Slow Down

Stop it! Stop growing so fast!

I say that in my head very frequently, whether I'm looking at my chunky monkey baby, Death Wish Arkison trying yet something new and scary, or the depth of my conversations with The Monster. I wish they would stay teeny and innocent and full of natural curiosity. And not talk back to me.

The Monster turned six this week and Death Wish was four last month. I would be lying if I didn't admit I was thankful that Nikolai keeps me grounded in babyness.

Case in point. The Monster lost her first tooth last week. It was wiggly, oh so wiggly. We were chilling out watching Swamp People when she became very insistent that Daddy pull her tooth. Oddly, she frowned upon a solid punch to knock it out. Instead, we got some embroidery floss. Wrapping it and a quick tug and we had a tooth in hand.

That, of course, meant we need a safe spot for the tooth to rest until the Tooth Fairy showed up. A couple of carefully chosen (Tiger inspired) fabrics, cut into 3'' squares, sewn back to back with a little Red Light Green Light. She was clear that there be no closure of any kind - to make it easier for The Tooth Fairy.

What about making it easy for Mama as she grows up too fast?

Quilter-Artist Spectrum

Do you consider yourself a quilter or an artist or both? Or maybe somewhere in between?

The above image was taken from the Fabricate exhibit, held recently at the DaDe Gallery here in Calgary.  It is a quilt by Luke Haynes.

If you aren't familiar with Luke Haynes he a self described architect turned quilter. I adore his work. I don't think I'll ever make a portrait quilt myself, but his works are stunning. STUNNING. I jumped at the chance to see some of his work locally.

While I was pouring over the quilt and its details it got me to thinking about how I see myself as a quilter. Am I just a quilter? Is that a bad thing, to use the word just? Do I even come close to considering myself an artist? And frankly, what's the difference?

What is the difference?

I haven't a clue how to make any distinctions.

... showing quilts versus using quilts?
... heavy versus soft?
... designing for the wall versus the bed?
... making something pretty versus making a statement?
... exploring colour versus exploring themes?

In my opinion, I don't think there is a perfect or right answer. Maybe there is a spectrum and we all fall at different places on it at different times?

I do design my own work, I love to explore colour and inspiration, and sometimes I want my quilts to be seen and not necessarily always cuddled. For the most part though I do want my quilts to be used and used well, but it is a goal to hang in a gallery too. I sometimes design for up close and texture not the view from far away. I love to write and write about quilts. So, unlike my left leaning social and political views I think I maybe am somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

What about you? Do you think there is a difference? How would you define it? How do you identify yourself?

Scrappy Sundays!

Welcome to Scrappy Sundays! This is a new series that Amanda Jean and I are going to be writing over the next several weeks. In this series we thought it would be fun to share some behind the scenes of writing the book, tell stories about some of the quilts and share alternate ideas that we've sewn up. We also plan to highlight the work that our awesome pattern testers did and more. 


Join us on Sunday morning for these posts. At the end we will have a link up party where you can share your work and give your scrappy testimonials. We think it will be a lot of fun! Of course there will be prizes, too.

We wanted to let you know that we've started a Flickr group where you can share photos of your quilts or projects that you made based on the book Sunday Morning Quilts. We want to see what you are making..and we want to see your scraps! Perhaps a pile of unsorted scraps to start with, then show off your organizational progress. We love seeing scraps in action!

 

We'd also love to hear from you. What do you want to know about us, about writing the book, about our scrap situation? If we can answer it in one of these posts we will. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

Edmonton Trunk Show and Signing

There is a suitcase full of quilts in my living room bursting at the seams. It contains my quilts from Sunday Morning Quilts, and then some. All of them are destined for travel this week.

Join me for a trunk show and signing if you are in the Edmonton area. You can get a closer look at the quilts, hear some of the back stories behind their construction and the book, and get your book signed. If you don't have a book yet there will be some for sale. Yes, she's managed to hang on to some copies for this event.

Earthly Goods Quilting
5848-111th Street
Edmonton, Alberta

June 7, 2012
6:30-8:00 pm

I hope to see you there!