New Years Day

What a lazy day. For the past 3 years there has been snow on January 1. This year it rained and washed all the snow away. It was really a dreary cold day. I made a big pot of chili, a pan of cornbread and listened to an audiobook. I also put up pegboards in my sewing craft area as I try to get organized.

The New Year is the time that we all make ridiculous goals and at the end of the year we are upset that we did not accomplish them. As I discuss this process with my daughter, she told me to make a few goals in increments. Weekly, monthly, six months and then 12 months. So this year in 2011 I will follow this process. She made me get a small journal and we have begun.

One of my goals for 2011 is to update my blog weekly.

So here goes: I work intermittently on projects, not completing anyone project. I have been trying to complete a wall hanging for my office, but my daughter keeps showing up to determine if her wall hanging has been completed. I am pondering on how to quilt the border, which is the finishing touch to this colorful project. I scanned the fabrics into EQ7 and designed the layout. From the layout I was able to printout small quilts 8 x 10, but the colors were not vibrant enough for me. I will need to work with my software to determine how to obtain the true color of what I see on the screen. My thought for the small quilts is to embellish with colorful thread and practice my free motion quilting. I will post pictures of the finished wall hanging once I quilt the borders. The cool thing about EQ7 is that you can playaround with the layout and try different borders.

Holiday Project

Every year I start Christmas projects in November and December and think that I will have them completed in time to decorate my house. How optimistic am I? This year I finally completed a Holiday wall hanging and Christmas stockings. I have other holiday projects to complete, but I am sure that they will not be completed but I do plan to complete them early in 2011 and have them ready for next Christmas.

I am proud of myself for completing 4 lap quilts and having them quilted. I just have to add the bindings, but that will take a little time. I only need to complete one as a Christmas gift to my mother.

A Seven Day Party - No Quilting

We just came back from an outstanding vacation. My husband and I took a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Liberty. This a was a cruise like non other. We have never been on a cruise and we decided that we would take a theme cruise. We selected the Capital Jazz Super Cruise!! We had so much fun that we are booking again for 2011. There was non stop entertainment and activities for all (biz whiz, spades, dance classes, ping pong tournaments). The musicians even had sessions to work with individuals with their instruments. We would be walking back to our cabin and we would never make it because someone would be performing and you had to stop and listen. There was music morning, noon and night and all night long.




The weather as great and the people we met were extremely nice. People from all over the country were on this cruise. People would ask us is this your first cruise ? "You will be spoiled" and they were not wrong. We were blown away by the quality of the entertainment and the fun that we had with the people that we met.




We needed a vacation after the cruise, thank goodness we took two weeks of vacation and did not have to return to work, it took us a week to recoup from all the activities. When someone ask how was my vacation, I have to tell them that it was awesome and I am going back. If you want to see pictures of the cruise and the activities please go to the Capital Jazz Super Cruise web site and get jealous because you were not there.

Perfection

Perfection leaves no room for growth or improvement. I have found that I sometime procrastinate finishing a project because I am afraid that it will not be perfect : my stitching may be off or I didn't place the piece in the right place when appliqueing, or whatever. But as I take this journey to determine my style or my voice I am finding that it really doesn't matter that it is not perfect. I am also learning that I need to give myself a break. My work is my relaxation and gives me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. As I finish the projects that I have started over the years I have given myself the freedom not to be perfect and I am finding that I am much more productive. Perfection is limiting and you need to learn from the missed steps along the way.

A wall hanging almost completed, but I procrastinated finishing because I was afraid that my stitching would not be perfect, but little nudge from my daughter "Mom when are you going to finish that!" pushed me to complete the project.

I think that we would all accomplish more if we did not have the fear that it will not be perfect. I think back to the being a little girl making paper dolls, I did not think that I could not draw or that they had to be perfect, it was just the fun of "Just doing" .

My Soccer Art

Over the weekend, we decided to clean out the basement and get rid of all the clothes and equipment that grows over the years.



I have been and can truly, literally and actually say that I was a Soccer Mom. My daughter has played soccer as a little tike and an adult. She played AYSO soccer, Club Soccer , HighSchool Soccer, Collegiate Soccer and Professional Soccer in Sweden. My husband and I have attended just about every game. I can not remember a weekend that we were not on a soccer field. We have collected so many teeshirts, it is scary. I put all the decent teeshirts and that represents the team that my daughter has played on over the year in a plastic bin, with the intention of creating a tee-shirt quilt. But as I started pulling out soccer equipment from soccer bags I pulled out other clothing items and the creative thought processes started.



I am creating my own challenge and I am calling it "My Soccer Art" My objective is to make a piece once a month and document the processes, but first I must complete the wall hanging for my daughter's new apartment and a "auction item" for the family reunion.

Screen Printing

This past Sunday, I took a screen printing class at The Needle Shop here in Chicago. It was totally awesome and addictive. We made our own screens and worked with existing screens. My daughter has started her own business "Leap Health and Fitness" and had a logo created. I took her logo and created a screen. I printed the logo on a couple of teeshirts and wha la !!

I am totally hooked.

Men Can Quilt

How exciting to know that you have a relative that is a noted quilter in our family, Ira Blount. Ira is my mother's oldest living relative 92 years old and still quilting. I googled Ira and learned that there was a DVD documentary chronicling Ira' s life, "The Common Threads That Bind". I have been trying to obtain a copy from the people who created the DVD. I also contacted Ira via email and he graciously sent me copies of his work and an a origami card that he created. He is quite a craftsman. This is the link to an article about Ira, what an accomplishment: http://capitalcommunitynews.com/CCN_Website09/images/papers/EOR/Jul/0709/PDFs/32-33_EOR_0709.pdf

In addition to quilting, Ira has many talents: Origami, Tin punching, Calligraphy, Pen and Ink Drawing, Beaded Pouch, Woven Top Footstool, Baskets, Exotic Wood Carved Boxes.

The family reunion is coming up the 4th of July weekend and I was hoping to be able to meet Ira personally, but his health is an issue and I won't get the opportunity to meet this family celebrity but I am really proud of him.