Art-Quilt-Works

I've been on the hunt for something

2012-02-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

to disguise the ugly legs of the work tables that I have elevated on bed risers that I use for cutting and ironing. My first though was to get a couple of book shelves that were 36 inch tall book shelves but no one had them in stock. I could have ordered them online from several stores but I wanted them now. 7-10 days was too long. So I let my fingers do some of the searching and Lyn and I drove to IKEA after she treated me to lunch at PF Chang. Everything I saw there and wanted was in the children's department. So happy and bright and white and true colors. I'm having a second childhood here I feel. That was the good news part of the trip.

The not so good was the fact that everything that I saw and wanted was too heavy for me to move without help, needed assembly and was also a tad too short. So off we went to Target and here is what I brought. I am so happy. It is so cheery. I live in one decent size for one person open space with no wall between what was to be the dining area (cut and press and design wall) or computer alcove (studio storage) kitchen and living room. Now with my modular units there are no more ugly legs to see from where I sit in the living room section. There really isn't anything in the polka dot bins or behind the doors. They are just for show, but I am sure they will be filled with something studio related in time. But for now what I like best are the four green bins sitting on top of each section. They are holding all the stuff that usually clutters the top of the tables. No more shuffling the clutter around to make room to cut or to press.

One thing down, many to go

2012-02-04T15:57:00.001-05:00

Last night was the official opening for the "Faces of Color" exhibit. Here are a few candid shots of the gallery space and some of those who came to see the art on exhibit.

This my friend Grace looking at "Linc: Bennett's collages

This is one of the artist's mother's standing in front of his wonder, large images. Artist Colin Quashie. The title of his pieces are "Hugh" "John" and "Ms. Margaret" Oil paint on canvas.

Valerie White's painted art quilt "Bobbie McFerrin anchors one end of the gallery space.

Laura Lund's "Ego or Determination" right and Celeste Janey's "What...? anchor the other end of the space.

Cedric Evans, the facility manager of the Performing Arts Center holding the catalog that was printed for this exhibit and introducing me.

Like all things that you invest a lot of time in, when it all come to be and looks the way you had planned there is a lot of joy as well as a little bit of a let down. My let down didn't last long. This morning I was up and at it. The next exhibit goes up in just a little over two months from today. And I have several teaching engagement fast approaching.

Because of both things I have put aside my work with several days worth of quilting left to do on the last piece I showed you... but, I have finished a class sample that I have to get sent off soon. This no named piece Number who knows, I've lot count in my Round Flower" series measures about 22" x 28"

All commercial fabrics were used to make this piece.

Tomorrow will be the start of a busy next two weeks

2012-01-19T12:27:00.002-05:00

in my life as a curator and member of the guild.
On Friday early I will be on the road to Daytona Beach to open the boxes and shipping containers filled with the art work that was submitted for the "Faces of Color" exhibit. I am looking forward to seeing if the art I saw as digital images lives up to those submitted images.
I have only today to decide if I am entering a piece in the "Ah Spring" exhibit for the Quilts Inc Cincinnati Show. I keep telling myself I really should.
I have at last reached the end of the guilds 2012 calendar year and the planning for and scheduling of programs and teachers and workshops and searching for a place to hold the classes and arranging buses for the guild's two bus trips. One to the Jacksonville, Fl quilt show and the other...tada, Houston, yes Houston for the biggie.
In my in between times I have been quilting and listening to a book on CD that is not terribly interesting but I hate to give up on it because I do really want to know who killed the man found in the drainage pipe. Yes it is a who done-it.
Update: finished the prospectuses for two more exhibit I have planned for Bethune Cookman. If you are interested, check out my web site. One is for collage art. I am accepting fiber in this one and the other abstract art.

I kinda, sorta forgot

2012-01-16T16:45:00.000-05:00

what it meant to be an active member of a quilt guild that leans more to the traditional than toward the art. Don't get me wrong. There are many in the group who do create original work. And because I love quilts in all styles and form I do apprciate a well crafted quilt of the traditional kind. Saying that leads me to say that being an active member also means I have to get aboard and support what is happening with the guild and one of the things is "Fun Night".
For one of the Fun Nights I proposed we do a quilt making race. A race to see who can construct a quilt top the fastest using a "Jelly Roll". Of course prizes will be given to the three who do it the fastest.
For those of you who do not know about this jelly roll thing,don't feel left out of the quilt making loop. I was until last fall. Let me tell you there is a whole new trend out there that had totally escaped me.
Jelly Rolls came about because the different fabric companies wanted a novel way of giving out samples of their new fabric lines to shoppers at the "market". Now they are packaged by most of the major fabric companies and sold to us quilters who are always looking for the newest thing. Jelly Rolls in a great variety of fabrics from juvenile to seasonal, solids, 30's look, batik, you name it. The choices are mind boggling.
Not wanting to be mind boggled I send my daughter Lyn off to pick one up for me so I could time how long it would take me to make a quilt using those 40 uniformly cut 2-1/2 inch x approx 44 inch strips.
My time was 2-1/2 hours which for me I didn't think was bad. It's been a long long time since I have sat at my machine and done nothing but run pieces of fabric through the machine. I've never done it at top speed.

While I didn't find it "fun" to make this quilt top... I would much rather be painting. On top of that I couldn't hear the television over the sound of my machine motor racing at full throttle. But in a group of other quilters who are sewing as fast as they can trying to finish first I can see where this intense sewing could possible be FUN. At least that is what I am hoping because I proposed this quilt making race to the guild. The race will happen in March. Above is the image of the top I made. It measures 52" x 65".
Lyn not being a quilt maker said she selected this bunch of fabric because she thought the colors were ones I would like. Well they kinda sorta are. But the pattern in the fabrics aren't. And the look is way to lousy goosy for my taste. I have no clue what I will do with this top now that it is finished. I can't see myself spending hours quilting it.
Maybe I'll hire it out to a long armer and use it to cuddle on the couch under if I was a cuddle on the couch person.

I also agreed to do another program for the group for our 2nd Saturday programs. These are sort 3 hour sessions schedule for yes, the 2nd Saturday in the month, that are taught by one of our members so again I made a project that I had to time. This one was a little more fun. Less piecing, but a lot of straight stitch quilting lines, but then I got to paint. Not in the style you know me best by but was painting none the less. So now I am going to sit for a while and sew the binding on.
My life is going to be a bit cluttered with out of the house meeting for the next ten day with stuff to do for the guild and the University so I will try to check in, but if I don't get back for a spell. Will update you on my doings when I do.

Creating PR stuff is almost as much fun as creating a quilt

2012-01-11T11:45:00.000-05:00

not so. That is why I like having a daughter that knows her way around publishing programs. As a result I am

getting to know my computer better. a few minutes ago I had no idea that you could take a document and change it into a gif file(?) and then publish that file to my blog. Oh the wonders of the times we live in.

Now I am back to the sewing machine were I was able to put in several hours of interrupted stitching yesterday.

Given the choice

2012-01-10T10:51:00.002-05:00

on most days I would rather be sitting here

rather than here.

Making art is fun and sitting at this desk for hours is work. And there I was "silly me" thinking I had retired.
But I must admit I have gotten really excited about being an independent curator and gallery consultant. I am truly looking forward to working out all the details, even problems associated with getting all of the exhibits I have planned for the 2012-2013 Visual Arts calender for Bethune Cookman University and their gallery space in the Performing Art Center and Visual Arts Gallery installed.

One of the exhibits I am most happy about organizing is an art quilt exhibit that I hope will develop into an annual event much like "Form Not Function" at the Carnegie that I was in on the development of from the beginning and still support.

"Stitched Through" will keep the same format from year to year as it relates to size and no theme. I love seeing what's new in "art quilts" and I love eclecticism. If you have not heard about "Stitched Through" click here and you will be directed to the prospectus. The other events on the calendar are "Faces of Color" which will open on Feb. 3 with a reception. This is a mixed media exhibit that will have several art quilts on exhibit. If you are in the Daytona Beach area on Feb. 3 come join me. Reception hours are 6 - 8PM.

The next exhibit scheduled is Palette: the art of water color and acrylic. This exhibit is open to Florida residents only followed by Collage: from French meaning glued on. Submission from fiber and quilt artist working in the collage style will be eligible to enter this mixed media exhibit. The Prospectus for this will be published soon.

Abstract...Abstracted...Abstraction. is the last mixed media exhibit, but as of now I haven't quite worked out all of the details for this one yet. I do know that I will allow submission of art quilts for this exhibit as well.
I think I need a few hours of letting that part of my brain that deals with mulling over details rest and I know a few hours of sitting at the sewing machine will be the best place to do just that.

Hope this new year is getting off to a good start for you.

Happy New Year to all

2011-12-31T23:10:00.002-05:00

It has been a really busy 2011, but in looking back I would not have traded it for anything. I met some really nice people. Some I didn't know this time last year I now consider friends.
On the other hand, some of the people who started the year with me are no longer in my life on a daily bases, namely my middle grandson Justin. Shh. Don't tell him I miss him and my daughter Rene', she knows I miss her a lot. Amongst other things she and I do together or have a common interest in (reading books) is my going to the movies buddy. I know I could go alone and do, but it is so nice to have her company. She is here for the holidays and I've seen three movies since Christmas, Mission Impossible (very good) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (loved so much that I had to read the other two books in the series and lastly Sherlock Holmes that was okay. The least liked of the trio.
I have a new great-grand daughter that I didn't have this time last year. She is an adorable addition to our family.
My daughter Lyn has joined me here in Florida and seems to have settled into her job. She is also my side kick and major supporter in all things quilt related even though she has no interest in making one herself. As an independent curator for a University here in Florida I don't know how I would manage it all if I didn't have her here to help me.
Thanks to the gift of a Nook Color from Rene' in 2010, I've read too many books to name. Despite that I can't believe the number of art pieces big and small I finished this year nor the number of competitions and exhibits I have been a part of.
I taught more then I thought I would or had planned to do when I moved to Florida, but it's all good. I've enjoyed the traveling and the quilters I have met. My quilts have always taken me to places I would not have visited otherwise. I am looking forward to the teaching engagements I have on my 2012 calendar.

As this year ends in less than 1 hours I am sitting here listening to the noise makers, the voices raised in merriment and the sporadic burst of fireworks that are going off within the complex.

A little before midnight as this day turns to a new year, I will go up to the 7th level and out into the garage to look at the display of fireworks that will be going off. This year with a clear sky I should be able to see the fireworks display in Orlando. Last year the overcast sky prevented having a clear view of them from where I am.
One of my favorite sayings has always been "Bloom where you are planted"
In November of 2010 I brought a Christmas cactus that was fully in bloom. When the blooms were all spent I never believed it would bloom again. From time to time over the year I gave it some water,but did little else to ensure it survived and then a few days before Christmas to my wonder despite my neglect I noticed several small pink buds. As the days progressed the blooms got bigger and bigger, gorgeous. I wonder if more care would have made a difference.

Here's hoping every one of you has the best year ever. That what ever you wish for yourself and loved ones comes to be.

And lastly on this last day of 2011 I resolve that
I will be open to change, create the art I love.. take each day as it comes and rejoice in family and friends, in other words I plan to continue to bloom where I have planted myself.
Cheers!!!

There are a few things I have to get done before the new year

2011-12-21T18:24:00.000-05:00

one of which was Rene's quilt. That is now done. Got out the lights for this shot so it read pretty true to the colors and value. The binding is on and so is the sleeve. Now it will get folded and put away until she arrives in a couple of days.
Since I agree to handle the educational programs for the guild I have a few chores to take care of so the January 5th meeting goes off as planned and then there are a score or so of padded envelopes I need to open and DVD to view. I think I blogged about curating an exhibit titled "Faces of Color" that will go up Feb, 1 with a reception on the 2nd.

From years of being a part of jurying art work into exhibits, (mainly quilted art) I am looking forward to selecting art works from painters and photographers for this all inclusive media 2D exhibit.
I need to start working on a prospectus for a quilt/fiber art juried exhibit
that I want to install for a couple of months next Autumn. Will keep you in the loop.
Finally in case I don't get back to blogging before the 25 I wish you Peace and Joy and the best of Holy-days.

Here is the finished top

2011-12-15T23:29:00.001-05:00

and now what awaits is days and days of quilting. I plan to have it done before Rene' comes on the 23rd for a weeks stay so I will be steady at it.

I did not want to get out the lights I use to take photo's in the apartment when I am trying to do an image worthy of a show entry so the colors in this piece are not reading true. I'll go to the effort of taking a better image when I get it all quilted and the binding is on. Most of my work of late I like faced, but I think this one really needs a binding.

This is the quilt that wanted to be made

2011-12-14T12:46:00.000-05:00

or rather more to the point, it has a yard and one half of fabric that wanted to be the "star". Now mind you I am not at all sure, the fabric, the combo of colors or composition are ones Rene' will want to live with. No flowers for sure. I fell in love with a piece of fabric "Urban Square by Camelot Cotton". While I no longer use commercial fabric in my work, I do still love bold prints especially ones that make a statement. Often the piece of fabric that begs to go home with me has a mind of its own and wants to take over the design. This one was no different. I think you will see what I mean.

When finished un-quilted the top will measure 48" x 60".
The composition is one I planned out on graph paper, The piecing of the individual blocks and rectangles are easy to do which I am happy about since it has been months and months, since I last created a pieced quilt. The piecing together of the blocks and rectangles is not as straight forward. There are no long stretches of uninterrupted seams. Lots of part seams and set ins. There was a time when I relished this kind of a challenge so I think the how to's will come back to me without any tears. I do still have seam rippers.
I will give you a look at the finished top once it is all pieced.

Note:
Karen, sorry to hear Forget-Me-Knot is closing. Let's hope someone will buy the business and continue on in the friendly welcoming ways the shop is known for, plus keep a great selection of fabrics too. It won't be me....

Now back to Rene's quilt.

I was out and about yesterday and today

2011-12-11T01:01:00.000-05:00

and at the end of this day all I really would like to do is sleep in tomorrow morning but I probably won't.

Yesterday I went to speak to a quilt group in Belleview, Fl, just a little north of the Villages. My daughter Lyn, having the day off decided to drive me. I did not argue with her. You see I have no problem riding in the passenger seat to the right of the driver. On the way up we took the Turnpike. I enjoyed my time with the quilters. They were having a holiday party with favors and cheery decorations and FOOD. I sampled everything on the table that was free of wheat. On the way back we took the local roads and Lyn got to see some more of the state.

Today I decided to start to work on a wall quilt for my daughter Rene'. She requested I make one for her new apartment soon after she moved back to Louisville. Rene is the only child I make quilts to fit her decor. The others will take what I already have made and make them work in their space. But Rene' does not do realistic flowers or bright summer colors. So sad. These are two of my favorite things. I've had this pillow for her sofa for a month or more. Yes if you look closely it does have a flower and leaves and a bud. But she said of the pillow she brought with her when she came back to Florida two trips ago, "Ignore the design, it came with the couch. Just look at the colors". So I did. Me not being an Autumn color person, of course I did not have any of these colors in my very limited stash.  During one of her visits we went fabric shopping and picked up a couple of pieces but they too were more to get a feel for the color and were not fabrics that would ever see inclusion in any thing I made. (I did not say NEVER). On Wednesday I dyed several yards of fabric trying for a chocolate brown, a gray with a slight green cast and a red brown. I came real close to what I wanted. Having those colors at hand was a start but I needed to supplement them with some commercials so off I went today to two quilt shops in the Orlando area that I have not visited before.    The shop on East Colonial had the best selection.  At the second shop the Quilters Cove on Curry Ford I found a couple of more fabric to add to the pile.
When I left home to shop I had a design in mind. But after shopping and getting my purchases home...   I began to have some doubts.
So off to Joann Fabrics I went and picked up some more.  While I was there I flipped through some quilt books. So many ideas... Only one quilt needed. I'm going to sleep on all the thoughts swirling around in my head and maybe, just maybe when I wake on Sunday morning the quilt that wants to be made will be clearly in focus.

I am not one to make small work

2011-12-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

When I was in my get rid of everything mode in the month or two before I moved from Missouri to Florida I am not sure why these four small pieces; the largest one measures 11" x 14", were not put in the pile slated to be offered for sale in my studio garage sale along with several other tops.
Yesterday as I was stuffing some scraps into a box that will eventually get sent off to my friend Kathy in Louisville (I hope she's still interested in getting them) I saw these four small pieces folded on the top of the scraps in the box.
My box of scraps to Kathy are not what the common quilter might think a scrap of fabric is. A scrap to me is often in the fat quarter or larger range. Sometimes the box of scraps to Kathy will contain a top which I completed but just is no longer to my liking or something that was made in a workshop and just was not something I wanted to finish.
Contemplatively I unfolded them, pinned them to my design wall and gave them an audition. In my opinion they were all complete compositions. In my opinion nothing could be added to them to make them larger without just adding to be adding. And to my surprise I still liked them. So I asked myself if I still wanted to send them off to Kathy or if I wanted to keep them. If I kept them did I want to spend a day or quilting and binding them.
Mind you I am still days away from finishing the quilting on my last painted piece which I had put aside to get myself organized for a trunk show/lecture that I will be giving to a quilt guild and hours drive away on Friday.
The four little pieces won out. So back to the Kathy box I went to find fabric to use for the backings and bindings. Sorry Kathy your box got shorted not only of these four little tops but some large hunks of scraps.
So since I spent all of yesterday quilting today I need to go fold and roll some quilts for my program tomorrow.

Last Thursday I came instantly awake

2011-12-05T12:21:00.001-05:00

haven't given into a rare case of the afternoon sleepies. Eyes closed, dead to the world sleep in my favorite chair snuggled under a knitted throw. Not that I can hear myself but in all likelihood I was snoring.
Then I was straight up wide eyed AWAKE...... The sound of the fire alarm in this building is unbelievable LOUD. Even when the fire is not in your unit, the alarms, all three of them in a 1000 square feet space, blare in your unit. And I have the good fortune to have a set of fire doors that automatically close when the alarm goes off in the hallway short steps from my front door and doubly fortunately that one of the alarms is right outside of said entry door. The alarm when on and on for what seemed like hours. In truth for about 30 minutes. No one on premise can turn them off. Only the fire department which arrived within minutes, sirens going. But not until they walk every floor of this building do they shut it off.
There was never a fire in the building. This good news was reported in the e-mail that went out to all the tenants, just some mishap on the garage roof caused by one of our resident maintenance men. But non the less a news helicopter was dispatched to hoover over the garage, which added to the noise.

