From the Library - Elm Creek Quilt Series

Cole Here-   I am an audio book reader!  I love that I can craft, paint and drive and still read!  I am also cheap... so most of the time my audio books come from my library.  I have been listening to the Elm Creek Quilt series for about two years.  I just finished The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini.  It is the 17th book in the series.  I absolutely loved this book.  Here is Jennifer's website -www.elmcreek.net.  The Union Quilters takes place during the Civil war and is an interesting account of how northern women got through this time in American history.  I cried four times during this book and was surprised by my own response. 

My favorite character is Gerda!  Thank you Jennifer for years of entertainment and being an inspiration for great business marketing- books, fabric, patterns & tours.  If you have any idea's for other crafty reads please let me know.    



I started with The Christmas Quilt and wish I had started at the beginning of the series... I love to sew but have yet to make a quilt.  I love these books because they combine my love of all women's handiwork and the history that is stitched into each of her stories.  I would recommend you begin at the beginning of the series - Here is info pulled from Jennifer's site about how to read the series -

Should I read the Elm Creek Quilts novels in the order you wrote them? If I read the Elm Creek Quilts novels out of order, will I still be able to understand them?

If you want to read the books in the order I wrote them, read them in the order listed above. However, since I wasn't planning to write a series, I have written each book so that it stands alone. On my book tour, I often hear longtime fans tell new readers that the books should be read in the order I wrote them, but other readers have told me that they have read the books out of order and were able to follow everything just fine. Ultimately it's up to the individual reader. Please note, however, that later books inevitably give away events that occurred in previous books. If you would like to read the books in something approximating chronological order, please note the following:

• The Christmas Quilt takes place in the interim between The Quilter's Apprentice andRound Robin.
• The Sugar Camp Quilt is set in 1849-1850, so it takes place before the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.
• The Quilter's Homecoming is set mainly in 1925, but it branches off from a storyline introduced in The Christmas Quilt.
• The New Year's Quilt immediately follows The Quilter's Legacy.
• The Lost Quilter begins in 1859 immediately following the events chronicled in Gerda's memoir in The Runaway Quilt.
• A Quilter's Holiday takes place while Bonnie is in Hawaii in The Aloha Quilt.
• The Union Quilters begins in 1861 and runs mostly concurrently with The Lost Quilter.
• The Wedding Quilt takes place after A Quilter's Holiday and The Aloha Quilt, with flash forwards to the year 2028.

The Union Quilters, The Lost Quilter, The Sugar Camp Quilt, and The Quilter's Homecoming work particularly well as stand-alone novels and can be enjoyed as your first Elm Creek Quilts novel or at any point in the series.

ARTIST TOOLS - Dover Images

Dover Pubulications - http://store.doverpublications.com

If you haven't poked around on this website yet - go do it! I often check out Dover books from the library and I even own a few books. I love this resource for artists.

How I use the images~

• I love taking the old architecture images and pulling out details to inspire stamps & stencils. I like to tweak the image to my liking. I often make both a stencil and a stamp so I can use the images both in the positive & the negative.
• Sometimes practice my drawing skills by copying images
• Use patterns in my rug hooking. Often I am trying to find interesting border patterns for rugs I hook.

Here is an image of the favorite rug I have done so far. I call it a celtic family rug.

FROM THE LIBRARY - Illuminating the Word

Illuminating the Word : Making of The Saint John's Bible, by Christopher Calderhead, ©2005

Secret of Kells project continued-As I bounced around the library search engine this book popped up, called by most "the American book of Kells" I was intrigued... This is the backstory on the Saint John's Bible commissioned by Saint John's Monastery in honor the Millennium celebration.

The book of Kells inspired me as a history, but the artwork in the Saint John's bible got me to thinking about how I could illuminate the word in my own life. It is a great and interesting thing undertake illuminating the biblical text by hand in a era of very little being done by hand. A modern day Scriptorium was born and letter artists came together to illuminate.

Why? One of the monks explain "The word becomes sacramental. It is not just a text, it is like the Eucharist: A visual image of the Word." Engaging people especially young people to encounter the scripture in a new way.

I am feeling inspired... off to the studio.

From the Library - The Book of Kells

The Book of Kells: Reproductions from the Manuscript in Trinity College Dublin, ©1974

Secret of Kells project continued ~

This is a beautiful book that I flipped through then more intentionally sat and took out my sketchbook and here are the results. Very little of this could be considered copies. This is meant to be more of homage to the book itself, than a copy. I am always trying to bend drawings to make sure I can then use those in my original artwork.

· HHistory of the Manuscript - Said to be of the Early Middle Ages, it is a Gospel Text, in Latin long lines, written on calf vellum, the age of the pages had a beauty to them, I loved the stitching that is visible in the high res plates in the book. Quills were the tools for both the text & illuminations. Other tools they were thought to have - rulers, set-squares, compasses, and early french curves. Housed in Trinity College in Dublin (Check Dublin just got a star next to it in my travel journal).

I loved the illuminated Celtic beginnings, knot work and crazy creatures. It is a stunning achievement of precision craftsmanship.

INSPIRATION FOR THE FLAGS~ I put an alphabet together to work on the prayer flags… loosely based on the text in the book of Kells.

Tomorrow the St. John’s Bible – Yummy book.

FROM THE LIBRARY - Woman's Work

I am an obsessed library user. I check out about 50 books, dvds & audiobooks a month. I love to consume this free craft/art information. Only problem... I don't always know where I put my notes from those interesting watches, reads or listens.

This is my attempt to capture some of the knowledge "from the Library"

First up is a DVD - here is the amazon link - www.amazon.com/Womans-Work-Making-Quilts-Creating

Woman's Work

Making Quilts- Creating Art

www.womansworkvideo.com

2003 CGPP

This video shows 10 women and how they work. I don't currently quilt but have been attracted to some of their books and videos because they are basically building art pieces. I love to be able to dip into other creative pursuits and see how they explain design. I am also interested in their color theory.

These women gather and work as a critique group and sounding board for each other. I have been urning for a creative art gypsy group near where I live and this video made me renew my efforts in that area.

TWO TIPS FOR MY STUDIO-

• I loved the artist who was building structures to hang her pieces from using willow.
• I also loved how one artist organized her fabric stash all to the same size and by color. I think I will apply this to my growing stash & my collage materials.