Author: tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles
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".
My neighbor Carole, a retired nurse, recently created a room in her house just for herself. I got to tour the room on Monday afternoon when I popped over for tea and to share my homemade apple cake (yes I made apples cake with left over rescued apples, see post Apple Rescue and Pre-Fall Cooking).
She let me take photos so I could share with you images from her “nest“.
Creative Space: The “Sacred Nest”
In the April 2018 post “The Toe Saga, Library Stack Catch Up, and Your Sacred Nest“, I shared a quote from the book our Creative Work Space: The Sweet Spot Style Guide to Home Office + Studio Decor by Desha Peacock from the section “Your Sacred Nest: Everyone Needs a Creative Sweet Spot Space“:
A mother bird doesn’t complain that she doesn’t have time or space to create her nest, she just makes do with the resources available to her at the time…Her job is not finished when the nest is built. She still needs to protect it until her babies are strong enough to go out on their own…think of what would happen if the momma bird neglected to actually build the nest because she couldn’t find the perfect materials. Don’t let your creativity suffer or, worse, die because you can’t find the perfect lamp…don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Use the resources you have around you and allow them to blossom with age and use.
Carole’s Nest
Carole’s home looks like it was ripped from the pages of the magazine Country Living. She has a wonderful sense of style.
When you first arrive at her home, here is what greets you at her her front door. In addition to her front door, her front porch always has seasonal decor:
Carole has a three bedroom home and previously one bedroom was the master bedroom, one bedroom was her husband’s office (he is a consultant), and the third bedroom was the traditional guest bedroom.
Carole has adult children and adult grandchildren that live out of state and visit occasionally, however she realized that a high quality blow up mattress (that can be kept out of sight when she did not have visitors) would work for their visits. So she was able to get rid of the bed in the guest room, open up the space and create her Sacred Nest!
Decorated with antiques and country charm, here is a photo tour of her room:
The table in the middle of the room has leaves and opens up to a fairly large table that provides room for laying out a quilt or other projects needing additional space. When she has overnight visitors, she moves the table and sets up the air mattress in the middle of the room for the guests.
She has many sweet items in the room, many tied to special memories. Next to her sewing machine she has a little metal drawer cabinet her husband made in high school shop class 60 years ago!
Oh and I made this little pillow that hangs on her armoire a couple years ago for her as a Christmas present:
Here husband also loves her room and is amazed with the warm cozy and inviting feel to the room. He even invited himself over to hang out in her room and watch a movie with her!
Do you have your own nest/sacred space in your home – a room of your own?
Postscript
I’ve featured Carole’s decorating talents in a previous post from December 2016 –Seriously Cute Holiday Decorations. Here is one of her amazing holiday decorations from her endlessly creative mind:.
The tierneycreates blog is 5 years old this month! I cannot believe other humans have been reading my musings for 5 years (and have maintained their sanity).
My very first post was October 27, 2013, introducing myself.
I used to have this post as a “sticky post” on at the top of my blog posts, so I’ve edited over the years and updated the photo in 2015, but here is that first blog post in it’s current state:
Welcome to tierneycreates!
Thank you for visiting and I look forward to your comments and thoughts on my posts.
My blog focuses on the many aspects of a “Crafter’s Life” and discusses topics such as sources of creative inspiration, my artistic journey, what’s on my design wall, quality of life, quilting retreats, artistic growth, outside adventures, books that inspire me and all things related to handmade textile crafts!
So I am celebrating my fifth blogging anniversary this month in two ways:
Daily Posts for the 31 days of October: I have challenged myself to post every day for the entire month (we are at day 4 so far). I will likely mix in some reposting of my favorite old posts from the tierneycreates archives on days in which I have no new material to share – I do have 5 years of posts to pull from!
A Blog Anniversary Giveaway: Sometime around the middle of the month I will make the giveaway announcement and details on how I would like to thank my readers for joining me on my blogging journey so far! I will do the drawing around the actual blog anniversary 10/27/18 and announce the winners by the end of the month.
Right now you might be thinking: “Daily posts, yikes!”
I know you all have lives and I do not expect anyone to read my posts daily. I just have such a backlog of stuff in my mind to post about I thought this would be a great time to challenge myself to get caught up (and hopefully not to bore you all to death)!
This post is a continuation of my ongoing series “What’s on the Design Wall”, featuring my latest project up on either one of the small design walls in my studio or the large design wall my hallway.
After fun with Tula Pink fabric during a recent quilt retreat (see recent posts), I’ve returned to working on the Tango Stripe (by Jean Wells) quilt with Kaffe Fassett stripes and coordinating solids that I discussed in my 09/13/18 post What’s on the Design Wall: Tango Stripe.
As I shared in that post, here is an example of what Tango Stripe will look liked completed (except mine is set in denim):
Kristin C.’s Tango Stripe
I’ve completed all the small blocks (they were simple piecing) and now I am grouping some of them together in groups of 4 to create larger blocks per the pattern design:
Working on the larger blocks is going much slower as I am having to sew Y-seams (ick) but I’ve started to master them (if you are not a a quilter and are curious as to what Y-seams are, here is a link – Y-Seams – to read about something you will quickly discover you do not want to read about!!!).
My guess is if you are bad in life and go to the “Underworld” when you pass, you are forced to do Y-seams for eternity (either that or complex paper piecing…) for your punishment – so for goodness sake – live a good life!
A pile of larger blocks and their Y-seam party
I did finish cutting out all the large blocks and they are just lined up waiting to be Y-seamed:
At first I was doing one large block at a time and pressing it, hoping all the seams would lay flat and that I did not screw up my 1/4 inch calculations on the Y-seam. After a while I started to relax and I can do 3 – 4 before running over the the iron to see if they will press out okay!
But the piece is moving along and I’ve already cut out all the setting triangles which are made from a quilting weight recycled denim I found at a thrift shop (the liner of a high quality denim duvet).
Once I get the large blocks finished, I can start to lay the entire quilt out on my large design wall in the hallway.
Postscript
If you’ve followed my blog for a while then you know about my obsession with fabric scraps (a near pathological level of obsession).
Well cutting/piecing this quilt has lead to a nice little bag so far of Kaffe Fassett stripes scraps that will be a fun future project to play with:
I made my first four (4) recycled silk art quilts in 2012 and in 2013 I had them professional photographed. For the past 5 years I had the high quality files of these photos and have only used them for images on my blog.
A couple of months ago one of my art quilting buddies, Kristin Shields of Kristin Shields Art and @kristinshields on Instagram shared images of professional printed cards of some of her art quilts and she began selling her cards at Dudley’s Bookstore (a bookstore featured on my December 2016 post Independent Bookstores (wonderful & magical places)) and I was very inspired!
After consulting with Kristin on resources I decided to have 5″ x 7″ blank cards of my first four art quilts professionally printed!
Kristin also shared the clear plastic envelopes to individually package the cards that she buys in bulk with me so I could have a professional finish to packaging the cards and their envelopes:
On the back of each card is “The Story of This Piece” (Artist Statement) and details on the piece.
I do not have plans to sell these cards but to give them as gifts; and I’ve given out a couple sets already.
Here is how I am packaging up the sets:
You can view images of these first four art quilts, part of my Color Story collection, and their Artist Statement on my Art Quilt Stories page.
It is pretty exciting to be share these cards with special people in my life!
Postscript
Guess what? It is time for my Fifth Anniversary Blog Celebration!
This year I will be offering a set of these cards in my blogging anniversary giveaway in addition to two handmade items.
More details to come in a future post as well as what I am doing in the month of October to celebrate completing my 5th year of blogging!
So where did we leave off? Ah, yes – a couple crazy quilting friends decided to create their own quilt retreat in a rented vacation townhome to focus on making Tula Pink All Star collection sampler quilts together.
One of my quilting sisters fondling her Tula Pink All Stars collection
But before we get to the endless images of quilt blocks we made (warning: it might get mind-numbing for non-quilters reading this post), let me share some of the non-sewing adventures we had during the retreat.
Non-Sewing Adventures
We did not just lock ourselves in a rented townhome for four days of non-stop quilting, we did do non-sewing activities…though some of these activities did involve fabric.
