May I have your attention

It occurred to me after seeing that last post that nobody in their right mind is going to slog through it all the way to the end, and I'd REALLY like input on the workshop idea, so I'm pasting that part to the top of this post.

Rust dying (you knew I'd get around to that eventually) is going well. I'm in the process of playing with different fabrics, as opposed to turning out yardage right now. I did some bleached burlap and khaki colored linen yesterday and I LOVE both pieces. I have a silk chiffon scarf and a piece of raw silk out there right now and can't wait to see the results. I'm also trying to come up with a way to set up rust dying and gelatin plate printing and maybe some other surface design techniques as a workshop. Fortunately, most of my stuff only requires space and not an actual studio. I'm considering limiting it to maybe 5 people at the time on someone's driveway. That would be do-able for a one day class. Any ideas or suggestions? Any special requests for surface design techniques? Any takers on the workshop? I guess my next thoughts should probably be in the direction of letting people know the classes are available. Hmmmm, wonder if they'd let me post notices on the MQA board? Anyway, feel free to leave comments about this idea, or any others you have.

And the best way to get someone's attention on a blog is to post a picture, so here are some in-progress shots of Gye Nyame. This first one is a truly pitiful full-on shot of it. Pieced African cottons around the dancer, the mask, and the stars at the top. Commercially printed Gye Nyame symbols on the left and bottom.

The dancer is a faux leather fabric and the skirt is ripped strips of some of the fabrics around the border, twine, and some of that gorgeous recycled sari silk from my friend Vicki in Miami.

The mask is free-hand cut scraps of the African fabrics that are fused to a piece of heavy black. The drawn lines you see on the rust dyed brushed denim background of the dancer are patterns drawn on Press-N-Seal to be auditioned for the quilting lines. I'm happy with the djembe drums but the masks definitely need some work. Simple diagonals probably in the pieced borders and relatively heavy quilting over the fused mask at the top.

This and that

Random thoughts about nothing in particular. The GSQA http://www.gulfstatesquilting.bizland.com/ meeting was Saturday and it went so smoothly we couldn't believe it. It sure beat driving to Baton Rouge or Houma too. Less than 1o minutes from my house so I didn't have to set out at the crack of dawn to get there. I worked on the "Gye Nyame" African piece and got some good feedback on it. That's one that's definitely going into the Jackson Quilters http://jacksonquilters.com/ show Sept 15-16 at the new MS Crafts Center, which is an incredibly beautiful building, in a gorgeous setting. I have 2 others submitted also, none of which are actually finished, mind you, but far enough along to get pictures for identification to submit with the forms. Judy Spiers http://www.judyspiers.com/ did a great talk on her miniatures. I can't even begin to describe the effect of her quilts up close. An 18" quilt might have 6,000 or more pieces in it. A little block less than an inch wide had 16 pieces in it alone. Words fail me (alert the media) at her work. It was a real treat to sit with Linda and Caren on either side of me even though Linda warned my ribs might be bruised by her elbows throughout the meeting. She wasn't kidding either, since we managed to chuckle (quietly, of course) and nudge our way through it. It's funny how much I have grown to like this group of women, who are all smart, talented, funny and generous, since re-joining the local guilds. There are a few women who have individually paved the way for that, starting with Jackie, who contacted me to do a talk for the guild a year or so ago. I think that sort of led to my acceptance by the group a bit more than it had been. Linda, with her instant and total support, Dorinda and her HUGE circle of friends, the women who have bought and examined my work (and decided maybe they are real quilts after all) and all of the women who have opened their minds and accepted my work. I am also seeing a MUCH larger contingent of members adding embellishments and 'stuff' to their quilts. All in all, I'm pleased and proud to be a member of their groups.

A funny story from my sister. My niece apparently borrowed a pair of boots from my sis to wear, and then had trouble getting them off. They struggled with one and finally got it removed. The other one was just NOT coming off. She finally went to bed with one boot on, and didn't get it off until the next morning. Talk about a great mental image. All I could think of was the nursery rhyme about "one shoe off and one shoe on" and visualizing her in a frilly nightie with a single cowboy boot on.

Local elections are next Tuesday, and I'll be standing around at the polls. I figure that will give me bitching rights for the next term when some complete moron gets elected (and probably indicted) and does something incredibly stupid. I can at least say I did my best to not put them in office. The mayoral election can't get here soon enough, although at the rate our current nut-in-charge is going, tomorrow might not be soon enough. Our only hope is that he keeps doing insane things and ultimately at least one of the felony charges against him sticks so we can get him out of office.

Off to training this morning to be a scribe for the judging at the JQ show. It sounds very interesting, and something I've never been involved in and know nothing about. I have great faith in Dorinda (oh, to be so organized!) making the process as easy and clear as possible for us neophytes.

Rust dying (you knew I'd get around to that eventually) is going well. I'm in the process of playing with different fabrics, as opposed to turning out yardage right now. I did some bleached burlap and khaki colored linen yesterday and I LOVE both pieces. I have a silk chiffon scarf and a piece of raw silk out there right now and can't wait to see the results. I'm also trying to come up with a way to set up rust dying and gelatin plate printing and maybe some other surface design techniques as a workshop. Fortunately, most of my stuff only requires space and not an actual studio. I'm considering limiting it to maybe 5 people at the time on someone's driveway. That would be do-able for a one day class. Any ideas or suggestions? Any special requests for surface design techniques? Any takers on the workshop? I guess my next thoughts should probably be in the direction of letting people know the classes are available. Hmmmm, wonder if they'd let me post notices on the MQA board? Anyway, feel free to leave comments about this idea, or any others you have.

