settlers peace

A Good Time Was Had

I've been home for over two weeks, and am still smiling. I have long admired the work of DJ Pettitt and was quick to sign up for a workshop that Cindy happened to discover. Oh my, the inspiration, creativity and laughter was at a level so far beyond what I had hoped for.

This is DJ Pettitt, myself, Cindy and Donna Downey

My book cover

Inside cover and a signature wrap

And a few pages

The whole gang, twenty three other amazing artists and women. So many stories shared, and you know how I love a good story.

And then an awesome story, after I returned home, my daughters boyfriend proposed at a Ranger's baseball game! So fun and exciting, and wedding plans are in full swing :)

Life is good!

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Tray of Happiness

TGIF

I have high hopes that this tray contains much of my weekend activities!

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Keep Going

The clutter in my brain is clearing, unlike today's fog.

It made for a beautiful walk, so peaceful and with limited distractions. The birdsong sounded pure and delightful. But before my walk, my day started with this:

Years ago, I started writing 'morning pages' - three long hand written pages of brain dump first thing in the morning. It was introduced to me by Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way. I've recently been going through another of her books, Walking In This World. I have a separate journal for the many lists that one must make, such wondrous things are recovered and discovered through this. It isn't very often that I ever go back and read my pages, but something has been off for me lately, and like a detective, I went searching. And there it was, in my own handwriting, the action that I needed to take: a walk, some time in prayer, and a more disciplined use of time. It's time for a Pinterest diet and some actual time behind the sewing machine. "I'm off to the sewing room" she says, with a smile on her face and peace in her heart!

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Creative Fuel

The invitations were ordered, received and ready to mail, senior photo shoot this weekend and prom plans made! So what else have I been up to?

• A little bit of this and that. I made a top with the Schoolhouse Tunic pattern, love it and hope to make more!
• Devoured the book by Jenny Lawson, "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" and laughed until my sides hurt. The fact that the first 100 pages were like a flashback for me, made me feel kindred in some twisted way, I guess to say that all of those memories, while seeming so absurd at the time, actually make us who we are, and they're pretty darn-good stories to tell once you make it out the other side!
  
• Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon is an awesome read, especially with all of the Pinterest sharing going on. I've found myself withholding my creations afraid to really let it out into the world. Then in the end have to ask myself "What if we give it away?" and I have to answer, it's just too hard to hold onto, let it go.
  

• I'm feeling very inspired by old blocks, patterns and fabric, and wondering how to make something old new again. The mind churns......

Oh my goodness! I've been trying to learn to post from my new iPad, and have been having an issue of them disappearing when I hit a wrong button, and I just found them!!!! So exciting! Now maybe I can attempt to be more consistent. Hope that your weekend is full of wonderful discoveries as well!

 

Summer Sands

It seems that the sands of summer time are slipping past, and I honestly wish that we had a beach vacation to look forward to, then I remember the heat.  It has been so easy to get distracted from my creative pursuits, but I find that I am really enjoying the moments of summer.  So while this may seem a bit of a jumble of a post, that's kind of how my mind has been wandering this summer.

• I am loving the fresh produce and farmers markets.  So many favorites, but what I most enjoy is the fact that the heat in the kitchen is so limited.  Lots of salads, salsas and fruit.
• Pinterest has become my new web addiction.  I really have no idea how to explain it.  Check it out.  It has been SO very interesting to see the images that I like enough to 'pin' together in a group.  It has me questioning myself a lot. If this is the look that I what for the house, why am I not taking action towards it?  Oh, it can be dangerous alright.  It sucks your time as you browse images to add to your boards, all the while creating major to-do lists for projects that you want to get started.

• This book has also been great inspiration for projects around the house.  I am dreaming of gallons and gallons of white paint, now if my shoulder would just cooperate.
• Speaking of books, I just finished reading the Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love, laugh out loud and die of shock at times.  Gosh, maybe I am a bit prudish, but my friends know the heart of me is fun, and I have been invited to join a local chapter of the Sweet Potato Queens called the Texoma Art Tarts.  I have opted to forgo the crown and be a bit more comfortable in the wings as a 'wannabe' or a bon bon as we are called here.  Fun and adventure awaits!  And bling, oh how they love their bling!  I need to get my bling on, so outta my comfort zone.

• This quilt has been in the works for a couple of months.
• I don't like blue that much.
• I don't like monochromatic quilts.
• I was happy to follow the cutting directions to try and eat the excess blue fabric in my stash.
• I failed to register the dimensions of the 'lap' quilt.  Um, way bigger than needed for a small someone in a wheelchair.  But hey, that fabric is not going back in my stash!
• It has been pieced and then downsized to something that will fit better, and is currently basted and ready to quilt.
• I will be making another quilt from the rows that I removed, and it'll have to be quick because I don't want to see any blue fabric for awhile.

So that's my ramble.  I have missed posting, but this bulletin format may work better for me this summer, whatever it takes.

Have a great day!

 

 

 

Spring Fever

Today is one of those grey days that make you wonder if spring is really on the way.  

I, so badly, needed to see these blooms, my evidence of spring, that I brazenly walked into someone's yard and snapped the pictures.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous, not in the best part of town either.  But I was rewarded with beauty and then the discovery that it was an abandoned house anyway.

