Not Finished But Getting Somewhere

Originally Polka Dot Jersey (now without the polka dots) 9" x 10"

Maillot Jaune.

Maillot Jaune is really the second in the Tour de France series. It is about 17" x 17"

The first, Polka Dot Jersey, I have taken apart and reworked. It just wasn’t working.

Originally, PDJ had less of the dark "border", then an inner border of the "yellow" stripes and a fat outer border of the polka dots. I loooove the polka dots. But I think it was just too, too. So I took it apart and added more dark (actually dark blue) around the piecing, and I'm trying to figure out the borders. I’m having fun here. Still not finished but more than before. I’m thinking about hand quilting... But probably I should just do some ditch stitching and be done. And I am going to go for three and try again for the original border set-up.

New Ways to Avoid Making Art

Quick: Gotta post something before July runs out.

I admit it: I’ve been obsessed with the Tour de France.

I’m getting really nervous because the US Open is coming up. I think I could become a sports tv junkie.

I put the borders on the first quiltlet (Polka Dot Jersey) in what I hope will be a Tour de France series using solids and some crazy polka dot fabric inspired by Sandi Cummings’ Thinking Outside the Block book and her quilt at The Cotton Patch, Using Leftovers.

I feel as if I can’t post any pictures because nothing is finished (or close!). A convenient ruse?

I started this blog in the hopes that it would encourage me to finish things and hopefully get positive feedback. Instead, I just keep starting things and I haven’t been posting because I have nothing to show.

I’ve been thinking about the following quotes:

If you know where it’s going, it’s not worth doing. (Frank Gehry from an article in the New York Times how every movie and rock star wants to be a designer.)

And this from Sandi’s book:
The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist. The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard to produce any art at all. (Julia Cameron)

My goal this week is to finish something, anything, take a picture of it, and post it: throw caution to the winds.

Quilting at my house

Yesterday was Wednesday, the day my quilting group meets and I was the hostess. I knew I wanted to make a salad and trolled around epicurious.com for inspiration. I made an amalgam of a cajun grilled chicken salad and California Pizza Kitchen’s chopped salad with barbecued chicken. Here is my recipe

Quilter’s Chopped Salad with Grilled Chicken (serves 10)
The rub:
2 t. salt
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. onion powder
½ t. dried thyme
½ t. dried oregano
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
½ t. paprika
½ t. cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients together to blend. Divide: 1-1/2 t. for salad dressing and remainder for chicken rub.

Salad dressing:
3/4 c. buttermilk
½ c. mayonnaise
2 T. chopped green onion
2T. chopped fresh italian parsley
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
½ t. grated lemon peel
1-1/2 t. seasoning from rub

Make salad dressing the night before.

Chicken: Rub remaining seasoning mixture on six boneless, skinless chicken breasts (that you have pounded so that they are flat-ish and about the same thickness) about 2 hours before grilling. Pour 1 c. buttermilk over chicken, turning to coat. (A 1-gal. ziplock bag would be good for this.) Refrigerate until 30 minutes before grilling, turning when you think of it. Grill over medium-high heat. These cook very quickly. Let rest at least 5 minutes before cutting into strips. I made the chicken early in the morning and served it at room temperature.

Chopped Salad
2 hearts of Romaine, chopped
jicama, cut into strips (1 lb.?)
2 c. black beans
2 c. corn
grape tomatoes, halved (1 pint)
1/3 lb. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
6 scallions, chopped
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro

I layered these ingredients, pretty much in this order, in my largest salad bowl and my guests served themselves. I served the salad undressed and passed the dressing in a sauce boat. One person thought it needed more salt; one person thought it was pretty spicy, so she took just a smidgen of dressing on the side. If you have the energy and the desire you could take corn tortillas, spray them with olive oil, slice them into thin (1/4-inch) strips and bake them (5 min. ?) as a topping. I didn’t this time, but I have.

Susan brought us each a perfect Blenheim apricot from her tree.

We had a plate of assorted fruits and chocolates.

Kathy brought a decadent Caramel Charlotte with nectarines that should have just been lunch.

What excess!

We gave the secret quilt to Kathy and I think she was surprised.

A good time was had by all.

