GOODBYE 2005

The New Year holiday is one of my favorites. I feel like I have the opportunity to start to start over, to try to do better. There were many good things that happened this year. I have a happy life. I had many good times with my friends. I had a quilt juried into a couple of shows... it's a start. Really the only bad thing this year was my husband getting sick. But he is feeling much better, and I am ready to start a new year. I do have some goals for the new year. One of them is to save more and spend less. To eat healthier, and exercise more. Bill and I will celebrate our 25th Anniversary this September. I have a goal to read the entire bible this year. I try this every year.. and I read parts, but I have not read through the whole thing yet.
I want to make a special quilt in honor of my life with Bill. I have an idea in mind, but it is going to take some real planning, to pull it off.
The trouble is, it is hard to improve on perfection, and I have the perfect life. Yeah, we could use more money. We may not have everything we want, but we have everything we need. So maybe we do have enough money. I just need to stop comparing myself to others who have more than I ever will. More things, more education, more talent. It really doesn't matter if they have more than me if they aren't contented, and I am. Maybe I am the richer person.

Hey, I managed to go to a New Years sale at a quilt shop with cash and without my credit card, and I came home with money. That's my start of spending less. Now that I am trying to do my own thing in quilting, I have noticed I need less of other people's stuff. So I save money there. Of course, I am a sucker for DVD instruction (Thanks Gabrielle) I bought two DVD's today, both on using fabric ink. I may start using some of my other artistic talents in my quiltmaking.

I hope that all of you have a great year. A year full of good health, happiness, prosperity and contentment. It's been a real pleasure hearing from all of you since I started this blog. I hope to meet more of you in the coming year.

MY SMALL WORLD

My day started off hearing from Claire from Oz. Why do they call it OZ?
About 7 years ago, I stumbled across a quilting forum on About.com. On 12/22/2000, a new thread started on the forum called "Karen Stone's - New York Beauties and Beasties".( Happy Anniversary, girls.) It started out with maybe about 16 women that planned to make Karen Stone's New York Beauty quilt. The thread turned out to be much more than that. For our time, we had the most posts of any thread on that forum, over 30,000. For the most part, we didn't talk about the quilt. We talked about things going on in our lives. When I was sick, my son came to them for solice. To date.. I think that only a couple of us have actually MADE a New York Beauty. We have been surpassed by others in the posting on About.com, but, for the most part, we have not lost contact with each other.
A couple of years ago I started a private yahoo group for those of us who have always kept in touch. We needed a place to talk that wasn't so open to the scrutiny of everyone in the world. We can talk about the more private aspects of our lives in the Yahoo forum. We have picked up a few new friends along the way. Ladies that we met in the NYB thread. We have been through a lot through the years. Illness, deaths, marriages, new grandchildren, graduations, you name it.. we have been there in cyberspace with each other all the way. We have made many comfort quilts, for each other, and at least 3 for family members or ill people that meant something to one of our group.
Anyway, there is a point to all of this. Claire from Oz made me think about all of the great quilters that I have "met "on the internet. I have actually managed to meet some of them in real life. Then something happened yesterday that made me think of how weird and wonderful it is to have the internet, and the world that it opens up for us.
I have a good friend that has family in Washington state. Their name was the same but spelled different than one of my NYB pals that also lives in Washington. My friend moved her family to Washington last fall because her husband got a new job out there. I got a card from her with her new address, and not only does she live in the same town as my NYB friend Kathie, she lives less than a mile from her! I think it is wonderful that I might finally have a sort of physical link to someone that I have known for so many years. Hopefully, they will meet sometime.
So to all of my old and new quilting friends. I want you to know that I enjoy talking to all of you. And even we may never meet, I want you to know that you have touched my life in so many ways.
Which is just one of the many ways that quilting can bring together women from all over the world. We all come from so many different places, but we can take this one thing, and find out that we are all alike. And without knowing Maree, my other quilting friend from OZ, I might never have heard of " Yabbies in the Dam".

