Creative Life Sampler

Before We Leave Virgini a   (5 of 5) Took a quick trip to Lexington and stumbled on this marker in the sidewalk. So many things to ponder!! Guess we never know how we'll be remembered, eh? Let's get this straight: George William Crumb was elected to Congress after he showed a proclivity for streaking. Hmmmm. And we're expected to believe that no one thought to go streaking before 1804? There has got to be some missing information here... thoughts?

On the First Page  (4 of 5)  Something in the program for this show caught my eye. It comes from the Directors Welcome : "Like most handmade craft, needlepoint offers a meditative opportunity..." A meditative opportunity. How many of those do we have in the day?  If those moments are important to us, we "make the time" for them. This quote gave me pause because it links the activity with a sense of replenishing our inspiration, regaining our equilibrium, putting things in perspective and establishing a sense of peace. Who couldn't use a few moments like that? This is not a gender thing. At this show and the quilts shows I've written about recently, there are men and women taking the time to pursue these creative avenues, and their work reflects their individualities. Clearly there is something deeply rewarding in this process, and it's not always about the end result.

My Favorite display... the samplers   (3 of 5) On the wall leading up stairs the quote reads:  "I have stitched without planning. It has landed me here." The quote on this wall reads: "stitching by lamplight I teach my child the letters. autumn rain   Sugita Hisajo" I'm sure you can tell, based on the title of this blog, that I have an affinity for samplers. In the needlepoint sampler it can include different patterns and stitches applied to letters or numbers. In quilting, it is a collection of different block constructions. (In chocolate, it is a taste of a variety of candy, literally a sampling of what the chocolatier has to offer- Whitman's iconic yellow box of candy might come to mind here.) When I create a sampler, I usually try to make every block completely different from the next, though they have an element in common, like color, a fabric choice or the quilting itself. It is a great way to get a lot of practice and ...

Special Backdrop for a Show   (2 of 5) Every horizontal surface was utilized; the shelves in the armoire, beds, trunks,... Pieces were hung on doors... displayed on stairs...  hung creatively from chains so as not to mar the walls...  As we walked in to the first room we found an attendant admiring the piece between the windows here. From a distance I assumed it was a painting in the permanent collection of the house. It was an entry in the show! It had taken the artist over three years to complete. I got to talking with Kathy who was a volunteer from the Garden Club. It turned out, not only was she a fan of the needle arts, but she was a quilt lover as well. She shared a story about her search for the perfect king size quilt on a family trip to Lancaster Pennsylvania- Amish country. Now I'm thinking that should definitely be on my ever growing "to do" list! An aside: as we went from room to room I noticed chairs with flashlights re...

Travel Log- Spring 2018 (2)   (1 of 5) My Virginia trip happened to coincide with the 55 th Annual Woodlawn Needlework Show. This show is held on the historic property of Woodlawn, which is the portion of Mount Vernon that George Washington gave to his nephew and step-granddaughter, Lawrence & Eleanor Lewis. (2,000 acres- nice gift, right?) Stop there. Yes, that means Martha Washington was widowed, with children, when she married George. Did not absorb that in history class, but it turns out Martha was a pretty remarkable woman of her time.   The Show is described as the oldest needlework show in the US and includes submissions in cross stitch, embroidery, beadwork, smocking and more, with divisions for seniors, adults, and juniors, (ages 10-13). Everything must be completely done by hand. I had a general idea of what to expect, but I had the perspective of one who improvises to make simple labels for my quilt backs. Anticipating that there might be work...

Decision Made All the blocks are together and it's ready to be quilted. Currently, I have four quilting projects going on, all at various stages of completion. Guess I better get back to work, so I have something to show you...

Now what? I opted to keep this to wall hanging size, with 36 squares. For me, the biggest challenge comes when all the squares are complete, the stage when they have to be joined together.  When you happily sew square after square, without an overall plan, well, you get what you get, and then you have to deal with them. At this stage, I spread out what I have, to get an overall view. (If you're happy with the way they come together the first time, good for you! Celebrate! That's never happened for me.) Then I begin sorting the squares into groups. It might be light/medium/dark, or it might be by background color dominance, or some other characteristic that I want to highlight. You could probably come up with some categories I hadn't even thought of... I usually end up spending lot of time and energy before deciding on the final version, but this time seemed to go a bit quicker- perhaps because it is a smaller size. In this case I experimented with random placem...

Have Project, Will Travel Of course, I could not go on a trip east without a hand project. I suppose because I know someone who really likes polka dots, I had been noticing a lot of them in the fabric stores lately. I started picking up a few pieces in the cool color range-greens, teals, blues, purples and greys. The project I settled on was a series of appliquéd squares in the blues, greys and purples. This technique involves sewing a cut fabric shape onto a larger piece of fabric using an invisible stitch and folding under the raw edge for the finished look. And could there be a more fitting shape for polka dots than a circle? My appliqué skills will always need improvement. But there's only one way to fix that... Practice, practice, practice...

In Summing Up   (5 of 5) Imagine for a moment that you have something you really love to do, it enriches your life and brings you great joy- perhaps you don’t have to imagine, it is a reality for you. I put a question to you: If you were the last person to have that skill, would you be content in knowing that what you love would end if/when you could no longer use that skill? No one else would ever experience that same joy and fulfillment. Wouldn’t you want to share it with a receptive heart, teach them what you know, and encourage them to make it their own? Wouldn’t there be some gratification in watching how the focus of your artistic expression takes off in new directions after you have laid a foundation in someone else’s imagination?   It must take a special commitment and love for one’s craft to impel this sharing.  Maybe it’s gratitude for the mentor that put you on your creative path, or a sense that this has been so precious to you that you know others wil...

