OH DEAR!!!  The previous post had a very wrong typo. I said the books is not available -- it should have said IS NOW AVAILABLE.  Yes, you can get it from Amazon in either paper back or  e-book version.

Let me explain a little more about this novel:  it is definitely not a HOW-TO about quilting. It is a story  of a young woman (Liz) who is writing a Ph.D. dissertation about a quilter who lives in the tiny -- but real -- town of Friendship, Indiana. Her advisor, a folk art specialist, has suggested she might write about quilting as an art.  A long time friend of Liz's great aunt, Geneva Gardiner is not exactly a "quilting Grandma Moses". Liz  calls her an Outsider Artist. So far so good -- but Liz does not sew and also must learn about what's happening among the hundreds of thousands women who quilt, not only in the USA but in many, many other countries. She has a lot to learn.

Liz is a young woman, so, of course, romance is important too. She met a wonderful man when visiting great museums of Europe; they O.D.-ed on old masters and took a break from art by signing up to teach English in Mongolia for two years.  Now she's back at college and her boyfriend has a new interest. Of course another man enters the picture ... and then another ... Plus her family play a role.  

 FRIENDSHIP QUILTS is a  new novel by June Calender which is not available either as soft cover or as an e-book from Amazon.

In the tiny town of Friendship, Indiana, Liz discovers the  subject for her doctoral thesis in art history. Genevea Gardiner, a widowed farm wife is a quirky quilter who uses only fabrics donated to her as she attempts to make 100 quilts to send to a mission in Africa. Her designs remember traditional quilt patterns but are her own interpretation. They are so different Liz labels them "Outsider Art" and suggests Geneva is a quilting "Grandma Moses". 

 Geneva is a lifelong friend of Liz's great-aunt Alma who is now in a nursing home. Liz is invited to stay with Alma's daughter who lives in a small town near Friendship. Liz has not been close to family for some time. In fact, she has just returned after an absence during which she spent a year in Europe seeing the great art museums on a scholarship and then went with a boyfriend to Mongolia to teach English for two years. Liz actually knows almost nothing about quilts and must research both books on the subject and visit two of the largest annual quilt shows in the  United States. She meets two very different men who are interested in quilts ... and in Liz. The story becomes complicated.

June Calender, the author, has been a quilter for about forty years. She has traveled widely, seen the great art museums of Europe and visited Mongolia and Tibet as well as many other countries. She is the author of Phantom Voices in Tibet (2003) and spent several years in New York City where many of her plays were seen off-off-Broadway ... as far off as Alaska and California. She now lives on Cape Cod and teaches "Telling Stories" at the Academy for Lifelong Learning where she also edits the annual anthology of students' writing and photography ... and, of course, belongs to the Cape's Byberry Quilter's Guild.

Challenging Paper Pieced Quilt

A month ago at a quilt guild meeting I found a new, up-opened pattern for a complicated paper-pieced quilt block (to be made 16 times for a wall size quilt. The block pattern was 10 inches square and each square had 24 pieces.  I love paper piecing. It's a challenge when it has far fewer than 10 pieces. Most of the month I worked with it. The first block color choices were all wrong. Then I made another four and decided those color choices were all wrong. So I turned to the seemingly unending collection of polka dots (some sort of hanky-panky goes on in the closet at night as the polka dots seem to multiply).
  Anyway I finally chose three colors of dots with sizes from very small to very large and made eight blocks. I did not have the stamina for more. When I put it together and added three borders (black, white and red -I didn't  have enough blue for a fourth border), I decided it has an early 20th century look -- somewhere near Piccasso-ish, not quite art deco. I am undecided whether I like it or not.  I can see other possibilities for the pattern but it was so complex I probably won't come back to it.

Generations--Stella's 7th birthday

Saturday was Stella's 7th birthday. We four generations met at Beth's coffee/tea shop in the lovely old Cape Cod village of Sandwich. Stella was in full princess array. She got "fluffy"gift as per her preference for girly things (with three brothers to compete with, she's holding down the feminist line).  Very rarely do I see family resemblances in photo but in this one taken by Cory (Stella's mom), I definitely see proportions of face/ eyes-nose -mouth. (click of photo to enlarge). Brunch was only the beginning of a day of parties for Stella. 

