My life seems to be all about piles lately. I am racing at top speed trying to get everything done and keep house and heart and work and school and everything from bursting at the seams. It is really frustrating.
Desk pile
This is one of the piles on my desk. It is the pile next to my computer; the working pile, often. It is a combination of project notes, book reviews (took this photo while I was writing the review of Taking Flight), bills, reimbursement requests from healthcare, etc.
Book pile
This is the pile hat spurred on this post. It is a pile of books on the floor next to my desk, which are waiting for my attention. One day, I was leaning over to change the radio station and the fell all over the place.
I put all of my craft and quilt books into a database to which I refer before I go to buy a book. My rule is that I only buy quilt and craft books, mostly quilt, though, unless I think I am going to read some fiction book again. I try to check every book out of the library and review it before I buy it. I, frankly, don’t have the space to create a library in my house, no matter how much I would like to do so.
Another Desk Pile
Periodically, I will rip inspirational pages out of magazines and then file them. This pile, towards the bottom, is a big group of those ripped out pages. Somehow I got sidetracked or ran out of space in the middle of filing and it never got done.
WANTED: Art patron to pay $6,000 per month plus all applicable taxes for the privilege of allowing art quiltmaker to stay in her workroom and build a creative business through the creation of new works. Benefits include right of first refusal on all ‘for sale’ pieces, invitations to events and the good feelings that come with knowing you are helping someone pursue one of their dreams.
I have been a slacker on the days I am not in the office. Yesterday, I decided to make a to-do list so I would have a guide for today. The list was unexpectedly long!
I spoke with TFQ yesterday on the phone and she told me about a podcast by Rice Freeman-Zachary called Notes from the VooDoo Lounge. Since Amy over at the Creative Mom podcast and Jennifer over at CraftSanity actually have lives and aren’t posting podcasts as fast as I can consume them, I thought I would listen to this one and see if I should add it to my weekly repertoire.
I actually listened to 4-5 of them today while I was at the gym and as I plowed through my quite substantial to-do list. One of the artists interviewed, Judy Wise, talks about art patrons. I thought I might as well put the request out there, because you never know. I really like this podcast for a couple of reasons:
Rice (pronounced Ree-sah) has a nice interviewing style. She isn’t too robotic, but is also professional, humorous and has really great speaking voice. I think she hits the podcasting sweet spot very well.
Lots of information about creativity: how to be creative, how to maintain your creative inspiration, how to get out of the hole of no ideas.
Variety of guests.
One of the episodes to which I listened was an interview with jazz saxophonist Tom Braxton. I am not a jazz fan and don’t know much about jazz, but thought I would keep an open mind. I am glad I did, because he was great! He talked a lot about things that are required for living a creative life. He said he thought musical education was important and that making it big because some producer heard your band as s/he drove down the street or you won American Idol were REALLY rare. He also said that a creative life is work and that the performance (on stage for a musician, at the easel for a painter, etc) are a small part of the job. An artist has to get up in the morning (no lazing around in bed), go to the post office and mail packages, practice their craft, market their services, and be professional at all times, etc. He spoke from a musician’s point of view, but what he said was relevant to all creative types. I think that this particular episode is a great reality check for those wanting to live a creative life without being a slap in the face.
I also really enjoyed Freeman-Zachary’s interview with Roz Stendahl. I loved her tips on time management and her practical advice about living a creative life. One thing she says is to track your time for a week in 15 minute increments, so you know where your time goes. Then you will know where you can find a few minutes to be creative. She has a funny, but no nonsense approach to her business. Listening to this interview made me feel good about my to-do list and the progress I was making on it. This is an episode I will put in my ‘Favorites’ playlist and listen to again with notebook and pen in hand.
She also has an episode she calls ‘Rants from the Grammar *itch’. It was hilarious and I want to have the Child listen to it, but the ‘phrasing’ may be a bit old for him. I have to decide if I am comfortable answering questions the episode might bring up. However, i was definitely a worthwhile 15 minutes. I learned about reflexive pronouns from this episode. Of course, I knew how to use them (and, no, I am not telling you what they are. You have to listen to the podcast), but I didn’t know the whys and wherefores. I learned it at some point in the distant past and promptly forgot. Now I know, because she made it interesting to learn. I will probably remember, because thinking about her examples brings a smile to my lips.
