Art and Quilting in Camden

Ooops

2011-04-25T15:42:00.001-04:00

It appears that blogger ate some of my photos from 2007, so trying to see if a new post will rescue them somehow....

Come on over!

2008-01-10T08:29:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! In the interest of not having Blogger delete this site, I'm adding this brief post.

I moved my blog over to my website, and usually this site will automatically re-direct you there. Please update your blog subscriptions, feeds, and bookmarks to go directly to the new blog:

http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog

Thanks and cheers, Sarah

Requiescat in Pace--Thomas Joseph Maleady II

2007-06-17T11:19:00.000-04:00

Requiescat in Pace

Thomas Joseph Maleady II, born July 27, 1933, died June 17, 2007

This morning at 6:50 a.m. Pacific coast time, my half-brother, nicknamed Macho by his Mexican nannies (at the time Daddy was a US diplomat assigned to Mexico with his Cuban-Costa Rican wife, Emma) because of his dark skin and wavy hair, joined Daddy and Charlie, my other half-brother who died of cancer in 1982.

Macho died in Joyce's arms, his wife of 40+ years.... I remember Joyce visiting when I was in first or second grade, and that was 42 years ago. He has been in "iffy" health for years, but the aneurism near his one barely-functioning kidney (which has been beyond ready-to-blow stage for at least a year) had begun to leak; he miraculously survived the emergency surgery last Saturday, but has been sliding downhill since Monday. We are blessed that he had good care, good doctors, has been on meds to alleviate pain and anxiety this past week, and a good wife to care for him.

Here is a picture of Daddy (on the left), Macho and Joyce in 1986 (not sure where the Lodge is!):

and here is my favorite picture of Daddy and the three of us, his kids... I've shared this before but here it is again: the one I like to think of as "three gangsters and a little girl": Left to right it is Macho (known to friends and co-workers as Tom, TomJ, or just "T"), Daddy, and Charlie (Chuck to everyone outside of the family) and me, down in front in the middle:

I told Joyce when she called this morning with the news that I know what he's doing...he's up there telling jokes with Charlie and the three of them are laughing up a gale! I'll miss the sound of his voice the most....

Koi---DONE!

2007-06-16T09:11:00.000-04:00

The Koi quilt is done (well...except for the sleeve and label, what else?!!!), the photos have been taken, then entry form for Houston filled out and mailed in. So now I get to share the quilt with my local guild chapter, my friends, and wait until August to see if they get into Houston. And in the meantime, they will travel to Augusta, Maine, for the annual Maine Quilts show in late July. All of the photos should be clickable to make them larger so you can see more detail.

When deciding on how to make the water, I looked at Pauline Burbidge's water quilts, thinking they were what I had in mind for the water, but it turned out not so. So I just went ahead and made what I did...then I realized that the pattern is very much a typical Japanese style design for water.

And here are some detail shots of the koi, the quilting and the beading. The beads represent the surface disruption / rippling caused by the movement of the fins and tails just beneath the surface.

I took the pictures before sewing on the hanging sleeve because I didn't want the quilt view on the back marred by the sleeve. This is the reverse side...as if you were lying on the bottom of the pond looking up at the sky. You'll notice that you are looking at the bellies of the koi, and the fractured sunlight streaming through the water, with the branches above visible through the water:

If I had a detail shot, (which I don't) you could see that the top facing isn't really a facing, but a narrow hanging sleeve that is the same width as the facings on the side and bottom. For quilt shows I will sew on the regulation 4" hanging sleeve, but when it has done it's quilt-show-journey, I will buy a metal slat, drill holes in the ends, and slide it into this top facing. That way, the quilt can be hung with either side out ... or both... think room partition? Here's one more (sideways...dontcha love blogger?) closeup of one of the koi on the reverse / back side:

I think I'd like to do another koi quilt (or two), not so large, maybe just one koi, but with overhanging branches, shadows from the branches on the water, and maybe raindrops forming circles/ripples on the water......

As for technique: I painted with a very thin wash of irridescent paint over my own hand-dyeds for the fish, which were quilted separately, then appliqued to the already-quilted surface of the pond (the ones on the back by machine, the ones on the front by hand). I pinned VERY carefully to get the fins and tails to line up on both sides of the fabric and quilted them in one pass. The background is fused, using my own hand-dyes and commercial batiks. The fins and tails are multiple layers of sheers (three different ones...a white, a cream and a pale gray for the white fins, and a totally tacky red floral for the orange-red, but which cuts up nicely!). I used Misty Fuse for all the fusing, including on the sheers.

Now, to crash on the sofa before heading to Saco, Maine, tomorrow where I will be doing a demo of machine quilting at the Art Quilts Maine exhibit at the Saco Museum. Hope to post pics on Monday or so.... Thanks for surfing back in to see the final result. Cheers, Sarah

Postcard display

2007-06-14T20:18:00.000-04:00

A lot of us have enjoyed the recent trend in postcards...me included (making and receiving!). Well, at our recent Frayed Edges meeting, Kathy was giving away two spool racks, and I got one of them. Of course, with my thread collection this rack might manage a single in-progress quilt, so I had a better idea: Postcards!

Like what I've done?

Studio tour-- a tidy attack happens!

2007-06-11T08:49:00.000-04:00

It's always fun to see where people "do their thing,"-- in my case, that would be sew and create and (I hope!) make art. I recently shared my new fabric shelves, but thought you might like to see my "Bonus room." Yep, I'm in the room over the garage. That means it has twice as much floor space as it has head room LOL! Since I got the big room, I got to share it with the guest (not that we ever get any!) bed--perfect! (The bed is an antique from my late FIL...dates to about 1780, which for the US is very old!) Quilts are stored under the comforter, nice and flat! Here's what it looked like maybe 2 1/2 years ago, shortly after moving here..stuff already heaped and piled:

On the front side of the house are three narrow gables (the inside dimensions are less than 3 feet). There is a nice double window over the center of the garage doors, and there is a lllaaaarrrrggggeeee shed-roof dormer facing the backyard which lets in lots of light. The down side is that this means there is very little usable wall space! I have become adept at using the "low" areas where you can't stand upright. The photo above (windows over the garage doors end) and these two are what the room looked like before I got started with my recent tidy attack--first is the design wall end (with box storage mess behind the entry door),

the second is the middle of the room showing my sewing table, hoosier (ideal storage!--for those not in the US, this style of "portable" kitchen cabinet was popular in the 1920s-40s, has a flour bin, sugar bin, spice shelves, pull out enameled top, the top closes up to conceal kitchen stuff, has a knife drawer--perfect for scissors and rotary cutters, bread bin--perfect size for patterns, etc),

and the batting and home dec supplies storage behind the blue cloth and hoosier.

The only picture I could find with the fabric storage cupboards is this one, with a then-7 year old-Eli demonstrating the sleepability of his new pillowcase--cupboards in background:

When I got the new fabric shelves, this is what the room looked like: utter chaos. In my defense, it never looks this bad! Please remember that I had to move everything to make room for the fabric shelves....

Bit by bit, I worked on it. A lot. I was tired. Here are the shelves, before. Please don't look too closely at the paint job inside.... must have been the damp brush, as I did a totally awful job on the some of the insides for the second coat. And I actually DUSTED (and the world did not screech to a halt at the novelty of it!)!

Then midway, showing stuff cleaned out at far end, some books moved...

and DONE--at least with the fabric! The hand-dyes (which I plan to make more) are on the top shelf in (shudder...that Type A thing is happening...someone find a stick and beat it away!) Roy G. Biv order (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue/Aqua, Indigo, Violet) , followed by brown and white-gray-black. Below them are batiks and prints in roughly light-medium-dark piles. My conversational prints (animals, food and drinks, retro 50s, transportation/ ethnic/ world travel, and Hawaiian) are on the bottom left. Silks --slippery and messy when not corralled-- are in a drawer under the work table, as are sheers -- also disorderly in their behavior, PFDs (Prepared For Dyeing), and clunky stuff like rubber stamps, "glitz and glue" (heat gun, heat tool, foils and glues) and rovings/stuff for felting. Phew.

We won't discuss the area behind the bed, which I will deal with after I get my book written and off to the publisher... maybe late August?

After two full LONG days of work, filling nearly half a garage garbage can (the big ones) with detritus, it looks better than it has since we moved in nearly 3 years ago. Here is a 360 degree tour, starting with the shipping zone (which also houses yarns and knitting and the *(&*^%^& exercise bike that is worthless!). Although it still looks kinda cluttery, trust me, this is VAST improvement! By the way, that green table in the foreground is Gramma's toaster table, which is featured in my Flying Toast quilt (and I actually scanned the tabletop and printed fabric to use in the quilt!).

Then the sewing table area.

The area behind the table also still needs a little tidying--the antique thread spool chest (purchased when working full time and had a decent income) is, get this, actually used for storing thread! This area will get extra attention when I deal with the dumping ground behind the bed. The framed needlepoints on the end of the hoosier are from my late Aunt Mary M., the only person in my family who sewed; she lived on the other side of the country from me, but her fame as a skilled seamstress and tailor reached me easily! If it used a needle, she was a master!

Then, here's the bed / windows-over-garage doors end (bed doing temporary dual duty holding the koi quilt until Saturday's guild meeting). The new "seating area" is to the right, where two of the former fabric cupboards have been pressed into duty to take the overflow of books (there is no such thing as too many books--in my next house the dining room will be a library with a table at which you can also eat!):

The worktable and fabric storage zone; the black cloth is up for taking photos. Usually I just have the beige-ish flannel over the whole thing.

one of the former fabric cupboards got pushed to the right, next to the design wall, and has my Clementine boxes inside with the bits of fused fabrics ready for use. Good thing there is plenty of room... I found LOTS of little bits of fabric to fuse up and have ready during my tidy... the large plastic box on the floor next to the design wall is packed with those bits.

And here's the last of the garbage to go down the stairs to the garage! If I had any white zin, I'd be having that now instead of tea. Hmmm... maybe a trip for ice cream is in order instead?

And to those who commented on the last post... for some reason the comments didn't reach me the usual way through e-mail, so thanks for surfing in and taking the time to write! Hope you like these pics, too.

Cheers, Sarah

Fabric Storage

2007-06-09T09:21:00.000-04:00

I am in total lust with Carol Taylor's studio...to see it, click here then click on where it says "Carol's Studio" on her home page. I love the closets, the design walls, the storage, the work area (tho mine wouldn't be white or as neat!), the view. I decided I needed to improve my quilt storage, and after checking out "affordable" options (like anything from walmart, home depot, etc) I decided to ask Joshua's friend's step-dad for an estimate. WOOHOO! The cost was less than buying something comparable from Ikea (and without the horrid drive for 5 hours each way to south of Boston through some of the worst traffic in the US).

I wrote to Carol to get measurements (THANK YOU CAROL!)... I guessed the shelves were probably 16 inches deep (yep) and made from a 4x8 sheet of plywood (yep), and she added that the shelves were 12 inches apart. So I drew a diagram / sketch for John Bailey, and the photo above shows what I received, ready to finish.

A week or so later, one is primed, one has a first coat of paint:

And yet later on, here they are hauled upstairs (and was that ever fun...NOT!) and in the studio. I decided to do a separate post about the massive tidy attack I had in the studio as a result of these shelves. Surf back in two days from now for that one... in the meantime....

John Bailey, step-dad to one of Joshua's best friends, made these and what a great job he did. I could not be happier with them...they are perfect (I specified what, but he did the how beautifully and exactly as I drew and measured). If you're near Camden, Maine, and would like to contact him his website is www.jbbuilders.biz . I was surprised and thrilled to see that he worked on the fantabulous re-do of the old Strand theatre in neighboring Rockland, and one of the fancy houses pictured on the website had his carpentry featured in Better Homes and Gardens (if I had known about these fancy projects before I asked him about these shelves I would've been too intimidated to ask about my puny little project!).

What you need to make these 48 x 48 x 16 deep shelf units yourself:

3 sheets 3/4" birch plywood
1 sheet 1/4" birch plywood (for the backs)
1x6 piece of pine, from which John cut strips to face the front of the shelves (nice!)
someone with a table saw or router to cut the pieces and grooves
primer
2+ quarts of paint

They could also be varnished, but as you'll see in the next blogpost about my studio, I have plenty of natural wood, I needed COLOR! So I picked Caribbean water blue!

The units are 16 inches deep, the shelves are 12 inches apart, and the staggered supports are set in 15 inches from the outside edge.

If you're in Camden area, and need some really nice carpentry or building done, hint hint! Now, to win the lottery and get John to build an entire studio and house and kitchen for us.....

The Frayed Edges, late May 2007

2007-06-07T20:27:00.000-04:00

This past Frayed Edges meeting was an extended one for the best of reasons: Deborah came to visit us from what I think of as her exile in Dallas (sorry to all Texans!)... woooohoooo! She flew up on Saturday, called me from the airport in Boston as she was about to head out with the rental car for Kate's house, and I was about to leave Camden (and I arrived only half an hour before she did LOL!).

Kate, alas, was not there. Kate, bless her sweet soul, cleaned house for us and invited us to stay in her empty-of-her-family (but not their homey presence) house!!!! That qualifies as sainthood points! So Kathy, Deborah and I had a sleepover at Kate's house, minus Kate! It was WONDERFUL (except for missing Kate and Hannah, who was home with her four daughters and hubby). If you've read Kath's and Deborah's blogs, you'll already have seen our food pictures, but here are more:

.... we talked as well as ate, but sure didn't sew or create much. We DID however kibbitz on each other's pieces, talked about what we might do if, etc.

On Sunday, after breakfast:
I had to head to Portland for a long-planned family outing, Deborah had plans with Joanne S., and then reconvened at Kate's house on Sunday evening with Kate and Hannah (and they finished the last of the Molten (chocolate) Lava Cakes (a specialty from the local chain, and worth a trip from Texas to Maine!), and improved on their greatness by adding Starbuck's coffee ice cream...YUMMM. A good idea gets better!

On Monday, we had our "regular" Frayed Edges meeting at Kathy's house and was it a blast. It was actually the first time the five of us have all been together, so we got pics:

I think we look like five happy, well-fed, artsy women!

We shared:

And shared:

And shared:

We ate, at Kath's beautiful table:

Don't you love these little vases for the lilies of the valley, and the colors of the glasses?

Deborah brought us gifties...pincushions, with personalized shrinky-dinked pins!!!!!! Mine is the aqua! Yeah and THANK YOU! (and it is already in use at my machine!)

We talked about and made decisions for our August show at the Camden Public Library (opens on Aug. 2nd, through the 29th, Artists' Reception on Saturday the 11th from 1-4).

After a nice looonnngggg day, which was gloriously sunny and perfect outside (and hooray! no blackflies or mosquitoes yet!), we hugged good-bye to Deborah, who headed south for one more night at Kate's house before heading for Logan / Boston on Tuesday. And of course, I had to snap pics of Kath's flowers and garden--the photo at the top and this one:

When I got home from that 52 hour sojourn, I felt as refreshed as if I'd been on a perfect 2 week vacation, and I KNOW it is thanks to my Frayed Edges pals.

50,000 plus thanks you's

2007-06-05T18:33:00.000-04:00

Well, folks, we hit a major milestone today: I got my 50,000th visit! Some of you have logged in many visits, others are new. Some seek me out on purpose, others stumble across the site via a Google query or a random link on the ArtQuilters blog ring or link from another blog. To one and all: THANK YOU!

I have never journaled much at all.... so I find it somewhat mystifying and wonderful that I have kept up these "letters to the ether" and even more amazing and mystifying that folks surf in and many, many return. I'll be migrating the blog to my website later this summer (including all the archives) and when Gloria, of GloDerWorks (she and Derry and their staff in the US and UK are web-meisters extraordinaire), does the move and re-vamp, not only will I give you all plenty of warning, provide links, keep this one going for a while, etc., but I'm hoping there is a way to archive all the posts to a disc. It's fun to go back and see how I've chronicled what I've done! Oh, and when I do make the switch, I think I'm going to bite the bullet and pay for that cool SiteMeter that posts the countries that have visited by showing flags in the right, like at Lisa's and Dijanne's sites.

Now I have to head upstairs and lint roller the Chapter Banner, as tonight is photography night: taking pictures of the banner and the koi quilt to enter them into Houston. I got into the juried show once before, and I'm hoping this will be my lucky second time.

And once again, thank you! {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{All of you}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
(Those are cyber-quilty-hugs by the way!)

The boys of summer, aka the Sea Dogs, and 60 big ones

2007-06-04T20:18:00.000-04:00

Today you get a tour of U.S. minor league baseball, Maine-style! because I'm still slamming on the koi quilt... as a teaser, here's a close-up of one of the koi and some of the beading. More soon...I know I keep promising.... I finished the beading after dinner tonight, and started the facings (hand sewing). Hope to take pics tomorrow, then send the entries to Houston on Weds. or Thursday. And oh yeah... work out again. I remember that. My expanding waistline keeps reminding me....

In the meantime, I'm clearly hopping all over my Frayed Edges / Portland long weekend..during which I took nearly (Gasp, Gulp) 200 photos! I started with the last thing first, which was my previous post about Jan and Dwight's artists' reception for their art quilts and photos. I worked like a madwoman on my koi quilt until 3:05 pm Saturday, and had to be a 90 minute drive away in about 110 minutes (but needed a shower!). Fortunately, the car was already packed except for rolling up the koi. Anyway, I left home finally at 4 pm Saturday, and got home about 5 pm Monday, and it was such a wonderful break that it felt like a restorative two week vacation!

The first part of this mini-vacation to be planned was Sunday. As soon as tickets went on sale, Paul bought our "summer" Sea Dogs (minor league team for the Boston Red Sox) tickets. We've made a tradition I guess of going on Memorial Day weekend, which we combine with Paul's birthday. The unseasonable heat of Friday (92! in Camden) and Saturday (upper 80s) was abated, and Sunday was glorious and even got a bit chilly by the end of the game, which the Sea Dogs won. We ate dinner out at Fuji, an awesome Japanese restaurant in downtown Portland, and spent the night before returning home.

I am absolutely NOT a sports fan, and especially not of pro ball. But the Sea Dogs are totally cool, and it is baseball the way it ought to be! The stands aren't so vast, and you can see the faces of the players even if you are in the back row. There is usually someone from the team signing autographs during the first few innings down near the concessions stands, and vendors hawk "Sea Dog Biscuits, get your Sea Dog Biscuits Heaah" (that's Mainer for 'here'). The team has fun stuff between innings, and Slugger the Sea Dog (a name for a seal) mascot.

The game began with a trooping of the colors, followed by the National Anthem. Since it was Memorial Day weekend (for those of you not in the US, this is a national holiday the last Monday in May, the unofficial start of summer, and is to commemorate the folks who have served our country in the military throughout its history), Veterans from the American Legion paraded onto the field with the flags.

Here is the first "fun" between innings: the shopping cart toss! Two folks from the stands get to try to lob balls into a gargantuan shopping cart; the one with the most balls in wins a $75 shopping gift certificate. This time, they tied so both got the gift:

Then there is the favorite "Lobster Toss." In this game, two folks man opposite sides of an old-fashioned lobster trap (but with top open) while groundscrew toss stuffed-animal lobsters in their direction. The goal is to catch as many lobsters as they can; if they catch a minimum amount, they get a seafood feast at a local restaurant:

There's a chance to win a car (the light colored SUV on the right), but it's really hard to win on this one...you have to get 3 out of 3 shots through the small opening in the board down near first base... haven't even heard of anyone doing that one:

Then there is Slugger, who is a ham despite the fact that he is a fuzzy aquatic mammal. And good with the kids:

After I think it is the 5th inning, they play the Village People's YMCA song, and everyone gets up, stretches and does the Y-M-C-A wave thing with Slugger (note he even has his own Village People tool belt, for those of us old enough and living in the US who can remember this group!):

During another inning break, one lucky kid (of the small size) gets his or her name picked from out of a hat to "race" Slugger around the bases and see who wins. The kid always runs the regular way, from home to first, then secon, then third, then home base. Slugger always gets confused and runs the "wrong" way, and they pass each other (with a high five) between first and second base.