TUESDAY

Ahhh.. my favorite time of the year. Post Christmas. I am trying to think of what to do right now, I was thinking.. nap. But I will go up and take down the tree.
Went to the dentist today. I have had problems with TMJ for years. I had a long affair with orthodontia when I was a kid. Have a small mouth, and had 8 teeth (with wisdom teeth) pulled before braces. My bite has been off and my jaws clicking for years. One summer when my kids were little, they were swimming under water, through my legs.. you know how kids are. My daughter came quickly up out of the water and smacked the top of her head on the end of my chin. I have had pain in my jaw more frequently since then. Since the Good and Plenty incident 2 months ago when I dislocated my jaw, I have had constant pain on the right side of my face. I will wake up during the night, and I can't close my teeth together. If I chew anything that takes effort, sharp pain goes into my ear.
I went to the dentist today for x-rays to make sure that I didn't have an abcess or something (almost wished it had been). She took a bunch of x -rays and is sending me to a TMJ specialist. So, if my insurance covers it.. maybe I will go. If not ... I will suffer. On the bright side.. maybe he will wire my mouth shut so I can't get any food in.

I mailed my quilt to Road to California. It only cost somehting like $13.00. The key is to get it in the mail early. Of course, I had to put that check in the bag for $27.00 for them to mail it back to me (ouch). So nothing exciting is going on today. I came home to a quiet house, everyone is somewhere else. Just me and the dogs.

Speaking of dogs. Lily is the most stupid animal I have ever had. She is 7 months old, and still isn't fully housebroken. She has jumped on my kids beds and wet them. I will take her out and she will stand and sniff the air, or walk around for 20 minutes and never do anything. She spends a lot of time in her crate. If I can't watch her every minute, she is locked up. Bill commented how she will be like the baby in Back to the Future, who spent all of his time in his playpen Uncle "Jailhouse Joey". So we have nicknamed the dog "Lock Up Lily" . You know, I don't mind standing out with her for 20 minutes when it is 70, but when it is 7 and the wind is blowing and it is snowing, and she is staring into space... I have a problem with it. What kills me is when I mention how hard Lily is to housebreak.. to my 80 year old Aunt.. My aunt says "she was almost housebroken when I had her " (at 8 weeks). I figure that she just hasn't found that minefield of crap behind her couch yet.

Oh well, onward and upward... Later!

CHRISTMAS IS OVER!

It's that time of year. I am glad that the Christmas season is over. I am ready to take down the tree and get ready for the new year.

The place that we went every year for our annual family Christmas photo, closed last year. So now we are forced to do our own. Also.. we don't see the need to get dressed up to do it. So we are back to the way we did it when the kids were little and I could put them on my lap to cover my fat. You can see that it is true that Sam is an angel. You can see his halo.

We had a nice Christmas. We have our meal and gifts on Christmas eve. Two of the kids had to work today. So Bill and I and daughter Jaclyn went to the movies. We saw "Rumor Has It" . It was a pretty funny movie. Shirley McClaine always cracks me up. I was surprisingly tearful for half of the day. I don't know why. I was having computer problems. I had Matt re-format it because things weren't working. Then I had trouble re-installing some of my programs. I still can't get the bugs out. I am getting pop ups on my desk top. I couldn't find any of my computer designing software.. EQ5 , corel 10. It wasn't with my other software. I did find it this afternoon. I have everything installed, but not back the way that I want it. Bill gave me an external hard drive for backing up my photos. Turns out the portable hard drive is as big as the main hard drive on my computer. I have a second hard drive that I only use for photos. That way I don't have to worry as much if something bad happens on the main hard drive. I still regularly back up my photo drive. Bill, also made a new thread chest for me. This one has 3 drawers and is made out of Cherry. It isn't done yet. I marked out areas in one drawer for dowels to be inserted to hold the spools. One drawer will be open, and the other will have 2 dividers that will extend the width of the drawers. It will have the reproduction knobs on the front like the ones on the 6 drawer JP Coats, repro that Bill made for me a couple of years ago. And it will have the JP Coats decal labels on the front of the drawers. It is beautiful, I can't wait until it is finished. I will take pictures! Well, I have to work tomorrow, so my fun time is over. I have 4 days off over New Year's. I am counting the hours...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