I saw this iron demonstrated at the Mancuso Quilt Show in West Palm and had to have it. I have never liked ironing, not since I burned my leg with an iron when I was about twelve. Back then irons were really HOT and HEAVY and non steaming. Now this iron is all about the steam and the only thing better then using this iron to iron with in my opinion is having someone else do the ironing for you. The iron arrived about a week ago but having no reason to turn it on until last night when two sets of bed linen came out of the drier needing a little attention so with that excuse I thought I'd see if I had spent my money wisely. I am reporting that I have. Now mind you I AM NOT going to turn into a person that irons everything. No way. I'll just stay with ironing flat lengths of fabric, an occasional t-shirt when I need to make a better than just good impression and when I want to pamper myself, my pillowcases. I do so love a freshly pressed, lightly starched pillowcase.

I can finally say I am a Floridian. For the past two Christmas seasons I haven't felt much like Ho, Ho, Ho-ing. Seeing stuff with snowflakes and the words "Let it Snow" I think are hilarious absurd when one is living in sandals and shorts and lights on palm trees. I still haven't completely gotten past that but warming to Winter with out snow I have succumbed to stringing icicle style lights on my balcony from the railing along with wrapping the railing it with greenery of the artificial kind. I love and miss the smell of real pine, but the real stuff would dry to powder in one or two days because of the heat and the afternoon sun that shine on my side of the building.
With a little shopping and an hour worth of doing the balcony looks festive. There is a holiday wreath on the outside of my entry door but as of now the inside of my place still screams. STUDIO. I can't get around that. I have two 24 inch trees and ornaments to decorate them but as of now I haven't decided if I want to do that.
HO HO HO!!!

I put my name on the list to get a copy of Vol. 2 of Masters Art Quilts to review. Not having done a book review before and not having a clue as to how the selections of who would be chosen to do so was done, imagine my surprise when a copy came in the mail on Saturday. Just flipping quickly through it I decided that it deserves a stretch of uninterrupted time and a good cup of coffee something I want have until Saturday... the time not the coffee. So next week end, when I am caught up on a few things I'll have that cup of coffee on my festive balcony and give you my opinion of this book.
HO HO HO!!!

As I call it a day

2011-11-20T21:12:00.001-05:00

this is what it looks like. It needs a little more shading in some areas, but all in all I am happy with the look of the piece. Of course the quilting will add to it and I am looking forward to getting started on that tomorrow first thing.
Might not get back to you all until it is done. If I don't...
have a good Thanksgiving.
Hope you will be spending it with loved ones and friends.
Rene', Lyn and I are not sure if we are going to share kitchen duty and cook in or join the horde of tourist and find someplace to eat along the stretch of International Drive. Josh the oldest grandson is still here convalescing is still on crutches and while he is motoring along quilt well, it still is a chore for him to go great distances. If we do, it is not very likely that we will find a place serving turkeywith all the trimmings. Don't cry for me.
I got over equating Thanksgiving with food years ago. With a wheat allergy of the worst kind... no more mac and cheese, no more giblet gravy or stuffing, no more pumpkin pie or Parker House rolls slathered with butter. Plain turkey some cranberries and plain mashed potatoes and a few green beans just doesn't say HOLIDAY. Picturing just those thing is somewhat reminiscent of a TV dinner. Nah!

Painting yellow flowers

2011-11-20T15:16:00.000-05:00

I spent most of Friday trying to decide what to paint next and waiting for my daughter Rene to arrive, which she did. She will be here until the Sunday after Thanksgiving day.
When I discovered that I was down to this last length of broadcloth I put in an order for more. Order should arrive by this time next week. There is no presser like the presser of knowing that if you flub up you have no fall back cloth to work with.

As it is now stretched on my paint surface it measures 44" long by 55-56" As pictured, you are seeing about 48 inches on the width of the piece with the other 8 inches wrapped to the back of the foam board. More than likely I won't crop it by much.

If nothing else comes up today, I should finish painting it today and begin quilting tomorrow.

Will update you as I go along.

I so often have the hardest time coming up with a title

2011-11-14T15:31:00.000-05:00

for my art work. This one was no different. Often in the past I've sent out a please name this piece S. O. S. to my friend Marti.

Not since I have been doing what I call quilted paintings have I gotten to that place of late mainly because what I am painting and quilting looks so much like what it is that naming my work has been simplified. "Morning Glory" , "Hibiscus", "Snow Drops", etc. Naming this one was going to be no different. The flowers remind me of an old rose variety and the name was going to be that. "An Old Rose". However, my oldest grandson immediately upon seeing me working on this piece, said. "Those flowers look like the ones on your dishes". And he was right.

Now you are wondering why a young man would notice such a thing, but I didn't because his every meal while my three grandsons lived with me was served using my favorite dishes... Franciscan dessert rose pattern.
Yes you can and I did have three boys in my house for years using these dishes for everything from their breakfast cereal to dinner. Even when they were in charge of doing the dishes, there were no mishaps. I on the other hand broke a few.
So now the name for this piece will be "Franciscan Rose". I will see if others make the connection.
The piece has been blocked I am showing you the piece as I plan to crop it.

here is what it looks like now.

I did a little shopping while at the quilt show

2011-11-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

on Saturday. Two items an iron and a vibrating pillow for my back is being shipped. Both items sold out at the show. I will give you a report on both of those items when I have them and have tried them out to see if the show hype hold true. At the show, the back pillow had me sitting in the chair and signing... ahhhhh. The iron on the other hand hand my mouth dropping open with amazement at the seeming ease at which wrinkles disappeared from every kind of cloth and garments. Since I do very little ironing of what I wear day to day, the prospect of how easy wrinkles could be gone from my hand dyed cloth was just too good to pass up. I just want to say, for the price it had better work here in apartment 434 as well as it did at the show.

In the mean time... here is a look at the stuff that did come home with me on the bus. There was a vendor at the Jacksonville Show that was selling these basket said to be made in Africa I didn't buy one then mainly because I have promised myself that if something did not have a use I would not buy it. Between the last show and this one I decided that I could corral the long rulers I use at this table and save myself the step it takes to return them to the other side of the room. So with a purpose in mind I brought it.

I've been aware of this brand of rotary cutters for a while, but I couldn't resist buying one this time because I took the time to stop and try it. The Soft Fuse was new to me. The product was developed by Stacy of Shades the fabric dyer out of Atlanta who I meet on the quilt show circuit way back in the late 80's. I was really happy to see her.

Having been in on the developing stage of Misty Fuse and not liking the initial offering, I was in love with the Soft Fuse immediately. It has the softest hand of any sheet adhesive on the market that I have tried to date and best of all for me is that it comes 36 inches wide. I have something in mind for it's use but will hold that thought until I have tested it and only then will I tell you. That is if it works for the purpose I brought a 3 yard roll of the stuff.
You would be amazed at how fast I can get through a quilt show and this one was no exception, but since I was on a bus with people I was in charge of I had to wait for all the others so to pass the time I spent a lot of time stopping at vendor booths and listening to sales pitches. So at one of two booths filled with yarn I stopped long enough to listen and be tempted to buy one skein of yarn that when pulled open and knitted by picking up a loop at the top edge produces a very frilly lightweight scarf that is suitable to wear on milder temperature day here in Florida. To pass the time I was tempted to buy a pair of knitting needles, find a quiet spot and begin knitting while at the show, but I didn't. You can not image how many circular needles of every size I already have and to buy more was just "stupid" I told myself so I found a quiet spot outside in the courtyard and read a book on my Nook that I brought along for the ride down and back instead. My debit card thanked me.

My friend Marti in Louisville asked that I send her a picture of how I attach a shop/trouble light to the stitch panel on the back of my Janome 6600P for added lamination. I am using a 60 watt Feit brand daylight bulb which I buy at Walgreen's. My aging eyes love the added light. This set-up provides a larger area of light than some of those stick on goose neck light marketed for stitchers. Best of all the daylight bulb give me better color detection for selecting threads as I stitch.
As you can see I have been quilting. I stopped to do this entry because I just put in the last stitches on this piece a few minutes ago.
Will give you a look at it as soon as I block, crop and true it up.

A lot of stuff caught my eye as I

2011-11-13T10:45:00.002-05:00

walked through the World Quilt Show Florida III yesterday. The bus trip started early with me rolling out of bed at 5:15. I was at the first bus pick-up point, a block and 1/2 from my front door less than an hour later. After the last of two more stops for bus riders we were on our way down the Florida Turnpike transversing quite mundane landscape populated mostly with cows until we were back near the Atlanta ocean coast line were civilization returned in the form of people and buildings that I am now thinking of as typical Floridian architecture.
I remembered to take my camera along and I took more pictures than I do as a rule and that might have been because there were so many quilts and enough of any one kind and style to suit most every quilter or lover of them.

As I sat here looking closer at the images of the quilts I thought were interesting when I took the time to stop and take a picture of them less than 24 hours ago I was surprised to discover that on looking closer they were not holding my interest this morning. But I will share with you the ones that did.

This is the work of Lynne Quinn/United Kingdom

I know this is not a quilt but this doll among all the usual looking one stood out and made me smile. Sorry the makers name is not easy to see.

Susan Wessels/South Africa

Visually interesting up close with all the laying down and couching of threads and beads.

AND THEN THERE WAS MY PIECE. First runner-up to best of show. YEAH!!!

I was very reserved in my purchases when I went to the Jacksonville Quilt show a month or so ago, but I can't say the same for yesterday. I will give you a full accounting and report of what I thought I couldn't live without tomorrw. But for today I need todo the bookkeeping and report to the guild treasurer and then I am back to quiling for the rest of today. I am hoping to get it done by the end of the day so I can give you a report of one of the products I brought yesterday.

I have a fondness for small towns

2011-11-05T11:33:00.000-04:00

and the charm of Punta Gorda, Fl had me from the instant I crossed the bridge spanning Charlotte Harbour and made my way along the palm tree lined streets that were already dressed out for the Christmas season with white lights and big snowflakes. I wished I had taken a picture of them. Before moving to Florida, I thought a palm tree was a palm tree, but I am now noticing the differences in them. In Punta Gorda, I saw some that were definitely different in appearance.
This coming December will be my third winter in Florida and I am still amused by all the images one can find of snow here in Florida and how anyone can possibly think of snow when you are running around in shorts and sandals is beyond me.
My drive over to the west side of the state on Tuesday evening was a pleasant one. Music of the 70 on Satalite radio keep me humming along with the songs and at times singing off key outloud. After about 70 miles I turned off of I -4 onto I -75 and had to put myself into the mindset that so many retired Floridians have acquire. Mainly, "what's the rush?" The posted speed limit means nothing in certain places . On I-75 there were enough drivers driving "slow" that I had to keep reminding myself that I was in no hurry. That I wasn't on deadline. That I could be there when I got there. Even when the speed limit was posted at 70 they were driving 55 and in the left hand lane to boot. The slow down and back up in spots was caused in part by the large number of RV's pulling small cars and the so so many moving vans. After a few miles it dawned on me that I was traveling along the annual south bound snowbird migration route.
Despite that it was a straight uncomplicated trip from my door to the hotel and I really didn't need my GPS, to get there, however, when I did need it, it told me the address I was looking for was on the right. But in fact it was on the left and when it said I had arrived I was on the ramp heading across another bridge and on my way to Port Charlotte on the other side of the harbour. A quick turn around on the other side, or as the GPS says, at the next opportunity make a legal "U" turn. Which I did. And after a series of left turns I was at the hotel.

This is some shots of my painting on silk class. We were using one of the rooms at the Charlotte Cultural Arts center which was buzzing with people taking a variety of classes. There was a cafeteria that serves three meal on site as well as a resale store that my quilt class angel took advantage of; purchasing a "t" shirt for $0.75 after she had gotten paint and water on the one she began the day wearing.
There were lost of creativity zinging around the room as you can see. I selected only a few of the flowers painted by the the 21 students in the class.
Sorry I did not take any pictures of the second day class and their projects. The second day class was held in the social hall of a local Luthern church in Punta Gorda as was the talk and truck show I did for the group on Friday morning.

Here is a collage of images from Fisherman's village.

This is Audrey, my class angel for both workshop day and she was truly that. We are in line for lunch. They reserved a room off the main dining area "the English tea room" for our group. I guess they thought we would be a rowdy bunch, but in an English "tea" room one must be a little more reserved and we did the room proud.

That evening I was treated to dinner at Fisherman's Village which was built on the site of a former municipal pier, it was designed to replicate a traditional fishing village with boat slips, shops, restaurants and above the shop residences . Several ladies from the class came along with Audrey and me, making us a party of six. The restaurant on the wharf had a view of the harbour and I being the guest got the best seat by the window. The food, the company and the view were wonderful.

Without having an excuse to do so I would return to Punta Gorda and I would most certainly accept an invitation to teach for this group if asked to do so again. My hat if I wore one would be off for Kathy the education chairperson and to every member of the Peace River Quilter Guild.

Someone viewing my balcony

2011-10-20T16:20:00.001-04:00

my balcony from across the court yard might think I was doing the laundy. But no... this is 21 pieces of soy milk soaked silk broadcloth air drying. It is a perfect day here in Central Florida, low humidity, just barely 70 degrees with a breeze that had me looking for socks for my feet. I have used since moving here used one of those collapsible cloths dryer but it makes me have to dry in shifts, so in preparing for an upcoming class I had to come up with a way of drying a greater quantity all art once. Thus the clothes line strung between two high backed patio chairs.

The weight of the wet silk had the chair wanting to fall over backwards. Nine yards of wet silk is heavy. I counter balanced it with jugs of drinking water. I always have gallon jugs of water some in the apartment to drink, cook with and especially to make my coffee and tea with. Having grown up in Louisville, KY with some of the best tasting water in the USA the water here is hard to swallow. I never got used to the drinking water in Columbia, MO either. Good thing jugs of water do not cost much.
Doing a little quilting, no reading, and working steadily on getting artist to participate in the "Faces of Color" exhibit. Oh didn't I tell you that my proposal for the exhibit was accepted so it is full steam ahead with my plans. Stay tuned and you guys will be the first to learn of all the details.

Here in apartment 434

2011-10-17T09:38:00.000-04:00

I am in full get it ready mode. Every flat surface is covered with stuff for the two upcoming workshop I will be doing for the Peace River Quilt Guild over on the Gulf side of the state.
As I was settling my head on my pillow last night something popped into my head and wouldn't let my eyes close. That something was the thought that I hadn't done not one thing since last week that spoke of my creativity. Dyeing yards and yards of fabric didn't count. Sitting at the computer ordering stuff didn't count. Making a pot of chili sort of did, but with no one here to compliment me on how good it tasted.... Well if I to say so myself, it tasted pretty good.
Back to creativity. So instead of willing myself to go to sleep, I got up and pulled out the last of my painted silk compositions and started the process of sandwiching it and I went back to bed, only to get back up 15 minutes later. I cleaned and oiled my sewing machine, put in a new needle and started to quilt. AHHH... the sound of the machine was like a shout of "calm". Just stitching for less then 15 minutes was all it took for that little creative voice in my head to say, "Now you can go to bed."

And I did and slept really well. This morning I will stitch for a while, do a little housekeeping, go off to the bank, pick up a few things from Wal-mart and while I am out I'll drop off a package at UPS. I'm returning something to Joann's which I purchased on line.
Then later I will be off to a 5:30 PM meeting of the guild's raffle quilt committee.
The rest of the week looks a lot like the past week but with more stitching time.

It's not that I'm not doing much

2011-10-09T15:20:00.001-04:00

that I haven't blogged but rather more that I'm doing a lot. Despite the lot, not any of it is worth taking a picture of to post here. To that point I am not sure if I will have anything worthy of documenting in digital format for at least a week are so unless you want to see me sitting at this computer trying to find the best prices on paint brushes, silk broadcloth and other stuff I need to make the kits for my two upcoming classes.

Not sure if I mentioned that I have been asked to curate an exhibit at a college here in central Florida but I decided to see what I could come up with and I did quite readily. The hard part, getting my vision down in writing. Just so you know, for me writing an exhibit proposal is not a fun thing to do . It was four days of researching, writing, rewriting and condensing to one page all my thoughts was how I spent four full last week.

So it was meals on the fly and no reading for me. Last night when I had an hour to read, it took me several pages of reading, beginning with where I had left off to get my brain to recall the jest of the book I was reading and what had happened in the tale to the point where I had picked it up.
I did get my acceptance letter from the Mancuso show so Hibiscus is going to West Palm Beach. .

I am going to try really hard to get in some quilting this week on the last remain painting I did several months ago. So if I promise to show you what I have done come this time next week I will make every effort to get to it. So check in next Sunday. If anything else come up in the mean time that is of interest, I'll blog.

Not since the mid 1990's

2011-09-25T17:25:00.001-04:00

have I been really enthused about a quilt shows. Not since the mid 90's have I gone out of my way to attend one either. To be supportive of the quilt guild I decided to join shortly after I moved here, I decided I would help in whatever way I could with the quilt show the guild held last January. It was a good way to get to know some quilters in the area. Then I decided to fill the guild's trip coordinator slot when it was vacated this year.   This volunterism resulted in me on Saturday having my behind plopped down on the front seat of a coach bus and on a road trip to Jacksonville, FL to attend the Florida QuiltFest. Funny.... after not attending any shows in the last 15 years, here I am in 2011, attending three. The third one is in November. I will be aboard another bus riding along with the group attending the Mancuso's World Quilt Show Florida III show in West palm Beach.

Just so you know where my mind and motivation is right now.   I've been out of the quilt guild world for many years and ventured back into the competition part of that world a year ago. But to get back into the "helping out" side of a local quilt guild after all that time ( more than 15 years ) was something I gave a great deal of thought to and let me just say I stepped back into it with a great deal of hesitancy.
But once in I shrugged and thought "in for a dime, in for a dollar." So I helped with planning the quilt show floor layout; worked with the committee on quilt take in day, helped put up the poles and oversaw the hanging the quilt, the take down and return. Now I am adding my vision and hands to making the guilds raffle quilt.  I am hand appliquing 3" diameter circles to the center of 38 blocks. Now I am the bus trip coordinator and serving on the nominating committee that selects the slate of officers for next year. No one so far is bubbling with joy and enthusiam to be elected to the top position, that of being President of the guild. "Would someone please volunteer."  So I can move on to something else.

For those who do not put in the time or the labor to get a show with hundreds of quilts in place in time to open the door for those who come to view them have no idea of how much effort it take by so many. The Jacksonville Quiltfest shows was well done and worth seeing and to the organizers; I for one know and appreciate all the behind the scene effort it takes from inception until the last quilt is taken down, folded and returned to the owner. So a pat on the back is in order for the seven quilt guilds in the Jacksonville, Fl area who come together to produce this annual show.

At this show, hand quilting seemed to be making a come back. The best of show was accomplished all by hand including the quilting. While there were several quilts that were obviously influenced by the style employed by national teachers the overwhelming amount of them were based on traditional block and patterns in the public domain and quilt block, done with tradional settings using the fabric of choice these days, which is batiks. Good use was made of those popular happy 30's colors and print of that era in known for too.