Someone is always out on the field to help the sometimes-confused kids run the right direction. And Slugger always trips and falls on the way to home base which, of course, ensures that the kid wins to major cheers from the crowd:

Just before the game, we dashed down to the Portland mall, and bought Joshua his heart's desire: Black Converse high tops, plaid shorts, and an Inspi(Red) t-shirt. Here are his adored high-tops, which he had to wear to the game:

And out on Hadlock's Field's version of Fenway's Green Monster (that's the very high wall over left field at Fenway Park in Boston, for those out of the US, which makes it almost impossible to hit a home run out of left field!), a new sign: the Eastern League Championship for 2006!

Last but not least, you always want to see the lighthouse. To do that one of two things needs to happen: if the Sea Dogs win, it rises up from behind center field with the light on. Or, if a Sea Dog hits a home run, it not only rises up from behind the wall, but sparklers (like on the Fourth of July but lots bigger) shoot out sideways like beacons of light. As you might guess, it was a good game because the Sea Dogs won and the lighthouse came up:

And I promise, I will return to both quilting and the koi quilt!!!!! But I just wanted to share a bit of Americana, Maine-style. I'm so totally NOT a sports fan, but this is just good fun!

And last but definitely not least, the day I wrote this post was my dear hubby's 60th (??? Egads how did THAT happen?) birthday. Here's the birthday boy opening his birthday gift:

and holding the smallest, cutest member of the family -- Pigwidgeon:

Out of the blue...

2007-06-02T08:37:00.000-04:00

or more accurately, down Route 17 from Augusta, Maine. So here I am on Weds., working out after errands, and the phone rings with an unknown number on caller ID...well out of state, didn't even know the area code. Female voice: is this Sarah Smith? yes. The quilter? yes. Sarah Maleady Smith? (??? She knows my maiden name???) yes. Hi! This is Susan Clayworth! YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan was my absolute best friend and life saver in high school, and she was in Maine! Said she and her boyfriend had rented an RV to go to Acadia, but she couldn't be so close and not try to reach me. So, we agreed to meet in 30 minutes in town!

We had lunch at Marriners, on the deck (which became a tad cool in the breeze) that overlooks Camden Harbor, and it was like 32 years evaporated. HUGE GRIN! Gotta run now to an Art Quilts Maine meeting, and still need to blog about last weekend with the Frayed Edges, and the progress on the koi quilt (slow but good), but just had to post this photo of us (above).

I've only seen Susan once since 1975, at our 25th reunion. What is amazing is that apart from both of us being a tad thicker in the waist, we look the same.... Susan's hair is a little bit shorter, but we could still share clothes! I used to call her Mom "Mumsie 2" since she was like my second mom and I spent so much time at their house. I can remember one night when my dad was really getting on me and making me insane...it was summer in late high school. Well, after getting off the phone maybe 10 minutes later, Susan shows up, in baby doll pj's under a coat in their ancient Nash Rambler (white, with aqua interior with wool carpeting that smelled, well, wooly, when wet in winter) and said "you're coming to my house, NOW". So I did. That's a friend!

Now, to manage to keep up with each other in this insanely hectic era in which we live.

Oh yeah...how did she find me? She called a local quilt shop, the one nearest to Camden where I live, and asked them if they knew me. They had my teaching brochure, so they gave her my number! QUILTERS ROCK! and so does Quilting Divas shop in Rockland. WooohooO!

Marie's bag, or Art-to-Go--and Happy B-day!

2007-05-31T20:46:00.000-04:00

I collect Geminis. My hubby is one. My beloved sister-in-law, who is like a sister to me, was born on the exact same date as hubby seven years earlier. Best friend Marie was born in between the two (in years), but two days later. It's odd how that happens.... I have a friend who collects Libras... has at least four good friends whose birthdays are all early October! Anyway, that means May is time to shop and sew. And today it is time to join in a rousing chorus of Hippo Birdie, Two Ewes! for Miss Marie, aka zquilts!

Last year when we went on the Disney cruise, I put together a small travelling pouch of art supplies to keep me content (the magenta LL Bean pencil case above): a notebook (mine was a Moleskine, but any one you like will do), a small set of Staedler pencils in a box (the tin keeps the points sharp and from soiling the bag), an eraser, a washable glue stick (for gluing in boarding passes, ticket stubs and such), a pencil sharpener, blunt-tipped (as in OK to take on planes) kindergarten scissors, some watercolor pencils (colored pencils that, when wet, turn into a watercolor), and a Japanese water-brush -- just to the right of the pencil case, with an aqua handle (next to the bag it came in), with the Mars Lumograph pencil box to the right of it. Instead of taking out the pencils, tho, I put my mini-box of Caran d'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayon-pastels (same idea as the pencils, different form) in the photo.

These water brushes are totally cool gizies: the tip is like a felt-tip brush pen or a small sumi brush, but the barrel is a plastic tube that you can fill with water (or probably some inks or watercolors, depending on the size of the pigment particles). I bought mine at the local art store, but you can get them online at Dick Blick here. They can be used not only with the water color pencils, but also regular watercolors and things like the Neopaque II pastel crayons. Jane Davila (who has a great new book out, co-authored with Elin Waterston, which I'll review soon) did an article recently (past two months or so) in Quilting Arts magazine about using the Neopaque IIs on cloth.

SO.... I made Marie a birthday package for art-on-the-go. My bag last summer was a perfectly serviceable pencil case, but I couldn't send wonderful Marie a plain ol' pencil case! So I whipped out some whimsical cat fabric (she loves cats at least as much as I do!) and whipped up a quick and easy bag. Of course, why make just one? So I made two... one for her, one for me. Since her's is intended to be a travelling bag, it is narrower on the base so it will pack flat inside a suitcase or tote. Mine has a wider base since I decided I'd use mine to tote show-and-tell stuff to classes (lots nicer and more quilty than a ziploc baggie!).

I've been impressed with how easy Joan Hawley makes it for people to sew bags--no wonder her line of Lazy Girl Patterns is so successful! So I thought I'd learn from her and try to make something simple (for once!). I cut rectangles of two fabrics and batting. Placed fabric right sides together, and batting on the side with the outside fabric. Sew about 1/4" around all edges, leaving an opening on what will be one of the top/zipper edge for turning. Turn right side out. Hand-sew (!) or fuse (yep) opening closed. Quilt quickly and simply...in this case, in matching blue thread amongst the kitties...think of an unwinding ball of yarn; do not quilt withing 1/2 inch of edges.

Sew a zipper to one side, topstitch. Sew the other side of the zipper to the other edge, topstitch. Sew side seams using 1/2" with seam allowances opening to the outside (so the contrasting lining fabric shows. Decided how wide you want the base; align side seam with imaginary center-bottom line, make a triangle and sew across it. By leaving the flaps and seams on the outside of the bag, it is cute, shows of the lining fabric, and I think the flaps give the base a little bit more stability. Sew tabs on either end of the zipper (my zippers were too long and needed to be shortened). I LOVE scraps of ultrasuede for this sort of thing...sturdy, don't soil as quickly as cottons, and raw edges are very tidy, but you can also wrap with cotton, too. Here's what the end of the bag looks like:

Fill bag with wrapped goodies and send it off! Or fill bag with goodies and use! Here is the inside of the bag, minus the goodies:

From Photos to Fiber

2007-05-29T17:53:00.000-04:00

That is the name of my friend's new company and soon-to-be website! Jan Pitcairn is a local quilter who, when I met her almost 3 years ago, was a budding art quilter. She has taken lots of classes (a lot at www.quiltuniversity.com) and worked to improve her technique and eye. Her husband is a fabuloso photographer, too. Jan has interpreted several of his photos (including two so far of her three sons... the third one is up next!) in cloth. So.... From Photos to Fiber.

Well, all of a sudden, with short notice and out of the blue, she and Dwight got the chance to have a small show at the Lincolnville General Store at the junction of Routes 52 and 173 in Lincolnville Center, the town just north of where I live. Here's the store,

And here is the cool door handle, which reads Golden Heart Refrigerated Bread

As luck would have it, their artists' reception was right about the time I would be heading home from Frayed Edges at Kathy's house, and if I took the back route, I'd drive right by!

Jan hung the show on Sunday afternoon, and the opening was yesterday. By the time I got there, 90 minutes after the opening began, Dwight had sold two photos and Jan had her very first professional art quilt sale! YEAH! Here a shot of folks looking at the photos and art quilts:

Here's a picture of several quilts, including the one that Jan sold (still didn't have sold written on it! the blue one with the fish...she painted it and it's wonderful):

And a picture of Jan in front of Dwight's photos, with his lighthouse photo on her right and, to the right of that, the quilt she made based on the photo:

I couldn't resist taking more photos on the way out... of the stained glass hanging over the antique wood stove:

And once again finding inspiration for quilting designs everywhere... the side of the old wood stove:

And the trivet built into the stove...what a cool idea (literally!) to get your pot up off the hot stovetop: A couple of months ago, Jan and I scheduled for the three of us (with Dwight, that is) to have a small group show at Zoot, a splendiferous coffee house here in Camden in October, so look for more of their work on view in public in just a few months (eeek! We need to get sewing!!!!). I'll let you know when their website goes live in a few weeks. Cheers, Sarah

Koi Update #6, the back

2007-05-28T21:26:00.000-04:00

Just back from a glorious weekend away..2 days feels like 2 weeks of refreshing! Have to download over 150 photos and write up blogs, tho...so one more about the Koi quilt, then will take a breather from that. Until then..here you go... the quilt is turning out great! more soon...

About a thousand years ago when I started writing about this quilt (if you're not sick of it yet), I mentioned that I needed to get this done in a short time frame. But, I wanted it to be really cool, too. I have found that two places are really good for creative musing: the shower and working out. Well, this time I was working out at the YMCA on the rowing machine, where you are nearly sitting on the floor. As I looked up at the high, high ceiling and the lights, I thought about what it is like to look up from underwater and see the sunlight blinking through the water. The appearance of the surface of the water is completely different than from underneath.

So, I took the leftovers from fusing the top, and made a back! I used the two "rejected because they were too busy" batiks and used them here because (a) the "piecing" was simpler, and (b) you can see overhanging trees and vegetation from underneath the water. Here it is:

Remember that long ironing board with all the fused pieces of fabric on it ready to use? Well, I fused up another yard of fabric in addition to that, then a 1 1/4 yard piece of my hand-dyeds. Here is all that is left after doing the background of the front and the back:

Then I thought: wouldn't it be cool to show the under side of the fish on the back. Ahem. So, I'm going to do that! I need to make the three fish and two fish-portions from the underneath view and quilt them. I'll then position them on the bottom and stitch in place by machine. The outline of that stitching will then be the outline of the fish on top. I'll applique the tops of the fishies in place and fuse up the fins and tails, then (finally) quilt the fins and tails (on both sides) at the same time! Sound convoluted? Yeah, to me too...... at least it sounds convoluted when I write it out. But I promise it's gonna be really cool! More soon!

Koi update #5--Fins and tails

2007-05-26T11:57:00.000-04:00

The fish I was so smitten by were the ones known as butterfly koi. While surfing the web recently, I learned that some koi collectors look down their noses at the butterfly, not considering them "pure, true koi." Oh well.... I think they are glorious! But even the regular ones are wonderful, too. I'm not as wild about the red/white combinations, or the nearly-all black ones that seem to be prized in koi circles... I love the yellow and the gold and the ones with the feathery white fins. So that is what mine are!

I took this photo last summer, when we were in Sarasota visiting Paul's Aunt and Uncle on vacation. The hotel had a pond as well as the beach... I think there may be more than just this one quilt... when I have more lead-time, I want to do another one with the reflections of the overhanging palms.....

I LOVE Misty Fuse, a fusible web developed by quilt artist Esterita Austin and sold by her at her website (tho that store is temporarily closed), through Keepsake Quilting (among other places), eQuilter.com and your local quilt shop. Misty Fuse is an incredibly fine, light fusible web that leaves a soft hand to the fabric and can be used at low enough temperature that you can fuse sheers, tulle and other cool stuff without melting the sheer fabrics.

I searched through my stash of sheers (sales at Joann's are a good time to stock up). I used mostly these:

I made some highlights for the water with the blue, then used the cream and bright white for the fins, with a little bit of the matte gray, too.

Here is the selection of sheers I used for the koi after I fused them up. That red/orange stuff was truly vile...and I knew it would be perfect for flames; it is also perfect for koi! I've overlapped some so you can see the layering and transparencies. For the "regular" koi, I used the copper on top of the vile red/orange print. For the butterfly koi, I used the white, cream and pale gray. I ended up not using the gold or red at all, and used the aqua only for the water highlights.

Because I am a wicked tease, I'm only going to show you one of the koi right now! I plan on quilting the water, then doing something on the back (more on that soon enough), appliqueing the fish on the top, and fusing and stitching the fins last of all. So imagine this handsome fishie with some fun threadwork on the fins:

Koi update #4--turning under the edges of the koi

2007-05-24T19:40:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that the background is fused / raw edged, I wanted turned under edges on the koi. Several posts ago, I showed quilting the fish individually. After that, I carefully trimmed the backing fabric and excess batting away from the underside of the fish. The fish on the top shows the fish, trimmed... it looks lighter where the stitching is because (a) that's where he is painted (that thin wash of metallic paint) and (b) because the green mat is now shadowing through the seam allowance. Those two tiny black things you see are his pupils, done in thread.

As with all appliques, you clip the curves. Unlike most typical applique, I decided to fuse-baste the wide seam allowances in place (faster than thread!). The lower fish shows the seam allowances fused down. Each fish is about 20-22 inches long (that's ummm... how many cm's? 55-60 cm? 39 inches to a metre, so a bit more than half) , maybe the width of four knuckles across at the widest point.

The last photo shows one of the quilted fish pinned to the background (so I could mark placement). Obviously, this fish needs fins and a tail. That's tomorrow's post! But let's just say I'm happy!

Koi update #3--finishing the background

2007-05-23T07:27:00.000-04:00

The front is now as complete as it is going to be before I begin quilting. Here it is a step or two farther along than the last time I blogged about it:

And here it is ready to square up:

Usually I don't finalize the edges of a quilt until it is nearly done... assembly completed, quilted, and ready to finish the edges. Many times that is because I don't know what shape I want it to be in the end... I tend to resist proper rectangles and straight edges. However, this quilt needs to be done (and in record time!), so I made a decision before I began that this one would have straight edges, 90 degree corners, and no curvy outsides or other peskiness (at least of that sort!).

The dark line you see is some fuzzy yarn I was using to mark the edges on the design wall and make sure everything looked good, the angles were correct, etc., before marking with chalk and then trimming.

Tomorrow I'll show what I did next with the koi.....

A pond for the koi

2007-05-21T07:18:00.000-04:00

Hmm...wonder what unsuspecting visitors will arrive via Google searches for koi ponds based on that title? As all my great regular readers know, I'm working on a koi quilt. The good news is that it is going well (bless fusibles!). Over the past four or five days, I have managed to make good headway on the background for the front of the quilt.

Here's a tease...the fused fabrics laid out and draped over my big-board:

At first, I had planned to cut gently curving strips as I did for my journal quilt, from last year (this one is still touring with the 2006 Journals exhibit ... not sure where it is due to go next, but they usually "come home" in about September):

Then I decided that I wanted to get that rippled-y look from a gentle breeze skimming over the surface of the water. I remembered Pauline Burbidge's water pieces, and snagged her book off my shelf, but it didn't quite have what I wanted. So, I taped two long strips of paper together, since they were almost as wide as my desired size (I m shooting for a finished piece 40 inches wide...if it is 39, I can't enter it in Paducah!). Then, I sketched "ripples" in pencil. When I had them more or less where I wanted, I used a black felt tip to make them easier to see, then colored in every other one to keep from getting too confused during construction. Here it is with just the outlines:

Then I started with the cloth. I fused up a whole bunch of cloth ... either 12 or 18 inch full width pieces (picture at the top of this post). I picked the one I wanted to be a dominant color, one of my hand-dyes with little visual "busy-ness" (in the center of the board). Instead of making a whole bunch of pattern pieces (can you say boring and tedious?), I placed the fused cloth on my work table, put Saral Transfer paper on top of that, then the big pattern piece on top of that. Using a plain old pencil, I traced over the outlines of the section I wanted, which transfers a chalk-like substance from the Saral to the cloth (it brushes off easily). Then, out comes my trusty 18mm rotary cutter (the little one, with the blade the size of a dime...maybe 1 cm. across the whole thing for those of you not in the US) to cut along the lines on the top edge, and just below the lines on the bottom edge.

Here are the first few pieces cut and up on the wall--at the very bottom of the photo, you'll see the big pattern draped over the edge of the table where I'm doing the tracings:

As you can see, I started from the middle and worked up and down from there. In the next photo, I've added some more pieces:

Then I decided I'd better test the whole thing by placing the koi on it and making sure this idea for rippled water would "work":

Thankfully, it does! So, back to more cutting. In the photo at the top, you'll notice two of the batiks are more multicolored than monochromatic. I had intended to use them to accent the rippled edges, but once I got things going, I decided that they would be "too much." So they won't be on the front. The back, maybe.... stay tuned. I still don't know what's going to happen entirely on the back (that's a tease!).

The next post about the quilt will be in a few days...also want to post a book review AND get a whole bunch of work done. So, off to the studio.

Fish scales and being tagged

2007-05-19T10:48:00.000-04:00

I just discovered that Larkin Van Horn, beader and quilter extraordinaire, has just tagged me to play in the Seven Random Facts game and so did my bestest friend Marie... but I already answered that a while back (May 7th I think it was?), so I'm going to count that as having answered and in turn tagged seven others LOL! Here's a link to Larkin's blog which I have just added to my series of links over on the right...., and Marie is here: Marie's blog.

Now, fish scales. Sure hope you guys agree, cuz I'm NOT picking out all that stitching! But first things first. Initially I was going to make some of the fish mottled / splotchy (that yellow/gray hand-dyed), including by using white and black NeoColor II artsticks (sort of a combo of crayon and pastel and OK to use on fabric...Jane Davila used them in an article in Quilting Arts Mag. a few issues ago). First I decided the yellow didn't work (see photo of design wall in the previous post)...too distracting, and wanted the quilt to be orange/turquoise (complementary colors). That also meant a "nope" for the black. Here's my test strip:

Making the koi multicolored, as so many are, was just too jarring. BUT, the washes of sparkly paints worked. In looking at techniques, and my box of paints, I spied the Setacolor "Nacre" or pearlescent paint (a white) and a Stewart Gill Alchemy paint in a color called something like AfterGlow (they used to be for sale at eQuilter, Friends Fabric Art has some of them now-- they are expensive, but probably worth splurging for a bottle or two as a special treat, and this site I've never seen before has the entire line: Puffinalia.com ) The test strip has the Pearl in the center (between the two stronger white dots) and the AfterGlow above the black blotch.

The photo at the top of this post shows all three fish (plus the head and tail that will be coming into and going out of the quilt) batted and ready to stitch... if you click on the photo you should be able to see it larger, and then see what is painted and what isn't). I REALLY thinned the paint so that it was just an irridescent wash, which seemed perfect for fish scales. Here's a closer view of the head / tail:

I couldn't decide which I preferred: the simplicity of a single line of stitching or a double line:

I tested on the edge, and tried out several colors of orange, a variegated (nice on the orange, but wouldn't work for controlling the appearance of the scales), and even better when I combined two colors of thread.