I took Judy and Dana on a mini Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop over two days. This was exceptionally fun because Dana had never been to Central Oregon before, much less our quilt shops. I took them to the following quilt shops:
At Sew Many Quilts we discovered a very cool antique sewing machine on display:
At QuiltWorks we had a wonderful time visiting with the owner Marilyn Forestell who I’ve known for a long time. We also congratulated her on her shop being featured in the Spring – Summer 2018 issue of Quilt Sampler:
If you’d like to watch a video interview with the owner and more about one of my favorite Central Oregon quilt shops, here is the link on allpeoplequilt.com – www.allpeoplequilt.com/magazines-more/quilt-sampler/quiltworks. This behind the scenes video has a nice walk through of the shop.
We had a blast at BJ’s Quilt Basket, the third quilt shop we visited. They have a delightful and very friendly staff. While at BJ’s, OH NO – we discovered a new Tula Pink fabric line was just released: Zuma.
Judy and Dana could not leave BJ’s without the fat quarter collection (I was good as I currently have more Tula than I can handle right now!):
As if some of us did not already have enough Tula…
The next day we headed to Sisters, Oregon to go to the Stitchin’ Post.
I never tire of wandering around the Stitchin’ Post
While at the Stitchin’ Post, my quilting sister Dana and I did a “Hand-piecing Intervention“.
I overhead a woman tell her friend that she had recently retired and wanted to take up quilting but did not want to do machine quilting. Instead she was interested in hand quilting, but did not know how to get started on learning how to piece quilts by hand.
Her conversation was none of my business but I could not help myself, I had to be helpful. I introduced myself and told her all about English Paper Piecing (see my series of posts – Adventures in Paper Piecing). I grabbed Dana who was nearby wandering about and had her join me in sharing the joy of English Paper Piecing (EPP) as an option to create a quilt by hand.
We even brought over the store sample of a EPP hexagon pieced pillow to show her an example of the cool stuff she could make:
Luring innocent victims into EPP
After our intervention, the woman gleefully left the shop with a package of EPP hexie templates in hand. She plans to begin by practicing with fabric scraps (and hopefully she was going to follow our suggestion to check out YouTube videos on EPP).
Dana and I felt pretty darn proud of ourselves (either we helped someone on their road to a fun retirement hobby, or we got her to totally waste her money, ha!)
In addition to our miniature Central Oregon quilt shop hop, we also dined at some wonderful restaurant in Sunriver, Oregon.
After shop hopping and dining adventures, it was time to buckle down and piece our samplers!
Blocks, Blocks, Blocks
We pieced a lot of blocks during our four day retreat from our Tula Pink All Stars fat quarter packs!
I’ve never fussy cut (selecting a specific section/motif in printed fabric) for a quilt block in my life, but inspired by Dana, I fussy cut the feature fabric for all my blocks.
BLOCKS BY DANA
Dana, who already pieced 10+ blocks so far since our annual Quilting Sister May Quilt Retreat (see posts Please Vote On The Color! and The Votes Are In!). She focused on piecing star blocks in honor of the name of the name of the fabric collection – All Stars (the title of the collection is based on the prints in the line are updated reproductions of some of Tula Pink’s most popular retired fabrics). Here are some samples of her blocks:
BLOCKS BY JUDY
My quilting sister Judy was very adventurous and did not follow any set type of block pattern. She had fun using an old quilt block sampler book and randomly selecting blocks to piece with her fabric. Below are some examples of her blocks:
BLOCKS BY ME
Now I did not want to do a quilt with a white background. Instead I wanted to only use the fabrics in the Tula Pink All Star collection. I decided to create a sampler called “Tula in a Box” and use two different block patterns that feature boxes or boxes inside of boxes.
Here are the first 12 blocks I completed using a “Box inside a box” block pattern:
Tentatively I am planning to set the blocks using the Tula Pink All Stars stripes fat quarters.
By the end of the retreat I completed 14 blocks including these two blocks in a different block pattern called Little Boxes:
The upper right and left hand corners have the “Little Boxes” blocks
I will feature more on my “Tula in a Box” quilt blocks in a future post after I complete additional blocks.
Again, here is the “design sofa” I mentioned in the first post, with all our blocks:
FUN WITH COMBINATIONS
A very fun part of making our blocks was deciding the color/fabric combinations:
Here is another one of Judy’s cool blocks that came out of fun with putting together fabrics:
We spent of a lot of time consulting with each other on combinations.
Okay, so dear readers, are you sick of looking at blocks and Tula Pink All Star collection fabric now? No worries, we are nearly at the end of this post series.
Special Guest
On the third day of the retreat we had a special guest stop by – my friend Marie Bostwick – New York Times bestselling author.
Marie Bostwick next to a Pile-o-Tula
Marie’s bookThe Second Sister is an upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas Movie: Christmas Everlasting that airs on the Hallmark Channel on November 24th and stars Patti LaBelle.
Here is more information on Marie’s blog Fierce Beyond 50: The Best News Ever.
If you get the Hallmark Channel be sure to watch the movie based on the awesome book!
After the quilt retreat my friend Laurie (who owns the vacation rental) stated that Marie Bostwick was the first famous person to ever visit her vacation townhome rental. I teased that I should have had Marie autograph one of the walls – ha!
Postscript
As if we were not already having an immersive Tula Pink experience, one afternoon we watched on YouTube Episode 1 of the series Tula’s House:
This episode provided some insight into the brilliant and creative mind of Tula Pink and you get a tour inside her awesome studio and sections of her home.
If you are a maker, you’ve likely heard of a “Design Wall”, but have you ever heard of a “Design Sofa“?
This is what happens when a couple quilters get together for a quilt retreat weekend at a rented vacation townhome that was not designed for quilt retreats: you improvise…
But let me back up and explain what the title of this post means and how a Tula Pink All Stars Quilt Retreat happened.
It’s All Dana’s Fault
I’ve seen Tula Pinkfabrics in the past and I’ve appreciated the designer’s creativity, use of color and quirky sense of humor. However, except for a couple fabric scraps given to me by other quilters, I’ve never had an interest in purchasing any of her fabric.
Until our May 2018 annual Quilting Sisters retreat and one of my quilting sisters, Dana, brought collections of Tula Pink All Stars fat quarters (coordinated collections of 18″ x 22″ cuts of fabric) to the retreat and began piecing a sampler quilt:
I had a couple posts about the fabric and her blocks during the retreat, including one in which Dana and I asked my readers to vote on which color combination to use when we were stuck:
When I returned home from retreat I could not get out of my mind the utterly deliciousTula Pink All Star fat quarter collections of main prints, dots, stripes and solids.
The next thing I knew (and I think it was a fabric-induced-out-of-my-mind-experience) I was ordering 4 sets of fat quarters from the DawnNeedhamQuilts Etsy shop that Dana recommended:
Honestly, I am not sure what happened, it was if I could not control myself. I’ve never bought 4 fat quarter sets of fabric at once, and I’ve never purchased Tula Pink fabric before!
Still cannot believe I bought all this at once!
I was not alone, Dana had infected another quilt sister with the Tula Pink All Stars bug, Judy (my original “Quilt Sister” who got me into quilting!) and before she knew it, she had also purchased all 4 sets of fat quarters in the Tula Pink All Stars collection!
So What Do We Do With All This Tula?
Dana has never visited Central Oregon and Judy came up with the idea of a road trip to Central Oregon to visit me. A group of quilters….coming together for a weekend…
Hmm…sounds like an excuse for a quilt retreat!
I have a small house which would not comfortably accommodate a quilt retreat, so I came up with the idea of renting my friend Laurie’s vacation townhouse in Sunriver, Oregon.
Dana, Judy or I (do not remember who) came up with the idea that since now we all had these Tula Pink All Star fat quarter sets why don’t we all work on piecing Tula Pink All Star sampler quilts?
Armed with my Stack-o-Tula I headed to the retreat!
Vacation Rental Townhome into Quilt Retreat
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) helped bring all the stuff over to the rental townhome to transform it to a quilt retreat including a folding table, iron board, etc.
With a little temporary furniture rearrangement, we had our quilt retreat center:
We even turned part of the kitchen into an ergonomic cutting table area and ironing station:
Luckily we still had some left over kitchen counter for preparing meals!
In the next post, I will show you details of what we made (more on the blocks on the “design sofa”), non-sewing adventures we had during the retreat, and the special guest that stopped by our retreat.
Originally I had another post in mind but got distracted and decided to instead share some random follow-ups on previous blog posts (the links to the original posts are linked in the headers).
