Enjoying my Studio for Thanksgiving

It's Friday! TGIF. A long week to say the least. But now I have three days to spend in my studio. I have done my sewing in many situations.....a corner of the bedroom, the dining room table, the master bedroom in a small house while we slept in one of the small rooms, and now, in this room. I feel I've died and gone to heaven. BUT....there's a lesson learned. Your studio is NEVER going to be big enough. When you get a bigger room to work in, you also collect more stuff to work on. Here is a photograph of my sewing room "cleaned up". How often do you think it looks like this? Nobody I know would recognize it! But now the picture is here for posterity to prove that I actually did clean it up once!



Behind those "design walls" is my fabric stash. They slide sideways and I can access my fabrics, sorted by colors. I thought I'd just show you where I work! At the side is a china cabinet my husband bought at a garage sale for $50. It was brown and horrible looking and to top it off, smelled as if it had been in a house fire. Our son told us to paint it with "Kilz" and then paint it the color we wanted and it would be fine. We did, and it looks wonderful against the side wall. It holds all my wool. It's really a delightful room, especially in the morning sun. And this is where all the projects in "Embellishing with Everything" were created.

Fabric Christmas Cards

Since the release of my book, “Embellishing with Anything” through C&T Publishing, I have been asked to teach a variety of classes at quilt shops on Vancouver Island, as well as to do trunk shows. This is a lot of fun and I love the people I meet at these events.

I have an upcoming class in Nanaimo, to teach a Christmas card I designed. This card is created using the technique for the cover project in my book. Only the colors have been changed from the Cherry Tree bark and pink flowers, to a more wintry shade of pale blue with beads and sequins added to represent ice and snow. It was fun making these.


If any of the students who were in the Gingko Leaf class (the project photo at the top of my blog) are in this one too, I know it will be a totally delightful day. That class was two Saturday’s ago and my students were such a great bunch. I was sorry to have to go home! And the best part? When I got home, unpacked my supplies and was putting them away, I found a set of three pieces of fabric that one of the students had snuck into my case. I had admired her fabric and the results and she chose to gift me with some of each one so that I can use it in my own work. What a lovely surprise….Thank you so much Dian!!!!

Painting a Garbage Can!

Now, I have a son who is a bit “out there”. He knows I feel that way about him so if he reads this, he’ll just chuckle. He has such a heart-warming chuckle. But to the reason I write about him…..he has three children of his own, and took in an extra four teen-age boys when their father passed away 3 years ago. That increased his family size to 9. Needless to say, some renovations to their house were made necessary.

One of those renos was to take out a wall between the kitchen/dining/living room areas, and install an island in the kitchen. The top of that island has an extended round end, and it is built to accommodate a full size garbage can, right in the middle of his kitchen! Have I mentioned that I think his wife is a saint? We had a good laugh when I said “Of all the decorating shows I watch, I have never seen any of the designers incorporate a full size garbage can!” He assured me they would if they lived with this many people and had to take a full bag to the curb daily.

For his birthday, my friend Ang and I got together and painted a garbage can. I mean, if it’s going to be a focal point in his home, it should look good don’t you think? We had so much fun painting it. The design is copied from a pasta set I have. It’s bright and cheerful and I can’t wait to give it to him.

Ang took pictures on the day we worked on it, a delightful Saturday, and has created a little slide show of the progress. The picture below is the finished project, with faces on and details added.

To view Angela's photo album: "fat chef weekend" Copy and paste this into your address bar:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/sredir?uname=NewYorkMay09&target=ALBUM&id=5384521412697192673&authkey=Gv1sRgCOy6w97kiKD9ZA&invite=CKXC3PAO&feat=email

To do this we spray painted the garbage can (a plastic one) with paint designed for plastic lawn chairs. From there we sketched the outlines with chalk, using the pasta set as a reference. (It should be pointed out somewhere here that he loves pasta). With that done we began filling in the colors and details. When it was done, we let the acrylic paints dry, and then added the faces and ties on their aprons with Sharpie markers in brown and black. With that done, the entire project was finished with two coats of spray acrylic varnish.

I am looking forward to delivering it to his home and hearing his response to our artwork!