The emphasis and subtle color variation by adding a second line of stitching in a slightly lighter shade of the same color, inside the original fish scales worked for me. Here is the fish head in progress (please note the color on these photos is a bit off...)

Well, I decided I liked the doubles.....the singles look good, until I get them up on the wall and step back, at which point I MUCH prefer the double-thread look. Am I insane? Here's a close-up of one of the big fish, with the two colors of thread used. I quilted first in the slightly darker one, then went back and echoed with the lighter one, on the right.

As for construction, you might wonder what the heck I'm doing quilting fish, and not a quilt. I'm saving time! I'm quilting the tops of the fishies separately, (meaning I don't have to bury all those thread tails, or have that distracting line of "carried" thread along the sides) and they will then be appliqued to the surface of the quilt and the fins and tails added there..... More anon.

What's next...koi!

2007-05-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

Well, I really should be working on my book. Instead I am indulging myself seriously and trying to finish (!!!!) a 40x60 ish quilt in 6 weeks! The idea is fully formed in my head, I have the fabrics and the beads, and in the past couple of days since finishing the chapter banner, have sketched out the picture in the head into three koi.

Here is the glorious color:

And here is day 1: (sigh...please tilt head to left...it's a vertical)

Stay tuned for updates.....

And thanks to all for the kind comments on the Chapter Banner. Many of the comments have come through as "No reply.blogger" so I can't reply to you directly to say thanks for writing, so... Thanks for taking the time to surf in and write! Now... back to the usual morning routine / chaos!

Twyla Tharp, #6 -- Harness your memory

2007-05-15T08:54:00.000-04:00

Quite some while ago, I included some quotes from Twyla Tharp; I'd like to do that again, and include some other writers on creativity from time to time. Tharp writes:

"Metaphor is our vocabulary for connecting what we're experiencing now with what we have experienced before. It's not only how we express what we remember, it's how we interpret it, for ourselves and others."

And then she talks about different kinds of memory:

Muscle memory (for an athlete or a dancer, for example, remembering the shape of a movement--for a quilter, the movement of your arms and hands as you quilt)

Sensory memory (how a smell, for example, triggers a memory of Gramma's kitchen)

Institutional memory

Ancient memory...things that seem ingrained in our psyches.

So which of these memories are in your quilts? It is the expression and interpretation of memory that make a quilt (or any other medium) art. I don't know about it being art, but I love my memory-quilt of my Gramma's kitchen, Flying Toast. It transports me back four decades to a place and time that only four of us still living actually remember: me, cousin Anne, Mom and Aunt Donna--everyone else is gone.

In the detail below, I can see, smell, feel the warmth of the sunlight pouring into the breakfast nook, remember the series of "state" plates on the top plate rail that ran around the room above the windows, and the portion of her collection on the walls. I inherited the toaster table, so scanned it and printed onto fabric to make the table, chairs and toaster table, and think of finding the "ugly linoleum" fabric in central Africa (where I lived at the time) which gave me the original idea to make this quilt (some ten plus years before it actually got made!). The walls are plaster, and outside the archway into the breakfast nook is the ceramic clock Aunt Katie made. She spent most of her 84 years in Wyoming, living in the back of the beyond, but she was an artist at heart, in addition to mom, devoted wife to a ranch hand, cook to all the cowboys who rode in as a ravenous horde at lunchtime, yet living outside the thriving metropolis of Meeteetsee (population about 600) she had her kiln and art supplies and found time and spirit for creativity.

Drum Roll: Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #12 and LAST! (for now)

2007-05-12T13:42:00.000-04:00

At LONG last, my portion of the Chapter Banner is done done DONE! Someone else is going to do the hand finishing, but I have sewed on the binding, pinned it in place for this photo, made the hanging sleeve and sewed it into the top binding, and have only to do a label! That, will happen later!!!!

I finished the top border with the state flower and bird: the White Pine cone and tassel,

and the black-capped Chickadee:

And here is the final result:

I SURE HOPE THEY LIKE IT!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #11

2007-05-10T20:28:00.000-04:00

At long last, here it is--laid out on the design wall anyway! I did the applique for the top border, and will be adding a chickadee and pine bough (state bird and tree/flower), and some flying geese going from the sky up into the top border. The blocks aren't in their final positions...need to do some fine tuning, and need to add the Elm Street Schoolhouse block, the Camden Public Library, Tower on Mt. Battie and islands in the bay, as well as the inner border. Hmm... a fair amount to do, but eager to do it!

Now I need to get cracking and finish my parts of the construction and start quilting! This is gonna be FUN! As I said in the first of these posts a while ago, I am SO PROUD of each and every person who contributed to this quilt. It is going to be the finest Chapter Banner in the state, and there are some pretty fine banners out there. I am SO LUCKY to have moved to Camden, and to Maine, and to have found such a wonderful and supportive group of quilters here. Life is good!

Color Color Joy Joy!

2007-05-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

I think my husband believes I am difficult to please. Actually it is very easy, and usually fairly simple. Color! Followed closely by books and cloth. And art supplies. And hugs. Move the hugs to number 1.

Since my quilting income has actually been sorta decent in a starting-out kinda way, I told Paul I wanted some Fiesta Ware for Mother's Day, and that I would kick in over half the cost for buying six place settings from this place.

Then, the major "for mother's day" splurge was to buy a Chartreuse mug and salad plate. That glorious color is now "retired" and moving into the price stratosphere. Before it goes any higher, I wanted some! See the small plate, below, between the Peacock and Sunshine Yellow.

Hubby, of course, wanted to know why we needed new dishes. The real reason is that I CRAVE COLOR, I need color, and I'm so tired of wood wood wood (which I love, but come on, you need some variety in life!). I started by adding two new kitchen towels (to replace the tatty disgraceful things we had), one red, one bright lime about 18 months ago. Last winter, I bought a "flame" small le Creuset kettle to go on the black woodstove between the kitchen and dining room. However, I also told him it is because we have eaten every single meal on white dishes since we married 24+ years ago, and have used the same set for the past 16 years. Time for a change!

The kids had no such trouble. I showed them the website color chart, said what colors do you like, and (thankfully there was a lot of overlap among the three of us) picked six so that each of us has at least two we love. Asked hubby to do the same. He came and looked, blankly, at the computer. "I don't care." HUNH? How can anyone not care about color? When pressed, he shrugged. So I ordered the colors the boys and I like! Joshua likes the Periwinkle and Sea Mist (the softer ones) and Peacock, Eli liked the Tangerine and Shamrock, and I liked the Peacock, Sunshine yellow and Tangerine. WooohooO! And, of course, the decadent Chartreuse!

So celebrate the color with me. And we can thank Roxanne, co Pres. of my local guild chapter, for some of the impetus.... I have wanted these dishes for eons, but last year Roxanne made a quilt inspired by her Fiestaware, and I finally succumbed to the temptation. THANK YOU! Now.... shall I make a Fiesta quilt? Maybe for the sofa....with fleece on the back. Here's the "stash" of color (and the usual counter clutter....sigh....)
HOORAY FOR COLOR!

And tomorrow, I promise I'll post the next to last (for a while) picture of the Chapter Banner, one that shows it all pinned up on the Design wall. On Saturday we have our chapter guild meeting, so will "unveil" it there, and then post to the blog over the weekend I hope. Toodles!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #10

2007-05-08T09:03:00.000-04:00

We now return from our detour to the regularly scheduled blogging about the Chapter Banner...

I needed to add some elements to the design to fill in blank spaces. I also needed to add a block for the outside, so made a command decision and just did a block of fiddlehead fern.

In the center panel of the quilt, I added a moose in the lower left corner (there was a moose on the loose in Warren, which is that general direction, just last week!):

Camden Public Library (and LOVE the way it turned out):

Curtis Island Light (at the entrance to Camden Harbor...this was always planned, as was the library):

And hopefully no one will be too appalled that Thumper has given the quilt her complete blessing:

And here are the flying geese up near the top, flying from the sky in the center panel across the inner border up into the top area:

Some hills that include an area meant to represent the Beech Hill preserve with its blueberry barrens:

Tents for the Rockland Lobster Festival:

And the Herrick camp cottage on Pitcher Pond, where we have our August meetings, eat and share quilts...it is gloriously beautiful there, and are fortunate the Herricks are so generous in sharing with us. It is Maine camp living at its finest (outhouse has a magazine slot, and the pump for the water is indoors at the kitchen sink....you pump the water straight into the sink, and they have a generator for the fridge, so we get ice cream sundaes!). Summer Heaven is a good name for it!

The only thing left to create is the chickadee (top right of the top border), finish the quilting, sew on the tiny "reveal" of the same fabric as the inner border inside the binding, machine sew the binding (thank HEAVENS someone else is doing the hand finishing... I need to get back to my book), do up and print the label on cloth and get it ready for the final helpers, and ditto for the hanging sleeve. I can get this done by our meeting in a week! Deadlines sure help me focus!!!!! Best of all, I am elated by how it is turning out....

The Frayed Edges, late April 2007

2007-05-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

What a crazy week...has been 6 days since we met at Kate's house, and I'm only getting to write about it now! We had a wonderful visit, though Nina (Hannah's new daughter) had had a fever that night. So for the morning and lunch it was Kate, Kathy and me. After lunch, we went over the hill and through the woods to Brunswick, to Hannah's temporary digs (900 square feet for two adults, four girls and a dog!) while they build their house (which is delayed starting due to sodden earth!).

We compared our projects for Lark Books.... hmmm.... backing up a second. To our utter astonishment and delight, one of the editors at Lark Books contacted each of us early in the year after having seen our work in the Winter 2006 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine to invite us (!!!!) to submit proposals for projects to be included in a book to be called Quilting with Beads (pub. date of May 2008 or so). Hannah, of course, in the midst of selling a house, moving and adopting in China (with three girls already at home) had to pass on the chance, but the rest of us submitted from one (Kathy) to four proposals.... Deborah has 3 for 3 in the book, Kate and I have two each, and Kathy has one. I(t never occurred to me they'd take more than one each...so we're all working FAST! Due date for submissions is May 21 including patterning, in progress shots, etc.

Well, it appears I forgot to take pictures of Kathy's and Kate's. SHEESH, what is wrong with me? Well... Kathy has shared a sneak peek on her blog and you'll have to trust me on how awesome Kate's will be. I am so totally inspired by Kate's use of unconventional items as beads (like porcupine quills, horn pipe, broken crockery.... am I enticing you?). We spent part of the morning scuffing up the horn pipe beads since they were a bit too bright and shiny, and soaking them in the coffee dregs to age them appropriately. Perfect!

The picture above is of the lunch debris... I forgot (Deborah...we need you to be here and remind us to take pictures of the BEFORE!) to take pics of the food, but here you see Kate's awesome batik (which I shared in an earlier post about our meeting at Kathy's house) doing tablecloth duty.

And I was totally taken by this seaglass fishie in Kate's bathroom:

Here is a tease of my project...I'm not sure how much of the finished one I can share, so this is just a portion of it! OMG...I am such a DOLT... it appears I ALSO forgot to take pictures of the finished project in the yellow/lime colorway! So, you get to see a snippet of the lime/turquoise one..... sheesh. I think I need a vacation?

Then we trooped over to Hannah's temporary abode. If she looks tired, it is because she is, having been up all night with a feverish Nina who is almost one! Here is Hannah, Ella and her new baby sister Nina (who was doing much better when we were there):

And here is Nina exploring her mom's glorious bead and sequins haul from shopping in China:

Ooooh pretty!

Best of all, we had cake for Kate's birthday (which I totally missed...sigh!), BUT Kathy remembered and made these treats...aren't they beautiful?

Seven Random Facts

2007-05-05T15:31:00.000-04:00

Lisa Flowers Ross tagged me, so here goes:

1. When I was born in DC, at the time residents weren't allowed to vote in Presidential elections since DC isn't a state. Fortunately, the powers that be fixed that particular stupidity by the time I reached legal voting age.

2. I had lived on four continents by the time I turned six: Born in DC, so North America. (By the way, Daddy was in the Foreign Service but retired at age 60, the year after I was born, then went to work for an oil company, which is what got us around the world for the next 5 years). Moved to Madrid, Spain (Europe), when I was about 1 1/2 or so. Moved to Bangkok, Thailand, when I was 2 (I still remember my third birthday there!) (Asia). Moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, when I was 4 (South America). Moved back to the US when I was 6, about a month after Kennedy was assassinated.

3. My sons were both born in Washington, but 3000 miles apart (DC and state). And four years apart.

4. Life without pets is not worth living. Well, it is, but life is immeasurably better with four footed furry things. My dad never let me have a cat, so as soon as I got out of college, guess what! Cassy joined my life (didn't have a car so snuck her onto the DC Metro subway to get home from the shelter!) in 1979 and I have had cats and then dogs too ever since.

5. I drink tea. BLACK tea with milk. Not flavored "peach-black tea" or "pick-a-scent-infused", but real, strong, Irish and British style tea. Not teabag tea. PROPER tea, made with loose leaves in a pot (and first you must "hot the pot").

6. I am a book-o-holic. The worst thing about retirement is the inability to buy books at a whim. Since I'm earning some income now from my quilting (teaching and sales), things have definitely improved.

7. Ooops. I forgot seven....here it is. Ummmm.... I wish i'd had the guts to stand up to my parents and follow my interests into the humanities and arts in my 20s, instead of discovering life with art in my mid 40s (quilting came sooner, at age 30-ish, which is a form of art, the traditional quilting is in my book anyway), but Art! learning about and doing, color, design, line... I got a good SLR in my early 20s and took lots of good photos, and still use photography as a springboard. So I will encourage the young, and the old, and the in between, because it is never too late to follow passion!

Now....who will I tag? Lisa already tagged Deborah... Hmmmm.......can I make that "tag" a twofer? Sure, why not...I make up my own rules LOL!

1. Deborah Boschert
2. Kathy Daniels
3. Hannah Beattie
4. Lisa Walton
5. Caity in Towoomba
6. Rayna Gilman
7. YOU! If you want to be tagged, just add a comment and consider yourself tagged!

New photo!

2007-05-05T15:30:00.000-04:00

Joshua (oldest son) asked me to open Photo Booth, on my MacBook Pro, which is a camera built-in to the laptop that takes pictures of you sitting at your computer. I had the puppy on my lap, so we started clicking... I LOVE this photo!

I am wondering if I can tidy myself up (a rare event), and then get both Widgeon (puppy) and Thumper (slightly skittish cat) on my lap at the same time and take a photo good enough to go on the back of my book... I love this photo, and that's rare...usually I DETEST photos of myself....

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #9

2007-05-03T13:30:00.000-04:00

Today we have what were the final three contributions: Gail Galloway Nicholson's schooner, based on my drawing of the Mary Grace, the oldest schooner in the Camden Harbor, and two pieces by Jeanne-Marie Robinson of Northport. Since I first wrote this blogpost, though, I've added varioius bits to the quilt..one block on the outside, bits on the center (that were empty and needed "something", and to the top border. So you'll have to hang on a bit longer for the final "pre-quilting" reveal, and then longer yet for the quilted version. I've also got a blog on the most recent Frayed Edges meeting this past Monday, and have been busier than a mad hatter quilting the banner......

The Mary Grace is the oldest of the schooners working out of Camden Harbor, where it has been taking tourists to sea since 1932! The mid-coast here is known as the Schooner Coast, and even the middle school sports teams are the Schooners. Thanks to the owner of the Mary Grace for permission to use his publicity photo of his beautiful ship for our quilt. Gail did another fantabulous job on this addition to the center panel.

Jeanne-Marie Robinson is an amazing and prolific art quilter. How she produces so much work...and so much of it by hand... in the 24 hours we get each day is beyond me, and it's all fabulous. She designed these blocks and sent them to Maine from her winter home in Florida. She LOVES animals and all sorts of critters, so of course these are hers. The seagull is familiar to anyone who has ever visited a seacoast:

And the seal is Andre The Seal. There is a sculpture of him in Rockport Harbor at the park there (a great picnic spot by the way!), and here is a link to some information on the book written about him at DownEast Books. The book was made into a movie, and there is even a Wikipedia entry!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #8

2007-05-01T08:21:00.000-04:00

Rockport is a very small town immediately south of Camden. If you were visiting here and didn't see the "welcome to" signs, you'd probably not realize you had gone from Camden into Rockport (or vice versa). With a population of about 3500, Rockport sits on the next small harbor south of Camden; overlooking the harbor is Center for Contemporary Art (we're trying to educate them about art quilts, but it is along road), the Rockport Opera House, and a shipbuilder that build the replica of the Godspeed, one of the Jamestown ships. Matthea Dietz is a busy mom of a two-year old son with a couple of jobs, plus coaching ice skating and a bunch of other things (including speaking Chinese and other fascinating tidbits...would love to see her more but our lives are too crazy busy). She is relatively new to art quilting, but gamely took on the challenge of the Opera House, based on my pattern:

She did a phenomenal job...remember what I said about everyone doing better than their best?! Yep!

And Isabelle Davis made this sailboat greatly improving my simple sailboat sketch. There are SO many boaters here, especially in summer, I think you could just about walk across Rockport harbor just by hopping from deck to deck!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #7

2007-04-29T10:03:00.000-04:00

Today you get three of the blocks that are already made (I still need to make one for Elm Street School---no takers for that particular challenge!): the Oak Leaf, the Maple Leaf and Merryspring's gazebo. Maine's tourist season extends from mid-to-late June (peak Black Fly season!) through autumn leaves or "Leaf Peeper" season, which actually brings more hordes of turistas than summer!

Beth Guisely and Polly Schuessler made the Maple and Oak leaves, respectively, from my drawings....these blocks are emblematic of our glorious autumns. They did a wonderful job.

And Barb Melchisky is a pro at applique. She took on the challenging Gazebo at Merryspring, a local land trust and garden / plant / native habitat center. Tucked onto 66 acres that cross from Camden into Rockport, it is described on their website as "privately owned park." It has several beautiful walks through woods and meadows where you can see native flora (and sometimes fauna).

Yeti is a Tibetan Mastiff

2007-04-27T18:55:00.000-04:00

For this morning's Chapter Banner installment, scroll down. For those who have read it and are curious about the beast....

Several readers have asked what kind of dog Yeti is. He is a Tibetan Mastiff. They believe these "big dogs" (Do Kyi in Nepal) came out of the Himalayas with Alexander the Great and became the foundation stock that led to the Saint Bernard, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Great Pyrenees and Newfoundlands... The TMs are considered an "ancient" breed, and only go into heat once a year, having a litter in early spring (so weaned when summer approaches). For a giant breed, they live fairly long: 11-14 years!

TMs have a double coat (downy plus guard hairs), of hair, not fur, so for folks with allergies they are supposedly better. Also means he doesn't shed much at all, though when he "blows coat" at the onset of summer, they entire neighborhood ends up fluffy with tufts of dog fur. When I groom him, just one side, I end up with a pile of fluff as big as he is (after two or three hours of combing). Last year one of our neighbors was out for a walk and saw tufts of fur and thought someone had nailed a small mammal...until she came past us as we waited for the school bus with Eli and saw us engaged in the annual "pluck the dog" ritual!

He is a great big couch potato... at our old house our uphill neighbor said she once saw and eagle dive-bomb him to see if he was roadkill because it had been so long since he moved! These dogs were bred to guard the villages of Nepal at night, so they sleep all day, wake up, bark (Yes, Yeti, it's a car with its lights on, thank you...STOP now!), sleep more, bark some, sleep more. Consequently, they eat less than a German Shepherd or Lab. Yeti is sweet as can be, but gosh is he stooooopid! Dumb as a dirtclod is the common phrase around here LOL!

