Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

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New school year, new machine dust cover!

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

The new school year is about to begin. I am anticipating lots of reading, lots of homework, and lots of exciting learning. Unfortunately it also means that my sewing machine will sit patiently waiting for me while I ignore it more often than usual.

But from now on . . . it’s not going to collect dust!  Voila! . . . a new dust cover for my sewing machine!

Some people start the new school year by buying school supplies. I make sewing machine covers. Go figure.

A few days ago I spent some happy hours in my studio sorting through old quilt tops, deciding which were worth keeping for “someday” and which should go to comfort quilts or even to the trash bin. When I came across the black and white composition I had pieced  five years ago in Nancy Crow’s class at QBL, I was uncertain about what to do with it. I just couldn’t part with it.  But I certainly didn’t want to make it into a quilt. And so it became one of those “just can’t part with it” quit tops that we all keep around for no reason. I looked at it for a while, shrugged my shoulders, re-folded it, and put it back in the drawer.

This morning I thought I’d spend a little time puttering in my studio before the school year grabs me by the throat. In search of inspiration, my eyes landed on my sewing machine. The poor thing had no idea it was going to be neglected so soon. But at least it will collect dust no more! It is now lovingly adorned with a cover fashioned from two pieces cut out of that black and white Nancy Crow workshop quilt top. It took almost no time to cut out two 23″ x 13″ pieces from the quilt top, layer them, quilt them lightly, sew them together on three sides, hem the bottom, and “square up” the corners. Ta-da! All done!  Now, when I’m not working at my machine, I can admire its spiffy new cover while I reminisce about how much I learned in that workshop with Nancy Crow, and dream about  how I hope to be able to study with her again some day.

Oh . . . here’s the back view:

Cute, huh? I wonder what I can do with the rest of that quilt top?

Posted in inspiration, personal, studio | 6 Comments »

Following my own advice

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

I’ve always made a point of telling my students that they need to be kind to themselves. “It makes no sense to be impatient with yourself,” I have said during workshops I’ve taught. “You are the most important person in your life. Be nice to you.” I’ve even written it in handouts that I’ve distributed.

It can be difficult to remember to take care of ourselves first.  I’m reminded of the flight attendant’s instruction to first place the emergency oxygen mask over your own face before tending to your children.  Outside pressures and responsibilities can interfere in our artistic lives, making it difficult to find the time and space that we need to fulfill our creative passions. And when we can’t do that, we creative types tend to get cranky. And then those around us can get impatient with us.

But it’s unrealistic to expect others to be kind, thoughtful and caring towards you, if you can’t manage to feel those very things for yourself.

Thought for today . . . be nice.  Give yourself a pat on the back for all that you have accomplished, and go easy on yourself for the things that may not be exactly as you’d like them to be.  Things will change.  They always do.

Posted in inspiration, quilt | 1 Comment »

Blogging again

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

The explanation for the long absence from blogging is . . . I went back to school. As a returning full-time college student, there was a lot to get used to, like reading, reading and more reading, writing and then writing some more, keeping up with weekly assignments, and then doing even more reading!  But, I have to say that I honestly adored the entire experience. It’s been extremely rewarding to exercise the old brain in new ways, to meet wonderful people of different ages and backgrounds, all working at their educations for wildly varied and terribly interesting reasons. It’s been a far cry from the laid-back  lifestyle I’d gotten used to, and it has given me a whole new perspective on the world, and my place in it. Exciting stuff!

My grades are finally in from the spring semester, and I’m happy to report that I did pretty darn well in all three classes I attended. I’m looking forward to the fall semester coming up in September, when I’ll be taking five classes. It’ll be a loaded schedule, but now that I’ve completed one semester already,  I know I can handle it. And I welcome the challenge!

As well as falling behind on my blogging, I’ve been producing less work from my studio. But I think that it’s a question of quality over quantity — what I have produced, I’m very proud of. I’m afraid I can’t show my new work here on my blog or on my website, at least not yet, since I plan on entering them into a competition with rules that don’t allow for pre-publication. But I’ll describe their style for you . . . inspired by the exquisite lacework of Venice, all of them are a combination of hand (!) and machine work. They are intricate, detailed and, of course, very much influenced by my favorite design element, the flowing line.

Since a blog entry without a photo is pretty much a day without sunshine, I’ll show you a photo of a recently completed project that I’m pretty  proud of — my new dining room chairs. With the assistance of a crafty friend and her helpful husband, my husband and I re-upholstered  my old dining room chairs with some fabulous zebra fabric that I’d purchased eons ago. It is just amazing how such a simple makeover gave them a completely new personality . . . Here’s one of them, ready for her close-up!

Cute, huh? It’s completely ridiculous how much I adore these chairs now. They add such a punch of FUN to my dining area– as zebras always do, wherever they are found!

Posted in inspiration, quilt | 3 Comments »

Reflecting on a review.

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Recently, a review of a show by one of my favorite people and favorite artists, Nancy Crow, has been a hot topic of discussion on two of the mailing lists that I read regularly. I’ve found both the review and the discussion to be quite thought provoking. The review, by Cate McQuaid, which ran in the Boston Globe, can be found here.