The Garment District, New York City

Picture of button

Another adventure during my trip to New York City. On one of the afternoons that we split up to go pursue our separate interests, I went to the garment district. That is the reason I wanted to see New York City….to see the garment district. The excitement I felt when I saw that big button with the needle in it was indescribable. A dream was coming true! But I really had no clue what I was in for. The garment district is a block of streets and avenues all of which contain fabric stores, button shops, fringe shops, feather shops, embellishment specialty shops…..you name it and there isn’t just one shop, there are several.

I spent 4 hours wandering in and out of the stores there. And that was only the ones located at street level! The stores are so very different than what we have here in Canada, or in fact, anywhere else I’ve been lucky enough to shop for fabric! The fabric is on rolls, and the rolls stand on the floor, leaning against the wall, against the row behind them, and against the next row etc. etc., until they are so deep that you can hardly reach the ones at the back. There are little aisles through the store that if you are wearing a back pack, you cannot turn around in! All you can see is the tip of the roll so you have to reach in and try to lift up the roll. The minute you try to do that, the salesperson is there to get it for you, unroll what you were interested in and spread it out for a better view. I was so astounded at the variety and sheer volume that I was on sensory overload and kind of wandered around trying not to look overwhelmed! Gobsmacked as Debbie Travis would say!

And nothing has a price on it. It seems to be decided upon when you ask about it. And then you are expected to barter. Now I know some people love to barter, but I’m not one of them. Therefore, my shock and discomfort to see a customer and a salesperson actually yelling at each other over some fabric for a sari would not be a surprise to those who know me! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing and left the store to go to the next one. In the end, I came back with ONE little bag that had a HALF yard of fabric.

When I walked into the hotel room, where Linda and Ang were waiting for me, Ang could not believe I had spent four hours in the fabric district and came back with one little package. I sat down with my glass of wine and described what I’d been exposed to. Ang was rolling on the bed laughing at the thought of me being so overwhelmed that I didn’t buy fabric by the yards! I told her she was in for it….just for laughing, she had to come back with me the next day. There actually was a piece I loved, but couldn’t bring myself to barter. She agreed.

Next morning, we were there bright and early. We found the store I wanted to return to and found the roll of fabric I had admired. It was already half gone! But I did get two yards and I did barter for it. I don’t know if I got a good deal, but if I’d got it here in Canada at that price, it was a great deal. I just fondle it daily now…..it’s one of those I have to think about before I cut into it!

But I have to admit that I lay awake at night wishing I could go to the garment district when I’m starting a new project here at home. The offerings were utterly spectacular and I will never forget the variety and possibilities. It would be a wonderful place to go with a project in mind and look for specific items. I could do a whole new book on embellishing! I’m so glad I made it there at least once in my life!

Museum of Modern Art

The saying goes "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Never was that truer than when I visited the Museum of Modern Art, not even a block from the American Folk Art Museum. After being astounded at the Paula Nadelstern show at the Folk Art Museum, I walked down and went to the Museum of Modern Art, otherwise known as MOMA.

My first impression was that it was big and empty. The courtyard was nice. I wandered through the exhibits, becoming less and less interested and more and more convinced that "modern" art is not my preference. A display of prints of Marilyn Monroe's face, each a different color. Some sculptures, some drawings, all stark and graphic. And then I came into a room that had some of the work of Robert Rauschenberg.

Remember I have just come from a quilt display that was breathtaking. Now I am standing in front of a hanging that consists of an antique quilt mounted in a wooden frame with a pillow, as if it was a partially made bed, with paint poured over the entire thing. It looked like an accident I would have when I am painting in the house, but to have someone voluntarily take a hand made antique quilt and do that to it......I was incensed. Another piece by this artist was a big painting of slashed colors with a worn tire hanging off of it. I was quite horrified.




When I discussed this with a friend of mine here on the island, she instantly knew it was Robert Rauschenberg and had this to say about him: "He was an odd character but he did art a service by waking us up to the artistic possibilities of assembling odd objects and found objects. Remember in the 1950’s they were mostly painting stuff and doing traditional sculpture. It would have been a very exciting time to be in New York with that particular group of modern artists." Here is a link which discusses the work that so angered me! Copy and paste this into your browser address bar

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-rauschenberg14-2008may14,1,3534489.story

I guess modern art just isn't my cup of tea! But, it takes all kinds and it has certainly given me something to think about when I'm dreaming up new projects!

