Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to...

the North Seas we go! Brandon's quilt is on its way to T and F Quilting Studios, and I've got a shower present to start if there is any spare time today. We leave tonight for Copenhagen and will get on an NCL ship that goes up the coast of Norway, across to the Faroe and Shetland Islands, over to Reykjavik and then back to Denmark via Dublin. I may be leaving out a port of call. We are thrilled and happy. No sewing, no quilting, just lots of sight-seeing, reading, and perhaps a meal or two. Our stateroom is on the same level at the Fitness Center, so really - no excuses, right? Piece peace and maintain a sewing tension! 

(I can't stand to do a pictureless post, so here are two projects from my fellow CMQG's retreat work.  The top is Debbie P's - love the color and the design.  The bottom is Beth's batik quilt in process.  I hope they both know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...)

CMQG Fall Retreat

The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Fall Retreat at the Siena Center in Racine, WI was just perfect - a lovely and small group and ideal weather.  Our work room overlooking Lake Michigan saw so much production.  The first half of the retreat I worked on Morsbags for the September charity Sew-In my guild is hosting - I won't be there and wanted to get my bags done.  Organizers Erika and Holly announced a competition to see who makes the most bags.  I don't even know what the prize is, but that old competitive nature just kicks in...

The other project I worked on is a quilt for 8th grade grandson Brandon, who has moved from a twin to a full bed. He originally asked if I could enlarge the quilt he made a couple of years ago. When I suggested a new quilt, he asked if he would have to make it. When I assured him I would indeed make it, he of course agreed. These colors are bright and manly - I think he'll be happy to use this through his high school years! Want to know more about the retreat? Hop on over to the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild blog - pictures should be up in a day or two!

Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feelings

Do those words look familiar? It's Wordsworth's definition of poetry. But it's my definition of why I sew. Yesterday - instead of bursting into song as most of my family is apt to do - I burst into "bag." I had to use this fabric, and within three hours it had become a tote that turns into a duffel. I sew my best when I'm sewing for someone, as is the case here. This fabric was one I had designed from Spoonflower and had just never gotten around to using. It was too unique to cut up and is really perfect in this application.

And of course there's the ever-changing pile of quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Each one of them comes with an artistic statement. It's a daily reminder of how pervasive Alzheimer's is. And I'm beginning to realize that each quilt artist has a purpose for her artistic expression and an outlet for her powerful feelings.

Planning for September

We're leaving town for the last two weeks of September, and there are many things to make sure are in place. I'm missing the September meeting of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, and I'm sad because we're doing bags for the Chicago Food Depository - read about it here. Organizers Erika and Holly are suggesting there will be a competition to see who can make the most bags. So for the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Fall Retreat 2012 I am taking 11 Mors bags kits. These fabrics all come from a pile in my stash: the too-ugly-too-old-to-live pile. Seriously, one of these fabrics I know for sure is from the 1980's. What a great way to use up these odd bits. So, CMQG peeps, the challenge is on!

In preparation for the retreat I decided I needed a more efficient ditty bag for all my various sewing bits. This pattern wasn't easy, and now I will have to make another one, just to make sure I know the steps and to also do a neater job. Check out the cool suction handle on my ruler. CMQG VP Jen gave that to me when I commented on how much I love hers. What a great gift! Love it!

My other task at the retreat, besides Mors bags, will be a new quilt for grandon Brandon. Today he saw these colors and gave me the thumbs up. I have the rest of the week to plot the pattern and do the cutting. Then, at the retreat, I'll be able to make some terrific piecing progress! Lots of things to look forward to - the CMQG retreat, our trip to Norway, Scotland, Iceland, and Ireland this month, the CMQG's first exhibition of our Modern Art Challenges, and lots of quilts to be scanned. Goodby, Hot Summer 2012. Welcome, Fall 2012!

The other thing I do

Some of you I know think that because I'm retired that I sew nonstop. In my fantasy life, that's what I do. But in my real life I juggle several things along with my sewing - my parents' financial and medical affairs, my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild involvement, attention to physical matters, a lackluster attempt at cooking and laundry (John really does it all). Last February when my guild became involved with the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, the door opened for a volunteering opportunity. Fellow guild member Eileen (yes, she who made my Modern Art Quilt Challenge and she whose AAQI art quilt I bought) are scanning the Priority Quilts that are donated to AAQI. Those scans are then uploaded to the AAQI website, and we ship the scanned quilts to Ami Simms in Flint, MI, where she and her volunteer staff there auction and sell them.

I'm proud to be a part of this grass-roots initiative that has raised over $700,000. Like so many others who see the toll Alzheimer's takes on an individual and the family, I know there must be research. To think that these little quilts - no bigger than 9" x 12" - have collectively raised so much money is truly remarkable. Even though I've only been involved with this project for two months, I think it's growing in geometric proportions. It's a privilege to touch the quilts of so many who have all been impacted by Alzheimer's. And I know from personal experience that making quilts like these is an emotional expression that provides some catharsis.

