Wednesday, April 26, 2006

My modern quilting bee


I am not a quilter, but have always longed for the experience of a quilting bee- like pioneer women- sitting around, sharing one anothers company, engaged in creative, therapeutic exercise- creating something beautiful and useful. I am a great believer in the value of what has traditional "women's work" and craft. I believe it gave women from many generations past a sense of competency and accomplishment.

I have always been a project gal as my friends can attest- i like to help people do things- whenever i go visit family or friends the big question is "what is our project going to be?". My friend Catherine (who has since sadly moved thousands of miles from me) was the first studio friend. Our great painting times prompted me to start studio night. Last year, thanks to my expert sheetrocking at 37 weeks pregnant and thousands of my husbands spare hours we finished my studio room- it is heaven- 10 foot ceilings, dimmable can lights, yummy green apple paint, and 350 square feet of to store all my art "stuff"- oh and my favorite art daybed (courtesy of ikea the best hidden storage for stacks of canvases! )

So the other night i had 3 friends come for studio night. The fun begins we close ourselves off in my studio- which has a steel door ajoining the house which creates a nice soundproof factor and we paint away- most are new to painting, but everyone creates. We share our great feminine knowledge of buying, selling, building houses, jobs, kids, church responsibilities, great shopping deals, etc. I finished a commission piece I had been working on and worked on yet another crab painting, my friend donna did a fun piece in pinks and greens, erin did a great keyhole view of an animal back and grasses and my friend christy tackled a huge piece for over the fireplace in house thats being built.

all in all a great night- women supporting each other, trying new things, creating beauty for their homes-really you've got to try it!

6 comments:

Rachelle said...

What a great evening!

ShelahBooksIt said...

sounds like so much fun. I wish we lived closer! And I really wish Eddie hadn't thrown out "The City that Never Sleeps" so we could show the blogging world the fruits of our feminine collaborations!

Blackeyedsue said...

I love doing this. I miss doing this. It has been a long time since I have had a crafting day...I think it needs a rebirth.

Gabriela said...

Sounds like fun. I like to do "woman" projects too. For the same reasons; I think it is so therapuetic to be together, working on something and sharing our lives.

I am teaching a friend to quilt right now. Every Thursday morning (today! Yay!) we get together and work on them and I love it.

Gabriela said...

p.s. LOVE THE CRABS.

Nettie said...

What a great thing to share with your friends! I'm in a quilting group at the moment. I think creating together really helps to get the creative juices flowing. If I had a studio like that...ahhhhhh!