I is for imaginative.

The winter 2002 issue of Quilting Arts magazine challenged its readers to make a two-sided doll with one side representing the maker's ego and the other side, her alter ego.

My imagination went on high alert! What could I use that would express myself with this doll? In an "ah-ha!" moment, I looked at my stash and found two distinct styles. As I pondered "why?", a poem was born:

soft/frilly and colorful/silly

In your studio, you'll find instant inspiration,

Just come along, and use your imagination.

On one shelf is all that is soft and frilly,

And on the next, the colorful and silly.

Join the soft silk that you hand painted

With ribon and beads, and you'll be elated.

From the next shelf, combine all that is jolly,

And, voilà, a two-sided doll, by golly! 

Okay, so I'm not such a great poet! But here's the doll that's a result of it. Her soft and frilly side is silk fabric I hand painted. She is embellished with hand-painted silk ribbon attached to the background with seed beads.

 

Her colorful and silly side is foundation pieced with six fabrics printed with star motifs. She is decorated with variegated thread that I free-motioned quilted, seed and bugle beads, sequins, and a tiny turtle button "brooch."

She was shown in the summer 2003 issue of Quilting Arts magazine.

She's awesome!

Hiker

H is for hiker

Since I've lived in Colorado all my life, I'd better be a hiker, huh? I mean, really, what's the point of living here if I don't get out and hike. For a "serious" hike, I don good boots, sturdy clothes, and a silly hat. Then, I think of Edward Abbey. In April 1967, he wrote the introduction to Desert Solitaire at Nelson's Marine Bar in Hoboken, New Jersey. And in that intro he wrote the perfect description of what a hike should be:

     "...you can't see anything from a car;
      you've got to get out of the goddamned
      contraption and walk, better yet crawl,
      on hands and knees, over the sandstone
      and through the thornbush and cactus.
      When traces of blood begin to mark your
      trail you'll see something, maybe."

And I take his words to heart. I get down on the ground and crawl around to really, I mean really, see what's there. And, I'll stop mid-trail to see what's at a distance. When hiking, it seems that most folks are narrowly focused on the trail. They miss the trees, the flowers, the mountains, or whatever lovely scenery that surrounds them. And they never stop to study what's at their feet.

This past spring, I crawled around at the Balcony House in Mesa Verde National Park. It's known as the "toughest" of the ranger-lead tours. 

The hike starts at the top of a canyon, with the ruins tucked away, unseen, on the cliff below. Then, a 30-foot ladder to the Ancestral Puebloan ruins. The ladder is made from wooden poles, and there's enough room to travel up it two by two.

Not for those faint of heart.

Not for those afraid of heights.

Not for those wearing flip-flops.

As we started up the ladder, the ranger said to repeat the motto: "don't look down, don't look down." I didn't.

This is the top of the ladder.

Can you see the bottom of it? 

NO!!!

This is why "don't look down, don't look down" was so important.

If I would have looked down, I'd still be there, hanging on forever!

Anyway, I made it. Hoo-Haa!!! Here I am in the ruins.

Camera in hand, I topped the 30-footer. But when I went to take a pix, no luck. I was a-shakin' in my boots! 

But, I'm a-smilin'. Wow, was I proud that I "conquered" the dreaded ladder!

Have I told you I have acrophobia?

After wandering the ruins, you crawl through a small tunnel. There are two ladders leading to the end, the last of which is off-camber on a rock cliff. Not a good place to take photos!

So, here's my challenge: get outta the car, get onto the trail, and get down and dirty. Get zany!

And when you do hike, make a remembrance of the trek. 

The applique on my Colorado Memories quilt depicts the snowy winters. The Columbine promises spring will come.

The photos are ones taken on hikes.

Gardener

G is for gardener

But in Colorado where I live, where half of the state is arid, hot plains and the other half is snowy, cold mountains, gardening is tricky!

I first lived on the plains in Arvada, a suburb of Denver, where my flowers and veggies flourished.

Then, on my 35th birthday, I moved to the mountains. It was early spring, just the right time for planting. Since I had moved a mere 20 miles distance, and my new place was only 2,000 feet higher, I thought the only difference would be a shorter growing season. 

Wrong-o. The shorter growing season is not a problem, but the elk, deer, and cute little bunnies are. They smelled my flowers and ripe-for-picking veggies from many miles away, and they loved my city garden in the hills!

With help from the local garden shops, I've learned what to plant that the critters won't eat. At last most of the time! One summer an elk ate the leaves of my rhubarb plant. Only once, though!

