"Strange" Friends

 I have a great friend who walks with me on a regular basis....well as regularly as I can make it happen with all the demands of caring for my parents!  This friend is also one whom I travel with to quilt seminars.  First time was last year and we discovered that we make great room mates, like to walk in the morning, like to keep working on our projects after class, and just generally, enjoyed the same things outside of the classroom.  We walked miles along the California beaches at Monterey and loved every minute of it.  (Except that her camera took better pictures than mine!)

Since getting home we've carried on walking in our local area.  We both have dogs so we walk for probably a couple of hours, rain or shine.  Her background is military and she is a lot of years younger than me, so sometimes it's a bit like going to boot camp when I walk with her!  Last summer we walked when it was really too warm to be exerting ourselves like that, and when we got back to her house, we sat on the back deck, drinking water and just visiting.

Something she said about one of her other friends struck me as odd and I looked at her and said "You have some really strange friends."  She looked at me and answered "Yes.  Yes I do Gladys!"  I laughed at that as I had asked for and deserved her quick retort!

But it didn't end there.  About two weeks later, she came to my house and we were about to go for a long walk on the beach with the dogs.  But before we left she presented me with a gift.  A small art quilt made in honour of that conversation.  It was so wonderful I had to go get Mum and Dad to see it as well. I was complimented by the fact that she used the technique in my book, Embellishing with Anything, C&T Publishing, to represent my hair.  She was pleased with herself for accurately depicting my unusual earring! And the best part.....the pattern she used to quilt it is called "Bananas."  

I was pleased quite touched that she thought to do that for me and it now hangs in a place of honour in my studio.

What kind of Quilter am I?

The following contains excerpts of an excellent newsletter from Quilt University. www.QuiltUniversity.com    A great place for on-line classes if you haven't discovered them already.  I have put the parts from their newsletter in italics, and I do have their permission to repeat their thoughts here.  I thought it was a great thought-provoking and introspective article. 

If I asked what kind of quilter you are, how would you answer?  A dear friend of mine told me I couldn’t call myself a quilter until I had at least five unfinished projects under the cutting table.  If that is true, I think I qualify to be three quilters by now!   

Can you remember when you actually finished one project before starting another?  I don’t honestly think I ever did!  The fabrics and patterns became very insistent, shoving each other and jostling to the front of the line, screaming "me next!!"  That was pretty hard to resist.  Soon my sewing room had UFO’s everywhere.

At the same time, there were new books, each one showcasing beautiful projects and new techniques.  How could I keep quilting if I didn't learn it all?  I became a technique junkie, afraid I might miss the one magic trick that would change my quilting life forever. 

Pretty soon, I began designing my own quilt patterns.  This came as much from a personality flaw as from any great urge to be a designer.  It seems I am constitutionally incapable of following directions for any length of time. 

Have you recognized yourself yet?  Let's look at some other kinds of quilters.  First, there are those who are just stopping by, trying this as they have tried decoupage or knitting.  They usually move on after a quilt or two. This was not me.....I got into quilting because four friends that I made lace with challenged me to take it up.  I said I was not good with math, not good with color, and I couldn’t afford it......I was right on the I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) afford it!

Then there are those who see themselves as part of a great tradition.  They are interested in making a quilt for each member of their family because that's what grandma did.  They often stick with traditional patterns and methods.  A subset of these quilters are the ones who are driven to recreate quilts from the past.  They often search out vintage fabrics to work with.  If old fabrics are not available, they buy reproductions.  They want their quilts to look old.  They value the historical aspect of quilting above any new explorations. This is most definitely NOT me! 

Some quilters just like to sew.  They enjoy handling the fabric and seeing the patterns.  Their real love is the process.  They like to keep their hands busy and making a quilt gives them an outlet and produces a useful product. This description is definitely a part of me!

For some, their favorite part is the quilting.  They lavish endless hours on marking and quilting, taking up to a year creating tiny little stitches.  They are creating heirlooms to be kept and treasured. NOT! 

