Channel Ambition and Fun with Paisley and Ronstadt

Working on quilts in my studio is greatly enhanced by cacophonous music, particularly the songs by Brad Paisley and Linda Ronstadt.  Call me crazy, call me an aging baby boomer or say my taste in music is just plain dated (and don't do it when I can reach you) , but it's great to listen to songs with words that you can clearly discern and are not SHOUTED to the point of excruciating distortion.

So if anyone looks in my studio window and sees me "juking" about the room and singing loudly and off-key to the tunes being emitted from my computer, just relax.  It isn't that I have taken psychotropic/hallucinogenic drugs, it's just that this 50-something babe knows how to get her groove on.

 

Thinking of Daddy

Earlier today, I was stacking some quilts as I was readying for a speaking engagement that will take place in a couple of weeks.  One of the quilts in the pile is a very old one made of rectangles of wool in very masculine, dark colors.

I was told that the rectangles of wool are tailor samples used by my grandfather, Claude Milton Jackson, Sr., who, for some period of time, had a store named "Jackson's Cheap Dry Goods".  It was located in Chester, Georgia in the last part of the 1800's and the first of the 1900's.  He would show customers the samples and he'd order suits for them.  

Wonder when he stopped being a merchant and turned to teaching.  He was a teacher when he met and fell in love with my grandmother, one of his students.  The rascal.

Anyway, the quilt rectangles are sewn together and trimmed in bright briar stitching that is done by hand.  For years I thought my grandmother had made it, but was later told that one of their house servants made it.  huh.

I think of Daddy when I see this wonderful quilt and since he died, I guess I grieve a little too....happy and sad thoughts.  Gawd.  I loved my Daddy. And that love stays constant. There have been so many times that I really have needed to see and talk to him in the 20 years he's been gone.  

Soon after he died I dreamed that I answered the door and found him standing there and he looked at me, smiled, and said, "I'm all right, sweetheart." 

That helped somehow.

With Father's Day approaching, our thoughts naturally turn to our fathers.  If you still have yours, hold him and tell you that you love him. And give him a chance to tell you that he loves you.  If you don't still have him, try to remember that when Daddies love us, the love doesn't vanish when they are gone. 

Happy Father's Day, Daddy.  I love you.

The No Crank Day

A day the car isn't cranked?

It's a myth.  I'm not talking smack here.  The days that the car is NOT cranked are becoming more and more elusive. This is not a complaint.  There are days that we all want to stay in, read, not answer the phone, stay in jammies, eat popcorn for lunch, swill Coca-Cola and pay little attention to the horrors displayed in the bathroom mirror. Throw in a thunderstorm, some quilting,  and you have a nearly perfect day to stay in your personal nest.  Yes, I hear you saying, "Amen!"

But the days the car is cranked are good too.  Lately, I've had the chance to kiss my grandbabies a lot, work with a couple of delightful ladies as they learn to make a hand pieced, hand quilted quilt (just like the pioneers did!),  and spend some time hanging out with the ladies that come into a ministry for women that our church established.

On the home front, I'm working on making a quilt from homespuns.  Holy cow.  I have a huge stash of homespuns to choose from (the effort of years of stashing), but apparently I didn't pay much attention to the quality of what I collected. Most of it seems to have all the nice stretchiness of rubber bands and fails to behave despite the best efforts of a strong right arm and clouds of steam.  Muttering leaves the fabric unfazed. But I do love the way it looks.  

I'm taking a break from pin basting it with a zillion pins so far.

Had to sneak a peak at American Idol and root for David Archuleta.  Yes.

Big Stone Gap

So far, today has been a tremendously satisfying goof off day.  A friend and I went up to Big Stone Gap, Virginia to the Southwest Virginia Museum to see an exhibit of about 115 quilts.  Lovely museum in a grand old house.  Beautiful new and old quilts, all respectfully and attractively displayed.  

Lots of inspiration.

Then a stop for lunch in the town drugstore  What a treat. Items on the menu included cabbage rolls, chicken and dumplins (their spelling, not mine), cornbread, green beans, blackberry cobbler and sweet tea.

Hallelujah, we live in the South!

Stopped by a used bookstore to buy Adriana Trigiani's book, Big Stone Gap.  That's something to read while checking in occasionally to see who gets the boot on American Idol.

It's the middle of the afternoon and tonight is church night supper, so there will be no heat (or chores) in our kitchen tonight.

A good reason to just be worthless for the rest of the day, if one is needed.

Life is good.

Radiant Wreath

I'm starting this blog as a way to keep up with what I'm doing with quilting, and to create within myself a desire to do more with this art.  Right now, I'm stitching a bit and designing for my friend, Jackie Robinson's fabrics and her publishing company.  Here's the pattern cover from the newest design.  It will be introduced at International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon later this week.

It was a rush job to get the two quilts stitched because of delayed shipment of fabric from Korea. (It's great fun to sew under pressure!) A very talented local quilter, Donna Patrick, came through with flying colors and did truly wonderful and creative quilting on the tops.  

You can see Jackie's Poinsettia fabric line for Maywood Studios and the newest patterns for that line at Jackie's web site:

http://www.animas.com

Working with Christmas fabrics has inspired me to work on presents to give to my family at Christmas.  And to slow down at the same time. And try to really discover the child like enthusiasm that originally brought me to quilting.