"Give Peace a Chance"

5"x 5"

Security Envelope Quilt Block

I used three different envelopes for this quilt block pattern. It was made of green triangle security envelopes from my bank for the border, blue hatch marks security envelopes for the background, and a gray/white hatch mark security envelope for the dove. This type of quilt block is typically considered an applique quilt block in the fabric quilting arts. I thought it was an appropriate New Year's Eve art project.

Earlier in the evening we went to downtown Pensacola for some of the New Year's Block Party festivities. The old man, the CoCo puff and I roamed the downtown streets. We went to the Dog House Deli for a great hot dog dinner and then dessert of funnel cake and pink cotton candy from the street food vendors. We were there at 8:00 when they lit up the Pelican, which is Pensacola's "Time's Square Ball Drop". We were home before 9:00 and everyone went to bed except me. I stayed up to do the quilt block.

They say what you are doing at midnight on New Year's Eve is what you will be doing all year long. Doing crafts in 2010 would make me very happy.

This week was very stressful at work. But I did have one interesting telephone interview. We will call him Preston. Preston was applying for disability and alleged having congestive heart failure. He was very personable and flirted throughout the interview. He played harmonica in a blues band. I was able to get all the information I needed for his application during the hour and half interview while he told me about his band, his children and grandchildren.

It was such a relief, from the constant despair and hopeless baggage that my clients typically dump on me. Preston may be just as hopeless and in need of financial assistance, but he at least took the time to be nice and make light of his situation.

Sometimes you have just have to laugh or otherwise you just end up crying all of the time. Preston taught me this very valuable life lesson this week. Just another week from the edge of security.

Christmas Came Early and Ideas for the New Year

"Star Pattern"

Size: 5"x5"

Red Salvation Army Security Envelope mounted on a green security envelope

A couple of days ago, someone, perhaps Santa, left a gallon size ziplock bag on my front porch filled with security envelopes. Good Old St. Nick was a tad early, but I'm really glad because I was having a miserable day and cutting up the envelopes cheered me up.

I came across a couple of real beauties in the security envelope world. Another red one!!!

I did a big dancey dance and my little heart skipped a beat or two or three. This particular red one was from the Salvation Army. So as you see above, I immediately paired it with a green security envelope to create a star quilt block for a Christmas theme.

I've been thinking more about my art and why I really have taken on this project and where I am going with it. More or less it is for relaxation. My 9 to 5 work is very stressful and I need a diversion at night to clear my mind. For whatever reason, cutting up the envelopes and categorizing them and organizing them relaxes me. Some people may have a glass of wine, others may go for a run, but for me scissors, paper and a glue stick provide me peace. My current insurance has decided I can only see my psychologist for 8 visits in the next year, so I'm going to have to come up with my own way of dealing with life.

In the new year I would like more people to see my work through my blog and perhaps in a gallery night show in downtown Pensacola. I would also like to kick it up a notch and get a full size security envelope quilt made as well as some other pieces I have been sketching in my journal.

Tomorrow I will be getting my own studio/art space. My husband is giving up his office space in our house so I can move everything from the dining room table into my own room/art studio. I am really excited and hope to be more productive in my artistic endeavors or at the very least rid myself of some of my daily stress.

Thanks again to my secret Santa and if one is reading this blog and you have any junk mail security envelopes send them my way.

And here is hoping that the new year brings my life filled with lots of love, good health and day by day a little more security.

Like sets of waves so is life....

"Waves" Quilt Block

Size: 9"x9"

Constructed of Blue Hatch Style Security Envelopes and mounted on White Card stock

It's been almost a month since I posted another quilt block made of security envelopes in my Security Envelope Quilt Project. Like this example of the quilt block "Waves", my life has been rolling up and down.

Some days the swells are few and far between and other times the constant chop has me splashing around with a drowning feeling.

The blue color of the security represents not only water but the blues I have been feeling.

Tonight as I worked on my project, I had the 80's channel of Music Choice playing on the TV for distraction, inspiration, and background noise.

"I feel like I need to get away, runaway... take my tears and that is not livin'... Now I'm going to pack my things and go". Tainted Love by Soft Cell was playing on the 8O's channel just now and followed now by Manic Monday by The Bangles.... how ironic. But maybe they are the songs I need to hear to reflect, relax and feel secure.

Talking Turkey Around the Block

Turkey Tracks Variation Quilt Block

Size: 9"x9"

Constructed of Security Envelopes, Scrapbook paper and mounted on a Manila Envelope

This is Thanksgiving week and in the favorite geometric shapes chapter of my new quilt book there was this pattern called Turkey Tracks Variation. The "variation" part comes "by abutting these blocks side by side, a new block is created in each set of four that are joined".