Then there are the explorers.  They want to learn it all, do it all and then change it all.  They use a bit of this and a dab of that, mix it with their own ideas of what a quilt should be and add new depth and richness to an old tradition.  They often become teachers because quilting has taken over their lives.  They need to support their habit, but they also feel driven to bring others into the fold.  I'm not sure if this is an urge to share or a variation on misery loves company, but nothing makes a teacher happier than watching a new student share her addiction. Now we’re beginning to describe my quilting life! 

Finally, there are those who make art quilts.  Sometimes they are explorers who have moved in this direction.  For others, they were artists in another medium and have moved to fabric from painting or drawing.  Some even come from dimensional art like sculpture and they experiment with ways to make fabric dimensional.

So, who am I?  Like many, a combination of most of the above!  This summer we’ve been working on an addition to our house which is for my parents to live in, which you’ll know if you’ve read my earlier posts.  This week the electrician found a wire that was live in the crawl space, but not connected to anything.  In order to fix that, he needed to get at a plug in the back wall of my sewing room, behind my fabric storage unit.  He asked if I could move all that out of there while they had lunch so that he could access it!  I said a bad word!  But I did it!  And in these photos you can see the results of my obsessions.....it takes great organizational skills to keep all this stuff where you can find it when you need it......and I don’t have them!  Here's a little video to show you just how it looked!

However, the happy outcome of this rather frustrating day was that everything got tidied up and reorganized and I actually got some sewing done this week, as opposed to painting, staining, digging, sweeping and all the other construction related interruptions! 

Liquitex Silkscreen Medium, Results & Game On Diet!

I'm back at it!  Feels good.  All the travelling/nursing/babysitting grandkids has passed for a while and I've managed to get moving again. 

Part of this happy development is that my niece talked me into joining a group called the "Game On Diet".  Go here to check it out.  http://www.thegameondiet.com/  In short, it's a healthy living plan that not only helps you lose weight, but also encourages exercise, sleeping the correct amount of hours, drinking water, and best of all, changing bad habits and trying new good habits.  And that part has resulted in this FINISHED project!

This is the result of using Liquitex Inks, provided to me by C&T Publishing as one of their author ambassadors (means I get to play with new products!)  I'm loving it. 

These inks are wonderful.  Lots of pigment and easy easy easy to use.  I've tried stamping with them, painting fabric with them, monoprinting, and silk screening on both paper and fabric.


One comment on an earlier post of mine regarding silkscreening asked what I was using for medium to allow use of the inks on a silk screen, and to answer that.....


I laid out as much Liquitex Iridescent Fluid Medium as I thought it would take to scrape across the silk screen itself.  To that I stirred in drops of the Liquitex Inks until the color was intense enough for my liking.  I stirred it really well so that it was completely mixed.  And that's it!  The only thing of note here is that the iridescent medium takes more attention to wash out of the silkscreen than regular medium.  If not cleaned well, your silkscreen would not last the predicted 100+ prints! So as always, the price to pay amidst all this exciting play is careful clean up!


With a spoon I laid out the inked medium at the top of the silkscreen and pulled it with the soft edged scraper to the bottom.  This was the result.

This is a piece of commercial fabric, with the silk screen placed on the print where I thought it would work well.


I pressed it when it was dry, to set the colors altho the inks supposedly don't need that, but having added the medium I thought I'd ensure permanence. 


Then I decided to cut the tree up and displace it in a wall hanging in the required 12 x 12 size.  The results above are what happened.  The blue fabrics are the ones used in an indigo dye workshop I took with my girlfriend (where I managed to stab her in the elbow with my scissors but that's another story)!  The reason you see my last name on one strip is that I couldn't use it if I cut off the name.  I love how some of the shading in the dye process fell into the design. 