Tibetans come in a variety of colors...but all are large! Yeti is what is known as a cream-sable, but they come all black (like a Newf), black and tan, red (like an Irish setter's color), or cream-sable. As they mature that lion-like ruff around their necks becomes heavier, as does the "shawl" which goes over their shoulder and (varying from animal to animal) can run all the way down to their feathery plume of a tail. And his feet are HUGE.

Here are some links to:

The Tibetan Mastiff Club of America
The American Tibetan Mastiff Club
and here's a link to a picture there when Yeti was a wee pup....only the size of an end table then!
The American Kennel Association page on TMs
Drakyi TMs (a top breeder---Yeti is the grandson of Drakyi's Simba)

Yeti is now 152 pounds, drops his chin to rest it on the dining room table, takes up half a sofa to sleep, and (at our old house) when he stands on his hind legs with front paws on the top railing, looks me pretty much in the eye. I'm 5'6"!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #6

2007-04-27T08:57:00.000-04:00

Our next two blocks for the quilt (these are, by the way, about 6 1/2 inch blocks) are the Loon and Lupine.

Polly Schuessler made the loon from one of my patterns (I adapted the Loon-y About Maine pattern's 4 inch loon block), using fussy cuts from a loon print fabric...perfect! I just love the baby on the back!

Another amazing artist is Betty Johnson. Betty's daughter Karen is my age, and I just LOVE to see what she has brought to share at our monthly meetings. She has an unerring eye for design, color and composition. I have told her in complete honesty that she definitely has the best eye among all of us in Coastal Quilters, including me, Roxanne, Jan and everyone. She did the beautiful embroidery for the lupine block-- I gave her a sketch and said "do whatever!" I'm so glad she did. I'm going to take another photo in hopes of getting better color than this first one....it's just a beautiful block filled with french knots that are just the right thing:

The lupines grow wild across the state, mostly the blues, but every once in a while you'll come across a swath with the pinks.

Widgeon....cute pug pics alert!

2007-04-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

How can it be Wednesday already!??!!!! Sorry I haven't uploaded the next Coastal Quilters entry yet.... if you scroll through this message, it is just underneath with new pics of more blocks.

In the meantime, Widgeon has taught Yeti how to play! And Yeti, it appears, has taught Widgeon how to take naps (not that Pigwidgeon needed a lot of help there). You might wonder what furry thing Widgeon is sleeping on here:

The answer would be..... YETI!

Here are some more obnoxiously cute photos of pug and behemoth sleeping and playing.... you can tell when they've been at it when Pigwidgeon comes for attention, you reach down and pet him, and he's soggy....eeeewwwww! Cute, but ick!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #5

2007-04-25T09:47:00.000-04:00

And now for more of our chapter banner blocks......

Our other co-president extraordinaire is Jan Pitcairn, an emerging art quilter, mom of 3 very bright boys (Zach's Destination Imagination team is headed to the NATIONAL competition! for which she is the coach...along with soccer team coach, baseball, etc......she's busier than I am!). Jan lives in Lincolnville, so she volunteered to do two landmarks for her township: the Lobster Pound on Lincolnville Beach and the Islesboro Ferry.

The ferry isn't fused to the center of the quilt yet...I just popped it here, near the dock at the south end of L-ville Beach, for the photo. Jan did ALL the work on the restaurant...great job!

As an aside, Jan's husband Dwight is a fantastic photographer, and in October, she, Dwight and I are going to have a joint art show at Zoot, the cool new coffee house in Camden (on Elm Street, across from the village green a few doors up from the Town Offices). Zoot has the best foam and espresso on the mid-coast, a wide selection of teas, and icnreasingly wonderful menu of foods, and has poetry readings and music on weekend evenings and all sorts of cool stuff. Stop and enjoy a latte, especially in October 2007 when we have our show!

Back to quilting.....Susan Coe's second block is this totally awesome lobster trap. I gave her a simple line drawing pattern and she gave me this gem! I'm sorry I got the edges of the block turned under... it is so cool. It is 3-D with a real "frame" to the trap (plastic piping inside camo flannel) complete with seaweed and the usual gunk that comes up with the traps when they are hauled up. Note the lobster batik in the background for the water! Susan is a beginning quilter, but clearly a creative artist.

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #4

2007-04-22T19:41:00.000-04:00

Maine is home to many outdoor enthusiasts, as the phrase goes. OK. People here like to have fun, and for many of them that involves getting outside and enjoying our beautiful state. Kayaking on both lakes and coast is common, and everywhere you see kayaks for sale or rent along the coast and on the inland lakes.

Leigh Smith is a devoted member of Coastal Quilters and works hard when she isn't commuting to work in the Boston area (she's a nurse). But she is a beginning quilter...I'd say she did a phenomenal job! I gave her a basic pattern for a kayak, but she did research at our local sporting goods store, Maine Sports (on Hwy.l 1 in Rockport--also good for raiding the fly fishing department for goodies to stick on art quilts!) to get the details right. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the handles at the ends (jewelry findings from Wal-Mart!) and the hatch cap (or whatever they call that round screw-cap thing-y...we have kayaks but I haven't a clue) which is really a button detailed with a sharpie with a paddle logo!

And Janet Knapp made this quirky lobster using one of my patterns. I had omitted the legs, and her first comment was "where are the legs?!" So she chain stitched them in--perfect! I love his tentacles/feelers, too. And as you can tell from the bright red, he's already been boiled ... where's the butter?

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #3

2007-04-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

Children's Chapel, also known as Vesper Chapel, is in Rockport on the small peninsula that separates Camden Harbor from Rockport Harbor. I drafted a pattern of this chapel which is a favorite for summer weddings. I could probably hold maybe 40-50 people if you really crammed folks in, and is on a steep hill that overlooks Penobscot Bay, the islands in the bay, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Roxanne Wells, our co-president extraordinaire this past year-plus, is a wonderful quilter who loves color as much as I do, and she volunteered to take on this tricky block:

Gail Galloway-Nicholson, who made the Belties Block, also generously offered to help with the center panel of the quilt. I prepared the background (easy peasy and fast), and Gail created her own patterns for the archetypal New England steepled Church (we have at least four in the village--the Baptist, the First Congregational, the Catholic and the former Methodist churches, and then the Episcopal Church in stone next to the Baptist church, plus a few more...lotsa churches for a town of 6000!) and the two Belties, who are placed on the coastline right where Aldemere Farms is. Aldemere is part of the coastal trust...there is this amazing network of land conservancies that has preserved and protected open spaces and coastline here in Maine. We are lucky!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #2

2007-04-19T17:15:00.000-04:00

Here are the next two blocks in the Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner quilt. Susan Coe is new to quilting, but has done a lot of scrapbooking and art-y things, so did two blocks--both her own designs--yeah! Her first is this photo transfer of lobster buoys; as a coastal community, we have our share of lobstermen here, and Rockland is home to the annual Lobster Festival. It is hard and dangerous work, and makes me appreciate the delectable food even more.

Patty Courtney is a new to this type of quilting, but using my sketch of Cappy's Chowder House, a local restaurant and landmark in "downtown (all two blocks of it) Camden" shows she is quite skilled at other things!!! She didn't know how to do applique, so I'm going to fuse up and stitch her block, then she will add beads to the hanging flower basket (they line the town in summer...wonderful). She is co-owner of Towne Motel two short blocks from downtown, so if you ever need a place to stay, hint hint!

Coastal Quilters Chapter Banner #1

2007-04-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

The past two months or so have been frustrating, as I've been hard at work, but can't share what I've been doing for the most part! I've sent off to a magazine two articles, and once they are accepted, I hope I can tell you a little bit more--currently they are scheduled for publication in late summer /early fall. And, like Deborah (click here for her blog), I've been working on two projects for Lark Books. As well, I've designed and done some of the work on a quilt for my local quilt guild chapter--keep reading and see the first two blocks!

For those of you not fortunate to live in Maine, we have a state-wide guild, the Pine Tree Quilt Guild. It has MANY chapters, including Coastal Quilters based in the Camden, Rockport and Lincolnville area, though we have members also from Belfast, Rockland, South Thomaston, and other towns in the Camden Hills region. At a chapter board meeting last year, Gail Galloway Nicholson suggested we should, like so many other chapters, have a "Chapter Banner." And she looked in my direction when she asked if anyone would like to design and organize one. Always eager to do my favorite part--the designing--I jumped at the chance! I designed the overall quilt and many of the blocks and components, and will quilt the whole shebang, but will note when someone has designed their own blocks.

To see the whole thing, I'm going to make you wait (yes, I know, I 'm wicked!). But today I'll share the first two blocks (going in rough alphabetical order): the celebrated Belted Galloways (a rare breed of cattle which are also found on San Juan Island, where I used to live! and known as the "oreo cookie" cows for obvious reasons) of Aldemere Farms in Rockport. This fine soul was made by Gail (who, as a Galloway, put in her "dibs" on the belties, and as an artist made her own pattern...yeah!):

And the Bear's Paw block made by Nancy Connon. Maine has its Black Bears (and Gifford's ice cream makes a wicked Black Bear ice cream that is a vanilla base with blackberries and chocolate), and one day about 2 winters ago, when I visited the now-closed Quilters' Cottage Shop here in Camden, there were Bear's Paws tracks in the snow in the front yard! We figured the bear awoke in winter and went foraging at the dump, which is just a stone's throw up the road.

I am THRILLED with the contributions. Everyone has clearly put forth their best effort, from the most beginning of beginners to the expert. I'm so proud of everyone! I can't wait to assemble the quilt and quilt it. It will, I think, debut at the Maine Quilts show this July in Augusta...hooray!

And one note: if you are interested in making rugs, check Kathy Daniels' blog, a Studio in the Woods. She has a kit with pattern and all the wool just for the asking, and a photo when it is done. I believe it is punched and sheared...there are more details if you click on the link in the first sentence or in the sidebar at right. Thanks!

Learning Magic

2007-04-12T21:01:00.000-04:00

Feeling a bit under the weather today, but will share this... hopefully more by the weekend...

On the Dyers' List (link below), an e-list about dyeing (wool, cotton, silk, cloth, fibers, etc) that stays rigorously on topic thanks to listmom Pat, one of the regulars--Ann--shared a comment Caryl Bryer Fallert made in a class she took with her some years ago: "Her [Caryl's] statement was, there is nothing special in anything that I do, you can learn any of it -- it all comes down to you, YOU provide the Magic."

...what a gem of a comment! For years I have been telling folks that ANYONE can do what I do, which I amended to Anyone can do what I do if they are willing to devote the time and effort to get there. But I really, REALLY like the idea that the individual provides the magic.....

I still believe that ANYONE *can* provide the magic because I guess I believe that the magic is creativity, which can be encouraged by practice.... it's learning to recognize the opportunity or the idea when it presents itself.....

For more on the Dyers' List, click on this link https://list.emich.edu/mailman/listinfo/dyerslist
to subscribe.

Cheers, Sarah

Playing with Photo Booth

2007-04-10T08:40:00.000-04:00

One of the cool things on my Mac laptop is the "Photobooth" feature. It uses the built-in camera (!!!) to take pictures of you like in an old fashioned photo booth. Since I never have pictures of me with the kids (since I'm always the one behind the lens), I eagerly agreed when Joshua asked me to open up Photobooth (the school-issued laptops here in Maine don't have this software ... expect the kids would play endlessly with it instead of doing schoolwork).

So, we took these photos, and used the special effects (obviously!):

Book Review: The Surface Designer's Handbook

2007-04-08T13:37:00.000-04:00

In a fit of extravegance earlier this year, I ordered a whole bunch of things to equip my studio in preparation for writing my book and making the sample quilts. While I was on this spending spree, I bought books....rather a lot of them...ahem! So I thought I'd share my reviews here!

The Surface Designer's Handbook by Holly Brackmann is a must-have reference for anyone interested in (as the subtitle says) dyeing, printing, painting and creating resists on fabric. Click on the title to visit the amazon.com page for this book.

This book is SO comprehensive, that I think anyone interested in even one or two of the techniques covered would find it a useful reference. Lately, I've been seriously bitten by the bug to do screenprinting, and the chapter on that alone is worth the cover price of the book for me.

This is not a book to sit down and browse, although there is plenty of eye-candy in the form of projects ranging from garments to art cloth to art quilts. It is intended to be a how-to manual, and it is. It belongs on the shelf next to Ann Johnston's and Elin Noble's books (click on their names to go to the Amazon links). The chapters in Holly's book are:

Intro
Studio Practices and Safety
Dyes, fibers and fabrics
Color
Fiber-reactive dyes
Acid Dyes
Vat Dyes
Disperse Dyes
Discharging
Screen Printing
Monoprinting
Stamping
Stenciling
Resists
Devore
Textile Paints
Embellishments

These are followed by valuable appendices:
*Dye Worksheet
*Preparing Fabric for dyeing
*Rinsing, Washing and Drying Fabric
*Calculating Stock Solutions, Dye Quantities and Color Mixing
*Thickeners and Printing
*Steaming
*Weights, Measures and Water Temperatures

Which are followed by
Glossary
Bibliography
Resources and
Index.

The only thing I can think of that isn't in this book is printing photos onto fabric, which is related but kinda different.

Oh...and a technical note: the book is hard cover with an enclosed spiral binding, so it helpfully lays flat while you are working! Just cover with plastic so as not to glop paint and dye on those useful pages!

I spoke too soon.....

2007-04-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

Today is April 5. Yesterday afternoon it began snowing. In APRIL. A lot. At 6 a.m., we checked and school was cancelled...a snow day (so much for spring...the Easter Bunny will need a sled....)! So I rolled over (had taken the laptop upstairs anticipating this) and went back to sleep. By 9 a.m., breakfast was over, so I trotted upstairs grabbed my 24 inch quilting ruler and camera, and took one step and a long reach outside the garage, and took this photo.

Yes, that is THIRTEEN INCHES OF SNOW in less than 24 hours. Now why didn't that happen back in December when we wanted snow? We had maybe five inches prior to Feb. 14...since then about every two weeks, it is a big snow. This was the single largest snowfall since we moved here in July 2004.

Needless to say, we caved in and called the plow guy to come dig us out! Here's Eli, 4'6" tall, in front of the plow ridge at the end of the driveway!

It is absolutely gorgeous out,

so of course I had to enjoy the day and quilt (and make bean and noodle and meatball soup from scratch, and choc chip cookies, and cornbread....I need to work out!). In the interest of keeping my loyal readers reading, here is some actual quilt related content:

This is what I've been working on...lotsa stuff. Alas, I can't share too much detail as it is for publication in three different places...woohoo! Now, if all the deadlines (two real, one self-imposed) weren't May and June (the latter) I'd be fine! Actually, I'm doing fairly well....have two articles drafted and revised and almost done, one project drafted and made, and another project ready to start. Phew! And I may play some serious hooky from what I'm supposed to be doing and make a quilt to enter in Houston...I want to SO much, and it is just screaming to get out of my head. Anyway, hope you like what's on the wall!

Aaaaaaaaargh!

2007-04-03T19:44:00.000-04:00

Last night, I looked out the window at 6 pm, and this is what I saw:

May I remind everyone that it is APRIL, and even here in Maine (where we didn't have snow until late January) it is STILL April!

This is what we saw this morning:

Of course, it was beautiful:

I think there are more quilts in the "Sense of Place" series....

And guess what is predicted by the National Weather Service for every day for the rest of the week: Sleet / Snow. And tomorrow, there is a Winter Storm Watch!!!!!!! We may actually have a snow day or delayed start on Thursday.

SHEEEEEESSSSSHHHHH!!!!!!!!

On a happier note, here is Widgeon trying to convince Yeti to play. Yeti decided to sleep.

Knit hat, wrestling and pug pics....

2007-04-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

Today's post is a bit of a miscellany!

First and foremost, the wrestling season wrapped up for the year on Saturday, with the Pine Tree Wrestling League state-wide meet. Joshua made it to the quarter finals before he lost...WOW!

Here's Joshua about to get his hand raised for the win for the last time this year:

Hubby and I are trying to convince Joshua to attend a wrestling camp away from home this summer; he absolutely loves wrestling more than anything (even skateboarding he told me, though I expect not more than guitar!). But, he is not wild about going to unknown places where he doesn't know anyone, either. We'll work on him! We are incredibly proud of him--even though Maine is a small state, it has some awesome wrestlers, and Joshua is in one of the most competitive weight brackets. It is FANTASTIC that he has done so well (and yep, I'm crowing!).

When the wrestling season began, I dug out my knitting (and ordered some new patterns from Just One More Row). Due to me being lazy and not doing a gauge swatch, I ended up knitting this hat about three times, but that's OK! It kept me busy. I used a chunky chenille style yarn, and finished yersterday. I'm probably an intermediate pushing toward advanced knitter, and I learned new things and stitches from this pattern and another, so I'm quite happy with them. Asked hubby what he thought: "I'm glad you like it," he said. Oh well. And I DO like it! The front view, taking picture of self:

and the side view (please ignore my profile...ugh!)

And finally, gratuitously cute pug puppy pics:

Book Review: McCallums Thousands....

2007-03-30T18:50:00.000-04:00

In the continuing book spree, I thought I would share these books by Graham Leslie McCallum, which may become as indispensable as my favorite Flinders Petrie book. W.M. Flinders Petrie, nearly a century ago, compiled 3000+ images and designs from the ancient world. Reproduced at low price by Dover, this book is my favorite source for design inspiration, from ancient Sumeria and Babylon to the medeival period, it is a treasure trove of design . Truly, what is old is new again. Check it out at amazon, here.

Not too long ago, someone told me about one of McCallum's books. A quick surf on Amazon (my on-line "books in print"!), revealed not one but THREE of these gems:

Pattern Motifs
4000 Animal, Bird and Fish Motifs
4000 Flower and Plant Motifs

The books are softcover, and easily 1.5 inches thick, about 9 inches square-ish. Arranged in roughly chronological order, you can pick designs from the ancient world through Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Here are the three books opened up to sample pages:

Although the designs are listed on the back cover as copyright free, the inside does stipulate they are for personal use. At a mere US$12.21 each, in the US you can get free shipping (via the slow service and mailing option anyway) if you order all three. So of course I had to do just that! At the end of each book is an index so, for example, you can look up "rose" and have it send you to the appropriate page in whichever time-period.

March-ing and Eric Bogle

2007-03-28T20:21:00.000-04:00

Every day that is born into the world comes like a burst of music and rings the whole day through, and you make of it a dance, a dirge, or a life march, as you will.
- Thomas Carlyle, 1795 - 1881

Don't ever become a pessimist ... A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun - and neither can stop the march of events.
- Robert A. Heinlein, 1907 - 1988

This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves; not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.
- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911 - 1978

Those three quotations came from six quotes in an e-mailing I received recently with the theme of "march." (I get it most days -- if you'd like to sign up for it, visit Quotes of the Day here).

The first and last ones quoted above, particularly, remind me of two songs by Eric Bogle, an Australian folk singer whom I think of as being part of the "Celtic diaspora"...those folkies whose sound reminds me of Celtic music. The first song is Singing the Spirit home, written during the apartheid years in South Africa, about a black man being led from his cell to the gallows. This link takes you to an Amazon page which is for a 5-CD compilation of his best songs including the title song (same album title as my original tape, but a different batch of songs). The chorus goes:

"Courage, Brother, you do not walk alone. We shall walk with you and sing your spirit home."

