A Note About Carolyn

Greetings Everyone,

As some of the others have done, I thought it would be nice to share a bit about myself.

I've lived in Dallas, TX for about 40 years, and am the mother of two lovely daughters (in Houston and Austin) and a grandmother to three. My first quilt was 24 years ago when I made a baby quilt for my first grandchild who is now married and recently moved to Dallas (much to our delight!). I am a registered nurse, but have also worked in education and retired from advertising. I know, it's a strange twist in careers!

Today my life centers around my husband, a college professor, my kids/grandkids, my church, and my hobbies - quilting, gardening and playing the dulcimer. I have only one my quilts hanging in my home (see photo if I can figure out how to do this). It's my most recent quilt, and my first art quilt (well almost). I've made about 8 or so quilts for my daughters and grandchildren.

I'm in this group because I am bored with traditional quilts, and much prefer and appreciate a "free spirit" when it comes to quilting. I am NOT an artist. I have no skills in drawing or painting. I have not experimented with a host of quilting techniques. BUT, I am eager to focus my energy on the creative process, to learn as I go, and to embrace the challenge of working with all of you.

I think this will be an exciting adventure!

Creative idea's-Judy

This group is definitely something I have been hungry for. When I was growing up and we had a project to work on, we would brainstorm at the supper table. Idea's flew around the table. With 5 kids and 4 of them girls we came up with some fun things. One year I was the "hill" for my little brother and sister who were "Jack and Jill" in the Halloween parade. The next year I was a "ufo" and that wasn't an "unfinished object" from quilting. I have the picture to prove that I was an extraterrestrial being in a space ship. What is great is seeing the purple socks I was wearing :)

Carolyn, and I believe Kym is in the Dallas area. I will be speaking at the Arlington quilt guild tonight. I know this is short notice, but if you can make it, it would be fun to see you. It is held at the Bob Duncan Community Center.

I am working on making my website more current and up to date on the things I am doing. This blog and the things I have learned to do on the computer at work have helped me see the computer as a good tool instead of an overwhelming place that confuses me. It is nice to see how much I have learned. Of course my son in Santa Fe, NM got a call from me last night as a cry for help. I could hear him sigh even though he tried not to. He is my computer/graphic designer guru.

Hi Quilters!

I'm delighted & privileged to be a member of the Material Mavens!

I've sewn & embroidered for almost as long as I can remember. I did City & Guilds of London Certificates in Creative Embroidery some years ago & I've been teaching leisure classes since then. My enthusiasm & excitement for quilting arrived gradually over the last few years as I visited various Quilt Shows, especially the Festival of Quilts at Birmingham in England which I believe is now the biggest show in Europe.

I think "Harmony" is a most appropriate first theme for us - I'm looking forward to getting to know you all and working with you in harmony for a long time!

Jane

Ever Onward: Linda Hicks

Painters are moving into the quilting world and I am one of them.

I had never considered entering the art world, but wanted and trained to be a teacher of English and history. I write about my checkered career in "About Me" at my website. I post at least weekly to my blogl  Blogging is a great motivator!

      http://lindadrawingtime.blogspot.com/     

      http://web.me.com/lindahicks/

There are exciting/challenging things happening around every corner in quilting and I want to be there. I find the two 12 x 12 groups I belong to

feed each other. Ever onward in harmony.I look forward to learning and being inspired by all of you.

Quilting Keeps Me Sane from Kym Rock

I have been so busy lately, but wanted to stop a minute........think harmony.......and introduce myself a bit better than done previously. I am a very busy 50 something year old with grown kids (6), 3 grandkids and my youngest almost out of college. I love quilting for my family. It's gotten a bit crazy as one of them is always getting married, having babies, graduating from college or something wonderful (I am very blessed) that, in their minds, is worthy of a quilt. I work long hours for a magazine with a somewhat younger group who are also always having babies, which I try very hard to celebrate with a quilt. They have come to expect one and I hate to disappoint them! What makes me super excited about all this is that I will be able to take a break from "required sewing" and quilt something I want to do for myself. Harmony.....perfect for my busy life. I just hope to keep up with the group. I began quilting about 30 years ago and have done it since then to slow my life down and relax. It is my passion and I'm thrilled to be part of this fun group.

Carolyn: The Theme is Posted

Hi Material Mavens,

Our first theme is HARMONY.

I wanted a theme that expressed my experience at a conference at Ghost Ranch (New Mexico) in June. Ghost Ranch is the home of that wonderful artist, Georgia O'Keefe.

I also wanted a theme that was broad enough for all of you to work with. I narrowed down my words to about 6. Then, I pared the list down to two words. I knew I had the right word when I received an email just yesterday from a person from Scotland announcing the title of his new book which included the word HARMONY.

