Hello
Mother Natures and old Man Winter are playing games wit the weather here. Wed I took the flower picture and it was a glorious day  sunny and warm. This morning I got up to cold, snow on the ground and all  over the trees. It is a time of contrast.

 

 

 

 

I spent a lot of time working on the Textile Artist stitching challenges this week. I did finish Sue Shane’s assignment from week one. I will work on creating more simple patterns using only strait stitches in the future.

The assignment for this week was from Richard Mc Vetus and it was to do four different ways of couching. I added it to the fabric piece from last week. This morning I though of one more thing I want to try so I drew another circle to fill.

I did more of the Sketchbook Revival projects.   Melany Rivers did a fun exercise where we drew with our left hand and then finger painted in the drawing. It was enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Noah Scanlin gave us a challenge were we were to put 100 dots on a page and then connect them to create and image. The crazy clown with the deflated balloon came out of that. The we added to the image using the same blokish style. I good way to loosen up.

 

 

Ryana Campbell did a collage and paint piece with us. Her approach uses more paint on top to join the image and build it up then.  I normally do  not add much paint when  I  collage, so I learned a new tool to add to my   creative tool box.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Place Matts I have now completed all 17 of the place matts. They are all in a the bag that Joyce gave them to me in and I will deliver them to her front poach on Tue. The new rule that says I am ,as an even year birth date , only be out on Tue, Thur and Sat.   That does limit me. But I will use Tue to do lots of little errands like deliver masks and    go to the post office and mail some of my cowls to friends.

Solo Butterfly Flight This work is 22″ X 22″. The blue and pink background is from Regina and one of the completed it challenge pieces that she gave me.
I finished this free motion drawing part and added the butterfly yesterday.

I looking at it today I think I will add a bit to the butterfly as it seems a little dull to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kites and Flowers This work is also a part of the complete it challenge. I am finishing up the facing part now and the yellow and orange on the right is that section. I did reflective quilting after I quilting around the kites and flower.

 

 

 

Agitated Aggie When I went to the Canadian Quilt show last fall with the Sisterhood of the Scissors group we created a challenge using the graphic fabric with the women holding the scissors. I am finally getting around to working on it and having a great time.

Marble This is my hand work project for now. I am just trying to mimic some floor tile that I took a photo of.

Drawing I only did one drawing this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This is the start of the assembly of this one  quilt. It has taken longer then I expected to put together the backs. That reflects the same problem I encountered before- trying to do three at one time is just a lot slower then doing just one. I will not do it this way ever again.

12″X 12″   The call came out this week for the Surface Design Quilt Association   auction entries.  This is my start on that challenge.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Des Moines

The move to Carroll was made because Dad got a new job as Principal of the Public High School there. It was a much larger school with about 2 75 high school students. One of the new things that the job offered was his  participation in the Iowa Administrators Conference that happened in Des Moines every year on the Saturday  of the week following Thanksgiving. We went along with him and spent the day in the city while Dad went to the meetings. It continues to be the biggest city in the state and it seemed huge to me as a kid. Mom started her Christmas shopping at that time so we went to the big department stores, J.C. Penny’s, Sears and Roebuck and Gimbles. Mom let Gene and I pick out an ornament for the Christmas tree every year. The first one I selected was an orange Santa with a real fur beard and arms that were attached by springs so they wiggled. He could be separates at the belt to reveal a opening in the middle were Mom hid a special treat every year to be opened on Christmas morning. One year I selected a blown glass blue bird with a long tale that was like a paint brush. There were lots of shoppers, so to keep us together Mom always held Gene’s  hand, while I held onto her coral colored coat  sleeve and often carried a shopping bag. Mom gave us a few coins with instructions to donate to the charity buckets that were manned along the street. “ We need to be thankful for out blessings and share what we can,” she told us. Gene did not want to do that and I think he kept a few of the pennies, but he did put something in the pot too. As we walked from store to store, I kept looking at all the different people. We walked past two dark blue black men who were talking. They were the first live black men I had ever seen and so much darker then the brown King in our nativity set. Mom corrected me for my staring- but it was not the color  of their skin that captured my limited childhood mind- “ But, Mom they were talking in tongues!” In my world I had jumped to the conclusion that they were doing something religiously amazing sense the only time I had ever heard that one could not understand the words of another was from the Bible. She laughingly  explained to me that they were just from a foreign country not from the Bible. I was so  naive.
The last even of the day was a stop for dinner at a big smorgasbord, called Bishops. Mon carefully took me all though the line and Dad helped Gene. She let me look at everything before we started to fill the plate so I would not take more than I could eat or fill that plate with too much of one type of food and want some of an item further down the line. It was a very pleasant meal and we followed that ritual every year that we went to the conference. At the end of the meal a waitress brought Gene and I balloon’s that had  Bishop’s printed on them  and with   little cardboard feet so they sat flat. I remember bouncing the feet on my hands in the car as we started the long drive home.   The family followed variations on this trip for four years.

Stay safe and keep creating.

Carol