Look Who's Famous!

I just love our Artful Quilters Webring. It's so full of talented, inspirational artists of all kinds! In fact, I've spotted a few in current issues of some magazines. Check this out!

One of PamDora's quilts in in the new Quilting Arts. It's in the Art Quilts at the Sedgewick article. Yeah Pam! There is no one in the art quilting world making stunning whimsical funny work like Pam!










And Alma Stoller is profiled in the new issue of Somerset Studio. It's in the Melange section and it's all about her amazing publication The Fabric Art Zine. If you've never seen a copy, you just might be able to get in on issue 4. It's edgy, fun, funky, information and inspirational! Alma is a great spirit.




Sonji has a little blurb in an entire article about blogs written by quilters in the second issue of Quilter's Home. Yeah!

Whenever I get tired of reading magazines (not often) I just start driving through the ring. It's so full of great pictures, interesting stories and people and way more laughs.

Maybe there are others who have been published recently. Actually I think I saw a Frieda quilt in the new issue of $100,000 Quilting Challenge magazine. I can't remember for sure.

Dog Update
Our puppy is still a whole mess of CUTE! His name is Lincoln. He's not eatting too well which means we've resorted to vet prescribed canned food, warmed in the microwave and fed to him by hand. Meanwhile the human babies are eatting instant Kraft Easy Mac and Cheese off of paper plates.

Look Who Is Coming Home with Us!

Here we are leaving the local animal shelter.


First order on the agenda: a bath! My goodness, he was stinky!


Then some playing in the yard.


And some lovin'!


And a nap!


He doesn't have a name yet... but we LOVE him!

Big Stuff in the Works

When we moved to Texas and set aside a whole room in our home for my studio, I really wanted to make the most of the opportunity to take my art to the next level. I love the idea of leading small workshops in my studio, maybe publishing a 'zine and -- of course -- making more art.

I'm so thrilled to say that it is beginning to come together. I'm also terrified to say that it is beginning to come together. (Sometimes, I run out of the studio with screams of "Now what????" and "Am I sure???" tossing about in my head. Other times I think, "This is superfantastic!")

Holly Knott is designing a webpage for me and it's looking great. I'm also preparing a couple of workshops and "How To" books. I am most excited about my concept for uniquely designed, self published booklets with easy step-by-step instructions, lots of hand made elements, tons of personality and an attitude of celebrating the creative spirit. For those who can't come to a workshop in my studio, the "How To" books will be a great creative jump start.

The first workshop and book will be titled "Fiber Cards: Designing a Series." I've made tons of postcards over the past year and I believe the thing I have developed that is unique to my personal style is the small series of cards incorporating a common element. You remember my birds? Houses? Pastel leaves?

I made two series that will be workshops samples and will be on the cover of the How To book. Here is one series.












Behold the green and the purple!

I need just a few more weeks before everything is ready to go and the website is live, but feel free to email me and I'll let you know when everything is unveiled! Click on the email link under my picture.

Have You Heard?

It's hot in Texas.

Ok... it wasn't really 129.4 degrees. The thermometer sits in the sun and reads funny. But, it is still measuring something and whatever it is, it's HOT.

A few seconds later.


Getting HOTTER.


How about this? Yes, that's 93.2 degrees at 10:41 pm! I think I had to stand on a chair to get this shot.

Ridiculous.

Actually, I was nearly overwhelmed in my first few weeks here in TX. Not necessarily by the heat specifically, but by how much people want to talk about it. I can't tell you how often I heard, "Is it hot enough for you?" Um... what exactly should my response be to that?

Eventually, I decided that I would try to avoid using the crutch of complaining about the heat to make small talk or even bring it up in regular conversation unless it realted to something real in my life -- other than just the fact that it's hot. And suddenly it didn't seem like such a big deal. Suddenly it's nearly the end of August and we've survived just fine.

I'm not saying I like it. I'm just saying that our words and intentional thoughts make a difference. Of course, I did just post an entire blog entry about it -- with pictures!

Hey, Look What I Made!

A couple of weeks ago, an artist friend invited a bunch of other artist friends to her home on Saturday morning to "play." Apparently, she has "Sacred Saturday" every week in her home when her husband takes her two boys out and she spends the morning in the studio. Divine! (Actually, Jeff often takes out kids to McDonald's Playland for pancakes on weekend mornings and I am always encouraged to "just do my own thing.") These men are superfantastic husbands and fathers.

