Getting Down to the Wire

We have been experiencing an incredibly mild fall. As a result, it came as a shock to me last week to realize how little time is left before the holidays. Since it has also been a very busy year, I have had to revise my plans for making things as gifts. There are two that I still hope to make before our larger family celebration, but I will have to buy most gifts this year.

We did manage to get out to my quilt guild's show. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. This is by no means a significant sample, but should give you an idea of what we enjoyed there.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

World House

I know I’ve been quiet for an awfully long time. It seems I really needed to take a break from the blog to do a little . . .

 Bird watching . . .

 

Check out the flowers . . .

And watch some wildlife . . .

I also took a trip that included this . . .

In addition, I have returned to something else I’ve been putting off for a long time.

Many years ago, when I was selling my crafts at local shows, one of my sisters asked me if I would collaborate with her in creating 1/12 scale dolls. The scale refers to a size that equates to 1” = 1’. Though I was nervous about my ability to make clothing for such small dolls, I agreed to try. She would create the dolls from porcelain. So began my introduction to the world of miniatures.

About the same time, I was reading a book by Peter Menzel called Material World. He went on to do another called Woman in the Material World with Faith d’Alusio, which I also read. The books show the real life situations of up to 30 statistically average families from various countries around the world. You can find out more about it here: http://www.menzelphoto.com/books/mw.php.

Also about that time, I came across statistics for a world portrait, if the earth were populated by 1000 people. That, in turn, combined with the miniatures and Material World information led me to design a 1/12 scale house I call the “World House.” (Since then, the statistics have been updated several times. The current ones, for a world population of 100 people can be found here: http://www.100people.org/statistics_100stats.php?section=statistics. ) While the statistics have changed slightly, they are similar enough that my design still works.

In the house, I have a Chinese grandmother, Hispanic mother, African father, Bhutanese teenaged son, Italian child daughter, and an Indian baby boy. This is my solution for the problem of how to people the house in a way that models the ethnic and cultural population of the world. The “people” also conform to other details of the statistics, such as religion and education. While the house is an American dollhouse and I am still working on it, it has space apportioned according to the real world situations, material goods for each “person” as they would have in their respective countries, and the “people” have occupations similar to their counterparts.

In the intervening years, I have not had much time to work on the house, as other things have taken precedence. However, I recently began going through my materials, and then, got information about the upcoming Chicago Miniatures Show, both of which reignited my drive to continue. Many of the pieces I use or plan to use are made with recycled materials, giving me another way to conserve resources and avoid having things end up in a landfill.

Have you ever thought about what the whole world looks like in terms of human population or wondered what life was like for someone in a different country? What would your choices be if you were designing a World House?

Until next time, as always, I wish you peace and all good.

AAQI

I received the following information from AAQI recently, and wanted to share it with you. It is my hope that some of you may be inspired to either create priority quilts or purchase one (or more).

 

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org)  is a national, grassroots organization whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research through art. It auctions and sells donated quilts through the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt project and sponsors a touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative has raised more than $735,000 since January 2006. Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation operated entirely by volunteers. She is a quilter. Her mother had Alzheimer's.

And that number in there? That $735,000? That's always going up. For the very latest cumulative tally of how much the AAQI has raised for research, see Show Me The Money at http://www.alzquilts.org/show.html

 

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative hopes to bring 2,000 quilts to sell in its booth at IQF Houston. (Exhibit area, number and row as yet unknown.) They've already started moving quilts from the Quilts For Sale page (http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltsforsale.html) over to the Hoarding For Houston page (http://www.alzquilts.org/houston2012.html) They will continue to move quilts, starting with the lower numbers first. So if you're not going to Houston, it's time to shop now!

 

And, if you've got a quilt in the works: GER 'ER DONE!

 

 We are working really hard to shorten the time it takes to get your quilt from registration to sale.

"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" continues its five-year journey across the United States with a stop at the American Quilters Society Quilt Show & Contest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 22-25, 2012.

The exhibit will hang at the DeVos Place Convention Center, 303 Monroe Avenue NW in Grand Rapids.

 

Ami Simms, AAQI founder and executive director, will be in attendance Saturday afternoon.

"Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" is an exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's sponsored by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI). Fifty-four small format art quilts (9" x 12") illustrate the disease from a variety of perspectives.

These small quilts hang among 182 "Name Quilts," each 6 inches wide and 7 feet tall, which carry the names of more than 10,000 individuals who have/had Alzheimer's or a related dementia. The names of loved ones, written on fabric patches by family members and friends, honor the 5.4 million Americans in the United States struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

Contemplating Direction

I went to another quilt show this weekend. At this one, they had raffle baskets, which is something I had never seen before. Each "basket" was themed and filled with items associated with the theme. Since there was quite a bit of interest, I suspect it is a good fundraiser for them. You can see more about their show and philanthropic work at their website: Pride of the Prairie Quilters.

To my surprise, I won one of the baskets. The theme was gardens and these are some of the things included.

Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of seeing John Flynn present his trunk show at the local guild to which I belong. You can find out more about his work at Flynn Quilt Frame Company. His dry humor reminded me of one of my brothers, which made the presentation even more enjoyable. In addition, his quilts are impressive and inspirational.

I am finding it especially good to have the opportunity to view so many different kinds of quilts and styles. The Salt Creek Guild show always has a lot of art quilts. The Pride of the Prairie show seemed more focused on traditional quilts, with a lot of emphasis on reproduction fabrics. John Flynn's quilts, though traditional patterns, often have a twist to them that makes them just a little different.

Altogether, between the quilt shows, guild show & tell, trunk shows, and raffles, I am looking more closely at my own preferences in quilts and art, which I am sure will translate into new directions for my own artwork. Another thing that is affecting my direction is the weather and my concern for the environment. Though I live in what is called "Zone 5" by gardeners, we have been experiencing the warmth of May instead of the chill of late winter or early spring. Our daffodils are beginning to come up and our lilac bushes are beginning to bud. (By my recollections, this puts them about a month ahead of schedule.) I am caught by the fear that the weather will suddenly turn and freeze the young plants, we are in for more extreme weather (as in the tornadoes that devastated the country in the last couple of weeks), or that we will experience an extremely hot year. It also brings to mind questions about how we humans are influencing the weather and what can be done to reverse the damage we have done. All of this, no doubt, will continue to have an impact on my work.

I wish you good weather, enjoyable work, peace, and all good.

Fine Art of Fiber

Thanks to my daughter, Jessica, an artist in her own right (http://www.flyngypsyarts.com/), I was made aware of the Fine Art of Fiber show at the Chicago Botanic Garden this weekend. We made a day of it, yesterday, and enjoyed the output of Weavers Guild of the North Shore, Illinois Quilters, Inc., and North Suburban Needle Arts Guild members, as well as the fall gardens. You can see more about the show at http://www.fineartoffiber.org/ and http://www.chicagobotanic.org/fiber/index.php.

Here are a few of my pictures from the show:

Debby Danford Wada gave a fascinating lecture on Japanese textiles.

Art dolls, jewelry, hand bound books, and felted items.

Jessica's favorite quilt in the show.

A selection of the diversity of styles and techniques shown.

Some of the wonderful woven items.

All in a beautiful setting.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and show. I am already looking forward to the next one. Lots of inspiration and beauty all around. I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the experience.

Until next time, may you experience peace and all good.