At the end of our sleepover (see earlier posts), we all went to the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens.  We had been there once before, and dream of someday getting enough work together that we can have a show, perhaps with the majority of the pieces done based on what there is to see in the gardens.  Warning:  TONS of photos!

The gardens opened maybe 2 years (?) ago, so are still settling in; there is a birch allee which we didn’t see this time but has about 25 different varieties of birch.  Maybe I’ll get there in early autumn next year and see all the golden leaves!  There are also beautiful outdoor sculptures throughout the garden.  This magnificent piece greets you as you arrive:

and a different view of the two:

There are some lovely kitchen gardens and ponds near the visitors’ center:

Aren’t the vertical walls of lettuce and herbs cool?

Here are another pond and a close-up of some lettuce of some sort…great visual texture for a quilting pattern, eh?

Then, the small bunny sculpture nestled amongst the kitchen garden, hoping there is no Farmer MacGregor nearby:

The pond was SO still you can scarcely see the glassy surface of the watery shallows; yes, the river rocks are under the water:

Then of course there is me taking a picture of Deborah taking (or checking?) a picture:

and another set-the-timer-and-dash-and-try-not-to-gasp-moment (L to R:  me, Kathy, Hannah, Kate and Deborah):

There was this cool sculpture where you stick your head inside a hole and make a sound and listen to the reverberations of the rock.  Deborah kindly demonstrates using the lower of the two holes:

and here is Hannah checking HER photos!

There were some cool dried leaves–Solomon’s Seal I think –that would also make a great quilting pattern or stencil / screen:

A porcupine sculpture:

and a view of the gardens:

Here are two views of the same plant—the yellow leaves in the shade, the read in the sun!

Then we have Kathy in the woods by the water:

and Deborah in the woods, not by the water, but by the glass ball sculpture–standing to be the bottom part of the “i” to the ball’s “dot” of the “i”:

I love the waving grasses…these too would make a lovely screen for printing:

And Deborah and Hannah in front of them:

We still look happy, I’ll note…tho a bit tired!  Kate…how the heck do I not have a photo of you?  You must have been climbing about!

Finally, it was time to lunch before we dispersed to various corners of the state and the States.  Kate had found a WONDERFUL spot (a small neighborhood “grocer”) with awesome lobster rolls (think tuna salad except with lobster instead, in a hotdog bun) and equally good (being thrifty I went for spending less) popcorn shrimp.

Ah, lunch, an outing with friends, tons of photos, art to be made!  Life is GOOD!

Wow…a week has evaporated.  At least I have the excuse that it was Thanksgiving!  Ours was small–just the four of us–but wonderful and tasty and there was lots of gravy!

Back to what now seems like a thousand years ago…the last Frayed Edges get together at Kathy’s house, when Deborah came from Texas to visit!  For some reason, I woke up even though I had the chance to sleep in.  Sunrise was about 7:00 am, so I woke to see this when I went downstairs:

and

WOW!

Kathy always decorates her home for the season, and this was no exception.  She changes the artwork (almost always hers!) over the fireplace.  Isn’t this just lovely–I adore bittersweet (the vine with the little red berries and orange husks)?

During breakfast we all looked happy, sorta sleepy, content, and busy.  From left to right:  Kate, Hannah and Deborah:

And here is Kathy:

Before we packed up, I took a picture of some of the ornaments we made:

Before we headed out to the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens, Kathy wanted to walk down to China Lake, which is about a hundred yards or two through the woods you seen in that photo at the start of the post.

Talk about GLORIOUS!  Here are some more pics, some a bit tipsy thanks to using a rock as a tripod and the timer (and running like mad to get down the dock and seated before the shutter tripped!):

And here is a totally funky treetrunk–makes me think of the Ents in the Lord of the Rings:

Next:  I’ll share our visit to the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens (talk about inspiration!), a bit about what I’ve been doing to keep busy (I’ve actually done some art quilting!), a postcard swap, and–drum roll–TWO giveaways to celebrate the holidays!

When I wasn’t working in a booth to promote my book, I got to dash around Market madly getting an overview of things, dropping off my pattern packets for the distributors and meeting old and new friends.

I FINALLY got to meet Susan Brubaker Knapp, an amazingly talented woman, internet friend, and fellow working mom.  Here is her website and blog, and a picture of happy Susan at Market:

We have written back and forth for several years.  Our careers are both taking off on parallel but forward-moving tracks.  Check out Susan’s blog and booklet/pattern Applique Petal Party from C&T (I’ll have more on that and a give-away of a copy in the not too distant future!).