My scanner only scans 8.5" x 11" and some of the end points are not fully visible on this one 9"x9" block. The scanner is not the best representation for how the block looks in person. For instance the very center block that is surrounded by black triangles, is a very unusual security envelope. That particular patterned envelope looks like a group of feathers. I would have used it more in this block but I only had one envelope, so I had to use it sparingly, but if I come across some more of the feather patterned envelopes, I'll probably try a variation by assembling 4 blocks together with more of the feathered patterned envelope.

This week among the new find of the feather envelope pattern, I found a new letter opener or it may be old, or just a new one made to look old. Anyway I thought it was cool.

Happy Thanksgiving from me in my little land full of turkey and of security.

New Kid on the Block

"Tree of Life" paper quilt block

Size 9 " x 9"

hand colored security envelopes on manila envelope

After an afternoon of doctor's appointments and CT scans, I've got a kidney stone. I got some injections to help with my back and neck pain and pain medicine to last until the kidney stone passes. During the 2 hours between appointments I shopped in my local Big Lots store and found this book.

It is totally awesome and really cheered me up. It has 101 quilt blocks and gives a little history and provenance on how the various quilt blocks came about. The Tree of Life block I did above came from the Vintage Classics chapter.

"About this block: The Tree of Life block is an early quilt block pattern that is said to have a biblical reference, as did many names of that time. The reference to the tree of life comes from Genesis, Chapter 2. This beloved pattern is often times pieced using just two colors, although using colors from the same color family gives the tree pattern more dimension."

I stepped outside of the box, err... quilt block. Instead of using just all black and white graphics of the security envelopes, I colored one of the black and white patterns using a green crayola colored pencil. I also used one of the green and black envelopes for the contrasting triangle in the leaves. For the trunk I used the wood grain pattern envelope and highlighted areas with brown. I pieced it all on a manila envelope.

While visiting at my mom's house, I also found a stash of her quilting magazines. I got some real inspiration.

A quilt artist out of Japan by the name of Reiko Yamaguchi, had a really interesting story on how her life and her passion for the quilting arts began. Many of her quilts are inspired by things from her life. For 40 years she has been a storyteller on fabrics. She also teaches and helps her students tell their lives in their quilts. She confessed that often times all the student's stories can be a burden for her but that she finds vitality and energy in the finished workings of the quilts. Through her many years devoted to quilting she has found similarities with a person's personality and the type of quilts that suit them. For instance if you have a restless personality a quilt with triangles will calm your spirit!

And she was right. The Tree of Life quilt block had lots of triangle and while making it I did find myself for once calmer and a little more secure.

mail boxes full of new found security

Here is the latest quilt block. I really liked the way the crosshatch pattern meshed together. I got a manila envelope today and that got me to thinking. The manila envelope could be considered a security envelope of sorts. Even though a manila envelope does not have patterns, I could use the the solid color of the manila envelope. The yellow color will work well with the black patterned security envelopes that I have collected so far.

Of which I got a couple new patterns in my mail yesterday. I did a little dance and got excited when I saw a new pattern. The pattern is composed of little squares with stars in the middle of each square, which is similar to the quilt block that I just did.

Well my low back has been hurting for over a week now. Which really stinks.

It's been several months of no back pain so I'm overdue for a flareup of the ankylosing spondylitis or another kidney stone. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between the two pains, except the kidney stones tend to hurt on the side rather than the middle. But when they start hurting, they hurt real good.

I'm off work today due to the Hurricane /tropical storm/ bunch of rain and a little wind named Ida. I'm at my parent's place helping Opa watch CoCo and cousin Hayden. I have a work-in appointment with my pain management doctor at 1:00. Tomorrow I'll be off from work again for the Veteran's Day Holiday, one of the few perks of a government job.

Hopefully this afternoon the pain will be better . So I can mix up a batch of quilt blocks with the main ingredient of security envelopes, a sprinkling of manila envelopes and a little dash, just for good, measure of security.

Double the Blog, Double the Fun

My mom and I were at the Pensacola Interstate Fair just as it opened tonight. We quickly walked across the midway full of funnel cakes, pronto pups, and screaming kids on various fair rides. We were on a mission, we were going to the Antiques and Collectibles Exhibit.
This week I entered two of my Great Great Granny Dick's quilts in the Pensacola Interstate Fair. As you see my favorite, the Around the World Postage Stamp quilt took second. The odd thing was no quilt was given a blue ribbon. The other quilt my mom insisted that I enter was the Sweetheart Quilt and it tied for third with another entry. My mom kept saying the better quilt was the Sweetheart and I said no, the Postage Stamp was the better quilt.

