Mary Ramsey Keasler

June 10 is Almost Here

No, no, it's not my birthday, or anniversary, or a new national holiday. But it will be a holiday of sorts for me. I am off to Shakerag in Sewanee, TN for a 5 day workshop with Nancy Crow. This is something I have wanted to do for years and at last, the time is about to arrive. I've been dyeing and buying solid fabrics for months. It seems that I will never have enough of the right values and colors, but perhaps I am likely a bit OCD on that issue, as my friends have hinted. On the other hand, as Nancy says, you can never have enough fabrics. Or is that what I say? What about you? Can you ever have enough of the perfect shade, tint, hue, color, solids,prints, plaids, stripes? So, thus far I have 7 plastic tubs of fabric. Here's a couple of the tubs:

That doesn't include the high contrast print/stripe/plaid/dot fabrics. Or the 4 yards of white and 4 yards of black. That is in tub 8. And mind you these are substantial tubs. I won't release the plastic tub measurements, because then everyone will know that I am, indeed, OCD.

I've made many improvisational quilts in the past, using a multitude of prints as well as some small projects using solids - as with pillows. But can I do a beautiful composition on a large scale? Scary scary scary. In readying myself for this experience, I have been playing around with solids, just to see if I can remember how to start from scratch, without a pattern. Using mostly shot cottons, I began cutting and sewing.

Sketch One 11 x 14

Sketch Two 11 x 17

Okay, I started from scratch, but these are little ones. Sketches a la Gwen Marston. And there are no parameters, no rules except that all fabric must be solids. Jump in and go for it. Abstract. What is abstract and what does it really mean?

Ah, well. So, meanwhile, I have been multitasking in my studio I must admit. But then, who doesn't these days? I am quilting, still, on the dogwood quilt. All the while thinking of abstract design. Pictures coming soon.

I completed the Friends Shirts Quilt. Footloose, no rules, no matchy-matchy points, all fancy free piecing. Perfect for practicing some traditional machine quilting with feathers and all that stuff. All washed up and cuddly. It will be my blanket of choice for my week on Monteagle Mountain. Taking my friends along, as it were.

I also began working on my homework assignment # 5 from Lorraine Torrence's book, Fearless Design for Every Quilter. The assignment, if I choose to accept it, (sorry) design a simple, well balanced composition as a line drawing and interpret the composition in 8 color schemes.

"turn a blind eye and a deaf ear" achromatic

"turn a blind eye and a deaf ear" monochromatic

Only 6 more color combinations to go.

Lorraine's homework projects have been much more challenging that I had thought they would be. I discovered that I do not like being forced to follow the rules. Rules are so limiting. But then, momma always said there was a reason for them. To make you stretch and learn. Yet, my secret self has been revealed. Deep down, I honestly do not like much structure in most things. I have spent my life trying to conform, fit the mold, and follow the rules. At age ## I am so OVER IT. Rules are good for some things, but not so good for other things. Ya think?

What is that going to do to me at the upcoming workshop? Okay, so I must remember the reason I wanted to take this workshop with Nancy. Following her guidelines and be disciplined, because I want to learn more about art, composition, to stretch myself as much as possible, to dig deeper and find out more about myself. Wish me luck.

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

Once upon a time

there was a young, innocent, country girl who loved to play along the fence rows and road sides where wildflowers grew in abundance Having no playmates, she made friends with all the lovelies that nature had to offer. Acorns were her best buddies, always tucked away in the pockets of her clothes. Daisies were woven into delicate crowns to top her head.

Queen Anne's lace made wonderful chains to circle her waist.

Gathering many other beauties along the fields and dusty roadsides, the young girl scattered the seeds of all of her lovelies in her ma's well manicured yard,

much to ma's dismay.

Ma explained that these were weeds, and would just take over her lovely flower bed, turning it into ruins. The young girl was so dismayed to hear that all of her lovelies were considered to be undesirables. Even though she could not understand why they were thought to be inferior to ma's iris, roses, lilies and jonquils, she obeyed her ma and learned to appreciate the right and proper ways of life. She grew in to a woman and always tried to remembered the rules as her ma had taught her.

