IT'S A GRANDMA DOLL

Doll finished, wrapped, mailed and opened today on Christmas by my granddaughter.  It's a grandma doll!  I put her/me in the tree and took this picture before sending it. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

PILLOWS FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER

Our granddaughter loves her room at our home. (right)

She especially loves the pillows on the bed. It's interesting how they are such an important memory for her. 

Sometimes when we Skype, she wants to see 'her' room and the pillows on the bed. There they are!  

For Christmas, I decided to make her 4 colorful pillows for her own bed at home.

On the work wall (right) designing 4 pillows with a different design on the back and front.  I asked what are her favorite colors? Her answer: turquoise, purple and black.  Surprisingly not pink.  I used mostly Marimekko fabrics from Finland.

THE DOLLS

I have been saving this torn out craft page of rag dolls from the December 1970 issue Woman's Day Magazine for 43 years!  

(top 2 photos from magazine page)

With my granddaughter and Christmas in mind, I finally tried to make one of these cute things! I kept no directions but did have patterns I made years ago, but never used. 

I started. These dolls are harder to make than I expected. I'm not showing the failed experiments! Like any other art form,
you have to put time in, experimenting 
with the process. This could take some time.
(below - pondering the process) 

I have an awesome collection of fabric from years of quiltmaking so if I ever figure out how to make one of these dolls successfully,  I think this could be something fun to get into!

'IN HIM' SET ASIDE

 Quilt inspired by Paul's words in Athens. Acts 17:28 

'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' 

                                    Added the buttons yesterday.  Maybe it is finished.  

Will set the quilt aside for now. I have some Christmas presents to design. 

DROPPING ART FOR FRIENDS

Friends coming and going last week.  I dropped artmaking and enjoyed the gift of friendship.

Artist Jens (left) and photographer Florian (right), both from Berlin, came after doing performance art in NYC at the Met, Grand Central Station, Times Square and Rockerfeller Center.  I knew conversations would be centered around faith issues and full of intensity and humor so I invited Martha to come on over from Hartford. Martha would have a lot to contribute. Jens comes every couple of years.  I first got to know him through his amazing story of creating and sharing his art in the village in Niger.  Jonathan and Eileen, Sokol and Kari and family, all living nearby, rounded out the Sunday dinner table. Table set with the batik table cloth I bought in Cameroon last May.  

Photos: top 2: Martha, inspired by Jen's latest performance videos, has us posing in performance mode.  bottom: Sunday dinner with friends and family. Click photos to enlarge.

for Jens website      to see Jens performance art in NYC 2013 - Shifting Weight

OVER THE WEEKEND

Sewed on binding.
Cleaned up studio. 
Ahead - sewing on buttons.

click on studio photo to enlarge. 
'In Him' quilt on work-wall.

BINDING ON

Binding on and golden cord tacked down. Process continues. 

NEXT STEPS FOR ZACH'S BOOK

Working in Blurb's BookSmart.

Sizing Zach's pictures to fit on the pages.  

4.4"h x 6"w will work.

The Kitty Food Machine, Zach's new book.

WORKING ON 2 PROJECTS

I worked on Zach's book in Blurb's BookSmart program. Here's one of his original pages.

On the In Him quilt, I played with adding and substracting shapes and buttons.  Not working.  I realized the problem. I needed to crop the quilt.  At the end of the day I was taking the binding off all 4 sides before I crop. 

WORKING ON ZACH'S FIFTH BOOK

Beginning to fill in Blurb's BookSmart program pages. Edited to change text and picture boxes on each page.  Put story text on pages. Put title and Zach's name on the cover.

WORKING ON ZACH'S LATEST BOOK

Today I worked on Zach's latest book, The Kitty Food machine.  

I already scanned the pages. Today I rotated the pictures and cropped excess. (a page)

Zach made his book in the summer when we were visiting. (in art room)

This book will be more complicated.  We'll need to use cartoon balloons for Kittykee's words.

LOOKING AT THE POSSIBILITIES

• cut two more strips of binding 

• sewed binding on this afternoon

• framed off nicely click/enlarge image 

• add more floating shapes ?

• looking at the possibilities

Quilt inspired by Paul's words in Athens: 'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, We are His offspring.' Acts 17:28

TO CROP OR NOT

tacked down gold • tried binding fabric • to crop or not • a few more floaters needed

THE PROCESS CONTINUES

Pinned the gold back on.  Just tacking it down here and there. Will see how that goes.

Doubled up blue machine stitches across the quilt. 

Looked at button and beads for adding later.

The process continues.

IN THE STUDIO TODAY

Removed the gold. Brown 'turf' fabric scrap not working. 

Added floating shapes. More machine quilting. 

INDECISION, MISSTEPS AND QUANDARIES

"For in Him we live and move and have our being."

I am pondering how to say what I want to say, what I am compelled to say in this quilt.  It is rather risky letting you see that this is not easy for me. Also-it is not completed. In the mixing bowl of process is the brown-I have some plans for making that work. It does not work here, yet I want to use it. The emptiness is bothering me at the top.  So - in the process there is indecision, missteps and quandaries that I'm going through. But that is the creative process. 

I think I want to use a filmy golden organza.  I may take the 'trailing gold' off.   Process.

PUBLISHED AGAIN !

Summer's latest books arrived today. 

2nd book published by Blurb. 

HIS TURF !

I've been thinking alot about a conversation with a friend as I ponder Acts 17:21,  

"In Him we live and move and have our being." 

This verse is not about some quasi, trumped up feeling, us floating mindlessly along. 

I'm thinking ROOTED in TRUTH - SOLID - CONNECTED - to HIM on His Turf .

