Cynthia's Bambi Quilt Makes Neighbor Happy

A neighbor friend of ours recently gave me a sack full of leather that he'd had tanned from some deer that he'd shot in his younger hunting years. He thought I might be able to sew some things with it. It's buttery soft and a beautiful color.

Last November, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, so I wanted make a quilt for him as a thank you gift, using some of the deer skin he'd given me. I finished it today. This is a photo of the whole thing (about 45" x 63"), and a detail shot.

If you click to get a bigger image, you'll see that the amber colored pieces are actually leather (except for the binding). In some places I used rough side out, in others I used smooth side out. The back is a thick flannel which has some of the same colors in a print of little pears. I hope that will make it snuggly.

Mel isn't ever very jubilant, but he really did seem pleased when I took it over to him. It made my heart very happy.

TO QUILT OR NOT TO QUILT

I'm trying to resist starting another quilt so that I can let some ideas come to a boil before I get compulsive and stay in my studio for days at a time.

This is a photo of the last "traditional" quilt I made almost a year ago. I love the quilt, but it sort of soured me on making a quilt from someone else's design.

It's made from a huge number of different fabrics, so I was able to use up some of my stash of scraps. That's a good thing. My brother Joe said it looks like a quilt on acid.

I'm not sure why I became so determined to make my own designs. Maybe because if I'm going to put this much work in to a piece, I want to be able to claim all the glory (or scorn) for myself.

I'm so hooked on improvisational design at this point, I'm not sure I could ever go back to doing anything so strict as following someone else's design and always using templates and rulers.

See Mickey Through A Portal

For the last few days, I've been finishing my Portals #5 quilt. As usual, I'm so frazzled from working on it that it's lost it's appeal to me. It looks like an attempt to create Mickey Mouse in a fun house mirror.

Ah well...here's a photo of it and one detail pic. It's about 44" x 52". I'll probably like it again in a couple of weeks. That's the way it always seems to go.

Seems like spending so much time at the sewing machine gives me hours and hours to mull thoughts around in my brain. It's usually a good thing, but sometimes I find myself agonizing over really big questions like "What am I Doing Here?" "How can some people still like G.W. Bush?" "When exactly did I lose my religion, especially since so many people are still rabid about God and Jesus and Muhammad?"

Perhaps I should find a more intellectually demanding passtime than sewing.

Why Would Anyone Want to Be an Artist?

I found this on Jill Werner's blog. I love this. Thanks Jill!

Top ten reasons for becoming an artist

10. You were planning to go on a starvation diet anyway.
9. You thought about being an actor, but wanted more rejection.
8. You look good in a beret.
7. You wouldn't be able to pass a pre-employment drug screening.
6. You've always dreamed of living in a rat-infested loft with no heat and a clogged toilet.
5. The only other career alternative was working for your mother-in-law cleaning up crime scenes.
4. You don't have to presort the laundry because all of your clothes are black.
3. You took three years of Artspeak in high school.
2. You can behave any way you want in public and call it performance art.
1. You can paint nudes. You can even paint on nudes.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

For the past few days, I've been making some curtains for Josh and Lori's nursery. I finished them and sent them off today. The colors in the baby's room are lime green, pink, brown and white, so those are the colors I used.

Here's a photo of the pair, and a detail shot of the appliqued tulips.

















Today, I was filled with energy and got so much done, it surprised even me. I think maybe because I don't have any pressing obligations at the moment, I feel more relaxed and energetic.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about generosity. Sometimes I'm blown away by how generous other artists are with their techniques, hints, cautionary voices of experience, and willingness to give honest critique and helpful suggestions. To me, that kind of generosity is the most meaningful by far. Not that I don't like goodies and presents and stuff, but it's more the intangible generosities that I most appreciate.

Nancy Crow is someone who I find to be incredibly generous in sharing her years and years of experience. I never sense that she's guarding her trade secrets or giving misleading critique in order to protect her standing as a top artist.

Intangible generosity is the most difficult for me. I tend to keep my thoughts to myself for fear of stepping on someone's ego or giving advice that is unwanted. I even find myself keeping ideas close to my chest to make sure no one steals them before I've had a chance to be the first to do them.

Hmmm. Seems like if I like being offered wisdom from others, others must like it too. But how do we determine what seems generous and what seems intrusive? I guess this is just another something for me to mull over some more.

Rolicking Rockers

Yesterday my son Josh, his pregnant-with-my-first-grandchild wife Lori, and I went carousing in Portland. I wanted them to choose a rocking chair for their nursery for me to give them as a gift. I think they chose a really great one, and they should get it in a couple of weeks.

They wanted it in lime green to go with the colors in the baby's room (dark brown, pink, lime green and white). They've already gotten crib stuff with those colors, so I think the chair will be perfect and fun.
Then they treated me to lunch at this wonderful Italian food place. Here they are trying to figure out what to eat. It all looked good.

After lunch we went over to the Portland Art Museum to see the Rembrandt exhibit. It was a great exhibit, but had mostly other Dutch artists and surprisingly few by Rembrandt.

Here's the new piece I've been working on (Portals #5). It's been a challenge, and I still have quite a bit more to do, but you can get a rough idea of what it'll look like.

I really like doing these kinds of designs that are primarily about playing with various color combinations. Trying to get all the seams to line up accurately is the biggest problem I'm having. I want the strips to look like they change color from place to place without jagged places where the changes occur. Hopefully I'll get better at this because I love they way it looks.

Jose Can You See?

Happy 4th of July!

The bombs haven't started bursting in air, but the air is hot enough to burst something. Maybe a watermelon?