One of my favorite movies is Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The Dot and T-man were kids when it came out, and we re-watched the video enough times to have some of the themes and lines committed to memory.
“What’s it like in the Big House, Mickey?” This is my metaphor for the naiveté it takes to get myself into another crazy situation. It’s not that I don’t think things through; it’s that I define success as taking the risk. The consequences are just part of being alive.
“I meant to do that.” Pee Wee had just been having fun doing his version of trick-riding on his bike, and a crowd of kids had taken note. The stunts ended when Pee Wee crashed over a curb along the street, tumbling several times onto the grass. As he got up and brushed himself off, he attempted to mask his embarrassment by saying, “I meant to do that.”
I am so there with that.
A recent evening with friends reminded me of a long-forgotten example of my design process. First and foremost, I don’t want to make what everyone else is making. I have always been like that. I don’t want to wear exactly what everybody else is wearing, I don’t want to decorate just like everybody else is decorating, and I don’t want to create like everybody else is creating. I'll take the class with everybody else and learn how to do something, because I don’t want what I’m doing to be unrecognizable. I just don’t want it to be just the same.
In our fourth grade art class at Wildwood Elementary, we had a unit on ceramics. I knew the minute Mr. Eels pulled out that clay that I was looking at a class of twenty-one ashtrays and one Kari original. Those ashtrays were going to start out as Grecian urns or soup tureens, no doubt, but by the time they got home, they would be good old 1960’s-style ashtrays, glazed in avocado green or burnt orange and covering one third of a coffee table. Ashtrays were objects d’art in 1960’s homes.
Since The Barn and The Peg were teachers, we spent most of our summers on marathon vacations, camping out to make them affordable, and by-passing expensive amusement parks. Instead, we visited museums and historic sites. We first visited Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, at some date in time before the death of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1960. The Peg started collecting Toby mug cream pitchers somewhere along the line, and it must have been during this summer excursion east. A few years later I was sitting in fourth-grade art.
I briefly considered making a Toby mug cream pitcher, but my confidence in ceramic art made me certain I was looking at an eventual ashtray. I rightly figured I should stay away from the vessel genre altogether. I did see lots of busts in the museums and historical homes we visited. Maybe my clay could be a bust, but not of some old, dusty Colonial guy. I wanted my bust to be happening and now, Baby. I chose Bob Hope.
I loved Bob Hope! Who didn’t? A nice bust of Bob Hope would look right at home on the coffee table next to the giant orange ashtray, and it would speak of our refinement. Busts, after all, were a cut above ashtrays.
I set to work on my sculpture, making a three-inch square base for it. I was appalled at how skimpy Mr. Eels was with the clay! Those mini-ashtrays the other kids were making weren’t going to make the splash they thought they would. Tea bag holders, maybe, but rather anemic for mid-century ashtrays. In a few years they could easily be converted to incense holders, but we didn’t know that at the time.
The largest part of my clay allotment was formed into a ball and balanced on the base. I held back a few smaller pieces, for the ears and that ski-jump nose in Mr. Hope’s famous profile. I wasn’t doing too badly. I felt the clay move against my touch, and it was easy to re-form errors as my vision for the piece made its trek from my mind to the work in front of me.
In the end, I just couldn’t capture the guy. It was my first sculpture, and I found it frustrating that I couldn’t make it look like Bob Hope. As I examined my options, I looked at the piece with a new eye. The guy did look like someone famous, but it wasn’t Bob Hope. Turned out, it was a dusty old Colonial guy after all. I stuck a pony tail at the nape of his neck, and proudly took credit for my interpretation of George Washington, the father of our country.
This set a pattern that I still follow. I start with an idea, but I don’t marry myself to it. As I go, I design and refine, and interpret the piece’s strength as it takes shape before me. I can usually do as I did with my nine-year-old attempt at bust sculpture, and turn my frustrations into a new line of thought, not completely unconnected to the original vision, but not a slave to it, either. It’s what makes original quilt design less of an onus and more of a free and confident step in fiber art.
Besides, I can always fall back on the best reasoning ever, thanks to Pee Wee.
I meant to do that.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
The Best Quilting Excuse Ever
I decided to participate in the Piecemaker’s (Spring Grove, Minneosota) Quilt Guild challenge. We got a fat quarter of the challenge fabric at our March 20 meeting, and the show is the Syttende Mai Fest the weekend of May 19-21. Syttende Mai is translated as “The Seventeenth of May”, and is the Norwegian Independence Day. Since May 17 is on a Wednesday, the Syttende Mai Fest is held the following weekend. Thank heavens. The few extra days are needed, since we only have less than nine weeks to complete our challenge projects.
