Grandmother's Flower Garden

This image on a ceramic tile in my studio brings to mind a lifestyle and perhaps an era far distant from mine. I imagine one of my grandmothers in her prime caring for family, home and farm while still managing to carve out time to make the quilts hanging on the line.

My husband's grandmother made this utilitarian "summer quilt". The large hexagons are whip stitched directly onto a muslin background with no batting or backing so it doesn't actually qualify as a quilt. Nevertheless it truly is a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt handmade by grandma.

Grandma's quilting wouldn't win any prizes but my husband's prize is the memory of him cutting out pieces for her as she sewed. Sometimes the greatest beauty of a quilt is the link to it's maker.

Yellow Stuff

My husband suprised me with this smiley guy several years ago when I was going through a bit of a rough patch at work. He actually does make me smile! Yes, that applies to my husband and smiley guy. I found a bit of the history of the yellow smiley face on Wikipedia.

In 1963 Harvey Ball, an American commercial artist, was employed by an advertising company to create a happy face to be used on buttons. His rendition, with bright yellow background, dark oval eyes, and creases at the sides of the mouth, was to become the most iconic version.

In the early 1970's French journalist Franklin Loufrani registered the smiley face image as a trademark in France in 1971, and he created "The Smiley Licensing Corporation, Ltd." to sell, license, and advertise the smiley face image in the United Kingdom and Europe.

In 1997, Franklin Loufrani and Smiley World attempted to acquire trademark rights to the symbol (and even to the word "smiley" itself) in the United States. This brought Loufrani into conflict with Wal-Mart, which had begun prominently featuring a happy face in its "Rolling Back Prices" campaign over a year earlier. The issue went to court where it would languish for seven years before a decision. The Loufrani vs. Wal-Mart case was finally closed in March 2009, when the judge dismissed Loufrani's claims to any rights on either the generic smiley face symbol or the word "smiley," noting that both had become "ubiquitous" in American culture long before Loufrani's initial trademark application.

The court decisions effectively ruled the smiley face (as well as the words "smiley face") to be in the public domain, at least within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Conclusion: We humans have the uncanny ability to ruin even a simple smile.

I learned a new word today: emoticon (a pictorial representation of a facial expression using punctuation marks and letters). Like the text version of a smiley face :-)

Emoticon is a portmanteau word of the English words emotion and icon. OK, I learned two new words today. A portmanteau blends two or more words into a new word.

The Quilt Life

The theme of the February 2012 issue of The Quilt Life is "where in the world?" I was so pleased when the editor contacted me about featuring my quilt, The World, as the centerfold. Gregory Case's superb photography plays up the quilting in high relief.

Unfortunately, my amateur photo above doesn't do it justice. You can see more images of The World on my posts in July and August 2011. Pick up a copy of The Quilt Life and be inspired by quilters from around the world. It's an issue filled with color, variety and inspiration.

Encouragment

Looking ahead to the new year, I have stacks of fabrics waiting to become quilts.

I have oodles of spools of colorful thread.

The quilt possibilities are endless.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan

May you be an optimist in 2012. Happy New Year.

Light of the World

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Tomorrow the daylight begins to lengthen every so slowly as the earth's tilt inches its way closer to the sun. Four of my quilts include a sun.

The World:
Good Morning:Arms of Love:24/7:
Since we're on the theme of light and it's almost Christmas I'm including a tribute to the birth of Christ, who said "I am the light of the world." Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of my life spent with You

King of all days
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me (written by Tim Hughes)

The annual tradition of decorating the house for Christmas is a time-consuming yet satisfying task. Right after Thanksgiving we crank up the Christmas music and get out the decorations. My husband puts up lights outside and places candles in each window while I decorate the tree and set out Christmas specific items accumulated over the years. Until New Year's Day, when it all goes back in storage, our eyes and memories are treated to something "new" around the house. The decor in my foyer features angels like the two pictured here. Sometimes the holidays are tinged with feelings of sadness or fear. While adding ornaments to the tree I experienced some of these emotions as I thought of family and friends no longer with us, and others living with insecurity due to health and financial concerns. But when I took out these Christmas angels I thought of this verse in the book of Luke,

"The angel appeared to the shepherds saying "Don't be afraid . . . I proclaim to you good news of great joy . . . today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you."

