 12 inch square quilts, we decided to shift the format to a vertical rectangle, so our new size for the upcoming year is 12x20 inches.  The theme, in fitting with our transition to something new and exciting, was "Metamorphosis."  You can go here to see the amazing pieces everyone did, and how differently we interpreted the challenge theme.

My piece was based on my thinking about how many of us art quilters evolved from making very traditional pieced quilts. So I made "Remodelled Log Cabin" about that process... traditional blocks and fabrics morphing into something loose, unstructured, fused, and whimsical.  I had fun making this!  There are more detail shots of this on the Twelve by Twelve blog.

Go see what the others have done.  I am always delighted by the work of my friends the Twelves, but this time I'm awed and even more impressed.  What a wonderful gift it is, to have friends with whom to share a passion! 

The New and Improved Art Quilting Studio

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.