My friend Kathy brought me wool scraps from the Isle of Harris during her trip to Scotland. Today she texted me a photo of what she did with her scraps:
She cut them into hearts using some type of fabric die-cutter and plans to use them in a picture frame. I am inspired by this idea as I have not decided what to do with my Scottish wool scraps yet!
Today was another glorious Autumn day in Central Oregon and during my morning walk I came upon another neglected apple tree, this time at an empty home for sale in the neighborhood.
Hanging and falling from the tree were Nature’s Neglected Bounty of delicious looking red apples.
I grabbed one to eat on the rest of my walk and one to take home and join the rest of left over rescued apples that did not make it into the apple pie I discussed in the post.
It will join its new friends in becoming an apple cake (I plan to try out this Fresh Apple Cake Recipe from allrecipes.com)
I continue to work on the Tango Stripe quilt and recently decided to make a change to my studio to give me more design wall space. I added another design wall next to my sewing machine.
The design wall was made by wrapping a large piece of poster board (from an office supply story) with Warm and Natural batting. I duct tapped it to the back and then screwed the whole thing into the wall.
I now have three design walls: a large one in the hallway; one on my closet door; and one close to my sewing machine.
This third design wall will make it easier to lay out piecing while sewing.
Although my secret project is done related to trees (an art quilt for a future Women of Color Quilting Network exhibit), I am still fascinated with trees and tree bark and continue to take photographs sources of creative inspiration.
They look wonderful in color:
But they are really intriguing in Black & White:
Wouldn’t those all make amazing art quilt inspirations!
September marks the 4th anniversary of our adopting our miniature schnauzer Mike from a rescue organization in September 2014.
Funny he was the dog I said “no way I am adopting him” when I met him due to severe behavioral issues, and now he is one of the great loves of my life.
Here is a recent photo of him, now at 8.5 years old, with his beloved ball!
Well that is enough random following up for one post, talk to you all later, T
While attending a quilt retreat this weekend, I got the most fabulous news from Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, the curator of Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience – My piece, The Lesson and The Equation is featured on the website of the Brussels, Belgium based organization Human Rights 70.
Image credit: humanright70.eu
(If you are just joining us on my blog, you can read background on my piece and the exhibit in these series of posts: WCQN )
This organization’s mission, according to their website:
is to contribute to promote the knowledge and application from individual up to supranational level, of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and in doing so contribute to the better living of all beings in the world
This Brussels based organization also has offices in Madrid, Paris, Geneva, Vienna, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Bogota, and Mexico DF.
Here is a screen shot of the overview of the exhibit on the Human Rights 70 website:
To say I am excited and overwhelmed is an understatement (smile)!
Perhaps The Lesson and The Equation, inspired by Article 1 of United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, will get to tour internationally someday…
The Lesson and The Equation at the show opening at Fitton Center for Creative Arts 08/17/18
For a high resolution image of the piece and to read the Artist Statement, see my page Art Quilt Stories.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. – Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Just a quick post today as I am currently on a quilt retreat with some Quilting Sisters who came down to Central Oregon for a mini retreat to work on our Tula Pink All Stars fabric inspired samplers (yes future blog post to come on that).
I wanted to say how much I appreciate all the supportive, inspirational and thoughtful comments on my previous post Found! At the Thrift Shop! – I feel like I am totally over it now! Who knew blogging could be such therapy to work out your issues – ha!
Treat from the Isle of Harris
My Quilting Sister Kathy visited Scotland this summer and while in Scotland they explored the Isle of Harris (Harris, Scotland) and she brought me back some Scottish wool samples from a wool mill they visited!
If you are unfamiliar with the Isle of Harris here is a link to a Wikipedia article for more information – Harris, Scotland. Visiting Scotland is on my list of things to do someday!
When this delightful surprise arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago and I immediately began day dreaming of the cool piece I could make with the scraps! (But for now they have to wait in my backlog of other interesting projects).
Postscript
The other day I received another surprise package of delightful fabric scraps in the mail, this time from one of my longtime blogging buddies. That will be a future post, but here is a tease:
Have you ever found something you made/gave someone as a gift at a thrift shop?
A couple of weeks ago I had my first experience of finding one of my handmade items at a thrift shop for sale – one of the little wallets I used to make. This experience got me pondering about the handmade gifts you give people and what becomes of them (and how sometimes you have to just let go for the sake of your own sanity and peace).
Found at the Thrift Shop
I was obsessed with making little wallets for a while from fabric scraps and here is one of my posts about my obsession – Little Wallet Madness.
It was serendipitous that I found the little wallet at the thrift shop and it was sort of like the Universe wanted me to find it.
I had just finished having lunch with a friend and felt compelled to visit a local charity thrift shop after our lunch. I wandered around, not knowing why I was there and then felt drawn to the purse and wallet section.
Inside the used purse and wallet section, I found this adorable item for my sister who loves Lululemon – a little zippered wallet made from recycling a Lululemon bag:
My sister has a collection of Lululemon bags and this little wallet was the perfect treat for her. So I thought – “Wow, I guess I was supposed to come in here and find this for my sister!”. Just in case there might be another one, I kept rummaging through the used wallet section and came upon this:
It looked familiar and I thought: “Ah someone else must have made little wallets like I did”
But then after inspection I discovered something shocking: an old tierneycreates business card inside the wallet!
I stood there in the thrift shop, mouth open, feeling like I was having an out of body experience.
What bothered me was not that someone no longer wanted one of my handmade little wallets and donated it (that was better than them just throwing it out); but that they just left my business card inside (note this is one of my old business cards from when I used to have an Etsy shop, etc.)
I may have narrowed it down to who could have done this and at the moment I felt like it was obviously a person without any class – a person with class would have removed and recycled my business card before donating (I’ve since calmed down from my initial reaction…).
Of course I purchased it (it was only 50 cents) along with the Lululemon little wallet for my sister. I removed and recycled my old business card from it and put it away for now. At a later time I will decide whether to regift it to someone or to re-donate it to the charity thrift shop (but not with my business card inside).
What Becomes of the Handmade Gifts We Give?
Many times you know what becomes of the handmade gifts you give people – either they love, cherish and use them or they do not. They might regift them, they might donate them, they might even throw them away. Or they might just shove them in the closet to gather dust.
This is something I’ve struggled with as a crafter and quilter and had to work on letting go – once you give someone something, it is theirs to do with what they want – even if it might be heartbreaking to you.
People who are not crafters or artists may not understand the love that goes into something that is handmade and how essentially a piece of the maker goes into the piece (and not just if you stuck yourself with a needle while making the piece and bled a little on it like I’ve done a time or two – ha!)
Sometimes my heart breaks for the maker when I see a beautiful handmade item sold for cheap at thrift shop. I’ve rescued lovely granny square afghans from thrift shops (usually sold for $2 – $3) as I know how much work goes into this type of project and I love granny square afghans but have yet to make one myself.
On the overstuffed chairs in our front window where we read (and I work on blog posts) I have rescued granny square afghans from my collection as well as on the bench where Mike our miniature schnauzer hangs out to watch cats, birds and passing dogs out the window (to practice his barking).
Here is Mike napping on one of the rescued afghans:
I do not want to become a hoarder and I know I cannot rescue all the beautiful handmade items that have been donated to thrift stores. I only rescue granny square afghans if they are exceptionally appealing and under $5, that is my guideline, but still how many granny square afghans does one person need?
A friend of mine told me a story of how she discovered a neighbor’s husband using a quilt she made her neighbor to mop up an oil spill in a garage. To me this sounds much worse than finding something you made donated at a thrift shop.
What I’ve learned as I mature as a maker is that I need to be very selective of who receives my handmade items. Also I’ve learned to that sometimes you need to just let go of your attachment to the handmade item when you gift it.
Sometimes it hurts when someone does not fully appreciate the work and time that went into a handmade item but I have to remember unless they are a maker, a crafter, an artist, or any type of creative individual they may never understand.
Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. – Rumi
Several readers expressed concerns that even though the trees were neglected, technically I did not have permission from the home owners (even if some of the houses were empty) to pick the fruit from their trees. Although the fruit was falling to the ground and rotting and no one was picking it, I put these comments in the back of my mind and skipped “fruit rescuing” in 2017.
But recently I’ve noticed several apple trees in front of a business at the edge of my neighborhood where the apples are ripe and are just being allowed to fall to the ground and rot. I couldn’t take it anymore and decided it was time for APPLE RESCUE!