Anyway...

There wasn't any specific agenda, but somehow we ended up with a felting book, a big basket of roving and someone who had made some felt balls before. She became the teacher and several of us began rubbing, soaping, wetting and rolling.



I realize now that I should have put something in this picture for scale. I'd say it's slightly bigger than a golf ball. Are you surprised by the color combinations? Of course not. It was really fun. It took quite a long time, but that's ok. We all just chatted away with our wet hands and compared sizes and firmness.

The funniest thing is that we all insisted on slicing the balls open right away. Do they really need to dry? Someone called them felt geodes. Perfect. Now what to do with it? I could sew it to some snappy little wrist cuff and it could be a wearable pin cushion. It could made some wild wacky eyes for some kind of softie monster. Or I could just set it on the shelf to look interesting.

The group is called the Twisted Stitchers. They meet twice a month in the classroom of a local quilt shop to work on projects, chat and support each other. It's an amazing group and I was thrilled to be invited! Of course, I connected with them indirectly through blogging. Ah... let's pause a moment and sing the praises on blogging. Ok. That's enough.

The Twisted Stitchers meet again this week. I'll bring my camera!

This and That

One more bit of interesting stuff from the City Museum in St. Louis.

Here is a tiny little shoelace factory!

It was nestled into a little hallway. You can see the weaving machines against the wall on the left. The one is the foreground is strung with red and black and the one just behind it has all yellow. And there is the Shoelace Gentleman in the back.

Here he is again. He was actually much more friendly than he looks here.

Those machines are from the 1800s, I think. They hold something like 48 spools and whir about speedily wrapping the colors over and under and then the finished shoelace slides out the top. I was fascinated. That's a bit of fiber art history, don't you think?

I purchased two sets. One for me and one for Gerrie. You can see them all laced up in her walking shoes on her blog.


In other news...

I had a delightful visit with Becky Howdeshell yesterday. She came over for a cappacino, studio tour, playing with Legos with Benjamin, sharing artwork and gabbing about art and Rock Star Supernova. Becky is working toward her MFA in Fibers at the University of North Texas.

It was fascinating to talk with her about the world of academia. And wonderful to see some of her work. And her collection of pieces from other fiber artists including Virginia Spiegel and Pamela Allen and many others. She also shared the new issue of the Surface Design Association magazine. It was stunning!

I should have taken pictures! You would be drooling over the pile of art we had on my studio table. (Of course, I must also get Becky's permission to post some pictures!) I also really appreciated the enthusiasm she showed for my pieces and more some ideas I've got brewing.

In fact... I spent some productive, exciting time in the studio last night.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I think I probably promised more pictures from our summer vacation and as I've been looking through them, I find that they just don't really tell the story. There are lots of great pictures of the extended family we visited in IL and MN, but I don't neccessarily have their permission to post pictures.

We have been talking about the Water Park of America nearly every day since we returned. The kids just LOVED it. They say it's the largest indoor water park in America. Water parks are all the rage. Have you noticed? We had a blast. We did take some pictures, but since there was water everywhere (obviously), we just didn't get any shots that really show all the exhileration we experienced.

So you just have to imagine all our smiling faces and wet wet wet hair. I will share this...

That's the carpet right outside the elevator at the Grand Lodge of the Water Park of America. Inspiring, yes?

I also think this picture is quite lovely.

My kids and their cousins feeding popcorn to the ducks and fish at Lake Harriet. The grown-up cousins were quite moved by enjoying the family tradition of walking around Lake Harriet with a whole new generation. We wondered whether our kids will become closer with their "second cousins" like we did with our first cousins.

Families change as there are fewer children in each family, we have babies a little later in life and we move away from "home" so often. I am so happy that we made the trip back.

Small Landscape

Last week I enjoyed making this small landscape to give to a friend for her birthday. I think it's about 5x8ish. Hand painted background, hand dyed applique pieces, embroidery and a bit of hand writing that says "wishing you celebrations on every horizon."



I got a lovely message from her yesterday, so now I can share it with all of you.

I did some more small landscapes yesterday and they looked like crap. I've already hidden them away so I don't feel like wretching when I look at them. (But I didn't actually throw them out. There may be some redemption for them eventually.)

Today I did some small pieces using the frayed hems of some old jeans. They turned out much better. One will make it's way to Houston for Fiber Art for a Cause.

