Reveal Day!

It's reveal day for the Twelve by Twelve group! Very exciting. I think it's so fun to check the blog throughout the day and see the new quilts created by my fellow "twelves." I picked the theme this time around: chairs.

Here is my contribution. "She Sits to Dream."
I created this quilt with the intention to loosen up in my art -- the colors, the techniques, the process. It was challenging, but fun.
You can read a bit more about it on the Twelve by Twelve blog.

Actually, "She Sits to Dream" was the second quilt I created on the chair theme. Here is the first.
It's called "She Sits to Wait." I think it's interesting that two quilts can be so similar and yet so different. It's very calm, don't you think. (Boring, maybe?)
Which do you like better?

Picture Books

I love kids picture books. Seriously. love love love love

I always look forward to the awarding of the Caldecott medal every January. (The Caldecott medal is given by the American Library Association to the "most distinguished American picture book for children.")

Last year, the award was given to The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The kids and I were very excited because we loved that book and even had the great thrill of seeing the author/illustrator Brian Selznick give a fascinating talk at the Dallas Museum of Art last year.

This year the Caldecott Medal winner is The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson. We haven't read this one, but our local library has it, so it's on my list for our next trip. (Though honestly, from the images I've seen on Amazon, I don't think it's going to blow me away.)

The Caldecott Committee also names three honor books (runners up, I guess). This year they chose A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee.We haven't read this one either and our local library doesn't even have it. Yet. (I will put in a request straight away.) But, I adore Marla Frazee. She is the author of one of my all time favorite kids' books, Seven Silly Eaters.

Also winning an honor medal, How I Learned Geography, written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz.

We did read this book. It was ok. The kids didn't love it. I will say that as I peruse the Caldecott winners and honor books of the past several years, there always seems to be a suspiciously political book among the winners. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But, "distinguished" illustrations? I'm not so sure. Shulevitz also won an Honor medal for his book Snow. I liked it better.

And the final Honor Medal went to ...

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant.

This book is extraordinary. I loved it so much!

In fact, I'm sad I've put it way down at the bottom of this post. Are you still reading? If so, stop right now and rush out to the library to get this book.

I can't begin to say how much I loved it. The illustrations are an inspired combination of collage, mixed media, sketches, words and other ephemera. It's the story of the great American poet, William Carlos Williams. He was also a doctor and wrote poetry when he wasn't treating patients. I think it's a great message to share with kids: find a place for art and creativity in your life.

Apparently, the committee has been criticized in the past for ignoring books of poetry for children. Though this book is not an anthology of poetry, it certainly could inspire kids to embrace poetry. Which is good!

William Carlos Williams' poems also play an important part in another book that we loved: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.
If you love dogs, poetry, school, kids and/or books you should read this book. (And the sequel Hate That Cat.) Tuck a tissue in your pocket before you get to the end.

I have also discovered that Melissa Sweet has two other similarly illustrated books called Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women and The Sky's the Limit: Stories of Discovery by Women and Girls. You know they are all my library list!

Ok, those are my recommendations for now. If you've read them, I'm eager to hear what you think!

More Illumination Pictures

Here is another of my illuminated art quilts series. This was not published in the article in Quilting Arts. There are some elements that I really like.
It's called "Attitude." On the top, there is a foiled letter B which starts the words "Blue Skies..."
...and near the bottom it says, "as far as the eye can see."
I like this combo of cheese cloth, raw silk bits and the Asian bead. I really like that antique hankie near the top too.

As I created this series, I was thinking about what constitutes "sacred text" in my life. I really think a positive attitude and thoughtful intention are essential. It's not easy to hold onto that idea in every moment, but I am hoping that as I examine the path before me *as far as the eye can see* I embrace the layers of life with enthusiasm.

I sure wish I would have ironed that black fabric before I took that full shot. Jeez.

Yowza!

Have you seen it yet?! I wrote an article in the new issue of Quilting Arts magazine. I am just thrilled beyond belief!
The article is about my series of illuminated art quilts. It began with the Illumination theme of our 12x12 group. I enjoyed the process of my "Fourth Day" so much, that I made several more quilts based on sacred texts and incorporating elements inspired by illuminated manuscripts. I proposed an article about my series and the process to Pokey and she accepted.

