Quilting at Christmas

I am just sitting here thinking of all the things I need to do before Christmas and then thinking of my 3 quilting deadlines.  I'm wondering how I am going to fit it all in.  I love so many parts of the Christmas season the lights,  secrets,  Christmas carol evenings, creating  and the lovely time with family and friends.  I find some parts very challenging I.E end of year functions,  shopping, crowds, too many things to do, and everything being left to mum.  Every year I drop something to try and keep my head above water and every year things still keep on getting busier. 

I have decided this year to only go to functions that are important and ones we want to attend.  I have also tried to simplify my gift giving.  So far I am feeling less stressed.  hopefully this will continue so that all of Christmas will be more joyous. 

So my goals before Christmas run as follows

• Be happy
• Be loving to everyone, especially my family
• K.I.S.S keep it simple sister
• Enjoy Christmas
• Get some sleep
• Create everyday
• Keep balanced
• Be excited with my kids
• And celebrate the real reason for Christmas....The birth of Jesus

Thoughts for your inspiration

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can
be made in a very narrow field."
-- Niels Bohr


"In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not
to do the next time."
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo


"It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with
problems longer."
-- Albert Einstein


"Improvement begins with I."
-- Arnold H. Glasgow


 "Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be
perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less
than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each
step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and
more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more
successful."
-- Mark Victor Hansen


Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the
stars."
-- Brian Littrell

Break from quilting

I want to take a break from quilting on my blog today and pay tribute to the 29 miners who have lost their lives in The Pike river mining disaster, in New Zealand, and those countless others who have been affected by this disaster. What a sad and very unexpected loss of lives.

This tragic disaster has affected many people in such a small country and in a very small community.  Greymouth (West coast of the South island of New Zealand)  is in shock and morning the loss of so many men.  It is a beautiful and rugged part of our country and full of resilient strong and wonderful people. 

Each man has his own personal story,  his own set of friends and family and his own personal mark on the world.   As I sat and watched the news last night my eyes filled with tears as each of the men's names were read out and a little told about them. They were real people not just a number on a page. 

I hope the families and friends of the miners are comforted at this time.  I hope time can help heal their loss and in time that their memories will be sweet of their love ones.  God bless.

Quilting and Photography Education

I have been pondering how to gain more education in art and photography (or any subject I want to find out more about for that matter) without spending money. 

Education in New Zealand has increased in price very rapidly without many scholarships to support this increase. The other issue I face is the education in art quilting is often overseas so the cost increase again.  I started my Certificate in Patchwork and Quilting with City and Guilds in Britain but the company closed down and the cost made me reconsider enrolling with someone else.

In my blog post on Wednesday the 27th August  http://catherineparkinson.blogspot.com/2010/08/budgeting-for-art-and-craft-work.html  I listed ways to gain some education with minimal cost.  These ideas have  worked well but I wanted to gain a deeper and more rounded education in art.  So I wrote an education programme for myself.  Over the next few weeks I would like to share this programme with you.

Thoughts for your inspiration

"Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to

self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt,
that's real power."
-- Clint Eastwood


 
"To teach is to learn twice.:"-- Joseph Joubert



"Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does
- except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But
only if the grapes were good in the first place."
-- Abigail Van Buren



"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will
vibrate in eternity."
-- Sean O'Casey




"Just because you make a mistake doesn't mean you are a
mistake."
-- Georgette Mosbacher



"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

-- Dr. Seuss



"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the
same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller,
Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci,
Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."
-- H. Jackson Brown

photography for the festive season

This time of year is such a wonderful time to get your camera out and capture moments of delight and of the festive season. 

How can you capture the season from a different view?  What objects mean Christmas to you?  Think about taking photos from different angles,  from a child's perspective and of sensory experiences that make you think Christmas.

Here are photo of objects that describe Christmas to me.....

Take a photo of decorations close up

Photograph Christmas tree lights

Photograph your place settings

Try taking photos with lights off

 Use sepia tones



Photograph what is special to you about the season.  For me it is Christ

Photos of yummy food

The play of light on decorations

Use your imagination!!!  What can you find to photograph.......

quilt challenge-52 cards in a year

Week 25

I really enjoy felting.  So this week I continued the felting theme and added stitching to the card.  I chose to portray a leaf on a orange background.  I wanted to give the feeling in the colours of autumn. 

The background is wool rovings and kapok felted onto painted cotton batting.  The cotton batting is beautiful to work with.  Like butter in a sewing machine.  The Leaf is made from an unfinished piece of knitting (I have a few of those :) with wool and wool rovings felted through it.

I love the way the colours blend in felting.  it is really like panting with fibres.