I have no idea what direction the design for my quilt will take. So, like you, I will have to let the creative process unfold.

I'm excited about our collaboration and am looking forward to seeing the results of our collective efforts on September 15.

Cheers!

Alice: Obsessed with Quilting!

I remember precisely when I made up my mind that one day I would learn to quilt.  Years ago my husband and I were invited to dinner at a new friend's house, and the wife took me on a house-tour.  Every bed in the house was graced with a quilt that she had made.  I told myself then, "Someday, I'm going to make quilts.  And then every bed in our house will have a quilt made by me!"

Well, that's not yet happened!   I made my first quilt, machine pieced but hand-quilted, between 1990 and 1993, working on it only in the summers, since I was still teaching full time.  In 1999, newly retired, I began quilting in earnest.  Many of my quilts have been given to others.  I have several wall hanging quilts in our home--including my few art quilts.  But none of the beds in our home has made-by-me bed quilts!

I've sewn for almost as long as I can remember,  and some of my earliest memories are of sitting with friend Kitty out on a quilt under a tree in the hot Texas summers (prior to air conditioning!), sewing rather sloppy doll clothes.  As a teen I made many of my own garments, and once I married and the children came along, I sewed for them and myself until I went back to teaching full time.

I discovered art quilting some four years ago.  I feel as if I have one foot in art quilting and the other in traditional, which I still love.  I NEED this group to spur me on to make more art quilts, to experiment, to risk, to dare, to rev up my creative juices.  I am excited and can hardly wait until tomorrow, when Carolyn will announce our theme!

Judy-A little quilt crazy

To say I am a little quilt crazy is true. I've tried all kinds of crafts and I enjoy them, but when I found quilting it took over, literally. My husband and 3 sons know more about quilting, quilt patterns, techniques, and any quilt related equipment needed, then some quilters do. They have put up with my sewing machine, cutting and ironing station in the living room for over15 plus years. Now I even have an 8 foot by 8 foot design wall in there. Only our youngest sons room, (he is 20) doesn't have anything related to quilting in it except the quilts made for him. When he discovered quilt batting under his bed one day he brought it out to me and said,"What is this doing in my room?" Poor him, I now have taught his girlfriend to quilt:) I am excited about this journey we are starting. I am also nervous, but I know it will be a learning and freeing experience.

Rita - A little about me

I have been a forever sewer, learning to hem dishtowels from feed sacks on a tredle sewing maching at about age 6.  I made most of the clothing for my daughter and myself for many years and then I retired and discovered I much preferred to make flat things.  I retired from teaching after 36 years, teaching Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science.  I still enjoy the revelation of not having to do lesson plans or grading papers.  I have only recently jumped into the art quilt world, having just completed a series of four 40x40 panels of the Four Seasons in the style of Confetti Naturescapes. The panels are based on a photo of the forested backyard of dear friends near Lexington Kentucky. I am excited to be a part of this distinguished group from which I know I will learn much more than I will ever contribute.

Greetings from Rita and Alice

Rita and Alice



Alice is over at Rita's house this morning, helping her learn to upload photos etc., in preparation for the September 15th reveal of our quilts.  Hope all of you are having a good day!  Bye for now.

Greetings from Barbara

Hello to the Mavens! Yes, Alice, I am Barbara Friedman from San Diego, CA. I have been quilting since 1985. I love to push the traditional pattern with bold fabrics. I have taken sketching and watercolor journaling classes and will be using my sketches in my art quilts (that's the plan!) I have a flickr site where you can see some of my sketches and a couple of quilts. When you are on flickr.com, my site is BarbaraF2010. My part time job is working with adults with Acquired Brain Injury and for this month I am teaching young children to knit in a summer school program.

And Still Another Post from Alice!

Art quilting friends, we now have another member of our group!  Her first name is Barbara, but I don't yet know her last name or where she lives.  She's another one of Carolyn's recruits.  Carolyn got her name from fiber artist Sue Benner, sent me her email address (and another, actually) on to me.  I emailed her with an invitation to join, she replied immediately, and so, here is the revised schedule with BARBARA added to the end!

(1) Carolyn chooses theme #1 on July 15, for the quilt due on Sept. 15, 2011.

(2) Linda chooses theme #2 on Sept. 15, 2011, for November, 2011's quilt.

(3) Jane chooses theme #3 on Nov. 15, 2011, for January, 2012's quilt.

(4) Judy chooses theme #4 on Jan. 15, 2012,  for March, 2012's quilt.

(5) Rita chooses theme #5 on Mar. 15, 2012, for May, 2012's quilt.

