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100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, Fallen, Smoldering

Perception

Hello,
Summer is in full swing here in central New York. On my walk I saw a deer this morning and noticed that I have a double blossom on one of my Day Lilies. One needs to keep their eyes open to perceive the world. We seem to live in a world of lines, both strait and curved. Our buildings are mostly sharp edges and lots of squares and  rectangles. To balance that we often add shrubs and trees that have curved lines.     Most roads are laid out in strait lines  with curves that are created mostly by the landscape.     For the most part here in the west we do not live with may circles like the beautiful moon gates of the orient or the curved onions of the middle east domes. I wonder if there is any   cultural  reason for our preferences or are we just familiar with them?
It was a quiet week for me. I did a zoom with the Pixies and Liz and I spent a day dying. We did a progression emersion dying process. Turquoise to Orange. I learned a lot and we plan to try it again later this summer.

Progress Report: Fallen I did finish applying the leaves to the surface and I washed the quilt in the washing machine. I like how washing frayed open  the cuts to reveal the layers of cloth beneath.  I now need to add a focal point to this work.

Smoldering I am stitching/quilting this work now. The process is slow as I am trying to spend more time looking at the work as I go along.

 

 

Butterflies I finished the machine drawing of the butterfly and I sewed him down to the quilt base. I am now in the process of quilting in butterflies  around the big one with  thread.

 

100 Days I am moving along on this project. Today is day 45. I am starting to play a bit more with how I might arrange them.

 

 

Daily Practice I finished another square this week and started a new one last night.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing I just keep doing a drawing every day or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adolescence Spring trip II

We went to the White House on the Tues morning of our Spring Trip. The line  wrapped around the outside of the building along the black wrought iron fence and  it took an hour to get to the door. Rooms were huge and I recognized a few details from the TV tour that Mrs Kennedy had done a few years earlier. We then went off to the Treasury Building were we looked at counterfeit currency and got to see a real 100,00.00 dollar bill. There was also a exhibit of how folks had mutilated bills and a second exhibit of sculptures made by folding bills . I remember a bird and a dollar car. Next stop was the National Aquarium. I enjoyed the sea turtles the most. The National Aquarium is no longer in DC, but in Baltimore. After a light lunch we went back to the Smithsonian again. We visited the Space exhibit and saw Freedom 7 and Friendship 7. I was surprised that the capsule was smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle. We also checked out some amazing doll houses full of beautiful hand made furniture.
> Wednesday was our day to do history outside DC. We went to Fredericksburg first. Gene and I did look for bullets in one of the battle fields after reading a sign that said folks could still find them- but we were not successful. We then went to Williamsburg. We checked out the visitors center and enjoyed a historical movie about THE area. It was my first experience with a living history museum, and I liked all the colonial dress. We went to the Hatters, a Cabinetmakers shop and an Apothecary  shop. There was a demonstration going on across the green from where we were on the use of long guns. Gene and I started out running toward the location and one of the guns was fired. I know I changed direction in mid air, I was so startled. The demo was interesting when we got there. Next stop was the National Seashore and Cape Hatteras. We stopped at Kitty Hawk, first with a stop at the little museum. They had a model of the Wright Brothers plane that I found a bit flimsy to my way of thinking.  Good use of wire though.   We checked out the light house and then did a little beach combing. The water was too cold to even wade in, but we had fun building sand castles and collecting shells. I even found a sword from a swordfish. I remember that the wind was blowing so hard that the tops of the waves were blown backward . It was a nice restful day for us.
> When we got up and we started home, I was not feeling well. I could not get cooled down, but I did fall asleep until we blew a tire. When we got home I went straight to bed and did not feel any better on Sunday. Monday morning found me weak and I stayed home from school. I was still running a temperature in the afternoon. I do not know how or what happened next, but two days later I woke up with a clear head in isolation in Ball Memorial Hospital. I had Hepatitis and was one sick    yellow puppy. I was in the hospital for two weeks. Mom and Dad both came and visited me , but had to remain outside in the hall outside  the room. The room was just above the bay were the ambulances delivered their patients and near the end of my stay I sometimes learned out the window and talked to the drivers while they waited. No one else in the family got sick . I was Still weak when I was allowed to go home. I got steadily better, but I was very tired. I read Oliver Twist, Beowulf, and Return of the Native in that time. After six weeks I was allowed to go back to school for two hours every day to take English and History class. I can’t say that I know much about American History from 1900 to 1950. I did pass into my Senior year and I was well enough by June to go to summer school. My best friend Margaret and I took Art and Music Appreciation together. I remember going to the cemetery with her one hot summer afternoon to do our sketchbook assignments for Mr Carr. I recovered fully over the course of the summer.
Stay Safe  and keep your eyes open

Carol

 

 

100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Craow Calling, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fallen, Hand work, Lap Quilts

Summer Travel

Hello-
I hope folks had a good Forth of July.  We sure had lots of fireworks in our area.   I enjoyed my trip to Ohio to see a lost cousin. She really showed us around her area and I enjoyed the covered bridges of her county. We saw the longest one in the country and it is also a double bridge as the long one  is on top of a gully with a smaller covered  foot bridge underneath it at tht bottom of the gully.

Liz ans I dyed on Monday. I will try to wash them out tomorrow. I also had two Zooms meetings- the QuEGs group and Pixies. In addition I had two live meetings. The Quilt Diva’s meant at Cheri’s house and we made lots of decisions about the up coming show in Sept.

The FAB group meant as well. Patti brought her little loom and she worked the whole meeting adding a few inches to her scarf. Sharon shared her new project with lots of little units that she will build to float on top of a quilt base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Dark Side of the Moon 40″ w X 59″ l. This work in made mostly from kimono fabrics that Noel gave to me. It is a mixture of machine quilting and hand work.

 

 

 

 

 

The hand work is in the center of the metallic circles.

 

 

 

Calling Crows 36″ w X 52.5″ l. I drew all five of the bird panels. They are done with colored pencils and crayons. Again the silk is from Noel. I quilting flying crows in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen This work is an experiment. Sharon kindly talked me through the technique on the phone. I did not fully get it as she told me she would not have done what I did if it had been hers. But not knowing what to do never stopped me when it comes to quilting. It goes off to the washer now with the hope of lots of fraying so the cuts show up.

