Category Archives: 100 day Challenge

Quilt Show

Hello,

I went along with Liz and Cheri to see the Genesee Valley Quilt Fest on Saturday.     The company was wonderful and the show a good one.   I am always glad to see that quilting is thriving.   I septically enjoyed the section of the show that was SAQA work.   I got some new ideas from those works.

 

 

And Yes, I did shop and purchased some fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheri and I went to Ellen Blaylock’s lecture too.I have always enjoyed her work and I loved the two Medusa quilts that she shared with us.    This quilt is  what Ellen calls Medusa’s daughter.  It was a fun and stimulating day for me.

The Pixies and  FAB also meant this week .

My big news is Sharon’s proposal for a show was accepted and we spent a day looking at the space and talking about what we want to do for that show.

Progress Report: Shore Line Washup  This work is 21″ X  24″.   It is my latest in the works from my Joyous Embroidery  class.     I read about using Tyvek  by painting on it and then applying heat to get distortions. I  got carried away with the paint and it was too thick so it did not melt too much.   I will try again and  be more careful with the application.    I added old belt buckles , wooden beads, and yarns on top of  one of my old rock pieces then stitched it down.   This work also got some glass  beads from Cheri added to the surface .   This work  is on stretcher bars.

 

 

 Lap 5    I completed this work this week and I am pleased with the results.   It is made up of leftover blocks from the 100 day challenge.

The quilting is liner in the same fashion as the blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 6     I put together this piece from   more  leftover blocks .    I need to pin basted it for quilting now.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 7  One more lap quilt  top that I put together on Monday and Tuesday.   It is pin basted from quilting and I plan to tackle it tomorrow.

 

 

 

Lap 8   I pulled these fabrics for the next lap quilt.   The print at the top is a photo print fabric that I purchased on line last winter.  I love the look, but I am having a difficult time descending how to use it.  It is almost too busy for me.

 

 

 

New Work  I decided to make a neutral background in nine patch for a little challenge that Sharon presented.

 

 

 

 

Shibui    I did these at Angela’s two week ago.   They were in the wash last week when I wrote.   I wish they were a little bit richer, but then we were  playing with lots of unknowns.

 

 

 

 

Asha’s Quilt  I am nearing the end of the precut blocks that my friend Ethel made.   I contacted her daughter and asked if she wanted one.  She suggested I make a baby quilt for Ethel’s great great Granddaughter Asha.   That is what this top will become soon.

The garden is calling at this time of year too so I  have less to to apply to quilt work.     I enjoy both processes.

Stay playful.

Carol

 

May Days

Hello,

We are enjoying spring here and every day there are more leaves on the trees.  Lots of flowers too.  I really enjoy all the daily changes in the world.

 

 

 

It has been a busy week for me.  There was the usual Pixie  zoom.  Susan gave us a challenge last week .  It was to make some flags.   I did two  and now I only need to add  sleeves and some weight to the bottom so they hang strait.   I will sew on buttons  along the bottom  to do that job .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Diva’s meant on Tue and there were lots of goodies to look at the meeting.

Alice had several more of her bottoms series to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barb is working hard on her stuff too.  She is having trouble with her shoulder so  she will have to hold off  when the surgery happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheri is doing a bit of Collage and this is one of three musicians  she did.    I like them all.

 

 

I did do modules 2 for my Naturally Inspired class so now I have a big collections of images and natural elements to work from.

Progress Report:  Swoop    This quilt is 34″ X 45″.     I am happy with how very flat this quilt is.

 I can see that all the pressing  and the intense quilting  really dose help.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2  This quilt used lots of bits from my 100 days prints from last year.      They are mostly consumed now .

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 3    This is an old top that just did not do what I was hopping for so I cut it down a bit and quilted it into a lap work.  I only have about a foot of work to do on the binding   to finish at this point.   It will keep someone warm.

 

 

 

 

 Lap 4  This lap quilt is made form leftovers from this years 100 day projects.   It is pin basted and I hope to get to  the quilting this week.