This podcast is well worth a listen if you are the podcast-listening type.
One of my colleagues writes a women/leadership blog. I thought her post for today was pertinent outside of the law arena as well, so I thought I would repost it here.
It made me think about what I am writing here as well. Am I focused enough, niche enough to not just be another quilt blog? I hope so, because I want to write in such a way that people come here specifically for my content. There is always more I can do and know that I keep trying to improve.
ne additional thought I had after that posting was that perhaps some women just think they don’t have anything useful to say in a blawg. This is also good point. An effective blawg must be focused (narrow is GOOD), current, constantly updated, well written, and compelling to the blawger. When I had the hubris to start this blawg a year ago, I knew that there was absolutely no point in blawging on my particular area of the law, because there are many, many fine professional publications that post up to the minute developments and analysis of tax and nonprofit law. So I was sure that a blawg written by me on the topic would never compare to those resources. Instead, because at the time I was looking for information about women lawyers and leadership challenges and didn’t find anything useful on the internet at all, it seemed like something I could write about.
The name of this magazine, which I heard about on FB, reminds me of a magazine I saw at the store yesterday. Sadly, the only one I can think of is Quilt Mania and I am pretty sure that wasn’t the one. Perhaps it was and they are wrongly connected in my head somehow. In any case, this is a new (?) and free mag to which you can subscribe online.
Our very own Andrea Bishop was invited to write an article for the new online magazine Quiltposium.
It’s a quarterly, online magazine that is free. Just sign up and create a password at www.quiltposium.com to view the online magazine and receive the link to the next issue in December.
It is interesting to see how one person can generate interest in an effort to get a fabric or fabric group reprinted. Perhaps I should do that with the turquoise (Botanical Pop from Baum Textile Mills/Windham Fabrics) fabric I need. There are a lot of steps to join this project, so I haven’t done it yet. It would be nice to get some more that blue!I have enough now, thanks to Julie, but you never know!
I love it, you love it, we ALL love it! Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt seems to be one of the most sought after fabrics out there. And it’s oh so hard to find!
These dire circumstances have inspired me to start this blog as a sort of petition to see if we can raise an eyebrow (or two!) at Free Spirit Fabric to do another run of Flea Market Fancy (FMF).
In a recent comment, Quilt Rat asked how I pick the prompts for the Creative Prompt Project. In part it all started with Amy at the Creative Mom Podcast, because I heard one word, thought about her thematic prompt and started on this project. The project has evolved very differently than the project in my mind.
Around the same time, I had been thinking about Illustrated Journals and that influenced my decisions about the CPP as well. You can read a little about my thoughts at the time in my February 20, 2009 post.
Another piece of the puzzle was a little book that DeWayne gave me as a Christmas gift. DeWayne is a former co-worker who is an unbelievably creative person. Every year at Christmas DeWayne gave everyone on the management team a little gift and one year it was a little blank book called Jeu de Cahier.
Jeu de Cahier, Front Cover
I am very particular, and a bit of a connoisseur/snob, about my notebooks and journals. This one didn’t fit, so I threw it into a drawer. When I started the CPP, I came across this notebook again and decided that it would work for keeping track of my ideas for prompts. I have a big list in the front with all of the prompts and then I organized them by first letter of the alphabet, so I can keep better track of the ones I use.
Prompts, August 2009
As I wander through my life, I note down words that might make good prompts in the future.
Finally, I am getting to Quilt Rat’s question. Choosing a prompt depends on my mood. I leaf through the book and see what words jump out at me or strike my fancy. I, sometimes, try and choose prompts that fit in with a theme or something that is happening in the world. I don’t worry about that too much, however, because I don’t really think it matters for the CPP purposes.
I try to prepare the prompts so that they post on the Friday and are consistent in terms of numbering and order. If I can think of a theme that fits, then I add that as well. Sometimes I change a prompt just before it is going o post and that can get me into trouble. Remember the double prompt Friday – June 5?
