tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54715941655304189532024-12-18T19:28:22.878-08:00Providing Exposure and professional development for physically challenged fiber artistsAnniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-54960358617791560642011-04-23T22:37:00.000-07:002011-04-23T22:45:26.248-07:00

Woven coverlets (also referred to as coverlids in early times) were made in almost every community in the United States from the colonial era until the late 19th century. The coverlets of 18th century America were twill woven with a linen warp and a woolen weft. The wool was most often dyed with indigo, but madder red (also referred to as Turkey Red, a walnut brown,and a lighter "Williamsburg

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-56803183962142220682011-04-08T23:38:00.000-07:002011-04-23T20:42:18.407-07:00

This is about the life of a physically challenged person. We hear about them in the news when a physically challenged person enters the Special Olympics and wins, or does some other amazing thing. But we rarely hear about the daily life of physically challenged people and the things they have to deal with daily. And I suspect that most people don't want to hear about it. It makes them very aware

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-51448079098543540522011-03-13T18:10:00.000-07:002011-03-13T21:23:38.722-07:00

Great Post from Christine Kane - this one really resonated with me! One of the scariest things I ever did was quit my first (and only) "real" job so I could begin my own brand of creative work in the world. I became - gasp! - self-employed. I was warned of the risks. I was told I'd lose my benefits. I was told it's "hard out there" working for yourself. It's funny that the assumption

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-55939833285157198732011-03-02T16:34:00.000-08:002011-03-02T17:15:01.196-08:00

I have five rose rushes in pots in my yard. It is interesting to watch the way they grow (or don't).  Now these were rescue rose bushes - I got them in one of those very cheap way-too-late-for-bare-root-roses sales. I looked at all the ones that were available and picked the ones that had some signs of growing or trying to grow. I think watching the five rose bushes grow is a good analogy

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-59765832720264669242011-02-26T19:08:00.000-08:002011-02-26T20:05:29.129-08:00

You have made a sale, and you feel rightfully good about it.  You may have priced your work by the square foot and it seems to be a decent amount. In your own area, your work may not sell for much more. Although it is a consistent way you can create a value, may be an inadequate method, for basically what you are looking at with that method is how much time it takes to create a square foot

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-4733072760941326482011-02-17T02:48:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:48:56.665-08:00

I can't believe it is 2:30 AM and I am still up working. Besides taking care of some physical therapy today, I have worked on our secretary's blog site to help her make it more professional looking today, and then I designed and printed out postcard templates and rules for our new postcard challenge, "Journey," which you can find on the Calls for Entry Page. And I have been working to update and

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-77969137264828858672011-01-26T22:52:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:16:32.924-08:00

500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work (500 Series) I love this book!  We used it in our organization to help the fiber artists we work with to become familiar with many contemporary artists, and to study their work in depth for what made it so unique and recognized as excellent art.  It was really fun, for every time I would get an artist from the book, I would

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-19070875774582489162011-01-26T17:05:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:14:21.426-08:00

Cleaning and reorganizing is something we all need to do at least yearly, and I have to admit that with my life as busy as it has been, it was something that kept getting put off. On top of that, I am one of those people who picks things up that people put out on a table in the trash room in this mobile home park - they are not trash, but things people no longer need, or sometimes they just maybe

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-42902627781787121892011-01-23T03:22:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:12:29.300-08:00

We all have aches and pains from time to time, but most of us don't experience having true physical challenges. In 2010, all three of our volunteer staff experienced some degree of additional physical challenges that made doing the simplest of things difficult. We are all seniors, so it is possible that some of this comes with age, but it is never easy to accept that a genuine physical challenge

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-30273989187169984902011-01-12T23:15:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:06:02.080-08:00

You might well ask that as I tend to post here the doings of everyday life, but trust that we do have a nonprofit here. We just run it very informally. My belief is that one of the most important things we do to help physically challenged fiber artists is to provide a sense of normalcy in our everyday lives. People who are physically challenged are often very isolated from the rest of society,

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-5828698172696059672010-12-28T13:17:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:03:51.813-08:00

This time of year is filled with joy and anticipation for many people, while others feel bewildered in this economy and world that seems full of negative events. Many folks sit down to write New Year's Resolutions, but then before January isn't even over, they are already realizing that the resolutions aren't do-able. So they give up and go through still another year without making any of those

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-24456556336097184482010-11-30T20:07:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:03:04.971-08:00

I daily receive lots of free inspirational newsletters, quotations, and other positive and motivational messages. In my mind, we cannot fill our minds and souls with too much good, surrounded as we are by so many negative messages about life as it is viewed. One of the wonderful things I receive is inspirational email from www.gogratitude.com.  Today they sent me something I think is a

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-33552835892435975742010-11-24T22:36:00.000-08:002011-02-17T02:01:13.450-08:00

