Quilt Magazines 05-30-09

I don't subscribe to a lot of magazines any more - in the past there were some I hardly ever read. I'm as guilty as the next person - just look at the pictures and read the captions. Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, which started publishing forty years ago (1969), was the first general interest quilting magazine. My subscription started in 1970 and each new issue was a thrill - a whole community of quilt makers from across the country. I stopped taking it sometime in the last nine years - all those issues are carefully sorted and boxed in my garage. Some day I will haul them to the waste disposal. Now I only receive four quilting magazines - 2 that come with memberships and 2 that are subscriptions. The "SAQA Journal" has some interesting articles and information about the art quilt world, but it is basically about the Studio Art Quilt Association since it is the 'mouth' of that organization. "Quilts" is the journal of the International Quilt Assoc. which comes with the annual membership. Quilts, for me, are about the stories they tell or the experiences of the makers, so I usually read all the interviews and discussions in each issue. "Quilting Arts" is a subscription and it gets a little esoteric for me. The concentration on surface embellishment and the use of art materials is sometimes a turnoff. I'm one of those quilters who prefers commercial printed fabrics and somewhat traditional techniques. I collect art quilts, but my work is usually a bit more traditional. "Fiberarts" is on Volume #36 (presumably one per year) and five issues each year. I imagine I have subscribed to it that long. It offers photos, articles, information about people and places, but no patterns or 'how-to'. The current issue (Summer 2009) has a long article with pictures of Quilt National, plus a separate article on the "Quilt Barn Trail" which started in Ohio in 2001 and has now spread to twenty-two states with more than 2000 barns. There are also articles about the sweet grass baskets of the low country of South Carolina, beading, collage..... etc. You can review some of the articles at www.fiberarts.com I imagine that magazines have the same problems these days as newspapers. Why have a subscription when one can get almost anything on the Internet? I haven't reached the point where I carry my computer or some version of it everywhere I go, so I will continue to enjoy the printed page for some years to come.

# # #

Medical test and QMagazines 05-29-09

I went for an outpatient Angiogram today and apparently there is no problem after all. They did not put in a stint, but I must wait until an appointment on Tuesday to get actual results. Meanwhile, I can't drive for 48 hours, no jumping, bending, stretching, climbing ladders or lifting anything heavier than ten pounds. Good thing Corky isn't on my schedule any time soon. I am very tired, probably from getting up at 4:30am so Liz could pick me up and drive me to the hospital [I had to be there by 6am]. I have had two naps since she dropped me off about 2pm - en route we stopped for a Starbucks. They did give me breakfast on a tray after the test, but I find it so difficult to eat even slightly prone. I'll let you know what happens next week. "The Continuing Saga of the Squeeze".


I was going to talk about quilt related magazines, but I'll just post the picture tonight and talk about them tomorrow. These are the only four I take at this time. Anyone want QNM going back 25 - 30 years? How about Threads since they started publishing?
Meanwhile, if you don't take Fiberarts in the mail, pick up a copy of Summer 2009 at your friendly local new stand it is full of good things this time. More tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday 05-27-09

A Peony 05-26-09

Sometime around 1947 new neighbors moved in the house behind ours in Portland, Oregon. They were from Kansas and we had never met anyone from Kansas, but maybe that is why I have a soft spot for Kansas and her people. The Lyons family were just so nice; Elmer and Lucille and their daughter Charlotte who was the same age as my sister. I think that Charlotte and Ellamarie were joined at the hip from that day on. Elmer loved to tell the story of when they were moving their furniture in and found this little pigtailed girl on the porch. "Do you have a little girl I can play with?" Charlotte was too old for me and by the time they had another little girl I was too old for her.
I have such good memories of the Lyons family and one of them is Lucille's very Midwest garden with a row of peonies along the fence we shared. I don't know that I had ever seen them before, but I decided that they only came from Kansas. Of course, I found out they grow all over the place (but not in Placentia - too dry, too hot) and every time I see one I think of Lucille in her house dress and apron, out working in her garden. If I see cut peonies for sale in the spring I always buy a few in her memory.
I will try to keep up with posting on my blog, but if I miss a day or two, don't worry, I'll be back!

