the 150th quilt!

i know, i know, it amazes me, too! who would have ever thought that i would have made it this far, huh? but i have! and to celebrate, i've committed to starting another project: my health and well being. baby steps will be taken since this is a project i've started and stopped many, many, many times before, but i'm strangely optimistic and quietly confident. i have the quilts to thank for that.

amazingly, the quilt that "appeared" today supports my new effort in a humorous way:

she had lived long enough to know that these moments of clarity - like the one she was feeling now - were few and far between and couldn't be summoned. they just appear. "no way am i fritterin' away this moment!" she said as she grabbed a pencil and paper and started writing her plan to change all the things she usually ignored...

so...no more fritterin' away time on the computer today! i'm out the door to get some exercise!

cheers,
karen anne

broken symmetry...

broken symmetry

in science as in everyday experience

catches the eye and provokes the mind.

years ago - and we're talking years as in maybe 40 or so - i came across this written under a picture in an ad. i think the ad was for a science company. anyway, i tore it out of the magazine and put it in a frame. it hangs in my studio still.

it is the thing that is different that makes us look again; we rarely really look at things, really look, otherwise. 

case in point: the earrings i made last night and wore today. four very nice people stopped me at different times throughout the day and said that they noticed part of one of my earrings was missing and  they wanted to let me know. but my earrings were just the way i had made them: different. broken symmetry was the basis of their design:

broken symmetry. earrrings. coated stainless wire, neoprene tube, wood, glass. 2012

i thanked them for noticing and explained to them that the earrings were just as i had intended and that the reason they had noticed at all was due to the broken symmetry of the design. if they had both been the same they probably wouldn't have noticed the earrings at all. i could tell that all four people were thinking about "things that are different" as they went on their way.

somewhere deep in our lizard brains, we're wired to notice the things that are different so we will notice things that might be a danger to us. little alarms go off. "what is it? why is it that way?" 

we tune out things that all sound the same, look the same, behave the same, but go on alert when we sense something is not the same, be it an earring or a person.

what we do after we make that observation is important. do we inquire as the four people i met today did? do we seek out more information? do we learn about the differences and see if there are actually some similarities when we look closer? (in my earrings, the materials and colors are the same.) do we learn something about ourselves as a result of noticing the broken symmetry? 

hopefully we do all of those and more. hopefully our day is enriched by our encounter with something out of the ordinary.

hopefully we will extend all we learn to the next time we notice a difference. and to the time after that. and then the next time, too. especially - especially - when we meet people who are different. 

because, after all...we are the ones who are different when they see us, right? 

cheers,

karen anne

treasures in the garden...

i've decided i'm fortunate to have weeds in my garden. those with pristine estates would never find treasures such as these:

i'm certain my garden faeries must have planted these little caged orbs of magical golden fruit. (i wonder what they use them for?) 

i'm totally enchanted, aren't you?

cheers, 

karen anne

another wee painting...

kind of fun to gussy these little abstracts up with an ornate gold frame:

forgot to mention in the last post that these are on 5"x7" cold pressed watercolor paper...

it's a quiet sunday afternoon here...a good day to putter in the studio. in addition to this little painting (which may get some perforations added), i've been trying to hand forge some toggle closures out of steel wire for the necklaces i make, and i made the daily quilt. a productive day.

think it's about time to quit and spend some time with the wonderful man i share my life with, and my favorite puppy in the world.

cheers,
karen anne

late entry: i went ahead and added some perforations...i think i liked it better without, but we'll see:

little paintings...

it seems that once i'm up in the studio and have finished my daily quilt i don't feel like leaving. this is a good thing, and it's been a long time coming. i started doing some small acrylic (sometimes gouache) paintings and am really enjoying picking up the brush, selecting a color, then more colors, and just seeing what happens. seems they all want to have something extra done to them, so i've add perforations, machine stitching, and hand embroidery - whatever they ask me to do. very much like the quilts in process and philosophy...

all are for sale in my lillehus etsy shop...

cheers,

karen anne

remembering...

today's quilt

"one moment they were there, the next moment they weren't...someday we'll

be gone, too," she thought. "i hope there will be those

who will remember us..."

peace be with you,
karen anne

a daily practice...