Smoldering  Sense California is again  experiencing wildfires, I am doing a new piece on this topic. It is the early aftermath that I am focusing on this time. This work is only about half pinned in place.

 

 

 

Butterfly-  lap quilt  I am still doing the thread painting of the Butterfly to be applied to the top when it is done.

 

 

100 Day Challenge I keep using the sports images from the news paper for my inspirations for this project. I did a few extra this week so I am showing work up to day 40 and we are only 38 days into the challenge. But I know that my week end will be a busy one and I do not like to play catch up.

 

 

Daily Practice I finished one more panel am I am ready to start a new one now.

 

 

Drawing I keep putting in time on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adolescence- Spring trip to Washington D C

The year I was a Jr in high school the family trip was to Washington D C. We started out early on a snowy morning and entered the Applications after a long day of driving. I was struck by how much iron was present in the mountains and how many pine trees there were. We had intended to stay in Shenandoah National Park, but found it was closed. So we drove farther east and camped on the side of the road. We got up to more snow that melted quickly as the day warmed up. Our first visit was to Mt Vernon. It was a big estate with rooms that I saw as smaller then I expected it was a very big complex  however.   No mention of a black presence in 1965. From there we went to Arlington National Cemetery were we visited the Thumb of the Unknown Solder. The guards looked smart in their matching pattern. Then we went of to check out the Eternal Flame at John Kennedy’s grave sight. The vast fields of white crosses sure brought home the costs of war to me. Everything is so close together that going to Lincoln Memorial was an easy next step. I was most impressed by the carving of Lincoln’s hands.  We then  went  along the reflecting pool up to the Washington Moment.   We climbed all 66 flights of stairs with 18 steps in each flight to get to the top. It only took Gene and I 16 min. to get to the bottom when we when down. Mom and Dad followed much more slowly. Our next stop was the Capital building. I found the Rotunda to be much bigger than I expected and both the House and Senate to be smaller. Mom remained to check out me that The Freedom Lady sculpture on the top as we walked away. We  started for the campground we got a little lost and went in circles around the building complex several times before heading home. Dad accidently ran a red light and there were four policemen on the corner. The did not stop us- Mom guessed that they saw the Indiana license plate and let it slide. We camped that night in a small camp ground called Prince Edward. I wonder if it is still there. Tuesday we got up and went back into Washington DC to do the Smithson. I enjoyed the special exhibit of “Animals in Art” a lot.   I did a drawing of  sculpture of a mother chimp cuddling her young one.    We saw lots of manufacturing equipment along with lots of old automobiles. In the Natural History Museum Mom and I spent two hours in the basement and only did about half. We did the ground level after lunch and saw a Blue Whale , the Hope Diamond,  Witch Dr Masks and a great collection of shrunken heads. By 4:30 we all had “museum feet” and pilled into the car and drove to the Air Port to watch plains take off and detox a bit. We rested  and then went to the National Archives building. The Constatation had a place of honor in the rotunda along with the other founding documents. We walked right up to them and could easily read them thought the glass. I was a surprised by how yellow the paper was and how faded the ink. One could purchase copies in a little kiosk near the door but we did not.   The day was full and we all slept well that night.

Stay safe

Carol

100 Day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Crow Calls, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Fields

Summer

Hello,
   Happy summer everyone.   This week has been a busy one. I went off to Ithaca with Liz and Cheri to pick up my Phaff from its cleaning. We did a little shopping and took a load of fabrics and notions to Sew Green too. It feels good to pass things one no longer needs or will never use to someone else who just might do something wonderful with them. Liz and I got caught in a heavy rain storm after we dropped off Cheri and had to double back due to a wire across the highway. Then on Wed.   Liz and I dyed for the first time this season. It feels good to be back doing that  again.    I did meet with the Pixies this week too.   Only three of us, but still a good meeting.

 

Progress Report: Crows Calling   This work is 36″ w X 53.5″ l.   All the rectangles that are not drawn on are old silk kimonos from my friend  Noel.       I enjoyed quilting crows in flight as a part of the background for this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

100 Days  SAQA Challenge    I am still doing this challenge and now on day 24.

 

 

Lap # 12- Butterfly     I have now started to build the thread painting  that I want to overlay on this quilt top.   It is slow work as this shot shows all the thread painting I did in two hours.  I  used a full bobin to do just this  much of the job.

Lap # 14  This top is all assembled now.   I will move on this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green As this project progresses I realize that I need a better title as their is less and less green in the work  and no leavers are green.      I think I am nearly ready to stitch down all the cut leaves.

 

 

 

Poppy Field    I did get the french knot flowers add to the top section of the far field this week .   Not a lot of other work on this piece.   The orange flowers I made are too big to be a part of this one.

 

 


Dark side of the Moon    I have started to do reflective quilting  on this piece.  I still have some hand work to do inside some of the circular forms too.

 

Daily Practice     I have completed another of the daily practices pieces and started a new one last evening.     They are going well.

 

 

 

 

Drawing    I only completed two drawings  this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I got a little out of alignment  and the nose it far too long.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Jr Year Education

