Valerean

On the thrifting front I'm doing a little at the online auction. I have an urge to paint again (I don't know why; I'm terrible at it), but all the art supplies I had are either dried up or too old to use, so I put in a bid on this lot of supplies. There are actually 20 journals in this lot, which I plan to make covers for, embellish and then give as gifts. This little quilt has the most charming primitive applique work I've seen in a while, and I'd love to add it to my collection. Stay tuned to the blog to see if I win any or all of these.

Sometimes my curiosity about artists gets the better of me, and I go in search of information on them. In this case my search was spurred by the second panel of the tote that I was making from a vintage curtain for the March edition of my calendar project. While I was embroidering the panel I saw a copyright stamp on the fabric, and later decided to do a Goodle search on Cheri Blum, the artist. Sadly she passed away in 2003 at the heart-breaking young age of 34. This is part of the reason I've always devoted my free time to my own creativity. You never know how much time you'll have in life for your art. Cheri's work lives on in the home decor industry; her art has a timeless, effortless style that I think will continue to appeal for a long time. I was certainly swayed by it to thrift the curtain I'm using for this project; it was her painting on the edges (of narcissus, as it happens, not paperwhites) that caught my eye. I decided to get my butt in g...

I've created an album with pics of my 2025 mini-quilt calendar project for anyone who wants to see more, and read my thoughts about the project and how it helped me get through what has been a horrendous year.

Sometimes I need to be reminded that by creating art I belong to a community of makers who do the same. I think it's the isolation; I need to get out and get inspired by others in person when I can, or seek out their creations when I need comfort or a boot in the creative butt. The county quilt show did that this year, and so does the Orlando Weavers' holiday show when they come to town every December. I've attended it for three years now, and I always score beautiful hand woven art yarn and kitchen towels, but more importantly, I can be around other makers and talk with them. Had a blast at the show this year. :) I invested in some native made jewelry with pearls for Kat's Christmas gift, but because she's not coming to visit us this year I can't see her opening them. On the upside, it was nice to be able to ship her gift direct to her from an indy jewelry shop in the islands. I got myself a pearl bracelet from 14carrot, my favorite Etsy selle...

This past weekend my guy and I attended the Halifax Art Festival in Daytona, only I can't show you pictures of the artists and their work because that's a big no-no at juried shows. It was pretty cool, as were some of the sights along the river. Daytona has some of the most interesting architecture in central Florida, with some buildings dating back to the turn of the last century. This place and the cool restaurant with the fountain and ivy-covered brick walls is for sale, if anyone is interested. :) Here's another building, art deco in style that was built in 1932. These always make me feel like I've stepped into a Batman movie set. If you're ever in town, walk around and enjoy the art even without the festival.

This is an end-of-the-year photo collage I made for my old blog back in 2018; I cobbled together pics of the best of the quilts and quilted objects I made throughout that year. I did this for some time until my arthritis started seriously damaging my hands, and I couldn't quilt as much as I wanted anymore. I like seeing at a glance what I have been able to do in a year, and it reminds me that all in my life is not negative. For self-care maybe I should revisit this habit in some different ways. I did a couple of quick mock ups to see if I have enough pics to put together (I would wait until the end of the year and redo this one before making it official, obviously.) I'm crocheting a lot lately, though, so an annual crochet collage would be fun. I could also do seasonal themed collages of the different projects I make, as well as fun thrifted finds. I tend to only put any value on my quilting, but I do a lot of other things, too, so everything doesn't have to b...

Going through my photo archives made me realize for the first time how often I'm crocheting throws; I will likely end up making five or six this year. Crochet work is great physical therapy for my hands, and because I've been doing it for 59 years I'm fairly skilled (I will never be an expert, and I still have problems reading some patterns, so take that as a disclaimer.) I'm also able to thrift all my yarn now so the materials are extremely cheap. Working on a crochet project reminds me very much of my grandmother, who taught me the art when I was five years old. She made hats and baby blankets, and thought it was something useful for a woman to know how to do. I fell in love with it because I admired her so much, and because it was fun. Crochet also makes me happy now because it is something I can still do without a problem, which is something I can't say about any other skill in my repertoire. This year working on my annual art project by makin...

While cleaning out the back bedroom to remodel it I came across an old wicker hamper in which I stored some small quilted pieces as well as what I kept of an old year-long art project. Fourteen years ago I didn't have much time for art, but I was so stressed out from work that I decided to make time to do a little every week if not every day. I began my calendar annual projects quest on my old photoblog by taking a picture every day and posting it (that also helped me learn how to use a digitial camera.) My second annual project was to make 1000 artist trading cards in a single year (which I did!) I gave away about half of them during my last public appearance as an author, but I kept the ones that were personal or special, like these quilted ATCs. There are 100 in the hamper, and I'm so glad now that I kept them. I can't do this fine stitching anymore, and there are many good memories in this bunch. Maybe someday I'll make a wall hanging out of them.