What I've Been Up To

I’m amazed that my blog is still here. I was afraid it had been re-possessed. I’m not amazed at how long it’s been since I posted. Chaos. My life is chaos.
Andrew went back to Santa Barbara and started summer session. Steven is catching up on a year’s worth of lost sleep. He must be growing!
What have I been up to? I’m trying to clean up my "studio," lovely space that I took over when Steven left for school. Can you guess that he’s trying to re-claim it? It is upstairs, over the garage, in the trees, and is a perfect space for playing video games and watching movies with friends (in addition to being a perfect studio space). I will feel really good about organizing everything, when it’s done, even if I am giving it up temporarily.
I moved my quilting set-up into Andrew’s room: He probably won’t be home for six weeks. I picked up my new "table" from the plastic guy and it’s terrific. I had a piece of fin-ply (4' x 4') that we put on the carpeting when the boys were little and wanted a hard surface on which to build blocks and set up their Brio trains. I save everything! I had the plastic guy cut a hole in it for my sewing machine and then he put formica on it. It is heavy but lovely.
I had two pieces on my design wall and I pieced one of them last night, tentatively known as Kelp. My plan is to quilt a small piece, The Leftovers, as a kind of "practice" piece. Next in the queue is the Postcard Quilt, and then the new piece, Kelp.
I’ve been studying my camera and hope to post some new pictures.
Oh! And I said "No" twice this week. It was really good.

Survivors

The boys got home okay. So much energy. So much masculinity. I'm overwhelmed. No time to blog. My friend Anne sent me the following and I am passing it on.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s, and '70s:

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored, lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick-up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video-tape movies, no surround sound, no cellphones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chatrooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS, and we went outside and found them! (We have 6 TV stations, Erector sets, Chemistry sets, model planes and model rockets.)
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts, and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers, and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

School's Out!

I'm still sort of frantic here. The boys decided that they can fit all of Steven's stuff into Andrew's car so we did not drive down to Santa Barbara to pick up Steven. He just finished is freshman year at UC Santa Barbara. Andrew is going to be a SENIOR at UCSB! It's graduation weekend and everything is booked everywhere so I was relieved to put off the trip. We'll probably go down in a couple of weeks. Andrew will going to summer school at SB.

I've been trying to be virtuous. I've been cleaning out my closet. I'm delighted that both of them are coming home but I dread the influx of all of THEIR junk. And I haven't done my spring housecleaning yet. It has been such a cold, rainy spring that I haven't gotten around to getting the screens cleaned and up, etc. So I have a few hours before they arrive and I'm buzzing around here.

I've changed all of the beds and I have all the laundry caught up. The 'fridge is pretty clean and I'm holding off a big trip to Costco/Safeway until after they arrive. Who knows what they are eating these days but we've got milk.

Shhh! It's a SECRET

Here is a picture of the grandma quilt I've been working on. My Wednesday group and I made the blocks, and I put it together and quilted it.

Secret quilt

I really shouldn't be posting a picture of this but it is in the interest of technical research. I've been trying to figure out how to post more than one picture at a time and the glorious Melody, the superfantastic Sonji, and the divine Debra, have all helped. And besides, I've been so busy with this that it's all I've been doing besides working.





One block

I was thinking that maybe I should post this in my profile--I've got red hair, too!

Secret Quilt

I’ve alluded to the secret quilt that has been weighing on my conscience. I’m a member of a mini-group that meets on Wednesdays. There are ten of us. We are beginning to become grandmothers. We’ve made two grandmother quilts and I took on the third one. The grand baby was born last Monday! OOPS! No picture of the quilt yet but soon, maybe. Each of us made a 12-inch pieced block of a child. Very traditional, very cute! I sashed the blocks and straight-line quilted the sashing. I free-motion quilted around the children and I FM’d the border. But I’ve run out of ideas and my FM repertoire is severely limited. I’m still very much a novice machine quilter. I think I volunteered for this because it would force me to get some practice. What really should be done is that the children should be hand quilted but I’m running out of energy and time. And I still need to bind. And did I mention that I’ve managed to take over every room in the house and both boys will be home from school on FRIDAY?

