sometimes I take pictures of myself

for no good reason

longing for a future perfect kiss

I saw the Old 97's last night, for the second time this week - this time at the Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY. I didn't take my camera because I didn't think I would be close enough to get any good pictures. As it turns out, I was in my usual elbows on the stage position (just a bit farther stage left, but still in a place that Rhett and I could look longingly at each other). So, yeah, I wish I'd had my camera. Coulda shoulda woulda...I took these shots with my phone. They played my twitter request (Indefinitely), which was lovely of them. Thanks Rhett. mmmmmmmm...Rhett.






this is more than I can tolerate
the kind of pain you've got to medicate
I can't remember why I couldn't wait
to get so close to you

hello out there in ebook land

So apparently Art Quilts at Play is now an ebook. Nobody tells me anything. Actually, I knew it was an ebook, I even recorded a little video clip for it - screen printing (see above) and acting all goofy (see below). Now you wanna buy it, don'tcha?

check it

loving you is a test

I saw (and heard) the Old 97's last night at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ. They have 4 dates at there, so they're doing a "no repeat" engagement - different songs every night with no repeats (obviously) excluding Timebomb, which they haveta do 'cause if they didn't we wouldn't know when to go home. It was wicked 'cause they played stuff you don't usually get to hear like Miss Molly (oh oh oh), Ivy, Adelaide and my funeral song, Weightless (yes, I want an Old 97's song played at my funeral). It was a rockin' good time and I can't wait 'til the next time I get to see them...which is Friday.

[I'm cheating - this isn't from Maxwell's]


I remember when
I had you and you had so much promise then
promised me that you would never leave again
to be broken
you were made

J+J

On Saturday my nephew married his college sweetheart. It was an incredibly beautiful wedding - the ceremony was at Pennyfield Lock in Potomac (Maryland) and the reception was in the bumper car pavilion at Glen Echo Park, in Glen Echo (Maryland). Here's what it looked like...

[the ceremony]














[the reception]
























congratulations John + Jenn

my day job

it's not very far

from Sulphur to Sugarcane





The women in Poughkeepsie
Take their clothes off when they're tipsy
But I hear in Ypsilanti
They don't wear any panties...

one more thing...

Thanks to all of y'all who I met at Quilt Market who have facebooked, myspaced, linkedin(ed) and twittered me. Yes, I'm a geek, but I love me some social networking.

SQM PGH PA

So yeah. I'm back from Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh, PA. It was quite an experience. I made some new friends, saw some old friends, met some facebook friends for the first time in the real (non virtual) world and all that kinda stuff. Had some bizarre moments as well as the fun ones, the most bizarre being a barroom scuffle that nearly came to blows. Yes, I'm a skinny blonde chick with a fiery Scottish temper and sometimes I get into bar fights. Especially when some drunk dude pushes me - figuratively and literally - too far. I'm grateful for the dude's friend (hello Gary, are you reading this?) for getting in between me and the dude and saying "take a breath everybody, take a breath" and preventing the fists from flying. Especially since said dude was about 15 years younger than me and 100+ pounds bigger than me. I wonder if I was the only QM visitor who ended up in a bar fight. By the way, I don't even drink.

Anyway...I met my wonderful editor, Deb Rowden for the first time in person. Jim West of Sew Many Places and I did runway walking down the aisles of the convention center because...I don't actually know why we did that. Why not? And Mark from Sullivan's who had a wicked cool device for fixing broken zippers. Alex from Aurifil, who I've only known on facebook, gave me a pack of threads to play with that's reeeal purdy. Too many others to name - but if I met you and you had your picture taken with me, send me jpegs!

While in the 'burgh, I visited my late father's next door neighbor and we went to my old house and looked in all the windoww (don't worry, we had permission from the new owner). Then I went to meet some friends who I haven't seen in 30 years at a bar (see bar fight story above). I also hung around the North Side where I used to work and got all reminiscey and went to the Warhol Museum and took pictures in the photo booth. I have a thing for photo booths.