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) felt like an intervention was needed also and helped me pick apples from the trees:
TTQH helping with Apple Rescue
Until we had a bag full of apples:
Saved from just being left to rot on the ground
We took the home and washed them and ended up with a nice haul of apples:
Getting a bathFreshly rescued apples all safe and cozy in a bowl
What to do with out apple haul? Make an apple pie of course!
But as the tierneycreates Beastie mentioned in yesterday’s guest blogger post,Guest Blogger: A Monster Needs Her Sweater, the weather has dipped from late summer weather to early Fall weather.
The cool weather makes me want to start making stews now!
Oh just a note on the linked recipe I provided – the original recipe calls for cannellini beans but I used black beans instead. Also I like to sauté the kale first in the already sautéed sausage and garlic; and if I am using fresh tomatoes as I did this time – I sauté the tomatoes also, before adding the beans (and their liquid) and the broth.
Remains of the tasty stew!
Postscript
Disclaimer: I am not a cooking blog and cannot even pretend to be one.
If you want to read actually cooking blogs I recommend these two that I enjoy:
Hello, my name is tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster.
Tierney of tierneycreates.com has invited me to return as a guest blogger for another post.
If you are new to this blog (welcome new readers, glad to have you join us!) you can read my story and see some of my adventures in the series of posts – Beastie Adventures. I was born in Dublin, Ireland and moved (well was shipped) to Central Oregon to join Tierney of tierneycreates in June 2018.
A Monster Needs Her Sweater
Since arriving in Central Oregon from Dublin Ireland in June, I’ve worn my T-shirt as my regular outfit, but recently the weather has dipped in Central Oregon and it is now in the 30s F (-1 C) in the morning and evening and only reaching a high of the 50s – 60s F (10 – 16 C) during the day.
Brrrrrr!
I finally told Tierney that I needed to change to my sweater that Helen of Crawcrafts Beasties (crawcraftsbeasties.com) made me. Tierney was using it as decoration in her sewing room and I said ENOUGH with it being used as decoration – I need it on MY BODY!
Frustrated, I took my T-shirt off and insisted I get my sweater put on (I need help getting dressed due to my unusual physique).
As you can see, Tierney said Beastie nudity was not appropriate on her blog and edited the photo to cover any special bits.
Not wanting to put up with a nearly naked Beastie running about her house, Tierney agreed to help me put on my sweater:
Then she helped me put on my satchel (which contains my laptop and library card – two very important items!) and my knitted hat (just in case the sweater was not enough to keep me warm…):
I asked if we could go outside so I could see if I would actually be warmer with my sweater on when walking my dog Mikelet:
Success! I am much warmer!
Now I am ready to take my dog Mikelet on a walk in the Central Oregon pre-Fall nippy weather (but it turned out I do not need my hat yet):
We had to retake the photo as Mikelet was checking out something in the distance, maybe a beetle or something.
Postscript
If you would like to check out the adventures of other Beasties, check out these two blogs:
By the way, Autumn is Tierney’s favorite season and she does not mind the chill in the air and the rapidly approaching end of summer.
“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” – Ann Patchett
A tierneycreates post about Tierney actually creating?
Yes it has been a long time since I’ve shared my current textile project and posted in my series , What’s on the Design Wall where I featured my latest work in progress. For the past couple of months I’ve been working on an art quilt for a future WCQN exhibit and could not share images of the work in progress (or completed work) as the curator has not announced the show yet.
But I’ve finished the piece and now I can start working on my backlog of projects.
The first project in queue is one I’ve had around for a while. You can read it’s story in this June 2018 post – .The Tale of Tango Stripe.
Here is where I left off – I worked on it during a May 2018 quilt retreat:
Up on a design wall at the quilt retreat
I am working in bring this tale to a conclusion!
It felt so good to pull it back out of its box and put it up on the large design wall in my hallway (yes if you are new to this blog, I use my whole house for crafting):
Up on the design wall at my house (hallway design wall)
I’ve been using the smaller design wall on the closet door in my studio to make additional blocks:
On the smaller design wall on my closet door in my studio
Making the blocks is very fun, even though a template is involved (normally I hate templates). The designer, Jean Wells Keenan of the Stitchin Post did a wonderful job with the pattern.
At first I could not understand why she did not give instructions to just make up all the blocks at once. After playing with making a couple blocks during the quilt retreat I attended in May, I totally got why you design your blocks as you go.
The quilt is make with Kaffe Fassett stripes and those are fun to work with and create various pairing combination with solid colors:
I am using recycled denim (from a denim coverlet liner I picked up very cheap at a Thrift store) as the setting fabric. However, earlier this year I saw another amazing setting fabric option – olive green fabric:
Tango Stripe made by Kristan our Central Oregon SAQA group leader
If I ever make a second Tango Stripe quilt I think I am going with the olive or khaki green or even a tan setting fabric.
I will post an update as I progress – I have a lot of blocks to make!
This blog post is for those of you maintaining your blog on the WordPress platform, and are challenged with, or have overcome challenges with, having a WordPress plan with limited image/photo storage.
Several of my fellow WordPress bloggers have expressed frustration over the limited amount of photo storage allotment and having to either delete older posts or delete posted photos to manage their storage. So I thought I would share my experience and tips and ask for other experienced WordPress platform bloggers to comment with their tips for managing image storage limits on WordPress.
The Free Plan
When I started blogging in October 2013, I started with the free plan. This plan gave me 3 GB (gigabytes) of storage for photos I wanted to post and within a year I noticed I was quickly using up my allotted free storage.
Here is what no one told me when I started blogging (that I so wish someone had told me): you need to reduce the size of your images you post in a blog post.
WordPress.com/pricing
I was able to stay on the free plan for another year or so by reducing the size of my photos. Eventually after 2 – 3 years on the free plan, I decided I wanted to double my available storage (especially since I now knew how to stretch it out) to 6 GB; I wanted to remove advertising by WordPress; and I wanted to move my domain name from “tierneycreates.wordpress.com” to “tierneycreates.com”.
Managing the size of every image I add to a blog post, here is what my Photo Storage looks like after nearly 5 years of blogging (and if you’ve followed my blog for a while you know I post a lot of photos!):
I think I can make this last another 5 years. If I had known how to do image management from the beginning I know I could have made it 5 years of blogging with my original 3GB storage allotment. Since I upgraded my plan, I’ve never had the incentive to go back to my early posts and resize their images – too much work!
How Do I Manage My Image File Size?
First a disclaimer: I figured out what worked for me and I am not even remotely an expert in photo editing and image management.
You may find my process cumbersome and I bet there are more efficient methods but here are my steps from taking a photo to posting it onto my blog:
I use an iPhone for my images and use the regular image settings (I do not use HDR or Live photo settings as I assume that would be a larger photo).
I have an Amazon Prime account which comes with unlimited photo storage. I have the Amazon Prime Photo app on my phone. I review images on my phone, delete the ones I do not keep and then open Prime Photo and it automatically uploads all photos not already uploaded to Prime Photo. I then delete the images from my camera to manage photo storage on my iPhone.
I blog from a MacBook, and go to the online Prime Photo website and download to my desktop or to a folder all the photos I want to use in a blog post. (Note once I am done with the blog post I delete all the photos I downloaded from my laptop as I do not want to take up a bunch of space with photos that are stored online).
Most photos taken on my iPhone are in the range of 3000 x 4000 pixels. There are a 1000 pixels in a MB so each photo is about 4.5 MB. 4.5 MB does not sound like a lot but there are 1024MB in one GB and you could see before you know it, especially if you put 5 – 10+ images in each post, you could quickly work your way through your 3GB allotment (if you are on the free plan). So I reduce each photo by 50% using the Preview feature on my Mac.
I select all the photos I’ve downloaded from Prime Photos and open them up at the same time using Preview. Within Preview I do any needed photocropping and then I go to the Tools menu and select “Adjust Size” and reduce the size from 100% to 50%:
As you can see in the above screenshot, the size of my image went from 4.5 MB to 1.4 MB (look at the “Resulting Size” section in the screenshot). So my reducing the image size by 50%, I have gained the ability to store 3 photos instead of 1.
Even if you do not have a Mac and use a Windows based PC or laptop, you can see the general concept: you need to reduce the size of your photos to manage your storage.
If I do not care as much about the resolution/quality of an image on a post, then I might resize the image to even smaller like 45% or even 40%.
