Time flies

Okay, my last post was over a year ago. Where the heck did the year go? Actually, I'd rather not think about that in great detail, since it hasn't been one of my finest years. My mother, who was not only my mom but a good friend and one of my biggest cheerleaders, passed away unexpectedly. A couple of months later, I got divorced. My oldest child started college (10 years before the youngest one leaves, so at least I don't have to worry about 'empty nest' for quite some time). At any rate, the grief and change killed my creative side, and I produced very little in the way of any fiber art.

However, I'm starting to feel the first stirrings of creativity again, which I see as a very good sign. And in order to encourage those stirrings, I needed to reorganize and neaten up my studio (a/k/a part of my basement and laundry room). For my fellow quilt artists on the QuiltArt mailing list, where a question was recently posed about 'where is your studio?,' here are some pix:


This one is my far wall and cutting table.

This next one is another wall near the stairs:

Here are some works in progress on my design wall (a/k/a curtain that covers a closet that holds my out of season clothes):

And finally, here's the trusty sewing machine:

A couple of months ago, I made reservations to go to the IQF in Houston. It would have been my first trip ever, but some things have since happened that have made it impossible for me to go, and I sadly cancelled my flight and hotel reservations. Oh well, there's always next year...

Finally!!!

Well, it's been a long time in coming, but I finally managed to get inspired and create some fiber art over the weekend/this week. Ironically, even though I have literally hundreds of yards (if not more--seriously) of fabric in my stash, I ended up using scraps for this piece. Don't ask me why--I did, and regardless of how silly that is, I was inspired and made something beautiful (at least I think it is) and I'm glad I did.

It's been so long since I've made anything that I had forgotten how wonderful I feel when I'm doing it--how relaxing it is, and how I feel such a sense of accomplishment when it's done. And the nice part of this piece is that it immediately has a home. My mom needed something for over her fireplace in her new house, and this one fits perfectly (it's about 16" x 22"). The funny thing is that I brought it over today, and she had just put out some pillows on her sofa that matched perfectly (a lovely shade of turquoise), and had also put out a quilted throw I made her last year, which also goes really well.

Given all of the colors in this, I suppose it would be hard for her to have something that didn't go with it! Anyhow, it's lots of different fabrics, randomly pieced and then cut into curves and free motion quilted. I added some Angelina fiber accents, and sewed on some fabric flowers with beads as centers, and then last night, while watching the Red Sox lose, I sewed some very cool trim on the border. Here's a close up of one of the corners:

Is it the most beautiful thing I've ever made? Not by a long shot. But it's bright and cheerful and chaotic, and given that my life has been chaotic, but not particularly bright or cheerful in the past few months, I think it's a good sign that I made this (it could have been black or angry-looking, and it's not either of these). I'm hoping that this is just the beginninng of a new phase of me making art and making myself happy at the same time. I think I'm ready for a new chapter of my life, and this seems like a good start.

Oh my.

I cannot believe that it's already July. And it's been such a cold and rainy spring/summer. Sadly, I have no new fiber art to show off. I've been uninspired and overwhelmed by life. I'm hoping/sensing that things will present themselvs to me (in the form of inspiration) soon. Things are a bit chaotic/crazy; I'm in a place I wouldn't have imagined myself for a long, long time (i.e., 20+ years ago). And yes, I do miss Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry.

Collage Mania/FiberArt for a Cause

A wonderful woman I found out about on the QuiltArts mailing list, Virginia Spiegel, organized and holds an ongoing fundraising effort for the American Cancer Society called FiberArt for a Cause. To date, the organization has raised over $170,000! One of the events held by FiberArt for a Cause is 'Collage Mania,' an online auction of donated collages that include fiber. Last year's Collage Mania raised over $13,000 in two days. There is a minimum donation of $40 for any piece, but my guess is that people often donate much more than that.

This year's Collage Mania will be held May 5-7, and I donated the following piece:

It's a 10" x 8" collage of fabric and fiber, with a couple of metal accents, and it's mounted on a canvas. I call it 'No Time Like the Present' and I made it in memory of my dad, Richard MacLaren, who passed away many years ago from cancer. I honestly believe that the present really is a gift, and there is no time like now to celebrate life. I juxtapose stark black, white & gray with bright red flowers and green 'swishes' in an attempt to graphically represent how one can celebrate and appreciate the beauty in life even in the midst of something as bleak as a cancer diagnosis.

To learn more about Collage Mania 2009 and see the list of participating artists, go to:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania2009.html

Flowers for Emily

As mentioned below, a few days before my friend, Emily, passed away, I made her a pillow. Before that, I had been having a bit of a creative 'dry spell' and hadn't really made anything in a month or so. However, after I made and brought Emily the pillow, I felt inspired. After visiting with her in the hospital, I had a rare afternoon and evening to myself, and I came home and started working on an art quilt (i.e., wallhanging). I worked on it during the week, and I finished it up a little over a week later, after Emily's death.

