James A. Michener Art Museum

Yesterday Dan and I took his parents to the James A. Michener Art Museum. There is a wonderful exhibit by Paul Keene, a Philadelphia - born artist. His paintings resemble a few of Carol Taylor's quilts.Kyle Morris

Pennsylvania impressionist - Schofield

And George....

Merry Christmas

All,
Merry Christmas from my home to yours.

Hope your holiday season is full of faith, hope and charity.

Tis the Season for Sharing

Nothing new here...just wanted to share some past treasures, I will need to re-photograph these for my up-coming web site...the first one is "Midnight Sunshine" , design by Jane Franke.

This is "untitled", actually it's the only quilt I never gave a name to and I don't know why. I made this for Luke, when he was in college, it hung in his off campus apartment.


This is "Basket Case". It is my completed project from an Ellen Ann Eddy workshop. The leaves and flowers are thread painted, the basket is hand dyed cheese cloth that I wove to look like a basket. It is quilted with pink sliver.

Below is "Well Red", as you see it is not yet quilted...(in the UFO pile) Also, design by Jane Franke. This is the same design as in "Midnight Sunshine", just differnt colors.

This is my mom Joan, standing by a Christmas gift I made for them a few years ago, "Memories". It is a collection of many photos of our whole family, for them to enjoy.

December: Simple Still Life

Capture the Light....City Hall, Philadelphia, a spectacular holiday colored light display. I took this standing up through the sun roof in a slow moving car. We drove by after a fabulous dinner at Buca's. In Philly we went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the Franklin Institute. It was quite interesting and somewhat gross. You were not allowed to take photo's of the exhibit, however the human body internally is such a magnificent piece of art work, should have brought a sketch book.

More "lights" from a moving car, using a simple digital camera.

I know it's had to see, but this is boat house row on the Schuylkill River.

And Snow, the light of winter...

December: Simple Still Life

Today was a very good day. Danielle qualified for PIAA District 1 swimming districts as part of the 200 yard medley relay. She was sooooo excited. Her relay also won the race. She finished 3rd in the 100 backstroke too.

Inspiration

Webster says that inspiration is "any stimulus to create thought or action". I've read several post from Quilt Art about how to get inspired like re-arrange your fabric stash, listen to music, do exercises like drawings from a single word or picture, visit a museum or gallery, ect...ect...ect...

Well for me I seem to at loss, maybe it's the holidays, the hussle and bussle of shopping, getting cards mailed, and gifts sent so they are received on time. Maybe I need break from room at the end of the hall. I retired from my job as a swim lesson manager back in May, I had inspirations of spending hour upon hour sewing away with the cd player blaring loudly so not hear other noises in the house, like the phone. I have completed several projects since then, along with some UFO's.

I will continue to search for new inspiring ideas...I know they are there, just waiting for the right time to be discovered.

From the words of Pete Seeger:
"To every thing, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven"

December...19 Days till Christmas

I have for the past 6 years or so been involved with our summer swim team working the scoring table...3 of my children swam/swim year round...I have always stayed away from working the "table" in the winter just because, I need a break, let someone else do it, ect... well, Monday was the start of the high school swim season. The girls coach also coaches a summer team we compete against. We arrived at the pool a bit early yesterday, then I hear my name being called, the coach wanted me to train on using the electronic timing for the meet because they needed another person. Our school district now has 3 high schools, there are 2 pools, each school has a girls & boys team, some meets are on the same day, the same women who "work" the table do it for both pools. So with much hesitation I did it. I guess I'm willing to fill in when there are conflicts but I don't think I want to do it all the time even though it is a paying job. Danielle had a good day, she is a good swimmer, she adds depth to the team. Her 200 Medley Relay finished 3rd, she had 2 - 4th place finishes in 200 IM and 100 Back and 4th in the 400 Free Relay.

**********

I always mail about 80-100 Christmas cards each year with a photo of the children enclosed. This year I'm also going to mail a few "postcards" to family and good friends. I came up with 5 designs to use, maybe changing the fabric choices to make them all unique.

