Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".
A Hawaiian quilt is a distinctive quilting style of the Hawaiian Islands that uses large radially symmetric applique patterns. Motifs often work stylized botanical designs in bold colors on a white background.
Hawaiian quilt applique is made from a single cut on folded fabric.Quilting stitches normally follow the contours of the applique design
The other day I paid a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado for the first time, and saw an incredible exhibit of Hawaiian Quilts.
Most of the quilts were from the 1930s and 1940s but there were several from the late 1800s.
Here are photos of many of the quilts in the exhibit. Most of them were Queen-bed sized, though a several appeared to be King-sized bed quilts and there were several wallhanging sized pieces.
The quilts were absolutely amazing!
After wandering around the exhibit, I stopped in the gift shop which was also a miniature quilt shop.
While browsing the gift shop, I discovered this book – an exhibition catalog for the show Rooted in Tradition: Art Quilts from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.
I ended up buying the book as not only did it contain amazing art quilts and profiles of quilters, but there were also at least three renown quilters in it that I’ve met and admired for a while:
Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi
Ed Johnetta Miller
Wendy Hill
I am so lucky in my art quilting journey so far I’ve had such fortunate brushes with greatness and inspirational talent in the quilting medium!
If you are a quilter, or someone who loves quilts, if you happen to be in the Denver area, I highly recommend a visit to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum!
I have some wonderful news to share and a follow up to my series of posts about my current solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower in downtown Seattle, Washington (most recent post Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part III).
The City of Seattle is purchasing three of my pieces made from recycled silks:
COLOR STORY I: FLYING TRIANGLES
COLOR STORY II: SILK LANDSCAPE
COLOR STORY IV: COLOR CHANGE
These pieces will become part of the City of Seattle’s permanent rotating art collection, like my piece that they purchased in 2016 – COLOR STORY V: ABANDONED WATER STRUCTURE:
Since 2016 this piece has rotated display through the City of Seattle’s offices. I was informed that currently it is on display at the City of Seattle Courthouse.
There are no words that would capture my excitement and the honor I feel that my pieces were selected for purchase. The whole experience has been magical. The City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture reached out to me about the solo show (which at first I misunderstood that they were inviting me to be part of a show with other artists).
I am so incredibly grateful to the coordinator of the Ethnic Heritage Arts Gallery, the Curator for the Office of Arts of Culture, and the talented person who hung my art quilts so beautifully at the Seattle Municipal Tower.
In addition to the three pieces being purchased by the City of Seattle, I also have two private collector purchases pending/in the works for these two pieces:
RECYCLED DENIM STORY III: RECYCLED ROAD
COLOR STORY VI: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG – THE VESSEL
I am also very honored that several friends of mine want to have my art in their homes!!!!
Now I need to make more art as my available collection is dwindling (and that is a good thing!)
No need for any petitions, tierneycreates Beastie and I have been in negotiations for a new space for her and Mikelet to hang out.
Free from the plastic box
I’ve moved them to the cutting area in my sewing area to hang out. Though this sounds like a potentially dangerous idea in case she begins playing with my rotary cutter – see post Guest Blogger: October Quilt Retreat Part II…
A friend at a quilt retreat handing a Beastie a rotary cutter…not the best idea…
Now I am just using the plastic box to store her off season clothes (her Aran sweater and hat beautiful knitted by Helen @Crawcrafts Beasties!)
Yes I know in her post New Studio Tour, Part II, Tierney threatened to post daily until she caught up on posts. Her friend Martha (@marthaginn.blogspot.com) rightly doubted her, but Tierney was convinced it was going to happen.
Well she fell off the “blogging wagon” again so it is time for me to intervene AGAIN.
Most of you know me, but if you are new to this blog, my name is tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster. You can read my story at I’m A Monster!!!. You can also check out the other posts I’ve had to guest blog on (when Tierney fell off the wagon) in the series of posts: Beastie Adventures.
I thought I would continue her series of posts about her new Studio (also known as her guest room with the dangerous carpeting potentially filled with sewing pins and needles) in her new Colorado apartment.
The reason why I am continuing this series as I want you to see where she has me living – you will likely be appalled!
Okay, since I want most of this post to be about me (because that is how Beasties are – it is all about us – just check out the blogs Crawcrafts Beasties and Tammie Painter and you will see what I mean!) I am going to begin with where I live in her studio: IN A BOX!
Yes, and I know you are shocked, she has Mikelet my miniature Miniature Schnauzer and I living in a plastic shoe box!
Most of the time I am standing up looking out like this:
But sometimes she just has me stored like this in the closet:
I hope you all won’t stop reading/following her blog in disgust! No worries, I am going to keep trying to convince her to let me (and Mikelet) wander free around her apartment as well as go on as many Beastie adventures in Colorado as possible.
I recently discovered she went to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and did not take me! If I can get Tierney back on track with blogging, she will share photos from her tour of the current amazing exhibit of Hawaiian quilts.
In case you are interested in other stuff in her studio besides me and Mikelet, here are details of some other things she has done to organize her studio.
Organizing Scraps
Tierney did tie on a color scraps to the handle of the baskets holding scraps to indicate the colors inside, thanks to an awesome suggestion from one of her readers.
Due to limited space, she had to group colors of scraps together and here is the organization scheme she went with:
Black and Gray
White and Cream
Black & White fabric scraps
Yellow, Brown and Orange
Purple, Pink and Red
Green (interestingly the largest volume of scraps she has are green scraps)
Blue, Teal and Aqua
She also created tags for the baskets which contain multiple colors of scraps such as her collections of Batik scraps, art fabric scraps (like Marcia Derse fabrics – see post Fabric Fangirl Frenzy) and shot cottons/linens scraps.
And here is a peek inside one of her crazy scrap baskets (her art fabrics scraps):
Yardage Fabrics and Coordinating Smaller Pieces
Tierney has limited space in her new apartment and is storing her fabric in tubs by color or theme in her two guest room closets. She does not really have the space at the time to pull out all her fabrics and organize them like she did in her Central Oregon home.
Project in Queue
She did buy some hanging wire shelves to keep her “projects in queue” organized:
I will try to get Tierney back on track as she still has a huge backlog of stuff to post about. I am just glad I got to take a break from being stuck in the closet!
(Not to mention she has a LOT of “projects in queue”…)
Postscript
The real reason Tierney has not been blogging as she has been goofing off and exploring the greater Denver metro area she now lives. Here she is last weekend taking big Mike on a bike ride in his backpack around the area.
I had to ask her for this photo since Mikelet and I were not invited!!!!