 

 

 

 

Lap 5   This quilt is a  made from remainder blocks form Swoop.  It too is a lap project that I have just started to quilt.

 

 

 

 

  Tyvek Project.   I took a little time out to paint some tyvek yesterday to make some new texture material to work with I wat to explore some more of the ideas  that I keep reading about.

I hope spring energy is filling your efforts too.

Keep Creating,

Carol

 

 

Home Again

Hello,

  I am back from my travels and set to stay home for a while.  I did have a good time and the Glass Flowers at the Harvard Museum were amazing.    So many and only about 25% of the collection is on display.   I just could not look enough.   Taking in all that new imagery was  exhausting to me.   I am sure some new work will come out of that experience.

Before I went away I had some adventures too. I went with Victoria and Liz to Angela’s for a bit of creative play afternoon.   We were   adding surface treatments  to our handwork.  Angela had the plaster all mixed up for us as well as the softened paper clay.      Victoria had a difficult time  deciding what pieces to alter.

 

Liz did too.       It was a fun thing to work with and I added color on top of the plaster with my piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some of my pieces before the add on treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

Angela had been doing more felting sense out last visit and she sharded her new felted vase with us.   I really like the gradation of color her here.

 

 

 

We also had a FLFA meeting on the Saturday before departure.

This is the work Sharon had done to add to the project from the retreat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat had a lot of new work.  This is her most recent.

 

 

Anne has finished putting together her Robin quilt  top from her class at QBL last summer.

 

 

 

 

 

Linda, our newest member, show off her finished migration piece.

 

 

Maureen is still doing handwork on this powerful piece.  It is  nearing completion she says.

 

 

 

 

Liz has pulled  out some of her older work and is ready to begin to finish this one now.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a shot of Liz wearing Pat’s spring coat that she made for a fashion show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a FAD meeting on Monday this week and Sharon had a new mini land scape to share.

 

 

The Pixies meant as usual and we are going to do portraits for the next assignment.

 

 

 

My husband and I walked to Syracuse University on Wed and went to the art gallery there.  I was wowed  by this bit of  work that mixed thread with leaves.    There were 24 leaves surrounded  by thread  and suspended  in a frame like a table top. ( yes, those are my toes on the floor below the work.

 

 

We also walked around  the little lake in Berry  Park this week.    Spring is sure here  in our part of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  B4  This is the last block I made for the SAQA 100 day  Challenge.     I am delighted to say  that I got it done before the trip.   It is 32″ X 50″.   I really learned a lot building this block with the change in curves in the center strips.

 

 

I also  had  very  good  time  with  the  quilting on this one.

 

There are enough blocks remaining for another small piece.  The challenge is over now, but I will put all the left overs into pieces.

Art 2    This work is 34″ w X 52.5″ t.   It is made from extra blocks from Art Blocks  the third of the SAQA Challenge. 

 

Doing the challenge was a good thing for me and I hope to apply the ideas from it to my future work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BV 2  This too is a second project that is a result of the SAQA Challenge.   It is created from leftover blocks from the BV Block.  This block was designed with my good friend Barbara Vural in mind. 

 

Again there are blocks remaining for another small project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing  The glass flowers were inspiring and I did a bit of drawing from some of the close ups.  This is a close up of a Lilly.

 

 

 

 

 

Swoop   I stated this quilt top at the spring retreat.  I go a lesson in how to do curves from Liz and Linda.   I am very proud of how very flat this quilt top  is and  how the curves all lie down very nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Fragments Piece    This is my piece showing the fragments that I altered at Angela’s.    The plaster dose make it difficulot to add more stitching.    I did added color on top of some of the  units   to unifly the idea before I mounted them.   The units are a result of my interpretations of the assignments in   Finding Fragments class as a part of Art Take 2 .    I am now ready to begin a new  on line class called Naturally Inspired- also from Art Take 2.

I hope that spring is filling you days with new sights.

Keep Creating

Carol

I am attaching one last glass flower for your enjoyment.