Poem lifting my description of this morning's dawn

I have been trying to add a photo and my Blogspot does not want to talk to my photo file this evening, but maybe a bit later ... I haven't had this problem before.  Anyway went my email poet friend, Arlene Corwin send me a note and wonderful poem this morning, I responded and told her that I was looking out my east-facing window at a wonderful fruit salad of colors as the sun rose.  She has since turned my comments into a fine poem and sent it to me just now.  Here it is:

 The Ultimate Advantage 

Lemon,orange, creamy peach reach

Apricot-ty harmony

As morning thrives and sun arrives

To make it’s first appearance,

Moving slowly upward in its dance.

(Of course we know it stands

                                              quite still).

Morning’s dawning lives each day,

Waiting for the sun to send a ray

Or two or three

To you and me,

The scenery

Spectacularly

Striking in its scale.

One wants to cheer and yell

Not knowing which to do,

So staggering the stirring view, 

(Even birds shape songs anew).

Radiant, magnificent

This lemon, orange, creamy peach

Which rising, teaches us each watchful day

To love the life we live.

 

 This photo is not my best or most orange/apricot/etc. but it's the the blog accepted..

I've been having serious disputes with computers lately and  simply give up easily.

At last, time to finish a quilt

This group quilt has been sewn together for several weeks but I had no time to quilt it and add a border (black) until now. I've been engrossed in the anthology I wrote about a couple weeks so.  But the book has reached the completed layout phase and goes to the printer Monday or Tuesday, so I have  had the week-end to finish this. (I spent a couple days doing Christmas shopping and the wrapping is nearly complete). This odd block was a year-long series of swaps on Swap-Bot's Quitls-n-Things group.  It required the two center blocks be: one mostly black the other mostly white. The swappers were instructed on the surrounding color/pattern

When the swap ended I had received 24 squares  from panters. That wasn't enough so I made 18 more to have a quilt with 42 squares arranged in seven rows of six and then sashed with plain back. It was fascinating to sew together because I realized there is a huge range of fabrics. With six pieces in each square (9" each) that's a total of 336 pieces. Of course there are some duplicates but, in fact, as I sewed the squares together I realized that probably no more than 20 percent seem to appear more than once. So there are, roughly, 275 different cotton printed fabrics in this quilt. It's delightful to look over it and see such design/creativity in the various patterns. It's an adult sort of "I Spy" quilt. Happily as of today, it has it's border and is finished.  And as I always do with new quilts, I will initiate it by sleeping under it tonight.

Off and On Winter So Far

Winter arrives in quick spurts and disappears.
We had about two inches of snow last week, an all-morning lightly falling event and then it cleared  and I went out to shove it off the car before it became heavy.  Then a couple days of mixed sun and rain and gray, then a morning of dense fog when I could not see the buildings across the street -- saw two big trees in a gloomy, foggy way.

Again this week another morning of serious snow which is when these photos of Stella on her back ready to make "angels" in the snow and Silas all set to throw snowball, possibly at Stella or maybe his mother with her ever present camera phone. 
She understands how to get decent closeups --too many people
don't get close enough to their subject.

Meanwhile, I've simply dealt with the weather, never knowing
when I ought to make sure to wear boots. It's quickly come, quickly gone. No argument about that. And surely no adult enjoys snow as much as kids do.

Putting Together an Anthology Is Much Like Quilting

Looking at this photo of anthologies called Reflections which does not show last year's issue, I realize that I am working on my ninth issue. I prefer to say "we are finishing..." which is true. I have had very good help putting together each issue -- women much better at English grammar than I am who add commas what sometimes seems too lavishly--but according to the proper rules. Also skilled and thoughtful people who can do the technical layout work. The heart of the book is the many people who contribute prose, poems and photography. They are current and past members of the Academy for Lifelong Learning.  Most are not  participants in the three writing courses that have been regularly offered each semester -- although actually many of the poets have been in the So You Want to be a Poet class, some for many years, some off and on. But many contributors are individuals who have something to share, to say, to tell others about. The variety of subject matter is enormous.