This is my dog Sam on my New York Beauty quilt. One of my favorite pictures of him. I had to order new checks, and I went with a new company 'Checks in the Mail' . They have checks that you can personalize with your own photos. What better to decorate with than my 2 of my favorite things. So this color photo is in the upper righthand corner of my check.
Bill and I went to see Kong today. It was pretty good. Lot's of action. I could have lived without "bug gulch" in one really long scene. But for the most part, it was good. I like Adrian Brody. He looks like my son. The first movie I saw him in was "The Pianist". It was a good movie.. and disturbing given the subject matter, and the fact that he reminded me so much of my son, it made it even harder to watch.
I passed up an offer to go out to eat in favor of staying in the house. It is so cold out. I am getting tired of it, and it is only December! I don't know how I will last the rest of the winter when the cold is getting to me already!! Well, upstairs to fix dinner. asta la vista..

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17TH

These are the Twisted Stitchers. Meet Kaye, Nancy, Kathleen, Lindy, Bobbie, Karin, and Me.

Once a month, on every third Friday, I get together with 6 other women from my guild to sew. About a year ago, I think either Lindy or Kaye mentioned getting together to work on miniature quilts. It was something that interested us. We asked a few of our guild friends if they would like to join us. So we started meeting every third Friday at each other's house. We called ourselves Third Friday Stitchers at first.. mostly so we could remember when the meeting was. It eventually changed to "Twisted Stitchers".
To me, this group represents the heart of quiltmaking. Groups like this are what separates quiltmaking from the art world. I don't know of other crafts or arts where people get together to share their knowledge and do their 'art' together. These women mean so much to me. We look forward to our time together. We talk, laugh, share what we have been working on, share things we have learned with the each other. Our time together is a great time to decompress from the daily grind of sick spouses, parents, jobs, kids. We have even managed to work on a few miniature quilts! But, we realize that this group is way more than just one aspect of quilting. We mostly get together for the sheer fun. I would highly recommend having a small group of friends meet on a regular basis. We have all kinds of quilting interest. Lindy and Kaye work in a library together. They like civil war and muted thimbleberry type fabrics. Kathleen is an art college graduate and is the most 'artistic' of the group. She likes to work with window screen and fabric. She is doing a series with antique textiles and screen that is fabulous. Bobbie and Karin went to high school together. Kathleen and I were also in the same high school class, Bobbie and Karin were a year behind us--all in the same large high school, and none of us figured this out until a couple of years ago on a trip to Paducah! Karin love brights and curves, she is a wonderful baker, and saved me yesterday when she brought cookies to our get together. I hadn't gotten that far, and didn't have dessert. Bobbie likes civil war and the sort of fabric also. She has a new grand daughter. and is lucky to not have to work outside of her home. Nancy is a retired kindergarten teacher. She moved here from New York when she and her husband retired. She has a studio in a local art gallery. She works in black and white and had a one-woman show last year.
We had to meet at my house on short notice because Kaye didn't feel well. I didn't know what to make, so I bought a box of Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Helper. Chicken and Dumplings. I chose this because it took the least amount of time to cook.. I added chicken breasts and cooked in my crock pot for 4 hours, and then dropped the dumpling dough on the top... it was wonderful. We had a great time.

Today, I am trying to address my Christmas Cards. I didn't even mail any last year. But, I feel like I should at least attempt to send cards to the people that thought of my family.

