Daily Courage

Deanna Garretson is the Design Chicky, and she has another identity too – she is the Apronista. Her blog is a gathering place for Apron devotees. I am sure you have noticed that aprons are all the rage. One of our favorite books is A is for Apron from Lark Books.

Today marched the beginning of Apron Fest ‘09, a blog tour of wonderful sites participating in apron giveaways. My dear friend April Cornell decided to get in on the fun on her blog. This is the first time she has participated in a blog. What a fun day. There were so many great comments and visits from the women Deanna brought together. Truly a fun day in blogdom! 

The giveaway continues through the week, so be sure to stop by April’s blog and share your favorite memory of cooking together (preferably wearing and apron of course) with someone you love. The winner will be chosen by a random number picker and notified on Friday.

You have to know courage to recognize it. In today’s case, creative courage knows no age.

I knew I had met courage square in the face when I rang the bell and Freddy Moran opened her front door. There she stood with her white hair pulled back, and brighter-than-ruby-red glasses crowning her face. In spite of white hair, and at that time a borderline portly figure, she seemed much younger than I was at the time. (Quick note: she decided to “lose some weight” and lost about half of herself which you see in this shot. That pretty much says it without words.) If we’d have swapped driver’s licenses to check ages, I think we’d have discovered about a 28 year divide. But her demeanor, enthusiasm, and whole ‘tude’ made me feel stale and kind of stuck. Entering her house, you are blasted with color.  :)  The inside is painted about 47 1/2 different vibrant hues. (She loves telling you that hers is a perfect marriage, her husband, Neil, is colorblind.)

 She read my energy – or lack thereof. I was there to direct a magazine cover shoot. We quickly raced through the niceties, and were seated in Neil’s office (bright orange and teal, but he doesn’t know the difference). She pinned me emotionally, and called me on being at a creative crossroads. She recommended some reading that I have referred to in previous posts – “The Artist’s Way”. When Frederica speaks, you to listen. She told me she didn’t start quilting until she was past 60 years old. “I had said, I don’t do threads,” she proclaims. Her daughter-in-law invited her to take a quilting class.

The rest is history in Technicolor. Freddy has broken many rules along the way, and while doing so, she teaches us that its better to ignore conventionality and to follow your muse than to conform. In her case its about vibrant color and pattern and not worrying about all the points coming together in perfect symmetry. The best part is that she a world class quilter, author and teacher. And she had not even thought of it until she passed her 60th birthday. 

We give Freddy the Kiss of Courage!

Being a fan of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, I try to take myself on an Artist’s Date from time to time. Because I enjoy scouting for the work of new artists and crafters, I have convinced myself that shopping counts. Not far from my office is delightful Old Towne Orange (CA). The area looks like its out of a small town movie. Actually, it is. The Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do along with many others. The plaza and intersecting streets are home to many wonderful shops and antique stores. Recently, I discovered Heavenly Hostess, a gem of a store that sells among many wonderful things fabulous aprons and tea towels. THere is an array of gifts, bath products, entertaining accessories, and my favorite–books. 

The best part of meandering the shop was coming upon a display with two of our books: Crowns & Tiaras and Paper Mache Treasures with Teena Flanner. Oh happy day! It was a surprise that made the Artist’s Date just perfect. Heavenly Hostess has been added to my list of favorites.

Myrah Brown Green is a multi-faceted woman with some very impressive credentials. She is formally addressed as Dr. Myrah Brown Green. In addition to her teaching credentials, Myrah is an accomplished quilter. She brings a love of cultural anthropology to her quilt designs. The cover proof of Myrah’s upcoming book “Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks From the Global Village” arrived today from the printer in Hong Kong. Your mother may have told you not to judge a book by its cover, but we can’t help it. We do. And we love this one!

Myrah has gathered cultural symbols from all the world’s continents, shared their meaning and translated them into quilt block patterns. She teaches readers how to use the symbols to tell their own cultural stories in quilt design. This book explores global consciousness, and inspires readers to learn about a variety of cultures and the symbols that express different beliefs and emotions, many of which are common to all people no matter what their background or demographic may be.

The glory of Easter Sunday lies ahead, but before we get to it, there is a quiet Friday pondering the meaning of the celebration. Blessed with a large extended family, it means over 30 people at our house on Sunday. It’s not exactly intimate, which is why I’ll need to some quiet time between now and then. I love the feeling this shot gives and and how tempted I am to sit right down in one of these chairs and enjoy a quiet corner of the room. Layering  several tablecloth adds color variation and warmth to s small round table. In fact, I think I’ll set a couple of tables dressed like these and put then in some of the main rooms of the house to encourage small,quality conversations among our guests on Sunday. 