 

Eclipse Week

Hello,

I, like many Americans got excited about the  Solar Eclipse  this week.    This is a shot from NASA from one  of the satalights .   We unfortunately  had cloud cover and only caught a glimpse as the moon moved away from  the sun.    I am glad so many folks have generously shared their images on the net.

My personal event of this week was  the Spring Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center.     I along with lots of friends got a lot of work done.

Liz worked on  her quilts for  the Beds for Kids project.  She made four tops and Pin basted three of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan  stated a  new project.  I love how she uses color in such a unique way.

 

 

 

 

Victoria worked away on  a new project that is based on a collage that she did in David Horning’s class last summer.   It is so different from her usual work , I am excited to see how it develops.

 

 

 

 

 

Linda  worked on this dye painted work and spent most of the time shading and quilting it.

 

She also shared her daughter’s cookie art with us.  Very tasty!

 

 

Sharon worked on her flower quilt and did some dyeing too.

 

I had my Pixie meeting and  I worked on the  assignments for  Finding Fragments the week..

 

 

 

These little fellows will go off with me to Angel’s for some surface alterations this afternoon  as a part of the Fragments class work .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:   B4  I got this quilt top all assembled at the retreat.   The I started quilting on Monday.

 

I am sure I will finish it before the 100 day challenge is over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art II     At the retreat,  I moved onto putting together the leftover blocks from the Art Blocks project .  This  top got put together too.

 

 

 

BV II     I also put leftovers together from   the BV project.    I have started quilting this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Coral Shores   I am sorry that I cut  off the frames on this picture.   I had to go out side to take the photo and it is raining now so I can’t reshoot.   I did get this work done and I am quite pleased with how they look together.   They will only hang together in the hall – so I have the same problem  with taking a photo there. 

 

 

 

 

 

I will take a  new set  and repost.

 

 

 

Drawing    I did a little drawing this week.  I always have good intentions , but time gets away from me.

 

 

 

Spring is continuing to open up to us here in New York .   I hope the same is true for all my readers.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

April is Here

 Hello,

We are seeing more signs of spring- but winter keeps us on our toes with cold and lots of wind too.

I had a really good day on Friday when Liz and I went to  a play day at Marcia’s  studio.  As a result I spent the day  free motion quilting on  Art Blocks and with a little effort on Saturday I finished it too.

Liz took a ride on  on Marcia’s  stair lift and seemed to enjoy it although this photo does not show much joy.

 

 

 

 

 

Joyce quilted on her challenge piece too.   The center section is the fabric that was the challenge.

We had a good time .

 

I meant with the pixies too and it was also enjoyable.

Progress Report: Art Blocks    This quilt is 38.5″ w X 43″ l.   It is the third of my  self suggested challenges for the SAQA 100 day work project.

 

 

 

  I have lots of blocks left over so I am sure I will make another work from them.

 

 

 

SAQA 100 Day project # 4   I drew out the design for this  last week.   It is a much simpler block than Art and I am please to say that all three sizes are assembled now.   I am off to the Spring Retreat at the Schweinfurth tomorrow and I will put the top together first thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel 4   I finished the quilting on this yesterday.      Now to find a box so I can ship it to Robert.   I only have the makings for one more queen sized quilt with Ethel left overs.

 

Finding Fragments  class   This class is really over , but I am still enjoying working away on the suggestions.  Four of us have a play day later to alter the surfaces.

 

 

 

 

 

Pixies Pieces  I decided to cut up the strips and shuffle them.   Now I am in the process of stitching them to a background.   There is a play day in the future were four of us will be  adding layers of various liquids on top of stitch work so that is were my emphasis will be until that point in time.

 

Coral Shores   One of the pare is done now and ready to frame.  This section is filling up fast.    I really like the textures.

Pillow     I looked at these leftover Blocks from Barbara  Blocks  and decided to assemble them into a pillow.  It is pin based for quilting at this point. The blue felt that I will use a batting and it will disappear when the pillow is done.