I am ready to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my local public library. This is my first stack from my NEW local library in the Denver greater metro area!
I live within walking distance of a public library branch and last week I wandered over and selected my first stack! It was so fun to walk back home with my stack:
So far I’ve finished browsing through the books The Quilting Arts Idea Book by Vivika Hansen Denegre and Global Bohemian by Fifi O’Neill. I enjoyed both of these books immensely! Lots of art quilt and decorating inspiration!
As my library is so close, I will probably keep my library stacks small instead of the mega library stacks I used to borrow from previous Central Oregon public library (which I transported home by car). I love the idea of being able to quickly walk to the library!
Option B
It’s been a while since I shared a recent audiobook listen and I am currently listening to a fantastic audiobook (borrowed from the library of course) – Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resistance, and Finding Joyby Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant.
If Sheryl Sandberg’s name sounds familiar, she is the former Google executive and Facebook Chief Operations Officer who wrote the wildly popular book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Several years following her success from that book and becoming an internationally known speaker, writer and business mogul, her beloved husband suddenly and unexpectedly passed, just like how I lost my husband in December 2018.
This book is about how she faced her grief, rebuilt her life and achieved “post-traumatic growth”. The interesting thing is I tried to read this book over a year ago (before my loss) and lost interest in it after a couple chapters. Now I am devouring it and gaining a lot of insight.
I can relate on so many level to what Sheryl Sandberg shares in her first hand account of experiencing one of the most awful things that can happen to you – losing your life partner. I do not think I was ready to read/listen to this book until now. I like to think that the Universe is helping give me what I need when I am ready for it.
What is Option B? Well Option A would be for your loved one to still be alive. But Option A is not available. So you have to find your Option B.
“Option A is not available. so let’s just kick the sh*t out of Option B.”
“Life is never perfect. We all live some form of Option B.”
I will close out this post with a couple additional quotes from this powerful book.
“Resilience comes from deep within us and from support outside us. It comes from gratitude for what’s good in our lives and from leaning in to the suck. It comes from analyzing how we process grief and from simply accepting that grief. Sometimes we have less control than we think. Other times we have more. I learned that when life pulls you under, you can kick against the bottom, break the surface, and breathe again.”
“…post-traumatic growth could take five different forms: finding personal strength, gaining appreciation, forming deeper relationships, discovering more meaning in life, and seeing new possibilities.”
“Some things in life cannot be fixed. They can only be carried.”
Finally, here is one of my favorite quotes from the book so far:
“I am more vulnerable than I thought, but much stronger than I ever imagined.”
As many of you know who have followed my blog for a while, in December 2018 my husband, my life-partner, and best friend who was also known on this blog as “Terry the Quilting Husband” (he was a quilter also) suddenly and unexpectedly passed.
Shortly after his passing I made the big life decision to relocate and a couple of weeks ago I moved (along with Mike my Miniature Schnauzer) from Central Oregon to the greater Denver metro area to start my new life.
Another major life change that occurred at the time of this move was to move from a house into an apartment. I’ve not lived in an apartment since I was in nursing school. Wait, I take that back, Terry and I did live in an apartment for a year when we first moved to Houston, Texas while he was in the military but as soon as we could we bought a house.
But that was still back in my 20s. And I am a wee bit older now than 20 – ha! Let’s just say I’ve lived in houses significantly longer than I lived in apartments.
I’m considering “apartment living” a year experiment. I did sign a year’s lease and during my year in the apartment I can decide what will be next in my living situation. I might buy a house on my own, I might stay in my apartment, I might rent a house instead of an apartment. We’ll see! (Your guess is as good as mine at this point).
I am rambling and you are probably waiting for the quilt tour that I promised. Let me just continue with a tiny bit more introduction to the tour.
To make my new apartment feel homey, I decorated it with many of the quilts I had on my walls at my house. As my apartment is smaller than my house, it might appear to some that I have an “intense concentration of quilts” on my walls and strewn about the house. I say “get over it, it makes me happy!”
So finally, here is the Apartment Quilt Tour:
MY ENTRYWAY/HALLWAY
The wood piece to the left of the quilt pictured above, was made by my friend Cody G. out of recycled pallet wood. What is extra cool about this piece, besides it is a lovely gift from a friend, is that he had no idea of the colors in the quilt next to it. He just took a guess on a palette that would work with the pallet piece (yes, you likely guessed I had to Google the spelling of palette as in a color palette vs. the spelling of wooden pallet – English is so complicated!)
In addition to quilts, I have some handmade small items in my entryway – one of my miniature kimonos and a collection of my miniature pillows. I used to sell these on my now closed tierneycreates Etsy shop.
HALLWAY TO THE KITCHEN AND HOME OFFICE AREA
On the way into the kitchen and in my home office area (I am a telecommuter), I have a couple quilts hung:
THE KITCHEN
In the small dining area attached to the kitchen I have a quilted wallhanging:
THE LIVING ROOM
There are layers of quilts in the living room as well as a couple on the wall.
The quilt pictured above was the first quilt that I had in book. Several of the blocks were featured in the book 1000 Quilting Inspirations by Sandra Sider, along with several of my first recycled silk art quilts.
THE MASTER BEDROOM
I discovered something very exciting: the Sunflower quilt wallhanging I thought I had accidentally donated to a Central Oregon charity thrift shop was actually just packed away in a strange place. When I finally full unpacked I found it! So I put it up using Command Strips on the door to my bedroom!
I have what some might consider a ridiculous amount of quilts up on the wall of my bedroom, but them make me happy!
Oh I should mention – you might gasp that some of the quilts are not hung properly. Some have wooden hangers (which use a marble inside to hold the quilt in place), while some are hung up with…gasp…thumb tacks!
Do not worry, the thumb tack hangings are only temporary, I just wanted to make sure I liked where they were hung before I mounted the wooden hangers.
And finally the space I’ve shared already in a previous post – the guest room/studio.
GUEST ROOM/STUDIO
In addition to quilts I’ve made, I also have some special quilts that friends have made up on the walls. I completely forgot to photographed those for this post, but I figured I have shown you enough quilts up on my wall for now (smile).
Time to step back and catch up you up on some of my adventures from the past several months.
At the end of February I joined my Seattle area based friends Judy and Dana at the 2019 Sew & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington.
I will share photos from the 2019 Expo in a future post but this post about how I became a crazed FABRIC FANGIRL when I got to meet my favorite fabric designer Marcia Derse at the Expo!
I’ve loved Marcia Derse fabrics for many years and first discovered them at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon when I lived in Central Oregon.
