Category Archives: 100 day Challenge

Spring Forward

  Hello,

We had a big snow storm this week that out lined the trees in white and made for lots of shoveling.  Those gray cold days did not help me adjust to the springing forward of day light savings time, but I like the everyone else am adjusting.   I went off to the Schweinfurth on Monday and helped take down the Both Ends of the Rainbow show along with the staff.

I see doing that as my community service to the  Art Center as it gives me so much joy and so many opportunities to explore and grow.  The talk was good and we emptied all the galleries but one by the time I had to go home.

The snow cancelled the FAD and Social Arts meetings , but the on line zoom meeting of the Pixies went on as normal.   I feel so very fortunate to have so many groups that connect me with so many wonderful people.

The 100 Day SAQA challenge is at day 61 now and I am doing well.   I am ready to begin project # 5 using my stamped and stenciled fabrics in conjunction with commercial stuff.

 

 

 

Project Report: Wolf Mountain Petroglyph   This piece is 35″w X20.5″ t.   It is the made from stamps that I had created before, but had not printed until I was working on the 100 day project.

  I then started doing free motion quilting creating circular shapes to add around the figures.  It was fun and went quickly so the project is now to the point were I only need to add the sleeve this evening and it well be complete.

Spiraling Out   This work is # 4 from the SAQA  100 Day Challenge.   I am done quilting now and only need to add the binding and sleeve.

The printed block of ferns is an old work of mine.

 

 

 

Imagine Purple  I am still doing the running stitches to connect all the metallic inserts on this project.  I only have 15 more to connect  to the edges or each other to finish this step.

 

 

 

Wool Woods  I stitched down the mushrooms this week and now I need to purchase some stretcher bars to stretch it on.   I did a little painting on the white mushrooms with watered down acrylic as was suggested in the Material Matters lecture two weeks ago.   I want to try more ” painting” on wool  too.

Creative Assistants  I got busy and added hair arms and backs to 20 more assistants that had faces.  Now I need to move on with the stuffing and addition of pin backs to complete this little tribe.

 

Blue Beach  Work continues on this project.  I love all the textures of the buttons.   I have learned more about controlling tyvec sense I made these sections.  I will try some now work soon in that area too.          So glad that I had really quilted heavily on this background to support the weight.

Stay safe

Carol

 

 

Movining into March

Hello,

We are in the middle of the wild weather part of March.  Winter does not seem to want to let go in our part of the world. It has been very cold and windy here of late.  I have mostly stayed inside.   No walking this week- too cold!  Only two zoom meetings this week the Retired Art Teachers( RATS) and Pixies.

The 100 days project is moving forward.   I did finish up my Year of the Rabbit piece for the SAQA auction in Sept.    It’s 12″X 12″.     There are some old printed fabrics in this too.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Understanding Orange      This work is 34.5″ w X 40″ t.    I am enjoying mixing hand work with the machine quilting as I work on this series.

For this one I did the seed stitches in all the circles that were created when I extended the curve cut sections into the circular shapes.  Every time I came to the edge of one of the circles I changed the color of the thread I was using in the hand work.

 

Imagine Purple  This is the last in the monochromatic series.  I am just extending the metallic inserts that I did as my hand work this time.   Just using the running stitch.

 

100 Day Challenge # 4     I do not have a title for this one yet but it is going well.  It also has way out stretched the original intended boundaries.     I  added some older printed fabrics to this- the blue fern like stuff and the marbleized yellow.    Perhaps that is why it had become so large.   I only need to fill in the white section in the center and add to the bottom so it is even.

Into the Wool Woods   This project grew out of the SAQA lecture on Material Matters were the features artist talked of felting.  I sure had a good time getting the feltier out again and it is still on the desk.   The mushroom steams are stitched down but the caps are still free floating.  That is the next hand project.

Rework-  Blue Beach   I took the frapped flexable tubing off the surface of this work  in Dec.  The quilted  background had been setting on the shelf sense then.   After watching Experimental Surfaces on the Material Matters SAQA sight, I though  what can I paly with?   I had pinned up the painted and  melted tyvek  along the top of my pin wall a while back.  I was inspired to put these two ideas together.    Adding the buttons came later.  I am enjoying all the different textures here.

Wolf Mountain Petroglyph   I did the stamping of the figures in the center at the end of the 50 days for the SAQA  100 Day Challenge.   I use this fabric because it reminded me of a rock wall.   Then when it came to the quilting step I did a little research on petroglyphs and drawings  from my sketchbook.   I had drawn some circular patters several summers ago in a class with Rosalie Dace and thought   could use them here.   I  feel it is coming along nicely.