The Jorner  year   of high school was a one of challenge and change for me.   Ceicle and Mike had gone off to various collages. The gang added new kids from band and adolescence was a crazy mix of finding ones self and trying to figure out the opposite sex. I suffered with my academics a bit too. I had Mr Langdon for English and he was a very demanding teacher. I liked the massive amounts of reading we had to do as we did British and American   Literature. I recall reading Macbeth, Sartorius , Last of the Mohekens, Brave New World, The Scarlet Letter, The Good Earth and 1984.    The class discussions we informative and fun as well. We also did the poets e e cummings and Walt Whitman. For the poetry we had memorization and I can still recite “When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloomed.” Dad also arranged for me to have a tutor for my spelling and she asked me to read The Bridge of San Lewis Ray. I did well with most of the other stuff and I still am glad for the exposure to the books. I ended my time with Mr Langdon with a C- the fist semester and a C the second.
Dad’s political connections allowed   me to be a Page at the Indiana state house for a day in Feb. I was excited and enjoyed the time.   The day was cold and the roads were icy and we arrived half an hour late to the CIrcle that the state house is on.  I remember running up the icy stairs and rushing into the building with no idea were I was to go.    Out of breath I asked the man in the front hall and he directed me.   In the page room after hanging my coat on a peg I took a deep breathe and started a wonderful day.  I got to put  bills out on the senators desks and run errands for them. The sessions seemed a bit disorganized to me as folks got up and talked to each other not paying any attention the speaker sometimes. I went to two committee meetings in the afternoon. One was on poverty and the second was on education. I almost missed being paged to do an errand at the education meeting as I was so engrossed in the topic.   It was a full day with lots of learning on my part.    Dad told me later that I really talked his ear off all the way home.
As to the social life it was full of teenage stress. Liking one person and not being liked in return and petty conflicts over boys. One boy, Bill Mohler, had a real crush on me and he was a sweet fellow. I went to a formal dance with him and he broth me a beautiful corsage. I even went on a date with him on a Sunday, went to church and spent the day with him and his family.   But there was not spark there.   Telling him I did not see him in the same romantic light  as she saw me was difficult.     Then after  my “friend “ Terry, stole Jim, a guy I was really attracted to,  away from me, before the romance even got started- I sort of swore off boys for a while. Bobby from last summer was still around and  I just could not figure him out either. So I work more along the line of ” friendships” with boys and nothing more for the rest of the year.

 

I will be away so there will not be a Blog next week.

Please stay safe

Carol

100 Day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

The Wild Around us

Hello,
It has been a busy week for me. The FAB group meant at Nancy Bailes home and had a good time. We got to see Nancy’s doll collection. She told us she always got one from a lady she admired when they went to Maine to visit. She also shared her beads work.

 

 

 

 

This is just one of the many bracelets that she has completed. There was a Pixie Zoom meeting too.

 

 

 

 

I also went to the Schweinfurth on Thur to see the Made in New York Show with Liz and Cheri. What a lot of wonderful inspiring work. This work is called Eclipse by my friend Julie G.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite piece from this show was Drawing II by Susan Byrnes. What a great use of automatic machine stitches. From across the room this looked like chalk on black paper.

 

 

 

We also went up stairs and enjoyed the Threads Across Time show of quilts by Sarah Bond. It was a good day.

 

 

 

 

 

But it was our walks that really provided me with the realization that Nature will find a way.    We often see deer in the wild area behind the SU student apartments.    One day we saw a hawk that was just setting on the ground with a lot of feathers all around him and that was followed by Monarchs visiting milkweed plants, and a baby rabbit that just avoided a mower.     All those creatures were in just one day.   Then last night we had racoons on our patio.     We live in the city and not the suburbs and if the creatures can make homes here they can live just about any were.

I seem to be in the middle of lots of work with out any completions at the moment.   Doing many projects at once is my way of allowing myself time to look at and think about what I want to accomplish with my work.  A way of slowing down of sorts.

Progress Report: Lap #14   I am still building quilts that I plan to pass forward.    There are lots of my hand dyed and painted fabrics in this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap # 12     I liked this base so much that I am going to turn it into a regular quilt by adding butterflies to the surface,  But I do not want to make them silid so I am going to try to find a way to use thread painting to do the job.  That is what the brown paper that I have pinned up is for.

 

 

Crow Callings    I have moved onto the quilting of the parts of this quilt.  This time I am doing wind lines and also including outlines of flying crows to add a little interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green    I worked on the leaves  I want to applique to  this quilt  this week.   I will also need to create some additional size and colors to this work.

 

 

Dark Side of the Moon      I am still doing the hand quilting on this project.  I did start to do the machine work around the few finished circles however.

100 Days Challenge    This work is getting better and better.  I did decide to turn some of my images on there sides to add a bit more interest.

 

 

Daily Practice

 

 

 

 

 

Drawings    These are my drawing for this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a double dose of Childhood this week to to the technical difficulties of last week.

Childhood Memories-Summer 1963 Family trip
> Mom and Dad arrived in Grandview with the car top carrier with the canoe on top. They did spend a few days visiting. One sunny afternoon Dad ,along with Marce, Russell, Doug and Gene took a canoe trip down the Iowa river. I remember them launching at the river’s edge in Columbus Junction and then Mom, Grandfather Howard, Kelly and I went off to the island at the edge of the farm to watch then float BY. It was a calm and quiet enjoyable time, but we never saw them pass , and decided that they must have chosen a different branch of the river to go south. We found them at the exit point and helped them unload. Everyone was excited and a bit sun burnt.
> My family then went south to Hannibal Missouri, to see Tom Sawyer’s house and visit other historic stuff. We did see the fence that supposedly was the one painted by Tom’s friends. It had just been white washed as a part of some special summer celebration so it looked real good. The house was much smaller then I expected and packed full of stuff like a museum. I remember there were lots of old spoons and such, as well as a death mask of Mr Clements in one of the glass topped cabinets. Mom had to explain to me about that as I had never seen one before. We also did the tour of the cave used as the basis of Tom and Becky’s adventure with Indian Joe from “Tom Sawyer “. I was not very impressed and only remember the narrow passageway with sandstone walls. Not any big room and no formations that I recall. From there we went to St Louis to visit Dad’s brothers family. Uncle Leonard was working for General Electric at that time. We did go to the Zoo in St Louis. I liked all the animals. I remember seeing a Elephant performing show there. I was a bit stressed by the man putting his head under the elephants foot, but Dad assured me no harm was done. We had a good picnic with Mike and baby Tom in Uncle Leonard and Aunt Alieen’s back yard. Their house was a new one and they had the cleanest basement I ever saw. Gene and Mike rode the trike around and around the basement floor.
> We continued south and went to a camp ground. We put the Mimahuni in a lake. We went swimming too. Another day we did a bit of river fun with our canoe.. One day we went for a cave tour at Crystal cave. It was privately owned and our family were the only folks on the tour. We all carried lanterns for light. It was much more interesting then Tom Sawyer’s cave with lots of different formations. The guide was a some what tired young college kid who was doing this as his summer job. He did lots of good explanations and even broke off a small stalagmite and gave it to me. I still have it. Mom was sure that was not something he should have done, but she didn’t say anything to him. We then headed home and got ready for the new school year.

