The new July/August 2014 MQU issue. Order at www.mqumag.com or find it at Barnes and Noble (among other places).  The Quilting Ergonomics article on the cover is mine! WOOT!

Editor Kit Robinson asked me, a while back, if I would like to do an article on ergonomics at your sit-down sewing machine, and I jumped at the chance.  I’m not a physician, and I start the article by saying that “no one size fits all,” so be sure to check with YOUR health practitioner, but I have learned some things that will make your life easier when you are quilting.  I talked about quilting aids in the last issue (which I apparently in my busy-ness forgot to blog about…coming soon!   Naughty Sarah!) and in this issue I talk about making your space work for you.

After all, if you are thinking “Ouch” or “oh my aching back and shoulders” you’re not thinking about where your next stitch goes.  So that’s what this article is all about!

Thumper decided to read the MQU ergonomics article while I had the camera out to take a picture. Ahem.

So for this article, I put on make-up, sucked in my gut, and got hubby to come down and click the shutter after I set up the tripod and lighting for all these photos–so now hubby is published as a photographer!   Thanks Paul and Kit for the byline for him!  It was much easier than using the timer and me trying to dash and get into position before the shutter tripped.  I’ve clearly got pictures of what NOT to do as well as what you should do.  Speaking of which, I really should get back to doing those crunches and stretching exercises!

Another big thrill was seeing as I flipped to my article that Brenda Gael Smith had an article on the hanging system used in Australia that has artists putting velcro on the backs of quilts to adhere to the rigid walls used there.  Helps the quilts hang beautifully!   So then I went to see what all was in the magazine, discovered there is a companion article about the Living Colour Textiles exhibit and one of the quilts included was mine!!!! (and yes, I still need to do that blogpost about dyeing the fabric and making this quilt…too many things to do, not enough time…it will come, I promise!).   Anyway, here’s that page–what a delightful, welcome surprise!

Living Colour Textiles exhibit curated by Brenda Gael Smith.  Amaryllis, bottom right, is my entry.  To see the exhibit, go to livingcolourtextiles.com/gallery.html 

Gotta run:  today is the last day of Eli’s sophomore year, and it is a busy one.  Exam this morning, memorial service for a cross country teammate who died of a brain tumor just days after receiving his diploma (thank heavens the school graduated him, he missed most of the school year); I’m planning on a LOT of kleenex.  After that there is a picnic at his house and the runners are going to run his practice course in his honor and memory (and I’m tearing up just thinking about it).  Then, finally, the delayed wrestling team potluck and awards.   Phew!  But we get to sleep in tomorrow.  More anon!

I came across this video somewhere through some list that I’m on, and thought I’d share as it is one of the most detailed explanations I’ve seen of the batik process, particularly about the discharge process which removes color after the first round of dye and wax.   Hope you enjoy!

Across from (or near?) Grand Central is the Bowery Savings Bank, and the stonework and carving was another source of incredible inspiration.

Here is a close-up of one of the stone pillars just to the left of the doorway  pictured above:

How lucky we are that the titans of industry 150 years ago poured money into buildings that are art!

Marie Z. J., I had to take this photo just for you:

An angel for Marie

Looking up the facade of the buidling

and a closer view of the carvings

What a fabulous quilting design or applique this could become

The lanterns/lights are just as fabulous.

There simply isn’t enough time to make all the art that is inside of me!

And perfect lettering…sigh….And it looks like this place is now an ultra chi-chi restaurant.   Hmmm.

On the way home, I stopped off in Fall River, Mass.  My father was born there and I recently discovered (in a well DUH SARAH, of course they are) my grandparents are buried here, as is my Aunt Mary M., whom I remember, along with two brothers who died young.  So I sought out the Catholic cemetary and after a lot of wandering around trying to decipher the mystery of how the plots are numbered (I had called written a couple months ago to find out the plot numbers, etc), I found the family monument:

Apparently plots were sold with 6 spots–there are many such “family” monuments with names on the back in this cemetery. Frankie died as a baby and was apparently buried in a different part of the cemetery where there is no marker to show him…so sad, but at least they added him to this stone. It appears from family records that when Johnnie died in 1924 they purchased this spot (which was paid up in full in 1926). The stone was erected in 1961–not sure if Aunt Mary did that, or perhaps my Dad. He did stuff like that for his family, but there are no records now and anyone who knew is long since gone.

