An Ode to My Scissors

The story that goes with my picture, and was going to be written on it (and may still), is about how much these scissors mean to me. In 1984, I was accepted to go to the National 4-H Congress in Chicago. This trip, for me, was HUGE. While we were there, we were given gifts by different sewing item manufacturers, but the gift from Gingher of the set of scissors was beyond anything i had expected. It came in a velveteen box with a brass plaque WITH MY NAME ENGRAVED ON IT. ehem. They were (and are) so shiny and sharp. I could not even have afforded to buy them at the time, but to have them presented in such a beautiful way meant so much to my teenage princess self. They are still cherished.

toilet paper and stars

 I'm taking a drawing class through our local art gallery. For the last class the teacher stacked some rolls of toilet paper, added some white balls and a couple of white tray things in the back. I've never used charcoal before. Class ended before I felt like I had really finished it, but I'm pleased with what i did accomplish.

 Did you know that quilting is not like riding a bicycle? I haven't worked on a pieced quilt in a long time - I had forgotten a lot! Also, fabric does not seem to obey the laws of physics.

I have enough to make 12 stars. The plan is to make 4 twin size quilts, each with different settings and background fabrics. These blocks will finish at 30".

I've also cut out fabric to make this quilt. It's something that can be portable and I can leave it packed up for working on at my WOW meetings (a group of the bestest artsy women!) or other sew togethers.

Will

I'm part of a wonderful Art Quilt yahoo group and many of them pick a word of inspiration around the beginning of the year as inspiration for the rest of the year. Last year my word was Schmutz a Yiddish word which means dirt or filth, but to me also means extra stuff - clutter in the house and studio, things hanging around that you don't love or use and also just too many embellishments on a quilt. Don't get me wrong... I like and use embellishments but sometimes more is not always better. You know what quilts I'm talking about, right? So last year my quilts were unadorned. Simple, essentially whole cloth quilts painted with acrylic paints. No applique or beads or ribbons. I also applied it to our house, trying to keep the decor simple and uncluttered. Still working on that.

This year I've decided my word is Will. I Will work hard, I Will put time into my art, I Will eat right, I Will exercise. And not in the Someday I Will sense of the word, but in a more present tense. So, um, maybe the word is Am. I Am working hard, etc... but then i'm probably overthinking the whole thing :)

The Will I am thinking of is some of the Planning Ahead Will, but also the will of Diligent Purposefulness.

 

Also, my dad (who passed away a few years ago) was named William. He went by Bill, or Wild Bill, or Sully even, not Will, but close enough :)

Apparently it's a week of inspirational quotes:

John Cage:

“When you start working,
Everybody is in your studio-
The past
Your friends
Enemies
The art world,
And above all, your own ideas-all are there.
But as you continue painting,
They start leaving,
One by one,
And you are left completely alone.
Then if you’re lucky, even you leave.”


I find this to be spot-on... do you have this experience when you are making art?

You Can Blow Out A Candle, But You Cannot Blow Out A Fire

Is the title of of the latest piece, which is coming along. It's finally moving ahead because I decided to try to sneak in a small piece to finish and mail out before christmas. So, of course, this piece that I had been working on over the last many many months starts YELLING at me to work on it, ONLY it. Silly, eh? Even sillier is that I feel grateful that it's finally talking to me. Do I show you a picture? It is far from finished, definitely in an awkward stage. ok, here's a bad snapshot from the webcam:

It did give me a chance to realize that the small piece is not the right piece for the person it was intended for, so there's that.

Yesterday I had a lovely day with my WOW group of women. We mostly chit chat and do our own little show and tell - I spent most of the day cutting papers for a Judy Neiemeyer quilt - not really artsy. But they helped me with fabric choices and how to deal with one fabric that stood out from the rest. It's a safe place to bounce ideas off of each other and show off works-in-progress. I am ever so grateful to be part of this group!

It's December?!!

 yeah, um, that was more than a week, wasn't it?

I have been working on some Quilty stuff - playing with paint and color (the green wrinkly stuff is tape). This one is coming along slowly, but it's getting there.

I'm also working on a traditional quilt, well 4 of them actually, for use on beds (imagine that). It's not like riding a bicycle - there's lots of stuff I've forgotten - so those are also going slowly and not always in the forward direction.  