This line reminds me of a phenomenally powerful novel called "Remember Ruben" by Mongo Beti, about life in apartheid South Africa. The quality of the writing in Remember Ruben is good but not great, but the imagery is unforgettable. Apparently in the Zulu tradition, when someone dies, the spirits of the ancestors come from beyond the hills, an army of ancestors walking over the hill to welcome you to the beyond. I have this picture in my head and know that some day I will have to make it into a quilt. Thanks to Prof. Donald Herdeck and his classes at Georgetown (back in 1978-79) for putting that book on the reading list! And I just googled, and Herdeck's 3CP, Three Continents Press, and found this article about the company and this article about his death in 2005. Herdeck published Naguib Mahfouz's works into English and published them long before Mahfouz won the Nobel for literature, among other things.

The other song is a wonderful march and protest song: Twenty Years Ago, on the album Singing the Spirit Home (and comes right after the title track on side one--I'm lucky this one is on tape, my older Bogle recordings are vinyl!!!!). Here are some of the lyrics (which are, of course, copyright Eric Bogle):

Twenty years ago in a country far away
I marched for the same cause I'm marchin' today
For a world without shadows and a future without fear
Twenty years ago and a long way from here

Chorus:
I shall not fail I shall not stumble
I shall never give up the struggle
Till morning comes and the shadows pass
And we all walk in the light at last

I'm sorely tempted to quote the entire song, but that would probably be pushing it, so visit his website (click on his name above) and you can read the lyrics by going to that part of his website.

The most amazing thing happened after I wrote the above. I e-mailed Bogle via his website, asking if this song was available on CD, as my cassette tape is old and I'd like it on CD, but couldn't find it anywhere despite a lengthy Google search. I expected an answer (if at all) maybe from someone who works for him, a publicist or something. Well he wrote back personally! And the CD is "long out of print" so he asked me to send him my snail mail address and said he'd burn me a copy of the CD! ISN'T THAT COOL?!!!! Can't wait! This may be just the excuse I needed to save up for an iPod so I can burn the songs to my own iPod! Hmmm...wonder if he'll autograph the disc? Or realizes I'm in America and not Oz........

Pigwidgeon Comes Home

2007-03-26T12:09:00.000-04:00

Pigwidgeon, or Widgeon for short, arrived home yesterday afternoon! Named after the Weasley's owl in the Harry Potter books, Widgeon is an 8 week old fawn pug of the boy variety. (Thumper, Hannah and I are carrying on the female side of things here.) You may (or may not) remember that Widgeon is Eli's 9th birthday present, and Eli couldn't be happier (he always puts on a solemn face for photos!).

The introductions with the canine horse have gone quite well, as you can see in this photo.

Widgeon is also smaller than just one of Joshua's shoes (size 10 1/2, at age 13...think Joshua's gonna be tall?)

And he is a smart puppy...has already figured out how to play with his dumbell!

After all that attention, a little puppy needs a nap, so he found comfort and sleep on Joshua's lap:

Thanks to the kind souls who answered my plea for help with his name! Here are some of the wonderful ideas that made the short list:

Gizmo
Bazooka Joe
Barkley
Pugley
Winston
Churchill
Esker
Samson
Dobby
Angus
Ivar

In the end, we decided Pigwidgeon was just perfect! GRIN!

The Brothers Smith ROCK!

2007-03-25T19:04:00.000-04:00

Warning: Proud Mama posting!

Saturday, March 24, was a busy one for us. Paul took Eli to the Battle Of Maine martial arts tournament in Winslow--about 20 minutes north of the capital, Augusta. I followed the bus (which left at 5:30 am...ugh--dropped Joshua off at 5:15 am--uncivilized!) at a later hour to Ellsworth for the Pine Tree Wrestling League Eastern Regionals for 2006 to watch Joshua. Both boys ROCKED THE HOUSE!

Here is Eli, who this year (for the first time) competed in Isshinriyu, a Japanese style Karate; he has placed equally well in the past for his Tae Kwon Do, a Korean style Karate.

His sensei, Pete Bishop (who for his day job owns Rock City Cycle in Rockland, Maine, and customizes Harleys and other motorcycles), taught Eli a BLACK BELT level kata (routine / set of steps for martial arts) even though Eli is a second degree yellow belt (then to green, then brown, then black!). Eli did so well that he placed second in a very competitive field of 21! Pete sets very high standards for adults and kids, and wouldn't have taught Eli such an advanced kata if he didn't think Eli could do it well...waaaaayyyy cool!

And in sparring / fighting (all with safety gear on and no blood, no serious hits) Eli took a fourth.

Alas, Paul didn't figure out how to work the old digital camera (I had the new one at the wrestling meet) until after Eli's kata was over, but we're happy he got these photos. And here is Eli (in the white ghi) lined up to receive his trophy!

WAY TO GO, Eli!

Joshua's meet got off to a late start due to a faulty computer. He wrestled four times, won three matches, lost one.

The match Joshua lost, he lost to the kid who (a) finished first and (b) was the state champ in their weight class last year and (c) has been wrestling 5 years (to Joshua's two) and is a year older (and wiser?) than Joshua. Even better: Joshua is eager for a re-match! So what all this means is that Joshua finished THIRD in the Eastern Region of Maine! Here's one of the matches where he pinned his opponent:

Papa and I are VERY proud! And last night, Papa showed Joshua a few more tricks. So this is what the Smith living room (??) looks like on a Saturday evening:

Back to the meet...here are the kids hoisting the second place at the meet trophy, for the team.

They were beat only by Belfast, which combines FOUR or five middle schools on their team! If we combined with the HAL schools (Hope Appleton and Lincolnville, which also feed into the Camden Hills Regional High School) the way Belfast does, we'd have slaughtered the competition. ALL but two of the team qualified to go to States next weekend...WOW! AWESOME (and yep, I'm shouting!) Here's the team in their "pose for the newspaper photo"

and one of my favorites, the kids just being kids after the wrestling was done:

The Frayed Edges, March 2007--Part 2!

2007-03-23T09:38:00.000-04:00

Then Kate showed us Ukrainian pisankyi (sp>?). Her adopted daughter Olena is from Ukraine, and these eggs that Kate made in the Ukrainian style are awesome!

Kate said that just ONE of these eggs can take a full day to make. She showed us the wax tools, much like a tjantjing from Bali used for batiking, which melt the soft beeswax (hold over flame) so you can draw the fine lines. I forgot to take a picture, but Kate has a set of "circle makers...heavy cardstock with holes in, and markings evenly spaced so you can make symmetical markings on the eggs.

First, you need to extract the egg insides. She has this cool tool that makes a small hole (with no cracks and chips), and another one that helps pump the egg out. Since it is just air, you can USE the egg...no waste! Sounds like scrambled eggs and bacon for dinner to me! Anyway, here's Kate showing how to use the pump:

The process is much like batik: apply wax, dye first color. Add more wax (covering some of the previous color) and dye again. Repeat until done. Phew!

And here is her container of eggs from a birds-eye view:

Then, Kate turned the eggs over so we could see the sides:

I LOVED this one with the wheat stalks:

And here we are at lunch (which was actually beefore the eggs...who cares about chronology!). We had peanut soup, made by Kathy from Kate's mother-in-law's recipe (Kate---don't forget I want that recipe...YUMMM again!):

Don't they look nice and happy? Kathy always looks so pretty in all the pictures of her, and Kate has the nicest smile!

On the way home (on a detour...lotsa road damage here in Maine last weekend...we had snow followed by torrential rains which have washouts and sinkhole-sized potholes all over the place--gonna be LOTS of work for the road crews!) spotted this falling down house. I'm developing this "thing" for pictures of old falling down houses, wondering what it was like when the house was new and filled with a young family with kids and hope and hard times and love:

And then this barn on Route 3...you can see an old log cabin in the center, chinking and all:

OK, that's all for this particular wonderful meeting. Now, to work!

The Frayed Edges, March 2007

2007-03-21T09:23:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful day we had! We were a small group this Monday, though. Deborah, of course, is in Texas, and Hannah...drum roll...is still in China with her new daughter Nina and hubby Bart. Check out the pics from Beijing and Guangzhou here. I realized on the way up that the four of us were all in China...Hannah in the country, then Kathy, Kate and I were in China (Village) in Maine! There are lots of towns in this state named for other countries: Mexico, Poland, China.....

I took SO many photos I may have to do this in two posts! We started with sharing, coffee and Kathy's homemade biscotti...drizzled with melted Dove dark chocolate easter eggs...YUMMM! And Kathy sneaked some extras into the box of cookies I brought (Pepper-Cumin, from Rayna Gillman's blog here, also YUMMMM) made with cumin seeds sent from Rayna (since I didn't know of a single place to find them up here in the wilds of Maine!). Thanks Rayna!

Anyway, back to Frayed Edges. First Kate showed us this GORGEOUS length of fabric she bought on vacation in Florida, made by Bold Over Batiks--expensive but SO worth it!:

And Kathy bought a sweater pattern after she saw mine last month, ordered this beautiful hand-dyed yarn and has already begun knitting....how come it takes me so long to get going on anything...lookit at what Kathy has done already:

Kate wanted to know what to do with a piece she began at our last meeting for the Art Quilts Maine log cabin challenge. We fiddled with the edges and here is what we came up with:

Aren't these glorious fabrics? One of the AQM members passed away, and her husband gave her stash to the group. AQM then (and drats I missed it) sold the fabric as a chapter fundraiser, $5 for a bag of scraps. Kate scored these awesome hand-painted pieces and made this top.

And here is Kathy's piece, seen on her blog, too:

The background fabric started as white, then Kathy painted with the goal (achieved!) of looking like patina'ed copper. She adapted Deborah's use of washers (check out Deborah's Journal and scroll backwards to see how she used washers and inspired Kathy...see....we can still cross-pollinate and be more than a thousand miles apart!) and painted them up to match the fabric...awesome.

I loved the way Kathy quilted the piece, in waves and then sworls and eddies in the center

Tune in tomorrow or the next day for lunch and Ukrainian eggs...gotta go finish the taxes! (BLECH...art is so much more fun! Of course, tax refunds aren't bad....)

A tease....but at least it is quilty!

2007-03-19T09:05:00.000-04:00

So I took a break from writing, and doing taxes (UGH!), and going to wrestling meets (courtesy of our late snowstorm, which has postponed regionals and States by a week), to sew! The good news is I can share this with you:

The bad news is that I can only tell you it is (wooohoo!) something I'm working on for an article. If all goes well, I'll be published again by the end of this year. But, I am pretty sure I'm supposed to keep things "under wraps" until publication. So, I can only show this to you and not tell you about the article. Aren't I wicked?

The Secret Life of Machines

2007-03-18T10:58:00.000-04:00

I just had to share these links with you, which I came across on the QuiltArt list (thanks Diane!). The main site is about how machines work:
Click here.

The next page is about how a sewing machine creates a stitch:
Click here.

And this last link is a 26 minute video about sewing machines, from the first one through today. The video quality is a bit blurry due to on-line streaming or whatever, but it was SO cool!
Click here for video.

These are a lot of fun...even my 13 year old son liked them!

I'm actually SEWING today (if I ever get off the computer) so hope to have quilty content tomorrow! And then, yeah! a small Frayed Edges meeting with Kate and Kathy at Kath's house, as Hannah is in CHINA! She and Bart have met their new daughter (to join three already at home) Nina. See pictures, and prepare to have your heart melt and get a lump in your throat by visiting Hannah's blog, Xiao Nu Hair (which means little girl in Chinese) here.

Aimone: on "Line"

2007-03-15T08:16:00.000-04:00

There are so many good bits about line in Aimone's book, that I think I'll add a bit more. Think about these comments in relation to quilts, how lines define the geometric shapes of pieced quilts, the edges of appliques and the stitched line--by hand, by machine, quilting and embellishment (including a line created with a sequence of beads...)

Even broken or lost and found lines can serve most effectively to establish shape. P. 35

Line as shape maker--Whenever a line ventures out on a journey through space and crosses ack over itself, it encloses an area. The enclosed area reads as a shape. P. 33

Line representing edge--An edge is the place where one shape butts up agains another; a line can represent this edge. P. 36 (And from Sarah: think horizon, water's edge, contours of a body)

Line as direction or movement p. 38 (from Sarah: ------- is static, lllllllll is at attention, /////// moves to the right)

Line for emphasis...changes [in] the weight of the line to establish a hierarchy of emphasis P. 40

Line as rhythm, symbol, to create depth.... In two dimensional design, this involves creating the illusion of three dimentions. ... In drawing, a line that varies is known as a weighted line. The thicker lines advance to the front, while lines of medium weight fall back by contrast. Thin and very thin lines seem to recede further still, all creating an effective feeling of depth. P. 40-42

A note from Sarah: How can we adapt this use of thick line in quilting? It seems to me that we take the inverse....by using the stitching line to make the background recede, we leave in the negative space a "thick" line that comes forward and draws attention to itself.......

I've been doing taxes, working on the book, going to wrestling meets, guitar lessons, karate testing and that sort of thing, so precious little has happened in the studio. I'm going to reward myself by an entire DAY upstairs today working on samples for an upcoming article and maybe even a small piece to enter in shows! Will share as soon as I can. In the meantime,
MAKE ART!

Pug Love and Eli's birthday

2007-03-12T19:40:00.000-04:00

Let's just say I'm considerably more comfortable now than I was 9 years ago at this hour. Give or take 2 hours thanks to time zone changes and daylight savings, Eli joined the breathing 9 years ago. As usual, the party did not fall on his exact birthday, which is today, but yesterday. So we had BOYS....LOUD boys! Thank heavens there were only five of them...even our 13 year old was pleading for mercy! Here, the opening of gifts:

Followed by sugar, in the form of a yin and yang design (Eli's idea after Joshua ate a bunch of the vanilla frosting and there wasn't enough...turned out well, eh?):

Then they all went outside into the melting slushy snow and ice and cold water and got thoroughly wet in a snowball fight:

THEN, Eli's "real" birthday began a day early. For YEARS he has wanted a pug. So, we told him we had ordered something, but it wasn't ready and wouldn't be for two more weeks, but that we could go see his gift. Here it is--currently a 6 week old male tan pug puppy:

And here is the first hug:

And here is the best of many, MANY photos taken on Sunday afternoon:

We don't have a name yet, so suggestions are welcome, but Eli gets the final say-so! We are looking forward to the little beastie's arrival home in two weeks. By then he might be about the size of Yeti's back foot! When fully grown, he may be as large as Yeti's head. Maybe. GRIN!

And then there was his "real" birthday today...after Ishinriyu karate practice (during which he gave himself a real doozie of a bruise, hence the elevated foot). First, gifts:

Then another cake! (to be followed by cupcakes tomorrow at school...enough with the baking and frosting!) Eli is grinning because he took THREE tries to blow them all out...what's he gonna do when he is 50 (like his Mama will be this year) or 60 (ditto for Papa!)......

Wrestling, Coastal Quilters, and my shirt

2007-03-11T18:49:00.000-04:00

To say this weekend has been hectic but happy is an understatement! Friday afternoon was wrestling and guitar lessons for Joshua, and shopping for Eli's party on Sunday and other assorted errands for me.

Saturday began with the monthly Coastal Quilters meeting. It was quiet and friendly, with Mary Pennoyer sharing her way of making 9-patches and checkerboard blocks and borders...great for scrappy quilts. Louisa Enright (on the right in the photo) shared this awesome quilt--a wedding gift!--which she designed in EQ5. Louisa is also a watercolorist, and you can see that she has learned about value (lights and darks), color progression and such. She shared her process from idea and basic colors from the bride and groom, to initial sketches and swatches, to finished (89 x 110 inches!) top! I'd like to end up on Louisa's gift list!

A week or two ago (time flies, so I have no idea when it really was...) I made this shirt from flannel purchased at Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro (I've been leaving a fair bit of my teaching paychecks there!); it is yellow with white bunnies (with pink ears of course!), and I used a slightly darker yellow with little orange dots for the collar and hem trim (think binding, but not quite) on sleeves and main hem. I used the Nepali Blouse pattern from Folkwear; from my notes it appears I last made this top in 1986! It looks as though the sizing has changed. My pattern is sizes S-M-L, and they now sell it as XS to XL. The armscye (the opening for the sleeve) is cut very high, with a gusset, which means it is not suitable as a jacket because there isn't enough room underneath for anything more than a cotton turtleneck or tank, but it also means you have lots of freedom of movement. I TOTALLY love the Folkwear patterns...

I left before the end of the meeting to head north to Joshua's last regular-season wrestling meet at the Belfast, Maine, middle school There were two defaults (no one in his weight on the opposing teams). He lost the one match with an opponent, alas he made a mistake and just about ended up pinning himself to the mat (!!!!), but overall he is still something like 9-3. The team will head to Regionals on Saturday (with a 5:45 a.m. bus departure...UGH! That means one of us has to get up and get him there...the meet begins at 8, which also means we'll need to be on the road by 7:30...ugh!). If he does well, we hope he'll be able to go to States the following week. Here he is before he lost:

And finally, today, Sunday, we had Eli's Birthday party. Imagine, six crazed 8 and 9 year old boys. Here is a preview, but since Eli doesn't officially turn 9 until tomorrow, I'll save more photos for tomorrow. And I must say, even though I'm STILL carrying extra pounds I put on during that pregnancy, I'm MUCH happier and more comfortable today than I was nine years ago!

Aimone: Visual Elements and a HUGE thanks!

2007-03-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

First: THANK YOU to Katherine McNeese for purchasing A Sense of Place: The Tree (see previous posts) on the first day of the FiberArts for A Cause Reverse Auction at the premium Gold Donor level. I am so totally blown away! Thanks to her generosity in purchasing my quilt and one by Scott Murkin, the FFAC has raised nearly $3000 for cancer research already. I just hoped my quilt would sell, let alone on the first day! WOW. Thanks to Virginia for giving us all this opportunity, and to Katherine for her generosity in including my quilt in her collection.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

In this excerpt from Aimone's "Design!" book, he discusses Visual Elements:

"Think of visual elements as the raw materials you use in design. As you select and position them in a design space, they join with others to form a group or community of elements that relate to one another. These relationships create your finished design. Visual elements fall roughly into five categories: line, mark, shape or form, and color." )p. 32

and

"A line is the recorded movement of a dot on its journey from one point to another." p. 33

More on line in the next post from this book......

Fiberart For A Cause Auction starts tomorrow

2007-03-08T13:03:00.000-05:00

Just a friendly reminder: the Fiberart For A Cause, fundraising for the American Cancer Society, is back
in action with the 2007 Invitational Reverse Auction and begins tomorrow, Friday, March 9th! The quilt below (shown hanging on a black drape) is my contribution to the cause.

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACS/ReverseAuction2007.html

Featuring fiber art donated by Jane Davila, Jamie Fingal, Mary Beth Frezon,
Lynn Krawczyk, Heidi Miracle-McMahill, Carol Moore, Scott Murkin,
Cynthia St. Charles, Sarah Ann Smith and Elin Waterston, the Reverse Auction
runs March 12-16. The quilt above is my donation to the cause. Surf in to the link above to see all the fabulous pieces!

Artwork begins at a fixed price and is reduced by a fixed percentage each
day. Wait too long and the artwork you want will be gone. 100% of the
proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society.

Class listing update

2007-03-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

Wow...that was fast! The class at Mystic Maine Quilts in Gardiner in late April is full! So we have added another Machine quilting class tentatively scheduled for Sunday, June 10. If the students are able to meet on a weekday, however, we will switch that to a mid-week day.

Wrestling update: Joshua "won" one match tonight by default (no one on the opposing team in his weight class) and "lost" one, on points. However, this was an awesome feat: His opponent, Brandon Rich from the Hope-Appleton-Lincolnville team is the State champion in his weight class last year, and took second place in the all-New Englands (SIX states!) last April! The fact that Joshua was able to avoid being pinned is really something. I think if Joshua had had to wrestle Brandon last year he would have been pinned before he realized the buzzer had finished sounding.

