April’s Atelier

So, I took a wonderful earring-making class last night. There is an adorable beadshop about 30 minutes east of where I live called Simply Strung. My instructor (Kindra) was just excellent - sweet, articulate, funny… and exacting. Just made to order. Her instructions were clear and her teaching style was really effective. Anyway, here are my first earring attempts. They are displayed in the order of instruction. Kindra made the first one alongside with me, then talked me through its mate, plus the second pair and start of the third. For the last (sixth) earring, I was on my own.

I also re-worked one of my earlier bracelets. I think it’ll work nicely with the earrings in the first picture, no?

I don’t know why I am so drawn to this lovely vase. (At eight inches tall, I don’t think it’s large enough to be a “vahz”.) Anyway, I cannot stop looking at it. Something about the shape and especially the colors, perhaps. I do love glass art, in any event.

Inspired by Claude Monet’s famous painting Poppy Field (1890), renowned glass artist Robert Held blended several techniques to create the California Poppy Collection. Combining the subtle brush strokes of classical Impressionist paintings with vivid red three-dimensional flowers and elegant shapes, his Poppy Classic Vase is a modern classic, and enchanting addition to any home. Available from the art museum gift shoppe for a mere $155.

I think I’ll just keep enjoying the picture.

Last week, my mother-in-law and I had the opportunity to spend some time at the newly renovated DIA. The renovations were extensive and the museum looks fabulous; the last several times I’d visited, construction was still ongoing and it was difficult to see where it was all going. However, the wait was certainly worth it.

I love the DIA. While Detroit is unlikely to be known as a cultural Mecca, it has a couple of attractions that really recommend it in this regard… the Art Institute and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The Institute has a vast and distinguished collection from all over the world and from all time periods, but the exceptional inventory of antiquities is what really grabs me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to browse much in that area because a good chunk of our time was spent exploring the current exhibit, featuring Ashcan Art.

I was familiar with this movement by name only, so found it interesting that the name derived from these artists’ focus on gritty, urban and often dark subjects - something of a departure from their Impressionist forebears, to say the least.

The emphasis of this particular exhibit was how Ashcan Artists portrayed common recreational pastimes of the day. In promoting this event, the DIA explains, ” From bars to beaches to boxing, Ashcan artists caught Americans at play 100 years ago. Use your free time to see how they spent theirs…”, and named the exhibit “Life’s Pleasures”. Broken up into multiple rooms, paintings were grouped by the pastimes depicted… athletics, picnics and croquet, carnivals and circuses, bars and cafes, beach scenes and so on. Less savory subjects that would have been considered inappropriate by polite society of the day (1895-1925) also appeared with flourish.

These artists were nearly all American, and painted mostly in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Some of the landscapes were just stunning, given this geography.

I’m including two images that show how far these artists ranged in their subjects.

This first image is named Chez Mouquin, and was painted by Williams Glackens. A larger than life personality, Glackens liked to include himself in his works and thus pictures himself here with the wife of the owner of this elegant cafe. His own elegantly coiffed wife sits just behind him, facing away from the viewer. Up close, what really struck me about this painting was the beautiful detail in her dress, especially throughout the skirt.

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Meanwhile, another sort of crowd cheers on legendary boxer Jack Dempsey as he fights Argentine contender Luis Angel Firpo in 1923. The fight drew over 80,000 spectators. While Dempsey is the gentleman taking a header into the crowd, he ultimate prevailed with a second round knockout.

Dempsey and Firpo by George Bellows

So I had started this quilt over the winter, just cutting out pieces and working at it in between other things. I pieced my blocks into rows during the Super Bowl, and then let it sit a bit. But some weeks back, I found out that my grandma’s heating bill for her apartment was just outrageous. I guessed, correctly, that she was compensating by keeping her apartment quite cold. She is 90, thin and tiny, and has poor circulation, so was often uncomfortable. Now, she has ample means to heat that place to a nice, tropical level, but born at the end of World War I in Denmark to a young, widowed mother, and having married and started a family of her own during years of Nazi occupation in World War II, she is extremely frugal. She is so very generous with us family, but pinches at every turn on her needs. So I got busier on this quilt, thinking that its colors would remind her of home and that its dimensions would be perfect to keep her cozy in her chair as she reads for hours. I bought more fabric to finish it off, got it basted and quilted, and now had to tackle the binding. I had never done a binding before. The two larger projects I’m working on are being pieced by hand and not close to being sandwiched or bound, and all my machine quilting has only been done on kitty quilts. Those were simply turned, like a pillow… no binding. I stopped at my local quilting shop in Rochester, Cristina’s Quilt Shoppe, because I saw they had a binding class scheduled. That class was filled. “But we’ll have another one in late April.” “I can’t wait that long! My grandma is cold!” They called me days later with an opening in the March class, but by that time, I was very sick with the flu. I wound up getting all my quilting books out, trying to make sense of the binding instructions. Finally I got a clue to at least get myself started and eventually fumbled my way through the process LOL!

Grandma Elly got her quilt last evening, and was really delighted. She’s been an expert seamstress for most of her life, so wanted to know all about how I put it together, and so on. (I told her not to look too closely at it. “But I’m a sewer; I know about these things.” “Yes, I know you’re a sewer. That’s why I don’t want you looking closely at it!” LOL) She called me just now to report that it kept her warm on the couch during her TV programs last night, that it wasn’t too heavy and that it “cooperated with however she wanted to lay with it.” Is that cute, or what? I told her I try to make cooperative quilts.