I told you about the “rules” of the challenge last week. In addition to the challenge fabric, which is limited to the fat quarter, we can use three other fabrics, no more, and the project must be quilted. I’ve been squeezing out as much time as I can from my schedule to work on it, but it is getting to be crunch time now – less than four weeks remain. Some people may feel the pressure at this point.
Are you kidding? A deadline? Nothing could be sweeter when it comes to quilting – a deadline means I must work on my quilt. Dust and shower scum no longer have a hold on me, and if we can’t order it as a carry-out, we don’t need to eat it. I manage to bake a cake every now and then, but the rest of the time is spent designing and sewing and embellishing and grinning.
I’ve been meaning to learn how to post pictures to this dang blog, and posting a shot of my challenge quilt may be the motivation. Right now, however, I need to use my fingers for something a little more linty than a computer keyboard. I must! I have a deadline! The sweet pressure of it all…
It’s the best quilting excuse ever.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
I told you about the “rules” of the challenge last week. In addition to the challenge fabric, which is limited to the fat quarter, we can use three other fabrics, no more, and the project must be quilted. I’ve been squeezing out as much time as I can from my schedule to work on it, but it is getting to be crunch time now – less than four weeks remain. Some people may feel the pressure at this point.
Are you kidding? A deadline? Nothing could be sweeter when it comes to quilting – a deadline means I must work on my quilt. Dust and shower scum no longer have a hold on me, and if we can’t order it as a carry-out, we don’t need to eat it. I manage to bake a cake every now and then, but the rest of the time is spent designing and sewing and embellishing and grinning.
I’ve been meaning to learn how to post pictures to this dang blog, and posting a shot of my challenge quilt may be the motivation. Right now, however, I need to use my fingers for something a little more linty than a computer keyboard. I must! I have a deadline! The sweet pressure of it all…
It’s the best quilting excuse ever.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
Taking the Exam for a Creative License
In dubbing myself a “free-range” quilter, I have developed my own parameters for linty behavior. It seems dichotomous to mention parameters when discussing free-range anything, but quilting and needlework are my metaphor for life. It’s more common to overuse sports metaphors, but sports-related topics always make me throw up a little in my mouth, so I don’t go there.
Being free is only interesting when I also consider the world around me. Philosophically, it’s a good place to be, too. The result of “if it feels good, do it” is all too often, “I thought it would feel good, but someone else got hurt, so now I feel worse than ever”. Having a choice doesn’t mean all choices result in circumstances of equal value. The first choice people have is the one that determines their own bottom line, and hopefully eliminates what goes against their core values.
Putting parameters around freedom allows us to stretch our brains into a bouquet of creative blooms. Take the whole concept of a challenge quilt. The quilter receives a fabric choice or two, and a set of rules. On the surface, the rules sound like they limit our creative flow, but the paradox is that they stimulate it. The last thing you want in a new crop of challenge quilts are projects that look alike. Observers should have to figure out what the common denominator is among the quilts, and then ponder what was going on in the fiber artists’ heads during their design stage.
I call my style “free-range” quilting. When The Dot and T-man were young, Hubba and I set the rules for acceptable behavior. In doing so, we found it was best to set as few rules as possible, but to make them count. No hitting, respect others, be kind. Similarly, my rules for free-range quilting are few but important – the quilt must have an original artistic concept and yet be used as a traditional quilt. I like quilts that do something, not just sit there. That’s Midwestern of me, dog-gone-it, and if a bed quilt can double as a wall-hanging or an original table covering, that’s fine.
Sort of. Most of the quilts I make fall within my “nap quilt” size guidelines. I prefer to adorn beds with my quilts, but they don’t have to be queen- or king-sized for that to work. About the size of the top of a queen-sized bed, nap quilts can decorate a bed on top of a neutral coverlet or bedspread, displayed flat or at a jaunty angle. If the sun shines in through a non-northern window and threatens to leach color from a 100% cotton creation, it can easily be folded up and moved out of harm’s way. If you take a nap under one of these quilts, it is large enough that it won’t be kicked it off, hence the name. Research, or experience, tells us that naps are more effective under a hand-made quilt.
I inwardly cringe when I see a hand-made, heirloom quilt hanging on a wall, unless it is a temporary display, such as in a quilt show or short-term public exhibition. Quilts are made of fabric, usually 100% cotton. They will attract dust and are prone to fading from the sun or fluorescent lighting, all of which will weaken the fibers and eventually render the quilt useless for any purpose. Hanging will distort the painstaking efforts of the quilt maker, who worked so hard to provide a piece of family history. That care goes unappreciated as the quilt deteriorates, and subsequent generations are denied the heritage that fiber artist had planned for them.