 

Childhood Memories Jr Year High School.
After the start of school our family took a canoe with the Yoyhauses. We put the two  canoes in the Mississinewa River about 10 miles outside of town and worked our way down the river. At one point the river was so wide and shallow that we had to get out and walk the boats forward. While we were doing so, a farmer on the left bank shot his shot gun over out heads and said” Get off my land!” In Indiana the water is public but the land under it belongs to the owner. We hurried forward and all pilled back into the boats as fast as we could. Further down the river in the afternoon near the end of the trip we had to go over a falls. We pulled into the shore and portaged the camping gear down to the bottom. Phillis, Mom, and I watched from the shore as Dad alone in our boat went over the falls successfully. Then Gene and Frank tried. Frank was not as skillful as Dad and they tipped over at the bottom. Frank panicked and began thrashing around as he could not swim. Gene just reached out and grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to the side of the boat and started pushing everything to the shore. When they got out, Frank could not thank Gene enough for saving his life. Gene was just embarrassed. After reloading the canoes we just went a bit farther down the river to a camp sight and had a good evening. The rest of the trip was uneventful. I went to the Mississinewa many times with various friends and put the canoe in for afternoon trips. We always went up stream first when we were fresh and floated back to the bridge to get out. It was a pleasant way to quiet time with friends.
It seemed like I got a lot more social in my Jr year of high school. The Band continued to keep me busy , but I did lots of other stuff too. I went to the movies a lot more and seemed to still have one foot in my youth as went to see the Disney animated version of “Sward in the Stone” one afternoon and then “ Lord of the Flies” that night. I recall going to see “Cleopatra” too with Elizabeth Taylor. I suer was impressed with all the gold and the big sets in that one. Gene and I went to see “20,000 Thousand Leagues under the Sea” as he was now 13. In Sept a new TV hit show was “Bewitched” and I never missed that TV show. There were lots of plays too. We had season ticketed to the Ball State Drama department and I remember seeing “Come Blow your Horn”. I think that being a Thespian made view live drama in a different way. Having worked on sets and costumes I was more aware of how importantly they were to the story. One evening, Margaret and I went to see “Oklahoma” at a county high school. We also went to see “A Mouse that Roared” that spring.
Gene had a great adventure on April fools day. He had played a trick on Dad by subatuting salt for sugar in the sugar bowl the night before. Then at Breakfast he watch Dad put sugar in his coffee and sprinkle it on his grapefruit. When Dad calmly ate the third bight of grapefruit, Gene burst out “ Dad- You don’t have any taste buds at all!” Dad replied” April Fools to you!” I discovered you trick when I had coffee last night and put thing to write.”
That year I also had my first crush. I think that Ceicle really pushed that. Bobby Cornell was a part of the gang that I did stuff with and she tried to make the romance work. She even persuaded me to purchase matching shirts for the two of us for his birthday. His was too big so I took them back. One night we were out with Ceicle and Mike, Bobby got sick and threw up in the back of Ceicle’s Mustang Convertible. We quickly drove him home. Neither Mike nor Ceicle had the stomach to clean it up so I did. Not pleasant, but baby setting had prepared me for that job. One night when Bobby brought me home I was sure he was going to kiss me. The tension had been building up to this for some time. We were saying good night on the front poach when I saw thought the living room window my little brother, Gene, wiggling across the living room floor to spy on me. I grabbed Bobby hand and shook it telling him I had a great time and went inside leaving him on the porch. I really yelled at Gene in my disappointment. The romance fizzled and I never did get a kiss from Bobby although we did remain friends until he went off to college  were I lost track of him.

Stay safe and keep creating

Carol

100 Day Challenge, Crow Calls, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field

Sumer Time

Hello,
It has been a somewhat quiet week here. I only had one Zoom meeting and with the Pixies. We always enjoy sharing our work and catching up. Susan , who edits my Childhood postings is having trouble with her sending email. We had a power outage and I lost my copy of Childhood too so it looks like there will be no posting of that this week. Hopefully things will be back to normal next week.
This beautiful orange Peony was on  Liz’s table.  I had to touch it to assure myself it was not silk.    I had lunch with Liz and Joyce and that was enjoyable too.

Progress Report Horsetails – reworked. This project is 30.5″ w X 40.5″ l. After showing it to the FAB group last week and getting some constructive feed back, I reworked it. This is much stronger. Sometimes we don’t hit the mark on the first or even second try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 13 This work is 39″ w X 53″ l. I used a lot of my altered fabrics on this one. There are enamels of printed stencils and hand dyed fabrics here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap # 12 This work is all pin basted and ready for quilting. Again I am playing with my altered fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Lap # 14 I am still in the assemble process on this one. I sure like working in this smaller format.

 

 

 

 

 

Green Base This base unit is all stitch in the ditch quilted at this point. I am trying to do some leaves were I do the cut away technique on them. Again I do not know what I am doing as this is new to me- so it is mostly a case of trial and error.

 

 

 

 

 

Crow Calling is all pin based now too. I am ready to do the stitch in the ditch step and then do some free motion drawing to add interest.

 

 

 

 

Daily Project I finished the long strip and have moved onto a new bit of fabric.

 

 

 

Dark Side of the Moon I am hand quilting around the woven images of the flowers on this project.   Then I am outlining some of the petals.

 

Poppy Fields     This week I built some new poppies to add to the field.   But apone putting them on the work I discovered that they are too orange and do not give the effect I want.  So I will scarp these and try again with a mix of the orange wool and the red  to make the new blossoms

100 Days Project Quilt Surface Design Association put out a calling to do a bit of work every day for 100 days. This is there second run of this challenge.  I missed the first. I decided to do 4.5″ X 6.5″ blocks in black and white. I recall an image in he Saturday Evening Post from my childhood were the photographer had reduced his images of people to black and white and then put lots of them together to create an image. My memory is foggy- but it has stuck with me somehow and so I though this would be a great opportunity to try something similar. I am using figures from the sports pages and some of my figures are based on dancers. My friend Noel suggested them after I told her what I was doing. In the 10 days of the process I have made some discoveries. I have learned that I want to cut the black fabric for my pieces and I want do the stitch outline in black too. The thing I discovered yesterday was I want to make all my figures big enough that the extend off the frame at least once in each case. I am still playing with possibilities here.

