.10

Its been a long time since I laughed until I cried...but I checked THIS out from Cherryl's blog.  It is even more hilarious to me because two days ago I purchased Tickle Me Elmo for my grandson for Christmas and plan on getting him Cookie Monster for his birthday.  I know he will not have a clue who they are but the laughter on TME makes me laugh and because his Auntie (my daughter) is a cookie baker I thought me he would find it funny.

Oh and no phone call about my camera today.

.25

I'm reading two books on writing, How To Read a Poem and Fall in Love w/ Poetry by  Edward Hirsch and Writing Alone and w/ Others by Pat Schneider.  As I read them I'm not thinking about my own writing but my quilt art...over laying the ideas to how I perceive my work and my process of working on quilts. 

Hirsch spends the first chapter, 30 pages, passionately, almost orgasmic, stressing the intimate relationship between poet, writing, the poem, and reader.  Its the reader that completes the life cycle of the poem.  While reading the various ways HIrsch describes this relationship, I keep thinking that is what I want to achieve with my quilts.  It is the viewer who will breath life back into a quilt long after I've completed it.  In my eyes, I've yet to create a quilt that I think is wholely worthy of inhabiting another's soul but have come close with the the 2 pieces that make up the Liberation Quilts: Cilium 1 & 2.  Also, with the prayer quilt for my children and the 3 small quiltlets that I showed in the recent preceding entries I am proud to release.  Negotiating Territory was one that I was able to apply technical knowledge I'd learned on using value and designing an original block and I loved the concept behind the quilt's message.  These works I am happy to show publicly.  Other works are exercises for various ideas and techniques, such as the one above.

In Schneider's book, so far, I've fallen in love with her definition of discipline as less of a duty and commitment and more of being led by spirit and belief that the work is important.  Schneider writes: To be disciplined as a writer you need a compassionate and welcoming attitude toward your own work, and you need the support of others who value and call forth your writing.  She goes on to say: Failure to be a "disciplined" writer--whatever you may mean by that--does not mean that you are not a "serious" writer...Often the phrase (not a seriuos writer) is used by a critic or a teacher referring to a writer whose work they don't like...Anyone who cares enough to take a course or a workshop is serious.  There is no place for this kind of arrogance.  The desire to write is serious.

Schneider asserts that discipline begins with understanding HOW YOU work...the patterns that we employ to bring a project to completion. Also, that discipline is a matter of love and not duty...when you love a thing you make time for the beloved and the love is the root that drives us.

The other thing I find myself doing while reading these two books is thinking over the parallels of how I developed as a poet and how I'm wanting to develop as a quilter.  I do wish I could employ that certainty and confidence I had when I was younger without over thinking.  Now, I have decades of experience to reflect back on and I tend to not want to loose any lessons that will help me develop my sense of voice or a least a signature body of work. As a result, I could be guilty of over thinking my quilt making.  Maybe (Cherryl) its not up to the creator of the work to identify the voice or signature and time spent worrying about whether one has one or not is wasted. (?????)

Incoming thought:  I have no idea of what to prepare for dinner today...its cold and I don't want to go out and the fridge is pretty close to bare.  Last night we had cranberry tuna salad, cheeses, pears, apples, grapes, crackers, and wine.  It satisfied me and to my surprise Peter enjoyed it.  Ade had burger and fries which he prepared himself.  He will be 16 on Sunday.  He is the youngest and has been so slow to mature.  We keep stressing to him that in two years he will be 18.  Lord help!

AH! I got it! I have 2 cans of lentil soup...that with some rice and baked sweet potatoes!  Push comes to a shove and something will always turn up!

Peace

.5

If the river was whiskey I'd jump right in and drink to my sorrow today over my camera not being ready.  I had a message on my phone when I got home today that the person in charge of my repair will return on Friday.    I had called first thing this morning and was told he would have to check and call me back. The call back message was left at their closing time.  Ummmmm.....not sure what to make of this but I'm still gonna hold on believing that my camera will return better than new.

Now this will coincide with another deadline I'm waiting on...so I hope, no pray, this translates into double joy coming next week...so much joy that I'll need another set of arms to hold it all.

1

Next week at this time I hope to receive a call saying my camera is ready to be picked up. 

I had a touch of bronchitis last week and did this small piece (5"ish by 7"ish) last week to keep my mind engaged.  It says Spring to me. It says, can't I just close me eyes and sleep through winter?  It says wake me when these colours are in season again.

The borders are slightly wonky and not straight.  Its going to hang in my kitchen after I paint a canvas and mount it.  Today I'm going to doodle with thread on my sewing machine.  Its a play piece.  I'm going to time myself in 10 minute intervals and I can't stop the machine until the 10 minutes is over.  I'm only giving myself a minute between each 10 minutes and that is to change thread (my only pre-doodling decision).  The piece of painted fabric is the size of a legal pad.

2

Contemplating

Last night, I was thinking over poetry and quilts, how to fuse them and how my experiences with creating them are also divergent.  The source of my poetry is memory; the source of my quilts is emotion.  One source is historical; the other current.  My imagination bends them both.   One is audible; the other visual. This is something I need to keep repeating to myself as I attempt to facilitate over this mixed marriage without one imposing over the other.

Quiltlets Three

This is a partial view of quiltlet 3.  I wanted to add some bead work particularly inside the squares and triangles to kick back the horizontal seam which is like a small crook in my neck, but I decided it would throw off the other 2 quiltlets which I didn't want to add bead work, and since I want them hung together, no beading.

The binding works (versus no binding at all) because it allows the activity going on in the surface to rest.

Pay It Forward

The winners of my PIF challenge are Deb, Julaine, and I'm waiting to hear from Nikki.  Thank each of you and everyone who left a comment on my Blogoversary entry.  I always appreciate commentors and its additionally sweeter when I get comments from rare commentors and complete first timers.

3

Yesterday was my 3rd year blogo-versary. Three years ago I could count the number of blogs dedicated to art quilting on one hand and three years ago I was mostly talking to myself out loud here.  I still am talking to myself but I'm also aware there is an audience and potential audience out there.  (leave a comment if you've never left a comment before and if you have left a comment, leave another one)  I still see this as a personal space but I also share it with people I meet who express interest in my quilts.  I'm still not quite ready to dive into full fledge marketing but I think I will be in 2009.  Mostly my goals still center around learning and experiementing with techniques and production of pieces that I feel good about submitting to exhibits.

The above picture is the 2nd of the 3 quiltlets I spoke of a few posts below.  The three are spoken for and will be heading to Canada when finished.

The poetry reading last Friday was exceptionally good.  Even though the selection of poems were older works they felt fresh in my mouth and I believe it was one of the best readings I've ever given.  Maybe I was riding the wave of energy that a room full of poets create. 

There was a young flutist that opened and transitioned between myself and another poet who read.  She had recognized a name in one of my pieces based on genealogy, geography, and spirit and it turned out that her aunt is married to a cousin of mine. Talk about the power of the word!

Oh, and since I'm a winner in Nellie's Pay It Forward art share meme(yeah me! I love her stripped landscapes) I'm obligated to do the same for the first 3 commentors on this entry.  You will receive a small piece from me between postcard size and no larger than 12"x12" before June of '08.  If you become a recipient you must, in return, make the same Pay It Forward commitment on your blog (so only bloggers are eligible).

Peace,