Plotting and Planning

It started with snow. More than a skiff. The kind that you have to shovel to find your vehicle before going to work. The kind you get stuck in--more than once.

It ended with an email from kikki: "How are you enjoying the snow?" What? Enjoying the snow? Not at all. So I started dreaming of Argentina instead. Warmth, shoes, tango. Did I mention the warmth. Or the shoes.

The decision is made. This year for sure.

Lovely Legs

I spent time in the fabric store the other day looking at fabric looking for fish net stockings. Cream background, pale black square. Of course, there wasn’t anything exactly the way I wanted. But I found some pale tan with a wash of purple. I also picked up several other choices, just in case. And now my little lady now has a stunning set of legs. Too perfect, don’t you think.



The piece is actually bigger than a traditional Journal Quilt, as it is approximately 17" square. Guess this makes it an Art Quilt, not a Journal Quilt.

I've started the next one already. The idea is a broken heart, repaired somewhat, held together by what ever is at hand, in this case snap swivels used in fishing to hold lures and weights on. There will be bleedy bits coming out of the heart, but on the ends will be flowers. If you can't mend your heart, grow flowers instead.

Journey of a Journal

The top is almost finished. I had a bit of frustration on the weekend once the shoes were complete. I was trying to create the illusion of a dress, but it wasn’t working. Each attempt looked like the fabric had just been dumped at the top without any thought. It wasn’t cohesive. I spent the next two evenings at tango watching feet and legs, but it still wasn’t forming in my mind. When I thought about it, the dress idea wasn’t the image I wanted. It felt too heavy somehow.

So I spent some time watching tango videos on YouTube. One video clicked. Her footwork was exactly the image I wanted. So I watched, rewound, watched, paused, and watched again. There! The pause button froze her feet in the precise movement I was looking for. I started to lay cord to create the illusion of her legs, running back and forth between the sewing room and the computer. Hey, wait a minute, this thing is a lap top. Never said I was the quickest one in the room—and I’m the only one in the room! Once the laptop was on my sewing table, things fell into place much quicker and now she has legs. Now I think she needs stockings though.

Journal Quilts

Tuesday night was the first class on Journal Quilts. These small quilts have taken the quilt world by storm. The size of a piece of paper, they are a journal of ideas, found objects, places, events and more. Susan explained where journal quilts came from, we viewed a few samples of hers as well as magazines. By the end of her explanation, I was so excited I could hardly sit still (so what else is new). We were asked if we had any ideas. Well, duh—shoes! Or tango. Or tango and shoes.

By this time, the other woman in the class was a bit overwhelmed and had no ideas. Susan had an envelope with words printed on a card. We were each asked to pick three words without looking, and we could then use these as a springboard for the first quilt. I drew first, putting the cards upside down on the table as I took them out of the envelope. While the other lady drew her cards, I turned mine over. And howled with laughter. There in front of me were the words horse, triangle and SHOE. Well, of course!

I walked over to my bag, took out a shoe and placed it on the table. Susan and Pat looked at me in shock. What, doesn't everyone carry and extra set of stilettos in their bag? We chose fabric (red velvet) and embellishments. These are art quilts, so our imagination dictates the direction we go. I drew stylized shoes on a piece of paper, cut and fused. And had to leave! That was it, time’s up. I left with four small pieces of red pinned to a background, a bag of fiddley bits and a head full of ideas.

At tango later, I was talking to Carolyn about the class. I told her about the shoes and how I wanted to use tango images to start from.

“Oh, I can just see a shoulder, with a lace collar.” She said.

Ooh, yes—I have the perfect lace collar from a baby dress salvaged years ago and stuck in a drawer. By this time I’m bouncing some more. Small images of sections of dancers—a shoe, a shoulder, a face, hands—aligned on a wall to form the illusion of dancers. I can see it already!

Buying Shoes in Argentina

Last night at tango, I was asked where to buy shoes in Buenos Aires. I could never tell another person where to purchase shoes. Shoes are an expression of self, and very personal. And yes, this comes from a woman who until recently only owned two pairs of shoes. But no fear, I've rectified the situation and have been making up for lost time at an alarming rate!

I went to Buenos Aires to do three things. Shop for shoes, take lessons and dance my little heart out. Shop for shoes I did. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to hit all the shoe stores. There were a few that in my wanderings I couldn't find and some that I didn't have time to connect with. Aurora Lubiz operates out of her apartment and is only available two days a week, so never managed to see her shoes, even though she was only a block away from Lina’s.

The choices in Buenos Aires are overwhelming. I bought eight pairs of shoes for myself, one pair for my daughter and three pairs for my granddaughter. And I could easily have purchased more. But my suitcase (that would be the one I purchased while there) was only so big. Note to self: take an empty suitcase for shoes next time!

Best buying experience: Comme Il Faut. They have a glass case on the wall with maybe 12 pairs of shoes on display, but this is no where near what they actually have. Comme Il Faut has no web site so you can't preview anything. They receive new stock regularly, so more than one visit will net you multiple buying experiences. I was a good girl and only went once as I knew I would succumb to the magic of the experience. Where else can you have someone bring boxes and boxes of shoes for you to try on.

Least expensive shoes: Lolo Gerard. When I was there, there were shoes ranging in price from 80 pesos to 109 pesos in a sale area. She has a wonderful selection of beautiful shoes that were only 190 pesos, so a bit less than other stores.

Several stores are located in the same area: Madreselva, Susan Villarroel, Lolo Gerrard and Tango 8 are all located within a one block radius of Abasto Shopping centre. Flabella, Darcos, Suipcacha 256 are all located side by side on Suipacha near Confiteria Ideal.

The hardest thing when it comes to shoes is what a person is looking for. From serviceable to so damn sexy they hurt, Buenos Aires has it all. I am already dreaming of the next pair. I saw some at Susan Villarroel that I didn't buy because I was on a mission for teal shoes by then and these were red. But I can't stop thinking about them. I dreamt of Buenos Aires last night. Must be all the talk about shoes.

More About Shoes

I’m gaining a reputation as a shoe-a-holic. Yesterday at tango, one of the fellows mentioned this CBC documentary about stilletos. “Gee, I’m talking about shoes. Don’t tell anyone or they’ll revoke my guy card.” Hey, you have full permission to not only talk about shoes, but look at them too. That’s why women wear heels.

This morning a co-worker had emailed me the following link: www.cbc.ca/documentaries/confidential/highheel.html. At work. Hum, does surfing the internet checking out shoes count as assisting the publisher in any way?

It's All About the Shoes

Here they all are in all their beauty. The last pair will come out to dance tomorrow night.