Drawings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Dark Mystery, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Saturday Afternoon, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Busy Week

Hello,
This week had been exciting because I had two meetings where we meant face to face.    What a relief as we all get vaccinated and the governor  lifts the restrictions  of  Covid.    I did not realize how much one reads body language. And  in these meetings,  there was no talking over one another either. The first meeting was with the Quilt Diva’s. We meant in the Schweinfurth after picking up our work form the Members Show. We did business and then shared our work. Alice has been working with clay and these are her “obers” .

 

 

 

Barbara had a real nice piece. I brought home five works for other artists that live here in town and will distribute them all back to their owners by tomorrow. There was also a Pixies meeting on line and it was up lifting too.

 

 

 

The second meeting was with four of the FAB group here at my house. Again we all had a lot to say and enjoyed our selves. It is so nice to set out doors and enjoy each other and the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I worked on the Textile Art Stitch Club project. This week she showed us how to add punch needle texture t our work. I also finished up my Blue Fox from the last assignment this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Saturday Afternoon This work is 36″ X 34″. I learned a lot about yarn applique doing this project. It is a skill I need to work at I think.  The project is an answer tot eht Picasso Challenge by the Sisterhood of the Scissors.

 

I used some of Grandmother Ruth’s hand made lace for part of this project.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 13 This project is made up of many of my hand altered fabrics. I made the stencils earlier this winter and printed them with acrylic paint. This is the fabric of half of the stencils I printed at that time, so there will be another similar piece in the near future.

Green Base I got an idea for another leaf project and built this curvy cut base to support that idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Side of the Moon( formerly Dark Magic) I decide that the old title was not the mood I wanted to set for this work. I am hand quilting around the featured woven sections of the kimono at this point. This will be a slow project as I am not a fast hand quilter.

 

 

Daily Practice This is gong smoothly. I think I will finish this strip in the next two days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Horsetails   After showing this work to the FAB group  and thinking about it, i decided it needed more.  So I took out some of the stitch work and added the sun to this piece.  I am now in the process of assembling it.

Drawings for Pixies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Summer 1963
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> Summer was always a busy time. I did attend summer school in the mornings, but the afternoons were mine. Mr Mc Daniel’s, the band teacher, also kept us busy. We did have practices and activities. It was so hot that many times we would play out on the front lawn of the school under the big oak trees. The  band  also marched in the 4th of July parade . It was a much smaller event then what I was familiar with from Grandview. We participated in the county fair and the band had a white elephant sale for that. Many of the kids manned the booth and we had fun afterward on the rides and such. There was also a Cake Walk that we ran one of the days. For that I baked a Cherry Cake- my favorite. The money we made went toward our summer field trip to Detroit. We left on a Friday morning and rode the bus to the city. We played a concert in a city park in a band shell that afternoon.    For that we did not wear our uniforms, but all dark shorts and white shirts.  I still remember being hot.   I went to dinner with a group of fellow band members and had my first commercial pizza. Someone persuaded me to try an Anchovy. That was a taste surprise. I shared a hotel room with three other gals and we talked late into the night and did not sleep much it seemed. Saturday morning we went to a rehearsal of the Detroit Sympathy. It was informative. In the afternoon we all went to see “How the West Was Won” on a wide screen movie theater. I really enjoyed the movie and purchased the record of the sound track when I got home. We then all piled into the bus and rode home. We sang a lot and it was quite late when we got back to Muncie. Grandmother and Grandfather Cocklin were visiting and we all went to church the next morning. I do not recall much else about that Sunday except we made homemade ice cream. Gene and I went off with the grandparents on Monday to Iowa for two weeks before Mon and Dad joined us. It was a great time. We got to see all three families of cousins and spent a lot of time with the Bells. Casey and Curt Dean were little boys with lots of energy and fun to play with. They only visited tow days and then went home with their mother Aunt Shirley. I did baby sit for Aunt Barbara one day out on their farm. I remember climbing the apple trees with cousins Timmy and Tom along with Gene. We also played space travel using their beds that were built into the wall under the slope of the roof. We pretended the Radiometer was our power source. That evening I went on my first date with cousin Danny. He was a year older and had a car. We added one of his friends and drove to Muscatine to the fair grounds. His buddy brought me French fries and we all rode the Ferris Wheel together. It was a good time. What I remember the most was the time spent with the Bell family. Tracy and Kelly came into Grandmothers one day and we played dress up in the play house. Then the girls stayed the night and we played with the ice skating paper dolls that grandmother had. One day out at the Bell farm we played war in the trees hoses. We loved the goldfish-carp in the house tank and we fed them oatmeal. The fish were about eight inches long. Cousin Russell got stung and I learned he was allergic. His Mom rushed him off to the Dr to get a shot I think. Another day we spent the day playing board games. I fell in love with Trade Winds- a game with little ships that had to collect barrels of rum, doubloons and gems stones. I asked for that game for Christmas, but Mom never found it. One afternoon Aunt Marce took all five of us off to Wild Cat Den State Park. We all had a great time running the trails and hiding from one another. We came home exhausted from that fun afternoon. One night the Bells took Gene and I to play miniature golf . It was a great time and Doug ended up with the best score. It was a great time with all my cousins.

Please stay safe and be Creative

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Dark Mystery, Drawing, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Saturday Afternoon, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Quiet Week

Hello,

I has been a very ordinary and quiet week here.    Spring keeps showing the eye new views .   I have always loved Iris, but they do not grow in my garden as  it is too shaded.  These lovely ones are along our route and I look forward to seeing them in the spring. I had two Zoom meetings.  One with Social Art and one with the Pixies.  Both were enjoyable.

There was also a new Textile Artist Stitch Club assignment this week.  The teacher this time is Brook Harris and American fiber Artists.      This is my interpretation on the assignment thus far.  I drew rubber bands and then enlarged the image to get this shape before doing the stitch work.

 

 

Progress Report:   Saturday Afternoon    This work is part o f the Picasso/ Cubists  Challenge  with the Sisterhood of the Scissors.    I have finished the outlining of the parts of this work.   Then I finished the quilting yesterday  and now I am ready to face this work  and add the sleeve.

 

Horsetails     I am doing the hand work of adding the green  leaves on the steams now.    I am adding the leaves as it just did not feel complete.  I think I sometimes get seeing the end that I do not look as carefully as I should.     This will help the final piece I think.

