Category Archives: Childhood Memories

Childhood Memories, Hand work, Lines of Inquire, Mayan- Eagle priest, Mayan- Vulture Priest, Scrap Happy Quilts, Series, Squares a Dancing

Quiet week

Hello,
I hope folks are staying safe and enjoying summer. The Mulberry tree we walk under is nearing its end of the fruit baring time.  On the other hand, the wild raspberry patch is just getting started, so I enjoy a little treat on my way home.

The Textile Artists Stitch Club teacher for this week is Sue Stone. We are to weave a base out of fabric strips and stitch over it. To help with the stitching, it is suggested that one draw the image on tissue paper and then stitch thought it. I have only just started that second step. I like that idea however.
Liz and I over dyed this week. I pulled out some fabrics that were dyed before, but were not real successful. It was quite hot and the photo shows how the heat effected me. I really look wilted. The process was done in the Shobori style, were one warps the fabric around a poll and does immersion dyeing. I really like the effects as the colors are so very rich. We are going to do some more of that next week too. It is fun and there is lots of surprise in the process as one does not always have control of how the dye will work.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Eagle Priest- Mayan Series #3 This work is 21″ X 23″. It is the third one in the series. I learn something with each project.

 

 

 

 

I like the headdress and face area of this work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vulture Priest- Mayan series # 4 This work is all fused down now and I am starting to do the out line stitching. Some parts are three layers thick and hard to pass the needle through.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep making one and a little more every evening. I have 56 squares now.

 

 

 

 

 

Layers I pulled this out of the pile after not looking at it for a week. I immediately saw what it needed  and made additions. Now I am ready to square it up and finish the project. It is great what time can do to help clear ones  vision.

Lines of Inquire This piece us all quilted in the ditch. I am now outlining the metallic inserts in gold thread. I will make passes around each one until I have quilted the work.

 

 

New Scrap Happy I cut centers in four colors and added the sides to them. Now they are all cut into squares and I can begin assembling the top.  Yes, they are Minions

Childhood Memories- Playground
Our playground in the fifth grade was a different scene from the fourth. We had big long jump ropes and could play group games with them. The girls took turns jumping and twirling. We played a lot of Aces- a game were one ran into the twirling rope and jumped once , then exited. The next person in line was to let the rope pass once and enter, then do the same single jump. After all the girls playing had jumped the single jump, one repeated running into the rope, but jumped twice. If someone missed by jumping on the rope or not entering on time, they replaced one of the twirlers and the game when back to Aces or one again. There were lots of rhyming songs that we jumped to as well- like Johnny Over the Ocean, Sampson and Delila, Blondie and Dagwood and one that we had to modify to use. It was Little Robin Red Breast. In that rhyme the last line ends in “poop”. We got around saying that by clapping when we got to that word. We played Double Dutch where two ropes were set in action going in the opposite directions. Lana Turner was the queen of that game until she broke her leg falling off a fence. We all admired the cast and were impressed by her painted toe nails when she came back to school. She said it itched and the crutches hurt her arm pits. She finally let folks sign the cast, but I was not one who signed. In the sixth grade I got a Pogo Stick for Christmas. By spring I was very good at its use and could cover lots of ground with it. I had no trouble pogoing to and from school. I even got so I could do jump rope rhymes too. I let lots of other kids try using it. It does take skill and I remained the champion of that event. In that year my best friend became Evelyn Stouton. I walked to her house after school many times. She had three sisters and she was the third girl in the family. She got mostly “hand me down” clothing and she did not like that much. But her older sisters also made her more sophisticated. Her room, in the attic was our hang out spot. Her bed was in a little cubby with a small window at the end. It was fun to lye there and watch people walk by. Her family moved over the summer and I was quite disappointed in the fall.
> My parents took me to the dentist as my teeth were a little out of alignment. After a discussion it was decided that the Dentist would try a new experimental technique to fix the problem. So one morning I went to the Dentist office at 8:00 instead of school. The dentist put bands on back teeth and wires on springs were attached to the bands
that would force my teeth forward. When I was done I walked the five blocks to school and joined my class. We had Chow main for lunch that day. I took one bite and suddenly my mouth was full of springs and wires as well as food. I went to Miss Herd and she told me to run back to the dentist as she knew he played Golf on Wednesday afternoons. I did run and barely made it to the office in time as he was in his car and the nurse had to flag him down. The dentist took all the wires and connections out and made a cast of my teeth. A few weeks later I got two retainers, one for the top and one for the bottom. I wore the bottom for about 9 months and the top for about a year. My bottom teeth are still a little crowded and crooked in the front.

Enjoy the holiday and Stay Safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Mayan- Eagle priest, Mayan- Vulture Priest, Mouths, SAQA Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club, Uncategorized

Beginning Summer

Hello,
I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.     Summer Solstice was last Saturday and  now the day light is shortening every day.   I continue to walk and enjoy the summer season as it is a visual feast. There is a Mulberry tree that we walk under every day and it is loaded with berries now. I sure enjoy the  few  seedy fruits  I pick every day.   It reminds me of my childhood.   My garden is also hostessing flowers from Grandmother Butterworths ‘s garden. They always make me think lovingly of her and their bright  color is a joy to the eye.

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club had a new assignment this week. Emily Tulli demonstrated how to do a mouth. We are to do three different ones and this is my work at the half way point. I still need to add a second shade of gray and then white for the highlights.

Progress Report: Square’s a Dancing I worked hard on this project this week and finished two groups of seven. I also cut up another pair of Eric’s pants to use as bases and that is why there is a color change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I have now made rows of leftover squares for a new quilt. Nothing goes to waste in my world .

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Priest- Mayan Series I finished the quilting of this piece this week and only need to finish off the little quilt with binding and a sleeve .

 

 

Vulture Priest- Mayan Series I drew out the next piece for this series and I am in the middle of cutting the pieces to applique to created the image. It will be ready for work when the Eagle Priest is done.