I did work on Creative Assistances too but did not take a photo this time.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

March Tiger

Hello

Our weather man said that March came in like a “tiger” this year.  It was cold and light snow so I guess it was a tiger instead of a lion.   There was no rawer.    For me that  description  sure congers up a different image.  I find it festinating   how we use animal imagery for so many things.    We might say, quiet as a mouse,  brave as an eagle or strong as a bull  to describe our fellows.   Or we could describe others actions as slippery as an eel or jumpy as a frog.  All those descriptions do add color and visuals to our minds.     Well, I will wisely as the owl let, that be the end of this observation.

It has been a quiet week with only two meetings for me.  The pixies meant yesterday and FAD had a meeting here on Monday.    Sharon has finished up her work from the Bett’s demo  and showed us at the meeting.    I like the fence she added to the work.

 

 

 

I did the SAQA Material Matters lecture yesterday and it was on Silk this week.  I have now pulled out my silk roving and plan to do  a little work with that material next.

Today is day 46 of the 100 Day SAQA Challenge.   I selected the next two prints to start the next work.  I am having fun mixing them printed materials with what is already on my shelves.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:   Lavender Fields Forever  This work is 21″ w X 26.5″.   This is the second of the pieces using fabric I printed  for the SAQA  100 Day challenge.    I did the quilting shapes using the same shapes as the printed image.

 

 

The white is a paper pattern that I stitched around to do that quilting  job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding Orange  I just keep adding seed stitching to the surface to fill in the rounded shapes.  I only have five left to fill in and then I will be ready to do the machine quilting.

Year of the Rabbit    This project is also a result of the SAQA 100 day print series.  I will finish this and it will also serve as my SAQA entry for the benefit Auction in Sept.   I need to stitch down the binding.

Wool/Felting   I have built up some additional felting on this work sense last week.  I think I will add spring flowers or mushrooms to this to complete it.

 

Slogan for 2023    During Interlude in January   with Jane Dewald, she  challenged us to come up with a word or idea to emphasis over the course of the year.     I tried several things but not until this week did I find the best idea for me.  So to keep it on my mind and emphasis it  I took the other felted piece I had done and made this sign for my studio.     It says  Be Curious, Be Humble, Be Brave.    Good goals for me.

Creative Assistants   I finished up these eleven creative assistants this week along with several others that are in various stages.    I just keep plugging away here.

Stay safe and be Creative

Carol

 

What I See

Hello,

I just had cataract surgery on my left eye yesterday and that has alerted me to how our eyes effect what I see.   Through the eye with the new lens things seem clearer and more blue that the yellow brown that I now see through the right one.  It makes for a bit of a fuzzy mix at the moment.    I have not has the reaction that one of my fellow artists talked about.  She found that she hated the color combinations for some of her past work.  So far that has not been the case with me.   The body seems to be adapting.  It is an amazing machine!

This week I made it to the Sisterhood of the Scissors and the Pixie’s Zoom meetings.  Both were enjoyable .  I also made a trip to the Cabin Fever Quilt show were I had three pieces.    This is an old work that is hand appliqued  that I did for my Dad.   It is double bet sized  and I had pulled it for my solo show to start with,  but found it was far too big.

 

Sharon was demonstrating on the day I went to visit.

 

It was fun to watch her cut each branch and then place it before fuzzing it down.     She then machine stitches over the work too.

 

 

 

 

This is an example of a finished work.

 

 

 

I am following the SAQA  Materials Matter series and this week it was on Wool.  That got me fired up to do a little felting.

It is always good to have places to do handwork.

 

 

 

The  SAQA  100 Day Challenge got attention too.   I cut new stamps  and printed one set.

 

 

 

I realized I was  getting tired of printing on white so I pulled some different old work and printed on top of it  for some of  these.

 

 

 

 

Then I selected two from this purple/yellow group to be the jumping off place for the next little project.

 

 

 

 

 

I even got some of them cut yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Understanding  Orange   I am  only putting in about an hour a day on the  hand stitching so it is slow going.

 

Purple Imaginings   I finished assembling the top of this work  and it is pin based now.  I have not decided how I will quilt this yet so it is just waiting.

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants    I finished off  16 more of these little guys this week.  There are only 15 in the shot because the last one would not fit on the box top.   There are lots of others in various stages too.