The above photo of my kinda-critter-proof garden inspired this quilt. It's made from triangles cut from fabrics reminiscent of things in my garden:

~ Tans for the Kansas limestone fence post, which is topped with green triangle printed with a sundial.

~ Gray geometrics for the rocks. (When traveling, I collect rocks as souvenirs.)

~ Yellow florals for my yarrow plants, and green prints for my herbs.

~ A triangle with a butterfly and a triangle with a bumble bee. Look closely at the bottom left triangle and you might spot the yellow head of a creepy-crawly!

The quilt was published in Quiltmaker Magazine.

Gardening is awesome!

Freelancer

F is for freelancer

My freelance work was described in the previous "editor" post. So...

F is also for Featherweight sewing machines!

For my 40th birthday, I bought myself a Featherweight. After all, I can't call myself a quilter unless I have one, right? By pure coincidence, it was made in the year of my birth. So I celebrated its birthday by making a "cozy" for its carrying case. The case was in perfect condition, and I wanted it to stay that way!


Fast forward to this year, when I perfected (i.e., simplified) the design. I made it two sided, with bright fabrics on one side and pastels on the other. Then, I wrote a pattern for it.

The cozy shown at left has Prairie Point embellishments and patch piecing.

The other side (not shown here, but you can see it in the pattern) has hand-dyed silk ribbon embellishments and strip piecing.

Want to make a cozy for your little sewing machine? You can! The pattern is in the October/November 2010 issue of Quilter's Home Magazine. 

And, my cozy is on the cover!!!! A first for me, to have something I've made be front and center!!! Needless to say, I'm just a little proud. Not boastful, just proud.

P.S. The red Featherweight isn't mine. Darn the bad luck!




The cozy, it's zany!

Editor

E is for editor

Words, words, words! My interest in how to use them—and how not to use them—began when I was taught "proper" grammar in grade school. My earliest memory of "fixing" copy is when I was about 10 years old. At breakfast, I would look for grammatical errors on cereal boxes. (Did that make me a nerd?)

I went from fixing words on cereal boxes to positions editing legal and then scientific documents and on to editing quilting publications. Legal stuff was stodgy (if you have ever read a contract all the way through, you get my drift). Scientific stuff was tedious (imagine proofing complicated equations).

But, quilting stuff, it's wonderful! My passion for quilting plus a love of words equals a perfect fit!

 
My first quilt-related editorial job was with Quiltmaker magazine as a pattern developer.

So, you ask, "what exactly is that?" Well, in a "nutshell," I take someone's original design, figure out patch sizes, determine yardage needs, write how-to instructions, and confer with a graphic artist on how-to illustrations that are required.

P.S. This magazine is the "sister" publication to Quilter's Newsletter. I was SO fortunate to work at Leman Publications before Bonnie Leman, founder of both magazines, retired. May she rest in peace (born Sept. 28, 1926 and passed Sept. 4, 2010).

Since 2000 I've been freelancing, mostly for quilting magazines and books. Among my assignments was developing a pattern for my original design, "Nell's Garden." It was published in the 2007 issue of Quilter's Newsletter's Quilt It for Keepsakes magazine.

"Nell's Garden" is made from 1930's reproduction fabrics. It has a flower basket block and a 16-patch block of triangles. The curved border is embellished with appliqued flowers and Prairie Points.

The design is in memory of my great aunt's garden on the family homestead in Arvada, Colorado. Her parents bought the land in the early 1900's, and it was in the family until the early 1990's

For American Quilters Society, I've copy edited and wrote patterns for two books: 

3 Quilters Celebrate the 4 Seasons by Karen Combs, Bethany Reynolds, and Joan Shay

A combination of Karen's illusion, Bethany's kaleidoscope, and Joan's applique techniques result in stunning quilts.

As I worked on this book, I knew I had to explore their techniques. The first one I tried was Bethany's Stack-n-Whack®. And then I went on to make another. It might be addictive!  

Peeled-Back Patchwork: Curves Without Piecing by Annette Ornelas

This was Annette's first book, and I found her a delight to work with!

In the intro, she says, "This technique makes it possible for quilters of all skill levels to do straight-line patchwork piecing with curved results."

You can learn more about Annette at www.southwindsquilts.com.

I've also copy edited and proofread American Quilter's Ultimate Projects magazine published in 2003. 

