Free-association

the next generation

My youngest daughter and her first completed quilt. I was floored that an almost-17 year old would actually CHOOSE to spend 3 days of her summer vacation taking a quilting class with her mother.

Savannah Sunset

This one (rather, a CD with pictures of this one) is now winging its way to CO for the Ricky Tims challenge "Au Naturale." Of course there is a backstory to it...My friend has been working on hers for weeks and kept after me about entering one also. Finally, Tuesday morning I got after it (to be RECEIVED by the following Monday, of course. Nothing like working under a deadline.) I have absolutely no idea where the design came from, or how I managed to put it together and complete it by yesterday evening, but here it is. I used some of my rust dyed stuff, some thread painting (the tree trunk) and window screen for the tree leaves. I'm actually pretty proud of it and pleased with the free motion quilting on it. It's 38x46 and uses commercial prints and rust dyes. An additional challenge I put on myself was to use nothing but stash fabrics too. I did finally break down and buy one piece (60% off) for a false backing yesterday though. I was NOT happy with the very heavy quilting showing on the solid color backing I had originally used, but it was that 'stash only' thing.

We're back.

No pictures and no art this time. We spent a week on the coast working with the greatest couple whose house was flooded in the storm. They've been living in a dinky little FEMA trailer in their driveway for the last 10 months, and yet they have a better attitude than people who were back in their house in a matter of weeks. We spent ONE day working with a woman and her brother who did nothing but stand around and complain about what we were doing and how we were doing it. The 4 days we spent with Jackie and Lynn were MUCH more pleasant. Since the rest of the group was from MO and IL, we took some down-time in the evenings and I think the trip up to Three Rivers was probably the most relaxing time I've spent in years. We did the sight-seeing trip up and down the coast and through the worst parts of the Bay and the Pass, all the way over to Waveland. You'll have to go look up pictures of that on your own since I seem to be incapable of describing it, and I still can't bring myself to even get the pictures off my camera yet. One day I hope to be numb? immune? enough to think about it without crying. My youngest daughter was with us and she has trouble dealing with it all too. I still haven't taken her out to the Kiln to show her my grandmother's house yet. Our solution was just to work so hard during the day we wore ourselves out and didn't have time to think about anything. My uncle did a shrimp boil for us in the driveway one night, and the feeling of family and history and memories was SO strong. I can't begin to remember how many times in the last 40 years we have sat right there eating shrimp and laughing and telling stories. I'm very grateful I could share that with my friends. My biggest regret is that they didn't see the coast as it was before.

This and That

No pictures today (because I'm an idiot) even though I had 9 pieces hanging this weekend at the MQA meeting. I taught a 3 hour fabric postcard class on Saturday morning and was a nervous wreck about doing it, so getting pictures of my quilts was the last thing on my mind. I had an absolute blast teaching the class and hope the students felt the same. It's gratifying to watch someone take that first step from very traditional to free-form, anything-goes sort of work. I think that's what quilt guilds should be about anyway. Sharing the skills and knowledge of traditional, while exposing the members to new techniques. It gives you a choice for your work. I don't do traditional pieced work, although I know how, but those who do have my admiration and without them sharing their talents, who knows what I'd be doing now. But I do love having the CHOICE of traditional or art quilting.
And the BESTEST thing that happened this weekend was that I had half a dozen or more people ask about "the pattern for the mask quilt." The first time someone approached me with the question she literally got a blank look and a "Pattern? What do you mean?" in reply. It honestly didn't register with me what she was asking since I don't use patterns (I did trace the mask, so I guess that's a pattern) and it wasn't pieced and 'patterns' to my mind imply following directions or using a lay-out for the pieces. I was a little better prepared for the next time someone asked about it though.
All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, and I loved meeting everyone and looking at the quilts. There are some incredibly talented members.