Early resolutions - getting all introspective

Well, inspired by the weekly notes from Morna Golletz of The Professional Quilter & International Association of Professional Quilters, I got the book 'Your Best Year Yet!' from the library today. I've never been a huge fan of self-improvement books, because they often seem like I'm kicking myself lower down. So far this book is really different. The two coolest things about it: the 'how to use this book' section in the front says 'it's ok to go ahead and start with the exercises in the back.' The other is from the meat of the Values chapter - the two basic life pursuits models. One model is 'What can I do to prove myself? To be good enough?' The other is 'What can I do with the gifts I have?' Not going to spend a lot of time quoting from the book, but they are two very different approaches, the latter being focussed outward, not inward. (I confess I'm still surprised when people are impressed by something I do.)

Another book I borrowed from the library earlier this year was Chris Gardner's 'Start Where You Are'. He's the author of 'The Pursuit of Happyness' as well; the Will Smith movie of the same name was based on a portion of that book. And a couple years ago I borrowed 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen, after hearing a short bit about it on NPR. That one I now own, after the test-drive of the borrowed copy. All three books tend to have a lot of common sense in common. My goal for 2010 will be to make use of that sense and be more productive. That may sound somewhat silly for a 'sweet little old ladies' craft' (SHRIEK!); if this can be my life's work, I need to be treating it professionally!

One realization I've come to over the past year is that while quilting show and tell is wonderful, whether I'm showing a quilt, experiment or dyed fabric, it's not the same as serious feedback. The Boyertown Guild was kind enough to commission a value scale of blue fabrics for the monthly raffle, and it was very gratifying to see the reaction. When the members saw me holding up the fabrics at the front of the room, a lot of them jumped up to buy their chances. And the guild made a bit of money, even though hand-dyes are normally twice the cost of commercial fabrics. (I did cut them a break on the price.) So the objective reporting - that the guild sold more chances - was good feedback for me. I hope to do more of the same by getting together to do some serious critiques with a friend. At any rate, I've learned to place more value on serious, considered review of my work. But I still enjoy the oohs & ahhs!
OK, enough for tonight. Tomorrow I will be putting the plan in motion!

Book is now available!

The long-awaited day is finally here! Jane Townswick's new book, Artful Applique II, is now in print, and for sale on my website. It's very exciting to see my work in the book, including on the 'Tools & Supplies' page, plus the back cover. That's because of Jane's great design. All but one of the design chapters are illustrated with work by her students; my Crown Imperial happened to be the one chosen. But the shape of it is so neat that it appears in the other locations too! Here's a link to Amazon's 'Zoom' page; my block is the furthest to the right, on the top row; the one in the middle row on the right below. The background I dyed, and the stamens are discharged black overdyed with fuchsia; doubtless there are other fabrics in the block that I dyed. And finally, here's a picture of my finished quilt:
Thanks for looking!

Catching Up part 1

Hi - have been cleaning up in the studio after all the last minute work for the shows in September and October. Since then I have dyed a bunch of Radiance fabric in deeply saturated colors, spray-adhered them to black Radiance and cut many triangle pairs out on the shop AccuQuilt machine. They are now sewn together into a top that is going to Barbara Persing for quilting next week, and then will be entered in the Lancaster 2010 show where I will be a vendor again. Not posting a picture until after that time. Still have to locate the rest of the black so I can make binding. At right is a picture of the small pieces while in process.

Another item that made me laugh and may make you snicker too is the following tag that I, the consumer, removed from a carpet purchased for the floor of the show booth. I couldn't make this up! (Check out the content notice on the last line.)

OK, time to make some supper and start putting the dratted paperwork away so there will be room for work again in the studio. Next post will have to include the light box God sent me. Not my words, but doubtless true. Saw part of it going into a dumpster, so I went diving! - Later, all.

Dyeing with Kate

Here are the results of the dyeing Kate and I did. The first picture
shows all the finished fabrics; the second picture shows a different view of all the fabrics, and the third picture shows a detail of the less than stellar results on a few of the pieces. Not bad altogether. These fabrics are all going to be used in Best of Strip Piecing I & II with Nancy Crow in October.

What I learned at the Hershey Show

Went to the Hershey, PA show as an attendee and tried to learn more about this crazy business. Took notes, and took some photos to share with the ladies at Quilters' Remedy. We're both going to be selling at the PA National Quilt Extravaganza in Oaks in September. The more good ideas we can get, the better! Hope we'll see you there!


Pods for fabric bolts, with handle cutouts to make them easier to carry.

Halogen track lights with goose necks. Problem with these is how to mount them if you don't have overhead bars.

Overview of a booth with great antique quilts, and a good view of the use of skirt hangers. Booths at this show are 8' deep.

The advertisement is up! (click this title)

Yikes! the long-awaited day is here. The video ad on-line at qnntv.com for DippyDyes is up and running. Bless them, they found it interesting and educational enough that they even super-sized it! It was loads of fun to make, plus you get to see the quilt I finished earlier this year. (OK, the binding is still only basted.) Make sure you click on the little 4-way arrow button next to the slider to make the picture full-screen. Woo-hoo!

More credit where credit is due: the quilt blocks are designed by Jane Townswick, and will be included in her upcoming book 'Artful Applique II' due out in the fall. The quilt was quilted by Barb Persing, and the setting was found in the book 'Setting Solutions' by Sharyn Craig.

Inspired by Daily Visuals

Took a look at Jane Dunnewold's Daily Visuals blog again. There's a picture of hostas on it that reminded me of a picture I took several years ago. Here's the original picture, plus two cropped versions. The white bits are apple blossoms, mostly. What do you think? Thanks!