 

 

 

New Work I am working away on this new piece.   The insertion of the metallic pieces is a fun process. As I have no clear vision as to where I am going- the work is slow.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- 5 th Grade

My teacher is fifth grade was Miss Herd. She had a reputation for being very strict and I guess she was. But she was also very fair. We had lots of routines in her class. After the pledge we had reading followed by Arithmetic. I remember lots of review on Division at the beginning of the year and then team games of all math techniques. At noon we walked done the hall to the far stairs and had a moment of “silent reflection” before we went down to the lunchroom in the basement. After lunch Miss Herd read aloud to us. I remember one book about a little southern girl and learning about her life during the Civil War.   I found it fascinating.   This class room had a little library like the fourth grade. I found and enjoyed all the Raggedy Ann and Andy books there. It was also the beginning of the TAB and Arrow book clubs for me. One could purchase books for .25 to .35 cents. My parents allowed me to purchase one or two every time there was an order. I did not read any of them until years later, but I sure enjoyed filling my book shelf with them. My reading was very poor and one of the things my parents attempted to do to help was have my eyes tested. I got some very stylish tear drop glasses that I wore for about a year. Mrs Fister   the high School art teacher, came for a special art lesson  in late November. It was about Alexander Calder. Then each member of the class each built a Christmas mobile out of an opened wire coat hanger. I made Christmas trees in the form of cones and added a few round candies for balls. The mobiles hung in the hall until  we left for the holidays. I love the history lessons   we had that year and did a special project for westward expansion. We had a puzzle map of the United States at home and under the states was a map that showed all the areas that were added as the country grew.   So I used the Opaque Projector to cast the map on a big piece of white paper and traced it out. I painted and labeled all the areas from the original thirteen colonies to the addition of the California territory. I painted the areas different colors and added the rivers and  mountains and also   labeled everything.    It hung in the front of the room for a long time and I was quite proud. Fifth grade was when we were introduced to instrumental music. I wanted to join the band, so Mom got me Grandfather Howard’s old silver clarinet. He also had a C saxophone, but the band leader, Mr Cox discouraged that choice. Playing the clarinet continued to be an important part of my life until the end of high school. Near the end of the year I volunteered to join the Safety Patrol and become a crossing guard. The main qualification, after volunteering and being at least in fifth grade, was to have perfect attendance. I did. As a fifth grader, I worked with a sixth grader for the last month of the year and became a full guard in the fall when I was in the sixth grade. We all had white adjustable belts and little silver badges. I had to leave the class a little before the end of the day to go to my post. I was assigned to the north end of Adams street across from the High School. I had that same post in sixth grade. We looked carefully and then went into the middle of the street and held our arms out so the younger kids could cross safely. I got to know many of the younger children who lived in that quadrant of the city. Sixth grade guard duty included flag duty. At the end of the day I was assigned to help take the flag down and fold it before taking it to the principals office for storage over night. At the end of sixth grade, I in tern, help teach a fifth grader to take my place on the squad.   I was very proud of my first job and took my responsibility very seriously.

Take good care of yourself.

 

Carol

Childhood Memories, Scrap Happy Quilts, Squares a Dancing, Uncategorized

Moving Slowly

Hello,
It seems like the my world is moving slowly. I have spent so much time out in the garden and yard that there is not a lot of action in the studio.   Eric and I did come across a surprise on our walk on Monday.   Eric put his foot in the shot so one could see the size.   He was in the middle of the road. Eric carefully moved him to the side of the road in the shade. By the time we got back about thirty min later he was no were in sight.

I did go and dye with Liz on Tuesday. These two pieces got washed out yesterday and there are two more pieces in the washer at the moment.

 

 

 

 

I sorted the fabric I had altered and as these stacks show I really do not need to make any additional pieces.   But is is so much fun that I am  am not going to stop now.   I pulled out and set aside pieces to do two new starts while I was sorting. The cutting table is clear now and I am ready to begin.

 

 

Progress Report: Scrap Happy I need to do the last bit of quilting on this work and it will be finished. This is the fourth one this year and I already have a home for it.

 

 

Mayan Series # 3- Eagle Priest I am doing the outline and detail stitching now. There are lots of part in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

Layers This work is moving forward. I need to create a few more mazes and stitch all of them down. It is beginning to come together.

 

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I finally have a name that I am happy with for this project. I got busy doing hand work on this project this week as there was no new project for Stitch Club. I now have 35 squares done and about 10 started. It is pleasant work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Greeley, Colorado

In Dad’s continuing push to improve himself, he and mom decided to get more education. So we went to Greeley Colorado for two summers so they could work on  Master’s Degrees at the College there. We lived in a trailer in a park that had about 55 units. Ours was number 22. Our lot was near the narrow end of the pie sliced shaped park and the Rail Road ran along the back side. I recall hearing it at night many a time.  We  kids  tried to flatten pennies on the rails, but never found any after the train had passed. Mom and Dad both took classes and Gene and I went to summer school in the mornings. It was lots of review, but we also learned Spanish. I can still count to twenty, know the days of the week and the months of the year in Spanish. As well as how to say” I do not know how to speak Spanish”. I remember setting out under the olive tree on our plot and making a diorama of irrigation for one of my class projects. As I said before, my skills at reading were below grade level so I took special one on one lessons. The teacher used a reward system to get me to read more outside of our time too. I was given an Annie Oaklie paper doll and could earn a new dress for her with each book I read. She was a special type of paper doll as static cling electricity was the method that held the dress to the doll- no tabs.   At this time I also discovered Classic Comic books. I often got one at the grocery on our weekly trip. I remember “Green Mansions” and “the Moonstone” very vividly. I was into model making at this time too. I did several monsters like Frankenstein and the Mummy. I also did one of Perry the   Flying Squirrel- from a Disney movie. In the winter that year I did the Invisible Man and later the Invisible Woman.

There were lots of kids in the park so there were always lots of folks to play with. In the trailer next door lived a girl named Silvia. She was a Seventh Day Adventist. I recall Mom explaining to me about how folks believed different things about religion. One Saturday I went to church with Silvia. In the church school class they were having a biblical knowledge contest. I was the only one who knew that the Ark landed on Mt Arrowwrat. The teacher was impressed and a bit annoyed at the other kids that an outsider knew that information. Two tailors down in the opposite direction lived the Donally family. The dad was studding Biology  like mom . They had three kids, and  the boy was Gene’s age. The two girls were younger. I often helped the Mon get the three year old to sleep at nap time. In the evening we often went along with the family  for ice cream stand for Dilly Bars.   They were ice cream on a stick that was dipped in chocolate.   Some sticks were stamped with “Free” on them.     I never got one but I recall Gene getting a free ice cream two weeks in a row.     To entertain and keep the kids engaged, Mr Donally made up a car identification game. For example if one spotted a Jeep, one would sing out” Beep beep, there goes a Jeep” – or “Wee I see a Volkswagen”. We laughed a lot too. This is was also the time I became aware of popular culture and begged for a Hula Hoop. When I finally got my yellow hoop I played with it for hours. I finally wore out the staple that held the circle in place by back spinning it too much on concrete. It was also the time dad made a concession to near bare feet in the form of Thongs- or Flip Flops as they are now called. After the blisters between the first and second toes healed up, I wore yellow thongs until the button on the bottom wore off the bottom. By then it was winter and I never got another pair. My only other big memory those summers was playing dolls with Silvia and Sally. Sally was the owner’s daughter and we played “ Barbie” on her screened porch. I had   my Betsy McCall of course and although they traded dresses and they played at jobs and balls. I was quite content to play the little girl  with Betsy and have fun. The experience really confirmed my feelings that being a grown up was not something I wanted to rush forward toward.   It was a good way to spend summer.