I hope that you all have a good weekend!!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15

I told ya I had a little Charlie Brown tree! I think it is cute, and I don't care if the family likes it or not. Bah Humbug...
I should be cleaning up. I have Twisted Stitchers at my house tomorrow. I am dragging. I had the show last night, and didn't get home until after midnight. I asked for today off but was told if I wanted any time off between December 14th and Jan. something (holiday season) that I had to have 20 years on the job. I could have off if I had coverage.. the person who denied me the day off is the only one that can cover me, because no one else does my job. I could have worked tomorrow and had today off. But I would not ever miss my Twisted Stitcher group..besides it was the point of it all. I just lost some sleep.

The Glenn Beck one man show was good. It was funny. He talked about his family Christmas traditions, and what he thought the real meaning of Christmas is. He said it was not about the food, family, gifts or even about the baby Jesus. It was about the man Jesus and what his life was, about redemption, and getting second chances to make your life right. Very touching. He gets a little too emotional though.. like he said "everytime I do this part of the show I feel like I'm turning into a chick". I hate to tell ya Glenn, I'm a chick, and I don't cry like that. If I hadn't have been in the nose bleed section, I would have thrown a bra... There was a part that he showed positive photos of our troops helping people. I don't know the name of the Christmas song.. I think Andy Williams sang it.. "Some children see Him lily white, the baby Jesus born this night... somechildren see Him lily white with ...golden(?) hair.." This song played while photos of our troops flashed up on a big screen on the stage . then 4 young men came

two Marines, one Army, one Navy.. At least that's what I think they were.

They got a standing ovation. That is Glenn on the left of the stage.
It was a nice evening. We didn't leave early enough. Although I told Bill what time I thought we should leave the house.. he always thinks that I leave too early and he doesn't like "sitting in an empty theater" because we get there too early. Well.. the show started at 7:30. Akron is an hour away. We didn't know where we were going, we got lost, needless to say, we just got there in time. He has a way of twisting things so that it is "my fault". But I just shut up and got my point across when I wasn't so ticked. The secret to a long happy marriage. Keep your mouth shut until you aren't as angry. If I ever let loose when I was mad.. I probably would be on my 5th husband by now!! Well, I have wasted enough time. I hear thundering paws running across the floor upstairs.. these furrry kids, you can't leave them alone for 5 minutes...

NOTHING EXCITING

There is nothing exciting going on today. The highlight of my life is getting a workspace at my job. I was asked to move from the actual emergency room to the administrative offices about 1 1/2 years ago. I have not had a consistent work area all of that time. My most stable place was working on the computer in our urgent care department until they opened, then I pretty much had to find non-computer work until it was time to leave. Luckily, I only work part time. I got a new boss a few months ago who decided I needed the tools to do my job. I got my own computer, my own desk, and my own phone! I know it's silly, but it has made going to work so much more pleasent since I am not continually frustrated. I will be doing payroll for our 3 emergency departments. It will be a challenge, but since I have somewhere to work, I can spend more time getting it right.

Tonight Bill and I are driving to Akron for dinner, and then we will be going to see the Glenn Beck Christmas show. Glenn Beck is a guy I listen to on the radio. He is so funny and so sarcastic. He makes me laugh all of the time, and I am looking forward to seeing him in person. He has some political stuff in his radio program, but for the most part, it is mostly a comedy show.

Bill just came in from work, and we will be leaving. I will let you know how it goes!!!

IT'S SNOWING AGAIN!

It's going to be a LONG winter... I turned the heat to 65 in my house thinking if i decrease it one degree a day, it will help with the bill which has gone up . But I was so cold last evening, I popped it up a degree. Which made all of the difference.
I thought you might like to see this picture of me with Santa circa 1955.
I don't know what is up with blogger and their photos, but they all look blurred.. at least to me. I went on some sites that I read every day, and pictures that I know weren't blurred the first time I looked at them, were blurred when I came back. Weird.