Last Friday my guy and I took a stroll through the historic district in Kissimmee, Florida. To see some amazing street art, check out my album of pics here .

I'm almost ready to start work on designing my summer art quilt for 2025, which will be the pink-only Art quilter's bingo challenge quilt (say that ten times really fast, ha.) I usually make what I like during summer, as it's my favorite season and I tend to indulge myself, even with new projects. Projects I make from challenges or patterns, however, put me a bit more on edge. This t-shirt quilt turned out to be a bear to piece and quilt, but it's also become my favorite quilt to snuggle up with. I also really like how challenges inspire me. Making this quilt out of a one pound bundle of vintage fabrics chosen by someone else pushed me to consider how to use lace as fabric, with lovely results. My last one-color art quilt challenge helped me get over my hatred of yellow, so it's good for me (I still dislike it, but I'll use it now, versus completely avoiding it altogether.) I've had a long and unhappy history with the color pink, which I associa...

Writing poems with a free concrete poem generator is fun. :)

Yesterday my guy and I went wandering, and we stopped at The Old Packing House in Umatilla so I could pick up more pink fabrics for my pink-only quilt. I was insanely lucky to find five yards of a dark and light mottled salmon pink fabric that I can use as backing, as I want all the rest that I've acquired on the front of the quilt. This will also let me make the quilt as big as I like. Here's everything that I have so far assembled on my sewing table. I'm just waiting on some beads and then I can get started. In the meantime, I'm finishing up the poem for the quilt today. It's a lot! Ha. I'm really looking forward to it, though -- and I've already lost all of my dislike of pink while gathering everything. :)

On my art quilter's bingo card I have pink only . Pink is my second least favorite color for reasons I won't get into because I'm done with all that. As I did last year with yellow I want to do something positive to help me get over my color angst, so I decided to make an all-pink art quilt this year. My idea was inspired by the École des Nouvelles Images' short film Code Rose , which really spoke to me as a Floridian, an artist and a veteran. Based on the video I came up with the above mockup. Basically I want to write a poem about my sentiments and shape it via embroidery it into the aircraft carrier, and then cover it with flamingos. It's pretty ambitious for me, but I also love the idea, so why not? I have ordered some new flamingo fabric from Spoonflower, and I'll update you all on the project when it arrives and I have a poem to share.

One day back in April I had a memory blip that left me a little upset; I thought I'd accidentally thrown away my medic alert cuff and a vintage bracelet I thrifted and really like. I made myself dig through the garbage can, all the while kicking myself for being so careless. I actually didn't throw them away; I finally discovered the missing items next to my laptop in the sewing room. I had absolutely no idea when I put them there, and still don't. That upset me even more. To just heap more depression atop my worries, this was also the same day I had to say goodbye to our last living cat Jericho some years ago after losing his brother Jak a few months before then. It's part of ageing, and being a pet owner, but I got very depressed, so I decided I needed some junk therapy. I asked my guy to take me to The Old Packing House in Umatilla, my favorite place to find vintage fabrics, household items, and art pieces like these two painted wooden cats ($5.00 each) tha...

Back in April my guy and I paid a visit to Brooksville, a historic town with gorgeous houses and amazing art. To see my photos of our day there, check out my album here .

One year when I was an elementary school age kid we went to the county fair. I don't remember why; it was my first time at a fair and the whole experience was a muddled rush as my mom tried to keep all of us together. On our way out of the fairgrounds I passed by an artist's booth. There was one painting of a forest waterfall spilling from earth into outer space that enchanted me (not that I had any money to buy anything.) I saw it only for about thirty seconds, but for over 50 years that one painting has remained branded on my brain. I've looked for it everywhere, but never again found it. It inspired me to no end as a writer just thinking about it. People have very little good to say about AI art, but one thing I've discovered is that it can put bring my memories to life. This is the first time I've seen anything close to what I remember, and I actually generated it with an internet search. This is about as close as I can get to the original imag...

Generally speaking an art quilt, especially one that has been embellished with hot fix pearls and crystals, should not be washed. Thread painting and applique work like the kind done on both can be delicate, too. That said, the pair I just thrifted needed a bath. I decided to roll the dice once more and see if I could clean them (anything of value should only be cleaned by a professional textile cleaning service with experience handling such things.) They were both a bit too big for my hand washing basin, so I soaked them in cold water and some mild detergent in the bathroom sink. I'm glad I didn't wash them together, as the green and violet runner shed a bit of dye in the water. The panel quilt's dust and storage residue came out in the water, turning it a light beige. I didn't soak either piece long; just about fifteen minutes. I then rinsed them out in cold water and hung them to dry. The green runner came out brighter with no damage or loss of ...