Doodling around on "The Sketchbook Challenge"

On The Sketchbook Challenge, this month’s theme is Garden Doodles. Check out my post from yesterday here, to see my comments about doodling, or lack thereof. Here are some of my attempts (the photo first, then the doodle, then the doodle watercolored):

Deep in the heart of …

Guess where I taught this week? Here’s another hint:

 

Yep! Texas!

I taught this past week at Quilting Adventures’ Summer Retreat at the Deep Woods Retreat in Smithville, Texas. The event was organized by this fabulous mother-daughter team of Debby Walters and Kim Buchman. They put together wonderful quilting class get-aways in Texas.

This retreat was held at the Deep Woods Retreat outside of Austin. Participants bunked, ate, and worked in this great space:

And, oh! The food was amazing. Especially the smoked brisket. I ate almost my weight in meat that night.

My class accomplished some really great things. I am always so happy when I can teach students new techniques, or help them overcome their fears or insecurities. Several women in this class told me they had done this.

I taught wholecloth painting and threadsketching. Here is some student work:

The work area was spacious, airy, and cool (outside, it got up into the mid 90s by the afternoon!):

And here are some of my students hard at work:

If you are looking for a quilty getaway, Quilting Adventures has some wonderful retreats in store later this fall and next year. Here’s what’s coming up:

Sept. 19-22, 2013 – Fall Retreat

Susan Cleveland

Deep Woods Retreat, Smithville, TX

Jan. 13-16, 2014 – Winter Retreat

Debbie Caffery

at Jordan Ranch, Schulenerg, TX 

March 2-7, 2014 – 5-Day Spring Seminar
at T Bar M Resort, New Braunfels, TX

Esterita Austin

Gyleen Fitzgerald

RaNae Merrill

Judy Niemeyer

Sharon Schamber

May 5-8, 2014 – Spring Retreat

Frieda Anderson

at Jordan Ranch, Schulenerg, TX

July 10-13, 2014 – Summer Retreat

Susan Cranshaw

at Wimberley Quilt Ranch, Winberley, TX

Sept. 22-25 – Fall Retreat
Alice Kolb

at Jordan Ranch, Schulenerg, TX

It’s time to Kick Off Your Heels!

The Kick off Your Heels fundraiser begins tomorrow morning! 

Did you know that more U. S. women die each year from heart disease than from all cancers combined?  
 
Sue Bleiweiss and Jamie Fingal have organized a group of wonderful artists, and are working to change this statistic through research and education. We have made some amazing art shoes and donated them to this cause. They are not shoes to wear; they are shoes to display as art. 

All money raised from the sale of these shoes will be donated to The Barbara Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California. This center not only treats women. They also educate and do major research on heart disease with women, exclusively. 

Please consider purchasing a pair of shoes to honor a woman fighting heart disease, or in memory of a special woman lost to heart disease.  


Here’s how it works: The price starts tomorrow at $300 per pair. Every few days, the price goes down. 

Purchase shoes for $300 on May 20 and 21 beginning at 8 a.m. EST.

Purchase shoes for $200 on May 22 and 23 beginning at 8 a.m. EST.

Purchase shoes for $100 on May 24 and 25 beginning at 8 a.m. EST.

Click here to preview all the shoes and get more information.

Here are my shoes, “Hope With Wings”:

 

How big?

How big? 

That’s the question I’m getting most often when I post about “We All Swim Together,” the new piece I am working on now.

Big. 

Bigger than any art quilt I’ve done to date. But as far as the exact size, I really don’t know yet.

To give you a better idea of the scale of this piece so far, I spread it out on our king-sized bed. The seven fish I’ve painted to date run from one side of the bed to the other. I suspect this piece will end up being at least 100" square. Maybe bigger.

I don’t usually work this way. I usually plan, and sketch things out, and know exactly how big the finished piece will be. I'm letting this piece take me where it wants to go. I’m taking a risk, having fun, focusing on the beauty of the fish, and not thinking too far ahead. 

I like it so far … both the piece and the process.

P.S. If you want to see detail photos and info about the fish I’ve painted so far, just click at the bottom where it says LABELS: We All Swim Together, and it will take you to all the posts about this piece!

This old quilt

  
I think this blue-and-white quilt was made by my maternal great-grandmother, Agnes Loretta Warren Carter. But I don’t know for sure. It is not marked. I think I remember my mother telling me that Agnes had made it. I have two other quilts, matching pink-and-white twin quilts that she made for my mother, and that my mother saved for me. I used them on my beds as a child, and they are pretty shabby (well loved, I should say) now. I display them in my house on an old ladder.

Agnes Loretta Warren Carter (1877-1951) about 1899.
She was my mother’s father’s mother.

Agnes, about 1947.

I found this old quilt, which I remember as our family’s picnic quilt, wadded up in the garage at my parents’ house when we were helping my father pack up and move last summer. I brought it home and washed it in the washing machine. No need to treat it gently, as it was already in pitiful condition and desperately needed a really good wash.

Even stained, faded, ripped, and with its binding worn through, I still find it charming. Maybe it is because of the memories. Maybe it is because I appreciate quilts, the work that goes into them, and the people who make them. I’ve thought about making it into some primitive table runners, and using them for patriotic holidays. The blue stars would be perfect on a table set for the Fourth of July, with a big vase of American flags or a pot of red geraniums and watermelon. But not yet. For now, I can’t quite bring myself to cut it up. It would be like saying goodbye.

Happy Mother’s Day

I remember my mother saying this (“We need love most when we are least loveable”) … it is a really wonderful quote. Meaningful for all relationships, but especially the relationship between a parent and child. My mother died more than two years ago. I will be thinking about her tomorrow, on Mother’s Day, and honoring her memory. 

I love calligraphy and beautiful type. I only took one calligraphy class, in high school. I was fortunate to grow up in a wonderful public school system – Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania – one of the best in the country. I’m sure my mom had a lot to do with that. When she and my father moved to Mt. Lebanon, she was pregnant with me. She valued education highly, and wanted her children to attend the best schools possible. 

At Mt. Lebanon High School, we had a fabulous fine arts program that included both visual and performing arts. (It makes me sad to see how much arts programs have been eroded at most public schools today.) That one calligraphy class really changed me. It was when I discovered that I really relax, really feel meditative, when I am concentrating every fiber of my being on doing something as perfectly as possible, and on creating beauty. 

I think this is why I love making art; I’m addicted to that Zen feeling. It is my drug of choice, my escape from the stress and chaos of some parts of my life. 

I have been playing with type lately in my sketchbook, and decided to do this quote. I did it in black ink, then scanned in the illustration and opened it in Photoshop. I changed the black type to white, and put it on a background that is an enlarged section from the photo on the left side (this is a skeletal hydrangea shot close up against a purple bottle). Aren’t the colors luscious?

Anyway, this is my little gift to Mom, and to you, my readers. Happy Mother’s Day!

Australian classes and students

I had so many wonderful students when I taught at Australasian Quilt Convention 2013 in April. This slideshow has photos of some of them with their work. P.S. This is the first slideshow I made with Smilebox. Let me know what you think. When I have lots of photos to share, would you like watching them this way? I would welcome any constructive criticism. Thanks!

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox