Monday, May 11, 2015

No news

I continue to muddle along in my sewing room, with little to show for my efforts. I have all the blocks made for two tops, but am just not in the mood to put them together. I keep pulling out more WIPs, adding to my to-do list & adding to the mess on my sewing table. I did manage to make 10 pillow cases for my Guild's charity. If you have never made pillow cases, you should; if you haven't made any in a while, make more! They are so satisfying! Easy, quick, pretty -- and they are great stash busters!


Even though the calendar says Summer is still a few weeks away, it is SUMMER! here already. The AC has been running for some time now. We've gotten quite a bit of rain -- good, we needed it -- but it also bumps up the humidity & the mosquito population. The good news is: the magnolia are in bloom! Flowers as big as dinner plates, petals as big as my hand. I wish I had a scratch & sniff blog so those of you unfamiliar with their scent could smell them -- their fragrance is subtle, slightly sweet, slightly citrusy, completely heavenly. As they begin to fade, they look like leather.




Saturday, May 02, 2015

The In Crowd

I'm in with the In Crowd,
I know what the In Crowd knows.
I'm in with the In Crowd,
I go where the In Crowd goes. *


Me? Nope, that's not me. I'm not in any Crowd at all.

Traditional Quilters think I'm too Modern. The Moderns think I'm too Traditional. Art Quilters say I have no vision, no voice. I'm too controlled for the Liberated Quilters, too wonky for the Perfectly-Matched Seams set. I fit neatly -- no where. My style is hard to define, a bit from the whole spectrum of quilting. Not a big deal -- except that the quilting world seems to be getting so clannish, that if you don't subscribe wholeheartedly to a Group's lists of dos & don'ts then you don't really belong to the Group. OK, I've always been something of an out-lier, outside looking in from the thin end of the bell curve. I'm used to being there, it just gets a little lonely sometimes.

I am trying to shut out the distractions of the latest fabric challenges & QALs, swaps & the newest trends, the nay-sayers & the yay-sayers. I think it is safe to say that half of my life is over now, I hope I have many good years of quilting ahead of me, but life is uncertain. So I am trying to listen to *my* voice & make *my* quilts. I love making quilts for family & friends, trying to get inside their skin, finding colors, fabrics, designs they would like -- them, but through my eyes. Sometimes I nail it, other times a near miss. I also love sewing my stash into simple quilts for charitable giving -- de-stashing by sewing things that will warm bodies & souls. But when I am not making quilts to give, I want to make quilts that are me, my Own. A new friend used the word "authentic" -- that's what I am aiming for: quilts that are Authentically my Own.


* Billy Page