An English Artist in Britany

Periodically I peruse the various that comprise Urban Sketchers. Yesterday I found Caroline of the Artist’s Smock. Her drawings remind me of Seattle Sketcher, but with a European Twist. I like her descriptive bio as well. I can’t insert the drawing I like, but you can see it at http://tinyurl.com/artistsmock.

Anna Maria Horner and Blogging without Obligation

You may have noticed the little badge I added awhile ago from TartX. The Blogging without Obligation badge is a reminder to myself that if I don’t post every day, nobody will die and the world won’t end.

To that end, I try and be patient with people who don’t post as often as *I* would like them to post. Thus, I was thrilled today when I saw a couple of posts from Anna Maria Horner. She obviously reads her blog comments, because her post is answers to a number of questions that came up in comments when she posted her multi-tasking bag -soon-to-be- pattern. I really liked the post. I clipped a little piece of it to get you there easily, though I really wanted to clip the part about the patterns and couldn’t.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

oilcloth: Is being rolled onto bolts as we speak which is fabric talk for the last thing that happens before it ships to stores. You’ll have to check with your shops to ask if they’re carrying it, as I’m not sure that every store who has my quilting cottons will also have these. Though I know they’ve been popular picks. We’ll also have them listed in the shop in precut 2yd quantities as soon as they get here. They’re 55″ wide and I think will be retailing for 19$ or so a yard. AND GUESS WHAT? YOU DID IT! You banged your pots and pans & helped me get 3 MORE prints of Good Folks sent off to the mills for more oilcloth varieties! Yay you! It will take a little time to print and coat the wider goods, but you have this, this and this one to look forward too.
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Various and Sundry (aka Clean Up Time)

I realized this morning that I had about twelve browser tabs open, many with sites that I wanted to share. This is a post that is all about cleaning up my desktop.

Jen made a comment on my blog that got me to thinking about a problem I was struggling with. Her profile led me to her blog, A Quilting Jewel, which I mentioned in a previous blog post. Jen quilts with her aunt and she is very prolific. I like the way she shows her work in process.

Notebookism is a blog about notebooks and journals. I write every day and go through several journals a year with just writing and a couple of others with notes and drawings for quilts. I was led to this site somehow after looking at the Myndology website. They have some interesting finds in the journal department and they don’t seem to post much.

Michael Nobbs, a Welsh artist, started following my Twitter stream. I always wonder why people follow my Twitter stream because I don’t say very much on it. I certainly don’t say anything very relevant. Perhaps that is the whole point? Anyway, I went and looked at his stream and found some interesting sketches that he is doing and others to which he links, like Seattle Sketcher, which I mentioned he other day. As a result I decided to follow his Twitter stream as well. I think the Creative Mom podcast, as well as my thoughts on a Daily Art Practice, are turning my mind towards sketching. Don’t worry! I am not abandoning quiltmaking. Quite the contrary; I think that viewing sketching sites can inform my quiltmaking. When he received the notice that I was following him, he sent me a message thanking me and a link to his website. On the main page he has a drawing of a teapot, which immediately attracted my attention. There is also a link to his blog.

Matt Sparrow has some interesting quilts and information about thread listed on his blog. I like the batik star he posted. He said the pattern is called Enchanted Star. It looks like an Ohio Star with some 4 patches thrown in.

The Fresh and Modern Quilt Pool at Flickr is really inspiring. Not only are many of the quilts interesting, but the photography is inspired as well. I found this pool by working my through the Denyse Schmidt pool, also on Flickr. Some of the quilts are in both pools. There are lots of simple patterns and the use of fabric is really good. I particularly like the way people have used the large scale prints. One nice thing about Flickr is you can blog straight from the image (if you have set that up) and it makes a very nice layout on your blog. You can see an example in the New Star Block from Flickr post.

As I may have mentioned, the Creative Mom podcast has a bunch of associated sites including the CMP Circle Flickr Pool where members and listeners post their various projects.

Finally, Deirdre pointed me to the Quilt Show blog. I am a little annoyed at the Quilt Show,because of the way it has changed Alex Anderson’s podcast. I liked the way she interviewed people in the past. Now she just goes on and on about the Quilt Show. I am sure it is a great, but I don’t watch it, because I don’t have time and I don’t want to pay for something I don’t have time to take advantage of. I know things change. Blah. Blah. Blah. Anyway, the blog, even though it has a lot of ads, has a lot of nice quilts pictured. There are a variety of different topics also: block of the month, process of fabric design, guests on the show, etc. It’s worth a look.

Enjoy this surf around the web.

Another Reason to Mention the Creative Mom Podcast

clipped from www.etsy.com
Sweet Pink and Green Birdhouse Lovee - Small Quilt
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I have been listening to the Creative Mom podcast for a couple of months now and it has been on my list of things to tell you about. Amy Cowan creates CMP, where she offers essays, book reviews, pattern reviews, a community of like minded people, creative prompts, enthusiasm and a travelogue of her journey through the creative process.

