I feel yucky...

It’s a sick day today.  I just got home from 2 weeks of nonstop teaching and lecturing.  I have completely overbooked myself to the point that there is no time to even change my sweaty teaching clothes or do my hair before the evening lecture.  And I was in Houston, Texas and they are having an out of control heat wave, of course.   So I caught a cold and felt miserable the whole time.  But the show must go on.   Thank God I love what I do even when I am so sick.  At one point, when I had lost my voice and found out there was no microphone(!) I did think about running from the room screaming.  But then I would have had to stand outside in the heat and humidity and that was not an option.

One of my 3 hostesses, Linda, took me to the drug store where I bought cold meds, boxes of tissues and a hair clip because my hair was starting to puff out as my nose got redder and the humidity was reaching 89%.  And this was only day #1.

At one point, as I was going back to my room after breakfast,  I couldn’t remember my room number. I was in different hotels every day.  Was it room 220 or 507 or now where am I???  The thought of asking the front desk what my room number was was very humbling.

But I made it, barely. Then, on the last night something special happened that made it all worth the runny nose, the sweaty clothes, the bad hair and losing my voice.  I think I touched someone special. Artists can touch people with their art. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it shakes up your mind and head.  But that is not what I am talking about.  My lecture meant something to an 11 year old boy who was there with his grandmother that night at the guild meeting.

Again, we had mic problems and my throat was so sore. Thank God Ginger drove me through a Sonic to get a giant cherry lime aid before the meeting. It was like mother’s medicine. I found out that I was to go on after the break which is when most people leave. I don’t understand why a quilt guild that is paying big bucks to bring me there has me lecture at the end after the Show & Tell and when everyone is tired. At one guild recently they had 25 Show & Tells before the break and me. That meant that I also was not going to get out of there until 10:30.  But this night the Show & Tells went fast and it was my time. I was worried still about the mic and had an idea right before I was introduced.

My idea fixed the mic problem. Now, could they handle my raspy voice from this darn cold?   God, give me the strength to go on is what I prayed in the ladies bathroom.    It was a warm and receptive group, I could see. There were about 250 at the meeting that night. I talked about how I got from there to here and the struggles I had gone through as a child and adult. This is my art.  I talk about overcoming my dyslexia and the labels people put on you as a kid but that I was always thinking like an artist from the very beginning. It just didn’t fit in a school system.  But it’s what makes me creative and how when you accept how you are this helps our creative process and helps us define our art.  Then I end with my 3 minute movie that I have made showing my artwork and my path. It’s set to music and always gets a great response.  Then the trip is over.  I can now go home and fall in the arms of my loving man.

But,, as I am talking to the ladies at the end of the nigh,t I see this young man of 11 walk up to me. Behind him is his grandmother. She says he has something to say to me.  He tells me that he also has dyslexia. My heart jumps as I run around the table that is separating us.  He was so cute and brave. I gave him a big hug and I saw the smile on his face and then looked in his eyes and I told him You have been given a great gift. You are going to do great things in the world - you will just do them in a different way.  That is what is going to make you successful. You can do anything you want to do - you will just figure out a different way to get there. Don’t let anyone stop you. I hugged him again and he nodded his head like he already knew it. I saw his grandmother turn and walk away.  Later, in the car, Ginger told me she was crying. This is why I do what I do. Not to win awards, although the awards get me the jobs.  I have a life I want to share with others - a life that has been hard and rewarding.  A life I could have easily given up and tossed away if I had believed for one moment what people labeled me. I always knew that God had his hand in this. Artists are right-brained thinkers, which is where all creativity comes from.  Schools are mostly left-  brained and humans are ignorant.

There was a book I bought that is called The Gift of Dyslexia. I never read past the title and preface but the title said it all to me. I still have that book and to anyone who wants to listen to a very creative woman who has been given a gift, a runny nose and a voice that today sounds like Suzanne Pleshette on the Bob Newhart Show,  I’m here and have a story to tell.

Tea For Tulips

 Getting ready for another trip, this time to Texas. Today is folding pattern day.  As I was folding this pattern I thought I needed to give it some long over due respect. This is a great design and hardly any one knows about it. So today I am showing off my Tea For Tulip quilt design.

 Yes, it is hand, needle turned, applique and quilted by little old me.

 The original was made for a line of fabric that Quilters Corners got in.  I designed the pattern to go with the line of fabric.  I think it was in 2006?  This one was done just for me and in my colors at the time.  I think I might do it again in today colors.

