Creative Life Sampler

Tour of Quilters' Homes Continued (2 of 2) There is something cozy and gratifying about a home filled with quilts. Aside from seeing so many quilts in different settings, there were several unexpected advantages to the tour of quilters' homes. A crazy quilt displayed on Nadine's front porch   At large quilt shows the crowds can get pretty dense and you don't always get to see quilts up close. Of course, the "look, but don't touch" rule always applies, but this was an opportunity to view quilts in an intimate setting, with smaller groups. Good-natured volunteers helped visitors navigate through the homes and answer questions. The home owners/quilters were also available to greet guests and share their work. I have seldom happened on the creator of a piece at the same time as I'm viewing it at a quilt show. It was a treat to chat with several of them about their work,- right where they create it.   Nadine's Sewing Room, with an id...

A Different Kind of Quilt Show (1 of 2) Last weekend I attended a quilt feast . Well,… actually,… it was more like a quilt progressive dinner . A quilting buddy gave me a ticket to the Conejo Valley Quilters’ 2019 Rooms and Gardens Tour. The tour map included five homes and a final destination with more quilts, a boutique store and refreshments. Guild members  graciously opened their homes to visitors and shared their creations, as well as the work of fellow quilters. Each stop had a particular focus and reflected a style or personality different from the next. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon; getting more familiar with the community and being inspired by some great quilting. My first stop was Patti's home. So many quilts! There were quilts of all sizes and block designs, including lots of samplers, displayed in the kitchen, bedrooms, back porch area,... just everywhere. Quilts were displayed inside and outside at Pauline's home. (It's one...

Small Units, Broad Application Whether I'm attempting to recreate a pattern without instructions, resizing a block by enlarging or reducing it's dimensions, or puzzling out my own design, once the overall idea is established, it's best to begin a quilt project with the smallest piece. This little reminder has been posted in my sewing room for years,... and sometimes I still forget the wisdom of its advice. Recently, two encounters reinforced this approach for me.  The first was the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit I wrote about last week. I was struck by a display which explained that the foundation for all of his inventions was the seven mechanisms of "simple machinery": the pulley, wedge, axle, inclined plane, gear, screw and sheave.  If, for instance, Leonardo was commissioned to create a weapon for a patron, he began with the basics and built from there. The commission, - or prompt,- was the genesis for the creative process. The solution to the pr...

Things I Took Away  (4 of 4)  Wall mural of The Last Supper - Facsimiles of  Leonardo da Vinci's  paintings  were displayed with interactive elements. I'll share a couple of things that I gleaned from the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. First, like all of us, Leonardo was shaped by his personal history and circumstances. He was the son of an unmarried peasant woman and this determined his station in life, affording him no prospects for a formal education. He did receive informal education on a few subjects, but he was essentially self-taught. His curiosity fueled his search for knowledge. While in certain respects this may be viewed as a liability, it seems to me that, to Leonardo it was an advantage. He was not trained to think about limitations; he was like a sponge, taking in the world around him. His observations gave him the fundamentals and no one was whispering in his ear that something cou...

da Vinci Exhibit Continued (3 of 4) It is worth noting that as extraordinary as Leonardo was, one might not grasp the magnitude of his accomplishments from a mere perusal of his notebooks. The curators of this exhibit brought his genius to life. Hands-on exhibits were scattered throughout the galleries and the many groups of school children we observed were quite captivated. Perhaps the most impressive part was the fantastic craftsmanship used to make Leonardo's ideas a reality. No doubt hours of patient research, trial and error, and painstaking execution went in to presenting things which, in many cases, had only existed on the pages of the Codex Atlanticus . The scope and breadth of Leonardo's interests and pursuits is truly remarkable. It was amazing to see how deeply he searched to understand the world around him and record his findings. He applied that level of passion to everything he examined. The power of observation, the ability to decipher what he was lear...

Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit  (2 of 4) Recreation of Leonardo's studio It wasn’t an original idea to get there right as they opened. And I wouldn’t suggest waiting until the last week of an exhibit to join all the other patrons who want to see something before it closes, but it was worth the wait in line to learn more about this artist, inventor, scientist, engineer, (the list goes on and on),... “one of the greatest minds and talents of all time.” Leonardo da Vinci was a prolific documentarian of his own curiosity, exploration, and fertile imagination, producing 13,000 pages of notes and drawings in his lifetime.  The foundation of this exhibit was one of the compilations of his work, a manuscript known as Codex Atlanticus .  Using these extensive and detailed pages, artisans were able to fabricate over 3 dozen articles to his specifications.  The exhibit included large scale working apparatuses and small scale models: Left: large scale worki...

Visit to Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum  (1 of 4) Entrance to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum Several people recommended the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit which was recently on display in our area. So, in the last week of the exhibit, we spontaneously took a little trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.  This building sits atop a hill in Simi Valley, California, and sports a gorgeous view of the area. After the dry summer months, the horizon of rolling hills is cloaked in the subtle shades of a taupe palette… mostly brown really... but beautiful none the less. As you might expect, the Presidential Library houses an extensive collection of artifacts from the life and presidency of the 40 th  President of the United States.  Highlights include a model of the Oval Office,... Air Force One, ( the retired plane which transported 7 Presidents around the world), housed in a spectac...

New Guild Member (2 of 2) My first contribution to the guild. I soon found that lots of activity goes on in a guild. Aside from the show-and-tell portion of a meeting and the opportunity to meet other quilters, the guild invites guest speakers to share their work. It's a great source of information, which you don't get when you're alone in your sewing room. A mission of this guild is to share the art of quilting and give back to the community. Members have created baby quilts for the Public Health Department, and donated quilts to people affected by the Thomas fires and last year's mass shooting in our area. With this in mind, they are gathering "text" blocks from members for their 2020 Quilt Con charity quilt. The theme is: "The Spirit of Giving" and submissions are words that reflect why we create quilts and give them away. Second contribution: "comfort". Since I've worked a lot with hexagons, I thought I...

Modern Quilt Guild (1 of 2) Show-and-Tell at my first guild guild meeting.  (Here is a link if you want to see this quilt: https://creativelifesampler.blogspot.com/2018/02/aaaaand.html  ) It happened at several quilt shows that I attended. I would wander through the rows of displayed quilts, appreciating the craftsmanship, colors, patterns, ideas, and the inspiration to create would gain momentum. In this enthusiastic state of mind, I would come across the Modern Quilt Guild booth.  Each time I toyed with the idea of venturing out from my secluded sewing room to meet other quilters. Then the loner in me would reassert herself and I would think, “Maybe someday,…I’d rather be sewing than going to meetings any way.” The idea was always put aside. Last November my quilting friend suggested we finally check out a guild meeting together. It wasn’t the best timing; it turned out to be their business meeting. But we each brought a quilt for the show-and-tell p...