Here's tomorrow's work lined up on the studio stairs. Quilts from Washington and from New Hampshire. From Texas to Minnesota. I may not be sewing as much, but in some ways that's ok.  To be selective about what quilting projects I work on is a good thing. 

Next up? A quilt for Brandon - he just got a new big bed.  And on the subject of grandchildren, John and I went to Brookfield Zoo today because granddaughter Natalie (yes, the one who helped me reoganize my fabrics in July) was a part of the Dolphin Show!

Modern Art Challenge from Eileen

Isn't this beautiful?  It's 9.5" by 19", and I must find the perfect place in my house to hang this.  What I gave Eileen was a postcard of VanGogh who was imitating an Asian artist (see picture at the end of this post).  And this is what she created.  Can you see the piecing detail in the back at the top and bottom?  I love how she isolated some of Kanji elemnts.  What I love about the original work is its lines and color.  And did Eileen ever capture both of those!


Not only am I thrilled with what I received at the Modern Art Challenge swap at yesterday's Chicago Modern Quilt Guild
meeting, so was every other recipient.  In fact, it was a huge love fest!  It was obvious how each quilter gave full thought to the development and execution of these fabulous quilted works of art.  Some of us were literal - some of us were abstract.  All I know is that with each piece presented, my jaw dropped. 

I think this might have been the most fun I have ever had at a guild meeting.  We must do this again!  And again!

  

This image is a scanned one and shows off the detail and fabrics better.

Cutting Mat Bag

Just when you think you have it all, you see something you NEED. Guildster Melissa came over for a playday and brought in her own cutting mat in a fabulous bag she made. And she had loaned me the magazine in which she found the pattern (Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts, Summer 2008). This bag carries an 18" x 24" cutting mat and requires a bit of yardage. So I hit my pile of Too Ugly/Old to Live fabrics and found a vintage Jinny Beyer border print and coordinating fabric. Then I began to tailor the bag to what I know I need by changing the orientation to portrait rather than landscape, enlarging the outer pockets so that the big one can hold a book, and adding an inner pockets with the center one being open so that it can stabilize the 6.5" by 24" ruler.










Cutting mats are hard to transport, just because of their size. And I have broken two rulers. Going to sew-ins, retreats, and workshops has just become a lot easier with this ready-to-go bag in which all items are secure. One of the interior pockets has my spare rotary cutter and even an extra blade. The last adaptation I made to this bag was to use Soft and Stable byannie.com for the tote straps.  This batting provides a nice stability that a bag of this size needs.

It's a Tote AND a Duffel!

This little tote bag is pretty sturdy. It could carry at least 10 quilting books comfortably. Instead of being quilted and lined with batting, both the outer and inner bag have interfacing fused to them. So the bag is foldable but strong.On the left side of the bag, you can see the strap for the duffel bag conversion.

Here is the bag now turned into the duffel. Notice the pocket on the right is now horizontal. The lining matches the pocket.

Both the bag and the fabrics are from Jinny Beyer

Of course I have to make another one and have hit my batik stash. The construction of this bag is pretty simple. The zipper goes into the sides, and then the raw edges are seamed together. Once the four corners are boxed and the duffel strap sewn in, it's complete. Pretty nifty! Do you think this qualifies as transformational quilting?

Modern Art Challenge

My piece for Terri Karls is finished. The interior monologues I have with her while doing this have ranged from frustration to gratitude. This exercise was truly a fun one and worth the emotional turmoil to be stretched outside of my safe zone. Terri's chosen artist is Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 - 2000), an Austrian who eventually moved to New Zealand. From the Eycyclopedia Britannica: He incorporated bright, contrasting colours, elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical, organic forms, and natural vegetation in both his artwork and his buildings." This piece is 19" x 19" and part of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Modern Art Challenge, Summer 2012. Ok, going back into my safe zone now!

 Here's the picture Terri gave me - the quality is not terrific (my fault).  Just ramp up all the colors, and you have a pretty good picture for your mind!

Antithesis of a personal philosophy

Less is more. That's my philosophy. Simplify when possible. With art, help the eye figure out what it's seeing. The piece of art by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 - 2000) which I received for the Modern Art Challenge does not represent Less is More. It clearly screams, "More is More. My piece is now constructed. And it's time for quilting - no easy task when one is trying to channel her inner "More is More". Despite frustrations with this piece and not liking how this is turning out because of not responding to the original piece, what a fun challenge this is. I love the mental and artistic stretching. Face it: if you always do what you've always done, then you always get what you already have.