More About 'Them Books'

I love books.  I began to read around age 5 -- as did each of my children.  My father's sister -- a K-2 teacher -- used to say "Readers are Leaders".  I dunno about that, but I know that I agree with Emily Dickinson...

There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry – 
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll – 
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.

All the homes I've owned over the years have been filled with books.  I have a bookshelf in the kitchen (mainly cookbooks), my bedroom (five, if you count the self built into my headboard and the two built into each side of my desk), one tall one in the guest room, two in the studio -- not counting the boxes of magazines and pattern booklets -- and then there are those in the shelves in the base of the coffee table in the living room, and still others in a basket beside the love seat, art books stacked on an antique round table in the front window, and the art/craft magazines in the wooden rack next to an over-stuffed chair.

And did I mention the stack(s) on the pass-through shelf from the living room to the kitchen?  Or the ones on the top of the coffee table at any given moment?  What about the ones on the 1910 pine pedestal table next to the computer desk?

No?  Oh well...   😉

I had a birthday about 10 days ago -- and now await eagerly the two books I bought from my Chapters/Indigo 'wish list' with a gift card from my son and his wife:

Brand new...just out!
Textile Landscape - Cas Holmes

 and

Ten years old but speaks to me now...
the art of felt - Loumange Francoise Tellier

Both should be in my hands by early October.  Yummy!

Meanwhile, I've spent the last four days finishing the Bookshelf Quilt.  

Five of six rows joined together

What the back sashing looked like
before it was hand-sewn down

Quilting Detail - bottom

Quilting Detail - side

Quilting Detail - top

Ready for binding

Label Detail
You Can't Tell a Book by Its Cover

I confess it's taken me much longer than I expected -- due in part to the customized quilting and then again, in part due to my learning curve involving adding borders to the centre six shelves (a 'medallion' of sorts).  I am so thankful for my new Pfaff (Performance 5.2) that has enabled me to finish it up with even stitch tension etc.  😊

I'm on the home stretch...and soon my friend will have her throw.

As for me, though the application for a solo exhibit at the Leighton Centre didn't pan out for 2019, I've got a 10" square panel to do up for the 2018 Alberta Society of Artists 100 @ 100 Fundraiser; I have a piece coming up on the block in Section 2 of the 2018 SAQA Benefit Auction -- next week; I have more features of my new Pfaff sewing machine to explore; and I have more ideas and experiments to play with in the coming months so...

All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.

-- Dame Julian of Norwich

Here's to books -- and here's to a great rest of the week!

I Could be in Trouble

Sometime last week, my SAQA colleague, Mary Pal, invited me to look at a new blog on the block, about a newly-formed collective of artists, posting about what they're up to.  The blog is entitled "Viewpoints 9", inspired (as I understand it) by Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences -- nine, that is -- which, FYI, they've listed in this first post.

At the end of the post is a link to a site which provides a questionnaire so you too can discover your degree of aptitude in eight areas (for some odd reason, one area -- existential/spiritual -- isn't included).  I score highly in six of the eight.  With respect to the seventh -- Bodily/Kinesthetic -- I scored at 51/100.  With respect to the eighth (and this is the kicker) -- Visual -- I scored 19.  That's it.  That's all. 

 If this test has any validity, what am I doing trying to make art?

"God, of Your Goodness" (c) 2011*

*inspired by the Prayer of Julian of Norwich, this piece is in the private collection of a dear friend.

Face and Form

The quilting is complete on "God, of Your Goodness", and the binding has begun!  After that, some handwork (beads), attaching the hanging sleeve, a label and a gentle wash -- et finis!

Workin' on the Work

I decided I wanted to make a 12" piece for the SAQA Auction. At about the same time, I heard a podcast on To the Best of Our Knowledge, entitled "Sacred Nature". I was particularly intrigued by Segment 2, an interview with Gordon Hempton about his book, One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Search for Silence in a Noisy World. Almost immediately, a picture formulated in my mind: a piece 12" x 12" composed of 1" squares -- all but one of them in randomly-pieced black and white fabrics. Then, one square inch of peaceful blue. I finished it late last week, and am about to mail it off for the auction. You can see a photo of it on page 3b of the SAQA 2010 Auction site. And yes, it's entitled, "One Square Inch".

I've also been moving ahead with "God, of Your Goodness" -- the first in a series of spiritually-inspired pieces. As seems to be my habit, much of it is hand stitched, like the applique in blanket stitch for these hearts...

The idea is that the hearts are cascading down the front of the robes of a celestial being (God), and that they represent "Himself", because the piece is based on the opening line of a prayer of Julian of Norwich: "God, of your goodness, give me Yourself...".

Stay tuned; there will be more photos as the piece progresses. I have a strong sense it will be hand-quilted, too.