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Sunny hours in winter are hard to come by here in northern Germany. One thing that helps is my almost daily walks by the Machsee (mach is pronounced MOSH  as in mosh pit. See is pronounced SAY, approximately). It’s always good to get some fresh air and exercise, and it’s on these walks that I see how beautiful winter’s gray, stark landscape can be.

The first picture above is from a day when it was raining on top of the frozen lake, giving this great moodiness and wonderful reflections. One thing I’ve noticed about gray is that it allows the subtlest colors to show off. On this day the ice looked a soft turquoise and the sky a yellowy-pink next to  purplish clouds.

This one was taken on a foggy day when it seemed some mystical being might travel across the ice our way.

Here below is the ice from that day, looking blue and brown and wounded:

Same landscape, slightly more light, and hey, what’s that patch of blue?

And here above, sunshine! The yellowish color of these bare branches just glows up against the ice.

Luckily we’re getting a little more sunshine in these parts this week, and the daylight hours are increasing.

I hadn’t planned to share from this work-in-progress until it was done, but then I was inspired by this post, which challenges bloggers (quilting bloggers in particular) to share more of their process, not just finished projects.

So, here I am, showing you a strip from a large patchwork I’m working on. When I do patchwork, I’m not usually interested in following a traditional pattern or in measuring. Some people call this “liberated quilting.” For me it’s about being able to enjoy the process (I hate measuring) and also something we used to talk about it in art class called “showing the artist’s hand.” In painting this often means that the artist has let the brushstrokes show. I enjoy having my patchwork look handmade at first glance. If you’re familiar with the Gee’s Bend quilts, it’s that kind of aesthetic I’m going for.

I also prefer to work with mostly used or scrap fabrics in my patchwork (I keep saying patchwork rather than quilting because this piece is not actually going to be quilted). I think it’s because historically that’s what quilts were made from, and that thriftiness and ingenuity is part of what attracts me to patchwork in the first place. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a beautiful quilt made from new fabrics—-this is just a rule I give myself (and sometimes break, of course). The history of the fabric creates a story behind the project, and it also provides an extra challenge, kind of like painting a still life using only four tubes of paint.

This patchwork is for my son’s duvet cover, and it’s made from his crib sheets, most of which I hand-dyed, and also from the fabric I used in a failed attempt at making a shopping cart cover. You can see one of his crib sheets in this blog post. There’s also a bit of fabric left from making the curtains in his room.

When I was pregnant with my son, I went snorkeling for the first time and was inspired to create a nursery mural of a very simple school of white fish on a grayish-teal backdrop—blogged here. Now that he’s in a big-boy bed, I wanted to make him a new bedcover with a similar theme. I didn’t want to make literal fish but  wanted to keep the feeling of simple white shapes moving over the space. Here’s my sketch for the piece—although I didn’t color it all in so you really can’t tell at this point which parts are going to be white. That part’s in my head. I may or may not follow the sketch entirely.

In addition to the Gee’s Bend quilters, another influence is the work of Malka Dubrawksy, a fiber artist, quilting blogger, and author I admire. Check out her gorgeous work made with fabrics she batiks and dyes herself.

Can’t wait to get some more done so I can show you my progress. Hopefully I’ll finish this before the little man goes to college. And if he doesn’t like it, I’ll hang it on the wall!

4 Comments on Hand-Dyed Patchwork in Progress, last added: 9/15/2010

The pink started here:

My dear husband, for reasons yet unknown, picked out these shades for the lights in our apartment living room. In most apartments here, the lighting fixtures are not included, and since we’re here for a limited time, we didn’t want to spend a lot on them. We have no pink in our house otherwise, so I can only guess he was asking for a dose of color in our lovely but very white white white apartment. Reactions from guests have ranged from: “Fresh! Modern! I love them!” to “Hmmmph. Why? Why?”

I felt the need to echo the pink somewhere else, so recovering our pillows was my first thought. Finding fabrics here has been tough, so I hit up the thrift store, bought old white cotton tablecloths and turned them into something that works.