I hope you are finding ways to explore and be creative.

Carol

 

 

Springs First Days

Hello.

We are experiences the wild temperature flotations that seem be a part of spring  around here.   One day we got 8″ of snow and two days later it was 60 degrees.      I am happy to say that my Lenten Roses are blooming now too.

 

 

 

  I had a Pixie meeting yesterday and the Social Art Group had  its end of the year art show.

This painting is by Linda C.

 

 

This necklaces is by Judy Mc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pastel is by Barbara Vural.

 

 

  I showed this Tide Pool work for my entry.   It was a good show and well received.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also sold two quilts this week.   Jeanne   V purchased Barbara Blocks   2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Rena purchased  Totems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  BV Block quilt is now done.   It is 50″ w X  58″ l.    This is the second of the SAQA 100 day Challenge projects.     I am quite pleased with how it came out.    I did get a little carried away with it and due to its size I can not take a flat photo of it.  I will  have to take it with me to the Schweinfurth  next week end and sneak a shot if it sometime during the retreat.

 

 

 

 

Art Blocks    This is the third of the SAQA 100 day challenge projects.   This photo is of the lay out using all three sized blocks.   It is all assembled now and pin basted for quilting.

 

 

 

Ethel 4  I am still slowly quilting away on this project.  I did put    Ethel # 3 in the mail this morning.   It is going to her grandson.

 

 

QSDS 100 Day project # 4    I had extra time yesterday and so I drew out and cut the pattern for the fourth design.  I put the pieces together too.  I was planning on cutting the rectangle off at about 6″ down from the top  and then inverting it and re attaching it to the bottom.   I am not sure that is the way to go at this point.   I think I need to just let it set and make a few more blocks before I decide  on that action.

Coral Shores    This work movies forward slowly.   I like how it is going however.

 

 

 

Pixie Pieces    I believe I am ready to cut the pieces again and re assemble them.   I’ll wait for quiet day to do that.

 

 

 

Fragments- Purple and Blue   This is one more piece from the Fragments class and I have only spent a couple of hours adding hand work to it.  I will keep building for a while.

This week seemed to fly by.   I hope you are enjoying spring.

Carol

 

Spring

Hello,

Well the days are getting longer,  but today the weather around here is very cold with snow.  It was far warmer last week.   One can not control the weather so I guess I’ll just smile and go on.   I only had two zoom meetings this week with the Pixies and the Sisterhood of the Scissors, so I should have gotten a lot of studio time.  But I did go and get my covid booster, an RSV shot and a shot for Shingles all on the same day.  My body did not like that  and I lost a whole day to feeling tired and sleeping.  Much better now and I remind myself that getting any one of these diseases would be a lot worse!

Progress Report: BV  Blocks project     I am still quilting away on the project.   I’d about half done at this point.   This part of the   SAQA  100 challenge.

Art Blocks ( middle sized)  This is the third quilt in the SAQA 100 challenge  day project.  We are at day 67 and I am even farther behind than I  was before.  I still have seven of the middle sized blocks to assemble and then I need to do the small version.   I am still not happy with my self about being unable to meet my goals and although I put in time every day I am still behind.

Ethel Quilt # 4  I have started quilting on this project.  But sense there is not dead line for it, this is the last project I tackle at the end of the day.  It is also very heavy to get through the standard machine.   My Phaff Quilter is off at the repair shop due to the fact that the bobbin winder is not working.

Pixie Pieces    I decided to call this Pixie Pieces because the base fabric is one I did with spoon flower in response to a push by the Pixies group.  I am using it with the Finding Fragments class because it has to do with altering the surface and I  did not like how the fabric turned out.

Coral Shores    I keep adding to this work and because I had two zooms this week it got more attention than usual.   I like how it is coming together.

Drawing      I put in a little time in the sketchbook this week too.  It is good to switch gears for me  as it really clears my head.  I need to do that more often.

I am hoping for a warmer spring as the days go longer.

