Rimbaud

Today I found these words by Arthur Rimbaud and I like them so much:

I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; 

garlands from window to window; 

golden chains from star to star, 

and I dance.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/golden_2.html

"The Age of Innocence"

I so much love this novel by Edith Wharton. It was published 1920 and it won the Pulitzer Prize. Did I say how much I love that book? I do love it. And it is one of these stories that are good and true, because they don't have an ending (because of many other reasons, too.) Edith Wharton stops to tell the story, and you think "That's it." (and I did with regret)... but at the same time the story goes on and on and on, ar least in my thoughts. I love this book, I know I said it already, but this novel is really a true one.

Here is a little praliné for example: Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska try to do some smalltalk on their last evening together, for more than thirty years to come. They are in company and are being watched closely, and so Newland and Ellen have to say SOMETHING, and they talk about the hardships of traveling and that it can be cold, and Ellen said then that "after all, one could always carry an extra rug".... oh, she is one who even when she is talking about "nothing" she talks about SOMETHING. 
I love that book. And the idea of an extra rug.

Stories

This here somehow always makes my heart sing: these patterns here are all patterns rich with history, tradition, so many stories are being told with them, so many women (and men) used these patterns to create lovely quilts;  these patterns were given from one person to another, they bridged continents and countries and centuries, and I am so happy to continue this tradition, to take up all these patterns and pieces and images and "words" to tell now more quilt-stories...

Road to California

"There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. 

And then there is California." - 

Edward Abbey

http://www.californiality.com/2010/06/best-quotations-about-california.html

The pattern in the middle here is called: "Road to California".

I used this pattern with variations in the other blocks for this

mini-quilt (77x78 cm) to show something of California being just "different". 

I had been to California more than 20 years ago and am so much looking forward to seeing friends there again this year and to enjoy this "being different"! So I had a good reason to choose this pattern for my mini-quilt!

... and no, I didn't press much this quilt, I like it when quilts don't look so very neat
and orderly... :-)

I took to making mini-quilts lately because I like it that they can be used in so many different ways:

they may decorate the wall, the table, a bed or a sofa or even cover a baby.

This quilt is sewn and quilted completey by hand and consists of cotton (top), light wool (batting) and linen (backing).

Khan Academy: Why Look At Art?

It's such a magnificent tool for self education: 

the Khan Academy! 

It's such a great idea: making knowledge and information available,

 with videos, made without much extra ado, with simple matter-of-fact explanations, for persons of all ages: a project which is constantly under construction. It's such a helpful tool for everyone, kid or adult, who wants to really learn something that is important to her or him, so that he or she can go on thinking and creating by himself or herself.

 It does not answer EVERY question, but many many. And there is always more to come.

Here is a video on the question: 

Why Look At Art?

http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/introduction-to-art-history/v/why-look-at-art

Patterns

I spent some days in Berlin, I had such a lovely time. I'm so grateful to my friends who showed me around! Once we visited Schloss Glienicke, and I found these lovely patterns there, they so much remind me of what I feel when I look at quilt patterns! Just for fun I include one of my quilt-"paintings" in this list here. 

One Object Out Of Place

" One object out of place caught her eye. The quilt she had painstakingly created from her uncle's drawings lay on the ground beside an old wooden bench. She remembered last seeing it draped across the bench, but she must have jostled it in her haste to search for her uncle. She bent down to pick up the quilt, brushing dirt and stray bits of crumbled maple leaves from the fabric. Her gaze traced the path the triangles made, lingering upon familiar scraps she recognized from sewing her uncle's work shirts and Sunday trousers. Without realizing it, she had made him a memorial quilt."

from: "The Sugar Camp Quilt", by Jennifer Chiaverini, Simon & Schuster, 2006

my painting of a quilt pattern, 

oil pastels on painted, self - made canvas,

with a self- made rough wooden frame,

42 x 45 cm

Honeycomb/ Bienenwabe

To me it is the perfect form, full of beauty, so simple and at the same time so refined and somehow "embracing": 

the honeycomb.