As usual, the photography in Quilting Arts in stunning. I hope you'll enjoy seeing my quilts in all their glossy glory.

One of the quilts in the magazine is "Firmament."
"Firmament" is my interpretation of the second day of creation from the story in the Book of Genesis. Rocks, an old key, a hand charm and other embellishments explore the symbolism for water and creativity.

Here is "Vibrant Layers." Here my personal sacred text is the definition of the word "vibrant." It's an exploration of energy, enthusiasm, growth and passion.
This one wasn't included in the article... so here is your first view!
There are several other wonderful artists and techniques in this issue. Surely, something will light your fire. Look for Kathy York's quilt on the cover. Jane Davila has an inspiring article about using rubber stamps. Laura Wasilowski sings the praises of hand embroidery -- you know I love this! Liz Berg tells all about monoprinting. (That's a monoprint in the center Vibrant Layers.)

Several of these quilts are in my Etsy shop. I hope you'll check them out.

I really hope you check your stash for some foils and illuminate your art!

I'll leave you with "Grow Illuminated." It's my favorite of the series.

Question

I'd love to reduce the font size of my "Blog-Tastic" blogroll. It's there on the left. See it? I poked around the html of my template until my eyeballs began to sweat. No luck. Any suggestions?

Edited to Add:
Hooray! Brenda gave me some great advice. I made the font smaller, but I'd still like to make the line height smaller. It's like a scavenger hunt searching through all that html for something that might work.

Celebration!

I had a great day yesterday. It was a celebration of my birthday and lots of other blessings... big and little. Ashley, Lu and Connie came over to watch the inauguration.
See the flowers behind Lu? Jeff sent them along with a lovely note and a box of chocolates! (He's out of town, but he took me out for a lovely dinner last week.) You can also see my amaryllis blooming on the kitchen table. (Finally.)

We had yummy coffee cake muffins. You can see the "recipe" here.
Michelle brought me this authentic "Historic Victory Plate." It even came with a display stand. I love it!

Michelle came decked in all kinds of patriotic gear right down to her toes.
I wore my Obama gear.
I am so thankful for the gifts of hope, promise, friendship, abundance and love in my life.

A few inaugural highlights:

• My favorite part: the beautiful musical piece, an interpretation of one of my favorite hymns.
  
• I also loved the poem, though I heard several people say they didn't like it.
  
• I liked Michelle's daytime outfit better than her night time outfit, though neither were home runs for me.
  
• I see myself in the Obama family and I think lots of others do too.
• Still adore Anderson Cooper. (See one of my old blog posts here. Scroll down.)
  
• The day ended with a spectacular bang watching Bishop Robinson on The Daily Show.

There was also cake -- that's the Molten Lave Cake from Chili's.
We got it "to go," fixed it up at home and the three of us gobbled it up!

Beautiful Day

What a wonderful day! I'm thinking about opportunity, change, growth, intention and celebration today. To share the celebration with you I'm giving away this little bird ornament.
Just post a comment by January 22 and I'll use a random number generator to choose a recipient.

I made it as part of Regina's "birds of change" swap. She invited swappers to give a bird away today. I'll give you a link for a list of other bird give-aways soon. You can also see images of lots of fantastically creative birds on the flickr group.

After playing around with lots of options, I finally settled on this. I'm pleased. Text, surface design, the green and the purple, fusible... lots of my favorite elements. I had to hurry to get this one ready for the give-away and more are in the works for the swap.

I hope you're soaring today. On top of all the other good things about today, I'm turning 39!

Edited to Add:
Thank you so very much for your thoughtful comments and birthday wishes. I used a random number generator to choose a comment. This little bird will be winging its way to Trinity Lou!

Next...

Ok, now that the Sunday School event is behind me, it's time to move on to other projects. (It was delightful. It feels like such an honor to share my work and ideas. Really, such a privilege. I received lots of lovely compliments and plans may be in the works to have a show of members' artwork.)

Speaking of other projects. What have I gotten myself into?

Project 1
School Quilt Project
I agreed to coordinate a quilt project for our school. The art teacher has a budget of only $300 for supplies for the entire school for the entire year. We've got nearly 500 kids in our school. So, obviously, that's in adequate. I don't understand why the budget works the way it does. (Nor do I really want to investigate that.) But, we've decided to make some quilts which will be auctioned in the spring. The money we earn will be added to the supply budget for the following year.

