Quilting on the Edge

Pinterest

Maybe you've heard of Pinterest......if not,it's actually a bulletin board, but online.  I recently joined Pinterest.   If you look at the left hand column of this blog, right above my photo, in red, is the link to my Pinterest board.  There you will see things of interest to me that I've either created, found online, and perhaps want to remember.  Just like something I'd hang on a real life bulletin board.  Things I might not want to forget.  You can subscribe to my pinterest boards if you like, or just click and visit it when you may want to.  The beauty of this idea for me is that if I see something online that I want to remember, I can just click a 'pin it' button, and it will be deposited in the right category there and remain available to me in the future.  When I click on an an image I may have placed there, I'll go back to the original site from where I found it.  I think it's pretty neat as I'm often seeing things I want to remember but I can't bookmark everything!!!!!  So, check it out if you're interested......and maybe sign up for Pinterest yourself!   Thanks for looking!     Chris  

Word of the Year for 2012

Last year in one of my online groups there was a lot of talk about choosing a "word" that would be the focus of the year ahead for yourself.  Any word you wanted that you thought described what you wanted to strive to accomplish, or to be the focus of your activities for the upcoming year.   I recall some people chose words like simplify, reduce, focus, direction, positive, you get the idea.  I think originally the idea was to use the word to guide  your art creation, but I can see how the word can guide your life in general.  Perhaps focus on relationships?  Simplify your schedule? Reduce your wasted time?  I didn't choose a word last year but am thinking now about possibly doing so for 2012.   I'm not sure what it will be as yet, but I'm thinking about the sort of things that would improve my daily life, and creative life.   Some things that annoy me now, for example, are that I have stuff in my studio that I do not use to any great extent.  I'm trying to decide if it's time to donate them, or keep them.  You know that insecure feeling you may get when you get ready to get rid of something you no longer use.......suddenly you start thinking maybe you'll want it, even though you haven't touched it in quite some time.  What's the statute of limitations on art stuff?  I guess that depends.  My studio is not overrun by any means with stuff, it's just that I am tired of looking at a few boxes and bins that I just seem to move from place to place.  So I'm thinking that my 'word' for 2012 may involve this aspect of my art life.  I like the word 'enhance'.......only keep things that enhance my life, creative or otherwise. The rest is just stuff obstructing my view.  I don't think the word clutter applies to me, as I am not that kind of person.  But I am the holder of items that no longer enhance my life experience....and that word could also apply to other life activities and personal relationships and my behavior in those areas. Not to mention my wardrobe.  Hmmmm, I have about 18 days till the New Year. I'll keep thinking about it, maybe there's a better word to describe what I'm talking about.  If you have any ideas, send them to me!

Where I Found the Gingerbread Man!

Over Thanksgiving my 5 year old kindergarten grandson Aidan gave me a paper gingerbread man he had cut out.  Their class had been reading the story and learning all about language and story development, and their assignment was to give the gingerbread man to someone and see where they might find him, then return the gingerbread man to the teacher by mail.  Lucky me!!!!  The queen of art supplies and fabric!  We were to dress the gingerbread man appropriate to where we had 'seen' him.  Since I am now in Florida, I just knew I'd see him somewhere there, and can you imagine how surprised I was to find him fishing off the pier on Anna Maria Island?  So here's how he looked when I saw him.

He is wearing tropical shirt and shorts, sewn on.  His baseball cap is contruction paper.  The fishing pole is a pipe cleaner covered with brown fabric, and the fish is stiffened by fabric over fusible web.  I managed to catch him holding his fish and sent him back to Aidan's kindergarten class.  Won't it be fun for the kids to see all the places their gingerbread men have travelled?   Thanks, Aidan, this was a fun project for grandma.

Handwoven Scarves for My Grandsons

Sometime in October I had this idea that a photo of my grandsons sitting on my porch wearing scarves I had woven would be a great shot for my family photo wall......so, that meant I needed to make four scarves before Thanksgiving when they would all be here!  Well, I managed to do it!  I used leftover yarns from other projects to weave striped scarves, and decided on one end of each scarf I'd weave four rows of white as my 'signature'.....a sign that I had woven them.   I placed this white section about three inches from the end.  Here's the photos of the boys in their scarves.  Niam the youngest at 2 was asleep when  Trevor, Jack, and Aidan were able to get their picture taken, so I'm hoping that we can 'photoshop' him into the picture of the three guys so I'll one photo of them all together.  And I finally got the photo I was hoping for!  What's better, all the kids seem to like their scarves.  I guess I can't ask for more than that!