The dominate color of fabrics for sale at the show was overwhelmingly iof an Autumn palette. Knowing how much of a saturated pure color late spring/summer color palette person I am, there was nothing that insisted it come home with me.
I promised to made a quilt for my daughter Rene's to hang in her apartment in Louisville. Her color choices speaks of Autumn. I did not buy any fabric for her project either. I forgot to take with me the two pieces of cloth she picked out when she was here over Labor Day weekend. They in all likelyhood will not be in the finished quilt. My thinking was to use them as a guide to either dye some cloth or buy other pieces with colors she decided she could live with. Then too I thought, it does not make sense to buy willy nilly when I has not firmed up in my head what the compostion will look like or the size.  So I just looked and touched and hummmed and kept my cash in my pocket. I did buy a thimble like the one I have misplaced somewhere here in Apartment 434. Drat!!! Don't you just hate forgetting where you put something. What would you bet that I will find it now that I have replaced it?   I also picked up a couple of packs of hand sewing needles; ones I like to use and am running short of. Double Drat.... would you believe I lost one of the packs of needles somewhere between buying them and unpacking my back pack this morning.

As a point of interest, the convention center where the show was held is housed in a renovated train station.

The aisles were quite generous and while there was a good crowd on Saturday, you never felt like you were being squished.

This is the best of show, a collage of it follows with detail shots and credit to the maker.

I have several things on my adgenda for today, blogging was just one of them. Now I am on to clearing the assortment of stuff that clutters all the flat raised surfaces in my space. Cleaning up so to speak before I begin my next things. I have progressed to the point where the coffee table has only one book resting on it that I plan to finish reading and the desk top where I am current sitting, blogging. It is neat and organized no longer strunned with empty envelops the contents of which have been discarded or dealth with, like bills, junk mail and scrap paper with quickly jotted notes that are no long relevant, .

2011-09-25T13:02:00.000-04:00

Here are some images from the reception at Bethune Cookman University Visual Arts Center. We had a good turn out with great food even though the weather was threatening all evening.

Grace Edghill and me.

The others with me with work in the exhibit, the ladies in white are members of the Underground Quilters Guild of Palm Coast Florida, Grave in Black next to me and Polli Jean Harris

This is a sample of Polli's work on exhibit

Two of the many quilts on exhibit make by the ladies from Palm Coast

On the way home we ran into rain, thunder and lightening of firework proportion but the other side of the storm was a wonderful rainbow

A good way to end a very good day.

A cup of tea

2011-09-22T13:54:00.000-04:00

was my reward for having finished this piece in time to meet the deadline for the Mancuso World Quilt/Florida show. I'm looking at it from across the room, trying to see if I needed to add some final touches. A shadow here or there. It remains on the foam board while I check out the second set of images I took this morning. The first set I took this morning was distorted because I did not shoot them straight on and without the use of a tri-pod. So the second time I used a long level to verify straight. Taking short cuts often makes a chore take longer as it did in this case.
So now I need to go shopping for a pair of black pants to wear to the opening reception at Bethune Cookman University tomorrow evening and I need to get to the market. I'm out of staples, like milk, coffee, blue berries and Charmine.

All done

2011-09-16T15:47:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Lyn. We were up and at it early today. She was the driver again as well as the one who was up and down the ladder. She also has a wonderful eye for "level" and "straight" which is so important when hanging stuff on walls. Yes... I know how important a tool a level is and we did have one along with the hammer and nails. I am looking down from the balcony area after making a final trip through the three gallery levels to make sure all was ship shape and it was. Lyn is rolling up the pieces we did not hang, not that I had planned to. Here's Grace, Lyn and me not pictured putting sticky backed velcro on the back of the labels for our pieces.

Space in the main lobby

In the above picture I am looking down from the mezzanine level. There are two other areas in the gallery that I have pieces displayed. So in total there are 12 pieces on exhibit. So again, if you are in the area, stop in and see all the exhibit in person.

Here is the exhibit space Lyn talked me into adding a couple of more pieces to the display section you see in the picture above. It faces the main entry door to the lobby so it is a good spot to have several pieces featured. The quilt at the bottom is one of Lyn's favorites she told me today and one of two pictured in the 500 Art Quilts Book

I'm back

2011-09-15T23:45:00.000-04:00

I have a new laptop that I am trying to get used to. My last one had Vista which I never had any problems with. Now this one has windows 7 which I am trying to get used to. I am missing some of the software programs that I had on the old laptop and trying to get used to the one on this one.

My life has been a little busy of late. I'm quilting on a piece I hope to have camera ready in time to submit to the Mancuso show in West Palm, dead line 23/Sept. Then there is the exhibit I am that I need to get installed. I will be making my second trip back to Daytona Beach and to Bethune Cookman University to hang 10 pieces of my work in their galley space. I spent aa full day on Monday being a good person, helping one of the artist who has never installed her work in a gallery venue before and she had not pre-planned what she would display and the amount of pieces she brought to consider was staggering. But non-the-less with the help of my daughter Lyn we got through it. Good thing I'd given up my plan to hang my pieces on Monday too deciding for sanity sake tomorrow would be better. So off Lyn and I will go in the morning to get it done. I plan to be in and out in less than an hour, but certainly by 11:30 since Lyn has a job interview.
Today I give a talk and trunk show for the Ladies of the Lake quilt guild in Lakeland, F; about an hour and 30 minutes from my place. Lyn was my driver. I'm getting really soiled. My girls and my grandson when he was here are following in their late father/grandfather's footsteps of chauffeuring me about.
This is a large metal swan sculpture in front of the library on the lake front. Lyn slowed the car to a crawl so I could get a shot of it. it really was quite impressive.
I was happy that I had some time before my talk to take a quick tour around the downtown part of Lakeland. It was charming with all the swans and other waterfowl that populate the lake there. They also use artist decorated really large fiberglass swans in the same way other cities use, cows, or pigs or race horses like Louisville.Here is a black swan, that I captured before the battery in my camera died.
With a fully charged battery in my tote bag tomorrow, I'll try to remember to get some shots of the gallery space. The opening reception is Friday September 23, 5-8, Visual Arts Gallery in the performing Arts Center 698 W. International Speedway Blvd. Daytona Beach, FL. So if you are in the area, do stop in and say hi.

as far as whine goes

2011-09-01T19:28:00.002-04:00

this is proving to be a very good summer. But thankfully I think it is coming to an end. September is my signal that summer is ending and the weather that this area is famous far is approaching maybe with that to look forward to some of the piddly things that seemed to make me whine so much these last few month will not seem so whine-worthy.
The latest whine-able thing in my life happened two days ago as I was searching online for the next author and a series of books I wanted to read, is my trusty lap top died, well the motherboard did. I shouldn't have been totally surprised. I've had it and thoroughly used it for five years. The space bar was not working and the tracking ball was temperamental. Good thing I had the sense to copy everything to backup disc a couple of weeks ago. So all I will loose is the most recent stuff, unless I choose to have everything downloaded from the internal hard drive to an external one.
It looks like I will be shopping for a laptop over the weekend, HMMM maybe there will be some sales. For now I am in the business center using one of the four computers they have on site for the residents to use.
Update on car. I found a used Toyota Corolla, one owner, well maintained, silver in color. A far cry from the Yellow VW Bug I saw myself tooling about in. I am NOT whining about this. My requirement for a car was only that it went forward, had air conditioning and stopped when I needed to stop. This one does a whole lot more than that, so I am pleased.
I hope all who read my blog, know that I whine in jest. Watching television this past weekend and seeing all the damage so many people incurred as a result of their encounter with IRENE I know they on the other hand have big problems, not piddly ones like I do and are truly justified to do more then whine. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
I will get back to you all soon.

Hot, humid with a chance of a thunder storm

2011-08-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

I have heard that forcast for months on end now and I am getting rather tired of it.   It's cloudy and raining now and dispite me promising not to whine about the weather here I go again. Whine , whine, whine....
What is it about summer that makes you want to sip ice tea recline somewhere in the shade and read. Around here the shade is hot and humid so I stay in the house and do the two other things. Iced tea and read.   I haven't posted any pictures of any quilts I am working on because you see I am moving in slow motion. It seems dispite what awaits on my Autumn calendar I am in procrastion mode. Quilting sparatically. But I have read more books than I can tell you about. The latest being some by Cathering Coulter, Daniel Silva and Lisa Gardner.
I am coordinating the bus trip my local quilt guild sponsors to the Jacksonville, FL quilt show each year. I've been aware of this show for years and did not attend the last two dispite me living close enough to have driven there myself.   But this year I thought I would volunteer for this guild project so I would attend with someone else doing the driving. But the reservation for seats on the bus are coming in so slow that the trip might get cancelled if there isn't a big pick up before the next meeting scheduled at the end of this month.
Dispite looking all over the Orlando Metro area for a car I didn't get very far in finding a car I wanted. Well I did drool over a yellow VW bug on one lot and a red one on another... more accurately and most importantly I didn't come upon one I wanted to pay for. They all seemed to cost more than what I thought it was worth to have a car parked in the garage just in case I wanted to go somewhere. My days of needing a car are over. When I got down to it, in most cases; for at least 29 days out of the month I have no where I have to go that I can't walk to or catch the bus to that doesn't puts me off at a stop just steps away from my destination.  I can say there is great public transportation here in the Orlando area.
I know I have whined about the hot humid rainy weather and having a car to travel about in would get me out of all that, but the hot humid and rainy season will only last a few more weeks. So I am so over a new car or a good late model new to me used car.
On a brighter note, I am having a second mechanic looking at the Kia and he had better news for me when he called yesterday about how much less in his estimation it will cost to repair it. So I am hoping for the best there and maybe if I cross my fingers and say a little prayer the cost to repair will not be much more than I can get for it if I decide to sell it for what I have been offered by junk car buyers.
In the mean time i think I'll do a little more machine quilting before I get back to my latest book.

My trip to Atlanta went well

2011-08-09T00:29:00.000-04:00

If I were to tell you all that happened to me before I got out of town on Friday at 2:00PM four hours later than I had planned I would be well on my way to writing my first novel. So I will just condense it to say. I got to see my grandson Justin in his sailor uniform for all of 3 hours before he left on a plane from Orlando to Virginia Beach via Louisville.
I spent almost all of today looking for a car to replace the one I was using because it died from not having enough oil which I wasn't aware of because the oil light did not come on to warn me that the oil level was low, let alone totally informing me that it was completely out.
I have a couple of more car to see tomorrow. I haven't car shopped since 2003 and I had forgotten how awful the experience is. It is so hard to convince a sales person that you could care less about a car... all it has to do is go forward, stop when it should, go in reverse and in Florida, have air conditioning. I have never brought a car to impress others and expensive cars do not impress me. Color isn't important either, however I prefer not to have a black car, but have been driving one ever since I've been in Florida so I really can't
say I wouldn't buy another black one, but I really was in a red or yellow car mood today. My daughter Lyn who arrived on Thursday kept vetoing car because she said they didn't look like me. When I asked her what kind of a car I looked like, she said I looked like the Jeep Liberty that I drove for years and that I look like someone who would drive a bright yellow or cherry red VW Bug. My first car was a yellow 1970 Bug. On the other hand, I've had such fun driving Rene's Mini cooper that I went to look at those too, but there wasn't one that insisted it come home with me. So the car search continues.
Now on to the subject quilts/art.
Here are some candid shots of some of the 20 ladies who took the workshop I taught in the Atlanta area last Saturday. I never got close to the city. The art center where the class was held was a good distance south of the city near the airport. I must say,
I had a wonderful time and enjoyed my time there very much. I also enjoyed the quilts they had displayed at the art center. I got to meet and talk to some of the women who had made them.

A little of this, a little of that

2011-07-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

pretty much sums up the last few days. As I was downloading images from my camera I had forgotten that I had taken several shot of the sky, the portion I could see from my window about a week ago. The sun was setting and a storm was brewing. Yet it was a beautiful sky.

Yesterday I stopped for a cup of coffee at Mc D's on my way to a gathering of quilters and noticed these flowers and just because my camera was at hand they got their picture taken.

There were 10 ladies that came to help sew the block for the quilt guilds charity quilt that will be raffled with the winning ticket to be drawn at the 2013 Log Cabin Quilter Quilt Show.
Not wanting to haul my sewing machine I volunteered to hand applique the center circle to each block as it was completed. The blocks were constructed with paper foundation piecing and the traditional method of sewing curved pieces together. We had 9 block completely finished by the time we started shutting down the sewing day at 2:30. I brought 6 block home that still needed the center circle applied, which I finished doing as I watched some prime time TV programs that I had recorded from their original airing time over the past week.

Here is a closer look at some of the blocks and not in the order they will be joined. It's going to be a very colorful quilt and of course the final layout can't be done without a design wall

Rene' arrived in Louisville safely about dinner time yesterday, so the mother worrying part of me care freely went to sleep last night.

Plans for today: I'm off to the movies to see Captain America, do a little marketing since I am out of a few items like coffee, toilet paper and yogurt. Have been quilting on a previously finished painted piece.

Might check in about mid-week if anything happens here worth blogging about since most of next week will be spent quilting or getting myself organized to leave for Atlanta on Friday to teach there next Saturday.

Additional pieces from the closet

2011-07-26T17:41:00.000-04:00

The above four pieces are some of my mid 90's pieces. All four are hand quilted. Images one, two and four were semi-finalist in AQS/Paducah shows. Number three was created for and featured in a Public television segment about Kentucky craftsmen and artisans. I was the featured Kentucky quilt maker. For compete information, detail images, sizes and prices, click on Quilt sale page 2 at the top the page.

Out of the closet Quilt Sale

2011-07-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

Things are changing all over the place as far as "the girls" in my family are concerned.

The youngest granddaughter is back home and getting ready for school to start. The oldest granddaughter will be entering Emerson College in a few weeks, not far from home. Providence to Boston is not a long trip.

Rene' is making lists and checking off things as she needs to get done before she is off to Louisville at the end of the week to start her new job on August 1. Last weekend she was successful in finding a place to live close to where she will be working.

My daughter is what prompted the out of the closet Quilt Sales, in part due to me leaving about a dozen or so quilts with her in Missouri when I packed up and moved. Some of the pieces I left where hanging on the walls in the house we shared that she wanted to continue to live with. Lack of room on my part was the reason I left her with the others. They were rolled and stored in her closet but it is time for them to find new homes.

So in our conversations back and forth about what she should keep and what I want her to keep I have decided to sale the above pieces and some others because she is packing up her house and preparing to move.
Guess where?
To Florida and into Rene's condo. She will continue to attend college and search for a job.

As I find pictures of the others quilts that I want to sell at my online garage/moving sale I will post them

So it looks like in a month, maybe less that I will still have a "let's go to the movies today" daughter near by.

Prices, sizes and information about each of the quilts pictured in the collage above are on the stand alone page if you are interested click on the page at the top of the blog.

Painting is done

2011-07-21T09:56:00.002-04:00

Finished the painting part of this piece on Tuesday evening and spent a lot of yesterday thinking of what next. I have two yards of silk broadcloth dry and ready to go. While I was thinking creatively yesterday I was also thinking business and spent some time sitting at the laptop ordering supplies for the painting class I am teaching in Atlanta. I was told on Monday that the class was full (20) which is the largest class I have taught this process to since putting it on my classes to teach list.
So when I really think about it I might not get to start something new certainly not two somethings before I have to get busy assembling the kits for this class.
Good news for Rene' not so much for me. My daughter Rene' has accepted a job in our home town of Louisville, KY and will start this new job on August 1. And NO I have no plans to return to Louisville now or in the future. I really love living here. But I will miss her and miss our "going to the movie dates" and our "lets run around doing nothing really special dates" or "art festival dates"
It took me a few hours to get over the sad, but I am a grown woman who is perfectly capable of doing these things by myself. Plus she is keeping her condo so she will be back on holiday/vacations, etc. Best of all her new job requires a lot of travel , which she LOVES doing and I know in the past when she has had this type of job I benefited from it, because when she goes to a city she thinks I should see she invites me to come along and check it out. Who knows when or to where I will be traveling to in the future.

Today's progress

2011-07-18T21:29:00.000-04:00

Got up with painting on my agenda for today and worked til lunch when the overriding urge to stop and go see Harry Potter came upon me. So off I went to sit in the dark with more people than I thought would be off from work at 12:20 on a Monday.

Then I came home to a late lunch and a little more painting and a nap. After that the phone rang and that put an end to my painting until Olivia came through the door at 6:30 PM wanting to go to the pool. So off we went her with a towel in her bathing suit and me with a cup of ice tea and my Nook.

Sunday report

2011-07-17T20:07:00.001-04:00

Here are Rene' and Olivia at Sea World. petting a dolphin yesterday and this is what I got done today along with doing some grocery shopping and reading another David Baldacci fiction "First Family" That's all for now.

Add caption

Since last checking in

2011-07-16T20:10:00.003-04:00

Olivia arrived and has been filling my time. Here she is at Bethune Cookman University with me as we checked out the gallery space where I will have some work on exhibit from Sept. 23 (opening reception date) through Jan. 2012. Not sure of end date since I do not have the contract in my hands as yet. I will have ten of these 4' x 8' feet sections to fill. I will be sharing the exhibit space with

Grace, pictured below. She is a silk painter and garment maker. She will be exhibiting some of her wearable art created with her painted silk as well as some whole cloth compositional silk yardage.

I haven't had a lot of condensed time to work since the third of July. Olivia has been taking a lot of my time as well as a couple of out of the house commitments, like doctor office visit, grocery shopping, just doings. Its not that I have to entertain Olivia, she is quite self sufficient. If only she could drive :) She goes to Sports camp from 9 to 3 so it seemed to me by the time I get back home from driving her there, have breakfast, do a chore or two it was time for lunch and then it time to drive back to get her. She is a "fish" or mermaid I've spent hours sitting at poolside, reading books while she frolicked in the pool.

Today Olivia and Rene' are at Sea World.
Oh joy oh joy!
I've had the whole day to myself. I started a new painting this morning. This is what I've done today along with, in the making art department, make fresh batch of raw soy milk, soak a 2 yard length of silk broadcloth and hang it to dry with hopes of getting two more paintings done next week. Then on to, not leaving to the very last minute, I should be putting a quilt show quality binding on the piece that was accepted into the AQS/Iowa show along with sleeves and a label. In order to get the piece done enough to get it photographed and entry in in time, I put on a very temporary binding, one that definely would not pass mustard on close inspection. I know that is a lot on my plate but I'm hoping to get it done since Olivia will attend an all day gymnastic program next week from 9-6. Rene will do both the delivery and pick up since it is on her way to her office. The extra hours and not having grandmother duties will allow me to be more productive. I hope.

