What I've Been Doing

I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted on this blog. My mother usually ask me when I'm going to put up something new, but even she hasn't done that lately. Hopefully you saw the granddaughter's picture. She's growing very quickly of course! Beginning in March, I'll be taking care of her during the day while her mom goes back to teaching 3rd grade for the remainder of the school year. It will be a great to spend time with her, but it's not going to be easy for her mother who will miss her terribly during the day! Thankfully it's only for three months and then there will be summer vacation for them both.

So let's see. January 28th I went to a Shibori Class for a couple of hours. We looked at various ways to fold and manipulate cloth to get designs when we dye. This comes from ancient Japanese traditions, but we adapted the methods so it's not so time consuming. It was great fun!

I first folded the silk scarf and then rolled it. I used both dyes that were available and dipped in one side and then the other. I really like the effect. The scarf is about 8inches wide by about 30 inches long.

I have also started making Journal Quilts. This is inspired by my friend from the September Dyeing class, Sarah Ann Smith from Camden, Maine. She is just so encourging and anxious for everyone to succeed in creating art. (There's also a link to her blog on the right.) She participated in a Quilt Art Journal Project and from this project a book was created. Sarah has several of her quilts in the book and I actually got to see a couple of those quilts in person and up close at the Dyeing class. The principle is to limit the size of the quilts and in my case it's 8 1/2"x11" and to try things out that you perhaps would not want to try on a full size quilt or perhaps have not tried at all yet. Some people have themes for the entire year, in my case I do not or perhaps my theme is "Get Her Done." My goal is to make one Journal Quilt each month and to push myself to try new things. I see myself as a novice so while I might just be trying something out that other folks have been doing for ages, it's still exciting to me. I'm amazing myself at how things have turned out so far.

I had no idea where to begin. I hate cutting up really nice cloth, but I had some hand painted stuff that was horrible so that problem was solved. I started out with a fat quarter (18"x22") piece of cloth that I painted last spring with setacolors. I had never worked with those paints before so I produced a couple of duds in the beginning.

Here's the cloth before it was cut.

Not a pretty sight so I first cut it up in four equal (sort of) pieces.

One piece became the back ground fabric for my January piece.

I experimented with using cloth that was not cotton for the appliques. I had never included noncotton fabric in a quilt before. I liked the results, but the edges are a bit ragged. Also added some beads for a little added sparkle. I practice free form quilting motifs using a varigated thread and for the most part that turned out well. I named this one "Splash".

Then I used that same hand painted fabric for the February Quilt, but this time I cut it up. I have several books on curve piecing and it seems each one has a different technique. I decided to try my own thing and sort of used a modified Ricky Tim's Cave Man technique. This is just cutting with a rotary cutter without a ruler. All the seams in this quilt are curves or originally were curved at some point.

It's not named yet, but I like the cold feeling of it. February was actually much colder here than January. (I'm open for suggestions.) I made blocks and stitched those together in a groups of two. I then cut those across, all the time using wavy lines. Then I added white fabric in between the strips. The white is a noncotton, (not sure what it is) sateen type of fabric used for wedding dresses. It is very lovely and after it was assembled I changed the way I was going to quilt it. I was originally going to quilt each section individually, but the white seemed to want flowing lines that carry on from the colored strips so that's what it got. I technically haven't finished this piece. I zigzagged the edges, but I think it would help to have some silk type cording to put along the edges, that for me was a first, they are deliberately not straight. (I've had non-straight edges before but that was usually not on purpose.) Beads may also get added to this piece. So it's technically finished in February, but it's really not finished until I say it's done. Oh I feel so free in making these little quilts, what fun and isn't that the purpose of art.

The surface design group that I started going to back in January is going to have a challenge. It too is going to be 8 1/2" x 11" but we are going to have to pick a predominate color chip out of a bag and use that color. It's to encourage us to work out of our color comfort zone. I'll post a picture of the color, but I almost feel I'll be cheating because regardless of the color I get, I'll have my giant color book to use to dye fabric to match that color chip, so no shopping for me and I should be able to see what colors will go well with it. I'm looking forward to putting that big book to use!

I'm also still sewing baby room items for Jason and Rachel's house. They should be moving in very soon, a week or so. I have got to finish up some window coverings (not sure what they're called, shades maybe.) Then maybe just a few more odds and ends and that chapter will be closed.

So that's what I've been doing. I'll try to keep you more up to date, but when you're on a roll it's hard to stop and get the pictures edited and on to a blog.

Happy Valentine's Day

Faith is getting cuter every day! She can really smile and carry on for us and especially for her mom!

She even was wearing a special dress with hearts on it for her Valentine's Portraits. There's nothing better than a happy baby and she certainly seems very happy and content!

Movie Recommendation

I'm not usually in the habit of strongly recommending a movie. Movies are like food, so many different tastes. When I do step out with a recommendation, it's really rare.

After renting two duds, I finally hit jackpot!

The Duds:
"Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" - too boring for me and too hard for me to follow, waste of time (thankfully it was free);
and an even worse movie, "The Break-Up" - this was just horrible, the couple argued the entire time and then went their separate ways. That's the entire story line and yes I ruined it for you. Trust me, I did you a favor! (Luckly it was also free for me.)

But then I got these two fantastic movies. Don's been out of town for a Kansas City Barbecue Society function so I was left to myself and I picked out these two. (Not free, but they were both worth it and I have them for a whole week, so I can watch them again.)

First there was "Mozart and the Whale" - a great movie.
The short description is that it's "a heartwarming romance about two people with a form of autism called 'Asperger's Syndrome'" Although it's a romance, it's very thought provoking. Makes me wonder how we actually determine "normal." And do we even have a right to define that word at all.

The other movie, that I would certainly recommend for guys and gals is "An Unfinished Life". I thought it would be more of a chick flick, but with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Lopez it was a tough call. This movie is a must see for everyone, Fantastic! It's a story about a family that is dealing with some losses in life. The scenery alone is worth it, the symbolism was awesome, but the message is one everyone needs to hear. The DVD is wonderful. There are special features and the one on the training of the animals was fascinating, you definitely want to watch it after seeing the movie.

Both of these movies were PG-13 and of course that means the language is not what I would prefer, but if you can get past that .... The only other thing about the movies that was a little difficult for me was that sometimes I had to rewind to catch what was said. Is my hearing going? Maybe it's just that surround sound stuff we have here in our house.

Let me know what you thought!

So there you have it. You may not agree so strongly with me, but I don't think you'll regret renting these.
(Mom, they're on your list.)