When this you see, remember me.

This quilt was hand-made in the late 19th or very early 20th century. Tiny scraps of colorful cottons are sprinkled over the once-white background. I imagine the maker, a woman, a surrounded by her sewing basket and a collection of fabrics saved and ready. Perhaps she sits in a great-room by a fire. She lifts each piece of cotton, turning it over and over; some are selected, others are saved for another day another quilt.

She cut the selected fabric scraps into little half-square triangles of red and blue and black. Small prints on cotton. Checks and plaids. Each little triangle is sewn by hand and it is quilted with hand stitches. If you look closely, you can see the stitches that were made with pride to keep a family warm and safe.

This quilted was was made to last.

Now here and there the dyes have run onto the white background. And in several spots the print has fallen out of or escaped from the fabric leaving only a trace, a memory of what came before. But I am not bothered by these signs of age and loving use.

This quilt wears its age with grace.

And yes, we do remember.

A frost-bound day, gray & cold, in New Hampshire . . . . temps hovering around zero.

Bits and Pieces:In email correspondence with Beate yesterday, Beate said to watch the mail for a complimentary gift of unique art. I was one of the "first five" to post a comment on her blog and thus, one of the winners. Beate, who is photographer in Dusseldorf, is also a very creative and prolific fiber artist making fabric postcards and now, mixed media art.

More email correspondence from my sister Donna, an artist living in Massachusetts, who told me that she submitted two pieces of art to the Lovely Hearts exhibit at artstream. Way to go, Girl. She and her daughter, Sarah, will attend the opening which features not only art but cocktails and chocolate. One half the proceeds of the sale of art will be donated to breast cancer research. I had an opportunity to introduce Donna to artstream co-owners, Susan and Rainer, at a fund-raising dinner in November, something I had wanted to do for a while.

Last weekend, we drove down to Templeton in Massachusetts to see a high school production of My Fair Lady. Our granddaughter, Victoria, who is a middle-schooler, was in the play. Those kids did a fabulous job of acting their little hearts out.

Victoria is one of those very special kids: she plays soccer and basketball and softball ~~ sings in the school chorus ~~ has been in three senior high school theatrical productions ~~ and, is an honor roll student.

...... an ocean storm is predicted for tonight and tomorrow.

Snow out at sea will undoubtedly cause huge sea swells.

We'll go down with cameras hopefully to record for the blog.

Stay tuned.

THE WRITER

. . . . .is my sister, Michelle

This image is the inside spread of a booklet I made recently celebrating my Michelle who is a writer and English professor. That is Michelle on the right side of the spread. Yes, smoking a cigar. The picture was taken during a vacation on the beach in Maine.

What a strange winter season we are experiencing here on the coast of New Hampshire: only two very small, nearly insignificant snow falls and lots and lots of days in the 30s, 40s and even some in the 50s. Today we have a clear blue sky with high winds but mild temps in the 40s.

Just yesterday, I learned that I was among the lucky first five on Beate's blog and that a unique piece of art is on its way to me. My responsibility is to put the same challenge on my blog ~~~ paying it forward, as they say. Who are 'they' anyway??? Oh well but it is a great idea and I will; I am, that is.

So, to the first five readers of my blog who post a comment, you will receive a unique piece of art from me.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

This has been a wonderful season of friends, family, entertainment, cooking and sharing. We rang in the season with a trip to the North Shore Music Theater for an absolutely fabulous production of The Christmas Carol and the Friday before the Day, we saw The Irish Tenors and enjoyed a lavish evening of song: their voices filled the Rochester Music Hall with joy!

Stephen and Joann (who live in Seattle) were with us for 5 days prior to Christmas. On the 17th, we had an early Christmas party with them, Amy, Mike, Victoria and Anthony. We prepared a glorious buffet of traditional family foods and some new recipes as well.

Christmas Day was joyous, indeed, as Shelly, Katherine, Esther (age 5), Ari and Noah (9months) came up for the day. What joy! A grand day! A great feast that was topped of with 'steamed pudding', a Spiller family tradition.

I have the great gift of working in a loving environment that has lots of spontaneous holiday cheer as well as the organized variety.

