HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

July 4, 2015

I love this time of the year.  I break out all my colonial era artifacts, all the red white and blue, historical memorabilia that reminds me it’s time to celebrate our country, its freedoms, rights and liberties, and the hardships that come along with it.  I hang my George Washington portrait, drape the bunting along the staircase, and place a dozen tea stained small flags in a pewter chalice.  I watch HBO’s JOHN ADAMS from beginning to end.  I love Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of John Adams, and his years spent shaping our country alongside wife Abigail, and statesmen Thomas Jefferson (my life long crush) and Ben Franklin.  I reflect on the intentions of our original framers.

I often see quotes or billboards that say something to the affect…..FREEDOM ISN’T FREE.  People, many thousands of them gave and continue to give their lives so that we many uphold these original confirmations of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness some 239 years after the original signing of the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776.  Happy Birthday America!

Each day I listen to news that focuses on all things negative and unpleasant in our country.  I hear about infighting and disagreements and lack of cooperation between political parties over a number of different polarizing topics.  Like you I tire of it.  It makes me crazy.  I turn down the volume.

Yes, we are a flawed and often impossible system.  But for all its flaws, and all its difficulties, and all the areas we could easily see improvements in, if only the efforts were made. Over the past decade or so I’ve come to know many recent immigrants to this country (yes, all here legally) that tell stories of countries they left for ours.  Hearing their journeys I still believe in my gut and heart that this little republic of ours is still the best gig around.  With all its struggles and challenges, the foundation remains strong.  Are things changing?  Of course they are.  But that doesn’t mean it’s horrible or can’t be saved, or the ship is sinking.  As the face of our demographics change our democracy shall change too.  The constitution can remain firm and strong while changing with the face of our people.  But then I’m a ‘continuous improvement’ kind of gal.  There’s always a solution, so there is always hope.

So whether you are having a quiet celebration at home, or having a big backyard BBQ, or going full out for a community picnic and fireworks, just remember the many that worked to create this wonderful place we call our country, the United States of America.  Be grateful.  And have a wonderful and safe celebration.

Happy Birthday America!!

Did someone say "Quilt Road Trip"?

Your car is gassed up and ready for a road trip.  Your GPS is ready to go.  Do you know where you’re headed? Do you have planned stops along the way? If the heat radiating off the pavement into the horizon is calling to you and you have no planned stops along the way, you may want to consider visiting a quilt museum. 

Many states have quilt museums.  A Moda Fabrics recent blog post lists many of the familiar ones.  I’ve had the fortune to visit Paducah, Lowell, Golden and Shelburne, but I sure hope to visit others in my future trips.  I’d love to organize a bus trip across country with my quilty BFF’s visiting many of the others, and perhaps a quilt shop or two along the way.  Naturally!

For those that still prefer a paper road atlas, grab the yellow highlighter and get busy planning your stops.  The rest of you log on, map your route on google earth.  If your traveling with ‘hubs’, be sure to find a ‘guy stop’ to keep him busy, maybe a Cabela’s or a golf course, or some other stop that can fill his afternoon so you can enjoy the rich history these museums have to offer.

http://www.quiltstudy.org

University of Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska 

http://www.texasquiltmuseum.org/index.html

Textile Quilt Museum

La Grange, Texas

http://dairybarn.org

The Dairy Barn Arts Center

Athens, Ohio

http://quiltmuseum.org

National Quilt Museum

Paducah, Kentucky

http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org

San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
San Jose, California

http://www.laconnerquilts.org

La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum
La Conner, Washington

http://www.nequiltmuseum.org

New England Quilt Museum

Lowell, Massachusetts 

http://www.museum.msu.edu/glqc/about_glqc.html

Great Lakes Quilt Center/MSU
East Lansing, Michigan

http://wiquiltmuseum.com

Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts

Cedarburg, Wisconsin 

https://rmqm.org

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Golden, CO

http://www.quiltershalloffame.net

Quilters Hall of Fame

Marion, Indiana

There are many museums that feature exquisite quilts in their collections, but may not be exclusively quilt focused.  However, they are still very quilt worthy in terms of our time, and important to the history and promotion of quilt making.  There are many more across our great land so check the states you plan to visit to see what may be showing.  Check these websites to learn more about their exhibits, dates and times:

http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/index.aspx

The Henry Ford Museum

Quilts of Henry Ford

Detroit, Michigan

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/about/index.html

The Quilts of Gees Bend

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama

http://shelburnemuseum.org/collections/quilts/

Shelburne Museum

Shelburne, Vermont

http://www.dar.org/museum/exhibitions/current-exhibition

DAR-Constitution Hall

Washington, DC

http://folkartmuseum.org/exhibitions/

American Folk Art Museum
New York, New York

Here’s an additional site that lists exhibitions by state, so give this a look too:

http://www.quiltersresources.net/museums_usa.html

And if all that doesn’t yield enough, simply google/bing/yahoo search “quilt exhibits or museums” and the area you are visiting.

