Month: February 2011

Media
I received a 6 month The Quilt Show subscription. I have watched 2 episodes and I enjoyed both. I am enjoying watching, but mostly listening to, these online quilt shows. One thing I like about the Quilting Show is that Alex Anderson shows a traditional technique. In one episode she shows how to draw a feathered wreath quilting design. In another episode, she talks about making a LeMoyne and Split Lemoyne block. The episode with Philippa Naylor seems to be available for everyone. One thing Ms. Naylor said is that she considers herself to be a contemporary quiltmaker rather than an art quiltmaker, because her work is grounded in classic quilts. That was a sentence I thought about for awhile. I really like most quilts and have found it hard to categorize myself. I don’t think I need to categorize myself, but like the idea of being a contemporary quiltmaker. Do I need to change the name of my blog?

I also, as I have mentioned, have a subscription to Quilt Out Loud, which I enjoy. It is entertaining, though Mark is a little over the top sometimes!

There is a great post up on another blog, which I won’t name, but will give you a link. Check out the post! I had a hand in the fodder for the post, so perhaps I am not being humble by sending you over there, but I just love the way the writer wrote about the subject matter and I can’t help myself!

Remember the 1000 Journals Project? I wrote about it several times in various posts and Julie and I went to the exhibit at SFMOMA to write in journals ourselves. An artist in NYC has a new project called Eternally Yours. I saw it on Melanie Testa’s blog. She found one of the letters. The artist has written letters and distributed them all over NYC. The include half finished art and the recipient’s ‘job’ is to finish the art and send it back. There is a video to watch as well. I love the thought of receiving and writing letters. TFQ and I do it, but I don’t get many other letters. Very sad. I could get my own letter from the artist…. I hope some of my NYC readers will participate in this project.

Money
I was asked by an organization to allow them to add advertising to my blog. I thought about it. They were paying ok money for the kind of ad they wanted me to host. I decided against it. I could use the money to pay for some Artquiltmaker related fees, but I didn’t like the sound of them. Hope you all appreciate my restraint! 😉

Fabric
It is always, despite my efforts, about the fabric. I want to try to curb my fabric buying this year and clear out the fabric closet a little bit and use all the fabulous fabric I have. I am resolved to do it and then I see Me and My Sister Designs who come out with some fabulous turquoises. And then, they have to go and show them on their blog. I mean, really. The nerve. Sigh.

Fabricworm has posted a tutorial for a quilt they are calling the Five Points Quilt. It is shown on their blog. Birch Fabrics/Fabricworm is a fabric selling enterprise, so they are, of course trying to sell their fabric, but this is a really nice and modern design. I think it is suitable for all sorts of different kinds of fabric.

Inner Critic
I recently read a blog post on the inner critic written by Violette. I love her book, Journal Bliss, so I check in on her blog periodically and looking at her drawings always makes me smile. I have been meaning to pull out her book and look at her directions for faces. All of my CPP responses with people in them have beautiful views of gorgeous hair and no faces. Anyway, her blog post made me think about my inner critic. After some analysis, I am happy to say that I don’t have an inner critic that calls me an idiot or tells me I can’t do something. My inner critic is all about time (and mess, too, but that is also related to time). I often hear the monkey voices in my head saying “you don’t have time for that” or “that will take too long” or “just do that [non-quilt/creativity related] task before you sew” or “that will take too long.” Reading her blog post started to develop an image of my inner critic gremlin. Diana Trout, the writer of Journal Spilling, also talks about creating an image of the inner critic. I think both writers are suggesting that creating an image of your gremlin is the first step in learning to ignore him/her.

Design/Vision
I am reading a book, which I received for my birthday called Quilts Made Modern by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. It is, basically, a pattern book, but they have good things to say about design, color, etc. One of their ideas, which I may have spoken about before is the “Big Idea.” Their Big Idea is a way of thinking beyond the focus fabric. The quilt designer gets an idea and tries to convey that idea in the making of a quilt. The Big Idea could be a feeling or an experience or something like that. I thought of this book when I read this post. I completely agree with the writer. I do agree that perfection is not something to strive for and that design/vision is much more important. I also think that good technique is important. By good technique, I don’t mean perfection. I mean technique that doesn’t distract from the design or vision. I sincerely dislike quiltmakers who claim to be making art quilts, because they don’t know how to bury and tie off their quilting threads.

Out and About
Everyone in NYC and the area should check this out: Classes at the Folk Art Museum. If I lived in the area, I would be taking all of these classes, damn the cost! 😉 The next one is on Feb. 26 with Paula Nadelstern. What a great opportunity. I really hope this whole event will spur other museums to do the same sort of thing. I would love it if the DeYoung would fill their entire space with quilts. I am happy to give them some of my quilts to show. 😉

Confidential to Reva
I was looking on Amazon and a new book, The Big Book of Patchwork, by Judy Hopkins has a quilt that you might want to look at with regard to your Drunkard’s Path Project. It is the 7th photo if you look inside.