On those mailing lists, (which I read faithfully but in which I never participate) much ado has been made about the use of the word “quilt” in describing our art. I have always avoided the word “quilt” when describing what I do, especially when I’m trying to explain my art to someone in the fine art world. Say the word “quilt” and images of grandma in a rocking chair are sure to pop up. I’d rather just avoid that. Instead, I have used “textile artist” to describe myself. It’s easier to go from there to an explanation about how my pieces are grounded in the tradition of quilt making but travel a different route, not meant for the bed but instead for the wall. Or something like that, anyway. <grin>

It occurs to me that I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to my art. I like to use fabric and thread in my pieces, and nothing else. Occasionally I will use paint or colored pencils if I feel that the fabric I’ve chosen is not working exactly the way that I had in mind. But for the most part, I am not comfortable using “stuff”. My personal definition of “stuff” is: that which makes lots of art quilts look as if they were made by a “second-grade girl.” (Calm down, those are not my words, that’s what the reviewer said!)  I truly hope not to offend anyone who likes to use those “quilt-art” type of materials. It is simply my intent to say what I feel, which is a very personal thing!  I have avoided using “stuff” in my own work, except for a bit of experimentation with friends. A lot of it is really fun to play with, but I’m not so sure that the end result is really “art”.

I will continue using fabric and thread to make my art, and I will continue to use the three layers, (fabric, batting and fabric) paying tribute to the quilt making tradition. I like the softness and shadows that are created when the thread compresses the fabric and batting — I think that it’s beautiful, and it’s completely different from the look that is achieved by any other type of art, be it sewn, drawn or painted.

Just my opinion.

Posted in art, inspiration, personal, quilt | 4 Comments »

Less quilting, more thinking and reading

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Well, the apartment is too small for me to work in the “studio” (a.k.a. second bedroom) while the boy-child is home on his winter break. So that means I’ve got plenty of time for reading, hand-work, beading, knitting, crochet and thinking. Ah, thinking. Sometimes a less-than-pleasant activity, thinking deeply can be more like cleaning the bathroom than imagining a visit to the Bahamas. In that vein, my friend Lynn (who has no blog, so I can’t link to her) recommended that I read a book by Pema Chodron titled When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.  So, I took it out of the library.

I’ve been enjoying it slowly, reading a little bit every night. That’s very different from the way I usually read, which is actually a lot more like devouring than reading — I’m a fast, fast reader. But this book is so full of good and practical advice that it makes me want to slow down and savour every chapter. I mentioned to Lynn the other day that I’d begun reading it, and she asked me if I was enjoying it. I told her, truthfully, that I was, mostly because even though the author is a Buddhist nun, and I had been expecting lots of existential buddhist-y stuff, what I found instead was lots of practical advice that I could easily apply to my everyday life. Good stuff.

Last night I read chapter ten, in which the author discusses the three truths of our existence: impermanence, suffering and egolessness. She writes that these three truths should be celebrated. It was my very favorite chapter so far. First, impermanence. Whoa, that’s a loaded one. Nobody likes to think about the fact that we’re not permanent. The very fact that we are human means that each of us will have an end. And really, who wants to celebrate that? This is what Pema Chodron has to say about it:

People have no respect for impermanence. We take no delight in it; in fact, we despair of it. We regard it as pain. We try to resist it by making things that will last–forever, we say–things that we don’t have to wash, things that we don’t have to iron. Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things.

I find it so comforting, in a weird sort of way, to realize that nothing we make is going to last forever. It takes a lot of the angst out of it for me, in a way I can’t really explain.

The second truth discussed in the chapter is suffering. In her writing about suffering, the author says:

Inspiration and wretchedness are inseparable. We always want to get rid of misery rather than see how it works together with joy. The point isn’t to cultivate one thing as opposed to another, but to relate properly to where we are. With only inspiration, we become arrogant. With only wretchedness, we lose our vision. Feeling inspired cheers us up, makes us realize how vast and wonderful our world is. Feeling wretched humbles us. The gloriousness of our inspiration connects us with the sacredness of the world. But when the tables are turned and we feel wretched, that softens us up. . . . It becomes the ground for understanding others.

I loved this! It makes so much sense to me that arrogance is the end result of too much inspiration with not enough pain to go along with it. I have to try to remember that the next time a piece I’m working on causes me so much pain.

Posted in books, inspiration, personal | 7 Comments »

Needlepoint lace

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

A few years ago, I traveled to Venice, Italy to learn to make needlepoint lace the way it is traditionally made on the island of Burano. It was an experience I’ll never forget. I learned a lot about the part of the world my parents came from, I learned a lot about myself, and I learned to make “punto in aria” lace. Much of  what I learned during that visit to my favorite place in the world has been “translated” into my current quilt series.

Today, I ran across a great website with an online tutorial on creating needlepoint lace. Although the technique I learned in Venice is slightly different, the website below covers the basic steps for making lace on a solid paper foundation, using mostly blanket-stitches to create the designs. It’s a wonderful tutorial that’s worth a look. Check it out.

Needlepoint Lace Tutorial « textile dreams – fibery wake up.

Posted in Italian, blogs/websites, inspiration, personal, venetian lace | 1 Comment »

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

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

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!

Posted in Salon, beading, blogs/websites, family, inspiration, studio | 2 Comments »

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