Quilting on the Edge

Repurposing Art Quilts

Recently I was looking through two plastic storage bins of small art quilt projects. I decided it was time to do something else with some of them........most were exercises in new techniques, new patterns, or new colorways, done over the last few years.  So I made some into small tote bags, about 10 by 12 inches.  They're great!  Now I can use them for myself, give them as gifts, or even sell them if the opportunity arise.  And best of all, they are no longer hiding in a plastic storage bin.  Maybe you'll like this idea too!

Landside Journal 11: A Day in the Life

Recently I've started playing the piano again and am enjoying playing many of my favorite Beatles' songs.  One of my favorites is "A Day In The Life". Playing it always causes me to think about a single day, what I've done, thought about, friends I've seen or talked to, just what a day in my life has been. This photo is from one of those days in my life........it's taken at Fox Park here in my hometown town of LaPorte Indiana.  I went there one afternoon  a few months ago with a bit of hand quilting to do.  My husband was in the hospital and about to be released after a week's stay. That Sunday I felt the urge to be near the water and near the quiet, so off I went with a chair, my sewing, and my camera.  Only stayed a few hours, but it was worth a lot more in feelings of well being.  I'm glad to be at a place and time in my life where I have the freedom to do such things as this.......take a grownup time-out more or less.   Alone.  Thought gathering time.  Lately I've been thinking about my friends too, those I hear from regularly, those who enter my life occasionally, those who I count on to listen to me when I have something on my mind, those who are online and I haven't ever actually spoke to.  Then there are those friends that are places, not people. Those places that, when you leave them, you are refreshed.  Your soul has been found and uplifted.  You have renewed energy to move forward.  Maybe you found an answer that has been eluding you.  Or maybe you found new questions. I have discovered that being near water,  parks, or wooded areas are my best friend places.  I can arrive to them when "life has been too much with me", and if I allow myself to be there and immerse myself in the experience, I can begin to recover from the too muchness of my daily life. Somehow, I even know when it's time to visit my friend places.  Seems I just end up there automatically and know that it's time for another visit with a good friend.  Have you visited your friendly places recently? 

Landside Journal 10: New Beginnings

The other morning while taking a bike ride about six thirty AM I first noticed a whiff of the oncoming change of seasons in the air.  Just a hint, mind you, that summer is waning and autumn is on its' heels.  Oh sure, there will be many too hot days left, lots of cookouts, and still picking tomatoes and peppers from our backyard garden.  But it's coming.  Some trees are showing a few leaves turning color.  The sounds of chorusing insects signal the onset of the school year.  I remember hearing these same insects every year about this time, and it alwas coincided with the kids buying school supplies and school clothes shopping.  I remember these same sounds from my own school days, and it meant that the carefree summer days were rapidly coming to a close.  Some mornings I need a sweatshirt when I take an early walk, even a late in the day walk or bike ride.  The summer annuals blooming in pots on my porch and patio are starting to look overworked.  I'm sure they are root bound.   Just the other day I was thinking about getting beautiful mum plants soon to replace the geraniums.  The days are getting shorter.  Every store you enter has a display of school supplies.....even though I'm way past that age, I still check them out since I love office supplies and paper and pencils and all that stuff.  I've often thought that the new year should not begin in January, but in September.  New shoes, new supplies, new grades, new friends........everything is a starting over in the fall.  I don't have kids to get ready as I did years ago, but it's not too hard to get that feeling inside of something big about to begin very soon.  It must be the refreshing nature of the cooler air that makes me think of taking new steps forward.  Where will my writing and my quilting take me in the new season?   I'll have to wait and find out, altho I think the seeds are planted for a new direction.

Art Postcard: Organized Chaos

Here we are in the midst of a bathroom remodelling project, and here's a fiber art card that depicts the scene.  We're more than half done, next will be the painting, flooring, and installation of the interior, and finishing touches.  So far we've been out of our bedroom area for almost three weeks........so you can imagine that we are eager to have this behind us.  I guess this card depicts how I feel about this ongoing project.  Lots of loose ends with a unified whole starting to take shape amidst the chaos.   The end is in sight!