At It Again...

December Project Idea:
I am nearly done with the things that I want to have made for the crafts show and for the coffee shop show. I still have 3 more pillows to complete using Debra's embroidery and 3 more wall hangings. One of those is shown below.

With that said, I am thinking about projects for December. Chanukah and Christmas are in December. The two holidays plus the month of December itself conjure up some common images. Chanukah is often referred to as the festival of lights and we trim our Christmas trees and homes with lights. I think of clear, cold skies with twinkling stars and snowy landscapes with the moon reflecting off of them. Candles on the table and lighted windows with warm fires inside the homes. Light and dark seem juxtaposed against each other to produce a really noticeable contrast. Although I have one project commitment in December I want to explore this theme of "light" in a new piece. My intent is to interpret the concept of "light" in the context of the holidays. People are busy in December I realize but anyone who likes this theme and idea is welcome to join in. If you are reading and are interested please let me know. Make the piece however large or small you want and the idea would be just to share the results around mid December. If there are any takers we can work out the details of posting and linking back to my blog. Otherwise, just follow me to Chanukah!

Currently In Progress:
This coins quilt is currently on the design wall. I think I have the backing and I got the binding yesterday so I should be good to go. This is a design from one of Alex Anderson's books. Her books appeal to me because of her minimalistic and no nonsense approach plus I like the projects that she chooses. Her fabric requirements are generous and the photograph shows a duplicate quilt in progress. I knew I was going to really like this one so I am making two! This one is destined for the craft fair and is about 30" x 30".





Pillow Talk:
These four pillows are what I have so far. They are designed to go with the Amish-ey wall hangings that I have for the craft fair. I know when I want to buy something that if there is a set of things I will buy the two items together. I suppose if they don't sell then I could always rip them apart and make a sampler. Let's think positively though, OK?

Year of Solids:
Back in December I declared that 2009 would be The Year of Solids. What kind of a nutjob makes a declaration like that anyway? I went back to my art blog to have a look at what I have completed that qualifies as a "solids" project. When you count the four pillows mentioned above, I did make 12 pieces. In thinking about things this morning I remembered that at the beginning of the year I had a whole container full of solid fabrics to work with. I added a bit to that this year but otherwise have made a pretty good dent. I am going to continue on with the project to see what I can do. I also had a good look at my other fabrics yesterday and really, I still have a lot; more than I am comfortable with. Each piece takes so little fabric that I don't know how I can hope to ever use most of the fabric up. I may start piecing the backings...

OK, enough from me. I hope everyone has a quilty Wednesday and thank you for reading.

Libby

Dishes Are Done, Man!

Broken Dishes-Done:

I finished this one up Sunday. The photo doesn't show the border color well which is a shade of dark forest green. The inner border is a subdued green-yellow. I decided that I have had enough with "wanting" to do things. "Gee, I sure wish I could quilt those lovely feather designs that I see", and so on, etc. Annette and I were in our LQS on Friday and we had a good long look at all of the quilts on display. I have also had the opportunity to look at lots of quilting this year. My determination is that much of this quilting looks just OK; some looks good and some looks fantastic. In other words there is a range of design and skill level here. It isn't rocket science either. So, since I have been practicing, I decided to just do it! I put on my Big Girl Panties, set up the machine and just went for it. I included the 2nd pic to show the results. I think I did pretty well. The feather sizes are not uniform which I am fine with. I am sure if I took the time to mark the feathers or as I develop more skill they will become as uniform as I want them to be.

Chicken and Egg: You decide Which Comes First

I have been thinking a bit lately about my design process, such as it is. One of the reasons for the reflection is after having viewed Debra's latest endeavors with her Favorite Things quilt I began to wonder why I struggle so sometimes with bringing an idea forth. It occurred to me that I go at it backwards. A lot. I may start with several elements or an idea (landscape, still life, etc) and go from there. I tend to make up a story about the piece as I go; the story tends to support what I have already done. I suppose I am not designing to fit the story but trying to fit a story to the design. I am OK with this. My original idea is still intact but has morphed. My Earth Day piece is a good example of this. I started with one concept, couldn't precisely bring it forth, and ended with a little different concept and a new story. Still very happy with the results. I am also going to admit that sometimes I have no clear picture of what to do-I just start with a vague color scheme and pattern-and am then amazed (or disappointed) with the results. Again, I make up a story along the way. For me, it is OK to do this. I am not making any high flying political or social statement here. I am not suggesting to produce sub standard work either. I just hate struggling sometimes and so try to make it easier on myself. This usually involves compromise on my part but less beating up of my inner-wanna-be-artist-child self. Chew on that for awhile and let me know what you think!