"Reflections" is an appropriate title in the past and present sense. It reflects today's concerns (the current issue has two excellent articles addressing climate change, and it reflects the emotional state of many contributors, current interests and pleasures of living here on Cape Cod. It also contains many reflections backward, stories about deceased family members, about youthful pleasures and travels far and wide (both Africa and Australia in the new issue)

The organization is nearly 30 years old and the first issue, then called Senior Reflections, was published in 2000, so this is a 20th anniversary issue. It is the largest ever. And my final job was similar to a quilting step -- putting all the pieces in an order that makes sense, is aesthetically pleasing as one reads through it. The last step, which is happening this week and next is the quilting -- putting each item on its page, getting all the bits right.  The final binding -- thank heavens! -- is in the hands of an excellent printing company that we have used throughout nearly all the years. When the first couple of issues have been proofed and any errors corrected, I will sigh happily and get to the two quilting UFOs awaiting my attention. I enjoy editing this anthology but I'm happy it's only once a year.

Thanksgiving for Adults

This photo shot through the screen of my slider is the old turkey who hung out on my mini patio for about half an hour after her flock left her. I decided she had Alzheimer's because she was clearly uncertain what to do. Eventually another turkey came and led her away. This was not a likely main dish for anyone's Thanksgiving.

I let a number of my friends know about the online publication of my short story, Bringing Home the Turkey, at the Story House site (address is simply: Richard @Stroryhouse.com.) Richard collects mostly memoirs but sometimes fiction (my story is fiction) and posts a new one every week. He keep files of many writer's submissions (has several of mine).

Our Thanksgiving was nontraditional and probably the best such holiday dinner I've ever eaten -- in large part because daughter Rachel kept things very simple and they were very good.  She baked her sour dough bread (which she does every week from a starter she keeps) and we had cheeses and crackers. Then came the part I liked best, oysters she had raked out of the bay yesterday, that Patrick had shucked in the morning. They were then broiled with a very deljcious herbed butter topping. Midwesterner that I am I had never had oysters on the half shell broiled (or raw) before and they were delicious. Everyone agreed and, happily, she had gathered a goodly number. Then came a sweet squash puree soup -- the only time I've thought squash was delicious (and I brought some home to have for dinner tonight). No Big Bird but a turkey pot-pie and a very excellent salad and cranberry sauce (home made). Double dessert, tiramisu made by our French guest and cranberry-apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Everything was delicious and I didn't even have to help with dishes. A very fine day.

Summer's Work Going to Needy Teens

That's largest of six quilts I took this noontime to Grace who is co-chairman of the Bayberry Guild's "quilt bank". Grace's basement has a reputation--it is the repository of hundreds of yards of fabric that has been donated to the guild. Monday and Tuesday they had a give-away day; she said 27 women showed up, descended into her basement and walked out with multiple bags of fabric. And yet, to  me, the basement is FULL of fabric.

I did not go to get fabric I went to donate six quilts I made over the summer (including the one in the photo) to quilt bank which has a list of 60 kids with homeless or out of work parents who need something bright a warm to sleep under NOW as winter approaches. I've written about my Totally Dottie quilts and over the last three or four months other quilts that I've finished. Frankly I wanted them OUT, so I can make more and store them for a bit. The trip to Harwich was to be quick, get there around noon, deliver the quilts and head back home stopping at a fried clam place for lunch.

Quick it was not.  Grace looked at my quilts saying "this is for teen girls, that is for teen boys"... and then showing me others she has been collecting for the teens. The goal is 60 to be distributed in the next month or so. That was in her upstairs guest room where big plastic containers are already full of quilts with destinations. Then she asked if I wanted any fabric and I said, "well, actually yes, because I want to send some to a woman I know who makes quilts to be raffled by her group to raise money for kids who don't have lunch money at school. So down to the basement -- lots of fabric still there.

Grace is a talker, she's 88 and as much into plants as quilts. She told me the story of her family, not all happy -- in fact she was relieved to have become a window 21 years ago this month... She has more energy and interest (we talked talks books and movies too) than most younger people. I finally left about 2:00 and had a late lunch at the clam place.  I wasn't entirely certain how to get from her house to Rte. 28 which I wanted to be on. I came to a road going west but not one I'd been on before but not very busy. I have a keen sense of  direction I wanted to go west. Cape Cod is not very big, I  knew I would recognize something after a few miles. I found a familiar road and that lead to 28 and that lead to lunch. So much for the afteroon when I thought I would do some quilting. But no, it will wait.