We'll cap off the season with dinner and a show at the Stone Church on Saturday night where Bill Morrissey is playing; he is one of our favorite folk artists. And of course, there's New Year's Eve; we, however, are not party-goers so we'll stay in with a festive meal and champagne.

One very nice slice of Christmas joy came from Artella -- the on-line e-zine. The folks at Artella offered a holiday swap and I signed up for it. Yesterday, the mailman brought an artistic creation by Sherry from Tennessee. You can see it at the top of this post. Imagination IS more important than knowledge. The body of the little person is articulated; his arms read: "Think Big". His head is an old, rusted bottlecap. It will find a spot by my desk at work. Sherry is a very creative woman; I visited her blogs (stillwatersstudio.blogspot and stillwatersart.blogspot). On a very interesting and unusual note, Sherry makes art from found objects and leaves the items anonymously in restaurants, rest rooms, the gym where she works out and other places! Fun. Probably makes the day for the reclaimers!!!

SINGING WITH A FULL VOICE!

That's the title of my second altered book. It's a very personal book. A strong personal representation of who I am and what I was thinking and feeling in the summer/autumn 2006. This altered book, its title and thematic presentation grew from an antique book that I found in Larry's stash: THE WARRIOR GIRLS.

In this book, I painted on: paper, antique lace, paper towels, antique doilies, photographs and magazine photos and pictures downloaded from the internet. I used plain old craft store acrylics and lovely Jacquard products. Alcohol inks. Water colors. Colored pencils. Fabric. Machine embroidered pieces. Found objects. Beads. Buttons. Fibers. Stamps. Leaves printed on hand-dyed fabric. And, ephemera from my stash. Text and quotes from my collections by favorite authors.

This page celebrates the Triple Moon Goddess: the maiden, the mother and crone.

The completed altered book has been entered into a local art show; I really pushed to meet the deadline. Well, it felt like a push because completion ~~ saying it was complete ~~ was like giving birth: the time had come even tho' I wasn't totally ready. And, even as I submitted the book for the show, I was thinking, "Well, I can make these changes later ~~ when I get it back....." Looking at it today in the show, I couldn't remember what I wanted to change...........

In my haste to get the book into the show, I forgot to take photos for the blog. So today the photos were taken in haste and without only indoor, overhead lighting: some pages and spreads did not make the cut for my blog.

I gessoed on the old record book paper and then painted over it, and over it in many layers to get the kind of texture I wanted.

This spread is actually 4 pages ~~ the two in the center are cut and folded and are doorways into Artemis' Island.

Quite a bit of the focus of my book is "Artemis". Goddess and Protector of Maidens. Of Mother's in Childbirth. Of wildlife. I have had a fascination with Artemis for many years. She is known as the Virgin Goddess but actually that title really referred to her INDEPENDENCE!


I went to Greece just before my fiftieth birthday. Alone. Solitary. Spent 3 weeks in Leros, one of the tiny islands in the Dodocanese (actually closer to Turkey than to Greece. Twelve hours by ferry from Athens.

Leros is known as Artemis' Island.

Some images of Leros today.

Being in Greece was a JOYFUL time.
I felt completely satisfied with myself, in my solitude.
Curious.
Brave.
Daring.
I loved it!

Few English speakers on Leros. Not a popular vacation spot for Americans. Lots of Scandinavians. Germans. So I was nearly totally silent except for the few Greek phrases I learned and the lovely 16 year old Leros girl who loved practicing her English with me.

This spread is based on text about looking at the moon, solitary.....and knowing oneself wholly, in every aspect.


This spread presents a visualization of the question: "how might you have been different if you had" an older woman or women who helped you through you growing up, your growing into adulthood. It comes from a wonderful book by a Jungian (oh, but now I can't think of its title). I used to buy this book in multiples to give away to my women friends. Who then followed my lead and either passed it along or purchased another for other friends.

This is an important message to me/for me: a personal mythology, I suppose.

This is actually the first spread in the book.

Hecate is the image on this page.

The last page in the book; reminiscent of the Venus of Willendorf.
A reminder of how important it is to love our bodies.
Irrespective of what body type is "selling" on
Madison Avenue,
in Vogue,
in Cosmo,
or anywhere.

An Exercise in AB-Making

This book was the inspiration for me to enter the world of altered books.