Tomorrow we are off to Disney World, yeah, my first trip to see the Mouse.

Good news

2011-07-07T11:36:00.000-04:00

comes in many forms and sizes.
Good news number one: My small piece titles "By way of the Cross" entered in Scared Threads was purchased. (See blog entry dated Feb.22, 2011) if you want to see the piece I am referring to.
Good news number two: My piece "Blue Snowdrops" was accepted in AQS/Iowa so I need to get a show ready binding put on the piece along with my leave to the last minute chore of sewing on a sleeve and label. (see blog entry dated May 23, 2011) if you want to see the piece I am referring to.
Good news number three: I finished the painting phase of my last piece. Not sure if I will begin quilting it or not. My easel is still in the middle of my space at the moment, i just might go ahead and paint two or three more pieces for the exhibit at Bethune Cookman University I will be part of to get all the painting done.
Good news number four. The birds. I've had one or two of these birds come to visit my balcony plantings at least once a day for a few weeks but was never close enough to my camera to get a picture of them. But today as I was uploading the image of the completed painted top (cropped) I noticed the birds out of the corner of my eye. Not being a bird person I have no idea what kind they are, but I do enjoy their cheerful tweeting in the garden when the slider is open first thing in the morning.
I hoping the weather improves for tomorrows shuttle flight, but have my doubts along with the weatherman here.
Will let you know if it goes off and I get some pictures. Otherwise I will take you along with me as I look at the gallery space at Bethune Cookman University which is the other thing on my agenda for tomorrow.

A liitle more done

2011-07-04T11:15:00.000-04:00

A little progress was made on this piece yesterday, but not as much as I got up with plans of have done by days end. For most of the day I read and waited. The little painting I did got done right after breakfast while I waited for Rene and Olivia to come over after their trip to the market to stock up on food a 10 year old needs/wants to eat while she is here.

Then I sat by the pool and read while I waited for Olivia to tire of swimming. (No a ten year old NEVER tires) I had to call time when my nook was running out of battery power. Then I read some more while Rene and Olivia took in the sites and doings going on at the lake. Then I read and waited and talked to the two of them while we waited for 6:30 and the festivities that were planned for the residents and guest on the roof top. (7th floor level of the garage) There was plenty of food. Grilled hamburger and wieners with all the trimmings, potato salad and slaw, baked beans and corn on the cob along with and assortment of drinks. Plus music.

DJ and food; a real celebration. The tables from the garden and the pool were carried to the roof, shelter tents were set up for shade area since the sun was at full force. After eating and conversing with some of my neighbors. I returned to my apartment while Rene and Olivia went back to the lake. Then we waited til dark and made our way back to the roof to get a view of the fireworks being set off at the lake. Standing on the roof seven stories up it felt like you could reach up and touch them they as they exploded over head. Then with a turn of your head, looking south, west and east you could see the fireworks being set off in some of the surrounding smaller communities too. Spectacular.

Today being the Fourth, I have no real plans for today. Rene and Olivia are off to the movies and back to the market. Stuff needed for sack lunches for Olivia and long pants to were while ice skating. We have enrolled Olivia into a sports activity program for three days this week and ice skating is on the schedule of activities. On Friday she and I will go over to the coast so she can see the launch of the last shuttle on Friday.
Olivia met a girl at the pool yesterday who is her age and learned she is enrolled in a gymnastics summer activity program so she we will enroll her in that for week two of her month long visit with us. And see how it goes after that.
That's life as it is here in apartment 434. For all who came to visit my blog today. Have a wonderful Holiday.

I'm not saying my whining yesterday

2011-07-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

was the reason I woke to sunshine this morning. However, when I did my mood was immediately lightened. Out of the bed I slide, smiling. Yes slide. Those who know me know how far off the floor my bed sits. I need a two step step stool to get in it and the easiest and quickest way out is to slide off the side.
Well enough about the bed. Seeing the sunshine my mind went instantly into planning mode. After breakfast, I repositioned the fabric on my easel and started on the two leaves on the far left.
That done and before I started on a flower I wanted to get outside in the sunshine. So a trip into Orlando was on the agenda. I have wanted to try a new product by Daniel Smith (Watercolor Ground) that allows you to paint on non-paper/fabric surfaces with watercolor pigments. So after calling ahead to see if Sam Flax a new to Orlando art supply store that I went to about a month ago carried it, I was out on my way. I also wanted to try adding Ox Gall to the soy milk I use in place of water to dilute my watercolor pigments. Ox Gall is said to extend the wet period of watercolor paint and make water color paint flow better. I was also on the look out for some product I could use to mask out small areas. A product that didn't need to be removed from the fabric after the painting was done and also would and would change the hand of the fabric.. I picked up a Woody 3 in 1 Stabilo brand pencil. That can be used like a crayon or wet as in water color pencil. Tried it on a sample and it did a really good job of masking out water color paint when it was brushed over the area. The pencils come in several different colors.... HMMMM, might have to add several of those colors to my studio stash.
On the way home from Sam Flax I planned to stop at Joann's in my neighborhood. I needed batting. Two weeks ago I finally came to the end of the bolt I brought with me from Missouri. And I needed some felt. Thank goodness for coupons. Both felt and batting have gone up at least $2.00 a yard since the last time I checked the prices. The felt was on sale, 30% off and I had a 40% off coupon that I used for the batting plus a 10% off "your entire purchase", which made for a good savings.
I never made it to the Joann's closest to my place, instead I mis-directed myself, took a different to me route home and discovered another Joann's on the way as I was trying to getting myself back on the right course for home.
I have been following Rene' and Olivia's progress. They left Louisville early this morning and went through Atlanta. Their last report had them south of the Florida State line about two hours ago but not yet in Gainsville.
The sun shone all day and not a drop of rain. YES!!!!!!!
Here are images of my progress for today.

I've had my cheese, now for some whine

2011-07-01T21:15:00.001-04:00

When I left the cold north for the sunny south, I thought my days of living with SAD (seasonal affect disorder) was a thing of the past. For all the months I've lived here leading up to last month (June) even when there was rain in the forecast, it seemed that I would woke to a sunny morning or the clouds would dissipate somewhere around noon, or it would cloud up and pour about 4 in the afternoon and then stop and the sky would clear and the sun would return. No SAD.
But starting about the first of last month, I have been waking to cloudy skies; living with cloudy skies for most of the day, then the rains come. Heavy at times and at other times not so. There have been threatening sky that spawn tornadoes but none touching down near by. Sometimes it just a much needed steady rain. So who am I to complain about that. We do suffer brush and forest fires here and in some areas so far this year there have been many. Sometimes with the rain there is lightening and thunder but in most cases, its just the wet stuff. But for me sadly for the last month the sky have never totally cleared for long.
From the inside looking out it looks like a northern winter if not for the palm trees. It is only when I go outside into the humidity and heat and see flowers blooming does my head stop wanting to think cold and winter.
So today when the sky was grey and all I wanted to do was curl up with a book on my Nook (the fifth of the Camel Club series) and a cup of tea I decide after lunch to get out of the house and lose myself in a movie. I went to see Transformers 3: Dark side of the moon. I know, I know, but it was fun and I enjoyed it. It rained while I was in the theatre and it continues to mist rain even now.
I am not sad to say I did not make the July 1 deadline for a piece I planned to send to Houston. Despite my all out effort to create a piece that incorporated words I could not produce a piece that was "me". Me is color, me is flowers, me is more and more in love with painting using watercolor pigments and soy milk soaked silk broadcloth. Me just needs to accept that and not make work to a theme unless it is 'my" theme" and go with it.
Now that I am working on something that makes me happy I thought I would share my progress as I work on it. The piece measures 45" long by 60 " wide, but quilting and cropping will bring it done a few inches in both directions when I am done. I will be part of the exhibit I will be doing at Bethune Cookman University in September, 2011. I am driving up to Daytona on the 8th to look at the gallery space so I have an idea if I have enough work for the commitment or if I have to really get busy, turn on a lot of lights in the apartment and forget about the lack of sunshine outside.
My youngest granddaughter Olivia is coming to visit for the month of July and will arrive on Sunday in time for the big fireworks display at the lake. Last year's show was really great. I'm sure this year will be the same. They are expecting over 200,000 people to crowd into the Uptown Altamonte area. If it doesn't rain, I'm sure they will hit that number.

I am now back in business

2011-06-26T12:44:00.000-04:00

New wireless keyboard is now in use. Now if only I had something to blog about. Will be back when I do.

My.post.today.will.look.strange

2011-06-22T12:51:00.000-04:00

It.will.be.full.of.periods...That's.because,/first.the.right.click.mouse.button.on.my.lap.top.stopped.
working.and.I.purchased,a,wireless,mouse....Back.in.business....then.the.space.bar.stopped.spacing.
Everything.else.is.working.and.I.don't.want.to.buy.a.new.laptop.right.now.AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Daughter.suggested.a.wireless.keyboard.then.the.car's.power.steering.went.out.So,no.transportation.for
a.week.until.it.was.fixed.
Thought.I'd.better.check.in.just.so.all.will.know.I.am.still.alive.and.kicking.and.working.
Keyboard.or.new,computer.coming.soon.
Will.be.back.then.
Reading.The.High heel.series.by.Gemma.Halliday.Funny.and.a.very.entertaining.spy/CIA.Washington.DC.based.series.of.
5.books.so.far.Camel.Club.Series.by.David.Baldacci

Back to quilts

2011-06-05T03:03:00.002-04:00

Took my head out of my Nook long enough to drive a half hour up I-4 to Deltona to have lunch at the home of a new fiber art acquaintance last Wednesday. She called to invite me to lunch so that I could meet a lady who has some say in what art is displayed in the Bethune Cookman University Gallery. So I am happy to say I will be one of three fiber artist-groups who will have work exhibited beginning September 23, 2011. I think she said the exhibit would be up at least three months; until January of 2012. Which means I have to get back to work in earnest so I will have some new pieces to go with some of what I have in the house. Which isn't much right now. Ten pieces of mine are currently on display in Daytona at a conference center. This display was arranged by Mary McBride the SAQA rep for this area.
Grace Edgehill, the lady I had lunch with last week was a fabric designer in NYC in her early working day and at 80 she is still producing some outstanding pieces of silk painted cloth that she creates garments with. (Very wearable art!)
I have reconnected with my friend Marga as well. About two weeks ago we met for coffee and chatted for almost three hours, well... on Thursday we met again, instead of coffee for me and tea for Marga, this time we tried a new self serve soft serve yogurt place in the same strip Mall. I had a mix of Mango and Vanilla topped with assorted fresh fruit. On a hot Florida day it was delicious.
As you can see from the images at the top of this entry, I had three ladies in today to try their hands at water color painting on silk. Nancy, Mary and Norma.
They looked like they were enjoying it and the day passed quickly. I really like hosting these small in house/studio classes and will probably do more. Best thing... the only traveling I have to do is walk along the hall ways, cross from one side of the building to the other via the parking garage and take the elevator down four floors to the main lobby then reverse the trip as I escort them up to my apartment.
No packing up and toting or unpacking. I did do a little rearranging of the furniture and stash a few pieces, like the coffee table and a stool in the bedroom for the duration to make it work, but believe me that was no big deal at all.
Between reading a five book series introducted to me by my daughter Rene and laughing my head off at the antics of the characters therein (when I have to stop to recharge the battery in the Nook) I have been trying my hand at some or shall I say refreshing my hand since it has been awhile since I last stamped, screen printed, foiled etc and just generally testing out some approaches I think I want to use on a very much smaller scale for creating the piece I have in mind for Houston.
Things are looking promising.
I reread the rule for the competition and the work can not be shown prior to being accepted and exhibited in Houston so I won't be showing you this piece in progress. :(
Might show you some of my samples and try-out pieces however. We'll see.
.

When I say I live in my studio

2011-05-23T15:30:00.001-04:00

I really do mean I live in my studio which means it is hard to put any distance between my life and my life as a quilter. One way I have coped with living with all the stuff one needs to make quilts is to keep as much of it as possible hidden from view and what must be out, kept as orderly as possible and not clutter.
Generally I work only on one thing at a time and after I finish it and before I begin another I put away all the stuff pulled out and used for the last piece. But I did not do that this time. As you know I am working on an ongoing project, one that will in all likelihood turn into a twin size bed quilt, just maybe a double bed size one. No promises. In order to live with this ongoing project I am going to need some container ( a basket or some such) to hid away the thread and pieces when I am not actively working on it because just leaving it laying around is just too... unsightly.

This is the full view of the piece I finished for AQS/Iowa minus the binding. Will let you know how I fared once the the jury is in.
I made the trip to the Library this morning to return all the books on CD that have gone unlistened to. I still love my Nook. I didn't realize how much I missed reading myself to sleep.
I am spending the rest of today putting some order back to my living/working space. Ideas are moving through my head for the piece I want to do for Houston. I have soy beans soaking, I plan to play with some techniques tomorrow to see if I can bring then together to create something interesting.

Quilting under pressure

2011-05-20T18:05:00.000-04:00

that's what I have been doing since Sunday evening after I looked at my quilt entry notebook that afternoon and discovered that the AQS Iowa show entry deadline (post mark date) was today May 20th. Good thing I have several tops painted and waiting and best of all, I was happy to find one that met the size requirements. I pressed it and sandwiched it Sunday after I finished facing a class sample for a group I will be teaching to in Atlanta.
That done, I began to quilt only to take part of the day on Monday off to see the shuttle launch . Then I took a great deal of the day on Tuesday off too to go Quilt Shop hopping.
Wednesday saw me sitting and quilting and quilting and quilting with a 2 hour break to have coffee with a friend after lunch. When I got back from my coffee break I went back to quilting with earnest. At that point I was really doubting that I could meet the deadline. But I kept at it. Thursday I quilted until there was in my estimation only about 2 hours work left to finish the quilting part. At midnight, I went to bed.
Today I got it done. Blocked it. Squared it then realized that if I faced it I would be one inch short of the minimum size. So instead, I decided to bind it instead. Not a permanent one, but one good sewn on with basting stitches and good enough to take images of the piece so I could get to the post office before they closed so my entry would be postmarked today.
If the piece is accepted I will put a quilt show quality binding on it and a top sleeve. If it is not accepted, I will face it as I prefer to finish my work.
The deadline for Houston is July 1. The minimum size is 48" square. I'd better get started on creating something from scratch because I don't have anything that size ready and waiting to be quilted.
Quilting under pressure. Oh well at least this time I have weeks instead of days.

I was out and about yesterday

2011-05-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

Took a trip to the coast with two new friends yesterday ( Joyce and Marilyn) to visit the Byrd's Nest Quilt Shop in Ormond Beach. It was located in the historic district of the city in a two story building that you enter from the parking lot side instead of through the front door facing the street. The shop boast of having 5000 bolts of fabric and that looked to be true along with lost of books, notions and displays of completed projects from bags to jackets to aprons. The shop was very chopped up with collections of fabric displayed in many rooms ranging from one large closet size room to a couple of nice sized open spaces and a class room. I did buy several fat quarters of pinks and greens while there for the applique quilt I am working on, but there wasn't anything in a larger length that I "just HAD" to take home with me.
It was getting close to lunch time when we were ready to leave the shop so as visitors to the area, we asked one of the women in the shop to recommend a good place for lunch and were given three choices. We decided on the place with the ocean view and outside seating. It was wonderful. There was a breeze blowing in from the ocean and white clouds in the sky. Did I say wonderful.
While at the quilt shop we were told too of a sister shop in Palm Coast, which had a completely different inventory of fabrics. Palm Coast was not to far away from where we had lunch so we went to visit the second shop and there I found LOTS of fabric that I wanted to own, but did not buy not one inch, mainly because I had no idea of what I would make with it. For some reason buying fabric to have it, no longer appeals to me.
We took the local roads home from the coast instead of I-95 and I-4 and happened upon a really fun looking place that begged us to stop the car, get out and look around. So we did. No I didn't buy anything. I might would have, but I kept thinking that if I took it home I would have to dust it from time to time so I passed on the urge. However that sun/moon looks like something that would be fun to hang on the wall of the balcony, hmmmm. No no.... scratch that thought. Its way too far to drive back just for that.

A wedding in the family: Blessings and good wishes

2011-05-18T10:02:00.000-04:00

I didn't blog comments on the marriage of my Niece Michelle Yeager last month. In light of the fact that the Yeager clan is getting smaller
she did have the support of the Philip Yeager branch of her family tree. Top right is my grand-daughter Olivia Yeager, the child of my oldest son Andre', bottom row left are my daughters Rene' and Lyn, center are the newly married, Michelle and Milton and to the right is my son Mike who with her Uncle Bill seen carrying the broom they jumped upper center, and her Uncle Lynon (not sure of the spelling) not pictured walked her down the aisle. Both of Michelle's parents are deceased so she said instead of the traditional father-daughter dance normally done at the reception she had a Uncle/Uncle/Cousin dance instead. My late husbands oldest sister is pictured with a long time family friend Simon in the upper right picture. Simon and Michelle's mother and father were at University together. On Michelle's facebook page she has uploaded some images of their honeymoon. There were palm trees, so dispite me not knowing the exact location of where they are, it is obvious it is someplace warm, sunny and near water.

It launched

2011-05-16T12:07:00.001-04:00

And I was there. What a great adventure. Rene' and I left home this morning before 7:00 AM for the hour plus drive to the coast. Then she paid $20.00 to park about three blocks away from Launch View Park, not sure if that is the official title of the place, but it was crowded to say the least. We stood there for 5 minutes or so trying to see "what" we did not know, since we had no idea in what direction to look or what we were suppose to look for. From that vantage point I certainly couldn't see anything that looked like a tower with a rocket attached and a shuttle piggy back to it.
From the park we could see people ( a large amount of people) standing on a bridge about 1/2 mile away so Rene and I decided to walk to there and I am so glad we did. Where we first decided to stand on the bridge our view wasn't much better than in the park. I still could not make out what could be the shuttle so we walked further up the bridge, which by the way was closed to auto traffic.
We came to stand not to far from the crest of the bridge and asked a man with an impressive camera on a tripod and looked like he knew what he was doing where should we be looking. Bless his heart, he pointed us in the right direction. Ahhh yes... there it was. tower, rocket and shuttle. But sooooo far away. Would my camera on maximun zoom capture it? I hoped so.
As time grew closer it was getting more and more cloudy, overcast and windy. For a time we thought they would call it off. Not that getting there was that much of a hassel, but I didn't know if they had cancelled the launch again today if I would go back again.
At two minutes, the people in the crowd with radios, turned them up so we could hear the count down. A man standing close to us knowing we were first timers said, look for the plume of steam, then WOW!!!!!!
I took three shot in a row praying I got good images then I had to see it with my own eyes so I stopped shooting.
WOW... WOW... WOW!
We stood there long after it had disappeared into the cloud cover waiting for the sound they said would come. Then it did. It was not as loud as I had imagined it would be. Not like a boom, but more of a rumble, WOW!!!!
Seeing a shuttle launch was never on my bucket list, but I am soooooo glad I got to see one in person. I just might go back to see the next and last one too.

