"WE SURE HAVE FUN WHEN BETTY VISITS"...Frances Murphy

BOY!     Frances Murphy, you said a mouthful.  
I realize that I am writing about this a couple of years late, but better late than never.  It was during the Chandler ART QUILTS XVI, November 2011 that BETTY came to town.

I'm talking about THE BETTY BUSBY.  She and her friend Holly Altman came to Sun City to play with us and in the quilting world, it doesn't get much better than that.

DIANE, MARGARET,SANDY, ELIZABETH, HOLLY, BETTY, AND FRANCES

Betty H and OUR Mom was there too, but must have been taking the pictures.  MOM is MOM to all of us kids and now to Betty B and Holly too.

Betty drove here from her home in New Mexico and brought all her STUFF here to give us a workshop on painting silk.  

HERE is Betty Hahns studio.  As Betty H has a lot of STUFF too, we were not short on STUFF.


WE HAD SO MUCH FUN USING ALL THAT STUFF.  IT WAS WONDERFUL AND WE ALL MADE MINI MASTERPIECES...

After we were done making masterpieces we changed into our party duds and we were off to dinner and then on to the ARTIST RECEPTION AT CHANDLER.  The theme of the show was  'SOMETHING TO SAY',  AND DID WE EVER....

BETTY AND HER QUILT 'MOURNING DOVES'

This quilt was on the front of the postcard invitation to the show.  Betty is all smiles in her
polka dot  jacket.  She is very very fond of polka dots and you  can almost bet that she will have polka dot socks too... polka dot underwear?  

I'M NOT THAT MUCH OF A BETTING WOMAN... but if I had to guess.  MAYBE.

MEMORY,THREADS AND BURSTS

Here is Betty next to her quilt.  Her Jacket is just as bright as her quilt.  As you can see, Betty is quite a colorful character.  Her art is like her life..  FULL AND
ROBUST!  And Betty always has something to say.

LEFT BEHIND

Here I am with my quilt.  I was really worried about whether my quilt would be well received because it was so intensely personal.  It was  the second quilt in my ROSES FOR SANDY series.  The whole quilt is based on a picture taken right after my mother's funeral.  I didn't need to worry.  After the exhibition was over this quilt had been second in viewers choice.  The viewers had felt my emotion and that was very validating.  They heard what I said.

THOUGHT PROCESS I

This was Francie's first time in the Chandler show.  I really have to tell you that PPPPPPPPP PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPERSERVERANCE really works.  For the 2010 Chandler show Francie had entered and was rejected, but she entered the same quilt in 2011 and was IN.  It goes to show what a different juror  and a different theme, can do.

                THIS TIME FRANCIE HAD 
                 SOMETHING TO SAY.

So that is the story of BETTY and HOLLY coming to town.  Since then we have gotten to know both BETTY and HOLLY better.  I've now seen HOLLY'S work and know she deserves her name in capitol letters too.  In fact we all do.....................

                    BETTY BUSBY
                    HOLLY ALTMAN
                    BETTY HAHN
                    FRANCES MURPHY
                    ANNA MARIE PETERSON
                    MARGARET GORSK
                    DIANE KUCERA
                    ELIZABETH PFEIFFER
                    SANDRA BRANJORD

 I count myself lucky to be friends with all these women.  Each of them are fine artists in their own right.  And all of you are fine artists too,  even if you can't paint, or draw, or even sew, you are ARTISTS.

                 "ARTISTS OF THE EVERYDAY"
                   
                  CAN'T PAINT,
                  CAN'T DRAW,
                  CAN SEW A LITTLE.
                                  ...REDFOX 

A TIGHT FIT

On my last blog I showed you a picture of the new rolling sewing machine carryall that I found at GW.  Now if I had been buying a new one and not one that I bought for $12.99, I would have bought a better fit.

A TIGHT FIT

As you can see, the machine just barely fit in the case.  That's what I get for having a machine with a DEEP THROAT.

                        NO PUN INTENDED

Now I am going to do something incredibly brave, or maybe just stupid.  Machine cases are not the only things that fit tight.  Sometimes our clothes do too.  At least mine do.

This is a self portrait of my middle.  That doesn't look too bad, right?

     RIGHT?

Do you want to see what is behind curtain #2?

Not too bad.....yet.

I think I must be holding my breath, or maybe these are just my roomy pants.  I keep reminding myself that I am not 21 anymore.

       HELL...I'M NOT 60 ANYMORE

Then I let out my breath and leaned over a bit,

OMG!

OMG...Where did that come from?

Well I know where it came from.  It came directly from that whole cake I ate.  It came from the ice cream treats with my friends and the popcorn that I have when there isn't even a movie to be seen.  IT CAME FROM LIFE.

EXAGGERATED A BIT?   Not really that much.  I think, I know we are all getting older and most of us are putting on a pound or two.  Or five, or ten, or twenty.

ME?

 If you believe that...there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to show you.   But really, whatever size we are NOW is just right.  Where ever we are right now is just the right place...and I'm not talking about size anymore.  Love yourself, ALL OF YOU .

