Fabric Christmas Cards 2010

I experimented with adding paper to a couple cards this year.

Two  showing more detail.

I made about 30.   Wish I'd made more this year.   Will have to start earlier next year, God willing.

I Need Some Conversation Up in Here!

    It is snowing in the mountains and in the valley.  I'm snug and comfy within, wrapped in an old, old, housecoat given me one Christmas, long ago, by my sister.

     I've been exploring sites that offer tips about getting traffic to your blog.  I feel like "all the lonely people"  here just typing away and no one responding.   From Ezine@rticles I find a list by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff that has been viewed 85,000 times, so I figure all those viewers thought it was worth reading, at least the first time and maybe some of them returned.   Another site I read offered "5 Blogging Basics You Can't Live Without "by Nate Moller, who then has lots of comments from other bloggers agreeing or disagreeing with his suggestions.  I registered my blog on Planet USA.

     I wonder how the quilters who I list in my Quilters Love List on the right got friends and strangers to visit their blogsites.    Well, if you're reading this and you have tips to share, I'd sure appreciate it.

"I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a couple times since then."

                                                                    Alice in  Alice in Wonderland

Elizabeth Barton on Cliches

"Clichés very definitely exist in the abstract world too; I think the “wall of sound” type of abstract work has had its day (even though several people continue to produce them!), also empty spaces filled with complicated dense machine quilting and then the occasional shape or line, wildly painted or dyed cloth that is randomly cut up and sewn back together, strip piecing for its own sake and so on."



" The point about good art is that it slows us down, makes us think, shows us a new way of looking at things.  Moreover, it’s a way we won’t forget and will want more of."

It is interesting to read what someone who is a national teacher of quilting and known in the quilt world thinks or defines as "cliche " in that world.   It's not something I knew.   Like the child I find I'm constantly amazed at what people do with cloth and machine.   And with the long arm artists these days, one wonders if there is anything that can't be done.  And yet, I feel if a young or new quilter makes sunflowers or a log cabin quilt, she's or he's exploring what can or cannot be done  afresh in this medium

Christmas Comes

Making Christmas fabric cards for special friends.  Having fun.

New Portrait

Been working on this for a while.   Our church held its first annual Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 21 and combined that with a "roast" for our priest, Fr. Livinus Uba.   I started working on the portrait back in September, but it was an off and on again affair.   Selecting fabrics to capture the lights and shadows of his face presented problems, but it turned out okay.  

     The simplified sketch above was made from a tracing I did from the original photograph I took.  This line drawing was blown up and then copied onto freezer paper, which became my pattern. I used steam-2-seam fusible to lay the portrait pieces, then quilted after assembling the whole portrait.  I came upon a new method of framing these portraits in the recent QN, (I think that was the magazine) that I plan to try.   It calls for another quilt which provides a frame for this one and to which you attach the portrait.  Looks fairly simple, but I'll let you know when it's done.

I appreciate your visit.

Online Quilt Festival

Happened by chance upon an online quilt festival, hosted by Amy's Creative Side The fall/winter festival results were just published in November. Each quilt is accompanied with a story of why the quilt has significance for the quilter. The stories and the quilts are beautiful to behold. I'd love to enter a quilt in the spring festival if it is held in 2011.

Also, read about Mandy Chilvers who hosts a site calling for an art card each week -- Sunday Postcard Art.  A theme word is posted and artists respond by creating a work that represents in some way the word's meaning to them. Neat idea. I like the idea of a weekly challenge for its power to inspire one to make something complete each week. The work portrayed is awesome in every category.