Planet Textile Threads

It was true. Again this year, one week after the forsythia bloomed, another snow.

On the 21st of April I left Billings in 13 degrees, 4 inches of snow and headed East where the weather was very different.

The visit East was good: not much time with family but I did get to see some of them.

The workshops in Richmond were fabulous: terrific participants, lots of energy, wonderful work was made. Some of us were very tired by the end. Too much art? too much laughter? too much fun? nah. just a really good week.

I’ve been home a week now, the temps are cool, today it is trying to rain (we need the moisture desperately). Nothing much has changed except that things are slowly slowly beginning to bloom and leaf out. I’ll get pix later this weekend.

The new work on the wall is progressing and the new charity project is waiting to begin:
Bling Your Bernina!
I’ll be embellishing a Bernina Activa®. It will be one of 12 to be auctioned at Bernina University in July, proceeds to the American Heart Association. Too much fun!

I will document the process here so stay tuned.

off to find camera and something to look at.

Here it is. Six photos worth a thousand words. (See post before last for the BEFORE pics.)

 

 You can see examples of the kinds of projects we'll be tackling in this weekend's Text on the Surface Workshop.

Note: I had a note that the comment section of my blog was acting up earlier. If you had trouble posting, sorry. I think its fixed now.  

...is not difficult, unless, as you can see from the first picture, you forget to take the keys of the shudio with you in the morning. So here are works in progress, propped against the corner of the shudio, whilst I go back to get the keys...sigh. Moving stuff from the top floor of the house to the bottom of the garden is tiring when it's warm. At least it's not raining!

As you can see from the other photo, I'm not having any difficulty filling the space. An 8 ft table is arriving this afternoon to go down one side, and I suspect I'll need a wee bittie more storage... But the easels are in, and that's the main thing. I'm planning to have several different activities laid out on the table, separate little workstations. That sounds wonderful, but in practice is likely to degenerate into an indisciplined guddle within a few hours. But then, I can always find things, so how bad can it be? I work in a lot of different media, after all... it seems reasonable that I need a lot of room!

Yesterday I pondered small miracles and God's blessings that we don't realized. When made me reflect on such a deep and meaningful subject? Choco got out!

Last year I was writing about Houdini Choco and how she was escaping regularly. She would slip her collar and I would tighten it further. When that didn't work I went out and bought a harness but the harness lasted 10 minutes and she was out of it. I thought we'd have to lock her in a kennel but we "solved" the problem by putting two strong leather collars on her, one that she is hooked up to and one that acts as a "stopper" so that she won't be able to pull the other one off.

I don't know why (my carelessness?) but yesterday Choco managed to slip her collar. I was teaching a new group of first graders and I had closed one of the window shades just because Choco barks so much at the kids when she sees them. She does not like children. Just by "chance" (nothing is by chance in my book) I'd left the other shade open. With only 15 minutes left of class a streak of white outside the window caught the corner of my eye. It was dark out already so I thought I must have been mistaken. Another streak going in the opposite direction.

"Oh no! Choco's loose!"

What to do? She was out of sight by the time I got to the front door but I started yelling at her and she came streaking back but this was a big game for her. She was not about to be caught! A major problem. Do I leave 7 children in my house (all new kids) and go out chasing my dog, or do I hope Choco will come back on her own after she's had a run around the fields. She could get hit by a car (all that streaking and it was dark!) or lost. More than that, even if she came home I had parents who would be arriving soon to pick up their kids and another class that would be coming in the front door. I'm very leery of Choco around people because she can be ferocious if she thinks someone is not right.

I left the kids, got in the car and honked the horn quite a lot from the driveway. My neighbor (who has complained about Choco's barking!) peered out the window at me probably thinking,

"Now I've got to deal with the dumb dog's owner who is yelling and honking her horn!"

The miracle is that Choco came back! She didn't disappear. She didn't get hit by a car. She happily jumped in the car! I went back to my students who were excited but none of them had come outside to see the ruckus (and maybe get bit). Parents started arriving a few minutes later and no one (but my neighbor) ever guessed of the excitement a few minutes before.

Thank you Lord for your blessings and miracles!

Here is Choco this morning and here is the offending collar. How much smaller can I tighten this thing without choking her? I'm just trying to keep her safe!

