Bethany Studios

Progress, and an Unintentional Obscene Gesture

2012-01-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm building this quilt onto a sheet of wonder under release paper on top of the pattern, which is also drawn on wonder under release paper. I spent some hours at it, working slowly and deliberately, Saturday morning, but then I had to step away. I knew the minute I put that first pink finger joint in that I was going to wind up photographing my quilt being obscene. Sorry about that.

I set a goal to lose 5 pounds this month, and despite the couch potato episode yesterday, I made my goal! I'm so happy. I've never been successful losing weight before, but then I've never really tried. Not really.

If I can continue to lose 5 pounds a month, I can lose 60 pounds in a year, which is more than my goal, but would be fantastic. I know it's going to get harder.

My other goal is to produce a quilt once a month for which I can also produce a pattern in case someone wishes to make that quilt. I made this decision probably 5 days ago, and so I'm running a little behind for getting this current quilt finished before the end of the month, I think. We'll see. But I spent some time sketching for next month's quilt. Plus I'm still working on quilting the big quilt.

See? I should just quit my job now because I'm too busy to go to work!

Wouldn't that be nice?

Early in the Morning, Late at Night

2012-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it seems like I'm living my chosen life at the fringes of the day. My husband has to get up at an ungodly hour each morning, and I can't help but lay there after he's left for work, and think that I should get up and do something productive. So, I head into the studio. Or the gym. Sometimes I make it to the gym. Occasionally, I will have time for both the studio and the gym. Those are good days.

I'm making slow progress on the quilting of this quilt. Every black sectioned finished makes me so happy.

And sometimes, I have just enough energy after a full day of work and making dinner for my family to squeeze out some time in the studio in the evening. There are more distractions at this time, what with 2 humans and 3 birds, but they are learning to leave me to work.

This is the newest project I'm working on while I'm trying to get the big quilt quilted. It is a redux of a quilt I made years ago, called Release. It is smaller and I intend to change the color scheme up, but it is particularly appropriate for me to be working on something like this; it reminds me that there is peace in truly releasing the anxiety-producing items in our lives.

Everybody loves my cooking.

Blue Squares Revealed

2012-01-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

I had finished this quilt before Christmas, but forgot to share it with you all. Isn't that funny? I was a little preoccupied, I guess.

Anyway, I haven't put a rod pocket on the back yet because I can't decide which way is up. And I will have to measure it and edit this post so that information is available.

This is a fully pieced quilt, the first I've ever made that way.

I'm very pleased with in and love to feel the texture of the fabrics - which is not my usual response to a finished fused quilt. That's the big difference between fused and pieced, as far as I'm concerned. I could have fused this design easily, but I wanted to try piecing, just for the experience. It was enjoyable, not as instant as a fused quilt, and it's a little bit more touchable. But since I intend this to be a wall quilt, that touchable aspect is not very important.

Rainy Day

2012-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

We had thunder and lightening before the sun came up, and plenty of rain all morning.

I had some new recipes I wanted to try out for breakfast: Poached Scrambled Eggs with a Goat Cheese Sauce (find recipe here) with baked apples and a slice of whole grain bread. I couldn't eat all of my apple, which was delish, of course, but I ate the egg. It was good, but a little weird. Nice texture.

The best kind of day for working in the studio!

Sunday Results Show

2012-01-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I sat down to do the obligatory bit of quilting before I moved onto something more "fun," and just couldn't bring myself to continue torturing myself with the concentric circles. I decided to test out my favorite quilting style, which I call MEWE on a small, insignificant corner.

Change of plans!

It was so easy and so fun that I just kept going and kept going and never did design any 3D cute projects. Now I'm very excited to quilt this huge quilt; not dreading it at all. And by the time I'm done, I will be a pro at MEWE quilting.

Chloe is the best companion bird. A bit of a distraction, actually, but she's so sweet.