 Later I added the stacked tea cups, which was not apart of the original pattern, its a new addition.  If you want this easy applique pattern, here is a link to my shop.  It $12.00  Have fun with it and send me a picture.

Green is a Neutral!

I’m finishing up my week of hand-dyeing.  I did a lot of over-dyeing to get some new colors and designs. I wish I had more time or maybe a twin.  But then again, Joe would probably freak out with 2 of me in the house - he can barely handle one.  Yesterday we folded patterns which inevitably means running out of Ink.  Why the printer runs out of yellow ink when you are only printing black is still a mystery to me. 

Did you know that green is a neutral and has the power to make or break your quilt?  Over the past 4 years I have observed my students working with green and found that the wrong shades of green can visually drain your quilt of its color power.  

 Today, as I am washing and pressing my green fabrics, I thought I would give you the secret to a knock-your-socks-off quilt.  It’s in the greens.

To demonstrate this theory I have my students focus on just their flower petal colors first.  They get them working together perfectly.  How do you know if it’s right?   You either get a feeling of AHHHH or YUKKKK!  I know this is deep stuff.  When the student feels happy with it, then we find the best background fabric.  Here is how I have my students think like an artist.  When we lay that flower on the background fabric they brought, 50% of the class will change their mind about that background fabric that they thought was perfect.   Why didn’t that fabric work?   What they thought at home was great changes in class when they see how their flower is coming along.  This is OK.  Artists change their minds all the time.  It’s not a failure to change your mind. It’s the path to success!

Color is a science, a chemical reaction which happens when the colors touch each other.  Now we audition the greens for the leaves.   80% of what the students thought would work at home have changed in class.  It may not be the best for the new flower they have just created.  

Now, what if we where painting with paint, not fabric?  Well, you can paint over paint until you get just the right color.  With the fusible you can peel the color off and change your mind.  You are auditioning a variety of choices to get your quilt looking just the way you want.  

The artist knows this intuitively but even the layman can learn the technique. When the color is right you will have a feeling.  Artists feel…sometimes too much.  Talk to me!  But go with it in your art.  This is how that feeling works.

 Your eyes perceive the color, that message goes into the brain and causes a chemical reaction, then the message shots down the body to the stomach,  turns around and then shoots  back up to your mouth and comes out as YUKKKK or AHHHH.  This is your brain, gut, intuition, telling you if it’s working or not.  It’s a FEELING and feeling in art is always good.

Now back to the power of green.  Greens come in hundreds of shades - just look outside at nature.  It can also set the mood you are trying to portray.  Example: visualize what color green you see when you are in Arizona?  There’s a look.  It’s the cool, light green and grayed greens of the desert cactus.    Which, when you use them in a quilt give you that southwestern look.  What about the greens in Hawaii?  Those are a deep blue green and yellow green, which give off a tropical feel.  So take your time when you use a green fabric when quilting and get the strongest AHHHH out of that green.  You may just win the next award!

Color Summer Yellow

Summer on the porch.

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.  ~James Dent or was that Joe Bula?

Ah summer! It’s here, with all its glory and fame.  Or is that Flame?

Its force and strength seems to over power the other seasons.  I seem to have forgotten all about my winter blues and my wet, damp, mope, spring.  “Is summer ever going to get here?” I would cry.  Well it's here and there is no going back.

So yesterday was a perfect day to put my hands and elbows, in the color yellow.  Yes, I was dying fabric kits for my upcoming classes.  How many values and shades of yellow can I make?  This was the theme of the day.  I even carefully wrote down my secret formulas, which I never really do.  I just seem to always be able to mix just the right colors.  But what if I have to have help?  How would I instruct someone to do my flower colors palate? That's a little scary.

My careful notes.

So I carefully made notes and slowly started the process, documenting all my steps.  Thanks God, Joe is out of town, so I could keep the mess up in the kitchen for a few days.  

Pumpkins

I also was trying to get the yellow of my pumpkins and cucumber blossom.  The cucumber is a little more bright yellow with a touch of green than the warm pumpkin yellow.

Cucumbers

Now for sunflower yellows.  There is really a wide range of sunflower shade out there.  Whenever I teach my sunflower class, it is always so interesting to see the yellow fabrics each student bring to make there sunflowers.  It always is a surprise.  They may be making the same pattern but they all turn out totally unique!  Just like the student in class. I love that!

Yes! red sunflowers

 In Huntsville, Alabama  it was brought to my attention that there are red sunflowers out there?  That will be for tomorrow.