Thankful Moments

When I think about giving thanks on this holiday, I decided to look back over the past year and remember some things that were small incidents that made a big difference.  Of course I'm grateful for all the things we take for granted, like food and shelter.  It seems though that often the small everyday things or occurrences can carry so much weight at the time.  There were times when a friend or family member called on the phone at just the right time, or sent an email to bolster my confidence.   Maybe it got me out of my funk or just gave me new perspective on the problem at hand.  Or receiving a card or note in the mail!  Someone helping me with a task I dreaded doing, or my husband making me a cup of coffee in the afternoon and bringing it to me in my studio.  Finding a favorite food item purchased for me without asking.   Seeing the birds finally find our bird feeder and providing moments of free entertainment while I watched out the window. Laughing with friends over the silliness of life's dailiness.  A nice hot showever after a day in the yard or garden.  A walk by the lake for no reason other than finding peace and a moment of calm.  Opening the window shade to see deer passing by.  A neighbor helping me with our yard work, totally unexpectedly.  Delicious homemade bread for toast in the morning, thanks to my husband.  Watching friends learning to make quilts and being excited for them!  Laughing with friends as we try to play a game.....the perfect change of pace from a routine day.  A skype call from my kids.....and grandkids!   The fact that my mind and hands work  to create quilts or weave scarves.  The pleasure of accomplishment!  Being able to take a daily walk among beautiful trees and landscapes.  The list could be longer.... it seems to me though that these are the moments that make a life.   Take them away, and life could be devoid of meaning.  These things tend to go unnoticed until they are no longer there.  Hoping for many more of them in the year ahead.  and the same for you!

A Heroine during the Holocaust

Rob Young's Photos

Look at this lady - Let us never forget! 
The world hasn't just become wicked...it's always been wicked. The 
prize doesn't always go to the most deserving.

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive'. She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German). Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids). She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted. Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN and Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming. In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER I'm doing my small part by forwarding this message. I hope you'll consider doing the same.. It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated! Now, more than ever, with Iran , and others, claiming the HOLOCAUST to be 'a myth'. It's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

I Started my 9/11 Day With Sewing

I was up early today on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, so as is typical for me, I went to my studio and soon was working on a design for a project I'm making.  I recall that on 9/11/2001, I was also in my sewing studio in a different home.  My studio was in the basement, I recall I was listening to talk radio out of Chicago, about 60 miles from my home here in Indiana, and  the usual banter was interrupted by the first news reports that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  It became clear shortly that something serious was happening, so I went upstairs to turn on the television to see what was going on.

The rest is history.  I remember I moved my sewing machine and project upstairs to  the kitchen that day so I could sew while watching the coverage of the tragedy.  I remember that my husband had gone out to breakfast with some of his ham radio pals and I was anxious for him to return home and kept wondering if he knew what was going on.  I had no cell phone at that time.....so no way to call or text him.  I was so glad when he finally walked through the door, and couldn't tell him fast enough what was going on.  He seemed not to believe or understand what I was telling him, and he soon saw the second plane hit the towers for himself.  I called my one son in New Jersey, a grad student at Princeton.......I woke him up and told him to turn on the television.  Our younger son's birthday is 9/11, so I was busy trying to contact him in Chicago.  I stayed glued to the television coverage while I busily sewed on my quilt project.  It is no surprise that at times like these, I turned to sewing to be my source of comfort.  

 

Peeking Through the PotHolder

Here's my grandson Niam, two months shy of age 2.  He was helping me weave a potholder this morning, by selecting the colors of the loopers I asked for, which I then wove into place.  We decided to have a little fun so here he is peeking through the potholder.  

Nostalgia on a Late Summer Morning

As I was driving into town this morning I saw many things that brought back memories.  School has started here, and kids were outside with new backpacks waiting for the bus. At one home a grandpa was sitting with two young boys on the tailgate of a pickup waiting for their big yellow transportation.  Several places had Moms outside offering support to little ones waiting.  I could imagine the butterfly feelings some of those kids must have had waiting for the bus to come.  Passing a parochial school, I saw a young boy and girl, in school uniforms, carefully unfolding the flag to raise it in front of the school building.  Khaki pants, white shirts, navy socks....you no doubt have seen some version of that uniform.  And I passed many buses.  The air is little crisp this morning but already the sun is warming it up to become a beautiful day.  It could be horribly hot and sticky this August day, but we are fortunate that it's mild and starting to feel like fall.  Some trees are tinged with bits of red and orange.....the glorious color season is coming soon.  And, in the evening after supper, you can put on a comfortable sweater or shawl, and sip a cup of tea out on the deck.  These are the joys of  the new season ahead, offering us an early peek of a changes coming soon.  Aren't we blessed to witness it all?  

Lily Pad Wallpaper Mural

This is how I covered up a bathroom wall that is in not so great condition.... I covered it with a wall mural of  a  lake scene with lily pads.   I guess it wouldn't be for everybody, but I'm pretty happy with it.  It gives a large wall a nice surprise, and should be relaxing when I take a bath now and then.  I envision a large reedy like silk plant or grasses in the left corner...all in due time.