Blog Etiquette

I need some hints about blog etiquette. People are actually starting to look at this blog, and make really good comments. I know that I leave comments on blogs and sometimes I forget to go back to see if the author, or anyone else, has commented on my comment. What's the deal? should I comment on comments right below the comment, or, should I address them in a post? I suppose I can do whatever I want, but what is normal?

Anyway, Idaho Beauty commented on my post about Motorcycles vs Quilts, and she mentioned her late husband and how they used to go on motorcycle adventures that they had combined with quilt shows... I felt so bad about the "late" part. I have only been married 3 years, and I would miss my husband so much... I was reminded that people can become "late" at any time. I really liked getting that post. When I started riding (on the back) with my husband, I realized how many different kinds of people are out there riding. I think Hells Angel types are a minority. It's fun to see all of the "tribes." The young guys riding "crotch rockets," lime green bikes with matching jackets, unsmiling Harley guys, looking all tough, couples on GoldWings with the upholstered armchairs on the back, every one of them having the time of their lives.

Susan Lenz from Art in Stitches (An excellent blog) commented on the idea of getting permission to use images. My first thought has been that, they'll never know. I have been cutting things out of magazines for years, where is the line there?. I don't know, but now that I am on the internet, I realize that people all over the world can and will see this. How would I feel if someone grabbed one of my images without even saying anything? This also reinforces the idea of doing your own work. Then it is 100% original, and you don't have to pay!

About the decisions series, about developmentally disabled people, having them live elsewhere is a decision that has to be made at some point. My daughter lives with me now, and will for a long time, but I'm not going to live forever. She and I discuss what will most likely happen. You can see she is excited, yet scared. One day I was helping her pay and tip for a haircut, and she looked at me and said, "Who will help me with this when you are gone?" I'm only 48, so I don't think I'm going anywhere soon, but as pointed out earlier in this post, you never know when you are going to be "late." Susan, I wish you could actually speak to a person that is disabled and ask them about a decision they have made. My daughter just quit her job. She goes on a cruise with the ARC every year, and her employer threatened to fire her if she took the time off. This was at a school. I see their point. Kate had the entire summer off, so she should be taking her vacation then. But, Kate can't take her vacation whenever she wants to. She decided that rather than get fired it might be better to just resign. The job coach at the agency that helped her get the job seemed really put off. It was as if developmentally disabled people don't have the right to quit a job if they want to. Anyway, that type of thing could be an interesting departure from decisions made by "normal" people.

One more thing: To Acey, yeah, that glove giving us the peace sign! I was thinking I should have picked it up and brought it home, but hopefully more people will notice it.

Sunday Was a Good Day

The entire weekend was warm. It was a pleasure to be outside for a change. After the quilt show, Joe and I drank a bottle of white wine out on the deck! I know this is not permanent, but it did bring some joy to my soul.

We went to breakfast Sunday morning in Milford, a little town just up the road from Frenchtown. After breakfast we went for a walk to the town cemetary, my idea. Everything I do lately is about my latest quilt, Faith Replaces Reason. I wanted to see if there was anything in the cemetary that could give me inspiration or a new idea about this piece.

The grave stones in there were in rough shape, in that they were very hard to read. I want to do some rubbings, but I was not prepared. I found the usual child grave markers, nothing outstanding. There was a stone that had TWO lambs on it, facing eachother, but both of them had their heads knocked off. That really burns my morbid toast. I know there is a very cool lamb headstone in Clinton. I've used it in past collages. I pass through there on the way home. Maybe I'll stop by for a photo shoot.

Anyway, there is a private home with a yard that butts up against this cemetary in Milford. There were some stones that looked like they were tossed aside, including this one with John Clarence's name, and they were mingled with the toys of the kids who must live there. This is a church cemetary, I'm suprised they would just toss stones aside that way.

When we were walking back to the car I saw this glove in the street and had to take a picture.

When we arrived back in Frenchtown, I spontaneously asked to be dropped off at the antique store in town. I took a photo of a quilt that was in a bucket outside. It isn't that expensive and I have been looking at this for a few months. I like the fabrics. I wonder how our tax return will be this year?

