More Glimpses

The Hoffman is finished, as good as it will get. This picture shows the central image, the idea I started with. The whole composition, which I'm not revealing yet, was the hard part.

Technical issues have plagued this piece. My applique method is one I learned in a class by Jane Sassaman a few years ago. The image is not fused, but traced onto fusible, non-woven interfacing, which gives enough body for machine embroidery or embellishment before the applique is attached to the background (also interfaced). After zig-zagging around the image, the background is trimmed away. This doesn't produce stiffness as you might think, but just a good body, desirable in a wall quilt. However, Pellon has changed their interfacing. I knew it was different, but didn't think anything of it because it looks slightly different every time I buy it. But the new stuff is too stiff and crisp, and didn't fuse smoothly. By the time I realized this problem it was too late to correct it. The background is ok, but some of the more lightly quilted areas puff out too much because of the interfacing. More quilting might have helped the puffiness, but would have caused other problems, so it has to be what it is. I'm moving on...

Life List

This list has been around for a while, but seeing it on Nellie's blog this morning reminded me of it, so here's my life. Things I've done are in bold type. The list is high on travel and old farm girl stuff, and low on adventure (I don't think I'd ride a motorcycle unless my life depended on it), but that's me.


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped - no way!
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (if you can call what I do art)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Doesn't the elevator count? I did that once)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (I had pet lamb, pig, calf, chicken...the whole farm)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (actually I'm fibbing here--when we were in Venice I was too cheap to pay the very hefty fee for a gondola ride)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (sort of)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (it doesn't take much)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (and the snow)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check/cheque
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle,
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88.Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
..........................................
That was fun! Here are the rules for you to play, too:
Copy and paste the above list.
Bold the things you’ve done in your edit box.

I'm home, and hope to stay here awhile. It's hot and muggy, my husband has our deck torn apart, and there are strawberries to be made into jam, but I'm trying to stay calm and upbeat. The basement is the place to be as much as possible!

At guild meeting last night, and one of our members showed her small whole-cloth quilt that won first place for Whole Cloth Traditional at the Machine Quilter's Showcase. It's a beautiful quilt, and quite an honor, as well as a first for our little guild. Congratulations, Denise! The list of winners is something to see.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous--I have finished quilting my Hoffman, and have it pinned down for the first blocking. Binding tomorrow. I hope to have it ready to go by July 1. I'm very ready for some brainless piecing as a change of pace, but I also have to work on ribbons for the guild show. I wonder who might win the machine quilting award...

Out of Town, Out of Sorts

I'm staying with my mom while my sister is away. My job is to keep her company, clean, cook, shop, etc. It has rained every day since I came, and I didn't bring enough to do with me. I brought the big red stars quilt to bind, but that's not fascinating, so I'm a bit in the doldrums.

Trying to keep alert, I've been doing these things:

1. Reading blogs. I like to read Elizabeth Barton's blog. In her latest post, she strongly urges working in a series, not a scattershot approach. I am certainly scattered; but what do I want to serialize? Maybe lilacs?

2. Looking at quilt magazines. My mother has a few, and since I don't buy them anymore, hers seemed new and fresh. I learned about the design team at Blue Underground Studios. These are patterns especially designed to be quick and simple, but they're interesting, sophisticated, and contemporary looking, not just traditional blocks made with unattractively large pieces, like many "quick" quilts.

I also read a kind of "Surface Design for Dummies" article in Quiltmaker that suggested putting diluted fabric paint in a spray bottle and misting fabric with it. That sounds like something it might be fun to try, and was a new technique to me.

3. Gone on a brief fiber art tour. My home town is having a fiber art exhibition scattered through different venues (banks, hospitals, galleries). The link is here for anyone in the central Missouri area who might be interested. It's not possible for me to go out long enough to see everything, but today I caught a couple of the installations, and I hope to see some more later in the week.

One artist had small landscapes framed and matted behind glass. I don't like fabric works behind glass. Framed and matted is fine, but not the glass. It spoils the tactile quality; even though you don't really touch fabric art, you should feel like you can. How do other people feel about that?

