Proof that I am really bad at communicating and writing. Life has been very busy, many quilts have been made and given away! Isn't that what we do. Make quilt for others to enjoy? Yes, we sometimes make quilts for us, but there are just so many spaces to hang. So many others that need our help! I still love some of the quilts hanging in my dwelling that I just can't take down. My bed quilt is an African mismatch of whack and sew blocks that I made 6 years ago and everyday I wake up and love it!
I think the beauty of being able to do what we do is the ability to create for ourselves and some else and pass it along.
I recently made a retirement/ camper quilt for some good friends and when I asked what they liked they said moose, fish, camping and, yes, I did have most of that type of fabric in my stash.
My daughter asked me to make some comfort quilts for her OT's that had life changes and needed comfort, yes to those.
Now it seems to be costume time and can't wait to find out what grandkids want.
I have done many Challenges in my local guild. Summer, Year Long, swaps, petals, Friendships, BOM, Crazy Quilts, 1/2 Square Triangles, Round Robins, Strips Robins, you name it I have done it.
Maybe that is my new direction in creating trunk shows for others. I sure have done a lot those.
Maybe my direction has to be something that someone challenges me to do. I have 70 garments, more, than that in quilts, more than that in ideas and waiting, I think, for the next break through .
Every creative person looks to the next creation, the next quest in fabric hunting, no, I don't need that!!!!!!!!!!
I have many UFO's and this year, may finish some, again. After visiting Italy for 12 days with another quilting friend and going on Esterita Austin's Getaway, and realizing I am not painter, we should all be up to trying new things, maybe failing, but still being you. This should be the year of finding your voice.
I have a voice, garment, loud fabrics, hack and sew techniques, themes of every kind and the willingness to be open to anything.
How about you?
I will try to be a better blogger, not for you, but to keep track of what I have done.
Jessica
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Friday, October 14, 2016
Quilt Therapy
Have you ever said or done something that created such a maelstrom of controversy that you just wish you had shut up! Yes, I have and did. I have made 15 Comfort quilts, finished a Judy Neimeyer I have worked on for 3 years, cried, stitched some more, had more conversations that were ore negative side and can't believe it is on me and it needs to be fixed, somehow? Maybe? I wish it were a complicated quilt but it isn't. It is family and that is the hardest audience!
So I am going to quilt shows, quilt Shop Hops. enjoying fall soccer games and foliage, not cleaning and looking forward to where life goes.
Going on a Shop Hop to some stores I have never been too, why not, speaking to a guild in Bridgton, Me next week on my 43rd Anniversary, going on a quilt getaway to York, Me planned by a great friend and I do mean friend. Been allowed by another great friend to use her Sweet Sixteen Handiquilter sit down mid arm machine and whipping through those Comfort Quilt! She is also coming to the getaway that no one will no us! Imagine, if you are a seasoned quilter, usually the resident here to all, and knowing not one soul and they have no idea you could hep them! I may finally get something or not, done! I may be my own demon.
See where this is going? Friends and quilting can help us get through life's biggest moments, can soothe and wounded soul and help give solace to others. Our emotions get channeled into positive results for others and may help us move forward and accept that life be assorted skipped stitches, broken needles, inaccurate measuring, and sometimes turns out better than expected.
I will post the last three comfort quilts, T-shirt quilt I made for a friend and the Judy Neimeyer when they are done. Can't wait to move on to a new project!!
So I am going to quilt shows, quilt Shop Hops. enjoying fall soccer games and foliage, not cleaning and looking forward to where life goes.
Going on a Shop Hop to some stores I have never been too, why not, speaking to a guild in Bridgton, Me next week on my 43rd Anniversary, going on a quilt getaway to York, Me planned by a great friend and I do mean friend. Been allowed by another great friend to use her Sweet Sixteen Handiquilter sit down mid arm machine and whipping through those Comfort Quilt! She is also coming to the getaway that no one will no us! Imagine, if you are a seasoned quilter, usually the resident here to all, and knowing not one soul and they have no idea you could hep them! I may finally get something or not, done! I may be my own demon.
See where this is going? Friends and quilting can help us get through life's biggest moments, can soothe and wounded soul and help give solace to others. Our emotions get channeled into positive results for others and may help us move forward and accept that life be assorted skipped stitches, broken needles, inaccurate measuring, and sometimes turns out better than expected.
I will post the last three comfort quilts, T-shirt quilt I made for a friend and the Judy Neimeyer when they are done. Can't wait to move on to a new project!!
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Reconnecting from disconnecting👏🏻
All of us lead busy lives with some very organized and some just disconnected and needing to reconnect. Sometimes our choices put us on an unfamiliar path. I need to find my way down the yellow brick road to a path that says "I want to go home". Our family is passionate and sometimes it is hard to say I am sorry for going too far. It is called "Foot in Mouth" disease!
So following this notion that we can find our way back home I will try to be better in communicating as that is how paths get disconnected!
