Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone. My husband, Baby A.K. and I spent an agreeable afternoon at the home of our good friends Erich and Deb, who supplied us with BBQ and a final dip in their pool before closing it up for the season. Whenever we’re at their house, I try to take a few minutes to walk around and admire Deb’s beautiful quilts – all handmade, the majority by her. Sadly, my camera phone doesn’t do these justice, but here’s a few examples:
This one is called Diamond Shimmer.
And this one is called The Block Less Travelled.
This is a work in progress – the blues and greens are incredibly striking in person. I really need to get a good digital camera.
Before Baby A.K. became too restless, Deb told me how a few of the women in her guild offered to teach her how to crochet and/or knit, to give her something to do while she waits for her son to finish his various extracurricular activities. It kind of got me thinking about how creative types have a natural affinity towards different crafty endeavors, like these quilter-knitters in Deb’s guild. Quilters have amazing sewing skills and an eye for color – I wonder how many are also painters, or sew together their own wardrobes? Or maybe some other wonderful and completely different hobby. And how many knitters have other crafty habits? Well, that’s easy: a lot. Crochet, anyone (gasp!)? Or felting? Or how about scrapbooking? There’s thousands more, of course, and anything we do or see or experience can only make us better artisans. But even if you have only one crafty skill, it’s pretty much impossible to not at least have an appreciation for other people’s artistic ventures. I see other people’s creations and can’t help but draw parallels to my knitting; seeing Deb’s pieces expands my horizons artistically and inspires me. How can it not be the same for all of us?
So… Craftsters, Unite! We’re not so different, after all.
yarnyMarni 
Thanks for your kind words about my quilts. You are right. As crafters (be it quilting, knitting, scrapbooking, etc.), we are not that different from each other.
You mentioned that getting together with other knitters was inspirational and a great way to learn new techniques, get things done, or plain just have fun. Same way with quilters. And food! Don’t forget the food since that is a BIG part of our get togethers.
And I guess you could call me the accidental quilter as I fell to its siren song a few years ago quite out the blue. Have no idea why I heard it but can’t say that I’ve minded since it help unleash a creatvie side of myself that I never knew existed. Another added bonus: wonderful friends that I’ve made through classes and my quild.
If you’d like to see more of my work, feel free to check out my webshots page: http://community.webshots.com/user/bearunner
Have a great Labor Day Holiday!!
Those quilts are all gorgeous, compliments to Deb. I have always loved the look of quilts, but am not convinced I have the patience to work them myself — so I will admire from afar! Plus I have too many knitting patterns lined up to add a whole new craft to my repertoire at the moment…
Hi!
Love the blog. Been reading it faithfully. I just read about your favorite musical…EVER. And did you see that they are planning a 2008 revival? West End Theatre! You’ll have to plan a trip.
Lori Lynn, from knitting group
Wow. Glenn sounds like a heck of a guy, and this story puts a whole lot of my “bad days” into perspective.
I had forgotten about the Caps for Kids donations to be taken at Knitters’ Day Out, which is all the more shameful for all of the leftover yarn stored in bins in my spare bedroom. The purple sweater can wait for a bit; this afternoon I’m casting on a (first time ever) hat.
I have felt your pain before. Once I was unable to get into my quilt studio for about 2 months. My creative monster was getting really ticked off. Finally I had a Saturday open. Told DH that he had till 10 AM to sleep in then I was going into my studio. He was up at 9:30 AM and boom, I was sewing like mad. Emerged at about 5:30 PM with the creative monster much happier and asked DH “Where are you taking me for dinner”?
Until that day, I never realized that my creative soul needed nurtured and fed on a regular basis. Let’s put it this way: I have never gone more than a few days without doing some kind of creative activity.
Hopefully your yarn will show up soon so your monster can be fed!
The wee hat is very cute, and yay for sock yarn arriving! I’m always antsy too when I know yarn is coming in the mail.
Yahoo for Knitters’ Day Out! Huge fun. I’m so ready to cast on a sock with that plum-colored yarn; I have a sock already on needles and a purple sweater to finish, but … but … !!
Sounds like you ladies had a great time. And what great stuff you guys bought!!
As a quilter in this area, I am very lucky. Not only do we have many great quilt stores in the Lancaster area, we have three wonderful quilt shows (which also means three vendor malls) to go to during the year.
And as for me, I always blow my budget at the quilt show!
I think you’ll last about 20 minutes before whipping out the charge card. Of course, I am only going by how long it takes my credit card to leap out of my purse when I am at my LQS (local quilt shop). You know, I always go in with good intentions of just picking up that one thing I need. Somehow, some additional items find their way into the shopping bag.
If I ever figure out a way to stop that from happening, I’ll let you know.
As a quilter, I’ve done the same thing many times (it says advanced, it looks too complicated). You’re right. You just have to go for it and trust yourself as well as the pattern. Trying new things helps you grow in your abilities. C’mon, if you never tried new things, how could you learn and grow and find out that you LOVE a new pattern/technique or that you love to make socks? Who wants to do the same old stuff ALL the time?
And tell me, do knitters have the problem of not wanting to “think outside your box?”. You know what I mean. As a quilter, we seem to stick with the same types of color or patterns and then you get challenged to use something different like plaid (for me that would be “yucky”) and it seems to make the project that much harder.
Oh yeah, when we get comfortable with a pattern, we don’t want to change. Now that I’ve knit 2 pairs of socks, I’m actually falling into that comfy basic sock pattern zone. I need to start trying some different patterns… but I don’t want to!!!
Sounds like a good time in Carlisle. Spent time there (but didn’t actually walk the streets) last weekend for a guild retreat. I posted pictures on my webshots (Album titled 2007 – PieceMakers Sept. Retreat) of the projects that we did. Included is my block of the month class from last year. I am getting it quilted in November by someone with a long arm. It is queen sized so I’m not touching that puppy.
Just finished my strips & curves quilt today. Posted pictures of that also. Album is titled Stormy Seas. This is definitely a “thinking outside your box” type of technique. Would I do it again? You betcha’ (once I find the time, LOL).
Deb. S
http://community.webshots.com/user/bearunner
So you found the yarn shop in Carlisle! Sounds like a great place; I’ll have to make time to get down there and check it out.
In other news, the purple sweater is finished!! I’m very pleased with the result, and will bring it along to knitting meetup later in the month 🙂
We have the same hangout for our date nights!!! That made me smile. We usually go out to a restaurant and then over for coffee and book browsing! And that’s our date night! As a matter of fact, our 15th is in a couple weeks, so you know where you’ll find us! Too fun…