This is a very professional podcast. She is organized and prepared for the podcast. The sounds is perfect. Her voice has a calm and relaxing timbre. There are few ums, uhs, like, hemming, hawing or dead air. Amy rarely mentions her personal issues. On the occasion she make s a brief mention, she doesn’t go on and on about them and she often weaves the explanation of the issue into the theme of the podcast. This is a podcast for the creative person who thinks about art on many different levels: the physical act of making, a daily creative discipline, and something to be studied.

I know the mom part may turn off some of you, so I want to get that out of the way too. Amy’s two boys are definitely involved in the podcast.Mostly they work as headline readers for her next section. Listeners hear their little voices saying “I am the art and the art is me” or “books to read, books to read” for the book review section. Amy reviews books that she reads to her children as well as adult books. Amy observes her children and weaves those observations into the theme of the podcast as well. I don’t think the involvement of the children would annoy those of you who are sensitive to the child worship that sometimes occurs on the web. That doesn’t happen here.

While Amy does different kinds of art than I do (more sketching and photography, mostly), I have found that I enjoy listening to her talk about her process and what she does to keep going. I feel inspired when I listen to her podcast. She has been working on a bird project for at least a year. Listening to the podcast makes me consider whether or not o focus on one word or subject for a period of time.

As I have gone through Amy’s older episodes I came across a collaboration she is doing with one of her listeners, known as Gooma8x, and was directed to their joint Etsy site. The quilt above was posted there and it is gorgeous! Amy and Opal (Gooma8x) also have a joint blog called Here2There.

Finally, I also discovered another Amy goldmine in Threaded Thoughts, another blog.

It is apparent that Amy is in her creative sweet spot right at the moment and we are the lucky recipients of her largesse. I urge to check out one or all of the various media streams Amy has created.

Pat Sloan Website/Blog/Podcast etc

Last week I was tootling around the web on my lunch hour and went from Margi’s blog to Pat Sloan’s blog/website/bonanza.

I first went to her blog and liked the little designs she has up to illustrate her posts. They remind me of Mary Engelbreit’s artwork. As I wandered around I was simply amazed at all the info and links she has on her various media. I was interested in the webcam on her design wall. It would be interesting to see in action, e.g. if she were working on a quilt. I also liked the cheery way she writes.

There is a shop, free patterns, blog, Good Book Cafe, Amazon search button, website, webcam, podcast and much more. Take a look.

2009 FOTY Possibility?

Jen posted this picture of a quilt she is working on to her blog, The Quilted Jewel (http://aquiltingjewel.blogspot.com/).I have been mulling over the 2009 FOTY block, and talking with TFQ about it. I still have not come to a decision. The block in this picture may be what the doctor ordered.

I like the movement and the 4patch, which is a block I was thinking of working with. I also like the way it fits together and is a real block not just pieces like FOTY 2008. I am not sure what is going on with the sashing and will have to have a closer look at it. I think I would have to have a background fabric if I decided to do this design.

TFQ and I are thinking about doing the same block to see what we come up with, which is still in process. I am excited about that possibility as well as I have been feeling like I need to work with someone on something. I don’t feel bad about collecting ideas regardless of what we decide to do.

A Quilting Jewel
A Quilting Jewel

Clipped from aquiltingjewel.blogspot.com

Reviewing Pamela’s DVD

Rosalie, over at Art You Wear, said she has been watching the new DVD from Pamela Allen and  posted a review of it to her blog. Rosalie has a lot of interesting textures posted on the site. I don’t know if she has made them all or if she is passing on information.  I know I am eager to hear what people think about Pamela’s DVD.

Art You Wear and me

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Vicki’s Gorgeous Colors

I finally tracked down Vicki’s blog. Vicki is a long time reader of Artquiltmaker blog. I was pleasantly surprised to find images of gorgeous fabrics as I scrolled through her recent posts. [Secretly I want them!] The other fabrics she shows in the same post are wonderful as well. I also really like the words that she adds to the image. I’ll have to put that on my to-do list to learn.

Nov 9 - light red to grape
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After scrolling through a few months of Field Trips in Fiber, I added Vicki’s blog to my blogroll. I really like her photos and two posts really floated my boat. First, on September 26, 2008, Vicki mentions the completion of MY Bullseye top in her post called Field Trippin’ the Web. I felt like all of this blogging is worth it when I saw my name.

Second, I laughed uproariously at Vicki’s post called Sanity Quilting. I know it probably wasn’t that funny in the moment Vicki was living it, but we have all been there and I could totally see the humor.

Nice work, Vicki, and thanks for blogging.

After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post…

So starts the post from Tartx about blogging without obligation. I have a personal goal to blog frequently, because I love to write and want to practice. I also adore making quilts and playing with fabric. Writing about those activities makes me happy and provides an enjoyable way to practice my writing skills. Still, I have enough MUST dos on my to do list (not leaving children at school to languish, feeding people, showering, etc), so I may not blog every day and sometimes I may not blog every week. I am committed to you, dear readers, and hope you will keep coming back for more. If you don’t want to manage a RSS reader or check back frequently, use http://www.page2rss.com to create an RSS feed for this blog.

Thanks for reading!

clipped from www.tartx.com

blogging without obligation

After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone’s blog starting with “I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile.” I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again . . .and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation.

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