A note about the audition: We arrived an hour before my daughter's appointment time, and she spent the time warming up and psyching herself up. When they called her name, she went into the audition room, sang her piece as well as she could hope, with no knees knocking, and came out feeling like she got in. I think we'll find out in about a month. I'll let you know!

Inspiration

2012-01-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at work, I had some down time, so I surfed some of the sites that I find inspirational. Of course, I always look at fibermania. Need to find out what my sister is up to. Then I really like looking at Geninne's Art Blog. I love her birds. Then I clicked over to the Craftzine blog. I usually find lots of inspiration on that site. Sometimes I will surf over to Cuteable, too. And of course, Pinterest and Etsy are always full of good ideas. You will notice that, besides my sister's blog, none of these are specifically art quilt sites. I don't find many of those inspiring, I don't know why.
But at some point, the inspiration hit critical mass. I was stricken with this condition I call the "Urgent Need to Create." So, after hitting the gym, filling up on caffeine and doing the minimal amount of needed housework, I am headed into the studio. I need to make some progress on the current quilt, but I need to finish something small, too. I get these fits where I need to make something 3D and cute. Not sure what will happen. Sometimes, I am too ambitious and wind up frustrated. I hope that doesn't happen today.
Also, I don't have all day. My daughter is going to Murfreesboro today to audition for Governor's School, which is an opportunity to study in her field for several weeks this summer - all expenses paid. Fingers crossed!
But that means I have to cut is short after about 3 hours. That should be enough. If I'm not interrupted too much. DH is bird watching. Should be good.
OK, go!

The Garland, and a UFO/WIP

2012-01-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the garland I mentioned yesterday, in situ. I wasn't sure how I was going to repair it after the bug ate through the green part, but the fix is very satisfactory. No one would even know it was there. Actually, it isn't even in this picture...

And here is a tantalizing view of an old quilt that I decided to tackle and get finished once and for all.

Unfortunately, I have decided that the quilting will have to be made up of at least some concentric circles. Not my favorite thing to quilt, and I'm going to be very happy when that part is done. I don't see any alternative but that I will be wresting that big (for me) quilt around and around in my sewing machine. Even doing free motion, I still have to turn it. Sigh. But it will be the right thing to do, so I will stop complaining now.
I can either take it in small bites, or try and get it done in one day. Or both.

Back on the Net

2012-01-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,
I have been absent far longer than I intended, but I'm back now, with a vengeance. Internet has been working for a while, the holidays are over and mostly cleaned up after, and I am back to work in my studio.

Last weekend, in the midst of the chores, I found time to attach rings to the back of one of my quilts, and hung it in the entryway.

This is the first thing one sees on entering my apartment. Rooted and Grounded, it is called.
I also repaired and hung a crocheted garland I had made a while back, but a bug had eaten through part of it - hence the need to repair. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture. I'll do that tonight and post it tomorrow.

Also, I finally got around to quilting my blog name onto the header quilt I had made for this blog. My sister Melody added the name using a font she has on her computer to the fused unquilted piece I made specifically for this blog, but I always intended to free motion the name on for myself. Well, here it is:

I tried to crop it, but something was up with my cropping tool. Never mind.

And last but not least, I laid out fabric for the next quilt I want to make. And then I moved it aside in favor of finishing one I started years ago, not pictured. But this picture is one I offer for your edification and inspiration.

Yummy colors, coming to a quilt soon!

No Internet!

2011-11-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the lapse in my blogging; we don't have internet yet at my new home. I sit and browse the internet fairly regularly during my downtime at work, but somehow I just feel guilty if I spend time blogging.

Nevertheless, I am beginning to feel uncomfortable about the time lapsing since I last blogged, and decided to just quickly post a note to my readers. I will return soon! We are trying to get fiber optics, but the company that supplies it is trying to bully our complex into signing an agreement giving them a monopoly on the premises, and the management wont agree. So we will probably wind up getting cable pretty soon. So stupid. One is better than none, right?

