Addressing and Dressing the Artist

 

What a week! I have been playing telephone tag and email tag with Camille Gavin, who writes for the Bakersfield Californian, our local newspaper. She wants to interview me for an article in the “Arts Alive” section that comes out on Thursdays. Of course, I can barely be reached by phone because I am working so darn much. Finally the interview morphed into a series of emails and attachments, which was better for me. I really like to think before I answer questions.

As far as interviews go, I have to say that I was impressed with Camille’s questions. She delved more into my artistic process rather than asking questions like, “How many quilts have you made?” and “What is your favorite color”. I will be interested to see how she puts it all together in her article.

Meanwhile, I have been scrambling around here, wondering what I am going to wear to the quilt show. I need two outfits—one for each day.

I picked up a couple scarves today since they have become so popular. My assistant at work has offered to teach me how to tie them.

I really don’t know what I would do without that sweet girl.

Just got another email from Camille. Looks like Yogini is going to be in the newspaper. Funny cat!

Squaring Up a Small Wall Hanging

 

Yippee!!! I am finally ready to square this little quilt up and put some facings on it. I still have a few threads to bury and some embellishments to ponder, but I am basically finished.

When I am trimming and squaring a wall hanging that is on the smaller side, I always yearn to take a trip down to the glass shop and have them cut me a perfectly squared piece of plexiglass that is the exact size I need to square my project. That way I could just drop that piece of plexiglass over my untrimmed wall hanging and pare away the excess around the edges with a rotary cutter.

Only in my dreams. Those pieces of heavy plastic are REALLY expensive.

So I set that little problem on the back burner of my thoughts and let it simmer for awhile. Hopefully, necessity would inspire a solution.

Several weeks later, I went down to Beverly Fabrics armed with my 40% off coupon. I bought their largest and cheapest picture frame, complete with a wonderfully squared piece of plexiglass sandwiched inside. I took it home, peeled off the flimsy frame, and chucked it in the trash. I have been using the sheet of plastic as a cutting and squaring guide ever since. 

It is not the perfect size for all the wall hangings I make, but I can improvise by adding quilting rulers along the sides..

This one actually cooperated, and I was able to finish rather quickly. Just glad that I have been doing a fair amount of yoga in my lifetime, because cutting on the floor always requires some acrobatics.

No Sewing Tonight

 

We are having unseasonably warm weather and high winds. Lots of dust swirling and autumn leaves that should have come off the trees in November but never did. The power has been on and off all evening—first briefly several times, then complete darkness for over two hours.

Thank goodness for the candles that my sweet students frequently give me at Christmas. They not only give light but smell nice, too.

My super duper flashlight I purchased at the feed store has also been a blessing as well as my battery-powered radio.

I bet I will see a lot of trees down on my way to work tomorrow. I can still hear the wind whipping through them.

Finally Some Binding

 

Remember this little quilt? “Rainy Garden Windows”.It is only 35 X 35 inches square and has been waiting several months for binding. It did have some personal attention now and again when I had a few moments to bury the tail ends of all the quilting threads. There were a lot of those.

Here a little close-up of some of the binding I hand stitched yesterday evening.

Here is the back of the quilt.

I am liking this backing more and more as time goes by.  It was a relatively inexpensive fabric that I bought at JoAnn’s several years ago. I am glad that I bought a lot of it since some of the ladies in my friendship group thought that the back of the quilt was the front of the quilt. I guess I will just have to make another quilt with this batik on the front. Maybe something with some artistic applique on the top.

I

This is a tip that Nancy Rink taught me when I took a binding class from her many, many years ago.

After cutting strips of fabric for your binding and piecing them together, it is easy to make a neatly folded and pressed binding strip. Push two long straight pins into your ironing board cover, and then thread the folded strip underneath them. Press the portion of the strip between the pins. Slide that portion forward, and press the next sections until the entire strip is doubled and ironed flat.

Ever Try Pandora?

 

Sometimes you never know what you have been missing. Case in point: This year I got a new assistant at work. Bright, competent, artistic, and only 22 years old. I have told her that she is not allowed to get any older EVER or think about leaving her job. Of course, she will eventually. She is working on her credential and will be an excellent teacher.