Next, my free-range quilts need to be constructed in a manner that will encourage careful but regular use. If appliqué is used, it needs to be sturdy enough to hold up to napping, and within reason, laundering. The same goes for embroidery or any other elements used to embellish a quilt. Decorative pillows are another way quilting can be used, and not sit there doing nothing. Ribbon embroidery and non-traditional quilting techniques may lose their integrity in a working quilt, but such fancy-schmancy elements work fine in a pillow. I am careful when using embellishments that may itch, stab, or create discomfort for the user. It’s hard to resist the temptation sometimes, but freedom with limits challenges me to consider the world around me.
I’m making a challenge quilt right now, as a member of the Piecemakers quilt guild of Spring Grove, Minnesota. We received one fat quarter of the challenge fabric, and instructed to use it and no more. We are allowed three more fabrics to complete our project, and although we can make anything we want, it must be quilted. Other than that, we can do whatever our brains and imaginations allow us create. If every single person added my guidelines and made a nap quilt, viewers would still have a time figuring out the common denominator – the challenge fabric. The limits don’t come from the rules in life. They come from within the person.
Go “free-range” with your quilting and your life. Give yourself the license to broaden your skills, widen the scope of what you believe about yourself, and conquer what seems impossible. It’s you, unique, principled, and a boundless joy to the world around you.
Amen. Cha-cha-cha.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
Being free is only interesting when I also consider the world around me. Philosophically, it’s a good place to be, too. The result of “if it feels good, do it” is all too often, “I thought it would feel good, but someone else got hurt, so now I feel worse than ever”. Having a choice doesn’t mean all choices result in circumstances of equal value. The first choice people have is the one that determines their own bottom line, and hopefully eliminates what goes against their core values.
Putting parameters around freedom allows us to stretch our brains into a bouquet of creative blooms. Take the whole concept of a challenge quilt. The quilter receives a fabric choice or two, and a set of rules. On the surface, the rules sound like they limit our creative flow, but the paradox is that they stimulate it. The last thing you want in a new crop of challenge quilts are projects that look alike. Observers should have to figure out what the common denominator is among the quilts, and then ponder what was going on in the fiber artists’ heads during their design stage.
I call my style “free-range” quilting. When The Dot and T-man were young, Hubba and I set the rules for acceptable behavior. In doing so, we found it was best to set as few rules as possible, but to make them count. No hitting, respect others, be kind. Similarly, my rules for free-range quilting are few but important – the quilt must have an original artistic concept and yet be used as a traditional quilt. I like quilts that do something, not just sit there. That’s Midwestern of me, dog-gone-it, and if a bed quilt can double as a wall-hanging or an original table covering, that’s fine.
Sort of. Most of the quilts I make fall within my “nap quilt” size guidelines. I prefer to adorn beds with my quilts, but they don’t have to be queen- or king-sized for that to work. About the size of the top of a queen-sized bed, nap quilts can decorate a bed on top of a neutral coverlet or bedspread, displayed flat or at a jaunty angle. If the sun shines in through a non-northern window and threatens to leach color from a 100% cotton creation, it can easily be folded up and moved out of harm’s way. If you take a nap under one of these quilts, it is large enough that it won’t be kicked it off, hence the name. Research, or experience, tells us that naps are more effective under a hand-made quilt.
I inwardly cringe when I see a hand-made, heirloom quilt hanging on a wall, unless it is a temporary display, such as in a quilt show or short-term public exhibition. Quilts are made of fabric, usually 100% cotton. They will attract dust and are prone to fading from the sun or fluorescent lighting, all of which will weaken the fibers and eventually render the quilt useless for any purpose. Hanging will distort the painstaking efforts of the quilt maker, who worked so hard to provide a piece of family history. That care goes unappreciated as the quilt deteriorates, and subsequent generations are denied the heritage that fiber artist had planned for them.
Next, my free-range quilts need to be constructed in a manner that will encourage careful but regular use. If appliqué is used, it needs to be sturdy enough to hold up to napping, and within reason, laundering. The same goes for embroidery or any other elements used to embellish a quilt. Decorative pillows are another way quilting can be used, and not sit there doing nothing. Ribbon embroidery and non-traditional quilting techniques may lose their integrity in a working quilt, but such fancy-schmancy elements work fine in a pillow. I am careful when using embellishments that may itch, stab, or create discomfort for the user. It’s hard to resist the temptation sometimes, but freedom with limits challenges me to consider the world around me.