        TRUTH?..... I WAS HOLDING MY BREATH, EVEN IN THE LAST ONE.
                                    ...REDFOX

KICKING AND SCREAMING

KICKING AND SCREAMING... That was me when Betty was trying to get me to take her free motion quilting class and learn how to do it the RIGHT way.  I had been resisting for a long time.  It was because I didn't want any one to see that I was doing it the wrong way.

AND YES THERE IS A WRONG WAY.

KICKING AND SCREAMING

Actually we don't look all that put out in this picture.  We were kicking up our heels and having fun at this quilt show in New Mexico and I have to admit that we had a pretty good time at the quilting class....
                BUT DON'T TELL BETTY.

I tell everyone that I went to keep Betty from nagging me, but the truth is ...

                 I KNEW I NEEDED IT!

This is the kind of quilting I was doing.  It was perfectly fine, but since all I could do was straight lines...
STITCH REGULATOR.


       I could wander around a quilt pretty well, but it was pretty boring.

I did an awfully lot of quilt turning and starting and stopping.  It was good enough to win ribbons, but not good enough to make me feel good about it.  Feeling good about my work is very important to me.  I needed to do better...
NOT FOR BETTY, BUT FOR MYSELF.                     

I needed to empower myself...kinda ironic as
a great many of my quilts are about female empowerment.

I took the class today along with four other lovely women and we really did have fun.  I won't say the tracing and practicing is my favorite thing to do, but I did see my stitching improving.

I would advise anyone that wants to quilt to take Betty's class.  And I hope she reads my blog and that this gets me some brownie points.

Another weird thing happened today.  The first weird thing was that I actually enjoyed myself and the second was that as I was leaving the class I put my big machine on it's side in a suitcase and Betty said not to lay it down on it's side.  I joked that I had given away my old rolling sewing case and that if I was going to continue to bring my big machine, I had better go to Goodwill and find a new one.

                 I WENT,
                 I DID....
                 HAPPY QUILTING...REDFOX

WOO HOO!

Look at the adorable face on the NEW HOO that Betty bought me.

GUESS WHO GOT A NEW HOO FROM YOU KNOW WHO?

We stopped to shop at GW on the way home from doing a trunk show for a large group of quilters in Casa Grande.  The show was such a success that Betty wanted to celebrate and she bought me a gift for my white living room.  IT IS SO CUTE!

We really had a lot of fun with that group of quilters.  Before we started our show they had a meeting and had SHOW AND TELL.  I'm telling you, they are a really active and fun group.  

    IT WAS A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW...

We really put on a good show, A GREAT SHOW.  My arm hurts from patting myself on the back and Betty's head is really BIG again.  They gave us an hour and a half to do our song and dance.  I know they really liked it and we are already getting bookings from other clubs that have heard about it.

I was so excited about doing the show that I forgot to hand out my cards until everyone was leaving...NOT TOO BRIGHT!

ENTERTAINING BUT NOT BRIGHT!

Here are just a few of the quilts that I took to show.

 This is just a portion of the cancer quilt that I did for the AQG show.  The title of this quilt is survivor and it is dedicated to my two sisters, Mona and Elaine who are both cancer survivors.



This quilt is an example of using black paint on white fabric to do surface design.  The figures were appliqued.

GOODWILL HUNTING

   This quilt was one that they really liked.  No one had ever seen so much JUNK on one quilt.
The ladies had fun picking out the various garments that I had used and were amazed that it all came from the Goodwill.

I THINK THAT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES SHOULD HIRE BETTY AND I AS AMBASSADORS.  HEAR THAT GOODWILL?

BECOMING

  Talking with the women after the show I discovered that the almost all liked the three panel quilts the best.  That was the very first style I did.  I try to do other types to be more main stream, but
it seems that more of these get in the shows too.  I know why they like them...

   THEY ARE THREE TIMES THE WORK!

ANY WAY, IT WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL SHOW . 

             WHAT A HOOT!
                                        ...REDFOX 

LET THEM EAT CAKE

YOU KNOW THE HISTORY BEHIND THE QUOTATION

                                                    LET THEM EAT CAKE.

Let me tell you a story about the quotation " HAVING MY CAKE AND EATING IT TOO."

Once upon a time I made a cake.  It was a very good cake.  It was a oatmeal cake with penuche frosting.   The once upon a time was YESTERDAY...

ONCE UPON A TIME CAKE

 

 

YESTERDAY THIS WAS A WHOLE CAKE.  It was a big cake.
It was a 9 X 13 cake.  It was a very tasty cake.  My husband really liked the two pieces he had of it.  I really liked almost the whole rest of it.  TODAY THIS IS WHAT IS LEFT.

Last nite I wasn't feeling too good.  I had an upset stomach.  Jerry said it was because I ate too much cake and licked the frosting bowl while it was half full.

 
I did feel kinda guilty licking that bowl while max watched me.   So I let him lick the spoon.   He didn't get sick, so that is just proof that I....

MUST OF HAD THE FLU. 

I felt fine when I got up this morning, so I know it wasn't the cake.