Thanks to everyone at C&T for the opportunities they give me and to the peeps at United Notions and Checker Distributors for holding book signings for us.

If I met you in P'town, I'm glad I met you (unless you're the guy I fought with in the bar - you I coulda lived without).

peace out boyeeees!

hanging in the 'burgh

[expounding the wonderfulness of Art Quilts at Play]


[my childhood friend Sandy]


[my roomie Terrie]


[fellow Pittsburgher Mark Lipinski]


[half of the exhibit hall]




[Strawberry Way]




[where I used to work]








[slag]


[Stanley Photoplays]

let's go Pens

I'm in Pittsburgh (my hometown) for Quilt Market (a trade show for the quilting world). I'm staying directly across the street from the arena where I used to go see rock concerts when I was a kid/young adult. There seems to be an important ice hockey competition of some sort, as there is a huge crowd of people in Penguin jerseys shouting loudly at a big screen tv. Hmmmm. Don't know what that's all about.

I spent the afternoon walking the streets of Pittsburgh (instead of prepping for my trade show presentation). I greatly underestimated my sentimentality regarding the 'burgh. I went by the office building where my father worked when I was a kid and remembered how amazed I was that he could talk on the phone, look out the window and type like the wind all at the same time - and with his feet up on the desk. Then I went to Nicholas Coffee, where my mother bought fancy coffee beans in the days before Starbucks. She loved the smell of it and would spend a looooong time in there - too long for me 'cause I hated the smell. That's actually the place that gave me my aversion to coffee - I've never even tasted it, because I can't stand the smell. But my mother would bribe me by letting me get dried fruit (and occasionally chocolate). So I braved the smell and bought some dried pineapples for old time's sake. Then I walked to the Pittsburgh Public Theater, where I worked in 1986 + 1987 (although it's in a different location now) and to the theater where I took filmmaking classes. Anyway, I got all weepy and girly.

It seems something fabulous has just happened in the ice hockey competition/event, as the crowds outside the arena are going quite wild. And there's a lot of horn beeping activity.

more from the Pittsburgh front tomorrow..

Go Pens.

puppets

This is what RISD students do for spring break - Lex's puppet animation tests.

sign your name across my heart

This Saturday (4.25), Jane and I are having a book signing at Elm Street Books, in New Canaan. Be there. Aloha.


12 - 3 pm
35 Elm Street
New Canaan, CT

I'm dressed all in blue

and I'm remembering you




mmmmmm....Rhett Miller @ (le) Poisson Rouge, 4/16/09

[photos by Patti Foerster]

I thought I heard somebody calling

...in the dark, I thought I heard somebody call.

Saturday night | Josh Ritter @ the Wellmont Theatre, Montclair NJ








Sunday night | Josh Ritter @ the Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown NY (yeah, I went 2 nights in a row, because that's the kinda gal I am)










[yes, there was a dog on stage]









I won't be your last dance just your last goodnight
Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied

playing

I spent yesterday morning at Sew Inspired in Simsbury, CT, teaching Materials at Play - Artist Trading Cards with Angelina Fibers, painted fusible web and Shiva Paintstiks. Here's what it looked like...









thanks for playing!

playtime

C&T Publishing made a video trailer for Art Quilts at Play - click me.

charmed

I had an article in the January/February issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine about making and swapping charms. A couple people have posted the charms they've made on their blogs, so I'm passing them along.