It's probably around 20" x 30", and it includes fused fabric, and handsewn fibers, Swarovski crystals and Angelina fiber as accents. It's free motion quilted, and there's some scallop stitching around the bouquet of flowers. The border, which you can't really see in this picture, is a gorgeous shade of purple with small black script on it. The colors are really vibrant and lovely, and I think Emily would have approved. Our local library is going to have an art show in March and is looking for submissions at the end of February. I think that I am going to submit this. It is, of course, called Flowers for Emily.

Thanks for the inspiration, Em!

In Memory of Emily Klein - January 29, 2009

Several months ago, I joined a 'Called to Care' ministry at my church, where I was matched with an elderly parishoner and visited with her once a week. The woman I was matched with was an engaging woman named Emily Klein. Emily was 85 years old and a pistol. She had lived on Long Island in NY most of her life, but moved to western MA last year at the request of her only living relative, her nephew. I found it inspiring/amazing that an 84 year old woman was willing to leave her home for the unknown, but once I met Emily, I understood.



Emily was a single, never married woman, who had, to say the least, a full life. She was a Navy WAVE, a high school algebra teacher, Sunday school teacher, tennis coach, world traveller, actress (she played a part in a local production of 'Arsenic & Old Lace', not because she was an actress, but because someone asked her and she could never say no), bowler, roller skater, football and baseball fan, avid bingo player/gambler, and active churchgoer.

I say that Emily only had one living relative, her nephew, but that's not entirely true: She also had his family, which includes his wife and four children. Emily adored her nephew and told me many stories about him. I think to her, he was the son she never had. And his children, in turn, were her surrogate grandchildren. She always showed me pictures of them and proudly recounted their many accomplishments. It's funny: I've yet to meet either her nephew or his children, and yet, I feel as though I know them. I'm looking forward to meeting them soon.



Emily was sharp as a whip, but her body was not as agreeable: She had diabetes, a pacemaker, high blood pressure, and other issues that rendered her unable to drive and forced her to use a walker to get around. She loved food and food shopping (which made us a good match), and she loved to talk and socialize (another good match). We rather quickly became good friends, and it was not a one-sided friendship: I enjoyed the time I spent with her as much as I think she enjoyed the time she spent with me.



Last week, Emily had a couple of falls, the second of which broke her arm. She ended up in the hospital, and a week later, after a bit of a rollercoaster of 'she's doing well'--'she's not doing well', I got a call from her nephew telling me that she wasn't doing well at all.



I spent most of the day with Emily. Much of the time she was unresponsive, but I stayed by her side, holding her hand and occasionally talking to her. I am convinced that she knew I was there, and I'm definitely convinced that she knew I was there and she wasn't alone when she passed. It was, mercifully, a peaceful passing. I think she was ready, and the wonderful doctors and nurses at the hospital helped to ease her way with palliative care/drugs. It was, I think, a blessing for both of us.



At Christmas this year, I made Emily one of my Caring Quilts. I honestly don't think she ever used it--just showed it off to people who came to visit. That makes me a little sad because my quilts are meant to be used and give comfort, but perhaps that is the way she got comfort from it--by showing it to others. At any rate, she chose the fabrics, and here's a close up of what I made for her:




I also made her a pillow this past weekend, which I think she really liked when I gave it to her. She didn't get to enjoy it very long, but I do think it made her happy for the short time she had it. It was a bright and cheerful pillow, with flowers and butterflies and birds, and an abbreviated/paraphrased verse from Matthew: "Watch the birds of the sky, for they do not sow or reap or store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow."

I have a desk calendar that contains daily sayings. Interestingly enough, the saying on January 29 was "The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend." God bless you, Emily. And thank you for being my friend.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

There is this really wonderful grass-roots, totally volunteer organization, The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org ), that raises awareness and funds Alzheimer's research through art. One of their main fundraising efforts is the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt Project. People submit small art quilts to the woman who runs the whole thing, Ami Simms, who auctions them off on the first of each month or sells them on the Internet or at the Houston International Quilt Festival every year.

I participated in a challenge put on by members of the QuiltArts mailing list for people who weren't going to Houston this year (I've never been, but it's one of my goals to make it there one of these years, preferably with something in the show--yeah, right) and made 3 Priority Quilts that I donated to this organization. I was blown away by some of the other quilts that people from the list made. I am clearly a novice, but as usual, my work was made with much love. Here's what I made:

1. 'Crazy Love': A crazy quilt made up of scraps from other quilts, with a cool heart-shaped applique in the middle. I dedicated this one to my friend's mom, who is currently suffering from Alzheimer's.

2. This one is 'Verbs to Live By': I tried some new techniques with this one: I used Shiva paintstiks on fabric (rubbed over a rubber stamp), and stamped words, then covered with organza and quilted it. The border fabric is some of my first hand-dyed fabric.

3. "Remembrance": My last piece used some rust-dyed fabric (Rust-Tex--www.rust-tex.com) from a woman named Lois Jarvis. Lois offered to donate $5 for each art quilt made with the fabric she sent people. I suspect that she ended up making a hefty donation! The fabric, which is part of the body of the quilt, and the border, is not in my color comfort zone, but I found some coordinating fabric that I think worked well with it.

I really hope that these pieces end up generating some money for Alzheimer's Research because the organization's goal 'making a difference, one quilt at a time', is such a cool concept.