Introduction - Cindy Bettinger

HI! - My name is Cindy Bettinger, and I'm honored to be accepted as a member of the Art Quilt Blog. I've only been an "official" member of the art world for a year, and that year has been wonderful. Most of my life has been spent developing my ability at the piano, first as a student and then as a teacher. I have a very small income from piano teaching, and feel called to continue teaching because I wholeheartedly believe that music the language of heaven and through music God helps and encourages His amazing creation. The funny thing is that I've always loved to make art, in every form, and why it never occurred to me to pursue art as a serious career is a complete mystery to me. Artistic expression has, until last January, remained in the "hobby" section of my life, where I spend time when I have time to spare. Over 10 yrs ago I discovered quilting, and I spent most of that "spare" time developing my skills, from hand-piecing to hand-quilting. Machine piecing and quilting. I already had embroidery, painting, sketching, portrait, beading, jewelry making and design skills that I had developed over the years, and when the recent enthusiasm world wide for art quilting and embellishing caught on, I jumped in with eyes wide open.

I'm seeking to find a way to meld my music and art together and I don't know how long the journey will be, nor what direction I will be taking. In the journey, I have simply given myself permission to play, and not only in my spare time, but in time that I set aside for this purpose. Along the way I hope to make connections with like minded creative people who are willing to explore with me, and to share inspiration. This year my goal is to at least support the cost of my blog with an income generated from my art rather than my music - which is probably a pretty modest goal, but it's big to me.

Music, Seams, Family

Bummer this is a day late for Lara's Talk about Tuesday. Oh Well.

So I was reading Seams to An End and Karen mentioned music. Probably not the same music subject I'm going to post about, but it made me think that I've been quilting to music the last couple of days and Loving it!!! I found this cool site Pandora Radio! You can type in an artist or a song that you like and it will find others like it, and you can create your own station. I currently have a Classic Station, a Disco Station (yes I was raised in the 70s!) and a New Age station. These may all be diametrically opposed genres, but Oh Well. I'm loving it! Check it out and let me know what you think.


So the Lemoyne Star quilt is almost done. See how removing the bulk in the seams has allowed me to stitch in the center of the star without problems. It's amazing how every block that has a bulky center always seems to need the stitching to come from the center. And if you intentionally avoid the center, it seems to poke up even more!
So, I've posted about my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I've been piecing by hand. Well, we took down the Christmas Tree (yes it's fake) on Saturday. FINALLY! and the 2.5 year old was helping w/the vacuuming. Yes, he's going to be OC like his Dad. We've decided it's a good thing! OK, so back to the quilting. Well, he's detached the vacuum head and just walking around w/the nozzle, and all of a sudden I hear, "uh oh". Guess what? He vacuumed up the block I was working on. Yep, it was almost finished! SWOOSH!!! Right off the table needle, pin and all GONE! My DH offered to go get it out of the central vac canister in the garage and I said "don't bother." Then I'd have to figure out how to get it clean w/o it getting all distorted. I figure it's easier to just get started on the next block!
This is the little table DH/Santa gave me for Christmas to sit next to my comfy chair and hold my quilty stuff for me. Wasn't that nice of him! Especially since we agreed NOT to get each other anything for Christmas, because our trip to Canada is going to be our Christmas! Yes, That's coming up soon. We leave in less than 3 weeks to pick up our missionary son in Canada!! YEA!!!


Happy Quilting! Lauri