(6) Patti chooses theme #6 on May 15, 2012, for July 2012's quilt.

(7) Andrea chooses theme #7 on July 15, 2012, for Sept. 2012's quilt.

(8) Alice chooses theme #8 for on Sept. 15, 2012,  Nov. 2012's quilt.

(9) Petra chooses theme #9 on Nov. 15, 2012,  for Jan 2013's quilt.

(10)  Kym chooses theme #10 on Jan. 15 2013 for March 2013's quilt

(11) Barbara chooses theme #11 on Mar. 15, 2013, for May, 2013's quilt

Can you believe that we now have over two years of quilt themes now assigned?  How exciting is that?  I can hardly wait, too, for Monday to come so that we can all read what Carolyn's theme is for our first quilt.  I am really pleased, as well, that more and more of our group have bitten the bullet to figure out how to become authors and have written their first posts.

Still haven't heard from Petra and Jane about any attempts they've made to join Google and become authors here!


Linda and Andrea have invited another quilter to join, from Australia.  (Forgive me if I am repeating myself!)  If she says yes and the other recommendation from Sue Benner does, too, se will have a Lucky 13!   

The Theme is Jelling!

Hi Material Mavens,

Okay, I'm zero-ing in on THE FIRST THEME of our quilting blog. Two themes keep swirling around in my head, and they're making me dizzy! It's pressure time for me!

Get on board, oh creative ones! I'll announce my final decision on MONDAY, JULY 11th.

Look for it then!

Rita- First time blogging

I think I did it! Am excited about this new adventure.

Well, I finally managed to get this worked out and am so excited to be part of this creative group. Can't wait to see the first theme so I can get a feel of the scope when choosing mine.......to be honest, I am glad it appears to be a bit further in the calendar so I can think of a fun one. Again, looking forward to creating and seeing all the wonderful quilts this year. Thanks Carolyn.

Another Greeting from Alice!

Friends, I have added Kym to our schedule.  Here it is:

(1) Carolyn chooses theme #1 on July 15, for the quilt due on Sept. 15, 2011.

(2) Linda chooses theme #2 on Sept. 15, 2011, for November, 2011's quilt.

(3) Jane chooses theme #3 on Nov. 15, 2011, for January, 2012's quilt.

(4) Judy chooses theme #4 on Jan. 15, 2012,  for March, 2012's quilt.

(5) Rita chooses theme #5 on Mar. 15, 2012, for May, 2012's quilt.

(6) Patti chooses theme #6 on May 15, 2012, for July 2012's quilt.

(7) Andrea chooses theme #7 on July 15, 2012, for Sept. 2012's quilt.

(8) Alice chooses theme #8 for on Sept. 15, 2012,  Nov. 2012's quilt.

(9) Petra chooses theme #9 on Nov. 15, 2012,  for Jan 2013's quilt.

(10)  Kym chooses theme #10 on Jan. 15 2013 for March 2013's quilt

A bit of exciting news:  Carolyn's friend Sue Benner (a wonderfully talented fiber artist in Dallas) has suggested two additional names as potential members.  I have emailed them.  I'll be in touch via email to let you know if they join us.  If so, I'll then add their names to our schedule!

Hello from Carolyn

I've narrowed down to two themes - look for it soon!

New Member to the Group - Patti Brooks

I am finally checking in with the group. I am in New England for a post-retirement month. I am spending the first two weeks in Southern N. H. at a small lake. I retired after 17 years as a social worker in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. While I loved the work, the increasing volume without help got to me. Seemed like a good time to retire. Looking forward to our theme. Patti

Hello Everyone!

Please ignore the post just under this.  The one called "Testing the Process."  Well, you can read it if you want to, but I (as a fictitious person) was testing how easy it is to sign up as an author.  Very easy!  You start the process by going to the email that I sent to you, inviting you to be an author on this blog.  Once you open THAT email, you click on the link to the blog.  Join Google, if you haven't already.  Then sign in with your regular email address and a password, and then you will be able to post here.

And this is where you will post in September, when we all post pictures of our first quilts and tell everyone a bit about them.  I can hardly wait!

Can't wait, too, to hear from Carolyn about what our first theme will be!

To our American members, Happy 4th!  To our gals from Scotland--continue to enjoy your cool summer and think of us in Texas who are broiling in the heat!  Bye for now, Alice.

An Official Welcome from Alice

Although ideally, blogs are short, this "official welcome" is important to have to have on record for reference. I have added "welcome" in the Labels area so that it can be Searched for later.


Greetings to Linda, Andrea, Petra, Carolyn, Patti, and Jane!