After Thanksgiving, I brought my daughter back to school and on the way home I stopped at two Art Quilt exhibits. One in Clifton Springs, NY at Main Street Arts which was lovely - lots of bright colors and sparkly bits... I would feel very much at home with that group! And I also stopped at the Schweinfurth Art Center for the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit. Gorgeous. Plus, there were quilts by people I had taken classes with: Carol Trice and Maria Shell; one i had taken classes from: Wen Redmond and a friend who dyes gorgeous fabric, Mary Ann Gallaher, her fabric was used in one of the pieces! Sadly, no pictures were allowed, but there are photos on each website. Go if you can!!!

My husband, son and I went to London for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who convention! 

 We met up with Alex and Kevan and were lucky enough to have dinner with them even! (If you find yourself in need of Who memorabilia, THIS is the place to find it)

I so want to make a copy of Idris's dress - I took a lot of close up pictures. One of the costume designers was nice enough to turn it around for me so i could get a good look at the back. All of the Who people were super nice and generous with their time and talent. They seemed to love showing off their work to the audience and being appreciated and adored for their work!

 We sat in on a panel with 5 of the original Doctors, !!!TOM BAKER!!!, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. It was fun to listen to them reminisce. 

Vermont Quilt Festival

Yesterday, I kidnapped two of my friends and we headed up to Burlington for the Vermont Quilt Festival. My friends aren't quilters, but they are still lovely people. They do a lot of other fiber arts, so they do appreciate quilting and seemed to enjoy the show! Hannah's attention was caught by the embroidery machines and she doodled with a Gammil. They took home some Tsukineko inks and stencils - Hannah has some plans to update some jean shorts. I found some geeky fabrics for bow ties and a beautiful Indian scarf, ok, and I also got some Tsukineko goodies!

Oh, yeah, and there was a quilt show! A few highlights for me:

 I love how Angela made the pieced sky, and the colors are perfect.

 The teachers at VQF had some of their work displayed and this piece, with the BLACK-ON-BLACK quilting made my jaw drop!

Katie Pasquini Masopust's interpretation of a painting into fabric is a wonderful explosion of color. There are so many little pieces in there that make this all work!

 This next piece is by Georgia Spalding Pierce, who sadly seems to not have a website. I would love to see more of her work. I love this style of art and she does a fantastic job putting it into fabric.

 

The above piece is by Jodi Scaltreto who is doing amazing thread paintings. That dog looks like he is going to come right out of that quilt!

 Mara's quilt got a blue ribbon and TWO special awards!!

Megan Farkas hand appliqued and hand quilted this gorgeous scene based on a woodblock print by Kikukawa Eizan.

 After we left the show we went to Dobra Tea in downtown Burlington, then walked around for a bit. Burlington has always been a favorite place to hang out, lots of good restaurants and interesting stores. The chain stores haven't overtaken Church Street yet!

This was not at VQF. This is Eyes which I said I would show you this week. It's still in it's awkward stage. I really like the background, which was not entirely captured in the photo, but there's a nice green patina happening, with some gold highlights.

Summer is here!

My Master Class with Lisa Call finishes up this month. It's been very challenging for me - in a lot of ways. The biggest thing I got out of the class, and it was one of my main goals, is that I now consider art-making part of my daily life. I don't have to walk down the hall past the art room to math class anymore. I have looked into the Art Room and the Art Room is me! (hehe... throwing a little geekery in) Anyhoo, if you can take a class with Lisa, please jump at the chance! 

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks, but not much quilty stuff. My daughter and her friends graduated from high school, birthdays, father's day, our anniversary, kids home for the summer... Upcoming is Sarah's 18th birthday (eeeek) and Solarfest. 

Quilty things I have been working on are getting the three new Hay Bales quilts mounted and ready to hang, but my stapler keeps jamming up. ergh. I have one called Eyes that I will show you next week. This the back of one will be in the Yellow Flower Thingie series - #3 to be specific.

That's about it, but I think we are settling into the summer routine, plus the weather is being hot and muggy. I should have more time and incentive to spend in my studio which is in the cool basement.