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book and thought it was well written. One thing that jumped out at me was that the pacing was different from many of the novels, and especially mysteries, I have read recently. Initially, I thought the book was moving too slowly. Then I realized that the pacing was just different, told myself to slow down and enjoyed the book immensely.
Marie Bostwick is a good writer. I liked the integration of quiltmaking into the story without having it take over the story as it does in other novels. There is some religion, but not so much that it is irritating.
I was pleased to meet up with the characters from A Single Thread again and find out where they were. Their characters have developed and, while there was nothing wrong with them in A Single Thread, I enjoyed the character development. It was particularly noticeable in the character of Abigail Wynne. She has softened around the edges and the friendships from A Single Thread have had a noticeable effect. I also noticed significant character developments in Ivy, a new character.
As I said, the story gave the reader some news about the lives of Liza, Evelyn, Abigail and Margot, but the basic premise of the story, around which the subplots revolved, had to do with domestic violence. One of the characters in the story is involved with that situation. I thought some of the information Marie Bostwick gave about the fear, uncertainty and mistrust was very well written. I do think that it is impossible to convey some of the feelings without having experienced it.
Well, my brain seems to be really full these past few weeks. Once again, I am writing another catch up post for you. I know that catch up isn’t exactly the right term, but Full Brain post sounds a little odd to me.
1. Tote bags: Always on my mind. I haven’t made any new ones, but I did listen to a new podcast called the Quilted Cupcake Podcast. Jean, the producer has a very friendly and professional not ditzy style. She is methodical, but not talking head boring about presenting the information she wants to communicate in the podcast, which was easy to follow. The show notes blog is a must, at least for this episode, because Jean packs the podcast full of information, links and tutorials. The episode to which I have linked is episode 11, which is about tote bags. I downloaded all of the episodes that were available, but listened to this one, the most recent, first. I found it on iTunes and you can find it there, via a link from the show notes blog or also on Libsyn at http://quiltedcupcake.libsyn.com/.
Some of the blogs and sites to which Jean links are sites that I already claim to read.
Jean mentioned Rachel Griffith’s P.S I Quilt blog, which has a great tutorial about gussets. I haven’t tried it yet, but will, especially since I am thinking about expanding my bag making horizons. Jean also does a great book review and mentions several tips and tricks that should have been obvious, but were revelations to me.
She also mentioned a couple of books, Sew Sublime Bags and Sew What by Lexie Barnes. I was able to reserve the former at the library, but not the latter. Will have to think about that. I’d like to see it and not buy it at the moment.
I spent some time listening to her earlier podcasts and she has definitely improved her style. Some of her discussions talk a lot about thrift store shopping and saving money. She mentions a lot about how much she spends on things in the course of the discussion. It is apparent that saving money and getting a deal are important to her. My only criticism would be to leave the price tags out.
Her episode on aprons (#5) was really good and I do like her book reviews; they are very complete.
2. Flickr Creative Prompt Project Group: I am very pleased to report that a number of participants in the Creative Prompt Project have joined the group and uploaded their responses. Quilt Rat, SherriD, and Kathy (new member-YAY!) have all joined. Quilt Rat and SherriD have uploaded all of their responses and Kathy has uploaded several photos so 80+ drawings/photos/art are all available to view together. I am really thrilled about this. There is always room for one more, so join in and upload your responses. You don’t have to go back and do them all.
3. Free MOO cards: Get a free pack of MOO cards. There is no free lunch so there are some restrictions, but free is free and the MOO cards are really cool. Thanks to Deirdre for this tip.
4. C&T Publishing has a list of blogs by their authors and fans. Others were new to me, such as Barbara Brackman’s blog, which includes lots of tidbits about quilt history. I also like the logo C&T created for this particular page. the different artistic letters are fun.