Uh oh, what is that behind the trees?


Eek, a giant spider.


Okay, okay, it's just a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois titled Maman. I'd actually seen it before at the Tate Modern, but it was so much more fun to see it at the Jardin des Tuileries.
That's the Louvre on the right.

THE most gorgeous thing about spring, and England, is the bluebell woods. Lately I have walked in them -been photographed in them (dressed for mud underfoot and the possibility of rainstorms)and come upon them unexpectedly while driving -
Though their blueness doesn't come through properly in photographs, perhaps they look their best when rain darkens the trunks of the beech trees --
There are even bluebells in central London -

... has finally arrived, with three days of warm weather. But there have been signs along the way -- amid the rain, the green-leafing of trees, with drifts of cow parsley beneath -and chestnuts in blossomah yes lots of blossomdrifted into guttersAnd the odd thundery hailstorm!

The white flowers were tossed aside and replaced by representations of standing stones and cairns made from gelatin printed paper. This is a true mixed media piece featuring cloth, paint, foil, machine stitching, hand embroidery, hand dyed (by me) masa paper, hand printed (by me) paper plus a hand dyed (by me) cloth border. I am pretty happy with how this turned out.
This piece is 12x12" and for sale to a good home. If you're interested please contact me at daumick@hvc.rr.com
Happy day to all!

 

Travel is always a good stretch, especially in a foreign language, but darn, I just don't see Italy in the picture this summer! 

Promise. The studio pics are coming. But there is still one dreadful corner of the studio to attack tomorrow. I spent today on non-cleaning tasks, and a little R & R in the virtual world led me to this great article in the New York Times: Can You Become A Creature of New Habits, by writer Janet Rae-Dupree. The story is rich and full of food for thought. But it did reinforce my sense that changing my space around, no matter how time consuming it may seem, does add a little pizazz to the thinking skills. Keep those same photos and inspirational notes on the same bulletin board for too long, I forget to see them.

Here's a couple of my favorite grafs (she's quoting Ryan, author of a book titled This Year I will... and her business partner Markova ):

Ms. Ryan and Ms. Markova have found what they call three zones of existence: comfort, stretch and stress. Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming. It’s that stretch zone in the middle — activities that feel a bit awkward and unfamiliar — where true change occurs.

“Getting into the stretch zone is good for you,” Ms. Ryan says in “This Year I Will... .” “It helps keep your brain healthy. It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. Continuously stretching ourselves will even help us lose weight, according to one study. Researchers who asked folks to do something different every day — listen to a new radio station, for instance — found that they lost and kept off weight. No one is sure why, but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general.”

 I think that's the situation I'm seeking right now with a teacher, a workshop, perhaps travel, maybe just a self-directed course of study in a different field or different focus. Sure, I plan to keep the main thing the main thing (my fiber art work and teaching), but I know I make better and more interesting art and am a better and more interesting teacher when I'm building new brain pathways.

What are your favorite ways to stretch? Anything new on your horizon that you'd like to share?

Just to keep it interesting, I'll send a small art prize to the first 5 readers who comment! 

 

 

Karoda et al - here's some background on the origin of that phrase. Interesting how it has mutated (morphed?) - well, how the meaning has changed over the centuries. I love words.

than drive to Long Island. With apologies to all of you who live there, I still find it daunting. No problem driving the 4.5 hours to D.C. or to Lowell, but Long Island gives me a stress headache. Of course, they say the same thing about New Jersey - and they do have a point. NJ is nuts, but I grew up here.

Taught my workshop today and had a class full of lovely and delightful students who worked in layers: image transfer, rubbings, stamping, and other surface design techniques that some of them had not done before. 'Twas fun. But then there was the drive home...

Anyway, I'm here and I see that while I was away my azeleas began to bloom and my midget Japanese Maple tree has spread its leaves. The ferns are coming up, along with some of the other things whose names I can't remember. yay. Things look a bit skimpy toward the front, under the tree, but I'll have to see what I can do about it one of these days. (While I am writing this, waiting for Marty to get home so we can eat our deli sandwiches, somebody outside is grilling steak and it is wafting through my open window. Yum. You have probably noticed that I have not been blogging much. Truthfully, I have not been feeling well for quite a while - no energy, going to bed at 7:30, feeling lethargic and just not right. I thought I had Lyme disease, but it turned out to be some other thing - a systemic infection of some sort that I picked up who-knows-where. I have one more day of antibiotics and they have made a world of difference. So, look for me here more often and with more energy!