This is the photo of the kids, it didn't photograph very well, the photo transfer has a bit of a glare from the flash.

Holly Bell...

Candle with Holly leaves...

Whimsical Angel...

Yummy Candy Canes.

Treasures from the Past

Over the Holiday, much time was spent cleaning ou the "backroom" at the In-Laws...For some reason I'm always asked about the sewing supplies :-) Well here's my loot...

61 Spools of Silk Thread

3 Wooden Buttons

Mourning Pins...for the well dressed widow

Object unknown...any suggestions? I believe it is made of iron...

A Multitude of Vintage wooden spools of thread

Thanksgiving

Turkey and Beer for the cooks!

After dinner, the crew (minus 2) went to the hospital to see Grandpa, he has pneumonia, to visit and take the traditional Thanksgiving group photo.

The grandchildren, before leaving the house, noticed all of Grandpa's hats, so they decided to wear them to Hospital...he was very happy to see them all. (There are 6 additional grandchildren not pictured.)
The college kids & recents grads, playing Beer Pong with their fathers/uncles and cousins...the value of higher education....
A good time was had by all...I should have taken a picture of the snow, there was at least 6 inches on the ground...oh well, there will be more!

Simple Still Life: Round Three

Final project...5 Painted Gourds.

Simple Still Life: Round Three Challenge Guidelines.

Curvaceous

Self Challenge in Pink, 45" X 45". I did go to the last class, but I just sewed the background blocks and part of the border there, the center was completed by then. I had layed out my design during lunch and I told Ellen I was going to applique the center to the background. She suggested sewing it in with a Y seam at the sides, so that's what I did even though they ended up being only 1 inch. I like those extra curves it added.

The Weekend in Review

Ok, well my car had a dead battery Thursday- Sunday, but I did manage to get to the Friday night Finals session of the swim meet. My daughter Beth was Captain of the team her Junior year, but now, half way through the season in her Senior year, the coach decided he didn't want her to be captain. So why does he wait this far in the season to tell her? His response was he was afraid to tell her, well HELLO, who's the adult in charge here? She is so heart broken, the coach said she was too tough on the team, and pushed them too much...well isn't that what a captain should do? He also said some very hurtful words to her, like "no one on the team likes you" , what a @#$%&...I am so glad he didn't talk to me I think I would have said a few choice words to him. Saturday I made it back to watch her swim the 1650 freestyle and she made the cut time for champs so that was great.

Dan and I went for a walk around the lake, 6.5 miles :(

Danielle practiced her Grad project presentation all weekend. She presented her project this morning and a received "Distinguished" score.

That's all for now...

November Postcards

A Self Challenge

I signed up to take a class at my local quilt shop, it's a paper pieced pattern by Judy Niemeyer. I enjoy taking classes, I always learn something new.

Challenge # 1...Here's my pallet, Pink...a color I haven't used much...
These are maybe Pinks, in case I change my mind as I piece...

Now challenge #2...make it my own, get creative...change the layout & the size, I really would like it smaller than 70 X 70. So stay tuned for updates.

This is the flannel fabric for Christmas quilts for my parents I purchased on the field trip Mary and I took to Intercourse and Bird-In-Hand, Lancaster County. The top 3 are for Dad's, the other 3 are for Mom's.

Knit, Knit, Knit....

This is my first knitted project, many thanks to Mary. Last week she took me to her favorite yarn store. I purchased 2 books 3 skeins of yarn and a circular needle...

I knitting this purse in about 4 hours including ripping it out twice. I was hooked :-) ... Today I spent a good part of this afternoon trying to felt it. I thought it would have shrunk a bit more than it actually did, but it's still ok. After it dried, I sewed on the ribbon of bead. I had had this ribbon of beads for several years; I knew there would be the perfect project for them someday.

Round Three Simple Still Life

Here are my photos for Round Three of the SSL. 5 Gourds.

#1

#2

#3#4#5#6

I'm not sure which one I'll use, what do you think? The number is above the photo.
Simple Still Life: Round Three Challenge Guidelines.