To help on this journey I decided my summer of reconnecting to what is important to me was to quilt for my community, because if we don't all decide to forgive and move forward how can anyone take another step?
My guild had a comfort workshop to put together kits from hundreds of yards and blocks of donated fabric this summer in anticipation of the next guild year. We made over 125 kits to give our 125 members. I took home orphan blocks made by numerous people that were donated. These members passed them forward like I do when I buy the persons behind me. I have said this before, I always get the people buying for the office but imagine someones surprise when this gift is given to them! I had someone do this nice thing for me and I still feel the glow of this generosity. Try it and see how you feel!
So to repent for past deeds that I need to reconnect from I created 11 comfort quilts to give to those who may be facing similar issues. Having my son work at the camp and building staging was a perfect quilt rack! Also loons on my lake seem to love my music from "Pink"! And quilts!
I also created a baby quilt and "Minkie" blanket for the curator of the museum where I am a Docent.
I promised to make some bags from African fabric for the museum store but need more time to fit that in as I Need to finish a quilt I started 4 years ago for my son and family! Family should come first. It is a Judy Niemeyer paperpieced queen size quilt that I have started, very simple blocks that are all the same and I need to replicate more, while reconnecting and disconnect from other issues!
Life is like concentric circles!
I will write again! After I Leave the deserted beach where I have reenergized!
Jessica
Friday, January 15, 2016
Reorganization after years unfinished ongoing projects
Ok
Again I write I am a terrible Blogger. There is so much to say that I can't remember what it was! All I know is that last month, 2 year renovation of new roof, ongoing siding, larger 1/2 bath and closet and major meltdown on Christmas night, about said closet and living like a hoarder, as our closet and laundry room were stacked behind a couch, off and on, for years! Tired and sick of wearing the same 5 outfits, all black, black! from a very colorful quilter? My wonderful husband almost finished the entire inside work but had to fly off for a business trip!
I now have the most awesome closet ever! I appreciate the fact that he worked 12 hour days, hanging sheetrock, rearranging wiring, plastering, painting and putting together 4 Ikea closet systems, a major accomplishment!
So, while the husband worked, I stayed home and quilted, brought 3, 2 sided quilts, for nieces and nephews, trying to purge myself of juvenile fabric, and only one more, sports this time, after a princess quilt, a superheroes quilt and and train one, to make. I did pick up a Skelton/day of the Dead quilt I made and will post all pictures when they are completed. I gave a completed one to a friend who always admired my work.
Even with all these quilts and one more sports theme I have to make tomorrow, no dent in my stash. Maybe a spare inch on some shelves. I think it is growing in there even though I have tried not buy whim buy fabrics.
Again I write I am a terrible Blogger. There is so much to say that I can't remember what it was! All I know is that last month, 2 year renovation of new roof, ongoing siding, larger 1/2 bath and closet and major meltdown on Christmas night, about said closet and living like a hoarder, as our closet and laundry room were stacked behind a couch, off and on, for years! Tired and sick of wearing the same 5 outfits, all black, black! from a very colorful quilter? My wonderful husband almost finished the entire inside work but had to fly off for a business trip!
I now have the most awesome closet ever! I appreciate the fact that he worked 12 hour days, hanging sheetrock, rearranging wiring, plastering, painting and putting together 4 Ikea closet systems, a major accomplishment!
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| Shoe drawers in downstairs bathroom |
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| His and her clothing and show tower, all labeled with picture in plastic container in the corner that you can't see! |
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| Clothes to Salvation Army for donation |
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| What tile for backsplash, o thing not competed and plumbing too |
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| Organized all quilts in empty Armoir as all the clothes are in the drawers in the bathroom |
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| Ikea bathroom, just right fit! |
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| Extra 3" space filled with the larger quilts, rolled on narrow PVC pipe |
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| Awesome twister track light that really was unnecessary but so boudoir looking! |
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| Summer clothes. labeled |
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| Me and my MaGuyver! |
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| I dressed in Americana wear for our annual Christmas party because who doesn't dress up for that. Last year I came as the Grinch, but this was right after the Paris bombing, and I feel we should all shout for our countries wherever they are. |
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| Wrong side, Autumn looking, as I gave it to her after Holloween, of the Day of the Dead quilt |
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| Right side of the quilt for a friend who owns the local Bed and Breakfast, Mainfare! |
| A strange picture that another friend bought at a vintage auction and gave me to finish. The face is painted and the background was stitched before it was framed. He gave it to me to "does her up" and I did as she looked like a Gibson Girl! Very hard to stitch on stretched canvas and rouse at the same time! |
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| Closeup of painted face! |
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| I made this 4" snowman 15 years ago for the same local Bed and Breakfast and they still have it outside at the holidays! |
Even with all these quilts and one more sports theme I have to make tomorrow, no dent in my stash. Maybe a spare inch on some shelves. I think it is growing in there even though I have tried not buy whim buy fabrics.
