Monthly Archives: November 2010

Another Moment of Panic

Or I could title this “10 Things Not to Expect of Yourself Thanksgiving Weekend”. I have come to this newfound realization that I overcommit. I use to think I was disorganized. (Well ok sometimes, I am.:) But, I tend to not look ahead and see the big picture on a regular basis. I think I have unlimited time over four days and DREAM of what could be accomplished. Well-not necessarily around the house or family-but in the studio. Hmm…sounds like a teensy problem already because it is a family holiday.

I didn’t take into account the following:

20 people were eating here on Thursday. A turkey. A really big turkey.
2 of those people were staying here.
4 more would come and go and eat here various things.
Children would like to go to movies, play with friends, come over and need to be taken home.
I would feel crazed to decorate the house for Christmas-inside and out-in the midst of the chaos.
I would go out to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law.

Now- I had a super great time and really enjoyed myself with all of my family. But…I was busy.

Can you see where this is going? Not one thing was stitched on since Tuesday. My machine has not been turned on since Tuesday. I was so busy just doing “things” that there was no time to sew. I have just lost five days-which as my son calculated=one less quilt done by January 1. .

Why in the world I would feel some weird urge to re-do my blog banner in the midst of the chaos-I have no idea. And for each five minute interval I had to fix it, someone else would call me. It needs to be fixed. Good thing there is always Monday. Hope you had a great weekend. I had so much fun that it’s hard for it to be over.

Back at it this week!

Grateful Today

I am grateful for so many things.

– A 19 year old daughter who went to run a 5K race with my husband just a few minutes ago-she is alive and well after an awful accident in July.
-Two other kids who make me laugh -most days-and are growing into their own big people personalities.
-My foot returning to a new normal after a surgery last April. I don’t take for granted my feet anymore!
-A husband who is very supportive and putting up with my mid life crisis:).

-For the joy I have when I pick up a needle, thread and fabric.
-The excitement I have about learning new things-even as old as I am:). I love learning.
-New friends and old friends here that I feel like I am having a cup of coffee with each morning I blog.
-And for God who has blessed me with each of these things.

In thanksgiving today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

I Almost Forgot

The list is longer than the time I have left before Thanksgiving. And then my son didn’t feel well today so everything stopped. I could only go to the doctor’s to see if he had strep throat. So we watched “Night at the Museum” and took a nap. And did things at home which really needed to be done. It felt good not to be running around in the craziness and getting caught up in the buying of too much food. It felt good to slow down. Not good to see him sick. But just good to slow down.

Without my normal routine, I forgot about blogging. And about picking a winner for that giveaway last week-the winner is zizophora. So please, email me your address and I will be sure to get it in the mail for you.

I have been following Melanie Testa and her month of line drawing. Go check out what she is doing. I took a class from her last winter at Joggles and just haven’t added her to my blog list.She is a good teacher and her blog follows her teaching style with her talented info shared so freely. On day 7, she references an artist, Marcus McCallister and his amazing journals. Go check out this youtube vide and see what Melanie is doing.

Thanks for your comments and for peeking in. I am going to sit and rip out some awful machine stitching.

Be creative, my friends -slow down too. It will all get done and cooked.

Finish #2:The Beast

There is something rewarding about just pushing through and making it work even though you don’t like the initial design. I pushed even though the colors were not making me happy.The initial design was kind of cheesy. Well really just bad. In the end , I just needed to work through it and do it. I didn’t like wasting my hand dyed fabrics.

L Series # 3 : The Beast
21 x 28

Hand dyed fabrics, machine stitched with yellow and blue cotton threads.

I was having difficulty with my bobbin thread tension at first so I see two lines I might re-do.

Quilt # 2 done and three is being basted today.( I finished a doll quilt too this weekend for the Santa Claus girls but that wasn’t on the list!) My son calculated I could only work on each top for five days to finish it -if I want to complete all 7 by the end of the year.

Be creative, my friends!

Giveaway: Post on last Friday’s post if you want to win the scissors and thread. I will pick tomorrow.

End of The Week Wrap Up/Another Giveaway

Winner from last week’s giveaway is number 2 : sweet Jeana Marie! I will send you small package if you email me your address Jeana! I know she will put the thread to beautiful use. What she makes is just lovely. My husband, the accountant, picked the number to make it official.

I have been working hard and am very happy to be sewing on binding on quilt #2.

I really enjoying handstitching the binding on. Very relaxing and I like to save it for night time when I can sit with the kids and stitch.

The 3rd giveaway is 4 more skeins of hand dyed thread (the pink is perle cotton) , a quarter yard of this owl print and this great pair of scissors. I like this little Japanese fabric even if it might be too cute for you.. I have a thing for owls way before they became kind of trendy cute. I am in love with this pair of scissors-very sharp and easy on my hands. They really avoid my thumb which is full of arthritis from all those years of massages I did as a physical therapist. Let me know what part of the process of making a quilt you like the best. Leave a comment on THIS post and I will let you know who is the winner on Tuesday. I’ll forget on the holiday week.

