Category Archives: Mom VI

25 Million Stitches Project, Cardinals, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Killdeer, Mom VI, Robins

Winter

Hello-
Snow continues to fall here in central New York. We just shovel and drive with care. This week there was a Finger Lakes Fiber Artist meeting. It was good to see folks even if there were not a lot of gals in attendance. Pat had three pieces – two big and one small to share. This is a close up of one.

This is Bev’s newest work. It is all pin basted for quilting now.

 

 

 

Noel is back to working with silks in an effective new approach.

 

 

 

Liz is doing lots of hand work and she asked for advice on how to quilt this great piece.

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a FAB meeting this week. It was good to see these gals again too. Sharon is busy finishing the last commission in the series of 7. These little flowers will be added to the base she has already produced.

I did get my two pieces for the 25 Million Stitches project mailed off this week too.

Project Report: Two Cardinals This work is 10″w X 16″ t. I am really enjoying doing the free motion drawing of birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Killdeer This work is 19″w X 12″ t. I had to do some small modifications to is after I showed it to the gals at the FLFA meeting. The birds faded into the background too much until I added some dark to their backs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Robins This work is 24″w X 18″h. I did end up adding the third adult robin to make the composition work. Because I had done five other birds before it only took and hour and 15 min to do the new bird. Experience does help.

Exploring Blue  This work is going along slowly as it is all done by hand. I am enjoying working away attaching all the little units I have pinned down.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood- Move to Carroll

At the end of second grade we moved from Columbus Junction to Carroll Iowa. About a six hour drive from the part of Iowa that my Grandparents lived. Dad got a new job as a high school principal in a larger school there. We moved into the Park View Apartments that summer . The apartment was a half level with the windows on ground level. It was dark. A girl a little older named Joanna lived in the apartment above ours. She taught me to play the card game “War” that summer and we spend many an afternoon at that activity. At the back of the lot behind the apartments there was a tall hedge and just in front of that was a huge sand box.
We spent a lot of time playing there as well. Across the street in front of the apartments was a big city park. There was a band shell there and on most Friday evenings there was a concert. Gene and I went with Mom and Dad to listen and play in the dark. The public swimming pool was across the park. Mom did not know how to swim so she signed up both of us for lessons. I remember putting my clothing in a numbered wire basket and pinning a safety pin with the same number on it to my suit to get my clothing back. The one had to walk through a very cold chlorine wash to get out to the pool area. One day we were late and so I ran across the park bare footed. I cut my foot on a piece of glass. I had to set out for that lesson . I did learn how to swim that summer and passed the test at the end of lessons as did Gene. Most days Dad went off to Adams street and worked with Grandpa Howard and some twins from the high school on the house. I remember seeing the place the day they removed the forms from the pored cement basement walls. They were tall I though. My next clear memory was visiting the house when they were framing the main floor. The furnace was also being put in at that time. I was fascinated by the furnace man because he could do tricks. He was a “ sward shallower” of sorts.   At least he could swallow those long slender strips of metal that were used between the joints of the heating ducks. He was not fooling me as I walked around him to view from all sides. We moved into the basement before school started. Mom and Grandpa worked on the upstairs that fall and winter to finish the house.

Keep Creating

Carol

Burning Woods, Childhood Memories, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Mom VI, Tee Shirt Quilts, Wool Rounds

Labor Day 2019

1 Comment

Hello,
This week was Labor Day and even though I have been retired for years it still represents the end of summer and the beginning of   fall and school for me. It was a quiet day and I worked in the studio a lot. I got to thinking about horizons as I watched the children walking to school this morning. The Father was sharpening them along toward new futures that would certainly broaden the horizons of those young minds. Horizons are a important part of artists work too. It is a part of many a landscape and a great tool to use to show depth in art work. Just a small shift can change ones perspective and the horizons one sees. It is a way for one to explore even thought we are through with formal schooling.

I did unroll my Eco Dyeing projects from the  Finger Lakes Fiber Artists play day two weeks ago.   I am sorry to say the beets red dye turned black  with time.  But the red silk that I used did transfer lots of its color.      This is the paper.

This is the fabric.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Seven Feathers I have stitched down all the feathers at this point and I am doing reflective quilting to complete this piece.

Tee Shirt Quilt I finished the construction of the back for this quilt yesterday. Now I can begin the sandwich and quilt it.

 

 

 

 

 

Burning Woods It seemed like it took a long time for me to begin pinning on this work. Now it is moving along quickly. I have even started to stitch down some of the parts of this work.