Miscellaneous 05-25-09

The doctor said no strenuous exertion, so I figure the best thing to do is lay around reading mysteries and eating bon-bons! No really, although I am reading more than usual, mostly I am still fighting with my computer. I need to update my TCQC files, but much to my surprise, I no longer have Microsoft Word on my computer - the new one. I am quivering inside in fear of losing all those files. In the morning I may just take a trip to the computer store to see what we can do about this. And I could stop at See's Candy [the best in the world and only a few miles away]!

I get a laugh out of this cartoon every time I see it - Glasbergen does the best. I know exactly what he is talking about and, probably. you do also.

===================================================

Sometimes even a Poodle Prince needs to make a mess to get some attention. It is too late to break him of the habit, besides the fact that he will be 13 in July, we always laugh - surely a sign of approval. Corky has been in the desert with his parents for the holiday weekend, I miss him.


Another bad thing about not going to the SAQA Conference is that I didn't get to see Ruth and Charlie or their wonderful Komondor, Griff. What a guy! I don't know what he weighs, but probably a third of it is hair [which means I am not allergic to him].

I have e-mail from several people who did go to Athens and I hope that someone, or many someones, will share their pictures with me. I am still in a state of yearning. If you didn't go either, you might want to look at the QNat'l prize winning quilts for this year - they are shown on their website: http://www.dairybarn.org/quilt/index.php?section=226&page=281

Also, Pokey Bolton talks about QN on her blog:

http://www.quiltingarts.com/blogs/pokey/archive/2009/05/24/brief-saqa-conference-quilt-national-recap.aspx

As I said above I have been reading. When I am sick or stressed or stranded I like to read Anne Perry's, Thomas and Charlotte Pit mysteries. Since I have all of them I get down the box and start with number one. I am on number eight and there are about twenty-five, so I have reading material for at least a month. The Bo Caldwell book is the Book Group book this month.

Quilt from TCQC Ruth Powers 05-24-09

"How Could You Leave Us?" Ruth Powers 2005 11"W x 14"L
Machine pieced, cotton fabrics, assorted threads, machine quilted.

Ruth made this quilt for a Katrina victims fund raiser. Although it is a sad message it is one that I also asked on behalf of the pets left behind. I could never leave Corky, the Poodle Prince, behind, even if I had to stay behind myself. This is the sweetest little dog , perhaps it is a Beagle, I've never asked. When I look closely at the quilt I am amazed that Ruth can sew together such tiny, complicated pieces. Nobody pieces as well as Ruth McDowell, but Ruth Powers is getting closer each year. I am fortunate to know two such wonderful quilt makers named Ruth and even more fortunate to call them both friends.
http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/

2007 - People @ Quilt Nat'l '07 05-23-09

This is another look back at Quilt National 2007 and some of the people I saw there. I've always thought that conferences are ultimately about the people who attend and mingle. I met so many very nice people either making or interested in art quilts, but these are the pictures that are 'presentable'. One thing I learned in '07 is how important it is to take pictures of the artists with their quilts.

I didn't see the dairy barn when it was a dairy barn and I admit I have never been in such a place before. Now it is a wonderful, expansive space to hang quilts, they made a great choice. I include this picture to show how it looks with quilts hanging. Left to Right: the red quilt in the center is "Red Wave", "Robo Sapien: Agent 1" by Kathy Weaver, "Are We Safer Now?" by Judith Plotner.

Friends from Coronado, CA., Kathleen McCabe and her husband. Kathleen has a quilt in Quilt National '09 which I looked forward to seeing at the opening this year - maybe I will have a chance to see it in one of the traveling sections. in the next two years. The quilt on the right is "Dun Aengus Stone Fort" by Denise Labadie - 63"W x 71"L. On the far left is "Brush" by Mary Beth Frezon - 48"W x 28"L.

Karey Bresenhan and Kathleen Dawson at the welcoming table.

"Repose" with artist Melanie Testa 52"W x 41"L

Discussion in front of "Surround Sound" - 50"W x 38"L x 8"D by Regina Benson are
____________, Regina Benson, Pat Hawkins, _____________


Mary Ann Tipple artist with "Our Dads at War" 36"W x 37"L