Enjoy the season and Keep Creating

Carol

 

Childhood Memories, Mayan -Leopard Priest, Mayan- Eagle priest, Pine Tree, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Advancing

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well as we emerge from our cocoons of isolation. Please stay safe in all your activities.   On my daily walk of about two miles in our city I pass by  the homes of six seniors who’s high school years were cut short by the epidemic.    I am glad to see the signs on their lawns.  But  my heart goes out to them as I recall all the joys of dances,  ball games, honors, meetings  and hanging out, that were a part of my last semester of high school.    Even visiting colleges is done virtually for them.    For a person who is a tactical and visual I am  this sure would have stunted my senior year.

I continue to work and I attended another Zoom meeting  Of FAB this week.    Liz and I dyed again  this week too. We are both doing a lot of over dyeing this season.

 

 

 

 

I completed the work from last week and my class with Merrill Comeau on Saturday.    I really enjoyed building up all the layers with lots of stitches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then   I finished my   new assignment for Textile Artist Stitch Club for this week.   The lesson was from Susie Vickery and we were using plastic bags in combination with embroiders thread  to do the stitch work. I like the effect and will keep an eye out for more different colored bags to recycle into my work.

 

The plastic has a lot of shine and one needs to think about the printing on the surface when cutting the strips.  But I feel that adds interest.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Mayan Series- Jaguar Priest This work is nearly complete. I did a lot of quilting around the figure this week. It still needs a sleeve for hanging and a label. This is the second in the series. I really like the head of the Jaguar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayan Series- Eagle Priest This is the third piece in this series. It took a long time to cut out the shapes and fuse them down, but well worth the effort. I am now ready to start outlining the shapes and adding details.

 

 

 

Layers This work is still building. The maze portions take a long time to cut and add to the surface.

 

 

 

 

SAQA 100 days I will keep working with this theme but I think I will go beyond the 100 so I need to think of a new title.

 

 

I really enjoy the hand work  and doing variations  on radial designs is something that I find very calming.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap  Happy  I finished three scrap backs for these projects this week. I have only three rows of Garden Path stitch down to the base . It will just take effort to finish now.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Allowance

On Sunday morning before we went to church we got our allowance. It was sixty cents. To earn that full amount one had to have done all his or her  chores. I don’t remember all Gene had to do, but we did share  the drying dishes duty. It was a case of alternating days with the two of us working on Sunday. The other chores were to clean one’s room, a job also done on Saturdays before we went out doors to play. One job that I did alone was to empty the washing machine and hang the wet clothes on the line before I went to school on Thursday. I also had to take it down when I got home. I remember taking it off the line when it was frozen sometimes. I  forgot on a few occasions and had to do that job in the dark. I also had to collect and empty the waste baskets every Tuesday evening because the garbage men came on Wed. The  last chore for the week was to polish my shoes. Dad had grown up poor and went barefoot a lot. He only wore shoes to school and church and they were hand me downs many times.   A a result,  we always had three pairs. A daily pair for school and such. A pair that were play shoes, that were old schools shoes or tennis shoes. The last pair were Sunday shoes. I remember his teaching me to polish my Saddle shoes. First one took the laces out. The dark section was polished with a  wax polish. One did one shoe while the first dried so one could buff the dark section and move on.  .When both shoes were done  with that  first step,  then one applied the white with a dauber from the bottle of liquid polish. When they were dry one had to buff the whites to make them shine as they dried with a chalky appearance. The last step was to put the laces back in the shoes. When Sunday saddle shoes became school shoes, the polishing still  had to be done on them too. I liked it a lot better when I got a pair of cordovan Loafers as they were only one color. I was also allowed to add pennies when they became school shoes. We wore shoes all the time. No bare feet in our lives. If Dad saw you with out shoes he would say” Put your shoes on Lizzy, don’t you know your in the city.” The allowance was divided three ways. Ten cents went to the collection plate in Sunday school. Then a quarter went into the Skippy Peanut Butter jar that each of us had that was our savings.   Mom had painted our names on the lids with finger nail polish.    Birthday money and tooth fairy money went into the savings jars too. The money was collected  until we had enough to by a savings bond, that would mature to a full $25.00 in seven years. I remember thinking that seemed like a long time to me. Some times we got savings bonds from our McElhinney grandparents for Birthdays. The last twenty five cents came to us in nickels and dimes with the words” Don’t spend it all at once” as part of it. I put mine in the jewelry box. That spending money was to go for things like dues for Brownies and treats. We were allowed to take loans from Dad if we were away from home and saw something we could not live with out. But it always had to be paid back when we got home. We got lunch Money on Mondays too as well as milk money and that was extra and had to all go to the school. Gene pushed for a raise in third grade. With his arguments the allowance went up twenty five cents for both of us. I recall thinking it was a bit unfair as I had live on the old amount until I was in 5 th grade. Gene was always more concerned about money then I was and he still is.  Dad continued our money education as we got older, but I will cover that later.  It was a good enough system that I did learn the value of saving and thinking about how I wanted to spend my money.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Heron, Mayan -Leopard Priest, SAQA Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Thread Painting

Young Robin

Hello,
With spring moving forward, the young Robins are now leaving their nests. We noticed one that was out near our hedge yesterday. He still had a few white tufts and lots of white spots. Saw another this morning up in one of the low branches. Wonder if he is the same bird. They grow so very fast.  My iris are blooming too.  This is a shot of Betty’s iris however.
I had a Zoom meeting with Patti this week and enjoyed talking with her.

Started the Stitch Club from Textile Artists this week. Made treasure containers with Debbie Lydden instructions. I am enjoying the process. I really liked making the grommets that she taught us.

These are the treasures.     The bracelet is  from the high school and the little turquoise hearts on that bracelet  are from our tip to Texas when I was a senior .  They re from Judge Roy Bean’s office.   The amber ring is from Mon’s Trip to Russia.  I wore it for years and it saved me from a broken finger when it stopped a slamming door. The rock is from my trip to Australia in  November to celebrate my daughters’s 50th Birthday. .

I dyed with Liz today . We had fun and I didn’t take a single photo.

Progress Report: Heron I finished this project this week and it is 18″ X 27″. It was a good stretch for me.

I like the reeds too.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This is the one that I was working on and it was completed on Sunday.

 

 

 

New Scrap I started assembling strips for building a new back on Monday. Lots of cutting to begin with and then adding parts together. A good use of my extras.