Rita, Judy, and I met this morning and we have now set up our group and the guidelines.  First the group--our names and where we live!

Alice Baird--Waco, TX
Patti Brooks-Temple, TX

Judy Steward--Hewitt, TX

Rita Schormann--China Spring, TX (Hewitt and China Spring are suburban communities adjacent to Waco)

Carolyn Henson--Dallas, TX

Linda Hicks--Boston, MS

Andrea Willey--Boston, MS

Petra Sharp--Scotland

Jane McTavish--Scotland

As we get to know one another through our quilts and the comments about them, you'll learn more about each of us.  We range from being long-time quilters to novices, to those with formal art training to, again, true beginners.  I would imagine that our ages range from being quite young (from my vantage point!) to being of grandmotherly age.  All of us, though, share a love of quilting and a keen desire to hone our skills at art quilting.  Some of us will continue to keep one foot in the door of traditional quilting, while perhaps others have turned their backs on that and focus now solely on art quilts.  All this we'll learn as our group gets underway.

Here are the guidelines that Judy, Rita, and I came up with:

1.  The quilts will be 12"x12" finished.

2.  They will be "quilts" in the sense of being sandwiched with top, batting, and backing.

3.  The quilt's edges will be finished, but the sky's the limit here.  You can bind them conventionally, turn the backing to the front, zig zag or otherwise decoratively stitch the edges, or even be as "far out" as one of the original 12x12ers were and bind with flexible metal!  Whatever you choose is fine, just so that the edges aren't left raw.

Oh, and the quilts will be truly "quilted"--but again, how and how much is up to you!  Some of us will machine quilt, some will hand-quilt, some will do a combination.  Anything goes here as well!  Some may choose to add embellishments, others may not ever do this.  All of this is up to the individual quilter!

4.  The quilts will be based on themes, which might be either abstract or concrete, again as did the original 12x12 group.

5.  We drew names for the order in which the themes will be chosen.  (more about this later)

6.  We will have two months to complete our small quilts after the theme is announced.

7.  Quilts will be "due" on the 15th day of a month.  Our first one will be "due" on September 15, 2011.

8.  On the day we "reveal" our quilts (hopefully turning them in by posting on The Material Mavens blog), the quilter's whose turn it is to choose the theme will announce the theme.

9.  This first time, the theme chooser will let all of us know by JULY 15, 2011,  what our theme for the first quilt will be.

10.  Here are the names we drew and who will be selecting the theme for which month's quilt:

(1) Carolyn chooses theme #1 on July 15, for the quilt due on Sept. 15, 2011.

(2) Linda chooses theme #2 on Sept. 15, 2011, for November, 2011's quilt.

(3) Jane chooses theme #3 on Nov. 15, 2011, for January, 2012's quilt.

(4) Judy chooses theme #4 on Jan. 15, 2012,  for March, 2012's quilt.

(5) Rita chooses theme #5 on Mar. 15, 2012, for May, 2012's quilt.

(6) Patti chooses theme #6 on May 15, 2012, for July 2012's quilt.

(7) Andrea chooses theme #7 on July 15, 2012, for Sept. 2012's quilt.

(8) Alice chooses theme #8 for on Sept. 15, 2012,  Nov. 2012's quilt.

(9) Petra chooses theme #9 on Nov. 15, 2012,  for Jan 2013's quilt.

Judy, Rita, and I are all so excited about this new group we are a part of!  I can hardly wait to hear what theme Carolyn comes up with!

As for our revealing our quilts and reporting on them--the most efficient way to do this long-distance is to blog about them.  I have already set up our group's blog.  In my first post, I explained how to join Google so that you can post on Blogger (a Google-based blog program), and then I outlined the steps you take for posting and for uploading photos of your quilt on the blog.  

I walked Rita through the steps today during our meeting.  Rita, Judy, Linda, and Andrea have already "joined" the blog as authors.  I will be emailing each one of you, inviting you to join this group blog.  When you receive the email, it will explain to you how to go to the blog and "accept" the invitation.  Essential in doing the revealing in this manner is having a digital camera and knowing how to post photos!  If anyone does not have a digital, perhaps you could print a photo, mail it to me along with the narrative which discusses the quilt, and I will post it for you.  But you'd have to do this prior to the deadline, so that everyone can read about and see your quilt on the "due date"! 

I have set the blog up so that anyone can comment.  You just type your comment into the comment box, sign in with your Google account (if you've set that up), or sign in anonymously.  To do that, just use the pulldown menu and click on anonymous.  Please, all of you, try doing that and commenting so that I'll know that you got to the blog!  If you do sign in anonymously, put your name in the comment box along with your comment!