As we all know, some days are more inspired than others.

Goodies!

My husband took a trip to California recently and brought back lots of wonderful presents for me and the kids. (One of the very few benefits of having daddy travel for work... sigh.)

This fabulous mug with a wonderful sentiment.

I added the pens for this glamour shot.

He also brought these beautiful chocolates! They are totally handcrafted and delicious. I love that they are so traditional.

It seems there is a big movement toward trendy, contemporary style chocolates with crazy flavor combinations. Not that I would turn those away, but sometimes you just want an old fashioned turtle. Am I right?

Speaking of chocolate, Jeff and I went out to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary last night. We had so much fun. We went to Jasper's, which is billed as gourmet backyard cuisine. There were several items on the menu like you might cook in your own backyard -- except they are "kicked up a notch." Mac and cheese, hamburgers, fries.

Highlights of our meal included the seared tuna appetizer and the masa chicken soup. The soup came in a wide shallow bowl with the chicken, corn, beans and tortilla strips piled in the center, then the waiter poured the rich broth into the bowl and it pooled around all the other stuff. Cool. I always love a bit of a show.

Anyway, back to the chocolate. We ordered a trio of "mini" desserts including a Rocky Road Ice Cream Sandwich, Butterfinger Creme Brulee and Dessert Toast. The others were ok, but the Dessert Toast was quite inspired. (Curiously, I liked it even though it didn't include any chocolate.) The "toast" had a French toast/crepe/pound cake kind of base. On top were candied pecans and carmelized slices of bananas. We were given a little pot of maple syrup to pour over. Yum!

We loved window shopping and people watching after dinner as we walked around the streets. We stopped in Schakolad, an excellent chocolate shop and though I had a full belly, Jeff insisted on buying me a few pieces. I chose a dark chocolate and raspberry truffle and a milk chocolate turtle. We also picked out two for the kids. They were so delighted to have something special from mom and dad's date. I remember my mom and dad occasionally bringing home something special when they had a night out. (Often a piece of cake if they'd gone to a wedding, or some candy covered almonds from bridge night.)

Then we came home and watched Firewall with Harrison Ford. A great night!

More City Museum Pictures

As I posted yesterday, we had an amazing trip to the City Museum in St. Louis. Below are some of the inspired designs I snapped.

An enormous tree-house-nest and the other-worldly ceiling treatment. There were wonderful, clever visions everywhere I looked.

In fact, on the weekends, the City Museum stays open until 1 am and has live music. What a great alternative to a smokey bar!

My kids are not especially arty. But, we did explore "art city" a bit.

They both made tie-dye t-shirts. There were also tables for collage, clay, giant snowflakes, decorating old hats, etc etc etc (And lots of artsy fartsy type museum employees!)

The entire building is full of salvaged materials. There are amazing old architectural pieces around every corner.

That just says it all, doesn't it?

This rebar sculpture is in the outside "Monstro-City" area. It's more than just sculpture... it's also the railing leading up to the next level.

It looks all rusty and like you wouldn't want to touch it, doesn't it? Somehow I didn't feel that way when we were there. The place seems to put everyone in a "just go for it" mood.

The City Museum also houses the "St. Louis Museum of Architecture," which could also be called. "A Bunch of Cool Old Stuff on Shelves." Everything was beautifully decorative.


Sometimes I feel like I should hang a sign like this over my front door.

The blonde head is a bit freaky though.

I like that word "mirth." It's definetely underused. Check out these synonyms.

amusement, cheer, cheerfulness, entertainment, festivity, frivolity, frolic, fun, gaiety, gladness, glee, grins, happiness, hilarity, hysteria, hysterics, joyousness, laughs, laughter, levity, lightheartedness, merriment, merrymaking, pleasure, rejoicing, revelry, whoopee

Have a mirthful day, friends.

City Museum, St. Louis, MO

We had a great family vacation at the end of July. Upon reflection, I've decided our trip to the City Museum in St. Louis was my favorite part of the trip.

I must start by saying that I don't think I'll really be able to adequately describe the place. In fact, us grown-ups have since discussed what you'd even call it and we don't have an answer. Check out their website for many more amazing pictures and details about the attractions.

Here are some pictures of us enjoying our day. Tomorrow I'll post more pictures of the amazing site, colors, textures and history of the place.