A few moments later, the ever-lovely Bonnie McCaffrey came by; she is now the official videographer for IQA, so if you see any cool videos on the Quilts, Inc., website about festival, they are Bonnie’s handiwork (click on that link to get to various videos).  She is also an amazingly talented art quilter and teacher!  Here we all are:

Later, I happened by Linda McGehee’s booth, and fell into severe zipper lust:

I can see a Frayed Edges zipper challenge (and an order to Linda’s website, Ghee‘s)!

One of the best things about Houston is meeting on-line friends in person.  Since Marie was home this year (she is my regular roomie!) I got lucky, and roomed with Larkin Van Horn.  Larkin lives out near where I used to live and Marie still lives, and she stayed with me when she came out to San Juan Island to teach six or so years ago.  During Market, we went to dinner in the hotel, so here we are (well, I’m behind the camera):  Larkin on the left, Bonnie across from Larkin, and Lyric Kinard (author of Art + Quilt, just released   and in my reading pile–I’ll review it when I get it read but so far it looks great!) in red:

We talked books, and I am currently REALLY enjoying some mysteries (recommended by either Larkin or Lyric?) by Julia Spencer Fleming… some much needed mental R&R!

If you’re like me, you’ll hear Bing Crosby’s voice as he sings to Rosemary Clooney on that one…. For those of you who don’t love the old movie White Christmas, Bing and Rosemary are the older of a pair of war buddies (that would be Bing, to Danny Kaye’s younger corporal) and sisters (with actress Vera Ellen of the impossibly tiny waist and very fast dancing feet).   Theirs is a somewhat rocky courtship, aided and abetted by Danny and Vera’s characters.   Rosemary goes to get a sandwich at the inn, and Bing shows up to make her a liverwurst sandwich with buttermilk (BLEAH…how could anyone think that tastes good?????).  She says she can’t sleep, so of course Bing breaks into song about counting your besslings instead of sheep, and the refrain ends “you’ll fall asleep counting your bleeeeeeesssssss-iiiiiinnnnnnngggggggggs”.

So I decided I should count some of my blessings:

1.  My family is alive and well, and we are blessed to be together.

2.  Mom agreed to move to Maine, and now lives 5 minutes instead of a continent (or more as it has been in years past) away.  Best of all, she has become nice again, and I have my mommy back.  The dementia is getting worse, but she is much kinder,  she gets my sense of humor, and best of all she seems to be happier!

3.  Joshua is alive, well, fully recovered, and seems to have (we think/hope/pray) passed through some of the more tumultuous moments of the teen years.  He is a responsible employee at his job, and is bright and learning.

4.  Eli is a stupendous student, cool kid, devoted son and brother, and great dog-parent to Pigwidgeon.   He is (hooray!, we’ve bred two of them) an inveterate reader, curious, polite, kind, interesting… OK I’ll stop now.  I know I’m biased.  That’s my job.

5.  Paul and I celebrated 25 years of marriage, and we’re still bubbling along. As in all marriages that last, we are always there for each other, and he is my best friend and the first person I go to for most anything (well, except for quilting advice!).

6.  Pigwidgeon (the pug) and Thumper (the 26-toed calico cat) follow me around the house and bring furry love, joy and hair to my life.

7.  Pigwidgeon makes EVERYone, and I mean EVERYONE, smile.  Just last night, when I took him out for nighttime walkies, he had me laughing out loud as he cavorted and chased a snow clod!

8.  Joyce came to visit; my late half-brother’s wife, Joyce is like a sister to me.  I remember her from when my family and I returned to the US when I was six, and she has been a part of my life ever since.  T.J. gets major bonus points for bringing the best person in the family into it.

9.  The Frayed Edges:  Kathy, Kate, Deborah and Hannah make my life and Maine a better place to be (even tho Deborah  is currently in the wilds of Texas).  They are friends, artists, confidants, and just plain FUN and interesting and wonderful.

10.  Marie is one of those friends that will last through the ages… you know how maybe six or seven times in your life you meet someone and you know you will be friends forever, no matter where you are?  Well, Marie is one of those!   Even tho she is still in Washington State, and I am in Maine,  we are still close….and even tho we can sometimes only keep up by visiting each others’ blogs (hers is here), we are always in each other’s hearts.

11.  The Coastal Quilters:  my local quilt chapter is filled with wonderful, fun, diverse, interesting women (no men yet in the group).

