This n That #5

Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated, I happened to be in San Diego for the Comic Con International show, also known as the "Nerd Prom". I saw a great many things, and did a lot of fun things, and worked a lot too. It was a good show.
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I just finished reading Johnny Got His Gun, which was a movie and also the subject of Metallica's One video. It's the story of a WWI soldier who loses his face, sight, hearing, legs and arms, and is a prisoner in his own body as his mind works perfectly. It was a quick read, and I actually said "wow" out loud a few times. It's a classic book, if you haven't read it.
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I know, I know, I am way behind on posting the photos of the weekly quilts. Since I had a weekend at home this weekend, I planned to get the site and this blog updated with them...see how that went? :)
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My first month as Riverwalk Quilter's Guild president has had a few moments of drama, but I'm expecting the rest of the year to go smoothly.
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I love to write letters almost as much as I love getting them. I do have to say getting them eeks out ahead in the "love" dept. but I still love to sit down and pen a few letters, which I did last night.
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I bought "The Art of Manipulating Fabric" which is so insanely good, and I CANNOT wait to try some of the tricks out on my quilts. I LOVE the look of some of these "multiple technique" works, though the originals were all done in muslin. I wonder how some of this would look in colors. I have a few ideas, and would like to try some out as weekly quilts, maybe even in August, as I haven't picked a theme yet.

This n That #4

I spent the July 4th weekend doing some quilting and catching up from being out of town recently. It was really nice.
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I've been trying to figure out what to work on next, and when exactly the time will free up to do it all. I have a few ideas about the next large quilt. I'm pretty excited about them.
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We got new chairs for our library and I've been enjoying the space with some crochet doily coasters that are in a pattern book I brought back with me from DH's grandmother. The coasters range from easy to hard, and I'm sticking towards the easy ones. But I have been enjoying making them, and can make one in a couple of hours, so they fit the bill for the time spent in the room.
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I've been drawn to embroidery patterns lately, which is strange, because I have no real desire to start major embroidery projects. I do like to look at them finished, and even bought a pattern or two that I should finish before buying any more. I do love the look of the Crabapple Hill Studio items, though...
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My garden outside my work window is finally underway, though it's a bit too late in the year to buy the roses and peonies I want. But we put the weed fabric down and partially mulched it. It's a start!! This bunny was hanging around for quite a while when the weeds were high.

President's Message #1

I'm reprinting the "President's Message" that I put in our guild newsletter here for your enjoyment.
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Well, Summer is here and that either means our schedules get busier or slower, depending on your family. For me, summer mean more travel, more weekend barbeques, and more yard work. For many folks, that means less time doing our favorite past-time, quilting! I used to find it so hard to keep up with job and home and family and find time to quilt too.

A couple of years ago I made a New Year's resolution to spend 1 hour a day "quilting", whether it was folding fabric, cleaning my art space, reading a quilting book, or actually quilting. It was amazing how more "in touch" I felt with quilting by doing that just one hour a day. Sometimes that hour was during my lunch break, and sometimes to get away from the loud TV and noise of the household. Try it for a week and see how you like it, and be sure to tell me how it went!

ATCs made for Art For All 2009 and my thoughts on the trip

Throughout this post there are the cards I both painted and quilted for Art for All 2009.

What is Art for All? Well, it's a gathering of online folks who trade and make ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) over at ATCSForALL.com. I've been a member for a long time, including being a member of the site it all grew out of, atcards.com, which is now defunct.

So the idea is that we would all get together, meet, trade, learn techniques from each other, and otherwise generally make stuff and gab. My roommate, the awesome VintagePix, took bunches of photos you can see on her Flickr.

I thought the weekend was great. I had a good time meeting people I have been online buddies with for a while, and the classes were great. Were there some problems? A few, but nothing that "ruined it" for me. Scheduling changed often, which for someone like me is a problem (I like having one plan, and don't like changing plans). The art room was acknowledged by all to be too small for all of us to work in. But really, those are minor things compared to how much fun we had.

I enjoyed seeing how people interacted as far as trading in person went, because it was so interesting. I don't know if some folks were prepared for the honesty and "facial reaction" to your trading book as those things are hidden online. I also found it psychologically fascinating as to the value a person places on their art over another person's. I found the reaction to fabric cards interesting as well, and it was remarked to me once that they did not seem like they took a long time to make (as what? compared to their cards, perhaps?). I believe this perception changed a bit when they saw me sewing them. It was also strange to be called by your online user name all the time! :)

I don't know what I can do logistically to get my sewing machine to the next one if not held in Indianapolis, so we will have to see if I can even attend the next one, but I enjoyed this one a great deal and hope to do it again.