process of becoming an artist

When I get to a certain point making these improvisational quilts, I ask myself the same question. Who is going to win: the quilt or I? Now, being a fairly determined person, I hate to lose. So, the story of this little quilt began when I purchased a group of […] Read More...

Other than fabric, two of my other favorite things are used bookstores and independent coffee shops. First, the cup of coffee and then a trip to the bookstore . There is really nothing better than snooping around a used bookstore pretending as if I have all the time in the world to read […] Read More...

I did. I just soaked up every minute of the Barn last week for the Improvisations class given by Nancy Crow. It was a tough class for me-quick paced and some of the art concepts were obviously things I hadn’t really thought of fully before I design a quilt. Or even knew. Nancy […] Read More...

Yes, I have been spending a lot of time looking at art, but what have I been doing this week as far as my work is concerned? I spent the week cataloging or organizing each piece I have made in the past two and a half years. I found a program […] Read More...

I really am not looking forward to the next class I am registered for. And I knew, that as my week passed, I really better have an attitude adjustment. It wasn’t the amount of work or the inability to want to stretch a little further. I kept thinking about what my problem was […] Read More...

Well , I guess maybe a finish. I struggled this week to just barely finish piecing this. I am not very excited about this because I felt so RUSTY. Looking Through The Lens #2 2011 (unquilted) I have learned something very important though. Never stop working. Just keep going with some […] Read More...

A few good books from my summer beach bag: This is one of my favorite books: The Creative Habit by Twlya Tharp. This explains how hard you need to work and how disciplined you need to be to forge ahead. I wrote in it, marked it up and wrote things in my […] Read More...

If one would be thinking too much about how nice it would be to have one’s own style or voice and not yet have it, one might be discouraged and create no art. If one would be thinking too much about what one read recently about one’s work looking too much like […] Read More...

I signed up and took part in two workshops at the Vermont Quilt Festival: Small Silk works by Sonya Lee Barrington and Introduction to Long arm Quilting by Debbie Brown. Both are excellent teachers with an eye for detail and great skill in making you feel at ease in a workshop and getting the […] Read More...

I spent some time visiting this week with art friends. On Tuesday , I met a friend Elizabeth for coffee and shared what I had learned at the Barn workshop. She is so enthusiastic and it’s nice to be able to share with her. And sharing with her helped me to clarify what […] Read More...

Is there such a word-finishitis? Don’t know but I certainly seem to be queen of it lately. My definition: not staying FOCUSED enough to finish the task at hand. In my excitement of learning new things or wanting to try different ideas, I have developed an uncanny inability to start many things and […] Read More...

Yes, it will be the end of my studio time for the week as I am leaving shortly to pick up my daughter from college for the Easter weekend. I am still working through that piece I showed you Tuesday. It’s in a lot of sections with little progress. Not by […] Read More...

I do love the design aspect of this. But when I get stuck I have a bad habit of putting things in a ziplock bag. Except that bad habit is making me feel too guilty with the price of cotton slowly increasing. So this time I decided to be better at photographing and […] Read More...

When someone blogs consistently and then they are gone, just what are they doing? Don’t they know I am waiting to see what they are doing? And why don’t they show me what they did today? I think I blogged about this before. Where am I this week? I feel kind of gone […] Read More...

I forgot to tell you about the questions my friend Mike asked me when he bought my quilt. ( Ah yes the one in process…) Mike was my husband’s roommate in college and is now an architect. He and I bartered services a few years ago and he designed my studio space and […] Read More...

Well, I decided to put myself out of misery and ziplock one of my projects on my design wall. Ziplock: A term use to describe placing all pieces and parts of a horrible idea or project into a plastic bag and having the satisfaction of closing a zipper on it. (Yes, I know plastic […] Read More...

I had a day of lemons yesterday -but the bright spot of my day was seeing a quilt my friend made. I was amazed at where she has come in the past few years and I am so happy for her. Take a look at her most recent work at gjbquilts.blogspot.com. Gail sat next to me […] Read More...