the flowing line

Life interfering with quilting

2009-08-12T08:01:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've been able to devote some uninterrupted time to my new quilt. Life, in the form of kids-stuff, groceries, car repair, apartment hunting, etc., etc., has gotten in the way.

I hate when that happens, don't you? Wouldn't it be oh so nice if we could just quilt all day, every day? Ahhhh.

Today, though, I have a very fun reason for not being able to quilt. I am traveling to southern New Jersey to present my "Goddess Project" lecture to the Berry Basket Quilters this evening. It's a five hour trip, so I'll be spending the night down there and returning home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to meeting the BBQ's. Hopefully I'll get some good photos for my next post!

No quilting today

2009-07-24T19:13:00.003-04:00

Keeping a blog about my artistic endeavors means that not every single entry can be all about the wonders of creation. Sometimes, there are days like today. This turned into one of those days when I didn't get to exercise even one little creative bone in my entire body!!!

Things kept happening that prevented me from getting to the studio. So, even though I thought about my new quilt all day, and wished that I could get my hands on it, there were errands to be done, family members that needed attention, and . . . truthfully, it was waaaaaay past time for a manicure and pedicure. And boy, did it feel good to be pampered!

I guess that our "artistic souls" need to be fed in all kinds of different ways, huh? I hope your day was more productive than mine!

Venetian Lace continues to "grow"

2009-07-23T16:37:00.012-04:00

Thanks so much to everyone out there for leaving such encouraging comments! I appreciate them so very much.

I've been working so hard on my new quilt that I haven't really had time to blog about it! But, I have been taking photos as the quilt progresses. Here's one that I took after I decided to couch some "stems" onto the leaves. I really like the way the stems look. I think they add a definition to the quilt's design that was missing before.

Here's a close-up of the stem:

And, as you can tell, I've begun to quilt today.

Yesterday I basted the quilt layers together. I like to baste by hand with thread, using a long darning needle. Actually, it's about the only hand work that I do at all! It's a slow process, and it hurts my fingers, but I like the way it really holds all the layers together so well while I'm quilting. I use the basting time to examine the quilt one last time. While I'm basting, I can think about how I'm going to go about quilting it. Sometimes I come up with a really great idea, and other times I just go into "auto drive" while I'm basting, and think about nothing at all.

See the little basting stitches in the photo above? Each one is about 1/4 inch long. The lines of basting are about four inches apart. So far, I've been doing very boring vertical straight-line quilting in the background, but I plan to add some free-motion quilting -- of course! I may even use some more metallic thread, since I have so much of it. We'll see.

The photo below is how it looked when I left the studio for the evening. I'm going to try to get back there nice and early tomorrow so I can get right back to quilting!

A productive morning

2009-07-16T15:56:00.016-04:00

I absolutely LOVE the way my newest quilt is turning out. It is such a joy to work on! This morning I drove over to my studio nice and early so I could get right down to work. Here's a new close-up photo of the "lace" which I created using what I call "free-motion blanket-stitch." And this one's NOT blurry! I apologize for that close-up photo at the end of the last post. Oh dear . . . I didn't realize how out-of-focus it was until I looked at it this morning. I must have been bleary-eyed when I posted it. This one is much better!

As is apparent from the titles of the last couple of blog posts, I am calling this quilt "Venetian Lace." I'm not quite sure it will be the final name of the piece, but it is the working title, at least.

As I worked on the quilt, I realized that what I am creating is a very stylized version of the Burano lace, or merletto, that I learned to make from Signora Brunello and Signora Emma in Venice a year and a half ago. I can't imagine ever again making authentic Burano lace as I was taught to do. Though I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to learn from two amazing master lace-makers, and I am profoundly grateful for the experience, I found the lace-making process to be painstakingly, excruciatingly slow. Beautiful as it is, lace-making is not for me. I'm just not equipped with that kind of patience!

But free-motion machine stitching? Ah, yes! That is certainly my thing! So what better way for me to pay homage to the ancient art of lace making than to interpret it using free-motion stitching -- a skill I've been refining for over twenty years?

Yesterday, I received a question in the comments from Linda, the author of the blog Cloth Creativity. Linda asked: "Free-motion blanket stitching? What kind of machine lets you do that?"

Well, first of all, Linda, thank you for leaving a comment. It's so good to know that somebody out there is reading this blog! To answer your question -- it's not the machine that does the stitching, it's the person operating the machine who does it!

What I call "free-motion blanket stitching" is done using a darning (or free-motion) foot, with the feed dogs lowered, in exactly the same way that free-motion quilting is done. The machine is set to do a straight stitch (not a zig-zag, and not a blanket stitch!). The machine is run at a consistent speed -- not too fast, and not too slow, while the quilt top (stabilized to prevent unsightly buckling and tunneling) is manipulated beneath the moving needle to form the look of the blanket stitch.

It's not the easiest thing in the world to explain in words. It's also not the easiest thing in the world to do! I've had lots and lots of practice at it, and still, when I haven't done it for a while, I find that I need to build my skill back up again. When I demonstrate the technique to my students during a workshop, they always head back to their machines with all the confidence in the world that they'll be able to do it, too. And, of course they will be able to do it, too ... it just takes lots and lots of practice!

Linda, if you want more information, please let me know! I'd be happy to explain further. And thanks for reading!

The quilt continues to "grow"

2009-07-14T19:56:00.006-04:00

I've added more "lace" to the new quilt....

This is how it looks close-up . . .

And closer still . . . .

I'm having a really good time working on the "lace." Free-motion blanket stitch is one of my very favorite things to do!

Venetian Lace, part 2

2009-07-09T16:28:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, the quilt top on my design wall looked like this:

After a day in my studio that started bright and early this morning, it looks like this:

Sewing the right side together was time-consuming. But by lunchtime, it was finally done, and then came the fun of arranging the "lace-leaves" on the surface. I'm nowhere near finished, for there are lots of little "donuts" of different sizes to add, but I'm satisfied with today's effort!

More to come!

New quilt on the design wall

2009-07-08T16:31:00.008-04:00

This morning, I went to my studio intending to baste the quilt top that I blogged about in my last post. I thought that I might even begin quilting it. But when I got to the studio, although I was full of good intentions, basting was the very last thing I wanted to do.

So instead, I spent the morning playing around with a quilt top that I'd put aside to "ferment". A month or so ago, I brought it to a meeting for show and tell. It received some comments that weren't terribly positive. Well, I'm probably being a little touchy ... the comments weren't negative. It was just that no one was really enthusiastic about it. And so I lost interest in the piece and tossed it aside. Usually, when I'm not happy about a quilt top I simply throw it in the trash. As a matter of fact, in the past my cleaning lady rescued one and convinced me to re-tool it. I did, and it went on to win some pretty nice ribbons . . . .

But I digress. This time, I didn't toss the top into the trash. And I think I like what's happening on the design wall.

I've added some width to the piece, and I really like the way it's shaping up.

Here's a close up of the applique...

The sewing is not complete yet, but I'm getting there! I plan to add more applique, but I think I want to avoid covering the sections with the smaller squares, covering only the strip-pieced section.

We'll see what happens in the studio tomorrow!

New quilt

2009-06-25T18:25:00.003-04:00

Finally, there has been some creative activity in the studio! This is the first quilt top to come out of the new studio. It makes me think of the waters in Venice...

Shameless love

2009-06-17T09:48:00.005-04:00

I am head-over-heels in love with the dog. She is a bundle of unbearable cuteness and everyone who lives with her is hopelessly under her spell. I haven't taken any new pictures recently because she is either speeding around the condo with unbridled energy, or fast asleep with her eyes shut. So here's a picture from a week ago when we took her on a little outing to visit Andrew's new college campus.

Such cuteness!

New Jersey State Quilt Show

2009-06-14T13:37:00.008-04:00

Late last night I returned home from teaching at the New Jersey State Quilt Show. It was a fun time, and an exhausting trip. I drove through pouring, blinding rain to get there on Thursday evening, and then drove back home in a blinding rain storm last night. But the ladies I spent time with made the trip worthwhile.

Today, I'm planning on a quiet day here at home on the sofa with perhaps a little knitting (and perhaps a little nodding!).

Here are some pictures from the weekend. This is Toni, who took my goddess project workshop yesterday, and created a "past and future goddess."

This is Lisa. She created a lovely "doctor goddess."

And the day before, Friday, I taught a class of 28 (yes, 28!) how to Free Motion Without Fear. They were a lovely class. This is how they looked when they were well-behaved....

And this is how they looked when they were being themselves....

Only kidding! They were fabulous. If you're one of them, please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you. And thank you for being great students -- I had a blast with you guys!!!

It's all about the dog

2009-06-08T18:41:00.002-04:00

For now, anyway. I promise not to blog about Topolina every single day, but gee ... she's so cute, it'll be hard not to! I've been working hard on a little wool sweater for her to wear during our outings on those chilly Vermont mornings and evenings. I should be able to complete it this evening. If I do, the lovely Topolina will model it for tomorrow's blog entry!

Topolina Rosenberg

2009-06-07T10:47:00.007-04:00

Fred and I adopted a new family member on Friday. Her name is Topolina, (pronouced: TOE-poe-LEE-nah) which is an Italian word meaning "little female mouse." It's also the word that Italians use for Disney's "Minnie Mouse." We love our little darling dearly. Topolina is a chihuahua, and she is 12 weeks old, incredibly tiny and completely adorable. Andrew and Fred have been calling her "Topo" for short (pronounced: TOE-poe).

Above is our adoption photo, taken at the Yonkers Petsmart Adopt-a-thon. More pictures of our new darling to follow!

Storage in the studio, good news . . . and zebras!

2009-06-03T18:08:00.010-04:00

Two of my very favorite guys (my husband and my youngest son) worked hard today to transport my heavy shelving units into my studio. I spent the day filling them back up with all of my beading "gear". As you can see from the photo below, the shelves fill up the empty back corner very nicely and provide some much-needed storage space.

The front area of my studio is now filled with two closed units and two open ones. The open ones will be used to display some of my finished jewelry as well as my beloved zebra collection. I really missed my zebras while they were in storage. It's wonderful to have them back out again where they can be admired!

I haven't finished arranging all the shelves yet, because we left the studio to have a very special celebration. Today, Andrew was formally accepted into Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT. His dad and I are so very proud of him ... he worked hard to finish up his last semester at Landmark College on a good note against some very tough odds. He impressed the Green Mountain admissions office with his determination and grit. What a guy! Go, Andrew!

While we're busy celebrating Andrew's success at a local restaurant here in Vermont, my oldest son, Jordan, is flying over the north pole, on his way to Hong Kong to visit with our cousins for a few weeks. Then, he will continue his trip to Shanghai, where he'll be studying Chinese economics and Mandarin. He'll be blogging about his trip at his own blog, Anthem. I'm so excited for him!

As for me, tomorrow, I'm driving down to NY to meet with my salon sisters. I'm really looking forward to seeing them all, getting some big hugs, seeing what they've been up to, and showing them what I've been up to in my lonely studio.

I have some other plans while I'm down in Westchester county ... but I'm not going to tell you what they are -- I'll surprise you with something special when I return on Friday!

Good morning!

2009-05-29T10:02:00.005-04:00

This is what I see when I look out of my window in the morning.

What do YOU see when you look out of YOUR window? Why don't you leave a comment and tell me about it? Or, you could post a picture of what you see outside your window on your own blog, if you have one . . . .

Orange

2009-05-29T07:55:00.004-04:00

I'm not much of a photographer, but every now and then, I see something that makes me try to capture it with my camera. Last weekend, my mother-in-law turned 89 and to celebrate her birthday, we brought her up to Vermont. It's always been a dream of hers to stay in a bed-and-breakfast, so we arranged for her to stay at one just around the corner from us here in Manchester. And we took her out for dinner at a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant. (She loves spaghetti and meatballs.) The place was crowded, and we had to sit in the bar to wait for a table. I didn't mind, because it was so pretty in there -- see?

I love the straw-covered wine bottles hanging on the ceiling, too!

A few little things ...

2009-05-26T19:25:00.006-04:00

Little things, like new track lighting, can be so important! These track lights used to be in my studio in New York, and now they've been installed in my Vermont studio. The sunlight in my studio is really fantastic, but on a cloudy or rainy day, I need some good lighting!

And another little thing, like new curtains, can make a huge difference. The lace curtains I ordered arrived today, and I am crazy about the way they make my studio look. They filter the light just enough, and they provide just enough privacy from the street to make me feel comfortable.

I've never really been a lace curtain kind of person, but these feel just right. They add just the right cozy, homey touch my studio needed.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be a rainy day, so I'll be trying out those new track lights!

Responding to comments

2009-05-22T10:37:00.001-04:00

I thought it might be easier to respond to all of the comments I've received here in a new post, rather than within the comments, where they might get overlooked.

Susan: My dear, you are such a great cheerleader. Thank you for your constant, unwavering support. It is very, very much appreciated!

Jeri: You're a very good cheerleader, too! Yes, I will bring the piece on the design wall to the next salon meeting. And thank you.

Renee: I will go home sometimes, I promise. You are welcome to come and join me anytime!