Weather update: It warmed up today, to two digits...we hit a high of 18! Tonight, a low of about 2, and tomorrow back to single digit highs and below zero night temps. Then, 48 hours later, we're supposed to be highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s for the next week. Crazy! At least the ice rink on our driveway should finally melt....

April / May / June Teaching Schedule

2007-03-07T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hi all! March will be a busy month with Joshua in wrestling meets every Saturday and Eli in a karate tournament at the end of the month, so my next classes will be in April, which is going to get VERY busy! This is a good thing!

I'm happy to say my venues for teaching have increased by one to include Mystic Maine Quilts in Gardiner, near Augusta. For all of these stores, please contact the store directly to reserve and pay for a spot in the class. Nobleboro classes (207-563-8445) are usually 10-4, Cote Brothers/Auburn classes are 9:30-3:30 (207-782- 5922, and the one at Mystic Maine Quilts (207-582-0312) in Gardiner is from :30 to 3:30 also (Bring a bag lunch if you'd like...I usually stay in the class area to help students work as much as they wish).

April 21, Saturday: Machine Quilting at Maine-ly Sewing, Nobleboro
April 22, Sunday: Machine Quilting at Mystic Maine Quilts, Gardiner
April 28, Saturday: Postcards at Cote Brothers, Auburn
May 19, Saturday: Machine Quilting at Maine-ly Sewing, Nobleboro
May 20, Sunday: More Machine Quilting with Decorative Threads at Cote Brothers, Auburn
June 16, Saturday: demonstrating machine quilting at the Saco Art Museum, part of the Art Quilts Maine exhibit
June 23, Saturday: Decorative Stitch Machine Applique at Cote Brothers, Auburn
to see the sampler I made for this class, click here . It is a great way to learn how to use all those fun stitches on your machine!

summer highlight:
August 2-29: The Frayed Edges group show at the Camden Public Library, at the corner of Main Street (Hwy. 1) and Atlantic Street in downtown Camden, Picker Room.
August 11: Meet the artists reception, 1-4 p.m.

and in fall:
October 19, Friday evening: "With a Dash of Color," trunk show and color lecture at the Amoskeag Quilters Guild, Manchester, NH
October 20, Saturday: Class for Amoskeag Quilters

Mount Desert Island and the Island Quilters

2007-03-05T08:18:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I had the good fortune to be invited to give my trunk show, "With a Dash of Color," to the Island Quilters of Southwest Island, Mount Desert Island, Maine. Many of you may have heard of Acadia National Park, which takes up a good portion of the island, and Bar Harbor, the more well-known town there. Even in the tail end of winter, it is beautiful up there!

On the way up Highway 1 (the old Atlantic Coast Highway), I was able to cross the new "Narrows" bridge at Bucksport. It is the awesome new structure in this photo, with the old bridge (which will come down eventually) behind it. Unlike other suspension bridges I've been on where the cables are on the outside edges of the bridge, here the cables are in the center, with a lane of traffic on either side (leaving me feeling exposed and skittish driving across!).

For once, I remembered to take pictures of my set-up before the talk, with my quilts laid out on the tables, and for-sale items on the right along with my journal quilts.

Have I said recently how I love the internet? Turns out I was invited to speak because Maggie...in this picture in the red shirt taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!....has a friend in Florida who knows me and my work from being on the Janome 6500/6600 yahoo group! So here I am, just under 100 miles away from Southwest Harbor, connected by someone well over a thousand miles away!

The trunk show is just that: my life in quilts, from my earliest pieces to my most recent. But, I thought if I'm going to be paid for talking about my own work, the least I can do is teach folks a little something while I'm at it. So, I incorporated a lesson on working with color into it. Instead of sorting the quilts chronologically, I have sorted them by color schemes: achromatic (black-white-gray), monochromatic (one color), analogous (next to each other on the color wheel), triadics (red-yellow-blue or orange-green-purple), double complementary and polychromatic / rainbow.

Long-time visitors to this blog may remember that I did a tutorial series on color a while back; if you'd like to look at it, visit the February 2007 archive. Scroll down to February 17 and work your way forward in time!

After the talk, folks were able to come up and get a good, close look at my work:

And at my patterns for sale and quilts:

On the way home I stopped at the Quilters Cabin in Orland, Maine, which had this beautiful scene at the edge of the parking area:

Isn't Maine just beautiful?

And further south, I took pictures of the Narrows bridge from the Bucksport (north) side:

I'm happy to say that my teaching schedule is set for the next few months, so my next post will include my schedule for now through the end of May! Hope to have a tidbit for you, too. Back soon and happy sewing, Sarah

In like a lion!

2007-03-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging for cheering! (and, OK ... I give up...blogger is refusing to let me "fix" the errors it introduced in the font...hope you can read the end of the recipe...no matter what I do it won't change font or size....sigh and snarl!)

Yes, at llllloooooonnnnnngggggg last, we have a proper winter snowstorm here in mid-coast Maine. And unlike south of here in Portland and environs, and here two weeks ago, the snow did not turn to rain (which turned to slush and then ice) in the later afternoon. For the past two weeks, the mid-coast area has been a virtual skating rink, melting off only a few days ago. (Update: DANG! During the course of writing this, it has turned to rain !!!!! PPPPffffoOOOOOOEEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!)

This morning we had six inches of fresh snow. So what do you do on a no-school Friday? Why, shovel and sit and play! If you are Yeti, you play couch potato out of doors and bask in the glory of a thick coat and your element:

If you are Joshua, you get ready:

You launch:

and you land:

If you are Eli, you dig a cave:

and then go in head first:

If you are Mommy, you take pictures of cool patterns, like the falling down woodpile:

Our neighbor's perfect tree:

and bark:

And if you are still a Yeti, you ask to stay outside a bit longer!

Then you make pea soup (recipe at the end):

Then you bring the dog in....alas, we didn't use the flash (Eli was taking pictures and didn't realize). How do you get that much snow off that big and hairy a dog? Why grab the push-broom!

Sarah's Split Pea Soup

Here's my recipe, which makes a very thick soup. If you like yours not-so-thick, add more water:

--2 slices bacon
--1 pound turkey kielbasa (if you like less meat, use half) cut into lengthwise quarters and cubed
--1 yellow onion, chopped
--2-3 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
--3 carrots, chopped very finely
--2 Yukon (or Aroostook) Gold potatoes, chopped finely
--1 bag (one pound I think) split green peas
--2 bay leaves
--herbs (I used a Penzey's blend, Sunny Paris, which has shallots, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf.
--3 16-oz cans chicken broth
--4 cups or more water

--Saute bacon in a dutch oven.
--Add 1/3 to 1/2 of the turkey kielbasa and brown it.
--Remove the browned kielbasa from the pan and saute the next batch until done.
--Remove bacon and kielbasa from pan.
--Add chopped onion and saute.
--Add smashed garlic and saute briefly.
--Add ONE can of chicken broth to de-glaze the tasty brown bits on the bottom of the pan.
--Add finely chopped carrots and chopped potato.
--Rinse split peas and (if needed) remove any small stones or twigs. Add to pot.
--Add remaining TWO cans of chicken broth and two cups water.
--Sprinkle on some seasoning and add bay leaves.
--DO NOT add salt or pepper yet...the salt in the chicken broth and pepper in the kielbasa may (or may not) be enough.
--Raise heat under pan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer.
--Stir every so often so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and scorch.
--Taste test, adding salt and pepper if desired.
--IF the soup is too thick add more water to desired consistency.

I made my soup in the late morning, then turned the heat off. 45 minutes before dinner turn the heat back on under the soup to warm it up slowly. I added about two more cups of water at this time.

I also made croutons. I save our heels from bread loaves (the boys went through half a loaf just in French Toast for breakfast today!!!), then shave off the crust side and cube. Spray a jelly roll pan (or half-sheet cake pan) with Pam, spread cubed bread one layer deep, and spray again with Pam (I use regular on the sheet, Olive Oil Pam on the cubes). Broil for about 2 minutes...watch it like a hawk! It burns in a nano-second...and don't ask how I know this. Don't use the shelf level closest to the broiler...go down one. Pull out pan, "toss" the croutons, and return to broil for 1-2 minutes.

Aimone: The purposes of design

2007-03-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

I thought I might do a series of brief notes with quotations from Aimone's "Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople." So, let's begin at the beginning. Here is the opening of Chapter 1, The purposes of design (p.14)

...The purposes of design fall roughly into five categories: Descriptive (to document the visible world), narrative (to tell a story or send a message), emotive (to evoke a mood), utilitarian (to perform a practical function), and decorative (to creatively arrange design elements, such as color and shape). Keep in mind that most designs serve more than one of these purposes. In fact, overlap is almost inevitable. Usually, however, one design purpose is primary, and the success of any design can be judged by how well it achieves its purpose.

In a day or so, I'll upload photos of my lecture on Mount Desert Island Wednesday evening, then my upcoming class schedule, and maybe even (if I can find the photo so I can scan it) me doing one of the scariest things I've ever done in my life....walking on the edge of the aquaduct outside of La Paz, Bolivia.....but more on that later. Now, I'm off to the sofa. Eli breathed on me. I feel icky and achy, and that's after two extra-strength Tylenol and tea. Brrrrrr.......

Eli gets his Green Belt

2007-02-28T06:52:00.000-05:00

Here, Eli waits his turn to test.

And Joshua racks up a few more wins at Saturday's wrestling meet. (An aside: tried to post this yesterday, but blogger wasn't cooperating! Hope to add quilty /fabric content on Friday-- I made a new blouse from quilting flannel, and today I head to Mount Desert Island to speak to quilters from SouthWest Harbor, the rest of Mt. Desert Isl --home to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park-- and from Ellsworth, just over on the coast.)

Monday night, however, was Eli's night. He and several others, kids and adults, tested for new belts at Tae Kwon Do karate. Stripes, intermediate ranks as you progress from one belt to the next, may be awarded during regular teaching sessions or at testing sessions. Here, Eli is performing a kata, a series of steps simulating moves one would take against multiple attackers:

Then, the students perform one-steps with a fellow student (in this case Adam, who also got his green belt and is Eli's class at school!):

Eli is also studying Ishinriyu Japanese style karate with 4-th degree black belt Sensei Pete Bishop. This is a great honor for him, since Eli is really the first kid Pete has invited to study with him; usually he works only with red belts (which is one under black) and above! The two worked on what is called "environmentals", a sequence of steps practiced with an "attacker" so you can see exactly what situation is being simulated. Here is Eli with Sensei Pete:

When you need to re-tie your belt, or get a new belt, it is considered respectful to turn one's back to the ranking belt to make any adjustments. Here, Eli has been awarded his green belt, and is tying the knot:

Then, everyone bows to the newly advanced practitioner:

And for an update on wrestling season:

Saturday was the six-team meet (most are 3-team meets), including the ever-awesome Mount Ararat school. Of Joshua's five matches, one was a default (no one in his weight class on the opposing team, counts as a "win" for Camden-Rockport), one was a loss to the boy from Mount Ararat---not only do they have a huge team, they are all good, and THREE were pins! Yeah Sport! Here's the opening move in one match:

And here's a slightly blurry "win" (they move too fast!)

Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople

2007-02-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

For today's post, I thought I'd review Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople by Steven Aimone (If you click on the title, it will take you to the listing for the hardback at Amazon; I notice that it is due out in April in paperback, but the cost difference --$4-- is so little, go for the hardback!).

The thing I like most about this book is that Aimone goes beyond traditional art media (oils, acrylics, watercolors and sculpture) to look at design EVERYwhere: the endpapers have a photo of a stovetop! Items used to illustrate various design principles include: paintings, sculpture, masks, jewelry, hair, olive oil can, chairs and flowers, baskets, mud huts, quilts, advertisements, toiletries, architecture, the Apple iMac, photographs (including one of a decorated camel), even food!

I can't decide if this is supposed to be a textbook or a coffee table book: the production values are so good that it is eye-candy as well as informative. I have long said good sewing is good sewing, whether you are making a garment, a quilt, or household items. Similarly, good design is just that: good design. It doesn't matter if it is a painting, a quilt, a landscape, an interior, a building. The basic principles of design apply across all media.

The book covers:

Introduction
1. The Purposes of Design
2. The Design Process
3. Visual Elements
4. The Design Space
5. Repetition of Motif
6. Rhythm
7. Symmetrical Arrangements
8. Asymmetrical Arrangements
9. Focal Emphasis
10. Underlying Shapes
11. Critique
Glossary of Design Terms
Artist Index
Index

Many quilters are intimidated by terminology from the art world, but (pet peeve / soapbox moment coming) it is just words! Just as we learned what Log Cabin, fat quarter, scant quarter inch and Baltimore Album mean, we can learn color vocabulary: complementary, analogous, tint/shade/tone, and we can learn art vocabulary: focal point, rhythm, harmony, line and more. It's just words, we're all smart, so we can learn to use the art terminology and better understand our own art form.

I loved Aimone's straightforward description in the introduction: Simply put, design is the arrangement of visual elements in a space. (p. 10) And the illustrations for that page are a quilt and an oil painting by Piet Mondrian!

Unlike many traditional design books, Aimone also talks about texture: actual and imaginary, as pattern, as weight and emphasis, and as subject. Pages 54-55 are part of that discussion:

If you're interested in learning more about why some designs work, some don't, how to create better compositions, and how to troubleshoot your own pieces, this is a fantastic book that really gets you to thinking beyond the quilt world. And, it gives you exercises to try to help implement what you've just learned.

Highly recommended!

Publishing information:

Aimone, Steven. Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists and Craftspeople. 2004 Lark Books, New York. ISBN 1-57990-349-5 (hard cover).

Reverse Auction for Cancer Research

2007-02-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

Fiberart For A Cause, fundraising for the American Cancer Society, is back
in action with the 2007 Invitational Reverse Auction.

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACS/ReverseAuction2007.html

Featuring fiber art donated by Jane Davila, Jamie Fingal, Mary Beth Frezon,
Lynn Krawczyk, Heidi Miracle-McMahill, Carol Moore, Scott Murkin,
Cynthia St. Charles, Sarah Ann Smith and Elin Waterston, the Reverse Auction
runs March 12-16. The quilt above is my donation to the cause. Surf in to the link above to see all the fabulous pieces!

Artwork begins at a fixed price and is reduced by a fixed percentage each
day. Wait too long and the artwork you want will be gone. 100% of the
proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society.

Blatant bragging...

2007-02-19T18:51:00.000-05:00

Mom alert: blatant bragging about number one son, Joshua!

Saturday was the first wrestling meet of the year. Last year, Joshua's first year wrestling, was a bit rocky, but ended on a good note. Middle school kids in grades 6 to 8 wrestle each other based on weight class. This year started off with a resounding BANG on Saturday:

*Three matches.
*Three pins (that's the best..an instant win when you pin your opponents shoulders to the mat for a length of time)
*Three pins all in the first round (of three) of the match.
*Total points scored against Joshua in all three matches: Zero!

Way to go sport!

What to do with those scraps, the little ones!

2007-02-17T06:24:00.000-05:00

On one of my e-lists, someone asked (hi Janice in WNY!) how to deal with small scraps. Well, I've got a good one that works well for me. Do you do fusible applique? If so, this is what I do. If not, omit the adding fusible part. First, I fuse up the scraps.

FUSING:
Set out a "chunk" or length of fusible web on your ironing surface. I prefer Misty Fuse or Wonder Under, with the "business" (fusible) side facing UP. (If using Misty Fuse you'll need to lay down parchment paper or a non-stick applique press sheet first, then put the Misty Fuse on top.)

Lay your scraps out wrong side down on the fusible, fitting the odd shapes together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Lay a non-stick applique press sheet or parchment paper (Reynolds brand seems to work best---the "organic" / "green" varieties don't seem to have as much release coating on them and can stick) on top.

Iron.

Carefully pull the scraps apart.

Or, if I want to create "yardage" I'll cut a few lengths off fabric in the stash cupboard and fuse them up

NOW...SORT AND STACK

Get a stack of small boxes. I use Clementines boxes (mandarin oranges of a sort), but shoe boxes, boot boxes, Amazon boxes or even nice Rubbermaid would work. Sort the scraps by color family. Here's some of the contents of the "warms" box:

I keep my stack of Clementine boxes in Eli's walker-wagon from when he was a toddler (please tip head sideways...photo shows vertical in iPhoto, but loads sideways...sorry!). Since the Clementine boxes have these little "pokey up" posts on the corners, I can stack them criss cross in a neat (well...sorta) tower by my work table.

Currently I have:

Earth-black-white (this includes everything from snow to sand to rock to dirt to black)
Greens
Blues and purples
Yellows, oranges and reds
"Fancy stuff" (this includes sheers, silks, sparkly nonsense, tulle, etc)

When I want to put together a postcard, or am working on a project with fusible, then I have a stash with a wide array of colors. Sometimes I even cut a chunk of fabric (instead of using just scraps) maybe 9x12 or 7x14, and fuse that up and add it to the boxes. Here's a small project in its early stages. I've set out the boxes in an arc around my groady cut-n-press (it was SO decrepit I fused some ironing board cloth to the top!):

Cheers, Sarah

Bacon, Cheddar and Scallion Scones

2007-02-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

Hi! I got a request for the recipe from Diane Keagy (your comment came through as "no reply" Diane, so couldn't write you directly to let you know this was coming), so I thought I'd give you what I did, and then what I'd do differently next time. My recipe is a variation on a recipe in the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I LOVE the catalog and the cookbook, too, because they explain the "how" and "why" so you can make your own variations.

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons butter at room temp.
1 cup buttermilk (except I didn't have any so I made this mix as a substitution:
-about 3/4 c. milk
-1 Tbsp. vinegar
--combine and allow to sit 5 min, add
-1 egg and
-enough sour cream to make 1 cup liquid)
about 4-5 ounces sharp cheddar, grated
1/2 tsp. dry / prepared mustard (the powder, not the spreadable kind)
5 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped / crumbled
1 scallion (spring onions) snipped into bits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle a dusting of flour on a baking sheet.

--Blend dry ingredients in a bowl.
--Cut butter into smaller bits, drop into bowl and toss with the dry ingredients.
--Use fingers to quickly rub in the butter.
--Add bacon, scallion (I use scissors and just slice mine over the bowl) and most of the cheese to the dry ingredients and toss/mix.
--Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquids.
--Mix quickly with a fork or bowl scraper.
--Dust counter with flour; turn out dough onto flour and knead about 10 times, until it holds together.
--Form dough into a round about 1 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges.
--Transfer wedges to flour-dusted baking sheet.
--sprinkle remaining cheese on top
--bake 10-15 minutes, until golden brown

OK... the recipe called for fresh buttermilk, which didn't have. So I used their "wet ingredients" substitutions instead. But instead of using a cup of milk plus 1 Tbsp. vinegar (to "clabber" or curdle it), I also wanted to add the egg to make the scones nice and rich. We also had some leftover sour cream. If you use all sour cream or yogurt, though, the resulting mix is very dry! I think next time I'll try 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, a scant Tbsp. of vinegar, and enough yogurt or sour cream to add some tang.

Also, I think next time I'll use only 1/2 cup whole wheat, and 2 1/2 cups white. I LOVE whole wheat breads: nice and hearty! But years ago we used to shop at a wonderful "organic" / wholesome grocery store called Fresh Fields. I tried everything in the dessert and baking case. I decided then that there IS a place in the world for refined sugar and flour: it is called dessert! I've expanded that to include light and airy dinner rolls, sourdoughs (some, some can also be wholewheat), and rich scones (I love all-white-flour scones made with dried cranberries instead of raisins and add the zest of two lemons or one orange...serve piping hot with homemade marmalade and hot tea--heaven!).