Memories of Mom This work appears and disappears the stack of things to do so progress is slow. I am also unsure about whether I   have pulled together all the items I want to use on it.   I just need to keep exploring.

 

 

Wool Rounds     I am finished with this first batch of circles.  I am now working on a second bunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Schoolroom Glacier

This memory is also  of the Tetons. When Dad was a ranger Mom wanted to go to Schoolroom Glacier. It is a classic example of how a glacier pushes rocks to for a moraine and a lake as it moves forward. We never made the trip that summer as it is 14 miles from the trail head at Jenny Lake to the glacier. Farther then she thought we  ( I was 10 and Gene was 7 ) could hike in one day. But when we returned to the Tetons and Yellowstone the year I was a senior, we rented horses and made the trip.  Do to a heat event ( precursor of climate change) the snow at the front of the glacier collapsed into the lake and a lot of water flooded out. This destroyed the perfect V that was usually a part of the moraine. It left a big cave like form in the front of the glacier too. Mom was very excited and took a lot of photos to use in her class.  She also purchased older slides of how it had been before the collapse. While we were there it stated to rain. I had a new cowboy hat as I had out grown my old one,  so my head was dry. But to my dismay the horse I was riding threw a shoe and I had to walk her most of the way down. My hat’s form was ruined by the rain, but I still have the horse shoe.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Feathers, Mom VI, Old and New - Purple and Blue, Tee Shirt Quilts, Uncategorized, Wool Rounds

Busy Week

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Hello
I have enjoyed a very active week. Last Friday I went to a silk painting workshop in Rochester with lots of creative gals. Liz did a great piece with flowers.

 

Joyce worked from a photo from her yard.

 

 

 

 

Regina explored a drawing.
I worked from the sketch I had drawn last week.

 

 

 

 

 

Karen did a great job from one of her photos of grapes.

 

 

 

 

 

The class was great and I learned a lot. I will add thread painting and quilting to finish this up in the next week or so.

 

The Michelle the teacher from Australia, did a wonderful trunk show at the end of the day.   This is her use of the techniques she was teaching us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Sunday I went off to Moravia and visited with Susan and Sally. We talked of may things and I got some great feed back on this piece- Old and New.

 

 

 

Tues I picked up Patti and the two of us drove north to Mill Sight Lake and Judy’s Camp for three days. Judy shared this colorful quilt that   Judy made and a Amish gal had quilted for her.

 

 

Patti and I worked with our machines while Nancy and Judy went out on the lake and platted around the island. We had a good time and made a few plans for the fall.

 

 

And just to let you know I make mistakes too.  I was not paying full attention while I was  working on my scarp  quilt and  I accidentally  ran the sewing machine into my finger nail.     I only caught the tip on my nail and a bit of skin.   So  please  be careful!

Progress Report: Tee Shirt Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have now finished the assembly of the top of this work.  I have pulled flannel to make some base blocks that I will surround in the log cabin style for the back.

Feathers  I am half way done adding the feathers to this quilt.  I plan to do reflective quilting around the outside.

Wool Rounds     

I just keep building on these wool units.   It is calming work.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap  I worked on these at Mill Site.  I am pleased to say I only have one more box of scraps to work from.  Over the weekend I finished up nine more units.

 

 

 

 

Memories of Mom

I did a little hand work on this piece this week that is made from  things that Mom had in her home.

Sketching   I just keep my fingers in the drawing game by doing a new one every now and then

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Lessons
The summer I was ten and Dad was a temporary Ranger in Tetons was a great one for me.  We went to many ranger talks and sat on logs looking at the lake with the mountains beyond  and learning fun facts while the sky darkened and the stars came out. Because all rangers need to be able to rescue hikers from the mountains Dad  learned to repel.  He took us along for his practice with a second ranger named  Jim. Gene and I also got to take a hand a repelling and I loved it. It was great fun to jump away from the vertical rock face and sour down with the rope to help one land safely back on land.
We rode across Jackson Lake to the undeveloped side and bushwhacked up the mountain one day. Saw a heard of wild goats and got lots of scratches on that adventure. Dad also taught us that if we ever got lost in the wilderness to do two things. Always go down hill and when you find water follow it down too. It will always lead you to civilization eventually and you will have a vital life saving source close at hand. I am glad to say I have never had to apply that knowledge. At the end of the summer there was a range’s picnic. Gene and I were the only kids. Lots of great food. The only things to drink were water and beer. So I thought I would try the beer. Just as I opened the can Dad came around the cabin. He was not happy with me. But he insisted that sense I had opened the can that I drink the whole thing. Then I promptly emptied my stomach on the grass. I was never tempted as a teen- and even later I never learned to drink beer. The lesson was learned.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

PS this is a shot of the sun set over the St Lawrence River.