Anyway, yes, it is snowing again. I can take the cold, but I really can live without snow. Oh well, it's Ohio.. winter happens!

My house is a disaster. I had to drag things out of my closet to get ornaments. Which as an aside, it is pretty depressing when you realize that the only way to match the look of the ornaments on your tree it to go to an antique store. I told you about the little tree I am using with ornaments from my childhood tree. Put it this way, they just don't make them like they used to.
Bill and I are going this afternoonto see the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. One great thing about the digital age, is I wanted prints of some photos that I took at guild. I uploaded them to Sams Club. They will be printed, and I will pick them up after the movie. Sams is in the same parking lot at the movie theater.
Remember our trees? We got a check for the damage, which won't ever make it like it was in my back yard. But the new big stainless steel refridgerator looks great in my kitchen. And we have money left to start over with our trees. We figured it wasn't going to be enough to make it the way it was, and we wanted a nicer fridge. We didn't get one with all of the other new appliances when Bill re-did our kitchen. Hopefully someone in the future will enjoy the trees that we re-plant as much as we enjoyed the trees that were taken from us.
Well off to the movie. Hope that you all have a good day.

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

I was putting up a little tree this year. I decided not to put up the big one, and just use the now antique glass ornaments that used to hang on my childhood Christmas tree. While rooting through the closet I came across two boxes of icicles that I found in an antique shop last year. I was thrilled when I found these unopened boxes of old German icicles. it amazed me the flood of memories these simple old boxes, of what some call tinsel, brought back to me. When I was a kid, my mother made a big deal about putting these things on the Christmas tree. We got them out every year, because we would re-use them. Probably because they quit making them for some reason, and came out with those flimsy, floaty bright silver icicles. Every year we would get out our old icicles that were wrapped in a sheet of "tin foil", and it was my bother's and my job to straighten each one between our thumb and forefinger. In the early years, we had to fold a little hook on the end and hang them one by one. Later, we were allowed to fold them in half and hang them that way. When we were young, the job of applying them to the branches belonged only to my mother. My brother and I would straighten them, and she would lay them across her forearm. They had to be put on the branches from the inside out, and from the bottom of the tree to the top. The tree would shimmer, and every darn time someone would come in the door, the wind would blow the icicles and we would have to fix them. Gosh, how I hated those things. I swore that I would never put them on my tree.. and I never have. I always thought they were made out of aluminum. Now I see that they were really made out of LEAD. No wonder they stopped making them. My husband says this explains a lot about me. Funny guy.
I couldn't find my box of old pictures.So I couldn't find that picture of the tree with my new bike. I found this photo though, I don't know why the quality looks so bad here,I scanned it from an old Poloroid photo. (click on the photo, it will enlarge it and you will get better quality) but hopefully you will get the idea what the tree looked like. I must have caught my family for a photo during one of my mom's icicle applications. As you can see, my brother is happy, probably happy for the break from straightening. Maybe his little fingers were tired. My sweet father was so sick. He had heart disease and died a couple of years after this picture was taken. He seemed so old then, but he was only38 when this photo was taken. All of my family is gone now. But just the simple act of finding icicles in a antique store brought back memories long forgotten.
Hold your families close. I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas full of laughter and memories.

A DAY WITH AMI-updated

I took a class with Ami Simms called 'Invisible Applique". It was a fun class. I learned a new technique. I don't know if this is the kind of applique for me, but it was fun AND invisible! It definately has possibilities.
I got a closeup look at her quilt St. Basil's Cathedral. http://www.mallerypress.com/stbascat.html It is amazingly beautiful up close.. wonderful hand embroidery embellishes parts of the buildings. These Russian buildings are awesome, and Ami did a great job converting the images to fabric.
I have been doing needleturn applique forever, and I am comfortable with it. I have figured out what works best for me, and although I am always open for new ideas, I think for the most part it is a personal choice. Ami's method does almost completely hide stitches. It is essentially a 'ladder stitch' . I just don't know if I would be up to the challenge of marking all of the applique pieces AND the fabric it is to be appliqued to. We also learned a way to use this method to do hand piecing. You sew from the front of the piece and not the back, the way that it is traditionally done. I would be really hard put to ever piece by hand.. but if I ever had to this is the way I would do it.
I have to wait at least a week for my new glasses, in the meantime this ...
















