Quiltmaking/Claymaking

Alabama Chanin's Star Quilt

Ideas for new framed ceramic work are percolatin'….and today's "notions" are from fabric, sewing, and especially the craft of quilt making.

Imogen Lovely

There's so much inspiration for ceramics in quilt making: the colors, the piecing, the folding, the stitching, the designs.  This kind of work is old work; it's been around forever.  There are some artists and makers out there who are taking a modern approach to things related to the home - new ways to caretake their home-life, and they really speak to me, whether that be in cooking, care taking, growing and making things...

If you have a moment, check out the Imogen Lovely blog - Jenn Finn has such a pretty, loose-limbed, organic approach to needle and thread.  

I also am a long-time fan of Alabama Chanin, who, ironically, also has a line at Heath Ceramics.  (I sure love me some Heath tile.  That ever so subtly beautiful iridescence they achieve with some of their glazes…so deft.)

Inspired by these makers and others, such as ones that are documented in the splendid Kinfolk Magazine, I spent part of my day noodling with a little leftover porcelain and some drawing...

Looking Where I Eat

Okay.  That's enough snow days.  It used to be adorable, like we were on Little House on the Prairie: using words like snug and holed up, chopping wood for that great-smelling fire, wearing flannels, maybe using our red snowshoes.  Now, as they say, the bloom is off the rose.


We're making the best of it.  Husband working from home because the commute is a disaster.  Kids are still in pajamas at noon, reading in bed, playing FIFA, bellies full of gluten free pancakes and strawberries.  My house is a little louder than normal, so finding a quiet place to write is challenging.  With my back-imposed moratorium on ceramics, (poor lonely studio...crickets...) I have to get my creative kernels somewhere else.  So I'm looking where I eat.  Literally.

EARS: I'm a long time fan of theGood Food radio program hosted by Evan Kleinman
 - a good, good chef who's also a brilliant interviewer with a giant vocabulary,
 and enormous breadth of culinary knowledge?  I'm IN.  

HANDS: Today I'm trying my hand
at the GF Cauliflower Fritters
featured on Gluten Free on a Shoestring.

EYES: The pics from
 What Katie Ate
make me oh so happy. 

BELLY: It might be lowbrow, but I don't give a rat's ass.  Cashew Lovers Poppycock.  It's RIDICULOUSLY delicious.  Somehow I've only been able to find it in a small BARREL size.  Oh, well, too bad so sad.

Keep warm, butterbeans.  Go make a snack. :)