But wait! There's more! First up is a completely gratuitous sunrise. Just because.
And then there's this lovely skein of sock wool that I somehow scored from Vintage Purls through my blog friend Stell of Knit, Knit, Frog . Stell is also a Kiwi, as is the Vintage Purls shop. I hadn't come across it before. Am I lucky or what?
Today in the mail I received my first copy of Interweave Knits which I have started to subscribe to.
I have been totally seduced by the photos in this book, and I just want to make them into artwork. I succumbed at lunchtime and bought it (all $90 of it) - it's a large heavy book, with the most stunning photos imaginable. I'll share some with you next week. After buying it, I read Donald's comment on my last post and thought, yes, I AM very influenced by the landscape around me. I guess I hadn't realised how much.

before we left Middlebury we visited Shipshewana and then on to Goshen. There was a lovely art centre in Goshen called the Old Bag Factory. It was lovely and a great space with interesting artists. We chatted to a few of people in the galleries. There was a quilt designer there and her quilts were absolutely stunning. You can see some her work here.

There was a lovely lady called Diane Overmeyer who we chatted to, her gallery was beautiful.

We left Goshen and headed for Toledo, Ohio. We attended the model engineering exhibition which was great, Norman was in his element. He made a few contacts as he is planning on building an American loco next so he has contacts for his castings etc. I did see a quilt there! A lady had made a quilt of a traction engine which was lovely.

The day after the exhibition we made our way to Louisville, Kentucky. This was just an overnight stay in a beautiful Holiday Inn. It too was very quiet but it was luxurious. I wish we had stayed a little longer in Louisville as there were many interesting places to see - the Casius Clay museum and many others. The Kentucky Derby was due to take place a week or so after we left.

This post isn't probably going to help anyone's cooking skills but I thought I'd show you what we've been eating recently.

I mail ordered fabric and tried one of the new ones with the Margarita Quilt center. I was soo convinced that was the fabric that I went ahead and ordered another couple of yards of it. But then I pulled up the pictures on Picasa and hated how it looked. I know photos aren't accurate, but sometimes they shrink things up just right and allow me to see things that I just didn't notice in person.

I'm now thinking 9" border (I just really like the idea of a big border) with no inner border (which actually means the borders will be different sizes since the center isn't a real square OR I have to whack off those extra bits of orange I sewed on when two of the strips came out longer).

As I work the studies from my textural journal I am experimenting with a variety of fibers and surfaces. Forest Surfaces 6 (7" x 7") started from another composition recently completed on Yosemite Falls. I took that piece apart entirely to rework it, I just didn't like it. That artwork appeared in another post on December 3, 2007. Currently I am reworking other parts of that same artwork.

Expanding the surfaces I am working with is inspiring. Next year I will be teaching a workshop in printing on uncommon surfaces with an ink jet printer, at the Surface Design Association Conference. More on that soon……

Forest Surfaces is composed of several layers:
Twigs are seen on the top, they have been tied into strips of fiberglass screen. The digital prints are on the following surfaces- canvas, organdy,tyvec and lutradur distressed, with dyed canvas and dyed cheesecloth mixed in.

New Zealand is indeed a beautiful country, especially down south. No-one captures this better than my friend Donald (this is one of his photos that I've "borrowed").

See more here .

I have been hand stitching this little piece for a day and a half, off and on. I know I could have cranked out some machine quilting, but I really love what is going on with the cut up screen printed fabric and I didn’t want to mess with it by trying to machine quilt circles. It is a very organic piece and I thought the hand stitching would be a nice accent. Here is a closeup.

I ran out of red perle cotton, but it turned in to a happy accident as I really like the change in the stitch color.

Thanks to everyone who left me a comment so that I wouldn’t feel so lonely. Yesterday was get last minute shopping and errands done day. Today was laundry and finish the quilt day. Tomorrow is spend the morning with the STASH group, have lunch and come home and pack day. Tomorrow night we are going to the artists and volunteers reception for the Trinity Art Show. That will take care of dinner. We have to be up and off to the airport between 5 and 5:30 am.

