What's your 'Go-To" music channel?





Wheels Turning

When I'm alone in the car, my go to music channel is usually classical or Broadway or even light opera.  Often times it's the blues or big band....even bluegrass.  I always enjoy light rock from the 70's and 80's - Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Bob Seger, Eric Clapton.... but never do I listen to hard rock and very seldom do I land on a country station for very long. 

So, as I flipped channels the other day, I hit upon some country stations  and lingered on one  playing classic country from the past century and a little bit forward.  The uniqueness of her voice held my attention..... Gillian Welch singing "Elvis Presley Blues",  written by Gillian and David Rawlings and released in 2001, goes something like this: 

"I was thinking that night about Elvis....
Day that he died, day that he died. 
I was thinking that night about Elvis...
Day that he died, day that he died."

A simple story about  a country boy who combed his hair and took to the air, wearing a shirt made by his mother.  A song about Elvis Presley  who got his musical start  pouring out his  soul in words and body moves.  In Gillian's words,

"He shook it like a chorus girl
He shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rambler, baby
like you never seen.
Like you never seen." 
 
 
Gillian  sung on verse after verse, in her melodic style with partner Dave in the background.    I listened intently to every word.  It was not your ordinary song nor your ordinary songstress....not a song to dance to or be relaxed by.  It was a song that with every word, drew me in.  It was a sad song about a man in a sad life that faked it until his death that night. 
 
Gillian and Dave have been honored and awarded through the years and will be remembered as great song writers and musicians.
 

 
 
 
 
 








 
 
And then, I'll leave you with this thought from The Last Pharaoh.....'I don't need a chicken, a chicken in the pot or a woman in my own backyard.........." again, a Gillian Welch - Dave Rawlings classic. 
 
 
 
 
 
Chickens, not in the pot but
 in Shannon's back yard
 
 

Thursday, April 20

 
 
 
Pat Sloan workshop sampler - Trash Bag Quilts
Pat Sloan applique - improv flower petals
 sampler quilt on display at her
Trash Bag Quilts workshop
 
 
I drove over to Ruston yesterday to be a part of Pat Sloan's "Trash Bag Quilts" workshop.  This workshop is totally about making yardage out of scraps and reusing that yardage in a quilt project.  This workshop is totally about improvisational quilt-making......I loved every minute of it. 

She put me in a comfort zone when I spotted this improvisational use of fabric in one of her quilt blocks.  A stripe with a stripe!  Yikes.

Pat Sloan workshop sampler - Trash Bag Quilts
 


While not all of the workshop was new to me, I learned so much from Pat Sloan.    Pat is an experienced teacher and loves what she does.  Very warm and personable and the improv style of the workshop just put me on top of the world.  I learned how she makes great sashing and borders for her quilts and how she makes curves the easy way!!!!  






Pat Sloan workshop sampler - Trash Bag Quilts
 
 
 



Pat demonstrated how she  cuts wedges to tilt her quilt blocks to get them off-center when the quilt design calls for that little bit of an edge. 




























And, don't you just love the sampler column quilt.  I do too.  Pat calls it her calendar quilt, very simply because she worked on it every calendar day for a year.  Adding a strip or a bit of applique or other embellishment every day in the year of its origin  That, of course, is dragging out the  agony of 'getting it done', but is definitely  an example of patience and tenacity. 

Oh, and a highlight of the day.....how she patched and pieced, sliced and diced to make a lot of her own striped fabric.  Oh, what fun seeing her stripes in her sample quilts. 

Pat Sloan workshop sampler - Trash Bag Quilts


















I especially enjoyed how Pat made fabric for this large scale floral quilt.  She patched and pieced both the background and the flower petals.  No....it's not applique !  Each petal is curved pieced into the quilt.  Not for the improv feint of heart! 



Pat Sloan workshop sampler - Trash Bag Quilts
Improv pieced large scale floral sampler by quilter maker
 fabric designer
 author of books:
Pat Sloan

































Yes, I drove over to Ruston yesterday and would do it again in a heartbeat if I knew Pat Sloan would be at the other end of the drive.  A fun day filled with sunshine. 


And while at the computer this morning, the urge to play with loose ends just hit me.  I took a picture of one of Pat's quilts to photoshop and made a frame out of it......Let the fun never end.  Be improv ~


 
 








April ~





April, I'm so glad you are here for me.  I look forward to spending the month with you.
 
 
Marty