Lynn: The light fixture is from ikea. I bought it ages ago, but never seemed to find the right place to hang it. We came across it in storage while we were pulling out the furniture. It was like a new discovery. I love it, too! And for the support you've shown me and my quilting -- thank you, thank you, thank you.

Doberlady: Thank you so much, my dear neighbor. I don't care where I live, you are still my neighbor in my heart. I miss you. Oh, and by the way, the outlets are fabulous! Recently, some brand new ones opened up: Lily Pulitzer, Kenneth Cole and Kate Spade! And there are the old favorites, too: Carters, Burburry, Zales, Gap, Garnet Hill, etc, etc.... Come on up and visit!!!

Laurie: So good to hear from you! I'm glad your goddess skills stayed with you. Keep it up!

Brenda: Thanks!

Vivien: Thank you so much for the support and caring!

Marty's Musings: Thanks, Marty!

Thanks to all of you for being there, for reading and for your support! Much love to you!

Before and After Photos!

2009-05-21T19:57:00.014-04:00

This is what the inside of my studio looked like last Saturday morning, when I was handed the keys. It's the view from the middle of the floor, looking towards the front.

And this is what it looks like now.

You'll notice that Andrew seems very much at home. He feels that way because he worked so very hard to carry all those heavy pieces of furniture! In the background of the photo above you'll notice Fred's legs on the loveseat. He carried lots of heavy furniture, too, so he deserves the rest!

The next photo is of the back corner of the room the way it looked last Saturday. Pretty purple.

And now, it's not purple anymore.

The next photo is of the bathroom, the way it used to be. It was very pink. But only on the bottom. And it was very dark in there, because there was no light fixture. Personally, I like a bathroom with a light fixture.

So I added one. And a mirror, too. And I got rid of the pink. Better, don't you think?

There's still more to do. The curtains have not arrived yet, and there will be another design wall installed as soon as the flannel sheets have arrived. But. as you can see from the photos, I've hung some of my quilts-in-progress on the design wall, set up my machine and my ironing board, and a small portion of my fabric is in the cabinets. Tomorrow, I will walk down the hill from the condo and work in my new studio.

And Fred will take a nap.

A visit to Town Hall

2009-05-21T19:04:00.009-04:00

I found these photos in my camera today and just had to share them with you. This is what I saw when I went to Town Hall last week to pick up my zoning application.

From just outside the front door of Town Hall, this is the view towards the parking lot. Pretty, huh?

The scent was absolutely amazing. And it was noisy! Lots and lots of bees were buzzing around the flowers. Walking through the pathway, towards the parking lot, I felt as if I was in a lovely, white tunnel.

I love spring in Vermont!

The new studio is shaping up nicely!

2009-05-20T18:39:00.006-04:00

Today was another busy day setting up my new studio behind the yellow door. After unwrapping the furniture that my two wonderful men moved yesterday, Fred and I drove over to the local hardware store and purchased four rigid foam insulation boards. We dropped them off at the studio and then headed to the Garnett Hill outlet to buy two white flannels king size sheets. Unfortunately, they only had one, so I had to order the other. It won't arrive until next Monday. Bummer.

But, we managed to get one design wall up and I immediately pinned up my quilt in progress. It felt so wonderful to have it up there! The room is really beginning to feel like a true studio.

Tomorrow I'll have pictures, I promise. I want to clean up the mess just a little bit more before I get out my camera!!!!

Spackling, sanding and painting, oh my!

2009-05-17T09:54:00.004-04:00

You know what they say about how you have to get dirty before you can create art? Anybody who knows me well knows that I HATE to get dirty. That's one of the reasons that I love fabric art -- it's clean!!!

Applying spackle, sanding and painting is NOT clean work. I can't wait to get it over with so I can show you my nice, new CLEAN studio!

One more day of work and it should be ready. And then, we can move in the furniture. Oh boy!

Blogging again

2009-05-14T11:23:00.012-04:00

Oh, my ... it's been quite a while since I've posted. I wonder if anyone is still reading?

So much has happened; so much has changed in my life. There's been the move to Vermont, and the resulting chaos.

This is what my condo looked like for a time. It was not fun. In fact, it was downright horrible. I'd really rather not remember it. Chaos is a difficult way to live for a neatness freak like me!

We managed to dig ourselves out of this disarray in about a week and a half. A short time later, however, after trying to create art in a corner of the dining area of my small condo, it became glaringly obvious that the lack of studio space was simply NOT going to work out.

While that frustrating experience was going on in the condo, down the block and around the corner a sign appeared in a window. It read, "For Rent."

It is one of life's true-isms, isn't it? -- Timing really IS everything.

And so .... This is where my new studio will be:

It's on the corner of Elm Street and Highland Avenue in Manchester Center, Vermont. The space inside is small, only about 18 x 12. But it's big enough for me! And it has a bathroom. And great light. And a fabulous view. I simply LOVE the yellow door. Yellow is the color of sunshine, good luck and new beginnings. How appropriate.

The rest of the building looks like this:

Very pretty, very quaint, very purple, and very "Vermont". The landlord will hand me the keys this weekend. I'm looking forward to painting the presently purple walls a nice, soft white. Then, I'll move in my studio furniture and take up residence in the area of town known as "The Depot" -- unofficially called "the Soho of Manchester."

I'm excited, to say the least. Finally, I'll have a "real" studio -- a place I can commute to every day (by foot, no less, it's a five-minute walk!), where I can work uninterrupted for as long as I please. Or, if I decide to, I can open the door and invite passers-by in to see what I've been creating.

The preparations have already begun. I stopped at Town Hall this week to file for the necessary permits. I've ordered pretty lace curtains and an electric tea kettle on-line. I've created a floor plan on graph paper to arrange my furniture, which will include a seating area and a "working" area. I've purchased paint and painting supplies from the local hardware store. I've gone through my inventory of what's in the storage unit to see what will fit in the studio. And I've begun to imagine myself in my new, sun-lit space, creating beautiful art.

I am ready for this new chapter in my creative life ... and excited to see where it leads!

The Goddesses of Pine Bush

2009-04-14T09:07:00.007-04:00

How cute are they, huh?

These are some of the lovely and talented goddesses of the Country Quilters of Pine Bush who participated in my workshop last week. They were just as adorable as they appear in this photo! Their goddess quilts were spectacular, too! I will upload pictures and stories, in the next few days, in between packing boxes!

Thank you, ladies!!!

Looking forward to a lovely evening!

2009-04-08T15:07:00.003-04:00

I'm so happy to be spending the evening with the members of the Country Quilters of Pine Bush, New York. I'll be presenting my "Goddess Project" today, and tomorrow I will have the pleasure of leading a workshop for them. It's always nice to meet new goddesses . . .

And it'll be fantastic to spend an evening and an entire day away from packing!!!

And the packing continues . . .

2009-03-25T08:04:00.003-04:00

The piles of boxes in the garage are getting bigger and bigger, even though it doesn't look as if much progress is being made at all in the house! I don't know how that can be . . . but I'm sure that emptying out the attic last weekend had something to do with it.

I became very nostalgic while going through all the old toys up there. I'd forgotten what BOYS my children were. I found boxes and boxes of action figures, cars, legos, tinker-toys, yucky rubber snakes, dinosaurs, swords, construction vehicles, batman paraphernalia, lots and lots of wonderful children's books . . . and just a few lonely stuffed animals.

Today's project -- packing up the china closet. My life is just so exciting I can't stand it.

It's a pretty good day . . .

2009-03-19T09:02:00.003-04:00

My new cell phone is programmed and working. My new computer is really easy and very fun to use. My studio here in New York is mostly packed up, but still has enough stuff in it so that I can be creative if I feel like it.

And if I want to, I can smile, laugh, and skip, or do anything else that makes me happy.

It feels like it's going to be a pretty good day . . .

One more thing, just one more thing!

2009-03-11T10:33:00.010-04:00

Just when you think that it can't get much worse, it does. My new cell phone arrived yesterday. I opened up the package, inserted the battery, plugged in the charger, and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. Not a darned thing.

Today I am interrupting my packing to go to the post office so I can send the package containing the cell phone with the non-working battery back to Verizon. They have told me that they will not charge me the re-stocking fee since the phone is defective. Isn't that nice of them?

Nothing else is going to go wrong today. Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. Not a darned thing.

The move moves ahead.

2009-03-09T11:24:00.014-04:00

Today, our prospective home buyers' bank appraiser came to assess the value of our home, which means that the selling process is moving full-speed ahead. Also, our moving man is coming over on Saturday to give us an estimate. I'm feeling both happy and sad about moving ... a mixture of emotions that is making me difficult to live with. Luckily, all the packing and sorting I have to do is keeping me so busy that I don't really have enough time to get into trouble too deeply. You see, this move is not a straight-forward one. Some things are going to the Vermont condo, some are going into a storage room in Vermont, some are going to my mother-in-law's home here in Westchester, NY, and other things are being donated or tossed. There is much to do, and not a lot of time to do it, as our closing date should happen in four to six weeks.

To complicate my life even further, I've finally made the switch to the wonderful world of Apple computers. I'm tremendously happy with my decision to leave the PC-world behind -- except for one little thing. My poor old PC died a violent death. The dreaded "blue screen of death" was involved, many four-letter words were invoked. Let's just say it was a pretty ugly scene. Luckily, I had recently performed a back-up of my important documents, mailing lists, photos, etc. to an external hard drive, but my extensive (to say the least) itunes music library of songs was not backed up, except for the copy that was saved on my ipod.

So, after transferring all of my info to my brand new shiny mac book, I took my new toy, along with my trusty old ipod, to the Apple Store. The genius there (yes, they actually are called geniuses, working at the "genius bar"!) told me he could try to transfer my music from my ipod to my computer, but that there was a "small chance" it could get lost in the process. I considered this information, weighting it mentally against the prospect of copying all of my cd's (six rubbermaid bins full) manually, and told him to go ahead and give it a try. It didn't work. So, here I sit, manually copying all of my cd's into my library, one at a time. At least I get to do some much-needed work on my computer while I sit here and insert each cd, wait for the songs to be imported, make sure they are all listed correctly, eject the cd, put it back into its jewel box, and return it to it's alphabetical position in the rubbermaid box. In between, I run downstairs to my studio, packing yet more rubbermaid boxes with fabric and labeling the boxes "CONDO" "STORAGE" or "DONATE." Each day is full and very, very busy.

I'm also working on making a few tweaks to the powerpoint presentation that I'll be making to the Country Quilters of Pine Bush in early April. Luckily, the transfer of my Goddess Project presentation from PowerPoint to Apple's Keynote application went very smoothly. It's a very easy-to-use program, very intuitive! I only need to make a few font changes, but everything else transferred very smoothly. A dry run with my projector even worked beautifully -- in fact, it worked a whole lot better and easier than it ever did with my old PC.

Oh, and by the way -- if anyone out there reading this blog happens to have a goddess quilt (or photo of one) that they made in workshop with me, I would LOVE to add it to my presentation! Please drop me a line at my new email adddress: elizquilt@gmail.com . I will, of course, give you credit for your work during my presentation -- and I'd love to be able to share the story of it's creation with other quilting goddesses!

Oh, and I forgot to mention the other complication ... yesterday, I threw a load of laundry into the machine and at the last minute decided to add the jeans I was wearing, forgetting that my cell phone was in the pocket. I now have a very clean, but very dead cell phone. So I now have to somehow find a few minutes to get to the verizon store at some point today to buy myself a new cell phone -- then contact all my friends and get their cell phone numbers. One more thing to do. So, if you are a friend reading this now, please send me an email with your cell phone number (and your home number too, so I don't have to look it up seperately), just to save me some precious time, and a phone call.

Well, that's it for now, I've got to get back to work!!!

Listening to the message of the Universe (Part 2) -or- Change can be good

2009-02-11T11:38:00.006-05:00

I want to send out a HUGE thank you to Renee, Vivien, Lynn and Jeri, who left very sweet comments after my last post.

Please don't worry about me . . . I'm fine, really! Those 'messages' were simply my interpretation of events in my life --- I'm truly NOT hearing voices (not yet, anyway!) and I'm not going over the edge, I promise. I am just under a bit of stress. "Change" seems to be the word of the year, and I have definitely seen my fair (or maybe unfair) piece of it in the last few months. Change can be good, yes, but the process can be difficult, even if it's positive change.

Last year, my husband and I decided to sell our house and down-size by moving to a condo here in Westchester county. We did a lot of work to spruce up the place, got rid of a lot of junk, and then decided NOT to move. And that was fine for a couple of months. Then, the economy tanked, and we had to re-think our lives. So on to "Plan B." Sell the house, and move to our condo in Vermont.

We put the house on the market last month, expecting that it would take a very long time to sell, and were pleasantly surprised to sell it in only two weeks. So now the reality of moving begins. Establishing residency in a new state is something I never thought I'd do, but it's sort of exciting! Putting those new, shiny green plates on our cars, and inserting those new Vermont drivers licenses in our wallets, we're beginning to feel like 'real' Vermonters.

Manchester Center, our new home, is only a two-and-three-quarter hour drive away, and I plan to be visiting my friends back here in New York very often. I also hope to find some active artist groups in my new town... And I plan to write about my discoveries here on my blog!