You should know that this was my first attempt after thinking about, reading about altering old books. And of course Larry is a collector of old and fine books so I have an almost endless supply. Which is just where I found this book, The Girl Warriors.

I suppose I was feeling a bit of a warrior this summer. And, indeed, the AB project seemed to offer just what I needed: something that could be fitted into whatever amount of time I was able to muster for my studio.

Let it also be known that I am someone who begins projects with a great deal of excitement. Which has a way of falling off. And the project becomes a UFO: unfinished object. But don't ask how many; I never tell! Anyway, this summer, I discovered a new patience for problem-solving and perseverance for completion with this altered book. Why? Don't know. But I think of it as a great gift. Among several that I received this summer season . . . . .

The summer of my altered book and gifts was also a summer of learning new lessons. "And this is the rest of the story". Now who used to say that on the radio? A bit conservative for my taste but I did like that almost-crying-voice that said those words. Oh, where was I. Oh the summer of lessons.

1. Chugging along on the AB but feeling constrained by the tight binding and in the interest of "art" I ripped the entire text block out of the spine. That's lesson #1: if you don't know how to get the text block back in, don't rip it out!
2. Working on the unconstrained pages I just tripped right along. And, discovered that two pages would make terrific inside front and back pages. Impatient novice that I am, I adhered them both. That is lesson #2. Don't! It seriously limits your cover options. Who Knew!!!
3. With the number of pages I wanted complete, I searched around for a way to get the pages back into the spine. And found a Japanese valley fold type of binding. A wonderful idea. For a Japanese book. Not mine. That type of binding is too tight; I couldn't open the spreads sufficiently to view my work. This really belongs to lessons # 1 and 2, suppose as does the following.
4. So, I invented my own type of valley fold binding -- but it didn't work. Two times!
5. Along the way somewhere, I covered and embellished the old book and think I did a great job.
6. But of course, its an empty book; it has no pages ~~~~~ just a spine and altered covers!!!!!! Huh????

So, here's where I am now. This is over-long, I think but here goes.....

• I abandoned the wonderful altered covers. I will get backt to them one day; promise.
• I prepared pages in a new-old book.
• The new-old book is one that I've saved for a long time: it has a sewn-in text block, leather trim, the words, "Newspaper Clippings" in gilted script.
• This book is smaller in overall dimensions, so the altered pages must be RE-altered. Hmmmmm????
• But that gave me another go at "Pentimento" ~~
• The new book is nearly done and I WILL post pix.

Of course, since my obsession with re-binding the first book, I came across Lisa Volrath's instructions for removing and re-binding the text block!!!! on the Yahoo Altered Book Group.

But what stopped me from thinking outside the BOX during all that angst? I mean who said those "pages" had to be in a book. With covers? And it's just come to me that I could have created a wallhanging with them using any number of ways to string them together. Eyelets and fibers. Wire. Leather. Beads.

"The full soul tramples upon the honeycomb,
but to the hungry soul, any bitter thing tasts sweet.
Proverbs 27:7

I just discovered Monica Wood, a Maine writer, and this fabulous book published by Ballantine Books in 2005. And, what a find! What a story-teller! What delicious prose: Wood's use of language is imaginative and captivating; she creates compelling word pictures.

Oh, and by the way, the citation from Proverbs is the book's opening.

Frankly, I wanted to give up everything and just keep on turning the pages of her book. It is the story of a friendship, a marriage, and a search for a past. Lizzy Mitchell, orphaned at the age of two, is raised by her only caring relative, a Catholic priest in rural Maine which in itself is an unusual plot twist. But the book opens nearly 30 years later with a horrific accident that becomes the counter-point to the story of Lizzy's childhood.

One reviewer called it a story of "desertion, trust, faith and forgiveness". Another reviewer said "it is exquisite, soul-satisfying" and, finally, another said it is an "intimate exploration of faith and love, betrayal and penance". And, I recommend it highly and without reserve.

I googled the authors name http://www.monicawood.com and found a delightful, appealing and informative website and, best of all, several more books by Wood. On the website, she has included tips for writers and other items of interest. Take a look.