 

 

 

Poppy Field  I did finish up the poppy flowers and I like the way they look, but I still think they do not have enough contrast with the background so I will order some   red orange roving and make more flowers. I may or may not use these on the work.  I will make that visual decision when I see how it looks.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Mystery   The black Kimono that Noel gave me a part of just  called out to be used so I started this work.  I used several of the other pieces of silk she gave me too.  Guess I built a bit of confidence from doing Bonsai with only silk fabric.

 

 

 

New Fire     As I learn of the new fires in the west I am again inspired to do yet another fire quilt.  I have painted some fabric and pulled some other pieces so I feel that I can start soon.

 

Daily Practice    I started this strip this week.  That is the difficulty   of using  my wipe up rags.  They are usually the ends and leftovers of light colors, so they are unusual shapes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawings  These are my works from this week.  I tried adding a wash with ink on the first one and was not real happy with the look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I tried adding dark with Plastic Crayon.  It works better and allows for better control of light to dark color application.  I can also go back in over the top of that product and build in more texture if I want.  So I think I will keep exploring with that material for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- The Minnahuni
Dad’s fist office mate at Ball State was a man named Frank Yahass. Frank was into canoeing in a big way and all his talk soon peaked Dad’s interest. He did his usual research and ended up purchasing one. We got a fiberglass square backed turquoise canoe in the spring. Dad also purchased a little five horse power motor to put on that square backing so we would not have to paddle all the time. Mom selected the name – Minnahuni from the Hawaiian word for Joker.  She did not know how to swim and saw all boats as taking a chance and she was sure we would tip over. As it turned out that never happened. We built our spring trip around the canoe and went to Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp. It is just a National Wild Life Refuge so it is not well developed, but it sure was fun.  We also saw the origins of the Swanee River.  The water was lite brown  and were there was a bit of foam – it really looked like root beer. Mom said that the water was that color due to the large amount of decaying vegetable matter in the water.  It was that same rich brown in the swamp too.  The camp ground was in a pine forest where the needles of the trees were really long compared to what I remember from Yellowstone and they covered the forest floor like a big soft carpet. The first night we were visited by red skunks, and racoons. There were deer too that ate cereal out of your hands. The ranger at the dock warned us to be very careful launching our boat as there was a very big alligator that frequented the dock area. Mom was very glad that the dock had a great ladder to enter the boat and we did not dip our paddles too deep in that area to avoid the gator. We paddled out the narrow docking area and into the big lake like portion and turned east. Dad sat in the back, while Gene and I took turns sitting and paddling  in the front. Mom stayed low in the middle the whole time. We did not venture  far that first afternoon but really enjoyed our new toy. On the second day we left the lake area and went deep  into the swamp. Dad paid close attention to the map and we had a good time. Mom took lots of pictures and relaxed a bit too. We ate our picnic lunch among the Cyprus knees and saw a big turtle basking in the sun. I do not remember seeing many alligators, but that was fine with all of us. It was very quiet and we heard lots of bird calls. We did not see anyone else until we got back to the dock late in the afternoon. Gene and I were both really tired that evening and went to bed early. We walked the board walk in the swamp in the morning and saw more birds. After lunch we put the canoe back on top of the car top carrier and headed north.
We  then went to Oak Ridge Tenn. It was built as a part of the Manhattan Project. I recall visiting a museum like place and learning about how atomic energy could be used to create power plants. There was also information about how isotopes could be used in the human body , but my mind is a bit fuzzy on that.   The next day,  Dad drove hard and long on Saturday so we got home late that night. Got up on Easter Sunday morning and hunted for eggs. Sometimes it is hard to give up the pleasures of childhood. It was a great spring break.

Stay Safe

Carol
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Bonsai, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

New Growth

Hello,
Spring continues to explode around me. It is so beautiful ! Over the long winter one tends to forget  how powerful green can be. I had two Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s meant and the Pixies  did too. I also had two meetings face to face. FAD meant in Judy’s garden and enjoyed ourselves greatly. Today I meant with my fellow quilters in the Sisterhood of the Sisters group as we viewed the Members Show at the Schweinfurth.  This shot is of Sharon her work.    As it turned out there were only seven of us- but it was still great. 

 

This is a shot of Ann at the show.

 

 

The only other member of the Sisterhood   who had a piece in the show was  Noel.

 

 

But I have lots of other friends who were in the show too.   This diptic is by Barbara Vural , a gal that I taught with for over 20 years.

 

 

This sculpture is by Carol Adamack,  another Art  Teacher that I taught with.

 

 

 

 

 

This shot shows a quilt by Mary( the Haron) who is  Quilt Diva’s and a work by Cindy,  another art teacher /quilter I know.

 

 This is a work by Anne another active Quilt Diva  member.      It is a great show and will be up until  May 30.   I found it very stimulating.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fiber Artists Stitch Club got a new assignment from Saima Kaur. I am enjoying working on my project.

 

Progress Report: Bonsai This work is . I challenged myself to not use any cottons in this work and it did prove to be a challenge. The silks and synthetics do slip around a lot. I am working hard to get it to be flat and I will make another attempt at the pressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Afternoon I am in the process of zig zag appliqueing yarn down to out line the shapes.

 

 

 

 

Poppy Field After talking with Liz I decide that this piece needed a center of interest. As my friend Ethel said” you make good backgrounds”. So I took the information that I learned in Amanda Mc Carver’s class a few weeks ago and stared some bigger Poppies in wool and thread. I have these two about ready to put together and I want to make three more and hope they do the trick.  I plan to place the three petal piece on top of the twin petals and add a center to create the blossoms.