Yellow Stuff

What would we do without our rotary cutters? "Back in the day" we cut each piece with a scissors, and often not too accurately. With a rotary cutter all straight line (or gently curved) pieces are cut precisely and quickly. Let me emphasize quickly because, in a moment, this razor sharp tool can become a hazard.

Recently I was--unwisely--rotary cutting while watching a favorite HGTV show. What's the rule? Never take your eyes off the cutter when you're using it. Well, I violated that rule and paid the price with a deep slice to my index finger and nail. My neighbor, who is a nurse, patched me up and declared it would not require stitches.

So this is simply a public announcement for safety first . . . and gratitude for how efficient rotary cutters are when used properly!

Rare Birds

I am pleased to announce that Rare Birds received third place in the Art Whimsical category at the International Quilt Festival in Houston! The show runs this week Nov 3-6.

As part of a group that meets monthly to network, share and critique our work, I have learned so much from the talent and vision of these gifted quilt artists. Wanting to highlight the unique character of each one, I chose to depict our group as whimsical birds. From left to right we are:

Each bird has unique character:
Denise is drawn to native American art in her painted figurative quilts.
I like yellow and have a sewing background.
Annette loves purple and is a figurative painter.
Beth hosts our group, is an RN and cat lover.
Ann likes coneflowers, gingko leaves and her cat, Oreo.
Robbi is known for her brightly colored gear quilts.

That's the tip of the iceberg, but it gives you a peek at these rare birds. Google their names and you will learn much and be inspired on their websites.

Yellow Stuff

This birdhouse welcomes me to Kuipers Family Farm, where they sell apples, cider and warm apple cider doughnuts.

Don't forget a jar of honey.

Encouragement

These tranquil images were taken at the Anderson Japanese Garden in Rockford, Illinois. They breathe life into me!

Footloose

Footloose means "free to do as one pleases."

This whimsical sheep is constructed of leftover shapes from Fandango (pictured below). All the curly wool and border waves came from my scrap box.

Here's to red shoes.

Yellow Stuff

It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.
--B. C. Forbes

Tropical Radiance in Quilter's Newsletter

Tropical Radiance is a cover girl on the Oct/Nov issue of Quilter's Newsletter!


Check out the article starting on page 58.

See my July 29, 2010 post for other photos and comments.

Adventures in Design

Adventures in Design is Joen Wolfrom's lastest, greatest quilt design book. I have several of Joen's informative, colorful quilt design books. And now I'm pleased to say that several of my own quilts are featured in Adventures in Design. Joen does a masterful job of combining the visual and verbal to instruct and inspire us to grow in our design concepts.

Joen has a delightful "Playing With Color" blog. I guarantee you will learn a lot and be mesmerized by her luscious photography.

For a review of the book (and a shameless plug for my featured quilt "A Matter of Perspective") click on this link: seehowwesew

Here are some quick shots of the pages in Adventures in Design that include my quilts:

FOOTLOOSE
FANDANGO
FRAGRANT MEMORIES
TROPICAL RADIANCE
A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

Yellow Stuff

Gorgeous. But who says color in the garden must be limited to blooms?



OK, this is a bit extreme . . .

Yellow Stuff

Every year the Concours d'Elegance comes to Third Street in Geneva, IL. This year Lincoln and Brass Era Fords were featured, although numerous other makes and models are included. My husband and I are partial to Packards (next year's feature).



Quilt color schemes can come from anywhere. How about yellow, blue and red?


Great lines on this car:

Fandango

A painted Italian terracotta plaque circa 4th century BC inspired Fandango. One of the oldest ornamental motifs is the palmette—also known as a fan. Interpreted in lively colors, the fan shapes prompted the name Fandango meaning “go & dance”.

The quilt is made of 16 blocks with fan & scroll shapes surrounded by a scroll border. Although each block construction is identical, the placement of color determines the overall design.