Reflections on Work Past, Present, and Yet to Come

About an hour after I posted my Interpret This! piece, while dusting I picked up the Art Institute of Chicago magazine and it fell open to this:

This seems to be a tapestry; there was no other information given. It was just a brief article about the museum's textile collection.Of course I was struck by the repeated ovals and the subtle coloring. (It's actually brighter here than it was in the magazine.) What a beautiful thing! It's always an odd experience to find a work that has some resemblance, even slight, to something I've just done: there's regret that I couldn't create something so good, along with pleasure that someone else found the same idea pleasing.

In other news, I have all the blocks made for this lap quilt, and I think this will be the final arrangement--or almost. You can tinker with this sort of thing endlessly. I wish I'd had more variety of fabrics, but this will be it. Now to start sewing together. My goal is the end of the week. That should be simple to do, but there are other things going on too.

And finally, this lovely scene is the new Interpret This! photo. In some ways, a photo like this is harder than a less appealing one, at least for me. It's early yet; I'll hope for inspiration.

October Interpret This!

SaratogaOvals

12" x 9"

Batik, organza, machine applique and quilting

I probably win the out-of-left-field prize this month, since as you can see, this looks nothing like the photo. Sometimes you just have to do what feels right to you, especially in art, however you define art. There is more about my thought process on the Interpret This! blog, and you can see the other lovely work by people who were able to stay much closer to the original image. Reveals began yesterday, so be sure and scroll down.

1,000 Quilts To Houston

Ami Simms is taking 1,000 Alzheimer's quilts to Houston again, so if you're going to be there, pay a visit.

Happenings, continued

I finished my Interpret This! piece, thank heavens.  Reveals start next week, October 26.

My problems with Blogger and photos continue.  (I bragged too soon.)  I can upload in the old editor on Safari, and when I change to Firefox, I can use the new editor, but it doesn't work the same as it did.  Other people must be having these problems too, but they still seem unresolved.

This weekend I'm going on a guild retreat.  The main building at the place we have gone for years burned last spring, a terrible thing for the camp and everyone who loves the place.  They are still open in the smaller, older buildings, so we will be cramped this year. Still, I'm looking forward to the chance to do nothing but brainless sewing for a couple of days.

In preparation, I've cut more pieces for this:

The more fabrics I add, the better it looks, I think; in the end, it will be mostly the blue/green, with the reds second and only enough gold for accent.

I'm also planning some pillowcases for Christmas gifts, layering a charity quilt to finish, and making snacks to share.  Remember:  MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE SNACK TABLE!  I like being a size smaller than I was last year.

And finally, a quick brag:

At guild last week, I received a ribbon for Carolina Baskets, displayed in our library show last August. (It's a viewers' choice award.)  Thank you, everybody, and thank you Deb Geyer, for the quilting.

What's Happening

Some miscellaneous news, just to show I'm still alive and quilting, at least a bit.

1.  While I was away last week I cut out some squares for a scrappy lap quilt using batiks. I will need to broaden the color range in order to have enough fabric. I could also broaden the value range, but don't want to do that. The quilt is intended to be a gift, and I don't think the recipients would go for the busy look.  The pattern is called Scrappity Do Dah, and I downloaded it from McCall's Quilting.com after I saw someone's version at guild.  It's been a long time since I did something like this, and when I finally sat down to sew on it, it was fun.

2.  Here's the new Interpret This! challenge photo. It's tough. That's all I'll say.  I have an idea, but no work to show yet.

 3.  I entered Peppermint Stars in Road to California. Fingers crossed.

While I was feeling bold, I called the owner of a local gallery who used to sell my quilted clothing and asked if she would take some of my small art quilts for the winter jurying.  She agreed, even saying that since she knew my work she didn't think they needed jurying.  I assured her that yes, they did.  We'll see how this goes.  I'm feeling some regret--would anyone really want these things?

4.  The project hanging over my head this week was preparing supplies and ideas for a group of ladies at church to decorate little canvas totes for nursing home residents to carry and stash belongings.  Since most of these women don't know much about fabric work, and aren't very crafty, it was a challenge.  I brought bags, paint,  prefused fabric for applique, and some very simple patterns and stencils.  The bags might not win a prize for art, but the group had fun, and I hope the recipients find them useful and appreciate the thought.  My benefit was becoming more skilled at applying WonderUnder to large pieces of fabric, and  I now have the leftovers for my own use.

Now that that's over, I plan to dig in to that fountain!

P.S.  Have to brag about a victory over the computer:  I couldn't get Blogger to upload photos, so I tried looking at the Preferences menu, turned on Extensions, and voila!  I have no idea what Extensions means exactly,  or why it was off, but this worked.  I always feels as though I have somehow conquered something major when I can solve a problem without having to see the suppressed scorn of my live-in computer consultant.