 Rework Project     In my fooling around this week  I decided to add some new surface design to this quilted piece. I had removed the old stuff a few weeks ago.   It is started, but as many things I am not sure were to go from this point, so I will let it set for a while.

 

Keep your eyes open and stay safe

Carol

 

 

Staying the Course

Hello,

I  hope you all had the type of Valentines day that you enjoyed.  My wonderful husband got me these roses.  I love how the sun light was on them at the end of the day.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists meant on Saturday.  We had a great meeting.  The show and tell is always the best. Pat showed her new work saying that the new studio is so large that her work is expanding too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen is working with paint on canvas now as well as her dyeing.

 

 

 

Sharon had a new winter fields piece that is very quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Jeanne did a specular graffiti piece  for the Sisterhood challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

Deb had a nice little work she was finishing for her Husband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Joyce brought her wonderful dolls and her new baskets.  She is working like mad at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the meeting I went with several others to look at the Both Ends of the Rainbow show in the main gallery of the Schweinfurth.      Sharon  had these two pieces in that show  that is up until  March 12.

 

 

 

I also had my fall piece, Leaf Pile in the show.

 

 

 

There was also a Pixies meeting as usual and we had a good time as well.

I keep working on the  SAQA 100 Day Challenge. 

 

I selected two fabrics that I had  printed and built a small quilt using them as my start units.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made special units like the triangles to add a bit of spice.

 

 

 

 

I finished the assembling and started quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quilting gave me the idea for its title.  Donuts and Wholes is what I am going to call it

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Understanding Orange   I am doing handwork on this piece now.  I enjoy this step in a a different way then when I am creating the top.     I will add more machine work when the hand step is done.

 

 

 

 

Purple Imagining  This is the last of the monochromatic series.   It is always slow going at the beginning of the layout process for me.

 

 

 

 

Textile Artist Stitch Club Workshop   I pulled this work out again this week and I intend to complete it.   I think I can do that with a bit of effort

 

 

 

 

Handwork  This piece got berried  under the 100 day project stuff and only resurfaces when I put the paints away.   I think it is nearing  completion too.

 

 

 

 

New Work- felting   I got out Val Holmes book ” Creative Recycling in Embroidery ”   and  got going on some shapes that are not rectangles.  I was really searching for my silk, ( and I did find it) but I got side tracked by the colors of the wool roving in the cabinet.   Now I have two new works to  play with.   I plan to get out the feltier tomorrow.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

The Rethink

Hello,

I am facing mixed feelings with my self commitment to the QSDS 100 Day Challenge.  It is not that I want to stop- no,  it is more case  of I having a much bigger bite than I can really chew type of thing.  We are now at day 26 and I have 100 new stamps/stencils. I also have at least that many or more printed fabric units.   If I stay on my original plan I will have double that number before I begin to play with and put anything together.  That part of the idea seems really overwhelming!   So I think I will give myself a break, print the work today, and  hold open the idea that I can at any time cut and print new things to go with or extend and idea that I am playing with.    But  now  I will begin to use/build the fabric I have created.   That seems much more manageable to me and it is my self designed project so I can change the rules any time I want.

The first print of new images are on the left and the mix of old and new images are on the right.

 

 

 

I cut this Ram for the Chinese Zodiac  series.

 

 

 

 

 

  These are the prints from the cut above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second cut for this week was the Zodiac for the year of the horse.

 

 

 

I did not print in the order I cut stamps/stencils due to the workshop over the weekend.   I could cut and listen – but not print, so when I printed I mixed up the order of the images I used.

 

These will be printed later today.   Then I will do some serious thinking about putting some things together.

 

Over the weekend I participated in Interlude on line.  It is the follow up/ introduction  for Creative Strength training.   Folks lead some fun exercises and this is one of my solutions to  a design game we did.

 

On Sunday we did Avatars.  And  this is my sox  figure/doll I did for that one.  She is dressed thanks to my friend Susan who allowed me to raid her stash last summer.    I have not made any dolls in a long time , so  it was a pleasant diversion.

Yesterday there was a FAD meeting in the morning.  Sharon sharded her progress on the three projects she is working on.  She is doing lots of handwork on things like I do.   She started this at the Schweinfurth  Retreat last fall.

The Pixies meant as usual too.  I always find those discussions stimulating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Presume    This work is 36″w X 34″ t.   It is the green response to the monochromatic self challenge.