Is what I have to put up with. I don't mean to seem ungrateful, I am glad that Bill was able to wire them up, or I really would be in a fix. But if I don't get them on just right, or I put on earmuffs that squeeze myhead too tight... they go all cockeyed, and I can't see right. To get replacements, and a spare, it cost $575.00! I was talking to my co-worker and she was expounding on her great vision insurance.. turns out we have the same kind. The difference is, she only get's the 'free' glasses covered under her plan, and I want what I want. She only uses bifocals at work, and to read. She is farsighted. I am near sighted and I need them to read. I have to wear mine all of the time, and she doesn't. I have worn glasses nearly all of my life. I went through too many years looking like a dork.. I want decent looking glasses now. I certainly don't have anything else going for me in the appearance department.. I don't need big clunky bifocals with a line! My last 2 pairs have had a frame on the top and framless on the bottom of the lense. My new pair are frameless. The spare is like my old pair only dark purple/green. Both will have progressive lenses. I have wanted the frameless for a long time, but I like these spring clip sunglasses which can't be worn with them. So it was either get bifocal sunglasses, or a pair that I could use the sunglasses. Last time, I got a pair of single vision sunglasses. I couldn't see a thing. Once your eyes are trained to look through a progressive lense, I guess that I can't go back to a single vision. (I couldn't anyway.)

Good news.. the big snow storm is passing way south of us!! yay...

My favorite guild is tonight. I am doing the program. Since I am the program director.. I can do what I want. Actually, it is our Christmas party and I have been trying to do a member led program when we have a party. The other time is in August. This means, everyone gets into the program if they want. Tonight is themed.. "Confessions of a notions junkie". We will leave the book and office supply problems for another meeting....

RELIEF

How do you spell relief? I spell it M-A-I-L-E-D. Remember that Teddy Bear Quilt that I made for my Aunt? I finally broke down and invited friends to get together with me to piece the top. Then I got it quilted by someone other than me. Then it sat at least another month while I dragged my heels with the binding. I finally put the last stitch in the binding last night, and mailed it today. But wait... there's more. I had the responsibility to quilt and bind a quilt for an online friend that is undergoing treatment for cancer. I finally got that finished on Sunday.. I also mailed it today. And to top it off, I mailed both priority mail USPS, and it cost $11.50 for both. Can someone please tell me why it cost me so much ($35.00) to mail a wallhanging to PIQF? And now it is going back to Road to California, and they want a check for $27.00 to mail it back? This is bad for someone who doesn't mailorder things because she doesn't like to spend $$ for shipping and handling. Oh well, I'll get over it I guess. Anyway.. I can't even express how relieved that both of these projects are OUT of my sight. I have had the 'bear', as in teddy, on my back for probably 3 years. I said I would make it for my aunt.. I try not to go back on my word, but I am not going to agree to doing anything for anyone for a while. I now have all of this free time to do my own projects, and I don't have to feel any guilt because something else is waiting to be finished... I am so excited!

My next quilt going to a show is my mini Pineapple. It was accepted into NQA (June) there was a P.S. on the letter " Congratulations, you were the first entry". I hope that isn't the only first I ever get... Hopefully, there will be a few more shows to send it to in the meantime. I am learning that some of the larger shows don't have a miniature division. And one show did, but only had a first place prize in the category. I thought that was kind of odd. I would like to have more than one chance to place at least.

I could put it in my guild show next year, but, they just hang the mini's on a wall that is easily accessible to anyone that would want to pull it down and put it in their purse. Don't want to take the chance.

