Happy Halloween

Beware!!!

Art Giving

Inspired by Calico Cat, blog of Amy, I am offering a small piece of fiber art to the first five people who ask in the comments. I think this is a wonderful way to build community and have fun creating too!
Here is where Amy got the idea.
http://debraspincicdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2006/10/arty-meme.html
I don't know what I will do yet. But I have an idea that it will look like a postcard!
In return, you have to give away five pieces through your blog too....
My fear is that no one will ask!!
*****Hi all I have five takers but only one snail mail address from Emmy! So yes to all of you please go to the profile page and send me your addresses>>>oxox

denim beast

Begun in the eighties , from a pattern in an old Georgia Bonesteel book, made from old jeans and flannel-a beast to stitch through. It has at least three kinds of quilting including big stitch, in the ditch, and machine quilting-which messed up the timing on my machine.
It is now bound and given to Katy since it is the only one of my creations she has ever liked.Now that it is finished I really like it alot.
I am thinking my next project will be my Moondance quilt froma bom a couple of years back...Beth Ferrier is the designer. I have the top almost sewn together, awaiting applique embellishment which may or may not happen. Alas my camera is out of juice so there are no photos till tomorrow.

Finished and ready to go

I am as pleased as punch with this quilt and I am happy to be done and finished. A turkey is done, I have heard, and I am not turkey so I guess I am finished.
Dined on sushi from a new sushi spot in the west end-----way way good. The sushi was excellent and the tiny restaurant was lit only with candles, no more than six or so tables and at the bar at the end of the room was the behatted chef deftly making delectables if you cared to watch. I alway like eating in places where I can watch the action. Alas Mike is not a sushi fan, so we picked up a slice of pizza for him in the pizza place next store, and drove home to eat by the light of the tv.
The winds are gusting outside. ("Gusty" is a word used in the seventies, in the Northeast, by cool teenagers, a shortened version of 'disgusting'. Specifically used by Dana Good, now dead some years, of cancer. Hi Dana. I am remembering you. People deserve to be remembered. Dana had a couple of false teeth in set in a bridge in his mouth and he used to take them in an out as he conversed with you. It could be somewhat disconcerting if you did not know him. And he wore converse high tops even in the bitter Vermont winter. I last saw him in 1978, when he came to visit me in Hartford. We were not lovers . Good friends. I wept when I heard he died. As you age you realize how few of us there are. Survivors, creatives, friends.)
Ramble ramble ...one of those memory manholes that I fall into every so often.

Sampler Swap blocks and Pumpkins

Pumpkins by Bailey, KateLynn and Kali

I am enjoying doing these wonderful blocks for my self and a friend. They are, so far, a selection of Dear Jane, Dear Hannah, and a Heart and Hand Applique pattern. I love the fabrics. I love making them and I love getting hers too! It is a win win situation. It is a magical math when you do one for you and one for a friend. It seems like you get two for one and then you get some in the mail. And who doesn't love getting mail? Very gratifying. And the amount of blocks -one for you and one for her-is very managable and pleasant. I recommend this peaceful way of swapping.

untitled

we are being pulled along this worried frantic manic current
navigating with all the other bobbing heads
through the streaming headlights

in a becalmed sea I could have been marooned by silence

I have been the emotional mainland I say and I hear my voice as though I am not the one who speaks

the shoreline
is subject to change
the weather
the bloody endless changing tides
i am always

giving
always giving and conforming to the changes
losing parts of my self in the process
uninventoried
i believe I will come back later to recollect myself
but the current never, ever reverses

maybe what we get to keep is the stuff of dreams that
elude
these things which we thought we were lucky to have escaped
that stuff which has imprinted the pillow lines on the face
visible
even after coffee and subways have been
played through
left in the backwash

maybe that is all we get to keep
everything else is swept away in the bustling current

there are things that make you want to stop and look and and touch and examine each one
and carress the soft cheek, inhaling and memorizing it
to incorporate into your own version

