Merry Christmas

This gift from our Father,
our God,
is one that can never be equalled nor repaid.

My sinner's soul is made clean
and the eternal misery that I deserve
has been changed to a song of praise forever.
How can I not proclaim my JOY at having and believing in a savior?

Merry Christmas.

Seaside Nativity

After making Debbie's Nativity pieces, I traced and cut some smaller ones out of the scraps of plywood. I painted them all white and screwed them onto the dock. Tonight when it gets dark, I'll turn on the spotlights, they are blue! I am hoping I have everything placed just right to make a peaceful, beautiful O Holy Night.

The Daily Grind

Back to work I go. It was nice to have a week off at Christmas.

Christmas Legends Caroling Hayride

The name is longer than the hayride! Last night, the youth group and the Henderson family presented the (what we think is...) the Twentieth anniversary hayride!

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Some of the youth that presented the hayride twenty years ago still come. Their children now play a part in the production! Let's see, Rubin played the candymaker in the Legend of the Candy Cane. Jackson G. and Ira were shepherds looking for one lost sheep in the Legend of the Holly Berry Bush. Jessica was and angel (yeah right) and Elizabeth F. was the sad little girl in the Legend of the Christmas Rose. Hannah and Victor were lonely woodcutters who were visited by the mysterious child, Janelle in the Legend of the Christmas Tree.

Then in the Legend of the Friendly Beasts they all played a role. Kasey was Joseph, Alisha was Mary and there were lots of very antsy animals singing and playing their parts. Making their very first appearance this year are; Patrick as a cow, Daniel the donkey, Ira as a cow and Elizabeth as an angel.

The weather was just perfect and the stars were out. The hay was nice and dry. The hayride engineer drove nice and slow. The cocoa was steamy and rich. The cookies were sweet and crunchy. The songs were sweetly sung by innocent little voices. The little faces were shining with happiness. Memories were made.

Gonna have a party!

Well, Gerald is gonna have a party, I'm just going to host it for him. We invited the choir, and their families of course, to come over for a party after the Cantata on Sunday. Now, normally any party I hostess, I ask for covered dishes. It just makes sense. Many hands make light work. But this time, the choir has worked so hard all year to make sure when they sing praises they are all on key! Cantatas are hard work! So for this party, I'll do all the fixins and the trimmings and so forth. I need some Christmas serving dishes. hmm.

found this box of Christmas dishes...

and these adorable little glasses, at the local antiques dealer. For very cheap!

Add a little Liquid Nails acrylic glue....

and Wall-Ahh!!!

I have a whole set of Christmas serving trays and dishes. Ready to be filled with cream puffs, eclaires, spiced pecans, cookies and special Christmas Cake! I wonder who's gonna make all that!?!?

...and in my spare time...

No holiday baking for me, yet. Like the song says, "The house is dark and the pots are cold." Poor Gerald, he should have married a 'normal' person! Bwah-Ha-Ha!

Now let's see...what can I do with this?

and this?

and some of these?

I bet I could use a jig saw and make a manger scene.

Like the one at the church.

for my cousin, Debbie.

National Champs (almost)

We won 1st Runner Up, that is to say 2nd place, in the National Gold Cup competition. It was a very exciting ride, and I am happy that we did it. I am also happy that it is over. Will life go back to 'normal' now? What is normal?

More Apron Art

Well, I did it. I painted 8, yes count them, 8 aprons in 5 days. I was asked if I could paint 7 before Monday, on Friday. I thought long and hard about it...could I actually do that? I said I thought I could but I would have to go to work right away.
Thank goodness they didn't show up until Wednesday, so I had an extra 2 days, but also an extra apron for a total of 8. The last one I painted was a repeat of the "First" slogan. If you look back at the first set of aprons, you'll notice the differences between this week and last. I was under a LOT of pressure, and to me it shows in the lack of details.



I was also out of ideas for things that represent Yulee, so I simply expanded the perimeter of  'our area'. We are right in the middle of Mayport, NAS Jax, and Kings Bay naval bases. Many of our customers are military. I sketched this out and, Alan from the paint department helped paint it.

The pirate ship from last time was a little on the cutesy side. This pirate ship looks ominous and was super simple to paint.

The flamingos were actually done first. I have always wanted to paint flamingos, and they were fun. They have rhinestone eyes that sparkle. Yes, I know we don't see too many flamingos in Yulee. Go to the zoo, they're right there!

Another quilt pattern turned into an apron. Again, just looking for subjects I can finish with a quickness.

I'm getting short on time and short on ideas, I've worked 3 ten hour days. I have a list of ideas from other associates drifting in and out watching me paint. But what can be done quickly? What represents our area? Duh. They are executives...coming to Florida.....GOLF of course.