The orange piece on the right side is a piece of hand painted and sponged fabric that I did when playing around, and the border is a piece of hand painted fabric that was cotton, but had a textured weave and I've used the bumpy strips in it, which collected the paint in a different way, to represent bark around the hanging. 


The quilting of the Garry Oak leaves is done with King Tut Thread from Superior Threads http://www..com/shop/category/king-tut/description/  The quilting of the tree is done with blue Sulky Sliver metallic. 

Here are some close ups: 

The Rainbow is .... Finishing!!!

While on the island for holidays I fell.  I'd love to say I was rock climbing or beachcombing, but it was actually a slip in the bathroom.  How "old lady" is that!!  I've discovered that gum boots and heavy socks are very forgiving footwear......that and a holiday season where a lot of visiting is done and not a lot of activity.  But I did trek around the island, wander on the beaches and get in and out of boats!  Albeit tenderly. 

I came home three days before I had to go back to work and took it fairly easy, other than a walk to the beach and back with the dog.  But it was when I went back to work, sat at my desk all day and was wearing a work shoe that it became apparent something was really wrong.  My foot swelled quite badly and was burning inside.  I decided I should go to a walk-in clinic and have it checked.  Long story short.....I ended up with my foot in an air cast with three broken metatarsals to nurse back to health!  I was quite honestly surprised as I thought it was just sprained!  I told my husband that I'd felt like a very old woman getting in and out of the boats....bad enough they rock and slide away from you when you get in them, but I was nursing a tender foot.  His reply?  You looked like one too! 

However, the rainbow in this story is that I've been instructed to keep the foot elevated as much as possible, and haven't been able to drive.  Doesn't seem like a silver lining does it?  But it's led me to FINISHING things!  Anything I can do sitting with my foot up.  I've done hand quilting, stitched on binding, and even did some hand mending!  I used to say "Finishing is an "F" word", but now I'm thinking it's a pretty good feeling. 

Here are some pictures of the things I've completed.  The top one is a quilt for a friend's baby, two are samles of classes I'll be teaching this spring.....and I won't bore you with the mending! 

LOOK UP!!!!

Looking UP is something I forget to do. When walking about and especially in a quilt shop, I am so intent on the displays in the window, the people passing by, the litter that may be a piece of art,the fabric and notions on display..... I often forget to look above my eye level.

This past weekend was a perfect example of that. I had the pleasure of travelling to Victoria, BC with my very good friend. The trip was a gift from her sweetie, who sent us away together to shop and find upholstery fabric! I think there may be a message in there somewhere, but that’s not what this is about!

We went to Munro’s books, where a quilt artist described to us by the clerk in a nearby clothing store had quilts on display. They are mounted on the wall space between the top bookshelf and the ceiling.  This building is a heritage one so you can imagine how high they are! I’d never have noticed them if I’d been there without the advice of the sales clerk!  I would have been absorbed in the books on display at eye level!

You can see great photos of the entire display  here at this link. http://munrobooks.com/about/ These quilts are described in the lower paragraph and are quite stunning and amazing to see in person. So “look up” if you go to Munro’s! The artist is Carol Sabistan.  The one to the right is one of a series of 4, my personal favorite, but they are all amazing works of art.  And huge! 

After our sojourn into the book store, we decided we needed to eat something. A restaurant named “Mo:Le” was recommended to us. We walk everywhere we go, and often get distracted (I bet you’d never have guessed that!) by something we pass. We had the address of the restaurant in hand, but we walked by this building. I had to stop and take a picture of this piece of impromptu art mounted on the wall, at eye level, of the deserted building. I thought it was beautiful in the fact that an unidentified artist had chosen that spot to display it.

 

This somewhat derelict building is in the Chinatown area of Victoria,  and this painting is done on the column next to the wall where the mixed media art was mounted.  You can just see the edge of it on the left side of the picture.