but there is no time for that
your attention is diverted
wrenched away

and damn i have hit a snag like
seaweed that is caught in the rocks
or does it originate there

and there is always another storm at sea

whadya want for dinner and
I need some money to replace the book I lost

it wasn’t mine

it wasn’t ever even mine
it wasn't a part of that dream

Friday happenings

Got a cool post card from Sue In Washington. Love the little ghostie and the bat, o and the castle too.
Passed a buffalo herd in Riverhead which I had to share. These guys were younger but there was a huge bull in the back who looks twice the sizze of the others. Is he the daddy? Don't know much about buffalo.
The girlies got their dollies and duly appreciated the toostie roll pops! Go figure. I am glad they were happy:)

Ready to roll

We are off to points east, to visit and enjoy the spectacular autumn day. This is what I am taking with me. My Janome, in the cooler, is going in for a lube job. Meg Swansen knitting book from the library, Martha Grimes novel , also from library and my knitting, in the bag I bought it in. O and my huge straw bag, made in Madagascar and bought from a jewelery shop in Southampton, whose name escapes me. He had a beautiful dog with the most amazing blue eyes, who was friendly. In the bag I carry a journal, chapstick, camera and wallet, case for my glasses, phone, hat, and sometimes a snack and or a water bottle. O and I should make sure to bring a head lamp in case we come back in the dark and I want to read or knit in the car.
So lets get started. Vroom vroom

Dolls with quilts

Here are the raggedies for our nieces, with their faux quilts.

And one more wedding picture with all of us.

weighty matters

Today my son told me that he has hypertension. He is twenty three. In our family he have a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. Not a good combination... so I have committed myself to lose weight with him. And so has his dad and his sister and even my lanky husband who has put on that middle aged twenty pounds since we first met.
For me it is back to weight watcher to lose thirty five pounds. I have been so unhappy with my weight lately.More from vanity than from health reasons. There was not on ephoto from my daughter's wedding ,of me, that I liked. (Worse even) I was always one of those young skinny types and now that fifty looms I am not skinny nor young. And while I have no desire to turn back time, I can lose weight.
My plan:
1.Go to weight watchers tonight. I have put it on my calendar as a weekly event and I have put a two hour reminder on it so I don't "forget".
2.Buy good walking shoes. Because of my weight and possible arthritis in my feet and knees and back, it is so important for me to have good shoes, not, alas, sexy ones, but sturdy and comfortable ones, because if my feet hurt, I won't walk and if I don't walk I will stay fat and if I stay fat my knees will hurt and so it goes. So I have ordered myself a pair of hikers from a catalog called Title9 For those who may not know, title nine is the law in the USA that entitles girls equal access in school to fitness and sports programs. When I was a girl this was not the case.
So, I will be counting steps and points and I hope I will not be too cranky, but don't count on it.

loop-d-loop

we took a ride to Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island and visited my favorite yarn and fiber art store Now and Zen Fiber Arts
and I bought some Cascade 220 to make some flowers to put on a felted bag and I bought one little skein of silk mohair yarn with sparkly nylon things in it to make a lace ascot And And And I bought this book, Loop-d-Loop,
because I love the patterns and have the yarn to make a couple and this was a Good Day.
On the way back east we stopped at Wickhams
Farm stand and bought Stilton cheese and apples and apple cider and a loaf of wonderful artisian bread baked with rosemary and olives ( and other stuff I am sure but it is long since eaten), and we bought some cheddar for Mike , who will not go near Stilton, and we went back to Else's and feasted upon our purchase. And this was also Good.
This morning I re ironed the freezer paper bits to the right side of my fabric, the correct side since it is not actually the right side, as it were, and hope to do some wonderful calming hand stitching today.
Daughter Jen is coming over with the wedding pictures!!!I get my own DVD and I will post some later. Happy day!

Ogres, Wips and Innovation!