4. Reading. I finished The Curate's Wife by a now-forgotten English novelist called E. H. Young. Fascinating picture of marriage, told with quite a bit of humor. I'm now reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, an odd novel that is a mixture of short philosophical musing about art, beauty, and the meaning of life, social satire, and character study. Interesting. It was apparently a best seller in France for a very long time. On the drive down I listened to The Book Thief. This novel focuses on a young German girl in the years prior to and during WWII. Quite gripping, moving, highly recommended.

If anything else of interest pops up, I'll be back!

Failure

A month or so ago, when the lilacs were glorious, I wanted to try to make a little piece with stylized lilacs. I thought, "The leaf is a heart, and the flower cluster is a sort of rounded cone, so I should be able to do that." So I stamped some heart shaped leaves for a background, and then appliqued one fabric leaf and the cone shape on top. Here is the result.

I wasn't very happy with it, and when I asked the men I live with what this is, they both said, "It's three leaves," and then when I asked why the leaves were purple, my hubby ventured, "Well, I guess it could be some sort of seed pod." My son then added (after reading the label), "The individual flowers don't show up enough to be a lilac." He's right. I tried to suggest the flowers with the quilted circle design, but either the thread was the wrong color, or the whole concept is faulty. The circles show up much better in the picture than in reality.

I like the way I did this, though. I wanted to quilt around the stamped shapes, so I did that before I did the applique instead of after. I fused the lilac shape to interfacing, stitched the circles, and then zig-zagged the shape in place, outlining it with another row of stitching. The border was added last with a flip and sew method. With a busy back, I think this approach works fine, and I'll do it again on something small.

When I make something small, my husband often asks, "Is that a hot pad?" In this case he may be right. But maybe not. It still looks like lilacs to me--sort of.

More Glimpses and a Poem

The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe

There were six men of Hindustan,
to learning much inclined,
Who went to see an elephant,
though all of them were blind,
That each by observation
might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
at once began to bawl,
"This mystery of an elephant
is very like a wall."



The second, feeling of the tusk,
cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an elephant
is very like a spear."


The third approached the elephant,
and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
thus boldly up and spake,
"I see," quoth he,
"the elephant is very like a snake."



The fourth reached out an eager hand,
and felt above the knee,
"What this most wondrous beast
is like is very plain" said he,
"'Tis clear enough the elephant
is very like a tree."

The fifth who chanced to touch the ear
said, "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
deny the fact who can;
This marvel of an elephant
is very like a fan."

The sixth no sooner had begun
about the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
that fell within his scope;
"I see," said he, "the elephant
is very like a rope."

So six blind men of Hindustan
disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
exceeding stiff and strong;
Though each was partly in the right,
they all were in the wrong!


I'm quilting my Hoffman, and since you're smarter than the six blind men, you can probably fill in the rest. More later--

The June Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative Auction is underway, and my quilt Not Your Grandmother's Flower Garden is being auctioned. An interesting feature of this month's auction is the little autograph quilts. There's one with the autograph of former First Lady Barbara Bush, and several with autographs of the cast of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me show, and one with the autographs of lots of well-known quilters. Take a look.

Changing Scene

Good-bye old friend,



and welcome new.



My faithful ping-pong table which I've used as a cutting table for about ten years has finally gone, to be replaced by a new table from Tracey's Tables. The ping-pong table had a huge amount of work space, room to store things under it, and space on top to pile materials and odds and ends. But it was so big that it made access to some of my storage difficult, so I decided it had to go. I've put it on the Free Stuff section of Craig's List, and hope that someone will carry it away and use it as I have. Its days for ping-pong are gone, alas. The new owner can have the cinder blocks too.

The new table is a perfect height, and although smaller, seems to be adequate for most things. The problem is where to put the things previously under and on top of the ping-pong table. I'm working on that...

Fusible Web

Quilt Studio is hosting a series of posts about fusible web, how we use it, what brands we like, etc. I don't use fusible web too much, but I will comment on my experience.

