Quilting on the Edge

Seaside Journal: Favorites: Glass Bottle Collection November 29, 2008

 Here's another favorite at our place in Anna Maria Island. My bottle collection.....This ledge is by the stairs on the way up from the garage, and just right for my bottles.   They're not expensive, just bottles I have seen and liked, found, or been given by others.  See the square fat one in front of the American Flag?  There are two like this, I don't see the other one in this photo.  These two were purchased from an antique/junk shop in Bermuda when we were there on our wedding trip over 30 years ago.  I believe they were for holding baby food or forumla.  The farthest bottle you can see on the left is a glass baby bottle with ounce markings.  The brown color  inside is tiny pine cones we see by the Gulf here that fall from the huge pine tress.  Last year I picked up one little pine cone each time we went to watch the sunset, and put it in this bottle.   I think we got up to around 28 or so.  Anyway, it was a nice reminder.  They also remind us of my mother in law.  I remember seeing containers of these small pinecones at her house when we visited, from her trips to Florida.  Nice Memories.

Art Quilt from Painted Fabric: Once In A Blue Moon

  Here's my latest painted fabric. Last Sunday I painted several pieces using fabric dyes..........this piece is one of my favorites, so I set to work making a quilt from it.  This is what I came up with: Once in a Blue Moon is the title I gave this piece.  It measures 13 by 22 inches.  What do you think?

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Seaside Journal: Favorites: The Yellow Rocker November 24, 2008

 Here is a photo of  my little yellow rocker.  I bought this at an antique show in LaPorte Indiana before our home here on Anna Maria Island was built..........It's smaller than a usual rocker, and pretty beat up, but being yellow I decided it would be perfect for our beachside home. Actually, my sister was with me and she encouraged me to get it for our place here.  It has always sat on this little deck outside our bedroom.  The  deck is only about 4 by 8 feet at the very most, so this rocker fits perfectly out there.  It's on the back side of our house, second story, so it's really sort of a hidden space.  The seat is all rippled from water damage, yet, it's just right for me.  I sometimes sit out here for a quiet moment and read or just gather my thoughts.  I have a small rug there and old barnwood table too, to hold my cup of tea!   I can see our backyard and lots of sea grape bushes all around me. 

 

Remembering the Assasination

As many of us of a certain age know, the memories of where we were and what we were doing when we heard about President Kennedy's assasination are vivid as it were yesterday.  I was a sophomore in high school, in biology class, when an announcement came over the speaker that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.  We were doing some sort of lab experiment I think.  We kept working, then soon the announcement that he was dead came.  Classes were dismissed.  I so clearly remember walking through the halls to our lockers in silence.  No one was talking.  No was was messing around.  Even rowdy immature teenagers had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces.  I remember feeling lost and unsure and scared.   Dallas was far away from Indiana, but it felt so strangely overwhelming and unsettled.  Of course, it was.  I recall going home, altho I don't know how I got there, if I walked or got a ride from someone.  Then followed the endless days of crying, watching television, and watching the rest of the events unfold.  I remember just not knowing what to expect.  I remember not going out with friends or doing anything normal.  I remember my parents crying too.  As we all heard too often, this was the end of innocence.  We had more deaths to follow but didn't know it yet.  Our lives were forever changed.  A day to remember.   A day that made us into who we are this very day.   

Seaside Journal: Clarity November 21, 2008

 After my beach walk this morning I am having a wonderful moment of clarity....about several issues that have been rolling around unsolved.  It's such a great feeling when that happens, isn't it?  Sort of like getting your ducks in a row after a period of them just lying around scattered and annoying you.  Yesterday I read a book from the library.....forgot about my unsolved issues.........got up this morning refreshed, took a walk on the beach, and here I am now after  finding new directions for my issues.  I figured out the pattern for a large quilt I'm designing, how many more blocks I need to make, and now I can proceed.  I decided what type of piece I'll be making for one of my customer's, washed the fabrics, and they're ready to be cut. Finally downloaded the info on a couple of shows I want to enter in 2009, and started a vision board with words and pictures so I can start looking at them and formulating my vision for this future quilt.  I need to have this one ready by March, so I have plenty of time to let my right brain solve this one, but now I have visual aids to spur my thinking.  I straighted out the spare room full of my quilting supplies, vacuumed my studio floor, and I'm feeling on track and ready to tackle my projects happily.  Clarity, it's a wonderful thing!  I don't know how much actual work I'll do today on these things, but that doesn't matter, I know where I'm going and I know I'll get there.  I guess my right brain needed a rest, and in doing so, it got everything all sorted out for me.  Wishing you clarity today too...........