Here I am getting ready to cook again. Although I am alone and not expecting any company, it is always part of the routine to go out and find a "churkey," a turkey that is not much bigger than a chicken.  Into the oven it goes with the yams and the stuffing and all the parts that start coming together to fill the house with happy smells. To the left is NOT Thanksgiving dinner, but my 15-bean

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-13454481806329178162010-09-15T15:19:00.000-07:002011-02-17T01:56:08.012-08:00

With some people unable to ever have a home, I am very proud to be a small part of a project for Habitat for Humanity.  The organization is giving 18 families houses in Southern California homes that are also furnished and decorated. The families getting the homes each put in 500 volunteer hours after qualifying to get their homes.  It is a wonderful project and I am glad that some

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-41014941031780626712010-09-05T12:55:00.000-07:002011-02-17T01:53:45.108-08:00

Are any precedents for appraising quilts? Yes, absolutely. We have to do some pretty heavy research when we are appraising quilts, at least this is something we do if we are serious about our appraisal business. I have been a certified appraiser since 1993. We practice by a set of standards called USPAP, and if you look that up on the Internet, it stands for Uniform Standards of Professional

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-54547072743185989402010-08-29T20:46:00.000-07:002011-08-17T11:38:41.725-07:00

I thought this was a particularly good subject as we have been talking about dealing with our inner demons on our Yahoo group. One day I got to thinking about "the boogieman," something we all can relate to, I am sure. I was thinking how, as a child, suddenly it was like we would get a bite in our butts or some crazy thing like that, and we would start looking in our closets and under our

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-1868991275425586322010-08-25T22:04:00.000-07:002011-02-17T01:37:29.830-08:00

Pricing our work and finding great marketing opportunities and also good venues for the types of work we do is important for all of us equally. And also I think keeping up with what is current in our overall field is important for us all as well. One of the things I have discussed in the past is how to locate the right kind of markets for your work, and whether or not we should enter the

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-24300200388066076082010-08-16T11:17:00.000-07:002011-02-17T01:34:10.667-08:00

OK, I admit it.  I'm feeling about as sure about this "fair market" thing these days as walking through a bowl of Jell-O that's not quite set.  So whenever I am not sure about something, I just go to the Internet, or perhaps the Thesaurus, and I look it up.  There.  That should do it.  Somehow that little journey makes everything ok again, even if I still have clearly no

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-85227884482475919502010-04-18T09:50:00.000-07:002011-02-17T01:32:14.782-08:00

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the three terms, but I think I have come up with a pretty decent definition of each term that makes sense. It is not that these definitions are set in concrete and can never be challenged. They can and should be challenged, and likely will be over the years. An innovative design is NOT original. It is one where someone has taken a known design,

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-52362271125959108452010-02-20T10:48:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:31:27.347-08:00

This year I have committed to a number of challenges and also making quilts to help other nonprofit organizations. I will also support other organizations and causes as they come to my awareness. I am a member of a couple of bimonthly small quilt challenge groups, and I find these groups very good for helping to stimulate my creativity and also as a way to help me keep moving forward with my art

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-55163972501595233582010-01-18T22:21:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:30:40.736-08:00

I am a paraeducator for special needs children at an elementary school in Southern California. I have worked with physically and developmentally challenged adults and children in one way or another for many years. Many of my very close friends are physically or developmentally challenged. I think I developed a heart for this a long, long time ago when my own brother became physically challenged

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-45948323796384196012010-01-06T18:55:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:29:17.069-08:00

The IRS has announced that starting in November 2009 it will begin a special initiative to audit individual income tax returns with Schedule C’s that show a loss. (The Schedule C is the tax form most artists use to report their business income and related expenses). Additionally, the IRS has stated it plans to focus on certain industries in these audits, including craft sales,

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-37098846701775831632010-01-03T12:20:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:28:24.388-08:00

Which do you make every year for the New Year - goals or resolutions? Do you find if you make resolutions that they work for you or do you find yourself losing the resolve to keep moving forward with whatever resolutions you made before much time has gone by? I think that resolutions don't work as often as we wish they would because we are frequently trying to change some sort of negative

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-39911049473914035072010-01-03T00:18:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:27:13.209-08:00

This book has been out of print and the person with rights to the book is republishing it through CreateSpace with Amazon.com carrying it.  While it is not cheap, I am sure it is a wonderful read for any physically challenged person. It was written by Flannery O'Connor. Perhaps if this book intrigues you, you can go together with a friend to order it. Looks very worthwhile to me.

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5471594165530418953.post-6693587902758968822010-01-02T23:34:00.000-08:002011-02-17T01:23:03.646-08:00

There often seems to be a line between art quilters and those making traditional quilts. I have been a certified quilt appraiser since 1993, and a quilt historian for about that long, so I tend to see it all. And truthfully, I enjoy the traditional and the antique as much as I enjoy any art quilt. Traditional quilters are definitely welcome here at this site. We have recently done a

Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04309658732555565381noreply@blogger.com