I’ve made several quilts with her fabrics, such as this one below:
I also have a ridiculous collection of fat quarters of her fabrics (collected over the years from the Stitchin’ Post) and some yardage including prints and solids:
So when I saw that she had a booth at the 2019 Sew & Stitchery Expo I had to go introduce myself as her “biggest fabric fan” and generally embarrass myself with my fabric fangirl frenzy. I did not even know she was going to be at Expo – what an incredible surprise as I wandered through all the booths with my friends.
She was very humble and gracious and showed me her new fabric line as well as existing fabric lines (which I was quite familiar):
She also had on display some of her amazing quilts made with her fabrics:
I dragged my friend Dana over to introduce her to Marcia Derse and her fabric line and before you know it, Marcia was helping Dana select fabrics for an impromptu quilt idea:
Dana left the booth with a nice collection of Marcia Derse fabrics:
Of course I left the booth with fabrics – including Marcia Derse’s new spectacular art prints:
It was very exciting to have Marcia herself packaging up my fabric!
Here are my new acquisitions with my existing collection of Marcia Derse fabrics:
Postscript
We ran into my friend, New York Times Best Selling Author Marie Bostwick at Sew Expo and had her autograph a book for my friend Lisa, who is one of her biggest fans.
I took the advice of @KNITNKWILT and removed the quotes from around the word “Studio” in the title of this follow up post – I am just going to accept it is my STUDIO.
I am still giggling over the advice and comments from @CEDAR51:
I would remove “guest room” and say outright to a guest “yes, I have space in my workroom for you to stay…but tread carefully there maybe the odd pin on the floor (or similar)”
Additionally I took the awesome advice of @ANNE54 and tied a scrap of the color of the fabric scraps in the basket to the little basket handle on front to quickly identify what color is in the basket:
After my previous post, I began working on the cleaning up the edges of the quilt I got professional long-arm quilted before I moved from Central Oregon to Colorado in my new kitchen cutting station:
I really like my kitchen cutting station (and my master bedroom ironing station I shared in the previous post).
I have the binding machine stitched to the quilt now and now I am working on sewing down the binding by hand in the evenings while watching TV with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer.
One thing that is pretty clear – I have a lot of quilts, afghans and pillows in my apartment. What used to be spread about a three-bedroom home is now condensed into my smaller apartment!
For example – here is the bench at the back of my sofa in my living room. You can see the quilt that I am currently hand sewing the binding down in the middle of the back of the sofa.
Postscript
Be warned – I am going to try to post daily for a while to try and catch up on all the posts I have in my head (quite the backlog!)
These two topics – Oh, Scrap, Part II and New “Studio” Tour, were going to be two different posts but I decided to combine them into one post since they are sort of tied together.
I’ve been getting settled into my new apartment in the greater Denver metro area and I guess I’ve completed my series of posts “Colorado Bound” as now I am in Colorado!
I’ve never lived alone in my entire life, so it has been a huge transition now living alone, but I am trying to embrace it and enjoy that I can set up my apartment however I desire.
Those of you who’ve followed my blog for a long time (some of you for over 5+ years) might remember what my craft/quilt studio area looked like in my former Central Oregon home (which by the way has sold and is now someone else’s home). It was in a small back bedroom in my three-bedroom home, but it worked for me.
Now living in a two-bedroom apartment my best choice for a studio area was to turn my second bedroom into a guest room/studio area. I will give a little tour of that new space in this post, but first I want to share a follow up to post from January 2018 – “Oh Scrap“.
Oh Scrap, Part II
It is always an ongoing challenge to find the best way to organize my…extensive? ridiculous? pathologically large? fabric scrap collection. I’ve experimented with various iterations of fabric scrap organization including organizing them by color into boxes like these:
Or just throwing them all together into a large bag:
As you can imagine, unless you just want to work with random scraps, the “all in one bag” idea did not work for me.
However as I was packing up for my move to Colorado, I came up with an idea: why not use this old shelf unit I had in my sun room in my former house (which easily disassembles for moving) with the baskets I used to store magazines in, to organize and easily access my fabric scraps?
And here is the unit in the guest bedroom/studio of my new apartment:
I have my fabric scraps organized by color or theme (i.e. I have a basket of light batik scraps and a basket of dark batik scraps, etc.).
Now for the rest of the room.
New “Studio” Tour
I put the word “studio” in quotes because I am using this term loosely. It’s not really a studio per se but a place to sew in my guest bedroom, where I’ve used the guest bedroom closets to store my fabric and crafting supplies.
I embraced the concept of “Whole House Crafting” (which I previously discussed in the June 2016 post Whole House Crafting) and put a larger cutting area on my large kitchen island and an ironing station in my master bedroom.
Mike the Miniature Schnauzer wanted to share that he approves of the guest room/studio space as it meets his coziness standards!
He also appreciates the schnauzer themed decor!
Postscript
Speaking of coziness (or “cosiness” for my friends on the other side of the pond), I thought I would share a little follow up to the February 2019 post From “Orphan Blocks” to Pillows.
A couple of months ago I made these two little pillows from leftover blocks from a quilt I made many years ago:
Well Mike is now enjoying one of the pillows as his napping pillow!
Not sure he wanted to be disturbed but I just had to take a photo!
Run, don’t walk, to your nearest online bookstore (Barnes & Noble, Powells, Amazon, etc.) and buy the recently released book for the WCQN exhibit Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience by Dr. Carolyn L. Mazloomi.
My piece “The Lesson & The Equation” is on pages 18 and 19; in addition to many mind blowing and powerful pieces.
This book and nationally touring exhibit celebrates the 70th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Can you tell my excitement? You know of course this advertisement is tongue-in-cheek but if you are interested you can find this book on several online bookstores.
If you are new to this blog, the story behind this exhibit, my piece, and samples of other amazing pieces in this national traveling show can be found on these posts:
Do not panic, Tierney is not going to drop again from blogging. It’s just that I want to share this post about my visit last week to the AMAZING Seattle Public Library.
By the way, this is the tierneycreates Beastie guest blogging on this post. If you are new to this blog you can read more about me on this post – I’m A Monster!!!.
Architecturally the library is amazing and here is a tour by the Seattle Public Library:
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how Tierney and I feel about public libraries (they are magical places). The Central Library has 10 floors open to the public and an extensive catalogue.
Much to my disappointment Tierney did not let me ride the escalators alone (and she kept close tabs on me) but here are photos from our hour wandering about the Central Library.
Library Exterior
The Directory
Riding the Escalators!
(I think I would have been perfectly fine riding on the escalators alone but Tierney was so controlling!)
