A Whole Slew of Pictures

My mom and dad and sister and brother-in-law came to visit last week. It was the first time we've all been together since Matt and Joanna's wedding. (Hmmmm, I have good pix from that event too, maybe I'll post some of those just for context.)

We had such a delightful time just hanging out and also taking lots of outings to see what's going on in the world here in Maine.

On Friday, we visited the Farmers' Market and had hot dogs for lunch.



Then we walked around the Bowdoin College campus and visited the Arctic Museum (Peary was a Bowdoin grad.) and the new Asian Garden (lame lame lame! -- thus no pictures.).



Grandpa has a fancy smore maker that he often brings with him when he visits. We enjoyed dessert out of the deck. You can see that Grandpa likes his marshmellows BURNED.



Saturday night just the grown-ups went out for dinner. We had a great dinner at a casual place on the coast in Harpswell.



Aren't Matt and Joanna a handsome couple?



Claire enjoyed sharing her rock collection with all the guests. She is particularly interested -- and animated -- in organizing her treasures.



Of course, we took a family portrait before church on Sunday. Everyone's smiling! Miraculous!



Sunday afternoon we went hiking at Wolf Neck State Park. It's totally my favorite place for hiking. The coast line, the wooden stairways and bridges, the rocky paths, the stone stairs, the nesting osprey, the shells and seaglass... it's all good!



Isn't is lovely? (As long as you have lots of bug spray on!)



Benjamin says, "I no push down on Grandpa's hat."



And then on Monday we went to Popham Beach. This is the island that you can walk to at low tide, it's way way off the coast line. (I'm bad at estimating distance.)



Can't go wrong with burying kids in sand.



It was a great visit. Thanks to everyone for making it happen. Let's do it again soon!

Check This Out

I'd like to introduce you to our Maine Man.



He sits on our hearth and at Christmas time he wears a Santa Hat.

I came across the artist, Bill Jacobs, at a craft fair in October 2003 and fell in love with his granite sculptures. At that time, he wasn't making the sculptures with flat bottoms, so you had a plant them in your garden. Not what I had in mind. I heard him say he planned to make some with flat bottoms (brilliant!) and I took his card and tracked him down at another fair later in the holiday season. I gave this piece to Jeff for Christmas that year.

(Of course, you remember my affinity for rocks and you are not surprised that I think this is super fantastic!)

My parents have become fans of the Maine Man too and have considered buying a piece. We looked at a couple of pieces at the local crafter's consignment shop... but passed. Someday we'd like to go visit him in his studio (back yard) and consider a larger selection. The gal at the shop did direct us to his website and I'm delighted to share it with you.

super cool stone faces

I guess I'll drop him an email and let him know he can expect a bunch of artsy-fartsy fiber folks checking out his website.

Yes... it's one of those out-stretched arm pictures.

Benjamin and I joined Claire's class for their year-end trip to Popham Beach last week. I'll confess... I am so NOT a beach person. Generally I detest the whole saga of packing for and doing the whole beach thing, then lugging everything back to the car feeling tired, sticky, sandy and crabby... often while carrying a tired, sticky, sandy, crabby child.. and walking barefoot on the hot asphalt of the parking lot.

But, this was a new day for me. We had a blast. I am reveling in the magical ages of 6 and 3. My kids are manageable! I need not been at arms length 24/7. They both pee in the potty. They have the capacity to understand a bit of reason. They say funny things and ask interesting questions. They have huge smiles and run about filled with joy. (Usually.)



So, I think more beach trips are in our future. I'll be packing less. I'll do a better job with the sun screen. I'll bring more pails and shovels and fewer snacks. I think you can do a whole beach day with bottled water and Pringles.

In fact, we're going back to Popham tomorrow. My parents, sister and brother-in-law are visiting Maine. Thus the lack of blogging... and the lack of art making.

So stay tuned for a report with pictures of our recent outings with the family. And anticipate waiting another week or so for any art.

Postcards

Do you remember that I made postcards for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day? And for my sister's birthday which was around the same time? My sister liked them so much so "commissioned" me to make six for her to give to her friend who is house/dog/cat sitting while she and her husband, my brother-in-law Matt, come to visit us in Maine this week.

I was delighted to do a series. You will see inspiration from Melody's embroidery and Sonji's pods and Gerrie's stamping and my earlier arches. I did a few others along with her six... the first is for a friend newly diagnosed with lung cancer.





And this "Dream" one went to one of Benjamin's teachers.


And this "inspire" one went to Benjamin's other teacher.











one more


There will be one postcard left over after my sister picks her six. I wonder which I will be left with? I'm eager to do more. They were really fun. Frayed Edge Kathy gave me a bunch of hand dyed fabrics recently... they would make a wonderful postcard series. Oh by the way, all of these were made with the hand-dyeds my Mom did and shared with me!