This weekend Rich started in with building the display frames for my quilts for the craft show. This guy is a real trooper! I am amazed that anyone would go to this effort for me. Hopefully I can take some photos of this to show.

Cosmo/Toby is here and is getting accustomed to us, Hannah, and his new home. We had a bit of a false start earlier this week when Cosmo became confused as to whether or not the waste basket was where he should/shouldn't do his business. Let me just say that I cleaned the waste basket.

I have solved the "what do I call myself" problem. I identify with being a quilt maker above all other terms.

Lastly, my quilt group meets this week. I am hoping that they will help me with pricing my stuff.

OK, thanks for reading and have a quilty Monday

Libby

PS-I approached and passed my one year blogging anniversary. Thank you to everyone who continues to read, comment, or even both:)

When Dinosaurs Roamed The Land...

Autumn Leaves Sampler #2: Completed
This one was actually finished last week but was waiting for a photo. My pictures suck and I reluctantly concede that the spot for photographing that I thought was so perfect actually is not. I will need to do something radical!

Morris Wall Hanging #1: Completed
I finished this one earlier this week. Those three embroideries are part of what Debra had sent to me earlier in the summer to play with. They were intended to be fabric tiles but after doing 24 such tiles, well, I sort of lost steam on that idea. Pink and green are not two colors that I would necessarily go to first for a piece. However, the Barbara Brackman fabrics featured these two colors which are actually very pretty together. If you have a chance, check out Barbara's blog for great content on reproduction quilts and other related information. When I was a little kid, my room was actually decorated in pink and green. Pink walls, green carpet, and really pretty pink and green flowered wallpaper. Anybody else my age or with daughters my age (ha ha) do this too?


One For The Books:
This shop is on my route home. I think what they sell are unique wrought iron/metal decorations for inside and outside the home. I wonder where I could find an eight foot metal dinosaur/brontosaurus type thing for the hallway...???

Amish Extravaganza:
My guild newsletter arrived yesterday and it made mention of an exhibition coming to the De Young museum in San Francisco. Stephen and Faith Brown are collectors of Amish quilts and are bringing their collection to the museum in mid November. This is pretty exciting for me since I have been using the images from the Browns' online site to draw inspiration from over the past couple of years. I also looked at the museum site and it looks like there will be an exhibit on Impressionism coming next year. This is also very exciting for me. I feel lucky to live so close to places that offer these kinds of exhibits.

Weekly Wrap Up:
I think because I am home most of the day, I tend to lose perspective on how much I actually get done. My chores and quilting are just sort of continuous unlike a regular job that I would just arrive at and leave at a certain time and be able to gauge my work load. Anyway, I was able to get done this week what I had planned. I finished that Morris wall hanging as shown above and completed the 3 Amish pillows that I had planned. I put the borders on the Amish broken dishes piece and will do the quilting, binding and sleeve this weekend. In other words, I am on track whether I feel it or not. I do think using the white board has helped. Come December, I won't have this sort of regimen so I will need to see what is going to take its' place. I must have structure!!!!!

OK, hope everyone has a quilty weekend. Thanks for reading and the comments too.

Libby

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

LAA Art Show-San Ramon:

Sunday Rich and I went to San Ramon to drop off my two quilts at the LAA show. San Ramon is about 20 minutes south from my house so not too far at all. The show is being held all month long at the gallery there in the community center. I included a long view of the upstairs gallery. It is a really nice venue but I wouldn't say that it gets a lot of traffic. Sort of like a library with a gallery; the patrons have to go looking for it and have to be interested in the first place. The display is mostly a mix of watercolor works (landscapes, florals) along with a few acrylics and two graphite drawings. The last show had a lot of abstract work which is why I chose the two pieces shown above. I can't get irritated; the group is what it is and it isn't a group of textile artists although I was told when I joined that there were plenty in the organization. No matter. If you are in the area check it out!

