Monday, July 20, 2015

Off the Grid


Photo by Joan Coats

Monday greetings to all......I have been living "off the grid" for a few months, some of it totally unintentional!  An injury, retirement, and the usual daily "stuff" have all kept me busy and away from quilting.  We discontinued our landline and got new smart phones which I do love and I also love no constant phone calls on the landline.  However, my website email was dropped due to an office error at my IP, and I didn't know it, so I've missed quite a lot of communications from all this.  

After some phone calls to right the situation, my email is working again, my website is back online, and I purchased some new software so perhaps I will be able to update that once again, and add current tips and info.  It's hard for me to believe I've even had a website for so many years.   Stay tuned!

Even when I haven't been quilting, my quilter's eye is seeing the world from a point of view always affected by my love of color and design.  The drape and color of Oliver's tail on a magenta pillow, so beautiful, placed just right for the correct proportion, or the colors of the summer sky at dusk, how beautiful.  These things remind me of quilts and the delights of working with fabric, thread, color.  

Every now and again I browse through my FB page and see the incredible quilts and work so many of you are doing.  Quilting is going forward with new ideas and designs and I congratulate all the quilters who are sharing their work and tips and ideas, keeping it all alive.  



"Rabbit in Green"  40" Silk wholecloth, Diane Gaudynski 2005


Meanwhile, today there is the outside trim on the garage door to scrape and paint, another rainstorm might prevent that though, boxes of old files and papers to sort and prepare for shredding, and some great shows I've recorded on PBS await me this evening.  I love the new "Poldark" series.....

Hope all of you can keep quilting!  Your work gets better everyday.....
Diane

Email:  dianequilter@sbcglobal.net   or   dianegaudynski@gmail.com



9 comments:

Rose said...

Diane: It's so good to hear from you again! A part of you is with me every time I sit down to free motion quilt. Seeing how my work improved had inspired others to take classes with you also, in the years before you retired.
I tell people now, that these days my worst day of quilting is better than my best day was before class with you. And that really is true.
Thank you.

Diane Gaudynski said...

Rose, thank you so much for taking the time to write that lovely comment. If you only knew how much that means to me especially now that I have retired from teaching. It's good to know others did benefit from my work and are still quilting and enjoying it. Hugs, Diane

margaret said...

Diane I recently discovered yu and have purchased both your books and what an inspiration they are. I make the blocks. join them together but when it comes to quilting I am well I was lost, thanks for getting me going.

Diane Gaudynski said...

Margaret, glad the books helped! They are now out of print but available in digital editions. My goal was to help quilters complete their quilts with their own quilting on home machines and enjoy it, and have quilts they quilted themselves. It is a wonderful process from beginning to end, and picturing the quilting as you design and complete a top is part of the fun and part of the challenge too. Hope it continues to go well for you!

Jenny K. Lyon said...

So good to hear from you and glad you are back! You continue to inspire me-I unabashedly use you as my model for how to teach. My work still carries your inspiration-I've got a piece in Houston again this year. Thank you for sharing your joy!

Diane Gaudynski said...

Jenny, Thanks so much, it was a pleasure having you in class with your creative mind going full tilt all the time! Congratulations on your beautiful entry at Houston, well done. Diane

Martha said...

So glad you are back!!!! I hope your retirement is going well and things settle down for you. I am still working full time and looking at a job change in the next month. Still in nursing but a different role!! It will be interesting, challenging, and hopefully there will be time for quilting!! Take Care :^)

Diane Gaudynski said...

Good luck to you Martha! Hope you find some time for quilting to decompress....! Diane

Lyn Armstrong said...

I am so glad you are back blogging as it has made me realise I was not blogging either. So I have just done a posting. I also ordered your book too and I can't wait to be inspired by it as I need to 'get a grip' with quilting, I love piecing and playing with painting my own fabric and machine embroidery but machine quilting always seems to be so difficult for me so I am going to pay attention to your wise words.