I had lots of inquires about my new sandals — color and so on. Here they are — very basic colors — so that they will go with lots of things and very comfy.

You may not hear from me again until I am in Israel. I will take my laptop, but have no idea of internet access. If you are interested, here is a link to our itinerary — A Pilgrimage to Israel.

Most of Paducah was work, with some notable exceptions:

The rides to and from the airport in Nashville (2+ hours away) with Jan Krentz and Rachael Clark in both directions, and Charlotte Angotti and Rami Kim on the way home, too…laughed, talked, learned a TON just listening from the masters and practiced teachers on the circuit. And had fun and dinner too! Major thanks to Kenny Shroeder for the rides!

Meeting Leslie and Caty, having dinner, and seeing Paducah with them… yeah Quilt Mavs! Meeting online friends in the real is the best!

And going to the Ricky Tims concert on Friday night. I lucked into a ticket (thanks to a certain benificent soul!), and went on my own. As Caty, Leslie and I walked to dinner on Friday, we saw a Looooonnnnnnggggggg line snaking around the Four Rivers Center of folks (mostly ladies) waiting to go to the concert. I was so glad I was going to eat instead, and was quite happy to arrive just before the show and sit in the rafters. Well… when I walked in, first I was WOWED by the building; click here for a video tour online (warning for those on dial-up… find a high-speed connection before clicking on the link). What a gorgeous building. Then I made a bee-line for the ladies room before the concert began and before heading to where I was directed, the upper balcony. When I came out of the ladies room, I noticed a hallway that led toward the stage and orchestra seating that said Orchestra 5. So I went down it. Luck was with me… a single seat, on the aisle, ten rows back from the stage and directly in line with the piano bench! Here was my view:

Does it get any better? Ricky began with a trumpet solo, then told us it was the first time he’d played trumpet in public in 25 years or so, but that the trumpet had been in younger days his best instrument. It’s still good…I swear that man can play any musical instrument he touches. And he’s a born entertainer. Alas, I didn’t get pictures of his entrance… picture this:

• The theatre is dark except for the screen in the center and the spotlights on his two large quilts flanking the screen. Then those lights dim.
• The curtains in the back of the stage part and you see “smoke/fog” backlit… (think dry ice).
• Suddenly a bright beam pierces the dark into the audience, followed by a HUGE rumble….varoom, VaRoooom, VAROOOOOM…. and slowly, carefully, (ya know what Ricky drives?) in he comes on a HARLEY onto the stage! It was a total riot!!!!!

So, he sings, he jokes, he does his thing, and introduces a friend / performer / Kit Bowser. And says she said “Hey, what are we gonna do special for MY entrance?” So…….

Kat Bowser’s entrance, on the not-quite-a-Harley , above, and a shot of her singing later in the concert, below:

The rest of the show was as hilarious and fun….Kat is very much a cabaret type singer / torch singer. You can see her MySpace page here and listen to her music at CuppaJoeRecords here. I enjoyed her singing so much I actually bought a CD, my first CD purchase in about 2 years! Oh yeah…work ALERT—don’t click on the My Space link with your sound turned up on your computer if you’re at work! But it is definitely toe-tapping music!

And during the show, as my throbbing, aching feet began to rest, I could sit there and mellow in the music (or laugh at the jokes) and enjoy the glorious color and dancing designs of Ricky’s quilts. Kat sang a song with “Glory Hallelujah Dance!” which I think would be the perfect title for a quilt…. I used to live to dance… took ballet for years as a kid and studied with the San Francisco Ballet Company. I’d probably prefer modern dance more now, but am too creaky… but I can still dance with my soul! Hmmmm…. I think I’m recovering from the past year, my creativity is coming back!

Next blogpost…some of my classes!

Sofi sleeps with her new quilt.

We've had such a crummy spring so far, that now that it finally seems to be here I just can't get enough. I really think springs in Portland tend to be spectacular by any standard I know of. Lilac time is brief but thrilling. Our old house has several old lilacs. This one is my favorite—a most unusual intense, grape-y color and equally intense perfume.

I just can't resist taking flower pictures.

