Project Updates

On Tuesday I had my first group critique of the semester/year. All in all it went pretty well and I received many helpful suggestions and ideas. So, today- filled with inspiration from the critique- I took off on the Neighborhood Quilting Project.

One of the things we talked about during the critique was the importance of not only collecting contributions of fabric from my neighbors, but also attempting to collect the stories about each piece of fabric. I received some suggestions about how to present my project, in order to help make my neighbors feel comfortable about opening up to me and participating. With my inventory chart in hand, I took off door-to-door... an activity that tends to make me a little uncomfortable.

Although it was a Wednesday morning and many neighbors were not home, I managed to catch a few people. The contributions and stories I collected were fabulous. I spent at least 30 minutes with one neighbor who was kind enough to give me pieces of fabric that brought back a slew of stories from her past. I can't wait to go out again and meet more neighbors. The interactions (with people I most likely would never otherwise have met) are so inspiring...

I also met with Lexa this afternoon to discuss preliminary plans for a collaborative project, "Your Garden's Cookbook". The logistics of this project are still coming together, but our plan is research and network around Portland in order to create books of recipes for gardeners, which will be designed specifically for what they are growing (or plan to grow).