Anyway, the unpacking continues apace, and this weekend I will be going with my sister to Ikea to get some furniture we are missing. (Woowoo) She just called to inform me that she intends to spend some money on me as my birthday is coming up, and also because she is so excited at how nice our new place is and wants to see us have nice things.

Did I mention she is my fairy godmother?

So, watch this space for pictures and new excitingness as soon as I can get online at home!

Also, I can't upload pictures while I'm at work. Drat.

The Wasabi Scarf

2011-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you have asked me for the pattern for this scarf and I have been a bit stumped as to how to get it to you.

I found this picture on Pinterest, so if you would like to become a member of pinterest and follow me, you can look at my Crochet board, find the picture (or pin), and follow the links there.

Or, I can tell you it is from a site called One Flew Over. You can Google that and see if the blog comes up.

Or, better yet, you can look for it on Ravelry. I believe the user's name on Ravelry is One Flew Over and the scarf is called the Wasabi Scarf. That is assuming you have a Ravelry account. I do and my user name is Brookebethany.

It's complicated, isn't it? That's why I hesitated to tell you: I couldn't figure out the easiest way. But I have been enjoying crocheting this scarf, a couple of rows when I get time, and I know it will be beautiful when it is finished.

Speaking of finished: the latest quilt got completed! I still can't get a good picture of it, but that should be coming soon as we are moving into our new place any minute now!

Can I take a nap now?

So as soon as I figure out which way is up, I'll be posting a picture of the new quilt and the furnished new home, too. That is, if we can get the internet hooked up speedily. As my husband needs a fast internet connection for his work, we should be hooked up pretty soon. Keep fingers crossed!

Some Interior Shots

2011-10-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Stop me if you've seen these pictures before. Some of them my sister also posted.

Melody brought Mojo Burritos for lunch and we picnicked in my new dining room. Delicious!

Those chairs are going to wind up in my new living room, however, along with the tv table she brought me.

This is the view from the balcony. It's an old oak tree covered with acorns. We will attract plenty of birds here with our feeders.

I am loving my new kitchen!

More, With Pictures!

2011-10-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Well, after having two water incidents within a month, we have decided to leave our little home in the woods for a place that is closer to town. I went by the leasing office yesterday to tell them we wanted to rent an apartment they had showed us the day before, and although another family was interested, we scooped them.

I spent the rest of the day riding a high so intense that every time I looked at my watch, I was surprised at how late it was. The day just zoomed by and I can't really say what I was doing that was so time consuming...

The few pictures that I took really don't show the new place off very well. There were maintenance men inside the apartment, so I didn't go in. But here are some pictures I took yesterday for you.

I found this spider hammock outside of the leasing office - it is just loaded with dew!

Here is a picture of my sun drenched front porch with my Mediterranean-inspired front door. The window looks into my dining room.

This apartment complex is hosting an art show next month. After my recent fabulous sales, I am down to one quilt that I am happy to show, and I've just entered it into a show that I'm sure it will get into. So the quilt will probably be in Indiana during the time the art show will be going on in my new home.

And, you know, whenever we move, my studio is always the first to get packed, and the last to get unpacked. Grrr. Maybe the solution will be the quilt I'm working on right now. Maybe I can get that finished before we move and then it will be ready for the show here. That's great motivation!

Weekend Checklist

2011-10-17T04:22:00.000-07:00

1. Laundry: Check. Did some.
2. Dishes: Check. Did some. Not that you could tell if you went into my kitchen.
3. Sketch: Check. Did that. Not satisfied with results, but will keep working.
4. Crochet: Check. Did 2 rows at least. The scarf is looking real good.
5. Quilt: Check. Finished yellow, started turquoise. Woowoo!

6. Decide to move into an apartment closer to town: Check.

More on that later. With pictures! Woowoo, again!

FLOOD!

2011-10-13T04:37:00.000-07:00

If you read my sister's blog, you may already know this story. Let me fill in the details.