I have been working away on old projects, trying to get some done to justify any damage that I may do in the vendor section of the Dallas Quilt Show next weekend.  I have often heard that 'at quilt shows, fashion stops at the knees', be comfy, and I always am.

O. went on her first hunt this week, and while the fella supplied all of the camo-fashion attire to stay warm, I don't think that it occurred to him, the mud boots that he would encounter.  Let's just say that in girl world, camo-fashion stops at the knees.

I was quick to get a throw quilt quilted and binding on, with the intention of tackling another.  After a quick wash to see how my quilting really looked, I couldn't help but to snuggle down in it with this wonderful love story and a nice cup of tea in a new mug.

The quilt is a blended quilt of various fabrics.  The center started out with 16 - 6 1/2" blocks cut from one fabric.  Each block was then bordered with (2) - 1 1/2" strips of various scraps on each side and a four-patch made of 1 1/2" squares in the corners.  Then it kinda grew in a medallion fashion as I added borders, pieces and strips to get the cozy size I wanted.  Really......... it looks best crumpled up like this.  I love the fabrics, I love that they are blended and kind of morph into one another, but to see it just flat and head-on, it's a bit heavy on the busy floral, and not enough of a block pattern to rest the eye.  It was the perfect project to play around with some big loose meandering quilting.  It is comfort.  It is done.

Feeling Pink

Last week was crazy busy with the high school homecoming parade, review, football game and dance.  O. was a nominee for queen, which meant dress shopping for each event, and stress, for both of us.  She was beautiful and had fun, I survived.

At our local art festival last weekend, I scored this beautiful spotted pink bowl.  I'm just in love with it, the colors, the spots, the wave of the glass.  It's such a happy piece and was such a welcome relief from all of the weeks other activities.

I've been working on several projects lately in various stages, and it has become very evident that I like to work in brown, a lot.  It's my comfort color, dirt, mud, it's all very natural and grounding for me, even my pinks and yellows are muddy looking.  This blended star quilt is an example.

After almost a year of having it quilted, I just got the binding on it.  Now we're ready for that fall weather and a good book on the back porch or movie on the couch.  Speaking of which, I am reading The War of Art, a real kick in the pants, that I would highly recommend.  So far, my key learning point is that resistance will not be defeated, it will return tomorrow, we just have to arm ourselves to do battle everyday.  My mindset has been that 'once I get over this battle (whatever it is), I can create and it will be easy'.  That's just resistances way of keeping me stuck, letting me think that it will, at some point, be gone.  Ah, but I am learning and growing and I shall become a warrior of resistance.  So, back to work, most likely on something brown, but I do look forward to some baby quilts with deadlines/due dates coming up soon.

Good Mail Day

Yesterday I went to the mailbox and had the lovely new issue of Sew Somerset in it.
Since I had not ordered the issue, that could only mean that a submission that I had made (in Jan. 2009) had been published.  There on page 122 are photos of my "ScrapBook"!  Insert Happy Dance here!   Here's the book.

And here are the pages that were published.

The pages were simply made from bits and pieces and had no purpose until I found the old cover.  I decided to replace the fragile paper pages with 'fabric' scrapbook pages and remake the book to corral these small works together.  

The directions for making you own book are in the magazine.  I had no idea what elements of the book would be photographed when they asked for directions, so I did not go into page construction as each page is so different.  It really was a fun project to work on combining my love of fabrics, quilting, art journals and book making.   

Now, I'm of to relax and enjoy some time reading about all of the other amazing submissions that are in this new issue of Sew Somerset, it is pure eye candy!

Finding Inspiration all around

   

   

 

 

 

 I am taking advantage of the enjoyable weather we are having to get out and about and see what's happening in nature.  Also loving my new mug from Anthropologie full of green tea and a stack of reads.  Ahh, spring, I just love all that you bring!
    

The Big Pile-up

This was my month to host our book club meeting, discussing the Persian Pickle Club.  Only one other person in the group is a quilter, so it was quite a good discussion on the culture of quilters and the friendships that can evolve over needle and thread.  I thoroughly enjoyed pulling out my depression style glassware, old china platters, and crystal pitchers to use.

And the old quilts!  Before I began quilting, I was an avid collector.  Our weekends were filled with estate sales, auctions and shows, each of us with our eyes peeled for that next treasure.  Many of them became packed away as I began making quilts to use.  It was like attending the mother of all sales when I began going through those trunks to find old quilts to share with the book club, and it didn't cost me a dime this time!

This quilt is always a favorite, so many prints that you could sit and study it for some time, at least for a patterned fabric junkie like me.

A great signature quilt, so interesting to reads the names of different time periods, and ponder the addition of Bill's name.........

The colors are fading on this Double Wedding Ring quilt, but it is set in a beautiful yellow fabric, with the green and pink intersecting blocks and bound in blue.  I simply loved the color combinations and the deviation from the norm.

This was a queen size top that had been laundered and had some wear, and I felt that machine quilting would help hold it all together.  Now it is very usable and I have no fear in putting it in the wash.

But my two very favorite are these doll quilts.  Oh, the tiny quilting stitches and hand piecing of small bits of fabric.  They are pure joy and love!

And at the end of the day it was a big pile o' quiltin'.