odds and ends

Today was our Studio Six meeting - although we were only four because so many people are away in August. The pile of indigo shibori is Joan Dreyer's --and it should make a beautiful piece. I had three pieces to show today -- a rarity! Two were therapy quilts and one was the piece I'm almost finished quilting. When our meeting was over today, I stopped at the studio and started another one - or at least, threw fabric at the wall and rearranged it several hundred times in two hours. I left it there, came home, threw a steak on the grill, and spent most of the evening on the phone. Refreshed and renewed by the long, leisurely conversation, I went back to work sewing and auditioning some new therapy strips, albeit prematurely. This is on my wall as I head upstairs for the night. Tuesday is slated to be another scorcher - summer has finally arrived in New Jersey in the past two days. I plan to go to work early and come home mid-afternoon before I wilt. On the other hand, the best laid plans...

mid-weekend

The weekend started when our grandchildren, Kayla (10) and Alexander (almost 8) arrived yesterday afternoon to stay overnight. Rachel Leibman, one of my studio mates, has a solo exhibit at the Monmouth Museum and last night was the opening -- so I took the kids along. They live near the Metropolitan Museum in NY, so they are pretty knowledgeable about art and enjoyed deciding which of Rachel's pieces they liked best.

Rachel is a collage artist who uses ancient manuscripts from all religions to create her work. I see her in the studio creating her pieces so it was a pleasure to see a whole gallery full of work. I don't believe anybody else is doing work like this...it is pretty amazing.

I haven't had much time to work on The Piece; Yesterday and today were tied up with the computer - a problem with launching my website that turned out to be a corrupted Windows problem. After many phone calls and futile efforts from the website people. I finally reinstalled Windows and it is fine now --but it wasted a day and a half.

So, here is the most recent photo of this work, which has already changed a little bit since I took it. Are you tired of looking at it yet??I am not, but just to change the subject..à propos of Elizabeth Barton's famous blog post, I retrieved this pictures, which you may have seen. Back in March, I was trying to just make something from the wonderful fabric I had shibori'd in Jan Myers-Newbury's workshop. But guess what? It did not work and I gave up trying to force the issue. When I find the right use for them, I won't have to force anything. Back to the wall tomorrow, I hope.

recharging my batteries

...both the camera's and mine. Today, I braved the traffic, two bridges, and expressways I have never been on before as I drove, white-knuckled, to Queens, NY. Deep breaths but I got there in time and in one piece. As I said yesterday (I think) I went to the intimate graveside funeral service for my friend Bonnie's mother...and I was very happy that I went. After the service (greatly delayed because when the opened the grave there was a huge boulder that they had to remove before they could proceed -- don't ask!) we went out for a (very late) lunch and I headed home just in time for rush hour. This time, I blundered into a different route that took me into Brooklyn, over the bridge to Manhattan and turned out to be much more relaxing than the trip going. While it took 2 hours to get home, at least I knew where I was. I sat on Canal St. (Chinatown) for an interminable amount of time, en route to the Holland Tunnel: a much more interesting place to be in a traffic jam than the highway. I've been working diligently for the last couple of hours on the sow's ear. And with all the random sewing, I have discovered the zen of sitting at the machine. Here is pretty much everything, chopped up, reconstituted, and with some other fabrics added. It is becoming something that I think I can be happy with, if I can make it work the way I want to. Most of my fabrics are in the studio and I am working on this at home, so I am limited. But maybe this is a good thing. Here is a closer view of what is now the center section. We'll see what develops over the next few days. I am too tired to use my brain so I am going to bed. What else is new?

ugly, continued

Tonight's output, done in the space of an hour or so. Whither? We'll see. Right now, it is too predictable and boring for words:something I hope never to be. It's late: I was delayed with the cutting/sewing/blogging by a phone call from a professor at a midwestern university who reads my blog and thinks my philosophy of "you can't make a mistake - just redo it till you like it" is something his students should hear about. LOL - I should have suggested to him that I come as a guest lecturer one of these days. Well, maybe if he is reading this, he will think about it.

It was beyond hot today and my studio air conditioner was not cooperating. I left earlier than I had intended to -- but there will be an additional a/c put back in the hallway and that should help. It certainly made a difference last year. In the meantime, I did some work at the computer and on the wall. Funny that I seem to be working in a similar palette at home and at work. One that I don't even like. Hmmm..what does it all MEAN? (probably nothing). I have something in mind that is inspiring me but I simply can't capture it. I tried several years ago and failed, so now I am trying again. I am not hopeful. On another subject, Elizabeth Barton's post today certainly makes some salient points. But as someone who works from/is inspired by the cloth, my take is different. Too tired to go on but you all who posted to the QuiltArt list should have posted your comments, as well, on Elizabeth's blog. Good discussion! She is always stimulating. Off to bed - I have a funeral to attend tomorrow morning in Queens, NY. Can I wrinkle my nose and be there without having to navigate the GW and Triboro bridges? Guess not.