 

 

 

Jaguar Priest – Mayan series I made real headway on this project this week.There is felt behind the fabric to give the work stability as I stitch.

 

 

 

Layers      Formally Black, White and Green.    I am building on the top of this quilt now. It is at the ugly stage when I am considering tossing it out. But I know from experience that I really need to keep pushing forward.   I still many need to throw it away- but it is far to soon to do that at this time.

 

 

 

 

100 Day Project I am enjoying the hand work that I selected with this SAQA challenge. I am caught up now and a little ahead as I always use the extra thread on another square instead of saving it because I always ended up with a tangled mess in the past.

Childhood Memories- 4TH Grade
Starting 4 th grade meant a new classroom and a new teacher, Mrs Wilson. Our east side ground floor class room was connected by a corridor to the high school building. I recall the sound of the high school girls crinkling  petticoats when they walked by on their way to the cafeteria. Our desks were a new design. An I-shaped floor unit supporting two poles; one pole holding the desk, the other pole supporting the seat. The top of the desk lifted up at an angle and it always squeaked. The desk itself was a metal rectangular bowl and most stuff slid to the center. I remember cleaning it twice during the year and being surprise by what I found. There was a small class library in the front of the room. I recall settling on the floor to select books. There were lots of turquoise bound childhood biographies with silhouetted illustrations. I remember being disappointed that there were only three books about girls- Louisa May Alcott, Sacajawea and Madame Curie. Despite my reading difficulties, I read all three book and several others. . I was assigned to the slow reading group with four boys.
For Valentines day, Mrs Wilson made two big white hearts that she stapled together on the bottom half and added a red valentine to the front with our names on them. We then decorated them. They hung on the wall and we put our cards into them. That year I had special valentines with heart shaped suckers as a part of the card. I had an argument with Billy on the play ground the day I addressed my cards and I decided to eat his sucker and not give him a card. When he disappointingly asked me about it on Valentines day many days later- I lied and said it must have fallen out That’s when I learned not to do things in anger and how bad one could feel about being left out. I tried to never do that again.
For Christmas we had a concert on the stage in the gym . Our Class was to represent Christmas cakes so we all wore paper hat cakes to sing our little song.
One day were standing in a line to present our papers to the teacher, when Wanda, the girl in front of me fell to the floor and started thrashing around. She was having an epileptic seizure. The teacher quickly put a ruler in her mouth so she would not swallow her tongue and sent one of the students for the nurse. After Wanda was carried out , the teacher carefully explained to us what had just happened. An electrical miss-fire in the brain- like a back fire of an engine, she said, and we were not to worry as we could not catch it. She also told us how to act toward Wanda when she returned to school.

Mrs Wilson was into science and we had lots of science lessons . I remember the Magnet lesson very vividly. There was a table with magnets and lots of objects on it. We were all given a check list of the objects and were to check the objects attracted to the magnet. I insisted that paper was attracted to the magnet until she showed me that it was the nail under that paper that was attracted to the magnet. Grandmother Ruth had a pair of Scottie dogs- one white and one black that were mounted on little bar magnets. One could make them “run away” from one anther, kiss or connect back to back. That is were I learned about north and south poles.
In the spring we did a class play . It was about Dr Doolittle -one of the stories from one of our reading books. I was the narrator. I really memorized my part more than reading it. I helped my friend Judy make her Parrot costume of wings and a tail. My first costume. Little did I know how many I would make in my life time. I have pleasant feeling about fourth grade.

I hope everyone is staying safe.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Drawing, Felt Work, Heron, Mayan -Leopard Priest, Scrap Happy Quilts, Thread Painting, Yellow Ramped Warbler

Quiet Week

Hello,
This week was rather quiet after a trip on Friday to pick up my work from the Broad Street Gallery in Hamilton. Wendy and I went together and enjoyed the day. We walked the fitness trail at Colgate and saw lots of great views after climbing lots of hills. We stopped at Oriseany Falls on the way home too. It rained on us at the end of the drive but we still had a good time.

Progress Report: Red-Winged Black Birds This work is 18″ w X 20″ l. The background is a mix of felted work and fabric. The reeds are all added on top as well as the birds. The male, female and adolescent are shown here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Ramped Warbler This work is 12″ X 12″. It too has a felted base with the thread drawing birds added on top. It is also a stretched work. I have lots of little bird studies done this way as I picked up 7 from the gallery Friday.

The leaves are cut from hand dyed fabric and the limb is made from torn strips of fabric and yarns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heron This work is nearly complete now. I still have eight reeds to attach and the heron too. I do enjoy thread painting.

Scrap Happy This is my third scrap quilt this year. I only need to finish the binding and quilt the big squares and this will be complete. That is about two hours of work remaining.

 

 

 

 

Mayan Jaguar Priest I am  now to the cutting and assembly of the parts of this work. It is like doing a puzzle- but backward as I have put fusible on the back of the fabric so I cut them correctly  before I iron them down. .

 

 

 

Australian Reef After looking at my pictures of the Birthday trip with Wendy last year I decided I wanted to do a reef picture. The top is painted fusible and the bottom is felted. I will start the hand embroidery next.

 

 

 

9 Square – Textile Artist Stitching Challenge This challenge is from Christine Chester. I will finish it this week I am sure.

 

100 Day Challenge The SAQA group started a challenge to make a block every day for 100 days. It began a long time ago but I am just getting on board. I started Tuesday. Two done and a third on its way.

 

Black and White plus Green This work came from a dream I had about black and white. I am going to add lots of layers of greens and metallics on the surface.

 

 

 

 

Drawing I only did a little drawing this week. One is a seed pod the other is from the oak tree over our driveway.

 

 

 

 