Just to make sure, this morning I had a piece for breakfast.  I knew that was all right...
                   AFTER ALL IT WAS OATMEAL.

I felt fine so I had another piece for lunch...
                    IT WAS FULL OF NUTS AND EVERYONE KNOWS NUTS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.

This afternoon I felt like a little snack...but first...you know how everyone can tell when there is a piece of cake missing from the pan?

                      BOTH JERRY AND I COUNT THE PIECES, YOU KNOW WE KINDA KEEP TRACK WHERE THE CAKE IS GOING.

Well I decided I should take the cake out of the pan...you know, so it wouldn't taste like the metal pan.  At least that's what I told Jerry.

                       I HAD MY SNACK.

It is really hard to see if one is missing from a pile.

Max was looking at me again with those green eyes that see everything.

THANK GOODNESS HE CAN'T COUNT.

I gave him a bite.  I told him that cake wasn't really good for dogs and that Dad didn't want him to have any.

By then you know what time it was... DINNER TIME.
I made waffles for dinner as I always do on Sunday nite.  I wasn't feeling too hungry so I skipped the waffles with fresh blueberries and just had another piece of cake.

That is four pieces of cake for me today and I feel just fine.  I feel something else too.  My tummy seems flatter tonite.   It just proves what I always say...

TO LOSE WEIGHT YOU NEED TO CONTROL YOUR INTAKE.  

You see I ate four small meals and no eating between meals.  I feel much better tonite than I did last nite.  


I MUST HAVE HAD THE FLU LAST NITE AND HE WILL NEVER MISS ANOTHER PIECE... REDFOX   










                    

TIT FOR TAT

Today I had a really fun day.  Today I played all day with a new friend.  My new friend's name is Joyce and I met her at the artist's reception for the Botanical show at the West Valley Art Council.  I was riding high because I had just won second place, had a glass of wine, and I was very talkable.  Is that a word?  I don't think so but that's alright.

Joyce was there with a friend and she told me she wanted to learn art quilting.  She is a web designer and since you know how much I know about computers, it seemed like a match made in Heaven.  So we made date.  I'd show her how to make a quilt and she would help me design a web page...

                           TIT FOR TAT

Today was her first lesson.  She brought a notebook to take notes and I decided she should just jump in and I provided her with some fabric.

SHE JUMPED IN

  She learned many new things:

1.   HOW TO CUT PERFECTLY GOOD FABRIC INTO 
       LITTLE BITS.

2.   HOW TO CUT 1IN STRIPS FOR INSERTS.

3.   HOW TO SEW ALL THE LITTLE BITS BACK
       TOGETHER.

4.   HOW TO MAKE CIRCLES, AND

5.   WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CLOSE YOUR ROTERY
       CUTTER WHEN NOT IN USE.

OH, SHE LEARNED A 6TH THING TOO...

         HOW TO BANDAGE A FINGER SO YOU DON'T GET BLOOD ON YOUR QUILT.

POPPY JOY

 

This is the quilt that I had in the show and we decided to do one using all the techniques that I had used in this one.

She did a really great job, and it's not easy to use someone else's sewing machine.

     

We were so excited that we forgot to take a picture.  She is coming back next week with all the embellishments done.  That is really what makes a quilt come to life.

So if everything goes well, Joyce will have a beautiful art quilt and I will have a beautiful art quilt web page.                                                   

  

AND REALLY, SHE DIDN'T REALLY NEED THAT TENTH FINGER ANYWAY.

                                            ... REDFOX  

  

                      TIT FOR TAT.     

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK.

Today I Put this photo of my red yarn up on Facebook.  I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as adventures to GW go.  This is that picture.

It is a rather nice picture, but nothing to get excited about...
           UNTIL YOU NOTICE THE CHAIR.

DIVORCE CHAIR?

  This is the chair that almost got me a divorce.  I mentioned in my last blog that I hid it from my husband in my sewing room.....

The chair was in my sewing room, not my husband.

IT TURNS OUT THAT SOMETIMES MY HUSBAND DOES READ MY BLOG...BUSTED!

I can't understand why Husbands don't want us going to Goodwill.  Betty's hubby Jerry doesn't love it either.  With him it's not chairs, it's PURSES.  Right Betty?

I try to tell my Jerry that it is my job to go to GW.  It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it.  He's not buying.

         (oh, but he is, he just doesn't know it.  I'm thinking the reading the blog thing was just a fluke.)

 This chair that I dragged home was a real steal...$2.99

I used a rather pricy finish on it.  I used Silver leaf. but it looked great.  The fabric was not cheap either.  It was $49.00 a yard, but it was well worth it.  It is silver leaf on a burlap-like linen.

Jerry didn't like the fabric either, so I really hope he doesn't read this. 

 

 I found another chair, but I paid a high price...$4.99.

I got another yard of the fabric and more silver leaf.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
MY CHAIRS.

I use both of them in my living room and my Jerry doesn't go in there...NO TV.

2's COMPANY, 3's A CROWD

 I wonder what you call it when there's five?

I HOPE IT'S NOT DIVORCE...Redfox

Oh well, it's all in a day's work.