Here is the outside entry area of the City Museum. Yes... a real bus perches on the roof. Lots of other salvaged airplanes, fire trucks and other capsules all connected by life size tunnels, stairways, slides and stairs.


More adventure inside. Hundreds and hundreds of square feet of mosiacs. More tunnels, ladders, slides, water... Big fun!


You know how most museums are super clean and bright with easy-to-read, thoughtful signage everywhere? Not so at the City Museum. It's like walking into a giant mixed-media collage. It's gritty and grungy in all the very best "city" ways.

Experienced museum goers were seen wearing knee pads for all the adventurous climbing. (See that amazing shiny treatment on the ceiling? Another picture of that tomorrow!)


The museum is FULL of salvaged materials including this stunning man-hawk.


And these gargoyals -- one made of stone, one made of mischief!


Here are all the adventurers, minus Grandpa who was taking the picture. (We're eatting funnel cake! How many museums do you know that sell funnel cake?!)


After the indoor adventures, we headed outside. You see I'm wearing a denim skirt. Not the best choice. But it didn't slow me down too much. (Those below may have gotten a view of the white cotton panties I was wearing, though. Hmmmm. That may have been more information than you needed.)

At the end of that airplane wing, to the right, the "cage" dwindles into a little tunnel...

that rises above the whole climbing area more than five stories high! We all climbed through. Exhilerating.


This whole outside area is called "Monstro-city." Isn't that clever? I can't imagine the work and planning that went into the building. But, to all those involved, I thank you. It was well worth it!

How's This For A Plan?

I like this skirt from the Boden fall line. (As if fall will be arriving in Texas anytime soon. Not!)


When I saw it, the first thing that entered my mind was, "I could totally make that." And if I ever get out from under my enormous "to do" list, I just might.

I could start with this skirt from Kohl's.


I know, it's not the same color. But, actually I'll just be using the Boden skirt as "inspiration." My version will have fewer flowers and not so many colors.

And when (and if) I make this skirt, I can assure you that my husband will not be standing beside me wearing red pants and a blue sweater.

Back to "Normal"

Ah. The quintessential "happy to be home."

We had a wonderful vacation and I am so struck by how blessed we are. We have a big family full of love, enthusiasm and interesting lives. More on all that later.

School starts in less than two weeks. We must start working towards earlier mornings. And go buy supplies. (Yeah! I love buying school supplies! I assure you that I will not be able to resist buying some stuff for myself. All those crayola products!)

I'm swamped over the next couple of weeks with my job as editor of a large church newsletter. I think we're looking at about 24 pages for this issue.

I know I haven't blogged much about summer reality tv. Please read Ssslambo instead! She's great. But in regards to Project Runway, I will say.... oh, I love me some yoyos! Even though you can't really see them in this picture.



And why why why were those crazy sleeve things hanging out of the bottom of that white top? It looked like she got her leg in the wrong hole of some granny panties and they creeped out the top of her pants. Yuck.

Between, Georgia

I'm still on vacation. We're heading home tomorrow. It's been wonderful! (Thank you for all your comments on my blog! I haven't had time to respond to all of them, but I was thrilled that you all liked the labor and delivery piece.)

Just one of the many delights on our vacation was the one book I brought along to read: Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson.

I've included a picture so that the next time you are at a bookstore and you see that cover, you'll think, "Oh I saw that on Deborah's Journal and she said it was amazing. I must buy it!"

It really was great. I was spilling over with that wonderful tension of wanting to read quickly so I could find out what would happen to all the characters and yet wanting to read slowly to savor to entertaining, whimsical, funny, thoughtful, rich, surprising writing.

I finished it in less than a week amidst visiting relatives and lots of changing in and out of wet swimming suits. So I guess I found a good pace for reading.

Joshilyn also has a blog so I loved having the tiniest bit of insight into her as a person and her personal life... it made me raise my eyebrows a bit as I was reading.

I'm planning ahead right now to see Joshilyn on the red carpet at the 2009 Academy Awards. (I'll give Hollywood another three years to make the movie.) This book has all the makings of an incredible screen play. I don't say that to discount its perfection as a novel.

I think I may have even liked it more than her first novel, gods in Alabama. But, if you haven't read that... buy it also. Or order them both from Amazon. That will qualify you for the free shipping.

Thanks to Diane and DebR who initially introduced my to Joshilyn. Ah... the endless benefits of blogging!