I have "Snooty Guild" tonight.. my pet name for a great guild that I have been in for 2 years, and I don't think one person knows my name because they choose not to talk to new people. But, they are a large guild, and can get nationally known speakers often during the year, so I stick with them because I am taking advantage... Tonight is a lecture with Ami Simms. I hear she is a blast, so I am hoping I will enjoy it. Tomorrow I am taking a workshop on applique with her. I am pretty set in my ways with my applique, but, 3 of my "Twisted Stitcher Sisters" are going, so I am going to just because I want to spend time with them. Who knows, I might learn something new.. Stranger things have happened!!!

AAAKK! IT'S MONDAY AGAIN!

Ugh, I hate Mondays. I feel like crap this morning. Ate the wrong things last night, and my blood sugar is high this morning. I tripped on the stairs Saturday night and smacked my left eye on the railing. No harm done to me, but it snapped my glasses in half. Of course I don't have a back up, so Bill wired them together for me. I am going to try to get in to order new glasses today because these can't be repaired. All that because I was in a hurry to try an idea. I was sewing a binding on a quilt, and I grabbed a box of those black binder clips (office supply kind) size small to hold the binding over so I could hand stitch it. Let me tell you, works a lot better than pinning, and at least with this binding, easier than trying to pull it up into place to stitch it.
Reading everyone's blogs. A lot of people are planning resolutions for the new year. I have lived long enough to know, that I don't ever do resolutions. I still weigh too much... and I wasn't "UFO free in 03" and they weren't "out the door in 04". Couldn't think of any thing for 05 still had the UFO's from 03...... So I am just going to try to live my life the best I can, and get what I can done.

Bill is in Columbus for the next 3 days for a training that he missed when he was sick. Scares me to death that he is out of my sight. I have to get over this. Not sure how to do it. One thing his scare did is make me realize how precious he is to me.

Well speaking of things precious... I have to go to work.. NOT a precious thing.. and one of the reasons to not like Monday. I am getting too old to get up at 5AM. I feel great if I can even sleep in until 8, but I always feel like crap when I have to get up this early. Who can go to bed at 9pm? not me... Maybe I should try and see how I feel. Well the clock is ticking. Have a good day! I want to see some progress from all of you!

ROAD TO CALIFORNIA

A few days ago, I got a letter accepting my Day of the Dead quilt into the Road to California show. I am really proud that it has been juried into two of the three juried shows that I have entered. But, being new to this stuff, I had no idea that it cost so much to ship a quilt!! Last time I mailed it for the PIQF show. It cost $35.00 to mail it and I was floored. PIQF covered the return postage. This time, RtC requests a check for $27.00 to cover the cost of return shipping. I would have to look it up but I think that the entry fee may have been more for PIQF, so maybe that is why they could afford return postage.
Anyway, I think that if I enter it again, it will be local shows. I don't think it will ever do anything, the competition is so much better in that category. I am going to enter my pineapple this year. It should cost a lot less to mail. I'm not really into the showing for the money.. I don't know why I do it.. Maybe I am seeking validation that I am not wasting my time. I enjoy the process, and I admit, I enjoy the reaction my quilts get.
I don't like the way the shows keep your entry fees even if they reject your quilt. What a racket. I did enter one recently that stated the entry fee would be returned if the quilt wasn't accepted. I don't remember which show it was though..
I don't enter competitions for the reasons professional quilters enter. They probably need to enter because they have made quilting their livelihood. They need to have their work seen. They maybe feel that they need to win so that people will find them worthy of paying for their knowledge. I don't ever plan on making this a business. I am just doing the competition thing for fun. Besides, what good is a Skeleton Quilt otherwise? I think that if I didn't try to enter shows, I would be a lot less willing to try new and difficult designs, and techniques. I think the act of competing, makes you develop better skills. Minature quilts are totally useless in the realm of being a quilt.. I think that may be what I like about them. They are difficult, a challenge. And that's what makes them worth doing.