Paula Nadelstern at the American Folk Art Museum

Another story about my trip to New York City. On an afternoon where I went wandering on my own, I decided I would go to the Museum of Modern Art. And….It was my extreme good fortune to discover before I left, that Paula Nadelstern was having a show of her quilts at the American Folk Art Museum. So this particular afternoon was reserved for those two experiences.

After checking the map, I walked from the hotel. A great experience in window shopping and people watching. The Museum of Folk Art and MOMA are on the same street and the direction I approached from took me to the Paula Nadelstern show first. I walked in, bought my ticket, and stopped right there in the lobby to look at the quilts that were hung there as an introduction. To say I was speechless at their beauty and intricacy would be a major understatement. I sat on the bench in the lobby and just admired what I was seeing. Pictures were not allowed and I don’t have photographic memory, but I have to say what I was seeing put me into a kind of trance but on the edge of tears. Paula Nadelstern’s work is so fine and so perfect that it is impossible to absorb what you’re seeing in a glance! This is a photo of Paula in the lobby, taken from her website:



When I felt like I could walk again, (honest!), I went upstairs to the display they had for the rest of her work. Quilts of all sizes were hanging there along with her description of their inspiration and the process used in creating them. I studied each one carefully and made some notes of what was outstanding. Part of Paula’s kaleidoscope collection was also on display for visitors to look through and be entranced by the color magic they produce. But her quilts were a stunning experience to view in real life. Pictures just don’t do justice to the perfection, intricacy, color, and detail. I would highly recommend that anybody buy her new book, “Kaleidoscope Quilts, An Artist’s Journey Continues”. The quilts in the show are featured in it, and even if you don’t quilt or even quilt that style, it’s a wonderful coffee table book and fantastic inspiration.

Here is a link to pictures of the show on her website. You'll have to copy and paste it into your browser address bar:

http://www.paulanadelstern.com/UserFiles/File/afam_2479.pdf

Day 4 in NYC, May 20, 2009 bridge & toes in river

It’s our last day the bus passes will be valid and Ang said that’s a good thing because we’ve gone past the same area a couple of times getting back to home base and have had different guides each time. She said she’s starting to feel like adding to their commentary with something the “other” guide said. I laughed and said....I know what you mean, and if I’m not mistaken when we went past Bette Davis’s house today, it seemed to me that it was the same one Kathryn Hepburn used to live in when we went by yesterday.” Linda said she picked up on that one too.

Today we walked the Brooklyn Bridge. It is quite stunning. Not only looking back at the Manhattan skyline, but the construction of the bridge itself. As you walk along with your eyes agog and your mouth trying not to hang open in amazement (paints a good picture right?) the cars are whizzing back and forth underneath you. The walking/cycling deck is above so you see the cables and ramparts beautifully. Having a perfectly sunny day helped the ambience I must say. When we got to Brooklyn, we went to yet again another Starbucks and had coffee, and then walked down to the shore of the river. We wanted to say we’d been able to put our feet in the Atlantic! But it’s the river….but we did it anyways. Ang and I are both rock and stone collectors. We took pictures of the shore, quite different than here in BC, and we picked up a few pebbles to take home to add to our garden collections.



We plan to separate on tomorrow’s tour, as we have different preferences of which museum and/or gallery we want to see. Everyone has different plans. Mine are go to two art galleries, MOMA and the American Museum of Folk Art for the Paula Nadelstern show. I can’t believe my luck that she has a show hanging when I am in the city! We have post it notes that we’ve made lists on stuck to the wall three in a row with what we want to do on it and every time we get back to the hotel room we scratch something off. I wish I’d taken a picture of that! I plan to visit the garment district too!

Ang and Linda laughed at me today because I said the sides of my neck are actually sore from looking to the left at this and then looking to the right at that. I tried to defend myself by saying that everything I do at home is looking straight ahead....work, sewing, TV, stitching etc. They wouldn’t have it and kept laughing. So I gave in and said “What can I say? I’ll tell people to do neck exercises if they are going to come here!”