We're focusing on the fourth grade. Each fourth grade class will create a small art quilt with fused applique. We start this week. I've already purchased fabric, batting and thread... but we've got yards and yards that need to be pre-fused. So that's the first step.

I'll keep you posted.

Project 2
Birds of Change Exchange
I signed up for Regina's Birds of Change exchange. I will be making five small fiber birds to swap with other artists all over the blog-o-sphere. Here's what Regina said, "I've thinking a lot about the new year and the many new, exciting and unknown changes to come. I want to approach the new year as positively as possible. I thought that maybe these birds might help serve as reminders throughout the year to be hopeful, positive and open."

We'll I'm certainly on board with that! Regina has also invited swappers to offer a bird as a give-away on their blogs on January 20 to celebrate the change that will be occurring in our country on that day. Check my blog on Tuesday!

Project 3
Chair
Hmmmm. Yes, the Twelve by Twelves quilts will be revealed on February 1.

So, why am I sitting here at the computer? Seriously. I need some help with time management.

Sunday

During January, the adult Sunday School class at my church is having "Coffee and Conversation" on a variety of topics. Tomorrow we are talking about art. I've been asked to share some of my artwork and talk a bit about my life as an artist.

I'll be sharing my series of quilts that are inspired by illuminated manuscripts, including this piece.
It's titled "Grow Illuminated." That's just a detail shot. You'll be seeing this and more of the series soon. (Of course, more illumination quilts here.)

I asked the Sunday School coordinator to give me a couple of talking points that I might consider as I prepare. Here's what she said:

Tell us in what way God led you into this vocation.
How is God revealed in your work?
In what way does God guide you through the work?
What have you learned about God through this work?

Pretty heavy stuff, don't you think? I'm a bit overwhelmed. A bit of prayer will be necessary.

I don't blog about faith and church too often. Maybe I should. Then I could just check my archives and figure out what to say tomorrow morning.

Lovely Dinner

Jeff took me out to dinner last night. We went to Rise No. 1. It's received lots of press lately and I've been wanting to try it. It's a quaint little French place specializing souffles. It was so fun. Really unique and very interesting. I tried to take some pictures that really reflected the ambiance of the place, but I didn't have much success. (What do you do in a place that is dark, but if you use a flash it drowns everything out -- not to mention, annoys the other patrons.)

You can see some wonderful photos in this set I found on flickr. There is a wonderful sculptural wall of tree branches that makes the place seem divinely rustic.

This is the "marshmallow soup," which really isn't marshmallow at all. It's a tomato carrot bisque with mini goat cheese souffles on top. The soup arrives in a beautiful ceramic bowl with a lid in which there is a raised well filled with pesto sauce. The server removes the lid and tips the sauce over the soup at table side. Sigh.

This soup is the talk of local foodies. It really is spectacular and those little goat cheese souffles are perfection. Apparently the recipe and the container in which they are baked are top secret. I can see why.

Then we moved on to savory souffles for our entrees. I ordered Jambon and Guyere (ahem, ham and cheese) and Jeff had Herb and Spicy sausage. They arrived so beautifully poofy, brown and warm.

I don't think I've ever really had a souffle. I understand the concept from many hours of Food Network viewing. And I understand they are very delicate ... in fact, at one point in the evening, the manager came over to tell a woman at the table next to ours that her souffle had fallen and they were remaking it. She was not happy. (She was not happy about lots of things. I don't like sitting practically shoulder to shoulder with the people at the next table, so close that you can't help but hear every word. Another story.) It wouldn't have bothered me at all.

We finished with dessert souffles. How could we not? I ordered chocolate. (You guessed that.) Jeff ordered Bread Pudding. Not just bread pudding, but bread pudding souffle. Interesting, don't you think? When they arrived, the server made a big hole with the spoon in the top of the souffles and poured chocolate sauce in mine and brandied cream in Jeff's. So light... and yet rich. Very good.

Even the bathrooms were full of character and style.

I feel so lucky to live in a big city with interesting restaurants to explore. We love these unique experiences. I'm going back for the soup!