Of course, the condo is a LOT smaller than our house, so there will be some adjusting to do. My quilting will have to be on a smaller-scale, and I'll be giving up my beautiful, beloved studio. That will be difficult and I will miss it dearly. But, my new mantra is .... Change is good.

And maybe that's what the universe has been trying to tell me all along

Listening to the message of the Universe (Part 1)

2009-01-23T16:36:00.021-05:00

Ever feel as if the universe is trying to send you a message?

Increasingly, it seems to me that the universe is trying to tell me something. I think that it may be trying to get me to re-think the way in which I express my creativity. Let me explain . . .

If I were to be completely, totally honest with myself (and let's admit it, that is a really tough thing to do!), I'd have to say that quilting hasn't given me that "head over heels, crazy in love" feeling for quite some time. Oh, don't get me wrong, the love is still there. I still feel that undeniable urge to stroke a beautiful hand-dyed cotton just as much as the next quilter does, and I'm completely sure that I always will! But the way I feel about quilting right now is much different from the white-hot passion of the bodice-ripping variety I used to feel for it some years ago. My love for quilting feels more like a comfortable, been-married-for-over-twenty-years kind of love.

Yesterday, I went to the public library to while away some time while waiting for prospective buyers to tour my house. I started reading Nancy Crow's book. In it, she talks about a time in her life when she thought she might stop quilting, if only for a while, to gain some perspective on what she wanted from her art. For a year or so, her work came close to a complete halt. She produced very few quilts. But then, when she returned to quilting, she did so feeling renewed and refreshed, with so many new ideas that she wondered if she'd ever be able to express them all.

Reading about her creative struggle made me think about how I'd felt while I was trying to create my latest piece. Although I was happy with the finished result, creating that quilt was not easy for me. I went through many false starts and much self-doubt. I felt sure that what I was doing was just a re-interpretation of what other quilters have done over and over and over again. I felt played out and unable to come up with a single original idea, all of which made me feel terrible about myself. I wasn't excited about what I was creating. I was doing it because I thought I HAD to. It gave me no pleasure at all. Thinking back on that experience now, I can see how I might have been "downloading" the very first part of that message . . . the one that the universe is trying to get me to understand -- more on this in tomorrow's post (or whenever I get around to it).

a Mother Theresa smile

2009-01-22T17:50:00.002-05:00

The other day a good friend of mine sent me a quote by Mother Theresa. Inspired, I did a little research on other things Mother Theresa said during her lifetime. I found many wonderful, inspiring quotes, but this one really stopped me in my tracks. It goes like this:

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

I'm going to try to remember that the next time someone's eye meets mine. Maybe it'll be at the supermarket, or the post office, or the gas station, or as I hand over my money at the drug store. I'll try to smile at them and see if maybe it will put a little bit of happiness into their day. I bet it'll make me feel pretty good, too.

New Year, new email address

2009-01-12T10:07:00.010-05:00

I've just changed my email address to elizquilt@gmail.com

It's completely amazing how many different hoops I have to jump through on the internet to make sure EVERYBODY that I care about knows my new address! Whew, it's exhausting!!!!

Please, drop me a line to let me know if you didn't get an email from me about my new address, and you think you should have. I've sent a notice to everyone in my address book, but perhaps we only communicate via this blog, or maybe my message to you went into outer space -- I'd really love to put you in my address book if you're not there already. So please, leave a comment here with your email address! If you'd rather not leave your address in a comment for some reason, then send me an email at my new address!!! I've tried to make my new address as simple as possible to remember -- it's the same as my old address, only instead of "optonline.net", it's now "gmail.com" -- much easier, I think!

And I'm asking a favor of you, too. If you can think of any people, places, groups or things I may have forgotten to notify, please let me know! I appreciate all your help!!!

Two-thousand and nine

2009-01-01T12:28:00.006-05:00

Another new year begins today, and it's time for resolutions. For as long as I can remember, I have made half-hearted New Year resolutions that have never really panned out. They've been the usual kind -- you know, the "I'm going to lose x number of pounds" or "I'm going to spend more time reading" or "I'm going to learn a new word every day" -- but by the end of January, or sometimes sooner, I've gotten off track, still chubby, still not reading as much as I'd like, and still unable to complete the New York Times crossword puzzle.

I'm sure everyone's got a similar story.

Somewhere recently, I read that the best way to make goals attainable is to be definite about them -- to spell them out carefully. For instance, instead of saying, "I'd like to produce more quilts this year," it would be better to be specific, and say, "I will produce at least 12 quilts this year." That's not a lot, really. It's only a quilt a month, and each quilt doesn't have to be large -- some could be rather small, in fact, and still count towards the goal of twelve.

I think that will be my resolution this year. Yes ... I will create at least 12 quilts this year. And, to make it even more likely that I'll achieve this goal, I'll be more specific; the twelve quilts I'll create this year:

will become part of a body of work exploring The Flowing Line (something I've wanted to do for quite some time),
will be made for my enjoyment alone -- they will not become workshop samples,
will not be shown on my blog, just in case I decide to enter them in a show that does not allow such pre-publication.

I'm happy with that resolution. Let's see if it sticks.

Wish me luck! Oh, and I wish all of you a most happy new year!

The holiday season

2008-12-29T14:58:00.004-05:00

Every year I tell myself I'm not going to take on too much during the holidays. I tell myself I'm going to pace myself. I tell myself I'm going to make only two kinds of cookies instead of fourteen, that I'm going to go out and buy some gifts for my kids and family instead of making everything --- Always, I have wonderful intentions that I will spend some time taking care of me...

But then I give in to the "holiday spirit." By the middle of November I've begun making outrageously long lists of things I'll knit for this one and what I'll bead-weave for that one, which cookies the neighbors would prefer, what new ornament I'll make for the Christmas tree, how many latkas I'll make for the annual Hannukah dinner ... whether we'll have a ham or a pot roast for Christmas ...

And before I know it, sooner than I can get to the second page of the list, Christmas is upon me. It's Christmas eve, and I've got to stay up late to finish that sock or that hat or that bracelet ... and . . .

I've thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of the madness. Happy holidays, and a wonderful, peaceful and happy New Year!!!

Green Eggs and Ham

2008-12-12T21:00:00.001-05:00

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

The above quote is, of course, by Dr. Seuss. I came across it about a week ago, and for some reason, wrote it out in large letters on a legal pad, and placed it on my desk. I've been looking at it every day, sort of reading it and sort of just looking at the way the letters were formed on the page, not really absorbing the meaning.

Today, in a wildly out-of-character moment, I expressed my feelings to a group of people in a way that, just a few months ago, would have been completely impossible for me. I wonder if just having had that wonderful phrase written out on my desk could have influenced me? If so, I must find more good, thoughtful and wise quotes and write them out in large letters on a legal pad.

Whether it was the phrase or just a phase (ha, I'm a poet and didn't know it!) I'm glad I spoke my mind. It was good to tell the world at large what was on my mind -- to say it out loud, and not fear repercussions or hurt feelings. I like the way it felt, and hope to be able to do more of it in the future.

A little weekend jaunt

2008-12-09T15:38:00.008-05:00

Hubby and I took a little ride north to the town of Cold Spring last weekend. The main street in town that leads down to the Hudson contains a lively assortment of antique shops, a bead store (!), clothing shops, gift shops, etc. It was lots of fun to browse through the all the interesting stuff.

The change of scenery was nice, too. I forget, sometimes, how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area. The Hudson was looking splendid, though the wind made it more than a little chilly, so we didn't really hang out very long. We walked down to the gazebo overlooking the majestic river, took a quick glance, and then ran back to the car. (Well, truthfully, if you know me at all, you know that "run" is just a word that, when applied to me, means "walking with purpose instead of my usual slow and turtle-like pace").

We stopped long enough to take a couple of photos along one of the side streets, though.

I know, I have no idea what that's all about, either. Even if it is a true, sad memorial, I think it's rather nice that the memory is a little on the snarky side -- come on, godzilla's are snarky, right?

But this next one is cute, and easy to understand. And as an ex-hippie myself, I get it. Plus, the gnome just makes it even cuter, right?

Back to Quilting

2008-12-05T16:00:00.001-05:00

What a feeling it was to sit down at the sewing machine yesterday, and then again today, to free motion quilt. It's been so long since I just sat down and quilted simply because I felt like it -- not because I had to meet a deadline, or because I had to finish up a gift, or because I needed a sample for a workshop, or because someone asked me to do something for them ... just because I wanted to!!!

It felt familiar, comfortable, exhilarating, joyful, fun and relaxing. And it made me remember why it is that I do this quilting thing.

I know that what I'm about to write will sound strange. Maybe it's not even a good idea for me to admit this, because I'm sure it could be misinterpreted. But, I'm going to write it anyway.

Here goes:

It's always amazing and a little bit surprising to me when beautiful quilting patterns appear under my hands as I free motion quilt. It feels almost magical, as if the beautiful patterns, curves, swirls and lines appear all by themselves, or even as if some outside force is guiding my hands. It sometimes feels sort of like I'm watching a movie. Yet, at the same time, the movement of my hands feels very natural, very intuitive. Yes, I am completely aware that the practice I've done at the sewing machine, for what must amount to years of hours and hours, is the "magic ingredient" that has given me the control I need to create beautiful quilting designs, where the stitches march along, all the same size and all looking like they know exactly where they want to go. It didn't just "happen" -- I certainly do know that. But still -- while I'm free motion quilting, I don't think at all about all the hours and hours of time I've spent building up my skill. Instead, I think of nothing but the joy of creating beauty.

That, my friends, is, I believe, a worthwhile endeavor in this world that can be so ugly, cold and downright nasty to us unsuspecting humans sometimes.

In fact, free motion quilting is such a pleasure, such a joy, that it makes me wonder why I simply don't do it all the time, every day, instead of wasting my time doing outrageously silly things like sleeping, eating, knitting, talking on the telephone, paying bills, walking, doing laundry, cooking, shopping, taking out the garbage, reading, cleaning, watching television, doing errands, etc, etc.

I'd really much rather be quilting.

Oh, the joy is back. Yay.

Socks I have known

2008-11-02T09:34:00.020-05:00

Yesterday, Vivien left me a comment asking me to show some of the socks I have made.

Well, Vivien, you are forgiven for not scrolling down through my blog to see the socks I have shown in the past.

And the reason I forgive you is this --you have given me a reason to re-post some of those beautiful (if I do say so myself) socks I've knit . . .

There are more, Vivien, but I haven't gotten around to photographing them. And right now I'm knitting the second blue sock for my friend Jeri Riggs, who loves the color blue, (which may be THE understatement of all time) and another pair of coral socks in the pattern "Hedera" from Knitty. They are so beautiful that they practically make me swoon as I knit. And it's dangerous to swoon while holding tiny pointy needles, so I must finish them quickly.

I'm also working on a quilt that will be included in an upcoming book. Can't say more about that for now, but you'll be seeing it soon, I promise.

Thanks for the blog fodder, Vivien! By the way, do you want to learn to knit socks, too? I think that teaching my friends to knit socks may become a new pastime for me! My dear friend Susan Schrott is making great progress with her own very first pair of socks. I am feeding her the directions one step at a time, and it seems to be going very well. At least she hasn't attacked me yet. I'm also teaching sock-knitting to my son Andrew's girlfriend, Diana. She is working on a gorgeous pair in dark green in between classes and partying at New Paltz. I'm so proud (about the sock-knitting, not the partying, but the partying is okay by me!).

A disbeliever has been converted

2008-10-30T11:31:00.006-04:00

Well, I just couldn't let an entire month go by without at least one post!

Please see the blog of my friend Susan Schrott to witness the conversion of a just plain old ordinary scarf and sweater knitter to a SOCK knitter. And let me be the first to say, with great joy ..... "I told you so!!!"

It just goes to show that one must always have faith. Amen!

100 Alpacas

2008-09-29T10:52:00.005-04:00

Well, maybe not exactly 100, but there were certainly a lot of alpacas at the farm that we drove past on Saturday! Here's a sampling . ..

These unreasonably adorable little animals posed nicely in front of the little blue house.

And this one came in for a close-up . . .

Here's what happens when you try to talk to alpacas who have a short attention span.

I have a pair of pajamas that look just like this!

This little guy wanted to show me his stylin' punk haircut.

I don't know the name of this lovely farm. We passed it as we were exploring the rural roads around Putney, Vermont. We should have been attending seminars and meetings scheduled for parents' weekend at my son's college, but we decided to play hooky instead. The area around Putney is always beautiful, but the changing colors of the leaves made it especially spectacular. We're spending a little extra time up here, so I'll be taking some photos of the glorious colors (in between the raindrops) and posting them in the coming days.

By the way, this is my 100th blog post . . . thank you for reading!

What's on my design wall

2008-09-24T15:50:00.009-04:00

Would you like to have a little peek?

I'm working with these pretty colors:

aaah . . . aquas and browns...

and flowing lines . . .

My favorite things!

I don't know quite where it's going yet, but I'm having fun!