Tree Hugger - "Ecology"

Our Uncommon Threads art quillt group proposed the theme "ecology" for this month's challenge.  Also the quilt was to be 12x12.  I pondered about the sea --I recently heard of an oceanographer's plan to feed the world with kelp farms deep in the sea.  "Kelp not kale" a slogan -- I like that! I'm not a kale fan.

However, I could not visualize a kelp farm underwater. I remembered this photograph of great-grandson, Silas, and that I wrote a poem called Tree Hugger. The poem is about childhood, not about ecology, but I love the photo and knew I wanted to use it with this particular fabric. The name of the quilt is "Treasure the Trees". (the less than distinct photo at the bottom right is a fallen tree.  Remember, if you click on the photo it enlarges; I suggest you do that, I have a grandmother's fondness for the the expression on Silas' face.

Here is the poem that was written a couple of years ago:

    Tree Hugger

The big man, with a kind voice,
jabbed a needle into soft baby flesh.
AAAAAAAW!
“It’s okay,” Mommy said, fixing his clothes.
“It’s okay.” She held her little boy
like she did many, many times,
hugging, rocking a little, “It’s okay.”
For a while it was okay.
He fell asleep as the car purred home.

But it wasn't okay. At dinner
he felt ick-ish; he slapped at the food
and whimpered; he wanted something
but not dinner. His brothers didn’t care,
Mommy and Daddy were busy with them.
He blubbered and fussed.
“I know, I know,” Daddy said. Strong arms 
 lifted him. Daddy gave him ice cream,
that was okay … for a while. Daddy held him
and talked to the others, patting his back,
pat, pat, pat. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s okay.”
The little boy went to sleep, but it wasn’t okay.
He woke up fussing, whimpering, Mommy
held him, both fell asleep in the rocking chair.

It wasn’t okay the next day either. He fussed,
he whimpered, he felt tired and restless.
The brothers said, “It’ll be okay,” but they didn’t
remember their shots and their “Not-okay” days.
When the others went to school, Mommy
held him, but he wiggled free. She got his shoes
and coat and hat and they went for a walk.
He mumbled and stumbled through the leaves.
Then he found the sturdy little piney tree,
cool and rough and still. Tree didn’t say, “It’s okay.”
Tree didn’t hug or rock, but it stood solid and good,
He was okay just hugging the tree..

Copy-cat quilt

A couple of posts ago I put up a picture of a quilt from the Mancusco  International Quilt show and said I was inspired to make a similar quilt.  It's done and it's looks much like the other although I think I can say with confidence that not a single fabric used in mine was used in the other. That's the joy and glory of these "wild" scrap quilts.  Scroll down and compare.  So  much fun and I used up lots of scraps, solids and prints.

Best laid plans ...

Back in July the Uncommon Threads group planned a workshop day in which to do "sky dyes" and gel prints and other forms of fabric enhancement. But as the day approached it was clear the weather was going to be nasty. So we postponed it until one of the beautiful autumn days that we have here on the Cape, i.e., yesterday.

But all plans are subject to weather. Yesterday was sprinkly, very windy and chilly and the lovely day on the lawn and porch of Kathleen's "Cranacres" home (which is for sale and which has relatively empty spaces, was moved indoors to the utility room. Not to be daunted--fabric was painted and printed, the group had a good business meeting and a nice lunch with an IPad slide show of the American Quilter's Society show in Padukah, KY a week ago that Kathleen attended. Work got gone, we got inspired and we carry on ... never mind what Mother Nature throws our way. The photo above, poor as it is, suggests the work that was done, here by Robin and Kathleen. We are planning a group show at the Cape's premier fabric store, Tumbleweed, for the month of October and we had time for show and tells about what we have been doing since July.

Mini quilt show

The  lobby of the Academy for Lifelong Learning has wall space and so puts up art shows by members for each six-week segment of classes. At the moment five of  my quilts are on display.

