Arrrgh!!!

The only surprise to me is that she didn't get it for you sooner (or maybe she did and didn't get it in the mail very quickly).

Of course, she probably wanted to make sure that it was something you could, and would, use. After learning about your liking for the "Sets and Stars", it was a given that she would be generous enough to get you a copy!

"Generous" is an understatement! I look forward to years of sharing quilting ideas with her. It's the perfect gift! You have a really cool mother, Bogie!

Buffy--A little chill went down my spine when I read the first few words of your posting, Buffy. How heady! We have a mutual admiration society. And we enjoy urging one another on. (Bogie saw all of the fabulous fabrics that you sent me in your first mailing, Buffy. Then there were others. I could never "catch up".) My motives were impure. Think what a communications tool our having the same software will prove to be. As you said, we can send our files back and forth--perhaps you will show me the changes you would suggest, rather than trying to describe them to me. I'll learn much more from you, my mentor, about quilting than you could learn from me about EQ5. (It sounds like you are getting settled in with EQ5 all by yourself!)

Bogie--You couldn't have known what a favor you were doing me by introducing me to blogging in general and to Buffy, specifically. I've met several wonderful people on their blog sites, and wish that I could meet more of them in person.

P.S. The reason I waited so long was out of pity. I knew that once Buffy had the software, she would be spending time with it. Now that she is a boat widow for the weekends of the summer, perhaps she can spend the time without feeling too guilty!

Buffy--You failed to write that the reason I was designing a wall hanging for my front room was so that I could show off some of the elegant fabrics that you had sent me. You've really put in a lot of time guiding me in the wall hanging's design--especially since you've had to not only teach me about fabrics, design elements, and techniques of piecing but you've had to (try to) teach me a new vocabulary along the way. Your patience is boundless and ever-so-much appreciated. The wall hanging will have to wait until AFTER I finish the Beginning Quilter's class that starts on 6/23/2005. The instructor has chosen a simple design for us to make, but I chose the fabrics to use in it.

Cop Car, one of my friends who is a very advanced quilter agrees with me that we learn something useful from every workshop we take. Sometimes it's a mammoth step forward in a new technique, other times it's something small that will effect every piece we work on in the future.

When I work with you, I learn new things, and reinforce lessons that I've already learned. I need to review the terminology for color theory, because you're moving ahead by leaps and bounds.

So, you can see that you aren't the only one who has benefitted from our conversations. I'm looking forward to designing a wallhanging from the fabric stash we share. It will be a wonderful tie to our experiences.

Hey girl... hum... sounds like some one is going to be busy! LOL! Good for her taking care of you. Have a good one.

I look forward to sleeping under one of these on the bloggers tour! (Well, everyone needs a dream). The more I read of all of you the more it restores my recently declining faith in humanity.

Oh, Buffy, Ms Masopust's presentation on "Fractured Landscapes" was awesome, yesterday. She has so many beautiful techniques, and some of them are just what I would love to be able to do. Unfortunately, she has been working on her techniques for 30 years, as a quilter, and was a painter before that; so, there's no danger that I'll ever know 1/100th of what she knows. Just think: I would have missed out on that had you not got me interested! (And you should have seen the slides of her new workshop--four skylights, shelves with wire bins, a 4'x 4' cutting table....)
Katie's fractured landscape works remind me of some well-known painter's work. I had thought it was Franz Marc's; but, looking up his work on the internet, I couldn't find anything fractured in his work. Thought that he had done a gazelle using that technique. Who am I thinking of?

Cop Car, see if you can find some of Katie'e earlier works so you can see how she has developed as a fiber artist. Her early work was very geometric. I love the landscapes she does now.

I wish I could say I was literate about art, but I haven't a clue. If you figure it out, let me know so I can go surf, won't you?

I'm SO glad you've joined a guild!

http://www.printfinders.com/cgi-bin/search.exe?searchstring=Franz+Marc
It WAS Franz Marc and it is Antelope, not Gazelle. Back in the olden days (1960s?), Elegant Friend talked me into trying oils with her. She is very artistic and her oils are good, but not (mostly) original. We copied from recognized artists and the one that I chose was Herr Marc's "Antelope". Gave the thing to Bogie some years ago--don't know whether she has hung onto it or pitched it. A great work it wasn't--one of the antelope's legs looked broken--lol.

Ms Masopust showed us slides of some of her early work so that we could appreciate how she had developed. She also showed us the steps that she takes in (what I would call) conceptualizing her pieces. She did multiple versions of some of her landscapes--in warm colors, in cool colors, in brights, in b&w (the censor won't let me spell it out!) She starts from photographs, amazingly enough. Since I love New Mexico, those are the works that really sang to me; but, she prefers her redwoods.

Sometimes how an artist conceptualizes her work helps me, but mostly I find it a very personal approach. It was good of her to show you how she has developed. I'm stuck in my "Scrap" period, I'm afraid.

I should have told you that I'm GREEN with envy over her work space. I want MORE ROOM and some natural light. I look like a mole in a cave when I piece.

Thanks for sharing the printfinder.com address with me. It's one I didn't know.

Oh, I can see how each person would approach the task of figuring out what they're going to do with fabric differently. I guess I expected a "true artist" (which Ms M IS) to work out of her head. She takes hundreds of photos (I started to input "hundreds of rolls of film" but she has switched to digital.)
Anyone would envy Ms M's work space. I loved the light that came through my skylights in my Albuquerque home. The light that comes through our skylights, here, just isn't the same. (Besides: My sewing room is in the basement, here!)