The Joys of Publishing a Book and My Quilter's Vacation!

In my last post I talked about the extreme challenges presented by converting my family history text to pdf files. It took longer than a week to get everything figured out. But I did it.

On a Sunday I went to the printer, where my pdf's were blended into a complete manuscript and Lindsey printed up a sample book of all 168 pages. I couldn't believe it. As I saw the machine spit out the pages of all my family members my heart beat fast. It looked like this "book" was finally going to happen. We took some time to talk over some printing and binding options, I left the printing and assembling in her capable hands. On Friday I picked up 30 copies of my family history.

I could hardly wait to open a finished book; turn the pages, feel them and see how the finished project looked. The paper was smooth, and all the photos copied beautifully. I haven't counted the number of pictures in the book, but they probably number about 300. Some were new digital photos, others were photos of old tintypes from 1890. I've looked through the book 3 times now. I am so proud of the final product. If nothing else it is a wonderful collection ofthe family photos of 6 generations! I feel extreme satisfaction.

This is a book that none of you will ever see. It will be owned and read by only 30 of my family members. I hope everyone keeps and protects this book, for their children and grandchildren to see. As I get older I want to give something to my two sons that isn't a quilt! It's finished.

Through all this book business I've been on an extended quilter's vacation; it has been 2 months since I've sat at my sewing machine. I was so involved with finishing this book, sewing seemed to get in the way. Sorting old photos on the cutting table left very little room for going through fabric, cutting, fusing and designing my next quilt.

Enough about the book. I will feel a glow of accomplishment for a few more days. It is time to get back to quilting. I have a new piece on the design wall, but before I return to it, I need to just quilt for a little bit. I have 10 little 6 x 6 inch embroidered pieces. I've based them and begun quilting them. I love seeing the quilting patterns change the surface of the fabric. Quilting in the empty spaces makes the embroidered leaves so beautiful. As I'm quilting, I continue to look at the nine patch wall piece I'm working on, and hopefully will solve my design issues tht made me stop work on it several months ago.

I'm hoping the great success I feel in one part of my life will spill over and help me return to my life's favorite activity: quilting.

Ann

Sump Pumps and Confidence!

Time intensive activities seem to appeal to me. I've just finished a family history project that I started back in 2002, when I first handed out questionaires to all my living relatives. Now, it is just about time to take my 168 pages of photos and bios to the printer! This has been extremely intensive and fascinating experience,  I thoroughly enjoy throwing myself into a big project .

Yesterday, I declared myself finished! Then when the mail arrived, I got one last envelope of pictures that I had requested months ago!  AARGH. Today I inserted them into my manuscript and again declared myself done.

The weather in WI was going to be warmer, so I selected a beautiful new pair of striped wool socks to wear today. They felt so good to put on. The colors are bright and cheery which I needed because it was rainy with fog. I spent all day rechecking my manuscript. The last step has scared me the most. I had to find a way to convert my manuscript to a .pdf file. I've been asking everyone I know about pdf's. My 2 grown sons are my computer experts, but I hate to bother them all the time. Finally I downloaded an Open Office program, and then opened a test file to convert. It didn''t work. When I tried to open the new document, I just got funny symbols, no family history. Rats! I guess the new striped socks aren't helping me today.

OK. Today I started out energized because of my project completion. I've had partial success with the pdf thing.  I hate it when tech issues get challenging. Then a light bulb goes on, and I realize I need to open the new file using Adobe Reader!  Bingo, my family history opens in front of me. This is a huge success. I now know how to do this new thing.

Because my husband is out of town, I was going to treat myself to dinner at Chipotle's. As I'm getting ready to leave, I realize that the sump pump isn't turning off, and it sounds funny.

It's raining out, the well around the pump is filling up and it is 6:30 in the evening, what should I do?  I fiddled with the pump and pipe, and realized that it was no longer fixed solid in it's housing. Oh rats! I'm hungry, and want to go to dinner, but don't want to risk a flood in my basement and studio.


I called my handy carpenter, he asked me a lot of questions, and he decided he should come over and take a look. He arrives in about 20 minutes. My pump was 17 years old, It had fallen apart in the water so he installed a new one. We're good for at least another 10 years. Celebrate! And now I can go to dinner.


When things are going well, life is easy and stressless. When problems arise we HAVE TO PROBLEM  SOLVE. During these periods I get anxious and stew about the troubles at hand. If I can solve the issues in some way, I gain new confidence in myself. Struggling through computer issues is extremely uncomfortable foreign territory to me. But I worked it out! Wow this is big for me. And......I have a shiney new sump pump in my basement.


I have spent little time at my sewing machine this past month or two. When my family history book goes to the printer this week; I'll be ready to dive into a new project. I'm ready for a different challenge now. One that involves quilting.

Ann

Invitation to a Quilt Exhibit

Hello everyone,

Yesterday I was interviewed by a reporter from The Kenosha News about a soon to open exhibit of quilts called Fiberistic Journeys. The show will open on Jan 24 and continue until March 21, 2010. I can guarantee you that it will be worth your time for it includes the work of: Robbi Joy Eklow, Rachel Wetzler, Denise Havlan, Beth P. Gilbert, Annette M. Hendricks and myself.

The reporter and I walked through most of the exhibit and he was impressed. He kept saying "Wow!" For me it is more than that, it is visually quite exciting. It was a very gray day, and looking at all the work lifted my spirits. The quilts for the most part are large, very colorful, many have won prizes or found in books, and can just blow you away! Candace Hoffman, Anderson curator, says "This is an exhibit not to be missed."