I love the delicate leaves and small flowers or spring oaks.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Camp Life
We quickly adjusted to life in the park provided army surplus tent behind the camp ground office at Colter Bay Camp Ground. Our tent faced west.      A second tent for a second ranger faced south. That tent housed Pete Nickels, a ranger from Texas who had quite a lidrawl. We called him our Texas Ranger in honor of a TV show that was popular at that time. There was a third ranger and his wife who lived in a one room cabin along the highway. They had two Siamese cats- the first special breed I had come across.
One day early after our arrival,  we walked along the side of Jackson Lake to their home. Gene threw rocks into the lake the whole distance. I got to see my first sight of a kayak. I was really taken by it. But I was far too young to do anything more then look. We walked back along the highway  after a pleasant afternoon. We came across a young buck that had been hit and killed by a car. Mom persuaded Dad to remove the antlers- only four points and they were still furry. Then Mom spent a long time rubbing them again trees before they became clean and shinny. They went home with us at the end of the season and later got sawed into buttons with holes drilled into them. She put them on her leather jacket. I still have a few. Gene used his little ax a lot, and the day that the reporter from our home town showed up he took a photo that appeared in the local news paper of the family with Gene chopping in the foreground.
The campground had about 150 sites that were on six loops of about 25 sites each. Every day the rangers had to drive the loops and check the sites in the camp truck. They stopped and talked with campers as  needed and checked to see what lots were indeed empty.  I remember playing Jacks on the wooden floor of the station on rainy days below a big map of the campground.
We did not have running water in the tent and we used the camp ground facilities.   I recall carrying water many afternoons.   The bathrooms- one for each loop- consisted of men’s and women’s sides with four sinks and four stools in each half. One of the toilets was a new ceramic stand up design. One backed over a trough and one did not sit to do business. I got real comfortable with that system as that stall was usually empty at the morning rush because folks were not aware of how to use it.
We went to the campfire talk every week. It was at the top of a little hill and had benches made from sliced longs laying flat side up. The sight  faced the mountains. One of the Naturalists usually talked about some aspect of the park. I loved to watch the sky darken and see the light creep up the mountains until only the tops were lit by the setting sun. Then the stars came out before we started our walk home.   Mom sometimes gave us little astronomy lessons while we were there.      On Wednesday nights we went to Jackson Lake Lodge. We had gone to the grand opening of the lodge two years before when we were in Yellowstone and I still was impressed with the big two story windows facing the Tetons in the lobby. There were also wonderful huge western paintings in the lobby. I remember one of an old miner that was made up of lots of little horses that one only saw up close. It was my first encounter with optical illusion. We went to the lodge to participate in the Square Dancing. Both Gene and I got real good at following the directions given by the caller and were very comfortable with “ al-la-mand left” and “ dosie doe”. It was fun for us and it sure made square dancing at school an easy A for me later.

Keep Crating and stay safe

Carol

Birds, Childhood Memories, Experiments, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Heron, Mayan -Leopard Priest, Red-winged Black Birds, Scrap Happy Quilts, Thread Painting

Temperature swings of Spring

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing as well as can be expected in this time of high stress for all of us. I continue to see signs of spring and enjoy them as they come.    We had snow on Monday and Tuesday.    Then   the sky was so very blue yesterday it made me smile as we  walk in the 54 degree weather.     More trees are budding every day as this red bud attests.    This time of year is full of surprises.
I participated in a Zoom meeting this week. It was good to just talk with my friends and see there faces. I continue to work in my studio and enjoy the process.

Progress Report: Tiles One of the things I have been trying to do is explore with old Quilting Arts Magazines. The article was by Julie Hirota in the Oct Nov 2007 issue 29, is the source for this project. I think it falls very short as a final piece as there is so little contrast. The techniques of attaching pieces with grommets, I find very frustrating and time consuming. It took me 15 min to attach each one. But as my father often said one can not expect success on the first try of something new. In thinking about the idea I may try the tiles again and use lace as the connections.

 

 

 

Flower Vase This work is 16″ w X 20″ t. I did this work in response to the suggestions from Textile Artists community stitching challenge. Ann Kelly was the woman directing this phase of the challenge. I adapted it as I usually do. I use this project to explore different ways to make flowers. Using old linens as a vase was her suggestion and I really like that idea.

I went on to use old crochet flower forms on my piece. Then I did yo-yo’s as the centers for the blue flowers that have daisy  stitches for the petals. The big pink flowers are made from some trim that I had in my collection. I ended up stretching it to give it a stronger final presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granite This work is also 16″ w X 20″ t. This work has served as my hand work project for the last few months. I am pleased with how I feel it depicts the granite that I based it on. I now intend to start the 100 days challenge as my hand work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This is a queen sized bed quilt. I like to use up scarps and that is how this piece began. It is only the most recent in along line of pieces of the same type. They all go to worthy causes or folks who I feel need them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy new I started a new one as soon as the last on was complete as I had made the squares earlier this year. There are at least two more quits like these  in the near future.

 

 

 

 

Red Winged Black Birds This is my newest bit of thread painting. I finished the machine work yesterday and now they are pinned to the board ready to have the wash-a – way removed from them.

 

 

 

Heroin I worked on this piece of thread painting at the same time as the other birds. I only now need to finish the legs and the beak and it too will be ready for the wash out step.   The wash-away has not been trimmed from this piece.

 

 

 

 

Pattering I started this work in January when I was caring for Susan. It only resurfaced a few days ago. It will get some attention now.

 

 

 

 

Mayan series –  Leopard Priest  I made on Mayan piece a few months ago and it received such a lot of positive feedback that I thought I would make a few more. This is the drawing and enlargement for that project. The orange fabric will be the background.

 

Mini   I have also been playing with small little works.  This is one of the first.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing I did a little more drawing this week. The two on the same page are from Designs in Nature  a book published  by Dover.

 

 

 

 

This drawing of a spring branches, is from life.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Serious about Camping

In the spring near the end my third grade my family got a new car. It was a white Ford Station wagon with brown plastic seats that had brands all over them. I remember the circle X and the Bar BQ most vividly. Dad had to purchase a woven wire seat that he sat on because the plastic made him sweat in the summer time. Dad also got busy building at that time a wonderful car top carrier. It was made of plywood that was 2.5 ft tall at the front end and tapered to six inches at the back. There was a hinge a few feet back form the front so items could be stored in that area and easily accessed. Beyond the hinge , Mom made canvas sides and aback panel
that allowed the back to open up, but still  be protected from the weather  inside. Dad also made a ladder that could be placed on the back of the car so Gene and I could climb up into the carrier and sleep there.   We stored all of the family sleeping bags with the air mattresses fully inflated in the   car top carrier back area during the day and removed Dad’s and Mom’s bags at night and put them in the bottom of the wagon with the seats down. We all slept comfortably with this arrangement well into my college years. Dad also built two sturdy wooden boxes to store our food as well as 4 nested metal plates, cups and pans that had removable handles. Mom painted the carrier and the boxes white. There was also a Coleman Lantern and Coleman Stove for cooking.    Both of those ran on white gas and had to be pumped up for use.   We were set for years of great camping experiences with all this great equipment.    All this  preparation was  for Dad’s Summer job as a seasonal Forest Ranger at  the Tetons National Park.
We set out for the Park as soon as school was out that spring. Gene and I both had a suit case of course and we were allowed a small collection of toys. I took my 7″ doll and her clothes, jacks , papers and crayons. Gene took a new hatchet he had been given and his football.
We started out driving west on highway 30 out of Carroll in the early morning. As soon as we reached the Iowa boarder we drove north along the Missouri  River before turning west again in South Dakota. We hit many of the attractions along the way. I remember passing lots of “tourist traps” and a coffee shop built of cast concrete that was shaped like a coffee pot. We stopped and got gas at a Sinclair station that had a life sized green dinosaur on a little rise to the west of the station. We did stop at Wall Drug Store after reading the many Burma -Shave like signs that were along the highway. We drove into the Badlands. They were so barren compared to the green of home, but held a special beauty all their own.   I know we   went to the Black Hills and Badlands on other trips with the Bell family, Grandpa Howard and Grandmother Ruth.   On that trip we did a lot of exploring and fossil hunting in the Badlands.   I just do not know what age I was for that experience.     I do know it was not a  part of this adventure to the Tetons as we had a time dead line.   The next stop   on our trip was Mt Rushmore. I was quite surprised at the size of those of those heads. I remember being impressed with the modern lunch room and visitors center. I had warm prideful feelings years later when I saw the film “North by Northwest”. We then drove on to Wind Cave and stopped and did the tour. I was awe struck by the amazing block crystal formations on the ceiling of that cave. We continued west crossing Wyoming. I am sure we stopped somewhere along the way and camped with our new equipment, but I am not sure where. I do recall the long haul up the east side of the Continental Divide.   It seemed to be  just a long up hill drive with a few descents and then more up with no real view of what we were about to see.  There were lots of trees and no real views.    But when we crossed  the top and there was a wonderful view of the Tetons. We drove down into the valley and into the park. I am sure we went to the main headquarters first but I can’t say I remember it. I do remember  the wonderful summer at the camp ground at Colter Bay, however, and I will tell some of those stories next.