Meanwhile, this young whippersnapper has been teaching me a few things. Like about Pandora radio, which I can play on my laptop while I am sewing. Sweet! It’s kind of like your own personal radio station. You type in what kind of music you like, and they play it. If you don’t like a particular selection, you give it the “thumbs down”, and they never play it again

There are a few commercials, and there are some print ads to the side of the screen. I guess they must think I am really old and sad because the keep posting ads for arthritis and depression medications. Plus some other personal remedies that I won’t go into.

Anyway, you might want to give it a try. Absolutely free.

Lunch Date at Luigi’s

 

My group of childhood friends keeps getting larger and larger. Of course, that does not seem logical or possible since we cannot go back in time and make new little friends. In my case, it means that our friendship group welcomed four dear chums from the past into our fold.

What a treat!

We met for lunch on the patio at Luigi’s, which is an old Bakersfield classic that has been in business since 1910. The food was traditional Italian and absolutely delicious. Although we arrived early, we could hardly find parking places. When I left, someone was politely waiting for me to vacate my own. The eatery is that popular.

Here is all ten of us.

And that was my break today. Back to quilting! There’s a show on the horizon.

Deadline Psychosis

 

Too many deadlines in one week can make a person goofy. And exhausted.

It’s the end of the first semester at school, and my narrative and statistical progress reports for each of my 28 students are due to go home to waiting parents tomorrow. Fortunately, I finished them a day early.

The teachers have been working furiously on getting the students’ grade cards ready to hand out. We have some particularly fierce and deadly strains of flu lurking over our county. The viruses hit suddenly and without warning. Most of us have been vaccinated, and we all appreciate each other’s presence as each school day begins, knowing full well that one or more of us might be very ill the next day and not make it to work. One of our staff members has already lost a brother.

Then there are my quilt show deadlines. It’s a good thing my quilt is cooperating. And another good thing is the three-day weekend that looms ahead like a bright cluster of balloons.

In the face of all those challenges and deadlines, I can only think that I want to be somewhere else. Like here:

Hecker Pass as it trails northward from Gilroy, California—which happens to be the garlic capitol of the world—and threads through the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The whole town smells of garlic. I am always there in the late autumn so miss out on their garlic ice cream.

Interestingly enough, when I am in the mountains, I want to be home quilting. I always take some handwork along with me to soothe the separation anxiety.

More Stippling & Maybe Some Buttons

 

And the stippling continues……

And I am considering adding a few judicious buttons. Not many. The flower buttons are too large, but I think I have some smaller ones around here somewhere.

Still Stippling, Echoing, and Embroidering

 

Just some quick pictures of the final layer of detail work that is going into Peace, Love, & Haight Ashbury. I have been busy, busy, busy!

Have a peaceful weekend.

Postcards for the CPQ Quilt Show

 

Yesterday evening was the meeting of the Cotton Patch Quilters Show Committee. It was amazing to see all those bright, wonderful ladies working so harmoniously together. They are always full of surprises.

First of all were these awesome postcards that advertise our show. Didn’t they turn out nicely?

A close-up.

Another close-up.

And I have a pleasant surprise for several friends. I had thought that the cost of admission was $10. It is really $5. Children who are less than 16 years of age get in free.

How Long Do You Stipple?

 

Stippling a quilt is probably one the most gratifying and exhausting experiences I can imagine. Thirty minutes maximum, and I have got to take a break. My hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, eyes, and the limits of my concentration all demand a time out.

I know I am not the only one. I once read a magazine article about a woman who was so bent on finishing a quilt that she ended up in physical therapy after it was all said and done. Her words of wisdom were: “Take frequent breaks.”

Breaks can be just as dangerous. A cup of that fantastic Starbuck’s Kenya coffee a dear friend gave me for Christmas was not a good choice. It made me as jumpy as a little monkey. Try stippling like that! Chamomile tea is so much smarter.

Then there are always those little pesky chores that need to be done around the house. In between half hour of stippling, I try to squeeze in a load of laundry, a bit of cooking, gardening, or tending the pets. All those things count, and padding them between sessions of quilting sure makes them a whole lot more pleasant.

What is your quilting routine?

Extreme Multi-Tasking

 

Okay, you have caught me red-handed. Or more precisely, red-catted.

Yes, I multi-task like there is no tomorrow.

This afternoon I was trying to quilt, blog, water the yard, and do laundry all at the same time. And oh yes, clean the oven.

Someone else had other ideas about where I should focus my attention. And that show quilt sure felt good beneath his pudgy little body.