Jan 22, 2014
Drip, drip, drip…
A lifelong avid reader, a doodler and occasional journal writer, my book attraction has broadened over the past few years.
Drip… While working at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, I loved the insights and discoveries of Anne Marie Eze, who at the time was a curatorial fellow (she’s become part of the curatorial staff since then). Mrs. Gardner was a dedicated book connoisseur before she launched into other art forms. Anne Marie brings the cultural background of many books to life as she explores the collection.
Drip… Pam Parmel mentioned the embroidered caskets collection at the Museum of Fine Arts during her talk at the Common Cod Fiber Guild in 2012. As a member of the Textile and Costume Society, I had the chance to observe more of these incredible works, learning that many book binding techniques were used to assemble the pieces.
Drip… Stacie Dolan published Book Art Studio Handbook and I started thinking about all of the opportunities to mix my love of textiles with book binding.
Drip… An email from the Folk Art Museum leads me to a very cool way kit, which I just have to share on Twitter.
Tactile_Travel
: V Cool gift idea: Book binding kit (I know you need a new craft idea) http://t.co/GjhMsJKnEd from @FolkArtMuseum 1:15pm, Dec 13 from HootSuite
Long pause. I don’t know. I just want to try the putting together. No idea about the content.
Peg and Awl lead you through the book binding process with their Anselm kit.
My darling hub gave me the kit for Christmas. As I attempt to stay focused on completing the master knitter portfolio, I can’t dip in just yet (however, I keep a stack of books on the topic near my bedside table!).
Today’s Writer’s Almanac (January 22, 2014) gave me direction on the book inspiration. It is enough by Anne Alexander Bingham. Add this to my collection of cherished poems.
Time to develop my book. I wonder how that paper will handle being stitched….
Oct 17, 2013
October 26 – 27, 2014
Amble on over to Cary Hall in Lexington, MA for the Rising Star Quilters Guild for eye popping quilts, a boutique of hand made items, raffles and scavenger hunts. Truly something for everyone, quilt fiend or not!
Autumnal Stars is the large raffle quilt at the 2013 RSQ Show
I’m donating a mini quilt for our raffle inspired by a hillside town in Italy. You can also see my contribution to the “Two by Two” challenge (photos up next week, I hope!) Hope to see you there!
Oct 4, 2013
Did you catch it yet? It’s a total trip that I really dig. The Museum of Fine Art’s Hippie Chic fashion exhibit is a blast from the past.
The fifty-three outfits span the 1960s and 70s and are curated into five themes according to influence. The installation is super, complete with a juke box full of period music. Frequently, you can the view the garments from several angles which I appreciated. The enthusiasm of the time period radiated, as suddenly I loved the shag carpet in neon colors on round go go platforms!
Hippie Chic is on view until November 11, 2013, so there’s still plenty of time to soak it up. Meanwhile, the MFA web site has great features to whet your anticipation. There’s even a fab game (this coming from some one who would rather do just about anything than play games on her computer!) where you create your own album cover.
Don’t miss this fun exhibit! I heartily recommend soaking it up as soon as possible, then heading back to Lauren Whitley’s gallery talk on November 7.
Love the dress!
Sep 27, 2013
Work keeps me on the computer/phone so much that I don’t want to spend free time poking around the computer. My phone, my Fire and my life are filled with apps to put everything at my fingertips when I’m away from my desk. This opens up more time for ice cream! I look for great flavors in my content apps and my mouth!
Once a humble devotee to my Google Reader feed, the BIG G brusquely tossed me out of that quiet space when that service disappeared in late June, 2013. Fortunately, Feedly made migration from Reader painless. I could still get my blog feeds in a tidy manner.
Just like the ice cream counter, there are flavors of content aggregators for everyone. Over the summer, I developed a penchant for Pocket. Of course, I’ve loved the layout of Flipboard. But today, my daughter asked if I hung out on Bloglovin. For those of you out there already cavorting on this network, you can now this follow this blog with Bloglovin. The great thing about Bloglovin is that is mixes content with social interaction. (It begs to link to your Facebook profile, but you can easily decline.)
I love Portland’s working waterfront.
Thus, I have more time to enjoy ice cream flavors. Two standouts I’ve enjoyed in September? Maple gelato (ok, gelato’s not ice cream, it’s better than ice cream) from Gorgeous Gelato in Portland, Maine, which is definitely worth the trip. We discovered this gem on Fore Street shortly after they opened in 2010. We now detour each time we drive near Portland. Hub and I enjoyed a weekend in Portland earlier this month, enjoying gelato each and every day.
If I can’t drive 2 hours for ice cream, I’ll just as happily choose Meletharb’s baklava ice cream. Divine, crispy and creamy.
See? There’s no reason we can’t enjoy each flavor of everything!
Sep 1, 2013
Judging fleece at New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival
At my first New Hampshire Sheep and Wool festival with Guido, I was shocked when he confessed a certain attraction to the idea of raising sheep. Why on earth would you do that? Raising livestock reduces your stitching time!
Not one year later, Barb Parry‘s husband told the story of the day his wife came home with animals to graze in the back yard. Hanging around fiber animals produces a contagious desire to care for them, I gathered. Flockitis?
