So what was I doing, before the packing cyclone hit my studio?

I decided that if I didn’t make this piece right away, which is due for a juried invitational in mid-March, I would (a) explode with frustration and (b) it would  not get made.  The closing date for buying our new house is February 9th.  We are packing up pretty much EVERYTHING ourselves, so that is several weeks of work with all the c-r-a-junk (as my dear old Dad used to say) that is in this house.  The basement is downright SCARY. So I needed to move quickly, fuse-applique and quilt, or the piece wouldn’t get done before I absolutely HAD to start packing.

Since I am not allowed to share the finished piece, I thought I’d show you the drawing, blurred in the middle.  The finished quilt will be 36 inches wide by 48 inches tall, pretty good sized, with the theme The Spaces Between.  An e-mail conversation with one of the curators, in which she said “YOU are the one in between” (as in caught between the demands of being a daughter (mom has dementia so I do all her billpaying etc), a mom (obvious), wife, quilter, teacher, etc….).  BINGO!  Picture in my head instantaneously….

I decided to use only “color”—no beige, brown, black or white in this entire quilt.  I had, this past summer, had a seriously wonderful visa accident at Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics in Wytheville, Virginia.  They have awesome customer service–I first ran into them when teaching at Paducah in 2008.  If you want yardage of something in their boxes of half-yard or fat-quarter cuts, they take that sample back to the store and within 24 hours I think of returning from a show, the orders are starting to be shipped.   They have an entire room  packed three shelves high which means they have a good range of the hardest to find batiks, the light lights and deep darks.  So I spent nearly half a day’s wages there filling big  gaps in my stash.  I have never spent that much money on fabric in one go ever, but it was worth it.  They also…yeah!….(I am not responsible for Visa moments that you might have….) are online at www.batiks.com (easy to remember, eh?).

So I raided my supplemented stash and came up with this for the quilt:

lights/warms on the right, darks/cools and a few others on the left

Here’s another shot:

Aren't those gorgeous? And see all those pale-pales at the top--those came from Batiks Etcetera

And the to-be-used-later batiks in the darks:

Yummmm.....

I ended up not using as many of these as I anticipated.  The background changed from busy to simple because the focal point of the quilt kind of insisted on it…

It was fun playing with all that color in mid-winter!

The lack of posts is due to mostly one thing:  packing.  Can you say UGH?   I HATE moving. It also has been wicked cold.  This was the weather station report this morning–exactly ZERO (that’s Fahrenheit for my non-US readers…about  Celcius minus 18):

6 in the morning, zero degrees outside, 63 inside, no wind chill....

That is a vast warmup from this time yesterday:

Jan. 24, 2011: the lowest temps since we moved to Maine. It was MINUS 11 Fahrenheit (-24 Celcius); the wind had almost stopped when I took this photo. At one point wind chill was -18 F.

I also have too much stuff.   I had cleared out some stuff, but as I pack my studio I clearly need to clear out more.  When I unpack, I do believe that I will finally cull and sell some of my quilting books! As you can (maybe?) see from the chaos below, a fair bit of packing has happened—five low shelf units, all the patterns that I sell (half the filing cabinet), the knick-knacks inside the Hoosier (and do I really need all of *those* dustcatchers?).

See all those awful cardboard boxes? At least the shelves behind are packed up!

Ugh again.  Here’s another view toward a different corner.  Ugh.  The blue on the sewing tables is my recent project, which I can’t show you.  Bummers.  It is for a juried exhibit with a mid-March deadline.  I knew I had to finish it early or it would never happen.  I finished sewing the facings on Sunday mid-afternoon, then started in on packing boxes.  I still need to sew my name to the front and make a label, but since the quilt won’t ship until late May/June (if it gets in, that is), I’m gonna let that slide for now.

Another shot of the rampant chaos in my studio. I hate being in anyplace this disordered. No more moves!!!!

So for today?  More packing!  UGH!!!

Have been slamming away on a quilt, so not too much to report or share.  I did manage to read a novel by Steve Martin, An Object of Beauty.

The book is well written, and is about the art and gallery scene in New York City.   It makes me very glad I have nothing to do with it!  I learned a good bit, including that the main character, Lacey Yeager, is utterly unsympathetic.  As a result, I can’t say I’d recommend reading this book, mostly because I can’t imagine writing an entire book about such a “yuck” person.

On the other hand, the writing was quite good—Steve Martin is turning into one of my heroes:  funny, good actor, musician, author, multi-talented, hard working, always exploring…these are things that bump people up in my estimation! (think Paul Simon and Paul McCartney!).  Anyway, I’d gladly read another book my Martin–hopefully one with a nicer main character.

However, one quote made the entire book worth it.  At the end of chapter 61, on p. 271, is this exchange between Lacey and her sort-of-beau, an FBI agent specializing in art fraud, about a painting by a Russian of a moonlit night, with the light reflecting on the water of the harbor:

“Tell me why you like it.”

“Well, it’s pretty.  Kind of lonely looking.  And it’s symbolic don’t you think?”

“Symbolic?”

“That’s where something in the picture stands for something else.  Like truth or something.”

“Thank you.  So what’s symbolic about it?”

“Remember, this is not my best subject.”

“I’ll remember.”

“Well, the water, to me, represents the earth and all the things that happen on the earth, reality.  And the moonlight represents our dreams and our minds.”

