Ellen Anne Eddy's Thread Magic Studio

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Distraction Faction

12:52 PM |

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I live in dread of distraction. So it is with serious fear that I face the holidays. I have a really low attention span, and I multitask unmercifully, but I know I will leave three out of five of those tasks in the dust. So when the holidays come, I know I really ought to find the floor.

This year we had a particular reason why that was vital.
This is Tom and Sarah.

This is Tom and Sarah with munchkin. It's astonishing how something so small can hold your whole heart that tightly.

Keira is at seven months, a bright sunny soul who likes soft boiled eggs, bee bop music, and is working on toy tossing as an Olympic sport. We had visions of what she'd do when she found the dog bones so we at least had to clean that much up. After that it became the search for more suction in vacuum cleaner land.

The weirdest thing has happened to me. It was bad enough at the baby shower. I actually made a baby quilt. Since it's out of all my apron prints, it includes ghosts, tigers, hawks, spiders, and beetles. We thought we ought to start her early on those things.

But I'm knitting...............................!
I was really worried about having been distracted in this way and then it came to me. I won't really have to have someone pry the knitting needles out of my hands. They come in pairs and I'm bound to lose one sooner or later.

Either way, I've been given the ultimate delight of a tiny hand waving wet spoons and toys at me as I sing her bee bop. Pretty good for a maiden fairy godmother.

Keira lives in Austin with my God kids, Tom and Sarah, They better bring her back soon or, God knows what I'll knit.

Labels: knitting, life as an artist, lifestyle, lunatic fringe, story telling |

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

To Kit or Not to Kit: A Teacher's Dilemma

9:46 AM |

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The decisions we make as artists are so different than the decisions we make as teachers.
I came out in the seventies with a primary degree, ready to teach first grade.
It was after several breathtakingly bad years substituting when I finally got a job, only to find I was really bad at crowd control. It doesn't help when you're personally leading the riot.

But your life finds a way. I worked in a fabric store and quilted insanely, until someone asked, "Could you teach a class on that?"
Well, when teaching adults, it's ok to be leading the riot. It's kind of what they hired you for. They want excitement and new ideas and that roller coaster feeling of a whole new stash of toys they've never tried before. I'm exactly where I should be.
But the decisions I make about class are almost in opposition to decisions about the studio.

When it comes to materials, I believe that more is more. More colors please. More resources. More options. Certainly more choices. So when I've taught, I want that for students too. So how much and what do you pack? I used to bring whole bolts of stabilizers, fusibles and piles of books for design.
Strangely enough, it comes down to weight. The new luggage fees have changed that world and I have to think like a teacher, not like an artist. It's very strange to pack what I'm sure you'll need. And to leave the things that you might want back at the studio.

So I am proud/sad/confused/and conflicted to announce for the first time in my life I'm kitting classes. I'm still bringing fabulous fabrics I personally dye, hand-dyed threads you can't get anywhere else, hand-dyed cheesecloth and a collection of the most beautiful commercial threads I can find. But I'm kitting up the stabilizers/fusibles/and patterns to make your life easier the day before class. I'm also producing small classroom books for project classes that cover the material, give you pattern, how to illustrations, tips, sources and gallery photos all in one one pretty little booklet. Simplification really is a math project.

This is my first year to do that.You as students and fellow artists will have to let me know how that works for you.

The downside is that you can't always be sure what that kit will cost. Your group will ask me for a cost for that perhaps a year before class, usually when they book the class. Prices can raise dramatically in a year, and I've usually sliced it down to give students the best break I can. So if shipping or the price spikes, I have no choice but to adjust the kit fee. What I've told students is that if the extra means you eat peanut butter for a week, I'll offer you a dispensation. I can absorb the extra for one or two, but for twenty it becomes a problem.
Like all works in process, I'm trying to figure this out. So as students and artist, what do you prefer? Do you want to strictly find and bring your own supplies? Do you prefer a kit? and can you handle a small price adjustment if it's needed?
This little dragonfly was started in my Dragonfly Sky class, a class built and streamlined with kits, a set pattern, and a booklet to help people on their way.

The booklet is available separately at
www.ellenanneeddy.com
Dragonfly Sky
or at Amazon
If you order from Ellen you get your book personally signed.
Or you can ask your guild to bring Ellen to teach you to make your own dragonfly sky. Ellen's Teaching information

Labels: classes |

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To Kit or Not to Kit: A Teacher's Dilemma

9:46 AM |

Posted by Ellen Anne Eddy |

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Labels: classes |

16 comments

Thursday, October 20, 2011

April H. Center: A Brilliant Painter with Words

2:12 PM |

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Holding up the World by Ellen Anne Eddy

April Center is a word painter in the Indiana Dunes area. Her images flow out of the page and grab you tightly. Sometimes they are warm and caressing. Sometimes they reach out in ways that are ferocious. But whatever they do, they always touch you somewhere deeply.

What Matters Now
Copyright 2011
By April Center

The trees know. The seasons require attention of different matters.
In spring they stretch their arms reaching for the light and the warmth,
With an awakening that follows throughout the millennium.
The sap slowly flows it’s lifeblood through their veins long before tiny sprouts appear
Like tiny fingers, whispering, reaching to grasp the hope and pursuit of sunlight,
Finding succor for the summer
Ever beckoning, wooing, breathing, soothing.
No need for wondering what matters now in the halcyon days of spring.

The trees know what matters in the glorious summer.
The trees are in full prayer and reverie – their chorus is heard easily
Above the canopy bestowing silent solace
Their arms with a million fans swaying, sometimes gently laughing, softly sighing
Sometimes boldly shouting, clapping and cheering
To the heartbeat of the wind – dancing,
Ever dancing with a grace beyond compare
The trees know what matters now in the ripe days of summer.