Brands: I've tried Wonder Under, Steam-a-Seam, Steam-a-Seam Lite, Misty Fuse, but my favorite is one called Trans Web. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find this at my local JoAnn's so will have to look on line when my current supply runs out. My biggest gripe about fusibles is that the paper sometimes doesn't release after the first fuse. I have most success by scoring the paper with a pin and pulling from the score, not pulling away a corner. I like Trans Web best because it releases better than the others. There is a new product made by Pellon called Wonder Under Web, which is just what it says, web only, no paper. So you would have to use parchment paper or a teflon press cloth with it. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds promising.

Here's a link to an old post where I talked about fusible brands in a bit more detail.

Fuse the Shape, Fuse the Whole Fabric: I've done both ways. Usually I trace the shape on the paper, fuse, cut out the shape, score the paper and peel it away before the final fusing. But I have cut free hand from a pre-fused piece of fabric for something small and casual, like a post card. That is easier, but you have to be a good free-hand cutter, obviously. You can also trace around a pattern directly on the fusible-backed fabric. This works well for a simple shape.

Finish the Edges Usually. Again, not for a postcard.

How to Clean the Iron Dritz Iron-Off. Works like a charm. The ironing board cover is another matter. I throw those away regularly. :)

Cruise on over to Quilt Studio, read the other links, and add your own.

Brag Time

Thursday I drove up to Evanston to see my son awarded a major teaching award by Northwestern University. I'm so proud of him. He's always been a terrific speaker, and I can vouch for his teaching ability, since he has patiently helped me develop the computer skills I have.

Anyway, I enjoyed myself tremendously, even though the awards ceremony was not quite as expected. The twins came along, probably not the best idea. Aidan is a wanderer, so I spent the entire ceremony outside with him exploring things like dandelion puffs and the man in a panda suit across the street advertising something. We had a wonderful time, although I would have liked to see the speeches. Conor wouldn't come out with me, and because he expresses himself LOUDLY, even when he's just happily pointing out "Da-da", his mother had to stand with him in the hallway outside the room. We all enjoyed the refreshments afterwards though. The twins loved the fruit, cheese, and crackers, while the adults were certainly ready for a glass of wine.

Here's a picture of the award winner and family that expresses the general flavor of the day: parents trying to look proud and professional while the children have other ideas.

Playing with Paisley and Paint

I spent yesterday afternoon moving little paisley motifs from the Hoffman Challenge fabric around trying to get a look I liked. That was not fun, as my son used to say. I think I finally solved the problem though, (solution not shown) and now will have to buckle down to the applique.

To have some fun, I stamped a little bit of fabric with a stamp cut from foam core. It's intended to be a lilac leaf, and I'll use it as background for a small piece or a couple of postcards with a stylized lilac blossom and leaf appliqued on top. Foam core makes a fairly mediocre stamp. It's so thin that it's hard not to get smears around the edge, and it only holds enough paint for one dark stamp so that's why I have a mixture of dark and light shapes. That effect seems pleasing to me, but I'm not sure about the smudges and the brush strokes that show. I'm sure I've read about other materials that make good, quick, easy, and cheap stamps, but I can't remember what they are now. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate a comment.

Scrap Quilts

Michelle at With Heart and Hands has asked people to post about scrap quilts on Memorial Day Weekend. A good idea, I think. The list of links on her blog is worth looking at.

I love scrap quilts, especially real scrap quilts, not the ones where you buy new fabric and cut it up into nickel squares or 2 1/2 strips for a scrappy look. :) A real scrap is a piece of fabric left over from another project, or from old clothes, although I'm not that much of a purist. I just use "new" leftovers.

Scrap quilts are good for guild service projects. They fulfill two needs: making good use of something that might be wasted otherwise, and providing something warm for a child who needs it. Here are two I've made. One is string pieced squares cut diagonally and put together with a solid to make the star pattern.



This one is all novelty prints. I made various kinds of four patch blocks 6 inches in size and used the yellow sash. Isn't yellow a great neutral? It tones down the busyness but still looks bright and cheerful.