Tuesday night, my husband met up with some of his work friends and my daughter and I had to go to a performance at her school. My husband got home before us, and this is what he found:

Apparently, a hose that attaches to the toilet in my daughter's bathroom broke, and had been spraying water inside the house for...well, hours, we think.

Mostly it sprayed inside the linen closet, so all of our towels were drenched. But there were some other things being stored in that closet (storage is at a premium in our little house) - things like a vaio laptop and other electronic things that don't like water.

Yeah. Not good.

Outside this bathroom door is a shelf that is a pantry space for my kitchen. The bottom half got drenched. Mostly things are stored in plastic bins, but I had just bought a bag of whole wheat flour that I hadn't put in a bin yet...
and the bottom shelf was all books.

Well, I stayed home Wednesday and did 3 loads of laundry and threw lots of stuff out. Then I cleared off the kitchen table and stood about 25 books up so they could dry out. My husband is going to go get the wet/dry vac this afternoon and vacuum out the floor vent, which is full of water.

Lots of fun.

Luckily, my studio - which is next door - suffered no damage whatsoever.

Seeking comfort after a long, wet day, I decided to start a new crochet project. Like I have time.

I am NOT making this color. Imagine a rich, fuzzy teal yarn. Then imagine me working on the current quilt. That is gonna happen soon.

Weekend Recap

2011-10-10T04:34:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that the clothing donation went as planned. I filled 2 large yard garbage bags with clothes from my dresser and my closet and brought it all down to the resale center. Now all the clothes I have fit and are ones I actually want.
Funny thing is, even when I had removed everything, my dresser and my closet were full. And this before I did all the laundry. Oh dear, I have too many clothes.

While I was working, I kept finding things that needed my attention. More and more things were shouting for me to do something about them that I became quite distracted and overwhelmed. I decided that next weekend will be family clean the house day. I can't do it all myself. But I did make great strides towards getting some of it done.

And, instead of working on the current quilt, I attached the rod pocket onto the quilt I sold last week so I can actually mail it out today.

This working on a quilt in bits and pieces is really such a different mindset from how I used to work: keep at it until it was done. This is testing my patience. But better to work a little at a time than not at all, right? I'll settle into a rhythm. Perhaps setting a schedule would be better for me.

Derelict

2011-10-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

Embarrassed, chagrined. I can't believe it's been since Tuesday that I have blogged! It is my intention to be more regular than that. I know how I feel when I find a blog that is inspiring. I want new content regularly!

Well, and I have had such a week. At least 3 days out of 5 I have come home with my brain flat lining. I mean totally brain dead. Usually my job is not that taxing, but whooey! Let's just say I had a very stressful and complicated project that took several days to complete. I don't expect that will happen that way again, but who knows?

In the meantime, I did get some quilting in. I have finished the pink thread, and there is only the yellow before I go onto the turquoise border. My goal is for that to happen this weekend, but I may have bit off more than I can chew. I also am intending to sort my clothes and make a very large donation. There's just so much that I don't wear anymore, and I can't find the stuff I do wear! Closets and dressers and even boxes are overflowing. So I am going to tackle that today.

Of course, while I'm donating clothes, I will be doing a bit of shopping to see if there's anything I need to replace...

Finished with Orange

2011-10-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I forced myself out of bed early (I wasn't really sleeping anymore, anyway...might as well) and finished up quilting with the orange thread.

It is so exciting to see the quilt nearing completion. Only yellow and pink left to quilt in the body, and then that delicious turquoise.

If I push myself, I should be able to finish all of the quilting this week. And then I have Saturday to attempt the binding.

It's been a long time since I tried to bind a quilt.

It may be a huge headache. On the other hand, it might be like learning to ride a bike. Think good thoughts, right?

A Happy Long Weekend

2011-10-03T04:40:00.000-07:00

And yet, I feel very guilty for not working on my quilt since last Thursday!