Please take good care of yourself and keep Creating

Carol

Big Pop, Blue Corn, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Drawing, Experiments, Queen Ann's Lace, Re Work, SAQA Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Thread Painting

Working Away

Hello
I hope all are doing well. I see more and more evidence of spring every day with daily changes in my garden as well as the trees see blooming on my walks.   It is wonderful to see the world filling in with green.

 

 

 

I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon assembling stuff in the yard. My grandson gave me this windmill for Christmas. It moves beautifully in the light breezes now.

 

 

 

 

Then I moved on to this swing. That took three hours and really was a two man job. Eric came and helped at the end.   I need to seal it now.

 

 

 

There was one last challenge do for  the Textile Artists Stitching group this week. I will move on to it when I finish the folk art challenge from the week before. I have used this project as a chance to do some exploring with stitches and techniques I have not tried in along time. I am making progress even though it is slow.   Sense there is no dead line for this , I am enjoying the exploration.

I did finish my SAQA entry for the auction this week too. It is 12″ X 12″ and called Spring is Coming. I enjoy doing works for this great group and have done so for many years.
I will ship the last of my masks to the Navajo Nation this week too. They put out a call and I am glad to do this.

 

 

Progress Report: Big Pop This piece is 30″ w X 41″ t . We have been eating a lot of popcorn and I have always loved it so it seemed appropriate to make a bit of a tribute. The corns are appliqued on top of the curie cut  base unit.

 

I added paint to the kernels to add interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Corn- Rework This piece is 40 “ X 32″ and is a rework of a older piece. I changed the orientation to horizontal and appliqued the corns on top. It was an okay piece before but this helps I think.

This is a shot of it before additions were made.

 

 

 

Ethel always said I made beautiful backgrounds. So when I was painting kernels for the first piece I just did additional ones in a smaller fashion for this piece. It was enjoyable and now the piece is out of the dark and will go somewhere I hope.

Queen Anne’s Lace Tiles This work is my attempt to try a project from a Quilting Arts Magazine article by Julie Hirota in the Oct/ Nov 2007 issue. I have only really applied the tiling and the attachment technique she suggested. The grommets attachments  are  a slow and some what frustrating process. It takes me about 15 min. to do each tile. I will finish it but doubt I will use this technique again. As my Dad always said” It is just as valuable to know what you don’t want to do as to know what you do want.” It’s part of learning.

 

Mayan Project I did do my first drawing for this project and then I enlarged it. It is early in the process. But I am looking forward to moving on it.   I hope there will be six panels when it is complete.

 

 

 

 

Thread Painting I decided to do some more birds for my next project  thread project. The Red-winged Black Birds will be a warm up  of sorts. The true challenge will be the Heroin as it is so large  with very little color change.   They are drawn on wash-away  and ready to go into the hoop now.

 

 

 

Drawing I did a lot of sketching this week but not a lot of the drawing.

 

 

 

 

 

Scarp Happy I am done assembling the top and I am working on the boarders now. I have two  borders on all four sides.    I plan to add  one more before I add  the binding.   The work also needs some additional quilting.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Grandfather Howard stories

Not only did Grandfather Howard collect coins and rocks he had lots of other interests. He sold Hudson’s and ran a SUPER 8 S station, The cars were mostly used ones. He was always quick to laugh and play jokes. He told this  story about how he fooled one of his dealership friends.   It seemed he took the engine out of one of his cars, then hauled it to Muskatine.    At the top of the hill they disconnected the tow rope and giving the car a starting push rolled down the hill where Grandfather skillfully “drove “ into the dealership. He got out and his friend came out and walked around the car looking in the windows and such. They went in to the office and completed the deal. When they came out the car was still setting out front even thought the dealer had told his mechanic to pull it into the bay.    Only when the mechanic laughing said he couldn’t did the joke get revealed.
Grandfather ran a Essix Super 6 gas station in town during the depression. He discovered that someone was stealing gas at night as he noticed unexplained shortages. So one night at closing time he put some rice in the nozzle of the pump. A few days later a man came to him with an ailing car.    Knowing what to look for, Grandfather quickly had his thief.     He took many things in trade for gas at that time. One of the best things he said was family photo albums as folks usually came back when they had the money to retrieve them. Years later when I helped Grandmother Ruth clean out the flour house one summer, we still found lots of those albums and I still have one of the more interesting ones full of strange faces and tintypes.   In the basement was a little green safe on wheels that we often played with as kids. We would wheel it about and try for hours to “crack” it. We were sure it was full of valuable stuff. The year I was a senior, at Christmas time,   when the family was gathered in the basement and enjoying the fire place – Someone asked Grandfather to open that safe. He did and I wish he had not. It was full of IOU’s mostly of folks who were long dead he said as he tossed then into the burring fire. Grand father closed the station in town as the new highway passed west of the main street. He built a new station, a Phillips 66 and diner there. Mom told stories about making pies at night to sell the following day at the diner. She was also a waitress  there and said she hated that job. Twice a year the a gypsy family would migrate through. The dilapidated vehicle would pull into the station, then folks would pour out, scattering in all directions. The leader would stand respectfully next to the pump and talk with Grandfather as he put in the gas. When the car was serviced the leader would shrilly whistle and all folks who had not returned before pilled into the car and off they went. Then Mom, Grandmother Ruth and Grandpa would see if they could discover what was missing- be it a wrench or a bottle or two of soda pop. Grandfather would laugh and say” Well they must need it more then we do.”
Eventually Grandfather sold that station and built a new one diagonally across the intersection. It was a DX station. He also built some tourist cabins there and did quilt well with that venture. The cabins were simple- a bed, a sink , a stool , and on the out side a car port of sorts.     He was successful at that venture.