Many, many years later, the woman remembered her love for the simple, road side lovelies where she spent many happy days in her daydreams. So she decided there and then, it was time to find that openness and idyllic playfulness of her youth. Disregarding all of the rules of prim and proper ways, she once again let her imagination guide her. Playing with fabrics, she made a not so prim and proper quilt. It began with free form log cabin blocks in mostly solid colors. That still didn't make her happy.

Where upon she decided to grab her scissors and cut lots of
free form flowers which she randomly stitched onto the top of the quilt with wild free motion zig zag stitches. If the fabric frayed a bit, all the better, she decided. And continuing along with the idea, she created many more free pieced flowers stitched in colors to rival Joseph's multi-colored robe.

Multiple leaves of all shapes and sizes were added to the mix.

Lots of freely pieced blocks bordered the quilt in fence row style.

And all along the border the quilting will be sticks and blocks of all shapes and sizes.

Finally after days of play, the ole girl, deciding that the plain ole log cabin blocks were covered with enough colorful posies, it was time to quilt it. She decided to cover the quilt with hundreds of quilted seeds with sprinklings of posey shadows.

The old girl was, at long last, free to be what she wants to be.

The moral of this story is ?

Time to play some more

So many ideas, so little time

Stitched together

It was time to buckle down and finish sewing this together. I stared at it for a week to try and find things that bothered me, and decided the time had come. For me, it always makes a difference in the appearance of a piece to see it actually sewn together rather than all the separate pieces on the design wall. Couldn't decide: do the deeper colors of the branches work?, does the background work?, is it a balanced composition?, do I need to add more leaves?, should I do some thread painting on the blooms?, add a border or not?, etc, etc,

Reading Elizabeth Barton's blog post on eight steps to overcome quilter's panic recently only added to my indecision. I printed out her steps and pinned them to my wall. I have so much more to learn. She posed some probing questions to ask yourself as you try to critique your work. These 8 steps are tremendously helpful. I must admit, while I was creating this piece I thought it was going well. As I put it together, I asked myself the questions from Elizabeth's 8 steps. ( Dang! It is really difficult to critique your own work.) Just when I thought Pinkie jumped through most of the hoops sufficiently, I read Elizabeth's last statement of the post : Remember not everything works and if you think everything IS working you are probably wrong!

YIKES! Okay, so nothing is ever perfect. Decisions, decisions. Now that is together, I will let Pinkie hang around a bit longer before I do the normal (for me) thing. Quilt it and hope for the best.

I highly recommend using Elizabeth's suggestions. Her blog has a wealth of information and inspiration. She is a fantastic artist and I have heard great comments on her teaching skills. I hope to be able to participate in one of her workshops one of these days. As I said, I still have so much to learn.

Sweet Memories are Made of This

So, back to my somewhat regular routine. Not that I could ever say I have a routine. I sorta do whatever, whenever, and try to enjoy what may come. After returning home from Alabama, and my most wonderful new friends departed for the great northwest, I dragged around for a few more days, still reminiscing about the fun we had. You might have read about Nifty's, Bonnie's and Tina's purchases while shopping around Cleveland. After finding those treasures, we hit the thrift store and each bought a few shirts. Then the girls treated Steve and me to a delightful dinner at our favorite local restaurant. A few martini's, some nice wine and delicious food gave us new strength to head home and cut up the newly purchased shirts. We continued laughing and cutting up into the wee hours.

Tina rescued the "seams" from all the boxers and shirts and made balls for the cats to play with. Sorry Tina, but the cats don't get those balls. I found a much better use for them. The smaller ones are perfect for filling up the glass of my new Target lamp. Now to make more more more.