Blue Moon River (Susan Brubaker Knapp)

Barnyard Chatter (March 9th entry)

Fabrications (Cindy Green)



AND, there's also an official CPS "charm & be charmed" swap:

charm & be charmed swap

Be a part of our Cloth Paper Scissors® charm swap! Inspired by Elin Waterston’s article in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue, we thought it would be fun to host a charm swap ourselves.

charm swap rules

Create up to five original charms. Use some of Elin’s techniques or some of your own. Keeping in mind that the charms will later be a part of a piece of jewelry, please keep them to 1 1/2" in diameter or smaller. Once you get going, you’re going to want to make a lot.
Your charm must be free of any text or images that are protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that written permission with your submission.
Attach a jump ring to each charm.
Fasten a card to each charm’s jump ring with your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Please type or print clearly. (This is for our internal use only.)
Include a SASE with your charm(s) and an entry fee of $5 (U.S. and Canada) and $10 (all other international). All funds must be in U.S. dollars and made payable to Interweave. Swap participants, including international residents, may charge their entry fee to their credit card. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. Please include the necessary information, including the expiration date and CVV code.
Your charm(s) must be in our offices by April 13th and we will “swap” them by June 1st.


We will be featuring some of your charms in an upcoming issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and/or on our website. All participants will be sent the same number of charms “in swap” that they sent to us.

for more information click here.

3.25.89

abandon in personal touch

Another funny [translated] review.


How to use C&T Publishing Art Quilt Workbook:

Product Description Exercises & Techniques

Part quiltmaking workbook, factor commercial vanguard, Art Quilt Workbook show how to lift quilting bounded by a dynamic alien direction through art--then import the quilts at craft fair and other venue. Lessons and homework coach the brass tack of moral logo next to unproblematic step-by-step exercises, next inflame the reader to abandon in personal touch with cloth collage, strand fine art, radical piecing, and photo descriptions. A in excess guide to exhibit and selling quilts reveal how to bring mutually art and craft exhibit and how to souk handmade quilts. Develop the inmost optical artist (and the inner business tycoon) with Art Quilt Workbook!

157120377X Art Quilt Workbook: Exercises & Techniques.
About the Author Handicrafts Art Quilt Workbook: Exercises & Techniques

Jane Davila, an artist and printmaker, teach art quilting. An art quilting professor, she live in South Salem, New York.

Elin Waterstons quilts be full of be exhibit in tons gallery and museums. She lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Patchwork & applique Art Quilt Workbook:.
EXCELLENT Exercises & Techniques.

Excellent effort all for the knowing or rookie art quilter. many contrary technique detailed. above all recommended. Quiltmaking Art Quilt Workbook: Exercises & Techniques.

[BTW, I don't live in Ridgefield and Jane doesn't live in South Salem. Other way around. Although my quilts are full of be exhibit in tons gallery and museums. That part is true.]

the trouble with being in love...

is it's so hard to get out of.

Further proof of my groupiness - I can sing along with Rhett Miller's Question...wait for it...in French.

[SRM]






[squiggle]


[squiggle that made a birdie shape]


[when my flash accidentally flashed, but the bouncer didn't reprimand me]


[photos by Patti Foerster]



peut-être ce soir
je la poserai toi

mfc [squared]

I'm a groupie. I'm okay with it. I went to see the Cardinals twice this weekend - once in New Haven (CT) and once in Montclair (NJ).



I never get good pictures at Cardinal gigs (I'm usually too far away and the stage is always darkish and no photography allowed - shhhhhh, don't tell) so I just have blurry, wait, artistic shots of the band and my squiggly lights thing that I like to do.

[Ryan, Brad, Space Wolf + Neal - Jon is out of frame]


[squiggle]


[squiggle]


[everybody]


[Neal singing]


[Neal singing again. He's the only member of the band who knows my name, so I pay attention to him.]


[squiggle]


[squiggle]


So turn the radio on
So turn the radio up
So turn the radio up loud and get down
Let your body move
Let your body sway
Listen to the music play
It's magick

I'm going to go to bed now, and hope the ringing in my ears doesn't keep me awake. And I really really really hope this wasn't my last Cardinals gig. Please Ryan. Please.

update: there are some excellent photos here.