"An intimate portrait of ex-Yugoslavian émigré artist Slobodan Dan Paich, Silent Crescendo follows his daily ritual of creating simple drawings with tea and ink. In response to the modern pace of the art scene, Slobodan has embraced these fluid works of art to express his searching approach."



he says it all so perfectly...

cheers,
karen anne

the energy of joy...

last night we had a dinner party and our guest of honor was the very reverend mark boyling, the dean of the carlisle cathedral in carlisle, england - the sister church of st. john's - our church here in carlisle, pa.

it was a wonderful evening, full of good food and conversation and wonderful friends of all faiths. my friend, the reverend b, an ordained buddhist priest, offered the perfect blessing before we ate. i broke with tradition and, instead of the traditional main course and side dishes, served a selection of five vegetarian salads. my friend J. made THE most incredible garlic bread and the wine flowed freely. instead of one dessert i served three; mocha frosted brownies, lemon squares, and sugar cookies. (what's not to like, right???)

anyway, it was a fun night. dean (husband dean, not cathedral dean!) and i cleaned up easily after our guests departed, and this morning i was treated to the delight of a clean home still reverberating from the energy of a joyful evening. i always delight in our home, but it's especially dear to me the morning after an evening filled with friends and food!

i hope you had a wonderful weekend, too, and that the week ahead is filled with joy!

cheers,

karen anne

'tis a gift to be simple...

my daily quilts really have a life of their own. some are busy, some some are minimal, some are loud, some quiet. listening to them is one of the joys in my day. i have to be quite still and quiet to hear them sometimes.

the past two days they've been asking to be square instead of rectangular. they've asked to have simple shapes and solid colors. i don't know how many will follow the lead of these two, but i'm happy to do as asked. they seem to have a clarity that i'm drawn to.

9.6.2012:

she loved being on stage, being the center of attention, being in the spotlight.

fortunately she had some talent and people didn't wince when she appeared.

but if they did, well, she knew how to tap dance and she'd just dance her

way off the stage, out of the theater, and all the way home...

9.7.2012

after three years growing quietly in her garden, the little crape myrtle bloomed.

just a few pink flowers, but wonderful to behold. "i'm a late bloomer, too" she said.

"i wonder what color i'll be?"

do you like them?

cheers,

karen anne

six months and counting...

six months ago, on 6 march 2012, i decided to start a practice of making a small art quilt each day.

today i will make the one hundred thirty-second quilt.

like children, each is different, but together they make a family:

three of the "children" have left home, and i imagine them happy in their new homes, bringing joy and brightening another corner of the world.

time to make today's.

time to listen, allow, trust, honor, and... let go.

cheers,

karen anne

and i won't back down!

this is a long night at the convention...i'm getting a lot made!

two mixed bead necklaces - to be worn alone or, as here, together. one is 18" and the other 24"...

okay - time for bed!

cheers,
karen anne

more candy...

you're watching the convention aren't you? i am. and i'm keeping busy while i do:

24'" necklace of mixed stones and beads

rubber tubing over beading wire

sterling silver toggle closure.

i've got to admit: it makes me happy to make pretty things.

now - back to the convention and pres. clinton!

cheers,

karen anne

i'm such a girl...

i love jewelry. and i especially enjoy making it of late. using the same process i use with my quilts, i surround myself with snippets of fabric and a collection of beads and then i:

listen  allow  trust  honor  let go

it's such a lovely way of working because it takes away the stress that used to plague me when I worked. i feel more like a facilitator than a creator, just helping things come into being. maybe midwife describes what i do more accurately. yeah. creative midwife nurturing lovely things into being...

here's what i helped "birth" this evening:

it will go into the shop tomorrow. i tried to post it but the wifi gremlins made it disappear just as i was finishing the listing and i just didn't feel like going through it all again!

cheers,

karen anne

news, news, and more news!

i've been busy!

1. got the show taken down and now i'm wondering where to put all the framed work...the  large quilt of the birch trees is going to rochester, ny as my gift to my daughter and son-in-law on their first anniversary. i'm so happy it will be in a home that's filled-to-brimming with love!

2. my dear friend brooke wiley interviewed me for her wonderful blog, the blue lotus seed. i know you'll love her blog as much as i do; she's wonderfully wise and writes beautifully! you can read the interview here.

3. i accepted an invitation to join TAFA - The Textile and Fiber Art List! quoting from their homepage, TAFA "is a business community of entrepreneurs rooted in textile and fiber art products and traditions. a majority of our members have social and environmental agendas at the core of their business. TAFA unites old and new traditions, their historical and modern importance, giving a shared platform to both contemporary and traditional textile techniques from all cultures." 

i'm thrilled to be a part of the group. click here for the homepage to read more, and here for my profile page on the list. and when you go exploring on etsy, type in TAFA and you'll be guided to beautiful shops without having to wade through the clap-trap that unfortunately has such a presence on etsy - particualry in the textile and fiber area. type TAFA into the search areas of pinterest, linkedin, ravelry, and flickr, too, and prepared to be wowed!

4. i started a new section in my etsy shop called derivatives / jewelry and will soon add derivatives / small art. these will contain derivative designs; work inspired by the colors and textures of my daily quilts. they are developed using the same process as the quilts - by listening, allowing, trusting, honoring and then letting go. eventually these might be moved to a separate shop, but for now they wanted to keep company with the quilts and visa versa. what a friendly, happy little bunch i have in my shop! here's the necklace i just put in today:  

cheers,
karen anne