Kids Art

Benjamin gave us a wonderful Christmas gift: a hand drawn calendar. It really is just charming and I am so thankful to his classroom teacher for taking the time to do this project with the kids. I love it.

I especially love his drawing for September. As soon as I saw those trees, I asked him if he had been thinking of my fractal tree when he drew all those tiny branches. He said he had! Benjamin doesn't always like what a fix for dinner, but I am thrilled that he likes my art.

Claire has been busy too. She just finished this diorama for a book report. She has read several Nancy Drew books and I'm not sure which book this is about... but check out the working dumb waiter!

It's on the right with the little guy in the green vest sitting in it. You pull a knot on the back of the box and the dumb waiter slides from the top floor down into the basement.

Claire was uninspired to draw any furnishing for the rooms in her diorama, so she cut pictures out of a Pottery Barn catalog. Genius.

There is not much going on down in the basement, but sometimes that's the way basements are.

Such clever kids! I really should be making some art of my own. I've got deadlines coming up.

Movie

We went to see The Tale of Despereaux last night. There were lots of things I really liked about it. The art direction is inspiring. There were so many elements in the setting that I really loved: needles, thread, illuminated manuscripts, rich tapestries, books, tiny houses, keys, buttons and other small inspiring objects. Plus, soup and cheese play important parts in the story. I love both soup and cheese. So all of that was wonderful, but...

Wow. There were some very heavy themes in the movie. Revenge. Grief. Loss. Torture. Public Sacrifice. Fear. Banishment. I suppose it's all wrapped in a fairy tale package, but it felt so dark to me. I certainly don't intend to shelter my children from reality, but I do seek to present such serious subjects in an appropriate manner and at an appropriate time. I'm not saying that the movie was inappropriate. It just made me squirm a bit. In the end, it has a wonderful message about courage, bravery and overcoming grief. But, I'm not sure it was worth all it took to get there.

Aside from all that, the princess in the movie looks just like

Susan Tuttle!

  

I had the delight of finally meeting Susan when I was in Maine in September.

Here we are at the Bowdoinham Library where my friend Kate is the librarian. It was story hour and Kate was leading a craft with a bunch of local kids including Susan's kids. The large blue and purple painting above us is Susan's work. What a fun connection.

Zines!

My zines from Alma's swap were waiting for me when we returned from vacation. Wow! (I blogged about the zine I created here.)

I will be sharing delicious little tidbits later in the week.

Workshop Opportunity

I'm leading a workshop for the Denton Quilt Guild on Saturday, January 17. There are still spots available if any local folks are interested. It's going to be a super fun, creative day and I'd love to have you. Here are the details:

Small Art Quilts: Designing a Series

Create your own original series of fiber art incorporating common elements. We’ll use the Elements and Principles of Design to direct improvisational compositions. Tons of ideas for completely busting through any creative blocks!

Saturday, January 19 from 9:30 to 3:30

North Branch Library on Locust Street in Denton, TX

Only $35 for non Denton Quilt Guild members

Email Kathy Goldman to register gomurf66@yahoo.com

She'll send you a supply list. (Not too much needed, just a few fat quarters, batting and Wonder Under.)

Here are a few of my class samples.

Let me know if you'd like more info. I'm hoping to see some familiar faces... and some new ones too.

Winter Vacation

We've been in Orlando!

It was fantastic to see my friends Julie and Shannan (Tridelta pledge sisters)!

We visited Walt Disney World when we lived in Jacksonville, FL, but the kids don't remember it. So, now they are the perfect ages to really take it all in.

The parks were still lit up for Christmas. It was beautiful.

Our Illinois side of the family met us in Florida. That's grandma and grandpa, plus cousins Zach and Ellie. (Their mom and dad came too.)

  

Benjamin and Zach have so much fun hanging out together.

Ah, breakfast in the hotel.

Jeff and the kids love spinning rides. I do not.

More ice cream.

Here we are waiting in line to get an autograph from Prince Caspian (from the Narnia movie).

It's a big beautiful world.

We really love to travel and this was a very special trip. We brought home lots of fun goodies and wonderful memories. Unfortunately, Claire also brought home a flu bug. She's completely down for the rest of the week. Ug.