12.  QuiltArt ( click here for the website) is the most wonderful online group (like an extended family spread ’round the world) of kindred (and not so kindred) souls, all of whom love art quilts.   QA was my door into art quilting, my master’s degree, my continuing education, the source of untold friendships and inspiration and ideas…. it’s a great place to be.  Thanks to List Mom Judy for creating such a home, to all who make it the best place in cyber-space….

13.  Kit Robinson, on both the QuiltArt and Janome 6500/6600 groups (the latter is a yahoo group), who invited me to write an article for Machine Quilting Unlimited magazine.  In talking over the proposed subject, tension, I mused that really I needed to write about needles first, because you need the correct needle to get the correct tension.  One article turned into two, then….

14.  Vicki Anderson, publisher of MQU and the sister-magazine for long-arm quilters, Unlimited Possibilities, asked me to be a regular columnist for them… WOOOOHOO!!!! For the first time since 1997, I have predictable income with each quarterly article.  Best of all, I get to write about quilting AND get paid for it… life is truly wonderful.

15.  Quilting Arts magazine accepted two of my ideas for short lessons in their e-Newsletter, Embellishments; not only was I paid a modest sum, but they put my name under theirs and in front of something like 50,000 subscribers!  WOW…. THANK YOU Pokey Bolton (top editor and big kahuna, even tho she is a tiny little thing!) and Cate Prato (editor) . For info on how to subscribe to the e-Newsletter, click here.

16.  Quilting Arts / Cloth Paper Scissors  invited folks to submit ideas to participate in Open Studio, where you get to demonstrate a technique, at the large Quilting Arts zone at quilt festival in Houston; they invited me to participate!!!!   I am thrilled at their confidence in me, and I had a blast.  I hope to be able to do it again.

17.  Festival in Houston:  I get to see great quilts, meet old and new friends, see folks I have originally “met” online mostly on the Quiltart list.   Thanks to Karey Bresenhan and her hard-working cast and crew for all they do for all quilters…. Karey is truly in the business of making dreams come true for so many of us!

18.  Iris Karp of Misty Fuse has been so kind and generous, and I had a ball demonstrating in her booth in Houston….. would LOVE to do it again!   Thanks Iris!

19.  SAQA, the Studio Art Quilt Association. Despite the somewhat steep annual dues, I decided a while back that I needed to join.  Boy was I right!  I’ve had at least one exhibit opportunity thanks to being on their site, and think that at least a couple of the work opportunities that have come my way have been due to being in SAQA (and on their website).  Then, last Christmas Marie (see #10) sent me a copy of Portfolio 14, a SAQA publication that is aimed at galleries, museums and collectors.  I knew within about 20 seconds of seeing it that I needed to upgrade to Professional Artist Member status (if they’d take me) and be in the next one.  Well…. I was accepted as a PAM, and got into Portfolio 15 (now available for sale here) and (drum roll) a thumbnail of my quilt even made the back cover!

20. As a result of adding some information to the SAQA wiki (an online information data base for members), I came to Lisa Chipetine’s attention, and she very kindly invited me to be the fifth person in an online Critique session with quiltartist Sandra Sider.  WOW!   I can’t believe how much I learned, perhaps even more so from listening to the comments and discussion about other quilts being critiqued.  If you’re interested in learning more about the upcoming critique sessions, click here.

21.  The manuscript is nearing completion!  More on that when I can!

22.  I was FLOORED when I pulled up Creative Quilting with Beads early this year on Amazon.com  looking for a publication date…as longtime readers know, I have two projects in the book, and Kate (1), Kathy (1) and Deborah (3!) also have projects.  The COVER was MY pomegranate notebook! Talk about a pipe dream come true!

23.  About this time last year, I wrote a quick note to Bonnie Browning, who is a big kahuna at the AQS quilt shows, related to a posting she had made on the QuiltArt list.  She must have clicked on my signature links and visited my website, and she invited me to apply to TEACH for AQS!  The kicker:  this was Sunday, and applications needed to be in her office Monday.  I quickly turned my brochure into a PDF and e-mailed her all the info.  The result:  Bonnie and AQS took a chance and hired me to teach in PADUCAH (Paducah and Houston are the two biggest, most prestigious quilt shows in the US and honestly, in the world!).  I had a ball, student reviews were good, and I did it….hoooray!

24.  Lowell Quilt Festival (Massachusetts) also hired me to teach, and I had a ball there, too.   That show is only about 4 hours from me, so I was able to take LOTS of extra goodies since I could drive.  I had the most amazing time, and they treated the teachers like royalty!  I learned so much from so many amazing teachers…. Nancy Prince and Joanie Zeier Poole were incredibly generous in sharing tips and tricks of teaching on the road…. all of us who ate dinner together… totally fantastic!