 

Keep Creating

Carol

Progress

Hello,

This week has been a full one for me.     I had a trunk show on Tuesday and it went well.    I had 30 of my works in this presentation and Knight of the Garter  was one of them.

 

 

 

This is a very nice close up of Cave  Men that one of the observers took and sharded with me.   Pulling work for this event meant that  I do a bit of a review of the connection.  I need to move some work out of my life so I am exploring options for that in the future.

 

 

Noel’s Needle Work group meant this week and  we had a good time.    Noel is working on a portrait of her Mom.

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah is finishing a work that really  shows off her stitches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz, Victoria and I were all doing hand work on the Finding Fragments pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pixies meant and we had our usual lively conversations.  Then this morning I made a drive were I picked up my work plus that of three of my friends from the Schweinfurth.  Both Ends of the Rainbow closed on Sunday.

 

 

 

From there I made my way to Artistic Impressions were I passed some of my Altered Barbies to Susan for sale in her shop.

Dragon Fly Barbie is set to be suspended on nylon string.

 

 

 

 

This a Mermaid with a paper Mache’  rock.

 

 

 

 

 

Medusa is one of my favorite subjects and when my friend Adam gave me these wonderful plastic shapes I just had to use them.

 

 

 

I played a bit with this ” Barbie Chick”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I tried a Sphinx just for fun.  I printed hieroglyphics on the tissue paper that I used to build up the body and then I painted it lightly so they could show through a bit.

 

 

 

 

With the  Harpy  I used squeezy paint to build the surface and then painted over that to unify it.

 

 

 

Then due to the fact that I had lots of left over legs I made the Black Widow Spider.

 

 

 Progress Report: SAQA 100 Day  BV Blocks   I am still quilting away on this project.   I tend to do this at the end of the day when I don’t need to concentrate too much, so it does not get a lot of attention.

Ethel 4   The binding in now on this work.   I will do some additional quilting for stability and it will be done.

 

 

 

 

 ART Block- SAQA 100 days  Block design 3  I am building the new blocks now and I only have five more cut that I intend to put together before I will change the size.

 

 

Handwork on the Finding Fragments pieces    This is the project I was working on at the Noel’s Needle work meeting.  I also work on it in the evenings.

Coral Shores I  just keep adding to this surface and I am enjoying the process.

 

 

 

Barbara Blocks  I now have put together all the leftover blocks from the first SAQA 100 day challenge  project.  I think this will become a small quilt or a pillow.

I hope that I find time to finish something this week.   At this point it looks to be a bit calmer.

Keep Creating

Carol

March

Hello,

I saw these on my walk early this week.   It seems  a little early for them to me.   I do love the spark of color that they add.

This week was quiet for the most part.  I did have   Pixie meeting and it was good to talk with them as it always is.   The other event was  an opening at the Edgewood Gallery  for my friend Barbara.  She died before this event but I had talked about it with her before hand and she was excited about the chance to show her work there.

 

 

 Progress Report:  Barbara Blocks II  I finished this second project using more of the Barbara blocks that I made for the SAQA Challenge.  It is 31″ w X 55″ l.

 

 

Again I quilted it using the block pattern as my guide as to were to change the stitch work

 

 

Barbara Blocks III     I still had a lot of the smaller blocks leftover so I laid then out with the one   big leftover block to make this arrangement.  I will sew them together as time allows.

BV Blocks for SAQA 100 Day Challenge     This is the second project for me in the 100 day project.   All the blocks are assembled into a top now and pin basted for quilting.

 

 

 

 

Art Blocks for SAQA 100 Day Challenge  This is my third newly designed block for the challenge.  The design is based on the letters in the word ART  because Barbara and I taught  Art together in the Westhill School district for 18 years.

 

 

 

The tray is full of the first and largest cut block pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Fragments project   In looking through my stash of fabrics to work with for the  Finding Fragments class I cam across this pieces that I had sent to spoon flower and was not happy with.  So I took it along to  the play day at Angela’s .

   I added paint to it  and this is the result.

