music by Tim O'Brien

the best of the blues

You've only seen bits and pieces of this one. This is only the center, but all the sixteen blocks are close cousins.  It's a little more than six feet square overall.
It's hand dyed cottons with one or two overdyed commercial batiks thrown in for spice.

There's no batting and it's backed with a sturdy flannel, also dyed. I knocked it together for a hasty Christmas present for Jake some years back. Now it's Charlie's play yard, although he's just about to find first gear and will be crawling off it in no time.

Once this February freeze fades and I can work in the studio without losing sensation in my fingers, I plan on pulling all this good "utility" cloth out of the stash, organizing it by color and get back to business making something out of nearly nothing. Remembering what quilting is all about.
Comfort, warmth, usefulness.

long ago and far away

"Oasis"
(27x35)
2006
Dye printed cotton overpainted with transparent acrylic glazes and metallic paint. Machine stitched with metallic thread.


Sorry for the throwback...I've been busy.

generosity

I've been remiss in thanking two generous benefactors.

A large box of tablecloths and napkins arrived just the other day and I finally had the chance to spill them out into the sunlight. Wonderful stuff! Thank you D.

And from the sunny climes, St.A has sent a gift certificate that will allow me to plunder the stock room at ProChem. All I have to do is settle down with the catalog and choose. All. Blessings on you both!

It was so cold in the studio this morning I could see my breath! Thinking about dyeing turns my head towards summer.

Working work

My textile art is hard at work these days. In and out of the washer and dryer on a weekly basis.

 

"Spooky Stories"

I've not been a good participant in the ongoing Facebook chain of Art. I was nominated three times that I know of and I was very honored, but I just haven't had the free time to fool with it. And not enough new stuff to post. 

I've enjoyed seeing other artist's work, Not so much the ancient stuff, which is why I've not trotted out all my old stuff,  It's been all over this blog for the last ten years. I'm tired of seeing it.

"The Modern"

Pulled this from the River basket this morning and got in a whole twenty minutes of stitching but had to stop because I stuck myself bloody three time and was working with white thread. My fingers have gone dumb and blind.

cleaning...

..and cooking are necessary procrastinations. my writer friends will understand that while I'm picking up pins, pushing around the new Shark and cooking, there is NO BUTT IN CHAIR and no writing happening. This is something I let happen when I come back from a walk in the park with two full pages of teeny tiny handwriting - a scene that I have been avoiding finally coming into view. The notes are not enough.  

I've decided to leave this version of "Fierce" covering the whole design wall for a while longer until I decide to dismember it. There's nothing like a big fat fail to keep you humble.

I'm reminded of when these table legs danced.

dyefest dreams

Two consecutive days of sunshine and I'm dreaming in color.

I was also in the studio packing up some orders and had a hard time finding any purples or browns.



The raw materials have dwindled.
I'll have to do an inventory and 

see what's on sale at  my sources.



If anyone has any worn, holey or raggedy cotton or linen tablecloths, etc. that you were going to dump, get in touch!

I'm feeling the need for blue/gold/green fingers and feet even though dye season is months away.

I want to be ready when the first string of days of 75+ degree weather is on us.

A book review and giveaway!

   "Poole's Paradise”            by John Vorhaus - 

In keeping with my promise to self to spend as much time reading as writing (liar!) I'm going to be reviewing the books here from time to time. After a year of heavy duty personal tests, all I want from my entertainment lately, is, well, entertainment. 

I'm happy to report that John Vorhaus delivers big time with “Poole's Paradise”.

Set in a New England college town in the mid-seventies, young Alexander Poole has already twigged to the hard truth that the world does not revolve around him and he's okay with it, ready to take in what life has to teach. 

To label this a coming of age story would be missing a bet. I promise you'll be rewarded with some unexpected wisdom. You know, the things that make you go “Hmmm.”

Alex is looking for answers, and his place in this world, as many of us were, in a time when the only way to get the True Truth was to interact with people face to face, ask questions and weigh the answers; take chances, have adventures and deal with the consequences of your actions in real time. Flesh and blood! No Google, no Wikipedia, no texting. Hell, pay-phones were few and far between.

I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of my readers had their college experiences in the late sixties to mid seventies. If you kept sufficient brain cells intact and memory persists, mean existence will fall away as you slip in to “Poole's Paradise” and you will recall how fraught with double edged delights those years actually were. I could almost be sad for young people today. Almost.

Yes, yes, there's sex, drugs and rock and roll and a class or two, here and there, but all in (usually) well considered measures and all to a purpose. Not only does the author pin the times, places and people to the wall perfectly, he gets the social mindset (or lack thereof) right on. He does it all justice and then some, working our language like a circus ringmaster works lions and tigers.

I hope Vorhaus gets to write the screenplay when the time comes. I laughed out loud in many places and was kept turning pages when I should have been trying to get some sleep. Who needs to sleep when you are time traveling?

Hey, don't take my word for it. I just now read a fistful of great reviews. Let the casting begin!

If you are at all interested  email me and I'll eventually have Sweetie pick a random winner and I'll send you my spare copy of “Poole's Paradise”. You'll just have to live with fact that it's inscribed by the author to yours truly which is another tale itself.

PS. I immediately indulged myself with my first electronic read, 

“Lucy in the Sky” - also by John Vorhaus. Set a few years further back in time than Poole's Paradise, when we were all pretty much in the dark about what came next in life. Big questions, big answers all delivered with his signature whip cracking language at a pace that never lets up. Wonder is a watchword. 

Loved the book but hated the e-reading experience. Call me a Luddite, but I'll suffer the wait for the paper editions from now on.

Sight & Sound

Something very new from the other Creative under the roof, Colin Lacativa.

The music will be available at here at midnight tomorrow.

still seeking truth

I popped my head into the studio this morning just as the sun came over the ridge. So cold in there I could see my breath.

I may drag the heater in there and futz around later on. After cooking and cleaning and maybe a walk and most certainly, a nap.

Arlee Barr picked me to carry on this Art Chain thing on FB. I really can't imagine doing it for five days. I rummaged around in my image files and found some good images of somewhat recent work, if 2012 can be considered recent. Still, I needed to look at the real things I used to make.

While in here, I took a hard look at a piece that's been hanging on the small design wall since it was stuck to the canvas in 2010.

"Firefly Cotillion" even made it to the front of my business cards that year. A pretty good representation of what I was up to at the time.

I studied it for a while and started thinking about how all these little elements seemed to running around inside their life looking for something.

 Not lost or desperate, but purposeful, like they knew they'd find it eventually, if they just kept at it. Little seekers.

Without looking things over, I think it's a theme that runs through my work still.

 details from "Firefly Cotillion"

someday I'll finish this

I pulled "Firmament" from the chaos of the studio and added it back to the river basket. If I can do nothing else, I can make french knots with gold metallic thread.

For the first time this piece is putting me in mind of the ceiling at Grand Central Station in New York.