I was right and I won second!!! The judges picked my choice, but I was a little put out that they did not give a blue ribbon for the quilt category. My mom wanted a recount and wanted to know just what the judges were using for points. Sorry mom, but my choice for the better quilt beat out your choice.

The rest of the evening, Mom and I looked around at some of the other exhibits and then sat at a picnic table and ate a big old BBQtater, basically a potato full of BBQ pork, butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon bits and washed it down with sweet tea and topped it off with a funnel cake for dessert. Mom loves to people watch and we sat and watched the world go by for the longest time. And of all people that walked by one was Stephanie Ritchie.

If you remember she is my artist friend that I ran into in September at the very same fairgrounds at a kids consignment sale. She helped me kick off this blog and got me to thinking about breaking the curse of the threes and start working on the artist I want to be.

It was a really good night. Good Karma. Great mom. And even greater feelings of security.

Now onto the second blog of the night....

It's been a couple of weeks and life has been quickly passing by. So this blog is really two in one. The scans above do not show the newest quilt blocks as good as I would like. I found these quilt block patterns in a very weird place, a McDonald's Happy Meal. A couple of months ago they had these little books from the American Girl/ Doll Series. One of the American Girl's/doll's back story involved her making quilts and in the little book it gave examples of quilt blocks.

I have had more exciting donations of envelopes to the Security Envelope Quilt Project. My neighbor gave me some great colored envelopes, and again a couple of patterns I did not have. Here are some of the envelopes she gave me.

I 've got a little something for you, my neighbor lady... you'll be getting your very own decoupaged letter opener and some flowers or maybe a tree.

Then one night last week, I came in from work after a really bad day at the office and Mike said, You've got a bag full of envelopes today. I did a little dance, as I went through the bag. I think they came from the neighbor lady again. So double the pleasure and double the fun. Again I got some examples I did not have. And as soon as my precious CoCo went to bed, I went to work using some of the new envelopes and worked again on my personal quest for security .

So What Is It? Safety and Security?

I keep getting asked what is this Security Envelope Quilt Project thing? It's hard to describe what I see in my head as my finished multimedia art piece. I see a big paper "quilt" on the wall, plus lots of little other projects like paper beads. I've given it a name, so I can blog about the art pieces I create and how art, especially my own art makes me feel.

Take a look at this blog. It is about another artist that has done some interesting projects with the security envelope. I really liked her piece where she did an installation on nails of all the buttons she had assembled from her collection of security envelope paper. http://sweetiepiepress.blogspot.com/search/label/security%20envelopes

Also if you go to the following Flickr group on security envelopes, it gives you an idea of how other people are making art and creating craft from these pieces of junk mail. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=security+envelopes#page=2

I also have tried my hand at making some paper beads from the security envelopes and have liked what I made. http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2009/01/paper-beads-envelope/ They are fairly easy to make.

Here are some finished bracelets similar to what I have made. Think of the friendship beaded safety pin jewlery you made as a child and you get the idea. http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/02/cha_winter_convention_indie_cr.html.

I think when any artist finishes a piece of art and it goes into a gallery or art show, that people other than the artist won't see or just can't see the beauty and the passion.

That is why they ask why?

I hope this blog has helped explain what is it that I am doing. It won't explain why I'm obsessed with doing it. But perhaps my obsession lies in my wanting to pin down, nail down or just glue down a little security, paper or otherwise. I am what my project is to become, hopefully just a little more secure.

Can't See the Forest for the Trees

I've been bogged down again with the real job, the job that pays the bills. Bills that come in my security envelopes treasures. The 9am to 5pm job takes so much time away from my 9pm to 5am passions.

This week I did two little dancey dances. I got my first set of envelopes for my Security Envelope Quilt Project from begging to my family and friends. And I got a colored security envelope design that I did not have.

A big shout out goes to my 74 year old Aunt Carolyn. She may not get me or get this art project I'm working on, but she saved me some gems in the security envelope world. She gave me a variety of black and white designs, some I did not have and best of all some colored designs. Quite a few beautiful blue designs and my very first brown design. Here are a sample of what she gave me.




A BIG Thank you Aunt Carolyn, it really meant alot to me and you gave me some of the best I've found yet. I'll be sending a little something special in an envelope from me to you.

So folks, don't be shy. You too can participate in my Security Envelope Quilt Project and get a little something from me for your troubles. Just send me some of your junk mail security envelopes. email me at dixiedoll@gmail.com for my home address. Thanks for reading.

I may not be able to quite see all of the forest for the trees, but only in what I seek, is security.