The exhibit can be found at the Anderson Art Center, 121 Sixty-Sixth Street, Kenosha, WI 53143, 262-653-0481. Open 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Tuesday to Sunday. The opening reception is open to the public on Jan 24 from 1:30-4:00. Please join us. Over the years this art center has been very supportive of quilting arts, so we need to support them too. It formerly was the Anderson Mansion that is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, a beautiful location, even in the winter months. http://www.andersonartcenter.com You can see the photo of the exterior of the outside of the former home.

Many of you are familiar with Robbi Joy Eklow's quilts and postings on the internet. Her second book was published in 2009.

Rachel Wetzler is a prize winning quilter extroidinaire! Her pictorial quilts are a treat for your senses.

Denise Havlan was a painter before becoming a quilter. The surface of her work is fused, appliqued, painted and embroidered. Her work is either figurative or embroidered landscapes.

Beth P. Gilbert is a retired nurse turned quilt artist. She and her husband usually take one or two international trips each year. Either her travels or her garden inspire her fused and appliqued quilts.

Annette M. Hendricks is also a painter turned quilt artist. She appears in many of her quilts. Her faces are painted, the subjects are fused, appli-pieced and beautifully quilted.

And of course there are my quilts as well. you can see all of them on my website.

Read what the Racine Journal Times said about the exhibit at http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/leisure/
Read Scene and Heard article on quilts. Please help us spread the word about this exhibit. See you there.

Ann Fahl

Ann's Holiday Traditions and Tips

I'm not really a xmas person. Over the years I've simplified my holiday traditions. As a society, our traditions have totally gotten out of hand. In years past, I've baked lots of cookies and spent days decorating the house. As my children got older, they really weren't interested in all the Christmas trappings, so in a way they gave me permission to simplify my life.

We arrange the family gifts under my huge 35 year old Christmas Cactus and we open gifts on xmas morning.

In the 1970's my parents purchased a Christmas carousel made in East Germany. It has 4 levels, with traditional carved wooden figures on it. There are paddles on the top, which spin when candles are lit underneath. I love when it is dark outside, the candles are lit and it slowly begins to turn. It is really delightful to watch. For me this is Christmas. It makes me feel a little like a child again and lifts my spirits.

For my 20 neighbors, I write a newsletter. I find out what each family has done over the past year, add a couple of pictures, and I have 4-6 pages of neighborhood news. Some people look forward to it all year. One neighbor that moved away, wants me to send them a copy so they can keep up with the old neighborhood. It's really an enjoyable project. It is my gift to my neighbors. To me, it is incomprehensible for people to live next to each other for years and never reallly get to know each other. So I do this to make my world a better place for all of us. We do need to look after each other, for safety and friendship.

So here I am, writing this on Christmas eve, in my Santa Claus socks. I wear them every xmas.

Oh yes, I have a holiday tip for all you quilters out there. I'm sure you are familiar with the narrow plastic strip that is wrapped inside Wonder-Under on the bolt. If you have pieces that are 1 or 2 yards long, you can make them into great big bows. Tie them around a railing, on your sewing chair, your tree, lamps or any place that is appropriate. They are quite festive. At last there is a use for this stuff.

Have a wonderful holiday however you like to celebrate it.

Ann Fahl

Friends and Fabrics

In my last post about the binding on my orange quilt I received a comment from shout4joy who said, "I don't know how many times I have to "throw out" the inpiration fabric for a quilt, *sigh* I'm so glad to hear it isn't just me."

How many times has a fabric caught your eye, or you've purchased lots of a fabric because you think it will be a major part of your next quilt?

I only buy fabrics that inspire me, or that speak to me in some way. Then when it comes time to fabricate my quilt, (that's my term for designing, fusing and arranging the quilt) sometimes I find that special fabric no longer works as the quilt progresses. This is a tough thing to accept. You've dreamed or visualized the quilt, and how that fabric is going to look, and now you realize it has to go. It throws me for a loop! Actually the fabric has already done its job! It got you started on the journey toward a new quilt, it helped make all the fabric and color decisions. Now it's time to say good bye!

Go ahead and complete your quilt. The good thing is, you still have that fabric to use another time. Fold it up and put it in your stash. Who knows when it will find a spot in one of your future quilts. It may still inspire you, or it may become one of your old stand bys. Like the bright striped binding for my orange quilt, it created one of the richest and warmest quilts I've ever made. It still is important, it just isn't sewn onto that particular quilt. Without that binding fabric, the quilt would never have been made.

Fabrics are like friends. If you are fortunate, you have friends that you do special things with. I have coffee daily with one friend; another is my lunch friend, another is my best friend; one shares her love of books with me, another shares professional teaching concerns; and the list goes on and on. It's the same with fabrics: some are inspirational, some are work horses, some are bright, some are dark, some are light, and some are just background. Some of these get sewn in and some don't. Then one day your book friend calls and wants to have lunch with you. You can adjust to that can't you?  Maybe you'll go to a different restaurant and talk about different things. It'll be a little different, but you can still enjoy the experience.

Sometimes it is difficult to be flexible in making our quilts. We get an idea and we have to change the original concept and try something else. Sometimes it is a struggle to let an idea evolve, and sometimes it is easy. There is nothing wrong with removing a fabric or color. Let the situation rest overnight, and look at it again in the morning when you are fresh.  You'll know what the correct answer will be. These little "tests" make the job of creating a quilt more challenging, but you'll be so proud of the finished product when it's done.

Here is an image of a quilt called Under the Giant Coneflowers. The colors are the same as my Wow quilt, but this one has the wonderful striped binding that gave me so much trouble.

You can read the story behind this quilt at http://www.annfahl.com/ann2/quilts.php?key=88

Ann Fahl