So I took a break from writing, and doing taxes (UGH!), and going to wrestling meets (courtesy of our late snowstorm, which has postponed regionals and States by a week), to sew! The good news is I can share this with you:

The bad news is that I can only tell you it is (wooohoo!) something I’m working on for an article. If all goes well, I’ll be published again by the end of this year. But, I am pretty sure I’m supposed to keep things “under wraps” until publication. So, I can only show this to you and not tell you about the article. Aren’t I wicked?

I just had to share these links with you, which I came across on the QuiltArt list (thanks Diane!). The main site is about how machines work:
Click here.

The next page is about how a sewing machine creates a stitch:
Click here.

And this last link is a 26 minute video about sewing machines, from the first one through today. The video quality is a bit blurry due to on-line streaming or whatever, but it was SO cool!
Click here for video.

These are a lot of fun…even my 13 year old son liked them!

I’m actually SEWING today (if I ever get off the computer) so hope to have quilty content tomorrow! And then, yeah! a small Frayed Edges meeting with Kate and Kathy at Kath’s house, as Hannah is in CHINA! She and Bart have met their new daughter (to join three already at home) Nina. See pictures, and prepare to have your heart melt and get a lump in your throat by visiting Hannah’s blog, Xiao Nu Hair (which means little girl in Chinese) here.

There are so many good bits about line in Aimone’s book, that I think I’ll add a bit more. Think about these comments in relation to quilts, how lines define the geometric shapes of pieced quilts, the edges of appliques and the stitched line–by hand, by machine, quilting and embellishment (including a line created with a sequence of beads…)

Even broken or lost and found lines can serve most effectively to establish shape. P. 35

Line as shape maker–Whenever a line ventures out on a journey through space and crosses ack over itself, it encloses an area. The enclosed area reads as a shape. P. 33

Line representing edge–An edge is the place where one shape butts up agains another; a line can represent this edge. P. 36 (And from Sarah: think horizon, water’s edge, contours of a body)

Line as direction or movement p. 38 (from Sarah: ——- is static, lllllllll is at attention, /////// moves to the right)

Line for emphasis…changes [in] the weight of the line to establish a hierarchy of emphasis P. 40

Line as rhythm, symbol, to create depth…. In two dimensional design, this involves creating the illusion of three dimentions. … In drawing, a line that varies is known as a weighted line. The thicker lines advance to the front, while lines of medium weight fall back by contrast. Thin and very thin lines seem to recede further still, all creating an effective feeling of depth. P. 40-42

A note from Sarah: How can we adapt this use of thick line in quilting? It seems to me that we take the inverse….by using the stitching line to make the background recede, we leave in the negative space a “thick” line that comes forward and draws attention to itself…….

I’ve been doing taxes, working on the book, going to wrestling meets, guitar lessons, karate testing and that sort of thing, so precious little has happened in the studio. I’m going to reward myself by an entire DAY upstairs today working on samples for an upcoming article and maybe even a small piece to enter in shows! Will share as soon as I can. In the meantime,
MAKE ART!

Let’s just say I’m considerably more comfortable now than I was 9 years ago at this hour. Give or take 2 hours thanks to time zone changes and daylight savings, Eli joined the breathing 9 years ago. As usual, the party did not fall on his exact birthday, which is today, but yesterday. So we had BOYS….LOUD boys! Thank heavens there were only five of them…even our 13 year old was pleading for mercy! Here, the opening of gifts:

Followed by sugar, in the form of a yin and yang design (Eli’s idea after Joshua ate a bunch of the vanilla frosting and there wasn’t enough…turned out well, eh?):

Then they all went outside into the melting slushy snow and ice and cold water and got thoroughly wet in a snowball fight:

THEN, Eli’s “real” birthday began a day early. For YEARS he has wanted a pug. So, we told him we had ordered something, but it wasn’t ready and wouldn’t be for two more weeks, but that we could go see his gift. Here it is–currently a 6 week old male tan pug puppy:

And here is the first hug:

And here is the best of many, MANY photos taken on Sunday afternoon:

We don’t have a name yet, so suggestions are welcome, but Eli gets the final say-so! We are looking forward to the little beastie’s arrival home in two weeks. By then he might be about the size of Yeti’s back foot! When fully grown, he may be as large as Yeti’s head. Maybe. GRIN!

And then there was his “real” birthday today…after Ishinriyu karate practice (during which he gave himself a real doozie of a bruise, hence the elevated foot). First, gifts:

Then another cake! (to be followed by cupcakes tomorrow at school…enough with the baking and frosting!) Eli is grinning because he took THREE tries to blow them all out…what’s he gonna do when he is 50 (like his Mama will be this year) or 60 (ditto for Papa!)……

To say this weekend has been hectic but happy is an understatement! Friday afternoon was wrestling and guitar lessons for Joshua, and shopping for Eli’s party on Sunday and other assorted errands for me.

Saturday began with the monthly Coastal Quilters meeting. It was quiet and friendly, with Mary Pennoyer sharing her way of making 9-patches and checkerboard blocks and borders…great for scrappy quilts. Louisa Enright (on the right in the photo) shared this awesome quilt–a wedding gift!–which she designed in EQ5. Louisa is also a watercolorist, and you can see that she has learned about value (lights and darks), color progression and such. She shared her process from idea and basic colors from the bride and groom, to initial sketches and swatches, to finished (89 x 110 inches!) top! I’d like to end up on Louisa’s gift list!

A week or two ago (time flies, so I have no idea when it really was…) I made this shirt from flannel purchased at Maine-ly Sewing in Nobleboro (I’ve been leaving a fair bit of my teaching paychecks there!); it is yellow with white bunnies (with pink ears of course!), and I used a slightly darker yellow with little orange dots for the collar and hem trim (think binding, but not quite) on sleeves and main hem. I used the Nepali Blouse pattern from Folkwear; from my notes it appears I last made this top in 1986! It looks as though the sizing has changed. My pattern is sizes S-M-L, and they now sell it as XS to XL. The armscye (the opening for the sleeve) is cut very high, with a gusset, which means it is not suitable as a jacket because there isn’t enough room underneath for anything more than a cotton turtleneck or tank, but it also means you have lots of freedom of movement. I TOTALLY love the Folkwear patterns…

I left before the end of the meeting to head north to Joshua’s last regular-season wrestling meet at the Belfast, Maine, middle school There were two defaults (no one in his weight on the opposing teams). He lost the one match with an opponent, alas he made a mistake and just about ended up pinning himself to the mat (!!!!), but overall he is still something like 9-3. The team will head to Regionals on Saturday (with a 5:45 a.m. bus departure…UGH! That means one of us has to get up and get him there…the meet begins at 8, which also means we’ll need to be on the road by 7:30…ugh!). If he does well, we hope he’ll be able to go to States the following week. Here he is before he lost:

And finally, today, Sunday, we had Eli’s Birthday party. Imagine, six crazed 8 and 9 year old boys. Here is a preview, but since Eli doesn’t officially turn 9 until tomorrow, I’ll save more photos for tomorrow. And I must say, even though I’m STILL carrying extra pounds I put on during that pregnancy, I’m MUCH happier and more comfortable today than I was nine years ago!