Don’t Just Do Something. . .Stand There

August 20, 2011 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

The title of this post is taken from an LA Times article of the same name, and it extols the idea of “down time,” or “space time,” or “staring at the wall and watching the paint dry” time. A quote:

The short story writer Grace Paley also spoke up in praise of idleness. “I have a basic indolence about me which is essential to writing,” she said in an interview. “It really is. Kids now call it space around you. It’s thinking time, it’s hanging-out time, it’s daydreaming time. You know, it’s lie-around-the-bed time, it’s sitting-like-a-dope-in-your-chair time. And that seems to me essential to my work.”

Another related article talks about the importance of idle time. A quote:

Until recently, scientists would have found little of interest in the purposeless, mind-wandering spaces between Mrazek’s conscious breakfast-making tasks — they were just the brain idling between meaningful activity. But in the span of a few short years, they have instead come to view mental leisure as important, purposeful work — work that relies on a powerful and far-flung network of brain cells firing in unison.

Maybe that’s what’s going on with me today–just can’t seem to get traction in my off-time. I’ve decided it takes WAY more effort to start a project than it does to finish one. I may decide something different tomorrow. But for now–I’m just standing here. Doing nothing.

**illustration is done by Christopher Serra / For The Los Angeles Times

Sewing

FSF–Shopping Bag/Tote

August 19, 2011 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

Finally!! Something to show for Finishing School Friday. I was despairing of ever having something to show again, as school has started and I’ve been slammed with busyness. Today was the first day I’ve had to take a breath.

I was able to work on this shopping bag/tote that I’ve had cut out and partly sewn for over a week now. I wasn’t really happy with it during construction, but decided that today, before I started any other sewing projects, I would finish it. I remember long ago standing in a new dress in front of the mirror while my mother was sitting on the floor, marking my hem with straight pins. I didn’t like the dress at all. I thought it didn’t flatter my perfectly fine 17-year old teenage-girl body in the ways I wanted it to, in order to catch Dan Ord’s eye at church. I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want this. I must have said something to this effect to my mother (not mentioning the boy, of course), who mumbled through the pins in her mouth: “Don’t judge a dress until you get the hem in.”

She was right, of course, about this and so many other things. I wore that dress out, and yes, got the boy. But in dressmaking and in life, we have an idea in our head of how the end will be, but somehow what we are working on, and what our vision is, have a parting of the ways. Maybe it’s because we want it to be finished, to be done. And we are called away and so the quilt, the bag, the dress sit, unfinished. But I kept at it all afternoon, doing loads of laundry, talking to the man who came to replace our windshield (rock divots from our trip to Yellowstone), and made a batch of cookie dough.

It began last May with Carrie, a friend, who came to stay with one of her friends, Gina. We hung out together for two days, goofing off, playing, eating pastries at 4 p.m. in the afternoon and ruining our dinner, but who cared? When she and Gina left, they presented me with two swaths of quilt fabric: the raindrops print in blue and green and the wild floral print. I loved them both, and couldn’t decide between the two for lining the bag. So, I used both.

I finished the last of the top-stitching a few minutes ago, shook it out, and wow. I liked it! It’s the old put-in-the-hem principle at work, one more time.

In case you didn’t go and visit and read about being my slammed by school post on the other blog, here’s one of the pictures for you, a dreamy pastoral sunset scene, taken in Paris, Idaho. Enjoy, and have a good weekend!

WIP

WIP–Red/White Table Runner

August 17, 2011October 3, 2022 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

Even though my week was somewhat stalled, due to Lack of Personal Energy (that even chocolate and caffeine couldn’t fix), I did force myself to some progress on the Red/White Challenge blocks. I wanted to make a table runner, but didn’t know how it would come together. I played around with a lot of ideas, putting the blocks on point, but in the end, it was all about getting the blocks to interact together. I love how they seemed to “converse” when they were up on my pin wall and I knew if I put them on point, that conversation would vanish.

So I made a mock-up of the blocks with a checkerboard border.

Then I kept switching around the order of the blocks until I got an arrangement I liked.

Stitched together and pinned–ready for quilting! It’s good to have something smaller to work on, because school started this week. For those who don’t know, I teach English at a local community college, and this semester (they rotate our classes) I’m teaching Introduction to Literature. We’re diving into poems right off the bat, so I thought I’d offer up this poem by Billy Collins, as a tribute to what students in literature classes can do to a poem.

