Hello,

I am enjoying the sun of this January day and the rich smell of these blossoms that were a gift from Judy.      As I was looking at my grandson’s camouflage pants the other day I was wondering if the goal of was to mislead or conceal.  Here in central NY in doors in the winter the patterns  doen’t do either job- but out in the woods in the summer they must do a bit of both.   Many animals and plants use camouflage to trap and stalk their pray as well as hide from predators.   I know my grandson purchased  the pants  so he could lie in wait with his camera to take photos so I guess his goal was to conceal.     It is not a fashion statement in his case so I guess that means his major intent is  not to mislead his peers- just the animals.   A strange bit of both in the end.

Progress Report: Aces and Spaces   This work is 37.5” w X 27” t.     It is built from the cutaways  of ACE plus a few transparent fabrics.   I did free motion quilting in the patters of aces- mostly using the ace of spades  for my pattern as that is the one most folks think of when they picture aces  in their heads. I enjoyed playing with this project.

Collage 2 The Song Bird    I am staying true to my goal of trying to do a collage every week.  This is my second piece.  I was listening to a recording where there were bird calls as a part of the intro and this work came form that joyful sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ribwort Plantain   This work is 14”w X 18” l.   I used felting for the background and did the Plantain on wash away  before I applied it to the surface. The heads are made from yarn and the steams are robin.  The leaves are fabric with sewn lines on top for the vain patterns.   A fabric boarder was added before binding.

  Hand work   This daily practice is moving along nicely.     I am trying to limit the number of types of stitches I  use here so it holds together and one can see how different yarns look with the same stitches.

Joy II   As the shot shows I finished the building of the second base for the joy cut.  I tried several backgrounds before settling on this one and then tried several layouts too.   I finally decided that I liked the diagonal layout with the words not being read from the same direction.  This work is ready for stitching now.

Double Joy    With this project  it take a lot of trial and error before I settle on the background and placement of the parts for the work.   This time the two tops of the words are pointed toward one another.  The centers are not even pinned in at this point as I need to make a curvy cut to unite the yellow unit to the orange one.

 Glyph IV   The beads just keep being added to the work.   I am inching up the right side of the O now.

Ice The stones are all  stitched down to the stream bed now.   I plan to go back and do a bit more to anker them and start to build a water flow pattern across the surface.     This is the photo  I am working from.   I did a little test piece to see if I could get the line effect with my stitching  for the ice that will go on top of the rocks.  The best one was when I zig-zagged  and appliqued down a bit of cording.

Wool 1 I felted down some roving to begin a new work based on a part of a photo I took last fall.  I only did the hand “basting” part so the roving would stay put before I get out the machine to do the final work here.

Wool 2 This is a second piece of wool with the same treatment as the first.

6X6 The call came out for the next 6X6 works for the Rochester Contemporary Art Center show  and so I responded.  I have been a part of this for the last six years I think.   They are all done now and I will mail them off next week.

 

High Priestess  Card  Susan has suggested that we try to do the Major Arcana for our Tarot cards so this is the  third in the series.   I am enjoying doing these collages.

I hope everyone is warm and working at  there creative activates

Carol