First I doused the tablecloths in a good strong brew of coffee (no, I did not use the good stuff, honey). Then I broke out a favorite childhood toy.

I love these stamps. I used Deka fabric ink that I found at the local art store. I’ve used Deka ink before, a long time ago, which was more like a gouache consistency. This was different, more gel-like.

You may recognize this shape from another project using dishwasher gel.

Now the pink feels at home.

For more information about printing on fabrics and other surfaces, check out Lena Corwin’s excellent book: Printing by Hand.

2 Comments on Thinking Pink: Pillows with Hand-Printed Fabric, last added: 9/22/2010

I just realized my blog now has 100 posts. Woo! Woo! It’s taken me awhile, but I think I’m getting into the groove with it.

The weather in September and August here was pretty lousy, so we’re hoping for what our German friends keep telling us may happen: a “Golden October.” So far, October has been a massive improvement. As in, no need for long underwear and a wool coat and umbrella for the last few days.

Ever since we got here, even though we knew it was a cool, rainy, climate, we’ve been surprised at just how cool and rainy it is, especially in months we used to think of as summer months. The locals tell us again and again that it’s “not usually this bad,” that this year has been record-breakingly cool.

We’ve been here six months as of today! I can’t believe it. After six months, it’s a little bit easier to think of the cool rainy-ness as being normal and to just get over it.  A little bit. Definitely we’ve adopted the local custom of (if possible) dropping everything and running outside when the sun shines. Another useful local habit is to dress for the weather and go outside anyway, which is also a good idea. Otherwise you would never get out.

With all the additional rain, it looks to be the year of the bumper mushroom crop. Mushrooms, like all seasonal produce, are taken very seriously here. There are several kinds, and restaurants are sporting full-page seasonal mushroom menus.

The photo at the top of the post is of mushrooms I found in the forest (don’t worry, I won’t eat any mushrooms unless they’re coming from a vendor). They look like little aliens to me. I’m sure there are plenty of mushroom varieties in North Carolina, but I definitely notice them here more, probably because I’m outside more.

The mushrooms above are called pfifferlinge. Aren’t they beautiful? I bought some and cooked them up, not really knowing what I was doing. They tasted fine, but I think I would rather have them served to me properly at a restaurant. I looked up the English translation for this particular mushroom: chanterelle. Funny that the “English” is actually French, eh? It makes sense when you consider that English is mainly made up of French and German and that, as far as I know, English-speaking people aren’t in general quite as passionate about their mushrooms. Chanterelles and pfifferlinge are much more specific and interesting than the prosaic “mushrooms.”

I’ll be back next week, hopefully with some newsy news which I’m excited to share with you.

0 Comments on A Mushroom By Any Other Name… as of 1/1/1900

Every year Frankfurt, Germany hosts the largest international book fair (Buch Messe) in the world. Last week, I took the train down to Frankfurt to see what all the excitement is about.

In the picture above, taken by Sarah Johnson, my gracious host and guide, I’m in the Boyds Mills Press booth, where Slowpoke was displayed (way down in the corner to my left). Yeah, my expression is strange. Just to my right the BMP foreign rights rep was having a meeting, so I guess I was feeling a little silly posing for a shot right beside them.

This book fair is all business. Whereas at librarian and teacher conferences  the booth folk are very chatty, here they are all booked from morning til night with business meetings. There are few authors or educator types or average joe book customers, and the books aren’t sold individually. The idea is to show them to foreign publishers who might want to buy the rights and re-publish in another country/ language.  Like this:

The hall for German publishers is a little different, with readings and cookbook demos and tv interviews going on all day. It had by far the most traffic of all the halls. Interestingly, the BMP booth was located in this hall, not with all the other American and British publishers in another hall.

American friends who had been before all told me to wear walking shoes. Now that I live in Germany, all my shoes are walking shoes. It was good advice, though. My shoes held up fine, but I was definitely sore from walking for hours and hours.