Teaching at the Quilters' Alley

2008-09-22T11:57:00.007-04:00

These lovely ladies took part in the "Free Motion without Fear" workshop I taught on Saturday at the Quilters' Alley in Ridgefield, Connecticut. From left to right, they are Mia Pia, Kathy, Kate, Helena, Roxanne (the shop owner) and Laura.
Below is a photo of Helene at her machine. She had a bit of trouble with her machine early in the class, but then caught up with everyone else in grand style. She still looked exactly like she does in the photo below when I left at the end of the day! She surely took my advice to heart when I told her and the rest of the class to "practice, practice, practice."
Click on over to the Quilters' Alley blog, maintained by Roxanne, for some more pics of the class in progress! And if you happen to find yourself in Ridgefield, Connecticut, be sure to stroll down the alley off of Main Street to visit the shop . . . you'll be glad you did!

Comments -- and the magic of the blog

2008-09-16T09:58:00.016-04:00

I've been receiving some lovely comments on the blog lately. The diversity of these comments, and of the people who have left them, has got me thinking about the magic of this blogging-thing. It seems as if it really is a way to make the world a smaller, kinder place.

Some of the people who have left comments on my blog are former students, like the not-bashful Renee. I love hearing from former students whom I've had such fun with -- it's nice to stay in touch with those creative, friendly people. It's wonderful that, because of my blog, someone whom I've met in a workshop can check in to see what I'm up to now and just leave a note saying, "Hey." And when they tell me what they've been up to, well, that's even more fun!

Others who leave comments are friends, like Susan, and Jeri and Benedicte (no blog). I sort of expect them to read my blog (ha!), but still, it's nice that they actually do! When they leave comments, it's a compliment, because I admire their work so much! Besides, they talk to me so often in real life that the fact they'd go out of their way and take the time to leave a comment on my blog is touching.

Virginia Spiegle , McIrish Annie, and Kyra found my blog through my participation in blog "rings" such as Artful Quilters, SAQA or Fiber Arts Bloggers . These women have left thoughtful comments that mean so much to me, especially on those low-self-esteem days when I wonder why I bother to keep a blog (or even to quilt, for that matter).

What's really amazing to me, though, is when a comment comes from far, far, away. The other day I received a comment from a reader in Portugal. I've never even been to Portugal! Through the magic of blogging, a Portuguese knitter left a comment to this blog post that made me feel I was not alone. Wow. That's pretty powerful stuff!

As I approach my 100th post (who'd have thunk it -- this is post number 96, only four more to go!) it's nice to know that somebody is out there listening!

If you've ever left a comment on my blog -- thank you very much! And if you have left a comment but I haven't mentioned you or your blog here, well, leave another comment, please! I'll mention you, I promise!

Time to Play

2008-08-29T09:49:00.005-04:00

"Once upon a time, when we were very young, every moment of our day and every item and event within it were novel. With no conceptual framework against which items were to be arranged, we toyed and played with everything. We combined ordinary things in extraordinary arrangements. We stuck things into scandalous places, we shattered things revered by others. We know better now, now we are tamed, trained in the ways of our elders. And much of that is to the good. But not all. If our hard-won sense of shared propriety has cost us our ability to see the world as if for the first time, if we have given up our ability to play, we will have lost the cutting edge of our creativity.
So, when it's safe, and there aren't any adults around, play.

The above quote is from No More Secondhand Art, a book by Peter London. Mr. London's advice struck a chord within me, and so yesterday, I set out to play.

Recently, after an hiatus of a couple of years, I re-joined the QuiltArt online mailing list, where I read about Virginia Spiegel's Collage Mania project. I decided that I'd like to contribute a piece. So yesterday's playtime did have a loosely-applied purpose -- but that didn't take away from the fun at all! I was determined not to worry about the outcome, work intuitively, and just enjoy splashing around with some random fabrics from my scrap boxes, some fabric paint, a few stamps, shiva sticks and wonder-under. An hour or so later, these small pieces were on my work table . . .

These little pieces (each is around 7" x 5") were quick and fun. They feature my current favorite shape, the pod. They are far from complete. I'm thinking about adding beads, trim, sequins, etc, etc.... just to see what happens! In fact, some may even get filed in the round file under my desk. But a couple of the pieces have potential, and working in such a small size makes it easy for me to not get terribly attached to them. If I'm unhappy, it's easy enough to just toss them away!

Girls just wanna have fu-un!

2008-08-14T15:02:00.007-04:00

Diana and her sisters, Camilla and Rebecca, spent some time with me during the past few days. We had a lot of fun creating, sewing, laughing and playing.

Here are Becky and Camilla, showing off the gorgeous thank-you cards they made for me:

And here is a dream catcher necklace made by Diana:

And here are the girls modeling the backpacks they made:

I had a wonderful time with the girls. They are so sweet and so incredibly different from boys!

Work continues on the Degas Vous challenge

2008-08-13T08:29:00.015-04:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I've been working in my studio. And, now, to prove that I really have been working, I have some photos to share! In case you don't remember, the last time you saw my Degas Vous challenge piece, which was back in June, it looked like this:

The fabric choices had all been finalized and all the fabrics had been fused to a background. All she needed was some threadwork to bring her to life. In order to choose the correct threads, though, I felt the need to begin by adding some shading with colored pencils -- mostly to fill in the dark areas on her body. Here's a close-up shot of some of the pencil work. (Of course, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.)

Then I started the threadwork. I used two different blue threads to outline her body in a freemotion zigzag stitch. I like using a freemotion zigzag stitch rather than a machine-guided satin stitch, because to me, it looks more painterly -- more like a hand-drawn line.

I really struggled in deciding whether or not to add the dark outlining, but in the end, I decided to go ahead and do it, since the strong outlines in the original Degas painting were, I felt, such an integral and important part of the composition.

Here's the original Degas painting again, just so you can see those dark lines that he used to outline the important bits:

The next step was to add some very loose freemotion zigzag stitching to emphasize the shading and shadowing in the towel. This is a close-up of the area of the towel under her right arm:

Also, in the golden-yellow background, I added a couple of different shades of aqua thread to soften the shadowed areas, and I also added some golden-yellow thread in the darker blue background areas.

Her hair got a little "shadow" treatment, too, with some reddish-brown thread.

And this is what the entire piece looks like now:

I'm pretty happy with it. I think I'll be adding just a little bit more threadwork in some strategic places, and then I'll be ready to layer this piece with some batting and a backing. When that's all done, I can begin the quilting, my favorite part!!!

At this point, I think that the quilting will be very minimal, but who knows? Sometimes, I begin quilting a piece with a clear idea in my head, but it ends up just needing more. It seems as if sometimes, my hands take on a life of their own at the sewing machine when quilting time comes around . . . Stay tuned to find out what happens with this one!

The waterfall

2008-08-11T09:15:00.011-04:00

I haven't posted in such a long time! This morning, I figured I'd better put up a post, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with art . . . just to keep this blog alive! I really am working on my art, I just haven't gotten around to taking photos. I will, I will!

In the meantime, here are some photos that Fred, Andrew and Diana took when they went hiking a few weeks ago in Vermont. They came upon a waterfall and took some fabulous shots . . .

Salon road trip

2008-06-25T16:34:00.012-04:00

On Friday of last week, a few members of the Salon Seven decided to get together to go see a spectacular exhibit at the Larchmont Public Library. Five of us met at Benedicte's house, and then we drove to the library.

This is what I saw in the back seat:

Pretty, happy ladies! From left to right, Georgia, Jeri and Benedicte. And in the front seat, next to me, was our fearless driver, the lovely Linda:
The exhibit was fantastic! It featured the work of Caroll Lenthall , a textile artist who does astounding work with a needle and thread . . . and beads, and other interesting stuff.

Visit her blog, it's an amazing place. I took photos of some of her work (mostly details), and I'll share a few of them here. I hope she won't mind.

The above photos are the work of Caroll Lenthall. See more of her work at her blog (in English) or her website (in French).

EDITED TO ADD:
I discovered some photos of my salon sisters checking out the exhibit. I love the way they are examining the pieces . . . such scrutiny!

Woman with a Towel

2008-06-18T14:53:00.005-04:00

There have been some more changes. New hair, fingers to hold up the towel on the left side, a new face with a new nose, and a dark area at the bottom right that just seems to make it all fall into place. All the fabric choices have been finalized, the pins have been removed, and everything is firmly fused.
Now the thread work can begin!

deja vous, it's Degas Vous all over again!

2008-06-17T17:12:00.008-04:00

Work continues on the Degas piece, which, by the way, is titled, "Woman with a Towel." I made a few changes to the background, and I'm much happier with it now than I was at first.

I substituted a different blue fabric for the original fabric in the center left, below the mirror. It does exactly what I wanted it to do. I also added a streaky blue batik fabric to the right of the piece, so that the golden/yellow fabric in the center background blends into the yellow portion of the blue. I think it makes the golden/yellow fabric looks like it belongs while at the same time it looks unexpected. I love when that happens.

And I changed the fabric for the mirror's frame. The original fabric was too close in value to the golden/yellow central fabric. I still might trim out the bottom of the mirror -- it seems too thick.

I've also finished up the towel, using another streaky batik fabric in a much lighter shade of blue. I'm quite happy with how it drapes. It needs some work on the left side, just under her arm, but I can play with that tomorrow morning.

The piece is just about at the point where I can take out the pins and iron it, but I've learned from experience that it's probably a good idea to let it "simmer" overnight and take a look at it in the morning. I'll most certainly see something then that I don't see now.

Degas Vous - Actual Quilting Content!

2008-06-17T11:31:00.008-04:00

Every summer, Karen Abramson organizes a "quilting game" for her friends to play. She says its a way to keep those creative juices flowing over the summer. Her games always involve taking inspiration from classical artists. One summer we all used Vincent Van Gogh's paintings for our inspiration, last summer it was Picasso. Two years ago, we had to choose an artist who's name began with the letter "M." I chose a Modigliani for that one. The quilt is one of my favorites.

The games, or "challenges," have been lots of fun to do, and displays of the results have been popular exhibits at local quilt shows.

This summer, the challenge is "Degas Vous." Love that play on words -- Karen is so clever! Guess who the artist is?

I found this gorgeous painting by Degas that I decided to use as inspiration.

This is what I've come up with . . . so far.

It's just pinned up to my temporary design wall right now, but I'm happy with how it's coming together. I'm planning on doing lots of thread-work to soften all the edges. We'll see how it goes.

Bear, the dog

2008-06-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

Diana has a new puppy. His name is Bear. We all think he's about the cutest puppy around. He loves visiting us and we adore his visits with us! It's so nice to have a puppy around!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T21:00:00.003-04:00

Amazingly, there are no pictures of the father on Father's Day. I guess that's because the camera was on his side of the table. But here are some pictures taken that day at the Barbeque restaurant that Fred requested for dinner . . .

Diana, being artistic with a hamburger:

The finished masterpiece:

The lovebirds at dinner:

Andrew annoying his Grandma:

A good time was had by all.

Moving, and moving things around

2008-06-13T09:52:00.003-04:00

For every suburban family, there comes a time when the children grow up and leave the nest. In this house, that time has come. The appeal of living in a smaller, more easily-maintained space has won out over joys of gardening, lawn maintenance, snow removal and boiler break-downs. In other words, condo living, here we come!

So, in order to make our typical suburban house more appealing to potential buyers, we have begun to "spruce up" the house --a process which I have begun to think of as "neutralizing."

A few weeks ago, we asked Barry, a real estate professional, to come over and take a look at our home. We wanted him to point out anything that needed to be done to make our house more buyer-friendly. When Barry arrived, we began our tour in the living room. Barry liked the sparse, clean style of the room (I favor danish- and scandinavian-style furniture) but he frowned on the wine-colored wall that extends from my dining room to my living room.

"Mrs. Rosenberg," Barry said, "a potential buyer wants to imagine his or her own style in a space. If their favorite color is blue, they are going to have a very hard time imagining blue in a red room."

Check. Get a painter. Paint everything beige. Easy. After all, it only took Fred and I five coats of custom paint to get even coverage on that wine-colored wall. It should take less than five coats of beige to cover it, I hope.

We moved on through the house.

"Mrs. Rosenberg," he continued, "I realize that your husband uses this upstairs bedroom as an office, but a potential buyer is going to have a hard time imagining it as a bedroom when it's filled with file cabinets, a desk, a computer, two printers, a fax machine, a scanner, a copier and three bulletin boards covered with notes. This room should have two beds in it. And maybe a dresser."

Check. Find a way to hide Fred's office. Maybe he can work from a closet for a couple of months?

As we walked down the hallway towards the stairs, Barry looked down at the carpeting.

"Mrs. Rosenberg," he said, "this carpeting is how old?"

"Um, it's pretty old, Barry," I replied.

"Mrs. Rosenberg," Barry said, "What's under this carpeting?"

"Hardwood floors," I replied.

"You must pull up all this carpeting and get those floors sanded and polished," Barry said.

"You got it, Barry," I replied. At this point, I got out a legal pad and started taking notes.