Insperations

 I am getting ready to make my next quilt.   I was inspired again by the Monterey Bay.  The colors,  the sounds, the foggy mist, the flowers, the smells and the history.  I walked for a mile taking this all in. This week in Sisters I started collecting my fabrics.  This is how I start the process.  Art is in the process.

 The reflections

 It's not in the finished piece but every detail of the process. I tell my students to feel.  
So I also prepare to be surrounded by the feelings of that moment.  That "ah ha!" moment when you are moved to create.

Flowers I found in a secret garden.

Dinghies all lined up

Beach jewels.

 As I walked the beach I would see treasures under my feet. These sandy jewels feel so cool in my hand. 

Hair cuts of the 1709-1800's 

 Inspiration can come with the rich history of the region; in the Spaniards funny hair cuts. What where they thinking?

 I love the way the sailors dock their sail boats.  The tide changes their direction through out the day.

Nothing but Trouble!

   In Monterey there are secret gardens around every fenced gate. All are open to the public and filled with local  plants and flowers.

Wherever you look, there is inspirations to be found. Take it all in and then create.

4th of July

 It has been a busy 2 weeks and it still not over yet.  I spent 5 days in New Mexico teaching in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Then got home on Wednesday and drove down to Monterey to watch our son graduate from the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio and be promoted to Corporal in the United States Marines.  

So the week before the 4th of July I have been immersed in great pride for our country.  Where else in the world could you live in peace with all the diverse ethnic blood pulsating through this country’s veins?  No place but America.  We aren’t perfect, God only knows, but we are free. Free to choose our path in life.  Free to vote.  Free to worship our God and free to Love. 

I was talking to a woman recently about how my son’s generation is different than mine. It’s like no other before it with the possible exception of that of WWII.  There has been a very strong feeling within this younger generation of pride in country and the desire to serve it. She said Sure, it’s because they have infiltrated the schools with military recruiters!   WOW that hurt!  

 You mean I had nothing to do with the raising of my child?   God knows I didn’t want this path for my only child.  I was hoping for, maybe, a dentist.

 But every day he watch Joe and I stand up for our rights. Events such as the Yellow House incident and the Asbestos Fraud, not to mention the yelling at the pastor over children being hurt.   The idea that he could be easily swayed or recruited to give up his life for his country by one guy on campus or be influenced by the dreaded video game and not years of seeing and hearing his parents and grandparents live their lives standing up for what was right, made me sick.

My flight home from New Mexico was through San Diego, another great and beautiful city.  Not just because of is beaches and great weather, but because of its diversity. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a young man of 12 and his mother. We started up a conversation right away.  You could tell he was bright and very polite.  He was visiting family in San Diego.  I could see the pride on her face she as he talked to me. He told me he was Irish, English, Scottish and Samoan. I told him Young man, you are a true American!  I am English, Dutch, German and Cherokee.  He gave me a nod of his head and a high five and then we all laughed.  This young man did not get this way because of the influence of school but because of the influence of his parents.

So as my son graduated we had the opportunity to meet his instructors who originally lived in several countries in the Middle East.  They, too, came to America just like your family and mine, seeking the freedom to raise their children, worship God and be free to choose their own path.   As proud as I am of my son, it was obvious that his instructors shared that same feeling for each of their students. 

I hope you and your family celebrate a safe and happy Independence Day.

The Art of Teaching

Tulips starting to die. I thought they where still so pretty just in a different way!

As I prepare to leave in a few days for 3 teaching engagements, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Sister's Quilt Festival in Oregon,   I am overwhelmed each time I start to prepare my supplies by how unprepared I always feel.  And I hate that.  Even though I spend days beforehand preparing.  I have taught and lectured now for the last 8 years nonstop and each time it feels like the first time for me.  I feel insecure and not fully prepared or worthy.  Do I have anything new I can add to the student's education?   Today, as I get ready it hits me again.  Maybe it’s because I had some really bad teachers in my life and I watched them and hated them for not seeing I needed help.  I don’t want to be like that. Sorry Mr. Cope, but you SUCKED!  Then there are the superb teachers that saw something special in me and pushed me in the right direction. Thank you Miss Thaure. I want to be like her. Besides, she was hot!

A few months ago, while teaching a 2 day workshop,  I noticed 3 different women in my class.  They all had the look of fear and concern but each responded differently to their fear.  Part of being a good teacher, in my eyes, is picking up on the signals that students are sending so I can meet their needs and guide them into thinking creatively.  Fear often blocks our path.  So the first thing I do is try to get rid of their fear.  For some of them that fear has been there a long time

.

