There are so many reports of natural disasters. The news is filled with reports.
In light of the frequency of disaster, I’ve written this post. Which will discuss the following questions; 1-Are You Prepared? 2-Do You Even Know What A “Go Bag is?” 3- How Far Do You Think I Can Run With A Heavy Backpack, Carrying My Sewing?
Machine? 4-What Does Any Of This Have To Do With Signing In?
FEMA’S DisasterP preparedness Campaign Has lit a Fire under Me
FEMA’s disaster preparedness campaign, has lit a fire under me, which would, ironically, pose a disastrous threat to my safety, if taken literally. MY clothes igniting, as I run around screaming, “I’m on fire, I’m on fire! “Those flames under my backside have lit me on fire!” Just one pass too close to my drapes and the whole house could end up in flames.
Disturbing thought. I immediately copied FEMA’S readiness supply list and began creating our preparedness backpacks, the “go bags”. FEMA has disaster lists for every sort of disaster you can imagine, chemical leaks, tsunamis, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, maybe co
Barbara Harms-Working on
new site,everything has been a little unreal around here.
I have finally finished the long promised, illusive website which I have spoken of endlessly for months. Any second it would go live. But I realized finally the hopelessness of my quest. I lacked the most basic knowledge and skill needed. The advert for this template site was “Anyone could build a website in an afternoon”. “I’m an anyone, so why not?” I thought. Because no one counted on this anyone as so hopelessly beyond the simplest skills that any 4 year old child possesses. Months and months have passed. Finally with endless hours of tech support, a miracle! The Pigs Are Flying!
Not long ago I posted this, I feel it is worth repeating, to explain my next post concerning my current status.
I feel like a pendulent 4 year old. I want a Oompa Loompa!
Remember Willy Wonka, the “real” original Willy Wonka? Don’t get your panties in a ruffle J.D. fans. I love Johnny Depp too, who wouldn’t? But I think we all know that there was only one Willy Wonka, and we all know who he is. don’t we?
In the movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory there was one particularity lovely child, you might recall, the adored Varuca Salt.To refresh your memory here are a few classic Vurcua quotes.
Veruca Salt: Hey, Daddy, “I want a Oompa Loompa! I want you to get me a Oompa Loompa right away!
Mr. Salt: All right, Veruca, all right. I’ll get you one before the day is out.
Veruca Salt: [whining] “I want an Oompa Loompa now!”
Veruca Salt: [singing] I want a party with roomfuls of laughter, Ten thousand tons of ice cream. And if I don’t get the things I am after, I’m going to screeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEAM.
Veruca Salt: I want it now! What’s the matter with those twerps down there?
Veruca knew what she wanted and she wanted it NOW!! I have to tell you I’ve felt a little Veruca-ish lately.
I’ve been working busily on my hollyhock quilt and now it’s finished. I’m a bit disappointed that it’s over, it was a really enjoyable project. I need to catch up on a few things and then officially start on my next commissioned quilt. I say “officially”, when in reality, I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my mind , long before today. I’ve done a few preliminary sketches, playing around with possibilities. I can already tell that I am going to find this an interesting project.
This red hollyhock art quilt was a commission. Commissions present an interesting challenge, I think it’s a beneficial to take a step back, and work on a theme that may not be your usual approach or subject matter. It might be stepping out of what has become your comfort zone. For a commission to work, you need to translate it into your own interpretation of the subject. This was an easy quilt to capture my interest and spark my own enthusiasm. It is a theme I enjoy working with. I love doing stylized flowers, and hollyhocks? Well goodness yes! That was a bit of a coincidence. My client loves hollyhocks, she even has their images on her business cards. When she received her quilt, I enclosed in the paperwork one of my older business cards, it also contained a wonderful image of hollyhocks . When this fact had first occurred to me, I had to laugh, we were a good fit, my client and her artist.
I’ve posted some pictures of the progress along the way. Now it’s finished, here’s the finished red hollyhock quilt. It has it’s title now, “A Bug’s Eye View”. As I worked on the finishing touches, my husband stood there looking at the nearly finished quilt. He decided it needed a little bug in it. Humm…
It is a floral art quilt, I added a slightly contemporary spin, a little non traditional approach to a floral theme. I chose to give the flowers and stalks a disproportional profile. As my husband observed, this is how the large would appear, seen through the eyes of a tiny bug, dwarfed by it’s hugeness. I thought it might work, a cute little ladybug, that you would barely notice. But first, I needed to run the idea by Karen, the lovely lady who had commissioned the piece, how would she feel about this? She liked the idea and so my little ladybug became a part of this quilt. And that is how the red hollyhock art quilt came by it’s title “A Bug’s Eye View”.
You’ve seen the progression, here is the finished version. You may notice that the ladybug is missing, she truly was a last minute addition. I had already taken the final photos.
But after she was added into the picture, as I stared at the quilt, evaluating it, I realized that she was indispensable. She needed to be right where she is, looking up at the great big world from the ground, viewing a group of red hollyhocks.
I added texture to the leaves, they are not just visually dimensional, but have actual texture and dimension.
This has been my month for hollyhocks. It began with a hollyhock art quilt. One of my customers, who owns a fabric art gallery purchased another art quilt from me. This is the 9th quilt for her.
She first found me through the internet.The quilt she chose this time was the hollyhock quilt, pictured above. I was delighted. This quilt was one of my favorites, and it was going to a woman who I Like, a very nice person.
However before it sold, it captured the attention of another person.
Barbara Harms Fiber Art & More 