Cosmo Is In The House:

Cosmo/Toby is now living with us. We have brought him inside the house and he is getting used to that. He goes outside still and we are trying to establish some routines and rules. In his previous life, things were a bit like Thunderdome; no rules, every man for himself, etc. He is a pretty polite little cat though and a quick learner. He has learned to use the cat door into the garage and has no difficulty with his cat box so far. The inside rules are just not something he was ever acquainted with. Last night Rich and I were eating dinner and Rich winced and cried out in mid sentence. Cosmo was under the table and had grabbed Rich's knee. I thought it was funny anyway.

Everything Comes From Somewhere:

On Halloween night I picked up my copy of Frankenstein, intending to read it again. Let me say that I started in with it last night and I read something interesting in Mary Shelley's preface to the text. Many people probably already know that the idea for the book was part of a challenge to pass the time; the participants in the house where Mary was staying were challenged to create a good ghost story. She (Mary) explains in her preface not only the origin of the story but how she had struggled to come up with something worthy of reading. To paraphrase her explanation, she said that everything has to come from somewhere. We don't create in a void and even the most original idea has its' roots in what came before it. Well, I thought of quilting of course. How many times do we lament about not having an idea, having too many ideas, or fearing copying somebody else's idea? We want to be original right or it isn't "art". This then brought me to Rayna Gillman's recent post about an art show that she went to. She talks in the post about "cross pollination" between artists and how people can influence each other in their work. I think what she is saying is that this is only natural and that those who succeed incorporate all that has come before them into their own art in order to come up with their own style. This is what I took away from the post anyway. Let me know what you think, if anything.

So Far So Good:

I should have some pics later on this week of the William Morris inspired piece that I made. Really, it just uses Barbara Brackman's newest fabric line and Debra's embroidery. It is pretty though and I used colors that I would not normally have selected; they are not brown, brown, brown!

OK, thanks for reading and leave a comment for heaven's sake!:):):)
Libby

Halloween Wrap Up or "How I Did It..."

Spooky and Kooky:
We handed out candy for Halloween on Saturday. Although there were not as many trick-or-treaters as in years past, we did have some memorable costumes. I always ask the kids what their costumes are just so I can be sure. I wouldn't want to misinterpret someones artistic expression:)There were the usual suspects of course: Snow White, the various undead, etc. We were also visited by a Candy Korn witch, a gangster, a little dog (very cute), and a small pimp. The pimp was funny for me. I looked at him and remarked that he looked, "like he was pimpin' ", and he said, "that's right". One child said he was "just himself" and since we had had several glasses of wine by then I told him that I respected that. My all time favorite however was a little boy dressed both as Homer Simpson and as a Ghostbuster. The duality of the getup killed me. I also loved that he was dressed as two characters that were created way before he was born.

Earlier in the evening, we had a really excellent dinner. I decided on an Oktoberfest sort of theme. We had red cabbage sauerkraut, German potato salad, and pork chops. My grandfather came from Germany and my husband lived in Germany as a young college student but that is the extent of any "German identification" for me. We don't normally cook this sort of food so it was really fun especially since all of the dishes turned out well. We also watched Young Frankenstein for about the umpteenth time. I watch it every year.

The Week Ahead:
I am sort of casting about for a couple of interesting day trips. As much as I love to stay home and quilt I also need some outside stimulation. I will be seeing my friend Annette on Friday for some quilty activity but a museum or shopping trip in between times would be useful.

I have a new wall hanging that I am working on. I have selected some of Barbara Brackman's new line of William Morris inspired fabric for the project. I just bought a quarter of a yard. I will say that the fabric designs are always tough to work with. William Morris covered entire walls, sofas, and chairs with those patterns. They were never meant to be viewed in a 3" or 4" square or triangle. You really lose the feel and beauty of the design when it is cut into such a small piece. With that said, I did pick a very small all over pattern so I hope it works.

Lastly, I have some pillows to make and I would like to get the border and backing fabrics for the dusky broken dishes quilt.

OK, that is it for me. Thanks for reading and keep it quilty!
Libby

Updates and Such

A Quilty Update:
I am a little hard on myself for no good reason (sometimes). I have actually made some good progress these last couple of weeks and especially in the last couple of days. Here is what is done:

***I completed my Autumn Leaves II piece and have decided not to paint the leaves as I did in the previous piece. The stitching looks good and so I want to draw attention to that instead.