Searching for the Crafting Section
Browsing the Crafting Section
Tierney was focused on the quilting section, while I looked through the knitting books (as I was knitted and I like book about my origins).
Tierney discovered several books that she wants to put on hold at her new local greater Denver metro area library:
Yes, before you know it, she will likely continue her series of posts The Library Stack with her borrowings from her new library!
Cafe and Gift Shop
Yes, the Central Library has a cafe and gift shop which supports the library foundation!
We had a great time even if Tierney did not let me ride the escalators on my own and she did not let me try and use my library card to borrow any books (see reminded me this was not our library).
Postscript
No worries, Tierney will return to catching up on sharing stories from her recent adventures in the next post! I will not let her slack off!
I am getting settled in my new Colorado apartment after relocating from Central Oregon to the Greater Denver Metro area.
Finally, here is the final post in my series of posts about my first solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower’s Ethnic Heritage Art Gallerylocated at 700 5th Ave in downtown Seattle, Washington. The show is curated by the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture.
I stayed with friends in West Seattle and as parking in downtown Seattle is crazy, even though they offered to loan me one of their cars, I took the bus to the event. I arrived early and had time to wander around the amazing downtown Seattle library (I will share photos from that wander in another post).
After wandering around the library with my tierneycreates Beastie (who loves libraries also – see posts Beastie Colorado Adventure Begins and Beastie Outing: Trip to the Library) it was time to head into the Seattle Municipal Tower for the show opening, but not without first taking some photos of the entry and this downtown Seattle skyscraper:
As you can see in my above selfie, I was pretty darn excited.
Show Opening: The Wardrobe Meets the Wall
The show (The Wardrobe Meets the Wall: Art Quilts Created from Recycled Clothing and Garment Manufacturing Samples) opened with a presentation by board members the the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery board on background and mission of the gallery, and then an introduction about me and my work.
Next, after providing an overview of my work, I did a presentation on the story behind the show and working with recycled materials. Then did a walk through tour and presentation on all 12 pieces I have in the show, sharing the story behind each piece.
Here are photos from the show which is on display until 07/15/2019. The gallery did a wonderful job of creating large placards for each piece that provided my full artist statement so that visitors could read the full story behind each piece.
A nice crowd attended the opening which included board members of the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery board, downtown Seattle workers, my work colleagues in the Seattle office of my employer, and longtime friends who live in Seattle. I enjoyed walking the crowd through the 12 pieces and telling the story behind each piece (and no one appeared to fall asleep).
The Gallery also provided an area for flyers and my business cards if anyone was interested. I had generic business card created for the show as these cards are accessible by the public who has access to the gallery.
Additionally here are some photos taken the day before the show opening right after the pieces were hung, by my friend Loren who works at the Seattle Municipal Tower:
The whole experience was exciting but a little exhausting. I’ve been in several art shows in the past and have attended openings but it is a different experience when you are the only artist and it is your show!
When the show closes 07/15/2019, a Seattle based friend is going to collect the pieces from the gallery and deliver them to me when she visits me in the Denver area in late July. I do have two buyers interested in several of the pieces so I might have a couple art quilt sales in the near future.
After the Show
After the show I met up with a large group of Seattle friends at a lovely Dim Sum restaurant in the University Village area – Din Tai Fung.
We sat for hours visiting and having wonderful conversations while dining on delicious Taiwanese cuisine such as these wonderful vegetable dumplings below:
Postscript
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am settling into my new Colorado apartment. It has been an interesting transition from living in a house most of my life to now living in an apartment but so far, so good.
I wrote this blog post from my kitchen table this morning while eating breakfast and sipping on tea.
Mike my miniature schnauzer is getting used to all these people and dogs living in “his house” (he thinks the whole inside the apartment complex is his home but for some reason he and I only live in one section of it – ha!).
I’ve discovered it is going to take more than the Beastie Blogging Intervention that I posted on 04/13/19. Tierney has still not returned to blogging during her move to Colorado. So I have to intervene again and update you all. (By the way, Tierney did find my shoe before we left Central Oregon).
We are currently in phase one of our move to Colorado. All of Tierney’s stuff is packed up and traveling via moving truck, with her car in tow, to her new home in the Denver metro area. Her awesome longtime friend Jason is driving her stuff and also letting Mike her Miniature Schnauzer serve as co-pilot and ride with him! We decided that my dog Mikelet would travel with Tierney and me and not ride with Mike and Jason (he is small and could get lost somewhere in the moving van).
Currently we are hanging out at the airport on our way to Seattle and I discovered that the airport as a LIBRARY! It is called a…wait for it…FLYBRARY!
Is that not completely adorable (not as adorable as I am but still adorable!). Tierney’s beloved library, Deschutes Public Library, set up a couple stations in the airport for free book exchange. You can pick up a book for your flight or donate a book for someone else’s flight at the Flybrary!
Of course I had to browse some of the books and see if there was anything that Tierney and I needed for our flight.
We did not find anything for us to read so I’ve gone back to waiting in my seat for the plane ride to Seattle.
Still hoping Tierney will start blogging again, but for now I will have to fill in.
After the Seattle show, Tierney, Mikelet and I will fly to Denver to begin our new life and reunite with big Mike (well compared to my Mikelet, Mike is pretty big).
Photo from June 2018 of Mikelet and Mike riding in the car together
Postscript
Oh Tierney’s friend Jason sent photos this morning from the road trip with Mike in the moving van and he is having a good time so far napping or looking out the window.
Hello readers of tierneycreates! You’ve likely noticed Tierney of tierneycreates has fallen off the “blogging posting wagon”. She would claim this is due to being very busy working on her move to Colorado (see her series of posts Colorado Bound). So I am going to have to take over and get a post out there.
A Little About The Guest Blogger
If you are new to this blog, let me introduce myself: I am tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster.
You can read my story and see some of my adventures in the series of posts – Beastie Adventures. Here is the post that started that series on when I first arrived to Central Oregon to join Tierney – I’m a Monster.
I was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved (well was shipped) to Central Oregon to join Tierney of tierneycreates in June 2018. I am so glad my maker, Helen of Crawcrafts Beasties (crawcraftsbeasties.com), made me a laptop so I could help Tierney with blog posts!
Here I am using my makeshift desk:
Sometimes I have to look over my glasses to see the small text on my laptop, just like Tierney does:
Sometimes I have to look over my glasses while writing
In addition to a laptop for blogging, I also came with my dog Mikelet (a miniature Miniature Schnauzer) as well as my library card. So just like Tierney I could enjoy all that the public library has to offer.