I’m making a challenge quilt right now, as a member of the Piecemakers quilt guild of Spring Grove, Minnesota. We received one fat quarter of the challenge fabric, and instructed to use it and no more. We are allowed three more fabrics to complete our project, and although we can make anything we want, it must be quilted. Other than that, we can do whatever our brains and imaginations allow us create. If every single person added my guidelines and made a nap quilt, viewers would still have a time figuring out the common denominator – the challenge fabric. The limits don’t come from the rules in life. They come from within the person.
Go “free-range” with your quilting and your life. Give yourself the license to broaden your skills, widen the scope of what you believe about yourself, and conquer what seems impossible. It’s you, unique, principled, and a boundless joy to the world around you.
Amen. Cha-cha-cha.
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
Live From Caracas
Just this week I contacted the Microsoft folks, via their website, about an issue I was having with my Pocket PC and my computer. Yeah, I’ve been using an electronic calendar and address book (not to mention my recipe file, grocery list, and task scheduler) for about five years now. Hopefully, my next cell phone will have both Pocket PC and Bluetooth capabilities, but I digress. Electronic gadgets and quilting notions hold a siren-level allure for me, however I must continue with my story.
In search of a solution to my problem, I went to the Microsoft website and located the entity that would provide an answer. I was brief, since I was allowed a limited number of words in the box provided on the website. I said:
My pocket PC and my computer (using Activesync) cease to synch when the device is in the cradle for a period of time, and the computer has gone to sleep. When I remove the device and reconnect it to the cradle, it still doesn't synch. There is no error message. It is as though the device was not in the cradle at all. How can I force a synch between the computer and the device?
TIA for your help.
Kari Burns
As promised, I heard back from Microsoft’s obedient employee named Naveen within 24 hours. He/she said:
Hello Kari,
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.
I understand that you are unable to synchronize your Pocket PC with your computer. I realize the importance of the issue.
However, from the information you have provided in your message, I found that you are located in Venezuela. If you have purchased the Microsoft product in Venezuela, your best resource for support is the Microsoft Venezuela subsidiary.
There are significant programming differences between North America and localized versions of software. You will be best assisted by the subsidiary that specializes in the version. You can locate contact information for the Venezuela subsidiary from the following web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/venezuela/
Also, you can contact the Venezuela subsidiary at: +58-212-2760500
Kari, I hope your issue gets resolved soon and appreciate your patience in this regard.
Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.
Naveen
Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative
Thank you, Naveen! This week commenced as many others, with more things to do than there is time available. A brief trip to Venezuela was something I hadn’t expected. It was so relaxing, and I appreciated the chance to get away for a few minutes. But, as the fly did with the spider, Naveen has stepped into my parlor, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to demonstrate a little good old-fashioned Midwest ribbing for him.
Dear Naveen,
As you can see from my signature, I live in Iowa. That’s in the United States, just below Minnesota and just above Missouri. These states are in what we call “The Midwest”. Perhaps you have heard them referred to as “flyover country”. Amazingly, we have computers and are hooked up with the internet, and everything! My 89-year-old father, who also resides in Iowa, has two computers. Can you believe it? I think the latest one was delivered four months ago by Dell via Wells Fargo Wagon, and he picked it up during the noon mail call at the town square.
It is my only hope that there are not significant programming differences between North America and The Midwest, but I think you can understand that I now believe anything is possible. If there is a distinct Midwest subsidiary that specializes in this version, could you please send me the link? I will keep the generator going on my computer until I hear back from you.
Just kidding! Thanks, Naveen, for letting me have some fun. Since I contacted you from the Microsoft website, I probably didn’t notice that I had to check the U.S. box, or whatever I needed to do to hep you to the fact that I am a US resident and so is my three-month-old HP media center computer. I hope you can help me with my problem, which is that the synchronization between my Pocket PC and my computer (using Activesync) disconnects when my computer goes to sleep. I cannot always get that synchronization to re-engage, even if I remove the device from the cradle and reboot my computer. I was wondering if there is some way I can force a synch between my computer and my device, or if there are some steps I can take to re-engage the synch between my device and computer.
Again, thanks for your quick reply and for letting me tease you a little. I hope you have a great day, and I look forward to hearing from you again!
Kari Burns
And then it was back to same ol’, same ol’. Perhaps I deserve it if Naveen doesn’t get back to me at all, and I’ll probably have to start over on the Microsoft website. I wouldn’t leave the Midwestern life for any other, though. Sitting under the shaded shelter of a maple tree and watching the Synchronized End Loader Team during one of our local parades is something one just cannot bear to trade.
Besides, in these cyber-days, a trip to Caracas is but a mouse click away. Thanks for the break, Naveen!