It was fascinating to see the books being written and published in countries all across the world. Even though I’m living overseas, I often still forget that the U.S. is just one market, just one place people make and read books, and English is just one language of many. The picture book artwork really stood out to me—-so many fresh and fabulous images.

Some of my favorite covers:

This recipe comes from my friend Awanti. Our favorite Indian restaurant here (Mogul) closed awhile back, and we’ve been suffering from withdrawal.  Dal, a thick lentil soupy-type dish, is a staple of Indian cooking. As I understand it, there must be a million different versions of it because every family has their own recipe. Thank you, Awanti, for sharing yours!

This recipe is great for cutting your teeth on Indian cooking. Easy and not too many ingredients. Also, although it’s flavorful, it’s not spicy-hot, so anyone can enjoy it. My kids lapped it up.  I think if I were making it just for the hubs and me, I would add some more ginger and chili pepper.

1.5 cups yellow lentils

2 TB cooking oil (I used olive)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp garlic-ginger paste (available in Asian stores) or the equivalent half and half mash of fresh ginger and garlic

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

½ tsp turmeric

salt to taste

½ to ¼ tsp red chili powder (leave it out if you don’t want it)

fresh coriander leaves (i.e. cilantro—this is optional for those of you who can’t stand cilantro. You know who you are.)

Soak and cook lentils till tender (my package had directions, albeit in German). In a pan put in 2 tablespoons of oil, heat.
Add mustard seeds and let them start spluttering in the oil.
Then add ginger-garlic paste and onions. Cook onions till they are slightly browned. Add the lentils, and cook them into the onions. Add turmeric, chili powder if you like, and salt as per your taste.

Then add water – you have to decide what consistency your dal needs to be. All the water needs to be added now so that it cooks in and doesn’t remain watery. Bring to a rolling boil and keep stirring so it doesn’t boil over for about 3 to 4 minutes. Then let it simmer for at least 10 to 15 minutes with regular stirring.

Serve with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves and rice. Enjoy!

I finally finished this scarf from the cashmere/ silk yarn I bought at Tuesday Morning. It ended up being more of a scarfette, but that’s what I get for doing absolutely no figuring before starting. I can totally live with that.

For those of you who are knitters, I used a seed stitch. No brainer.

When it came time to weave in the ends, I couldn’t find my yarn needle. Story of my life since moving. I happened upon a craft shop when I was out and about. I didn’t know the word for yarn needle, though, and I realized when I began explaining that I must sound like I was looking for a knitting needle. I stopped to think a moment and then said, in German, “I knitted a scarf, and then…” here I pantomimed the hanging strings, then said, “Now I need to…” and pantomimed weaving in the threads.

The two shopkeepers burst into uproarious laughter, then offered me a yarn needle for free. I was pretty pleased with myself for not being afraid to look like an idiot. It’s all about getting my point across, right?

This scarf is so soft I’ve been wearing it a lot. Plus I love the color—-orange brightens up our gray weather. My daughter rubbed it against her face last night during story time.

Slowpoke has gotten a couple more positive reviews, from Booklist :

“Pearce’s succinct text will amuse emerging readers with her only slightly exaggerated references to the hectic pace of modern life. Ritchie’s fluid, cartoon-style illustrations are equally adept at conveying the story’s speedy absurdities…and its more relaxing moments”

and from School Library Journal (scroll down after clicking on the link).

Also, I just found out that Slowpoke now has an Accelerated Reader test (you have to enter the title into the search feature to see it).

Last week, I did a Skype author chat with Carver Elementary School in Florence, SC. It was really fun. The students are third-graders and had all read Slowpoke ahead of time. Their teachers helped them compile questions about the writing process. I missed being able to interact in person with the kids, but it was a good experience. The learning goes both ways with these kinds of things, and it’s always great to hear from readers. I’d like to do more of them in the future. For tips on hosting a Skype author chat, check out this article. If your school wants to host me, please contact bettyasmith (at) bellsouth (dot) net and put “author visit” in the subject line.

The picture above is me on the big screen in Carver’s library. Special thanks to librarian Debra Heimbrook for working with me on this inaugural Skype chat.