Art Quilts for Sale: Happy Holidays!!!

I am offering several of my small quilts for sale for the holiday gift giving season.  If you are interested in any of the quilts, just email me and I'll fill you in on the details.  All quilts will come ready to hang!  Click on the image for a larger view.  Thanks for browsing!

Harvest Moon  24 by 20 inches

Mother Nature Mother Earth  17 by 18 inches

  Old Sol  13 by 13 inches

City Lights 11 by 17 inches     SOLD

Purple Branch 11 by 12 inches

Finding the Light  18 by 22 inches  SOLD

Safari  27 by 29 inches

Wildfire  11 by 11 inches

    Exit Strategy 12 by 16 inches   

  Hope  9 by 15 inches    SOLD

The Ascent  12 by 13 inches

  Natural Florida 17 by 19 inches

Tuesday's Leaves  10 by 11 inches

  Clear the Decks 17 by 14 inches

Seaside Journal: Favorites: November 16, 2008

  Here is another one of my favorites around our home here on Anna Maria Island.  It is a lap size quilt I made called Seaside Log Cabin.  It is machine pieced and hand quilted.  I started it in Indiana in 2001 and finished it shortly after we moved into our home here in February 2002.  By now you may realize I am partial to blues, and I made this with strong contrast between the sides of the log cabin block.  I've mostly kept it here on the back of this couch.  Occasionally, it is actually used to keep warm during a nap on the couch, often by family members visiting, and even by me on occasion.  There are often memories with quilts.......and this one is no exception.  I remember working on this one while our house was being built, we were in Indiana, and I was wondering how it would all turn out. 

Seaside Journal: November 15, 2008 Stormy Beach

It looked like the beach was recovering from an all night party when I took my walk this early morning.  If there was a storm last night, I didn't hear it.  But there must have been.  The high tide mark was way up past the middle of the beach,  lots of clumps of seaweed and stuff created a line there.  There were random tidal pools, and lots and lot of scattered vegetation all over the beach, mixed in with shells.  The waves must have been strong as there were clumps of foam of all sizes and shapes scattered about.......it always reminds me of soap bubbles when I see them.  The water's edge was uneven, and still coming in to shore with random patterns.  If this were your living room after a party last eve, you'd have a lot of cleaning to do.  But this will all take care of itself.  Maybe tomorrow, it will be calm and serene again.  Beach cleaned up.  Waves lapping gently on an orderly edge of the sand.  But today there are signs of a rough night.  On my way off the beach, a speedy sand crab caught my eye, rushing to find his refuge.  Must have been quite a night for him too.

Art Quilt "Reflections": from Painted Fabric

A few posts ago I showed fabric I've painted and Reflections is the first small quilt I made from the multicolored piece.  It measures about 17 inches square.  It's hard to imagine being able to create this piece from purchased fabric.......that's one of the beautiful things about making your own fabric.  The creation is exclusively yours and will not be duplicated.   I hope to continue to create other small quilts from this same piece of fabric and see where it takes me.  

Seaside Journal: Veteran's Day November 11, 2008

Here's another of my favorites around our Anna Maria Island home.  As you can see it is a heavy glass container, formerly a candle holder, filled with old marbles and with a small American flag sticking into the marble pile.  I have it in the corner of a windowsill, it's in our livingroom space.  I enjoy having a small flag visible in our home.  This is especially appropriate to highlight today on Veteran's Day.  My Dad who has passed is a veteran of WW II.  Another of my favorite scenes is seeing all the flags waving in the cemetery on Memorial Day, flags placed by the graves of veterans.  Here's my personal expression of that same feeling of gratitude. This window space is near the ceiling, so it's a great window for letting in light and does a lot more for the room than a blank wall would without the window.