It must be 6:45. The neighbor's car alarm just went off. At least the puppy across the street hasn't set to howling like it's being shot yet.

Thank you for your patience.

I know you were all sitting around waiting with bated breath for my next post. My mind is still reeling from Sonji's class and the entire Tougaloo Art Colony experience. My mind reels anyway, just more now that it's crammed full of an entire week spent with real artists though. I felt like an absolute fraud being surrounded by MFAs all week, but I just sat back and laughed at the appropriate (and frequently inappropriate) times and nodded sagely at their pearls of art wisdom. The food was incredibly bad (and expensive) and the classes and interaction were incredibly good. My "Bird" Parker quilt sold almost immediately at the auction and I was SO excited! My biggest fear was that it would just get Vanna'ed around the room and then have to slink off quietly to sit in the corner by itself with no takers. Fortunately, Isaac Byrd showed up and he collects bird related stuff. I'll sit here in the early morning quiet and believe that he just loved the piece so much he HAD to have it for his own, and ignore the fact that he was probably as taken with the fact that there was a bird on it as he was with the actual artistic merit of it. Artists tend to be a bit self-delusional anyway I think. I did catch a glimpse of him at one point talking to another auction goer and gently stroking the quilt as he talked. He wasn't doing that with the other non-textile pieces either!

Surprisingly (at least for me) was what a big hit my rust dyed stuff made. I had a lot of interest in the pieces I brought and some inquiries about doing some workshops on it. I also sold a few pieces (along with a canvas drop cloth I went all Jackson Pollock on and then polyurethaned for a floor cloth) at the open studio on Friday. The attention the rust stuff got made me sort of look at it in a new light too. There may be more of it in my future, in more ways than me just deciding I need a certain piece for my own work. The good thing is that rust dying is something I actually enjoy doing, and it's not terribly labor intensive so maybe I won't get tired of doing it right away. I finally broke down yesterday and ordered a book on compost dying (don't hate me Rissa!) even though I fully expect it to be a battle royale with the author to get the damn thing in this lifetime. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any other source for the info I'm looking for than her book. At least I used PayPal so maybe they'll get on her ass if she doesn't follow through as agreed.

What to say about Tougaloo? Too much stuff and not enough brain-organization to think coherently yet. The instructors and students were unbelievable. I could natter on at great length about what an experience it was to meet Sonji, but suffice it to say we connected immediately. That connection held throughout the week, and I wanted to cry when she finally left. Thelma Smith was another student in our class and that was a HOOT! I think I spent more time with her last week than I did my own husband. And I didn't have to cook for her! Margaret brought in some gorgeous, luscious yarns she hand dyes through her company heritageyarns.com and I had to get a table as far away from Debbie as I could. No WAY I wanted to be in a position for people to be able to compare her work to mine. We were all begging/bribing/pleading/bartering trying to get a piece of her fabric to bring home with us. I'd have just hung it up on my wall as is and danced around laughing maniacally saying "Mine. All mine!" if I'd been successful in talking her out of the big piece I coveted. Alas, the silly woman actually followed directions and cut it up! Of course, the stuff she made with the cut up pieces was gorgeous too. There's not much she could have done to make it anything other than beautiful. I haven't even mentioned Gwen Magee and her independent study studio, where I spent half my time simply absorbing her working process and chatting (at great length, of course) about this and that and politics and Katrina and whirled peas and anything else that flitted across our brains.

OK....I'm tired of typing now, so I'll just call this Installment One of the Art Colony Report and come back to it after your eyes have healed. Lots more to report on but it will have to wait.

Y'all just wait!

Class is incredible. Sonji is incredible. The whole atmosphere is incredible. I'll have pictures and commentary (you knew I would) as soon as I can catch my breath and absorb it all. Well, that might take months, so I'll rephrase that to say I'll post about it as soon as I have a few minutes to sit down and get my thoughts together. I'll try to have pictures too, although I've taken the camera every single day and so far have taken a big ZERO pictures. Too much other stuff going on to distract me and I just never think to grab the camera. I promise I'll try to get some shots tomorrow, at least of all the fabric hanging around the room. I am in awe of some of what the other students are turning out. And they seem to do it so effortlessly too! I build colors and shapes and ideas in my head all night long, and once I get to class and have the paint in my hand (literally, in and on my hand....it's like finger painting for adults for me) the ideas just zoom out of my ears or something. I just start laying down colors that I like, or am curious about, or that Thelma has mixed too much of, or whatever is handy to slap on there next. I just go with the flow, and see where my inner Jackson Pollock takes me next.

Back up to the college tonight for the instructor's talks, and I'm still covered in paint. Wish me luck that I don't come home tomorrow night covered in fusible and burn marks. I am NOT a neat worker.

Paying it Forward

From Terry Grant's blog (http://www.andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/)
For the first 3 people who leave me a comment, I'll send a hand-made something-or-other. I've done a couple of these in the past and they are a lot of fun. I got the cutest postcard and a felted wrist pin cushion from JenClair at http://bayouquilts.blogspot.com/ and a couple of other postcards from other people.

EDIT: And you have to post the same offer on your own blog! I forgot that part of the deal.

Of course, now my worry is that there aren't 3 people who read the blog who want something made by me!