I want to
thank everybody so much for your in-depth responses to my questions about winter
woes and planning a three-day art quilt retreat at my house. I was amazed at
how long and thoughtful those responses were!
What many of you
said:
Coping with
winter
Make a lot of
soup (Survey says this was the top #3 answer!)
Haul the
sewing machine in front of the fireplace
Hand quilt on
the couch
Knit (#2
answer!)
And the #1
answer in dealing with winter… drum roll…Bake!
On hosting a three-day
art quilt retreat
Have chocolate
on hand (and lots of it)
Wine (ditto)
Movies
Every
participant shares one technique (Great idea!)
Felt scarves
out of sweaters
Host a fat
quarter swap (Fabulous idea, especially if those fat quarters are your own
hand-dyed, stamped, screened, and stenciled works of art)
Some of the
funniest comments
Cindylee
wrote:
"P.S. Remember
the bra quilt that hung in Houston few years back? The socks fabric you created
could be border fabric and all your orphaned socks (embellished, of course)
would make such a cool quilt. You go girl!"
Rachel said
(on rooming with art quilters in Houston):
"Was that hotel room in Houston a retreat when every night it
filled with master artists in their pajamas and you sometimes could not hear
yourself think for the laughter; and the air was so thick with creativity and
in-depth conversation that you could cut it with a rotary cutter." (Kudos for
the play on words, Rachel.)
In dealing with
my sock dilemma:
- Send your Odd Socks to Hogwarts (Diana Feit)
-PS I know this
is kinda' the boring way of doing things, but if you filled your sock drawer
with black and/or white socks you would always have something to match -- well
at least until you got down to the last two socks and had to go out and buy
more...(Susan Barker)
-Joyce wrote: Every time my mom comes to visit she matches all the socks in my
lost sock basket. (Must ask my mom to do this next time she comes for a visit.)
-Linda Spreen
gave a Beef Brisket recipe and also remarked: What amazes me about your socks is that there is someone out
there very accomplished and yet not organized with her socks.
Oh, Linda. You don't know me very well. Having to keep track of
two of the same things is a daunting task for me. Case in point: Last Christmas
I got a very nice pair of earrings and my first thought was not "Oh, how thoughtful"
but rather "Oh, God, I'm destined to lose these."
But I digress…
Congratulations
to the following winners (drawn randomly) of the latest Quilting Arts Giveaway Sweepstakes!
To make this quick and easy, if the following people could email me your full
name and mailing address and write in caps in the subject line: QA BOOK WINNER, I will send your goods to you tomorrow (Wednesday)
afternoon.
Congratulations
go to:
Linda Friedman
Amanda in
Houston
Carolyn J.
from Pacific Northwest
Leilani
Pierson
Rebecca Kemble
Mary K.
Morning Dove
Liz from
Colorado (who says she loves winter and is part bear)
Now I'm going
to get busy planning my small art quilt retreat over Superbowl weekend. After
reading all of what you had to say (and everybody's comments warmed my heart), I honestly wish I had a place big enough for all of you to come on
over!
*** More shots of Houston have been posted in the photo album on the left***