And then Ang pointed out the roofline of the building. I looked up to see that the building was actually just the front wall and portions of the side, but the windows were gone and the sky was showing through! No roof, no windows and no back. How intriquing is that? I was quite fascinated.

After our little photo shoot we continued our walk to Mo:Le. We were walking along looking at street numbers on the doors and buildings and unable to find the one we wanted…..554 Pandora. Since I am "directionally challenged", we decided to use the map application on my phone to get a map from where we stood to the address we were looking for. There we are in the street, typing in the address and waiting for the data to download. Aha! We have two dots….start walking and see if they get closer together or further apart……they got closer together.

FIVE steps later they merged!! We stopped in our tracks and looked around not seeing anything that indicated a 554 or a “Mo:Le”. And then we looked around and UP! There, hanging above the street visible to people down the block, was the restaurant sign. Go to this link and check the menu selections: http://www.molerestaurant.ca/ The food was absolutely fabulous….we were eating from the breakfast menu. Everything made right there: salsa, tortillas, hot sauce, the works. It was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten and when I say that it really means something because I don't enjoy cooking, but travel with a food oriented person most of the time! I will certainly be revisiting this one! 

After a most delicious meal, we walked to Chintz & Company, to buy the upholstery fabric. http://chintz.com/t-victoria.aspx  Ang has a lovely funky old chair that was her Grandma’s, and we are going to recover it with fresh fabric. I’ve done a chair before so have promised to help. That should be another interesting adventure….only we’ll be looking down!

A Forgetful Start and a Happy Ending

Recently I was invited to teach at an “Art Quilter’s Day” for the Parksville Quilt Guild http://www.parksvillequilthousequilters.com/ . I mentioned it in a previous post where I had been preparing to teach a class that was not the one advertised!

Preparations were done in advance. The class was scheduled and organized before our move, and then took place after the move. I felt accomplished in that I not only remembered that I had to teach, but I could find samples, demo items and supplies I had packed beforehand.  Picture me patting myself on the head here!

I got up on the Saturday morning confident that all was well. I was up in plenty of time to have tea before I left, and had everything in the car the evening before. But my husband seemed as if he couldn’t wait to see me off. He kept offering to help, offering to put things in the car, offering to fill my travel mug……I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to and why he was so anxious to get me on the road.

But I left, took the turn onto the new inland Island Highway, which zips past all the towns and various turn offs and makes for a faster trip. It’s an hour’s drive and I’m in plenty of time. It wasn’t until I crossed the overpass on the intersection that I USED to use to turn onto this highway that I realized what my husband was fretting about. I’d forgotten to add distance we moved north of our previous home….twenty minutes!!!

Now I’m driving with the cruise control set at 10 over the limit, in hopes of getting there a little sooner and not getting caught! Added to my anxiety is the fact that I have proven to be directionally challenged and often take the wrong turn…..I’ve even done it WITH a GPS! But luckily this time I found the place without a false turn. I was so relieved.

I walked into the room where all the classes were set up to find two classes ready to go and my students all ready to go but looking a little concerned at their lack of a teacher. walked in, stood in front of everyone and said “I forgot where I lived!” One student, who knows me, said “Oh Right….you moved further north didn’t you?” And the laughter burst out.....he discussions about the difficulties of moving, and the stories of my previous meanderings on the wrong road, and then we got down to the business at hand. It was a class teaching how to make the tree on the cover of my book, “Embellishing with Anything” published through C&T http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1288 

OR, you can find it here  http://www.amazon.com/Embellishing-Anything-Techniques-Quilts-ATCs-Wallhangings/dp/1571205888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276821483&sr=1-1.

It was one of the best classes I’ve taught. Excellent students, all with a sense of humour and a sense of adventure. All with different color choices, all with different applications for the same project and every student finished at least one during the day, some doing a second one as well.

Thank you to all of you because you forgave my silliness in not leaving quite on time (I did thank my husband when I got home), and I look forward to another day like that one any time you want to organize it!