say, write, read= it happens

Manifesto

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noun, plural man·i·fes·toes. a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization or just me.

 

Since I am a verbal processor, I have to say it to make it real. And then if I write it and read it, I can refer to it when I get lost.
So this is the new manifesto.
Instead of focusing and being depressed on the lack of girlfriends  having a bestest friend,  I will instead focus on the fact that I will have uninterrupted time, space, and materials to make all the quilts I always loved, or been inspired by, since beginning my love affair career with quilting.
I will not concern myself with 'doing something' with all this work, but will focus on enjoying the process, the product and using up the materials on hand, and if nothing else, knowing I have an entire attic space to store all this stuff for some future discovery.
The fact that there is no endgame will (hopefully) lift the fear, the competition, the having to invent something new-mindset, and just allow me the right to dink around, change what I don't like, repeat or copy what makes me happy, and not care about the old ways of the career induced stress and anxiety.

Grand Finale Tutu

 We shot these fotos in the shade on the porch, but a little sunlight hit the bottom of the sweater, making it look white . Of course it isn't.
I used every smidgen of the yarn to make this wide enough to overlap in front. It just does, without grabbing anything in the rear.
 

Finished Straw Bag

Hey Judy, I finished lining your bag yesterday. I would say it was easy but then the hand stitching belies that claim. It looks nicer on the outside than the inside, because nothing about the bag is smooth and straight. Nevertheless it works as a yarn satchel perfectly.

Anthea pattern

I decided that if I challenged you to design your own Anthea, then I should be able to do it too. I found a similar design in my book 400 Knitting Stitches, Potter Craft. It is written in English, meaning that yarn forward is what they mean to be yarn over. The pattern stitch didn't include the bobbles, so I just decided to put them in where they looked approximately correct.

I've included the instructions and got COMPLETELY lost at the double vertical decrease. Yikes!
I think there must be a better way...
Anyway, I figured you had more resources at the store than my two books here, the other being Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns, pub. in 1968, a fine year.
For this tryout I cast on 25 stitches, (maybe should have cast on one more stitch...?) and did a four stitch bobble, which seemed even too fat compared to the original. So I would redo with a three stitch bobble if this were me, which it isn't.  Obviously I stopped dinking at one bobble, since I should be working on my pink tutu cardi.
You can see that the garter hem automatically will ripple, when properly blocked. I think.

Matching Buttons!

I found some 99 cent buttons that match my yarn! So perfectly sized too. I bought some MORE yarn. Shame on me... It was hard to find enough matching dye lots so this is what I ended up with...
6 skeins of Mauna Loa Amazing Yarn by Lion Brand @ $6.99 see below
3 Washable Ewe (wool) in yellow @ $5.29
6 Washable Ewe in lilac @$5.29 which means I have every possible iteration of purple in wool now. ha! I spent $78.59 and saved $30.83. At the bottom of this page is a pair of Ryka shoes which I got online for Jazzercise since my regular shoes are coming apart at the sole.

No buttons for this yarn.

Presenting your work

I copied this picture off your blog and then I altered it in Picasa. Which looks better to you?

Chumley

Melody Johnson has been an artist all her life, starting at age 3, with her newly painted bedroom walls. On those she drew her first prehistoric monsters, in black crayon.
But it was at age 15 when she understood her feelings about color:
"I saw a window display of nylon ripstop bags, one each in yellow, purple, orange, hot pink, turquoise, red and royal blue. I wanted one, but just one color wouldn't do. It was the combination of the colors all together and the effect of playing off one another that resonated for me.
Ever since that moment I have been using that experience of adjacent color and contrast in my work."
Melody's undergraduate studies focused on painting and printmaking but in the last few weeks before graduation in 1981 she was introduced to quilting by a classmate. Since she was already an accomplished seamstress, she dove in to the craft and forgot all about painting. After her first two or three bed quilts, she began designing original art quilts for the wall.

Radiant Orb 48x45"

Cotton and silks, fused, machine quilted.
blogged
fibermania.blogspot.com/2011/11/radiant-orb.html

 

Treehouse series:
Small quilts with a Treehouse theme, all are a combination of hand dyed fabric and commercial prints, fused, hand and machine quilted and embroidered.  http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2010/07/process-pledge-working-in-series-while.html

Matchstick Moons I

Hand dyed cottons, fused, machine quilted, 2004, 45" x 41

In 2007, after her career of teaching quilting around the world, Melody and her husband retired to rural Tennessee where she found a slower pace and more than agreeable surroundings.

 Her blog chronicles her life there as well as the artwork she continues to create. www.fibermania.blogspot.com

Make a living staying at home

http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2005/07/yesterdays-output.html


http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2005/08/speed-dried-silks.html

Silks always sell in a big hurry. The first link shows the set of gradational half yards that I sold instantly.

Design small fused quilts (we've already made it OK to fuse) and sell the pattern and fabric as a kit. Or just the pattern, $10 or just the fabric.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3488-AA.shtml?lnav=fabric_cotton.html buy the bolt or more and you'll use it up in no time.
Also good but harder to get is:
http://www.jamesthompson.com/products/fabrics/view/Pure_Thread's_Dyers_Cloth
I already forgot what else I was sending you... See you this afternoon.