I'm still here

I know some are waiting to see what my next finished quilt will be. Sorry, I'm not doing much other than sleeping. I clean a little..... sleep a lot..... clean a little..... sleep a lot. The congestion in my chest seems to be lingering a long time. I'm told that is how bronchitis is. It take a very long time to get over it. I still don't have much voice either. I tire so very easily. I did eat some solid foods today. I think I don't want to see soup on the table for a long, long time.

A few updates. This is one of the neighborhood kids I took care of when he was little. He had ADHD which wore out his mother. She would get abusive trying to handle him. She would send him to me for a few days so she could rest. He was at my house so much that my daughter and he thought they were brother and sister. When he was little all the neighbors thought he would someday be in a gang. He fooled everyone though. He's a second degree black belt and a security guard at a major building downtown. Never once got into trouble. A very mild tempered person compared to his hyper activity as a child. This is his very first car. Got it all by himself.

An internet friend, Jurgen Nittner, sent me an email telling me he is going to be one of the featured quilters in "The Quilter" magazine. The quilt, Green Piece, is the one that will be on the last page called Photo Finish. The magazine is due on the new stands in July. His wife is the piecer, he is the quilter. He earns their spending money by teaching machine quilting classes at MQX and MQS. He also does machine quilting full time out of their home. I think we may have been internet friends for about 10 years or so. I'm very proud of Jurgen and Kathy.

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I've gotten several invitations to submit art quilts or rugs for different galleries this coming winter. Right now is the time of year when the galleries try to get their Christmas stock planned out and commitments finalized. I'm not sure I want to submit anything. The way my health is going I might commit to sending some work only to get sick again. There's no guarantee that any of my work would be accepted either. So I'll skip trying to finish anything for this year and maybe later think about things for the following year. It will be better for me to work at my own pace around whatever health issues crop up. If I have anything finished next summer that's what I can submit. If nothing gets accepted then nothing will have been lost but my own time.

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I talked (or should I say croaked) with an artist friend, Cathy, and asked her advice on a beginner drawing instruction book. She's going to loan me one of hers. I have some ideas for quilts but first I need to understand things like depth and perspective. If her book is helpful to me then I can look for more at the library. What I've observed over the past few years is that more toppers are going for quilt patterns that have visual motion.... hmm... how to describe it.... for example, straight sewing lines that create the illusion of curved lines. Or varying values of fabric that seems to create a depth in a flat object. You know what I mean? If I can understand this from an artist's view maybe I can create it in a quilt.

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Yes, I know I can draw, but I'm not an artist. Just a talented machine quilter. For many years I've tried getting my work juried into some textile art shows. I kept getting rejection letter after rejection letter. The most common response was...... "not the caliber of art we are looking for"..... which hurt. I no longer even try getting juried in. My art may appear cartoony and child like.... but it's still my art. What I want to understand is why my art is not considered art but others who do cartoony type are considered art. I don't see that much difference in them myself.... which is why I want to study things from an artists view. I must be missing something in what makes art... art.

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Ok, enough computer time. Need to lay down again. I just want to keep in the habit of posting as regularly as possible.