The quilt on the bed at beginning of the post is one I made based on Mary Ellen Hopkins' idea. It's supposed to be an on-going project, and it sure can be. It took me about two years to make mine. The block is made out of 2 1/2 inch squares. You cut your scraps into squares, separate the lights and darks, make a bunch of the diagonal half light, half dark units, sort the pieces into piles in a large flat box, and whenever you're stuck w/o something creative, you can just make a few of these blocks. They're a split 9-patch that can go together in any log-cabin type of setting. This setting is called Woven Ribbons, I believe. I saw a picture of it without any explanation, so my husband and I worked out how to do it. It's easy (sort of) once you know how. I posted on this earlier if you want a close up of one of the blocks.

Inspiration Everywhere

Traveling is like a long-running Artist's Date, as described by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. You get to feast your inner artist on beautiful things, coming away refreshed and inspired, full of ideas. This past trip I was less tuned in to my Inner Artist than usual for some reason, but here are several things that struck me.


Rinder by Franz Marc, in the Pinoteca Moderne in Munich. Doesn't this make you think of a quilt? I should even be able to say whose style is is, but I can't; maybe someone else can. Does comparing this painting to a quilt belittle Marc, a painter I like very much? According to the museum information card, he was killed at the battle of Verdun in 1916; what a tragedy.


The palette of neutrals in these paintings by Murillo is stunning!


This is a major department store in Munich. Wonderful patchwork design, isn't it? I like the silhouettes too.


I'm always fascinated by the patterns on inlaid wood floors. This one, in the Prince Archbishops' Residence in Salzburg, is an interesting variation on the six or eight pointed star you often see.


The shapes and colors of these buildings beside the river in Innsbruck make a wonderful silhouette against the mountain. I found a postcard featuring a painting of a similar view, so I'm not the only one who liked it.


Something about the shapes of these arches as they change with the curve of the porch struck me as beautiful, especially with the lines of the palace in the background. (My husband thought I wanted his photo; I didn't disillusion him.)


A little stream is in the English Garden in Munich. I tried using the cut out filter in Photoshop to simplify it, as described in Elizabeth Barton's blog, and that worked really well. It would be fun to do something from this photograph someday.


But first I have to finish the Hoffman Challenge!

Travelogue Lite

Germany and Austria were beautiful,

the beer delicious,

the buildings historic,

the people friendly,

the museums fascinating.

(I even enjoyed the Deutsche Museum, full of science and technology exhibits.)



And my packing plan worked perfectly!

It's good to be home, however. I spent yesterday unpacking and doing laundry. I thought about doing something in the sewing room in the afternoon, but didn't. In a Munich shop window, I saw this carpet that made me think of my Hoffman.
Maybe I'll get to that today. It was fun to catch up with everyone's news although I haven't commented much. That's something else to do today.

The Hills are Alive...

Sunday we are leaving for 6 days in Innsbruck, Austria, followed by a weekend in Munich. Munich was a sweetener for me, since I didn't have any interest in Innsbruck when my husband was asked to speak there, but I've always wanted to go to Munich. I've since found out that Innsbruck is in Eastern Austria, in a valley surrounded by the Tyrolean Alps. Think Sound of Music, everyone. So this should be fun. I'm certainly expecting good, fattening pastries and sausages, washed down with coffee and beer, but maybe I can hike it off. Or not.

So I've been doing the things you have to do to get ready for a trip. Organizing stuff, running errands, etc. I can't work up any interest in German for some reason, so I hope for friendly, English-speaking people. I finally forced myself to dig out the phrase book this morning, much too late to learn anything.

The part I love is packing. It's such a challenge. I think I mentioned once before my fascination with this web site: One Bag. It's got everything you need to know about traveling light. I'll never be as light as the author, but I try. It doesn't matter how much junk you have for some kinds of trips, but if you've tried to get a suitcase on or off a European train while a bunch of men sit and look at you as though you had two heads, you learn to pare down!