5. I am weeding the links. I find that blogs change over time and don’t suit me anymore. If you are using my blogroll as a fave page, you may want to rethink that. 😉
Remember Saturday when I talked about picking out paint? Here is a miniscule part of of one of the paint chip displays for two lines of paint. The perfect red, Red Statement is smack in the middle. Poppy and Rapture are on a different display, so no picture, sorry. There is now a second coat of paint on both test areas and Rapture looks like it is winning. At this point I am almost willing to go with anything that is not hideous. Did I tell you we bought some glaze to try out a steel-wool faux finishing technique in out bedroom?
I have come across some interesting websites lately. Also, many things have been running through my mind. As a result, today is Catch Up Saturday! That means that you get a bunch of random links, some photos that have been hanging around, and other miscellaneous stuff.
Janome 9K
1. In my post, Caring for Tools, I talked about taking my Janome 9000 into be repaired. Cost=$$$$$. The monster needs a new screen; apparently it could not be recalibrated. What a shocker; I need to find a consulting job to cover the cost. Anyone want to buy a quilt? 😉
The cost notwithstanding, I have more good things to say about Lafayette Sewing Center. Before they started the work, they called me and went over the estimate with me very carefully. I spoke with Audrey who said that she wanted to make sure I wanted the work done and understood the costs so I wouldn’t get sticker shock. No assumptions there! Great service.
2. Suzanne Cabrera did a series of drawings of her home, which I really like. They are simple in an architectural kind of way. She has added comments about various pieces of furniture, which satisfies my need for words. She also has a sense of humor in her drawings, which I appreciated in her post about learning to cook with her husband. See them at her blog, An Open [Sketch] Book.
3. Felt Food (FF). I love felt food. It makes me smile. I first got interested in felt food when I heard CraftSanity podcast episode #66 (what else? My one source of craft information!) with the owner of Lilly Bean Market, Hillary Seabolt. Her sandwich is still my favorite. I saw some pictures of felt food somewhere recently and that has reinvigorated my Felt Food Mania and led me on a multi-day Felt Food Flickr Journey (F3J).
The F3J led me to general felt creations such as softies (we called them stuffed animals back in the day; apparently that term is no longer PC), including a journey around London by Lumpy Bear (made/arranged? by GiantButton), felt sea creatures including a Hammerhead Shark and squid and an unzippable ocean complete with islands by Lizette Greco.
You have to look at this stuff to believe it!
4. Stewart, Tabori & Chang and Melanie Falick: Once again, I was listening to CraftSanity podcast #30 the other day (I really do do other things besides listen to CraftSanity, I promise). Melanie wrote Knitting in America, seminal book on the state of knitting in the US. She is the craft editor at STC AND has her own imprint. WOW! I have heard of her before, because I love STC books and she is the editor who acquires them. I really loved hearing about her journey to that job and found a lot of similarities to my life (you can stop laughing now, thanks). She gave really practical ideas about getting a book published, especially in the area of writing a book proposal. Thanks, I needed that! That was really food for thought for me, since I have a dream…..
You can follow Melanie on Twitter at STC_Craft or take a look at her website.
Tessalated Tile
5. Beth sent me this image when she lived in England. I had asked her to take photos of mosaics and tile. This is a particularly good design for quiltmaking, because it would just be squares and rectangles. Yes, you would have to plan a bit, if you were doing anything more than a 2 color quilt, but it would be quite stunning once finished. Note the L shape at the top.
6. Toy-a-Day: This project is definitely like the Creative Prompt (which you should join) but much more intense. The Wild Things characters, KISS, Pikachu, the Mario Bros, Michael Jackson and Michael Gorbachev are all included in this project. I noticed that the author has PDF downloads of some of his toys so you can make your own.
Just a quick note to let you know that I am still working on fixing the blog. There is something wrong with the theme (Cutline, in case anyone is interested). It was behaving badly, so Deirdre changed it to this theme, which I know is not ideal in a number of ways. Yesterday we worked on rebuilding the right sidebar. I also looked at a bunch of possible other (free) themes as well as testing the old theme over and over to see if it was behaving itself.
In any case, we are working on it and will hopefully get back to normal soon. Thanks for your patience.