Quilt Show Anxiety

Or, Wow, I really suck at this!  That is kind of how I feel after a day of looking at some of the best quilts ever produced. I can understand reaching perfection when you hand quilt, but how do you make no mistakes, not a single one, when quilting with this crazy fast monster at your fingers? (That would be my sewing machine.) But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Alas, I have no pictures of the show. I searched for my camera just minutes before trying to leave (I had been meaning to locate it for a couple of days) I could not find it anywhere. Finally I peeked behind the computer. It had fallen down, and was still attached by it's umbilical cord to the computer. Unfortunately, the battery was sucked dry. Kate said hers was dead, too.  I don't want to dwell on it, this is just how it is with me sometimes. I said, "Screw it," and we left.

If you've ever been to a big quilt show before, you know there are all kinds of things on display. We also saw dolls, wearable art, different challenges and themes. There was some kind of Hoffman challenge with peacock fabric. Some were really good, but nothing I wish I had done. There was a large section of black and white quilts, some of which were absolutely great. Dog quilts, orchid quilts. But, there is always a section running up the middle of the show area with some of the most stunning quilts you have ever seen. One was a pale yellow quilt, the quilting was so tight it was just ridiculous, and the border... how to explain? Individual tubes if fabric made connections to the outer area of edge of the quilt, kind of like a fence?  Here is an on-line picture of the damn thing. You can't go in close, so I don't know if it will help in understanding it. I just had the idea to search around to find pictures of these quilts on the web. I'm a bit surprised at how few of these quilts I can find. So none of these people have blogs?!?

On to the vendors, that was fun. I spent a bunch of hard earned Etsy cash. Lots of fabric. I was disappointed, because I could not find any paint or oil sticks or fibers, or printable sheets of fabric... things I have been wanting to try. Although there were a lot of art quilts in the show this time, I think everything is aimed at traditional quilters.  Kate bought some fabric. She has her own stash going now. She promises she will make a quilt with me soon.

Remember I was all into reading about old fabrics a few posts back?  I scooped up a couple of charm packs of 30's feed sack style squares. Looks like I have 2 or 4 of each pattern. I have blues purples and greens, and a set of pinks, reds and oranges. I will use these in the "depression quilts" I dream of. I know I said that I suck at quilting, and I do, compared to what I saw at that show, but I also can't wait to make more!

Yikes, I've been here so long my husband woke up and came down stairs. Let me go say hi to him.

Quilt Show today!

I'm going to be looking for paints and oil sticks and other things I have been reluctant to order on line. The main reason is that I just don't want to add any more to my credit card balance.  I usually get some back issues of magazines (no shipping.) AND I will take pictures if possible.

See ya later.

Deceased Infants Cost $$$

I had a very nice e-mail from Lisa Marine, who is the image reproduction and licensing manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society. First of all, she complemented my work. (I had sent her a .jpg so she could see what I was taking about.) Then she informed me that it would cost $50 to put that 1.5"x1.5" baby on my quilt. It was a little jarring at first, but let's face it, I probably spent that on all of the other fabric and embellishment on the quilt, plus, it helps support the historical society. I will send a check in a week or so, and add the cost to what I might have charged for the quilt when I sell it. Overall it has been very informative to go through this process.

Copyright Update

ACey had some helpful suggestions about getting copyright approval. I also found a website for the publisher (Random House / Doubleday) that gave some contact info. I was looking in the photo credits at the end of the book, and found that the picture of the unbalanced woman was in the public domain! It seems that it does not come from the negatives of the Black River Falls photographer. That makes me wonder why it is even in the book, but, whatever.

This leaves me with the infant in a coffin, which is listed with a negative number. This made me think that I should go to the historical society. I downloaded a permissions request form, but I don't see my situation there. I wrote an e-mail to inquire. I do know that I will have to buy a 5x7 of the dead baby for $15. There may be some other fee if I want to put it on the internet. I told them it was a one of a kind art work and that I hoped to sell it eventually. I'll let you know what they say.

