my new DVD is out!!

Vivika writes about it on the Quilting Daily blog, so the news came into my own mailbox this morning:-)  I take you from printing on the cloth to cutting it up into strips and working free-form, so if you haven't taken an in-person class from me, this hour-long lesson can hold you till you can.

You wouldn't know it by the teensy clip below (I look so serious) -- but I had such fun making this DVD on free-form quilting!  Found out today that the DVD is officially out and available on the Quilting Art website.



Don't ask where the week went.  I did have one outing on Friday -- dinner on the NJ side of the Hudson River, which gave me a beautiful view of the new World Trade Center #1 going up. I have my own opinions about the wisdom of such a tall tower - it's still climbing -- but it does make a nice sight from this side of the river.

Off to the studio for a bit this afternoon and then winding down for Yom Kippur, which starts tonight.

still at it

Or, I should say at it again.  Sunday night's dinner with all the children and grandchildren and my mother was fun and the usual chaos. My grandsons are getting bigger and handsomer by the minute, but I was so busy cooking/serving that I only managed to use my camera once.  I had to take a picture of Miss Emma wearing the beautiful dress my French cousins sent her when she was born, so they could see it on her. You might as well see it, too.  She asked me for paper so she could play with her stickers.

I finally got the dishes and silver put away yesterday and went to the studio for the afternoon.  Printed 3 more scarves and dyed a few yards of fabric, some of which I love and some of which - what was I thinking?  In any case, the audition is over and I can now proceed with two pieces I have been agonizing over.

Met last night with my art crit group.  We haven't met all summer and it was sooo good to get together, although several were not there and we had a tornado watch. Tornado watch?? What's up with this stuff in New Jersey, lately? Scary.  Those climate-change naysayers should have been sent into outer space a long time ago.

Off to coffee, breakfast, and then the gym.
Cheers!

afternoon in the studio - evening at home

I spent a couple of hours in the studio this afternoon, fleeing the house before I started bouncing off the walls.  Too much time in one place, but my dining table is clear -- for the nonce, at least.

I brought home a pile of possibilities (the inventory is getting low, and then I keep buying the same color families again and again.  On my laptop, these colors are very accurate; I don't know what anybody else sees.  I am not dealing with the composition or placement at this moment; just the color of the background.  In the meantime, I am putting this aside and getting back to something else.

I went to an art opening tonight which made me want to come home and do something interesting, but this is about as interesting as it got.  Done for the evening!

another week gone

Where?

I had a short week. My brother came on Sunday from Pittsburgh and left on Monday morning -- so naturally, Monday seemed like a weekend day. Delete.

The rest of the week I have spent literally at the dining room table, sorting through the never-ending photos and papers that my mother has kept since the 1930's...and papers of my grandmother's that she has kept. It has been a world of memories and discoveries. I found a copy of my grandmother's birth certificate. Not only was her actual birthdate a day later than she celebrated, but her mother's maiden name was totally different than she had told me. My great-great grandmother was married twice and my great-grandmother was from the first husband, who died. It was the second husband's name that Nanny told me. Nope! 
 
I have also been cooking for Rosh Hashanah, which begins Sunday night. Family dinner at this house (if I succeed in clearing the dining table, as above). My children and grands and my mother will be here to see the Jewish New Year in with me.  Because we want a sweet year ahead, we will have apples and honey at the beginning of the dinner.  Challahs are sweet, too - and round at this holiday, instead of braided.

There are several possible reasons, as I discovered when I did a little searching...


Round challahs are unique to the High Holiday season. Some say they represent a crown that reflects our coronating God as the King of the world.

Others suggest that the circular shape points to the cyclical nature of the year. The Hebrew word for year is "shana," which comes from the Hebrew word "repeat." Perhaps the circle illustrates how the years just go round and round. But Rosh Hashana challahs are not really circles; they are spirals…

Ha - the last time I baked a challah for New Year's, my children told me they liked the store-bought one better.  I am just irked enough to try it again.

Have I done my art all week?  Nah.  But tonight I have auditioned a few backgrounds for a piece I have been working on.  These are two of them - but I am far from finished doing tryouts.

Hmmm....

on the wall, on the floor

Before and during (not quite there yet, wherever "there" is).

Yesterday morning started sewing together a bunch of random blocks I was going to put together in a regular arrangement. Then I threw a piece of white fabric on the floor and played around with some of them.  They've been picked up and put away while I work on the above, but we'll see what eventually develops.

None of this is the serious stuff - more like class samples. Maybe next week i can get back into the studio and work on my in-process real work.  Meantime, this is therapy.

comic relief

I have to post this behind the scenes video of Jessica interviewing Joanna Coles, the new editor of Cosmo. You'll have to get through a commercial first, but it's worth it, just to find out about the app for your iPhone.

Hmmm...

I ran into the studio for a few minutes today to pick up some fabrics for another piece I'm working on and ended up asking "what if?" for the background and then for the two leftover triangles at the top.

 

It's silly and trite and lopsided and I'm close to (as they say around these blogs) sticking a fork in it.

 

week's end

It was a joyful, busy, non-stop week in my house -- and I had the pleasure of spending time with all three of my children and all five of their children -- some of them, more than once.  Rare, indeed. Next week everybody goes back to work/to school/to football practice and hectic schedules.

I took Emma, Jessica, and Tommy back to Brooklyn today and am now getting used to the quiet again: a double-edged sword.  I will miss this child, but it is time to get back to real life.

 It is very late and I am still in my sewing room, playing around with redone blocks. But my head is elsewhere and I am not feeling very inspired. These unfinished samples will have to do, for the moment.

Tomorrow night I should make additional progress.  For now - time to get a night's sleep!