The new fabrics, today, are so modern and upbeat it is hard to walk away.
Why do we quilt?
because we need to!
Jessica
more to do..................
Why do we quilt?
because we need to!
Jessica
more to do..................
Monday, September 28, 2015
LeominsterCoats ready to be model Art Association and the absolute Dumbest thing I've ever done this week!
I recently did a talk for the Leominster Art Association, in Leominster, Ma. A very different group than my usual quilt guilds. There were more men in the room! Now my guild, that I am president of, has 5 male quilters, very talented and very precise and I am so glad they are with us. Quilting is an art for everyone and the more diverse our group the more people see the beauty of it.
Art, in any form that we we choose to create takes many techniques. No matter how it is created, it represents our focus and creativity and it was a joy to reach out to a group who really understood what I want people to remember about me. We all want our personality to come through and when people see it and they know who created it, validation!
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| ME! |
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| Coats and vests ready to be modeled |
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| Models from the association! |
Leominster Art Association models and their first night in a new facility!
My creations are fun!
But it only comes to life when someone wears them and prances around the room.
That validation, is the best, and nothing compares when someone says your art inspired me or they ask me "what kind of dreams do you have?" as I am inspired by everything around me and events in my life that were negative or positive that I am still trying to work through .
Yeah, embarrassed and admitted I was dumb!
I went to NEQM, New England Quilt Museum, with our Program Chair for their annual Meet the Teachers Day, as I was one of the presenters, and we rode together. I thought I was going home with her so I left my keys in her car, no pockets, an oversight of the major degree!, and she looked so tired, having organized my quilt guild Mystery Tour of 4 Massachusetts shops on the previous Saturday, so I sent her home. I got a ride with someone from Lunenburg back to my car and then realized I left my only set of keys in her car and she lived 40 miles away. Called my husband, Don, who drove me to meet her at the Sole Proprietor in Worcester to get my keys.
My life is always an adventure!!!!!! My life is one ongoing nightmare, fun time, quality time or meditative time. I hate to say nightmare time because some of those are more enjoyable than real life!
Last week, my husband and I went to San Francisco to start our trip to Reno, Nevada for his conference, we left our car in the long term budget parking lot in Boston, got on the bus, where he asked for my license to go through customs. The night before a trip I always take all my id's and credit cards and scan them in the computer, front and back, and leave a copy at home in case they are stolen. I printed the cards and then put one copy in my carryon.
On the bus I realized that I left all cards in my printer!!!!!!!!!!! But one my Docent card from the local museum I volunteer at. Husband not happy but a kindly customs official, trying to ward off husbands anger agreed with me that I did a stupid thing and had me searched but let me get on the plane to SFC and Napa, where I preceded to drink and be merry and send some wine home as well.
There are still good people in the world who forgive stupidity! and believe you.
I went to NEQM, New England Quilt Museum today with our Program Chair for my guid that I am President of, for their annual Meet the Teachers Day and I was one of the presenters, so we rode together. I thought I was going home with her so i left my keys in her car but then she looked so tired so I sent her home. I got a ride with someone from Lunenburg back to my car and then realized I left my only set of keys in Judi's car. Called Don who drove me to meet Judi at the Sole Proprietor in Worcester to get my keys, always an adventure!!!!!!
WHY DO YOU CREATE? We could just watch TV everyday, but we can't, what drives us is what makes us alive!
Until next time
Jessica
Friday, September 4, 2015
Leominster Art Association
This appeared in a local appear this week! Can't wait!
Jessica
Read more: http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/community/ci_28750343/quilter-be-guest-at-art-association#ixzz3kpS8l0ys
Jessica
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Read more: http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/community/ci_28750343/quilter-be-guest-at-art-association#ixzz3kpS8l0ys
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Talking to a non quilter Association, what to say?
So, on September 15, 2015, at 7:00 PM, I will talking to the Leominster Art Association, mostly painters and photographers, awesome ones, and then they hire me, a quilter and a artist. Many of us do not equate quilter= artist but we truly are. We take fabric and create masterpieces, works of art, comfort quilts, happy grand children smiles, stash reducing space, and group activity quilts that show we are united in our art.
We use the basic logic, form, color, line, perceptive etc although most of us don't realize that is what we are doing!
It is still scary, for a seasoned speaker, to go out of her comfort area, well I am on the fringes of that already!, but it would be nice to see familiar faces out there.
New quilts, many jackets, pranced around, supporting quilts and of course, selvedge art will be presented.
Still scared but so looking forward.
as
Jessica
We use the basic logic, form, color, line, perceptive etc although most of us don't realize that is what we are doing!
It is still scary, for a seasoned speaker, to go out of her comfort area, well I am on the fringes of that already!, but it would be nice to see familiar faces out there.
New quilts, many jackets, pranced around, supporting quilts and of course, selvedge art will be presented.
Still scared but so looking forward.
as
Jessica
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