Coffee

I fixed my coffee machine! Now this might not seem like much but it feels to me like a triumph. I have a Krupps latte machine. I don’t really know which one it is: not the cheapest, not the most expensive. I wish I could find the documentation that came with it. I think they call it an espresso machine but it doesn’t make the greatest espresso. Certainly, not like the great espresso from Peet’s. It makes ok espresso but it makes good steamed milk. What I really love is coffee flavored steamed milk with foam, at home, in the morning, with my e-mail- and blog-reading.
I had tried cleaning it and that didn’t work. I could tell that it was building up pressure and it would steam milk but it wouldn’t make espresso. My friend Bev told me to "take the shower head" off and I tried that. It worked a little bit but not much and I was afraid it was going to explode. So I took the shower head off again and scrubbed around in there with a sharp object and now it works.
I was about ready to junk the thing and go for a Gaggia. Bev has a Gaggia. I talked to her and she said that hers has been in and out of the shop for the last seven months (mostly in the shop, awaiting elusive parts). She’s using her back-up Krupps. So now I’m thinking about the Rancilio Silvia. Doesn’t that just sound right, Miss Silvia in my kitchen. I think I will plan a trip to Sweet Maria’s in Emeryville,CA to talk to the experts.

What I'm knitting

I have way too many projects started. I’ve made a few more "postcards" for the postcard quilt but haven’t decided how big to make it. At any rate, I haven’t found the time to sew it together, either. And I can’t figure out how to post more than one picture at a time to my blog. That’s taken up acres of time.

It’s Wednesday and my mini-group met in San Francisco at Sally’s incredible flat in the Marina. I brought along one of my "current" knitting projects (started last summer?). It’s Waikiki 70% rayon, 30% cotton. I’m using the Fiber Trends Landscape Scarf pattern and it’s not the kind of pattern that I can yak and knit at the same time. I spent at least an hour counting stitches and trying to figure out what row I was on. The yarn has thicks and thins, lots of slubs, and of course is variegated, and the pattern seems as if it’s wasted on this busy yarn. I’m close enough to casting off the middle section, and starting elongated tie ends, so that I think I should be able to finish it before NEXT summer (2006) but I am discouraged. I’m sure glad I’m doing the scarf and not the shawl. I have the same yarn in another color and I'd love suggestions for a cute scarf, same size/shape.



Landscape Scarf

But it was warm and beautiful in San Francisco, we had a lovely lunch, and a good time was had by all.

Postcard quilt?

So, you know those commercial fabrics that call out to me, those batiks whose picture I posted? The ones that begged me to take them home with me from work? So I thought I would make some postcards. I wanted to do something creative. Melody Johnson says that as an artist, one should do something creative everyday. I should have done some creative cooking for my long-suffering husband. But I saw the postcards posted by Karoda and was inspired. I thought that would be a creative thing to do. I am really supposed to be working on the surprise quilt but I have an excuse for that. I decided to make a postcard, or two.

I had the idea that it would be fun to play with some of Sandi Cummings ideas. She had just taught a class at the store where I work and her students' work was very inspiring. I have never taken a class with her but I had seen her demonstrate her "cutting double" ideas at a demonstration at our guild show and I have experimented with it several times. And I bought her book, Thinking Outside the Block.
After I made one "postcard", I decided to cut it up. I’m thinking that maybe this should be a quilt and not some postcards.





postcards/quilt

This is not sewn together and is very much a work in progress.

Mostly Mignonette

I’ve been taking a plant propagation class at my local community college. The school has two greenhouses and fabulous teachers. The rule is that each student must give back to the school at least 50% of what they grow. In the spring there is a sale each month. It was so exciting to arrive this morning for the last sale of the semester and see a line of 50 people waiting for at least a half an hour to be the first to get at the plants.

I’m really interested in fragrance and cottage-y garden plants. I successfully grew Reseda odorata (Mignonette ‘Machet’) but had to do a lot of marketing to sell it to both the teacher and the customers. I had never seen it in cultivation but had read about it and was seduced by the following description at Select Seeds:
The small spike of fringed, pale salmon flowers possess a wonderful sweet fragrance with overtones of raspberry. Napoleon brought this seed to his Josephine, who was entranced and named it 'mignonette' or 'little darling.' E.A. Bowles wrote in 1914, 'I like to place mignonette in a glass bowl, it is so cool and fresh in its green and gold and a spangling of silver and a ruby here and there that brightens it at close quarters.'

Well, guess what, I had 32-4 inch pots of the little darling and one had a blossom and the small description was right on. I sure hope the fragrance is better really early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, or early evening, or sometime, because we had a really hard time detecting anything. You’d think that with odorata in it’s name the wonderful fragrance would be discernible.

I also grew lots of basil, including ‘Genovese’ seeds brought back from Italy by my friend Janine, and lettuce leaf basil. Another student persuaded me that she loves to use leaves of this variety of basil in her sandwiches. Is your mouth watering with the thought of a slice of a crusty ciabatta, vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh whole-milk mozzarella, and lettuce leaf basil glistening with extra virgin olive oil?