Again, the giveaway is just a little thanks for sharing and listening to me talk on and on the past year! Thanks for being good friends.

Be creative, my friends!

And So The Season Begins

I really don’t like thinking about it until after Thanksgiving. I don’t do any shopping even the day after. The last place I would like to be at 6am the day after Thanksgiving is shopping. But when daughter said please last night, I couldn’t resist. She wanted me to take her to the tree lighting ceremony at the Gerald R Ford museum to earn some extra credit points for her history class.

I loved the lights and lines from the museum.

I didn’t realize they were going to let us in and that it would be all aglow with trees and lights -and QUILTS!

Provided by our own West Michigan Quilt Guild. Architectural lines and lights and quilts. Ahhh…

Red and white is just so pretty. I don’t know who did this one-no name on it.

Dear Jane by Jan Landry

The season has begun. I tried to catch the Presidential seal through the window for you but couldn’t.

I didn’t even mind that I was seeing Christmas things before Thanksgiving -and enjoying it.

Be creative, my friends!

A Quick One

Can’t stay and chat today. The whole focus thing is really hard for me. I much prefer the chatting and stopping to see how you are.

The basting on the beast.

The beast is being quilted. I am getting some weird u-turns where instead I would like crisp square corners. I don’t know what I am doing differently but it seemed a good place to stop.

Just a little lack of focus…and a distraction last night. See how hard this focus is for me?

That pile of jean scraps from last January will be made into bags-I don’t want to buy wrapping paper for the few gifts I will give this year. I like that it is reversible. But it’s kind of boring. I like the size but the straps could be shorter. The recycled market bag . At least my lack of focus was productive.:)

Be creative, my friends.

Looking Ahead

I went upstairs to work this weekend and I reached “it”. “It” is my acceptable limit of the number of pieces sitting in my workbasket. Works in process or, quite bluntly, works unfinished. I get so excited about trying something new, that I just don’t finish things. I didn’t even start a list of finished quilts in 2010. That’s another topic called neglecting the blog and how it looks. But one feeds into the other. So, a list and it might even be added to . Accountability. Why I decide this during the holidays each year, I have no idea. Ah yes, the list.

Works in process
1. Loving Lucy
2. The L series -#1
3. The L series- #2
4. The L series- # 3
5. Australian scrap quilt
6. Red/Blue quilt
7. Charity quilts-2
8. Crinkle quilt
9. Silk Quilt
10. The Moon
11. Joy

Impressive, isn’t it ? But I know you have a similar place where you peek into with horror every once in awhile. Or maybe not. If you are very good about finishing things, don’t tell me please.

Goal: By the end of the year have 7 done, photographed and entered into a page type format on my blog.

Plan: Lots of machine quilting needs to be done. FOCUS. With a clear vision of the goal.

Another goal-shoot in manual rather than auto mode-bear with me.

   Joy, 2010
   8.5×13

One done , 6 more to go.

Off to volutnteer and pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child this week. Posts will be lighter but still there.

Be creative, my friends!

Anniversary Giveaway Winner /Week #2 Question

As promised, I have a winner for last Friday’s giveaway of the sketchbook, pitt pen and pencil case and it is patti a . You should have an email and I will drop it in the mail as soon as I receive your address.

And I promised three more weeks, didn’t I? Just to celebrate my one year blog anniversary. This week’s giveaway : hand dyed floss and a piece of hand dyed fabric-maybe linen but it is nice and soft. (It is 13 x44.)

The two on the left are perle cotton, 2 embroidery floss and the 5th one silk. Very pretty and I loved dyeing the embroidery floss. I will leave them on the little holders and you can pop them in your dye the next time you do fabric dyeing.

Just enter your name on THIS post and let me know if you set weekly goals for your art or you just let it happen. I will pick a winner next Friday .

Thanks for all those who got me through one of my first (ok maybe second or so) artist’s crisis. I have returned to smiling and moving forward.

Be creative, my friends! And have a good weekend.

A Very Late Thank You

Oh my. I absolutely forgot to show you a precious gift I recieved this fall. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile. And makes me feel very calm. And reminds me of what a wonderful time I had at Artprize with her.

A Piece of “The Lake” by Nellie Durand, 2010
8×8

Nellie brought this to me when she came to visit. It was enough of a treat just to spend some time with her-but when she gave this to me, I was just about speechless!

The colors are just beautiful and look at the details of the beach grass captured so well. I was able to watch her work earlier when she had an opening at Good Goods in Saugatuck, MI and loved watching her put these together . The color choice and change in value at just the right time captures the essence of the water and waves.