in progress: the Neo-Boho Mango Cheezit Quilt

It started as a love affair between a nouveau-ish vintage paisley and a remnant from a be-ribboned curtain material. They lived together in my stash for a long time, then a friend who was de-stashing her fabrics gifted me with a load of great material (thanks Brooke!) that happened to have some perfect complements to these two, and Voila! a quilt was born.

I loved these so much I used a very simple
checkerboard center to keep the focus on the fabrics.

Modified log-cabin to surround the happy pairing.

A trip to Marden's scored me more yardage of that gorgeous
orange & mango flavored ... er.. patterned fabric.

A row of "stacked coins" on either end, with a different paisley for "end caps."

The top is done, all it needs now is a backing,
batting, quilting, and binding. The binding fabric
is a tiny vintage-repro floral that will bring out
more of those darker reds/oranges in the "stacked
coins" sections and tie the whole thing together.

Finished size will be right around 45" by 60" [correction - finished size is 43" x 63" ) - supposedly "crib quilt" size but goodness, it seems big for a crib; it would work as a coverlet on a twin bed or make a generous lap quilt for cuddling up with some Cheezits and watching LOST. Would also make a lovely wall hanging. If you are interested in using it as a wall hanging please let me know and I can add (at no extra cost) a sleeve into which you can slide a curtain rod for easy, neat hanging. I can put the sleeve on a long side or short, depending on how you'd like it oriented.

april poem-a-day challenge ~ day 12

Notification

So we decided to live our lives according
to the results of our Facebook quizzes, because
it seemed as good a method as any
to hoist ourselves out of the midlife rut of banality.
Never mind that the questions were written by 18 year olds
living in their parents’ basements; polls have shown
that those are the people scoring highest in happiness.
We started by moving to Florida, because we
like the sun but not too much and the “less many monuments,”
we embraced the famous persons we were in past lives --
your Picasso to my Queen Elizabeth, we became Sylvia Plath
and Courtney Love, we sent gifts of Pentagram Pizzas and
Smurfs and Albino Squirrels. We narrowed it down to our five
favorite everythings – five albums, five movies, five
breakfast cereals, all else became extraneous, unworthy
of mention. We joined the Freemasons, we allowed ourselves
to Say Anything. We accepted that our auras were most like
the color blue (or orange. or yellow.) and began to dress
accordingly, in our Blanche Devereaux outfits, with our red
high heels, and Keens, driving our Smart Cars to the
restaurant chains we were the most like, your Tim Horton’s
to my Chili’s. Now I know that Jesus thinks you’re a
sanctimonious prick, and now you know which crazy bitch
I am most like, so let us go forth.
Let us live our lives as though
we had truly been
Superpoked.

[I've been doing the poem-a-day challenge and using the prompts posted on Robert Lee Brewer's blog at Writer's Digest. Today's prompt was to start a poem with the words "So we decided to ..." ]

Plum Basket Quilt

Just finished today and up in the Etsy shop - a 38" x 39.5" quilt, just the right size for a lap quilt or crib quilt or, actually, what I would do with it is use it as a wall hanging. I used a combination of asian fabrics in plummy purples and blues, a lush Japanese kanji batik, and some calicos of aqua and yellows for something on the opposite of the color wheel. The pattern is a sort of basketweave adaptation. It's machine pieced and quilted and then bound using machine plus hand slip-stitching for an invisible bind at the back.

in progress, strips stitched and ready for sashing in between


quilting the "long lines" first

machine quilting around each square

to paraphrase my friend Brooke, here I am making binding my bitch ;-)
I used the binding method shown here in this tutorial: (click)

The back. I like how the quilting came out, with the stitching around each square.
The benefit to using dark thread to contrast
light backing fabric: it's eye-catching!
The drawback to using dark thread to contrast
light backing fabric: it's eye-catching!
(ie: it shows every misplaced stitch or tension glitch. yikes!)

another closeup of the back with
contrasting hand slip-stitched binding.

Available now in my Etsy shop.
[note: this item has sold]

my son's locks of love

He's been growing his hair out for this for about two years and today was the day. We didn't really plan it that way, but what a great way to mark the first day of Spring!

Jacob's hair will go to Locks of Love, so that a kid who has lost his or her hair to chemo or alopecia or any other medical condition can have a hairpiece made for them. Isn't my kid awesome?

Here's my little hippie before:

Here we've got the hair all sectioned off so that when we cut it we could get as much of the length as possible.

He thought that looked pretty goofy. ;-)

And here's the first section, coming off.

And here's my handsome boy after:

Yay for Jacob, for having the patience to see this through (not to mention putting up with me constantly nagging him about keeping it washed and brushed and out of his face! haha!)

I'm a very proud mom. :-)

two new pieces

Just posted in my Etsy shop this morning. These are two new mixed media collages, made from recycled materials and mounted on stretched canvas. The first shown here is the second in my new series which is an homage, of sorts, to the Buddha and to Chief Seattle.