What a difference a day and a tool or two makes...

Today I thought about my security envelope quilt project differently. My first couple of quilt blocks are not all that pretty to look at and for that matter not inspiring me. Now these 2 examples are getting closer to the look I want.

So what changed, you ask? My Tools.

As the old adage goes you need the right tool for the job.

Up until now my process was using paper "scrapbook tools". But I was not getting the look of a quilt block....I thought, what if I used sewing and quilting tools?

I dragged out the rotary cutter, cutting mat, metal ruler, along with the scrapbook paper cutter, 2 inch square punch and of course a good old fashioned pair of scissors.

The right tools do make a difference. I still need to work out some kinks with regard to "seam allowance".
But just getting my hands to do what my head is envisioning, now that is what fills me full of security.

A Stitch in Time

Well this week was not as productive as I would have liked for the Security Envelope Quilt Project. This is an example of the latest quilt block. Even though I did not spend a lot of time piecing blocks, I did score several boxes of unused security envelopes at my favorite thrift store. As you can see in the example the word recycle and the recycle symbol are repeated. I really like the graphics and how they repeat on the paper. I mixed these blocks with some of my treasured green hatch style security envelope.

In my little collection of security envelopes, colored envelopes are rare. Most frequently in my mail I get white envelopes with black graphics, or sometimes blue graphics, and occasionally the white envelope with gray graphics. But there are days when the colored envelopes come with the black security graphics inside and I do the security envelope dancey dance.

So if you are reading please send me some of your junk mail, specifically security envelopes. Email me at dixiedoll@gmail.com for my home address.
Thanks for reading and as always I hope your day is safe and completely secure.

The First Security Envelope Quilt Blocks

So here are the first paper quilt blocks that I have finished. I think I need to explain a little bit more on how I'm "making a quilt". This won't be the kind of quilt you can throw on your bed. It is going to be a mixed media art piece. I'll be creating quilt blocks by gluing pieces of paper from the security envelopes in my collection.

The other day when I was in the craft store I saw fabric in which you can print from a regular home ink jet printer. It showed how you could use photos to print onto fabric to use for various craft projects. It would be a little more labor intensive and time intensive for me to actually make a real fabric quilt. But maybe a future project?

For now as you can see, my first paper quilt blocks are a little rough. I'm using a 2 inch square paper punch. The edges of the paper are a little rough. When I glued them onto my larger square they did not quite fit altogether. I am going to have to experiment a little more, but that is really fun part.

I also came across some scrapbook articles that showed how you can use a sewing machine to add decorative stitches to paper. I did get out my sewing machine, but it was a big "No Go". My husband bought this sewing machine for me about 2 years ago for Christmas. Since that time I have only used it once to make a costume based on the movie Troll 2. I worked and worked trying to get the machine to sew. But either it was operator error or machine error and the bottom bobbin kept getting all hung up and after nearly 2 hours I gave up!

I'm going back to the glue for now, it's easy, breezy and of course the current keeper of my sanity and security.

The Security Envelope Quilt Project

I have been contemplating this art project for awhile. I have been collecting security envelopes even longer. The other night, I ran into a friend and fellow artist, Stephanie Ritchie. We were at all places, the fairgrounds in a building with about 500 other mothers buying and selling at a children's consignment sale.

We laughed, we cried and in the middle of all the chaos around us we shared our passions. We talked about our passion for our parents, she had just recently dealt with the passing of her father. We talked about our passion for our children and our spouses. Then we talked about our passion for art.

But for both of us, the passion for art was just out of reach. We were stuck in, as we discussed, "The curse of the 3's". You know, how everyone says bad things happen in 3's. These passions by no means were bad things. It was just our other passions were cursing, if you will, our passion for being an artist.

Basically I'm saying passions are prioritized and we become daughters first and wives second and most importantly third, mothers. The artist in us never is fully realized because of the curse of the 3's.

So here I am again, trying to find self security.

I really want to be an artist, not only for the passion of being an artist, but for the security of knowing that I am more than the curse of the 3's. Just as my Great-Granny Dick, sewed evey one inch block of a quilt by hand, she was a daughter, a wife, a mother and she broke the curse and was a quilt artist.

I will attempt to break the curse of the 3's with The Security Envelope Quilt Project. Each day I am going to make one paper quilt block from one inch squares of security envelopes. I will scan and post them here on this blog, along with my other thoughts and musings. Hopefully, all of this will provide for me and maybe others a place on the edge of security.