 

3X3, Collections, Curvie Cuts, Mom VI, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sea Stars, The Grandmothers

Itching for Spring

Hello
I am itching for warmth and more flowers and green leaves. We continue to get little tastes as these photos show.  Even the trees are blooming -But I am greedy and I want more Spring.

This week was a very quiet one when it came to seeing other folks and meetings. So I got a lot done in the studio.

Progress Report: Sea Stars This work is 36.5″w X 21″ l.  The base of this work came from leftovers from Wave. I just put the remainders together in a curvy cut fashion and had a great pallet to begin on top of. The starfish are created from wired ribbon that was leftover from Christmas.  The coral came from a purchase of paper that I made last spring in Rochester at the Art store.  Beads and yarn were in my collection. It was a fun project.   No money was spent on the creation of this project.   I already had/ have a deep supply of stuff to use in my work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puck This stretched work is 12″ w X 16″l. I stared this work years ago and came across it in one of my searches. I decided to completes this work because with time I  could see what it needed. I added some shading and then did the machine drawing on top to complete the work.

I have a friend who is in Mid Summer’s Nights Dream next month and I will give this work to her as a memento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collections This work is slowly moving forward. I added the old leather book mark that was my mothers. The post card was from her trip to India. The pictures of Candy Grandmother, ( upper left) and Grandma Butterworth(  the flapper)  I had, so I decided to use them as well.

 

 

Icarus  The feathers are all made now and most are stitched down to the wings. I will finish this step and then move onto the body in the up coming week.

 

 

Circular Thinking- 3 X 3 I continue to work on the assembly step of this project. Columns A and B are stitched together in long columns. I have also stitched the first two blocks in column C.

Each connection also includes adding circles that cross over the boundary between squares.  I will begin to connect the columns this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This is the newest scrap happy and it is made  from leftovers. I even made the back yesterday from remainders of other backs that I created for other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacket

I keep working to integrate the patches into the body of the work.   each stitch moves me forward.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – The Grandmothers On the left is grandmother Ester, my fathers mother. I will show her in pale purple from now on, because the dress that she made and I loved the most was a calico print with purple pussy willows printed on it. Grandmother  Ester taught me to sew in the summer before  seventh grade.   My first project was pajamas in cotton  duck fabric. The top was white with big quarter sized multi colored circles. The bottoms were turquoise. I made them to wear to church camp that summer.
The    tall figure on the right is grandmother Ruth, my mothers’s mother. I will show her in royal blue as I remember a blue dress with a big white line pattern on it.  She always wore an apron made from a retired dress- just the skirt over the top of her clothing. I decide to show a summer day when she and I were clearing out the out buildings of Great Grama Gast’s home. ( that was Grandma Ruth’s mother)
In one of the buildings we opened the door to find a big ball of string so large it could not come out of the space. Strings from the butcher, mailed packages and groceries were tied one to the next and wrapped into this ball. Because  Grandmother Ruth and her mother Great Grandmother  Gast had lived through the depression, they   did not toss out any thing that could be reused! We had to cut away the string with a knife until it was small enough roll it our the door. But the real amazing thing was on one of the shelves in the back of the room. In a brown paper bag- and it was full- written in Grandmother Gast’s hand were the words “ string too short to save”. It was full of the knots and bits! I still have that bit of brown paper under glass on the back porch.
Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Core family, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Mom VI, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sea Stars

Spring Flowers

 

Hello,
It is so nice to walk out the door without boots, gloves and hats.   The early spring flowers are making their appearance in central NY as well . That is always a good sign.


The FAD group meant this week and the talk was lively.  Judy shared her newly completed sweater. She was working away on the next one all during the meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharon has been busy at her machine and she had three quilts to share. This one is a commission where she tried adding pines in the background for the first time.   That layering adds a lot of depth.


Progress Report: 3 X 3 Circular Thinking I finished the last square this week and I am now in the process of connecting all the squares together. The first row of three is stitched.  I now need to go back into the work and add a bit more stitching to complete some of the circles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Stars I have stitched down the stars now and I am on to the coral. I did the coral by machine. The coral is cut from hand made paper that I purchaed at The Art  Store in Rochester last spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacket This work goes forward now that I have a new direction. I have added Turkey Work to three of the patches to integrate them into the jacket. I think it really pushes them back and anchors them too.