Whatever you celebrate at this springtime season, we wish you calm, relaxation, and quiet time with those you love.

(Photo courtesy of April Cornell)

As promised here is a little peek inside the newest book from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston. If they ever decide to take a show on the road, their agent is going to have a hard time trying to decide whether to book them as a quilt act or standup comedians. These two play off each other so hard you won’t need to do sit ups for days because your stomach muscles get such a workout. You can see for yourself at The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July in Sisters, Oregon. They will be appearing with some of the Gee’s Bend Quilters. This is big, big, big. Maybe someone should warn the ladies from Gee’s Bend who they are sharing the limelight with!

A few years back, before I had heard of Etsy, Charlotte Lyons sent me an email telling me that she had a shop there. I set out to find out what it was all about and haven’t turned to look back. Omiigosh, it’s creative heaven right here on earth. You know what I saw on there today? Prom fashions. Can’t wait to tell my daughter that I have found the answer for not showing up to see another girl in the same dress. Back to Charlotte. I have been a big fan of hers since I first met her when I was with Romantic Homes magazine. She had authored two books at that point, and I loved them both. This little canvas of hers called my name. The grammar is bad, which makes the editor in me cringe. But the sentiment is expressed so sweetly in her signature decoupage. It became my very first Etsy purchase. And the message is as true today as the day it arrived by mail!

We still use some traditional publishing terms around here, “shipping a book” is one of them. It means the files are proofed, proofed, and reproofed and ready to go to press. We are just about to ship a wonderful book by Malka Dubrawsky titled Color Your Cloth. Malka designs and dyes all her own fabric. She doesn’t stop there, she is a wonderful seamstress and quilter too. Malka’s star is on the rise. She has been featured in numerous quilting publications of late, and we know why. She is a talent unsurpassed. She shows readers how to start from scratch and any dye their own fabrics. You will learn and how to Color Your Cloth. Stay tuned for some great projects from Malka.

Every once in awhile a lovely package arrives in our offices and you can tell right away that it is coming from a very special person with an amazing creative gift. Like the day right after we had moved the offices, and the phones weren’t working, and chaos reigned as well as heightened blood pressure. But when the UPS truck delivered an unexpected box from Teena Flanner we were brought back to why we love what we do. Teena had loving packed some of her fabulous paper mache originals along with carefully chosen photos of her studio. By chance would we be interested in a possible book. Would we!? And that is how Paper Mache Treasures by Teena Flanner came to be.

A few weeks ago, the most beautiful large envelope came in the mail. (I still love the real mail) And a carefully hand lettered folder held a  lovely letter  from artist Dee Foust. Dee creates delightful seasonal decor that is carried as a line through puts you in the mood for spring.

Can’t wait to see where this may go. In the meantime, you can find Dee’s work at Bayberry Cove.

Many of the creative souls I know are great fans of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and so am I. One of the suggestions the author makes is that in order to inspire ourselves we need to make a regular Artist’s Date. She tells us it doesn’t matter where we go, we need to take the time to do something curious and give ourselves little creative breaks. Susan Rios is one of the creative faithful. You know Susan from her beautiful paintings of wonderfully romantic places and children, and from her many books with Harvest House. By the way, that is her work on the banner of the Crlog. Remember, this is a CReativebLOG (Crlog)

Partners in Play by Susan Rios

Harbour Roses by Susan Rios

We have talked for two years about going on an Artist Date together. Yesterday was the day! I drove from the OC to her home and off we went to the Getty Museum. Perfect place for an Artist Date, don’t you think? We had lunch in the wonderful restaurant, and splurged by having a Blood Orange Margarita. It was as good as it looks! And, it almost made it worth the 4 1/2 hour drive home. I hit the SigAlert jackpot coming home on the 405 freeway. Cheers!!

After lunch we wandered into a fabulous exhibit of Illuminated Manuscripts. These works were done from the 1100’s to the late 1500’s. Unbelievable. If you are even the tiniest bit of a paperholic, you will love seeing the wonderful manuscripts. Here is a peek:

We marveled at how the scribes and artists could have done such intricate gold leaf. There is no doubt it is the real deal because it is still shining after all these years. Knowing Susan, she’ll have it figured out. She did some very unique and wonderful things with texture and dimension in her book Designer Scrapbooks with Susan Rios.

An all around wonderful day!! None of us think we have the time. Maybe we don’t have the time NOT to take a little break to be inspired.

Toodles!