Working, Working…

It always seems as if the new year brings too-soon deadlines and a rush of things to get done in a short time.  Why is this?  Notification in December (the holidays) for a January deadline is not enough time for me.  I am busy with baking cookies and making or wrapping presents, and trying to celebrate a birthday.  Well, anyhoohow, I have been working on two small entries for Rend Lake’s  “Repurposed, Renewed, Reborn” quilt exhibit.  These are each 19″x 19″ square. I showed one in the prior post that is finished except for the binding/facing part.

The other one is the section of quilt that I flipped over to the back and put black gesso on it.  I painted it with Lumiere paints and have added some recycled cup beads from an old necklace.   With the paint I have created a new design using the piecing and stitching lines that are there. I am presently “weathering” metal washers outdoors and they will be added next.  Not sure if it is done at that point or not…we will see.  Here it  is so far (washers aren’t on there yet):

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I am calling it “No, It’s Not Lamé”.  That’s because the Lumiere paints on the black gesso look like lamé.  I thought it would be interesting to keep the original blocks of the quilt available for viewing, so if one flips the quilt over, the original is there to see.

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The old quilt is pretty ratty in some places, but I am going to patch it and lay fusible web over it and fuse everything down.  The muslin on the back was in perfect condition.

Today I must work on that pesky “possibility” of a commission proposal.  How many of you would spend hours and brain power to work up a proposal for a commission you might not ever get chosen for?  You see, this is my dilemma….I know that if I don’t do it, I definitely won’t get chosen.  And if I do do it, I still might not get chosen for it.  How many people would do this?  I am always weighing that in my mind.  Even if my designs don’t get chosen, I rationalize that I will still have the experience…and the designs.   At this point, I am probably 2/3 of the way through it.  Do I sound whiny?  Off to work.

The New Year

It is the last day of 2008.  My blog is set on some weird time zone, but I think it will show that I am still writing this in 2008.

(Note:  Whoops, guess not…after I published it I see it shows Jan. 1. 2009.  Oh, well.)

It is hard to be pensive and thoughtful about the past year as I am cleaning and fixing food, in preparation for a few guests tonight.  Perhaps I will be able to tomorrow.  Of course, my husband will also be home with me, so, maybe not. I am making that yummy potato soup recipe with homemade croutons that I have talked about before and the shrimp cocktail is on ice.

A lot of people on the quiltart list are already talking about goals for 2009.  Hmmm…all I know is that my first three months of the year are likely to be quite busy and I am gearing up mentally.  I will be attending two quilt retreats (count ’em…two!) in January.  My husband purchased one of them as a Christmas gift to me. What a sweetie.  I have a project class scheduled to teach at the quilt shop in Evansville.  In February I have a machine quilting class scheduled and the rest of the month will be spent preparing to vend at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington, IN.  I received notification that they had a space available.  Since I have wanted to vend there for a few years, I jumped at the chance.  So I will be dyeing fabric as well as making decisions about my inventory of other artsy things to take.  The Indiana Heritage show is a fairly large show lasting 3 days.  I may also have the opportunity to teach a workshop for a Greenwood quilt guild while I am up there.  Currently I am still slugging around trying to complete the commission proposal.  It is not finished yet.  I am making small advances.

Anyway, here’s wishing every reader a VERY BLESSED NEW YEAR!

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New piece I’ve been working on for a “go green” exhibit…I’m sure it’s now done..except for finishing the edges…made from a section of an old quilt…