25.  Blogging and the internet and all of you!  One of the joys of my mornings is checking flags…. I use a couple of sitemeters, and I LOVE looking at where people are who visit my blog… the sitemeters don’t tell me your e-mail, but they do give a location (more or less… depending on the company, my address in Camden shows up as Camden, Rockland, Tenant’s Harbor….at least it is a general location).  I’ve now had visitors from over 129 nations and every state in the US and almost every province in Canada.  WAY COOL!   I love how the internet has brought us closer, how I can e-mail my friend Lisa in Sydney (literally almost halfway ’round the world), hear back a moment later, reply, and carry on an instant conversation.  I love how those of us who worked in isolated splendor can now share and learn, so THANK YOU for being out there and surfing in to here!

I could go on, but I will stop here, or I really will put all of you to sleep.

Thank you and blessings and peace to you and all of yours,

Sarah

A while back, I blogged about preserving leaves with glycerin and freezing for later printing (as in during winter when there are no leaves on the trees), here.  I was fortunate to be able to demonstrate leaf printing at Open Studios, part of the Make It University section of the International Quilt Festival in Houston, on Wednesday evening.  I’d like to share here what I did, and include some written directions for those who were able to stop by my table and who surf in to my blog.

Since the MIU is about mixed media, I decided I had best do something mixed media, even though that is SO not me….   When Deborah flew up to Maine and we all got together (see the post here), Hannah gave us all Ikea mirrors–the cool square ones with the wide wooden frames.  I decided I’d do a mixed media thing, since that is what Hannah loves, and do some leaf printing on paper as well as cloth.  I then used some papers from a journal kit Deborah made and gave us all one Christmas, then added a milagro Kate brought back from a trip to the southwest a couple of years ago.  Finally, I asked Kathy for some of her dyed cheesecloth–I wanted to add something that was from each of the five of us. The result is above! I LOVE IT!

Late note:  after writing this post but before taking the picture, I remembered the sea glass and shells we collected this summer with Hannah down at a beach / cove not too far from her house.  I decided to add some to the bottom of the mirror and love the addition (I used K6000 glue…the stuff that I think could hold up a roof).  I also like the reflection of my camera and hands!

Here is what the leaves look like soaking in glycerin… I use about a one part glycerin to four parts water solution, but I’m really slapdash about it… I pour the glycerin into the lasagna pan,  add enough water that I’ll fit all the leaves.  If the water feels watery and not slippery like glycerin, I add more of the latter.  Very scientific.  Ahem.  The green leaves are fresh; the brown ones were collected brown about 4 years ago…they’ve been in the freezer all this time and still work for printing!

To do your own leaf printing, first you need your supplies:

•    Textile paints
•    Fabric or paper for printing
•    Sponge roller
•    Soft rubber brayer
•    8×10 glass, edges taped or plastic page protector as a palette
•    Sponge paintbrush
•    Leaves, clean and dry
•    Paper towels, parchment or other paper
•    Plastic to cover surface
•    Lightly padded surface/worktable

The last time I dyed fabric, I used paper towels to mop up some of the mess.  They were so lovely I couldn’t toss them.  Then it occured to me to use them in my leaf printing and get a two-fer!

How-to:
•    Squeeze or pour paint onto glass

•    Roll sponge roller to create an even coating
•    Place leaf bottom-side-up on clean / dry plastic and coat with paint; use sponge roller or paintbrush (as you can see, I didn’t do that…I just squished everything onto the glass)
•    Lift leaf and place paint-side-down onto cloth or paper

•    Cover with parchment or other paper–I used the dye-soaked paper towels!
•    Roll over leaf with soft rubber brayer (seen at left in photo above) OR press with hands
•    Remove cover sheet and carefully lift up leaf (the gold thing is the leaf with paint on it)
•    Allow paint to dry and heat-set or cure according to paint manufacturer’s instructionsThe amount of pressure applied with a roller versus your hands differs.  A brayer will produce a finer, lighter print.  If the contrast between paint and cloth/paper is too subtle, add more paint or try pressing the leaf onto the surface with your hands.

Hope you like!  Thanks to Barbara Delaney and Pokey Bolton at Quilting Arts for  the opportunity to participate in Open Studios, and to Cate Prato for inviting me to submit some ideas for the Embellishments newsletter. Click here to sign up for the free newsletter.