What Has The Mysterious Tierney Been Up To?
Well Tierney has been working intensely to finish packing for her move to the greater Denver metropolitan area in the near future.
Sampler Quilt – I cannot locate Tierney’s original post on this quilt but she was using it as a tablecloth and finally decided to have it professionally long-arm quilted to become a quilt. She is going to put on the binding after she moves to her new place. (Tierney promises that someday she will find the original post about this quilt and share a full photo of the quilted quilt with its binding on.)
In addition to packing and sewing down binding, Tierney has been traveling a lot and recently returned from a trip to Northern California to visit some of her quilting sisters. She took lots of photos at the quilt shops they visited and will share on a future post.
Well that’s all I have for now and I will try to work with Tierney to get her back on track with blogging (and catching up on the posts of the bloggers she follows).
I will leave you with a recent photo of Tierney and Mike (who my Mikelet was named after) and overall they are doing okay:
You know because they endure you totally geeking out over your new public library!
If you’ve been a follower of this blog for more than a couple months you know what a Public Library Nut I am. I do have a whole series of posts – The Library Stack – about my current library loans.
While I was visiting the Greater Denver Colorado Metro area March 20 to March 24 to find an apartment to rent, I checked out the local public library in the area where my new selected apartment resided.
My friend Michele endured me chatting with the library staff, getting a tour of the library and totally geeking out over a new 700 section to explore! She was extremely patient!
What I could not believe is the library allowed me to get my new library card before I actually moved there, I just had to give them my new address:
To me a library card is like gold!
Here is a little taste of my new library which is walking distance of my new apartment!
So much crafting book yumminess awaiting me at my new library!
They also had a cool section called “Lucky Day” where the latest releases of books and movies were available first come first serve. They cannot be renewed and these are copies that cannot be put on hold when they are in the “Lucky Day” section. While looking at the “Lucky Day” section I chatted with a library patron who was very excited about her lucky new release find!
So as I am wandering around my new neighborhood I can peek into the library whenever I am nearby and see if it is my “lucky day”!
Now some of you might be thinking: “wow, she has no life”. What can I say, ever since I was a preteen I have been in love with the library, it is a sanctuary!
Postscript
I continue to spend my evenings packing but I made it through packing my books and magazines and now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Last evening I worked on packing my kitchen and realized I had a pathological amount of spatulas. I did not realize I had some sort of spatula obsession. I did pare it down to just two. If I suddenly need more spatulas, I am sure they have more in Colorado!
So I told myself I would not allow myself to post again until I caught up on all the blogs I follow. Alas, I have not made a dent in catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts, but what the heck, I am going to sneak in a quick post 🙂
This is a follow up to my post 03/17/19 post Library MEGA Stack!. One of the books in the stack was Mary Randolph Carter’s book Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This?I might have to buy this book someday as I so enjoyed it and it was the perfect book to give me peace right now.
Image credit: Amazon
Those of you following my blog for a while know that I’ve dabbled in Minimalism (see series of posts My Minimalism Journey). I’ve been successful in downsizing over the years and Marie Kondo’s (author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing) quote has gotten me through the letting go of my husband’s stuff after he passed in December 2018):
The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past. – Marie Kondo
I’ve been working on packing for my move to Colorado (see series of posts Colorado Bound) and I would not recommend packing as a hobby. Here is an example of the current nightmare:
I’ve been struggling with the amount of crafting supplies I am bringing with me to Colorado. However after reading Mary Randolph Carter’s book I am more peaceful and accepting of my stuff. She had a wonderful chapter on Guilt and discusses her own investigation and readings into minimalism in a very thoughtful way.
Even Marie Kondo states you should have in your life only those things that ‘spark joy’ and my craft supplies bring me a lot of joy (as does my ridiculous collection of crafting related books).
So I decided to “Never Stop to Think…Do I Have A Place for This?” when it comes to the craft supplies I love!
Mary Randolph Carter also has another wonderful book – A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of a Misspent Life.
In my spousal loss grief support group, the facilitator emphasized that the person you were (your core will stay the same) before the loss of your spouse will likely change. Such a major life loss permanently changes you in some way. I definitely see myself lightening up on rules I’ve tried to live by in the past.
I doubt I will become someone featured in the television show “Hoarders” in the future but I am not going to hesitate (as long there is no harm to others) to do what makes me happy and not really care what others think!
Postscript
As I mentioned in a previous post, I did decided to rent a 2 bedroom apartment in Colorado, instead of the 1 bedroom I had originally planned. I am very excited about my nearly 1200 square feet (111.5 square meters) apartment and I’ve already begun decorating it in my mind!
In a future post I will share my new plan for fabric scraps organization at my new place. And of course I have a zillion other things to blog about 🙂
Okay now back to trying to catch up on my blogging buddies posts!
Here is my next installment in my new series of posts “Colorado Bound” which began with this post: Colorado Bound (Part I). It is also a continuation of my series Life in B&W in which I pretend that I am a real photographer expanding my portfolio of Black & White Photos taken with my iPhone camera (isn’t that what real photographers use?!?!?).
I recently returned from a 5 day trip to the Denver Colorado area to visit friends and to tour apartments to live in. We toured 10 apartment complexes between Boulder and Denver and I settled on a place in a suburb of Denver, in the Denver Greater Metropolitan area (this is the web and you never know who is reading so that is as many details as I will provide in this public forum).
I did end up getting a 2 bedroom apartment which even has a separate nook with a built in desk for telecommuting! I was originally going to be very minimalist and thrifty but decided that if I am going to work from home I need space. Additionally it will be nice for visitors and to have a decent space for crafting.
I decided to rent in a “boutique apartment complex” type of place for a year which has included a fitness center, a pool, community activities, and other wonderful amenities. It will be sort of like living in a hotel for a year!
In addition to touring apartments (my friend was incredible driving me around on the first day to tour 5 apartments and loaning me her car the next day when she had to work to let me tour on my own), we went on a wonderful tour of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distilleryas well as attended an incredible concert by the Boulder, CO based acapella group Face Vocal Band.
I will feature some photos from Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery tour in another post.
Oh and if you enjoyed the video by Face Vocal Band above performing a traditional song, here they are again performing a contemporary popular music hit. Note all the percussion sounds are done by voices of the performers, no instruments!
I so appreciate my friends Michele and her husband Blair introducing me to this fun band!
Okay so let’s get to the Black & White photos I threatened to share in the title of this post (smile).