Other Photo Management Tips
In addition to learning how to resize my photos before posting, the most important thing I figured out as a blogger was to be judicious in the amount of photos I share on a post.
At first I just shared any photo I wanted to share that I felt went with a blog post. Now I carefully think through how many photos and what specific photos I want to share to enhance the text of a blog post and tell a story. I am a visual person and I appreciate looking at photos myself when reading others blog posts. However I realized I do not need to try to do an extensive photo essay of an experience I want to share.
A few carefully selected photos can tell a story just as well as 10 photos can.
If you want more and likely more efficient ideas on WordPress photo management and storage (and ideas for those on blogging from Windows based devices), you can check out websites such as this one: The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Image Management
This website uses fancy phrases such as “image optimization”.
You can also Google (or whatever search engine you use) and find articles on plug ins for WordPress image management and “digital assessment management” (see – they are using more fancy phrases).
I am completely self-taught on WordPress (lots of online help and YouTube videos) and I have so much more to learn but I wanted to share what I do, which seems to be working…
Okay experienced WordPress Bloggers – please share your tips and ideas in the Comments/Thoughts Section 🙂
Have you ever wondered why suddenly you are upset or struggling with something and you do not understand why? Well it could be the “Ghost Children“…
Throughout 2018, nearly non-stop, I’ve been listening to non-fiction audiobooks (with a couple science fiction audiobooks peppered in).
Here is a list of many of the non-fiction audiobooks (all borrowed from my public library) that occupied my ears the past 8+ months:
I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual – Luvvie Ajayi
Awakening Your Ikigai: How the Japanese Wake Up to Joy and Purpose Every Day – Ken Mogi
Eat Fat, Get Thin – Mark Hyman
Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey – James Holli
Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life – Bill Burnett
You Do You: How to Be Who You Are and Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want – Sarah Knight
The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain – Steven Gundry
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact – Chip Heath and Dan Heath
The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations – Oprah Winfrey
Nudge: Improve Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness – Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing – Daniel Pink
Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain – Peter Shankman
Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People – Vanessa Van Edwards
This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide – Geneen Roth
Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself – Mark Epstein
Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More – Courtney Carver
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen – Donald Miller
You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth – Jen Sicero
Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice – Brene Brown
Yes Please – Amy Poehler
Fail Until You Don’t – Bobby Bones
The Art of Mingling: Fun and Proven Techniques for Mastering Any Room – Jeanne Martinet
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
Between my daily walks (3 – 4+ miles a day), road trips, cross country plane rides, and sewing marathons, I’ve knocked off a lot of audiobooks so far in 2018.
Most of these audiobooks were highly engaging, filled with many useful ideas, tips, and inspirations; however one audiobook really stood out: Geneen Roth’s This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide.
image credit: amazon.com
While listening to this audiobook, read by the author, I was introduced to the concept of “Ghost Children“. According to Geneen Roth, “Ghost Children” are the stories we repeatedly tell ourselves based on an unhealed/hurt part of us that believes things such as we’re not good enough, we are unlovable, we are not worthy – because at some point in our life, many times in childhood, we had unmet needsor a hurt which are still seeking to get comfort from.
Geneen Roth has done a lot of work with women who emotionally overeat (she holds workshops and has written books focused on this topic) and she ties the “Ghost Children” concept to why people emotionally overeat to comfort their hurting “Ghost Children” but I clearly saw a connection to other behaviors.
This connection helped me during a difficult time on a recent business trip attending a conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas and the “Ghost Children”
I work in the healthcare industry and I attended a healthcare industry software related conference in late July/early August held at the Aria Hotel’s Conference Center in Las Vegas, NV.
Las Vegas Boulevard
The healthcare software company sponsoring the conference was very generous to its attendees to include providing a private Train concert on one of the conference evenings, at the Brooklyn Bowl. I was very excited about this concert as I’ve like the band Train (Drops of Jupiter, Meet Virginia, Calling All Angels) since they first came out with their song Drops of Jupiter in 2001.
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) accompanied me on the trip to Las Vegas and I confirmed with someone at the conference registration desk that he could also attend the conference. He is also a long time fan of the band Train, so I was excited to share this private concert with him which also included an open bar and food (as I said the sponsoring software conference company was very generous).
So the evening came for the concert and TTQH headed to the tour bus set up for conference attendees to be transported to the Brooklyn Bowl for the concert. While on line to load the bus, we discovered that only conference attendees with conference badges could get on the bus and attend the conference. TTQH was not able to attend with me.
We were in shock and incredibly disappointed as I had verified with the conference registration desk that he could attend, only to find out that the staff at the registration desk very misinformed. I was torn – on one hand I wanted to go to the concert on the other hand I did not want to just leave TTQH behind at the hotel with this sudden dispointment.
TTQH is a very enlightened and well-adjusted person (one of us has to be in the marriage – ha!) and he quickly recovered from the disappointment and strongly insisted that I just attend alone and have a great time.
So I got back in line and then got on the tour bus. The tour bus was filling up quickly and people were filling every available seat. Except in my row. No one sat with me. (This was likely because I had a very sad look on my face as I was so disappointed I could not share the concert experience with TTQH). The last person got on the bus and sat with the last seat available besides the one next to me.
So the entire bus was filled, except for the seat next to me. Before I knew it I was quietly sobbing to myself on the bus ride to the Brooklyn Bowl and did not know why.
But – I remembered the audiobook I had recently finished, This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide , and realized one of my “Ghost Children” had popped up!
When I was around 10 years old my parents had a major disagreement with other parents in the neighborhood and, unknown to me at the time, the other neighborhood parents had told their children not to play with me. For a couple weeks, none of my regular friends in the neighborhood, who I played with everyday after school, would play with me. They all ignored me.
I did not understand why and as you could imagine this was fairly traumatic for a 10 year old who was used to playing with most of the kids on my block for many years. Finally one of the children was kind enough to pull me aside and tell me what happened. It was a very upsetting and frustrating experience as I was being punished for something I did not do and I was now an outsider/outcast from my long-time playmates. It is one of those feelings you never forget and I guess it eventually became one of my “Ghost Children”.
Realizing where my sudden painful feelings were coming from as I sat alone on the bus (no one wanting to sit with me), helped me pull myself together. I decided: “yes I am attending this concert alone, but I am going to have a fun time and find a group of people to hang out with during the concert”. There is so much power in awareness of where an emotion/reaction is coming from – it gives you options on how you react.
And this is exactly what I did. Upon arrival, I asked a group of women if I could hang with them for the evening and eventually ended up in another group and had a wonderful time – a “Ghost Children” free evening!
The Train concert was incredible (I sat close to the stage in an elevated area of the bar to the right of the stage) and got to connect with some wonderful people before the concert and during. I learned some new trivia about some of their songs from another concert attendee: the lead singer, Pat Monahan wrote Drops of Jupiter about the death of his mother (now some of the lyrics I never understood make sense).
Here is a little excerpt from the concert (which was only open to concert attendees) – Train performing Lost and Found (I finally learned how to upload videos to YouTube):
I love the lyrics in this song (excerpt from Google):
My dad said son, one Day we’ll have a drink together You’re young You got to take your time Just trust Let me raise you right, and later We can raise a glass to life, and say
Here’s to the time we have Here’s to the lines we crossed Here’s to the ones we’re waiting on And the ones we lost Here’s to the time we have Thank God for what we got Here’s to the ones we’re waiting on, and the ones we lost
And found, the ones who stick around
Lost and found, the ones who stick around
I feel like writing Geneen Roth, the author of This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide, and thanking her for introducing me to the “Ghost Children” concept. Thanks to what I learned from her book I was able to reset a moment and turn it around.
Taking a break from the conference and relaxing at the Bellagio hotel, “Ghost Children” free
You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. It’s possible to treat yourself with outrageous kindness beginning today.― Geneen Roth
Postscript
During the conference I got to attend my first TED Talks/TED Salon and that was a very cool experience.
Dr. Andrew Bastawrous at TED Salon: Catalyst at the Aria Las Vegas
The TED Talks were focused on the future of health care. It was amazing after years of watching TED Talks online to see how formally TED Talks are filmed. There are hosts that coach the audience on etiquette for the Talk once filming starts.