We walked through the rest of the upstairs rooms together. Barry pointed out little things like well-aged bathroom fixtures that needed to be replaced with brand-new white ones, wallpaper that should be taken down and replaced with beige paint, damaged kitchen cabinets that should be painted a nice soft gray to compliment the counters and floor, clutter that should be removed from the metal kitchen shelving and replaced with a few decorative bowls and dishes, and family photos that should be removed from the walls.

And then we went downstairs to my studio, which used to be the family room. Barry was strangely silent.

"Mrs. Rosenberg," he said after clearing his throat, "This is a very . . . ahem . . . colorful . . . ahem . . .room. Ahem, -- cough, cough, cough -- ahem -- exactly what is it that you do in this room?"

"Why, I'm an artist," I replied, "and I use fabric in my art."

"Ah, yes, I see that you do have . . . ahem . . . quite a lot of fabric, Mrs. Rosenberg. Cough, cough -- Yes, quite a lot of fabric."

"Why, yes, Barry, I do have quite a lot of fabric. And I like it to be displayed on all of these shelves so that I can see it, and be inspired by it."

"Ah, Mrs. Rosenberg? Ah, do you . . .ah, well, . . . ah, would you . . . ah, . . . why don't we look at the rest of the rooms down here?

"Sure, Barry," said I, silently chuckling to myself. Poor Barry appeared to be at a loss for words. I could tell that he was simply unable to bring himself to tell me what he was thinking, which was probably, "Oh my good god, how am I ever going to get her to clear all of that out of this room to make it look like a family room again?!?"

Well, Barry eventually figured out a way. He was very polite about it, mentioning how potential buyers love to see "bonus rooms" that are used as "sewing rooms" or "home offices" or "play rooms" but that they also needed to see a family room that was used as a family room. So I played along. I'd known all along that I'd have to move my studio into the adjoining "bonus room" that had originally been a garage. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet!

But now it's done. So, we come to the photo content of this post. I've been moving fabric for a couple of weeks now. I swear, I've developed muscles in my upper arms. Seriously. Yesterday, I officially took up residence in the new "studio," which is also (in Barry's real-estate lingo) known as "the sewing room." Here's what Barry made me do:

This is the left half of the fabric wall:

and this is the second half of the fabric wall:

the beading corner:

the sewing machine/computer table:

and, my personal favorite, the portable design wall. Notice the wheels at the bottom? Those wheels belong to a garment rack that I picked up at Target. Pretty cool, huh?

Early morning gardening

2008-05-31T15:21:00.011-04:00

My irises are especially beautiful this year, don't you think so? . . .

And she's ready for her close-up . . .

While I was playing around with some of the features on my camera, I discovered that this is what the "soft focus background" feature does . . .

Here is the most amazing pink I think I've ever seen!

This beautiful white bloom belongs to a lovely little guy that I planted last year. It's supposed to be a ground cover, but it's rather tall (almost 7 inches) and it's not really spreading very much. Maybe it was mis-labeled at the nursery?

Well, I'm off to do some knitting now, since it's begun to drizzle outside. Happy Saturday!

Another pair of basic socks

2008-05-28T17:19:00.005-04:00

Pattern: Basic Top-Down Socks

Materials: Colinette Yarns JitterBug 100% merino
Color: bright charcoal (#87)
Amount: one 110 g skein (291 m)
Needles: US size 0, double pointed bamboo

Oh, how I love these socks. I finished them in the car on the way back from Vermont yesterday, and couldn't resist taking a photo with my feet propped up on the dashboard. The colors are a tiny bit washed out in the photo, and so very different from the way the yarn looked on the skein and even in the ball before I knitted them up. It was quite a surprise to see specks of pink and orange and even blue! The yarn was a joy to knit with, and the finished socks are so soft and warm. I want to make more jitterbug socks!!!

Monkey socks

2008-05-22T08:41:00.003-04:00

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. from Knitty: Winter 06
Materials: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock 100% superwash merino fingering weight
Color: Old Rose
Amount: one 420 yds/4 0z hank (a lot left over)
Needles: US size 0, double pointed

The beadweaving graduates

2008-05-21T14:56:00.008-04:00

Yesterday evening was the final session of my beadweaving class in Brewster, NY. It was rainy, chilly and generally disgusting outside, but inside the Art classroom, we were nice and warm and dry. And, we got to see some simply gorgeous bracelets that the ladies had done as "homework". The first one below is by Carrie:

And this one is Paige's. She thinks it needs more, but I don't agree. I think it's done, and done very well, too. I think that Paige is going to add a few more arches, though. And she has a second one planned, too.

And these two are by Sue. They are both very beautiful, don't you think so?

Karen blew in with the storm, but wasn't feeling up to snuff, so she didn't have any show-and-tell. But it was lovely to have her there, and she did a very good job of oooing and aaahing as everyone else showed their work. By the way, Karen, if you're reading this, I sent you an email, but it bounced back to me . . . please let me know your email address so I can send you your herringbone hand-out, okay?

And to Carrie, Paige, Sue, Pat and Karen . . . thanks so much for spending the last six Tuesdays with me. I had a grand time with you, and I hope that there is a whole lot of beading in your futures!

Freeform Peyote

2008-05-16T09:00:00.008-04:00

The weekly beading class I'm teaching in Brewster was so much fun this week! The ladies learned how to create a freeform peyote bracelet, working from a base they'd created over the past week as their "homework." Here's Sue's bracelet in progress:

And here's Paige's:

And Carrie's:

Pat decided to work on a "trial" piece, and wouldn't let me take a photo of it. So here's her beading box, all nice and clean and neat:

I can't wait to see what they've come up with by next week!

Really great website worth a visit

2008-05-14T10:40:00.001-04:00

What fun! Visit this website and enjoy.

Mothers' Day

2008-05-12T09:49:00.003-04:00

I received this beautiful bouquet from Andrew and Diana yesterday. It's called the "Mom, I don't have any money, but don't worry, I asked the neighbors for their permission before I cut them" bouquet.

Don't you think it's so much nicer than 1-800-flowers?

In the foreground is the present Diana got for me while she was on a cruise to the Virgin Islands with her parents and two sisters. It's a wooden bowl with a zebra "drinking" out of it. I just LOVE it!

Birch bark

2008-05-10T10:00:00.001-04:00

Andrew's home!

2008-05-09T16:12:00.009-04:00

It's amazing how quickly the school year is over. Here it is, not even the middle of May, and "school's out for summer!" So, Fred and I drove to Vermont, picked up Andrew and all his "stuff" and then returned to the condo before making the final push down to Yorktown tomorrow. Some of his stuff was so incredibly filthy that I refused to even let it come into the house until it had been washed.

I don't want to know what that sticky orange stuff on the bottom of the refrigerator could have been. Fortunately, Andrew was happy to use the hose and some heavy duty bleach cleaner to clean it up after we ~~bribed him with~~ promised him a nice dinner in his favorite restaurant.

It's good to have him home. Now if I could only get him to clean MY refrigerator . . .

And even more socks . . .

2008-05-08T08:23:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Basic Top-Down Socks

Materials: Jawoll Aktion Cotton by Lang, color #133.0133
Amount: one 100 g skein (a lot left over)
Needles: US size 1, double pointed

Wow. One would think that this is a knitting blog, huh? Well, I've been enjoying the knitting. And besides, there's been a lot of traveling by car, so there's been a lot of sock-knitting, which is enjoyable when car-traveling. This one was a rather unpleasant yarn to knit, though. It felt kind of scratchy and stringy . . . not fluffy and soft, like the last pair of socks. But I thought it'd be nice to knit a pair for summer wear, with some cotton. They are very, very comfortable. And the fit is fabulous. I'm quite happy with the basic sock pattern. And it's pretty cool that I've got it memorized now! But time will tell how well they hold up. We'll have to see if the cotton shrinks.

Embossed Leaves Socks

2008-05-06T13:48:00.008-04:00

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt from Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs from INTERWEAVE

Materials: Fleece Artist Nova Socks 100% merino wool, hand dyed, machine washable Color: green
Amount: one 112 g skein (a lot left over)
Needles: US size 0, double pointed

These were so fun to knit, and so pretty, too! I think they are absolutely gorgeous. A perfect fit, and very, very comfortable. It was not at all difficult to follow the pattern, which was clearly written for five double pointed needles, which is my favorite way to knit socks. A pleasure!

A slideshow of some quilts from A World of Quilts XXIX

2008-05-05T16:44:00.009-04:00

Move your cursor around on the slideshow below, and you'll find that you can do lots of very cool things . . . Move around towards the top of the slideshow, and a bar will appear allowing you to play, pause, go forward and backwards, and even adjust the speed of the slideshow. Move around on the bottom, and a lot of thumbnail pics will appear. You can click on any of them to enlarge. If you click on a photo in the slideshow, you'll get to see comments, which contain the name and artist of each quilt.

Have fun, and let me know if you enjoy it!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Goddess quilts visited the Northern Star Quilt Show

2008-05-05T10:04:00.014-04:00

And they had a wonderful time meeting all the quilters!

Top row from left to right: Goddess of Duplicate Bridge by Georgia Heller; Pond Pixie Goddess by Judy Gignesi; Goddess of Creativity and Goddess of the Ocean by me; Winged Goddess of the Garden by Lynn F. Schwager; Goddess of Appliqué by Maxine Oliver; Goddess of Inspiration by Susan Schrott and Goddess of Night Dancing by Linda Schoenfeld.

Bottom row from left to right: Goddess of Erring Canines by Benedicte Caneill; Hidden Goddess by Beth Carney; Goddess of Knitting with Cats by Jeri Riggs; Goddess of Distress by Joyce Sullivan; Goddess of Un-promised Rose Gardens by me; Goddess of Spring by Barbara Sferra.

I was thrilled to see that the exhibit appeared to be a hit with the show-goers. Every time I walked by, a gaggle of quilters seemed to be gathered there. They all seemed to enjoy it, and lots of women spent a fair amount of time reading each goddess's story. It was very gratifying for me to have my "own" exhibit at my own guild's show. I was flattered by all the compliments I received, as you can tell from the photo below. I look pretty stunned by it all, don't I?

Lots of my guild friends approached me to ask if they could make a goddess quilt, too. How nice! I'll be sending out lots of patterns over the next few days. I can't wait to see the new goddesses that they'll create!

Another exciting thing happened to the goddesses during their outing. . . Karen L Dever, a certified quilt appraiser from New Jersey, asked if I'd be interested in having the Goddess Project appear as a special exhibit at the New Jersey State Quilt Show in the summer of 2009. I'll have to get busy giving lots more Goddess workshops to fill an exhibit space at such a large show!

My very sincere thanks go to all the lovely women who contributed their goddess quilts to the Northern Star Quilters' Guild special exhibit. I couldn't ask for better goddess friends!

The Show

2008-05-04T17:52:00.003-04:00

This is what the show looked like. More tomorrow . . . this evening, I'm just toooooo tired!

A World of Quilts XXIX

2008-04-30T18:56:00.004-04:00

This weekend, May 3rd and 4th will be the 28th Annual Northern Star Quilters' Guild show.

It's always a blast. I usually end up spending most of the weekend roaming the halls of John F. Kennedy High School in Somers, NY -- spending too much money at the vendors' booths, and admiring the gorgeous quilts hanging in the gym. Check out the details here.

Get there if you can, it's a great show!

Oh, and there'll be a special exhibit at the show this year . . . The Goddess Project! I'm so thrilled to be able to exhibit so many goddesses in one place! I'll be sure to post lots of photos.

The goddesses of Warwick Valley

2008-04-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, April 15th, I was lucky enough to get to spend a most wonderful day with these fabulous goddesses from the Warwick Valley Quilters' Guild in Warwick, New York:

Aren't they lovely? I was greatly impressed with the creativity in this group. And look at how good they all are at striking the goddess pose!

I forgot to bring my camera to Warwick. I did remember to charge my camera's battery the night before the workshop, and I that same evening I inserted the battery and set up the camera carefully on the shelf right next to the garage door, so I would be sure not to forget it. And there on the shelf it stayed while I drove off to Warwick that beautiful spring morning. Ah, well. It is because of Carol Poplaski's kindness that these photos are on my blog, since she not only lent me her camera to use during the workshop, but then was kind enough to send all the photos to me.

The two beautiful goddesses below are (on the left) Carol (more about her later), and (on the right) Susan Hoffman. Susan began a goddess quilt that was to be a gift for her daughter. I have to say, this is the first time a workshop participant made a quilt as a gift, but I heartily approve, especially when the gift is for a daughter. Susan made good progress on her goddess, giving it beautiful auburn hair and a canine companion .

Carol, to the right in the photo below, made it very clear to me at the very beginning of the workshop, that she is NOT a goddess. She is a Diva. According to her, "Goddess" is too difficult to remember how to spell, so she'd rather be a Diva. To each her own, I always say.

Carol is the owner and operator of the "Frogg Falls Railroad." That's a place in Carol's backyard where she and her husband have set up a koi-stocked pond surrounded by gardens full of flowers, and a miniature railroad. It sounds like she should charge an admission fee. Here you can see Carol arranging the "props" she'd brought to the workshop with her.

And here's a close-up of the props. Carol is inspired by frogs, koi and trains, but the trains didn't make it into her quilt. At least they haven't yet . . . .

