OLD STRIPS, NEW FUN

Of all the quilts I have ever made, this is my favorite which I made in 2000. I used over 100 different fabrics, which is the way I do quilts. I can't stand piecing the same fabrics over and over again. I love the fact that I took the time to hand quilt it even though I was in the middle of being a mom. This was the quilt my kids went to when they wanted to snuggle and read.

I have piles of strips leftover and have waited for the perfect project to use some of them. A few weeks ago I found it when I signed up for Jude Hill's Cloth to Cloth online class. http://spiritcloth.typepad.com. We started this week and what what fun it has been. There are a huge number of participants and the pictures and comments posted so far have been wonderful. Our first exercise was to do some cloth weaving which is now my new addiction. I'm showing my first two below. I've already got an idea on the applique and embroidery I want to do on the surface, but I'm going to wait until we get a little further along in the class in case I change my mind.

Jude has a wonderful blog so even if you can't take the class (I don't know if it is full or not), you'll be able to see her beautiful work. She's a hand stitcher and that is why I love her art so much. She also has an article in the current Quiilting Arts magazine which you can also check out.

I"ll be posting more pictures as the class goes on.

FINISHED SAMPLER PILLOW

I finally finished my Rebecca Ringquist sampler and turned it into a pillow. In order to finish the sampler I had to add some fabric to the top and bottom so I could work with in a hoop. Then added some more strips to the sides. Then I added three rows of running stitches all the way around changing colors as I came to the end of a thread. More using up bits and pieces of leftovers.

Because it ended up being a odd size I made my own pillow form, finished off the back with a scrap of a reproduction fabric, added the trim, three buttons and it's all done. This is a sitting pretty on a chair pillow, not a take a nap with pillow. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I did it all just for pure pleasure of embroidery.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT

Early this year I took an online class with LK Ludwig--Printed, Patterned, Painted Journal Making (http://gryphonsfeather.typepad.com). I used some of the papers to make this little book. It's about 3"x4" so very small. I wanted to do something special with it but for the longest while no ideas were coming. Then I came across some poetry from Tracie Lyn Huskamp (http://thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com) that I love and I immediately knew what to do. To me the poetry is all about stopping to smell the roses, enjoying simple everyday moments and being grateful for life itself. One thing that I am grateful for is that I am a collector. I have a huge collection of dried leaves and flowers. When I look at them, my heart quivers. Even though some of the color has faded from them, they are as beautiful as the day they first caught my eye. In some cases the color has mellowed into something even more beautiful then the original intensity I was attracted to. I love my seashells--the broken ones as well as the more perfect specimens. All are treasures from the beaches I have walked in my life. And then there is my antique fabric collection, especially the fabrics and bits of lace from my grandmother. It makes me so happy to think of her touching these textiles and loving their color and design just as I do.
When I see this basket of lovelies I feel connected to her and using them in my art is a way of honoring her life.

So back to the book. I've always wanted to use some of these treasures in a way that would be a memoir of my life. I know that it is in everyday life with family and nature that I find my greatest joy. So with Tracie's poetry, my handmade book and the bits and pieces I have colllected since childhood, I have created another treasure that helps me to remember to pay attention to life, to honor my life as well as those who have gone before me. The pictures aren't the greatest but you'll get the idea.

Dreaming in the Garden

When my daughter was around 8 or 9 one of our favorite books to read was the Lost Flower Children by Janet Taylor Lisle. It is a wonderful story about how we deal with the pain of loss and the redemptive power of the garden. When I look at my mid summer garden I dream of fairy children playing under the canopy of leaves,

coloring the blossoms

swinging from the tendrils and whispering in the ears of each plant words of encouragement.

How does the earth know what to do with the seed?

How does the flower know when to release itself so that the fruit may spring forth?

How does such wonder come about? Only the fairy children know for sure.

Rebecca Ringquist Sampler

One of my favorite bloggers is Pam Garrison. She does a lot of creative stitching using old fabrics. On a recent post she talked about a sampler that she got through a friend. It really caught my eye as I love embroidery. As a young child, embroidery was my first creative outlet. Both my mother and grandmother embroidered ( see my previous post) so I consider it part of my heritage. Anyway I was dying to get a hold of one of the samplers which was created by Rebecca Ringquist, an artist in Chicago. Lo and behold on Pam's next post, she reported that Rebecca had started an etsy shop and was selling her samplers. She also has a flickr group for people to post their rendition of the sampler. So here is what I have done so far. I'm using bits and pieces of threads left over from previous projects so I not really going with any particular color scheme. I think it will add to the sampler feel. And here is the whole sampler. Isn't it lovely?

I'll be posting my progress on the flickr group. Maybe you would like to join too. Here is all the info: www.rebeccaringquist.com (website) http://www.drop-cloth.blogspot.com (blog with a link to her etsy shop) http://www.flickr.com/group/sampler/ . And for some fun and beautiful reading http://pamgarrison.typepad.com/pamgarrison/

Sunprint retreat

My husband and I took a long holiday weekend and went up to our mountain cabin. We hiked, biked, sat by the creek, read, ate, painted, fished and made sunprints. I should say I made the sunprints while he fished. I love doing this. I think I enjoy leaves more than the flowers in my garden. There just seems to be so many different kinds and shapes. I never get enough of their beauty.
So our cabin has a huge picture window that faces the afternoon sun. In the afternoon when the sun was shining through I put a big piece of plastic down on the floor, laid out some squares of fabric and painted away using Setacolor paints. I had pressed all the leaves the day before so they would be nice and flat and make good contact with the fabric. And the best part of doing it through the window was that I didn't need to worry about the wind kicking up and blowing the leaves or fabric away.
Enjoy looking at these beautiful gifts of nature.

Time in the Garden

All of my time seems to be consumed by my garden these days. So much to do. Weeding is a top priority. As crazy as it may sound, I love to weed. I find it very therapeutic. Weeds choke off life from the plants I love. And so as I weed I think about the things in my life I want to get rid of so that I have more time and energy to enjoy what I truly value and want more of in my life. Some weeds are so deeply rooted. I hack away at them but never seem to get to the base. This makes me realize how deeply rooted old hurts and wounds are that I can't seem to let go of. Will I ever be able to put these pests to rest? Will the root die off so that one day I can make one last yank and be done with it? Some plants have died. Did I not water them enough? Was the sun exposure wrong? Did a pest come in and take away it's life. Will another plant be more fruitful in the same spot? All good questions I ask myself about my life as I make my way through my foothills garden. I wrestle with the time I spend in the garden. What is the best use of my time. When I'm outside, I think I should be inside creating some art. When I'm working on my art, I'm consumed of thoughts of the weeds taking over, or something dying because I didn't take care of it. Then I remember how fleeting this time in the garden truly is. Here in these mountains I love the growing season is very short, so I let go and remember that in a few short months, the beauty that I longed for all winter long will be gone and I will have missed it. So I relax and try and stay in the moment and enjoy the beauty of each and every plant that has thrived.

My austrian copper rose has a shoot of this lovely yellow rose growing with it. Voodoo planted to acknowledge my New Orleans roots.

Snowballs. When I look out my daughter's bedroom window I see these beauties and realize what a lovely view she has had to look at every June.

The majesty of an iris and the simplicity of a daisy. Love the combination.

The vegetable garden just beginning to yield it's luscious fruits. We are now enjoying rhubarb, lettuce, spinach and radishes.

And a little art on the side created when the sun went down and the garden went to bed. Listed in my etsy shop this past week. http://pdlugos.etsy.com/