Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Let the Blocks Begin
After experimenting with a few construction techniques, copier paper foundations won out. Here we are on the design wall. If my insomnia keeps up I should be able to make some real progress here!
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
The Process
I started with 8 plastic bins of fabric. All mixed up. A total mess. After spending an afternoon folding and sorting by color, I started picking out stacks. Mmmmm. Nice. Neat.
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Then the work began and the nice, neat piles....well....
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.Then the work began and the nice, neat piles....well....
.Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Cleaning Up
I have finally started sketching for a quilt that will be a donation to the Lancaster Heritage & Quilt/Textile Museum. I was most honored to be asked to be part of a group of artists who will interpret the "purple martin house" scene from the movie Witness. It's the 20th anniversary of the movie (hmmm....where was I 20 years ago? Raleigh, NC. Working for IBM during the day and WCPE radio as a disc jockey at nite). Anyway, I've been chewing on an idea for quite some time, but had yet to try to get it on paper in some form.
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I'm about at the point that I'm going to start sewing blocks together and getting them on the design wall. Next....go through the stash.
.I'm about at the point that I'm going to start sewing blocks together and getting them on the design wall. Next....go through the stash.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
My Date with The Donald
My brother decided to take my parents to the casino for the day and asked that I come along. So, with my husband's blessing, I left my men and the cat for a day in Atlantic City. It's been about 5 years since I had been there; last time, as a forced work trip. I am not a gambler. The only thing I do is play slots. The nickel machines. You see the problem is that I constantly convert any winnings into equivalent yards of fabric. "Hmmm...I'm up $10...I could buy 2 yards of fabric with that." And so it goes all day long.
The casino is like another world. Full of all kinds of people, all there for the sole purpose of risking money in the effort to make more. I sat next to my dad for most of the day, wandering off from time to time. They had some really interesting tapestries on the wall. They looked old...covered in beads, weird looking sequins, and embroidery. The carpets were a wonderful design...would make a great quilt, I thought. And then there's the people. Waves of humanity arriving by the busload all day long. The funniest thing is the club card...Club Donald...where you hand a lady at the desk your drivers license and she gives you a card with your name printed on it. You stick that card in the slot machine. It keeps a tally of what you do (and lose) and then the Donald sends you valuable premiums to coax you back in the future. Apparently all of the casinos have these cards with a little hole already bored into the corner. In the casino culture, you stick all of these cards on a lanyard or chain and wear them. So an old lady sits down next to me, and reaches for her Donald card on a chain around her neck and sticks it in the slot on the machine, with the chain stretched from her neck to the slot. She looked like she was going to hang herself.
As it ended up, Dad won $20, Mom won $200, brother stayed even, and me....I lost 6 yards of fabric.
The casino is like another world. Full of all kinds of people, all there for the sole purpose of risking money in the effort to make more. I sat next to my dad for most of the day, wandering off from time to time. They had some really interesting tapestries on the wall. They looked old...covered in beads, weird looking sequins, and embroidery. The carpets were a wonderful design...would make a great quilt, I thought. And then there's the people. Waves of humanity arriving by the busload all day long. The funniest thing is the club card...Club Donald...where you hand a lady at the desk your drivers license and she gives you a card with your name printed on it. You stick that card in the slot machine. It keeps a tally of what you do (and lose) and then the Donald sends you valuable premiums to coax you back in the future. Apparently all of the casinos have these cards with a little hole already bored into the corner. In the casino culture, you stick all of these cards on a lanyard or chain and wear them. So an old lady sits down next to me, and reaches for her Donald card on a chain around her neck and sticks it in the slot on the machine, with the chain stretched from her neck to the slot. She looked like she was going to hang herself.
As it ended up, Dad won $20, Mom won $200, brother stayed even, and me....I lost 6 yards of fabric.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Mr. Frisky
Around Christmas, a stray cat arrived at our door. Literally. We opened the door, the cat ran in, went up the stairs, and plopped himself on our couch, like he had lived here all his life. I've never had a cat, so I guess that makes me a non-cat-person. In fact, I really was in the market for a Yorkshire Terrier.
Now for the tricky part, the kids like him. So, Mr. Frisky has become a temporary member of our family. I warn the children that cats come and go, that Mr. Frisky may decide to up and leave without warning. In the meantime, I alerted our humane society of Mr. Frisky's "finding" to see if his "parents" might come forward. They haven't. I don't blame them. Cats are peculiar creatures, finding odd hours of the night to create noise and havoc. But the kids like him.
So, I'm adding new elements to my daily chores...feeding the cat, watering the cat, and cleaning the liter box. I'm learning about exciting new products, like clumping kitty litter and cat food with tantalizing blends of meat, chicken and salmon. Mr. Frisky has added a little excitement to our boring Pennsylvania winter. We take things day by day. Did I mention that I'm allergic to cats?
Now for the tricky part, the kids like him. So, Mr. Frisky has become a temporary member of our family. I warn the children that cats come and go, that Mr. Frisky may decide to up and leave without warning. In the meantime, I alerted our humane society of Mr. Frisky's "finding" to see if his "parents" might come forward. They haven't. I don't blame them. Cats are peculiar creatures, finding odd hours of the night to create noise and havoc. But the kids like him.
So, I'm adding new elements to my daily chores...feeding the cat, watering the cat, and cleaning the liter box. I'm learning about exciting new products, like clumping kitty litter and cat food with tantalizing blends of meat, chicken and salmon. Mr. Frisky has added a little excitement to our boring Pennsylvania winter. We take things day by day. Did I mention that I'm allergic to cats?
