Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycle. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Preview of Quilter's Connection Article

Much to my pleasure, I received via email, an invitation to contribute an article to a new Canadian magazine called Quilter's Connection.  http://www.quiltersconnection.ca/  It was to be their "green" issue, concentrating on re-purposing, re-cycling and re-using.  I agreed and decided I would feature Art Trading Cards, wonderful little tableaus for experimental artwork. 


Fitting in with the "Green" theme, I have been picking up bits and pieces around the grounds of the high school where I work for  quite some time now.  I bring them home, run them through the dishwasher, and if they survive, save them in a basket for mixed media art "in the future".  The variety of items I have found is amazing.  Pop can tabs, broken earrings, plastic buttons, flattened bottle caps with unique designs on them, bits of rusty metal...the list goes on and on.  My co-worker has even joined in and brought me little things she has found! 


So with this invitation from Quilter's Connection, I suddenly had an incentive (and a deadline) to put together the things I'd been percolating in the back of my mind for a while!  Here are the results.  The complete article will be in the spring issue of the magazine so I can even add that to my list of where I've been "published"! 


These are a sneak preview of what will be in the magazine.  You can play a sort of "Where's Waldo" game and see if you can see the things I used below in the picture above!  They ARE there! 

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

A lesson Learned!


I am posting, finally, a photograph of the finished vegetable quilt I made for my Dad. I forgot to take a picture of it before I left, but my cousin sent me this one. It’s such a cheerful looking quilt that I would actually like to make it again for myself! And I’m stashing some of the best fabrics so that I can!

Now….Here’s a little story for you all to learn from! It started innocently enough….I am going on a trip to Pittsburgh and New York City this spring. Two girls I know but who don’t know each other are meeting me there. Last Saturday one, who lives way out on one of the Gulf Islands, came to town and dropped over for coffee. I called the other friend to come over and meet her while she was in town (otherwise it involves a long drive and a boat ride across the Gulf Channel).

In anticipation of these two coming to visit, I cleared off my kitchen table and put a pile of things that were destined for my sewing room and office in a basket. I keep this basket behind my chair to put our recycling in and carry it up and down the stairs. We had a great visit and are positive we’ll have a wonderful time together. They left, and I went on with my day, shopping and gardening.


Three days later, I took everything downstairs and set it in the garage for my husband to sort. I’m a secretary, but he has no faith in my ability to file the garbage so he always does it. I came down a little later, we hopped in our vehicle and off we went to work.

When we came home that night, I saw my portfolio and a cookie box on his work bench. I asked what that was doing down here. He replied “It was in the recycling and I couldn’t believe you were throwing that out. I hollered up the stairs to see if you really wanted to but I think you were in the shower so I figured if you wanted to toss it, it could go out next week. I felt sick to my stomach and I think perhaps looked it as well because he said “What’s wrong?” I told him that portfolio has my tickets, my itinerary, AND my passport in it. All the stuff in the basket was just to go to my sewing room and I had put it there when I cleared off the kitchen table for Linda and Angela! He was concerned that it would be bills that were lost. I told him not to worry, those get sent again! I know there was no money in it….I had to think hard and could not sit still so I took the dog for a long walk. I’ve figured out a few things that were in that basket…..some transfer image samples on silk, some more pictures to try the technique with, a couple of bills….but I think I am very lucky because he somehow managed to pull out the most important item! Imagine writing to say I need a new passport because mine went to the dump by accident! They wouldn’t think I should be allowed to travel!

But the lesson learned is not to put valuables in containers normally used for disposal! And this is the second time in my life I’ve learned that lesson….but that’s another story!