I really like doing the hand work as a parallel and extension of the metallic inserts  on this project.  Exploration and play is what it is all about.

 

 

Envision   This work is 32.5″ w X 37″ l.     This is the yellow study  of the series.     I am learning a  few things about color with this challenge.

This time I did free motion quilting like my class last summer.

 

 

 

Understanding Orange  is as the name says working with the orange family.  It is almost assembled and I hope to finish that step this afternoon.

 

 Creative Assistants     I did a lot of work on these little guys this week.  I have been watching lots of football and basketball, so lots of handwork is being done.

 

 

New Work  Because I can see the end of the building process for Understanding Orange, I pulled my purples for the last one in the monochromatic  series.   I was surprised by the large number of metallic  purples I have.

I am hoping everyone has a pleasant  Valentine’s day

Keep Creating

Carol

Now February

Hello,

I am surprised that we are now in February.  January flew by in my eyes.   I came across a quote by Salvador Dali this week and it is haunting me.

Mistakes are almost always of a scared nature.

They sure do seem to stretch us and make us rethink what we are doing and how things are going.  I, like most folks, have made some “duzzies”.     My Father always called them learning opportunities and I guess looking at the quote in that light they are scared if you use them that way.  I sure know they have lead me down so strange pathways I am sure I would not have explored with out the errors.   Like the time I accidently cut a whole in a finished work.   It resulted in a whole series were I did wholes on purpose and I learned a lot.  It is something I am now rethinking.   Perhaps there may be some more wholly quilts in my future.

I continue to work away on the 100 day challenge for SAQA.  I  was sick for three days so I am a little behind but working to catch up.   I cut a Rooster as my next image for another  Chinese Zodiac symbol.

 

 

 

I did the printing the same as before with the new images on the left and the over printing on the right.

 

 

Next  I cut a Tiger.

 

 

 

 

   I mixed and orange just for the tiger here.   But it reads as red.

 

 

 

The  last thing  I cut  was an Ox for the series.   I plan to print it later today and  cut another creature for the group too.   That will make me caught up I think.

The pixies did meet this week and that is always an up lifting thing.

Progress Report: Presume   All the machine quilting is done on this now and I am ready to square and add a binding.   It will be done in the next day or two.   I learned that doing reflective quilting  creates bubbles in the surface of the quilt if you do not alternate the directions of the path ways with each trip around.   The pressing that out is not fun.

Envision  I finished the hand work on this on   Tue and started the free motion machine work yesterday.

 

 

Understanding Orange   I am almost done building units for this top.  I am still shuffling them around and will soon begin to assemble the units.

 

 

 

 

Textile Artists Stitch workshop  I stared this project in the free workshop a few weeks ago.  I am working slowly away on it  and like  the addition of some solids in it.

Stay safe and Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Opening +

Hello,

  The opening on Sunday was the big event of the week for me.      I was happily pleased by all the folks who came to support me.    Two of the gals in this photo came from over from an hour away  and that was a big surprise.   

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and youngest grandson came as well .   He is over six feet and makes me look really like a small grandmother.

 

 

With this show I tried to show old work and new as well as show all the different techniques I use. This work in the show is my first Fire piece and it was done about 25  years ago.

 

I put this work in the show to show off my applique skills and my handwork.

 

 

 

 

Granite Grannies is and example of a work that is both painted and dyed.  I did free motion drawing to out line the faces.

 

 Calling Crows is a work that won Judges Choice at the Adirondack Quilts Show a few years ago.   I did it after being awakened by crows at 4:00 in the morning when I was staying in Auburn.

  This work is called Forest Flock.  I machine drew all the little birds  and then appliqued them to the background.  The dark  tree is made from an old black skirt that I felted.

 

 

Briar Patch is a work that came about because I was playing with metallic threads and they suggested shinny berries to me.

 

 

 

Lastly I included the last three studies I did this fall as a part of the Explorations series.   I am in a new phase of this same self challenge now.

 

 

 

 

There were more works in the show , but I did not include them all.  The pictures show of the show were taken by my daughter, Wendy.

There was a Pixie Meeting this week and we shared lots of ideas.  I am continuing to work away on the 100 Day SAQA challenge. Friday I printed these images .   The images on the bottom  are new and the ones on the top are the new blocks over an existing image.

 

I printed new images on  Saturday.