Drawing I did four more drawings this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt       This new work is make from all fabrics that I have altered .   I am still enjoying building with my own stuff.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories :  Portland OR
The school play my senior year was “Girl Crazy.” I worked backstage and enjoyed the process. In the spring we did a variety show called “Musical Moods” For that production I was on stage as a dancer in the piece about the south pacific. The Tiki that Mom had carried home on her lap from Hawaii was on stage too.   It is now residing in the corner by the bookshelf in our east bed room. The National Thespian Convention that year was in Portland Oregon. Mr Fee took seven of us to that event. I sold lots of candy to raise money for the trip that year. I was the only senior , with two Junior girls and four Junior boys. We boarded the train in Muncie at 4:00 am and headed for Chicago. There, we joined a train that was exclusively for Thespians going to the convention. Kids from further east were already on board. Our group was seated together at the end of a car in the last four seats. It was long ride of two nights and three days with new car loads of kids being added as we went along. Sitting in front of us was a group from PA. One of the boys just in front of me had a guitar. He played beautifully and we all sang folk songs all the way across the country. Songs like “If I had a Hammer” and “ This Land is Your Land, This land is My Land.” It was very enjoyable.
Mr Fee challenged each of us to come up with a personal bit of acting to do some time over the week we were at the conference. I decided that with the help of the others I would try to play the part of some one who was deaf and could read lips. I did a good job fooling the gals on my floor in the dorm. Only once in the shower room did I almost blow it. My back was turned to a gal in the shower and she asked me to hand her a bar of soap on the bench. As I turned I realized I could not have herd that request, so I quickly said in my flat voice, “ Good Night” and left the bathroom. We had a dance one evening and I went of course. One of my boys from Central had to explain to one of the gals on my floor that I could feel the beat of the music through the floor so I could dance. I could not have pulled the week off without their help.
The Conference was at Lewis and Clark college in a remote beautiful hilly setting. When we got our room assignment I was a solo so the other girls helped me with my acting by waking me up each morning by coming into my room. I had a great view of a beautiful gully like the one in Columbus Junction. The conference went on for five days with workshops in the mornings a play preformed by our peers in the afternoons and a second each evening. We really covered a lot of ground. Again I did two workshops on costuming. I learned some nice tricks. As to the plays, I really only remember “Waiting For Godot”. The group discussion after that was very lively. The memorable evening performance was of “Peter Pan.” It was great to talk with the stage hands after that one and have them explain how they built the equipment to do the flying. That was also the last event of the conference. The train ride home was not as exciting as we were in a different car then the PA folks, and we were tired . Mr Fee did ask us about our” acting “ experience. I admitted that I was tired of playing that part by the end of the week. It did make me more sensitive towards others with that impairment.

Stay safe and Keep Creating
Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, Felt Work, Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Siding Complete

Hello,

The work on the siding was completed on Wednesday.  It looks good  and the house looks longer to me.       But this morning we decided to change the siding on the gables too.  So more construction is in my future.
I am really enjoying my walks now that the weather is a bit more comfortable and the views are great. Every day I can see the changes in the   new growth of the leaves of the trees. The color of the flowers tickles me too. This is a great red  here.
I went and helped my friend Noel sort and roll her silk kimono parts this week. She was sorting to pass silk forward to others in one of the quilt groups that I am a member of t so she kindly gave me first choice and I came home with some real beauties.   There is lots of new inspiration for me here.
The Pixies was the only group that meant this week and we did enjoy our talk. No new assignment came out of that meeting, but I am keeping up with my drawing. I continue to work my way through the 1938 book called “The  Secret Museum of Mankind” . I realized that having a source  of subjects at my finger tips helps me get the drawings done every morning. I guess I just needed a prompt.

Progress Report: Horsetails This quilt it 30″w X 41″ l. The plants are made from polar fleece and couched down with embroidery floss.

 

 

 

 

I love the texture contrast.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt   # 11      This work is 40″w X 50″ l. The blue squares are all indigo sun printed images that I made. I also did a little oil stick color additions on some of them. A woman from PACE, a local elder care facility, came and picked up ten of these lap quilts  for folks who are wheel chair bound.   I  made all of them Jan. 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonsai I just finished sewing down all the leaves this morning and now I am ready to begin to quilt this work. I did stitch in the ditch before I added the trunk so there is a little quilting already, but it needs a lot more to make it flat.

 

 

 

Saturday Afternoon ( Cubist piece) This work is for the Sisterhood of the Scissors change. The black is fused to the edge of the shapes and adds a lot to the look I am after. The bottom three pieces  of fabric are what I plan to use to make their clothing.

 

 

New Lap quilt.I pulled these fabrics to be the next lap quilt.     I like having and on going little project.   It is a good opportunity to play with different color combinations and not feel stressed about doing so.

 

Drawing    I am still drawing on old dictionary pages.   I like the unity that gives the work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felting      I made some backgrounds in felt this week  as I wanted them so I could just move forward when I got a new idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice I worked on this during the Pixie meeting as well as the usual news hours this week.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Theater

My parents did a lot to expose my brother and I to different things. The first time I remember going to the theater was in Greeley the summer between third and fourth grade. The College had summer theater program and we had season tickets. I do not remember the titles of the plays and sometimes I did not under stand the stories, but I enjoyed watching the actors . Gene almost always fell asleep but I never did. It was not until years later that I realized the ghost I remember on stage was from Macbeth that summer. When we moved to Muncie the new Emerson auditorium had just opened and my parents got season tickets to the Artist Series. We had
seats in the second row in the center on Sunday afternoons. I got to see such wonderful production as “Oklahoma,” “ Gigi” and “Camelot” with Robert Goulet . We also had season tickets to the Ball State Drama Department series. Again our seats were near the front and I remember great performances of “ Once Upon a Mattress” and “A Mid Summer Nights Dream”. I still love and support live theater. It is magical to me.
When I was a Sophomore my last class of the day was Drama with Mr Fee. We had to read a play every week and write a little synopsis. We also did lots of little 10 and 15minuits scenes in class for our class mates. We leaned how to apply makeup effectively. One day I got made up as an oriental with black spray painted hair. I just could not resist wearing that home on the bus that day. I got lots of strange looks, and Margaret laughed and laughed at me. Another day I was made up as a young witch, but I did not wear that make up home. Mr Fee also ran two drama clubs. Stage Door was for kids who were underclassmen and wanted to participate in school productions. We mostly did crew work for the plays. To be in Nations Thespians one had to have experience it at least two productions and by the time I was a Junior, I qualified. For the sophomore year, the play was “ Everybody Loves Opel”, and I painted lots of scenery. I helped with costumes for “ Bull in a China Shop” the next year. That interest in dressing up folks only grew with time. There was a state Thespian Convention one weekend at Ball State and I participated in that. I was in the solo competition and did a piece called “ The Button”. I do not remember what my score was, but I sure remember working on it in drama class. The morning of the conference when Dad was driving me to campus he suggested that “ I try on a different personality, like show more leadership, and see if you like it. You will never see these people again so what do you have to lose?” I sort of tries that as I did know the campus and could easily direct folks to the correct locations for performances and such. I liked helping people. I did have a great day and did connect with a few folks from Fort Wayne. I even got to show them were Burkes was when we went out for a quick dinner. Theater is still dear to my heart.
Stay Safe