I shall be released

Hiho boys and girls. Jane and I had our Art Quilts at Play release party today and it was boffo. We signed stacks of books...I had to throw away my red Sharpie because it couldn't handle all the times I wrote Elin. (I only sign my first name. Like Cher. And Madonna.) Thanks to everyone who came and hung out with us and to everyone who sent well wishes. Y'all rock.

Jane just checked AQ@P's amazon sales rank and it's at #3275 overall and #3 in it's category. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout. (I was gonna say "suck it #4" but then I looked and #4 is Mixed-Media Self-Portraits, with my face on the cover, so I won't say anything.) Our first book, The Art Quilt Workbook, got to #1164 (or 1146, I can't remember) and #1 in it's category, so let's hope this one keeps on climbing.
update: 2.22 | 8am - #2902 + #3

update: 2.22 | 7pm - #2332 + #1

update: 2.23 | 9pm - #2144 + #1

update: 2.24 | 12pm - #1617 + #1

update: 2.24 | 2pm - #1544 + #1


peace out my homies

try your appendage at will!

My new favorite book review:


If you aren't an experienced fabric operative, or like to be given decipherable, step-by-step advice by the legion of method and example of what you can if lawfulness be tell do with clear methods, may I recommend Art Quilt Workbook, with Waterston? Buy Online Children Black Dog.

Art Quilt Workbook Cultural Studies Black Dog.

This is a terrific book if you are experienced in multiple methods of method with fabric and fibers. I be next competent to work through what I have done nearer to conclusion my grades. I needed to research a fashion of working with fiber that I had nearly new before, comparatively some time ago, and had forgotten the careful method for the formula. This book energetically bring me general awake to rush, giving me an beyond compare reminder of how to beginning. It also administer me the nuts and bolt on a method I had contemplation more or slighter digit, but never know how it was done (fabric beads). In a brace of stumpy paragraph I had the process mane and was able to try your appendage at will. It gives short, short and snappy, information on techniques, and let you 'run with it' on your individual. Fashion design Black Dog.

It is deeply surely documentary, gives flawless, clear instructions, and examples of project you can try. It is an excellent achievement for a beginner's book.

AQAP party

Please join Jane and me for our Art Quilts at Play release party and signing Saturday, February 21st from 1 - 4 pm at the Country Quilter (344 Route 100, Somers NY). Some of the work from the book will be exhibited and there will be food and drink. And you'll get to see me and get my autograph! What could be more exciting?

Louisa, cha cha cha

My mother-in-law, Louise Waterston 3.2.24 - 2.13.09

I got in my car after I said goodbye to Louise for the last time and I turned on the car radio - really loud, so it would keep me alert and awake while I was driving home from the hospital in the middle of the night. The first song that came on was "Lust for Life" followed by "Alive and Kicking". I found this to be enormously appropriate (maybe not the lyrics, but certainly the titles) for the kind of woman that Louise was. I'm taking it as a sign and I'm gonna live it up while I can here on Earth. That's how she lived her life - up until her very last breath. Love you Louisa.



update: Lex and I got in the car to drive to Louisa's funeral and I said, "Let's see if there's an appropriate song on the radio." It was "Play That Funky Music White Boy." We laughed about how NOT appropriate that was for Louisa, but how it would be perfect for my funeral. Then about 20 minutes into the drive (after I'd flicked stations a bunch of times) what should come on but "Play That Funky Music White Boy." Maybe it was another sign after all. So Lex and I vowed that we would play that funky music 'til we die.

Yeah, I know

It's February already and I still haven't made my block prints into an animation. I will. I swear. No time to learn the program yet.

On another subject, if you happen to be in the Westchester (NY) / Fairfield County (CT) area and are looking for something to do, please join me at the 131 Arts Jam, next Sunday at the Katonah Art Center.

they're heeeeere

Okay. It's official. My copies of Art Quilts at Play arrived today. Email me to order a copy. With our autographs and everything!