One student sat in the back and was very quiet…. one cringed at ever word I said... and the other looked like she didn’t care as she worked on another project while I lectured, which is OK with me but she was giving off the signal that she already knew it all or didn’t care.

But as I made my way to each student in the room I could see they really needed what I was offering and hopefully I could fit the lesson to them personally.  At least I could try.
  

The quiet one in the back was very receptive to the attention I gave her. I figured she had been ignored like me before.  The woman that cringed at everything was just fearful and once I got her on her way and she saw the beautiful flower blooming, she wore a big smile.

I love my Coneflower Class.

But the one that was looking aloof was hard to crack.  She wasn’t going to like anything she or I did.  I think she was very hard on herself.  Her fear was the greatest of the three.  Such fear always blocks learning a new technique.   At first I thought, why would she take a class if she didn’t want to learn?  But she did want to learn, she just needed more time and we didn’t have it.  

I still think about her and wish we could have had a 5 day retreat together.

So I am folding patterns, making lists and cutting the Steam-A-Seam 2 for my classes, trying to figure out how to fit everything into the suitcases allowed by the all so accommodating airlines.   The way things are progressing, soon I will have to pay extra for using the bathroom. Won’t that be lovely?  

Getting ready for teaching and travel is an art form in itself.

Anyway, I realized today that perhaps still feeling  unprepared is a good thing.  It keeps me on my toes and I have so much to share. When I stop worrying and I think I have it all down, that is when I need to stop teaching.  The insecurity I feel keeps me sharp because I care about the audience, so I always say a little prayer before each class that I will see and be able to meet their needs and guide each student in the right direction.  


So here we go again.

 Dyed the silk chiffon and the wool roving in the same pot.

 Pictures of the silk nuno felting scarfs I made.  

I sold 3 at the Winters Outdoor quilt festival last weekend.  Next I am going to try a top!

Nuno Felting?

Who knew that a ball of colored wool roving and silk chiffon would thrill me? Well, it happened and it's Peggy's fault.  I like to pass the blame whenever I can.  

Hand-dyed silk chiffon.

It all happened on a foggy and rainy Sacramento day, which we have been having for the last 8 months.  My friend, Peggy, a knitter and yarn devotee took a class and when she called with excitement in her voice I knew it was something fun!  She is always finding the newest and most artistic craft/sewing/wearable ideas.  I love it. She said she had just taken a class on felting silk scarves and that I was going to love it. She was right!

She came to my house and walked in with a beautiful felted silk scarf. I knew she was experimenting with felting but I had no idea you could make anything but cute little animals with the felt (which I have made and stabbed my finger numerous times with the needle. Not fun).  But a wearable, that’s another thing. I love wearable art.  This technique is called nuno felting, which is felting with water and friction.  No needles, so no blood.  Hooray!!!!

Peggy and Susan agitating the silk.

 That night I made my first creation.  Of course, it was also when I was making Joe dinner as Peggy gave the directions over the phone again.

I started out with silk chiffon scarves.  14” x 2 yards.  Then I  hand-dyed it. The silk sucks up the dye pretty fast.  I had bought a bag of beautiful pastel color roving a while ago, never really sure what to do with it. It was just so pretty and soft.  So the game was on.

Peggy said I needed a long strip of bubble pool cover plastic. Don’t have, but do have bubble wrap. You need a PVC pipe. Don’t have, but do have strong cardboard tubing. You need nylon netting. Don’t have, but do have bridal tool. Game on!  This is called being creative with what you have. I am the queen of that.

I laid out the scarf on the bubble wrap and added the roving, trying to make a flower design, of course. Laid the netting over my creation, wet it with hot soapy water and rolled it up on the tube, tying it with string, and began the wet felting process. You roll it back and forth with you arms, from your elbows to your hands back and forth, back and forth.  About 25 times for 4 repetitions, then 50, then up to 400-600 rolls, checking the piece and making sure the netting is not felting to the wool.

Peggy had a girl in her class that wore a pedometer which measures your movement and how many calories you are burning while felting.  It determined that you can burn up to 600 calories when making one scarf.  Now that’s my kind of exercise.

I asked Peggy if she would demo the technique at Flowers On the Lake.  The demo was a hit as the girls loved it.  I couldn't wait to get home and try more ideas.

Hey, how about dyeing your own fabric and roving to match?  Stay tuned!