Oh and while we're on the whole postcards kick, I'll share with you my favorite line from my all time favorite song: Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

"Every time I go to the mailbox, gotta hold myself down.

'Cause I just can't wait 'til you write me you're coming around!"

Benjamin's Last Day of School

We had a super fun family picnic at Benjamin's school yesterday. He goes to "pre-school" three mornings a week. It's a delightful place and Benjamin has really blossomed this year. His school is in an old farm house. The couple that run the school live in the house part and the barn parts are all renovated to be the school.

It was a pot-luck brunch. I made...

Froggy Cupcakes


They were a big hit. Jeff said there were even some tears shed by kids whose parents were not quick enough (or wise enough) to snatch a little froggy before they were gone. Of course, you know Benjamin loves greeen and froggys. So this was a fun project for all of us. Of course, I was left with a huge bag of gumdrops -- less the green ones. I promptly threw it away because that's the kind of junk that gets eaten just because it's there not because anyone likes them.

Benjamin got a year-end certificate and was awarded the "future stand-up comedian" title. He tells really funny knock-knock jokes. And even more important than that... he generally thinks everything thing around him is giggle-worthy.

The yard at Benjamin's school is amazing. You can get a bit of a sense of it here. That's Claire and Benjamin getting ready to ride the mini-roller coaster.


There are two nice swingsets, rocks to climb on, vegetable and flower gardens, a secret path, sand box, water table, mulch mountain --- tons of potential for getting dirty and "developing gross motor skills."

I made two fabric postcards as year-end gifts for the teachers. You'll see those later in the week.

Round Robin Fabric Book

The Frayed Edges are doing a book round robin. Actually, it doesn't have to be fabric, but mine is. Here are some pictures of the book so far... I'm sure it will be much improved as my super fantastic talented friends add their pages.

Cover of my round robin book "Numbers"


There are also four pockets on the inside front cover for each artist to put a personal tag.

I did the first page. One Flower -- inspired by Melody's recent blooms.


And the second page... Two Purple Lines.


I have Sarah's book right now. The theme is aphrodisiac foods. When I was at Home Depot yesterday I picked up a bunch of paint chips -- any that had colors with some kind of food in their names. Some kind of interesting, colorful, grid-like collage is in the works.

End of the School Year

Actually, Claire is in school until next Tuesday, June 21. They added 5 days because we had so many snow days. We're enjoying all kinds of end-of-the-year activities. Benjamin and I joined Claire's class on a walk to Dairy Queen last week. Very fun!

Then last Friday was field day. It was brilliant! Seriously! Amazing organized, creative, well-conceived and executed and FUN! "Space" was the theme so every class chose a team name, made t-shirts and banners and composed cheers. There were opening and closing ceremonies, including a rocket launch and all the games fit the space theme.

There was no competitive 50-yard dash or thee-legged race like there was when I was a kid. It was all about team work, being active and having fun.

Claire's class was the "Darth Invader Life Savers." Hmmm speculation is that Mr. Horne steered the voting a bit since he is a Star Wars nerd himself. (Admittedly.) But of course they were not Light Sabers, because you would never name your team after a weapon.

Field Day


Jeff volunteered for the whole day and Benjamin and I joined in for the afternoon. So fun. Benjamin is embraced as everyone's little brother and loves the attention.

One game in particular was a blast. The class divided into four lines. Each line had to fill a bowl with water by having each member run up to a water tub with sponges in it, grab sponge, run back to team bowl, squeeze out water against your forehead into bowl. (Not about who fills their bowl first... just about filling the bowl.) Benjamin found a spare pail and went to the tub and filled up the whole pail, then each of the four teams were trying to convince him to come to their line and dump his water into their bowls. You can guess everyone got very wet. "I soaked!" Benjamin said. Then, "I no like soaked!!!" whining and crying. Then five minutes later giggling, "I soaked!! I love soaked."

Tax payers dollars... well spent. We are very lucky and thankful.

Frayed Edges

My small art quilt group, The Frayed Edges, met on Monday. We had a delightful time! Seriously, we all feel very lucky. I think we all go home full of energy and creative enthusiasm and our husband's nod and say, "that's great, honey." (I mean, they really are happy for us too!)

We started with cappaccinos and croissants and general catching up. I shared my rock quilt almost done, the fabric I dyed at AQM recently, the top of the picnic quilt, several in-progress postcards, a small fiber collage that is on the back burner and some new letterboxing stuff. (I've been busy and I've posted about almost none of this. It's all on it's way, I promise.)