 

Icarus Here I am working on creating feathers for the wings. It takes a little over 12 min to do each one, but I think it is worth the effort.    I have created  16 feathers so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collections I keep pining items on the surface as I come across them. I am just about ready to begin stitching on this project.

 

 

Scrap Happy I looked  again at the box of fabric that Angela gave  to me and found more of the fruit  bathers in a much bigger format. So I cut the 4.5 in strips from  it and added the sides. These new blocks  plus the leftovers from the first fruit swimmers  quilt will go together to make a second.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories This is a new venture that will be my  weekly project. This square is to introduce the core family characters. The memory connected with this work is one that happened every in our house  every Christmas as I grew up. My parents were married on Christmas eve and my Mom put on her wedding dress on that night every year.  Dad took a photo of my brother Gene and myself in the folds of the gown. I loved the dress as it was a beautiful silk double weave of a star pattern.   When one grows up one dies not realize that every family has its own traditions.   I  was Jr high before I realized no one else’s Mom dressed in her wedding gown on Christmas eve for a yearly photo.    The idea of celebrating an anniversary by dressing in the wedding  gown was just something my family did and it  had nothing to do with Christmas.   What childhood “traditions” where particular to your family?

Next week I will be trying to represent my grandparents in a new machine drawn  collage image.

Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Collections, Curvie Cuts, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Linnen Jacket, Mom VI, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Travels in Florida

Flying PigHello,

I got home form sunny Florida on Sunday and arrived in a snow storm.   The trip was beautiful and exciting.   I spent five days with Chris T  in Brenton Florida.  She is a great hostess and took me to see the Museum  of Whimsy.  It was a visual overload with so much to look at that I felt  a bit overwhelmed.   The flying pig is from that museum and a very small portion of what the museum has to offer. Then it was off to the Ringling museum with a different feel altogether.   It is divided into three separate museums.  The actual  circus stuff and the art collection is where we spent most of our time.    The dioramas where full of  amazing detail, like this one of the big top.   I had not considered all the parts that went into running a Circus including, black smiths, adverting men and  costume repair folks along with cooks and performers.  It was a delight.Chris  Chris’s son took us out on his boat into the Gulf to see the sun set one night.  it was glorious.  Manatee Chris  took me to the Museum of Southern Florida where  I watched a great  talk/demonstration on Manatees among many other things.      This fellow  is set for release back into the wild soon.

I enjoyed the   Village of the Arts   where her  shop is located.   It was fun to explore and see wonderful art at every turn.    Ihelped in Chris’s gallery two days too.

.IMG_3007 We walked the Mangrove grove shore on Sunday morning.   There were lots of interesting plant forms there.    Chris’s home is on the water and we got to see lots of close up of wonderful shore birds,   every morning and evening .

IMG_3032Then we went off to Gulfport and I moved in with Cris W.   Susan, Cris and I spent a day at Fort Desoto on the beach and had a good time relaxing, drawing and watching the passing birds.   I did collect shells too.

Cris took time to teach Susan, Carolyn, Laura and myself   how to do Boiled Books.    I was apicallyBoiled book open happy with how mine came out.    This shots shows the plants that created the white on this page.

Susan and I painted fabric and work on projects in her garden several days. In the garden 2019We went to exercise class, drawing on Wednesday eve and did the Gulfport editable garden tour.   I learned a lot on with that experience.

IMG_3040 I  even got up twice to see the sun rise over the water.    I had a wonderful time.   I feel so fortunate to have such nice folks to visit.

IMG_3053This week was the first on the month and there was a QuEG’s meeting on Tues.   Angela  has been making books.  Thirteen last month!   This is one of her Secret Belgium binding  ones.    Corrine shared her  Coptic stitch binding books too.IMG_3056  I think we are headed for a book play day in the future.

Susan was busy getting ready for The Surface Design Conference with a series of small color based quilts.  This one is Green.  She also had   red,  yellow and  blue ones in similar fashion.  Great fun with letter forms and color I think.  IMG_3051  Sally made a table runner for the holiday this month.

Liz shared her  new mystery block project with us.   Lots of color here.  She also had her 6X6 entries for the Rochester Art Center  ready to ship. IMG_3067

 

 

There was also a Diva meeting on Tuesday evening.   This is Anne’s work on machine drawing and quilting.   I really like the quiet dignity of this work.