This pic is only related to quiltmaking through the fact that it is partially chocolate. Also, this blog wouldn’t exist without a keyboard and the Internet.
The real reason for posting a strange picture is that I am having some trouble with the blog so posting is not happening as timely as I would like. My fabulous “hostess” is trying to work on it. You may see some bizarre changes or weird things happening. Please just ignore the man behind the curtain and continue with your creations.
Last weekend I posted the latest iteration of the Tarts. Mostly, I get really nice, short comments on my posts. I was surprised and delighted to find a long and thought provoking comment from SherriD. She wrote:
“You are more of a trained artist than I am, I think. You’ve taken classes or studied art perhaps? So I am only asking these questions in order to understand as I have not taken any art classes or quilting classes for that matter.
1. Why did you choose to have the purple background and the pie’s innerds almost the same shade? (btw, I like the orange crust very much!)
2. On three of big corner pots, are you going to embellish them with perhaps something like thread painting?
3. Have you considered adding cookies or scones? I noticed that you have in a row, cream and sugar, then two cups, then a cupcake with another cup.
I hate to say things about someone else’s work but I really am curious as to the “why” in your projects. This is such a happy quilt in process. I love the colors and have really enjoyed watching the progress.”
Thanks to SherriD for taking the time to post a comment – a long and thoughtful comment. I thought responding through a post would be a great way to spark conversation about SherriD’s thoughts among all of my readers.
I was not an art major in college, though my major did allow me a lot of opportunities to take classes outside of the required courses. I took art history classes, studio art classes, Swedish, German, political science (blech!) and many others. I have also taken a lot of continuing ed and adult ed classes in art practice. I am not so much trained in art as informed by the classes I have taken.
In a roundabout way, I have tried to answer SherriD’s questions below.
I have taken a number of art classes and lots of quiltmaking classes. Many people think it is a badge of honor or courage not to have taken any classes and to have taught themselves. I applaud you for your fortitude. I just don’t have it in me to learn by myself. I learn by someone showing me and by doing, so I take classes regularly. While I am not interested in taking art practice classes right now and I am interested in taking more quiltmaking classes, I enjoy taking classes, in general, for a number of reasons:
I don’t learn well by myself with books, especially something completely new.
Even if I never finish a class project I always take something away from the class or the teacher.
I like being a room with other people. I enjoy seeing what they are doing and how they are reacting to the teacher.
I work mostly alone, so classes get me out of the workroom.
Classes re-energize me when I get back into my workroom.
I get turned on to new sources of inspiration, such as books, blogs and websites by the teacher and students in a class.
Classes clarify things that I don’t understand.
I am a visual learner so I learn best when someone shows me how to do something.
Classes make me think about things in different ways.
The Girl with the Green Lips, detail
This is one of my favorite pieces from a studio art class. It is colored pencil on Bristol Board and I took the class from Wayne Thiebaud’s assistant at the time. I wish I remembered his name, because I would LOVE to thank him. You might recognize the image from an old Lancome ad featuring Isabella Rossellini. I also took a framing class after college and framed this piece myself.
The other thing I do is practice. When you see a piece of pie appliqued down as part of the Tarts, what you see is the final piece. Sometimes I sketch many, many drawings before I make a pattern and cut fabric. I don’t consider myself to be an accomplished drawer (if that is a word). I do feel like I am getting better and I feel like I am getting better because I practice. Drawing skill is not something with which I was born. I feel that most people don’t have it when they are born. Drawing is a skill a person needs to practice. If you want to draw well, practice. You will draw a lot of crap before you draw something great. The thing to remember is that if you practice you will draw something great.
Tarts, June 14, 2009, with Pie
SD: “1. Why did you choose to have the purple background and the pie’s innerds almost the same shade? (btw, I like the orange crust very much!)”
In this piece, and often in other pieces, I struggle with the limits placed on me by the color wheel. I love color and, sometimes there just aren’t enough. When selecting fabrics for pieces like the piece of pie, I often decide on the background based on other large pieces in the quilt top first. My criteria for background vary, but often have nothing to do with the image on top of the background. I never thought about it before SherriD asked about my choices.