Ironically, since men are supposedly better at traveling light, it's my husband who has all the luggage. He's always weighted down with things he thinks he'll "work on", but of course never touches. He also has to be forced to give up the heavy cotton underwear, socks, and shirts which take up half a suitcase, and never dry, so have to go to hotel laundry. We've made progress though. This time we're checking one full size bag (his) and one smaller one (mine). But then there's his backpack and his briefcase...
We look like one of these pictures, but in reverse.

Of course, probably anyone watching will think Herr Professor Doktor is chivalrously carrying his wife's overload.

In quilting news, I've also been working on the Hoffman Challenge, and have made some progress. I got through the part that seemed tedious or tense, and now have to make some design decisions. But I may wait on that till I come back.

Tantalizing Glimpses?

I'm working on the Hoffman Challenge. It's past the point of being fun, and has become a list of steps to finish, including a few questions about exactly the best way to do some of them. I feel like I did in grad school when I could see the answer of the essay exam before me, but was totally bored with writing it. There's something wrong with that.

Fortunately, it's a beautiful day here, so I think I'll go for a walk or plant something. Everyone have a good weekend!

May Alzheimer Quilt Auction

I'm thrilled that Ami Simms has chosen two of my pieces, Bleeding Hearts and Crazy in the 70's, for this month's auction on The Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative. There are particularly good quilts this month: some beautiful miniature traditional ones as well as mixed media art quilts. Go admire, and maybe bid, starting May 1!

In addition to the monthly Alz Quilts auction, Collage Mania, part of Virginia Spiegel's Fiber Art for a Cause is having their preview now. Bidding for those wonderful mini art quilts and collages begins May 5. You'll recognize many of the artists, and these pieces are definitely worth looking at. So you can pick your cause and your quilt style in the next ten days!

Completed Red Stars and a Postcard

When I arrived at my sister's last week I found my red star quilt waiting for me with all the quilting completed. I'm so happy with this! Click on the pictures and you can see a close-up of the beautiful quilting that Deb Geyer did. The center of the stars can't have been easy. I still have to sew on binding, but since I won't do that for a while, this is this quilt's
final appearance.



When I came home last night, I found this beautiful postcard from Joy Vale, sent all the way from Australia as part of an exchange on Stitchin Fingers. It's hand painted fabric with a lovely suede-like texture, and some applique. Thank you, Joy! This was a delightful piece of mail. In fact, this was a good week for me and the post office!

Update

This is just a quick post to prove I haven't disappeared. I'm at my sister's, enjoying the visit, but very busy. I've dusted, vacuumed, cleaned kitchen drawers, weeded, all trying to bring some order to my mother's house which has been empty over the winter. It's rather a hopeless task, and knowing that I need to go home and do much of the same work at my house is depressing. It's beautiful here though, with spring flowers in full bloom.

I did go to the International Quilt Festival last week end, but don't have many pictures. Here's one-- Springtime in Japan by Akiko Kawata. It has a beautiful impressionistic quality, and the heavy quilting adds great texture.

The festival was excellent this year, and I'm not alone in thinking this apparently, since I've read unanimously favorable reports. I liked the special exhibits Town and Country, Tactile Architecture, the fabric artists' retrospective, and Hands All Around, the international exhibit which is always my favorite. The Hoffman Challenge quilts were missing, and disappointed, I tried to find out why. After asking four people, I finally found the person in charge of special exhibits, who reported that they just forgot to book it in time!

I'll be here two more days, and then I'm driving home. It will be good to be back to the regular routine.

Traveling

Tomorrow I'm driving to Chicago to see my son, daughter-in-law, and of course the twins. My original plan was drive over to the Chicago Quilt Festival on Saturday and leave from there to drive part way to my sister's in Missouri. I find I'm not as excited about the show as I have been in the past. The crowds and the general hassle of getting there seemed more trouble than the show was worth last year. But I'll give it one more try. Perhaps I can find some interesting thread or fibers for my Hoffman Challenge quilt. I'll try to post a photo or two although that is becoming more frowned upon. In other quilt news, Deb Geyer has finished quilting my red star quilt and has sent it to my sister's so I can pick it up there and show it off to the family. I'm excited about that, and will definitely post a picture.