I won't bore you with the details, but it's been a hectic twelve days since my last post. But I will show you some of the "fruits" of my efforts. Here are a four of the five art displays that I arranged for and helped set up in that time:
A quilt display. This is just one of four parts of the display. This quilt artist did her own set up, saving me valuable time! This quilt is on display in a local furniture store.
This display and the one that follow are part of our local celebration of "Alberta Arts Days" which, in turn, is part of the Canada-wide "Canada Culture Days."
The idea behind these displays is to acquaint the population of our County with the many talented artists living with the County.
This beautiful pottery is on display in our local Sears Store.
Another benefit of this celebration of the arts is to get people into the local businesses where the art is displayed. Both the artist and the business benefit.
It was very interesting to me to go around to various businesses asking if they would be willing to host an art display for Alberta Arts Days. These beautiful paintings are on display in an Alberta Treasury Branch.
Some business owners immediately see how hosting a display will benefit them. Others decline--for their own reasons, which I can only guess at. But mostly, the response is an immediate and enthusiastic "Yes!"
This jewelry is on display at a local Credit Union. These artists are invited by the volunteer board of "Arts Alive" to have a display of their work. They are welcome to add business cards. If anyone is interested in purchasing one of their pieces, the transaction is between the artist and the customer. We take no commission, nor does the business.
I did one more set up of an abstract painting in a restaurant, but don't have a photo of that particular display. I'll try to post a picture sometime later, because it is a terrific piece of art, done by a local high school girl.
During this same time frame I started teaching Suzuki violin again, after having just one student for the last three or four years. In the 80's I taught as many as 40 students, ranging in age from as young as 2 years (whose big brother was taking lessons) to high school age kids who had always wanted to play violin. I love teaching, and I enjoy children (most of them! most of the time!). So when the local music school needed to replace a violin teacher for a two year time frame I was willing to take that on.
It was a stretch! I hadn't started a beginner for years, so had to do lots of studying to get back in the groove. I'm also instructing a small student string ensemble (small ensemble, not small students) for which I had to dig up some appropriate music.
When I reached Friday afternoon, and all that (plus some other stuff I won't bore you with) had been accomplished, I felt it was time to reward myself. So you know what that means! It means a new quilting project!!! But this time I knew it had to be small, not like the one I did in July. I had some Halloween materials, so I got them out and started cutting and sewing. Here's the project in progress:
I cut everything except the orange piece down to the size of the smallest fabric, which trimmed to 7 1/2" x 15". Then I cut strips the long way and started sewing them together. When I had five identical strip sets I cut them into four sets each of 4 1/4" x 11 1/4". These formed the striped area around the centre orange fabric, set off by a 1" strip of black on either side.
Now, after about 5 hours of cutting and sewing, I have a simple table topper to celebrate Halloween. Everything is finished except sewing the binding down by hand on the back of the table topper.
In the centre of the panel (which says, Happy Halloween), I stitched a big pumpkin for the quilted motif. The other quilting is just simple "stitch in the ditch" around the black borders. This was lots of fun and a rewarding little project after not touching a sewing machine for two months!
I just want to mention for any quilters out there these terrific little "True Grips" sold by the Grace Company. You see on the back of the ruler the little whitish circles? They are the grips. There are more on the rectangle and they come in this package. Ask your quilt store to stock them because they really, truly keep your quilting ruler from slipping out of place when you are cutting your strips and squares. Just a great product!
This display and the one that follow are part of our local celebration of "Alberta Arts Days" which, in turn, is part of the Canada-wide "Canada Culture Days."The idea behind these displays is to acquaint the population of our County with the many talented artists living with the County.
This beautiful pottery is on display in our local Sears Store.
Another benefit of this celebration of the arts is to get people into the local businesses where the art is displayed. Both the artist and the business benefit.
Some business owners immediately see how hosting a display will benefit them. Others decline--for their own reasons, which I can only guess at. But mostly, the response is an immediate and enthusiastic "Yes!"This jewelry is on display at a local Credit Union. These artists are invited by the volunteer board of "Arts Alive" to have a display of their work. They are welcome to add business cards. If anyone is interested in purchasing one of their pieces, the transaction is between the artist and the customer. We take no commission, nor does the business.
I did one more set up of an abstract painting in a restaurant, but don't have a photo of that particular display. I'll try to post a picture sometime later, because it is a terrific piece of art, done by a local high school girl.
During this same time frame I started teaching Suzuki violin again, after having just one student for the last three or four years. In the 80's I taught as many as 40 students, ranging in age from as young as 2 years (whose big brother was taking lessons) to high school age kids who had always wanted to play violin. I love teaching, and I enjoy children (most of them! most of the time!). So when the local music school needed to replace a violin teacher for a two year time frame I was willing to take that on.
It was a stretch! I hadn't started a beginner for years, so had to do lots of studying to get back in the groove. I'm also instructing a small student string ensemble (small ensemble, not small students) for which I had to dig up some appropriate music.
When I reached Friday afternoon, and all that (plus some other stuff I won't bore you with) had been accomplished, I felt it was time to reward myself. So you know what that means! It means a new quilting project!!! But this time I knew it had to be small, not like the one I did in July. I had some Halloween materials, so I got them out and started cutting and sewing. Here's the project in progress:
I cut everything except the orange piece down to the size of the smallest fabric, which trimmed to 7 1/2" x 15". Then I cut strips the long way and started sewing them together. When I had five identical strip sets I cut them into four sets each of 4 1/4" x 11 1/4". These formed the striped area around the centre orange fabric, set off by a 1" strip of black on either side.
Now, after about 5 hours of cutting and sewing, I have a simple table topper to celebrate Halloween. Everything is finished except sewing the binding down by hand on the back of the table topper.In the centre of the panel (which says, Happy Halloween), I stitched a big pumpkin for the quilted motif. The other quilting is just simple "stitch in the ditch" around the black borders. This was lots of fun and a rewarding little project after not touching a sewing machine for two months!
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