Next, quilty content! My fusible scrap jigsaw and chunks.....

The Frayed Edges, February 2007

2007-02-13T20:08:00.000-05:00

We had another wonderful day, with Deborah joining in from a hectic house in Texas thanks to the wonders of long distance cell phone minutes. We met at Hannah's house, which is nearly sold--they have less than 3 weeks left in the house before the move. Nevertheless, you can tell we felt quite at home....lookit the living room!

Kathy brought this WIP (work in progress), which of course we all LOVED!

We talked about our show this coming August at the library in Camden (and all said we want Kath to include her quilt, since the theme of the show, or at least part of it, will be "home"). And, to our communal elation and pleasure, we received a request to submit proposals for projects for a book (more info if and when it all happens) as a result of the editor seeing our work in the Winter 2006 issue of Quilting Arts (see my blog post about it here), so we talked about what we might submit as projects.

As always, food played a central role! After my cheddar, bacon and chives scones in the morning, Bart, Hannah's very-keepable hubby (some of us are wondering if he will roll-model for other "spice") fixed us delectable grilled sandwiches for lunch:

Kathy brought a salad of nuts and broccoli and raisins with a sweet dressing, declaring she was bored with lettuce. Kate, remembering Deborah raving about the "On the Go Bistro" chocolate lava cakes from the local grocery chain, brought a box of them. We agree: PERFECT! Just enough sweet, not too much, and a reasonable portion size: enough to feel indulged without feeling like a porker. No photo here, either...we snarfed them up too fast!

Hannah shared pictures of her new daughter from China, whom they will get to meet and bring home in late March, and showed this pillow she bought at a craft show over the weekend . ADORABLE!

Kate worked on a wonky log cabin using hand-painted fabrics from a member of Art Quilts Maine who has passed away; it was a nice way to remember her and revel in the spring-time colors (and of course I forgot to take pics of Kate stitching away with her machine perched on a tiny stool!), but if you look on the floor of the living room in the top photo, you'll see it.

And I shared a fistful of sweater patterns and started knitting a hat....Kathy liked one pattern so much she's already ordered her own copy! I'll blog about those later in the week. My next post will be about my fusing scraps that I promised! The photos are taken and the post is almost completely written.

Keep your fingers crossed...we're supposed to get a blizzard, FINALLY, here in Maine. Of course, it may snow, then turn to sleet and freezing rain, then back to snow, which means road conditions will be hideous. Perfect to stay home, watch movies, quilt, and make chocolate chip cookies and eat too much batter! Stay tuned, and think snow-not-rain!

The Gutenberg Project

2007-02-12T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Gutenberg project isn't quilting, but if you like all kinds of needlework, click on this link and prepare to get lost in cyberspace for a delectable hour or two! Deirdre (here's her blog link) sent me the link to this bit of heaven on the internet...thanks!

I'm off to a Frayed Edges Mini-Group today, so will blog some more later in the week, with pictures. And I have been taking pictures about how I sort my small fusible scraps, and my "chunk" and "jigsaw" methods of making small fusible bits that are useful for all sorts of projects, from postcards and journal quilts to larger pieces like The Wall and The Tree (see my earlier post dated January 25 (if it has scrolled off the bottom of the blog, click on the link to the right for January Archives).

New Words and Phrases for 2007

2007-02-10T08:34:00.000-05:00

My friend Jacquie in VT sent me these...she loves words as much as I do. I DARE you to try to read through this list without laughing out loud.

NEW WORDS FOR 2007 :

Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!!!

1. BLAMESTORMING
Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

2.SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

3.ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard .

4.SALMON DAY: The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.

5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles.

6.PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.

8.SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

9.STRESS PUPPY: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

10.SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

11.XEROX SUBSIDY: Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

12.IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them.

13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE: The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

15. 404: Someone who's clueless. From the World Wide Web error Message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located.

16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions.

17.OHNOSECOND: That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake).

18.WOOFS: Well-Off Older Folks.

19. CROP DUSTING: Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.

Cheers from Sarah (the occasional 404 and Mouse Potato) the SITCOM in a land of WOOFs

Class and Lecture Schedule--February and March 2007

2007-02-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

The NEW CLASS SCHEDULE is ready! In the coming months I'll be teaching machine quilting, and designing the perfect quilting pattern (for hand and machine quilters). If you would like me to teach a class to a group, drop me a line and I'd love to set something up--just reply to this posting and I'll get in touch.

I am expanding a newsletter for loyal visitors to this site and my blog. I've included newsy bits and class listings in the past, but hope to add a handy tip or a book review in future "issues." If you'd like to be added to my list (I promise I won't share e-mail addresses!), please click on this link to send me your info.

To register for a class, contact the store where it is held directly. Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro (along Route 1) is at 207-563-8445. Cote Brothers in Auburn (just off the interstate) is at 782-5922:

2007:
February 17 (Saturday)--Quilting Design at Cote Brothers, Auburn
February 28 (Wednesday)--With a Dash of Color: a trunk show and lecture for the Island Quilters of Southwest Harbor (Mt. Desert Island) and Ellsworth quilters
March 4 (Sunday)--Machine Quilting, Maine-ly Sewing, Nobleboro
October--lecture and workshop, Amoskeag Quilters, Candia, NH

I'll be contacting both stores plus one other about scheduling for April through May this coming week, and will post here as soon as I have dates set.

A Frayed Edges Challenge

2007-02-05T07:19:00.000-05:00

In August 2007, our mini-group The Frayed Edges will be having a show at the Camden (Maine) Public Library. It has a gorgeous building and setting overlooking Camden Harbor, and we are thrilled. We have settled on three things:

--we will have a theme that will cover part of the exhibit: Home
--we'll do a challenge (more on that in a sec)
--and the rest will be in keeping with our no-stress motto, using whatever we have that we'd like to exhibit for the rest of the show

For the challenge, we decided we'd each do a small piece based on a photo each of us provided. That means there will be 25 small pieces, which we'll hang in a grid. Going across each row you'll see one artist's work, with each column being the same image, interpreted five ways. Because of the chair rail and needing to keep the top row low enough to see, we ended up with some pretty small sizes: 7 inches tall! The two vertical pieces will be 7 inches tall by 5 inches wide, and the horizontals will be 7 inches tall by 10 inches wide.

Kathy, of Studio in the Woods blog, took this photo---what glorious color! I had NO idea what to do, so decided to challenge myself to do something abstract. Hmmm. Here's how I started... the photo is on the left, and my "start" is a fused applique of the umbrella against the glorious sky (please tip head sideways)

Then I cut it up.

Then I fused it. Then I quilted it.

Hmmm...... maybe I should stick to representational?

I really like the representational (but simplified) version of what I did with the photo from Deborah. Her husband Jeff took this photo at a hotel when on a trip, to Guatemala I think. I LOVE the contrast of the vibrant (vibrating?) orange-red w/ith the greens and stone and pool blue. Obviously, it isn't quilted yet, and that will add detail (like the legs on the loungers by the pool!), but so far I love this one...as much as the original photo.

Of course, I tried representational with this glorious photo Hannah shared, with permission form a friend (and if this looks familiar, it's because I blogged about it a while back). Here's the photo:

And here's my not-so-great rendition.

I think I'm going to start over...just don't like this one much as is. Instead of going even more macro, maybe I'll pull back and add some background and environment?

There are two more photos that I haven't begun translating into cloth...Kate's of St. Michael's cathedral in Kiev and mine of some amphorae (ancient Mediterranean jugs) at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, which are at the top of this blogpost.

I promise I'll return with what I do with those two, and in August, I'll post pics of the challenge AND of the show!

Postcard Class at Cote Brothers, Auburn, ME

2007-02-03T15:01:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I taught my postcard class for a second time, this time at Cote Brothers in Auburn, and boy was it FUN! The students this time were really ready to branch out, even though some of them had never done anything remotely art quilty...boy did they succeed! It was especially fun because several of the ladies were returning students---that always makes me feel wonderful, because it means I've managed to teach them something well enough that they want to come back for more...HOORAY! and thank you. (Left to right are Sharon, Sue, Victoria and Rachel. Pam was over at the register I think, and Dawna had had to pack up and bolt before I remebered to take out my camera!)

I gave the students an overview of the techniques we'd cover including fused applique, using Angelina fibers (including ironing it over a stamp to get an impression), making a freezer-paper stencil and using both textile paints and Shiva paintstiks, making rubbings with the Shivas, free-form cutting (break loose from that template thing!), and making an edge-finish from yarn.

The first time I taught the class, the students had a hard time without a pattern to follow, so this time I made up 8 samples for possible postcards but encouraged them to "go for it." I'm thrilled to say ALL of them did!!!!! No one used my patterns---HOORAY! I don't know if it was the difference in the students, or that having the pattern there as a "safety net" to fall back on actually freed them up to wing it...who cares, I'm thrilled!

Sue spotted an applique quilt hanging on the wall (opposite where she is sitting), and launched into cutting this adorable snowman card (and given the near-arctic wind-chill outside, it was appropriate!). Here she is working on him, and in the "group
photo" below, he's on the left. She cut the letters free-hand, and I think they look perfect!

Sharon made the postcard with two flowers saying "Heal" for her uncle, and Pam made the two on the right, including the lady with the bright "angelina" hair. Pam had brought a hideous / wonderful fabric, asking "what could you do with it, it's SO ugly" It is pretty ghastly-- pictures of the heads of LOTS of ducks.....I took one look at it and said no it's not awful, it's great...it could be rocks! Well, she got the idea: the loon's neck is now striped socks on her lady and another head is the pocketbook (bottom right postcard in the group photo)!

Rachel barely made it to class, deciding to come only at the last moment. She brought some great upholstery fabrics and one or two commercially printed "hand-dyed look" fabrics. She used the latter and, loosely following one of my patterns, but cutting things free-hand herself, made this mountainscape with Shiva-paintstik through freezer-paper stencil snowcapped peak:

And Victoria made this Easter postcard, stencilled a great bolt of lightning, then added angelina to make it even more lightning-ey. We picked a couple different yarns from my stash (I take a bunch of stuff from my studio so students don't have to buy a ton of stuff, which they can try and donate a modest fee to the "replenish the stash fund" and, if they like, then go buy themselves), and thought the gold and variegated tan twisted together looked best.

I'm SO happy with the postcards these ladies made! I'm finding that my estimate of students being able to make four or six postcards is way too high...most made one or two, but it has these folks bursting out of the box...COOL!

Coastal Quilters, January, and what to do on a cold winter's day, if you're a cat

2007-02-01T17:33:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been nearly two weeks since Coastal Quilters met (the local quilt guild chapter), and it has taken me this long to blog about it! That's what happens when you're switching computers, making two quilts, and doing all the other stuff besides! Since I gave a talk on thread, I was a bit discombobulated, and just enjoying show and share, when I realized I really should be taking pictures! I missed some great quilts, but got the OK from Betty and Carrie to share these two.

Betty is an AMAZING quilter! I told her that day that she has, hands down, the best "eye" for composition and basically everything out of anyone in the group including me, Jan, Roxanne and everyone else. Here she is (trying to hide behind her quilt). She does all her work by hand, and has a small apartment, so her pieces are small. This one has the most gloriously stitched and beaded dreamcatcher on the front...wish I had gotten a detail photo of it!

Carrie Hedstrom is a young (well, compared to me! Anyone under 40 qualifies as young!) mom, and budding art quilter who has recently joined our ranks. She used a piece of McKenna Ryan's gradation fabric for the center of this piece (I think the colorway was this one) :

I thought it was a very effective usage of the fabric, and the quilting was interesting too...can't wait to see where she goes/grows from here!

And you may have heard (including here, from me!) about our sub-zero Fahrenheit weather. We are in a mild spell..it got up to about 31 or so today, but this past weekend (when I was off teaching, then downstairs working on Monday and Tuesday) I didn't turn the heat on in my studio / workroom over the unheated garage. MISTAKE! The heating pipes FROZE. You'd think the frozen-solid water in the cup inside my car would have been a clue, but nope...I was clueless. Well, we put electric radiators in both the room and the garage (with its single pane windows, one of which has two broken, cereal-box-covered panes) to thaw things out. The good news is that I have turned the water supply to the pipes which heat the baseboard heaters, and so far no apparent leaks or water damage...we may have dodged a bullet...PHEW! Ripping out walls to repair ruptured pipes isn't fun, or cheap!

Meanwhile, Paul took this pic of three of the cats asleep in his room. They know what to do on a cold winter's day in Maine! Tyger is the orange tabby, Zeus is the Siamese, and Hannah Chan is the mackerel tabby. Smart kitties!

The people to whom I dedicate "The Tree"

2007-01-30T08:41:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone ! I've been busy quilting and teaching, but wanted to tell you a bit about my dad, half brother Charlie, and friend Linda MacIntosh Wauchope, who introduced me to the existence of quilting magazines back in 1989 (and to those who read my posts on the quiltart and Janome6500, please excuse the repetition). I'd like to dedicate my donation to the FFAC Auction, the quilt in the previous post called "The Tree" to them. (For more info on the Reverse Auction,visit Virginia Spiegel's website and FFAC Reverse Auction page here )

Daddy in the 1980s, with his afternoon cocktail and newspaper in front of the house

Daddy began smoking cigars when he was about 17 (back in 1916...yep, he was OLD--almost 59 when I was born). When he was 82, he got a cough that wouldn't go away. On a Thursday evening, he wrapped up the day with his usual cigars (stinky, icky blech!), but didn't have time for his morning cigar on Friday because of his early doctor's appointment. The doctor told him he had throat cancer, and if he didn't quit smoking and drinking he would die. He quit cold turkey and never had another smoke. He joked that at age 82, he wouldn't like long enough to see if he'd survive past five years that would show they had truly "caught it" all. Well, he lived to 96 and died peacefully of old age. And he never smoked again, and only took up drinking in the last couple of years (Mom thought it was self-medicating for pain). Here's a photo of me with Dad circa 1958.

Charlie was 46 when he was diagnosed with cancer. If anyone remembers the professional football player Rosie Greer, Charlie looked like him except he was white. At 6'4", his weight ranged from 240 to 300 pounds, he called his car a rolling ashtray, and consumed 4 packs of cigarettes a day (in addition to being an unreformed alcoholic).

My two half brothers holding me, summer 1958, Tom J on the left, Charlier on the right.

With no health insurance, Charlie (known outside the family as Chuck, but to us he is always Charlie) delayed health care. By the time he was diagnosed with cancer just before Christmas, it was too late for anything other than palliative care. He died three months later. Since he was in his early 20s when I was born (to daddy's second wife), he was more like a distant cousin to me. But I remember he called me "Peanut," and when he was around we laughed and laughed and laughed...he was SO funny, and could tease people in such a way that not only were they not offended, they'd be laughing harder than anyone.

Graduation from High School, 1975, Charlie in his "adult" size! and ever-present shades.

Linda was there when I was at the beginning of my quilting journey, she was a knitter who quilted, and she was a good friend. I met her when our spouses were assigned to the US Embassy in Libreville, Gabon (her hubby was Ambassador, Paul was his deputy--that meant neither Linda nor I were allowed to work at the Embassy even though we were both foreign service officers, too--which meant Linda and I had no income but lots of time to quilt, play, yak, eat and have fun).

Linda and her sons in the back yard of their house in Libreville, ca. 1990.

When I was pregnant with Joshua in 1993, I remember going to lunch in April with her. I was two months along and the button on the itty-bitty waist of my red pleated skirt was already getting tight. As we left the restaurant, Linda looked at my waist and (drat it all, she was right) told me it would never fit again. Then she told me this weird bump had "popped up" near her diaphragm. The next day, she went to an appointment with the doctors at Johns Hopkins (we lived/worked in the DC area, but her family was from Baltimore, so she always went there for medical care). One week later, the doctors removed and ELEVEN POUND tumor, the size of a honeydew melon which the doctor needed two hands to lift. They thought they had gotten it all.

Six months later, as Linda was preparing a baby shower for us, she got this ominous feeling. Unfortunately, she was correct again. The cancer was back. By the time Joshua was a couple of months old, she was in chemo for myolyo sarcoma (spelling? or was it lyomyosarcoma?) Anyway, it is a particularly virulent form of cancer. If anyone deserved to live based on positive attitude it was Linda. During chemo weeks, she'd schedule lunch dates for Monday to Wednesday so she'd have something to enjoy each day (by the end of the week she felt too yucky for company), and said all the nurses wanted her because she was cheery. Since I was then on maternity leave, I'd pick up another friend at work and Monica, Joshua (nursing at first) and I would pick up lunch and head to Linda's chemo room. They ran through the regular treatments, then moved on to experimental chemo courses. By the last round, Joshua was inhaling four jars of baby food at a sitting and working on chewing with his many new teeth.

Linda finally told the doctor that she didn't want to spend what was left of her life sitting in doctors' offices finding out how much her cancer had grown. She told him she'd be back when she needed morphine, and that's what she did. Her husband took an early retirement (about six months earlier than planned). Her sons were about the age mine are now...3rd and 8th grade. Linda, ever the Type A, called the teachers and asked them to cut the boys some slack, since she was dying! She planned her funeral, and gave away quilting books and fabric (I still have some). She offered to give me a quilt top I'd helped her with a couple of years earlier, and instead I offered to quilt it (KING sized!) for her. Fortunately, on of they guys at work said, when I answered his question about Linda that she was told she had six months, that that usually meant half that time. I started quilting like a madwoman--I'd get Joshua into tubby and bed, then go quilt until bedtime. I got the finished quilt to her two weeks before she died, in August 1994, and she was still able to hold a pen and sign it, and insisted that I sign the label too. Her hubby still uses it on his bed. I don't think I've ever met anyone stronger than Linda, except maybe her mom, who was there at home with her holding her hand when she died.

I miss them all, and hope that some day (not too soon please) I'll get to hug them again, and laugh, and tell tall tales, some of which will be true. And in the meantime, I think every now and then I hear Linda cackling away, sitting up on some cloud, at the latest idiocies from inside the Beltway.

This may be my all-time favorite photo of me with my dad and brothers, circa 1964/first grade (I think in Sausalito, California, where we lived at the time, but maybe in San Francisco?). I always think of this photo as "Three Gangsters and a little girl"

To all who have slogged through this far, thanks for bearing with me, and for letting me remember Daddy, Charlie and Linda. And MAJOR thanks to Virginia, for organizing this on-going fundraising effort, and to Karey and all her helpers at IQA / Quilts Inc., for helping further the cause.

Cheers, Sarah

A Sense of Place 1: The Tree, and ASoP2: The Wall

2007-01-25T15:19:00.002-05:00

It's DONE..well...except for the hanging sleeve and label, of course! Yes, my piece for the FiberArts for a Cause Reverse Auction is finished, and I'm really happy with it! In fact, I made two pieces at the same time that are small variations on the same theme. The first, for the Auction, is A Sense of Place 1: The Tree. The second is A Sense of Place 2: The Wall. Here is the FFAC piece:

I had initially wanted to do a wholecloth nude figure, but by the time I made up my mind and asked Virginia if a nude would be "OK" (Virginia Spiegel is the guiding spirit and force behind this incredibly successful fundraiser to fight cancer and support cancer research) someone else in the group was doing a nude. Virginia said I was welcome to do a nude, but I decided I'd rather do something else. That night I dreamed I made a quilt of one of the stone walls that criss-cross the state of Maine, with the winter snow crisp and bright around it. That quickly decided the subject!