Meanwhile, I have cobbled together a couple of scans to show the progress of "Faith Replaces Reason."

Quilts vs. Motorcycles

This weekend is the big quilt show in my area and I am EXCITED! I had so much fun last year and even bought a sewing machine on impulse. I don't intend to make any such purchases this year, but I will go with money in hand.

Last year my husband came with me. He seemed to enjoy himself pretty well; he likes looking at art. However, he later used it as leverage when trying to get me to go to motorcycle events! When I balked at going to a weekend rally, he reminded me that he spent time at a quilt show. I think there are some major differences here! Motorcycle rallies last for a weekend. As I understand it, if you don't camp at a rally, you miss half the fun. I have a long standing rule that I am willing to travel by motorcycle, even multi-day trips, but I need a hotel room at the end of the day. I also know that I am going to be standing in a crowd of gear heads who will be discussing the finer points of the motor Ducati decided to use in it's latest model. I have nothing to add to these discussions, I'm afraid. So let's compare: a weekend of my life lost to camping with motorcycle dudes vs. an afternoon looking at quilts.

This year I'm presenting it as a girls day out. Kate will certainly come with me, and if I ask my mom, she will come, too. We'll have lunch, it will be a blast. I will take pictures, (is that allowed? I don't think I brought my camera last year.) I was thinking it might be time to learn to create a photo montage with Flickr.

I Was Anonymous

I got this crazy Blogger e-mail telling me that they have integrated something with something else and I was now following all of my blogs anonymously. I already don't understand half of this stuff, but I managed to go in and change the following status of all 14 blogs I follow. Sheesh!

I sold 2 quilts on Etsy in 2 days. That's amazing. I have to get moving and make more!

Snow and a Mummy

I decided to take a vacation day today, rather than deal with the weather. I spent a lot of my time cleaning the house, and I did come across a piece of art I made during my exploration of death period. I took some pictures of it and loaded it up on Etsy. I've sold some crazy things on there, so why not this?

I also did more work on the quilt with the insane woman. I went through WDT and came up with a dead baby for her.  I was going to hide the baby, but it ended up front and center, right over his mother's head. It is pretty small, at least. I've also come up with a back story that I think matches up pretty well. Ready?

"The funeral services for the little child of Jimmie McWilliams that died last Friday were held at his home on Sunday. The whole community deeply sympathize with Mr. McWilliams and his wife in this doubly deep-pained affliction, this being their only son and the 4th one that death had taken from them during the past few years. Surely this is the point where faith must take the place of reason."

I like that last line a lot and I think that I will name the quilt that. I am faced, of course, with having to ask permission from somewhere if I decide to sell this. Should I contact the publisher, or Michael Lesy himself? Or should I be asking the Wisconsin Historical Society? In the meantime, I rediscovered  part of  an old Victorian chair-back that I've had hanging around for quite some time. I'm going to figure out a way to use it to hang this piece. I'm excited about that.

Hello March

It is snowing here today, but I still start to have hope in March. My husband and I walked into town for breakfast yesterday and I made a point of finding the little shoots poking up in my front garden. We'll have crocus soon.

I've had some good comments here about WDT. I've done some work on the piece. After Idaho Beauty brought up the post mortem photos, I started to think I really needed to put a picture like that in the quilt. I want it to be subtle (I guess that's laughable. A subtly dead baby) but I want to print it small and tuck it in among the lacy bits. The viewer will find it and then understand. Here is a link to WDT photos on Flickr

I used to make a lot of art about death. I suppose it is no coincidence that this coincided with the breakup of my first marriage. I was the one that initiated the break up, and I can honestly say it was a very good decision.  But the art I made was more about the rituals that surround death. I have two sculptures that I made which are miniature mummies in these decorative sarcophogi. I've made several collages incorporating images of mummified people found in ancient tombs. They weren't Egyptian style mummies, more like accidental because of the dry climate they were buried in. I used to work pretty large, 24x36, and these collages are in frames. Hard to take pictures of them. Maybe I have some digital images somewhere?