Happy Quilty Summer!

Honoring Craft.....the 2015 National Heritage Fellowship Award

First, I apologize for my absence, while my mother passed away at 95.

But today I honor her history in my love of the art of quilting.   Recently three quilters from Gee’s Bend Alabama were awarded the National Heritage Fellowship Award, our nation’s highest honor for folk and traditional arts.…….Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Pettway, and Lucy Mingo.

The Quilts of Gee’s Bends are a collection of quilts created by a group of African American women and their ancestors who lived in the rural isolated area of Gee’s Bend, southeast of Selma along the Alabama River.  These works of arts are considered to be one of the most unique and important African American contribution to the history of art within the United States.

Gee’s Bend, officially called Boykin, is named after Joseph Gee, a landowner that moved from North Carolina in 1816 to establish a cotton plantation with his seventeen slaves.  Mark H. Pettway bought the plantation from Gee in 1845, and Pettway remains a prominent name throughout the community today.  After emancipation many of the freed slaves stayed as sharecroppers.  Their quilts were made out of necessity, using scrap fabrics to make bed-coverings to keep their families warm in unheated shacks, without running water, electricity or phones.

Most quilters came to know of Gee’s Bend after well-known African American textile collector-historian-curator William Arnett introduced their bold, abstract and improvisational style in museums throughout the US, including The Whitney, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Art Houston to name a few.  After stumbling across these amazingly simple quilts in the late 1960’s, Arnett introduced them to the NYC art community and as they say, the rest is history.  Their simple, intuitive style laid the foundation inspiring art quilters today to create many wonderful abstract quilts, all rooted in the wonderful traditions of Gee’s Bend Quilts. To learn more about Arnett’s foundation, or the NEA and its award, or see many of the wonderful Gee's Bend quilts visit:

http://soulsgrowndeep.org/

http://arts.gov/

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/catalog/slideshow/

Light on a subject......

I’ve been starring at this lamp for several years, wishing I could re-purpose it into something a bit more ‘prim’, as in primitive.  It’s a nice lamp as is, but I just wanted to change it up, without any expense of course.

Then it hit me……remove the white milk glass shade and clear hurricane, remove the cute antique brass bulb hardware, paint and distress it, then rob a dark mustard tin punch shade from another lamp, and maybe just maybe it would work.  Our house is an eclectic and warm blend of Colonial Antique meets Americana meets Folk meets Art with a slight tinge of Prim……with modern creature comforts, all depending on my mood. Basically I'd like Thomas Jefferson and Andy Warhol to both feel comfortable in my home, just in case they both stopped in sometime.

Next I had to pitch the concept to hubs.  You might say he’s not big on change.  “What’s wrong with it as it is? It’s just as nice as the day we bought it back in 1977.”   Keep in mind he wears the same jeans, same shoe, and same plaid design flannel that he did back in 1977, so that’s his reference.  Nothing against LLBean, they are great, but seriously.  If they announced they were closing, he’d buy 20 years-worth just to be safe. It’s not that I couldn’t have removed it myself, but I know it gives him great satisfaction to ‘come to my renovation rescue’ now and then.

So, once I convinced him of the values of the change, the hardware and wiring was removed.  Next I lightly sanded the wood and metal base so the paint would stick.

Next I added several coats of Lamp Black acrylic paint, being sure to leave rough edges so it looked ‘old and distressed’, like me!  Be sure it’s nice and dry and proceed.

Then I added a glaze of red acrylic in the creases, whipping the excess.  I allowed the red to dry thoroughly. 

Next I added a glaze of mustard over some of the creases, again whipping the excess and allowing them to dry.

Happy with the glazing, finally I sprayed two coats clear matte protective finish on the entire base, letting it dry in between coats.  Hardware and wiring was added, a bulb was added and I popped on the shade.  Voila!  A soft slightly prim light to enjoy! 

Gotta run, I hear a knock at the door.  I think it may be Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Warhol!

Where am I?