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
In search of a solution to my problem, I went to the Microsoft website and located the entity that would provide an answer. I was brief, since I was allowed a limited number of words in the box provided on the website. I said:
My pocket PC and my computer (using Activesync) cease to synch when the device is in the cradle for a period of time, and the computer has gone to sleep. When I remove the device and reconnect it to the cradle, it still doesn't synch. There is no error message. It is as though the device was not in the cradle at all. How can I force a synch between the computer and the device?
TIA for your help.
Kari Burns
As promised, I heard back from Microsoft’s obedient employee named Naveen within 24 hours. He/she said:
Hello Kari,
Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.
I understand that you are unable to synchronize your Pocket PC with your computer. I realize the importance of the issue.
However, from the information you have provided in your message, I found that you are located in Venezuela. If you have purchased the Microsoft product in Venezuela, your best resource for support is the Microsoft Venezuela subsidiary.
There are significant programming differences between North America and localized versions of software. You will be best assisted by the subsidiary that specializes in the version. You can locate contact information for the Venezuela subsidiary from the following web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/venezuela/
Also, you can contact the Venezuela subsidiary at: +58-212-2760500
Kari, I hope your issue gets resolved soon and appreciate your patience in this regard.
Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.
Naveen
Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative
Thank you, Naveen! This week commenced as many others, with more things to do than there is time available. A brief trip to Venezuela was something I hadn’t expected. It was so relaxing, and I appreciated the chance to get away for a few minutes. But, as the fly did with the spider, Naveen has stepped into my parlor, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to demonstrate a little good old-fashioned Midwest ribbing for him.
Dear Naveen,
As you can see from my signature, I live in Iowa. That’s in the United States, just below Minnesota and just above Missouri. These states are in what we call “The Midwest”. Perhaps you have heard them referred to as “flyover country”. Amazingly, we have computers and are hooked up with the internet, and everything! My 89-year-old father, who also resides in Iowa, has two computers. Can you believe it? I think the latest one was delivered four months ago by Dell via Wells Fargo Wagon, and he picked it up during the noon mail call at the town square.
It is my only hope that there are not significant programming differences between North America and The Midwest, but I think you can understand that I now believe anything is possible. If there is a distinct Midwest subsidiary that specializes in this version, could you please send me the link? I will keep the generator going on my computer until I hear back from you.
Just kidding! Thanks, Naveen, for letting me have some fun. Since I contacted you from the Microsoft website, I probably didn’t notice that I had to check the U.S. box, or whatever I needed to do to hep you to the fact that I am a US resident and so is my three-month-old HP media center computer. I hope you can help me with my problem, which is that the synchronization between my Pocket PC and my computer (using Activesync) disconnects when my computer goes to sleep. I cannot always get that synchronization to re-engage, even if I remove the device from the cradle and reboot my computer. I was wondering if there is some way I can force a synch between my computer and my device, or if there are some steps I can take to re-engage the synch between my device and computer.
Again, thanks for your quick reply and for letting me tease you a little. I hope you have a great day, and I look forward to hearing from you again!
Kari Burns
And then it was back to same ol’, same ol’. Perhaps I deserve it if Naveen doesn’t get back to me at all, and I’ll probably have to start over on the Microsoft website. I wouldn’t leave the Midwestern life for any other, though. Sitting under the shaded shelter of a maple tree and watching the Synchronized End Loader Team during one of our local parades is something one just cannot bear to trade.
Besides, in these cyber-days, a trip to Caracas is but a mouse click away. Thanks for the break, Naveen!
Copyright © April 2006 Kari E.O. Burns
A-OK
Dear Friends,
I actually had a few e-mails this week wondering if everything was okay here in Northeast Iowa. The blog postings have shifted to a lower priority in the last few weeks, but we are all fine. If I don't show up here regularly in the next few weeks, fear not. Once I get my taxes done and the QUILT for the Piecemakers (Spring Grove, Minnesota) Quilt Guild under control, I'll be back putting fingers to keyboard - the techie version of pen to paper - and fill more cyberspace with my meanderings.
I did update the post about The Barn's birthday on March 18th, however. It follows.
Enjoy!
Her Quiltness, Kari
I actually had a few e-mails this week wondering if everything was okay here in Northeast Iowa. The blog postings have shifted to a lower priority in the last few weeks, but we are all fine. If I don't show up here regularly in the next few weeks, fear not. Once I get my taxes done and the QUILT for the Piecemakers (Spring Grove, Minnesota) Quilt Guild under control, I'll be back putting fingers to keyboard - the techie version of pen to paper - and fill more cyberspace with my meanderings.
I did update the post about The Barn's birthday on March 18th, however. It follows.
Enjoy!
Her Quiltness, Kari
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