Metropark Daylilies Sketch

I am often overwhelmed.....It's been that way.  Too much to do in the house and the garden along with the regular living often renders me incapable of doing anything.

Once again, I have vowed to keep on chipping away at things.....working a little bit every day in the garden (trying to get the weeds under control) and in the various parts of the house which are....a disaster.

 The sewing room I fear has once again been the recipient of dumped projects and materials waiting for me to get in there and properly put things away.  It is so bad that I can't bear to be in there.

You'll recall this photo from a couple of weeks ago. It is my basis for entry into the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network's Dayton Metro Park show. I intended to get right at it and do my drawing.  But it didn't happen...largely because I couldn't bear the thought of going into the pigsty which is my sewing room/studio.

Today was my usual quilting group.  While I have been chipping away at a queen sized traditional quilt, I also brought along the supplies to get the drawing done.  The sketch above is what I intend....although I will fill in the front with more day lilies and the trees still need some tweaking.  I was merely roughing in some shapes which would be interpreted by stitching and various bits of cloth....but in looking at it, I think it still needs some tweaking.

I often have a problem.  I often am slavishly devoted in absolutely re-creating what I see, regardless of whether or not the composition could be improved.  Thus, I am adding in more skyline on this to bring some blue in to contrast with the orange day lilies and give more flow, and more day lilies as I think it will make it more interesting.  I'm also moving some Queen Anne's Lace from the middle of the field (where it was growing because it got more sun) to the foreground to add some more interest and contrast in shape and texture.

I will probably do two of these, one a complete abstract, another less so.  My friend Chris reminded me that this isn't due until February.....but I know me....and I don't want to be last minute Lisa.  Besides, who knows what curve balls life with throw me in the ensuing months?

A Wonderful Saturday

I wasn't  able to go to the opening of Sacred Threads on July 13th, but Debra Bentley, a local art quilter and friend who also had a piece in the show did get to go and she graciously offered to pick up a copy of the catalog for me.  Much to my surprise, I felt well enough to go to the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network meeting where I was able to get my copy from Deb.

An even greater treat was that Maria Elkins was the program.  She did a slide show (well...OK, power point show) of her quilts and talked about her quilting journey, then showed us her quilts in real life...I really had to laugh as many of the pieces I previously saw on her website or in other photos were MUCH smaller than I thought they were.   Here's what Maria had to say about the meeting:
 http://mariaelkins.com/index.php/2013/07/miami-valley-art-quilt-network/

It is always a treat to see Maria.  You'd think that since we don't live that far away, 30 minutes approximately, I'd see her more often, but our paths cross more frequently on-line I fear now than in real life.

Once again, Maria showed her piece "Surrender" about her daughter's baby, Amalya, who was discovered to have a birth defect at the end of the first trimester.  Although her daughter knew that Amalya would only survive briefly after birth, she carried the baby through the complete pregnancy.  Amalya lived only a little more than an hour, but his birth was not without purpose.  Tissue from the baby was given for study, and Maria's daughter started a website to provide information for other parents whose baby's lives are similarly cut short.  Although the website primarily discusses steps for donation of tissue, organs for transplant and study, it goes well beyond that.  You can find the website here:  http://purposefulgift.com/ 

Although I know the story and the quilt well, every time I see it, I am moved to tears and grateful for the wonderful faith and support this family has.  So many positive things have come from this occurrence, even though it is such a sad story.  Please take a look at Maria's quilt here


If you are able to get to Sacred Threads 2013, take a look at Deb's quilt "Finding the Color of My Soul" which shows a labyrinth and indicates the four elements written in Irish runes.  Sacred Threads will be open just a little longer, it closes July 28.  40 pieces, mine included, will travel to Omaha, Nebraska and be on exhibit at the Sunderland Gallery from September 15 through November 10, 2013.  Details are here.

Yellow Medley a wordy Wednesday

Vivien said that her day lilies get eaten by deer.  Since I have a fairly high fence and the deer have plenty of other places to go, I don't have a problem...now husbands who get overly rambunctious with roundup and splash some on the plants....that's a whole other story.

The day lilies in the center, which you can barely see because of the the annual black-eyed Susans (a rudebekia species which I can't remember which) are a wonderful orange called "Mauna Loa"  the throats are splashed with a darker orange which looks like someone painted it.  The yellow daisy looking things are marsh sunflowers, and the far back has yellow tiger lilies (Lilium superbum) .. Pokey looking bally thingies are Echinops Ritro.  and yes....there's some golden rod and misc. other weeds growing in there too.

It's so hot, I haven't been able to go out and shoot the close ups of the day lilies I intended to...the chemo I'm on makes me really susceptible to heat and sun. So....this cheerie little melange will just have to do for today.

Sacred Threads Exhibition 2013

On July 10, the 2013 exhibition of Sacred Threads opened at the Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, VA.  Here's the details:

Location: Floris United Methodist Church, 13600 Frying Pan Road, Herndon, VA 20171 (near Dulles Airport).