Here's Evelyn Wells, in a photo she sent me after the workshop. She's created a goddess who is surrounded by beautiful flowers, vines and birds, and is holding a quilt . . . a goddess quilt! The bottom of her quilt is decorated with miniatures quilts, too. Spectacular! Sorry your head is missing from the photo, Evelyn! The photo you sent me with your head in it seems to have an internal error. If you'll send it to me again, I'll include it here!

And the photo below was sent to me by Judy Veltidi, who ended up with a goddess quilt that really wasn't what she had thought it was going to be. I LOVE it when that happens in a workshop! Judy's very happy with her goddess, which she should be, because it's beautiful! I love the way she used large white ric-rac to create a pretty scalloped inner border.

This is Irene Weiss. Don't you think she got her goddess's hair just right? I really like the large yellow/orange morning glory, too. I wonder what other kinds of flowers will join it to grow in her goddess's garden?

Mary Larsen's goddess went through a transformation during the workshop, growing and changing from one thing to another -- some goddesses just do. I loved the branches on the far right of her piece, and the garden at her goddess's feet looked just lovely.

The photo below is of Anne Sigler. She wanted to create a "Goddess of Quilting." And boy, did she ever.

Her goddess is wearing an apron as she quilts, and is surrounded by sewing notions that Anne cut out of a really great quilting-themed fabric. I especially love the tools sticking out of the apron pocket! Anne cut a piece of selvedge from one of her fabrics that spelled out "Sew little time to sew" and turned it into a banner that her goddess is holding up over her head. So clever!

This is Mary Kirchoff. She is holding up her "Evolving Goddess." During the workshop, there was an awful lot of giggling coming from her area of the room . . . I think it might have had something to do with another goddess that was being created nearby who was striking a ballet-like pose. (And darn it, I don't have a photo of that quilt, or it's maker, Helen Ryan!) However, it looks as if Mary was able to make good progress with her evolving goddess, despite all the giggling!

This is Shirley Ruggiero, whose goddess has a dual personality.

And here she is -- artist on the left, and quilter on the right. I was very impressed with the table . . . and the framed painting of the dog is pretty darned cool, too!

And finally, my friend Eda Steinman, goddess extraordinaire, also took part in the workshop. Eda is a very talented and creative quilter. At the time that the very blurry photo below was taken, her goddess was in the process of being surrounded by various moons (or suns?) of different colors and sizes . . . who knows what the future holds for Eda's goddess . . .

I hope to hear from you goddesses (maybe with photos? . . . . hint, hint, hint!) with reports of how your goddess quilts turned out -- and I promise to keep in touch with you all about the future of the Goddess Project!

Thanks to all of you for a fabulous, creative day!

The sock obsession continues

2008-04-24T10:11:00.006-04:00

Pattern: Basic Top-down Socks
Materials: Zitron Life Style 100% merino superwash, color 1864
Amount: two 50 g skeins (with only 10 inches left over -- yikes!)
Needles: US size one double pointed

Nice, comfy socks for me. The last two pair were for Andrew and Diana, so it was nice making a pair for myself. The yarn was a recent purchase from Katonah Yarn Company, my local yarn store. Jennifer, a co-owner of the shop, was once a student in one of my quilting classes. I love visiting there. Talking to her is always fun, and of course fondling luscious, soft and springy yarn is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Jennifer suggested that I give this yarn a try, and I'm really glad I listened to her. It's soft, wonderful to knit, and the colors are great. I love that the two socks don't match exactly!

Quilt tease

2008-04-23T15:37:00.008-04:00

Here's a detail shot of my Pods (Blue) quilt. I'm trying to get it done in time for my guild's show on May 3rd and 4th.

And here's another detail:

I'm pretty happy with how the quilting turned out. And whew, at least that part is done! This quilt has been languishing around since my hand surgery, and it's about time it got done. Now, I feel that I can move on.

The next step will be to apply a facing, then a label and then, ta da . . . it's done, and ready for show time!

Daffodil time at Lynn's garden

2008-04-22T16:45:00.009-04:00

Today I was lucky enough to be given a tour of my friend Lynn's garden. She has a way with flowers. Walking amid the beauty of these first flowers of spring was a tremendously peaceful and happy experience -- just what I needed! Here are a few photos of just a tiny bit of the beauty I saw today . . .

Thank you, Lynn!

Funny knitting

2008-04-19T19:04:00.002-04:00

I knit funny. Well, most people think so, anyway. I knit with the yarn wrapped around my neck for tensioning. It makes purling very easy, quick and even. Knitting this way, I'm pretty fast at the knit stitch, too.

My mother taught me to knit this way. I always thought it was the ONLY way to knit. It wasn't until I began to knit out in the real world that I realized that the rest of the world doesn't knit the same way I do. When seeing me knit for the first time, other knitters usually exclaim something like, "What are you doing?" or "Why do you knit like that?" or "I've never seen THAT before!" or even "Doesn't that hurt?"

For years, I've been searching for answers to my questions about this knitting style. Where did it come from? Why did my female ancestors knit this way? Other knitters I've met who come from the same area of the word (Northern Italy/Croatia) don't knit like me! Does it have a name? And most importantly to me . . . Am I alone?

I've searched for answers. Mostly, I've searched on the internet, but I've also asked other knitters, whenever I meet one. I've asked owners and employees in every LYS I've ever visited. I thought the answer might be on Ravelry, but I've had no luck there, either.

On the internet, I've read about the "Portuguese Sytle of Knitting" on Andrea Wong's website. Andrea says that a Portuguese lady who moved to Brazil taught her mother to knit this way. As far as I know, my mother never went to Portugal or Brazil, nor did she ever meet anyone from there.

And I've read this blog, where Marie talks about learning the "Wong Way" of knitting.

I've read on "The Needle Exchange" the strange story of Portuguese woman who grabbed a knitter's needles out of her hands to show her the "right" way to knit.

I've even seen the video on YouTube, which looks remarkably like my knitting style, except that I don't use funny crochet hook/needles. I just use regular needles, like everybody else I know.

But today, I made a major discovery. I came across this guest post by Donna Druchunas on the blog Fiber Femmes. In her post, she writes:

... the interesting Andean knitting techniques that I explain in the book -- knitting circular Stockinette stitch from the inside, purling every stitch. You purl using a technique that has also been used in Turkey and Portugal, by tensioning the yarn around your neck and flicking the yarn around the tip of the needle to make each stitch. It's fast and comes out with a very even tension. (It's interesting to trace the probably movement of this technique from the Middle East, to Spain and Portugal, and then later to the New World.)

Heavens! There are other people out there like me! This is the most information I've ever seen, anywhere, about this style of knitting. Ms. Druchunus, who wrote the book "Ethnic Knitting" even talks about being able to trace the movement of this technique from the Middle East to the New World ... Wow!

So, I'm now on a mission. As I await its delivery from Amazon, I must find out as much as I can about this book. Following a link from the Amazon site, I find this:

My favorite chapter is the one on Andean knitting, because it includes instructions for this culture’s incredibly speedy thumb-purled stockinette in the round with the yarn tensioned around the neck (with 1 or 2 colors). This ingenious method is so far known to only a handful of North American knitters and deserves to become part of every serious knitter’s repertoire. This carefully crafted book will invigorate today’s growing community of highly intelligent knitters who are eager to learn and fly solo like those who preceded us.
-- Cat Bordhi, author of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One;
A Treasury of Magical Knitting; A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting;
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles; and Treasure Forest

Oh my goodness! Yay! Whoopee! A real, honest-to-goodness POSITIVE mention of MY style of knitting! And, non other than the honorable Cat Bordi writes about it with passion! Whoo-hoo!

My next step was to do research on Donna Druchunus. I found her blogs, Sheep to Shawl and Subversive Knitting (previously known as "Knitting for Charity")

So now, I have another phrase to use in my search -- Andean Knitting! When I google that term, I came across a site by the name of Technical Writings 2, where I found the following info:

QUESTION: I have been reading Cynthia LeCount's book "Andean Fold Knitting". There are lots of photos of knitters who carry the yarn around the back of their neck to keep the tension. The problem is that the photos don't give any indication of how they work the thread in their hands. Does any one know what exactly it is they are doing? I knit VERY loosely and would love to learn to knit at such a close gauge as the examples in this book.
ANSWER: Andean knitting is a bit different from European/North American knitting. It's actually purling. If you look closely at the photos, you'll see that when they work "in the round", they work (purl) on the side furthest from the body, rather than knitting on the side close to the body, the way most westerners do. The stockinette stitch side faces outwards.
The yarns are moved into place with the thumbs, which is said to make changing colours very easy. The purling position and the tensioning around the neck contribute to a very tight tension and result in a densely-knitted fabric. Remember that they also re-spin their commercial yarns so that the yarns are tighter and denser.
If you have Knitting around the World from Threads, the final article on different knitting styles demonstrates Greek knitting, with the yarn around the neck. I once knew an American-Italian student who tensioned her yarns the same way. This is the closest I've seen to Andean knitting style. If you want to try it, I suggest that you try 00 dp needles and fingering weight yarn and practice purling on the far side of your circular knitting.

And proof that I'm not alone -- really great proof! The writer even states that she knew an American-Italian knitter who tensioned her yarns the same way!

I feel as if I've entered a whole new world of possibilities. Why, when I do a simple google of "Andean knitting" . . . this is the page that I see. Look, she's got the yarn wrapped around her neck . . . like me! I'll do some more research, to be sure. Until then, it's wonderful to know that I'm not alone!

The Shrine

2008-04-18T18:07:00.005-04:00

That's Fred's name for my Beatles figures. They live in the bookcase that houses my CD's.

Spiral inspiration

2008-04-17T17:43:00.000-04:00

This gorgeous photo was taken some time ago by my friend Beth, who knows I love spirals. Beautiful!!! It's been hanging out in my photo files for quite a while . . . Wouldn't it make a gorgeous quilt? Thank you, Beth!

Patience vs. persistence

2008-04-15T10:28:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me an email the other day that left me scratching my head. She'd been reading some of the older entries on my blog, and came across this one, in which I mention that I am, by nature, not a patient person.

She thought that was a strange thing for me to say. In fact, she reminded me about the things I love to create; complicated quilts, intricate beaded items and knitted socks, sweaters, etc. She even reminded me of my recent trip to Venice to learn to make lace. All of these pastimes, she insisted, prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I AM a patient person. She argued that anyone without patience would be unable to produce these kinds of items.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. So very wrong!

I have given this a lot of thought, and I am convinced that I am not patient. I am persistent. I have the ability to stick to a project (as long as I find it interesting, mind you) until the bitter end. In fact, I am stubborn. I routinely refuse to believe that I am unable to master any activity that requires dexterity.

Persistence. It's not the same as patience, is it?

The Groovy Goddess hits the Big Apple

2008-04-14T16:25:00.004-04:00

For the past few years, Jeri Riggs and I have been teaching our "Groovy Goddess Pin" class for our guild's yearly "Super Saturday" event. We've always had such a good time team teaching! As a matter of fact, we're known as "the comedy team of Riggs and Rosenberg." It is a matter of great pride for us that on Super Saturday, our classes have always been the loudest and most misbehaved!

This year, we're hitting the big time and teaching at the City Quilter in New York City. Woo-hoo!

Above is the clipping from the City Quilter's summer 2008 class schedule. (Click on the clipping to enlarge.)

The "Groovy Goddess Pin" class will be held on Saturday, July 12th from 11am to 5pm. The City Quilter is located at 133 West 25the Street, NY, NY 10001 and their telephone number is 212-807-0390.

Here are some of the groovy goddess pins Jeri and I have created in the past . . .

This is one of my goddesses. Her name is "Flower Goddess." She's the one that is pictured in the City Quilter's class schedule. As you can see, she is adorned with many floral motifs, among which is an orphaned earring used for her headdress, flower beads for her hands and lots and lots of bugle beads. She was so much fun to make!

This goddess was made by Jeri. She's very blue, as are many of Jeri's beautiful creations. I don't know her name (but I can almost guarantee that the word "blue" is in there.) Maybe Jeri can leave a comment to let us know what her name is? Hmmmm. . . this will be a very good test of whether Jeri actually reads my blog . . .

In the photo above, the goddess to the left is the "Cave Woman Goddess." She is heavily beaded (which you can see if you click on the photo). I especially love her little button head. The goddess to the right is "The Goddess of Hot Flashes." I believe she needs no explanation at all. If you are of "a certain age" you'll understand.

This little darling was made by Jeri. She has a colander head, a cookbook charm and is holding a fork and a spatula. Obviously, she is "The Goddess of the Kitchen."

This little beauty was made by me. I had a lot of fun embroidering beads on her purple striped dress, and when she was done, her face reminded me of an insect, so I call her "The Buggy Goddess."

I think this goddess may be one of my favorites. She's one that I made, and I call her the "Lactation Goddess." The lovely breast embellishments were gifted to me by a friend whose name I have promised not to divulge. I think she's embarrassed. Silly lady.

So, if you are in the City Quilter's neighborhood this summer, and would like to join in the fun, give the City Quilter a call at 212-807-0390 and sign up for our class!