Friday I came home from work and I was very blur.

Saturday, my daughter and some friends from church and I went down to Atlanta to see Wicked. Wonderful!

Sunday I was even more blur than Friday night.

And now it's Monday morning, and I have to go to work, and I feel guilty. Ah well, it will sharpen my resolve to get into the studio tonight (despite the housework I left unfinished all weekend long) and put some quality time into that quilt!

Let me distract you with a picture of my delicious breakfast:

Macintosh apple, sharp cheddar and roasted almonds with chai tea latte made with almond milk. So good!

And let me further distract you by saying that Sunday was not totally wasted. I woke up, turned on the computer, and there in my email is a request to purchase two of my quilts.

Ojos de Dios

African Violets

Just when I was thinking the feeding frenzy was over, I had another sale. I'm so excited! Must get back to work!

Diligence

2011-09-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

Actually, I didn't feel much like working last night. But I made myself do it anyway. Again, I worked for about a half hour, and got much accomplished. I find these quickie sessions help to make me feel like my life is about something other than just going to work and coming home every day. I especially like to encourage myself with my progress from the night before while I'm at work the next day.

Anyway, I have changed to orange thread.

I got about halfway done with the orange blocks before my brain started sending me warnings. So, instead of pushing, I just quit for the night. Then I ironed the quilt, again.

There is a tactile difference with this quilt - because it is pieced - that I particularly enjoy when I am ironing it. It just feels so yummy!

Some Fall Content

2011-09-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

While wandering around my grocery store yesterday before work, I espied this lovely display and had to snap a picture. How weird am I? Of course, I was thinking of you, my delightful and very generous blog readers.

I am so overwhelmed by all the comments left here yesterday. Right away I knew my sister had to have posted on her blog that I was blogging again, so thank you, Melody. But thanks to all the darlings who left comments for me, too. It was a great thing to see throughout the day as I was sitting at my desk at work doing stuff other than quilting.

Unfortunately, I came home and did other stuff than quilting, too. I hadn't slept well Monday night, so I made dinner, cleaned up, read for about 20 minutes, and then I had to go to bed. Up early this morning, tho, with lots to do. I may get a few minutes in the studio. But right now I need to fill the bird feeder outside before they riot.

Thanks again for all the great encouragement!

Sneaking in Those Moments to Work

2011-09-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

Monday night, 8:47 pm. Dishwasher has been emptied and then filled again. DH is in bed (due to his having to rise early), daughter is doing homework in her room. I've put the birds to bed. Off I sneak to the studio. I'm not feeling as blissful as I did Saturday: no cup of tea, no NPR on the radio. Rather, I'm feeling purposeful and determined.

I change the thread in the machine to red and set about to quilt everything that wants red thread.

9:13 pm and I have to stop. I'm finished with the larger blocks, and I've ironed the quilt again - it's such a pleasure to fondle the quilt when it's been ironed. Then I notice I missed a block, but it's too late to start it now. I'm too tired.

I got in just over a half hour, and made good progress. Now I can sleep.

But wait, I have to show you my new business cards!

These are of the same design that I used for cards in Singapore. I liked the design so much, I just decided to repeat it.

Sweet Saturday

2011-09-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

I made great strides this Saturday, spending hours in my studio quilting the current quilt.

I finished quilting all the sashing parts, which took forever, and is hard to see in this picture.

I was using the walking foot, which I found to be an interesting experience. It worked just fine, although it was better once I changed my bobbin out. The first attempt I used a heavier bobbin thread, which I could see come through to the front. I thought it was a tension problem, but changing the bobbin to a lighter thread did the trick!

I had a little help with this quilt.

I can't work like this.

Later in the afternoon, the sun was coming right into the window behind my sewing machine, and it was just so pleasant to sit there.

It made me so happy to get into my studio and spend several hours in there. This quilt is just coming along swimmingly.

