Hurricane Sandy

For me, Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, but, for so many, the effects will linger for a long time. The coast was hit hard, and the stats are pretty bad. I lost no power, and the only reminder of all the water is the large puddle in my backyard. This actually makes my River Birch very happy.

All day yesterday, I sat at my sewing machine working, listening to the increasing winds and rain, wondering when the power would go off. We were all prepared with candles and flashlights. The lights flickered on and off several times. We were convinced it was inevitable. We were very fortunate.

For the Autumn Color Project 2012, Tatyana from England had dyed so much fabric....enough to construct several blocks. So Masha, the lovely woman who put this project together, asked me to make some more blocks with the fabric, lace, and motifs that I had left.

So, yesterday, I put together three more blocks and STILL have fabric, lace, and motifs left over!

This week, all the blocks will be off to other parts of the world to be embellished.

My thoughts go out to all those affected by the hurricane...

The rebuilding begins...

Penrose Tiling and more Autumn 2012

This afternoon, I will be facilitating the exploration of math and science in art with a group of 12-14 year old children at Open Connections in Newtown Square. 

I have enjoyed, from time to time, creating works using Penrose tiling. The canvas I will be using today as an example is called "Estella", named after a character in Kristy Kiernan's book, Catching Genius.

After a short introduction to Sir Roger Penrose, British mathematical physicist, recreational mathematician, and philosopher, I will help the children create their own 12" x 12" canvas.

Using my fractals, I created a set of Penrose's darts and kites for each child and packaged them with a dart and kite template.

Below is a canvas I began to show them the process of the tiling and the application of the paper darts and kites to the canvas.

My daughter happens to be in this class, so I hope that I don't embarrass her totally :)

Yay! I received another kit from Masha in Russia for the Autumn Color 2012 Project. This picture does not do justice to the absolutely beautiful work she did dying her fabric.

From this, I needed to construct a block that will be sent to Natalia in Russia.

After choosing some of my own fabrics, this is what I came up with. Can't wait to see how Natalia embellishes this !

Well, off to Open Connections. Have a great day!!!

Autumn Color 2012 - Phase 2

The Autumn Color 2012 Project is well under way. Each participant dyed their own fabric, lace, 

and motif and sent their kits out. I received my first kit from Tatyana in England. I was 

under the impression that we were to send two pieces of fabric, two pieces of lace, 

and one motif.....and this is what I received.

Enough materials to make at least four blocks!

With each kit I receive, I am to construct a 7" crazy quilt block and send it to another person on the list. The following form accompanies each package so that, in the end, each of us will know who did the dying, who constructed the block, and who did the embellishing.

Here is the block I constructed from Tatyana's materials that will now be sent to 

Liudmila in the Republic of Moldova.

Such fun!!!

Oh! Crazy love....

Maybe it's silly, but when I look at this quilt top, I hear Van Morrison singing Crazy Love. 

How could I not give it that name?

So, here is the Crazy Love quilt.

Feels fitting...I love color, I love Kaffe fabrics, I love my crazy life, and it all makes me smile.

Well, some good things you have to wait for. This quilt top began in the fall of 2011 and is now done.

I named it "Holding the World."

And......I finished stitching my 3rd crazy quilt block! My dear friend, Masha, and I swapped blocks and stitched for each other. She sent me the block, thread, and beads....and the rest was up to me. I had so much fun with this. The colors brought constant cheer to me.

Enjoy, Masha :) It will be in the mail on Monday wrapped in love and

best wishes.

Here is the lovely block that Masha stitched for me.

A deeply felt thank you....

Did I hear Kaffe??

Seriously, whenever I hear the name Kaffe, I smile. 

Why? 

Because his fabric designs simply make me happy. The graphics are bold, and the colors are saturated. Just love them!!!

I'm working with 16 different fabrics from Kaffe Fassett's fall 2012 collection.

Lucky me :)

Here's my October block for the Block Swap Adventure...

and...

I finally finished my second crazy quilt block. Because I'm such a newbie at this, a block feels like it takes me forever. I think when I have learned a lot more stitches and the design elements flow more freely, I won't be so slow. However, I have the rest of my life to work on it.

Thankful for every moment I can spend with fabric and thread...