I’m so blessed to be the age that I am (ahem!) and still have my grandmother who is also one of my best friends. Her courage and wit continue to amaze me.

Granted, there are a lot of ‘em out there, and in all styles. I’ve read some haiku that took my breath away, and even got into the rhythm of some pretty avant garde stuff. (Can the words “avant garde” even be followed by “stuff”? Seems wrong somehow.) But as with sewing, I am a traditionalist and I like the old classics. This is a perennial favorite from a gentleman who probably qualifies as my most preferred poet. I find it comforting and love the flow and sentiment.

THE DAY IS DONE

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me,
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music
And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I began laying the groundwork last October. A full six months before our wedding anniversary, Christian was very clearly made aware of my expectations for a specific anniversary present. Lest he forget, these expectations were repeated often. (With his Adult ADD, many anniversaries have turned into disappointments, and he wasn’t wriggling off the hook this time LOL!)

Our anniversary is in two weeks, and this past week, I was given the green light to go ahead and order:

It’s already arrived (Hinterberg ships quickly!) and is simply waiting to be lacquered and assembled. The wood is naked, but being solid ash, looks good naked LOL! I just want it protected so it will hold up over the years. Oh, this is the Homestead model of frame. Here are the details:

Hinterberg Homestead Quilting Frame

Since I would a hundred times rather hand-quilt than machine-quilt, I expect us to have a long and happy relationship together.

Well, I have more or less drifted away from rubber stamping at the moment. I was having a great time making cards, bookmarks, and a few ATCs for a while there, but ever since I discovered how much I prefer the feel of fabric in my hands over paper and such, my poor stamps and pads and cardstock have been pretty neglected.

I thought I’d share just a few of the items I had made. Can you tell I like hearts LOL? On this first one, the hearts were cut out and embossed, but the floating effect was lost in the image. But ya get the idea…

Bronze tag reads “Live, Laugh, “Laugh”. This was an anniversary card for my parents.

I had the wonderful treat of attending this event last year; my first BIG quilting show.

Here is a link to my album of some of my favorites on exhibit. As a new quilter, it expanded my horizons… making me painfully aware of how meager my skill is LOL! But inspirational, nonetheless. My favorite quilt was “Ring Around the Garden”. Traditional blocks, but the design and colors grab me every time. Oh, captions in quotes are the actual names of the quilts; no quotes means I made the name up.

Password is: rosemont

Quilt Show

Unfortunately, my plans to attend this year - next week, actually - have been scrapped, so I’m staring wistfully at that album today.

Yay! Ridiculously cold or not, you know it’s Spring when baseball has arrived. I have loved the Detroit Tigers for many years, through the good times and the bad. In the past several seasons of course, there have been way more good times.

In 2006, the previously humiliated Tigers who had just suffered one of the worst seasons in major league history amazed us all by clinching the Pennant and making it to the World Series. Last year saw the shooting star of Curtis Granderson continue to delight us with his rare and growing talent, as well as the tremendous no-hitter pitched by Justin Verlander.

My boss and at least one colleague are at the game now. It is cold and damp, but I wish I could join them. At the moment, I am living vicariously through the radio play-by-play.

No Tigers entry (on my blog anyway LOL!) would be complete without a nod to my favorite Tiger, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. His leadership in the clubhouse is quiet but sure, much like his expertise when crouched behind the plate. And, there’s that winning smile of course. In the middle of a serious and intense face, a smile will break out and just light up his expression. I know retirement is in the cards for him, but hopefully not too soon.

At some point, I will write ad nauseum about my feline brood o’ furry love. But suffice it to say for now that I absolutely adore cats. I abhor their all too frequent neglect, and the common perception of them as somehow more disposable than dogs, if not barely vermin. Thankfully, a like-minded gentle-man in Florida has gotten off of his porch (literally, if you read his story) and established a wonderful and unique sanctuary in Florida.

I have not had the opportunity yet to visit 10th Life Sanctuary, but my cousin did some two years back, writing a review of her impressions of Maury Swee and his lifesaving facility. Her summary is published on the website, along with photos. My husband and I plan to spend several days volunteering there on our next pass down to the Florida Keys.

My reason for posting is to get the word out about 10th Life and their desperate, ongoing need for contributions. Like so many other worthy causes, their donation levels have been declining with the economy and this development has forced them to tighten the belt on their admission policies. This of course will mean that parents of limited means looking for a secure shelter for cats they can no longer care for may not be able to take advantage of what 10th Life can offer.

Timing has become particularly critical now. 10th Life has the opportunity to participate in a study involving an actual cure for feline leukemia. If the study is successful and this medication IS found to cure FeLV, 10th Life will reap the enormous benefit of ongoing royalties for each sale of the drug, due to their support of the research. However, before they can sign on, they must get into a secure location, separate from the general sanctuary. Once Maury has secured a rental facility for this pilot study, he can establish a final budget, but obviously mobilization costs are incurring now.

Please help this wonderful man in his quest to both find a cure for this devastating disease, and to secure the continuation of a home that for so many lovely cats will be the last happy one that they know. http://www.10thlife.org/

One 10th Life resident survives his tropical domain from a comfy perch.