Valentine's Day and a Giveaway

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. -Charles M. Schulz

When my friend Barbara asked me to join her in a day of making things for Valentine's Day, I jumped at the opportunity. She suggested we make Valentine hot pads. I had not made hot pads for a long time so I made a test one before our play date then cut out several to bring along. When I got to Barbara's house, she excited told me that she had come up with an idea that would take us about an hour and we each could have five gifts. Well, three hours later we did each have five necklaces done. We moved on to making Valentine's. I finished first because I made simple ones and moved on to making hot pads. By the way, Barbara still has not had one. At home, I decided to use some wooden hearts that I bought to make some tags to go on my gift bags. One of my missions this year is to use the things I have purchased. I am going to need to live for a very long time. 

I think it is important to take time to just play. Katie Pasquini-Masopust  shared with me that she has a group of friends that get together once a year and make log cabin quilts. This mini retreat is all about friendship and doing something that they all love--quilting, but just for fun.  

I find that after doing this kind of crafting, I feel recharged and ready to tackle something more serious. It is also fun to be able to share. Shoot me an email (musgrave.karen at gmail.com) with your name and address and I will send you a Valentine.  

Random Thoughts, indigo Over Dyeing and the Life Gives You Lemons Winner

I am the best procrastinator that I know. I get things done just not the things I should be doing. How often do you clean the chair that you work in? I discovered today that mine was totally gross- lots of dust. I feel so much better sitting here writing to you in my amazingly clean chair. Is this really what I should be doing? No. It did make me happy. How do you procrastinate?

This is the last piece I will share with you concerning my last vat of indigo. This piece of raw silk, which I have had in my possession since 1986, was dark beige. I bought it when I was living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was going to make a dress out of it until I realized that the color would look terrible on me. I still cannot get over the transformation. It's a really nice blue and the lighter spots are not beige! Yeah!

My houses in memory of my good friend Carolyn Kolzow have been posted on the House Quilt Project's website. Jamie personally delivered the quilts yesterday. I hope they make the wounded military personnel who receive them happy and know that their efforts are appreciated. I have more quilts planned. 

First, I have to say that the entries for my blog giveaway made me hungry. What great suggestions! Thanks to everyone who played and entered. I had to wait until my number generator (my son) got up. I am thrilled to announce that Needled Mom is the winner. I hope she will share how she uses the fabric. I try to do giveaways regularly so look for another one soon.

When Life Gives You Lemons--Have a Blog Giveaway

I ordered some fabric online and the store sent the wrong fabric. They graciously sent me the correct fabric and told me to keep the other. I just can't see myself ever using it so I am passing it along. The piece is 20" wide. It's from RJR's 2009 Farmer's Market line.

So what do you do when life gives you lemons?

Answer the question (if you don't, you can't win the fabric) and I'll draw a name on Friday. Looking forward to your answers.

Blog Giveaway and Thoughts on Time

I need more hours in the day as I seem to be in overdrive with ideas. This may be the reason (at least it is the story I am telling myself) I thought my subscription to Fiber Art Now had expired. I did not find what I was looking for at Barnes and Noble so when I saw the new issue, I grabbed it. Unfortunately for me, the same issue was waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home.  Don't you hate when that happens. Fortunately for you, you have a chance to win it!

1. Leave a comment about your thoughts on time. It seems to be speeding up for me. You?
2. Make sure I know how to get in touch because I am not going to spend the time tracking you down.
3. Not advertising so you probably have a better chance at winning.
4. I'll post the winner on Monday. If I don't hear from them by Tuesday, I'll pick another person.

The Winner Is....

I had my son draw the name. When I asked him to please select someone who would appreciate it and has a good heart, he said, "Thanks for the extra pressure." Then I felt really guilty and said, "I am sure everyone with a name in this hat is deserving and has a good heart." Michele Bilyeu is the winner! She is deserving and while I have never met Michele, I know that she has a huge and caring heart. Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your new treasures and I really hope you use them! I am sorry that I did not own enough silk to share it with everyone. Don't despair. Next Blog Hop Giveaway, I'll share a little of my Georgian (country not state) silk. And I am thrilled that once again a follower of my blog won.


I thought I would also share with you that there was a woman sitting in the back of the booth where I bought the silk. Her image still haunts me. She was the saddest looking person I have ever seen. I always wished I had tried to find out more about her. While I was in Osh, I met a lot of women artists. Many practiced their art in secret because their husbands disapproved. I met women who divorced their husbands because they didn't want them to create art and then I met wonderful couples who created art together. It was truly an eye opener for me. I am so thankful that I can create anything I choose even if my husband doesn't get most of what I do. Make it a creative and caring day. It's my plan.

Blog Giveaway- Sharing My Love Afffair with Silk

The wonderful Michele Foster is hosting another blog hop in hopes of chasing the winter blues away. I sure hope it works! I decided to share some of my silk from my travels.