"The Earth does not belong to Man.
Man belongs to the Earth.
All things are connected,
like the blood which unites one family.
We do not weave the web of life.
We are but a strand in the web of life.
What we do to the web we do to ourselves.
All things are connected."

~ Chief Seattle ~

"We Are All One" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage on 9" x 12" stretched canvas

The next is another "second in a series" - the birthday homage with words excerpted from a favorite Henri J. Nouwen essay (see my previous blog!). These make great birthday gifts as the piece is both the card and the gift, and the piece is ready for hanging as is. And I can giftwrap and send these to the intended recipient, gift wrap is free. :-)

"So Glad You Were Born" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage 9"x12" stretched canvas

Is one of your favorite someones having a birthday soon? Drop me a note and I'll make a custom birthday piece; you specify colors, favorite places or hobbies, totem animals, astrological sign... whatever... and I can whip something up that will resonate for that special someone. I LOVE custom work. :-)

recent work with words and images

"So Glad You Were Born" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage on 9"x12" stretched studio canvas

Henri J. Nouwen wrote:

"Birthdays need to be celebrated. I think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion, or a victory. Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone: "Thank you for being you." Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. On a birthday we do not say: "thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished." No, we say: "Thank you for being born and for being among us."

On birthdays we celebrate the present. We do not complain about what happened or speculate about what will happen, but we lift someone up and let everyone say: "We love you."

Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people's birthdays everyday, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. These are ways of saying: "it's good that you are alive; it's good that you are walking with me on this earth. Let's be glad and rejoice."

This was a gift for my sister.
Happy Birthday, Joani!
I am grateful you are walking with me on this earth.


"So Glad You Were Born" c. 2009 annie farnsworth

"We Are All One" c. 2009 annie farnsworth
original mixed media collage on 9"x12" stretched studio canvas

This was a "thank you" piece for my friend Eric who was kind enough to do a shamanic journey for my son and me when we were going through a hard time. I credit Eric for much of my healing and am ever grateful for his work. If you are interested in energy work or having someone take a journey to the ethers on your behalf, contact me and I will get you some contact info.

The finished piece is mounted on a 9"x12" stretched canvas. I've been doing that with my collages lately because it really gives them more presence and heft and they are ready to hang as is. The edges are "finished" and hanging hardware is included so no fussing with mats or framing is required.

"Everlasting Truth" c. 2009 annie farnsworth

I was grateful to have this little piece of "pocket art" included in an Etsy treasury recently. And it sold! Alas, it is so tiny I somehow "misplaced" it! I had put it in a nice safe place so it wouldn't get lost - (ha ha fat lot of good that did, yes?) Anyway, it did turn up just a few days later (indeed it was in a safe place!) and it is now winging its way to Hawaii where, coincidentally, another of my hummingbird ACEOs ended up. I love that they are both there in that beautiful, sunny place. Both pieces part of my ongoing "Yogi Tea Tag "series of ACEOs, of which more can be seen in my shop. :-)

I have two more mounted collages finished and ready to put up in my Etsy shop; will try to get some decent pics of them today since it's a sunny day, the Maine weather isn't blowing snow or freezing rain, and I can take photos outside in natural light. Have also been working on two quilt projects that will be ready soon..... stay tuned! :-)

recent work

This recently-completed piece is a 20" x 30" original mixed media assemblage illustrating the Top Ten Cognitive Distortions as outlined in CBT (cognitive behavior therapy). This was a piece commissioned by a therapist in Gardiner, ME to hang in the office where she sees clients.

In progress. Each 5" x 7" panel illustrates one of the most common cognitive distortions.

Preparing the stretched canvas for the panels. After a dark maroon and brown oxide mix was applied and dried I applied a buttery yellow acrylic with a lot of gel medium and combed it for a textured effect. I wanted a decorative texture but not something that would distract from the collage images.

Once dry a maroon thinned to a semi-transparency with gel medium and rubbed over the edges of the combed areas. The idea was to provide a dark "frame" around each panel for contrast.

c.2009 Annie Farnsworth

The finished piece.
In the private collection of Connie Valliere, Gardiner, Maine.

valentine

"All these words are just a front.
What I would really like to do
is chain you to my body,
then sing for days & days & days."

~ Hafiz ~

new year, new (tree of) life

Well, better late than never! I just finished this set of quilted “Tree of Life” pillows as a wedding gift for my sister and her new husband, who actually got married last summer (!yes! i'm a little behind!). I started them several months ago, and then my sewing machine got all wonky and I had to put it aside for a while. I even borrowed another sister’s sewing machine, to which I promptly gave bad juju; hers started wonking up also. Feh!