another day in paradise

aka taking my mother to the doctor. The upside was that I got to try out my husband's Kindle while I was sitting in the waiting room with her. Marty has been reading it off and on but I decided it was my turn and I finally started The Map Thief, which I downloaded months ago and haven't had time to read. I still prefer the feel of a book in my hand -- turning pages on a Kindle doesn't quite do it for me -- but it promises to be a good book, anyway. Last night we went to see Julie & Julia and, yes, we loved it. I had recently read the autobiography Julia had written about her years in Paris with Paul, and this was the book on which the Julia part was based. The movie was quite faithful and captured its essence. Bless Nora Ephron's heart! I can't speak for the Julie part since I was not aware of her blog at the time, but the movie was a delight. Do not miss it! A young woman in line at the ladies' room afterwards said she thought it was "cute" but it was clear to all of us who grew up with Julia Child from the 60's, that it was a generational thing. WE really connected because we watched the original shows and we cooked from her books as brides (or at least I did). I still use it. Over the weekend I quilted a piece and am almost finished with it. Just have to finish stitching the last couple of inches on each side and then trim it to a relatively accurate shape & size. Despite Del's exhortation to just sandwich and quilt the horror I had on my blog the other night, I couldn't stand the little thing with its blue and orange squares. What WAS I thinking? So, out came the rotary cutter in an effort to change/improve it.So far, I don't see a great improvement: maybe none is possible. It might end in the trash after all, but at least I will have tried. I'll be documenting its progress (or lack thereof) for my own amusement. You can skip right over it and I won't be the least insulted.

August 8th

Would you believe I still have two cartons of supplies sitting in the living room from last week's stint at QBL? Of course, you would! Like housework - unpacking is a waste of time. Nevertheless, it can yield a treasure or two. Not sure this qualifies, since it is my demo cloth from last week's class -- but it is up on my design wall while I think about how to cut it up and use it.This afternoon we took a trip to the farm to buy white New Jersey peaches (they are divine!) and other local produce. The Garden State, which used to be full of farms - large as well as the small ones my father used to call "truck farms" -- now has housing developments and shopping malls (with empty stores) where there were once cornfields,small local farms, and dairies that were around as late as the 1960's. Tomatoes have not been good this year - devastated by the blight that has killed many of the plants in the Northeast. But I did find some plum tomatoes that will be delicious with oil, vinegar, fresh basil, and the fresh mozarella I bought today. Tonight I sewed the facings on (not, however, down) my two small tree pieces. I have one piece waiting to be stitched and the one you have been watching needs to be layered and eventually stitched. In the meantime, I'd rather do the more creative stuff -- although sewing down facings is perfect for Monday afternoon when I take my mother to the doctor. The Gillman offspring and grands are bringing bagels around 10:00, before they head for the golf course and tennis courts. Bedtime for me so I can be bright-eyed!

putting on my oxygen mask

I spent most of the day in the studio working on something else -- completely immersed in it while this sat on my wall and smiled at me. It is almost there, I think. This was a mental health day and I expect tomorrow to be the same: I sewed. (of course, the gremlins made off with my rotary cutter during the night, so I had to go out at noon and buy another one. I bought two, just for good measure). I have also decided I will go tomorrow morning and take in my Bernina 1020 that has been sitting here, needing service, for at least a year. It requires going quite a bit out of my way; the Bernina fixit guy is about an hour in the opposite direction from my studio. But enough is enough. In my studio I have my trusty, lightweight, very basic (straight and zigzag) mechanical Viking 210 that is the only sewing machine I ever bought new. It cost $400 at least 15 years ago: It sews just fine, is extremely easy to use and is light enough to carry anywhere -- but I miss my knee lift. My friend Mona and I talked today about how we need to be in the studio doing our art because it keeps us balanced, grounded, and sane enough to deal with our ageing mothers and all the other vicissitudes that life throws at us at this stage in our lives. It is our survival tactic - the oxygen mask we have to put on before we can help everybody else. In the last two days, two doctors have told me I need to take care of myself first. So imagine my surprise when tonight, I discovered twittascope (thanks, Von) and this was my reading for today:

Your approach to taking care of yourself is different from everyone else's, but you know what you need and should be able to get it. Don't waste your time and energy explaining your motives to your friends or family; just make the most of the present opportunity. Finding personal satisfaction in a way that's uniquely yours will refresh your soul and rejuvenate your body.

Refreshing my soul is in process but the body is another story. Do you think I can get my doctor to give me a prescription for a daily massage at a local day spa?

Although I was the driver this morning, I had to get out my camera at the stoplight in Newark because I couldn't miss this photo opp. I wonder what it was that I just passed. Good for a smile, at any rate!

After our morning appointment I came home, fiddled with the thing on my wall, and decided to go to the studio before it was too late for me to get off my duff.