QUILTMAKER vs ARTIST

Gabrielle's blog peaked my interest today. It usually does, but more so because of the subject matter and what it means to me. http://gabrielleswain.blogspot.com/2005/11/working-through-new-gabrielle.html

This is the quote that made me think. "We are not working in the accepted fields of the art world... Painting, sculpture... we are working in what has been traditionally considered women's domestic work. We have moved outside of the "dead white men" construct to create in a medium that speaks to us for a variety of reasons. "

I struggle with all of this artist vs quiltmaker labeling. I have long felt that if you have a way with words, you can make some people believe that anything is art. Some people are in such need to feel cultured and sophisticated, that they believe what they are told concerning an 'art' piece. Like the story The Emperor's New Clothes ( http://deoxy.org/emperors.htm ) which reminds me how gullible some people are concerning some art. Or, as an 'untrained artist' I don't understand what it is I should be seeing.

I recently saw, in the "I Remember Mama" book, a picture of a quilt by a well known quilter. To me, it looked like many of her other quilts. But she had a way with words in her description, that almost made me see what she was trying to portray in her quilt. Almost. She could put any kind of description on the quilt and get a different response to it.

One time my husband and I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art. We started in the sections with old art. Sculptures, paintings, early American artists. They had textiles and furniture, so many beautiful,beautiful pieces. Then, the last section we went through was the modern 'art' museum. I guess I am too logical to ever get some of that crap. Boards painted black and nailed to the wall. A light fixture with color florescent bulbs. I was having such fits of laughter at some of these museum pieces, that I noticed security following me. At one point it all came together when I got to an 8X6 foot piece of canvas painted solid purple (one shade) at the bottom left was a circle painted red. It was titled "Baldheaded Woman". I read the description and realized that the art of this piece was the description. I went back to the pieces that tickled me the most, and read the most beautiful descriptions. If I didn't have any common sense, I might actually believe what they said that I should be seeing.

The museum had an exhibit of quilts. The Quilts of Gee's Bend. The designs and colors of these quilts showed great artistic insight, considering when they were made, and the materials that were available at the time. But with that being said, if anyone of us made a quilt that was constructed that bad.. the quilters/artists/ whatever in our circles would drum us out. If I made a quilt exactly like any of those, it certainly wouldn't be hanging in a museum.

I understand that people outside of the quilting world, don't understand what we are doing, any more than I understand painting a board black and nailing it to a wall. But do I care? No. I make quilts because I love to do it. I NEED to do it. Because it makes me happy, and sometimes, I make a quilt that will make someone happy, usually someone that does "get it". Try making a miniature quilt and having people ask if that is the first block of a quilt for your bed... I have nightmares that my decendants will take my pineapple quilt and say.. "Look at this cute little potholder granny made.. wonder why she put so much work into it?"

We are the artists with a dual purpose art. In a pinch, you can yank our art off of the wall and cover up on a cold night without the fear of putting your eye out! Well... that might not be true with ALL quilt art!

Forget the labels, Artist, Quilt Artist, Quiltmaker, Quilter... It doesn't matter what others think of what you do.
I am a quiltmaker from a long line of quiltmakers, all artists in their own right. "Traditionally considered women's domestic work".. Hmmm.. maybe that is why I don't like seeing men get into quilting. It is a 'woman's art. Men pretty much run the world. When they get into quilting, they are really good at it, and I resent it. Of course, they are outnumbered by us Domestic Artists.. hey! a new label. I will admit, I think Ricky Timms is grand. I have always enjoyed the classes I have taken with him. But another famous male quilter turns me off with his "I was an engineer" ... Okay, so what? I guess everyone has to express themselves but geeze. And why is it when a man shows up to a guild meeting, the women fawn all over him? Oh well.. that's another rant.