What I Did This Summer, part 2

At the end of June, I spent five glorious days in Traverse City, MI at a workshop held by the fantastic Pamela Allen. She gave us a number of exercises to do over the course of the week, and gave everyone ((there were 11 of us) a lot of feedback and encouragement. She was very generous with her time and I can't believe how much I learned in such a relatively short period of time. Of course, since I had never tried creating non-stop for five days, I was fried at the end, but what a great time!

These are some of the pieces I made during that week.

What I Did This Summer, part 1

Last year, I entered my first quilt exhibit: the "Breaking Traditions" quilt exhibit, which is part of the Sewing Expo in Novi, MI. Since my parents were in Lansing, MI, I asked them if they thought they might get a chance to go see the exhibit. They went, even though my father was getting weaker by then. He had been encouraging me to get my work out there, and this was a big step. I am so glad he had a chance to see my work hanging somewhere before he died.

This is my entry for this year's "Breaking Traditions" show. The quilt is named "Time Well Spent." This year the show celebrates people and organizations that make a difference, with all donations going to the American Cancer Society. I chose to honor my father. We played a lot of games, some as a family, some just the two of us, and that time we spent together was special to me. He did a lot of good out there for his patients, his staff, and his students, but the most important thing he did was to love his daughter.

But I never could beat him at chess.

Studio Makeover

This is my studio. This is what happens when:

1) electrical problems plunge you into the (literal) dark ages;

2) the electrician makes multiple holes in the ceiling to run new wiring; and

3) the carpenters are steadily patching up the holes.

When I moved into this room, I was not doing a lot of quilting, and I set it up as more of an office. That does not serve me as well now as it used to, so this is an opportunity to make some changes. The room is small, 8x10, and is complicated by the fact that my son has to go through this room to get to his room (we live in a rowhouse), hence the doors on opposing walls. Add to that two small closets that actually reduce my 8 feet to 6 in two areas, and this becomes an odd space to use. Even the guy who was helping me at the Container Store was stumped about how best to use what is available.

Once the carpenters are finished (today?) and I can clean up, I will be able to start over in here. This should be interesting!

Un-Quilting

It has been five months and I am still working on that aquarium quilt. I have finished several other smaller pieces in the meantime, but that aquarium is still hanging out on my couch. Hopefully, it will be finished by the time school is out for the summer.

I have been measuring my progress by sections -- I quilted the fish, then the little boy, - and I decided to tackle the base of the aquarium last Friday.

I should know by now that when the quilt tells you it doesn't like the quilting design, it is best to listen. Sadly, I was too fixated on finishing another section before the weekend to pay attention. So instead, I just pay.

For the record, it takes almost three hours to take out one square foot of small free-motion swirls. After a while, though, it became an oddly soothing activity since I only had to concentrate on not putting holes in either the quilt or my fingers. If only the quilt could say "Ow!" when you jab it...

Back to Life

I started this blog so that I could show a picture of my journal quilt. I didn't really think I would keep it up for any length of time. Once it was up, I started thinking of things I could post to document my progress (or lack of it), and it seemed like this could actually be fun.

And then, on November 13, 2007, my father died. He had been diagnosed with ampullary cancer, a cousin of pancreatic cancer, October 12, 2005. After his surgery the next month, we thought the cancer had been vanquished. It had not. It spread to his liver and finally his lungs. I miss him terribly. I think that except for my husband, Daddy was my biggest fan. He was the first person to tell me that my quilts were art, and I hoped I could live up to that. Coming back to the art has been slow and painful, but I know that his spirit of encouragement is with me.

Apparently, I Do Windows

When I was growing up, there was a commercial in which the tag line was "I don't do windows." I don't remember the product, but I thought about the slogan while I was working on the windows in a quilt for the school my daughter attends.




The windows are part of this quilt, which will commemorate the restoration of an antique aquarium in one of the classrooms.





The fish in the border were painted by the children in the pre-kindergarten classes, which sounds dangerous, but was actually kind of fun. The finished quilt will hang in the hallway outside the classroom the aquarium is in. But I have to actually finish quilting it first...

The Alzheimer's ArtQuilt Initiative

My grandmother has Alzheimer's disease. Conversations are extremely difficult now, because she just can't call the right words anymore. On the phone it's frustrating, but in person her smiles say it all and I think, "Who needs words, when I've got Gran's smile?"

To raise funds for Alzheimer's research, Ami Simms has created the ArtQuilt Initiative (AAQI). In addition to a travelling exhibit of 52 quilts and an accompanying book, Ami also auctions small quilts on the first Monday of every month. Anyone can donate a quilt. Including me! This quilt is called "The WhiteTree" and was inspired by a scene in a park near my house. All of the trees were beginning to bud, except for the white one. I was struck by the tree's beauty against the brown and green of its neighbors. To learn more about AAQI, go to http://www.amisimms.com/ and click on the link for the Alzheimer's initiative.