One more thing...    (4 of 5) I did have one other mission in going back to the TF, and that was to revisit the studio of Karen Fitzgerald, first because her work reminded me of my confetti quilts and second for the sign on her wall: PHOTOGRAPHS WELCOME!... On my first visit I had a short conversation with Karen about the philosophy behind this sign. I thought it was remarkable that she didn't feel threatened by people photographing her work. She responded in passing that this openness might be a generational thing. Hmmm...   I will grant you that when I was in art school, it was drilled into the students’ collective consciousness: protect your work at all costs.  Karen points out that the internet has been a game changer and her policy is consistent with giving access to her work on line. But perhaps this perspective is also a reflection of how one approaches life. The creative process is often a reaction to outside influences. If your thou...

Keep Going, There's more upstairs!   (3 of 5) The view from the second floor. Then, finally, I made it up to the third floor which is a labyrinth of studio spaces. (If you don’t have a burning desire to get your exercise in climbing stairs, there’s an elevator- just so you know.)   As I wound my way around the floor plan, I found artists chatting together in the hall, people busy in their studios. Stopping in at Studio 325, I was fortunate to meet the welcoming face of Ed McCluney in this light and airy gallery space which overlooks the Potomac River. The back portion of this studio contained everything you would need for print making- flash back to college days! 😊  It turns out he and other artists conduct classes at the Torpedo Factory. (Put that on my “to do” list for the near future.) I was stuck by how inspiring it must be to come to this facility every day, to do what you love in this environment.

This year's visit    (2 of 5) So, this year I wanted to see if the first experience had just been an anomaly, a product of this amazing woman, Gloria, or if it would be replicated. I was not disappointed. I started right back at Fiberworks and this time feltmaker Zita Simutis was on duty. She shared her process with us, explaining step by step how she creates her feltwork scarves and shawls. She told us about Cherry Blossom Week at the Torpedo Factory, and how inspired/challenged she had been in applying the theme to her own work. Fiberworks, Studio 14 Branching out to explore more of the first floor, I found Lisa Schumaier's whimsical, intriguing studio space which beckons you to come in to explore her creative world and chat with the artist in Studio 16. Mom wandered off... I found her in Studio 13 with Lois Benson who was answering questions about the intricately patterned scarf she was weaving on her loom. Here she is demonstratin...

Travel Log- Spring 2018    (1 of 5) Old Town Alexandria, Virginia In March I made a trip to the East Coast and had the opportunity to drop by the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. This is becoming a yearly visit for me. Let me tell you why. I was traveling with my husband last spring and we got into a conversation with a woman working at the airport. When she heard we were going to the Washington DC area, she enthusiastically recommended the Torpedo Factory. If you’re at all familiar with that area, you’ve probably heard of it in passing, as I had. But I thought, if this person from the opposite side of the country had only one recommendation during our brief conversation- and it was this destination- maybe I should look at it more closely. So off I went to investigate. This art center is exactly what its name implies- an old torpedo factory which has been renovated to include galleries and artists’ studios. It is three sto...

Catchy Tune     (3 of 3) I think we're all familiar with the times when you can't get a tune out of your head. As I began working on this quilt again,  Andy Grammar’s Fresh Eyes kept coming to me.  This song is about being with somebody so familiar to you that you’re surprised when you discover a different, or new facet in them, and you’re happy to celebrate the excitement that comes with that new insight.  It’s a catchy tune and it seemed to capture my mood about this project.  Clearly, I was looking at this project with fresh eyes, seeing the possibilities for it. I had been re-energized. And I couldn’t get that tune out of my head! Then it occurred to me that I really enjoyed this energy. In fact, I was really happy to be creative. You might be saying, "All this over a pink quilt?", but it was a case of making lemonade with your lemons, (pink lemonade, actually). I liked myself for being so excited that I was dancing to this song over it...

Project Interupted    (2 of 3) Well, this project began in July and by December it was pieced together. There was just a lot of pink. And I wasn't feeling too inspired, so, what with the holidays and all, it was folded it up and put aside. Fast forward to March. I finished off another project I'd been sewing by hand for over two years (reveal of that one sometime in the future). I needed a new portable project for all the times I'm not at the sewing machine, but still want to be productive. Since I just can't leave anything unfinished, I took it up the hexagon quilt again.  It had been a couple of months since I'd even looked at it. As I pulled together the backing and got ready to put it in the hoop for quilting, different pattern options for the stitching started to open up to me. It was interesting again.  My point is sometimes we just need to give ourselves some space. Walking away from that boring, perplexing or frustrating challenge, ...

Time to Refresh     (1 of 3) Last summer I set out on a three pronged mission to use up some of my accumulated fabric, try a new pattern, and find a portable project to take on vacation. Looking through my quilt "stash", I found a collection of mini prints in a rainbow of colors, some of which had accompanied us on our westward migration. Clearly I couldn't decide on which color I liked- so I got a bit of all three.   L eftovers- these sweet rose buds were used in multiple quilts and  Grandma  made a spring dress for my oldest with the daisies. These memories started to suggest a vintage theme to me. I always liked the nostalgic feeling of the quilt pattern known as "Grandma's Garden".  But I wasn't interested in dealing with lots of little pieces. So, I settled on enlarging the hexagon quilt block. I planned to randomly piece them together, which put the retro feel of the fabrics in a more modern setting. The colors fo...