Want to slow down.... do it by hand

2011-05-11T01:27:00.001-04:00

Since Friday I have spend some really slowed down hours, listening to books on CD at a lot lower volume and watching a few movies on TV that I skipped at the first run movie theater and yes....doing it by hand.

Quilting was so much more relaxing, calming, and on some days more fun when I did it all by hand as I did in the beginning. Then over time as I made friends with a sewing machine I gradually began doing almost ever thing by machine, everything with the exception of sewing down facings, or bindings and sleeves and on occasion labels.

Funny, as much as I loved doing everything by hand in the old days I really disliked doing the hand stitching on the facing, sleeves,bindings and labels even back then. And that as you know hasn't change with time. In fact I think my dislike for this part of the process has gotten worse. On reflection that might be because I have gotten so used to speeding through the piecing or machine applique and machine quilting that abruptly slowing down to do hand work makes it seem as if I am moving through molasses.

Two blogs ago I told you about me sitting, watching some ladies hand quilt and piece and I was mentally back to my beginnings and my fingers began to itch. I wanted to thread a needle and hold some fabric and make seams or do applique even through I was sitting there hand stitching a facing in place.

So here I am less than a week from that Thursday morning hooked again on making the tiny stitches; almost invisible stitches, I can make as I applique. When I pinned the first block I finished up next to my last all machine created piece I was struck by the similarity.

Primarily they are of the same color family. The theme for both; flowers. One really more abstract than the other, but both graphic and simplistic. When I looked at what is my first quilt it seems I have not moved as much as an inch away from my first choice of a color palette.
"Whats old is new again" "Making a full circle" Echoes of the past" these and several other sayings popped into my head.

I knew I was hooked on quilting when I made the pink,white yellow and green quilt from a 1930's pieced tulip pattern shown below. I still love this quilt. I still remember making it. I remember how long it took me to complete. I still remember how happy I was when it was done too.

I am now working on a second block and I am enjoying doing so, however, I am not promising you all or myself for that matter that that block or the one I am currently working on will ever be in the company of enough of like block to become a quilt, child bed size or otherwise.

My day was a good one

2011-05-08T23:07:00.001-04:00

I hope yours was as well. Best of all I got Happy Mother's day calls from both Lyn and Myke my two kids who live elsewhere which was nice, not that they don't call me to chat on other days and often but special days or "SPECIAL". I spent some time with my daughter Rene' today who I see regularly. Yesterday we made a trip across the city yesterday to IKEA where she brought a day bed for her office and we had an adventure getting it home in the SUV.
Rene and I generally go to the movie theatre on the weekends. Our movie dates are a dutch treat affairs. She buys the tickets. I buy the popcorn and sodas.
Today, she did both. We saw "Jumping the Broom" a light comedy, fun movie with a message and a PG 13 rating. Then we went to Barnes and Nobles where she brought me a Nook Color. I have been thinking of getting one for sometime and was torn between a Nook and a Kindle but Rene' convinced me the Nook Color was the better one to have and I agree. Actually having had it less than a day I am pleased to report that I am more comfortable with it than I am with my Blackberry that I've had for several months. It still does more than I want to know how to do. Finally have it set up so I get my email on it but really hate the little keyboard so I am still answering my email on my laptop if the reply is more than a few words.
So far I like reading the book I downloaded on the Nook and as I get lost in the words on the screen I've found myself trying to manually turn a page, like I am really holding a paper book, only to call myself a dunce and remember all I have to do is brush the screen with the tip of my finger or tap the screen.

Gardening... that's all

2011-05-06T15:56:00.000-04:00

Loving my container garden and my cherry tomato plant is setting fruit other then that there's not a whole lot going on here.
As I sit here I am trying to decide if I will take myself off to the movies to see Thor since it is not a movie Rene would enjoy.
The author of Quilting with Aliens was the guest speaker/presenter at the Log Cabin Fever Quilt Guild last Monday. It was hard for me to enjoy her. The room we meet in was sooooooo cold. I keep forgetting that and wore shorts, sandals and a tee shirt with short sleeve. I needed, jeans, sock and a sweater.
I finished the commission quilt and I am trying to decide if it is really done or if I should tweak it just a little with more highlights and shading. I will leave it hanging on the design wall over the weekend and if after that I decide it is truly done I will get it in the mail to Linda in Louisville.
I went to a meeting of a small (dozen or so) quilt group yesterday that was very informal. More like the stitchery group I attended occasionally with my friends Marti and Val in Louisville. They meet the first and third Thursdays of the month from 10-2. Bag lunches and something to work on or not is all that is required. They gather in an activity room at a church about 7 miles from where I live. Really easy to get to. Easy in the fact that I did not need the GPS to get there.
You can bring you sewing machine if you want. One lady with a Feather weight did that however the others were doing handwork, including knitting and crochet.
Good thing about being in a small group. You get to know some people better. As I found out; most of the women I recognized from the larger guild group. So it was really nice putting names to the faces. The bad thing about meeting with a small group is seeing many hands finding joy working on a hand quilted project. I made my fingers itch to get started on something like that yourself. So don't be surprised if I tell you a few blogs from now that I am working on something that is all hand work. Some pieced or appliqued that will be hand quilted. I am telling myself that I need to do that because every other week I won't have something ready that needs a facing hand stitched down on like I did yesterday. Who knows, maybe my grad-daughter Olivia will get a quilt for her bed. She's a girly girl and would appreciate a quilt or maybe I'll made a crib size one for my soon to be first great-grand daughter. My oldest grandson is expecting his first child and they said it is a girl. We'll see.

Change, change, change

2011-05-03T18:37:00.000-04:00

No matter how much we think a thing is forever. That not always so.
In my case I thought I would keep the e-mail address I have had for 4 plus years now, remembering how much of a pain it was to change it and notify everyone who had the e-mail contact info from the one I had when I lived in KY. But alas I am changing it. This time to something that will follow me where ever I decide to reside next. That way I am not dependent on my current or Lyn's current Internet connection. Therefore, anyone who is trying to contact me, please use juanitayeager@gmail.com. I have been trying to ease this address into that part of my brain that rattles off my email for more than a year instead of the mchsi one. I hope this change in your address book/contact folder doesn't cause you much trouble.
Thanks. I certainly would hate to miss hearing from all of you.

Oh Phew!!!!

2011-04-29T17:17:00.000-04:00

Drove over to the coast and found someplace to park where they were not charging an arm and a leg ($15-20.00). They were hawking boiled peanuts and t-shirts commemorating the launch. All for naught. After I parked, I check my Blackberry and the Internet to find that the launch had been cancelled 10 minutes before I turned off the car so I started the car back up and drove back home. I had killed at least love bug populating of Central Florida on my trip over and the car was covered with the dead and dieing bugs and their spattered remains coated the windshield.
One good thing about owning a Mini Cooper; they give free car washes. So before I came home I stopped by the car lot and got all the bugs removed so I could return a nice clean car to my daughter since she told me she had washed mine for me the evening before when we swapped.
I hear that they will try to launch again on Monday. I'm going to try it one more time.

Staying busy

2011-04-28T21:48:00.000-04:00

I am currently working on another commission for the same person I made the white on white wall hanging with a butterfly for. Plan to have it done and on its way to her in a week, ten days at most. I started on this last week after I got home with my search for the right fabrics. This is my second butterfly, the first one wasn't working/doing it for me. The piece when completed with measure approx 24 x 30 inches. Not sure if I told you that already.
Went to the Library on Monday and got a selection of book on CD. Am listening to The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner. Haven't read/listened to anything by her before, but this ones is a good read/listen so far.
Tomorrow I am off to see the shuttle Endeavour take off. Let's hope all goes well with the launch. I am taking my camera. Rene' tells me without the aid of a GPS I should be able to get there without any problems but I am using it anyway. Also taking a book to read, a bag lunch and bottles of water since it is advisable to get there several hours before launch time to get a viewing spot. Oh yeah, a hat, sunglasses and a folding lawn chair.
Will let you know how my latest adventure fared when I get back.

What's not to love about petunias

2011-04-28T21:41:00.000-04:00

Pink and Hot

2011-04-22T23:04:00.001-04:00

I went out today to find pink fabrics for my next commission. Pink! Can you believe it. I had no problem and found a wide assortment to choose from. Pink must be in fashion. In one stop I got all of the pieces in the foreground. The two larger cuts in the background I brought while in Louisville. Sorry, because of my luck there are no pictures of quilt shops I had planned to explore today. Everything was brought at the Joann's less than 2 miles from home. Plus see below for reason why I called it quits for the day after my second stop at the Harbor Freight.
I'm showing you pictures of I-4 heading east toward home. I was making good time until I came to this point in the trip and the traffic began to slow down to a crawl, slow enough and stopped long enough for me to take pictures. This slow down and stopping every hundred feet or so continued for miles. Finally gave up and got off the Interstate and took the local roads home.
I had ventured to the south side of Orlando (15 miles) guided by my GPS in search of the 48" long drywall t-squares at the second Harbor Freight location and I found what I wanted. To keep from making a trip for naught, I called the store before I went. Once there I brought two of them to go with my collection of carpenter squares and straight edges. All must haves for squaring quilts.
The getting there wasn't all that bad when I looked past the fact that half way there my air condition decided to stop working. Believe me mid afternoon in Orlando is no time not to have air conditioning in your car. So I rolled down the windows and dealt with it telling myself that the god of "you ask for it" was just getting back at me for wishing all last week that the weather in KY and OH was more like FL. I wanted warm, well today I got more than warm, I got down right HOT.
There are two movies on my list of must sees for the weekend. The Conspiracy a movie about Pres. Lincoln and the new Tyler Perry Movie.
Happy Easter. Here hoping you get your share of jelly beans, chocolate bunnies and Easter Eggs. Oh and Peeps.

Balcony view

2011-04-22T11:38:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's trip out had me driving up the road toward Casselberry to find the Harbor Freight store. I found it easily but did not find what I was looking for. Which was a 48" drywall t-square to use for squaring up my quilts. Not to leave empty handed I picked up a box of much need filter mask for when I am measuring and mixing dyes and a box of disposable latex gloves. Oh and set of picks for I don't know what, but they looked like something I should have, just in case.
Then it was off to the nursery where I walked and looked and couldn't decide of what to buy then narrowed it down to flowers that love full sun or part-day sun. My favorite petunia came in many colors, mounding and trailing and I chose both for the rail baskets. I decided on Moss roses in my favorite color (yellow) because they too are trailing plant and hopefully they will grow long enough to trail over the side of the railing without looking straggly like the philodendron I planted last fall did.
Since I only have this small space to use my green thumb I thought I'd try to grow some cherry tomatoes and some green peppers trusting I will not be growing more than I can eat as they ripen.
Lovely day today. Perfect for breakfast outside.
There is a second Harbor Freight location in my area. I think I'll give them a call to see if they have the t-squares as I will be out and about shopping for some commercial prints in pink, coral and fuchsia to go with my hand dyes for my next commission.
There are several quilt shops I have not visited before but I plan to rectify that today. I'll take my camera along.
There might be something interesting to share.

Back in Louisville

2011-04-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

I went to see the solo exhibit of Pat Darif on Tuesday. Three of the piece were influenced by trees. Next to flowers, tree are my next favorite subject.
The three pieces shown behind the receptionist desk were created by my friend Marti Plager and are permanently installed at st. Matthews Episcopal Church on Hubbards Lane in Louisville.
Aren't these Dogwoods wonderful. I took then as I drive through a subdivision on my way to dinner with two friends on Monday.
This church standing on the north edge of Old Louisville has always grabbed my attention whenever I get off I-65 at the St. Catherine exit
The last two images are of parts of downtown Louisville as I drove east on I-64. Each time I return to the city I see something new has been built. It's good to see my home town grow with new business, and sad to see some of the ones go and old building being torn down.
Yes I miss Louisville, but it was cold the entire time I was there. I was cold. It rained. The wind blew.... HARD. Tornado sirens went off as they often do this time of the year and into the summer in Louisville.
I was so busy the entire time I was away. I have never been able to sleep on a plane until this trip home. Despite the plane dancing through the sky for most of the two hour flight, I napped. We bounced about so much that we were never offered peanuts or pretzels and the drinks did not come until the last 30 minutes of the flight.
But I am home and unpacked and went marketing to restock the fridge.
Tomorrow, I will show you my new plantings on the balcony.
My commission quilt was delivered and was well received and the buyer commissioned me to do a second one with flowers and a butterfly. This one I will get to do with some color, yeah!!!!!!

Cincinnati class

2011-04-21T22:15:00.000-04:00

I had fifteen students in my two day painting on silk class. Here are some candid shots of the class as they were showing off what they had painted. Some are shown machine quilting, others were still painting their second project. They were all given the same pattern but look how different they look. No one selected the same colors to use for their flowers or their leaves.

The room was really a treat to teach in and well suited for this class with enough room for everyone to have a table of their own. Great natural lighting as well as overhead lighting. There was a utility sink and a small kitchenette that allowed the host to organize a pot luck lunch the first day and pizza was delivered on day two. As with all quilt gatherings there was more than enough food, the good healthy stuff as well as the not so, like cookies and chips as well as chocolate which I think of as a GOOD THING, especially chocolate with almonds.

As I drive down the hill to the Ohio River from the Kentucky side, the sky line of Cincinnati is a post card opportunity but not when you are the one who is driving. I took this after I pulled over to the side of the road as I was driving up the hill leaving the city behind.
I hope I get invited back to teach for the group, they were wonderful.

A quilt exhibit

2011-04-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

While in Ohio teaching I accompanied my host and her husband and three other couples to see the exhibit of art quilts created to honor the election of Pres. Obama. The exhibit was at Wilberforce University. It is a traveling exhibit with many great pieces. I think Dr, Carolyn Mazloomi publish a catalog of the show, but I understood from conversations with some of the artist in the show that additional pieces have been added to the exhibit since the book was published
. The pieces I singled out to show you are by my friend Valarie White, Louisville, Carolyn Crump, Texas, and Valerie Goodwin, Florida. Sorry I did not get the names of those shown in the wide gallery shot.

Tulips and Dogwoods

2011-04-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

I was in Louisville last week. There are many things I really miss about living there. Not counting family and friends, Tulips and Dogwood trees blooming in the Spring are two of those things.
As I was leaving the airport I got my first glimpse of tulips and looked wistfully at each bunch I saw growing as I traveled about the city. There are no tulips in Florida. The ones pictured above were growing in the yard of the condo unit next to where my friend Kathy A. lives. But they were everywhere and in every color. Once again, Kathy made me welcome and I enjoyed my time with her. I tried to see everyone near and dear and spread myself way too thin and I'm afraid I didn't get to everyone.
I went shopping while I was in Louisville, venturing briefly into Stein Marts to get my "Derby Hat I want one fix" and the hats did not disappoint. They were to die for. I know, those of you who are not native Louisvillian or of the age where donning a hat on Sunday was the thing for ladies in the South who Church did. And so was wearing the most beautiful hat you could find and afford on Derby Day. If you did not do one of these things you can not imaging how seeing hats of many colors bedecked with flowers and ribbons and bows and netting can make the heart flutter. My heart fluttered and fluttered and fluttered. I know I could wear a hat anytime I want to, but the ones I want to wear don't go well with jeans and white t-shirts. Then the other part of that is; I do not want to be seen (looked at or pointed at, snickered about, or seem as an odd duck) and I most certainly would if I wore one of those Derby Day hats in Orlando. In Louisville on the first Saturday in May, (Derby Day) a hat is a must and the most outrageous show stopper is noticeable only if you do not wear it well. I sigh......

They label them like a package

2011-04-21T21:15:00.001-04:00

Made the drive to Jacksonville to see Justin get sworn in. Got there at 10:00AM but the ceremony wasn't until Noon since he was not leaving the center for the airport until 2:00 PM. I thought it was rather funny seeing all the new recruits with bar codes on their chest. (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guards) are all processed from that center so there were many young bodies, both male and female gathered there; tagged and labels I guess so they don't get misplaced.

After the swearing in for those entering the Navy, they were dismissed and all left the room in formation with permission to return for final hugs or snapshots since camera's were not allowed to be used during the welcome to the Navy speech and the swearing in.

So here's Justin raising his hand just for me and so I could send the image to his Mom and Rene'. We will travel to Great Lakes when he gets through basic. Okay, now it's back to packing for my trip with just a little left to do.

I promised myself

2011-04-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

That I would be more observant of my surroundings. That I would take note of the palm trees in the Garden my balcony overlooks.
So I have been looking at then, really looking and have taken pictures of them from time to time. And yes I can tell they are growing especially now that my eye level from the balcony is more in line with the tops of them. To my surprise, the tree trimmers came and began removing the older growth. Remember last October then left about 4-5 fronds on each tree and they did that again this time.
So I guess the trees get trimmed twice a year instead of once. Hmmmm!

Things are coming together

2011-04-10T22:01:00.001-04:00

This is my commission piece. Measures 24" x 60". Almost done. What's left to do before I get on the plane on Wednesday. The sleeves, label and some tweaking. I am happy with the background and the flowers, but the butterfly needs some more work....color or gold thread in the upper wing. The color does not seem to flow or smoosh just right. It is pinned the design wall. Well I'm off for now. Back to tweaking interspersed with packing both clothes and class supplies. Justin took off for the beach today for a last fling in the sun before reporting to the Navy processing center tomorrow. I will be driving over and up to Jacksonville on Tuesday to see him raise his hand.

When I love color

2011-04-05T01:14:00.000-04:00

why would I accept a commission to create something without it? For the challenge I suppose. This piece when completed will measure 2' x 5' and is for an over the head board space in a bedroom. My client is in Louisville. It's a good think there are flowers. One saving grace I will add a touch of gold foil and a little teal in the flower centers but that's all. Will give you a look at the final version when it is completed. Justin is home. My company (a friend from Louisville) has come and gone. It was great while she was here. The sun shone every day and of course we had the day trip to the beach. The day after she left we had two really bad days of gray skies, heavy rain and WIND. They are saying that the rain will come again tomorrow. I have been really busy. I am on the committee for the Donation Fund Raising quilt for the Quilt Guild I belong to. I taught the second half of a two session class in Kissimmee last Saturday and spent Sunday afternoon on the Internet ordering the supplies I need for a two day class I am teaching in Cincinnati on the 16-17 of April. Might be a while before I get back to blogging. Work, work, work which I really don't consider it work is what I will be doing. Along with the quilt and organizing class supplies, sometime in the next 8 days I need to work up a power point presentation for a guild talk I will do in Louisville while I am in the area too. Told then there wouldn't be too many quilt with the talk mainly because I don't have an inventory anymore. I am looking forward to seeing my Mom and friends while in Louisville. I hope I have not scheduled myself too thin with more to do and people to see while I am there. Got my quilt packed and sent off to Paducah for the show. But I won't be there to see it. My goodness, is it that late. 1:10AM. I just noticed the time on my laptop. I am way past bedtime. Bye!

