~ selah ~

On Saturday, I made one of my rather frequent visits to the Textile Museum.  There was an exhibition of antique quilts there - many of which were very special.  One of the quilts I saw incorporated what I think of as "modern" techniques - i.e. the maker, in 1862, had included in her quilt, photographs printed on silk.  Very advanced!

There was a whole room of log cabin quilts, which made me laugh - as I said to BSP, this room is my nightmare and Crystal's (of Modify Tradition) dream!  In another gallery (just past the appliqued quilts) there was a string quilt  that looked astonishingly contemporary,



and there was a room full of crazy quilts - which made me feel quite crazy, frankly, though one or two were quite beautiful.

Sadly, though I took nearly 70 pictures, not a single one isn't blurry - I wore my new graduated lenses (in contact form) and though the pictures looked sharp and in focus to me, they were not.  *grrr*  So I can't show you anything.

For weekend reading though, I picked up the book Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters by Spike Gillespie from the gift shop, (although I'm very sad to say I didn't purchase it for the advertised Amazon price of $27.71!) and read it nearly cover to cover on Saturday night.  I didn't love all of the artists and quilters that were included (two sections I had to skip altogether - the busyness of their work gave me an instant headache); but Spike's writing is engaging and informative,  the interviews are an inspiration, and the photographs will be study and inspiration pieces for me for some time to come.  I highly recommed it!

And how was YOUR weekend?


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P.S.  I guess I should acknowledge the new look of my blog, as well.  :)  I don't know if any of you noticed, but my prior template has been wonky ever since Blogger switched to XML, and last week, the modernist posey that used to live in the lower left hand side, slipped off the radar altogether.

I've long admired this layout on a couple of photography blogs I follow, and decided to try it here.  I'm finding it a bit dark, but I know that's only because my prior template was so very bright in contrast.  Overall, I'm very pleased with it - and think that it's reflective of the emotional and mental switch that has happened lately as I quilt and think about quilts - from my prior "Let's make this fresh and fun" attitude to "Hey, this is actually something I'm pretty serious about".  (Not that I won't continue to have fun!)  So, a new look for the blog to match the new attitude. 

Though I am now realizing that my latest pieces (in my head and in progress) are working "through" quilting rather than "making quilts" these days (as always, my abilities are not up to my expression!); never fear, I don't intend to become stuffy.  If I do, give me a metaphorical smack upside the head.  ;)