Hello
Another week is passing and summer is in full swing. I love the color that is all around me at this time of year.   This week I spent a lot of time in the studio and enjoyed every min.  That is where the work gets done!

This week was also a  lay off week for the Textile Artist Stitch Club so I gave myself a little assignment. I found this project that I had started on a visit to Florida with Susan a few years ago so I decided this week would be a good time to complete it.   I cut the bird stencil with Susan and applied the color then too.
It is 15.5 “ X 19.5″. I am happy with the final results.

I spent the day with Liz today. We had fun.    We ended up reorganizing the work space and sorting through our collection of stuff.   It was a job that we really needed to do.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Parrot Priest: Mayan Series # 5 This work is 20″ X 23″. It is fused down ad then out line stitched by hand. The Parrot is my favorite part of this project.

 

 

I am getting good at doing the feet for these fellow as they are all so similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Priest: Mayan Series # 6 I did the drawing and then enlarged it to make a pattern this week. Head dress, clothing and hand position are the things that change for the most part with these little fellows.

 

 

 

 

Blue on Blue This project is             36.5 w X 41″ l  . I really enjoyed the play factor in the work on this project. I love all the textures and tints and shades of blue too. It was a good work to try stuff and explore.

This work is really a collage of textures using silk papers, ribbons and various unique weaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Garden I did a lot of hand work on this piece at the end of the process. My stitches are mostly in the applique of the circles and not decorative. That is a way to go on the next piece.
Nancy is the person who pushed me to make this into a garden setting.

Wool Birds Doing the birds for “Susan’s Birds” got me to thinking how much I like bird shapes. That coupled a big bag full of felted wool that my friend Angela gave me, were the inspiration for this new start. Then while I had the roving out I thought I’d add the light chests to the little birds. It will be fun to play with this piece and see were it leads me.

 

Felted Dryer Balls I finished up these five balls this week. They were all started way back in Feb. But got burred. Good to move forward with this project and complete the task.

Felted Back grounds- Landscape When I had the roving out to finish the dryer balls I looked at the colors and started playing with layouts. I will use some of the wool from Angela’s bag for this too.

Shore Line I was looking at a calendar page and thought the simple background would be a good place to add some machine drawing on top. Time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Projects    I pulled fabric for two new projects this week too.  Not sure what I want to do , but I feel that the colors work well in both collections.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing  I just keep working away on these fellows.    I now have 117 finished.

Childhood Memories- Summer: Grandmother  Ester

My parents went back to school in the summers following grade five. Mom went back to Greeley Colorado and Dada went to the University of Iowa in Iowa City. As kids Gene and I stayed with the grandparents alternating from week to week. Dad would drive in and make the exchange on Sunday afternoons and spend some time with us. I have a difficult time recalling what happened each summer so I will talk about the homes of Grandparents as separate entries. First I will cover staying with Grandmother Ester and Grandpa Merit my Dad’s parents. They lived on a farm they owned about five miles outside Morning Sun Iowa. Both of their families live within 30 miles of that small town. They were Presbyterian and the church was an important part of their social lives. The daily routine in that house involved reading a chapter from the Bible every morning after breakfast. When they got to the end of the book, we would start at Genesis again. Gene and I both went to Vacation Bible School at the Sharon Church that was on the opposite side of town and surrounded by a cemetery and corn fields. We always had to memories a new Bible verse every evening for the next day so I knew lots of them. Grandmother usually stayed and helped distribute a sack of cookies and juice  for the kids in the late morning.
The summer that we were studying Romans I learned to carve Ivory soap. The class did a map and I carved three domed homes for it. I later carved an own out of some green soap that was part of a book report for school. I loved the stylized illustrations in the little hand outs that we got in church school and spent many hot afternoons trying to mimic that style of drawing.
Because Mom was in Greeley, Dad encouraged me to write to her. I do remember doing that several times over the summers. When I was done I went to Grandmother for an envelope and after the add was added, Grandmother gave me a nickel and told me to put the letter in their mail box across the road, saying the mail man would add the stamp at the post office in town. That system worked as Mom did get the letters.
Grandmother Ester had a big garden on the south side of the house. Her fruit trees were there too. I remember climbing and picking the cherry’s from the cherry tree. I love her cherry pies. She also had a peach tree and a plum tree, but I have no memory of helping with the harvest of those. Tomatoes, beans, peas and onions were always in the garden too. She canned and froze lots of things. They rented a locker from a man who ran a big freezer with lots of smaller units called lockers in town and she kept some frozen vegetable there along with cuts of beef. When we went town on Wed night for the usual grocery shopping,  the locker was the last stop before we headed home. Grandmother did not have a strawberry bed but the farm north of theirs did and we went there to pick berries. That farmer had big 2″ X 12″ boards laid out across the patch to walk on and harvest the berries. After the season was over, they took the boards up and let the plants spread out. In the following spring the farmer would put the boards down on the older plants to  assure that the  newer plants were always vigorous. As a part of the strawberry season we always had a family ice cream event. In the late afternoon I would go with Grandmother to town to the ice house where she would purchase a block of ice. We drove home and Grandmother made power milk biscuits. The family started to arrive. It usually consisted of Grandmother’s sister Helen and her husband Bernard along with their grown childerden’s families. The men cranked the ice cream churn in the basement. I tried once, but found it too difficult and I really wanted to play with the other kids any way. We all ate out doors at the big pick nick table  in the fading evening light and enjoyed our home made ice cream , biscuits and strawberries. It is still one of my favorite desserts.

Please stay safe and I will write again next week

Carol