My life is running along a smooth

2011-03-29T22:18:00.000-04:00

road of late with no adventuresome twist or turns to report. I haven't blog for some time because there really has not been anything of interest even to me to report. But since one of my friend sent an e-mail wondering how I was because I had not blogged for a while I thought I'd better check in. I am back to be alone. Justin is still in Louisville and called to say he will not be on his way back until Friday. Being alone, I have gone through a number of books on Cd's and I am liking Harlan Coben's books a lot. Even listening to them out of series order has not diminished them. I finished quilting one of the tops I had painted, but have not cropped to square or face it. I started on a second top and was working on it when a friend from Louisville came to visit for 6 days. She arrived on Tuesday and left on Sunday. During her stay I was contacted to do a commission piece that I want to have finished before I leave for Louisville on April 13Th. So I stopped working on one piece and began designing the commissioned piece On Sunday on my way home from the airport I stopped to buy gold metallic thread and gold metallic fabric. The commission requires the use of them. That should be fun! Or not... Will let you know.

While my friend was here, (non-quilting friend) I was perplexed as to what to do with her. A trip to the beach came to mind so off we went on Thursday. Collage below images from Dayton Beach. On Saturday we walked to the movie theatre to see "The Lincoln Lawyer" fifteen minutes into the movie I knew I had read the book that the movie was based on. It was followed so close to the book that there was no surprises. But all in all not a bad movie if you have not read the book.

So if I don't blog for awhile just know that I am keeping busy and listening to more books on cd's. Oh yes, I like using the Glide thread. It has more of a sheen than Isacord, but maybe that is just my eyes. While it and Isacord are labeled 40 wt the Glide is thicker and it works really well for me using a matching Isacord in the bobbin and using a #14 Embroidery needles, just in case you decided you want to try it.

Another productive day

2011-03-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

Three while cloth painting so far. I decided to add strips to the hibiscus bloom painting. Because I have so many tubes of red paint, I decided that I needed to paint a color sample board so I could make better choices of which color to use, so the paint sample board was the next thing I did this morning before starting and completing the piece using snow drop flower shapes, which I know are white flowers, but you can't paint white flowers on white fabric and I did not want to do a dark background. Yes it is far more delicate looking than what I normally do, but felt that I needed to explore using more pastel colors in order to get a feel for handling them. I must admit, while I like this piece I much prefer intense saturated color best. So my next piece will let me use some really yummy colors tomorrow.
I have a piece of fabric stretched on my paint surface propped on the easel ready for me to get started again tomorrow. More than likely my tomorrow's painting will be one using my abstract blooms, no brainer to give myself a metal break while I think of another flower to paint on Thursday. I have listened to two book so far, neither one of which were spell binding, but neither were they boring.
Karen: I do like my easel. This one is great because I can raise and lower the area where the paint surface rest. I can stand or sit on my stool to rest my back or feet. It is light in weight and I can pick it up to move it when the paint surface is not on it, but it does have wheel that don't roll to well on the carpeted floor. Would be great on tile or wood or a solid surface. And yes it does allow for me to step back and get a better prospective of what I am painting.
I'll close for now as I am trying to decide if I want to walk to the other side of the building to see if there is anything in my mail box. Justin did this for me every day as well as pitch the trash which I am having to do too. I really must un-spoil myself.

It's still a little strange

2011-03-13T22:50:00.000-04:00

being here by myself, but I am adjusting. It was so nice getting up this morning and not finding a body asleep on a air mattress in the middle of my living room area. And had forgot how nice it was to listen to books on tape on a "Boom Box " style CD player. For some months now I have had to be attached to a CD player in my apron pocket when Justin was here so I wasn't interfering with what he was watching on the television. Yes I am a considerate person. Years ago when I worked late in the studio and the grandsons were younger and had school the next day I would use wireless headphone to keep from being tittered but for me listening with no encumbrance is sheer delight.
Sundays about once every three weeks or so is my day with my daughter Rene' to make the trip to the Library. Knowing I could listen til my heart was contented I brought home 10 books on Cd's. Two by Harlan Cobin who I have not read or listened to. I saw a display of his books maybe a dozen or more in paperback at Barnes and Nobles yesterday when I was there picking up the latest issue of "cloth-paper scissors studio". I picked up and read the back cover of a couple of them as I was waiting my turn in line for the cashier. They sounded interesting.
Besides the two by him that were available at the library I checked out several other authors, mostly cops and mysteries and I think two light romances with a twist of humor. At least the one other book by this author I listened to was light, charming and in spots down right funny. So I am looking forward to seeing if these two by her are as fun to listen to as well.
Several weeks ago. Well more like a little over a month ago, I did some straightening up and organizing of my stuff. Remember me telling you all about finding these great DMC thread boxes back last Fall. Well they are great. Now everything is labeled. I thought I was putting stuff away logically. You know pens with paper and envelopes. Colored pencils with watercolor paints and brushes. But no. I find myself standing in front of them saying "Now where is ...? I think now I should rearrange the drawers in alphabetical order since my brain seems to want to find stuff in the manner. The missing drawer has watercolor paints, well my brains says it should be in bottom of the three drawers in the third box down on the right.
Started painting on this piece today. It still needs some more shading, but not to total finished state since I like adding thread in matching or a little contrasting color for veining and I can always work back into it later if areas need to blend more or highlights are needed.
This one hour ahead thing has caught up with me so I think I will call it quits for tonight and go off to bed.

Home alone once again

2011-03-11T21:28:00.001-05:00

for now. I would be shouting with joy, but I am of mixed feeling about the fact that I am.

I've had Justin with me more or less non-stop since last October. He left last night for a driving trip to Louisville to see friends and family before he raises his right hand and swears himself into the Navy on April 12th. He will also make the drive from Louisville to Missouri to see his Mom and brothers before returning here to Florida on or about April 3rd or 4th. If I am missing him some now, I know I will miss him a lot when he goes off to basic training.

I didn't sleep as soundly as I normally do since he was driving through the night, but once I knew he had safely arrived in Louisville I spent the morning cleaning and returning my place to my space, more or less a studio where I live and can be more productive in rather than a place that accommodated another person in the space. So I am going to take advantage of my alone time and works, work, work before he returns.

I finished painting a 44" x 36" piece last might. I want to paint 2-3 more pieces in this size range or a little larger in the next few days. Then I will quilt, quilt, quilt.

I borrowed my daughters little Mini Cooper ( haven't had as much fun driving a car since my VW bug died in the mid 70's) and drove myself up to DeLand for the opening reception at the DeLand Business and Conference center. It was very nicely done. The usual cheese and fruit assortment, assorted small cakes that I dared not touch and an open wine bar and cash bar for the harder stuff. I had water.

It was 90 minutes well spent looking and talking to those who had come for the opening which included some of the other artist with work in the show. I reacquainted myself with a couple of the artist that I've met here and there.

One of my students from the Kissimmee Quilt Shop class was leaving as I arrived and we passed a few minutes chatting. Most of the work on exhibit were small pieces in the 18" sq inch or less size. There were two "Whisper Challanges" I think.

What is a Whisper Challenge? It is a group project with the lead person being the only one to see a picture that will be the design influence. That person make a quilt from that influence and passes her finished piece to the next person to be the influence for their piece, who in turn passes their piece on to the third person and so on and so on. It works like the game we placed as children with one person whispering something into your ear and you turn and whisper what you thought you heard to the next person in line and the last person says out loud what they heard and yes, the last quilt in the process had no visual relationship to the picture that influenced the first work. For that fact as I was looking at the progression, the influence was lost totally by the third piece. Interesting concept. I wonder if you could play the game with yourself with any success?

My work and some woven pieces and some really interesting silk tubes that hung from the ceiling were the largest pieces displayed. Sorry did not get the name of the artist who created the tube or the woven cloth pieces or a good image of their work. The lighting wasn't good enough.

I took some pictures of a few of the pieces that caught my eye and then there was the rocks in a garden in front of the Business Center. WOW... They looked planned, like art but they were real. Work of the Master Creator.

I have two grand children with birthday this week, Joslyn in Providence turned 18 on the 6th and John Christ in MO turns 20 today. Boy they are getting old. Happy Happy sweeties.

Two good things

2011-03-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

came by mail today. Well more accurately one came by US Mail and the other was delivered by UPS.

The USPS Mailman brought me an acceptance letter from AQS for the Paducah Show. Yea!!! That's 5 shows, 5 acceptances and 2 Blue Ribbons so far. And yes I am counting.

Not bad for an old broad who decided to get back into the quilt show competition game.
And the second good thing; UPS brought me 30 spools of wonderful colors from the makers of Glide thread. Glide is a 40wt polyester thread that I had read good reviews of after I had decided to focus on using Isacord thread exclusively.
You know I've been buying spools and spools of it and now have all the colors I wanted so why did I decide to venture in another direction. Mainly, curiosity.
I was going to purchase only one or two spools of Glide at first just to try it when Francine, one of my Chicago students read my blog and decided to bring a spool of Glide with her when she came for classes so I could try it.
I did and I liked it very much. I didn't put it in the bobbin, just through the needle and I had Isacord in the bobbin.
Glide and Isacord are both marketed as 40wt threads, but on close inspection the Glide is noticbly thicker. Perfect for thread painting applications since it fills in faster than the Isacord does. I has the look when stitched that is closer to what Robinson Anton Rayon looks like when stitched. I like RA too on the rare occassion when I used it.
Disadvantage--- Glide does not have as many colors. So when I decided to purchase some I went on line and selected thirty spools; buying all the colors that I thought I would find useful for what I am currently doing.
Will let you know if I am still happy with it once I use it on something I want to create for my next quilt show entry.

Kissimmee Class

2011-03-06T09:24:00.000-05:00

A comment to the last post asked what I was teaching in Kissimmee. So to answer that question; this is the class sample for that two session class. It features a multi-fabric pieced background with machine applique, some thread painting and highlights and shadows accomplished with color pencils and acrylic paint.
This is a good class for a quilt shop because it sells a lot of fabric, at least 11 different ones for the top and then there is the backing, batting, thread and other stuff.

I went to Kissimmee today

2011-03-05T20:47:00.001-05:00

to teach a class at Queen Anne's Lace Quilt Shop. It has been a while since I was there last. Despite me not using a lot of commercial fabrics anymore in my work, there is still something about a quilt store. Maybe its all the color that surrounds you and all the samples of patterns and samples of stuff you "could" make and the books, not that I need anymore and the.... you know. All the stuff.... It really isn't about need.
I find most quilt stores to be happy places to be and who in these times does not need at least one place in the world where you feel happy.
There were 11 ladies in the class today, twelve is about all the room will hold when everyone is using a sewing machine and a cutting mat. One of the ladies is  a "snowbird from Canada" a repeat student of mine from a class I taught there last winter. she will begoing back to Canada in April. We have retired RN status in common.
Mary Ann from my in house three day class was there as well as one of the members from the local quilt guild, my patron, Nancy.  She brought one of my quilts at the quilt show last month. Yea!!!! for patrons.
You know me.... yes I took my camera, but no I didn't take any pictures.
Session two of the class will be held the first Saturday in April and I promise I will take pictures of what they did. Today's session ever one was creating a multi-fabric pieced background to use for their large scale flower and there will be 11 very different looking backgrounds. Can't wait to show you.
Latest news:  Mary McBride the SAQA President for this area has curated several exhibits that are in different venue in the central Florida.  Collectively these exhibits are titled Volusia Wrapped in Fiber. She took 10 pieces of mine on Thursday to consider for hanging at the DeLand Conference & Business Center. The opening reception for that is March 11 and I think she said she was going to put one or two of the ten pieces at the Rose Room Gallery, Peabody Auditorium too. That exhibit opens March 10th, no opening reception by an "art talk" is scheduled for March 25th. There are six venues in total and I have only seen one so far so, the one at the Gateway Center for the Arts. I think next Saturday I will make a trip up Interstate 4 to the furthermost point and make my way back, stopping to see the other five. Yes, I promise, I'll take pictures. :)

I was gone longer than I had planned

2011-02-26T17:14:00.002-05:00

but what a wonderful day I've had.
What makes a good day? Good food and good conversations with people who speak your language and fiber art.

As I was looking into the exhibition hours at the Gateway Center in DeBary FL to see what time I should be leaving the house this morning I saw on their site that there was going to be a meeting of Gathering Thread today at the center along with lunch and a speaker.

Last year there were more than 50 fiber artist from across the state who came for the first Gathering Threads meeting and to view the exhibit that was at the Center then. I did not know about Gathering Thread but I did make the trip to Debary to see the exhibit. I did a blog entry about it last year.

I must say that Mary McBride did a wonderful job curating the one this year. What a treat. I got to see some of my favorite fiber artist. I have missed the last two "Form Not Function" exhibits at the Carnegie where most of the artist at the Gateway Center have had works on exhibit. This exhibit was the closest I've seen to the quality of FNF since I left the Louisville area. There was a piece from Lisa Call that I liked very much. Sorry no image or title.
It hung in the entry and is the first piece you see when you enter the center.
The work was hung in the main gallery and along three walls in the theater. 61 pieces in all.

When I look at an exhibit I do what my friend Marti Plager said she does when looking at any art exhibit. Play a game with yourself and ask, "If they would let me have any piece in the show or museum or gallery I wanted and money wasn't the issue, what would I choose." I did that today but I couldn't narrow it to one. Here are my two picks with Elizabeth Barton edging out the Knitted piece. The knitted piece I loved it for its whimsiness. Elizabeth Bartons despite being non-organic with hard edges, was in colors I could live with and never tire of and it is visually interesting. The knitted piece made me smile and that is what I like about art moreso then art that tries to make me think. As visual as I am I've often wondered why I much prefer words to images for making me pause and think.

As you can see by the giant knitting the exhibit was not limited to fiber in the form of quilts which in my opinion made for a really visually interesting experience.

There was a treasure chest full of small quilts and artist trading cards and other stuff an artist made out of threads and fibers. Sorry there were too many people around the display for me to get the title of the installation and the name of the artist. There was a house made from cloth with cut outs of people hugging it. I think the title was "Foreclosure". There was also an iron covered with fabrics. Didn't notice the collection of birds created with stiff cloth, an installation suspended from the ceiling in the main entry hallway until I was on my way out. Did I say it was all just visually wonderful.

I got to meet a dozen or so other fiber art. Quilters to doll makers. Most of them lived nearer to the Gateway Center than me, but there was one who came over from the Coco Beach area.
Introductions were made all around an eight foot table. Show and tell and technique sharing was the order of the day so I took the two small pieces I just finished. No not faced.
My fingers are going to be busy tomorrow.
Instead of ordering in lunch as had been planned, due to the smaller number attending a lecture on the business of being a fiber artist was cancelled and we all decided to lunch at the Olive Garden where talk of fiber and exhibits and stuff continued.
I passed on the gluten free pasta this time and settled for the salmon, broccoli and salad.
And now, I'm off to the cutting table to cut facing strips... gotta go and get these fingers busy.

Okay. Now I can call it a day.

2011-02-25T21:54:00.000-05:00

My time table to get this piece and the previously quilt I posted an image of that will be used as samples for the class I am teaching in the Cincinnati area in April compeleted was today. I'm not on target however. While I have completed the quilting, blocking and squaring there are still facing, sleeves and labels to do. Because of their size I should without feeling pressed finish all that by days end on Saturday. Failing that there is still hours to use on Sunday.
I need deadlines. Self imposed ones however tend to have some "fudge time" factored in.... but not too much.
So my drop dead deadline was to have them competed and in the mail by Monday along with my signed teaching contract.
So with this much done, I am off to bed.
Oh...... There is a fiber exhibit at the Gateway Center in Debary, FL. The exhibit opened on Monday or Tuesday of this week and runs through March, maybe into April, but I think if there is no threat of rain tomorrow I will take some time to run up the road to see it. There are 61 pieces done by both national and international fiber artist. I have no names to list for you but if cameras are allowed I will show you what caught my eye and held my interest.
I put a spare battery in the charger so I will be ready to go early; weather permitting.
Now off to bed with the latest issue of the SAQA Journal

Next time, I'll know

2011-02-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

As I was sitting on the balcony yesterday afternoon, reading the last pages of the book I started several days ago I noticed that people were beginning to gather on the 7th level of the parking structure. As more and more came and all looking eastward I began to wonder what they were looking at. A fire? or something happening like a hot air balloon launch in the nearby Mall?
Then several of those gathered on the roof began to point and take pictures. What? What? What are you looking at? I wanted to ask.   Now I wished I had when my ears became attuned to the voice on the television I had left on in the living room was saying quite gleefully "The shuttle has launched"
Yes.  Dang it.
I had planned to drive over to the Cape to see this launch, but a post quilt show meeting was planned for Thursday morning and I felt I needed to attend it and make my report in person. As soon as I got home my grandson needed the car to pick up a "going into the Navy too friend" at the airport so off he went. Sharing a car is not always convenient thing.
I have wanted to see a shuttle launch for a very long time. A launch had been on my must do list and moved up to near the top once I moved to Florida. But once I was here it seemed every time I made plans to do so, they would cancel the launch due to bad weather or mechanical problems. If the countdown is on hold; which it often is and if and when the countdown restart sadly, I am too far away to just hop in the car and go.
But now I know that on a clear day, from the seventh floor of the garage I can see for miles and miles and miles and possibly see the next launch without having to do more than walk down the hall to the elevator, ride up and get off on the seventh floor. I know it want be like up close and in person, but at a distance is better than never seeing it live.
And another thing.  Justin told me when he got home that he and his friend were sitting in the Ale House eating some wings, when the launch happened and all they had to do was walk outside and look up and eastward and saw it. "Dang!!!!"

Measure twice cut once

2011-02-22T22:03:00.001-05:00

Great saying. In this case however it is measure once, cut twice. The first cut down was still too big.
Why? You see I have a problem with entering this piece in a competition that I cut it down the first time so I could enter it. In the case of this piece I should have read the measurements requirements a little more carefully before cutting it down the first time. If I had, I wouldn be comtemplating ripping off the sleeves and the facings to cut it down again. This as shown is what my original screen printed and stamped cloth was originally cropped to, so that it would meet, I thought, the requirements for Sacred Threads. As I was attempting to submit it online I ran into a problem. It was too long by 5.5 inches. In the case of this exhibit, the maximum length is 30". Well shot!!!!