 Then I tore it into stipes and  now I am adding fabric bits and stitches to the pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coral Shores   I am now adding texture to the two pieces that are part of this project.  I alternate very day as to the one I am working on so they will work together when they are done.

6X6 Rochester call  It is that time of year when the Rochester  Art Center calls for 6″ X 6″ works of art to sell at their auction.    I started  a while ago so there is lots more variation in the style this year.

 

Ethel 4     I finished assembling this bed quilt this week and now I am adding the binding.  That takes me abut 4 hours so I will be at it a while.

 

 

Snow Dyeing   We got 8 inches of snow one day ( and that is all it lasted) last week and so I snow dyed again.  Here are the results.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the changing season.

Carol

PS

One more look at Barbara’s works

 

Set Backs

Hello,

Today I want to talk about having set backs.   It is unrealistic to think that every piece one works on will be a success.  Everyone who plays on a team  knows that with every game there will be a winner and a looser,   That certainly dose not stop the players from preforming to their best.    With creating the ends are not so clearly defined.   Many things are good or okay, and only a few are specular.  As the creators, we keep trying none the less  just as athletes do. Then there are short falls and a few specular failures.  It is all part of the game.  On occasion out side influences come into play.    This has been my experience this week.   I have been working away on the Wedding Travel Dress Project for my friend Joyce for a while.  I carefully stitched down the cape and dress top that were originally made in 1909.  This week I started to stitch in the words to tell the story.  I have tried to be very gentle with the old materials, but I had to admit that they were truly falling apart.  I accepted  defeat having only done one line.  I can see that the silk will not hold up until I am done.    With  more and more of the support cloth of brown is  appearing as the old  pink silk falls away, the dress will lose it beauty.   I sadly told Joyce of my decision  on Tuesday.    She was so very gracious about the loss.

My second let down this week had to do with not making my own goal.   When I started the SAQA 100 day challenge, my goal was to design  and complete four quilts, each taking 25 days.  ( the gold is the first quilt)   Each of the four quits was to be made with a block I designed that was repeated three times in three sizes that worked together. This system I learned from my friend Liz, is call a “motif”.    ( the right shot is the motif in the largest block )

Well I think I bit off more than I can chew.   The first one was successful and I made the goal.  This second one however has proven to be a lot more difficult.   What I did not know and have learned, is that the triangles, although they look similar are  easy to put together incorrectly.   This week I have spent as much time ripping out seams as I have putting them in.

 Today is day 46 and I have only completed one block of the smallest motif at this point.       So again I must admit that I will not make the set goal.    I think the project is worth completing so I am not admitting defeat about that part – only the time limitation.   When I design the next block I will take far more care in the shape of the parts.

This week I only had a Pixie meeting and the Noel’s Needle Work meeting.    Liz spent part of the needlework  meeting working on her Finding Fragments  project.

 

 

 

 

Noel shared these fish, her sister made for her.

 

 

 

 

 

I did stop to talk with Adam for a bit on Tuesday and he honored me with this necklace that he had made.

 

 Project Progress: Three Trees   I have been doing this little hand project over the course of several week.

Barbara Blocks II   I am doing the free motion quilting on the second quilt that I made from some of the leftover blocks from the Barbara Blocks quilt project.

 

 

 

 

Ethel 4 I am adding the rows together on  this project.    I only have three to go and then I can move to the boarders.

Collages   I had a good time working on collage projects this week too.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you find the blue face in this work?

 

 

 

 

I used one of the  Sea Grape leaves that Chris brought up form Florida for Barbara’s  floral arrangements for in this one.

 

 

 

Coral Shores   I am having fun with a very limited pallet with this one.  I am also discovering how many little trinkets I have in my collection of stuff.

 

6X6   It is time to ship the 6X6  pieces and sense we can donate 4 this year  I am making one more.  This is not complete.

 

 

 

Finding Fragments Works I am adding texture to some of the pieces that I created at Angela’s play date last week.   I am not done yet.

Stay safe and warm

Carol