I examined my process and found that I figure out a good background and then go to work on the main image. In this case, I wanted to use the purple fabric for the inside of the pie because it looked like blueberries. It turns out that I didn’t put all the pieces together in my mind or on the wall until I started to stitch the pieces down. Normally, my rule is to “make visual decisions visually.” This is a classic line from Lorraine Torrence.
I always know that I can remake a block, so I decided to put the block up and look at it for awhile to see if it was too purple.
SD: “2. On three of big corner pots, are you going to embellish them with perhaps something like thread painting?”
The piecing and machine applique’ I am working on now has come to be barely the first step. My thinking on this piece was clarified, somewhat, after I took the Pamela Allen class. I decided that I needed, and wanted, to embellish this piece. At this time, I am focusing on getting the top together. I need the piece together to use as a canvas for the embellishment. I don’t know right now if I will use transparent fabrics, like organza, or Perl cotton, or beads or all of the above. I will, almost certainly, add some steam in appropriate places and some designs to areas I think are too plain.
As I often say: Stay Tuned.
SD: “3. Have you considered adding cookies or scones? I noticed that you have in a row, cream and sugar, then two cups, then a cupcake with another cup.”
Yes, I have considered cookies and scones. Because of their shapes, they don’t make good candidates for standing out and people knowing what they are. They are too flat, I guess. I also don’t want to introduce many more whites and beiges to the piece.
One of my goals with my quiltmaking has been to be about the process. It is hard, because my personality makes me very goal oriented. I realized a year or two ago that making a lot of quilts wasn’t as important to be as making good quilts that interested me. Since I don’t make my living by quiltmaking, I felt it was more important for me to enjoy what I was doing more than just getting it done. It is a struggle for me, but I have to keep trying.
I feel very fortunate to have received some birthday gifts this year! That was in addition to people agreeing to spend time with me. What a bonanza!
A box arrived yesterday. I took it upstairs to unwrap in peace. I dislike wrapping gifts intensely, but when I get a pile of gifts wrapped gorgeously like this, I don’t want to unwrap them. I did anyway, but I admired them for awhile first.
Inside were all of these things. Lots of fabric, some music and notecards, books, a scarf, some ribbon (which I think will trim some tote bags nicely!). I can’t wait to read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie book. Thanks TFQ!!!!!
Above are the pottery pieces made at my party after they have been fired. Wati made the top piece. I photographed the back because I liked her message and the green she used. The bowl is the piece that I made. The plate came with the party and I tried to have everyone sign.
This fabric came from my dad even though my sister picked it out, paid for it and wrapped it. They are all FQs.
Above are the gifts that Julie got for me. I got her the Life’s Companion book. Apparently, she thought it was so good that she got it for me! I started to read a bit of it and like. I wnat to reserve judgement, but it seems to be geared owards people who want to have a daily writing writing practice and haven’t yet started. As I said, I am reserving judgement until I read more of it.
I received so much fabric this birthday! It was amazing and great! I will have enough fabric to make a FOTY 2009 quilt with no problem. 😉 Thanks, everyone!
DH bought Amy Butler‘s In Stitches for me along with the Photoshop Elements book. Did you give me Seams to Me? That one came with no card or note straight from Anna Maria Horner. Nobody has confessed so I guess it will remain a mystery. Everyone needs a good mystery once in a while. I am especially interested since the person went to the trouble of getting the book directly from AMH. If you do that…..
Look! It’s signed! Whomever you are who sent this: THANK YOU!!!
I use Photoshop Elements to deal with the photos I post to this blog. As it turns out, I could use a few lessons. One of my goals for the coming months is to take a class (online, probably). In the meantime, the book will give me some help.
Above is an awful picture of some gorgeous batik from my mom.
I only photographed the quilt related things. The Child made me a hand (one of those pieces of pottery you paint kind of hand) with a mouth in the palm. I told you he was a creative child. My sister also got me an ice cream maker. Can’t wait to try that out! Might solve the little problem I have of buying ice cream sundaes for dinner when the boys are gone.
