Elf Toes!

I LOVE the shape of elf toes!


The problems I encountered when making these stockings included getting a shape which looked right and would hold its' shape, turning the toe, and creating funky pieced look with NO piecing. The black stocking fabric was created with woven strips, the blue stocking fabric was created with fused diamonds. Weaving strips is easier, but I prefer the harlequin look.

Now I can do it all over and write the instructions, take some pictures and finish the pattern I envisioned a year ago!

Sometimes I Just Want to Sew!

I want to dig into my stash, pick out some beautiful fabrics in my favorite colors. I want to combine them in a quilt that doesn't require any design effort. I just want to sew!




My hair stylist, Jill, is having her first baby - a girl. It was fun and relaxing to make a pink baby quilt for her. The design is my variation of Fons & Porter's "Amish Four Patch Chain" (For the Love of Quilting, Jan/Feb 2000).

Veteran's Day

Operation Bold Eagle, 1976. Nevada desert near Lake Mead. My boss, Mel Miller and I, working in the comm trailer.

On Veteran's Day, I am thankful. Because of the US Air Force, I got to move around and see different parts of the United States. I figured out what I liked AND what I didn't like in a job. I met people, made friends, saw new things and was exposed to new ideas. I learned how to work within the system to get something done. I made decisions that affect my life yet today. I went to college on the GI Bill (Go Sun Devils!).

Thirty years later, I have my fatigue jacket, a DD214, a few pictures and many memories. I would do it over again without hesitation.

Go forth and make films!

As Art Quilters, we are told to seek out and study artists who work in other media. I wasn't doing this at all - I was accompanying my 16yo DD, an aspiring filmmaker, to a talk by Kelley Baker sponsored by The Nebraska Film Group. I went with her because I was uncomfortable with the idea of her walking alone around the Creighton campus at 10 pm. I brought my own entertainment (a movie and an e-book on my ipod), Alex Kava's latest hardback, and my sketchbook. They sat unwatched and unread while I scribbled cryptic notes around the doodles in my sketchbook.

Go forth and make films! The edict came from Kelley at the end of a thoroughly entertaining and informative evening. He is an independent filmmaker, with the street cred that comes from working on both "big" movies (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) and his successes and failures as an independent, low-budget filmmaker. I think his philosophy can be summed up this way: Do what you love and get it out there without spending a fortune.

If you get the opportunity, spend an evening with this man, then go home and DO WHAT HE SAYS! Kelley's advice about marketing is applicable to any small business or artist. His comments were about filmmaking, the translation to ArtQuiltSpeak is mine. No one will find you sitting at home. Get yourself out there, maintain a website and blog. Find people you can trust to critique your work. Listen to what they say. Put your work out there to be seen. The judge who hated your quilt doesn't hate the person who made it. Plan, plan, plan, but be flexible when a great idea comes along. Don't waste time and money entering the Sundance Film Festival (Quilt National). Send your work to smaller venues where the acceptance rate is much higher. Ask to have your work displayed at non-traditional venues. Be professional. Live up to your commitments. Be memorable.

Happy Birthday, DellaJane Hand Dyes!

Five years ago, Becky Hinckley and I started DellaJane Hand Dyes. The name is a combination of the names we don't use (Della Alice and Rebecca Jane). Our first booth (and first sale!) was at the Cottonwood Quilters show in Elkhorn, Nebraska, in October, 2003.

So much has changed since that first show. At the end of 2004, I bought Becky's interest in the business. I've been working to grow my business since then. Besides cotton fabric, I sell wool roving, wool yarn, silk, baby clothing, a variety of embellishments that includes vintage items (beads, cotton rick rack, yo-yos), an assortment of 50-100 different fibers, and a huge selection of buttons, sequins, game pieces, etc, plus patterns and kits. I'm teaching dyeing workshops and marketing my own designs. My booth at Threads Across Nebraska (held last weekend) shows how DellaJane Hand Dyes has grown.



Sometimes the effort necessary to keep coming up with new "stuff" seems overwhelming. I get tired of making samples and packaging items and planning displays. I hate the bean-counting aspect of being a small business owner. Sometimes, I just want to chuck it all, stay home, and make quilts. But, come the end of October, 2008, I'll be on the road to Houston, Texas, to celebrate five years of business at the biggest quilt show in the world. I wouldn't miss it for anything!

Bits & Pieces of My Father

My father has had Alzheimer's for such a long time. He hasn't know who I am for at least 7 years. I first noticed the symptoms after he suffered a head injury in a car accident. He participated in a number of drug studies at The Ohio State University. He continues on medications which help mask the symptoms - it's hard to imagine how completely UN-functional he would be without the meds.

My Mom moved him to an Alzheimer Care Facility a couple of years ago when she could no longer take care of him at home. She still feels guilty about doing this. She shouldn't.

When served a meal, he would ask "What is this?" and "Do I like it?". Mom always identified the food and assured him that he liked it, and he ate. While visiting my two younger sisters,he asked about his plate of pancakes. Mom told him they were pancakes and that he liked pancakes. He ate his pancakes. Later that day, he asked about the mashed potatoes on his plate. One sister told him they were pancakes and that he liked pancakes, so he ate his mashed potatoes. Must to my mother's chagrin, my sisters continued to identify all his food as pancakes for the remainder of his visit. Dad didn't care - he has always had a good appetite. He no longer asks about his food, but he continues to eat everything put in front of him.

My Life With Hair

Last weekend, I spent 3 days in Susan Shie's Outsider Art Diary Quilts Workshop. Wow! What fun it was! I loved using the air pen. (I'd run out and buy one, but I'm not sure I'd use it enough to justify the $130 price tag.) I went in with the attitude that I wasn't making Great Art, which allowed me to try different things without stress.

I enjoyed Susan's Library Time, when we wrote and sketched. I treated it like Morning Pages and just got rid of a lot of crap that was floating around in my mind. My sketchbook has twice as much writing as sketches!

The first day's theme was "hair" - my quilt shows me at different hair stages.

I didn't like how the paint bled when I painted on wet fabric. (i.e. my dark hair bled into the background.) I also didn't like the straight paint look. Blending paint with extender &/or water worked the best for me. I purposely didn't mix enough paint to do the entire background. I like the variation in colors that I got as I painted across the quilt.



The writing on a face is about me when I had that hair style.
In the space around the faces, I wrote hair stories and memories. I used a Rub-A-Dub laundry marker and several ultra-fine tip Sharpies. I don't like the thick line of the Rub-A-Dub and I wish my Sharpie markings were stronger.

I used Susan's binding method, but am going to do some free-motion quilting instead of using her free-form grid. I painted one quilt each day of class (themes were 2008 and whine/wine). They are still works in progress.