I still wanted to submit it, since I don't know of any other show that it would fit into. As a rule I don't make quilts to fit a specific show and I didn't in this case. So what to do.
When all else fails, CROP. So in Picasa I cropped it to see if it would work proportionately if I cropped it some more and the second image is what it would or will look like. I submitted the second image (cropped image) but will wait to see if it is accepted before actually taking a rotary cutter to it and crop it off to measure 5.5 inches less on the bottom and 5 inches less on the left side.
For most of today I have been quilting and answering e-mail from guilds requesting teaching information.
Had a late lunch on the deck and read quickly through the last SAQA issue.

I hope you all are not tired of my abstract blooms, if seen altogether they really are different compositions and sizes. I really do find them fun to paint. No brainers. They are simple and gives me something to work on as I test paint colors, different brushes, different brands of paint and color mixing which is quite different than understanding and mixing dye colors. This is a small piece that will finish to approximately 17" x 26", when it is faced. Just the right size for a one day class project sample.
I finished the quilting, blocking and squaring before I called it quits for today.
Tomorrow I will be back to quilting the other class sample that I showed you in the last blog post...... maybe.
As my bedtime reading I will be opening the latest book in the Death series by J. D. Robb. Got a copy today. I hope it is a grabber.... well, maybe not... if it is I'll be up all night.

Finally

2011-02-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

a day that I took advantage of the balcony, the sun, temperatures in the mid 70's rising into the 80's and a gentle breeze to move my art outside. I've often thought of the balcony as an extension of my studio and today it was just that. Right after breakfast I gathered a few tubes of paints, some brushes and a piece of previously raw soy milk soaked silk broadcloth and went outside to sit with a cup of coffee that went from sipping hot to lukewarm and paint. Before I knew it, it was almost 2 o'clock.
This was the second of two smallish pieces I need as class samples for a 2 day workshop I will be teaching in the Cincinnati, Ohio area April 16 & 17.

I don't know if the class is full, but if you live in that area and might be interested in attending, e-mail me and I will give you the contact information for Carole who is organizing this workshop.
As I waited for one area to dry, I looked about the courtyard, and snapped some images that caught my eye.

Images from bloggersville

2011-02-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

Images from bloggersville

2011-02-19T11:59:00.000-05:00

I have returned to Blogggersville

2011-02-18T19:59:00.001-05:00

having been away from almost three weeks. But like always there are reasons and thankfully because I blog there is also a story. Why else would there be a reason for me to be sitting here. If not for a story there would be no reason for me to have this blog. As some of you know I was trying to organize a retreat for the Orlando area, but for what ever reason there was not enough interest for me to justify the cost of hosting the retreat at a hotel. So instead I invited/accepted four students from those who inquired.

and scheduled a three day workshop instead for them in Apartment 434. Having an in-studio class or in my case in/home/studio space required first that I condense what was in my living space to accommodate four - 4' table and 4 chairs. The condensing was way easier than locating four suitable tables mainly because I do not have a lot of stuff to condense in the first place. But suitable tables were not an easy thing to come by I found out. But luckily three days before my students were to arrive I found just what I wanted. 4ft x 30" wide tables with folding legs. They were listed on Craig's list. And boy did I get a deal!!!!. Through the major office supply stores, similar but narrower tables were selling for + $59.00, but at a used rental furniture and used office supply store they were $12.99 plus tax. They were nearly new. I went to buy four and brought five. Only one was slightly damaged on the top, but with no more visible use than what could have happened at my place after let's say a month of use. So as you see one table was raised on bed risers for the cutting surface.
Pictured below are images from the three days. On the right is Jean from Chicago. On the left Francine also from Chicago. Also pictured is Mary Ann from Winter Garden, FL. Sue lives in the Villages, a little over an hour away from me but is not pictured at her request, however the flowers she painted is pictured in the lower left bottom row in the top collage.

I served lunch on Tues and Wed. On Thurs. we walked down the hill to the lake and had lunch on the patio of Cafe Merino. For all of you in the cold of the north, it was very nice day to be outside. Mary Ann and Sue drove home each night, but Jean and Francine stayed at the Embassy Suite; a short walk away. Having not been inside the hotel before I suggested they stay there, I was happy to know that they found it to be a good place to stay despite the fact their room did not overlook the lake. . But as I gathered from Jean, and I am not quoting her word for word. but it was something like, "What can be so wrong if all you do is sleep and shower there."

It really was nice having all four of the ladies here. Because of Jean and Francine, I got to eat out at a few of my favorite places without having to eat alone. We had dinner at TooJays a neighborhood eatery on Monday night mainly because it was Valentines Day and all of the major eating places like the Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill had waiting lines spilling outside their doors. But for a second choice place to eat the food was very good. On Tuesday we walked less than a block to my favorite Thai restaurant. On Thursday, we finally got back to the Olive Garden. No waiting line. I tried their gluten free pasta and was not impressed.

This morning I picked Jean and Francine up at the hotel. We all had a sleep in morning. ahhhh..... After a late breakfast at Mimi's Cafe I took them to the airport.

So here I sit. I think I can get back to my usual life. The tables have been folded up but not taken to my little storage room, which is down the hallway and around the corner. There were none closer to my front door when I requested one. But that will be tomorrow's chore. My sewing table and the table I raised for cutting is piled high with stuff that needed to be put back in its proper place.

The major task for today was to get two quilts rolled, wrapped and ready to be shipped off. One to Paducah for the Lancaster Show and one to Houston for the IQA show in Cincinnati. The it was off to the UPS Store.

Future teaching:

For those of you in central Florida and have asked for my large flower class. One is scheduled at Queen Anne's Lace Quilt Shop in Kissimmee. So far nine have signed up for it so it will be held. That class due to classroom space is limited to 12, so there are 3 spaces left. It is a 2 session class with the first one scheduled for March 5 and the second session April 2.

I am seriously contemplating hosting more workshops in Apartment 434. If you are interested in coming to study with me, let me know. I can't guarantee that the sun will be shining everyday while you are here. But despite cooking not being something I go out of my way to do, I really can put together a pretty good lunch.

The flip side of bad is good

2011-02-01T16:17:00.000-05:00

So in the wake of my bad news last week, I'm reporting on my good news, which is "Morning Glories" one of my latest painted pieces was accepted into "Celebrate Spring, a Judged IQA competition to be held in Cincinnati, OH.  Four show entries since I decided to get back into the quilt show arena and I have had four acceptances. Not bad?
Not sure about the rules for showing the piece so for now I won't.
I am back working on the large piece I had planned to enter in AQS Paducah, but time got from me and then too I got way-layed with that coughing episode that kept me down and out for week two months back. So I started quilting it again last week in an effort to finish it with no real destination for it in mind. In some ways that it good, I won't rush through it and bad, because I tend to procrastinate. And it does take some effort and muscle I must say to wrestle it through my sewing machine. More and more as i work on it, the HQ16 begins to look better and better to me.
I haven't quilted a piece this large 55" x 60+" in a very long time and I can't with it for long.  So I take frequent breaks. Unlike smaller pieces that I do, 40" or less I go into a Zen state and can sit and quilt for hours.
At the rate I'm going it will be the end of Feb. at the earliest before it is ready to be blocked, trued up and faced. Will let you all see it at that stage.
In a couple of weeks I will have three ladies joining me in my in home/studio space to study with me for three days. Two are from Chicago and one is nearly local. I am looking forward to doing this. If all goes well,  I might be open to doing it again if there is an interest in semi-private less of 2-3 students in the future.
When I am taking a break from the quilting I am trying to teach myself how to work in CorelDraw. I had CorelDraw 8 for many years, but it wouldn't load on my current laptop so I brought CorelDraw x 5 which seems a little more intuitive. But I haven't been able to master the parts of the program that will allow me to use some photographs of flowers and manipulate then into compositions.
If self study fails, all hope is not lost. Caryl Fallert is offering a 4 day class in this process at her studio that I am seriously considering taking.
Sorry there are no pictures again for the second blog post in a row. My daughter Lyn in the middle of the storm moving through the middle of Missouri, sent me a picture of the bench in her back garden. The snow depth is about three inches short of the 18" high seat. And it is still snowing heavily she said. So I won't rub salt into the wound by showing you sunshine, palm trees and near 80 degree tempertures.
To all in the path of the storm, stay warm, stay safe and creative.

Cheryl Ann Yeager Lundy, 1944-2011

2011-01-26T00:43:00.004-05:00

was my friend when I was young. My family moved into the College Court neighborhood where her family lived when I was in the second grade. We went to the same schools from elementary through high school.   We choose the same career, nursing.
Many years after we first met, as teenagers we took note of each other's older brothers. My brother Joey and her brother Phil. She didn't marry my brother. After high school Joey went into the Navy and Cheryl went off to college to study nursing. But I married hers.   So you see she was not only a friend of long standing but my beloved sister-in-law.
She was funny, fun and adventurous. Her smile lit up a room. Her laugh, infectious. Her brothers called her "Sam" because she was so down to earth; "one of the boys" in the most complimentary way brothers can think of their baby sister.
Like all of us she had her moments but fought through them and came out the other side stronger.   She had no children of her own, but promised to take care of mine should anything happen to me during their formative years. She was a Army nurse, a Veteran with duty in and out of the country and when I was a young wife, mother and knee deep in diapers I thought her life was far more glamorous.  She was brave. Far braver than I could see myself being. When her heart began to fail when she was in her forties, she soldiered on. And when a heart transplant was the only way she could continue, she agreed to have the surgery in 1995.    The heart she received was from a young woman who was brain dead due to an auto accident. What a gift to have received. One that made it possible for Cheryl to remain in our lives far longer than what was the normal expected life span of those who receive organ transplants. Her longivity I attribute in large part to her fortitude.
It is hard to write about someone you love and have lost without seeming to be eliciting sympathy; for that is not what I am doing and would rather not have comments made to this blog about it.   I have cried enough and I am working through it.
I prefer to use my blog for the lighter moments in life and reports about stuff that makes me happy.
To honor Cheryl and her donated heart, in closing, all I want to say is; if you are ever in that place where a decision has to be made about donating your organs or those of a loved one, please consider doing so. I know for sure if it were not for that unselfish gift made by a grieving family all those years ago, I would have been in the place I am now many many years ago. The additional years Cheryl gained was a blessing for all who loved her.

I'm home, the show is down

2011-01-22T21:44:00.001-05:00

All of the quilts were returned to their makers without one going astray.
Made myself some tomato soup when I got home. I ate a hand full of dried cranberries. I am sipping on a large mug of hot green tea as I blog. A hot shower awaits and so does my bed. Did I say I am tired.
I spent more time at the show than I had planned. My first thoughts when I agreed to help with the quilt show was; I will do my job and come home and stay here until it was time to take the show down. But as you know yesterday I went back to take pictures. And then this morning as I was about to have my first cup of coffee for the day my phone rang.
There were several people at the show wanting to meet me I was told, so I got dressed and drove to the show. I was glad I did. Several of the ladies who wanted to meet me had purchased quilts others wanted information on my teaching schedule and availablity. It is always nice to know who has your work and I enjoy teaching. returning to the show earlier than planned was a good thing.
In total for the two day show I sold nine pieces. I know the collage above shows eight of the images that did. For the life of me I can't remember which of my quilts the ninth one was.
You see I wasn't being a good business woman when I got the bundle assembled to take to the show. For one, I failed to make a copy of the inventory sheet that I left with guild that listed names and prices of my work. As a rule I also create an album in Picasa and copy an image of each quilt(s) and title to that album. The album moreso the title of the album denotes the destination of where my work is when it leaves the house and I have an idea of what is where. My second lapse of professionalism was that I failed to do this for the 17 pieces I took to the guild show and I am not entirely sure why that was other than me thinking that the likely hood of me selling anything at the show was slim to nil.
I was participating just to be supportive. How wrong was my thinking?
My work sells on a regular basis. I am happy about that. But nine pieces in two days is a record. Excuse me, but Yahoo!!!!
The better part of all this is I did not want to make those two bird quilts in the first place. My heart really wasn't in the making of them and I really, really thought I would have them forever. I am so glad there are bird lovers in Florida because they both sold and are going to homes where they will be enjoyed.
And now, I am off to the shower and to bed.

Flowers on a Grand Scale:/Red Bloom

2011-01-21T22:55:00.000-05:00

I will be teaching this class in two sessions at Queen Ann's Lace Quilt Shop in Kissimmee, Fl.
Machine class, all levels,
Techniques: machine piecing, machine applique, machine quilting
Exploring use of color pencils, inks and thread painting
First session Saturday March, 5, 2011
Second Session Saturday April 2, 2011
Contact the quilt shop for registration information and supply list
or e-mail me juanitayeager@gmail.com for additional information

The Quilt Show

2011-01-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

I started out looking at each category in order to decide what I liked best, but that soon went by the way side mainly because I kept getting interrupted. So the quilt pictured above left was the only one that truly was my pick for a category. Why? Well I thought I could sneak in under the radar and not be seen and go about seeing the show and get out. But no. I kept getting stopped and chatted with. Which I must say was nice. It's nice to have people know you and you them. It's the reason I joined the guild. It would be a really sad and lonely world I'd live in if I knew no one who loved quilting as much as I do or didn't speak quilt or art.
The second quilt in the above collage was done by Mary Sorenson and was part of a special exhibit featuring her work. I liked this one the best.
I pretty much passed by all of the vendors but stopped at one. I was tempted to try out a HQ Sweet 16 machine they had in the booth. I'll reserve my thoughts about it for now mainly because before I say aye or nay or think of investing in one I'll have to spend more than 5 minutes operating one. You know, take along my favorite thread and quilt sandwich makings. Too much money to do otherwise.
So on I went up and down a few more aisles until I was summoned to the "quilts for sale booth" where I was told a lady who had brought one of my quilts was looking for me and that they were keeping a list of quilters who wanted to know when and where I was teaching a class next. I left a handful of business cards with the guild members who were manning the booth and on I went feeling quite pleased. Three quilts have sold so far. How great is that?

I didn't get to see Nancy Prince's six quilts that are on display at the show on set-up day because she came in and hung them herself. The two pictured above caught my eye. Heavily quilted and thread painted. The signage states her quilts had been a part of the Vermont Quilt Festival, not sure what year, but the VQF is one of my favorite show venues.

There was a trolley car in the parking lot that was a quilt shop on wheels. Cute! But I was not tempted to enter. The above collage is composed of some general shots of the show floor and the lovely lake at the Fairgrounds as well as the trolley car. As you can see, today was very cloudy and rainy here in central Florida, but still shirt sleeve weather.

Despite not following through on my plan to pick my favorite in each category, I did manage to snap some images of quilts that caught my eye. To the makers of them, I hope they are creditied correctly. I tried.
Tomorrow is, take 'em down, pack 'em up and give 'em back to their makers day. From past experience, I know a hot shower and my bed will feel real good when I fall in it tomorrow night.

I took my camera with me today

2011-01-20T18:21:00.000-05:00

and was all ready to show you some quilts, but I failed to check to see if the battery was charged. I also did not take a spare battery either. I know, I know....
Not much gettng done in the creating department orther than me making a large 4' x 6' print surface which I have wanted to do since moving to Florida.
But I have been busy of late serving on the Quilt show committee of the Log Cabin Fever Quilters. My job was to get the quilt floor plan done and organized the quilt hanging volunteers so that the show would go up smoothly.
I will commend all the members and spouses who came to work yesterday and today.   And work they did. We got it done in record time I was told.
Yesterday and today Justin came with me.  Being 6 ft, 3 in. negates the need of a ladder. He simply reached up, tipped toed a little and reached up 8'. Believe me he was much loved by all of us shorties. Being active in this guild and being a member of the quilt show committee has reminded me of the fist guild I joined in Louisville and all the other quilt shows I've participated in. Not wishing to go back and do it all again, I realized yesteday as I was on the way home that I have missed this part of the quilt world. Not saying I will do it again. But this time, this show, this one last time for old time sake was a good thing.  I have really enjoyed the last two days.
Today the vendors came in and while I did not have to deal with them, that part of the show organization seemed to go smoothly too. Because I didn't take time out to look I can't say that there was anything in the vendor booths that was begging to go home with me. Dare I go back and look harder.
I saw each and every quilt in the show as I walked the show floor, hanging quilts and double and triple checking that all was "well" and being sure that it was I hadn't planned to go back to the show until time for the quilts to come down and get returned to the makers on Saturday. Yes, I'm also in charge of take-down and return too and yes I'm taking Justin with me.   The great majority of the quilts in the show were made by members of the guild. They are mostly traditional in design and color. However, there were several art quilts that were interesting. No battery means no images to show for all the work I did and no images to share with you. So as I was leaving I told Justin that I will go back for a couple of hours first thing tomorrow just to take some photos. Well - not first thing. I think I'll wait until the rush hour traffic clears.
This morning as well as on Wednesday morning, Justin and I were in the thick of bumper to bumper and stopped dead still. It wasn't pretty. Justin is a good driver, but if there had been a brake pedal on my side of the car, I would have used it more than once.

The guild show is neither juried or judged. I didn't enter anything in the show, although I did put several pieces in the Quilt for Sale Booth and one of my quilts has already sold. The guild get 10% of the sale price which goes toward the community service grant program I think at any rate 10% isn't bad when other venues like galleries and museums can take as much as 40% commissions. Tomorrow, I will take a picture of the quilt "I" think is the best of each category; of which there are thirteen and put them on my blog.

For anyone in the Olando area tomorrow and Saturday come and see the show.  I think it's worth the trip.