The Monarch School of New England http://monarchschoolne.org is a year-round school for children with severe physical and developmental disabilities. Approximately 40% of the students are diagnosed with autism; others, are medically fragile. The student body of 30+ students come from 20 towns in central New Hampshire and southern Maine. There is a staff of about 60: administrators and support staff, teachers, therapists, and nurses.

I am the school's Development Director. I immediately fell in love with the kids and staff; and found to my delight that a sign over a door in the school was completely true:

"Love spoken here".

When I came to the school, about three years ago, it was with a "phased-retirement" plan. You know: getting ready to retire but not q-u-i-t-e there yet. Ready to stop working at impossible jobs with crazy expectations and hours but not ready to stop working. The school advertised half-time; that suited me just fine. Of course, over the three years I've continued to respond to need by adding more hours.

This Saturday, we have a very special fundraising event planned:

The Matt Savage Trio http://savagerecords.com

Rochester Opera House http://rochesteroperahouse.org

Rochester NH

7:30 PM.

What's so special about that? Well. For starters, Matt Savage is only 14 years old and he has played the BlueNote. Birdland. The Kennedy Center. He's played with Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Chaka Kahn. He's appeared on the TODAY show. He's won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award 2 consecutive years. He just released a new CD on September 19, QUANTUM LEAP on a national record label.

Matt was diagnosed with autism at the age of three; he taught himself to play the piano at the ago of 4; studied at Berkley Center at the age of 7 and cut his first CD at the age of 9. CNN just ran a special news report entitled, "Genius" which featured Matt and several others who are termed, savants.

Matt is a busy young man: he is playing the Regatta Bar in Boston tonight and opening for Wynton Marsalis in early October (I've forgotten where?). We are proud to bring him to the seacoast community and I am so excited to see him play!

So, take a look-see on the Monarch School's website and while you're there, view our videotape, a visually and emotionally appealing look into the school and its students that was done by a wonderful volunteer, a professional videographer. By the way, our website took a first place award in the education category in a state competition just months after it was launched in 2005. The website was designed Rainer Schwake at http://artstreamstudios.com. A great art gallery, art school and design studio in Rochester NH.

And when you have a moment, do visit Matt Savage at his website. You can sample bits of his music and look at a photo album covering his musical career.

And you can probably tell that I LOVE my job!

This is a Black Throated Grey Warbler!

And I am not a birder. And I don't play one on the internet.

But while Larry and I were on Appledore Island several weekends ago, there was a great buzz about the sighting of this bird. It was seen in a tree just off the large deck outside the dining commons on Friday night and again on Saturday morning.

What's so special about that you might be asking?

Well, this bird lives in thegreat northwestern regions (USA and Canada); it winters in warmer climes like Mexico and is not usually seen in New England. In fact, this sighting was the first ever sighting on Appledore. This is significant because there is a bird banding station out there and birders find Appledore an appealing spot. I'm told that this sighting would make in to the Maine Rare Bird Sightings list.

Well, I was curious about this phenomenon and asked my questions of the friendly birders who are more than generous with information.

Did you you know that birds fly groups of mixed varieties?
Sometimes a single bird will join a group of other birds - not his relatives - and travel with them for a while - stop somewhere and then join another group for more flying.

Which is probably what our little warbler on Appledore did and .....got a little off home-base, I'd say.

But lordy, isn't it a beauty!

A Monarch on Star Island

This is the time of year when the monarch butterfly begins to make its annual 3000 mile migration from northern United States to the warmer southern regions of California and Mexico.

Their travel south is one of the wonders of nature. Did you know that the monarch butterfly who leaves New England for the south is the great-grandparent of the monarch butterfly that returns?

In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the Monarchs of North America. They are the only butterflies to make such a long, two way migration every year.

Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. Their migration is more the type we expect from birds or whales.

When the late summer and early fall Monarchs emerge from their pupae, or chrysalides, they are biologically and behaviorally different from those emerging in the summer. The shorter days and cooler air of late summer trigger changes. Even though these butterflies look like summer adults, they won't mate or lay eggs until the following spring. Instead, their small bodies prepare for a strenuous flight.

One unsolved mystery is how Monarchs find their overwintering sites each year. Somehow they know their way, even though the butterflies returning to Mexico or California each fall are the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that left the previous spring.

No one knows exactly how their homing system works; it is another of the many unanswered questions in the butterfly world.