Then Kathy shared an amazing retrospective of her work. Sarah and I had not seen several of these pieces since we're fairly new to the Maine quilters community. Amazing! Wonderfully creative, full, meaningful, detailed and deliciously embellished. These pictures are not even close to real life.


Look! Bundles! These are wonderful fabric origami embellishments. This is Kathy's alzheimers quilt. Her mother was diagnosed 15 years ago. On the darker left side, which you can't see much of, is her mother "now." It's filled with little letters to her mother about how the family is living through this experience. On the right, is Kathy's depiction of her Mother restored to her true spirit. Someday she hopes this quilt will hang in a health care facility where other families can share in her experience -- because for many many families the feelings are very similar.


Here's Kate looking at Kathy's seasons quilt. Yes, that's a big pile of all of Kathy's work. She's prolific! This quilt is embellished with wonderful haikus about the seasons amazingly free motioned quilted over the top.


And here's Sarah looking at Kathy's angel. The fish on the bottom are inspired by a Susan Carlson class. Isn't the purple goat guy just wonderful? He is embellished with green sequined spirals!


Frayed Edges June Menu
Curry Chicken Salad with Apricots
Fresh Pineapple
Corn Bread
Fruit Crepes

After lunch Sarah shared her latest work in progress. I don't have pictures of it because some day you're going to see it in Houston in all it's glory. She's rushing to meet the deadline. It really is totally unique and like nothing I've ever seen before -- yet grounded in many wonderful techniques that art quilters are familiar with. Maybe I could at least tell you the title... Dancing in the Solstice Winds. Isn't that lovely?


Then we kicked off our new group project. We're doing a book round robin! Kathy covered a three ring binder and picked an ocean theme. Sarah used a scrapbook and picked aphrodisiac foods for her theme. Kate created a "hand book." And I did small fabric pages and bound them with big metal rings for my numbers book.

Stay tuned for updates.

Obligatory Star Wars Post

Since many of my sister Artful Quilters Webring bloggers have written some great posts about the most recent Star Wars movie, I figured I should let you know what we think of Star Wars at our house.

Firstly, I'll admit, I didn't see the movie. Nor have I seen the last two -- which are actually the first two. Right? Of course, I saw the first three -- which are actually the last three -- when I was 12 (or whatever) and have thought little of them since. My delightful husband, on the other hand, must have been waiting for the last 20-something years for his true Star Wars mania partner. Well, he has found her in our delightful 6 year old daughter. Equally delightful three year old son is also glad to join in, though he calls it Car Wars.

Jeff took Benjamin to get his hair cut recently and one of the older episodes was playing on the tv at the mall, so they enjoyed watching while they waited for Benjamin's turn. There was no going back. The fire had been lit! Over the next few weeks they watched the first three which we have on VHS -- which means they had to watch on the upstairs tv since we only have DVD downstairs. Then rented the other two more recent ones. Claire was so taken with the story and the characters and Jeff loved filling her in on all the plot twists and turns and who was related to who and why. Benjamin liked Dark Bader.

Have you noticed that Burger King is issuing Star Wars characters with their kids' meals? And you can buy them separately without the kids' meal? Can you guess where this story is going? Jeff often stops at Burger King for a gigantic Diet Coke on his way to work. He always goes in and chats it up with the counter folks. My husband is nothing if not friendly! Apparently Burger King gets a set of five characters each week. They come in one big box with several of each of the five characters... but only five Darth Vaders (which open to reveal Anakin inside). Darth Vader is currently selling on ebay for about $25.

Remember I said Jeff's friendly? So each week someone at Burger King carefully sets aside the five new characters when the new box comes. Then Jeff buys them on Tuesday. And the precious Darth Vader character was even put in a secret spot in the back with his name on it. All these characters were collected in secret. Finally when he had 28 of them, he presented them to the kids. They were both in awe. Claire took Darth Vader to show and tell the next day. This was a big hit with her boy class mates!

Maybe it was the introduction to the Dark Side, but a big disagreement erupted between the two kids the next night. There was yelling, pushing, crying, tattletaling and general bad decision making and the characters all moved back into our closet for a day or so. We seem to have recovered and Good has prevailed.

Jeff took Claire to see the newest and last or third -- this is so confusing to me -- movie in the theater last week. He had seen it with a friend earlier in order to preview the level of appropriateness for a 6 year old. It's probably still a bit advanced, but they loved it! Jeff and Claire also went together to Burger King last week to get the last five characters.

Here's my own little Star Wars fan club with their new toys.