These have mostly been made in the  Uncommon Threads group. From left to right: the "flag" was for a challenge to do something with labels. If you click to enlarge the photo you'll see the "stars" are labels from fresh fruit, and the flag is surrounded by tags from many kinds of products from Chiquita Banana to L.L. Bean and the white strips contain selvages from fabrics. The tree has actual small shells all over it. The challenge was "the sea" and this is based on an actual dead tree on the beach where people put seashells. I call it the "shell tree". The snowy scene is everyones's favorite. It is inspired by a New Yorker cover of people walking their dogs in Central Park after a snow storm. The fourth is one of my favorites. The background was woven of strips of colors that mean autumn leaves to me. The leaves are prints of real maple and oak leaves. There's a small head shot of me. I call it "portrait of myself in the colorful autumn of my life. The summer on the beach photo is a fine way to spend a Sunday morning with the NYTimes crossword puzzle. These are among my favorite smallish art quilts.  And they are getting a good bit of attention.

End of summer - back to school

What a lovely couple of days, weatherwise.  Perfect end of summer, not too hot, not too cold.  Granddaughter Cori has reached a "Mommie" landmark:  all four of the kids will be in school, at least a part of the week.  She'll have only the dog -- quite a dog!! a Bernese Mountain "puppy", now bigger than the two youngest kids.  But SO cuddly and lovey.

Cori takes photos and now and then sends me some of the kids. I have a new batch, one was posed just for back to school -- the  three oldest ones (Silas, the 3 year old will be doing pre-school a few days a week.) The photos was prompted, they actually enjoy school. (Remember you can enlarge photos by clicking on them)

Actually, they all like school. Their grandmother did a back-to-school celebration last Sunday with waffle sundae treats in the backyard:   crispy waffles, big scoop vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, fresh strawberries and a big pile of whipped cream.  No one ever did that for me ... I loved school.

Inspired by a quilt in Springfield

This was not one of the "OH, wow, that is so amazing!" quilts I saw at the Mancusco show last week. I took a photo of it because I immediately realized the blocks are easy to sew and "I can do this" with the plains and prints that I had in my scrap  bags.  I've been working on using up as many scraps as possible. The past week I've been sewing 8 inch square blocks using one plain and one of the print from my scrap bag.  I've made 64 of them and now they are laying on the floor of my sewing room. I'm trying to find a way to give them some of the coherence this quilt has. It's a stretch but at least partly possible.  I will continue to look at the arrangement I've got and shift them around for a day or two. They will have some coherence in colors and the arrangement of implicite diamonds is mostly possible.  I've even got a name already "Some Sense in the Scrap Bag."  I'll get it sewn together in a a few days and probably take a photo before it's quilted or bound (the part of the process that I like least).

International Quilt Show, Manusco, Springfield. MASS

This is not the whole picture of this quilt, I was especially stunned at the almost hidden giraffe drinking but also fascinated by the colors of the blocks along the side as I have a paper-pieced pattern for that twisted log cabin block.  The annual International Quilt show managed by Mancusco that Rachel and I have been attending in Manchester, NH has moved to Springfield, Mass. It's somewhat farther for us to drive but we don't have to go through the Boston. All thruways and easy to find.  It was SPECTACULAR, the workmanship was magnificent and the colors, as you see here, stunning. There were quilts from the US, Canada, England, Germany, Israel, So. Africa, Australia and New Zealand. (plenty of vendors too but we ignored them), over 300 quilts, one "oh, wow!" after. The revolution in art quilting is little known to the public at large although there was a good attendance. I didn't take a lot of photos because I know I will not attempt this sort of quilting but looking at it thrills me. Here are a couple other photos -- one with the sweetness of simplicity and the other (the root vegetables) so full of creative embellishment, it's just a WOW!

Remember, if you click the photo it will enlarge.
The ones with elegant simplicity were a visual relief after the ones, like the carrots which were very complex. Note how elegant the quilting of the white background is.