 

   Mary shared her  women project.   They are all to be stretched and will all have portions that hang off the side.  There were  ten of them.   That is a lot of work.

 

 

Regina presented her gorgeous snow dyed work!    She really can get great colors!      IMG_3086Noel brought a crazy quilt she is working on and this rework of one of her older pieces.   They are very impressive groups and I find them stimulating.

Progress Report:Icarus   I think I’m just about ready to launch into the figure for this work .  I keep fiddling with the position of the body parts but feel now I can at least begin the wings this week.  That way I can still play with the body if I want.

Collections VI  009  I keep collection and  adding things to the surface of this piece.    I have lots of stuff of Moms I can use here.    No stitching yet, but that will begin soon.

019Jacket   I have been frozen with  this piece for a while so I took it to the meetings on Tue and got some advice.  I now have a few ideas on how to go forward.  That is one of the best parts of belonging to groups of fellow artists.

3 X 3 A-1 I finished this block while I was in Florida.      I will work into it more when it is joined with its sisters and I can see what needs to be built up.

 

 

A-2   I moved into this one when I finished the work on A-1.  This is my last block and I will soon move into the  next phase.

Sea Stars

007   This work grew out of leftovers from Wave and the SDQA   starfish block I did for their auction.   I find that my mind sometimes just keep asking “What If?” and away I go on the next project.

The Card project has changed.  It grew out of the Florida connection.  We meant and decided to change the focus to Childhood Memories.  I realized I could not do collage to fulfill this project so I am changing my approach too.  I plan to work larger and to do painted fabric and machine drawing to solve the problems presented.   Over the core of time it should help my machine drawing skills too.

Keep Creating

Carol

3X3, Auction pieces 12 " X 12", Label Cards, Mom VI, Puck, WAVE

Inching Toward Spring

Hello,

It has been a quiet week for me.   Sometimes we need fallow times to catch up with ones self.   I did spring clean out of the closets and that sort of thing with a big run to the Rescue Mission and I am feeling  being a little lighter.  The weather is improving too.   On my walk today I heard lots of different bird songs and noted four different flocks of Canadian Geese in migration flights north.   These things plus lengthening days of sun light mean spring is coming.

Progress Report: Shore Line This work is 16” w X 32” l.   I did a lot of hand work on this piece and it is my solution to Cris’s challenge.    The white is like the egg sack that we picked up on the beach that was the basis of the challenge.IMG_2963Then I added a little challenge for my self.  Angela gave me a box of items and I tried to use a lot of the trims and items from that box  on this piece .   The white bead like items came from her box as well as  the ribbons and shells.IMG_2964The starfish too.

Starfish II   This work is 12” X 12” and my entry for the  QSDA auction for next year.   IMG_2975I just seem to get going on theme and keep at it.IMG_2976   I used the  big  starfish that was too big for the fist work and added two smaller ones  on this piece.

 

6 X 6   These three works are my entry for the 6X6 fund raiser for the Rochester Arts Center.   I had fun playing with these small works and experimenting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 X 3 C-1   This blocks location is  the upper right hand corner  of the piece.   IMG_2993I am enjoying to process and it is going smoothly.

3 X 3 B-1 This is the next block in the series.  It is the for the center of the top row.     I am enjoying this daily practice project.

IMG_2989 Here is  a shot of all of the blocks so far.   There are two blocks that have not even been started.   They are the top and middle block of the far left row.( white here)

 Wave    This is the new background for the wave word.    The contrast is much better.   Here is a shot of the old background. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icarus Because I cannot waste  a single thing- the old background for wave  will become the background for my   Icarus quilt.  I am taking the Aloft challenge   from QSDA and this is what I want to play with.   I am working on a drawing for the figure at this time.

IMG_2974Collection VI Mom  I was pawing through  my tins when I was looking for stuff for the 6X6 cards and came across  items that my Mon had   made and given me.   The little dog and sail boat were the bib parts on some rompers that I wore as a toddler.   So I am honoring her with this collection piece.

Puck IMG_2967   I also came across this piece and due to some more recent purchases of roving I had the colors I needed to finish up the felting step of this piece.   I intend to add some stitches to it to add detail.

Cards  The Brain I have been thinking

about the brain and how it functions of late.  Sometimes my thoughts seem as confused as this image and other times it is like one picture laid over another with no real connection.  It is  really a complex item!

IMG_2998  This card is the representation of the scattered  working of ones mind.

I will be away for the next two weeks so the next post will be  April 4.

Keep creating,

Carol