Thinking about silk wall hanging for weeks...

So this is why I have insomnia. I get a vision of a piece I want to make, and then I start making it in my head. Seems easy enough, but I never really was taught to do some of the more complicated things which I do. If they are off the charts, I will try to find something like my 'vision' in a book, but that is silly because it is a unique thing, and my ideas usually finally start keeping me awake at night, and then start entering my dreams, where I experiment making the piece several different ways. When I am really stuck, various obstacles enter my dream. I can't remember how to thread my machine, or I can't find the right weight of thread, or the machine jams up with fabric. Sometimes I forget how to oil the machine. I am ancient you see - 59 years old, and was taught to never ever start a days worth of sewing without oiling my machine, and brushing out lint with a special tiny lint brush. It is all so aggravating getting ready to start, it is almost as bad as writers' block, because it takes me about 1/2 an hour to prepare my machine to sew.

I have two kinds of quilts - well, quilted wall hangings, since none are made for a bed, haven't been made for a bed in almost 40 years. It amazes even me how long I have been making 'art quilts'. But my daughter Rebecca told me that the 'colorfield' movement in art quilts began in the 60's, something she just read. I was amazed, because I don't even remember when I started making my miniature to moderate sized pieces, but then it dawned on me that I must have seen something that inspired me, and thus, stole the idea. I felt horrible for about ten minutes, until I remember there is no such thing as a new idea in the world.

So finally, I used to piece together my quilts mostly by hand and then quilt them by hand as well. But my hands are achy with arthritis now, and I must learn to use the machine in an attractive way because I attempt to make beautiful quilts. There is a new trend in the art quilt world that personally doesn't move me, and it is for fairly ugly quilts. One of the ugliest pieces I saw in years was made by an artist who is now teaching at a famous school. I don't quite 'get' this, but then again, I am an old thing, and don't feel I need to go along with the herd anymore. I really never did...

Now Life Gets Tougher and the Tough Go Nowhere

So we go nowhere but stay here for now and grit our teeth; But when I go I go in my pink boots and have happy feet. And a happy heart. I slept with Baya, now amazingly 3 3/4 years old, and she grinds her teeth so loudly I thought she had a mouth full of rocks in there...  She actually awakened me twice, to this mysterious sound.  She is quite the little grinder, but then again, so is her twin sister Esme.  

My still, thank heavens, husband, Steven, informed me that tooth grinding is quite common in these little children, and so I just relaxed about it, and patted their precious little heads.  In the morning we awakened to the most frozen house.

For the second time this winter, no heat in over 12 hours.  The wind blew down the power lines, and we didn't have our heat back this time for about 15 hours, the same as last month.  One might thing that after all these power outages, the state would smarten up and bury the lines, instead of having these tragic storm outages, where some people even die, or burn their homes up trying various dangerous ways to stay warm.  The only safe thing to do for people like us with only a dirty fireplace is climb into bed with a huge pile of bodies and blankets.  Thus the term "three dog night".  We only have one dog allowed in bed, as the puppy isn't reliable, and LuLu who is three is quite independent and hates being in bed with us.  She sleeps on the sofa and guards the mice.  Ugh, ever hated mice.  That is another blog altogether!

So I am back and now 'attached' to a new website called VerveEarth.com. By invitation and I feel quite honored. They are apparently looking around at blogs the world over and creating a map where one can find a blog that might interest them by content. I was 'discovered' as a New Hampshire artist and blogger, as I understand it to work. So those of my few reader, thank you and look forward to much more frequent entries and many more frequent photographs of my new art, as the website is a new way to help expose my work to a more broad audience.

And heaven knows, as do you all, that selling my work is so necessary. Bills to pay, and news to share. We are moving down off the mountain top after nearly five years of isolation. Not because we choose to but because we are being taxed off, mortgaged off, and the stinking rotten economy is driving us off... it is hateful really, but when as I mentioned, Life gets tough, the tough get tougher! My mama always taught me the Lord would never give me more than I could handle. I know she is right, because I am like tempered steel. A tempered steel cream puff, but none the less, I am one strong steel cookie and I won't go down the mountain in tears, but in my bright pink boots.

My dear friend Diana has rented us a small condo, and the downstairs will be my studio. So all the plans are made. Upstairs are two decent sized bedrooms and that is that. We shall sell one of our two cars, as with the price of gas growing more ridiculous, and so forth, and with me being semi-disabled, I never drive mine more than once a month anyway. So it is a waste having two. You ask me any questions at all and I have a positive answer for you. No tears about this new change in our lives. We are together, we have a new French Bulldog puppy who should be ready to show in September, if I can get her to stop carrying her leash in her mouth! Although it is rather adorable...

All for now, off to the bank to deposit our security check, and do a very little bit of business with my husband. Thanks for waiting so long for another entry, and be on the look out for new photographs of my work. Love and Blessings to you all, friends, old and new, and my precious family.