Italian hands

2008-04-13T09:48:00.008-04:00

In an effort to keep my Italian language skills in decent shape, I've been visiting some blogs written in Italian. One of them, maintained by Teodo, is Appunti Patch. One of the things that's really great about her blog is that she writes in both Italian and English. So, on the days that my mental capacity is not high-functioning, I can still keep up with her life. Recently, she blogged about an interesting project, conceived to help a friend suffering difficulties. The original post was written in French, and those of you who speak that beautiful language can read it here. Its title, in English, is: NEEDING A HAND. I've decided to lend an international "hand" of my own . . . perhaps you would like to lend yours, too? Here's the original post, in English:

Take a piece of fabric, a material or a color that reminds of you. On the back side of the fabric trace the contour of your hand (right or left like you prefer). Then cut leaving from 5 to 8 cm for the arm. Put your hand in an envelope and send it to me, writing separately on a piece of sheet your name or your nickname.

Especially do not lose time writing me by e-mail to tell that you want to participate, or to explain that you could or that you have not been able to. It would be only lost time .... The time, that we need so much! There is no need of inscriptions nor confirmations, and to gain more time I leave my address:

FREDERIQUE BOULOGNE
3 BIS RUE DE LA LIBERTE
67114 ESCHAU (France)

I won't send e-mail to confirm that I've received your hand but everyday in a corner of my blog I'll update the list of the received hands. My goal is to get as many hands as possible to compose a big fresco for our friend. Do not embroider, do not embellish , do not collect anything, I really insist about this !!!!! In order to get a beautiful fresco I need various fabrics and colors. And so there will be a sort of unit, power and sense of whole coming from this work. Do not try to distinguish with your name, adding beads or anything else, there is no need to line it too, it is really necessary that the hand is in accordance with the other. And above all do it as soon as possible. Somehow the only freedom is the choice of fabric and color. For example for my hand I've chosen a fabric of my favorite colors. No matter the quality of the fabric, no matter whether it is new or used, what counts is to understand this project and to participate for the pleasure of doing it. Those who want to show their hands on their blogs, explaining for example their choice of materials and colors, and perhaps this will allow other quilters to add their hands to ours. Come on then, help me to demonstrate that the virtuality of our relations is based on the reality of our friends. I'll count on you and your friendship. A big thanks in advance!

The Salon Seven meets again

2008-04-11T19:21:00.017-04:00

We had a very special Salon Seven meeting today. All seven of us were finally together in the same room. It's been a long time since that has happened. So, I took some pictures ...

Here's Georgia with her beautiful new landscape quilt. She's thinking about doing a LOT of threadwork on it. We all agreed that it was just stunning the way it is, but as Jeri reminded us, more is more, and Georgia's threadwork is so fantastic! I'm sure this will be yet another ribbon-winner for Georgia!

Here's Linda showing off two of the quilts she will be entering in the NSQG show this year. On the left, last year's gorgeous challenge quilt which needs more bling to make it complete, and on the right she's holding her spectacular Lake Tahoe quilt. Beautiful work by Linda, as always!

And here's Susan's head. I had to crop out the quilt she was holding in this photo, (which has to remain secret for the time being) but I couldn't resist putting only her head on my blog because it's such a good picture of her, isn't it? Doesn't she look beautiful? About her quilt, though, take my word for it, it is absolutely stunning!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of our other members. Jeri modeled her beautiful new cardigan, Summer Fling (which I have decided is "The Perfect Cardigan" I've been searching for all my life). I don't know why I didn't take a photo of it! Phooey on me! Jeri blogs about it here on her blog, so go and see it.

Benedicte showed a few of her new quilts. One of them is FUSED! (Yes, it is a four letter word in the present tense!) She's been working very hard on some super-spectacular quilts with crazy-beautiful monoprinting and superb quilting, but she prefers to keep them a secret for now. I understand completely, as I am doing the same with my new quilts!

Beth and I had no new quilts to share today. Oh, yes, I did pass around my many knitted socks for all to fondle, but my quilting stayed at home on the wall, while I contemplate my next quilting move!

As usual, the meeting left me inspired to rush home to my studio to create art. If only there were more hours in the day to do all the quilting, knitting and beading I really want to do!

Knitting purple socks

2008-04-10T15:33:00.005-04:00

This sketch was done by my son's very talented girlfriend, Diana. Those are my hands, knitting a purple sock. Last weekend, Diana accompanied us up to our Vermont condo where we were met by my son, who goes to college nearby. Even though the weather outside was dreadful, the four of us spent a very enjoyable and relaxing Saturday afternoon inside lazing about on our large couch. We each did something we enjoy; Fred read a history book, Andrew read a car magazine, I knit a purple sock for Diana, and Diana did a sketch of my busy hands with some colored pencils. I had no idea that it would be so difficult to hold my fingers a knitting pose for such a long time -- I don't know how those live models do it! After all, they have to hold entire limbs in place for hours at a time. All I had to do was hold my fingers still . . . and each felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds!

In the background of the sketch, you'll notice that Diana has lightly sketched in of one of my quilts. It's the one that is hanging on the wall in our condo, and the same quilt that's featured on the front page of my website.

Bead weaving workshop

2008-04-09T09:43:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was the first of a six-week bead weaving workshop I'll be teaching in Brewster, NY. The ladies were very quick learners, picking up the basics in no time, with very little complaining! They all left with their square-stitch bracelets well under way, off to a very good start!

I'm looking forward to lots of fun evenings ahead with Pat, Carrie, Paige, Karen and Sue!

What I learned from my hands

2008-04-04T10:46:00.008-04:00

Last July I began experiencing aching, shooting pains every time I tried to use my hands. For many months, my fingers had been feeling tingly every morning when I awoke, as if they'd fallen asleep. But in the month of July, the real pain began. It became impossible to type for more than a few minutes at a time. Using a rotary cutter was out of the question. Knitting hurt. Even holding a fork was painful. And I started to drop things. Yup, it was carpel tunnel. And it was diagnosed to be a severe case -- I needed surgery.

So I had the operation on my right hand in August and then on my left hand in October. The surgery went very well, and I am now completely recovered.

But . . . healing was an exercise in patience. I am not, by nature, a patient person. During the healing process, I could do NOTHING with my hands, not even the most basic tasks. I needed help for everything.

Almost immediately, two things became very obvious to me.

1. Some things can wait, and

2. Some things can't.

But I was surprised to find out something that I never knew before -- Things that can't wait usually are not that important. And you'd most likely expect that the exact opposite was true, wouldn't you? Well, I learned that it's not. It turned out that when the things that HAD to be done RIGHT AWAY weren't done . . . nothing bad happened. All those deadlines that seemed so terrifically important came and went while I sat around watching my hands heal, and the world didn't come to an end.

Yes, I missed some show entry deadlines because I couldn't fill out the entry forms. But I couldn't quilt anyway, so the quilts that would have gone to those shows can now go to other, more current shows.

And it's true that my house didn't get cleaned as often as it usually does. But I couldn't cook, so the kitchen stayed clean, and I didn't really feel much like walking outside, so I didn't drag in much dirt. So, the house stayed pretty clean.

I couldn't correspond with my friends via email, so I had to use the phone. When I was finally able to use my computer, what I found in my mailbox was a lot of junk mail.

So, all that running around that we do because some things can't wait . . . it's pretty much useless. Most everything (except, of course, your children's immediate needs, or paying your bills) really CAN wait. People understand. The world doesn't come to an end. The sky doesn't fall.

I learned another really important lesson, too. It's true what they say. Patience really IS a virtue.

Clothes hanging out to dry

2008-04-03T18:21:00.006-04:00

There is something so very wonderful about clothing hanging out on the line to dry . . . especially when it's hanging on a line over a Venetian street sign that says "Calle Seconda dei Saoneri" (Venetian dialect for "Second Street of the Soapmakers").

It makes me want to visit the "First Street of the Soapmakers" just to see if the laundry hanging out to dry looks as good!

Andrew's very large and very warm sock

2008-04-02T11:08:00.006-04:00

Pattern: Slip Stitch Rib Socks from Easy Knitted Socks by Jeanette Trotman
Materials: Alpaca Sox, Classic Elite Yarns #1875
Amount: approx. 3/4 of a skein for one sock
Needles: US size one double pointed

This very large sock is for my youngest son, Andrew. I felt as if it took FOREVER to knit. Why didn't I have children with small feet? And why didn't I choose to make a basic sock for the boy, instead of one with a finicky slip-stitch pattern that I kept messing up and having to re-do? No, no, I had to choose a pattern that would show off the lovely yarn, one that would blend the colors nicely. Hah. I'll never do THAT again. There was so much ripping and re-knitting going on that I could easily have knit at least a small sweater in the time it took me to get this sock done.

Even though this sock looks to me as if it should fit a professional basketball star, I have measured it a great number of times, and the heel-to-toe length is 11 inches, exactly the same length that Andrew's foot was the last time I checked. That was while he was home for spring break, two weeks ago and even he, who grows every time I don't look at him for a few minutes, couldn't possibly have grown since then. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that he hasn't.

But I'm not convinced that this sock will fit him. I think it's too large. I've decided that I shall not begin sock number two of this set until sock number one has been confirmed as a perfect fit. We're going up to visit Andrew at college this weekend, so we'll do the Cinderella test. If it's a fit, (or if he is Prince Charming) I will begin the second sock next week.

In the meantime, his girlfriend, the lovely Diana, purchased some of the same yarn in a gorgeous purple colorway, so I'll begin a pair of socks for her. No slip stitched patterns though! She's getting a basic pair, so the beautiful yarn can shine through, and so that I can get done before summer gets here!

Crocheted Flower Scarf

2008-04-01T15:50:00.023-04:00

Here is a photo of the crocheted flowers I'm working on in my spare time. They make for a very handy project to carry around, being so small and portable. Aren't they just the most adorable little things? The close-up photo shows you just how very cute they are.

My very talented friend Benedicte Caneill designed the scarf that these flowers are destined to become.

They will be sewn together in rows of three with 50 wt. thread in matching colors (it's not really as tedious as it sounds!) to make a pretty, pretty scarf -- just right for spring!

The lovely ladies in the photo are three of my Salon Seven Sisters. From left to right: Jeri Riggs, Benedicte Caneill (the designer herself) and Susan Schrott.

Benedicte is wearing the original scarf in the photo. She wore it to our last Salon Seven meeting, and Susan and I both fell in love with it. We ripped it off of Benedicte's neck so that we could fondle it while emitting squeals of delight (as is our custom at Salon meetings) and examine how it was put together.

Is it not a thing of great beauty?

The meeting was only a few weeks ago, and Susan has already finished making her version of the crocheted flower scarf. It's quite beautiful, in slightly different colors from Benedicte's scarf. In fact, you can see Susan wearing her own version of the scarf around her neck below in the photo that I boldly stole from her blog. She won't mind.

The picture was taken (by me with her camera, which I why I know she won't mind!) at the quilt show in Lancaster, PA. which the three of us (Susan, Benedicte and I -- poor Jeri couldn't make it!) visited last week. The scarf was a big hit -- no less than thirteen people (yes, we counted!) commented on it, and most of them wanted the directions.

Benedicte, I think you have a winner on your hands! Better write up the directions, quickly!

Journaling

2008-03-31T10:45:00.007-04:00

I don't journal very regularly, but when I do, I tend to draw shapes and use color pencils to fill them in.

This is a page from my journal that I drew and colored in the middle of the night last week. My husband was away, and so I was able to draw sitting under the covers in my bed. Usually, when I can't sleep at night and I want to get up and do something that requires turning on a light, I have go downstairs, where it's much colder in the wintertime. So on the night I drew this, knowing I wouldn't be waking my husband, it was a real treat to be able to stay under the warm covers, turn on my bedside light, and quietly draw in my journal. Propped up by my nice soft pillows, and surrounded by my take-apart easel trays of prismacolor pencils, I felt like a pampered princess at 3 in the morning.

Sometimes I write in my journal, too. Many times I write random words in the empty spaces of my drawings, and sometimes I fill up pages with writing. But I prefer to write words with markers. I like the bright colors of markers. Pencils tend to look a bit duller, which for some reason is okay when I'm drawing, but not okay when I'm writing.

Maybe the reason I prefer to write words with a marker rather than a pencil may have something to do with the fact that pencils get dull quickly. Stopping in the middle of a thought to sharpen a pencil can interfere with the brain process it takes to finish that thought, but stopping to sharpen a pencil while drawing feels right. When I'm using a color pencil to fill in a shapes that I've drawn, and the pencil starts to get dull, I like having that extra little bit of time it takes to sharpen a pencil. I can use that time to decide which color I'll use next, whether I'm going to blend colors or use a solid one, and/or whether I'm going to press down lightly or more heavily on the paper.

Funny how we humans all have our own little idiosyncrasies about things. I've always liked pencils for drawing and markers for writing.