Working Again

2011-09-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

I took this picture the other day - and I apologize for the poor quality, I have such a small house that there isn't any wall space to put up a pin up wall, and I'm not sure yet where I'm going to take good pictures of my quilts!
But, I digress.
I took the picture thinking to post this quilt and one other that has been a UFO for quite some time now, but after taking one look at this one, I knew I was going to get back to work on it.

This is a pieced quilt (!) which, maybe you don't know - I do not make pieced quilts. I make fused quilts. But I wanted to give something new a try. And I didn't stop working on it because the piecing was difficult. No. I stopped working on it because I was quilting it and was afraid that I was gonna mess the quilting up. And after all the time it took to do the piecing, I didn't want to mess it up.
Plus, I got a full time job and thought I wouldn't have time to quilt ever again.
Wrong.

So, my sister has been touting the wonder of using a walking foot, and I decided that would be the solution.

I was so pleased to discover that Janome had an on-line video tutorial on how to use this walking foot as the first time I attached it to my machine I got an error message that said stop or the world will end or something like that.

So, after trying to attach the foot to my machine incorrectly, finding the video online (I know my instruction manual for my machine is around here, somewhere....) and watching the video, my husband ran back into the studio and put the walking foot on the machine correctly. I guess he had some masculine urge to do that for me. Anyway, by that time I only had about 15 minutes before my brain shut down, but it was enough to get started.

Little by little, this quilt will get done. And I am back to work!

Making My Fortune

2011-09-20T04:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, not long after I had sold some quilts and was still riding the high from that, I ate at a Chinese restaurant near my work. I opened the fortune cookie after the meal, and the fortune read: You will win a prestigious accolade or award within the month.

I am not a superstitious person, but this put me in mind of my decision to enter some quilt shows. I had actually decided to do that at least a week before the fortune cookie incident, but with the excitement of selling quilts again and all that, I had put it out of my mind.

Well, one of my quilts, Cell Group, was still being considered for purchase by one of my coworkers, but I decided that was the quilt I wanted to enter.

So I am going to enter this quilt into an exhibit called Form, Not Function which will be at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in Indiana. And I might enter another show, we'll see.

There is an online registration and entry, and they are vey specific about the images, so I will have to get my DH involved to make sure the files fit their specs. And then the dreaded Artist's Statement and Biography. Urgh. I can't even come up with something to put in the sidebar of the blog here!

Must think.

Yesterday, I ate at the Chinese restaurant again. My fortune? You are an ambitious person and will make a name for yourself.

A Return from the Wilderness

2011-09-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

I am sitting down to write this blog post after a weekend filled with running around and bustling and doing everything but that which I intended - namely, relaunching this blog. I've had to run my daughter to and from rehearsal, we had a pipe break in the kitchen, (which consequently flooded the kitchen,) there's been church and church meetings and errands and on and on. When do I think I'm going to find time to post, much less make art?

And the answer is that I'm going to find time wherever I can - 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there - to blog and make art because you all have shown me that it's important.

After the wonderful success and positive reaction I received from you when my sister posted my quilts to her flickr page, how could I tell myself making art would have to wait?

And so I am dusting off my sewing machine, shaking the cobwebs out of my brain and getting back to work. And it's all your fault.

If it weren't for your kind words of encouragement, for your wanting my quilts so much that you would actually pay real money for them, if it weren't for the awesome experience of seeing perfect strangers posting my quilts to their various pages and sites, I would still be what I was before: and I can't really describe that person, because there aren't words.

I wasn't making art.

Which is to say that I wasn't fulfilling that which was given to me to do on this planet. As I said to my sister, there are plenty of people who do most of the things I do: work in a store, take care of a family, etc, etc. But there's no one else who can make the quilts I have inside of me. They are unique to who I am and therefore, valuable.

Thank you for reminding me. Really.

And so now I must decide: finish the UFOs sitting around in my studio or work on something entirely new? I don't know yet. But when I find out, you will be the first to know.