“And…”

“And the reflection…well, I guess the reflection represents art.  It’s what lies between our dreams and reality.”

WOW…. “art…it’s what lies between our dreams and reality”…how amazing is that?   That is SO IT!  Thank you, Mr. Martin!

And the birthday:  today is the 112th anniversary of my dear old Daddio-o-o-o-o’s birth in 1899.  He lived until 1995, and died two days before I was scheduled to arrive for a visit.  He hadn’t been in the nursing home for four weeks.  Mama said he asked every time she went to visit when he would come home.  After about two weeks, he stopped asking.  I think he realized he wasn’t going home, and he just gave up.  He lived an amazing, generous, long and interesting life.  Think of it…he was born literally during the reign of Queen Victoria, in the era of gas lights and horse and buggy.  When he died, man had landed on the moon and computers were on the rise.  Wow.  I hope I live long too, then that I get to see him and my brothers (his sons from a first marriage, and both gone) again and we can re-live it all.  Happy Birthday, Daddy.

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to bring to your attention the Art from the Heart site, which was created by three ladies, two of whom I know thanks to the wonders of the internet (Anne H-L and Linda M)  in response to the shootings in Tucson.  I’m submitting this piece:

Earth and Turquoise--I think of this as the creator's hands releasing the world into existence, cradling and caring for our planet

Here’s the prospectus information:

Art From the HeART: Healing Hatred in America

An Online Exhibit to Counter Hatred in the United States

In Memory of: Lives lost and changed forever at 10:11 AM on January 8, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona.

Who: Any artist who wishes to express his/herself about the growing problem of hatred, hate speech, discrimination, prejudice, and political vitriol in the United States. Any artist who wishes to express his/herself about the need for peace and nonviolence from our neighborhoods to the planet.

What: an online exhibit, complete with process descriptions, of art designed to bring attention to the growing problems of hatred and violence in the United States, as well as the need for peace and nonviolence on the planet.

When: starting as soon as possible and continuing until such time as violence and hatred are no longer problems within the United States.

Organizers: Linda Moran, digital and fiber artist, Tucson, AZ; S. L. Drury, digital and fiber artist, Sedona, AZ; Anne Huskey-Lockard, mixed media artist, Peru, Indiana.

Art: 8 by 10 inches to 9 by 12 inches work of art depicting some abstract or realistic image of the growing problem of hatred in the United States or the personal reaction to events caused by hatred and discrimination in this country.  (Note from Sarah:  apparently size is just suggested; they are accepting my piece even though it is considerably larger…the quilt is about 23×24 inches plus stick and stones and feathers and dangly bits.) These works of art can be paper, fiber of any kind, oil, photography, weaving, water color, mixed media or digital images. The purpose of every piece MUST BE to shine a light on the growing issue of hatred in America and/or promote a message of peace and nonviolence. Work that is larger or smaller than the indicated sizes will certainly be considered but may not fit the online needs. At this time sculpture or other three-dimensional objects will not be considered.

Submissions: jpgs (one full image and one or two close-ups) at 72 – 100 dpi shall be sent to submissions@artfromtheheart.org along with a written description of why this image addresses the issue. Additional consideration given to personal stories behind the art. Please include media type, materials used, and size of work in description.

Jurying: once the jpg of artwork is submitted, along with the written description/essay of the work, artists will be notified of their acceptance within two weeks. Artists retain all rights to their images. Artists will be allowed a link to their personal blogs or websites, but this is not a venue for marketing or selling work. With acceptance of their piece/s, artists commit to spreading a peaceful, nonviolent message.

This maybe should have been titled Making Journals.  See Kate bought this wonderful gizzie, the Bind-It-All,  that punches holes to make spiral bound notebooks!   After we shared and yakked and ate (see here), Kate brought out her treasure:

Kate set things out for us on her kitchen counter.  From left to right you can see the covers (cut off the books for re-use), paper, Paper chopper (to cut the paper to the size to fit the covers), the pink gizzie (correctly it is called a Bind-It-All by Zutter; click on the previous link to see it on Amazon or here to see it on the Zutter website–Kate said she orders direct from Zutter), and…to the right of the handle of the paper-chopper, some “combs” to make the spiral bindings (use tin snips to cut to the desired length).

Kate's set up with journal-book-maker, paper chopper and supplies

There are registration marks so when you place your book cover (in this case a recycled cover from a Readers’ Digest Condensed Books—Kate let us pick our own covers) in the slots, the holes are the correct distance from the top.  Then you slide the cover along and punch the next set of holes.  Here, Kate puts some muscle into pushing down on the handle that punches the holes:

Then you repeat the process to punch the holes in the paper.

punching the holes in the journal paper; I couldn't decide which of Kate's papers to use, so I used them all shuffled up!

Finally, you start to assemble the book by attaching the front cover:

Component parts punched with holes, and stackedk

Once the wires are through, you slide on the back cover and check that everything is ok:

Feed the wire comb through the pages and cut to length

Then add the front cover

Next, add the back cover so that it is outside-to-outside facing the front cover:

Finally, you use the lower front of the machine to “crimp” or close the comb-binding:

Close up the wire comb with the squeezer on the front of the pink gizzie

Next

Admire the finished product, and vow to USE the journal, not just admire it!

Now how COOL was that?!!!!!!   All I need now is TIME to use and enjoy my Kate-Journal!

Thanks KATE!