Instead of getting back to work on my dogwood quilt, or any of the other projects that I have started. I just couldn't wait to play with those shirt scraps that we shared. I decided to make Friendship Star blocks. Along with scraps from Tina, Bonnie and Nifty, these shirts turned out to have just the perfect color combinations. For me at least. I think it will be the perfect quilt full of memories that will last forever.

Got twelve blocks whipped up in no time. Not sure where it will go from here, but I've got lots of scraps left and it will continue to grow. As I hope our friendship will continue to grow.

check out the pocket
another "Nifty" idea

Alabama Folk School part 2

Great Friends, Great Fabric, Great Food. Just can't get enough. Still reeling with with all the thoughts and memories that will serve me for a long time to come.

I must take the time to thank Sarah Mills Nee, the director of the Alabama Folk School. She and her husband are an amazing talented couple. Sarah and her crew made the daily operation and schedule go smoothly and effortlessly to those of us participating in the workshops. Everything was done to make our experience relaxing, inspirational and enjoyable. If you like music or crafts, I can not say enough about this special spot. They offer classes from nationally know artists and musicians and I can guarantee that you will get your money's worth and then some.

Thank you Sarah and the staff of the Alabama Folk School and Camp McDowell

Mary Ann Pettway - Gee's Bend
Sarah Mills Nee - Camp Director
Anne Robertson - Quilter

Now back to quilting

Mary Ann Pettway posing with her top ready for quilting
Can you tell that she is a fun lady?

Bonnie

At the end of the workshop, everyone "hung" their quilt tops with blue painters tape to the windows. Here is Bonnie (sorry Bon, not such a good picture) with her two quilts. Bonnie has a delightful webpage with great pictures and descriptions of our time together. Jump over to On The Way and read all about it. Bonnie is a wonderful artist and you must also visit her web page and art gallery. Hey! I just had an idea. Maybe the Folk School should put Bonnie on their list of teachers! What fun that would be!!!!

I love the idea of hanging our quilt tops in the windows. It was magical

Nifty

Tina

Kim and her very cool GB piece

Suzie made lots of great pieces!

Cathy used her wonderful hand dyed and stamped fabrics

Looks like Cathy and I will be going to a Nancy Crow workshop together!
The fun never ends, my friend.

Anne had a blast with this one
I cannot wait to see more of it!

I began making more posies on day 2 and laid them on another bark cloth curtain panel. Soon got a bit bored with the posies and looked over to see what Victoria was up to.
(footnote: Tina made a posey for me too - the one on the top with stripped outer edges
Thanks Tina! )
(Do you think I am easily distracted?)

OK, so, back on track. I scrambled around for some pale neutrals from the table of "shared fabrics" and made this little block:

Mary Ann and China graciously signed it for me
My plan is to hand quilt this one, frame it and hold on to it forever.

So ends the saga of my Camp McDowell/Alabama Folk School experience. You can see all the other quilt tops if you jump over to the other sites that I mentioned in today and yesterday's post. As I said, I am being a bit lazy here. Or is it a case of TMI?
Whatever, there is just way too much to ever fit into one little blog.
Happy trails to you
until we meet again.

Alabama Folk School

I have just returned from a trip of a lifetime. No, no, not an exotic trip to some far flung destination. I am talking about Nauvoo, Alabama.

The Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell seems to have been a well kept secret. From me, at least. Last winter my friend, Nifty, gave me the heads up on her plan to come south to learn from the ladies of Gee's Bend. Naturally, I could not pass up this opportunity. Along with 17 other ladies from all around the country, we made quilts with the guidance of Mary Ann Pettway and China Pettway of Gee's Bend, AL.

I had the pleasure of reuniting with Nifty and Tina from Seattle, and meeting Nifty's sister-in-law, Bonnie, from Salem, OR. I also had the pleasure of meeting Victoria, a.k.a. Bumble Beans, and Kim from NY after reading their blogs for a long long time. They have both already posted some great pictures and reads. Victoria shared lots of great ones on her Flickr link Another new friend, Cathy from Birmingham, AL has posted great pictures and stories on her blog that you will enjoy checking out. Sweet Diane from Birmingham posted some great pictures on Picasa. Ann, from Jackson, MS also has a blog and a website. Jump over to see what she has going on. So, I am taking the lazy way out. You must jump over to see their pictures and descriptions. I promise you won't be disappointed.