Yesterday I went to Tampa

2011-01-13T16:08:00.000-05:00

Well not really.
On Wednesday I rode in the navigator's or map reader's seat while my grandson Justin drove me to a speaking engagement and trunk show on the gulf side of the state. Since I got up at 6:15 AM and we were on our way by 7:15 I napped and let "Georgia" the GPS voice do the job of directing Justin. I was hoping to see both the city of Tampa and the Gulf while I was there, but it was not to be. The Gulf shore was further away than I thought.
The meeting place for the guild was in a suburb of Tampa and not Tampa proper, but still, I hate to go some place and not really see the place, so after I finished my program I had Justin drive a little further west so I could at least see the Tampa skyline if not the shoreline. As we were making a u-turn to get back on I-4 I saw this building and thought the decorativeoverhand was charming.
Oh and the chicken.... I'd heard that wild chicken can be found in parts of Florida but never expected to come upon any. These two in a flock of six or seven were in the parking lot of a Hardee's where we stopped for a potty break off I-4 on our way back home.
As you can see from the picture below the group of quilters not only spend the day working on their own projects they also EAT. As I understand there is pot luck lunch served at each meeting and yesterday's menu was planned to honor the Super Bowl. Sort of tail gating inside rather than out, which was a good thing since yesterday was rather chilly by Florida standards. As part of the pot luck they held a chili cook off with a prize given to the chili judged the best. Sorry I missed getting a picture of the table with all the chili and stuff on it.
I took samples from four of the crock pots on the table and that was only the tip of the iceberg. There were several salads, cheese, corn chops, sour cream and chopped onion for toppers.
Simply by luck one of the four I choose to try was a vegetarian chili that won first place. I must say it was really very good. As I made my way along the table bemoaning the fact that there were many baskets of corn muffins and I could not eat any of them. Gluten allergy. And then to my delight, there amongst the baskets was one basket containing miniature muffin labeled gluten free.
I took two. Ate them with a little butter and honey. YUM! YUM! YUM! Better than cake. I wish I had remembered to ask who brought them in and if they were her recipe or, from a box mix. If a box mix I can see myself making some the next time I want bean soup, or kraut. Since discovering that wheat is not my friend, I have come to accept that bread for sandwiches or pancakes, or biscuits are no longer a part of my life.
But now, corn muffins, like brownies from a mix by King Arthur can be part of my life on a limited bases if I want.

Yes I sampled the fudge.
Ad yes I enjoyed my day with the Feather Princesses and one Prince: Applique' Quilt Guild of Tampa

Rainy days and Mondays

2011-01-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

the song by the Carpenters, kept running through my head today. I know some of you are getting the white stuff again. But here, it was a grey, rainy, thunder and lightening kind of day. Despite temperatures in the mid 70's all I wanted to do was go back to bed for a long nap during the worst of the rain which I confess I did. Nothing much else of interest to blog about. To make some quilting related stuff out of nothing much, as I was sitting on the balcony when the rain first began to fall, I noticed the pattern on the side of the parking structure as the concrete began to get wet and thought what nifty Thermofax screens the pattern would make. So I still have quilting on the brain but more so along the lines of surface design than anything else.

Sew--- Sew---Sew, part 2

2011-01-07T12:33:00.000-05:00

Today I'm back to sewing on sleeves. Why? I finished sewing on what I thought was the last of the sleeves only to locate two more small pieces without them as I was sorting and tagging two dozen plus pieces to take with me for my presentation and trunk show in Tampa next Wednesday.
I really must do better about "really finishing" a piece once it is "finished". But the sleeves and labels have always been my bug-a-boo and in all truth since I did not make not one single New Year's resolution, putting sleeves on immediately is not going to be the one I intend to make.
Today after lunch I plan to paint.
Yesterday was spent at the lap top creating a slide presentation in Power Point. That took me way longer than I thought it would. In the past Lyn was the one who created my presentation for me. So first I had to learn the program. Then I was torn between whether I should include some of my older work or if I should leave it out.
I like so many other quilter makers who got started long years ago, now nearly thirty. I don't have a lot of my old work any more. And only two pieces here with me that are older than 6 years.
Of my older work; those pieces that have not sold were left with Lyn in Missouri so I don't have them here to photograph. Most of my very first pieces were made way before the digital era came upon us. Back then it was standard practice to make photographs for documentation and 35mm slides for competition entries.
But it is hard to show people where you came from and the connection you still have to that place if you don't have images of your early work.
So I decided to include some images of the pieces with floral themes if I could find photographs of them in the pile of pictures that did not make it to my scrape book and I found in a box. The scrape book with images of everything I ever made before digital cameras, I also left with Lyn.
You know, Lyn has a lot of my "stuff". I don't feel to to bad about that, she a keeper. The keeper genes she got from her father not from me. Me, her mother's genes operate basically in this way. If; when, where and how you will use it doesn't come immediately to mind, then let it go to a better home or into the trash bin.
Of the old work I found photo images of, I tried taking digital shots of them with some success. So they were included.
So for now I'm off and getting back to the thimble, needle and thread and then on to making some soy milk after lunch so I can paint, I hope.

Sew... Sew... Sew...

2011-01-05T21:16:00.000-05:00

That's pretty much all I did today. Some at the machine but mostly by hand. I was going to do paperwork but the fire alarm maintenance company that services the building where I live was here today conducting test that had every alarm in every apartment on every one of the 7 stories going off at one time for hours and I do mean hours. I don't think you can imagine or appreciate how loud and annoying the alarms are that began to blare at 9:05 and did not cease until nearly 1:00 pm unless you had the misfortune of being here.

While this sounds very much like complaining, I really am not. When you live in a multi-family high-rise the last thing you want to be concerned about is fire and not being alerted to it soon enough. Around here, they take fire preparedness seriously. Having said that, there was no way with the noise level in the range it was, was I going to think or hold a train of thought long enough to do paper work or relax into a zen state as I paint. So instead of doing either one of those planned task for today, I began the mindless chore of sewing on all the facing and all the sleeves of all the pieces I've finished, rolled up and put in the closet lately. The tally. I cut the strips of cloth for facing and sleeves, then faced and sewed top and bottom sleeves on one quilt, sewed top and bottom sleeves on another and made the the two sleeves for a third quilt that I plan to sew at least the top sleeve onto before I call it quits for tonight. The second sleeve I'll do tomorrow.

The word for today is Growth

2011-01-04T20:37:00.000-05:00

or greening. Both words I relate to Spring.
When I took a break from quilting today to stand in the sun on the balcony I chanced to look down into the garden. A more studied look at the bushes there revealed many values and hues of green, old leaves and new ones signifying growth due to the increasing warming of the temperatures here.  I hope our Winter is over. Not that we have much of one or that it last for long when we do...   Spring is coming, at least the plants think so.
The palm trees that I take for granted have grown I noticed too.   Reflecting on these signs of growth, I took a closer look at the plants in my rail boxes and at the plants I thought I had lost due to cold a couple of weeks ago. I saw that the plants were trying to make a come back and are sending out new leaves. So inside I went to get a trash bag and my scissors. I cleaned up the dry dead leaves and snipped off the dying ones and watered all the pots and boxes thoroughly and felt good for having done so. When I came back in to start quilting again, I noticed a new leaf growing on my Christmas cactus too. Ahhh Spring.
Maybe me taking note of all the greening in nature was due to the fact that the threads I was using today were all in the green color family.
Tomorrow I will put the sleeves on the quilt I plan to submit to IQA/Cincinnati. Finish the paperwork for that which takes longer than you might think. Then I should get on to creating a  power point presentation to go along with the trunk show I am doing for a quilt guild in Tampa on the 12th of this month.
I put some dried soy beans in water to soak overnight. I have a piece of silk ready to go. If I get done with the business part of being a working artist, I can get some painting done tomorrow before it gets dark and I lose the great light that come through the windows.

Today was a little of this and a little

2011-01-03T22:17:00.001-05:00

of that. None of which adds up to very much. But the day went. Today began with dropping Rene' off at her office and me taking myself out to a leisurely breakfast where I sat reading a book over a cup of not the best coffee as I waited for the Bernina store in Lake Mary to open. The store; a nicely appointed quilt shop that sells Berninas best of all carries my favorite Isacord thread along with other products I use, like 505. Yeah, the thread cost more there than ordering on-line but when you need it now, you buy it. Today I was looking for specific colors rather than buying just to add to my stash of threads. I took the quilt I am currently working on along with me to make sure I was picking up the right colors. As good as I think I am with colors it is really hard to pick colors from memory. Didn't think I would need as many colors as I selected, but ten spool later and a nice chunk of change, I was on the way back home to start my day at the sewing machine. But that didn't happen. Not today. For sure tomorrow.

I was like a kid with new crayons. When I dumped the thread from the bag, I had to look at them and contemplate the possibilities and look at them laid out together and smile. I couldn't just put them in the boxes where they belong and get down to work. No. No. No. To much like right my Father used to say. Then I decided because my collection is growing, I should make some order out of my collection and get a handle on what I have, so that the next time I go shopping or order online I will not run the risk of buying duplicates.
After I made a spread sheet with the list of colors by number Isacord sells ( over nearly 400) and marking the ones I have, I discovered that I have several duplicates. No surprise there. The good part in spending an hour or so making the spread sheet and the time spent checking off what I have is knowing that while I have some duplicate there weren't many and despite all that they are duplicates of colors I really like. Ones that I am sure I will use. Maybe not so much with the colors I had to buy today. Not one was from my favorite color families, (Yellow-red-orange) but definitely color that I needed and ones that make the other colors sing.

I had a late lunch on the balcony and little e-mail time on the computer and
then I went off to my local quilt guild's 5PM board meeting. Did not stay for the regular guild meeting and the program . Came home in the tail end of rush hour to find an acceptance letter for AQS/Lancaster.... YEAH!!!!!
Think I'll turn in early and get an early start tomorrow.

Yesterday I went for a walk

2011-01-02T11:59:00.001-05:00

around the lake, something I haven't done for a while, mainly because it been too cold. But yesterday was great. The sun was shining and
families were in the park and people were sitting on the grass near the lake shore. Wonderful!!! When I left home with my camera I decided that because of what I can see from my balcony I would focus on looking at pattern. With an emphasis on quilt patterning contemporary and traditional. The upper image is the security railing on the 7th floor level of the parking structure where I live, the four patch is in the garden below me.

But as soon as I turned the corner on my way to the lake, what caught my eye and caused me to pause was the fact that Christmas was still very much every where I looked. Looking up I saw this banners on the light post. Well it could be an applique' I thought so "click". But what made me smile the broadest was this giant 8' inflatable snow man on a balcony. The idea of a cold winter theme when the sun was shining and the temperature was registerinng in the high 70's was just too funny. Not much quilt about that I thought as I zoomed in on it and clicked, but there are snowflakes I thought.

At the end of my walk when I looked back through what I had chosen to capture with my camera, the dominate theme for the day was pattern, but not necessarily quilt and definately metal.
I think I told you several post ago that Rene' was back to house hunting. Yesterday her hunt paid off. We looked at four places with her Realtor that we had scoped out on Friday; all duplex's and one was a clear winner. Move in ready. The only improvement required; ripping out the light colored cheap looking laminate wood flooring to put in real wood. It is bank owned with all the paper work that slows these sorts of sales down to a crawl is done. With that, she put a contract on it. Best of all, as far as I am concerned; its not far from me. About 1-1/2 miles and I can walk or get there on my bike by riding on a less busy street. And why would I want to get there on my bike. The place has a two car garage,painted floor with lots of built in deep shelving and she said I can use one side for my wet studio. The side with the window, yeah!!!! I have a really sweet daughter. 2011 looks promising.

Looking back and going forward

2011-01-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

You know as I live my life from day to day it is hard to see all that I have gotten done; especially after a three week period during which I didn't turn on my sewing machine much. As a consequence I wasn't feeling very productive creatively speaking. To add to that; a few days ago when I finished the last of the books I checked out of the Library I began bad mouthing myself and thinking I was frittering my time away. But I quickly put an end to that way of thinking. I love to read. I love getting lost in the pages and doing anything that brings you joy is not a waste of time.

I decided to blog this morning after I finished reading Melody Johnson's blog this morning and saw all the quilt works she had completed as she took stock of her accomplishments in 2010 and I decided to take stock of myself to see what I had really done too. All in all I am quite pleased.
I can't say I have finished any knitting projects that I have started this year, mainly because it is hard to think of knit scarves and wool sock in Florida and one only needs so few sweaters that making one isn't worth the time spent. Excuses, Excuses!!!
But on the quilt making front, I had set a goal for myself beginning in 09 right after I moved to Florida and that was to get better at dye painting in a more realistic style. That goal morphed into working with water color pigments; a medium that I like very much working with, especially when I use silk broadcloth.
My life, hopes , dreams and goals are basically about my quilting and to that end I have taught some classes here in the Orlando area as well as outside of the state last year, Virginia and Connecticut. I am helping do the floor/quilt layout for the bi-annual quilt show put on by my local quilt guild. Yes, I regressed, but it was a good way to meet like minded people. Also I was a jurist for a SAQA Exhibit that will hang in the New England Quilt Museum early this year.
I've had both family and friends come to visit. One staying longer than I had imagined he would. But hey, he takes the trash out without being told to. Knows how to cook for himself and how to run the washer and dryer. What more can you ask of a 6' 3" male person.
Dipping my toes back into the quilt show pool, I was rewarded with two blue ribbons and of course the checks that went with them. I have sold several pieces of my work too beginning with one being sold while 13 of my pieces were on exhibit in Ann Arbor, MI last Feb-Mar. The two birds quilts, quite different for me were created for a exhibit in Henderson, KY. I am waiting to hear if the piece I entered in AQS/Lancaster has been accepted and I met the deadline for getting my entry off for AQS/Paducah.
I can not tell you the number of books I've read or listened to this year or the names of all the movies I've seen but there have been a LOT!!!
While a sore throat that began right after Thanksgiving and the resulting lingering cough seems to be finally abating
I can say gratefully that I have been well and hardy this past year.
So here's to 2011.... May it hold 365 days that bring you joy and peace and all ones you fill creatively.

I was so looking forward to a warm day

2010-12-30T17:17:00.000-05:00

and today I and Central Florida was rewarded with a really great one. Low 70's and sunshine. My last blog post was of ice in the fountain. Thankfully no more day like that even though we have had some very chilly nights and days since then. But for those of you still in the cold or still under snow, I hope I'm not making you sad when I tell you I ran around today without socks and in a short sleeve tee.
It's been a while since I've gone to a movie. Nothing of interest in a couple of weeks. But we decided to give the King's Speech a go today. While there were no "A" list actors in the credits I must say for anyone looking for a really good movie, this is a go see. Let me say, too at this juncture I am not much of a history buff and definitely no fan of the English Royal family but this film about how King George the 6th came to be on the throne was both informative, funny and simply a great way to spend some money and time this morning.
Rene' is back hunting for houses/condo's and we went to see a few from the outside to scope out the neighborhood before she called the realtor to set appointments. We ruled out several and ruled in several which we plan to see on the inside tomorrow and narrowed down the choices to the Altamonte Springs area so she will still be close to me.
To top off the day after a trip to the post office so I could meet the post by date for AQS Paducah we did lunch at Dexter's a restaurant in Lake Mary.
Since the sun was shining we wanted to sit outside but there two men puffing on cigars, YUK!!!! Might have been a great way from them to finish their meal, but what an intrusion on the other diners seated in the side walk dining area. Have to say they do a great chicken salad with dried cranberries and walnuts, yum. We seated ourselves inside at a sunny window. Not quite but almost as good as being outside.
What's next on my agenda.... getting my IQA Spring show entry ready. Putting a facing and sleeves on one quilt and finishing up a PowerPoint presentation I will be giving to a guild in Tampa next month along with a trunk show. Oh and helping the LQG on quilt take in day in preparation for their upcoming two day quilt show in Orlando.

Well yes it is COLD here too

2010-12-14T10:50:00.001-05:00

Brrrrr. Looking down in the garden this morning as I stood on the balcony tssk tssking and looking with sadness at the plants on my balcony I noticed that the fountain water had turned to ice. The temperatures have dropped into the mid 30's for several nights in a row but I think last night just might have put an end to the lavender and inpatients that colored my balcony so cheerfully. So I am thinking that is they do not survive, I just might get with the program and get some evergreens and decorate for "Christmas" with ribbons and white lights... humm, instead of trying to keep spring and summer around in my little part of the world forever.
As cold as it is there are still some good things I can say for this unpresidented cold spell. They are; the sun is shining and the building were I live is so well insulated that I have yet to turn on the furnace so I am staying warm without having to pay the cost to do so. The long lounging pants I brought to stay warm while in new England a month or so ago have come in handy as well as several long sleeve denim shirts I layer over my t-shirts. The denim shirts are not new, I brought them here with me. They have been washed so often that they are just plan comfortably and comforting. I've held onto them for many years (left-overs from my KY and MO days).
I am still quilting on the piece I plan to submit to Paducah, but for the last two days I have been going through my usual mid way to done, "not sure if I still like it" phase but I am listening to books on CD, trying hard to ignore the doubting voice in my head and persevering.

FYI

2010-12-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

I am hosting 5 days of workshop at the Ramada Inn 150 Douglas Avenue, Altamonte Springs, Florida... Focus on Flowers...Feb. 14-18, 2011

Whole cloth painted with thicken procion dyes

Examples of pieced backgrounds with machine applique'

Above samples of pieced quilts using circles as motif.

Be your own Valentine and treat yourself to 5 days quilt making exploration in the company of other quilt makers; the best people on earth and learn how I make youe own quilt.

I planned this event with so there would be something everyone.
Piercers, appliquers and painters.

For complete details, go to http://www.juanitayeager.com/

and clink on Art-With-Cloth and be directed to the workshop site.

This year I was ready

2010-12-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

for the Light Up the Holidays Festival at the lake behind the building where I live. Last year the fireworks, which I love, caught me by surprise and had me wondering for a time what was going on when I kept hearing the booms that come with fireworks and not being able to see where the sound was coming from. When I ventured out to the lake at 5:30 PM last Saturday the temperatures were in the mid 60's with a breeze and children and parents were everywhere. The north side of the lake was set up for children with train rides, face painting and people creating animals with balloons. At the amphitheater on the south side of the lake children's groups were performing short skits and singing and scores of vendors lined the adjacent street.

The performances weren't anything to write home about but as once a parent of little people I know each and every child there singing their heart out had someone who sat through it all smiling and proud.
Shortly after 6:30 when dark had fallen, the fireworks began and the lights on the tree and all the lighted figures came on perfectly on cue as the first firework exploded from the two platforms anchored in the middle of the lake .
I was standing on the bridge at the west side of the lake and had a wonderful view of the fireworks and all the lights including the 60 foot tree.
It was a nice way to spend about two hours.
By the time I was ready to call it quites for day the temperature had dropped into the 50's and I was wishing that there was someone at my house waiting with a cup of hot chocolate in hand for me.
Next year I'll try to remember to have a cup waiting to be zapped in the microwave.
Tonight I am going to the local quilt guild's holiday meeting.
I hope your Season of Peace and Joy is getting off to a good start as well.

Here's what's happening with me this week

2010-12-03T09:38:00.000-05:00

I finished painting the quilt I plan to enter in the AQS Paducah show. It is the largest painted piece I have done so far and measures presently 57" wide by 78" long. Mind you it will shrink several inches in the quilting and I will lose maybe an additional inch or two when it is squared and faced.
I am listening to books on CD while quilting since I do not have a clear view of the television from where I sit quilting. Must admit, an interesting book makes the time fly and I have to remind myself to get up and stretch from time to time.
I was intrigued by the scarves Melody Johnson has been knitting and started one too, but it will be sent North to my Mom when I am done since I have no need of one here.
It's been a little nippy here the last few days, but the sun is shining and that for me is a great thing.