Kathy's tips May
 We have had the rainiest winter since 1895. 12 inches over the record to be clear. I am turning into a prune. Thank heavens for sunny teaching trips to California, Dallas and Colorado twice. Caution ahead!- I want to talk about something serious. We all know that creating things is good for our bodies; Proven to combat stress, boost our immune system, and when in the zone..... our heart rate and blood pressure comes down. The kicker is; Trying to make something new, creative, and innovative is hard. Will it turn out to be good art or bad? Who gets to judge and do we really care as long as we are having fun? Well, in my ideal Zen world, we would be committed to expressing ourselves simply because we are in love with great colors, interesting shapes, cool patterns, prints, and FABRIC. My Zen is not always as exalted as I wish it were. Quilting is not for wimps! After countless hours, things can and do go horribly wrong. The whole back rippled when I quilted it, I ran out of fabric one block from my goal, the blue marking keeps coming back, the recipient was not as thrilled as I hoped or I did not get into the show.   My new quilt Roseate Spoonbills did NOT get into the Paducah show. Of course my first thought was that it was a rotten design, terrible idea, and generally that it must be awful. What was I thinking putting those big pink birds in the front like that. Maybe they were too big, maybe too bright, maybe, maybe... Rational people realize that there are so many masterpieces entered that we can't all get in, all the time. Art is subjective, blah, blah, blah. All true - except at that moment of rejection, when your heart thumps and misses several beats. It hurts and makes us question ourselves, our time, ideas, and the money we spent. It may take a while to get your Zen back. Reason does return and my heart whispers - You need to create, even if the only person acknowledging your effort is your loyal husband. I need to create like I need to breathe. A creative life is simply richer, full of adventure, new friends, challenges, and opportunities. Time to create is an amazing gift. A non essential in life.... its like frosting. Some people like vanilla, some people like chocolate sprinkles. Apparently the jury likes foxes and sunsets, because those two quilts got in. Do I have any right to whine when two of my quilts got into Paducah international? Absolutely NOT, but I wanted to be honest with those of you who faithfully follow my quilting life. I could just suck it up and not tell. Nobody would ever know. Rejection is something that happens to all of us. Expect highs and lows in this crazy journey. I gathered myself up, rededicated myself to creativity, to new innovative designs and play. The award ceremony night came. Did I tune in? No way, I was not going there. It's the frosting remember. Bruce and I were warm, had fat tummies, good health, the grands had just left. We were sitting down to a movie and the texts started binging and binging. Dear students and friends were at the show letting me know that I had won two first place awards. Pictorial and Wall stationary machine . Unbelievable. I cried and laughed and danced. Out in the cold one minute and at the top of the mountain the next. New Zen motto - Dance when I'm up, but most importantly remember to dance when I'm down.   All about that Glue! Most of us use fabric glue at some point in our quilting process. I prepare my edges for turning with glue. My prepared pieces are lightly glue basted together to hand or machine sew. I occasional glue a complex border like prairie points in place. Apliquick pulled their glue about 5 months ago. It simply was no longer available, as they were developing a new glue product. I turned to Sew Line, which I could get wholesale in order to make kits for my students. The new Apliquick glue is now available. It has created a real dilemma for me. I worked with it for two weeks and liked the moist glide, but found I was going thru almost twice the amount of glue. The new chapstick shape is much wider and the glue goes on much wider. It is clear, which I thought I would love. In fact I kept going over areas I had already glued up thereby wasting glue. (Sometimes it seemed to stick better after reapplying another layer.) It is also more expensive. Bruce and I try really hard to bring you the best products, at the best prices. We only sell what I myself use. I really like the Bohin glue. It comes in the pen shape, it goes on very softly, pink in color, and of course dries clear. I like the pink better than the blue. The refills are also cheaper and that is important when you quilt as many hours as I do. So we applied for a Bohin distributorship from France. (Harder than we thought) but we are now pleased to be offering the Bohin glue pens in our kits and the double refills in our store. Once you have the pen, you don't need to buy another one. The refill cartridges also fit the Sew Line pens and old Apliquick pens. The double refill cartridges are $5.60 Click here to order Buy ten packs for 30% off Click here.   By request, the other new item in my shop is 5 assorted note cards of my quilts. $15.00 Click here. Travels We are off for two trips into the south this week, Alabama and then Mississippi. Then it won't be long before we board the ship for the Norway cruise. I'm really looking forward to seeing old cruising buddies and students. Wishing you all the very best. I am grateful daily to belong to this wonderful community of generous, caring quilters. hugs Kathy |