But I must tell you about this lady. Cherrye Parker

left to right:
China Pettway from Gee's Bend, Cherrye Parker from Brimingham, AL, who had never made a quilt, and Mary Ann Pettway from Gee's Bend.

Cherrye arrived with fabrics that she had purchased in Africa and a sewing machine just purchased, still in the box, with not a clue how to use it! Not only did she learn to use a sewing machine, but completed the top and began to learn hand quilting.

Just look what she accomplished as a novice sewer/quilter.

My hat is off to you Cherrye!

Cherrye also wrote a very touching note to all after returning home. With her permission, I am sharing her thoughts:

but mama said we'd learn to quilt

a note from Cherrye Fincher Parker

When I was a little girl, mama would sew a few clothes and crochet.

Somewhere along the way she stopped sewing and taught my friend, Juanakee

and me how to crochet...

but mama said we'd learn to quilt.

Mama, Mrs. Lillie M. H. Fincher, and I crocheted lots of blankets for Cassandra, my sister, Jasmine, my one niece, Mu Dear, my grandmother - Dr. Gertrude C. Sanders, and family friends. We shared good times together completing each others crochet projects. I enjoyed creating the body of the blanket and mama would do the edges and the fringes.....

but mama said we'd learn to quilt.

Years passed fast... work, new experiences, travel, marriages, divorces, illnesses,

job promotions, joys, disappointments, God's grace keeping us strong...time changes a lot of things...

but mama said we'd learn to quilt.

Mu Dear had a stroke at the age of 90 and mama took good care of her for two years until she went Home...

and mama said now we'd learn to quilt.

100 days after Mu Dear went Home, I guess she got lonely because

mama went to sleep and followed her Home too...

BUT MAMA SAID WE'D LEARN TO QUILT!!!

Three years later, Grace brought me to the company of some awesome women, representing eight different states and 2 phenomenal quilters from Gee's Bend at the Alabama Folk School. With my brand new in-the-box sewing machine in hand, no thread, Joy in my heart and my mama's spirit dwelling in me, I worked hard to make my first quilt top. Mary Ann and China showed me how to bring it all together and several of my new friends added a stitch here and there.

Mama said we'd learn to quilt.

We did.

I know she was there.

Each one of you have blessed me.

Love ya'll,

Cherrye

(Cherrye's sister/best friend, Juanakee, passed away 5 years ago from breast cancer.)

Here we are, in our final hours together, still laughing

And now to the beginning:
Day 1

China is amazed at Victoria - the day has just begun and she has already gotten half a quilt pieced!

Where do we begin?

(left to right)

Mary Ann, Bonnie, Tina, Nifty, Barb, Victoria, Cathy

Nifty & Tina stitching away while Mary Ann confers with Bonnie

(Note the extra large classroom with lots and lots of natural light. It adjoined the cafeteria and made it oh so easy for meal breaks. The food was just plain wonderful, I might add.

Mary Ann shows us a top made by another Gee's Bend lady

Using old boxer shorts from my hubby & son (much to their dismay) and cut up for me by Nifty, Tina and Bonnie. I brought along a bark cloth curtain panel from the 1950's, as well as bundles of Kaffe fat quarters given to me by Bonnie. This is the beginnings of my Gee's Bend interpretation.

China suggested that I use this dark green along with the bark cloth. I agreed, tentatively, but secretly, I didn't like the idea. But then, why did I come here? Just to do my own thing? NO, I wanted to dig into the creative thoughts of a lady from Gee's Bend! So I reluctantly decided to go with her suggestion.

I am so happy that I did so. And I think China was pleased too! Ya think it looks a bit Gee's Bendish? I promised China that I would quilt it immediately and not go home and stick it in a drawer.