Today I got my sewing machine out, twiddled with the knobs a bit and Voila! It works. I don’t know how or why and hardly care. But the Tree of Life pillows are done for New Year’s, which is fitting since in many cultures the Tree of Life motif is associated with new year celebrations. In Russia and in Turkey, for example, when Christmas trees were banned due to their religious affiliations, people loopholed the beloved custom into their culture by calling them New Year’s trees. In Vietnam, where the new year is rung in in the spring, the New Year tree or cây nêu is planted as part of the festivities. Or so says Wikipedia. Which totally means it must be true. ;-)

Probably the best-known of the Tree of Life symbologies is the Celtic version. The ancient Celts believed all living things were spiritual, mystical beings, not simply “natural resources” to be used for our own profit. In particular, the Celts believed trees were a source of great wisdom and that aligning oneself with the trees would allow you to walk between worlds -- the upper and lower worlds, that is. Trees, they believed, brought blessings from the gods. The imagery of the Tree of Life is often depicted as intertwined with its surroundings; and indeed the tree is perhaps the best symbol of this interconnectedness of all things; the roots reach far down into the earth for sustenance, and bring it up into “this world” to provide sustenance to other beings – oxygen for us to breathe, leaves and fruit for us and other beings. The leaves returning to the earth provide sustenance once again. With the image of the tree we are reminded of our own mortality, and interconnectedness with others.

With this, I wish you a very happy married life together, Brenda and Jeff. May your years together be happy and fruitful, may you always remember your interconnectedness with each other and your families.

May you grow together, always.

__________________________________

ps. another set of "Tree of Life" pillows is available in my Etsy shop: click here!

dear santa

a visit with jack gilbert

A friend shared a link to this great piece about the poet Jack Gilbert who, at past 80 years of age, recently won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his newest collection Refusing Heaven.

photo by Kate Davidson, NPR

You can visit the NPR website by clicking here and while there, be sure to click on the links provided to hear the inspiring interview with this reclusive poet who has spent most of his life outside the usual literary circles, stages, and spotlights, and whose poems speak poignantly to the two sides of the love and grief coin. Also included are clickable links that will allow you to listen to Gilbert reading several of his most lovely poems, "Infidelity," "Refusing Heaven," "By Small and Small," and "Getting Away With It."

I love Gilbert for his unabashed refusal to play the literary "game" (in the interview, he asserts that he is not a "professional poet," he's a "real poet"). I love Gilbert for saying there are just things about this life he doesn't like ("I don't like that my hair is thinning. I don't like that two of the women I loved died.") I love Gilbert for talking about how he is fond of making lists, including lists of things that he loves and wants to accomplish - a kindred spirit! I make lists too -- lists of things I love, things I want to do. Sometimes I have made a list of things I'd already done, just so I could cross something off of a to-do list. I am sure that Jack Gilbert (a man who once listed "to be in love before I die" on a list of things to do), would understand.

gifts from a dark night

icebound trees at the edge of my yard. 12/14/08

"If you are like most people, you have gone through several dark nights of the soul. You may be in the middle of one now. You may be in a difficult marriage, have a child in trouble, or find yourself caught in a tenacious and terrible mood. You may be grieving the loss of a spouse or parent. You may have been betrayed by a lover or a business partner or going through a divorce. For some people, these situations are problems to be solved, but for others they are the source of deep despair. A true dark night of the soul is not a surface challenge but a development that takes you away from the joy of your ordinary life. An external event or an internal mood strikes you at the core of your existence. This is not just a feeling but a rupture in your very being, and it may take a long while to get through to the other end of it."

(excerpted from Dark Nights of the Soul, Thomas Moore)

"Care rather than cure. Organize your life to support the process. You are incubating your soul, not living a heroic adventure. Arrange your life accordingly. Tone it down. Get what comforts you can, but don't move against the process. Concentrate, reflect, think, and talk about your situation seriously with trusted friends."

(Thomas Moore, in Dark Nights of the Soul)

"Every human life is made up of the light and the dark, the happy and the sad, the vital and the deadening. How you think about this rhythm of moods makes all the difference. Are you going to hide out in self-delusion and distracting entertainments? Are you going to become cynical and depressed? Or are you going to open your heart to a mystery that is as natural as the sun and the moon, day and night, and summer and winter?"

~ Thomas Moore ~

"Don't be afraid to suffer,
give the heaviness back
to the weight of the earth;
mountains are heavy,
seas are heavy."

~ Rainer Marie Rilke ~

"Imagine a black sun at your core, a dark luminosity
that is less innocent and more interesting
than naïve sunshine. This is one of the gifts
a dark night has to offer you."

~ Thomas Moore ~

ice storm december 2008

shiny road to the magic cottage

enough light to read by

all the babies are staying warm *

Me: "You guys are my heroes!"
CMP Guy: "Of course we are!"



icy leaves clinking like coins as they fall

(Posting from my satellite office as there is still no electricity
or phone at my place as of this posting Sat. pm 12/12)

Thank you to my gracious host for putting up me and el perro. :-)

ADDENDUM: power finally restored Tuesday 12/16 am after five and a half days.

* ADDENDUM: except for Pinky. The tail-less wonderfish.
R.I.P. Pinky. You were a good fish. Your calming,
unassuming presence will be missed.