I took the photo on Star Island in September 2005.

Winding roads that seem to beckon you.........This past weekend, we spent a lovely long weekend on Cape Cod. Drove down on Friday and returned today. On Sunday, I took a solo drove down Route 6a, one of the most beautiful roads in America, I think. It winds through little towns ~~~ Sandwich, Barnstable, Brewster, Orleans, dotted with antique shops, b&bs, restaurants, glorious architecture and green farm land. Tomatoes, pumpkins, asters, mums: A lush world in September.

Miles of sand beneath the sky so blue......The weather was grand each day: clear blue skies; perfect late summer temps in the seventies. We stayed in Falmouth where I once lived for a short while in my twenties as a new bride. Too many years ago to say. The hotel we stayed in is at the head of the of Falmouth Harbor looking out towards the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

With every turn on yet another lovely road, I hummed that song.

And I even remember Patti Paige.
How's that for an admission!

APPLEDORE ISLAND

This weekend Larry and I went out to Appledore Island with a group from the Seacoast Science Center. This is an annual trip for us, one that we look forward to this pleasure.

Appledore is a tiny island, one of the nine islands that make up the Isles of Shoals.

In the 19th century and early 20th century it was the home of Celia Thaxter, the poet and artist whose family ran a summer hotel and catered to well known artists iof the time such as Childe Hassam.

Now it is owned by the Star Island Corporation and leased to Cornell University which maintains a marine laboraty. It operates from April to September and is buttoned up all winter long. As you can imagine, the accomodations are a bit on the primitive side: dormitory style rooms, single beds, and a walk down the corridor to the 'ladies'.

Appledore is only 9 miles off the coast but it offers a perfect escape: no automobiles or streets, no public lighting, no television, radio or newspapers, no computers or cell phones. Just quiet. Solitude. Relaxation. We walk and hike and hang around with naturalists and soak up new knowledge along with the ambience. Otherwise, we read and rest and re-coup. There is always a lobster dinner on Saturday evening and Sunday brunch before piling onto the Kingsbury, a research vessel for the trip home.

My Newest Postcard Trade

Isn't it just splendid! I love it!

This fabric postcard was made by Francoise of Belgium.
We planned the trade in the early summer but agreed to do it later in the season.

I hope she is as pleased with my postcard as I am with her work.

Oh, the Altered Book!

Well, all the spreads are done. I am working on the binding and cover. The lesson I learned from this project: never, never, never remove the text block from the binding. While working on the pages, I felt quite constrained by their size and lack of flexibility. So. I took the whole thing out in one fell swoop. And boy am I sorry. I have been teaching myself a binding method whereby one creates mountains and valleys, pastes the pages into the valleys and mounts the whole into spine. I will post the completed book soon.

(she said with great optimism)

NEW PAGES FOR THE ALTERED BOOK

I am still working in the altered book format and finding it both enjoyable and challenging. It is a project that I have thought about doing for quite a long time.

The page above is an homage to t s eliot's 'Lovesong to J. Alfred Prufrock.

It uses paper, acrylic paints, fiber and beads.
Here is a close up of the right side of the mermaid page.
Beads and fibers on the bottom and along the left side.
This is the left side of the page.
I had used this image in an earlier version but was not pleased with it.
Also, uses fibers and beads and a vintage button that has the appearance of something one might find in the ocean.
My altered book celebrates the three ages of a woman's life: maiden, mother and crone.
The text on this page above reads:
"The human woman gives birth just as the earth gives birth to the plants. She gives nourishment, as the plants do. So woman magic and earth magic are the same. They are related. And the personification of the energy that gives birth to the forms and nourishes is properly female.
From the Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.
This page is the left side of a spread and is incomplete.

Here is the right side of the celebration of 'mother'.
The text reads:
"The middle aspect of the Goddess is the Mother-Queen. She Who Rules. She is always celebrated for Her fecundity. She Who GIves Birth to New Life but what about her "ruling" aspect, making decisions, taking responsibility, contributing leadership to what has been created? Middle age is a mental state. It begins when you accept your own power and are willing and proud to exercise it, by shaping your own life and contributing society at large. "
Paper, acrylics, antique lace, hand-painted dryer sheet.