I also like to cut out photos, drawings, magazine pictures, etc, and glue them into my journal. Sometimes I'll collect a certain kind of image, and glue them all onto the same page, like the page on the right. This page is all about different kinds of heads. I thought they were interesting, so I cut them out of magazines, throw-away mail, advertisements, and catalogs. I do a lot of clipping whenever the stacks of paper around my house begin to irritate me. I conduct what my husband refers to as a "grand sweep." That's when I collect every single magazine and go through it, clipping what I want to save and throwing the rest in the recycling bin.

Every now and then, when I get the urge, I dive into the little basket where I keep these interesting clippings and arrange them onto a page. Sometimes I have enough for an entire page right away, and other times, the page remains half-empty until I find more images. It's a fun for me to keep my journal as kind of an on-going project.

Of course, I also use my journal to write down my thoughts. When I write in my journal, I don't write about momentous events or even vacations or trips. My journal tends to be reserved for my thoughts about my family and friends, my feelings, my wishes, my dreams . . . that kind of thing. Those pages of my journal are private. I wouldn't feel comfortable sharing those pages with anyone but my husband or a very close and trusted friend.

I bring my journal to workshops that I take, too. Not those I give, just those I take. I use it to take notes, write down book titles that the instructor mentions, etc. So it's nice to go through the journal every now and then to be reminded of workshops I've taken. There are some good memories there.

Do you keep a journal? What do you write about? Do you illustrate your journal? What are your images like?

In Memory of Rosie

2008-03-26T09:55:00.013-04:00

Rosie came to live with us when she was just a few weeks old. That was over thirteen years ago. Here's how she looked on the day she became a part of our family.

She was a wonderful puppy. She was inquisitive, friendly, always ready for an adventure. She never destroyed anything at all. I've heard of puppies who chewed on shoes, furniture, wallpaper and anything else they could get their teeth around. Rosie was a good dog. She made everyone who lived here happier.

With her around, we all smiled more. Her presence made the house feel more alive. My older son was a typically grumpy teenager then. When he spoke to Rosie, his voice became softer and sweeter, and his normally gruff behavior became gentle when he played with her. His little brother, who was then only five years old, named her. He thought her name would sound really good with our last name, Rosenberg.

We thought it was cute, but every time I called the vet's office for an appointment I'd regret it. I'd have to say, "I'm calling to make an appointment for Rosie Rosenberg." The receptionist just loved it. She laughed every single time.

This picture shows just exactly
how happy my youngest son was to have a puppy:

Rosie grew into a fantastic dog. She loved everybody. Absolutely everybody. She was well behaved, even though she failed puppy kindergarten. It wasn't that she couldn't be trained, it was just that she was so afraid of the other puppies that she would jump up into Fred's arms for safety. She really never spent enough time on the ground to learn anything from the instructor.

But she did learn from our next-door neighbor, Marty. He's a dog trainer, and he taught us how to give her commands, how to walk her on the leash without having her pull and push us around, how to keep her off the sofa and the bed using a soda can filled with pennies, and how to keep her healthy and happy.

She never was much of a dog's dog. Rosie really liked people, not other dogs. She loved to meet new people when they came to visit. She'd wag her great big strong labrador retriever tail -- whack, whack, whack -- and wiggle her entire body. She'd push up against them or lean on them, until our visitor would pay attention to her. And then she just basked in the attention, always asking for more, more, more.

Rosie was a very good judge of people. The only two people she ever ignored when they came to the door turned out to be people of little character. One was a worker for our trusted contractor who later stole from him and left town, never to be seen again. The other was a friend's boyfriend, who broke our friend's heart by cheating on her.

She was a good watchdog, too. Her deep, resonant bark belied her gentle, sweet nature. Once many years ago, our house alarm went off while we were away. The cops who answered the call wondered why we needed an alarm system when we had such a big dog with such a terrifying bark who kept jumping up against the front door when they rang the bell. They didn't realize that if they'd have broken in, Rosie would have licked them to death.

Rosie was always close by when I worked in my studio. Each time I backed away from my design wall to study a quilt-in-progress from a distance, I had to check to make sure I wouldn't step on her.

The only time she'd leave my side when I was at home was if anyone else in the house was eating something. Then she'd be right at their feet, hoping some morsel would drop on the ground and become hers. Pizza was a particular favorite. And she loved popcorn, too. She'd jump high up into the air for it. Any food was good, but she especially loved big long loaves of Italian bread. Unless we put the bread on top of the refrigerator, she'd always end up having it for dinner before we did.

About eight months ago, after many happy years, Rosie was diagnosed with lymphoma. Our vet told us then that we'd have her with us for another three to six months. Last Friday, March 21st, we said our last goodbyes.

I will miss her forever.

Catching up -- Venice, quilting and knitting

2008-03-19T11:39:00.013-04:00

So . . . it's been quite a while since I came back from Venice, where the internet was not available to me, therefore making any real-time updates impossible while I was there. No matter. Let's just say that the three week trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I learned so many, many things:

-- I learned about making Burano lace from a wonderful and patient teacher, Cristina Brunello. Lace-making is difficult. It's really, really hard to do. The stitches are impossibly small and the dexterity required is enormous. But, it is immensely satisfying and terrifically enjoyable. I'm glad I did it.

-- I learned about how exciting and difficult it can be to live in a foreign country, where not everything happens exactly the way you'd expect it to happen. It can be difficult to do the most ordinary things, like grocery shopping, and yet so easy to make good friends with people whose lives are very, very different from our American lives.

-- I learned how truly glad I am that I speak Italian. It allowed me to communicate with such interesting people and to make connections that I am sure will last a lifetime.

-- I learned that visiting Venice during Carnevale is FABULOUS. The costumes were amazing, yes, but the attitude of the people was the thing that I will remember the most. There was so much pure joy in the air that it was contagious.

-- I learned that three weeks is a very long time to be away from my husband. I missed him terribly, and never want to be separated from him for that length of time again.

-- And I learned, once again, that Venice is simply a one-of-a-kind place, too exotic and fantastic to describe with mere words. I will always leave a part of my heart there, wanting to return as soon as I can. If you're interested in seeing some of the photos I took while I was there, you can see them on my Flickr space here.

And what have I been doing since I've returned? Oh, all sorts of things. I've been quilting, of course, but I can't blog much about that because it's "serious business." I'm hoping to enter at least one or two of the quilts I've been working on into some juried exhibitions, and the powers-that-be of the quilting world frown upon the publishing quilts before they've been exhibited. (I'm not sure that blogging really counts as publishing, but I don't want to take the chance.) So the quilts must remain secret until they are either accepted or rejected by those afore-mentioned powers. Be assured that I really am quilting, though!

In other news, I've been knitting. Socks. Sock-knitting, has, dare I say it, become a bit of an addiction. Who knew? I learned to knit ages and ages and ages ago, at my mother's knee. I remember being none too good at it, at least as far as my mother was concerned. I seem to remember producing a couple of terribly malformed scarves, and then discovering that I enjoyed crochet a whole lot better. So I stuck with that through my teen years and into early adulthood, until the quilting bug struck with a vengeance. But, with the recent popularity of knitting (see evidence such as the Yarn Harlot's hilarious must-read blog, the Ravelry community, the gorgeous non-itchy/non-scratchy hand-painted yarn available today, along with the encouragement of my good friend Jeri Riggs) I've once again picked up the needles -- mostly double-pointed ones. Socks are great fun to knit, and they keep my feet warm. What could be better? Plus, when loved ones say things like, "Mom, those socks are really nice. Can you make a pair for me?" it makes me feel like a good mother to comply. Not much is better than that.

Every time I get to the end of a pair of socks, though, I have to dig out the directions that my good friend Benedicte Caneill gave me for the kitchener stitch. Surfing through YouTube the other day, I found this video, and I think it's great. Sometimes it just helps to see it in person, huh? Click on the large "play" button to watch it here on my blog, or the smaller "play" button to go to the YouTube site.

And so, enough for today. I'll try to post more regularly in the future, I promise.

Venezia!

2008-01-09T09:29:00.001-05:00

In a few hours, I'll be boarding a plane with three friends for Venice, Italy. This trip will fulfill a dream for me . . . for the next three weeks, the four of us will be living in an apartment in Venice and taking lace-making lessons every day. We'll be shopping at the Rialto market for our daily provisions, visiting museums, roaming the alleyways and taking in the sights. I'll be using my very rusty Italian, serving as the group's translator.

I'm so excited! Arrivederci!

New Quilt on the Design Wall!

2007-11-17T11:32:00.000-05:00

And I just simply love it! I won't be posting a photo just yet, because I have a picture in my head that is so much different from the one that I'd be posting right now. But I'm excited about it, and will post a photo soon!

Quilt North

2007-10-09T11:57:00.001-04:00

On October 2nd and 3rd, I visisted the Quilt North guild, a lovely bunch of ladies that meet in Clifton Park, NY. I presented my "Goddess Project" lecture and led the "Goddess in the Garden" workshop for them. They treated me like royalty, even providing a gift basket full of wonderful goodies in my hotel suite (yes, I said "suite"!!!). The Quilt North ladies really know how to make a speaker/teacher feel special!

Here's a photo of the ladies posing like the goddesses they are . . .

Sitting up front with her legs stretched out is Mary Albers, the program chair. She took me out for a delicious meal on Monday evening and then made sure I was well cared for during my stay. Thanks a bunch, Mary, especially for the dove bars in that gift basket!

And here are some more photos taken during the workshop.

I had a super-fantastic time with these ladies, goddesses every one. The goddess quilts that they created were just as beautiful as they are. If any of you happen to visit here and would like your name added to your photo, just leave a comment and I'll be happy to oblige. Thanks again to all of you for being such wonderful quilter-goddesses!

The Lace Madonna of Burano

2007-07-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

This amazing piece of lace was made by Signora Emma of Burano, Italy. It belongs to my friend, Denise, who commissioned it while we were together in Venice last January. My friend, Maxine, visited Burano last May, picked up the lace, and then hand-carried it back to Denise.

The piece is small, about six inches wide and 8 inches tall. It took Signora Emma, with the help of two of her lace-making friends, approximately three months to complete.

I am so incredibly excited that I, along with three good friends, will be traveling to Venice in January of '08 to learn the basics of this exquisite art. I'm in the process of choosing my design right now, trying to strike a balance between something that will keep me interested enough to keep going, and something simple enough to actually complete. It's always a difficult balance to achieve.

Absent blogger

2007-07-10T08:56:00.001-04:00

Obviously, it's been ages since I've updated my blog. No apologies, I just haven't been quilting anything interesting lately. I have been wondering if blogging about my other passions (beading, knitting, gardening, family and friends) would be acceptable. The "Artful Quilters Ring" seems to have made that decision for me by notifying me that I've been removed from the ring because of my blog's inactivity.

Oh well. I guess I'll just assume it's some sort of a "sign" that it is now acceptable for me to blog about my beading and knitting and gardening and family and friends. And quilting, too, when I do something interesting with that again.

I think I'll begin with some pictures of my garden:

See? I've been busy, at least outside. More to come...

Michael James Quote

2007-05-24T11:47:00.000-04:00

Michael James from an interview in the May/June 2005 Quiltmaker Magazine.

Question: If you could offer one piece of advice for quiltmakers today, what would it be?

“It’s the same I’ve always offered: just do the work. And don’t try to figure out what other people want. Figure out what YOU want your work to be, and what you want it to say. Where imagination is concerned, the average American is shortchanged–she’s been dulled into quiet compliance by the forces of conformity. Inventive people (artists and scientists among them) think outside the box–that’s where they’re most comfortable.

Quiltmaking has historically been an art of conformity. I think it’s high time that we relegate that fact to quilt history, and move this art form fully into the 21st century where it should take its place alongside other exploratory and creative media.”

Paper Cranes

2007-04-18T10:05:00.000-04:00

When I was a little girl, my father used to amuse and amaze me by folding paper cranes. I had a flashback to this happy childhood memory when I came across this pdf while surfing the blogs this morning: Paper Cranes Tutorial

I'm going to have to try making one or two. I have a feeling they are like potato chips, and I'll have a whole flock of them before long! Maybe a mobile is in my future?

Lancaster 2007

2007-04-15T15:26:00.000-04:00

No time right now to add text .... here's some pics of our trip to the Heritage Quilt Show in Lancaster, PA. A fine time was had by all!

Thought for the day

2007-04-09T05:54:00.001-04:00

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Susan in a Quilt -- Literally!

2007-04-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

I had a lovely visit yesterday with my dear friend, Susan. She fell in love with Andrew's quilt (which is still a top, but getting bigger) and insisted on wrapping herself in it. Of course, anybody on the floor in my studio immediately gets covered with Rosie, as well . . .

It was such a fantastic day, spent with two of my most favorite females!

Check out Susan's blog, where she'll share with you some of the fun photos she took of me working on her gorgeous Your Tree of Life pattern.

It's gonna be a huge hit, I just know it!

"Ladies' Lunch" with Susan

2007-04-05T09:06:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago I met my friend Susan Schrott for lunch at Temptation Teahouse in Mt. Kisco. We had some fabulously delicious tea and a light "ladies' lunch." Susan brought along her latest piece for show and tell. It's simply gorgeous. Here she is holding it up in front of the restaurant. To see it close-up, in all its glory, visit Susan's blog.