Colorado in Black & White
Michele, Blair and I went for a lovely hike on the Sunday before I returned home. Here are some photos from that walk:
Postscript
I thought I would start with my recent trip to Colorado as it is fresh on my mind, but I have a backlog of other stories and posts to come 🙂
Last week I was in Seattle, Washington for a work meeting and while I was in Seattle I dropped of my 12 art quilts that will be in my solo show at the Seattle Municipal Tower in Downtown Seattle opening 04/18/19 and running through 07/16/19.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Patricia S. the Coordinator for the City of Seattle’s Ethnic Heritage Gallery and Blake H. the Curator and Collections Manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. They seemed pleased with the art quilts I had selected for the show.
I got to tour the gallery space in the Seattle Municipal Tower in downtown Seattle.
Here is some of the gallery space (I took photos quickly as I had to get to a work meeting in another section of downtown Seattle):
Here is the reception area where the opening reception will be held:
And here is the draft flyer for the show which is titled “The Wardrobe Meets the Wall: Art Quilts Created from Recycled Clothing & Garment Manufacturing Samples”.
The show’s curator said he loved the title, the concept and thought the art quilts were beautiful (I had a “trunk show” in the lower lobby/gallery area for the Coordinator and Curator).
The show opens at 12 noon on 04/18/19 at 700 5th Avenue, Seattle Washington. See you there if you are in the area! (My head is still reeling that the City of Seattle invited me to have a solo show…)
Postscript
Downtown Seattle in B&W
I could not refuse the opportunity to take photos of downtown Seattle Washington in black & white while I walked from my meeting with the City of Seattle on the show, to my employer’s office.
I guess you could consider this postscript a continuation of my series of posts – Life in B&W.
And then there was the magnificent Downtown Seattle Public Library which I used to browse when I lived in Seattle 15 years ago:
Before I begin this post, I just want to reach out to my NZ blogging friends and let you know I am thinking of you. I am so sorry to hear of the recent terrible tragedy in your beautiful country.
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind and I have lots to blog about in the next several posts:
I’ve visited friends in Gig Harbor, Washington and attended the Sew & Stitchery Expo;
Returned to Seattle again for a brief business trip, met with the City of Seattle, toured the and got to tour the gallery space for my first solo show in April;
Continue to prep for my big move to Colorado at the end of April (see series of posts Colorado Bound); and
In the near future I travel to Denver to visit a friend and tour 10 (yes 10) rentals I’ve researched for my future home (looking between Boulder and Denver, CO and in a future post in my Colorado Bound series I will share more about how I got to 10).
Should I also mention need to create a piece for an invitational only juried show that I really want to get into? I was invited in the Fall of 2018, before my husband passed away in December 2018. I will see after my visit to the Denver area to find my housing if I think I can whip out an art quilt before the closing of the show entry date on June 15.
In between all this mixture of fun and crazy schedule, I am still grieving the loss of my partner of more than 1/2 my life, Terry the Quilting Husband.
I was having a rough patch of grief earlier this week and I had a wonderful conversation with one of the physicians I work with, Liz, who is also a friend. She strongly suggested that I take some “self-care” time and slow my life down a bit.
I decided to take her advice and had a “Self-Care Saturday” yesterday which involved a visit to my local library to get a MEGA library stack!
So let’s continue my ongoing (and long-time neglected) series – The Library Stack – in which I share my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library (and in the next couple of months will have to change to the Denver or Boulder area public library system).
Leisurely Lounging, Library & Lunch
By Thursday of last week I decided that Saturday was only going to be for me. I was going to relax and have fun. A dear friend invited me to have breakfast with her on Saturday and I declined telling her I was “busy”. As much as I would have enjoyed her company, I wanted to keep my commitment to myself (I was “busy” – I was busy taking care of myself).
Saturday morning, Mike the miniature schnauzer and I spent hours leisurely lounging in bed (including breakfast in bed for me) and binge watching documentaries on space and astrophysics – two of my favorite documentary topics.
Here we are binge watching, but I think Mike is just napping – ha!
Of course maybe Mike’s giant schnauzer cushion is blocking his view of the television…
After a couple documentaries, Mike and I headed out for a long walk around the neighborhood.
Then I headed out for a special treat – to return to my local downtown library and spend an hour browsing in my favorite sections – crafting and home decorating.
Here is the crazy MEGA library stack of borrowed books that resulted from my leisurely browsing:
A couple of the books are repeat loans but most of them are new to me. It appears the library acquired more yummy crafting and home decor books while I was away for a couple months!
After my library browsing, I took myself to lunch (yummy tapas) and brought one of my library books along to start reading while I ate my delicious patatas bravas and rockfish taco:
A solitary lunch with a good book can be quite exquisite.
The New Bohemians Handbook
I’ve borrowed Justina Blackeney’s book The New Bohemians: Cool and Collected Homes, several times in the past from my library.
image credit: amazon.com
How delightful it was to discover during my library browsing that she has a new book: The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes:
image credit: amazon.com
I loved her previous book and this new book is excellent timing for me to discover as soon I will be working on decorating my new apartment (which will be much smaller than my current home).
The “Bohemian” style really appeals to me. I’ve always referred to my style of interior decorating as “cozy and random”. I think “Bohemian” sounds even better!
In this book the author proposes that there is a “deep connection between home decor and well-being”. She recommends five (5) processes to achieve that sense of well-being with your home decor:
Clarity
Flow
Spirit
Growth
Harmony
It was a wonderful book to read and browse through during my delicious lunch at a local Tapas Eatery.
I look forward to finishing the book and working my way through the rest of the MEGA Library Stack!
I believe creativity and good vibes can save the world.
This post is sort of a follow up to my previous post Love Wears it Out (Repost). I ordered someone to WEAR OUT a quilt!
Very Special Occasion Required
My original “Quilting Sister” (the woman who got me quilting) Judy always stated in response to people who would say to her “oh I wish you would make me a quilt“, is that you need to have a very special occasion to get a quilt: you have a baby, you get married, or you have some other very special occasion.
As quilts are a lot of work/time to make, not to mention a lot of money to make (more than non-quilters realize – see the TheQuiltShow’s July 2018 post – How Much Does It Cost to Make a Quilt? ), I’ve generally stuck to this rule.
Now, of course I’ve made quilts for special people in my life just because they are special. And as I’ve learned over the years, not everyone appreciates handmade items or appreciates the time and effort that went into it (I always remember the awful story a friend shared of discovering that a beautiful quilt she made for someone was being used to clean up an oil spill in recipient’s garage!).
But for the most part it is pretty darn exciting to give someone a quilt for a special occasion or because they are a special person.