While I am far from interested in becoming a shepherd, attending Lucy Lee’s FiberCamp 2012 talk made me realize that I did want a fleece. Now why on earth did I choose to go to that talk? That’s the fun of FiberCamp… you’ll never know what you’ll learn. No hurry for this fleece, just… when presented with the right situation, I wanted a fleece. Not flockitis, just a fantasy fleece!
The situation presented itself last fall in Wisconsin. I knew that one of my sister’s dear friends, Laura Stremick-Thompson was raising Shetlands on Blind Faith Farm. She and her husband acquired their first registered Shetland sheep in 2009. I thought they just planned on hobby farming. However, Laura and Jim expanded the flock, adding other breeds and crosses. Clearly, flockitis was in the air, as they witnessed the first lambs born on their farm in 2010. Their closed spinner’s flock now has 15 sheep, including primitive double coated and single coated Shetland, Shetland cross, Bluefaced Leicester/Icelandic and Clun Mule. As you can imagine by this list of breeds, Laura is careful and dedicated to her flock, hoping not only for quality fiber but high quality of life for her herd.
What a fluff ball, Rupert!
Stella won won first place in the Double Coat Division and third place overall in the Shetland category at the 2011 WI Sheep and Wool Festival, and placed again in 2012. Also in 2012, Rupert captured first place in the Shetland colored, double coat class. Two others received third place in their categories. Here’s Laura sharing the ribbons with her flock.
Last October, Laura had 2 Shetland fleeces left. The color ways of Spectacles and Buckaroo sounded good over the phone. Sight unseen, I purchased them and shipped them to Boston. Buying a fantasy fleece was too easy.
Buckaroo as a lamb
Spectacles a few months after shearing.
According to Laura, Spectacles gets his name not only from his dark eye marks, but for the spectacle he makes of himself! The fleeces were much better than my pessimistic, novice fleece processing expectations. So clean, so beautifully skirted and with nary a second cut, the bags of lanolin smelling woolliness waited through the winter. On a hot summer weekend, I put on my swimsuit and washed the fleeces in the bath tub. What a jolly time that was! There was great pleasure watching Specs’ fleece go from beige to fluffy white and the delicate grey patch on his back. Buckaroo wasn’t nearly as dirty, but carefully swishing the laundry bags filled with fleece was really pleasurable.
Buckaroo’s fleece, tawny and luscious, before washing
That’s not a shadow, that’s Spectacle’s grey markings
I took some of Buckaroo’s fleece to wet felt immediately for a quilt I’m making now. Wow, Shetland felts much more slowly than Merino or Silk. His fleece has a lovely depth that will be great for this series on childhood camping experiences.
I haven’t finished carding, but it will happen someday. Once combed, I have no idea what I will do with the rest of this fleece, but it makes me happy just looking at it around my studio for the time being!
After processing all of Buckaroo’s fleece, I felted a portion to use in art quilts.
BlindFaithFarm has a shop at Etsy.com. In 2014, they plan to sell roving. If you’re interested in fleeces, catch Laura at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival next weekend, September 6 – 8, 2013, where her flock’s winning traditions will hopefully continue. Laura can also be reached at laurast25 at wi.rr.com. You, too, could have a fantasy fleece!
Aug 14, 2013
Quilting simmers on the back burner this year as I pursue the last stage of the master knitter program. Without starting my tirade for more hours in a day, let me just say how pleased I was to participate in the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ exhibit at the 2013 Images Quilt Show in Lowell. Val and Michele led the charge as co leaders of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island chapter of SAQA. As the veteran event organizer, I can totally applaud and appreciate the time and energy dedicated to this exhibit. Thanks, wonder women!
The SAQA special exhibit called for three works made by the same person united by theme, techniques or colors. What a great opportunity to look through my quilts and complete finishing touches to one languishing! These were the 3 quilts I showed from August 8 – 10, 2013.
Entry Blessings, 2013
I originally put this quilt together for last fall’s Rising Star Quilter show, but was so unhappy with the work, I took it apart and modified the felted background, approached the appliqué in a different manner and requilted the work. The Arabic greeting wishes all who enter peace and tranquility. Besides the wet felted “cloud,” I embroidered the words on silk, adding a trail of sequins and beads. I tried to balance formality with irregular shapes… not sure if I got it right yet, but the felted cloud functions better than it did last fall.
Bright Skies II, 2013
Inspired by a baby quilt I made in 2003 (that hung on the wall and not in the crib, I hear), I dyed and painted many of the fabrics in both Bright Skies quilts during my days in Rome. Fabric, felted and knitted suns are reverse appliquéd to the piece. The lower right sun is simply a machine quilted circle… indicating perhaps new techniques I may incorporate in my quilts? This was my languishing quilt, as the top was completed in 2010.
Gioia’s Rainbows, 2003
Driving around the Castelli Romani in 1998, I came upon a most magnificent double rainbow. I made this quilt during my youngest daughter’s rainbow phase, but it sat in a drawer for a decade. I think it’s time to hang this quilt somewhere.
Now it’s off to play with more fabric!
FolkArtMuseum: @Tactile_Travel Our staff loves that kit. What sort of book do you think you’d make? 3:09pm, Dec 13 from Web
