One Week

The events of this week included my youngest finally getting her wisdom teeth out, myself having ocular migraines, rain pouring through the closed windows in our living room, and my husband traveling to be at his mothers bedside, because she is in the process of dying, despite being the picture of health a mere two months ago.


All of this seems to point to a pretty bad week, but in reality my daughter is healing well. I was relieved to find out the strange visual disturbances and pressure behind my eyes were just a migraine and not a retinal tear, as I had feared. I'm blessed with a pretty view as I sop up the water from my leaky windows. And most importantly, my Mother-in-Law in the last days of her life has brought family together who needed to be brought together. She is surrounded by people who love her and will miss her, and in the profound sadness of her passing there is tremendous grace and gratitude for her life.

Having Fun

I thought it might be fun this week to switch to some brighter, richer colors, (a final farewell to the vibrancy of summer) and let myself be inspired by the weavings that one might find in Mexico or Guatemala...


Using stripes of solid shot cottons, along with some striped shot cotton, plaids and a madras fabric, I pieced the tops.


Then using 12wt. Premium Sulky® 100% Blendable Cotton Threads, I did the same closely, but unevenly spaced rows of meandering straight stitch that I used on my last piece ...


I really had a lot of fun with these two little quilts... probably because I use to weave before I quilted, and I got a real kick out of the one art form inspiring the other. More of these quilts are in the works.


Color Weave no.1


and Color Weave no.2

are currently available for sale in my shop.

(P.S. Lest you are thinking that I have abandoned my hand stitching, rest assured that is not the case! I am currently working on the hand quilted layer on Work Quilt no.4 as well as working on another Yukata cloth table runner similar to the one shown here. More about those, coming soon!

Keeping it Simple

My hands needed a break from hand stitching, and my mind needed something very straight forward to work on, and so this is what I made...


A very simple table runner made from muslin,
(some of which I hand dyed with coffee, turmeric and walnut ink).


The center strips were torn, and the edges left raw...


The machine stitching consists of closely, but unevenly spaced rows of meandering straight stitch...


The piece was most definitely inspired by the colors and textures which I see on the old, (and once white) barns that I pass everyday.


I think it would lovely on an old wood table.

(Now for sale in my shop).

(Note: Now sold)

Cleveland Or Bust - Part 2: My Adventures as a Tourist

As promised here's a little of our Cleveland sightseeing...

First stop was to visit the house that played the role of the Parker Family's home in one of my favorite movies, A Christmas Story. Now, seeing as it is played 24 hours a day around Christmas time, I imagine most of you are familiar with the story of young Ralphie Parker, who's only 2 wishes in the world are to receive a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas, (No, Ralphie you'll shoot your eye out!) and to finally get his little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin, in the mail.


A small talk is given outside of the house, and once inside you are basically given free range of the home and encouraged to act out your favorite scenes! An added bonus to our visit was that Ian Petrella, the actor who played Ralphie's little brother Randy, was visiting his old home as well! All grown up now, he was gracious enough to pose for a picture with me, (second row middle). The whole thing was a complete blast!

Now, no trip to Cleveland would be complete without a visit to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...


What a fabulous piece of architecture! In fact the whole surrounding area was gorgeous! I had no idea that the city of Cleveland was so beautiful. Lots to see in the museum, but picture taking was only allowed in the lobby. Also, if you ever are looking for obscure and generally hard to find music, the gift shop is a super resource. Lots of great finds!

We also did lots of exploring of various small towns and beaches. My favorite town was the beautiful Chagrin Falls. If I had the money, I could see retiring here, it was that enchanting...


(First picture top row, is of a restaurant we ate at, with a view overlooking the falls.)

On the way back home to Pennsylvania we visited one of my favorite places, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. This was a joy to see again. No photo's are allowed to be taken inside the home, but outside it's free range... the only stipulation is that you don't share any of the images of the house publicly, (which is too bad as I got some beauties!). I am however, (just to validate that we were there!) going to share this one photo of hubby and me, with just a wee little bit of the home in the background... I think that would be okay...
(don't tell!)



Thanks for indulging me. Next blog post will be about sewing. Promise!

Cleveland or Bust - Part 1: My Adventures on Quilting Arts TV

The mystery is over...
My little trip was to Cleveland, Ohio, home of Quilting Arts TV!