Yes, I went to work and printed with the screens I made yesterday. I was not especially happy with the results and in fact, I brought them home to wash and forgot about them. I guess that is tomorrow morning's task. At the moment, I am unpicking the stitches of my therapy quilt because I sewed a few of the components together wrong. NOT that anybody else would notice and it probably didn't make a difference because it looked fine, but it bothered me. By tomorrow morning I should have it put together correctly. There was some filling-in-the-spaces done along the way because it never fits together exactly as you have thrown it at the wall. I did unearth one sample piece from the archeological dig at my studio . I can't say I am not sure what I was thinking when I made this, because I know exactly what I was thinking. Don't ask. This belongs on the ugly quilt blog. It will not stay in its current permutation; that's another activity for another day. Right now, I am going to bed.

all in an evening's work

I promised to blog again last night but got so involved in my random strip quilt on the wall that I was bleary-eyed, not to mention too tired to make something up about my boring day yesterday! I went to the studio for a couple of hours and made some screens for deconstructing , which should be dry by now. And I puttered around on the wall without really accomplishing anything before I had to leave. Remember this? It was the core of the random strip quilt I was starting to construct and it has remained my starting point, although everything around it has changed and moved and added/deleted. There have been so many versions along the way that I will just show you a few...and not necessarily in order. I think this is where I was when I decided to take it apart because I had another idea. So, out came the seam ripper. There were too many plain strips and they needed to be divided up. Here is how it looked sometime last night, when I had constructed some new blocks and was moving along. It's like putting a puzzle together - except there is no picture on the box to guide you. Auditions galore for the bottom center block of the piece; here is one of them. My eyes went right to the dark purple square, which was too distracting. Out it went! After several more tries, here's where it stands now. I might be finished, for the most part. Now comes the construction, which for me is the hard part. Do I sew or do I fuse the edges to each other? Ick. Easier to sew, I think. These blocks are placed on the wal but won't necessarily fit together the same way so I know this will look different by the time all the blocks are sewn together. Just now, I turned the picture vertically and see that I might like it better as a vertical piece if I turn some of the other blocks... argh. The problem with being an off-the-charts iNtuitor (Myers-Briggs) is that you see the possibilities and sometimes, that just makes your life complicated. But now that I've seen this, I have to follow it up and see whether it works. So I'm not finished at all. Hoist by my own petard. Some of the blocks I made for this piece are giving me ideas for starting another piece - so this is a good thing. Is it distracting me from my main track or is this a new direction? Maybe both, maybe neither. On verra.

grabbing an hour in the studio

Yesterday, I was home in the pouring rain working on some new workshop ideas and, inspired by my class, continuing to sew strips and blocks and cut/resew till I liked the way they looked. Will this piece ever get done? Maybe not - but it gives me something to do that I don't have to worry about when I'm working on it. This arrangement is what it looked like last night but it has already changed. It has already had umpteen permutations and actually, I can't find the rest of the blocks. Must have left them at the studio. Now I'm going to the studio for an hour and then home to take DH to the doctor this afternoon. Then I'll be working at home for the rest of the day. This is a broken up week - appointments at inconvenient times -- so I'll be working around these scheduling glitches. The upside is that I can sit at the sewing machine when I am home -- it seems a waste of time to sew in the studio when I have a big design wall and printing tables. Will come back and write if there is anything to report by tonight. Or shall I invent something?

home again

It's amazing how quickly the week went and how much fun it was. The second part of the week was a free-spirited workshop where everybody worked at her own pace. Here I am with Roberta Chalfy Miller, who took a class with me in January. She is almost finished with a gorgeous piece she worked on in studio next door and then in my classroom on Friday. I won't post a picture just in case she wants to enter it in a major national show. I was delighted to see her again. She also generously contributed a bag of found objects for printing that she schlepped all the way from the west coast of Florida. Thanks, Roberta! My students had fun with them. Linda Lasco, auctioneer extraordinaire (she was fantastic at Friday night's scholarship auction), came with a bunch of leftover scraps from other projects and ended up with what turned out to be house blocks, albeit unintended. It just evolved, as did the piece below, which she created without advance planning. Diane is cutting random strips and will eventually have a piece made with her collection of gorgeous African fabrics. Lori made free-form blocks from the fabrics she had printed earlier in the week -- and this fragment will go into her first art quilt. Ruth took some ugly fabric earlier in the week and made it into a beauty with her printing. Below, you can see her audition of fabrics as she decides what will work with it. She ended up with something she is pleased with and will finish at home. In fact, she made several small pieces from her own fabrics during the week. I am glad to be home, but I am doing laundry and it is back to reality. There is something magical about being away at a place like Quilting by the Lake: the spirit, the camaraderie, and the generosity of students and teachers make you want to go back again and again. The auction of wonderful gift baskets and the aprons we teachers decorated was a huge success and will provide scholarships for students who want to attend next year's QBL and otherwise would not be able to do so. I couldn't resist posting this sign, which was in the dining room on the busing table. Everybody was so offended by the grammar that we kept stealing the signs. Eventually, somebody got the idea and corrected the spelling. This is a detail of the Helene Davis shirt I bought at the mini-mall on Tuesday night. I am wearing it now -- it feels so delicious that I just asked Helene to send me 2 or 3 more of her gorgeous shirts in whatever colors/patterns she chooses. Yum yum. That's all for tonight. Great week and I'm ready to head to the studio tomorrow!