The six speakers who talks about moving health care forward were amazing and here is a post on the TED Blog I found about the event:
By the way – I’ve finally finished my intense work on the secret art quilt project for a future WCQN show that is not yet announced. I am taking a little break from “creating” and then in the near future I will return to sharing what is on my design wall as I used to do in my What’s on the Design Wall series of posts.
This is the final post in the series of four posts on the Women of Color Quilting Network (WCQN) and Friends Show Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience, curated By Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, and inspired by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As I mentioned in the first post, Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I show opening at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, OH, was only the “soft opening”, featuring half of the quilts. At a future date the full show will debut and in Spring 2019 the book will be published featuring all the quilts in the exhibit as well as the story behind the exhibit.
This post features one more installment of a sample selection of powerful quilts from the show. (If you are just joining us you can click on this link – WCQN – to view the three previous posts – Part I, Part II, and Part III.)
Carolyn Crump – Waiting to Have My Say
Gloria Kellon – Freedom of Expression over the Water
Gwendolyn Brooks – On This Special Day
Julius Bremer – Let’s Gather Peacefully
Deanna Tyson – Black Lives Matter
Ifa Felix – The Green Book
James Mardis – Cruelty Comes for Us All
The photo does not capture how amazing and powerful this quilt is! The artist is one of the long-time male quilters in the WCQN. I had a chance to chat with him during the show and listen to him talk about this multi-textured piece made from a multitude of materials besides cotton fabric.
I wish I had taken some close up photos of the piece. I think I was so overwhelmed by the whole show and trying to meet and chat with the amazing artists that I got distracted from my photography! When Dr. Mazloomi’s book on the show comes out in Spring 2019 it will have professionally photographed detailed images of these quilts.
L’Merchie Frazier – Going Beyond the Self: Lale and the Omo Children
Helen Murrell – Capital Punishment
Lauren Austin – Parole Denied
Ed Johnetta Miller – So What Skeltons Are in Your Closet?
Sandra Noble – Detainment
It was an honor to be part of this show and an honor to be able to share some of the amazing quilts from this show with you all.
I have to say of course, the most exciting moment of attending the show was walking into the exhibit area and seeing my quilt on the wall:
The second most exciting moment, was seeing an image of my quilt projected up on the screen in the auditorium before the panel discussion began:
Before the panel discussion, Dr. Mazloomi gave a powerful talk on the power of art. Here is a quote from her talk (which I have on video but could not figure out how to upload onto YouTube to share, perhaps at a later time):
For me as an artist I strongly believe that art has the capacity to touch the spirit, engage people, educate and heal in ways that words cannot.
Dr. Mazloomi stated that the show was inspired by the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and that she is long-time admirer of Eleanor Roosevelt who was instrumental in getting this declaration done.
Postscript
I had a bit of adventure getting to Hamilton, OH for the show. Central Oregon is a long way from Hamilton, OH!
Since I was going to be in the Eastern part of the country (well Ohio could be considered Midwest) I thought I should also visit with my family and I met up with my family in Washington, DC for a couple of days before flying onto Cincinnati, OH.
While in DC I went with my brother, sister, sister-in-law and 5 and 14 year old nephews to the National Geographic Museum and saw two amazing exhibits on the Tomb of Christ and the Titanic.
I may share additional photos from those exhibits in a future post.
From Cincinnati I rented a car and drove 45 minutes or so to Hamilton (which is not within a reasonable distance to a major airport).
While in Hamilton I stayed in sweet Victorian Airbnb rental (only $56 for the night) 6 blocks from the Fitton Center where the opening show was held. Here are some photos of where I stayed which was built in the late 1800s and had cool architecture and period related decor (and handmade antique quilts on the bed!):
I will not share my airline travel saga but it did involve spending two nights sleeping in an airport (on the way there and on the way back) because of severe thunderstorms that grounded planes. But I did make the most of my time stuck in airports and will have a future posts on the cool exhibits and sights at the various airports along my journey!
Yesterday’s post with quilts from the Women of Color Quilting Network and Friends Show Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience (Curated By Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi) were just to whet your appetite.
This post features more powerful quilts from the show. If you are just joining us you can click on this link – WCQN – to view the two previous posts (Part I and Part II).
As I mentioned in the previous post, some of these quilts made me want to just step away from my sewing machine and find a new hobby.
I’ve seen many beautiful art quilts over the years – at shows and online – but I’ve never seen in person such a collection of powerful inspirational quilt all in one venue.
Sandra Scott – Bloodties
The photos do not do this quilt justice. This is definitely one of the quilts in the show that made me want to just give away my sew machine because now I see how art quilts “are done”. It is an absolute masterpiece and reading the Artist Statement and viewing this quilt in person can bring you to tears.
Speaking of quilts that can bring you to tears, this one had me quietly sobbing…
Dorothy Burge – Stop Killing Us
And now the piece that attempted to completely blow out my tear ducts – a piece inspired by news story of a young Syrian refugee child discovered washed up on the shore.
April Shipp – The Waters Returned Him: In Honor of Aylan Kurdi, Age 3
This quilt was a 3D quilt with a large set of hands coming forward holding a handmade doll representing the drowned Syrian refugee child. If seeing this quilt in person did not stir someone, then they were emotionally dead inside.
I got to chat with the amazing artist who passionately shared the story behind her inspiration. While listening to her I was desperately trying to keep it together (the tear ducts were starting to crumple) as she shared her beautiful compassion and intense feelings of heartbreak over hearing the news story (okay so I am getting weepy just trying to write this…).
Yes I kept having that “imposter syndrome” feeling being at this show with these significant pieces of work and these amazing artists (some of who are professional artists).
Here are a couple more quilts in the show to close out this post with a little less intense topics.
Carolyn Crump – Deeds, Not Words
Sharon Ray – Hamtramck, My Home
I hope you found these pieces as stirring and amazing as I did. In the next post I will share the rest of the sampling of pieces from the show.
If you are an artist/crafter have you ever attended an exhibit that made you want to just put away your art/craft supplies and find a new hobby?
This is what happened to me (no worries, it was only for a moment), when I saw the art quilts in the opening night of Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio on Friday August 17, 2018.
This post is a continuation of the post Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium, Part I and rather than ramble on about how many of these inspirational, provocative, powerful, creative, masterpieces made me want to shut down my sewing machine and walk away, I will just share a sample of images of the amazing quilts in the show.
I’ve included the Artist Statements that explain these amazing art quilts inspired by United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Note I am going to share images of quilts from the show over several posts.
Earamicha Brown – A Woman’s Worth
Behrooz Assani – The Dawn of Human Rights
This quilt was not by a “Woman of Color” but by a Persian man, originally from Iran who wanted to show that although this part of the world has a reputation for the violation of human rights, Persia was in ancient times a forerunner on the concept of human rights.
Barbara McCraw – Every Man, Woman, and Child
Cynthia Lockhart – Created to Be Me
Beverly Smith – Plant a Seed
Glenda Richardson – Article 25
I will leave you with these 6 quilts to think about and next post I will continue with more quilts from the show.
Over a week ago I attended the opening of the show Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio.
This show is curated by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, founder of the Women of Color Quilting Network (WCQN). It is inspired by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
According to the United Nations’ website (un.org):
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.
Dr. Mazloomi invited members of WCQN and friends to design a quilt inspired by one of the 30 Articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As those of you who’ve followed my blog for a while know, I designed a 50″ x 50″ quilt inspired by Article 1 and Stories My Father Told Me (this is a new category on my blog which contains all related posts about the first quilt in a series of quilts I plan to make inspired by stories/lessons my father told me as a child), titled The Lesson and The Equation.
The Lesson and the Equation (2016) by Tierney Davis Hogan. Photo by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi.
The Lesson and The Equation debuted at this show along with many mind-blowing and inspirational quilts.
Friday August 17, 2018 was the “soft opening” of the show and contained about 25 – 30 quilts, half the entire show. The entire show will be opening in the future at a larger venue and there will be a book that accompanies the show.
Here are some examples of books from other WCQN shows that can be found on amazon.com (just search “Carolyn Mazloomi”):
In addition the soft opening of the show, Friday 17, 2018 was also the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.
Around the exhibited quilts, there were placards with the Preamble and the corresponding Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, below are a couple examples:
I was very overwhelmed to be part of the this amazing show and here I am absolutely amazed that I got to be an “Exhibiting Artist”:
I was also overwhelmed and very honored that two of my long-time blogging buddies Sandy and Cindy of graybarndesigns.com came from Ohio and Western NY to meet me and see the show!