Things on my design wall. The Dear Jane blocks will be scanned and altered (for fit) and printed onto a sheet of fabric for the Raggedy dolls. That way, the dolls have a quilt and no one has to worry about them being too precious. There was a lady on my Dear Jane list, Linda H, who said she was doing this for each block to make a whole quilt. This was the seed for this idea. If you can do it block by block-why not a mini quilt for a doll? then you can resize it in Photoshop and make it like a journal quilt and you are done in time for Halloween. Thanks Linda!
The Ogre is the 30's nine patch variation. It is an ogre. Nuff said. I am using the idea from Quilter's Newletter magazine.
The Turkey Red blocks are for a one to one swap with a Freind. This is my Wip for October.
I am so sick today with sinus infection, chills headache nausea.....and the news of the shootings of children is making me so heartsick.
Just so very sad

Little Raggedies without dresses

Aren't they too cute? This is a Gail Wilson pattern for eight inch dolls. I did them yesterday and sometime before the end of the month, I will make their clothes and send them to my nieces for Halloween. I may make them witch hats to make them Halloweenie. I also made some postcards for a swap but I can't show them yet but I can tell you I made a collage/painting and decorated it with stuff I bought at Michael's. Then I photographed it and printed it on to fabric and added some beads and a binding and Viola! a postcard is born.
I listened to "Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion. Very moving and so sad , a memoir about the death of her husband. She is an amazing writer.

Home of FDR

We took a ride up to Hyde Park and had a tour of the Roosevelt family farm. We also visited the library which was the first presidential library to be opened by a sitting president. It was filled with artifacts from his life and those of his parents and of his wife Eleanor. Included in the pictures are Eleanor's sewing kit which she used when traveling. She was also a knitter and there were of pictures of her knitting. This pleased me as I am a great admirer and would like to think we have a common bond.
The building is the stable and the tiles were in the stable. And the beautiful clock face was in the mail hall. The house was not the grandest I have seen but it was fun to walk through and the tour guide was amusing- and the grounds are beautiful. Must have been a nice place to grow up-on a thousand or so acres overlooking the mighty Hudson river.

getting ready to paint

Almost ready. First I have to figure out how the pirate gets in.

only just

fifty things i am happy about
wait no
fifity things i am grateful for
nono fifty things that are good in my life
health
kids
mike
house
beach
painting
writing
music
sewing
no no these are dumb things
these are not good enough
not specific
my camera
my computer
too shallow too trivial
nice pens
arg how stupid
brown ink..
fabric. yarn .sheep godammit!
things of the earth things like stars my sight my vision my intelligence
my compassion
no no
not fifty things about yourself you idiot
well what then what am i supposed to be grateful for
my family(in case they are reading this)
my survival (inspite of the fact that they are probably not)
my talent
why is this always about you? it is my effing list shaddup shaddup shaddup
resilience bouncbakability
humor humor humor me
sex with mike
laughing with mike
driving places with mike
shopping at waldbaums with mike
deep tissue massage by mike
mike mike mike
internet
friends around the world and art
and my art
someone elses’s art
art
my spirit and my art
beauty in things that are still and understanding they are never static
remembering the lyrics to songs from thirty years ago and longer
Katy told me she remember’s me singing you are my sunshine to her and I remember that from my mother
and itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini and joni mitichell
yes joni mitchell who says she is the last century’s best poet and she may be right
being able to see the good in most things and trying even if I can’t see it believing it still may be there
Jen
alex
katy
bailey
and now jason too embraced by marriage to jen
and books, the books that i loved and the books that inspired and educated me and the ones that i couldnt bear and couldnt bear to put down
and Orion and the Seven Sisters
and the big dipper that means north
and vermont
also north
and poetry that resonates throughout the ages
and my language
that connects me to it and comes through me connecting me to it
and Bailey dancing and getting dizzy and Alex writng to me that I am a great mother and Katy who keeps getting up and Jen who keeps loving us even though she deeply feels all of our imperfections
and London
and Glasgow and Edinborough
and Betty who said right here right now and her adoring husband, Uncle Pat who said I know why I like you, you are a poor kid from the streets, like me
like me he said
and Else who keeps making us casseroles and Lydia and Erica who are growing up too fast, who still in this season are trying to learn somersaults and who know how to talk on the phone now
and quilts which I have made for all my life and will keep making to comfort me and if they can also comfort others then so be it and clothes to give me armor and illusion and fantasy of another time and other possibilties-clothes are very powerful you know.
and the sweater that was knitted and the one I will unknit and remake for a new daughter and she will not know it was from then, not knowing herself what then was before she was born but knowing as we all know without knowing
and inspired food
a fire in a fireplace
or the memory of one in Upwey, in 1971-is that specific enough or too specific?
and the seventies those most defining and uproarious years that did allow me to escape from my dubious beginnings, and did scar me too in that re birth
o this has turned into some list of things and only just scratched the surface
only just