Exhibit Dates: July 10-28, 2013

Show Hours: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Sunday 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Admission: $5

I attended the show in 2009  when it was last here in Reynoldsburg, OH, but it has moved to Herndon, VA.  I wasn't able to go in 2011, and although I had a quilt accepted this year (first time I entered) I wasn't able to attend the opening reception this last Saturday.  I was really bummed when I realized that my body would just not co-operate.  I had looked forward to seeing it in it's new location and to see all the quilts as the first show I saw was really good.  Over 231 quilts were chosen from over   400 entries.  One good thing is that my friend and fellow artist, Debra Bentley was accepted again this year (she had a piece in 2011) and attended, and got a copy of the catalog for me and had people sign it.  Lots of friends have pieces in and attended the opening....some I have met in person and some I only have online relationships with (so far).

Debra told me it was really neat, and was set up in a labyrinth.....that is really cool, and especially so for Deb as her quilt shows a labyrinth!

I mentioned in an earlier post that "View from the Abyss" was accepted.  On thing I never really thought about when making it is.....what it would look like on a black drape (the most common color used in shows.  Nina-Marie Sayre was kind enough to take this shot and send it.  I'm not sure....while it blends in with the backgound, maybe it makes it more mysterious and draws people in to look more closely.  Debra's husband noticed that the people who spent the most time looking at it were men.....Hmm.

Eleanor Levie posed the question on her blog and on the Quiltart message board do quilter's resemble their quilts? For me....I think it is a resounding NO.

The photo below was one of the last ones taken with my real hair.

This photo is one taken with my current wig.  I like color, never wear black. While often rumpled, I am not stringy or heavily textured.  So....I don't think I look like my quilts at all....especially not the most recent....but even my earlier ones, although they use a lot of color.....I don't think I resemble them at all. 

But.....if you get a chance, go to the Sacred Threads show.  They are also having some classes and special activities in conjunction to the show and have made available a catalog and a CD of the quilts on exhibition for purchase.  For more information, go to the website here.

Getting ready to approach a Dayton Metropark Quilt..the wonders of Daylilies

Do you ever get focused on something an become sort of obsessed with it?  Well for several weeks I was going to write about  my last failed class, but I wanted to work it through on line....and could I find the drawings? Noooooo.

So, here I am.  Bear with me...my fingers are numb and it is very hard to type..I make all sorts of typos and I hope I catch them all.

The Miami Valley Art Quilt Network is getting ready for it's third series of art quilts inspired by the Miami Valley.  This time, we will be doing quilts inspired by the rather extensive Dayton Metro Parks.  There are many....but I have been to only a few.   Since it is sort of hard for me to get around, especially on uneven ground, I decided to go with a shot I already had.  This is a meadow  Englewood Metropark, right across from the Aullwood Nature Center. I took it a couple o of years ago when i still walk well.  My daughter was out running, and I went along to shoot photos.

These are common day lilies, Hemerocallis fulva, usally called "ditch lilies" in the Midwest.  They are escapees, originating from Asia, but they were brought over by the early colonists.  Bright and cheery, they are not true lilies at all, but take their name from the lily shaped flowers which last only for a day.  They have tubers, not bulbs, and the tubers, as well as the flowers are edible.  I've eaten them...not exactly one of my 'must haves" although I suspect deep frying the buds would probably taste pretty good as I have not much much that deep frying doesn't make something more edible.

This shot sort of makes me think.  I think it needs a few more lilies, although I like the wild grape and other 'weeds" growing along the edge.  I will do some drawings..

While they are invasive species, they are easily killed by round-up, or by digging so you get all the tubers...if you are patient, not terribly difficult...and by no means as hard to do in as Japanese honeysuckle or Japanese Bittersweet....or kudzu ...or a variety of other nasties.

Here, you can see them growing in a ditch not far from me on Nashville Rd.  I think this is the most significant patch I have ever seen, and I wonder if it wan't given a little "help" from  the owner.  The ditch is a drainage  ditch. The tall stuff behind the one with the barn in it is elderberries.

I find these very cheery, and when you find a patch with some chicory blooming in front...it is just spectacular...the soft blue of the chicory and the orange of the day lily is just fantastic!

Of course, I have lots of day lilies in my own garden, and in the spring when I am giving divisions away, and can't remember what I have planted where....I usually shrug and say well, it is probably a dark maroon one, or an orangy one.....but mine are not your run of the mill orangy ones....

I'll be sharing a few with you as it is day lily time....although day lilies bloom in my garden from late May through the end of September.  Even though my friend Martha pooh-poohs them because they get scruffy looking after they bloom (you need to pull the dying vegetation on them), I just love them.  They do so well in my hot, clay, full sun kissed beds....and while they are in bloom..well. they just delight me...dark ones with green eyes, orange ones which are practically fluorescent,  watermarked ones, ones with toothed edges, pink ones with shaded maroon centers.....what fun!

Lots to cover in the next weeks.....and I hope to show you this as I work, along with Aullwood's show, the MVAQN Redux and a bunch of other things....