The back is weird: it shows ONLY the death dates! I asked but it isn’t possible to change and add the birth dates, or I’d take teaching income from a gig or two and add the birth dates. My grandparents, born in the 1880s, are at the top, followed by siblings in the order of birth: Aunt Mary, Aunt Nan, Frankie and Johnnie. All but Mary were gone before I was born.

On the way home, the GPS always wants me to go 95 and 93 through downtown Boston.  Which has some of the worst drivers in America.  And a couple interchanges near the Big Dig tunnel and the bridge that are white knuckle experiences for me.  Usually I take I-495 around Boston which nominally takes a half hour longer.  This time I decided to try 95/route 128, the inner ring road around Boston.   Now I know why I will never do that again.  I started to go around Boston at 2 pm.  It was 4:30 before I cleared it…bumper to bumper.  UGH.  It would have been at least an hour faster to take the “long” way on 495–and it wasn’t even rush hour!  And no accidents.  One roadside info sign said next major highway interchange was 12 miles ahead.  Time to get there (mid afternoon!!!!) was FIFTY , 50, MINUTES!!!! SHRIEK.  Was really glad to get home to rural, not-busy-roads Maine!

On route 128, the ring road around Boston. Horrid.

So that’s the trip!  Fun, except for the driving in Massachusetts!

So I recently sent a couple quilts out to be in national juried shows.   Let me begin by saying that I truly do respect the judges and the difficulty of the judging process.  But I thought that some folks new to entering shows or who might consider entering shows would like to know what comments are like.   I’ve waited a while since receiving these two quilts back so folks couldn’t really guess (or do a lot of work) to figure out which shows and which judges because I DO respect them and their job.

The comments on this quilt are the one that most mystify me.

Conversations 1 (c) www.SarahAnnSmith.com

The comments received were:

• Best Features:    
  • Raw edges work well done    
  • Piecing in background
• Area(s) to Improve:    
  • Value Changes to emphasize depth and shadow

Best features:  OK:  Thank you for the compliment on raw edge work, which is usually disparaged.  Thank you for the compliment on piecing; however, there IS no piecing.  It is all fused.  I will take that as a compliment that the fusing was so well done that they thought it was pieced.

Areas to improve:  I am utterly perplexed.  HOW could I have further value changes?  The pale color of the stone and dark of the shadows is about as extreme as it gets this side of black and white.  The only thing I can figure out is that perhaps they want some shadow on the wall versus the surface of the patio.   I will note at this point that this is a composite image from several photos, but with the angle of the sun used from the first photo with two chairs and the table, a corner of the patio as in this scene would have been utterly flooded with light and  have no shadows, just perhaps a bit of grunge where ground met wall.   This scene is from the Getty Museum in LA, and the sun was screaming blue sunny sky–flooded with light.   ????

I take comments seriously (most of the time) because I want to learn and improve.  So my question to all of you is:

Can you figure out where they want me to improve value changes to emphasize depth and shadow?  I’d love suggestions.  Please, be kind to the judges.

Then I got this quilt back.

Clothed in Color (c) www.SarahAnnSmith.com

The area to improve was that (I’m paraphrasing as I don’t feel like rooting around to find the comment sheet) “the off-center composition is good, but there is too much negative space.”   This comment I am utterly ignoring.  The figure (me) is in a doorway.  That is how much negative space there IS in a doorway.  And the amount of space is intentional:  it conveys the feeling of isolation and tension I wanted to express about that time in my life.  So I’m chalking it up to “they just didn’t get it.”  I’m OK with that.

Down at the end of this avenue is the Chrysler Building–now I’ve seen it for real (even if from a distance)

There were so many inspirations in buildings and architecture it is hard to know where to begin….

Looking up is always a good thing. Love the rhythm of the fire escape and windows.

And what about this modern looking pair:

Wouldn’t this make a stunning Modern quilt? Just add color (or not).

The building on the far corner caught my eye for the astounding stonework visible just above the busses

Poor Deirdre…she kept turning around and I was taking MORE pictures….

But LOOKIT this design? Isn’t that breathtakingly, gobsmackingly wonderful? Think applique and crazy threadwork…..Sigh…. Inhale, breathe, GASP!

And these shards jutting up from between the larger buildings…

So one more NYC post after this one…the Bowery Savings Bank Building.   How lucky we are to inherit these buildings and the crafstmanship and artistry that went into them!