Ich finde, die Honigwabe ist die perfekte Form: schön, einfach und gleichzeitig sehr fein und irgendwie "umarmend".

quilt as a wallhanging, 

Wandbehang,

69 x 78 cm, 

machine and hand sewing, hand quilting, batting is light wool

             

same quilt as a table mat

...or as a mini-bedquilt 

... or to mark your favourite spot where you  read all your lovely books

my painting of a quilt, 30 x 40 cm,

 tinting paint, crayon, colored pencil, 

paint marker silver, 

on canvas

Travelling Quilt / Reisequilt

Travelling Quilt, patchwork, hand- and machine sewing, hand quilting, 87,5 x 127,5 cm, 35" x 50", cotton and linen, woolen batting, signed,

consists of four panels which are small quilts in themselves,  they are connected by a system of strips and sleeves and selfmade buttons,

label at the back, weight: 850 g, 1 3/4 pounds,

it comes with a light protective bag

I made this quilt for myself to travel with. I like to have something "warm" around me whenever I stay in a foreign country, at a hotel with a hotel bed that is just --- a hotel bed.

In my quilt design I used strips and buttons to hold the panels together, just because this reminds me of all the strings and straps and buttons I need to fasten when I carry all my belongings with me in bags and suitcases. The buttons and strips also make the quilt richer and more colorful.

The patterns I used for the panels refer to traveling, too: The Louisiana Star is my guide to my destination and then home again, the Tumbling Blocks remind me of how childlike I feel when I am at a foreign place and just stand in awe: everything is new, everythings looks and sounds and smells and feels different..., the Flying Geese fly happily in formation and know exactly where to go to and why..., and the Attic Windows remind me of all the windows that fascinate me with yet another view, at day or night.

During the process of working on this quilt I started to wonder whether I'm not  on a journey all the time, even when I stay at home... just because I simply go step by step, step by step onward in my life? 

This quilt is a light one, a rather small one, one that can be lain over any bed at any place. It is meant to complete the bedding, to give a warm additional touch to a bed, it's not that it replaces a comforter or duvet which is  possibly already used for sleeping. Here it lies on a bed for guests.

But first and foremost such a Travel Quilt is meant to be a symbol of good energy, strength, courage, optimism, joy and confidence, all of which we all need to proceed on our every- day-journey.

If anyone is interested to have a Travel Quilt in a similar design but with indivdually chosen fabrics,

just to have company on a trip around the world or to feel good at home, 

or if anyone wishes to give a quilt like that 

to maybe a friend who is moving to a new place,

or to a child traveling for the first time without mom or dad, 

or to an uncle at an elderly peoples' home,  

or you want to make your guest feel comfortable at your home...

I can make such a quilt.

I need three to four weeks to make a quilt like this for a single bed. 

For larger beds other dimensions are possible.

(for more information please go to my Profile here or click on "Give and Take" at the top of this site, MARIASmail@t-online.de)

"I tramp a perpetual journey."

Walt Whitman

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/journey

... sometimes persons ask me to write in German, too, so here it is :-)

Reisequilt

Reisequilt, patchwork, genäht mit der Hand und der Nähmaschine, handgequiltet, 87,5 x 127,5 cm, Baumwolle und Leinen, Füllung: leichte Wolle, signiert,

besteht aus vier Feldern, die in sich kleine Quilts bilden; sie sind verbunden durch Schlaufen, Bänder und selbstgemachte Knöpfe,

Schildchen auf der Rückseite, Gewicht: 850 g,

dazu gehört eine leichte Aufbewahrungstasche

Ich habe diesen Reisequilt für mich selbst gemacht, weil ich es mag, etwas "Warmes" bei mir zu haben, wenn ich in einem fremden Land lebe, in einem Hotel und mit einem Hotelbett, das eben nur das ist: ein Hotelbett. 

Ich habe für mein Quiltdesign Bänder und Knöpfe benutzt um die einzelnen Felder zusammenzuhalten, weil mich dies an all die Schnüre und Riemen und Verschlüsse erinnert, die immer mein Gepäck zusammenhalten. Außerdem geben sie meinem Quilt mehr Abwechslung und Farbe. 

Die Muster der verschiedenen Felder erinnern mich auch ans "Reisen": der "Louisiana Star" führt mich sicher ans Ziel und auch wieder nach Hause, 

die "Tumbling Blocks" (fallende Bauklötze) erinnern mich daran, wie kindlich ich mich fühle wenn ich an einem fremden Ort all die neuen Eindrücke wahrnehme, 

die "Flying Geese" (Fliegende Gänse) fliegen glücklich alle in dieselbe Richtung und sie wissen genau wohin sie wollen und warum....

und die "Attic Windows" (Dachfenster) erinnern mich an all die faszinierenden Ausblicke aus sehr verschiedenen Fenstern, bei Tag und bei Nacht.

Während ich an diesem Reisequilt arbeitete, fing ich an zu überlegen, ob ich nicht ständig auf Reisen bin, auch wenn ich zu Hause bin... einfach weil ich in meinem Leben immer Schritte vorwärts gehe?