Ordered to “Wear Out” a Quilt
Well my friends Cody and Cici are getting married this summer (a qualifying reason to get a quilt!), and although I have not known them a long time, I consider them special people and they really appreciate handmade items, so I sent them an early wedding gift – a quilt that I made with my late husband (who passed in December 2018), Terry the Quilting Husband.
I sent it to them with one very important stipulation: THEY MUST USE IT AND WEAR IT OUT.
Cody is an avid fly fisherman and so was my husband Terry. A couple years ago Terry selected a collection of fishing themed flannels and designed this quilt which I helped him assemble. Here are photos of the front of the quilt (which was so busy with fishing prints I sort of cringed when he designed it – ha!) and the back of the quilt (which was my idea to calm down the front!):
One for the Road
So I knew Cody would love the quilt but I was a little worried his Cici might cringe. But I thought I would take a chance and send it to them as a their wedding gift.
They are super active outdoors people and have a cool Sprinter van that they use for long distance camping adventures, so I suggested that this very warm heavy flannel quilt be used for those adventures.
Well they both love the quilt and they complied! The quilt has already gone on its first van adventure:
Photo courtesy of Cody G.
Cody and Cici sent me photos of them wrapped in their favorite sides of the quilt!
I am working on a move to Colorado (see my series of posts Colorado Bound) and I need to lighten my load and this was a great way to do it. I know Terry would approve the quilt going to people who will love it and use it well!
I hope this quilt gets completely worn out to the point of being threadbare from a lifetime of adventures and road trips!
It is “one for the road”.
Postscript
I’m so honored my friend, author Marie Bostwick, reposted one of my blog posts (Valentines) on her blog Fierce Beyond 50, (which has a MUCH larger readership than my blog):
Yesterday, during the weekly Spousal Loss Grief Support Group I attend, the book The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams was mentioned.
This made me think of a post I wrote in 2013 answering the question: “How do you know a quilt has been loved?” in which I quote this beautiful book.
Thought I would repost this post today.
How do you know a quilt has been loved?
It is worn, frayed, maybe even threadbare.
In my early days of quilting this would make me cringe. I put all that work into a quilt and now it is all worn out?
Now the thought of one my quilts being so loved (just think of that glorious book The Velveteen Rabbit) brings a huge smile to my face.
While talking to my sister (she has many quilts from me) she mentioned that most of the quilts I have made her are very worn out, some are just “hanging on by thread” about to fall apart.
I take quilt construction seriously and for a second I thought “wow shoddy workmanship on my part” and “why did they not take better care of the quilts”? I came to my senses several seconds later and realized: Wow! Those quilts have been truly loved – I am so lucky and so honored!
I think of what my first quilting mentor and dear friend, Judy D, once told me:
“If a quilt is falling apart, all worn out, then it has been truly loved…I never mind repairing a quilt that has been loved”.
Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
image credit: amazon.com
“Real isn’t how you are made, it’s a thing that happens to you… When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes…When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up..or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once..You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Thank you to all the people I have made quilts for over the years, who have truly loved them, and made them REAL.
Postscript
Re-posting this post also made me think of an art quilt I finished in April 2018 titled Recycled Denim Story V: Recycled Love (2018). This piece is part of my Recycled Denim Story Series of art quilts (see my page Art Quilt Stories for more of the series).
Recycled Love (see post The Recycled Love) honors all the love that goes into making and giving a quilt to someone.
Here is the Artist Statement that explains the story behind this quilt made from all recycled materials:
The first law of thermodynamics states that the total amount of energy in a system cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. A quilt is made from changing the existing “love energy” from the quilt maker’s heart into a pieced textile; ultimately recycling that love energy into the quilt’s recipient heart.
A couple weeks ago I was contacted by a member of the City of Seattle’s Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery (EHAG) and invited to participate in what I thought was an art show featuring myself and other artists at the Seattle Municipal Tower in downtown Seattle, Washington. This show was to run from April to July 2019.
Image credit: Seattle Municipal Tower
In August 2016, the City of Seattle purchased one of my art quilts made from recycled silk and linen couture fabrics, Abandoned Water Structure (see the post Seattle Public Utilities’ Portable Works Collection).
This piece was part of the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture exhibit “Your Body of Water, Part II” at the Seattle Municipal Tower gallery from April to July 2017 (see post “Your Body of Water” Exhibit, Seattle Municipal Tower Gallery).
I thought I was invited to participate in the April – July 2019 show at the Seattle Municipal Tower because I was a member of this roster and they were doing a show featuring artists on this roster.
Last week, however, I discovered that I misunderstood. I was not invited to be part of a show, I was invited to have my own SOLO show!
I also discovered I was invited to have a solo show because a member of the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery worked in a building in which my piece Abandoned Water Structure was hung and looked at it every day for a year. She wanted to work with me and give me an opportunity to have a show featuring more of my work because of what Abandoned Water Structure meant to her!
The show (name of show pending) featuring my work opens at noon on 04/18/19 and run through 07/15/19. I will be attending the show opening in Seattle.
Over the next couple of weeks I will be focusing on:
Preparing my existing pieces from my catalogue for the show (tentatively I have 8 – 10 art quilts for the show);
Providing the information to the coordinator on the name of the show (I have an idea in mind that I am working through);
Finalizing the display/placard information for each piece; and
Working with the gallery on the flyer to promote/advertise the show!!!
I will hand deliver the quilts to the gallery for storage prior to the show during an upcoming business trip to Seattle before the show.
More to come, I just wanted to share this exciting news with you that the municipality of the largest city in the Pacific Northwest Region of North America has invited me to have this glorious opportunity.
Photo by Felipe Galvan on Unsplash
Postscript
In addition to being very excited to have my first solo show, I am also excited to have a reason to have a reunion with my Seattle friends (I lived in Seattle for 8 years before moving to Central Oregon in 2005) before I move to Colorado this Spring.
April is beginning to look very busy but it will be a “good busy”!
Saturday, before “Snowmageddon” descended upon Central Oregon, I went over my friend Marie’s house for a Sew Day.
I did not want to arrive empty handed so I whipped up the evening before a little pillow, from a dog faces panel (Dogs of Many Breeds by Elizabeth Studio) I had in my stash, of her beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Pup Pillow Making
After cutting from the panel the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel block, I worked to find fabrics in my stash to pair with it:
I decided to go with a gold shot cotton inner border and a gold small print floral outer border.
I used the “quilt-as-you-go” technique to assemble the pillow, piecing the pillow directly to a piece of batting.