So today I pulled out some turf !

IT'S MOVING ALONG

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

words of Paul from Acts 17:28 inspiring this new quilt

Machine quilted today. More tomorrow. Quilt on couch for photo. It's 'moving' along.

IN THE MAIL

Summer's book is in the mail. Ordered 2 copies. They had a good offer. 

Here are two more pages.  Art and page headings by Summer.  

Picture from BookSmart editing program.

I LOVE MY WALKING FOOT

I love my walking foot for machine quilting.

It has 'feet' that walk on top of the three-layers of fabric & batting, so the layers do not bunch up.

Today, with the walking foot, I machine quilted along the edge of each floating shape. 

Photo: reverse side of quilt, where all threads are brought to the back and knotted. 

BASTING

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

made the three layer 'sandwich' today:

fabric backing-low loft batting-quilt top 

pinned and basted photo above 

tomorrow machine quilt

finished quilt top on right - to enlarge-click

AT THE SEWING MACHINE

I believe I finished the quilt top today.  I'll let it sit a day and then decide.  

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

words of Paul from Acts 17:28 inspiring this new quilt

HER SECOND BOOK ON WAY TO PUBLISHING

Here's our grand-daughter's second book, Kittykee and a Sun on way to being published by Blurb. She created the collages and story in an accordion book last summer. 

(Photo from Blurb's BookSmart editing program)

OFF TO BURB

Nelson and I completed putting our grand-daughter's book together using Blurb's BookSmart program. Collages and page titles are her creations.  Kittykee and a Sun is going to press.

Is Anything More Important Than Relationships?

Yesterday I was out of the studio.  Nelson and I drove over to New Bedford, Massachusetts to see our friend Pastor Paul Emmanuel Ntap Ekoue, visiting from Yaounde, Cameroon. Pastor Paul is married to Wabi Pearl, a wonderfully gifted artist.  We spent a Sunday with them in Cameroon at their Presbyterian church - where Nelson preached, in their home - meeting Wabi and seeing her jewelry-making and out to a delicious relaxing dinner. A perfectly refreshing day!  Our time together yesterday was a great blessing, catching up on family and friends back in Cameroon.  I wore the necklace and earrings Wabi created.
Nelson and I are abundantly blessed with friends and friendships around the world - like with Pastor Paul and Wabi.  Really, what is more important than relationships?  Nothing!!! When all is said and done, relationships-people, grounded in faith in Jesus, are all we take to heaven. 
In the photo below Marcia and I are with Wabi in her home, wearing her jewelry.  Click here to see a post I wrote about our experience meeting Wabi Pearl, the artist, in Cameroon.

WORKING ON THE IRONING BOARD

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

words of Paul from Acts 17:28

Continuing to push fabric around, trailing some metallic cording across the surface and trying out some buttons. Working on the ironing board, heat setting shapes with fusible web. 

CREATING TODAY

"For in Him we live and move and have our being."

Verse inspiring a new quilt series.  Today in the studio.

SEWING IN THE DARK

"For in Him we live and move and have our being."

So little time to work today.  When I made it up to my studio, the good lightng was long gone.  It was raining again. My work room was dark.  After putting the track lighting on, I made the decision to move ahead and start sewing the scrap pieces to the sky background. So here we go... Looking forward to working on it tomorrow. 
Photo: uneven lighting but this is how the piece looked when I left to make dinner. 

I CALL IT SPIRIT LED

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." words of Paul from Acts 17:28

What fun working on something so free  - no set direction - just loose ideas - fabric scraps floating on sky fabric.  Some might call this approach intuitive, I call it Spirit led.

Last week I began with a different sky background. Next day it changed to what you see above. This afternoon I took the fabric off the wall and worked flat. Easier to see how buttons, sequins and metallic threads might look floating along with the fabric scraps.` Yes, moving with the Spirit.

A QUILT SERIES IS BIRTHED

"For in Him we live and move and have our being." 

Sometimes a Bible verse pops into my head - I'm not mentally going through verses I might apply to a situation - no it's not like that - it just comes.  I was thinking about my little grandson, when this verse came to me. "For in Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28.  He took a bad fall recently, resulting in a concussion. I was so thankful to God that he was not seriously hurt.  

As the words of that verse played over and over in my head, inspiration for a new quilt series came rather un-expectantly a week later.  Again I was not mentally going through some ideas to picture the verse.  A very loose picture simply came into my mind's eye - shapes floating on a sky background.  

Inspiriation took root and out came hand-painted sky fabric and boxes of scraps.  I began trying out an idea on the work-wall - sky fabrics up first and fabric scraps floating on top. 
I'm excited about the possibilities.  A quilt series had just been birthed.

Meeting Sally Lloyd-Jones

Sally Lloyd-Jones has written the best ever Bible story book for children on the market!  Well that's my opinion and I think the sales reflect it! The Jesus Storybook Bible just passed the 1,000,000 copies sold mark!

I drove down to Greenwich, CT this week where I had the pleasure of meeting Sally Lloyd-Jones and heard her  speak on 'Communicating Grace Through Story,'

Her 10 big ideas - A story...

• works secretly in silence 

• leaves room for mystery 

• takes children seriously 

• does not dumb down 

• uses rich language 

• tells the truth - takes fears seriously 

• not necessarily real but contains truth 

• opens the door to hope 

• does not argue 

• is a performance

Her talk was rich - peppered with stories, experiences, wisdom and readings from her books.

top: @Stanwich Church, Greenwich, CT with a page from her book projected on the screen as she reads the story 

lower: Marge and Sally Lloyd-Jones