Hello from overseas !

Hi everybody! I'm very happy Madalene asked me to become a part of this group - I'm looking forward to an excitingchallenge-year! As I am the only one who never met any of the other 5 participants in real life, I'll do my best to introduce me and my work a bit.

I am mid-forty and live in the southern part of Germany. I got married in the last century ... Jens and me share our home with two wonderful cats, unfortunately, we could not have kids of our own. After I finished school I did an apprenticeship as a bookseller for two years, than I started university. Graduated with an MA in political and educational sciences, and started working in the advertising industry ... which was a not-so-good-idea. Now I'm working in the publishing industry, and I like my job!
I started quilting about 15 years ago. As many quilters I started with traditional quilting, but more and more I became fascinated with art quilts. There's a page on my blog that shows most of my quilts from the last years (here's the link!).
And this is the first quilt in a series I started last year: "And the occasional glimpse of orange" I'm still very happy with this one ...

OK - any questions? Just ask - I will answer most questions ;-))

OK, Ready

Here's a non-very interesting photo of me, but it's allowing me to practice posting one. I am 63 years old, married for 33 years to an airline pilot. That has equated to fabulous/adventurous though broke early years, living in 10 states, and delaying having children. So we have a 20 year old adopted daughter from Chile and a 24 year old biological son. We have all livd in TX for the past 13 years, but I am originally from Iowa. Laina and we are on a large lake 40 miles north of Houston. Son is 15 miles away. I turned into super mom when it finally happened, so though I began traditional quilting 15 or so years ago and made my share of Log Cabins and bargellos I never went into production mode. Too many hours on Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTA boards, sports parent duties, traveling, and some more moves. Came down with the art quilt bug 3 years ago, but couldn't fit in finding any local non-traditional quilters to spend time with then. Have taken 5 day workshops from Carol Taylor and Katie Pasquini Masopust and a one day from Jean Wells. I have driven down to the Houston IQF every year for past 13 years. Looking forward to "Connections" with you.

A Great Start

Hi all from Madalene! What a great start to the New Year--a new challenge and a new group of friends! Connection will be a great word to live with for a while.

I live in the northcentral mountains of Pennsylvania with my husband, Tom, and an energetic Golden Doodle named Terra. And since we need some more photos in this blog and I am encouraging you all to add some, I will break the ice with a photo of Terra about to start one of our morning walks.

I have had a very checkered career that included many years of homeschooling our three children, a few semesters teaching English on the college level, and a long stint as director of the local arts center. The kids are now all married with kids of their own and live in the Boston area.

I have been sewing for as long as I can remember, but didn't take my first quilting class until the late seventies. I began as a traditional quilter but discovered early on that I liked the design part of the process. It wasn't until the kids were all in college and grad school that I began to take quilting seriously and move in the direction of art quilting. Frustrated that I didn't have enough time to explore where this quilting might take me and with my job as assistant director of the local library, two years ago I left my job, with Tom's encouragement, and it was one of my best decisions!

Like Penny, I dye my own fabrics and have been playing with paint as well. I also like handstitching with perle cotton of varying thicknesses. And after some time just making quilts to try out new techniques and explore, I am now entering some shows again.

I also love homegrown fruits and veggies, yoga, hiking, music, a good book I can get lost in. . . .The list is long. And I am looking forward to getting to know the other members of the group!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all!

Carol, thanks for the word! "Connection" and its possibilities are swirling in my brain. What a perfect opener to the challenge and the year!

I've had the good fortune to meet each of you individuals, with the exception of Frauke. It's thrilling to be part of an "organized" group of folks with art quilts as our primary link.

I've been sewing since I was about 12. My grandmother was a seamstress. I didn't know her well, but I do own garments and quilts that she made. I also have her dressmaker's shears! I started making quilts about 10 years ago. My maiden voyage with surface design happened last summer at Quilting By The Lake, where I shared a dorm suite with Penny and Madalene. Art quilting is a new thing for me; I feel privileged that you all will pull me along on this journey.

I live in the Berkshire hills in Massachusetts with my husband, John. We're enjoying our empty nest, as our 2 sons are both living in the Bay Area in California. Our 12-year-old dog, Rosie keeps us entertained. I work in a local medical center as a speech-language pathologist treating outpatients. While it's stimulating work, it does get in the way of my creative time! I'm often too tired after a day's work, dinner prep, eating and cleanup to attempt anything that requires thought. Besides working with fabric (I like to make garments as well) yoga practice has occupied a good deal of my being for about a decade.

Well, enough about me...I look forward to our shared experience! You are all welcome to visit me in New England anytime...I hope that you will!

Here's to peace and joy in 2012!
Deborah

Happy New Year everyone. I'm very excited to have our word and also to have found "new post." Thanks Madalene and Carol.

About me: I've been retired for two years after a 30 year career working in research labs. I have two sons and two grandchildren. I grew up in New Jersey, went to college in Tennessee, and have lived on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City for 45 years mostly in Port Jefferson. After my divorce 10 years ago, I moved to Middle Island just a little further east.

I guess I've been quilting for about 25 years but only seriously for the past 10 years or so. I love color and fabric. Dyeing fabric has become a new passion.

Color has also led me to watercolors which I try to do at least one week a year in New Mexico. And I read a lot and love to bake and make desserts.

Now its 2 AM and I need to connect with my bed. Penny