The Tree is about 20 inches wide by 26 inches tall, and is made of fused /collaged applique using commercial cotton batiks and prints and a bit of hand-painted fabric, extensively machine quilted. Edge-finished with a chenille-yarn. Here is a detail of The Tree:

And here is The Wall:

This piece (roughly 30 x 26.5 inches) will be entered into shows, including the one our mini-group The Frayed Edges will have here in Camden, Maine, in August 2007 at the Camden Public Library. It will be for sale after August (or possibly a bit later than that). Here's a detail photo of this quilt:

The Frayed Edges, January 2007

2007-01-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

First...Happy Birthday, Daddy! If he were alive, today would have been his 108th birthday! Yes, my dear old dad (who was 58, almost 59 when I was born!) was born on this day in 1899. He wanted to live to be 101, so he could say he lived in three centuries. He almost made it, and lasted until he was 96. Many happy returns, Dadddio-o-o-o-o-o!

The morning started out wonderfully: a light dusting of snow, from-scratch blueberry muffins, and Kathy the first to arrive, so I had her and hubby dear witness my signature on the contract with AQS (here's me grinning like an idiot!)

Kate and Hannah arrived shortly after than, just as the phone rang with Deborah calling from Dallas! Deborah...we need you...we all forgot to take pictures of the food! At least I managed this photo:

(sorry my friends about the photo....obviously I should have said "smile!" first instead of catching you all in the middle of something.... and the other photo I took was worse!....that's Kate on the left, Kathy in the center and Hannah on the right.) I gave a mini-quilting lesson on machine quilting today, smooshing a day's worth of tips and tricks and such into about 2 hours. Eeeek but FUN!

Lunch was salad, potato-turkey kielbasa soup and kate's incredible apple-walnut cake with Applejack Brandy sauce...YUMMMMM! But the best part came late in the day: after way too long on the market, there is an offer coming in on Hannah's house (which is gorgeous, in a nice quiet location, woodsy but sunny lot, and did I say gorgeous?)...at long last. So please beam good thoughts (and high numbers) towards Bowdoinham, Maine!

I have nearly finished The Tree and the The Wall quilts, so will try to post by Wednesday...need to take decent pics, which means getting out the tripod! Stay tuned.

And to all who have written, and many of whom blogger sent to me as "no reply", with congrats on the book...THANK YOU! Your encouragement is incredible...I might even sell twenty copies! Won't be out for eons (think late 2008 / 2009), and I need to work, so will sign off for now.

On writing, On Quilting, On art...

2007-01-20T19:46:00.000-05:00

I finished On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. The first things I learned are that for all that he writes creepy books (which personally are not my thing), he writes well, he cares about his art, and above all he loves his wife and family. Although this book is about writing / being a writer, in many ways, this book is really a love letter to his wife (Tabitha) of what must be at least 30 years, and it is wonderful to read. It is also a fascinating glimpse into the life he lived as a kid (poor, very poor, no dad, hard times). And for all his success, I can't fathom why if the man is this funny he doesn't write more humor...I was laughing out loud, a lot...Paul kept looking over at me saying "are we enjoying our book?"

King is writing about writing fiction, but just as easily the words could be applied to any creative effort or art form. For example:

p. 64 "my belief that good writing can be simultaneously intoxicating and idea-driven"

p. 74 "Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough."

p. 76 "The story remained on the back burner for awhile, simmering away in that place that's not quite the conscious but not quite the subconscious, either."

p. 114 and 118: "I want to suggest that to write to your best ability, it behooves you to construct your own toolbox and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you. Then instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work. ...... common tools go on the top. The commonest of all, the bread of writing, is vocabulary. ... You'll also want grammar on the top shelf of your toolbox."

(note from Sarah: the same thing applies in art quilting...you learn the techniques, how to work with thread and cloth and machine and imagination, learn design and color...these are all tools to be applied when you hit a snag or are running with an idea)

And from pages 120-121 which have LOTS of marginalia as I was reading:

"Vocabulary used in speech or writing organizes itself in seven parts of speech (eight, if you count interjections...When these rules break down, confusion and misunderstanding result. ... these strings of words begin with a capital letter, end with a period, and combine to make a complete thought which starts in the writer's head and then leaps to the reader's."

And from my notes in the margin: what is the visual equivalent or a sentence / paragraph? Is there one? Is visual art supposed to communicate clearly in the same way as language / words? What is our visual vocabulary? Is there a visual grammar? How does it differ for representational versus abstract art?

On page 121, King continues by quoting William Strunk (remember Strunk and White?): " 'Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules.' "

and further down the page King adds in his own pithy way: "Grammar is not just a pain in the ass; it's the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking."

The next layer down in the toolbox is " those elements of style"...BINGO! (that's on p. 129) And here is a phrase he wrote about writing, but I think applies perfectly to Kathy's art (her blog is Studio in the Woods):

p.133 "it is possible to overuse the well-turned fragment (...), but frags can also work beautifully to streamline narration, create clear images, and create tension as well as to vary the prose-line."

To which I would reply...So what is our "grammar" as textile artists / art quilters ?..Is it the ability to handle and manipulate the cloth, batting, thread, and anything else that goes onto a quilt (paint, beads, fibers, whatever)... what do you consider the fundaments of our trade?

And I'll make this the last for this post (though there are many more):

p. 135: "Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe."

YES! in quilts, the cloth, the thread, the vision migrates from inside my head to the cloth and takes on a life...

My bottom line: even though I've never been drawn to his books, I like the guy. And since I like the series on USA-tv The Dead Zone, which is based on one of his books, I may actually read that novel (but steer clear of the really creepy ones). And I'd like to say thanks to him for loving his wife...seems like he's been a good husband and a good dad, and that counts more than anything in a bank.

Another brief interlude...for wandering quilter...

2007-01-18T14:33:00.000-05:00

who asked two questions. Since $&*)(+*^ blogger now sends most comments to me as "no reply" I can't reply off-line! So here goes, and hope these may be of interest or use to the rest of you (thank you again for surfing in...I'm always amazed that folks actually DO surf in regularly! THANKS!).

Why did I switch to a Mac?

--I was sick of Norton anti-virus programs the suck up memory and slow down the computer to glacial
--my son has an Apple G4 through his school, and I wanted to be able to know my way around his laptop (Maine has an AWESOME program--laptops for EVERY 7th, 8th and 9th grader in the state, and working their way up the years in high school as the program progresses... the idea is that EVERY Maine student will be prepared for life with computer skills no matter what their family's financial or educational background...way cool!)
--Apples are good for art type programs, and I think the Apple Version of PowerPoint will be much easier for me to use for teaching / lectures (she said, optimistically, hoping that someone will HIRE her to do this!).

Was the quilting in my Tree and Wall quilts on a long-arm or HSM?

It is ALL done on my Janome 6600! I love LOVE LOVE this machine! It has a larger harp area and handles ANY thread with ease. With the extra space (about 2 more inches horizontally, an inch or a bit more vertically) it is SO MUCH easier to manipulate the bulk of a quilt. I'll try to post pics of me at the machine in a week or so. There are some of my set-up back in May or June Archives...when I was working on the Tableau / Nativity quilt if you're inclined to browse the archives. But I'll post some new ones for fun before too long.

OK.... finished jury duty today (yeah!) so going to run quilt a bit before the kids get home and chaos ensues!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging for....

2007-01-17T18:34:00.000-05:00

a Weather Report from Camden, Maine:

Yes, that is MINUS temps. At 8:02 a.m. this morning. Outside temperature was minus 5 Fahrenheit (for my non-US visitors, zero Celsius is 32 F, so minus 5 is 37 degrees colder, or about minus 20 C). With the wind chill (we had a breeze blowing pretty much all day) it was minus 9. Our HIGH temp for the day was Seven. Yes, Seven. I have been in colder weather --once-- about two winters ago, at night, but I've never had such a cold day. I am grateful for a weathertight home, enough income to heat it (well, the downstairs), and a toasty woodstove and quilting! And yes, we did go out...to wait with Eli for the schoolbus, to head to the Y to work out, and later to collect Joshua after school. At 7:02 pm it is currently One degree Fahrenheit. Not including wind chill.

a mail report (neither cold, nor sleet, nor gloom of night...):

Well it was a blockbuster quilty day for me in the mail: Quilting Arts has now gone to six issues a year (and this is the one with the Tim Gunn interview), New Zealand Quilter (perhaps some of the best art quilts in the world are to be found in its pages--it is easy to subscribe on-line here with using one's US credit card...the currency conversion is automatic--click on the link at the bottom of the page to go to a secure page for ordering), the show catalog for Maine Quilts 2007, Keepsake Quilting catalog, a check for the sale of a small art quilt, and the biggest surprise, an invitation from Clamshell Quilters in Damariscotta (about 45 minutes south of here) to have a quilt or two in an invitational special exhibit at their first-ever quilt show, this coming October. OF COURSE I will, and will donate a pattern as a door prize, too!

and a quilt update:
Remember The Wall and the Tree blogpost? Well, I'm now quilting...This photo is what the back of The Tree looks like so far.

Along with the gratuitous kitty pictures, because she is sweet, has many toes, follows me around the house, keeps me company, and loves to share the milk for my tea. First, it's bath time:

then just a lick will do:

Double "Book" Happy Dance

2007-01-15T19:41:00.000-05:00

Yeowza what a day.... even if the promised snow was a feeble 3 inches instead of the promised (and wanted) 6-10 inches! I was skeptical but optimistic when my "order tracking" for my new laptop said FedEx would deliver it today, a holiday (for those not in the US, it is Martin Luther King day, a federal holiday). But when the FedEx guy arrived...and only in Maine and maybe Alaska and Minnesota would someone arrive in 20 degree weather and snow wearing shorts...he had TWO packages. And since I'm evil, I'm going to make you read to the bottom for the best part. First, this came:

What is that you ask? That is the styrofoam packing for the inside of the box with my MacBookPro which arrived, fresh from Shanghai, China (where it left on Thursday!)!!! And of course the first thing I thought when looking at that styrofoam: gee, I'll bet that would make a great rubbing plate for Shivas and for printing on cloth....

Yes, here is my new baby:

I have decided to NOT try to switch everything from my PC to the Mac immediately. I really, REALLY want to finish The Tree and The Wall quilts first, plus have jury duty again on Thursday, and maybe next week, too. But I DID get the laptop turned on, e-mail set up and internet working (and heavens be praised somehow the laptop "found" the wifi in our house and did the hard stuff leaving me to be surprised and happy I didn't have to "set up" anything to connect!!!). Of course, this decision is AGONIZING, but.....

One thing that will help the transition a LOT is this:

My friend Lisa Walton, of Sydney, Australia, (She is an art quilter and fabric dyer..website here and blog here where she just posted some awesome fabric she just dyed) bought a Mac laptop on her last day of a nice long vacation in the US last November. While she was in Barnes and Noble she spotted this book and told me about it (since she knew I too was thinking about getting one). BOY is this going to help! Thanks Lisa...and as soon as I figure out the how / what / etc., we can share projects and WiPs (works in Progress) live over the internet--brave wonderful new world!

Then there was the other "expected" surprise....

at long last the envelope confirming my conversation with the Executive Book Editor at AQS (which happened on Dec. 12...a date marked on my calendar): The OFFICIAL CONTRACT to do a book on ThreadWork with AQS!!!!! It will be about using thread on the surface of a quilt: applique, decorative-stitch and free-motion "embroidery / embellishment", and quilting, all by machine.

To say that I am elated is an understatement of EPIC proportions! I'm doing the happy dance all over again! I can scarcely believe that it is true, but I have the paperwork to prove it! I need to call and talk to someone about dates, but I'm guessing the book will be out in time for Fall Market and Festival in 2008...WOWIE ZOWIE! Call me ELATED! So I guess I'd better stop blogging and Get to WORK! WOOOHOOOOOOO!

Stephen King, quilting and this and that...

2007-01-13T20:03:00.000-05:00

Well another week has evaporated...I know I was busy all week, but it seems to have vanished anyway! I finished one quilt over the last weekend...even got the hanging sleeve on! It may look familiar, since I did a series of posts in September featuring the postcards. This is a way to give a fabric postcard (or series) a bit more substance:

I quilted a background (about 14x28 inches) separately. First, I placed the postcards on the background so I could mark around them in chalk and mark where the slope of Mt. Fuji ended. Then I could mark the quilting lines that connect the mountain slopes. In the foreground / bottom area, I quilted more hills just as I did in the cards, then added "cloud" quilting in the top area. Finally, I stitched the four postcards to the surface of the background quilt. I really like this way of displaying a series of cards!

I also finished reading "On Writing" by Stephen King...yes, the one who wrote Carrie and Cujo and various other ghastly stories, lives up near Bangor, part-owns the Boston Red Sox, and is the owner of the only Maine-owned radio station WKIT (which has cool rock music...stuff that isn't bubble gum pop 40...neat stuff that you don't hear other places, along with some hilarious stuff like --during deer season-- the thirty-point buck, sung in a vaguely French-Canadian accent as "de tirty point buck"....you gotta hear it to believe it! Oh I LOVE the internet...here's a link to it on Amazon, with a brief clip...sometimes crass but hilarious! OK...further surfing has led me to this site, which I can assure you I would never have visited otherwise... click here then look for the link to play the entire song...but be warned it is a bit crass at points. Ahem. We all have our tacky moments...this is one of mine, but it makes me laugh!). Hmm...I'm getting chatty so think I'll save King for another blog post...but it's a good book!

And I began work on a quilt for the FiberArts for a Cause "Reverse Auction." (An aside--to see the FFAC page, look in the sidebar on the right for a button and click on it) I am REALLY happy with how it is turning out...as a tease, here is an early glimpse. I had wanted to do a nude, just a thread painting, for the FFAC, but Virginia told me someone else was doing one, and I didn't want to do the same thing. That night I dreamed that I was to do a quilt about a Maine stone wall, so I figured that was a sign and a decision. These walls are everywhere...it's rocky around here. Here is my neighbor's "fence":

I decided to make TWO similar quilts.... they will be called : A Sense of Place: The Wall, and A Sense of Place: The Tree. The smaller of the two (20x27 inches) will go to FFAC, the larger (about 30x28 inches) will maybe go to shows or maybe just go up for sale, or maybe hang in my studio until I can part with it (as I said, I'm really liking these two pieces!). Here are the two on my messy design wall:

And here is a closer picture of the larger of the two, the one on the left:

And here is a subsequent picture showing the beginnings of the branches:

Stay tuned for further pictures!

And today I gave a talk on Thread to my local guild chapter, The Coastal Quilters. We had some fun show and share and a good crowd...maybe I'll blog about that later in the week, too! Betty...if you read this, may I share the photo of you and your quilt? And Carrie Hedstrom, don't know if you're reading but I'd love to include yours, too...wish I had snapped more photos of the other sharing!

If anyone is in the vicinity of Nobleboro, Maine, on Saturday, I'll also be teaching Machine Applique at Mainely Sewing! The phone is 563-8445. OK, that's enough of this and that for tonight! Back soon with more.

Better satin stitching

2007-01-09T09:43:00.000-05:00

This post is mostly for Janome 6600 owners because of my "fix" to the dual-feed open-toe foot, but maybe others will be able to glean something from it about satin stitching.

I LOVE the line created by bold satin stitching (a very dense, tight zig-zag stitch)--to me it is an additional design element. Some people may think it is tacky (think cheezy sweatshirts with cheezy appliques), but used in the right way in the right place, satin stitching creates a beautiful, bold line. I used it a lot in my quilt, The Tide is Hire (above). Here are two close-ups:

I outlined the satin stitching to "crisp it up"--I imagined a light source above the "waves", so I used a lighter shade of the thread above and a darker shade of the same color below the satin stitching. This outlining is very time consuming and tedious, but it creates such a subtle yet dramatic difference that it is, to me and in the right place, worth the significant investment in time. On The Tide is Hire, I think it took eight hours of stitching just to outline the satin stitching on the waves. Yeowza!

When Janome came out with the dual-feed open-toe presser foot I thought that it would be the bee's knees (in other words, really cool). Here is the foot (not attached):

And here it is in place on the machine:

Well, not quite. A regular open-toe embroidery foot has a "scooped out" portion on the bottom, which permits thick / built up stitches (like in a satin stitch) to pass underneath it without jamming on the cross-piece. Alas, the dual-feed foot doesn't have the scoop-y out-y part.

Enter the Dremel tool! I took out my trusty Dremel drill and attached a grinding tip. I then ground away a portion (maybe 1/32 of an inch? not a lot) of the under side of the cross piece, and then swapped the grinding tip for a polishing top to smooth any rough spots (which could snag and fray threads). BETTER!

Interestingly, when satin stitching this block, I used the dual-feed open-toe foot as made by Janome for the first two and half corners. Then I took the Dremel to it. The remaining section seemed to lie flatter than the parts first stitched (not to mention a lot less heartburn and snagging, like none, on the inside points of those leaves...ALL those blasted points!). The block (below) is blue fused onto a white background; both squares are about 19 inches. The block also was stabilized from edge to edge with freezer paper on the bottom. I'm thinking that by carving out the opening (the scoop-y out-y part, to use my highly technical term) there was less stretching of the fabric going on, as well as permitting the built-up stitches to pass underneath more smoothly. Cool!

And as a reward for reading this long post, here's a picture of what I've been working on...a block for a Hawaiian-style quilt that will be a pattern in my book (how's that for a wicked tease?...can't say more yet but I will as soon as I can).

And here is a close up of the satin-stitching, with "on the fly" (as you are stitching) tapering (the spots with pins are places where I think I'm going to rip out and improve):

Threads Magazine, March 2007 issue

2007-01-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a magazine from a subscription arrives and just about wows you from cover to cover. I love Threads magazine, and have been a loyal subscriber for more than a decade, but this recent issue (it says March 2007 on the cover, though it obviously arrived in January) just sang to me. Even though the magazine is mostly about garments, and I rarely make them any more, I learn something from every issue that I can use in my sewing and art quilts. Click here to subscribe.

In this issue, which arrived just a few days ago, the best article (to me at least) is one my Lois Ericson, whose patterns and innovative manipulation of fabric, edges and openings has inspired me for years. I'd love to see what she would do with an art quilt. More to the point, I'd like to take what she does and apply it to my art quilts. You'll have to find an issue (if you're lucky at your grocery, and most likely at most Barnes and Nobles and at Borders) to read the whole thing, but look at what she does with a leaf and some imagery, like the noshi or bundles ribbons image (note--all photos should be clickable so you can see a larger image...if you're on a PC try a right click and open in a separate tab or window in your browser):

And look at these garments...WOW...talk about inspiration for both garments AND quilts:

There were two awesome tips in this issue also. First, how about using a revolving, upright spice rack for small notions on your work table? I could see adapting this for quilting, leaving the lids off some of the jars and sliding in smaller scissors or rotary cutter (the 18 or maybe 28 mm size), another one to hold marking pencils, another for the seam ripper (just don't spin too fast and send everything flying!):

And then...brilliant! using clear vinyl tubing from the hardware store as bobbin thread tamers. I bought two feet of the 5/8" outside diameter (o.d.) with 1/2" inside diameter (i.d.) for all of 76 cents. It cuts with scissors (my paper / utility ones) and a bit of hand strength. I think I might also buy a foot or so of smaller size tubing for when the bobbin gets low:

And then there was this cool article about adapting a single pattern by adding seamlines. This is fantastic for us quilty types, because we can then piece, insert applique panels or pieced blocks and segments:

Can you believe ALL of these jackets came from the same pattern?

To find out more, buy a copy.... oh, and the resources / adverts in the back are wonderful...tons of inspiring websites with all sorts of common and arcane sewing stuff!

Yep....I'm a long-time subscriber and lover of Threads magazine!