Barcelona, Here I Come

My bags are packed, my handwork is prepped, and my buddy Bailey is heading to her godmother's house. Barcelona here we come.  3 days in Barcelona and then a Mediterranean cruise. My first for both.

Segrada Familia

My husband has been to Barcelona on business and always said that I needed to go. It's  a very artsy, funky city.   To celebrate our 35th, we made it our destination.  I plan on making a new BFF - Gaudi!
It is outrageously expensive to go on-line on the cruise ship, but a great tip I was given was to research the locations ahead of time for the intenet cafes in port.  I'll ty to blog with amazing photos, if I can.
Adios Amigos.

Hidden Talent in Lancaster County

While exploring Lancaster County farm country a few weeks ago, we came upon a farmstand.  There was wonderful inexpensive produce and lots of folk art handpainted signs. I had to buy one and it was a tough decision.  But I chose the one below, because my middle name is Joy.  It was the honor system with a metal box and there was no price. 

Someone noticed my dilemma and sent the artist out.  His name is Phil and he does a lot of folk art, sells at a few open houses and travels to a few select craft shows. There is actually an open house at the farm Sept 3 and 4.   His wooden painted houses are just fantastic.  If you go to his Etsy site you'll even see a house with "Quilts" on it.  Check out his blog. and you will see the stand and MY sign that is now hanging in my studio.  He calls his family "The Happy Chappys". But the best discovery was the NCC photo blog.  One of the Happy Chappys  is a very talented photographer.  The photos taken at Longwood Gardens are unbelievably gorgeous.  You have to take a look to see the surprise point of view.

Play Day

I really needed a play day.  My brain has been taxed.  I have spent the last couple of weeks writing patterns.  I still have a few to write, but those can wait.  I need a fun day.  I had refrained from dyeing fabric while waiting to tape The Quilt Show.  I always end up with dye on my hands, no matter how careful I am .  I didn't think that would look good on camera.  So the show is done and I've been itching to put some color on fabric.  My inspiration has been this group of fabrics that I bought at the Quilt Odyssey show this summer.  I love these colors.

I had 3 1/2 yds of one PFD fabric and some smaller pieces of some other PFD fabrics.  I also found an apron at Target that was 100% cotton and I had  a PFD t-shirt that I had bought when I was at Pro Chem.  I also decided to  play around with dyeing some threads.  I like to use these plastic rods from my kids' K'nex.  Aren't I glad that I decided to save them for potential grandchildren and now they have been repurposed. 

To limit the amount of dye that ends up on my hands, I like to use plastic baggies.  If I want a mottled look, I just put in the fabric, pour in the dye mixture, then the soda ash solution and I leave it.  If I want a more solid look, I mush, mush, mush it.

Ta dah - the results:

Torah Cover Project - The End

The Torah coves have been delivered.  A 2 hour drive to Easton, MD with husband and dog.  Easton is a quaint town on the Eastern shore of Maryland.  An artsy town with lots of little shops and restaurants.  I googled pet friendly restaurants and there were many to choose from.  We had a great lunch outdoors at Mason's.  One of us had to have crab cakes.  And they were yummy.

The soon to be retired Torah covers

We headed over to Temple B'Nai Israel after lunch.  I presented the 3 covers to Rabbi Peter Hyman and the temple member who made this all possible, Vicki Zuckerman.  And the reason that I do commissions like these happened next - the thrill in their eyes and their words upon  seeing the finished product.  They loved them and thought they looked so much better in person.  Everyone had their own favorite.

The new Torah covers created by me

I'll be headed back to Easton in October for their formal dedication.  It will be a wonderful evening - getting to see the congregation's  response, meeting the couple that provided the financial support for the project and seeing the Torah covers in their place of honor.

I have to say that it is an honor for me to have my work in such a holy place for many years to come.

AAQI and Bandywine Valley Quilt Guild

AAQI is the acronym for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  It was started by a wonderful quilter named Ami Simms whose mother was afflicted with this heart breaking disease.  Ami made it her mission to raise funds for research while educating people about Alzheimer's.  Her modus operandi was to use something she was very familiar with - quilts!

"Leaving Us"

I got involved when there was a call for quilts for a traveling exhibit that she was putting together.  My Dad died in 2000 and had Alzheimer's.  I was thrilled that my quilt, "Leaving Us" was not only chosen, but was one of the quilts that was used over and over on promotional material.  The exhibit is now hanging in the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.  It is the last venue for this traveling group of quilts and it will be coming home at the end of the year. Over 223,000 people have seen these quilts in their 3 years of traveling all around the USA.
Ami and her team of volunteers has raised over $400,000 for research.  One of the ways that she does it is to have internet quilt auctions.  They are called Priority quilts because they have to fit inside of a US Mail Priority envelope.  Quilters all over the world make and donate these quilts.  There is a monthly auction the fist 10 days of each month and there is also a selections of quilts that you can purchase at any time.  For a complete overview go to www.alzquilts.org .