Tierney and the GrayBarns Sisters!
Next post I will share images from the amazing and inspirational pieces in the show!
“Our hopes for a more just, safe, and peaceful world can only be achieved when there is universal respect for the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family.” – UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
My 18′ x 40″ quilt from recycled materials, The Recycled Love (2018) is part of the – Threads That Bind Central Oregon SAQA exhibit at Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty Gallery, downtown Bend, Oregon that opened August 3, 2018 and is running through August 2018.
Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty, downtown Bend, Oregon
I did not get to attend the opening but luckily I met a friend for lunch the morning of the show’s opening. After our lunch we peeked into the gallery and luckily the pieces were already hung in preparation for the evening’s opening.
I took photos quickly as I needed to return to work – here are images from the show (apologies to the artists for the less than stellar photo images of their amazing quilts – the quilts were all perfect rectangles unlike my camera image portrays!):
Each art quilt had a placard with the name of the piece and the artist’s name, but I wish the Artist Statements were also displayed. Our SAQA group met in June at one of the member’s gorgeous homes (the house was a piece of art itself!) and we took turns unveiling our pieces and sharing our Artist Statements/the background on each piece.
The art quilts in this show each have an amazing story and I am sorry I cannot share those stories with you (I should have taken notes at the unveiling). I do remember part of one story, a piece by the incredibly talented Jan Tetzlaff – it was inspired her trip to South Africa and seeing the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for for 27 years:
In case you are new to my blog, you can read more about my piece The Recycled Love in this post – The Recycled Love.
It’s time to continue my ongoing series, The Library Stack, sharing my stack of borrowed books from my beloved local public library.
“Craftivism”
I’ve finished most of the stack and enjoyed flipping through the books with a couple pots of tea. I’m still finishing up one book that I wanted to spend extra time on: How to be a Craftivist: The art of gentle protest by Sarah Corbett.
Image credit: Amazon
As the author asks in the book: “If we want a world that is beautiful, kind and fair, shouldn’t our activism be beautiful, kind and fair?”
This book is by the founder of the Craftivist Collective and provides an alternative to responding to injustice with apathy or aggression – responding instead with gentle, effective protest.
The back cover summary provides as excellent overview of the book so I am going to just quote it: “Quiet action can sometimes speak as powerfully as the loudest voice. With thoughtful principles, practical examples and honest stories from her own experience as a once burnt-out activist, Corbett shows how activism through craft can produce long-lasting positive change.”
If you are interested in Craftivism (using craft as a form of activism according to the author), I highly recommend you borrow this book from your library or pick up a copy at a local bookstore (or online).
The author shares a Craftivist’s Manifesto and I’ve listed her ten (10) actions below but I refer you to the book for more details and explanations:
Be the tortoise
Craft is our tool
Solidarity not sympathy
Find comfort in contemplation
Empathy never points fingers
Small and beautiful
Humility holds the key
Provoke don’t preach
Embrace positivity
Make the change you wish to see
The book is peppered with powerful quotes by great thinkers and activists and below are several examples, which are explored deeply in the book:
There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out-of-the-river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in. – Desmond Tutu
Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart. – Rumi
An unexamined life is not worth living .- Socrates
We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove. A tough mind and tender heart. – Martin Luther King
If you want to go quickly go alone. If you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world,. Today and I am wise so I am changing myself. – Rumi
Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up. – Mahatma Gandhi
Handle them carefully for words have more power than atom bombs. – Pearl Stracha Hurd
Evil flourishes when good people do nothing. – Edmund Burke
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.. – Winston Churchill
UPDATE 8/6/18
There are several TED Talks by the author, here is one of her awesome TED Talks:
NOTE: Being sensitive to the fact that my American blog readers may have differing political views in regards to the current U.S. President and protest events such as the Women’s March, please be thoughtful in any comments you make in the “Thoughts” section of this post about these topics.
My Craftivist Future
A couple of weeks ago I had a wonderful conversation with my sister who challenged me on what direction I want to take my art.
I already plan to continue by series Stories My Father Told Me (see post Creative Inspiration: Stories My Father Told Me ) which is focused on sharing positive stories through textile art of how my father overcame the challenges of discrimination, segregation, and racism. However after talking to my sister, I am starting to explore other series that will have a “Craftivist” flavor.
Ultimately I would love to make art that inspires dialogue. I am still early in my artistic journey and finding my voice.
Of course I also want to make pretty/visually pleasing traditional and art quilts in the future too as well as many other types of textile crafts. Now to just plan to win the lottery so I can devote all my time to my art! (Oh wait, do you have to play the lottery to win?)
Postscript
Speaking of “winning the lottery”, I had one of those awesome early morning walk experiences last Friday (or maybe it was Saturday) that felt like a mini-lottery win.
I’ve been trying start each morning with a 2 miles walk around 6:00 am before it gets hot.
The Balloons Over Bend Hot Air Ballon Festival was in progress (July 27 – 29) and much to my surprise during my morning walk I noticed hot air balloons floating over my neighborhood at a fairly low altitude. One of them dipped so low for a moment that I thought it was going to land in my neighborhood park!
It did not land however and took back off up into the sky.
It was 60 degree Fahrenheit with a slight breeze and absolutely crystal clear blue skies. Seeing the hot air balloons float by was an exquisite experience and the moment made me pause and realize that life is filled with many wonderful little sweet surprising moments!
Hello, my name is tierneycreates Beastie and I am a Monster, but the good kind of Monster.
The regular blogger Tierney, appears to be too distracted lately to write a blog post, so I told her I will take care of getting a post up this week. She did help me take photos since I am not very good at selfies due to my limited arm range.
Here I am ready to start a long overdue blog post:
Tierney made me a make shift deskSometimes I have to look over my glasses while writing
But first – if you are new to this blog (welcome new readers, glad to have you join us!) you can read my story and see some of my adventures in the series of posts – Beastie Adventures. 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!
So what have I been up to? Well as you know, just like Tierney, I have locs in my hair (you may know these traditionally as being called “dreadlocks” but the current term is LOCS, as there is no “dread” in them!). Like Tierney, I am always wondering how to style my locs and sometimes I get lint in them as Tierney does with hers.
Tierney and I were playing with different hairstyles and she french-braided my hair:
French-braiding attempt
The cool thing about Tierney’s attempt at french-braiding (let’s be honest, she is not going to win any “French-Braiding Awards”) is that my adorable ears get featured:
My ears are normally hidden with my hair flowing free but here they are – popping!
Although I enjoyed showing my adorable ears, after a while the french-braid felt too tight and we returned to my regular hairstyle:
While writing you, my miniature schnauzer Mikelet (named after Tierney’s dog Mike) began staring at me and I suspected he wanted to go for a walk:
I was pretty sure he wanted to go for a walk when he got insistent:
I wanted to put the final touches on this blog post, so I told him to wait.
He got bored waiting and wandered into the living room.
Realizing he probably really needed to “go potty”, I went to the living room to get him for a walk before finishing my blog post and found him hanging out with “Big Mike”:
Big Mike’s beard was looking a little messy so Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) began combing it while Mikelet looked on:
Mikelet wanted his beard combed also (he wants to do everything Big Mike does), so TTQH attempted to also comb his beard:
Finally, with a freshly combed beard, Mikelet was ready to go on his walk:
Postscript
Tierney is not totally goofing off. She is still working on an art quilt for a special exhibit in which she cannot share photos until the curator announces the show.
This year I’ve decided instead doing a series of posts on photos from the show, I am going to share my favorites from the show in ONE POST. This post is about quilts that captured my eye or captured my heart.
If you would like a more extensive virtual tour of the 2018 SOQS, there are three (3) Central Oregon bloggers that have extensive photos, stories from SOQS and even videos of SOQS – check out their sites:
They have excellent high quality photos and/or video on their sites above and I recommend you visit their sites for a deeper feel for the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
Main Street (Cascade Ave) closed to traffic and open to SOQS attendees
Now onto my favorites from the 2018 SOQS show…
Blogging Buddy at Quilt Show
It is so awesome to see in person a quilt made by a quilter whose blogs I follow. In 2016, I got to see a modern quilt by Claire of knitnkwilt.wordpress.com at the SOQS (see the 07/17/16 post Return to Sisters). This year I got to see in person an amazing quilt by Becca of Pretty Piney:
The quilt is titled: “I Didn’t Want to Make This Quilt” and above I share an image of the tag on the quilt from the show so you can appreciate the story behind it!