This page brings together the maiden, mother and crone.
The text reads:
"Most ancient symbol systems recognized the triangle as a sign of the Goddess's Virgin-Mother-Crone trinity and at the same time as her genital "holy place", source of all life. The triangle represented the Virgin Moon Goddess called Men-Nefer, archaid deity of the first Mother-city of Memphis. The triangle itself was worshipped in much the same way that modern Christians worship the cross."

I don't think it is entirely complete.

I have re-worked this page several times and am liking it now although I think it needs some work still.
The text on this page reads,
"How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you.....a place of women where you were received and affirmed? A place where other women, perhaps somewhat older, had been affirmed before you, each in her own time, affirmed, as she struggled to become more truly herself."

NEW ALTERED BOOK PAGES

(post-pentimento)

The first page (above) is meant to be a celebration of the crone, the 3rd and final phase of a woman's life which she attains at the age of 56. It honors her wisdom and her power.

Paint, paper, fibers, fabric sheers and burlap, found objects.
I haven't decided if she is complete........

The next page is based on text about looking at the moon, 'solitary and mid-sky', and coming to know oneself completely, in every aspect.

Paint, paper, mesh ribbon.

The third page is based on text from a marvelous book entitled, Circle of Stones and poses the question, 'how would your life have been different' if you had a circle of women, older women who helped you to be comfortable in your own skin, your female-ness?
Paper, organza, antique lace and ephemera, vellum image.
This one is not finished.

This little piece is part of a page entitled, Faith, that was not sacrificed (to pentimento).
I had attempted to photograph it several days ago without success;
this try worked just fine.
These are shiney fibers over faux suede and entrapped under tulle and surrounded by satin stitching..

This final photo is from the page entitled, Hope.
It is created from bits of antique lace laid over muslin
and topped with a layer of fabric glue and then painted.
I am quite enthralled with this process.

Pentimento & An Altered Book

(I love that word)

Pentimento; the freedom to change, modify what has been done.

Yesterday, I practiced pentimento on my altered book.

With more time in my playroom, more focus and more energy

than at any other time during this entire summer,
I was able to look more critically at the initial pages of my altered book.
And didn't like some of what I had done.

An altered book is a great format for pentimento:
just cover over with paper or gesso. Start over.

I did: liberating myself from what hadn't worked.

This idea of pentimento is a nice nudge to the 'inner critic'.

You know the one, that says:
"not good enough."

It was so freeing to just move away and helpful, too,

as I really like what I've done and will post them later today.

Oh by the way, the image on this post is one of Celia Thaxter's Garden on Appledore Island, one of the Isles of Shoals. Larry and I will have our annual retreat there in September with a group from the Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point.

A Mixed Media Altered Book

I've been working in an altered book format for the last week or so. The book is a pristine old journal found at an estate sale or auction some time ago. It is cloth covered with the word, "Record" on the cover. The only writing inside was a lightly penciled name: the father of the atomic bomb. Strange, interesting, curious. I covered over the name.

Today, I want to post some the book pages in progress.

Hope

Paper, acrylic paint and distressed lace.

The lace technique was in Quilting Arts magazine and the finished product has great texture

(I tried getting up close and personal with the camera but still couldn't do it justice).

Here's how I did it.
Bits of antigue lace are laid over muslin to cover the entire surface. Using both straight and patterned stitches as well as free machine work, I sewed the lace tightly and then applied a thin layer of fabric glue the lace. After drying, I painted it with opaque paints and dyes. It just has so many intriguing uses: mount on driftwood, use in collage, little art quilts and so much more.

Faith
Fabric, paper, paint, fibers.
The text reads: "Last night I did not know that today it would be raining."
I received a card with this little sentence about 30 years ago and WOW just never forgot it .

The little fabric rectangle on the left is faux suede with lots of shiny fibers captured under tulle and satin stitched all around. Same deal: difficult to photograph.

Untitled, 1st spread
Paper, paint, fabric, photo fragments
Way more work to be done!

Girl Warrior I -- 1st page
Torn paper, acrylic paint, mesh ribbon, colored pencil.
She needs more work: the flowers are wishy-washy and the bottom left is totally incomplete.

I like her very much ~~ she exudes strength and purpose.

This is the cover of an antique book that is the catalyst for my altered book.

I'll post more when finished.