Introduction to Poetry

by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

from The Apple that Astonished Paris, 1996
University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark.

But the most important thing of all is, it’s my daughter’s birthday. Because she developed pari-partum cardiomyopathy upon the birth of her last child–a life-threatening disease–I celebrate every birthday I can. Happy Birthday, Barbara!

And if you’ll indulge me for one more, here’s my husband and I with most of our grandchildren, taken at the last family reunion. I LOVE glow necklaces!

Originally linked up with online Digital Group WIP Wednesday.

See finished runner here.

Quilt Shows

Springville Quilt Show, Part II

August 16, 2011February 24, 2012 Elizabeth E.2 Comments

Again, so sorry not to have lots of interesting information for the quilters. Our dead desktop computer has gone to the shop (cue: violins) and we’ll find out if our fancy back-up external hard drive system has been working for us. Or if we should just start crying now. Okay, let’s look at art to take our minds off of the hum-drum of our very dull twentieth-century-computer-dependent lives.

Upstairs, the museum has a lot of art from Russia; I’m giving you two of the paintings that just leapt off of the walls. This one is my sister-in-law’s favorite, and I can only imagine it’s because of the beauty and hope and passion of these young girls on their graduation day. I wanted to take it home with me.

This one could be a quilt! A May Day celebration, complete with balloons.

Here’s another exhibit room, and in the far right corner is another quilter who has the same thing on her mind as I do: the Lollypop Tree Quilt.

But Chris Manning’s version is stunningly different from the usual brilliantly lit up colors used on this quilt. I took lots of photos–lucky you, you get to see them all. I was so impressed by this coloration. Really fabulous. Title: Lollipop.

Those greyed-out greens, mossy colors work incredibly well with the pastels, the deep tones.

I covet this, really I do. Is it because it’s “done” or because it’s so beautiful in the tones and values and colors she chose. Both.

Last gallery.

Sorry the lighting is so dim on this quilt, but you have to believe me when I tell you that Rhonda Montgomery’s quilt My Favorite Things, is a real knock-out in person. They had the quilts really well-lit, so the flash wouldn’t go off on my camera (I know, try reading the camera book to see how to do a fill flash. That’s next on my list–right after solving the computer problem).

I peeked closely at these letters–either she went around each of them with a marker, or else it’s a very thin line of acrylic paint. Whatever the technique, it made them pop off the quilt.

Brenda Sommers’ Grandma’s Lemonade Stand was in that room with all the deliciously pastel quilts–again, this photo doesn’t do it justice. So I read her name, and then wondered–don’t I know her? That name is so familiar. I think she used to live in my neighborhood, but I guess I’ll never know. We quilters travel in a small world!

Julie Saville made this quilt, and I think it’s titled Road to Ohio. I love all the sampler blocks arrayed around the center medallion. Sampler blocks seem to be popular right now, with a couple of Quilt-A-Longs going on. Here’s an idea for putting it all together.

Kathy Young’s quilt, Not So Long Ago, is an homage to her childhood family and home.

Perfect!

This reminded me of the May Day painting in the upstairs Russian galleries. While I’ve been fixated on red and white quilts, this shows you what using red as a “neutral” can produce. It looks like another Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins design (like the dotty circles quilt, yesterday). They keep us busy with applique!

I believe this is titled Grandma’s Old Time Garden, made by Patsy Wall. I love those carnations in orange-striped fabric!

This is one where I have no idea who the maker is, nor the title. I apologize, but I include it even without that information, because I’m really impressed with her soft shading of color to color–using up lots of fabrics (an idea for a scrap quilt?) It quite possibly could be Carolyn Hulse’s Scraps of Rainbows, but I really don’t know.

It was beautifully done.

Strawberry Baskets is done by Valerie Marsh, and is another delectable pastel quilt. The quilting is quite amazing, and if I ever get the computer back–and restore its memory–I’ll let you know who did it.

By the time Janice and I finished the show (I’m on the far right and Janice is next to me), our niece Lisa (in the black) had arrived and followed the sound of our voices to find us. Becky, another sister-in-law of mine (Janice’s sister) came just as Janice and I had to jet–and she brought me two gigantor zucchini from her garden! I love getting together with these fine women, and how fun it was to do it in a quilt show!