The silk I am sharing today is from Kyrgyzstan, a small, poor country near China. I had the privilege of traveling to Kyrgyzstan to curate an exhibition of American art quilts and Kyrgyz patchwork.  The silk was produced during Soviet times. While silk use to be a major industry in Kyrgyzstan, that ended when the Soviet Union fell apart. There is a small effort being made to weave silk again in Osh, where I purchased the silk in an open air market. I've included a photograph I took of the women who were selling it (note the meter silk she is using to measure it). In addition, there is a photo transfer of postage stamps from Kyrgyzstan.

Each piece is approximately 9" x 28" and as you can see in the second photograph, you can use either side. I hope you enjoy owning a little bit of history.


Read Carefully:

1. I will ship internationally.
2. I won't be responsible if the package gets lost in the mail.
3. Winner will be announced on March 20 in honor of the spring equinox.  I will not track you down so make sure you either check back or leave an easy way for me to contact you so I can get your address. If I don't hear from you within 24 hours, a new winner will be selected.
4.  I love people who follow my blog and want them to know it so my followers will get their names put into the hat twice. My last blog giveaway a follower won!

Enjoy the hop!

And the Winner Is....Drum Roll Please

Congratulations Diane! I can't wait to see what you do with my fabrics. Thanks to everyone for stopping by, your kind words and suggestions. I will be going to the library today to check out In Search of Indigo thanks to Karen Davis. I plan to do another batch of indigo dyeing in January and will be doing another giveaway. I love to share. Make it a great day!

Quilts in the Attic Final Cover and Winner!

First, Lynn Kuntz is the winner of my ATC. Congrats Lynn!

I am pleased to share the final cover of my book. It is a printed laminated hard cover with a cloth binding because the plan is to market it to craft stores and these kind of stores do not like jacket covers. You may think that authors of books have a say about titles, covers, etc. It may be true for some, not for me.  The two quilts on the cover are not quilts from the essays  in the book. Does that matter to you? If you saw the book on the shelf, would you look at it? What does the quilts on the book say to you? Would you buy the book based on the cover and description? Thanks for your input.

Memories of Kyrgyzstan ATC and Blog Giveaway with a Twist Five

Arts in the Cards, my ATC (artist trading card) group, had grateful for this month's challenge. I had played with Wordle, a site where you can write in words and it gives you different options for arrangements. Lots of fun! I was going to use the arrangement for my background, paint the card with Fluid acrylics and add a drawing I did of a woman jumping for joy. Well, Wanda did something similar so it was back to the drawing board for me. After a few days of thought, I decided to make my Grateful ATC about one thing instead of many. I just Nevr-Dull, a metal polish, to create the paper (pages from National Geographic) for the background. The images are photographs of women in native clothing that I copied with a laser printer. Next I scanned the image, sized it to be 2.5 x 3.5 inches and printed it on cloth. I fused the cloth to Timtex for the middle layer. Since I was able to meet some incredible felting artist during my visit, I wanted to include a little felt so I needle felted (not what they do) a heart. I also put a copy of one of the wonderful postage stamps. This served two purposes--one to simply share and another to cover the felting that showed through the white fabric I put on the back.


Kyrgyzstan was full of life changing experiences. Some of them I share in my lecture. There were plans to have me return, but it never happened. I am so grateful that I had the experience. Kyrgyzstan will always be near and dear to my heart.

 I'll give up this ATC next Monday (November 21). Remember you must answer the question. Followers get three chances to win because I love my followers!

What place is near and dear to you? Why?

More on Calendar and Winner of Blog Giveaway with a Twist Four

July

 First, the winner is Maureen! I know Maureen from Postmark'd Art so I am thrilled!

Secondly, thanks to Marti for calling me and letting me know how much she loves my spoons. And thanks to Bonnie Smith for her kind words in an email about my collage calendar.

What a great Monday!

I wasn't planning on sharing more of my collage calendar, but several emails with questions have convinced me otherwise.

October

I only did three  months that were easily recognized as holiday related. I love Halloween so that one was easy. Looking at it now, I think I should have added more details. I host my family's Christmas so that holiday is always near and dear to me. Generally I would not do something so Christian because I have lots of friends who are not, but none of them are getting a calendar (hope they are not disappointed but none of them are calendar users) so I decided to just go for it. I have a brother and a nephew born on the 4th of July so I wanted to honor that month too. We also get together at my house for that holiday too. Family is very important to me.

December

 Remember there are no rules! If you want to create your own calendars, my advice is to just have fun.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask! I live to serve. (I actually got Penny McMorris, owner of Electric Quilt, to snort her coffee through her nose when I signed an email to her with those words. Great memory.)

