Please Don't Feed the Bears-Arrowmont

 Last Sunday I drove up to Arrowmont for my much anticipated class with textile artist,  Helen Geglio.  The class "The Keeper's Quilt" was about using treasured textiles in a newly designed quilt.

This is my fifth visit to Arrowmont and it is something I look forward to each year.  My only disappointment year after year was never seeing first hand the much lauded black bear visit.  But during lunch one day, two bears ambled through.  They did not approach us even though we were eating about 30 to 40 yards away at the picnic tables outside.  What a treat!

The class was exactly what I hoped it would be, a relaxing yet deep dive into using old textiles and hand stitch.  Helen is a knowledgeable and generous instructor, both in sharing her design process and materials.

One of my favorite aspects of the class was seeing her work close up and working with an old quilt with fabrics from the turn of the century and the 30s and 40s.

There is a whole back story about the fictional Hesperia, the maker of the old quilt Helen brought for us to use.

The class was small, only six of us.  It was a really pleasant group of like minded people of all ages.

Helen had us do some small samplers to practice some techniques.  My first was titled "Night Watch" .

We all worked then on a primary project.  Here are some in progress shots of mine, "Three Sisters".

Here are some of the other projects from our class.

A Handful of Dust

 This has been a good week off from work.  I did some spring cleaning, taking a carload of yarn to the Scrap Exchange and loads of household goods to the habitat resale store here in Sanford.

Believe it or not I kept enough yarn for future tapestry weaving and did not even touch the knitting stash!  I was overwhelmed by all my craft supplies and wanted to gain some emotional and physical space.  Quilting is what I am passionate about now.

Quilting, like tapestry is another way to communicate thoughts and feelings when words aren't sufficient.  Right now front of my mind is the ongoing police violence, the search for justice and the unrest when justice fails us.  Will there be justice for George Floyd when the verdict is rendered.  Will our cities burn in despair and rage?

Today I pulled my scraps from The Cary Quilting Company and started to improvise a small  quilt.  

It was easy to limit my colors to red, black and white.  I love these strips and tried to use them with minimal cutting.

I kept this quote by T.S. Eliot in mind.  "I will show you fear in a handful of dust."  His poem, The Wasteland speaks of brokenness and loss.  So the working title of the quilt is A Handful of Dust.

Burn, smoke and ash, these large words feature prominently .  The words silent and very sorry are smaller whispers.  Stitch on friends .

My Internal Debate

 Since December my weaving mojo has been missing in action.  I have been conflicted about blogging about quilting on my blog, The Weaving Song.  It felt all sorts of wrong!  Sitting quietly with a needle and thread feels like a homecoming of sorts.  I spent many happy hours as a little girl making Barbie clothes.

I love scraps.  Those bins are all my scraps, sorted by color.  I blogged about the wonderful scrap bin at The Cary Quilting Company. Normally I don't have scraps strewn across the floor but this was a spontaneous scrap pull.

I fell in love with this little scrap of flowers.  I am proud of this little improvisational and wonky log cabin.  The beginning quilt class at The Cary Quilting Company not only refreshed my sewing chops.  It also showed me how much more enjoyable quilting is with a cutting table at the right height and a design wall.

I am proud of this improvisation .  All scraps were chosen from the scrap bin at CQC  and pieced without a plan. I plan to practice my machine quilting and  hang in my studio as a reminder, it is never to late to become what you were meant to be.