And if you don't golf, you might like a nice bass fishing excursion!

And those don't appeal to you, we'll do the work and you can just enjoy a big plate of fried shrimp!

Without listing all the details that I would have added, if I had more time, I still think they're not bad.
The executives came and walked the store up one side and down the other and couldn't find a single thing wrong. We were the last of THREE stores in the running for the National Gold Cup. We won't know until Monday if we win or not. Stay tuned!

Another Update

I must have been a good girl, Santa granted my wish!

We won the Division!

We only have 4 more stores to beat to be the number ONE store in the company!

Wow! Little ole Yulee! Go figure.

Update

Here's the last apron, an orange and white pirate ship named the Jolly Homer.

After a few minutes checking out the outside demo areas, they came in,

and I gave them each an apron.

Here they are with Santa.

And me with the president of the southern division.

I really wasn't crying, I just look that way.

 It was a very good visit, and Ann-Marie called our store and our team phenomenal!

merge

My work and my work seem to be merging.

 I was asked if I had any ideas on how to decorate the front of the store for Christmas.

 Of course, I did.

Our store won the decorating contest in our area (12 stores) for the two years prior to my arrival, so I can't take credit for the win this year either. I was a contributor on a team of several people, who all did awesome things. Our store looks great! We won first place in our area, then went on to place first on the next level as well. Now we are one of the top 20 stores in the nation.

Now we have executives coming.

It is customary, I am told, to give these executives a company apron, decorated with something that signifies our store or town. I was given 5 days, once I chose to accept this mission, to paint 6 aprons.

This one and the next one I relied on paintings I have already done.

Just pulled out some sketches and went to work.

I have one more to do, and to add the names of the people coming to visit. My reward? I am now 'invited' to come with the department heads and management on the visit. Have I mentioned that I like my job out in the real world? I do.  

Ready or Not!

Here I come!

Loaded for bear, paint-splattered, bleach-spotted and stray threads hanging on for dear life! I have somehow, once again, managed to put myself together for what the kids call my "quilt celebrity life".

Not quite Hollywood, but I am headed down to Davenport, Florida for their first ever Horse Creek Festival. Come on down tomorrow or Saturday, should be fun! Lots of artists from many different walks of life, great home cooking, and plenty of friendly folks.

quilts that are now available

Plus, now I have reproduction prints of these (and other) paintings.

horsecreekfestival.org

Well, I have one week to get myself ready for the Horse Creek Festival. I will be presenting my trunk show, A Florida Quilt Collage, several times throughout the festival. I won't say that it's old hat, or that I don't still have a stage fright issue. But it's going to have to take a back seat right now, while I get other things together.
In addition to the trunk show, I will also have a display of quilts that need to be left up the entire event. It needs to  be free-standing, compact enough to travel and also fit in with the flavor of the festival, Old Florida style.
Several issue have to be addressed.
1.The trunk show relies on the element of surprise as part of it's charm. The quilts are pulled out and hung in time to the stories being told. That timing, and the presentation of each quilt is part of what makes my trunk show unique.
For this reason, I would very much like the free-standing display quilts to be ones not used in the trunk show, as much as possible. I need them to reflect and represent Florida. Do I have enough florida quilts to fill a display plus present the collage? I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a couple that will do double duty.
2. I have a few items that I will use to hang quilts, as well as paintings and framed photographs. In theory, of course, this will work perfectly. In reality, I will have to assemble the whole thing, hang the quilts and the frames and my signage. Then I will take it all apart again, and pack it to be re-assembled in Davenport.
3. Signs. Don't I need a sign that says, "Julie Mainor Art Quilts"? Or something to that effect? Don't I need a sign that describes, or at least titles, each quilt on display?

I know all these answers, I just needed to sound it out, get all my possums in a row. Plus I haven't posted in a while. I wanted to keep all 6 of my followers up to date on what I'm doing! Curious minds want to know...

New quilt? Finally!

Most of the time, lately, I have gotten to this stage of a quilt....

and just hated it. Put it it the pile. Grrr.......

I started out with a fantastic background, one that had the right feel for the quilt that I wanted to create. This is very important to me, it's like I can see what I want it to become when I see the fabric. But...when it doesn't become what I see in my head, many times it's such a disappointment that I put it aside. Aside is a rubbermaid tub in the furthest reaches of the closet under the stair.  

I have been putting an effort into figuring out this dry spell I've been in, so I plow through. I figure, it's better to put a finished, ugly quilt into the Aside than a clump of fabrics with pieces falling off.

I even posted on facebook and asked friends, "What is wrong with this quilt?".  I got some great input, some from a design principle standpoint, some offered an emotional response, all were really good to hear. From the beginning, I envisioned a bird on this quilt, but I was so disappointed with it's progress, I had decided to just finish it this far and dump it.