Bear with me....I will disappear for days as the drugs wipe me out three days after chemo, but I will be back....and forgive the slip of the fingers.

Sometimes I Feel Like the Fox From "The Fox and the Grapes."

When I was a child, the farm I grew up  on from when I was about 4 until I was 12 had an old cherry tree.  I loved climbing it, but more importantly, I loved the pies my mom made from it. It was a red, sour cherry,of unknown type...as the farm was established in the 1870s and we lived there in the 1960s and 1970s.

One horrible spring, a tornado came through and although it missed the house and barns, and the sheep we raised, it  claimed the cherry.

I've always loved cherries of all types, sneaking spoonfuls of frozen bing cherries from the 25 pound tins stored in our freezer. When we moved to Troy, I planted a dwarf Northstar cherry as red sour cherries are hard to come by.  In theory, the tree will only grow to 10 feet tall,but I think it will be taller.

With the numbness in my feet from the  chemotherapy, I cannot go on ladders as I would fall. So, I picked what I  could.  I asked my husband to help.....but he doesn't like  cherries....he  says they are too gushy and reminds him of cough syrup...of  course he says the same thing about blueberries as well.

I picked and finally he took pity on me and came out with the ladder and helped, but with him almost 6 feet tall and being on a 4 foot ladder, he still couldn't reach the top.  I had to teach him about avoiding bird pecked and wormy cherries (I don't spray).  At least we got enough for a couple more pies, but in reality, they will probably be turned into cherry crisp or cherry sauce for me and my daughter....who inherited this love.  One pie was made and shared with our friend Bob who came out from Connecticut last week to help with my garden.   Bob grew up in Michigan's cherry country....and like me, considers sour  cherry pie to be the tops.  Birds will get the rest now, and I will start spraying a fungicide to alleviate the cherry leaf drop which plagues me here as the springs can be damp and conducive to it.  Of course this is also the first year in three is has born cherries as late frosts got the blossoms the last two years.

And  I hear, sour cherries are good cancer fighters.

If you don't know the Aesop's fable about the fox and the grapes..it's here.  Not the version I was looking for ( a folk song my brother used to sing in the late 1960s in his local group "The Brotherhood.").

Benefits of being a Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA)

Not too long ago I wrote about being at the Quilt National (QN) Opening.  I was there because of an opportunity made available through Studio Art Quilt Associates.    As I can't say or explain it better, here is the information directly from their website:

Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt through education, exhibitions, professional development, documentation, and publications.

Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now boasts over 2,900 members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators and corporate sponsors.

SAQA defines an art quilt as "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure."

SAQA's goals include: 

• Publish a newsletter and e.Bulletin addressing the professional needs of the working quilt artist.
• Publicize information about the art quilt through a web site, Professional Artist Member portfolios, and referrals to teachers and speakers for workshops and symposia.
• Educate through a series of conferences and lectures.
• Create a network of collectors, dealers and artists.
• Produce quality exhibitions, with documentary catalogues and critical reviews.
• Encourage critical writing, research and publication of articles about art quilts in the art press, popular press and scholarly journals.

I have been a member for four years....and I have to say, I really enjoy it.  The symposium offered in conjunction with Quilt National was just wonderful. For $20, SAQA member participants were able to attend the opening, attend a continental breakfast on Saturday morning after the opening where all of the artists whose work was in the show were able to speak about their work, listen to a presentation from the jurors how they chose the pieces and exactly what the process was, and a panel discussion from several of the artists whose work was chosen and in closing, a presentation of incoming President, Kris Sazaki talking about where SAQA is today and the plans for tho next several years.

In addition, for an extra fee, we could join in a pizza party with the QN artists.  

I can't say enough about how much fun I had. I was able to meet a lot of people with whom I had "met" on he internet and emailed back and forth with, but never gotten to meet face to face.  I also was able to see SAQA friends I had met at the Philadelphia conference last year, regional SAQA shows and Ohio regional "parlor meetings." 

Parlor meetings are meeting held by groups in a particular area.  At the very least, they are pot lucks with a show and tell element.  Or, it can be more structured...for instance at the parlor meeting I hosted  we talked about artist statements and bios, as well as points in choosing a long-arm or other set ups (such as a frame with movable tracks, the George, HQ-16, etc.) .  Not all areas have Parlor meetings (and they vary in what they are called) as they are up to the membership in an area to take the bull by the horns and plan them.  I have attended parlor meetings in homes, churches, libraries and the one that I hosted was in my husband's workplace.   No matter where they are held, I've enjoyed them and welcomed the opportunity to meet and talk with kindred souls.

Other extremely useful programs include webinars on various topic which are saved so even if you can't be there at the time the program originally runs, you can pick it up later   The Visioning Project is another useful program which helps you achieve your goals in a  years time . 

SAQA is open to all levels of interest, professional to those just getting started .  Quite  few members are collectors and we have several appraisers as well.  Go on over to the SAQA website and join...just tell them Lisa Quintana sent you. ;_)