After trimming excess fabric to even up the borders, I had a completed pillow top:
I give the pillow enough weigh in the back as the front was quilted with batting, I used a double layer of coordinated backing fabric.
After pinning the two right sides together, I stitched around the edge of the pillow, leave a couple inches opening for turning right sides out and for stuffing.
I like to stuff the corners first when stuffing a pillow to make sure they get enough stuffing. I used which I like because it is made from recycled materials:
Once the pillow was stuffed to my liking, I pinned the section I left open and whip stitched it closed with coordinating thread.
I figured out a couple years ago that pinning the open section of a pillow (or other stuffed item) before you whip stitch it close gives you a better chance of an even closure.
Pup Pillow Reveal and a Very Cute Model
Here is the completed pillow:
But here is something EVEN CUTER, my friend’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel doing a photoshoot with the pillow!
Of course she was thinking: “I am way cuter than that dog in the pillow!”; or “Lady, hurry and get this photoshoot done, I want a biscuit!”
Postscript
In case you were wondering what I worked on during the Sew Day at my friend’s house – I worked on my ongoing English Paper Piecing project and actually made a little progress:
You can check out posts about this ongoing project in my series of posts Adventures in Paper Piecing – (scroll through to see older posts after you click on the link).
This post also includes a photo of her writing desk where she writes her amazing Women’s Fiction novels! (Marie is New York Times Bestseller Author, Marie Bostwick).
This is a quick post to share a photo of my piece, The Lesson & The Equation” hung at the show, courtesy of one of the other artists in the show, the very talented Jas Mardis:
My piece in the large one hanging on the left side of the image above.
The brilliant pieces to the right of it are by the very talented Carolyn Crump (who even has a quilt hanging in the Smithsonian Museum!). How lucky I am to have a piece in this traveling exhibit with some really amazing artists.
If you are new to my blog, here are the previous posts related to this traveling show which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi is the show’s curator.
In this post I announced the exhibit for which I was working on a secret quilt (the curator ask us not to post photos of our quilts until the show was announced) from April to August 2018.
“Working” is a term I am using loosely as I was procrastinating on completing the quilt during that time. I was given over one+ year (maybe 1.5 years) to complete the quilt from the invitation to be part of the Women of Color Quilting Network show, but alas, I was burning the midnight oil to get it done in time for the October deadline!
The show is called “Yours for Race and Country: Reflections on the Life of Colonel Charles Young”. It opens on March 16, 2019 and the exhibit will run from through August 17, 2019 at the National Afro-American Museum in historic Wilberforce, Ohio.
Image courtesy of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi
Please check out the “Part I” post of this series for more details on Colonel Charles Young.
So now it’s time to reveal the quilt I made for the show.
Honoring His Service at Sequoia National Park
As I discussed in the previous post, the show’s curator provided us with options of what part of Colonel Young’s life could inspire out quilt. I selected his time as Superintendent of Sequoia National Park.
I read a book about his life and accomplishments (Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment: The Military Career of Charles Young by Brian G. Shellum) and studied images I found online of Sequoia National Park to inspire my piece.
After sketching out numerous ideas (in my journal, see post Creative Inspiration: Peek Inside My Journals) I knew that I wanted to make Colonel Young part of the beauty of Sequoia National Park since his role, as the first African American Superintendent of a National Park, was to preserve its beauty.
Also I decided I wanted to use only recycled materials to create the piece which would also honor his conservation efforts. I decided to only use cotton Batik fabric scraps.
Here is the forest as it developed on the large design wall in my hallway (I added this post of my series What’s on the Design Wall, as it was secretly on my design wall!):
I wanted to incorporate Colonel Young and his accomplishments into the trees. So first I worked on a tree with his image as part of the bark:
I also wanted to honor the National Park Service, so I created a fabric version of a U.S. Parks Service sign and edited the image to be the name of the quilt – Giant Among the Sequoia.
I had so much fun making this “monument marker”!
And here is the full quilt which measures 40″ x 40″:
Here is the Artist Statement:
Giant Among the Sequoias (2018)
Tierney Davis Hogan
40” x 40”
Recycled cotton batik fabric scraps, batik cotton fabric, recycled cotton and polyester batting, ink
Inspired by Brian G. Shellum’s biography, Black Officer in a Buffalo Soldier Regiment: The Military Career of Charles Young (Bison Books, 2010), this piece honors the legacy of Colonel Charles Young, the first African-American Superintendent of a national park.
Floating among the trees in a mythical scene inspired by an image of a section of Sequoia National Park and by Brain G. Shellum’s book, are phrases describing the work that this groundbreaking leader accomplished during his time as Superintendent of General Grant (now Kings Canyon) and Sequoia National Parks:
Overseeing Operations, Park Superintendent, Clearing Trails, Providing Leadership, Stopping Livestock Grazers, Park Patrolling, Protecting Against Poachers, Road Building, Respected by the Community; and Inspiring Youth
In the center of the piece, a giant Sequoia tree with Colonel Charles Young’s image surveys and protects the park. Adding a bit of whimsy to the piece, an image of a real U.S. Forest Service sign in Sequoia National Forest was creatively edited.
This piece also honors the precious natural environment of our national parks and is made primarily from recycled materials (batik fabric scraps) that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.
I’ve add this piece to my Nature Stories Series of my Art Quilt Stories.
Postscript
By the way, if you’ve been following my blog for a while and remember this post – Creative Inspiration: Tree Bark – now you know why I was studying tree bark this past summer!
If you make quilts, then you’ve probably dealt with “orphan blocks” – the extra blocks you either made accidentally while making your quilt or intentionally to give you options when you laid out your quilt and made final decisions on what blocks you want to use in the quilt.
For years I’ve had these two “orphan blocks” from a Connecting Threads Minnesota Stars Kit I made at least 8 years ago.
Here is what the quilt looks like (it is currently serving as a tablecloth on my table in the sunroom):
And here are the two “orphan blocks” that did not fit into the quilt (I think I accidentally made too many):
You may notice in the images above it looks like the blocks were hand-stitched. Well they were – I attempted to do something with the blocks years ago and added batting, backing and hand-stitched them.
And then they went to the place where all unfinished projects go – to the back of the closet.
Last night I decided rather than move them as unfinished blocks to my next residence, why not just FINISH them and make them into coordinating pillows?
So I did:
And now they are on the chairs in the sunroom with the tablecloth quilt that they are connected:
I’ve loved Marcia Derse fabrics for many years and first discovered them at the 
My piece “The Lesson & The Equation” is on pages 18 and 19; in addition to many mind blowing and powerful pieces.