But I liked it. I haven't liked anything I've done for a very long time. I hung it on the wall and let it percolate there. Every time I passed it, even with all it's problems, I liked it. Time to add that bird.

I woke up looking forward to making it! What a giant step in the right direction! I painted, quilted it onto Timtex, and attached it to the quilt. I made a sleeve and a nametag, "A Bird's Nest" (if you could see the back, you'd know). I printed the registration papers for the Suwannee River quilt Show, filled 'em out, and drove to White Springs. I turned it in to Lucy on almost the last day of registration.

If my motivation had something to do with wanting a new quilt for this show, because I love those ladies and I love that show, then so be it. I am just thankful to finish a quilt that I like.

Maybe I'll dig through the Aside bucket and find another orphan that wants to be finished.

QuiltFest of Jacksonville 2011

These are the 2 quilts I entered in QuiltFest this year. They were both made or finished in 2009. I am in a bit of a slump this year, creatively speaking. I do go through phases, sometimes I am on fire with ideas and can't make quilts fast enough and sometimes I feel stagnant. I think this is okay, maybe even normal.

Back to these 2 quilts:

I was quite happy with the judges remarks, receiving NO "Needs Improvement" marks for the first time ever! Of course my weakest areas were 'even consistent stitches, tension, straight edges, square corners and bindings', but even those areas were satisfactory. I got excellent marks for color and design,visual impact, scale and composition, construction quality and quilting design.

They were both HELD, which means upon seeing them the first time the judge liked them enough to consider them for an award. Neither one, however, received a ribbon. More on that later.

This one is called "Precious", her story is somewhere back there in my blog if you want to read more about her:  http://cheezdoodle.blogspot.com/2009/10/current-works-in-progress.html

I painted her on plain white muslin and quilted the background, leaving the pencil marks and the paint bleed there. The pattern is from a piece of cloth from Ethiopia. When I saw this quilt hanging in the show, I was disappointed that it was so wrinkled. It had been folded into a bag for about 2 weeks. Note to self; use the wrap around a noodle system next time.

This is what the judge had to say about her:

"Yes, she is Precious", "It took an artist to portray the life in this face." and "Stood up well against stiff competition in this category."

Nice comments.

"Road 9, Crandall Pasture" I shared with you earlier in this blog, here:

http://cheezdoodle.blogspot.com/2010/02/florida-museum-of-natural-history.html
Though I didn't really share it's story, you would have to come to my trunk show, A Florida Quilt collage, to hear how special this quilt is to me. Or just ask me.

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This quilt started with a piece of hand dyed fabric I got from Diane Smith. That shade of green seems to be very difficult to achieve, because I have not seen it since. I fell in love with it on the spot! Green and yellow and ethereal looking. I knew right then what I would be making with it, it was perfect! The quilt is raw edge applique with grey, white, pale yellow and bronze tulle overlays. This is how all that sunlight and shadow looks so real. Tulle is very difficult to quilt over, so I was not surprised to get only satisfactory remarks on the quilting workmanship. Here is what the Judge said about it: "Good use of value and design to create a very effective perspective into the woods."

My reward came during the show. I rounded a corner looking for my friends and was in a little bit of a hurry when I heard, "the sunlight on the brush is magnificent! Do you see the way..."

I slowed down.

"It just glimmers in the sun, it feels so real!"

I made a u-turn and came up behind the group of 5 women standing at the end of the isle, staring intently at my quilt.

"Look at the sunlight gleaming off the palmetto, I wonder did she do that on purpose" "This is the most beautiful quilt in the show!"

My head must have swelled noticeably, one of them turned around and looked at me. "Is that your quilt?" I spoke to them briefly and left to find my friends, having received the best reward ever!

Advice from a country girl

When walking through the woods, you should carry a stump-knocker: a long branch or stick. You can use it for a walking stick, this lets all the critters know that you're coming their way. Most people are deathly afraid of snakes, but are unaware that snakes are deathly afraid of people.

Just knock around some with your stick, especially around the stumps, and they'll stay away from you.

 But if you want to see more wildlife, try to tread lightly and don't knock any stumps. Just watch and listen more carefully so you don't walk up on something. The trick is to see them before they see you. Then you might get a few seconds to take a picture or just stare in wonder.

Some animals get accustomed to people and are curious. Mostly curious if you are carrying food or not. Don't forget to look up. All that time you're looking for snakes on the ground and freaking out about big cats or gators, you could be missing the show up in the trees.

Lastly, the best advice I have for walking in the woods, is to go with a human friend. You can hold hands and share secrets that no one will ever tell, and share in the wonders around you.