Dieser Quilt ist leicht und nicht sehr groß. Er kann überall über jedes Bett gelegt werden. Er ist dazu gedacht, einem Bett einen zusätzlichen warmen "touch" zu verleihen, er ersetzt nicht eine normale Bettdecke. (Hier liegt er auf einem Gästebett.)

Aber in erster Linie soll er ein Symbol sein, für Energie, Kraft, Mut, Optimismus, Lebensfreude und Vertrauen, all das brauchen wir wohl für unsere tägliche Reise durch das Leben! :-)

Falls jemand interessiert ist, einen Quilt mit einem solchen Grunddesign (aber mit individuell abgestimmten Stoffen und Farben) zu haben, einfach um selbst begleitet zu werden auf einer Reise,
oder um sich zu Hause "zuhause" zu fühlen,

oder falls jemand einen solchen Quilt verschenken möchte,

z.B. an einen Freund, der gerade umzieht,

oder an ein Kind, das zum ersten Mal ohne Eltern verreist,

oder an einen Onkel im Seniorenheim,

oder  man möchte es einem Gast gemütlich machen...

ich mache solche Quilts. 

Für einen Reisequilt wie diesen (Einzelbett) brauche ich etwa drei bis vier Wochen Zeit. Für größere Betten benutze ich mehrere Quilt-Felder, so dass größere Maße möglich sind. 

(weitere Infos in meinem Profil hier rechts und unter *Give and Take" oben auf dieser Seite. MARIASmail@t-online.de)

We have a strict policy at my home: no cat hair on my quilts! That's why my cat knows exactly that it is absolutely forbidden- with no exception to the rule, any violation is  punishable by ... I've forgotten right now - well, I made it clear to her that she is not to come anywhere near my quilts or hearts or horses or bears or mice... that's why she lies in my basket here. 

Lucky Charm

        

          

          

              

          small butterfly-quilt with heavy paper inside, 

        attached to a wooden clothes pin, 

        6x9 cm 

           

Lupine's Second Birthday

Two years ago, on August 13, 2010, I opened my Lupine-studio.

I consider my "Lupine" a successful enterprise because it makes me happy on a daily basis! 

Thus I have happiness to share with everyone who comes to me and is interested in "bringing things and persons together" (that's what I wrote on my card)... bringing things and persons together so that they form a lovely pattern in life and in quilts, 

oh, I love that idea.

There are so many ways to achieve that in life... and this is my way. I consider myself lucky to have found it!

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

 Buddha

- if you are interested: for more information about me and my work, please go to my profile here on your right hand  and click on "Lupine" at the top of this site.

Butterfly

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. 

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

http://www.quotegarden.com/butterflies.html

Butterfly, patchwork-quilt with heavy paper, a wooden clothes pin is fixed upon the back
(15x20 cm)

To find ideas for the right butterfly patchwork-design I was happy to use the book 

"501 Quilt Blocks" , Better Homes and Gardens, a very rich and lovely book! 

Honeycombs

This is my latest quilt: an old-fashioned, practical household quilt, showing a traditional patchwork pattern, the honeycomb. I love the pattern very much, I like how everything fits so easily! Also, I took whatever fabrics I had at hand and combined them freely within the strips, and well, as it happens so very often, I am surprised that they - for example blue stripes and egg-plant-colored flowers - go together ok! I think they are all making a good match...

The quilt is made with cotton and linen, the batting is light wool. (1,40 x 1,80 m,  55" x 71") For the first time I have sewn the top completely with my machine, so I was able to finish this quilt in a relatively short time. The quilting is still done by hand, because I so much love the look of hand-made stitches.

The button in the middle is a gift from my family, it was bought in the Normandy, France, in Cambremer, at a lovely mosaic shop called "Elle-Mosaique".

... and I always attach a label:

Imperfection

tablecloth, with African fabrics, 80x80 cm,

I worked on it carefully, and it turned out to be completely uneven, but I like things that way.

Imperfection, combined with care and some "good vibrations", makes me feel comfortable.

Dancers

A dear friend sent me the link to one of the loveliest videos I have ever seen, and here I share it with you, enjoy! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Pwe-pA6TaZk

ein gutes Buch

"Ein gutes Buch hat kein Ende", hat Robert Frost einmal gesagt. Das, was erzählt wird, folgt aber gewundenen Wegen... und das ist jetzt von mir. :-)

Nur mal so ein Gedanke.

Sorry, sometimes it is easier for me to say something in German: I said that according to Robert Frost a good book doesn't have an ending, and I added that I just think that its plot follows winding ways.