***Final 3 fabric tiles completed. It has been a great run but...

***I repaired Patrick's Landscape. I decoupaged the canvas after removing the quilted portion then re glued the quilted portion back on. It looks a little crazy but someone may be turned on by it.

***I finished piecing the Dusky Broken Dishes piece and now, big surprise, I need the border, binding, and backing fabrics.

Twitter This:
Is anyone really interested in what anyone else does with every moment of their day? I am pretty sure that I am not but with that said here are some noteworthy things that have happened recently which are not quilty in nature. Cosmo/Toby is still here and currently living in my garage/backyard. The back story will be revealed later... I started wearing bifocals and after some extreme initial misgivings, they (the bifocals) are working out really well for me. I made meringues chantilly last Saturday and filled them with lemon curd and whipped cream. Decadence on a plate. Lastly, I am approaching a couple of remembrance type days for November. November is when both Desi and Cokey passed away (our two equally fab. cats) and it is also the month when I first started this blog in 2008. Hard to believe that I have been blathering on for a year about quilting and even harder still to believe that anyone has been reading! Just goes to show you the state that our newspapers and general media coverage is in.


Because It Is Halloween:
I have a history, evidently, of biting off more than I can chew quilting-wise. Several years ago I had a friend at work who requested a special quilt. He is a Wiccan and wanted a piece to celebrate his beliefs and practices. BTW, please do not write in and tell me that I am supporting something bad. The link above is just provided for definition purposes only-it is not a group I belong too. However, I believe strongly in religious tolerance on all levels. And besides, what creative quilter in their right mind could resist this sort of a challenge anyway? In any case, I came up with this piece for him. The pentagram, which has a long history both good and bad, was appliqued and hand embroidered. I hand embroidered the ring around the pentagram as well. The middle design is hand embroidered and was the first time that I transferred a design like that to a piece of fabric for stitching. I had to come up with the measurements and design for the pentagram itself as obviously, there is no quilting website or directions for this sort of thing. It actually involved some geometric principles and gads, some math. The colors all have some significant meaning for Wiccans as does the circle around the pentagram and the pentagram itself. The background is a black fabric with small stars which was also significant. I was happy at the time with the results. Now, I wish I could have another go at it since my skill base has improved dramatically. Anyone have any special requests?

Thank you to everyone for reading and commenting this week. Have a quilty weekend!

Libby

Mackintosh Roses

Mackintosh Roses Completed:

I finished this one off yesterday. I disliked this piece when I made it but as I started quilting on it and once I put the binding on, it kind of grew on me. One of my quilting goals when I first started blogging was to create some pieces that had a recognizably A & C/Art Nouveau style. I didn't really know what that was or had defined it in anyway. I looked at my other blog recently and I can see that I have a small "body of work" in this style. Ha Ha! Body of work, indeed!

I did read a little bit more about Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He was well regarded and recognized in Europe during his lifetime but never really made it big at home until long after he died. His style incorporated the emerging "modernism" with its spare and utilitarian sense of design and blended it with more natural, curvilinear forms such as the ubiquitous Mackintosh rose. His wife was also an artist and influenced his style with her more "natural" approach to design. I also read that some of the Japanese styles at the time had an influence on his design aesthetic also-again, spare, functional type stuff. The fun thing to learn was that he was also a painter and did work where he incorporated a "whole decorating design" method. He designed everything for the home from the architecture, to the textiles, furniture, and decorations. Sort of like FLW but maybe a little nicer?? LOL!

Hannah, Her Quilt and Her Bed:

Hannah was fast asleep when I took this photo a couple of days ago. That is her pillow also with her special pillowcase. The blue blanket in back was knit by my mother-in-law, may her memory be a blessing, and it was something I requested to have when she passed away. She made it over a 15 year period or something crazy like that:)

I have three tiles left to finish, a quilt sandwich to do for my second Autumn Leaves piece and I would like to finish piecing the Amish broken dishes top that I talked about last week. I also think a trip to the fabric store is in order (backing and binding, the usual suspects) and I am deciding which store to go to. They are the same distance essentially from where I live.

OK, off to get dinner ready and that sort of wifely type stuff.

Thanks for reading,

Libby