I've been taking things from the house to the shudio this afternoon, and suddenly, it doesn't look quite so big! And there's an 8ft table coming tomorrow, too, so that'll take up a bit of space... But it's still much less cramped than my current studio, so I'm really not complaining. Not a bit!

Moving, too, in terms of my work. I rarely stitch by hand, but this piece has quite a bit of hand stitching. It's nearly finished, and is made from evolon that has been transfer dyed, then machine stitched; I'm now adding the final few hand stitches. I didn't add a backing to the (polyester) batting, and the stitching looks wonderful. I'm intending now to either transfer dye it or paint it, or possibly both; I think it'll be interesting. The image is a detail shot; the piece is called 'Circus'. See what you think.

I finished the commission and was eager to post oit to its new owner this afternoon. I did take photos at home but they did not work out- who knows why. So these rather bad photos are the only ones I have of the finished quilt- and I forgot to measure it . Oh well not good for the record keeping!

The roosters around here get up incredibly early in the morning- around three am when the log trucks start rolling ( I know because I can hear everything out in the tent including the blasted trucks- don't they sleep???) Then they seem to doze and then we have one eager rooster who feels the need for another wake-up call at around five- that sets the whole neighbourhood of roosters off again- then they doze again and then they do the serious crowing at around 5.30- it's so loud there is no way you can snooze through that! So I am always up early- I really would like to sleep in sometimes or just laze a bit longer in bed- but those roosters are very determined!

Donaghy Building Gallery, Downtown Little Rock, AR

  

Or is the studio on top of me. Feels that way right now. Those of you who have attended one of my workshops may be under the mistaken assumption that I am a neat and well-organized artist.

Oh, how wrong.

One of the unexpected benefits of teaching in my studio is that I am forced to clean, tidy and organize at least once a month. Pride and necessity coalesce to motivate me before the participants arrive. Truth is, I work with piles of stuff, large piles, scary piles. When I am in the art-making mode, I just can't be neat and tidy. All those mountains of material must magically return to their bottles before anyone else can fit in the space, as large as it is. Having a large studio has been a mixed blessing -- I have room to continue working without cleaning as I go. Great for flow. Not so great for organization. This is not a plea to the universe for downsizing, BTW. I LOVE my studio. But it does look like Vesuvius after the erruption at times (like now).

What does work:

Keeping items in like categories, no matter their end results or techniques. ie all the batik materials together. All the scissors together. All the textile paints together. If I get too fussy about my sorting, I'll spend all my time trying to keep it together. Big lumps of categories work best for me, no alphabetized sortings of dye colors -- though I do write the colors large on the lids, so I don't spend all my time squinting.

The art drawer cabinet is filled with "roughly" sorted colors of smallish pieces of fabric. So if I need a green I know where to go. If I need all the green, I can dump the drawer out on the design table. I don't spend time folding or neatening up these drawers, they are the surprise grab bags of the studio. Larger pieces of fabric are folded (sometimes) and stored in large plastic bins by type -- silks and silky stuff here, florals there, dyed pieces in progress in another,  white linens in yet another, clothing to cut up in another. These are a bit unwieldy, but the best system I've found so far. When the lids are down and the bins stacked, the studio returns to visual calm.

I'm lucky, since the space was once a full kitchen, bath and studio apartment to have lots of shelves and drawers for supplies like scissors, dye and paints. The quality of these fixtures is lousy -- drawers are falling apart, hinges are dodgy, and someday I'll have to do a remodel, but for now, it works well enough. 

Moving things around as a motivational factor. I don't like things to stay the same forever spacially. I like my desk in different places, the design tables moved around and reconfigures. Some stuff is too heavy to move, but it works for me to rearrange as part of the neatening it all up process. 

Paper work also tends to pile up, no matter what "system" I try. A few methods have stuck, but maintanence still takes me longer than I wish it would, and when I'm busy with a production deadline, my "inbox" becomes a nightmare. Here's my paper system for now:

Open file box with hanging folders for my 43 folders. Also three hanging folders  for "Read and Review," "Errands," "Dreams and Goals." Anything dated (deadlines, maps, supply lists, appointment papers, etc) goes into the proper day or month folder. And, even if I get behind on sorting -- my May  folder items are still waiting to go into the proper days -- this system has been a godsend, saving me hours and hours of looking for lost stuff.