The trees know what matters in the fullness of time
In the slow fall from grace
No longer hindered, the trees and their kin shrug off their summer shroud
To be found scattered and strewn on the ground preparing a bed.
They sigh with a satisfied sleepiness after the dance.
A kaleidoscope of color shivers from their frames,
The painted beauty now leaves no trace,
What is left is the enduring body and face.
In the twilight of autumn the trees know what matters in the universe.

The trees know what matter most at this time. No longer concealed
Is their courage standing in place, always there but rarely seen while encased
In their garments of lace.
Not languishing, not laggardly, they brace
For the sharp, serrated winds that gust with the squalls of winter,
Withering all but the trees, for the trees know what matters in a world of much waste.
You'll find more writing of April's at Prudy's View.

Labels: lunatic fringe |

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Dancing with Design:A Little less real. A little more art.

1:41 PM |

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I fight with realism. I really do. I wouldn't say I win over often. I'm not against realism. I think that like fire, it's a good tool and a harsh master.

So it was with great glee I found myself with a new design tool. Like most great tools, it's not an object so much as a headset. When I realized I could make flowers out of shapes, I then realized they didn't have to necessarily conform.

Mind you, they could. And it's pretty when they do.This fish has lovely wisteria dripping over his pond.

But what happens if you just make a shape and have them follow that? They abstract in such a cool way. And if you embroider them? Here are the same teardrop shapes centered around a gentle c shape. The shape gives us a path, and the smaller flowers fill in the empty spots.

Everything is better with more thread! At least that's my philosophy. These were embroidered with polyester embroidery thread until they glowed.

I've explored this cool Dance of Design, in Jim West's Magazine, Quiltposium, pages 136-154 with a number of flowers. Go check it out. And take a shape out dancing today!

Labels: lunatic fringe |

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Saturday, October 15, 2011

Pat Winter: It's Always the Quiet Ones

9:49 AM |

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Crazy for CQ.
The best Mermaids ever!

Tucked in a cute little farmhouse outside Chesterton Indiana lives a quiet wild lady named Pat Winter. Pat has to be one of the most inventive crazy quilters ever. And when I'm lucky she dyes fabric with me. This incredible mermaid book is one of her masterpieces. Here's what she has to say for herself.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who gathered bits and bobs and her friends made fun of her "junk" collecting...... Up until a few years ago I never considered what I did art. I had always wanted to paint and draw however I did not inherit that skill from my mother. I did inherit the desire to collect and this I did very well. From a very young age I began gathering every little discarded trinket, pretty fabric scrap and bauble I found unusual or interesting and slipped them into a chest in my closet for safe keeping. As a teen only my closest friends saw my strange collection of bits and bobs. Unfortunately those items never made it with me through life but my desire and need to gather remains with me still today.

This comes in handy for a crazy quilter. Vintage laces, doilies, buttons, broken jewelry and beads have made it into my current collection as well as velvet remnants from Holiday dresses, lace trims from wedding gowns, silk, satin and moire from cast off prom dresses and an ongoing stash of "fancy fabrics" gathered from my shopping ventures all find a home in my studio. I enjoy making unusual and useful items using the crazy quilt method, not traditional wall hangings or bed coverings.

I can't explain what drives me to create, I blame it on my muse. All I know is that whatever it is that makes me spend hours stitching and embellishing almost every day of my life is too strong to deny and brings me much pleasure. Imagine finding yourself locked in a chocolate shop and you were a chocoholic. That is how I feel when I walk into my studio and begin gathering items for a project. Lunatic? Yes, I believe so."

You'll find Pat's amazing work at Winter Gatherings, where you can also purchase her new magazine, Crazy Quilt Gatherings, full of projects, tips, teaching and of course, crazy beautiful work.

Labels: lunatic fringe |

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Saturday, September 10, 2011

Laura Krasinski: Out on a Limb

9:19 AM |

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He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Laura's another quilter who shared images with me for the Beautiful Beast Slide Show. She wrote me this story about stretching, trying and changing that is the heart of the Lunatic Fringe.

This is "the story of making a quilt of my daughter. It's called He Loves Me He Loves Me Not.

I was asked by Wendy Butler Berns if I would like to participate in her exhibit for Houston. It is called Out on a Limb.

I jumped at the chance since I have never had a quilt in a big show before. So she continues to tell me about the challenge and then said it had to be at least 50".... My jaw immediately dropped. I don't think I spoke a word for a minute or so.. .. I have never made a quilt that large. So I thought about it and decided I needed to make this. I took a photo of my daughter leaning against a tree. I took the photo and with the help of Wendy's technique I turned it into a 52"x64" quilt. I added a wall so I could put her cat Mr. Snuggles sitting on it. ... During the time I was making this quilt I had some major family issues. I really didn't think I would get it done. But, with the help and support of family and friends I did get it done, and in time. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Since I have done this quilt I feel like I need to do something better and maybe bigger. ...But, I am bound and determine to continue to make beautiful quilts now that I have found my true love. "

Her motto is "Everything will be o.k. in the end... if it's not o.k. it is not the end."

Fringe people aren't reasonable.Nor is their art. They follow their hearts and do what their heart demands. It's loveliest when you find their people understand and hold them up in that process.

You'll find Laura Krasinski's work at

http://laurakrasinskiquilts.com

http://laurasartontherun.blogspot.com

http://laurakrasinskiquilts.blogspot.com

http://milwaukeeartquilters.wordpress.com