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 few weeks ago a most wonderful thing happened, Lisa Chipetine (active and an asset to SAQA, the Studio Art Quilt Association) invited me to be part of a quilt critique session with Sandra Sider.  I had heard of these before, but had never even listened to one of the on-line critiques, let alone thought of participating.  But when opportunity knocks on your door, it pays to answer!   Lisa’s website is www.threadplay.com, and through the quilt critique page (click here) you can sign up to participate, be a silent observer, or access the archives.   I wasn’t sure which quilt to offer… Lisa had seen both The Wall and Naiads at the SAQA site on my Professional Artists Member’s page.

This one is the wall…. about the size of a poster.  Below is Naiads, which is 18 wide by 45 long (49 including the longest branch):

I also suggested Koi, because I wasn’t sure which to pick:

In an exchange of e-mails, Lisa suggested one of the first two, as there was more to them.  I chose Naiads, because there is more in the way of technique and composition.  I will say that I was quite happy with this piece, and wondered what she would say.

I was, fortunately, second on the list of the five quilts being reviewed–that gave me a chance to sit through one before my turn.  You need to have a live phone line (as in, not tied up with dial-up) and internet while the one-hour critique session takes place.  After you sign up, Lisa sends each participant an e-mail with a special code which allows them in to the restricted online page where you can view the quilts being discussed.

When the session begins, you also dial in to a special number and are conferenced in to a multi-way call with Sandra, Lisa, and the five other quilters, and perhaps a few others.  Our session began with a work in progress… an unfinished top.  Sandra begins by asking the quilter (who is identified as Quilter (or was it artist?) 1) what is his/her intent, goals, and a bit about the quilt.  Sandra continues with good points, suggests changes, and other participants may also offer comments.

For Naiads, Sandra was very kind, commenting that I had managed to capture the feel of moving water, which is hard to do in textiles.  A photo of Naiads appeared on the left of the screen.  Then a slightly photoshopped version showed Sandra’s suggestions.  A moving cursor identified specific areas under discussion so that other participants (silent and otherwise) can easily see the area being discussed.

Sandra’s first comment was that the seated Naiad’s leg was too long, so she moved blue over the bottom of it.  In fact, tho I will check to make sure, I am pretty certain the proportions are accurate, but because she was viewing on a screen, she couldn’t see that it is also her foot..in the picture the heel is hidden under some sheer fabric, but that may be something I need to modify or accentuate so that it reads better.

Sandra’s other two comments were fantastic…so much so that I wished I could dash upstairs and make the changes NOW!  Instead, Christmas will have to happen first, an article get written, THEN fix before sending in an entry to Paducah.  Anyway, Sandra suggested shortening the branches on the right side, where the river flows into the quilt.  By lifting these branches out of the way, you get even more of a sense of moving water….way cool!  (and an easy fix too!)

The final suggestion was to somehow cover up the lower portion of the swimming naiad’s body.  In the photo, the shape appeared distorted, but I explained that the problem is actually a technical one:  I didn’t quilt the water (sheer fabric) over her body (when you quilt part of a body and not the rest weird stuff happens and it looks worse), so the sheer kinda bubbles.  It is the one technical issue for this quilt which I really don’t like.

Sandra used the cloning tool (or something like that) and covered her left hand and the body from about the waist down with blue…. as a result, the focal point shifts up to the other two naiads, the swimming naiad’s right hand points up and leads the eye to the one walking into the background… it just totally works!   I don’t know that I will completely cover the lower half… when one is swimming in the river, you can see parts of the body underwater; however, I think if I cover parts of her with cotton and more with a dark blue/green sheer, I can keep the realism and still get the effect in Sandra’s suggestion.  I promise I’ll share pics!

The next three quilts, including some that were finished, was at least as educational as  the critique of my quilt.  Because I was looking at new (to me) work, with fresh eyes, I could see where Sandra was going.  It was fun to participate in the conversation, too.

Would I do this again?  ABSOLUTELY!   I don’t know that I can afford to sign up for the regular monthly access (which is a bargain if  you listen in or go to the archives for all the sessions), but I will definitely be back as both a silent participant and, when I need it, in the critique session.  Lisa and Sandra are taking a short break, but the sessions resume January 26th.  I’ve got it marked on my calendar…and hopefully by then my changes will be made and my quilt will be better.

And yet another piece!  Amazing what happens when you finally dig out from under the mountain of accumulated work…all the stuff that piles up while life is happening!  One of my favorites in the new crop of small art quilt pieces is  Birch Pond:

I’ve always loved etchings and woodblock prints (even bought a couple books on woodblock print making, tho I’ll likely never make such a thing…but of course the design ideas and visual techniques can always be applied to different media…like quilts!).  Mary Azarian is one of my favorites, and I got the Shepherd Seed Catalog for years just to see her illustrations.  Alas, I can’t find the latter online….the link for Sheperd’s Seeds automatically switches over to White Flower Farm where there are NO seeds listed…Sob!  Anyway, check out her website…the Farm and Field prints are fancier than what was in the catalog, but in the same vein.