Three small file cabinets that fit under the bar for a.) business paperwork, including workshops and exhibits, b.) household bills and important papers, c.) everything else in alphabetical order,  also modeled on David Allen's  Getting Things Done.

In the virtual world, I aim for INBOX Zero. That keeps me relatively mindful of what's coming in and going out via email and gets me to tend to little wiggly stuff as it happens.  Not that I always achieve it -- but the days are over of finding myself with 478 items in my inbox. I also keep my calendar (one calendar only) on my computer (ical) and copy email dates, appointments, deadlines into it, printing it out about once every two weeks so I also have a hard copy. I now have an iphone and that has helped enormously, because I can carry synced versions of my calendar, my contacts and email along with me.

PS. This whole thing depends on a BIG inbox (a card table actually) where papers, supplies, art etc. coming into the studio lands until I take time to sort it out. At least if it lands in one place, I have a halfway decent chance at finding it if I need something BEFORE I get it back in its home.

Having so nicely listed my  ideal, it's time to tackle the actuality.  Time  to put on HGTV, read a few inspirational organization blogs*, have my Diet Rite cola iced up and ready to go, sset a timer for 1 hour increments (as a reward for each hour of cleaning, I spend 15 minutes doing something more fun) and visualize how nice it will be to have everything back in its place. As additional motivation, I will post some follow-up AFTER photos.

And, if you have any suggestions that might help me tame the beast, please post a comment.  I'd also like to hear how other artist's organize materials and supplies. What works for paper, doesn't always transfer to stuff -- and what works for linear thinkers, doesn't always work for us spacial/visual thinkers.

*No time to list more of these now, but I'll add them to tomorrow's AFTER post. 

 

 

Anna Rice
Iterated Art

Well, that WAS a manic two days! Thanks to generous artists and patrons, Collage Mania raised over $13,000 for the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause.

Not only was the art great, but Collage Mania patrons were unbelievably generous in frequently donating more than the requested minimum donation.

All acquired collages will remain indefinitely on my website as a resource for collage artists. Servers update at different rates, so please do a REFRESH and, eventually, you should see that all the Collage Mania pages have a CLOSED notice at the top.

If you were a patron of Collage Mania, I will try my best to have all the patron names/e-mails to the artists today. But, in any case, contact me if you haven’t heard from your artist by next Monday, May 12.

Artists - If your artwork was acquired, the random prize drawing for over $500 in prizes donated by these artists and businesses will be held no later than Friday, May 9:

Attached, Inc. (Mistyfuse)
Fiber on a Whim
Artistic Artifacts
Sue Bleiweiss
Gloria Hansen
Rayna Gilman
Hannah Grey Curiosities and Drygoods

London Quilters currently has 64 members (many of whom are named Margaret) -- many if not most members had a piece in the exhibition. These shots from opening night will give you an idea of the range of work on show.I didn't get the chance, at the opening, to match all the quilts with their makers, but recognize Margaret Garvey's bold curves --Size ranges from double-bed size, through "wall quilt",to miniature -On the right, a double-sided quilt - and bottom left, a first-ever quilt, conveying the joy and excitement of discovering P&Q -Bottom left, some journal quilts from the five LQs who took part in Contemporary Quilt's challenge last year. Top right, Margaret Scholey-Hill's three-panel hanging incorporates samples of Afrian fabrics from the 1950s -
The men at the opening all commented how much they liked this quilt, made by Margaret Mavay for her husband --
My "Ginkgo Gold" looks happy in the corner with its new friends. The show continues till 19 June at Swiss Cottage Library, 88 Avenue Road, London NW3 3HA
Open Mon & Thurs 10-7; Tues, Weds, Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5; Sunday 1 June 11-4. Closed Bank Holiday Monday 26 May.

We are happy in the house tonight. If you have read my blog for long, you know that I am an Obama Mama. A rout in our old home state of North Carolina and aan almost win in Indiana, Steve’s birth state. Both of the respective counties that we resided in went for Obama. See my other blog for a great video.

I am also pleased that my third collage was sold today to benefit Fiberart for a Cause, Virginia Spiegel’s American Cancer Society fundraiser. They are all ready to go into priority mail envelopes and fly off to their new homes. Over $12,000 was raised in two days. Congratulations and thanks to Virginia for her tireless work.