felted bag two

Here is latest finished project. I decided I need to finish it yesterday because this week is filling up with meetings and other not fun things.The roses are pinned (if they are Too Much, they can be removed and the bag will be more sedate)(And you can pin one onto your denim jacket)on & the handles are from MJTrim.com. The fabric for the lining and ribbon, I bought at Hidreth's in Southampton. The pattern is a Nonibag.
My anxiety level is at about four, the teeth grinding stage. Stage five is pacing about and realizing I need to breathe. This is why I smoked all those years -to facilitate breathing. Stage six is numbness. Seven is not managable-need drugs. I have not gotten to stage seven in years except in bad dreams from which I emerge, not knowing where I am, bathed in sweat, heart racing.Well that has not happened in quite some time.
Tomorrow meeting with special ed committee. Today perhaps I will write a synopsis for the new guy, about what we have been through with the school district for the last several years. Then we will try to fit my round peg daughter into their square peg inflexible irrational arbitrary illegal blah de blah system. I am not hopeful. I just want to get through the day with out another crisis. Hard to imagine for the parent of a bi polar kid: no crisis, no emergency call rom the school, from the kid, from the police station, from the emergency room.
I just want her in school long enough to escape the legal consequences for not being there. I don't give a rat's ass if she aquires their cereal boxed education. It is more than inadequate- it is ludicrously ironic. Enough.
I am sewing like a madwoman, chasing away the rage, making beauty out of small bits of incongruent, mysterious matter. That is art.
Each one of those words can be parsed and books can be written about their meaning and consequence. I don't care. I am an artist. I work with content, only musing on the meaning when I imagine seeing through someone else's eyes. Ah there you have it -another dimension, another impossible dichotomy. Like Twister for the Empirisists.

Large works....and small ones

Here are some better pictures of the quilt top and back that I am sending to be machine quilted. I am eager to see it finished. The newly weds are happy too. I do love to make huge things.
I am almost finished with my Emma Doll clothes and ready to begin work on my Queen Anne doll kit from Gail Wilson.
Have a new felted bag ready to be cast on for my friend's sister and sister in law.
HHHmmmm what is next? I am running out of new projects:)
Skipping along merrily....

Day in Greenport-Yarn Sale!

Went to green port and had a lovely day, watching the kids on the carousel, eating at the new barbeque place-good sour dough rolls with pulled pork topped by a mound of cole slaw.
I bought some yarn for a new Noni bag-this one will be with a third strand of mohair. I also bought some yarn for a lace shawl-deisgn to be determined, and four hanks of ten ply yarn to make a shawl collar sweater for moi. I do have a way of finding things to do. O yes.
After dinner we stopped for coofee in my favorite coffee place in Greenport and we were treated to some delightful playing and singing. I got a picture and said hi and thanks. Such a nice interlude. Much appreciated.

pictures and stuff

Working on the backing for the wedding quilt. First I have to make the block and then decide if i want to use them. O well. I am using stash and may end up with another quilt back.
Breakfast featuring Mike's secret way of making sure the butter melts, now shown in public for the first time!!!
Alex on his porch in New Paltz.