 

 

 

 

I did a Rabbit to celebrate the Chinese New year of the Rabbit

 

 

 

Tue I printed the new images

 

 

 

 

 

Wed I cut these new images.   I decided to do  a Rat as the Chinese symbol because that is my year.

 

 

Today is the twelfth day and an even one so I printed .  One the left are the prints them selves and on the right are them used on top of  another printed image.    I am having fun and learning things so I feel good about this project.

Progress Report: Blue Horizons  This work is 34.5 ” X  38″. I enjoyed doing the handwork on this piece and finished it on Tue.

The   free motion process is also  fun for me.   I have fun dreaming up  images to machine draw.

 

 

 

 

Presume    I am still in the hand work stage here.  I am out lining the metallic’s  like I did on Forbidden Fruit.

 

Envision   I finished putting together the top for this work on Monday.  Then yesterday after pin basting it I did some stitch in the ditch work to stabilize it  so I can do the hand work here.   I am just thinking about the the pattern the hand work will take at this point.

 

 

Understanding Orange  I have just begun this top.  It is number 5 in the Monochromatic Studies of the Meandering Mind series.  I will start using purples when this one is done.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants   I finished off 22 more of these little guys this week.  This  is the most recent bunch ready for the paint and pin backs.   I hope to do a few more faces and add bodies before I complete the batch.

I hope that my readers are stay safe and enjoying the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

End of 2022 Reflections

Hello,

It has been a full year for me.  I started the year by doing the Quilt Surface Design 100 Day challenge.    That resulted in the two black and white figurative quilts that both won awards.  One at the Associated Artist Show and the second is still hanging as a part of the Quilt=Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurth until Jan 8.  I plan to do that challenge again this year and do it as printing.   I did a lot of hand work this year response to the Fiber Artist Stitch Club’s mini lessons.  I was distressed by the wild fires in the west and did two different  wild fire quilts this year.    I started Creative Strength Training in March and that proved to add lots of meetings and challenges to my creative life too.  I was glad to be a part of that.  We have  our final meeting on the year on Sat.

I continued my weekly meeting with the Pixies.  We discovered at our meeting on Wed that we have been getting together virtually sense Aug of 2020.   I completed my Childhood Memories series this year.  That was a prompt from Susan.

Happily Quilting by The Lake returned in the summer.  I had two great classes and I am glad to say it will meet again in July of 2023, but in a new location.

The Sisterhood of the Scissors had  their retreat in the fall  and I made three new tops in those five days.  I finished the last one this week.   I had a fine year and I resolve to pass forward some of my materials and  to be a bit more selective in what groups I join this year so I can spend more time in the studio.

 

Progress Report: Analise   This work is 30″ X 31″.   I did the top at the Sisterhood retreat and only finished the hand work on it this week.  I really liked playing with the complementary colors  and that sparked the monochromatic series that I am in the middle of now.

 

 

 

 

Michell’s Project   This little project is 26″ X26″ and is a commission for my friend Michele.   It is going to be framed so it is not a traditional quilting job.   It is made from the neckerchiefs that her dog wore when he was alive.  A  memorial project of sorts.

 

 

Forbidden Fruit    This is the first in the Monochromatic Series. That is a sub set of the Meandering Mind series.  One thing leads to another in my processes I guess.   I started the quilting this week.  I am doing all the hand work  at this point and extending the curves to see how they can interconnect and pull the work together.

 

Blue Horizons     This is the second in the Monochromatic Series.   I finished assembling the top yesterday.

 

 

 

 

New Work  In keeping with the series I pulled all my greens yesterday.  I hope to begin today on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I wrote last week that I will make this my last tribe of Creative Assistants.   It will be a big one as this is the pile of started body bases and I plan to make them all before I stop building.

Scrap Assembly   I continue to strip together my scraps for my scarp happy quilts.  The baskets does not seem to diminish very fast even though  I try to put in and hour at that task every day.  I gave myself a break yesterday and cut the 2.5″ strips I use in the quilts for about half an hour and put a few together.

Do stay safe and keep Creating throughout  2023!

Carol

Every Day Longer and Brighter

Hello,

The days grow and grow like all the plants that are opening and extending their limbs.   The tilt of the earth and the warmth of the sun really makes our lives worth while!     Every day I see changes in the landscape and I enjoy every walk in the world.

I drove off to Bever Lake on Sat and went to the Fibers Festival with Sharon.      We both had a good time and purchased roving.     I am now jazzed to begin a new work on the piece I want to do about the fires in New Mexico and Arizona.    We took the Swamp path after the show and saw lots of turtles sunning as well as lots of new buds.