Bayberry Quilt Show, current

The annual Bayberry Quilt Guild show is currently taking place at the conference center in Hyannis  (quite close to where I live) Over 250 quilts are on display.  They are an example of the art of modern quilting; there are some traditional bed quilts and many untraditional quilts both meant for bed and for display. Workmanship is mostly excellent, choice of color and design is bright, beautiful and sometimes surprising. Techniques go from a few (just a  few) quilts which are entirely hand made to many new designs and techniques using the latest sewing and quilting machines and the high quality, brilliantly designed modern fabric. I have not take photographs that show the range of what is on display.  Today the Cape Cod Times featured  three color photos from the show.  Below are some photos -- largely from the small art quilt group called Uncommon Threads of which I'm a member.
Our most artistically brilliant member, Robin McGuire is the "featured quilter of the year" with  display of nearly twenty quilts have astonished visitors and brought praise from the curator of Cape
Cod's major art museum. These photos are poor quality and only hint at what the work looks like. I will attempt to get more and better photos tomorrow.

 These are two of three exhibits of work by the Uncommon Threads group. To tell the truth in the top photo, I have forgotten who did the two on the let. The big sunflower with a button center in mine.  In quilts in the bottom photo were from a challenge in the group to make a piece inspired by a well known artist. The top is by Meredith called "Georgia's landscape." The dark middle piece was also inspired by O'Keefe although I don't remember what painting, the colorful piece on the right is Elaine inspired by Matisse. The bottom pieces which are seashells are mine and also inspired by O'Keefe, and Kathleen did the piece on the right inspired by Peter Maxx.

There  is a third small exhibit of some of he  postcards we made in a postcard challenge.  (We meet approximately once a month and  make something to a "challenge" or prompt with no rules about style, size, material.

Below are a couple of quilts from  the show. The bicycle wheels are astonishingly complex quilt piecing as well as clever use of the bicycle theme. The other is a more traditional quilt with an ocean theme -- there are several quilts in the show with reference to the ocean.  Possibly I will have more photos to post tomorrow. This is not at all an adequate sampling.  Remember a click on the photo enlarges it.

Seventh new quilt this summer

This is the 7th quilt I've finished  since mid-May, The one of strips that is a few posts down was sewn together in the fall and I only quilted the top--in the simplest wavy horizonal way possible, which took a good part of a morning.

The others were from scratch -- and scraps! This new one finished day before yesterday used up about 90% of my collection of 5x5 inch "charm" squares.There are a total of 320 and not many duplicates. Up close the variety of designs fascinates me.  This one will go on my bed ... when the weather cools down so I actually need a quilt at night ... because I love looking at the various things fabric designers do.

I had the binding fabric for at least five years and thought I might never use it -- it has a diagonal strip in a darker tone of blue. Whether I had enough was, shall we say, an educated guess because I decided that measuring and calculating was just too tedious. As it turned out I had a piece about 4x6 inches left over. That was amazing .... and simply lucky. The back has a a different green fabric on each of the squares (of 16 charms per square) so I made a nice dent in my over-abundant stash of green fabrics.

Even with so many quilts made of scraps and stash, I still have far more than I need and will keep on making scrap quilts although I may pause now and work on something more complex. One quilt I have in mind uses selvages because the one selvage quilt I made merely dented my bag of selvages. And I have another strip quilt in mind that could be a quickie ... there's no end of the possibilities.  Of course! 

A Bried Break From Quilting

July has been a marathon of quilt making-- all from scraps and I'm not done yet, not by any means. I'm working on one right now that has made a good dent in my 5x5" charms collection.

But all fabric and no nature makes June a narrow minded woman. We had a wonderful refreshing shower one morning last week.

 I looked out the window behind my desk and saw these leaves with globules of water (click on the picture to make it bigger). They just hung there catching the light. A little portion of my brain has been trying to find a poem in their tenacity but I haven't found it yet. I took a few photos so I could continue to look at them.

I am often much influenced by what I am reading. Right now I am dipping only a few pages at night into my bedside book, the biography of Leonardo di Vinci by Isaacson. Everything fascinated him, I know he would have sketched such a sight and wouldn't have stopped there. He'd think how to paint  the leaves, he'd think about gravity (before Newton), he'd consider the surface of the leaves that somehow capture the drops ... I can't even go on trying to understand his amazing mind. But knowing about his constant curiosity and search for understanding literally everything, I am reminded to pay attention too.