The project on the cover is by Faye Anderson (my neighbor, kinda—like myself, she lives in Colorado). The technique is called "Self Portrait: Puzzle-Pieced Fused Applique." It's another of those projects thats in-waiting for me. So, I'm glad I pulled out this issue. It'll stay out as a reminder to "just do it!"

I've worn many hats: editor, pattern developer, proofreader (fact checker), and writer.

For Quilter's Home, I've been pattern developer and proofreader/fact checker. (Update: QH ceased publication the summer of 2011).

Recently, I wrote an article for another-I-can't-tell-you-yet-who magazine. I'll share that when the article is published in 2011! (Update: the article about "Grannie Suzannie," a motorcycle-riding and belly-dancing quilter was published in the spring of 2011.)

And, like most freelancers, I'm always looking for the next publication that needs me to wear one of my hats!

Dreamer

D is for dreamer.

I have special connections with one of my great grandmothers. I share her middle name "Ann." I share her year of birth, 100 years after her. I share her year of marriage, 100 years after her. I share her hobby of quilting.

This is the last quilt Emelia Ann made in the 1930s. I haven't done my homework on the designer, but it may have been Ann Orr. The 1-inch squares and the pink strips (what looks like a border of sorts) are hand appliqued.

I dream of what it was like for her not having:

~ a quilt shop in her village

~ quilting books, magazines, and patterns

~ pens with disappearing ink

~ an electric sewing machine

~ an electric iron

~ rotary-cutting tools

~ glitzy thread

~ seam rippers

~ fusible web

I can only dream of how different our lives as quilters are from one another. I dream of living the life that she lived.


Emelia's quilt, it's art!

Collector of fiber

C is for collector of fiber.

While in high school, my first job was at a fabric shop. I've been collecting fabric and fiber-related stuff ever since. Besides collecting it, I also like to sun print, dye, and marble fabric.

When I travel in the summer, I take along pretreated fabric to sun print. 

Clockwise from top left are sun-printed plants, a flower, doilies, chilies, and wild mushrooms. I have also sun-printed meadow grasses, ferns, and weeds. Yes, weeds!

.

The process of dyeing fabric looked difficult, messy, and scary. That is until 1995 when Vimala McClure wrote "Pack a Peck of Pickled Pieces" for American Quilter magazine. Her method of using pint-sized canning jars and three colors of dyes to make 24 fat quarters of different colors is easy, easy, easy, and fun! Vimala also published a book on this technique, Fabric Dyeing for Beginners.

Marbling is a technique that you're never certain what a piece will look like until the fabric is pulled off the paint. Experience has taught me when I should just quit fiddling with the design and place the fabric in the paint already. In the samples, you'll see I usually don't use white fabric.


To play with these techniques, it's zany!

Beader (and biker babe)

B is for beader 

Most of my bead work is jewelry I design.

It's especially fun to take cheap watches and replace their bands with beaded ones. My first watch face promptly broke—so much for frugality!—and the bands were not removable. To remedy this, I now make each band from two sections: one with a few rows beaded to the face and the other with the remaining length. I still use cheap watches because beads can be recycled!

B is also for biker babe.

At age 19, I bought a Honda 175 dirt bike. Riding trails really taught me how to ride. There's rocks and tree stumps to get around and mud and water crossings to get through. I fell down a lot, which is not something one wants to do on the highway!

But, I always wanted a Harley. Always. After apprenticing with dirt bikes, I graduated to a HOG. Yippee!!!!

Because I am a writer who is also a biker, a couple of weeks ago I was asked to write a magazine article about a biker babe from Florida. What fun I'm having with that!!! (May 2011 update: The article about quilter/biker/belly dancer Suzann Semonovick, aka Grannie Suzannie, is in the June 2011 issue of The Quilt Life magazine.)


It's awesome!

Artist or crafter?

A is for artist

Sometimes I'm an artist, and sometimes I'm a crafter. If something I've made would never be tossed in the trash, it's art. If it could end up in a "file 13" container, it's craft.

"Heart of the Country" is my original design. The Log Cabin blocks are 6 inches square, and the panel is a "cheater." To make some of the fabrics "read" light, I placed them wrong side out. After all, fabrics do have two sides! It is machine pieced and quilted.

The quilt is a keeper. So, to me, it's art.

"Violet" is the second doll I made. The pattern is "Doll With a Colorful Soul" by Denver art doll designer Leslie Molen (www.zootie.com).

She has sat in my studio for a few years, and her fabric has faded. And I hate her hands. Sorry, Violet, but you are a candidate for the trash can. So, to me, she's craft.






What's art to you may be craft to me!