Goodbye to the Grid Class

Here's a sketch of a quilt-to-be!!!  (Good Lord Willing and the Creek don't rise)

I like both of these variations on a theme.  Don't know which one to select?  what do you think my friends?

Quilt Univ. Class

I'm currently taking a class from Dena Crain at Quilt U ( www.quiltuniversity.com)  and I find I enjoying it thoroughly.  Nothing like new techniques to get the motivation rolling and the ideas rising.  The class is "Goodbye to the Grid"  There are students from all over the globe enrolled in the class and Dena is a fabulous teacher who gives lots of feedack and has prepared excellent lessons  for her students.

THEY KNOW WHAT I LIKE! :-)

My sister attended the National Association of Black Sstoryteller's Conference in November 2012, and bought this lovely wall hanging for me.  The center is felted and shows the three Wise Men coming to see the babe.  I love the colors and the stitching of the crazy blocks.

Then, my daughter took the crazy picture I've used all year on FB and this blog and made a mug of it for me.  Now, this  is my favorite mug.

Sister also purchased this book, which I didn't have in my collection.   I remember her asking to borrow this and finding out I didn't have it.  Clever girl.  The thoughtfulness of these gifts fills me with gratitude that overflows my heart.

Altar Cloths

In process.   Red represents Holy Spirit's Flame.

Finished Product.   So happy it's done.

I mentioned that Father Livinus asked that I make altar cloths for the church anniversary celebration which was scheduled for December 2, the first Sunday of Advent. The Bishop of the Wheeling Charleston Diocese would be there too to confirm seven our our young people and join us in this momentus celebration. Liturgical purple was to be one color consideration, while Christmas red was to be the other.

Except for the few things I was making for the Bazaar (Ha!), and normal life (that takes an enormous amount of one's creative time), and a week in Maryland at a conference, and an annual quilting retreat weekend, I was totally focused from around mid-September to December 1----the day we hung the altar cloths and the wall hanging.

It really eased my tension when I learned the Bishop would be wearing the purple vestments.

T'IS THE SEASON

In deference to the season, I've changed my header to a triptych for Christmas,  made from fabulous seasonal fabrics I collected for a few years.

St. Peter Claver and the Enslaved African

The choir director at my church promised to cut a CD of our choir if I would do a wall mural of our patron saint, St. Peter Claver. I started off gung ho, last year, ideas coming faster than I could monitor them. But soon, the steam began to dissipate. I had found an image of St. Peter Claver side by side with an enslaved African, both symbolically holding crosses. I liked that better than those of the saint holding a lil black child, after all, his claim to fame was that he met the slave ships as they came in and gave succor to those who'd survived the horrific middle passage.

No one knows what St. Peter Claver actually looked like

For weeks on end I considered a border for the picture. If it was to be a wall mural of sorts, I needed an appropriate border to frame the image that I planned to set in a center circle.

That decision was a long time coming. Considering many traditional blocks and color schemes soon whittled away my enthusiasm. So I let it sleep within my subconscious over the summer.

In the early fall, I learned that the promised CD was forthcoming and would be ready in the time for our 75^th Church Anniversary. Our priest also asked that I make two altar cloths for the celebration.

That settled the border colors for me; I decided on the liturgical year colors of green, red, purple, and gold( which often framed the colors or images).

Well that pulled me back into gear immediately. As with most projects, I discovered many decisions and challenges. As I worked on the project, it's growth and unwieldy size proved daunting. Finally, it was finished. Now it hangs in the newly renovated parish hall.

Crystal embellishment

finished piece

(hmmmmm, I'm thinking another black border would frame that image perfectly).

CHRISTMAS CARD STORY

Angel set

Abstracts

ABstracts

It's The Christmas Season. In October and November, between other projects, I made collaged Christmas cards to sell at two Holiday Bazaars. Last year, I think I sold a few cards. So I just knew I'd have some left to send out to friends and family. NOT! I sold every last one of them.

Stockings

Pretty trees

front and inside of one card

In trying to figure out what I did differently, I note that the sizes are larger ( 5 x 8),  and since I'd run out of those lovely picture framing cards I'd bought as a bargain at an Awesome Deals store that  has since closed, I decided to make my own. Though they didn't turn out perfect, they looked professional enough – discovered I need a better glue or glue stick( with pointed end).

And Santas, of course

So now I'm taking a day here and there to make a few more to send out.

Fall Arrives in Huntington

     I feel Fall in the air in these cool mornings.  Days are already getting shorter.
I will miss the sunshine in the ripe red tomatoes of summer, but I look forward to longer evenings in my studio.

I submitted a quilted wall hanging to the challenge "Pearls of Wisdom" held by Creative Quilters.

It is part of a triptych of scenes, with a theme of AT-Oneness.  For the challenge though, I used the words from the song,  "I hope you Dance"  The photo doesn't capture the sparklies and the gems attached, but the moonlit waters shows up well. Thinking now, I'm going to have to invest in a new camera with stronger resolution so I can show quilting and finer embellishments in thread and ornamentation.

In the Meantime---Fabric Cards

Playing around with scraps---Whimsicals 

For my friend Ruth's 89th Birthday!

Aftermath of a Storm 6/29/12

at least it got rid of some Kudzu.

The storm came through WV on June 29 and left the towns without electricity and some without water for days.  The trees bowed and broke in the fury of 70 mile winds, taking down power lines all through the mountains and valleys.   I always thought our mountains protected us from such ravages.   Maybe mountain-top mining is beginning to reap it's vengeance.

On Monday, June 25th, I had Mayo Tree Service come to cut out the dead limbs from the beautiful old oak back of my house.  It is really too close to the house and it may be dying, the tree person said.   It would be very very costly to cut it down, so I decided to have it doctored.  Thank God.  Had the dead limbs  been on the tree when that storm came through, I know I'd not have a roof now.  As it was, my side of the block was without electricity for seven days, in temperatures that were 3 digits.