So, looking for something fun and easy to do this summer at Maine Quilts, I was thrilled to see that Laura Wasilowski was teaching her Woodcut Quilts class!   Laura’s website is www.artfabrik.com (with a K…sigh).  As part of the class kit fee, we received some of Laura’s lovely hand dyed fabrics and threads, but of course I had to be me and took my pre-fused stash of batiks (well, a selection). This piece varies somewhat from “true” woodcut quilts because the individual leaves are not edged in black, but I can live with that <grin!>.

Here’s a detail:

The 14×14 inch quilt is mounted on 21×21 stretcher bars covered with dark blue batik cloth, clean finished and ready to hang.  It is available for sale at Ducktrap Bay Trading Company (gallery here in Camden, Me. — click on the New Work link under the Galleries column for more info).

I had fun in the class… it was low key and easy paced (a bit slow for a kind Type-A sort like me who is quite experienced, but that happens to me a bit too often….I’m to ready and raring to go!), I learned new stuff, Laura is a well-prepared and entertaining teacher and best of all, I now know some of her tricks so I can let what I learned percolate and come out in a quilt in the future.  Yeah!  My own woodblock prints without having to carve the wood (not that I’d mind learning that, either, but there aren’t enough hours in a lifetime already!).  Cheers!

Amazing… I actually got something done!  The quilted portions of these two pieces, Buoys 1 (Blue) and Buoys 2 (Pink-purple) were made for my local quilt chapter’s 10×10″ challenge.  The challenge was to make a piece based on guild-member Jan P’s husband’s photo.  Dwight’s photo is called Ropes and Buoys, and it was a delight to see the wide range of pieces.  (To see the challenge pieces as displayed at Maine Quilts this past July, click here then scroll nearly halfway down.)  I recently mounted my pieces on batik stretched over stretcher bars (with a base support and batting to make it look good).  They are for sale… directly from me until Wednesday morning then via Ducktrap Bay Trading Company, the local gallery that carries my work.

Here is the Blue Buoys:

and a detail shot which shows the intense quilting and shading with thread:

I wanted to try doing the buoys in totally-not-realistic colors…the ones in the photo were mostly yellow and orange.  While blue and light blue might be a real combination, I can’t imagine I’d ever see any real buoys that are pink and purple (tho there are women lobstermen (???   that sounds weird, but I am pretty sure that they don’t call themselves lobsterers, maybe lobster fishermen, but that has the guy thing too… ???), but decided to try a really wild color combination to play with value and hue.  Here is Buoys #2 (pink – purple):

And the detail of the pink one:

Each piece is 10×10 inches mounted on a 16×16 inch frame (one inch deep); the background fabric  wraps around to the back which is clean finished and ready to hang.  The price for each is $250 plus shipping (if you order from me before Weds., shipping is included, otherwise it will be whatever the gallery charges).

So am I the only one, or are other folks trying to get their holiday shopping done EARLY!?   I have two new pieces that I’ve just (finally!) uploaded onto my website, but wanted to share them here, also.  The first is a modestly priced art quilt postcard mounted on a mixed media canvas, Bird in the Woods:

The price is $60 (includes shipping by US Mail, within the US, write for other shipping options).  This began as just a canvas…at one of our Frayed Edges meetings.   Rather than simply create a silhouette of something and paint over a plain piece of cloth (Hannah was jazzed by a project on Martha Stewart), I decided to get clever and stretch strips of multicolored cloth over the canvas frame before slathering with Mod Podge (or was it Gel Medium?  same result….), letting it dry, then using torn masking tape to make the trees.  Well… I wasn’t so thrilled with the result:

It’s OK, but no great shakes.  So I thought I’d just cover it all up with batting, fabric, and mount a postcard.  I tossed a lovely card Deborah Boschert had sent to me a few years back–yellow with a red bird, and Presto…. I  decided I’d make my OWN (very different) bird in fabrics because it looked great (except for the fact that her bird was red and the fabric is magenta…shudder!  color change necessary, but the idea worked).  SO, I rooted through my stash, made up a quick bird postcard (inspired by my Batiki bird, which you can read about here), and got to work.  I hope you like it!

I’ll share the next piece in a few days… I also want to blog about Houston before it is ancient memories.  AND, I need to dash out, walk the dog, and meet Mom for lunch…. toodles, and back soon, Sarah