If you stand back a slight distance from the quilt, the illusion of movement and depth was very impressive. Plus there was a slight breeze gently moving the quilt so the rippling effect was more pronounced. It was fun to stand near it while I took photos and listen to all the great comments by onlookers. I told them that I knew the quilter and several onlookers said to tell the quilter: “She did an awesome job!”.
Ode to Beloved Retrievers
This quilt absolutely captured my heart and the woman who made it was standing nearby talking to her friend about her quilt so I got to chat with her about her inspiration.
She had many retrievers throughout her life – yellow, black and brown labs and golden retrievers. She honored all her retrievers with this quilt filled with images of her beloved dogs. She pointed to some specific retrievers in the quilt and told some stories.
It was very touching and I wanted to hear more of her stories but I needed to move on as I was showing my Sister-in-Laws visiting from NY around SOQS.
The Quilts I am Really Going to Make Someday
At the show were several quilts that I either have the patterns for, have already started the blocks or just really want to make someday. Below are images of some of those quilts:
The first image is a Farm Girl Vintage Quilt and you can check out my series of post Farm Girl Vintage Blocks to see the blocks I have completed so far.
Perhaps seeing images of these completed quilts will inspire me to finish making them someday…perhaps…
Quilts with Words
I love quilts with words/messages and the SOQS had many on display. The ones below were my favorites:
Teachers’ Tent
Each year at the SOQS internationally renown quilt teachers teach classes at the show. It is rare you get a opportunity to take classes from Master quilt makers during the Quilters’ Affair the week before the show all in one place.
Instructors and presenters at the 2018 SOQS Quilters’ Affair included:
Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company
Rob Appell of Man Sewing
Violet Craft (queen of modern paper piecing)
Kathy Doughty from Australia of Material Obsession
Sue Spargo (queen of appliqué)
Resident nationally known instructors such as Jean Wells Keenan and Valori Wells (owners of the Stichin’ Post); and Anna Bates of Quilt Roadies
Joe Cunningham
Rosalie Dace from South Africa (amazing art quilter!)
As well as many more big names in quilting. In previous years Tula Pink has taught classes at the show (I tried to take one last year but did not register in time) as has Angela Walters. If there is a big name in quilting, then likely they’ve been an instructor at SOQS!
Living in Central Oregon, I do have the opportunity during the year to take classes from the big names in quilting during the year when they visit the area. Someday I am going to take advantage of this! The classes are not cheap but I think they would be worth it!
The visiting instructors show their work in the Teachers Tent at SOQS. Here are images of a couple of my favorite pieces on display in the Teachers Tent:
The Central Oregon SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) group has an annual exhibit at SOQS. In several previous post I’ve discussed the evolution of my piece Recycled Love which is part of this exhibit.
Here is is at the Threads that Bind Special Exhibit at SOQS:
Please check out Kristin Shields’ post Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Part 7 for high quality images of the entire exhibit (Kristin is an excellent photographer in addition to being a very talented art and modern quilters).
Vincent Van Gough Quilt Exhibit
Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics has an annual Challenge and Exhibit. This year it was Vincent Van Gough Themed small quilts. The exhibit was mind blowing and below are a couple images of my favorite pieces:
No Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show visit is complete without a stop at the shop that started it all the Stitchin’ Post.
I get to visit the shop all year long since I live in Central Oregon, but it is fun to peek inside during the craziness that is the Stitchin’ Post on SOQS Day!
You can barely move in the shop and they convert the classroom in back into an awesome shopping area. Here is an example of some of the treasures to be found:
Finally, let me close this post with an image of a quote, rather than a written quote. It was on the billboard of the local flower nursery in Sisters, Oregon:
Hello! Are you as warm as I am? We’ve been blessed with 95+ temperatures in Central Oregon. I am writing this on my porch (which is shaded) as our two little evaporative coolers are not keeping the house as cool as I would like it to be (someday we dream of installing central air conditioning…)
Photo credit: “The Sun” by William Picard, free images.com
It’s dropped down to 92 degrees so it is now cool enough (ha!) for me to work on a blog post. I am continuing my series of posts about the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS), that began with this post: Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2018, Part I.
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH)’s sisters from New York, Sue and Diane, came to town for the show and to visit us for a week. We took them on a Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop (they are both quilters/crafters) on Thursday and Friday before the SOQS on Saturday.
As a result of all that quilt shop-hopping, new projects were purchased by my sister-in-laws and we’ve had many enjoyable evening sitting around my living room, backyard (when it cools down in the evening), or my dining room table crafting together:
They’ve been working on two different wool appliqué candle mat patterns by Bareroots Little Stitches. One is a cat themed candle mat and the other is this dog themed mat pattern called #195 Puppy Love.
Here is one sister-in-law’s progress on the kitty themed wool appliqué mat:
As you can see there are many little pieces. Luckily I had freezer paper, appliqué glue stick and of course basic sewing supplies on hand.
Here is the progress my other sister-in-law is making on her dog themed wool appliqué candle mat:
The mats are super adorable! One of my sister-in-laws taught me how to make french knots which I’ve never made before.
Oh you wonder – what I am working on during our crafting sessions? I am working on a wool appliqué miniature pillow that I started in March during a class with Kathy Cardiff (see post Trends Show Part II: More Classes).
I will share on Instagram (@tierneycreates) the completed images of our pieces.
Next post, I will share images from the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Show (once I weed through the zillion of photos I took!) If you cannot wait until my next post, here are two Central Oregon quilting bloggers that are already sharing awesome photos and stories:
What does the phrase “Soulful Simplicity” mean to you?
The last several months I’ve listening to some awesome audiobooks from my public library while I go on daily walks, sew, or do errands. I plan to share highlights from the audiobooks in upcoming posts and I thought I would begin with my current listen: Soulful Simplicity: How Living With Less Can Lead to So Much More by Courtney Carver.
image credit: Amazon
Here is the summary of the book on on the Deschutes Public Library website:
Courtney Carver shows us the power of simplicity to improve our health, build more meaningful relationships, and relieve stress in our professional and personal lives. We are often on a quest for more, giving in to pressure every day to work more, own more, and do more. For Courtney Carver, this constant striving had to come to a stop when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Stress was like gasoline on the fire of her symptoms, and it became clear that she needed to root out the physical and psychological clutter that were the source of her debt and discontent.
In this book, Carver shows us how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less-more space, more time, and even more love. She invites us to look at the big picture, discover what’s most important to us, and reclaim lightness and ease by getting rid of all the excess things.
The audiobook is read by the author (which always adds a high degree of authenticity to the listening for me) and focuses on “being more with less“.
I am 2/3rds through the audiobook and wanted share one of my favorite stories (that the author shares in her book) about what really matters in life. As the author states, there are many versions of this story. Here is the version from her website: Be More With Less.
The Mexican Fisherman
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one Mexican fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The fisherman replied, “only a little while”. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” asked the fisherman.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
In the version I heard many years ago, the Mexican fisherman states at the end of the story: “Why would I go through all that to get what I already have?”
The first time I heard this story it deeply resonated with me. As I have discussed in my series of posts on My Minimalism Journey, I’ve been working on appreciating and enjoying the life I have; taking care of my physical, emotional and spiritual health; and curating my possessions to only those things I truly love (but darn it, I love all my crafting books and magazines!)
In my pay-the-bills health care job, I’ve been offered the opportunity to attend my employer’s leadership track nine-month program to move into a leadership position. I declined the opportunity as although it would be more money, it would be much less time doing the things I love such as blogging, crafting, spending time with my husband and dog, enjoying nature, etc., etc., etc.
I am already happy with my job, salary and work schedule. I do not need to climb the “corporate ladder” to become happier.
Actually I think climbing the corporate ladder at this point in my life would be the path to less happiness as I remember a lot of stress in my life when I was previously in leadership for 8 – 9 years.
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) fully supports this decision as he remembers his very stressed wife during her years in a leadership role.
I am quite content in my life’s version of a “little fishing village”.
Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours! – Swedish Proverb
My blog focuses on the many aspects of a “Crafter’s Life” and discusses topics such as sources of creative inspiration, my artistic journey, what’s on my design wall, quality of life, quilting retreats, artistic growth, outside adventures, books that inspire me and all things related to handmade textile crafts!
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