Post Cards to Benefit Friends for Life

 While I was in Montana, Pokey Bolton, Quilting Arts Diva, announced a project she thought up...her "IQF Pet Project Postcard Pledge."  Just before she left to do some show work, she found a pit bull mix stray.  Pokey scooped the dog up, deposited her at the vets, had her checked out, and tried to find the owner...then, when she returned looked hard to find a no-kill shelter to see if this abandoned animal could find a forever-home.

Pokey's got a soft heart like that.  She had already rescued her dog Clarence, and at least one cat.....She knew of Friend's For Life no kill shelter in Houston because that's where she found Clarence.  Pounds, Humane Society Shelters, and other rescue organizations have a lot of bills, and often not enough money to meet their needs.  No-kill shelters have even more pressure because they often take animals that have issues, some behavioral, some just because they happened to have a certain kind of ancestor....such as Pitt Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermann's etc.

"Longhorns have homes on the Range"

"Spot and Dash"

So, Pokey asked people to make 4" x 6" fabric postcards that she is going to sell at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

So...I started out by making the top one.  Blech. But it was a post card.  I decided I would whip out my Inktense pencils and make a Longhorn, using my hand painted sky fabric and some rust dyed fabric for the range....after all, Longhorns all have homes on the range, shouldn't other domestic animals have a shot for a home?  Besides....it's Texas...longhorns should sell.

The last one is just because I love goldfish.   This is "Spot" and "Dash" portraits of two goldfish from my pond.  I used Inktense on these, then sheer crepe, which I stitched the fin lines through...and put them on a batik "pond."

The dumb thing was that with all the flooring, cleaning, cooking, etc. for kid coming home with friends last week, and the fact that we ripped up the carpeting in the dining room.....well....I forgot to mail them.

Ruth Powers graciously agreed to take them to Pokey at THE SHOW ....as Ruth won an award...I wanted to to do more...especially a house bunny one because my niece Katie adopted a pet rabbit from her local shelter.  I think my crew here will forgive me...Lemmie was a dumped kitty, Acei was an abandoned cat from people who moved and left three litters of cats behind, Angel, and her predecessor Tassie were both from Protector's of the Animals in Connecticut.  Henry, my first cat when I was out on my own was one who if I didn't take him was going to be drowned.  Harrison, my roomie Nancy and my cat was one which had gone through three homes before I took him in in Williamsburg.  My other neice Beth's dog, Trucker, came from a English Shepherd rescue group, and Luna was a stray who I finally tracked down the owner and they gave her to me.  So...yes, it is about time I give back too.

If you are going to Houston, check out the sale.  They will be sold for $20 each and Pokey is also contemplating some on-line sales.  Maybe I'll get to do a bunny too, if she does!  Thank's Pokey, and a HUGE thanks to Ruth Powers.

Breakfast with Pokey

I have to laugh. Saturdays, I try to get up early (and usually do ) do a little work around the house then sit down for breakfast. My husband is usually twittering around and is either getting ready to go to the gym or is returning. He takes one look at me and says "Oh, Breakfast with Pokey." Sometimes he just says "Aren't you having breakfast with Pokey? if I have gotten sidetracked and it's 8:32 am.

You see, Quilting Arts TV comes on every Saturday morning on one of my local PBS stations. It's Pokey Bolton's brainchild and is a companion to Quilting Arts Magazine. It has a lot of good information with great tips from professional art quilters. It's eye candy. Sometimes she highlights new products (often these are paid spots, which is OK...although some --not often--are more directly in line with traditional quilters or home dec sorts of things--SOMEONE has to pay for the show), but usually it is a technique or introduction to the work of an art quilter...and usually all of the above.

Videos of past seasons are available for sale and some of the segments have their own workshop DVDs. In addition, other bits are put on as free downloads or e-zines on Quilting Arts Website.
So, when the quiltart.com list server had someone bring a blog up which was critical of art quilters and Leah Day in particular I was a bit incensed. The blog entry was written by a Nina Paley and in it she criticizes quilters in general and art quilters in particular as to not sharing their information.

She was "interested" in art quilts, but wasn't a quilter. Supposedly, she searched on the internet and couldn't find much. Well, dang. I Googled "art quilt" and came up with 76 entries and I know if I had used Dog-pile or one of the other search engines, I would come up with even more. This doesn't even touch all the independent blogs and how-tos on You-tube which which are free and show how to do things because the topic may be buried. No mind you, that was just art quilt, not "quilt art" which picks up even more.

In addition, most libraries are filled with books on quilting in general, many touching on art quilts, some solely devoted to technique or gallery (such as Visions, or Quilt National catalogs, or Art Quilt Masterpieces which don't show technique, just quilts). The Quiltart list serve is filled with information and helpful people who share technique, advise and critique (which is not a dirty word but a way to improve our skills and design). The Studio Art Quilt Associates website has plenty of information for non-members and if you want to join, there's even more.
Oops. More on this later. It's 8:35 am...time for breakfast with Pokey. (Slightly crisped whole wheat waffle made two weeks ago then frozen...I toasted it too long on one side.)