I spent most of today running around town getting last minute things for the trip. I bought some great Mephisto sandals, recommended for my foot problem. I also picked up some t-shirts at Chicos to fill in my wardrobe plan.

Tonight, I am hand stitching a piece that I want to get finished so that I can photograph it and enter it in a show with a deadline while I am gone. Do you think, I will make it? Stay tuned.

Now, why am I not getting any nice comments from you? I know from my stats that there are lots of you stopping by here every day. Am I boring you?

After waiting for repairs for about eight months, this dark purple skirt bought in last summer's sales now has been shortened and has its zip replaced. That was somewhat traumatic, as I hadn't sewn in an invisible zipper for, oh, about 20 years. And you forget how! But thanks to a variety of instructions on the internet, and a timely discussion on the UK Sewing group, I bit the bullet and did the whole thing in less than an hour. After all that time getting round to it...

Its first outing was to the opening of London Quilters exhibition, of which more later.

Sometimes life's distractions need to be balanced by something to calm the frayed nerves at the end of the day. I have been needing such solace recently, and have found it in an old favourite and an unexpected arrival.

The latter is The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg. It is set in Rhodesia just before Independence as Zimbabwe, and tells of two young girls living on a farm during the war. It is funny, politically revealing through everyday innocence, menacing in an unexpected way, and sad. It is no heavyweight political commentary but breezes along at a delightful pace making the reader catch their breath. I enjoyed it - and especially in the light of my having worked in Zimbabwe not long after independence, and observing with outrage what is happening now.

The familiar friend of a novel was Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith. I cannot get enough of this author, so it is just as well that he writes so prolifically. These books are just innocent confections - those simple angel cakes with their touch of frosting and the cut wings: a light treat.

Now I am on to Murder on the Ile St Louis by Cara Black. I've just started it, but already I'm back remembering all the lovely times we had staying just over the bridge from the island in Paris last year.

I must have taken this photo on a strange camera setting as it's very grainy - however, you can see the snow on the foothills of the Southern Alps that I can see from upstairs. We had a brisk frost this morning, so that put an end to the tomatoes.

I'm taking a quick break from waxing the downstairs floors. This job just has to be done twice a year and our dirty carpets need to be taken up in early May anyway. I used to pay my kids to move furniture and help (I even paid some neighbor kids once!) but Tetsu said he'd help me and that means he does all the work and I just direct. Nice for me! We've finished the first coat of wax and are letting it sit for 30 minutes before applying the next coat.

As you may have noticed I do not have anything quilty going on on this blog recently. I listed up my projects and I know I am working on:

The Wonky Word Love quilt but that came to a stop until I decide how to quilt it. I also need to buy backing material and I can probably do that more cheaply in the States.

I put away the feathered star quilt and that will be reinstated after the trip to the States and hopefully I'll find some fantastic fabric that catches my eye while I'm there.

I am finished with step three of Bonnie's Orange Crush but since I don't even know if I'm doing it orange or not, I am stalled on fabric there too.

I am FOREVER working on the 365 Challenge (less than two months to go!) and I might as well buy backing for that when I'm in the States too. I no longer take pictures of this project because it doesn't fit on the wall anymore so it is just sitting in heaps.

I have finished block three of Lynette's Noah's Ark and that is now put aside until I'm back from the States. I guess most of my quilting life depends on when I get back from the States.

I put in a vine applique on the bazaar quilt in place of the flying geese and I hope it will meet with approval when I show my friends next week.

I made up a little pin that I may or may not use but I had to see if I could make it or not. This is another easy project and I guess if done in white these bobbles are supposed to be lily of the valley flowers. I've made them exactly the same way but larger and with wire in the stems and they come out trying to look like tulips (they stand upright then). Again I was working with left over kimono fabric but I suppose my choice of color could have been a bit more springy...

Our next stop after Chicago was a place called Middlebury, Indiana. This was a lovely place, the weather was fabulous and we had plenty of places to visit. Of course I had to visit the Quilt Shop. The owner was lovely and she demonstrated some new to me techniques. I loved them and I just know my students will too! The garden and laundry have taken precedence over art this past few days but I will be back in the studio soon and will share my new finds later.
The Essenhaus we heard was THE place to eat and so we had dinner here - it was absolutely wonderful. I bought some Amish Apple Butter and Amish Peanut butter to bring home from here - they are scrumptious.