This month I was a presenter at The Brandywine Valley Quilt Guild that meets in Wilmington, DE.  And boy was I surprised that as a guild, they had a challenge to make these Priority Alzheimer Quilts and it was unveiled during my visit.  They even used my quilt on their promotional material.  The challenge had a great response - close to 30 participants. 

Most of the BVQ's Challenge Quilts

Then I was so honored when I was asked to choose my favorite, by the organizer of the challenge, Jody Beitzel,  and present an award. They called it The Speaker's Award.  It was a very difficult decision, because so many of the quilts were made from the heart and had so much meaning to them.   Congratulations to Barbara Gross and her amazing quilt and all of the members of this generous and talented guild.

Wool Folk Art

I have been procrastinating updating my website.  It's not that I do it myself.  I have a wonderful, patient woman that does it for me, but it means getting all of the information together.  All of the photos, all of the dates, all of the changes that I want to make. But with !Quilt Fiesta! and my upcoming appearance on The Quilt Show, I thought it should be up to date for the throngs of readers that would be drawn to find out about me!  (Ha ha)

My husband has taken over my pattern department.  He has been the shipping department for a while.  Now he is organizing and printing them.  With the website update, he thinks that I should include all of the patterns that I ever designed. This includes my wool folk art patterns.   Many people don't know that I designed these other patterns in addition to my OyVey! patterns.  In the early part of the 2000's, I taught at this wonderful quilt shop owned by Cyndi Hershey in Montgomeryville, PA called The Country Quilt Shop.  I found a niche teaching primitive types of quilting and stitchery.  I designed a line of wool folk art patterns that I called Mother Hen Productions.  We sold them at the shop and were having a great run.  Unfortunately that ended when Cyndi sold the shop to a new owner. It became a different place to work and it was time for me to move on. 

Wool Pumpkin Pillow

 
So my new pattern department manager thought this would be a great time to resurrect them.  Folk art IS really timeless.  The funny thing is that in bringing these patterns and almost patterns back, I've had to write and re-write some of them.  Hey, I tell my new employee, I thought  you were supposed to be working for me.  Why are you giving me work to do?  But I am thankful that he is getting me organized.  I do need someone to organize me.

I really need a team to organize me.  All I want to do is sew. 

So now all of the wool patterns are available on my website and there are kits for some of them.  Can I get back to sewing now?

Speaking of wool, I have to share with you a book that is coming out in November.  It's called Pennies From Heaven.  My friend from The County Quilt Shop, Gretchen Gibbons, wrote it.  If you love working with wool, you'll love this book.  I hadn't spoken to Gretchen in quite a while.  It was such a coincidence then that both of our book proposals went to committee at Martingale at the same time.  We've been in touch frequently as we have gone through the publishing process together.  I've seen her first proof and the book is gorgeous.

You can pre-order it from Amazon.com.

To make a short story long, my website is now up to date with all my new work,  all my new patterns and an updated list of where my quilts have been.  Holly Knott is my wonderful webmaster and did all of the work.  The best thing about Holly is that she is a quilter too.  She understands the ins and outs of structuring a website for another quilter, although she does websites for anyone. I also envy her relationship with her mother.  Her mother is also an artist and they work together sometimes.  They now have a shop on Etsy with some beautiful items.

Found Surprise

I am a loser.  Not in the personality sense, but in the "I can never find anything way".  I always caution people about giving me things.  I warn them that I probably won't be able to find it when it is needed.  So they usually say that they will just keep.  I like it that way.  It took me years to discover that that was the best way to deal with my loser issues.

Today, of course, yet again, I couldn't find an OyVey! Quilt that I made a while ago, but wanted to re-photograph for a pattern cover.  I looked everywhere.  I finally found a bin to look in that I hadn't opened in a while, but it wasn't there.  Instead I found some pieces that I had made a few years ago.  I stowed them away in the bin when I was trying to de-clutter my studio.  In that bin was a piece that surprised me that I made in a workshop in 2006 with Susan Shie. The class was about diary painting on fabric.  It turns out that I really like it.  I loved her class.  The theme we chose for the piece was doorways.  As I read my writing, I surprised myself.  Did I write all of  that?

No, I still have not found that piece I was looking for.  I'll find it one day when I am looking for something else.