It all began about 6 weeks back when Pokey Bolton, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Quilting Arts Magazine contacted me, wondering if I would like to appear on Quilting Arts TV to demonstrate how I make my Boro Bobbles and to talk a bit about my Work Quilt series... Yes, I think I would, thank you very much! Now, seeing as hubby and I have never gone on a vacation, (without kids) in 21 years, (pathetic, but true) this seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a bit of a get away, so hubby came along. Not only was he great company, and did all of the driving, but he took lots of photos for me. (Unfortunately, many are blurry, which is my fault as I accidently put the camera on the wrong setting, handed it to him and said, "just point and shoot". Oops.)

Okay, so what's involved in taping a segment? Well, on the day of your taping you arrive to the studio and hang out with the other artists in the aptly named "Green Room"...


Here I am with Candy Glendening and Susan Brubaker Knapp. Both of these talented ladies were as sweet as could be.


These are some of Candy's darling little bird houses, using fabric that she hand dyes herself.

And this is Deidre Adams...


Her work was truly extraordinary and she was just an all around gracious person. It was an honor to meet her.


Here's Dedrie working on one of the Bernina sewing machines with Jeannie Cook-Delpit, who is the director of national events for Bernina and such a warm and friendly person... she makes you feel instantly at home.

A bit before your segment comes up, they send you back for make-up...


Here I am all dolled up... a true rarity! I think it's been about 25 years since I even wore mascara, and I never wear lipstick. The foundation felt so odd on my skin... I had to be on my best behavior afterwards, as it took all of my will power not to scratch my face and ruin the whole thing. However, the artist who did my make-up, Karen, was such a cool person... she made it so much fun!

When it's your turn to tape, you head into the studio, and help set up your work...


Here I am trying to get a grasp on what I'm going to be doing.


Pokey joins me and she and the cameramen patiently go over a few of the basics that I will need to remember once the cameras start rolling.... unfortunately, I promptly forgot most of everything I was told... once again, oops.

Next, we get miked and the cameras start rolling...


We begin by talking about the steps involved in making a Boro Bobble. (Funny, I see these hands everyday, yet I barely recognize them. How can that be?)

Here's a nice close up of me demonstrating the stitching...



And now, just around this time, I start to feel a little tickle in the back of my throat...


And then...

I. Lose. My. Voice.

Now, when I am nervous, (and let's not kid ourselves, I was nervous) I tend to stumble over my words, stutter a bit, and/or babble... but never, ever, have I lost my voice. As I tried to eekk out my words, all I could think about was what the F. was happening, and why, oh why was it happening now!??!

And then I heard that dreaded, yet saving word...

"CUT!"

A bottle of water was promptly brought to me, (complete with straw so as not to mess up my lipstick) and as I chugged it down, I expressed my deepest apologies. After what seemed an eternity, my voice returned and we resumed taping...

Here we are talking about my work quilts...


I think Pokey asked me why they were called that, and what was involved in making them, but honestly I don't really remember. By this time my head was spinning and my thoughts were solely focused on my silent prayers that my voice wouldn't fail me again.

In what felt like seconds the whole thing was over... my shot at the big time, fading before my eyes... but my voice was back, strong as ever. Thanks.

Here I am afterwards, cleaning up and breathing a sigh of both relief and resignation...


I realize I am much better at writing about my work, then talking about my work, and I don't think Hollywood will be knocking on my door anytime soon!

And here I am again, back in the Green Room and wearing a beautiful hand dyed silk scarf that Candy made...


She gave this to me, simply because she thought I should have it and that it matched my outfit. Wasn't that sweet?! (Now, you want to talk about a natural on TV... Candy was it.... funny, engaging, informative... totally fantastic!)

So, there you have it... whew! And if you'd like to hear about the rest of my Cleveland trip adventures, stop back soon, as I will be posting about them next time around! Till then, may your, (and my) voice stay strong! xo

P.S. Quilting Arts TV airs nationally on selected PBS stations. Unfortunately my PBS station does not carry it, but you can check to see if and when yours does, here. I'm not exactly sure what episode number my segment will be on or when it will air, but once I get that information I will let you all know.