Carol

Bonsai, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

New Siding – Step one

Hello,
It has been a busy week for me. Yesterday the workmen came and started on the next step of the house renovation. They pulled all the old siding off in less than an hour and then spent the rest of the morning adding a new layer of insolation. My studio is on the end of the house and has three out side walls so it sounded like I was trapped in a wood peckers den with them pounding on three sides of me as they attached the new covering. I had to remove my thread rack as the pounding knocked the spools off the wall.  We do not have a date for the new siding yet, but I am sure it will be soon and I will have a second day of nailing.
I did have four Zoom Meetings this week- QuEGs, The Diva group, FAB and the Pixies. I enjoy the meetings, but I do miss seeing folks in person.   That is changing I think. The Diva group is working hard on getting shows going and that is a positive thing. FAB is considering meeting in one of the gals gardens next time too. Susan of the Pixies is pushing us to draw more and I did some work on dictionary pages.
I am working from old photos from “The Secret Museum of Mankind.”

 

 

 

 

 

A book  was  published in 1935 with only little lines about the location of the image and a few words about the subject. I am working on the section about the Americas now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Poppy Field. This work is 34.5″ w X 43″ l. I did stamp on top of the first batch of quilting of the poppies and leaves. It did help I think. There is still a limited contrast here.   I will try to pay special attention to that factor as I go forward.

 

 

 

 

Horsetails All the polar fleece is stitched down now and I am starting to quilt it . I can see a challenge   for this piece and that is   getting this project  to be flat.

 

 

Lap #11 I just keep playing at fabric combinations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonsai This project has a  challenge of its own and that is  using all silks and synthetics as the base.    Those types of fabrics  do shift around a bit. I did the trunk  of the tree  out of several yarns wrapped in nylon netting.   Now I am adding the leaves in metallics and silks. It take me about an hour to add fifteen leaves so this step is slow.

Cubists Project.     I built this base for my second run at a cubist study   for the Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge. I am using my collage construction approach on this work.   I hand dyed al the fabric in this base.

 

 

Daily Practice I am still working on filling in the background areas on this piece.

 

 

 

Dyed Mayan I am now quilting in this old Mayan piece. The pale colors of the dyes are a lot closer to the colors of the real walls at this time them the applique ones are.   I do need to push for a little contrast here too I  think.

 

Childhood Memories- Kennedy Assignation
Band was the first class after lunch. We got our uniforms the first day as well as band lockers. The uniforms were black pants with a purple strip and black suit jacket type coat with a purple strip on the cuff. Add a white military type hat with a brim, spats and white scolder caps with purple ” M”s  on them and the uniform was complete.   We did not wear the hats when we play concerts.   All Sophomores were seated at the end of the rows of the other like instruments. One could challenge another student to move up at any time and there were “ play offs” during study halls or at the end of the day. I held   first chair of third   clarinets for all three years of high school. By having this  class after lunch we could start a little early and practice routines and formations on the football field. Mr Mc Daniels would let us go early so we could hassle the eight blocks back to the High School building in time for our next class. We preformed on Football field for   the first Friday at the first football game of the school year.  We  learned new routines for all the  home football games for all three years. We did pep rallies and also play at all the home Basketball games too. The band gave me a social network and identity as well as assuring that I had a social life that involved me in lots of active events. I am sure that I came in contact with students that I would not have know other wise. There was no incentive to got to competitions like there had been in Jr High and I really did not miss that much. Mr Mc Daniels did keep it interesting and fun by having special events. One time we did a clown band and all dressed up in silly clothing. Another time we went patriotic and all wore red white and blue clothing.and a third time I remember, we all dress as colonial  Americans.   I made a special red check dress, bonnet and pantaloons with ruffles on the bottom.  My best friend, Margaret played the Sax a phone,  and  her sister, Ceicle was a part of the band too. She was two  years older and played the Oboe. Cecil got a black ford Mustang conveyable for her birthday in 1963 and she included me in her transpiration circuit when we went to band events. The gang that I did hang out with all grew from band. Bobby Cornell played the Trumpet and he lived near Margaret and Ceile. Mike Ritter also played the clarinet, he was a first chair and he and Cecil were an item so he was part of the group. Susy Bright, was a Band Aid, and lived in the same area as did Jim Freshwater who played drums that made two car loads of us and we did lots together. Sometimes it was a simple as going for a coke or a drive to Burkie’s a local restraint for fries. We did have a Mc Donald’s but it was across town and off the highway so we did not frequent it much.
After Band I had Physics class. I enjoyed it and had a better student teacher for that class then the regular guy. That class was followed by English  with Miss Meehan. I hated diagramming sentences, but enjoyed the literature section of that year. We were silently reading Silas Marner on Friday Nov 22, when the class was interrupted by the intercom with a radio broadcast. We all sat silently stunned and listened to learn that John F Kennedy had been shot in a motorcade in Houston. My last class of the day was Drama and it was a bit chaotic and three of the other older girls in the class were sobbing the whole period. At the end of the day we were told that all after-school activities were cancelled. The ride home  on the bus  was very crowded with many of us standing in the isle and no one was talking. The TV news with Walter Cronkite was very sad.  We had a Basket Ball game on Sat and it too was very subdued.    At the end of the game, Mr Mc Donald told us to appear at the field house at 1:00 on Sunday to march in a memorial parade to the cemetery. When we got there we all had black ribbons attached to our marching helmets and black arm bands. The white arm caps, spats and feathered topper for our helmets were removed. The drums all were draped in black too and sounded extra solemn . I am sure we played something somber but I do not recall what. When I got home, I to learn the Jack Ruby had been shot too. There was no school on Monday and it rained all day.

Stay safe

Carol