Childhood Memories – More Grandfather Howard

My grandfather Howard was fascinated by electricity and gadgets. He wired all three of the houses that he helped build for my family and built one for himself and Uncle Dale and his family too. He even set up a wireless for Grandmother Ruth’s students so they could hear a broad cast by the president in her classroom. Grandfather purchased the first television I ever saw. It had a round screen that was about 6 inches across. It only got one channel- out of Chicago and was very snowy! He purchased a record recording machine when I was about 7. I recall cutting a record about the wonders of the park in Columbus Junction and I still have it somewhere. He did taxidermy for a while and I recall a owl that hung in the basement for years. The glass eyes fascinated me. He also stuff a three and half foot alligator from his Pecan Farm in Georgia. We played with it for a while then it disappeared when he discovered how dangerous the arsenic it was stuffed with was.  There was also a tanned fur rug of a badger that he as credited with creating.
He was a skilled wood worker. He built a little cabinet for me with doors and drawers. He then a few years later built a much more elaborate one for my cousin Tracy. I also was the recipient of a wonderful doll house that was a copy of the floor plan for the house in Carroll. It even had the stairs to the attic. It was to scale for my Betsy Mc Call. I had fun with mom collecting furniture and  doing curtains and rugs for it. I still have the dolls and the furniture, but the house went back to the Grandparent house when we moved to Muncie. It was in the basement for years turned on its side so one could use the walls as shelves to store other stuff on.       Grandfather  was in World War II in the Navy. When I was a teenager he gave me one of his old blue wool uniform shirts. I wore it with pride until I wore holes in the elbows. He had a great Macrame Belt that was made of small nylon cord done in square knots. The letters U S NAVY were part of the design. It was amazing to me.
He taught me to eat a baked potato when I was 6, with lots of butter, pepper and salt. He introduced me to lots of exotic cheeses. That became a game of sorts    and he would often pick up something especially strange just to test with me. I remember Coon Cheese- it was awful. One year at Christmas, I was dressed in my new white lace blouse and black and white plaid wrap around skirt and he gave me my first Pomegranate. It was love at first bite. It was also quite messy and I ruined my new blouse with the red juices, but it was worth it. I still look forward to my first Pomegranate of the winter and think of him when I eat it. He was always experimenting with food. The first year Eric came to Christmas with the family, Grandfather made turkey ( from his farm) with pink rice dressing. He had soaked the rice in Hawaiian Punch.
Grandfather was a justice of the Peace . I remember when I was in third grade he let me number the pages in his court book. I was so very proud. We had to play quietly out doors when he was holding court. In is capacity as Justice he married my cousin Russell to Donna in Whisky Holler on the Bell Farm. My cousin Danny, the oldest grandchild, could drive. He was bragging that now he could speed and get away with it as Grandfather was the judge. To that Grandfather said” You better not- I’ll throw the book at you!”   I had a wonderful grandfather and I remember him with great fondness.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

Agitated Aggie, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Granite, Hand work, NEW, Pomegranate, Re Work, SAQA Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Snow Dyeing

Getting Warmer

Hello,
Spring is winning the battle for the weather. I see more and more evidence of new growth every day. My Blood root for example is doing beautifully and Betty’s flowers are also blooming.

 

 

 

 

 

I continue to work away on the Textile Artist stitching challenges. This is my applique piece. It is not at all the assignment – I could not get logged on until Friday so I will do it later.

 

This weeks is folk art and I am started as this shot shows. Again I am stretching the piece to fit what I wish to accomplish.    I will incorporate as much of the instruction as I can.
My Fad group meant on Zoom again this week and it was good to talk with them.

 

Progress Report: Agitated Aggie This work is 38″ w X 41″ l. It is my solution to the Sisterhood of the Scissors Canada challenge. Many of us purchased the print fabric and the challenge was to use it. I have only seen one other work doing the challenge.


 When I was in Florida I came across more material by the same artist so I added a second piece of material to my piece. It’s the same artist and meant to go with the first. It is the colored background piece here.

Granite I keep doing the hand work on this project during the news.   This is a close up.

 

 

 

 

 

Re Work Self Challenge I was cleaning and came across this piece in the process and although it is okay, I decided to use it as a base for a new work. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

Popcorn I spent an afternoon this week playing and decided to paint giant kernels of Popcorn. They came out fine so I built a curvy cut base to applique them on. It is pin basted and ready for quilting now.

 

 

 

 


New Sea Floor A long time ago I painted some fusible inner facing. In my cleaning this week I uncovered it. I thought it looked like something I could use as a abase for a small underwater piece. Pulled some shells and found a bag of yarns and ribbons. More play in my future.

Queen Anne’s Lace When I was painting I also did this little piece. I had reread an article in Quilting Arts from Oct/Nov 2007 and it got me thinking about a tiling technique of quilting. This may or may not work. But Experimenting is always just taking a chance.

 

 

Mini’s    I cut up one of the quilts that I discovered in my cleaning and made these little starts for use on cards.   Only the one on the bottom right is done.

 

 

 

Scrap Happy   I finished the first of the pieces that I started at the beginning of the isolation.   It is a queen sized piece.

 

 

Drawing I was influenced by the Sketchbook Revival class and so I did some clean the brush painting on a few pages of the sketchbook. This is what the page suggested to me.

 

 

I went back to my herb book and while I was on the phone I drew this Dill. It may have influenced the Queen Anne’s Lace I did later too.

 

 

 

 

Popcorn- well we have eaten a lot of that of late and it too was on the desk when I was waiting on the phone.    It grew into the later work.

 

Then I just opened the sketchbook in the middle of eating my orange and did this drawing.   I see know that it needs strengthening  the green was too intense for this subject sense I did not draw with a strong enough pen.

 

 

 

Snow Dyeing  I actually did this last week but was in the process of washing it out last Friday.  The two dark pieces are from this summer and were in the bottom of the bucket.