Middlebury has the Mid West's largest Amish community and you can see the horses and carriages everywhere around. I think this was my favourite place. It's beautiful, relaxing and the people are so friendly and helpful. Yoders store was wonderful with a huge selection of quilts to see and plenty fabric to buy.

We stayed at the Patchwork Quilt Inn. It was off season and so Norman and I had the place to ourselves. A lovely lady came in to make us breakfast. One evening we woke to the bathroom door shaking, we thought we had just left it open and the wind had caught it. In the morning whilst having breakfast we learned that there had been an earthquake during the early hours of the morning 5.6 on the Richter scale! That's why the door was shaking.


Each room was themed and had a quilt on the bed, this was ours. We had a lovely few days in Middlebury and then we moved on to Toledo ..........................

Wow, this is the first day that I've had off in a while when I could actually find some time to blog. I was seriously considering deleting the blog altogether because I've been feeling word-empty and I haven't been making anything to speak of. Only working for money, not soul and I feel sad. Although, as I wrote a few months ago, it has given me time to read...on the bus, some free moments at work or when I'm exhausted at night and dropping off to sleep. You know how it is sometimes. Anyway, I brought my laptop with me to the laundromat today and thought I would blog about my minor art gains as I waited for the spin cycle. The dryer works at home, just not the washer.

Over the past couple of weeks I decided that I needed to build up a stock of backing fabric for my work. I chose colors that I have but don't use so much and just painted to cover the fabric instead of for a purposeful piece. This way, I will have fabric for the back, instead of my usual situation of having to decide which of my beloved yardage should be relegated to the wall side. Some people have asked me why I paint my backing fabric instead of just buying some blah stuff to fuse on the hind side. Answer: integrity of the piece. I like for my imagery to be as much about my vision as possible, so color or pattern generated by someone/something else feels wrong to me. My quirk. I have been ruminating over this backing fabric issue for years and when I took the time to build a couple more large stretcher frames it became easier to tack the fabric (in a rather unpainterly fashion) and get it done. I had to convince myself to do only one layer, to randomly choose colors and to simply brush it on methodically in order to cover the fabric. Backing fabric only. Say it again Sonji...BACKING FABRIC ONLY. Don't think for a second that I didn't have to restrain myself from diving back into the surfaces. I am simply trying to revel in the paint and the coverage. No image. No plan, except for that it is backing fabric. I will have to make it a mantra. In the end I will be more productive. I am simply slow to alter my habits. It is an advancement in technique. Say it again, Sonji.
The smaller frame was one left over from years ago and I've been using it to paint my gray canvas for the newer pieces, but the surface area is so small in comparison to my new 5 x 6 foot frames (the blue one). Like my purple walls?

One finished shudio. I got home yesterday to find that Robin had laid the flooring and finished off the walls, and this is what it looks like. I have been recovering from my trip to Scotland, today, so nothing got added to its pristine perfection, but I think by Friday I'll be showing you an entirely different shudio... possibly one I can't get into!

I'd just like to thank Robin for all his hard work... isn't it amazing!

Ocean Waters #1 For sale $40 US inclusive of postage
Ocean Waters #2 For Sale $40 US inclusive of postage

I have posted a picture of my commisssion in progress- I stitched all day and there is still quite soe to go. Plus I managed to get a crease in the back cloth which I did not realise until I had done quite soem sewing. Hence the in progress shot- I wanted to see whether titwould still hang all right because to unpick that amount of stitching and the consequent tiny holes caused by the needle in the silk ar enot worth the effort. It is of course caused by the fact that silk strecthec quite a lot when you stitch it densely- and this piece is densely stitched. It annoys me that there is the crease but it is just going to have to stay! It will be flattened so much by stitching it will barely be noticeable... but still......

I also dyed some ocean coloured fabrics and they are for sale.

Grit

Maybe this belongs over on The Garbage Day Project, but there is just something about this photo. I think it is the gritty gravel behind the banana that makes it for me.

Of course, there’s a new post in The Garbage Day Project. It is, in fact, more of the sleek and sh