But the easiest thing to do in a plant propagation class is to buy other peoples’ plants, before, during, and after the plant sales. As a result, my porch is full of plants waiting to get into the garden. And my patio is full of plants waiting to get into the garden... Did I say that I’m really good at starting things and not so good at finishing?

Well, it’s exhausting. But I'm recovering. I’m off to cut up those lovely batiks, I promise.

Today's acquisitions 

Commercial fabric

I got home from work and left to my own devices, checked out Sonji’s blog. I work in a quilt shop two days a week. One of the reasons I decided to work there was the (probably vain) hope that maybe I would immunize myself against, or silence my obsession with, commercial fabric (really, the discount). You know, kinda like working in a donut shop–you’d get tired of donuts. (My friend Patricia says that it might be possible to deep-fat fry shoe leather and it would taste delicious.) Anyway, there on Sonji’s blog is the most delicious hand-dyed/painted fiber-stuff. Before I got home I was quite satisfied with four little pieces that I had permitted myself to purchase (after being on my feet for 8 hours, I deserved it). I can't wait to see what Sonji does with her stuff. But I do still love commercial fabric. I am truly avoiding the siren call of dyeing or painting.

Edited picture of my quilt

A quilt, by me.

It's gonna be a two yolk day

I wasn't going to post anything today because it's Wednesday and my mini-group (a very original name for 10 quilters who have been getting together for years) meets today. We all started out as traditional quilters, hand-quilters, even. We made community quilts as fundraisers for our elementary school. We still hand quilt and eat and support each other. It's mostly group therapy. Today we are meeting at the glorious home of the fabulous Kathy but that's not what I am blogging about today.

I wasn't going to post today because I was going to use any time I had to work on the surprise quilt (more on that later). But I have this e-mail/latte routine and there was a message from the talented and generous quilt artist Sonji. She so kindly sent me gobs of info on how to post pictures. And YIKES she posted a link to my blog and I can't figure out how to reply to the comment that she posted on my blog, etc. But I wanted to say Thank You, Sonji, and if I weren't such an idiot, I would be able to do that thingy where you can click on her name and get to see her art.

Now about the two yolks: I have this other routine. About a year ago I started a diet. I've lost 35 lbs. Most mornings I make a one egg omelet. I have this little 8" teflon pan. I scramble an egg, pour it in the hot pan, and sort of spread it as thin as it will get. I found these fabulous crottins of goat cheese at Trader Joe's--three to a package--individually wrapped, so they keep. And I put on a wee bit of cheese and crumbled applewood smoked bacon bits, etc. Anyway, this morning, one extra large egg, TWO YOLKS. I know that this happens and I know why this happens (I was a biologist in a former life) but it is a first for me!

I'm Back

Sonji says: I should blog. I have been avidly reading her blog and of course Melody’s blog and Gabrielle’s blog, etc. (art quilters, and knitters) and I have not published anything in my own for lo, these many months. Sonji says she blogs because:
It really helps me. I have so much stuff zipping around in my head and most of the people in my life aren't too interested or don't understand what I'm talking about...much as they all love and support me.
(I’m quoting her, from a lovely e-mail of encouragement, that she sent to me. I hope it’s okay.) That was my initial thought when I set up my blog. But it became another "should." I had hoped that it would be my conscience. I had hoped that it would be a place to show my work. I really want to be making art, not becoming a better writer. I want to live up the descriptor: ARTIST.
I know that Melody says that to be an artist, you just have to make art. I make stuff, I just don’t believe it is art. I would like it to be art. I would like to think that it is art. Make something everyday. Make lots of stuff.

What did I do?

It was really easy to start this blog but to follow through... I would like to work on my profile and find some pictures and figure out how to post pictures... I guess that's why I haven't posted since I started this. My idea is to write a little about myself, maybe just a little something everyday. I guess I thought it would be my artistic conscience.

So what have I done as an artist since I posted: I walked and I looked and I tried seeing as an artist. Today, I will take that same walk with my camera and record some things for drawing. I will draw for at least 30 minutes. And I will practice, practice, practice machine quilting.

So, I can't believe I'm a blogger

I started this because I was so impressed with Melody Johnson's blog that I wanted to see what it would be like to have my own blog. I'm a 56 year old mother of two boys, trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I'm sure my husband, Rick, would like it if I'd do something practical but I would like to be an artist--a quilt artist. There, I've said it, for all the world to see. That's all I can do for now.