 

Childhood Grandfather Howard

Grandfather Howard was a wonder filled inquisitive person. He often went to Auctions and other places and purchased boxes of books. Then he read most of them. One of the other things he collected was coins. He build a wonderful display that hung in the Den for many years. It held a pounded metal curved blade, brass collars, strings of shells and beads, strange little stamped metal pieces as well as many other odd items that were used as currency and trade goods in Africa.
I remember one summer asking Grandmother Ruth for some dress up clothes and she went to the attic to look. I was allowed to climb the stairs and wait near the top. I spent the time slipping my hands into the space between the flooring and the ceiling were lots of small stuff had be placed. I explored and I pulled out a heave cigar box. It was filled with three rows of silver dollars lain end to end. I called to grandmother “ Look what I found.” “Where did you find them she asked ?” I pointed as she took them form my hands. She carried them up into the attic and they were never seen again as far as I know.
Grandfather collected rocks all his life. He built shelves in the basement from floor to ceiling and displayed his collection there. He also fronted the fire place there and at the cabin with wonderful rocks and geodes. Uncle Paul even carved a pink sand stone dinosaur with a green stone eye, that was featured as part of that fireplace. There was also a part of the basement that was a workshop. There was a rock tumbler that was always running and as a result there were baskets full of Michigan Agates all over the place. The space had a lot of cutting and grinding tools as well as buffer and polishes. He kindly showed me how to use all of those tools and I spent many happy hours working away at carving and creating little works of my own. I still have a stone rabbit and tiger eye “arrow head “ I made.
There was lots of new highway construction in the 50’s and 60’s. We did lots of traveling by car as did lots of Americans. When Grandfather was along , one could count on many stops at the raw cuts along the road side for a bit of exploration. I recall one time when we stopped and collected about 100 petrified Hor Coral. They polished up beautifully and two of them ended up in that fireplace I mentioned.
Grandfather won ribbons for his rock creations . He designed and built three swag lamps that had shades made from sliced beautiful rocks that he suspended in fiber glass. When the light passed thou the stones it was beautiful. Of his two big hobbies, he said that Rock Hounds were much more fun. At Grandfather Howard’s death his collection was given to the University of Iowa and they were glad to have it. My cousin Tracy also took some of the stones to use in her classroom as she was a Science teacher.
Mom too became a Rock Hound and many was the time we carried rocks home in the car. When Mom retied to Tucson, I would visit every February break and we would go to the Gem and Mineral show. I purchased stone beads and she bought more rocks of course.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

Agitated Aggie, Childhood Memories, Drawing, Granite, Linen Shirt, SAQA Blocks

Coping

Hello,
I hope everyone is coping well with the social isolation. I find I am focusing more on my art although I do not seem to be producing more.    I continue to do my daily walks and find that the time I spend moving and being out of doors very good for my overall feelings of healthiness.    It is a good time to be out in nature as it is changing so much now too.

I did complete the Sketchbook Revival program this week.
Chiara Mazzette.   She directed  us through a water color landscape. I like what she had to say, but feel my work is really lacking this time.

We did water color sun flowers with Olga Soroking. I found this class very enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

Cartoon character development was the goal of the workshop with Ildiko Karasy. Her relaxed style was easy to follow and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Melissa Lee did a strong little exercise on simple one point perspective. I am glad that I did the exercises and feel I am moving forward in my own sketchbook as a result.

I got a slow start on Textile Artist – stitching challenge this week. It is about applique and this is my layout.

 

 

 

I continue to make masks like many quilters. I delivered 20 on Tuesday.   In my process of cleaning
drawers I did discover yesterday some  elastic so I am sure I will make a few more.     This is really helping cut down on my fat quarter collection too.

 

Progress Report: Kites and Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This work is 43″ w X 44.5″ t.   It is the final piece from the Regina  complete it challenge. 

 

 

She gave me a piece white piece o fabric with stenciled kites on it.   I first dyed the fabric yellow and then I used it on my work.    (upper left here)      I have  added the hand painted floral- very old- and built the quilt. 

 

I really enjoyed this challenge.

 

 

 

Agitated Aggie I am done with the stitch in the ditch part of this project. I am now doing free motion outlining of the characters. The second is the back.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This project is moving along.   This shot is of one corner.   I am adding the boarders now and have two on all four sides. I will add one more boarder and then add a binding.

Shirt I stated adding hand stitches to this   linen shirt this week.    I am trying to keep it simple.

 

 

 

 

 

Granite This project continues to move along. I am beginning to see the end of work in some areas.

Drawing As I said earlier I am working at the sketchbook a bit more. I pulled on of Mom’s old books out and I am drawing from the flower photos in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 X 12  I did a little exploring for this project.  I got out a stencil I had cut but never used and tried it a few times.   The one  exploration was on metallic fabric and really like how that appears.    More to follow.   Then I tried it on the  project.   I am ready to do some free motion work on it next. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Childhood Memories- Museums at the University of Iowa

Dad always believed that education was the way to better and more fulling life. I recall him taking Saturday classes at the University of Iowa. Grandpa Howard, a reinnance man himself, often took classes at the same time. Grandfather even took a class in Spanish. Grandfather was so outstanding in his geology classes that when he had completed all they had to offer, they asked him to come and work for them. Grandfather laughed and thanked them saying “ You can’t really do that- I didn’t graduate from high school.” He was a very smart man!
On several occasions Mom, Gene and I rode along and went to the Museums on campus to entertain ourselves.
My favorite was the Museum of Natural History. There were great displays there. I think that those experiences influenced Mom when she later did displays for Ball State. I have a very vivid memory of the Hall on Mankind. There were lots of ethnic costumes, mostly Native American. My favorite was of a crouching man in a solo cabinet. He was dresses in a beautiful carved and painted wooden raven’s head mask that was about 5 feet long from the shoulder rest to the tip of the beak. It was colored in black, red and white in the beautiful patterns of the North West Coast Natives. I spent most of my time in that room just studying the that figure and I tried to draw what I remember when I got home. The were rooms of sea creatures in jars and shells as well as rooms full of mammals. There was a room full of drawers where one could carefully open the drawer to revel rows of stuffed small birds lying on there sides. There were always three examples of the species, a male, a female and a adolescent. I few had wing spreads, a nest and sometimes eggs. Mom carefully controlled what we looked at each time and we both got to choose two drawers. She would read the outside first to see if we knew what we were about to see and she used the geographical to encourage or discourage our choices. She also got to choose two drawers and would choose two species that we knew to check out. She was always teaching.
There was a second room of drawers that were full of insects. There were lots more examples of each type of insect in each of those drawers. Mom did not structure our learning there so carefully. I do remember a drawer full of bees and a second full of enamel beetles. The beetles were amazingly colorful.
On one of the visits we went to the Museum of Art. It was very enjoyable to me of course. But my most vivid memory was of going down a stairwell, turning a corner and coming face to face with an eight foot red poppy. It was a Georgia Okeef. I was awe struck and stopped point blank on the stop. It was so very beautifully intense and I was in love and  I have loved her work ever sense.

Stay Healthy  and keep Creating
Carol