Blog Giveaway with a Twist Four

Mending a Broken Heart

Congratulations to KAM for winning last week's mask giveaway!

This week's blog giveaway is one of my Mending a Broken Heart hearts. I started making these as gifts to send to friends who had heart attacks, divorces, break up with significant others, loss of pets and children, any time a heart was broken. I decided to add it as one of my Bending Quilt-As-You-Go (my technique) workshops and for a few years I traveled the country teaching it and I have to admit I was surprised when  it was the most requested of my workshops. People were always surprised that they went home with a least two completed hearts and often four. It also gave me an opportunity to teach rope making (very addicting). And as quickly as this workshop was popular, it stopped being requested. I have no idea why.  However, I continue to make and send these hearts to family and friends.

"Home is where the heart is," the old saying goes. It is not a mistake that "art" is a predominant part of the word "heart." Our homes are our refuge, the one place where we can truly express ourselves. I collect things that I cannot do myself. I love things made out of clay so I have a collection of pots and sculpture. I also have a small collection of quilts, many from friends whose work I love. I collect rusty sculpture usually incorporating rocks (another love of mine) for my garden. I still remember the high school student whose moving rock sculpture I purchased at an art fair in Geneva, Illinois. It was such a thrill to provide validation to someone just starting out. Again they are all things that I simply could not have made and yet, speak to me. What do you collect and why?

Winner will be announced ob Monday, November 7th. Followers get three chances to win because I love my followers!

Winner of Blog Giveaway 2 and New Blog Giveaway with a Twist Three

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner. I haven't heard from the person who was to select the winner so when my neighbor came to the door inquiring about my missing cat, she kindly pulled the name out of the hat. It was cute to see how seriously she took this request. Drum roll please! The winner is Diana Bracy! Who also happens to be a follower. Congratulations. I hope you enjoy!

For those of you who did not win, I found another mask so you have another chance. Again, followers of this blog will have three chances to win because I love my followers! I also love masks and began making them in fiber more than fifteen years ago. Throughout history, masks have allowed us to act out and act up, to lose ourselves in a role and to find parts of ourselves we might otherwise never know.

What about masks appeal to you?

Blog Giveaway with a Twist Two

First, the winner of  Giveaway with a Twist One is Colleen Kelly. Thanks Sang Lee for selecting the winner! Congratulations Colleen! I hope you enjoy the book.

This week I am giving away my Day of the Dead mask that did not sell when it was in the National Museum of Mexican's gift shop a couple of years ago. The masks were on sale for $225. This mask is 9.5 by 14 inches. There is a plastic ring on the back for easy hanging.

I have always loved learning about other cultures and especially the Mexican and Georgian cultures. So the questions for this week are: Which culture has fascinated you? What is the most interesting thing have you learned?

To show my appreciation for my followers, you will get your name put into the hat three times to increase you chances of winning. The winner will be announced next Monday.  Good luck!

Blog Giveaway With A Twist-One

You cannot hold on to anything good. You must be continually giving---and getting. You cannot hold on to your seed. You must sow it---and reap anew. You cannot hold on to riches. You must use them and get riches in return. ---Robert Collier

I'm cleaning out and sharing so for the next couple of months I will be giving away books and artwork. However, I'm not doing a stand leave your name and I'll have a drawing for the winner. Instead, I'm going to ask questions and you need to leave a reply. This will help me with different things that I am curious to know. I want to create a dialogue.

When I was a kid, I was extremely curious. I drove my mom crazy asking questions. I always knew when my questioning was over when she would say, "Curiosity killed the cat." You can image my delight when I discovered the saying had a second part, "And satisfaction brought her back." Didn't make my mom happy.

So here is the question for this round, "How is history, and specifically quilt history, important to you?" If it is not important to you, "Why not?"

The winner will receive a copy of Spike Gillespie's book Quilts Around the World: The Story of Quilting from Alabama to Zimbabwe with a forward by Karey Patterson Breshenham (see book description below). I contributed two essays to the book. It is because of those essays that I was given the opportunity to write Quilts in the Attic. Thank you Spike!

The winner will be announced next Monday. Can't wait!

Book Description:

This essential book for all quilters and quilt collectors tells the fascinating story of quilting around the world, illuminated by the international quilt community's top experts and more than 300 glorious color photographs. Covering Japan, China, Korea, and India; England, Ireland, France, and The Netherlands; Australia, Africa, Central America, North America, and beyond, Quilts Around the World explores both the diversity and common threads of quilting. Discover Aboriginal patchwork from Australia, intricate Rallis from the Middle East, Amish and Hawaiian quilts from the United States, Sashiko quilts from Japan, vivid Molas from Central America, and art quilts from every corner of the globe. Also included are twenty patchwork and applique patterns to use in your own quilt projects, inspired by designs from the world's most striking quilts.