Fabric Painting Workshop

At the Art Quilts Maine (AQM) meeting on Saturday we had a great fabric painting workshop. (I can't remember what kind of paints we used.) We have lots of great workshops. It's a great format for our meetings. Anyway, here's what I came up with. I like lots of it, though I wish I had gone in with more of a plan as far as color scheme, design or technique. This stuff is all over the board -- or parking lot in this case. I'll be delighted to just stash it away and find each piece for the perfect project some time in the future.

My painted fabric drying in the bright, warm, shiney sun!


Sun printed ferns


Green and purple, of course


Sonji-esque


Imagine this turned 90 degrees, and cut between the chocolately section and the tall land-scapey section


Sun printed keys


Hot!


More ferns

Side Trip

We had our bi-monthly (Does that mean every other month? Or twice a month? I can never remember which is which. Anyway, we meet every other month.) Art Quilts Maine meeting on Saturday. It was a wonderful way to spend the day. The drive to Monmouth was lovely. I've never been that direction. (We're still pretty new to Maine.)

I especially enjoyed passing by the shop in someone's garage that sold "Yarn and Soap," lots of lilacs in bloom, sweeping vistas with hills and lakes, rocks!, a crumbling brick house foundation with chimney still standing, and charming small towns.

At lunch time, one of our members took us on a little field trip to Cumston Hall. The building was recently restored at a cost of 1.8 million. It holds the town library, city offices and a stunning theatre, the home of the Shakespeare Theater of Maine. (I tried to get a bit more history of the building to tell you, but their website was down. Oh well. Check back later.)

Cumston Hall, Monmouth, Maine


Penny was asked to create a quilt to honor people who made donations to help fund the restoration. She was asked to incorporate stained glass into her quilt. (Talk about multi-media...) So, here's Penny and her beautiful quilt. The outer border is actually real stained glass with names of donors imprinted on each panel. The quilt is mounted on top of the glass and the whole thing is constructed inside that wooden frame which also includes a light so the glass is glowy and beautiful. The windows in the buildings are cut out so you can also see real stained glass behind them.



Then Penny took us upstairs to see the newly restored theatre. Every where you look there are fancy curly-cues, relief sculptures, paintings, luxerious curtains, high tech lighting and sprinkler systems and tatooed actors milling about. Here is a picture of the amazing ceiling at the Theater at Monmouth.



Isn't it amazing what little treasures are just sitting out and about our big country? I didn't even know this building or theater (or quilt) existed. I'm thrilled that I got to experience it.

We also had a wonderful fabric painting workshop before lunch. I'll post pix of that tomorrow.

I'm Published!

Two of my quilts are featured in the current issue of Artella: The Waltz of Words and Art. Artella is an amazing self-published magazine that combines all kinds of art in wonderful ways. This issue even includes a multimedia CD with audio interviews with SARK, Sarah Fishburn and Denise Mihalik plus music tracks to go with each page of the zine.

The design, layout and content are full of energy and creative spirit. It's one-of-a-kind! The publisher is the amazing Marney K. Makridakis who had a dream to publish a magazine and turned it into an entire enterprise of publications, classes, coaching, marketing and motivation.

I'm thrilled to have some of my quilts published in her magazine and to be paired up with a haunting and hopeful poem by Kurt M. Jones.



The little envelope at the bottom of the page includes a tiny mini 'zine. There are lots more interactive elements sprinkled throughout the magazine.

Just a short little post

I'm on my way to the Art Quilts Maine meeting. I'll report and post pictures when I return.

In the mean time, I came across this quote. Since Gabrielle started the discussion about inspiration and many others have made note of wonderful quotes, I thought I'd add mine.

It's from The Sound of Paper by Julia Cameron. Of course, you know Cameron is the author of The Artist's Way. I have not read TAW, but I know lots of artists swear it changed their lives. The Sound of Paper, does not seem to be living up to Cameron's reputation. But, since I'm reading and discussing it with a group of online friends, I'm obligated (and delighted in some ways) to keep reading.

I think this quote is a bit more about self confidence than inspiration, but they are tied together in many ways. No?

"When we feel we are at zero, we are never at zero. We are at the point of connection, the tiny vanishing point of consciousness where the "I" is born. We are, perhaps, the tiny dot on the "i" before we capitalize it and make something of ourselves."

Remember I Said I'd Post a Picture of...

the other quilt I made using the methods from Jan Mullen's book? Here it is. It's my beloved square in a square block -- but wonky.

I made it when I was pregnant with Benjamin. I had a hard time finding "novelty" fabric that I wanted to use until I came upon a simple frog pattern on a white background. It's in the center of each block and in that inner border. Of course, now you can hardly turn around in a fabric store with out finding frog/lizard/bug fabric.



And I jazzed up the back with this guy...


I swear I haven't forced this love of green and all things froggy on Benjamin, but he does cuddle up with this amphibian every night... and has for the last three years.