I’m not sure where the last month went, but I can tell you it wasn’t spent blogging.  I think it was partly spent spring cleaning.  Yes, I love opening the windows, cleaning the stuffy winter smell from everything.  There was a very busy week involving a bus trip away in there. But then I made the mistake of saying “gee, I got thru the entire winter without being sick”. I know better.  Two days later the sore throat started but I pressed on.  Two more days and I was down for the count.  6 boxes of Puffs later and I’m back among the living.  But oh wait, meanwhile in the middle of this my eye problems worsened so I made an appointment to see my ophthalmologist about two issues, as soon as I was well.  Well, turns out it was fortuitous that I made the appointment, because the issue that caused me to make it wasn’t the critical issue, but rather what I thought was a minor issue turned out to be a retinal tear which required immediate laser surgery. Whew! I was very lucky.  

So I’m hoping I’m done for a bit.  I did get a few tangles done in between, and am still busy working on my new red and white quilt which I’m not showing until it’s done.  We are experimenting with homemade ice cream because we want to have control of what’s in it.  It’s not cheaper, just better for you. So I may pass along some things I’ve gleaned from others, specifically my pal ice cream Queen Denice. 

Until then, here’s a few mandala Zentangles® to share:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and drawing……

Yes, it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m wearing green of course.  And shortly I will put my favorite meal in the oven….roasted corned beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and of course cabbage.  It was my requested favorite meal throughout my childhood, whatever the event or celebration.  My hubby…..not so much.  He grimaces even as it cooks.  He prays it shrinks up and disappears in the pan so there won’t be any left overs.  Not me…..I’m happy to see it show up in a Rueben sandwich, or hash in the upcoming days.  

I’m drawing again. Yes, took a slight detour from the black and white of Zentangle land and decided to incorporate some color.  Yes, I’m still doing them daily like a dog on a bone, but I pulled out my colored pencils…..Koh-I-Noor woodless and Faber Castell Polychromos and got to work.   I love them both, but wish the woodless came in larger sets as they are my favorites.

A friend pointed out a while ago that I’m a seasonal colorist.  About this time each year I go ‘brights’….I mean clothes, painting, quilting, food……whatever I’m working on and whatever offsets the dull gray winter colors.  It’s not that I don’t love the cool purple gray shadows on the show, it’s just I’ve had enough about mid-March.  So it is with my colors today. 

But what I discovered (big surprise on Pinterest) was a nifty trick to add some depth or saturation to my colored pencil work.  I love the ease of use colored pencils give but sometimes I want richer, almost oil like effects but I can’t get them with color pencils.  I want lush sunlight, somewhere between watercolors and oils.  By adding a delicate wash of baby oil on top of the pencils, they blend better.  You don’t see the colored pencil marks as much.  Some are more dramatic than others, but I think you’ll see the difference:

Before and after (yes, stacked up shamrocks!)

Before and after

Before and after

Before and after

And it gives off the most interesting shade when held backwards to the sunlight.  And not to be forgotten, the baby oil smells nice.  

National Pancake Day

Happy National Pancake Day.....okay, I admit, it’s been a very long and colder than normal winter so…..cut me some slack.  This is the time when you need to look long and hard for reasons to get out of bed.  As I write this, there’s white out conditions outside……again.  You see, we live in a region that experiences what some loathsomely call LAKE EFFECT.  In the summer this can be a benefit as the temps are usually 5-10 degrees cooler than 15 miles inland. 

But for the better part of the winter, it rages.  And I mean RAGES.  So today I decided to find a reason to have happy thoughts.  And what brings happy thoughts out more than comfort food……hot off the griddle slathered with warm maple syrup old fashioned buttermilk pancakes.  None of those fluffy cakey like discs, real old European style pancakes.  Best part, they are fast and simple to make.

My mother called them German Pancakes, as they came from her immigrant grandmother who by strange coincidence was German.  But for today…..to avoid being politically incorrect or inciting a war over recipe ownership, I am calling them ‘old fashioned’.  Whoever wants to attach any other authorship to this old recipe, knock yourself out.  So here it goes…………..it doesn't get easier than this.

Old Fashion Buttermilk Pancakes

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup regular buttermilk, not low fat

Whisk egg and buttermilk in a medium size bowl

Sift dry ingredients into wet, mixing only until blended.  Don’t over-mix.  Mixture may seem lumpy

Spoon ½ cup of batter onto a hot greased griddle.

Flip when the edges are slightly golden and the steam bubbles begin to pop.

Cook on the second side until browned and steam stops.

Serve immediately with butter and warm maple syrup and your favorite sausage, bacon or ham.