so...what I did today

You are about to be treated to the periodic photo of my cutting table after an entire day of cleaning, sorting, and throwing. Uh - not for the faint of heart. At about 3:00 I collapsed and stared into space till I recovered. Now it is almost 3:am and all the coffee I drank tonight is keeping me up blogging. Aren't you lucky!

But a clean room (well, neat, anyway) is not all I accomplished today.  I have been up tonight quilting a baby quilt I have been working on for quite a while and it is almost done.  It's a string quilt, which I have not made in eons but it seemed the thing to do.  This baby is already a toddler. Oh, dear. It is still on the floor and the picture is fuzzy but you get the idea.

 And that's not all!!  I finished stitching Totem 2 and just have to trim and face it. Yay.

 I would't have thought of it as a vertical but since Totem 1 became a vertical, I'm trying it out for size.

I also cut batting from the MQG's huge roll of batting and attached 2 charity quilts (one of which I made a backing for, tonight.  And then I cut batting for a huge antique top that one of the members donated to guild.  What has gotten into me?  It must be the solstice!

Last but not least...

I love to hear from readers who have bought my book and shifted gears to play around with free-form:-)  Yesterday, I got an email from Catherine Tyndall in the U.K., sending me a picture of her first free-form quilt - and it was fun to see what she did.  Just thought I'd share it.

And on that note... see 'ya. 

what I have been doing

The list is too long and boring to put here, but last night I finally sat down and worked on my own stuff! I'm almost finished quilting this piece, which is the second in a series.

 

I love the backing fabric, too.  I rarely buy commercial fabric but I had to buy a bolt of this because I loved it and it was just perfect for this piece.

The first in this unplanned series was sold before I had even put a sleeve on it, so the buyer got to decide which way she wanted to hang it.  She chose this vertical orientation.

 Now I guess I'll have to make a third one -- but first, I have two baby quilts to finish and a host of other things I need to work on.  I am having a solo show in Chapel Hill in May and I have sold some of the pieces I was going to hang, so I need to get busy. Fortunately, Chanukah is over, the grandchildren have their gifts, and we had a delightful family gathering to celebrate on Sunday.  Here is Emma with Uncle Mike, about to dive into one of her gifts.

 

And here are some of the other family members, clearly enjoying themselves as we sang to the three Gillmans who had birthdays last week.

Enough of this idle chit-chat. It has been a long time since I have sat at the sewing machine and I feel as though I am playing hooky. But I am determined to be mindful, not to multi-task today, and to do some meditative stitching.


Wishing you all a happy holiday season and a good year ahead.

Wordless Wednesday

Been on vacation

Ran away a week ago to a warm climate and complete vacation mode, including not blogging.
Delicious!! Relaxing!! Happy. Coming home Wed to a doctor's appointment and two back to back meetings, followed by the last of the Chanukah shopping for the grandchildren and grocery shopping. Next, making potato latkes for our family get together on Sunday. Good thing I rested up this week!

fingerprints

   
Last week I had to go to be fingerprinted.  No, I am not being arrested; I am getting cleared to teach fabric art to cognitively impaired adults where a friend of mine is the art program director.  To work with disabled people, you need to be cleared in the criminal database -- so, fingerprints.

I must admit I was picturing the old ink-on-the fingers routine you see in old movies -- and the sign in the hallway did nothing to disabuse me of this vision.

Of course, I should have known it would be more high tech than that -- and it was.  I asked the guy if I could take pictures for my blog and he was very accommodating.  This is how they do it now.

 It took a few tries to get these fingerprints electronically because my fingerprints were kind of mushy. I attributed that to the shrinkled fingertips that had spent the previous few days in dye and soda ash.

 Ultimately, they got sort of readable results and I was dismissed.  While it took me only 15 minutes to get there, it took twice as long to go home because there was a detour.  I had to stop the car and take a picture of the "only in New Jersey" signs.  Confusing?? You bet.  Typical of NJ? Absolutely!  The sign on the left is not easy to read, but it says Detour 80 East.  The arrow points in he same direction as the sign to 80 West and 287 South. ARGH. I have lived here all my life and didn't have the vaguest idea of where they were sending me.

However, I ultimately found my way back to the dye studio where I continued to frantically print scarves for Saturday's holiday craft market.  I am happy to say the day was wildly successful!

  People had trouble deciding, so many of them bought two  -- one, a gift for somebody else and one as a gift for themselves. About half of these were gone by the end of the day.

Other than my open studios, I have not done a craft show before. This was a good experience and I hope to do it again next year.  While I was happy to take cash or checks, I mostly used my trusty little Square to take credit cards.  It's a little picky with the swiping but ultimately works great with my iPhone (and in the future, with my new iPad). It made a huge difference - nobody gave me cash; one person wrote a check, and all the others used plastic. On my website or blog, I use Paypal or take a check, but in person, my little Square is the thing.


Tomorrow, meeting with my crit group and I have nothing to bring that is finished. Then, I am taking a week of vacation. Yay.