The Need for a New Security Blanket

I know it sounds a little cheeky, and the fact that I work for Social Security, makes the whole definition of security for me take on so many different forms. During an average day at work I probably say the word security at least 500 times, and that is not exaggerating. For a normal, secure person probably no problems, but for me too cathartic.
Whether it is answering the phone or explaining the different “security” programs that are available at the Social Security Administration. I probably utter the word security at least once if not twenty times in every conversation with every individual that I speak with every day. If I don’t utter the actual word it is probably contained in one of the many bureaucratic acronyms like SSI, SSDI, or SSN. So it may get hidden in my office’s coded language, but it is still decipherable the same and it's name is security.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, I actually rather like my job. Some days better than others, but overall I relish in being the old grumpy government employee having to deal daily with the tax paying and non tax paying citizens of my country. But unlike the old guard, i.e. Baby Boom Generation, I am the kinder gentler government employee. I am a Generation X’r that cares, insert huge oxymoron snarky smile :)

However, security or the word security is very difficult. I like most human people have insecurities. For me personally I probably have more insecurities than the normal person. So I'm always on the look out for a distraction to take my mind off myself. So that is why this project I’m contemplating, might do some good for me and distract me for long enough. But to get my mind in order, first, I need more envelopes and then a really good blog, placed in cyberspace securely.

Next time:
The Security Envelope Quilt Project

Security and the Blanket

Much like my 2 year old daughter’s “Blankie“, my security was currently coming surreptitiously in the form of a security envelope.

I fondly remember my own security blanket from my childhood. My mom would bring it out every so often when it got chilly here in Florida.

It was no ordinary store bought blanket it was a handmade quilt. It was called a “Postage Stamp” quilt. It was made for my mother by my Great Great Granny Dick The quilt came to her as she left home for college in Abilene, Texas.

For those not into the traditional quilting arts will see only pieces of fabric sewn together in various shapes to create a blanket. But among many, such as myself, quilts are revered. Quilts gain not only sentimental value but can even gain monetary value over the years.

Quilts have all have different names based on how the blocks are put together. So the “postage Stamp” quilt looks just as it sounds. Small one inch squares of fabrics sewn together. Today, the “Postage Stamp” quilt could be considered an eco-friendly- green quilt. This type of quilt was made of recycled little scraps of fabric. The fabric was either left over from other quilts or home sewn clothes or were just bits and pieces passed from one neighbor to another.


We had several other quilts but this “Postage Stamp” quilt was my favorite. I loved looking at each and every individual square, trying to find other squares that were the same. But Granny Dick was a master quilter and had made many quilts, it was very hard to find the same fabric square anywhere else on the quilt. Yet some how all of the different pieces fit. The overall presentation was not only fine craftsmanship but gave me a sense of beautiful security.

Up Next:
The Need for a New Security Blanket

The Prologue

I’m not sure of the exact date, but it started at the end of last year. With all the attention of going green, of recycling, I felt forced to do my part. Actually I was being forced into a different reality, a different fate. So I like to call it my personal paradigm shift to security.

Mind you, I’m not one that conforms to much of anything and certainly I’m far from being conventional. But there are times that I do conform out of necessity for reasons of security.

Conforming like most all American families, I have a mailbox out on the curb in front of our American Dream. Each day, apart from Sunday and federal holidays, the mailbox is filled with junk mail and mostly bills to pay.

I’m the bill payer in my family. So I’m the one that moans and groans for every bill that arrives.

That was until that fateful day.

I began to look really deep into the envelopes. An obsession began. I know only some will truly appreciate my obsession for the weird, and the obscure. But an inexplicable obsession with envelopes, specifically “Security Envelopes” began.

Every day I’d open the bill, throw the bill into a stack and the return security envelope into a stack. Eventually, I’d pay the bill on the Internet then chunk the bill into the recycle can. The stack of bills would go down while the stack of return security envelopes got bigger. Then I began to notice differences in security envelopes.

They were printed in all graphical shapes and colors. The graphics varied. There were circles, crosshatches, checkerboard, squiggly lines, and straight lines. Some were black and white, some were blue and white, and the real gems that made me do a dancey dance were green.

I thought I was going crazy, I was amassing a pile of security. So finally one day I did it, while on my 15 minute lunch break at my job with the Social Security Administration. I googled the words security envelopes and I found some interesting people, who just like me hoarded with love these envelopes.

Some people used the envelopes to make real stuff like art or fun stuff like crafts, and the more studious types were just documenting the different patterns from around the world on a flickr page.

Then it hit me like a mail cart full of security envelopes.

I was not alone.
I was not “The Crazy Potter of Biloxi“ but I could be.

I had stopped to smell the envelope, if you will.
I was someone who took the time to look deep inside. And what I found was serenity, serendipity, and yes even security.


Tomorrow:
Security and the Blanket