It is the start of a new month so I had lots of meetings.    The QuEGs had a zoom meeting on Tue morning with only three of us.  I did enjoy it none the less.

Then I joined Noel and we went off to Ithaca with Terri and Cheri to the DIVA meeting.    Terri and I got a little silly before things started.   Our show was a big success and now we are planning for the fall show in Trumansburg.

Barb is trying a new approach were she is building a quilt based on one of her paintings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noel did another of her roving stitching projects that she dased on one of  her drawings

 

 

 

 

 

I did work on my Creative Strength Training stuff and also did the Textile  Artist Stitch Club work for this week.  It was stitching on paper with geometric shapes.   I used some of my Gelli plate print papers form the week before for a base for that project.

 

 

The FAD group meant Wed.  Sharon showed off her son’s   illustrations in a new book that just got published.

 

 

 

 

Thursday I spent the morning doing Gelli  plate work with Barbara again.    I was working to create stormy sky fabric for a new piece.

Progress Report: Lap # 11 I am half way through machine quilting this project now.   I am sure it will be finished by next week.

 

 

 

 

Athletes  This work is  75″ w X 31″ t.   I am happy with it, but as you can see my space is not big enough for me to hang it flat.    It has quite a different feel from Action, its partner piece.  The close up work allow you to see the blue figures I outlined from the back .


 

 

 

 

This shot of Action was done at the Schweinfurth were I could pin it out flat.

Blue on Blue    This is my handwork project that I am doing as a part of my Creative Strength Training  program .  It is what I work on during the mini Slow Stitch meetings.

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice  I work on these pieces of wipe up fabric that I have added  fused cut away fabrics to.   I have only three more pieces of fabric that I want to treat in this fashion before I start to assemble them into a quilt.

 

 

 

Sea Floor     This is a stitchery that began on a felted base.  I have been working off and on with this piece for a while.  It only came to completion with the fish that are cut from leather that Noel gave to me.

College Life- Camp week one

Reveille got us up at 6:30 and the next day began. At breakfast on Monday we passed out the campers’ class assignments. And we got ours, too. I had two sessions of Nature Crafts and then I helped with Archery for the third session in the morning. In Nature Crafts we printed leaves, painted and collected spider webs, wove cattail matts, painted rocks, along with other activities. It was fun and I think the kids enjoyed it, too. Throughout summer, I had two sessions where I taught three classes of Nature Crafts. And over the course of the summer I got to fill in with swimming, boating on the water front, and horsemanship.

At lunch, there were always announcements and singing. We sang to any child or adult who had a birthday and they had to walk around the table while we sang. Larry taught lots of fun songs like “The Grand Old Duke of York,” and “Little Rabbit Foo Foo.” It was always a good ruckus time. The afternoons the were less structured. The pool was open and a favorite of many kids. I often had that duty and for the first and only time in my life I was tan by the end of the summer. I also attribute the high number of times I was in the chorine for keeping me from getting any poison ivy that summer. Campers could also check out equipment from the sports center. When Inis had Play Ground Duty, as we called, it she always organized a volleyball game. The water front was open and kids could check out canoes and row boats to go up river for the afternoon. The trail ride was also very popular event–but hot!.

After dinner there was an event every evening. Mondays we had a movie in the big room in the main lounge. Tuesday was Olympics Night and all the campers participated events like relay races, potato sack races, three-legged races, tugs of war, and jump rope contest. Wednesday was dance night. There was a special event every Thursday. And, at the end of each day, Taps was played over the loudspeaker.

The first special event was a carnival with lots of games. Gene and Larry organized a wild game with the three ping pong tables where each player hit the ball, put the paddle down, and moved out of the way so the next person in line could pick it up and hit the ball when it came over the net. Then the players shifted to the other end of the table to wait their turn to do it again. If you missed the ball, you were out. It was wild with lots of action and laughter. It was a game that we counselors even played off and on for the rest of the summer. For the Carnival I recall a “candle bowling” game were one had to blow out ten candles from a distance. Chrissy and I ran a game with bean bags and a wooden bucket. Bubble gum was the prize.

Friday after dinner we returned to the open air chapel for closing ceremonies. Saturday morning after breakfast the campers packed up to board the busses that arrived around 10:00. The rest of the summer was alternating camp for one or two weeks each. I will talk of the special events in the next entry.

Keep Creating

Carol