Category Archives: Creative Strength Training

Applique, Consider, Contemplating, Coy Pond, Creative Strength Training, Hand Out, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Pondering, Reaching

Rolling Along

Hello,

This week was a good one for me.  I had lots of social stuff over the week end, and great studio time this week. The Pixies and Creative Strength Training went forward as well.  I am re reading the Creative Strength Training book that Jane wrote and I had too.  I am following the exercises she recommends and I started a little self challenge to do a bunch of Expanded Squares.    In keeping with the ideas of using what you have I cut my squares out of some dark gray paper that I had. 

 

Too  easy to  put  off   doing the exercise when one does not have exactly what is  required.

 

 

I also put in a day in the studio with my Grandson Nick on Sunday.   He designed and printed the shirt  for one of his friends.

We  spent the rest of the day designing and starting a back pack in the form of a fox.     Without  a pattern it took a lot of thought and we got about half done we ran out of gas on that project.  It was great fun though.

Progress Report:    Ponder   I  worked on all three of the pieces in this group.  This one is now done with the quilting and the binding has been completed.  I need to do some hand work in the solid colored areas to hold them down.   Contemplation is at that same point.  I need to finish the binding on  Consider and add a sleeve there too.

Lap Quilt  I stared and completed this top this week. I intend to send it to my Uncle in Iowa in the fall when it is done.

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Leaves   This work got its start at QBL this summer.  I am now ready to begin stitching the parts down.

 

 

Three Witches  – Samantha   I worked mostly on this second witch this week.    I am mixing the weight  of the thread just like I would do if I was drawing and adding more or less pressure.   I like how it is developing.

 

 

 

 Coy Pond    I started this project before I went off to QBL and it got buried.  I uncovered it this week and went to work . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the coy fish are made of at least three  parts and many have four. I think it needs about 10 more fish for me to be happy with the numbers.   But in looking at it  I realized that everything is of the same value .   That dose not make for a good work so I will build a new background this week  and hope I can fix the problem to my satisfaction.

 

Reaching ( hand project 3)   I was given a wonderful old  hand worked wool blanket that was falling to shreds.  My friend Ginny  said do what ever you want with it.  I am trying to save the good parts and make tributes to the hand work of women in the past.  I made two works using parts of the blanket  for Creative Stitch Club and I had  a few new ideas so I am moving forward with them now.

 

 

Hand Out( hand project 4)   This is the other idea.  I have only laid out the back ground at this point.     I sure have lots of hand work to do this week.

I hope you are enjoying the summer and keeping creative

Carol

 

Consider, Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Drawing, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pondering, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Three Witches

Busy Summer Time

Hello,

  As the title suggests I have had a full week.    I ran the Finger Lakes Fiber Artists meeting on Sat.  We had a lot to talk about and share.   I am  sharing  this  work of Bev’s because I think  she   took  a real  chance  here  when she burned the edges  of  this  work  with  a blow torch.   The  effect  really  works.

We had a lively and productive meeting.

There was also  a Creative Strength Training on line meeting , a Pixie meeting and a meeting of the Sisterhood of the Scissors.   I have spent a lot of time setting at the computer.    In addition to that I spent a day at the Schweinfurth helping take down the Fiber Arts show on Tue and I went with Sharon up to 1.000 Islands in Clayton on Wed to pick up her art work from the show there.     Its all been very stimulating,  but it sure eats into my studio time.

  Progress Report: Circling Circles   This work is 69″ w  X 64″ l.   I have stitched lots of circles in this piece and feel it is stable at this point.  It is most certainly a bed topper  piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spider’s Weds  I am done with the hand work on this piece now.  I think I want to frame it  as it is so very fragile.

 

 

 

 

 

Contemplation    I am all done with the quilting step on this work now.  I started to square it for binding when I realized  that I wanted all the works in this series the same size and I did not know how they would all trim down yet.

Consider  I am almost done with the quilting on this work.   I think I have about one more hour and it will be done.

 

 

Ponder   I have taken a page form my class with Paula for the quilting on this piece.  She called these bump quilted l stitch lines fence posts.

 

 

New Work   I pulled these fabrics for the next lap quilt that I hope to start this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches    I did this drawing to prepare for the stitching of the second witch.    I have transferred the drawing to the surface and I have started the stitching.   I just keep adding stitches to this.  It is building slowly as hand work always does.

 

 

 

I am enjoying all the activity of summer and hope you are as well.

 

Keep Creating

Carol

Brown Study, Cattails and Dragonflies, Consider, Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering, Three Witches

Summer Days

  Hello,

I hope summer it treating you well.   I am enjoying my walks and savoring every moment of the sun, pleasant temperatures  and gentle winds of the season.   I have had several encounters with wild life this week.  On my way home in the city of Syracuse at about 2:00 in the afternoon, I turned a corner to find a doe crossing the street followed by a young spotted fawn.  It makes one slow down and really look at our wonderful world.  Then on Tue eve when we were setting out on our patio, listening to music and quietly talking, a skunk walked about a foot away from my husband on his nightly food search.  Then Eric had a face to face encounter with yet another Skunk last eve.   No doer either time.

I had my usual meetings with Creative Strength Training and Pixies this week.  There was a special class for  CST called Negative Painting that I enjoyed too.   I have not finished the work for that class yet so.  The Slow Stitch group meant last week and I have finished  two  6″ squares that were the challenge.    This one is the non objective square.

 

This one is the abstract one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are all sorts of extra positive effects from QBL.  For example, I got  a box full of ties to use a raw material from my friend, Diane.   All the ties are gutted now and ready for use.     Here are my new treasures and a new challenge too.

 

 

 

 

I also made a connection with a fellow post card creator,  Becky.   She sent me this wonderful work this week.

 

 

Progress Report: Twilight Crows    This work is 16″ w X 30.5″ l.   I made the work in Valerie Goodwin’s Light and Easy workshop at QBL and finished it this week.

 

 

 

 

I am enjoying the working with crows and the transparency stuff too.

 

 

Brown Study- rework    The work is 24.5″w X 8″ t.  This piece is another project from QBL that I completed this week.  Paula Kovark taught us how to insert quilted  pieces into existing quilts.   The four contrasting triangles show that effect.    She called the effect “suturing “.    It sure makes for lots of fun applications I think.

 

 

 

 

Cattails and Dragonflies   This work is 11″ square.  This project is also the result of Paula’s class. one of her many challenging assignments was to make a continuous line drawing the filled the page.  I was not quite successful with the continuous line part,  but most of it is.   Color and paint were added this week.

Circling Circles  I have been working on the quilting of this work for a while and I can now see the end.  I only need to quilt three more of these circles and I will completed the job.

 

Complementary Colors Tryptic 

 Paula’s emphasis on quilting lines and talk with my friend Sharon has lead to some great quilting with this series.  I am all done with the quilting on Contemplate ( yellow and purple).  Not only did I make the quilting reflective , but I also inserted little points into the lines sometimes.   Now I am quilting on Consider( red and green), and I am starting with the colors them selves and will build out from there.    I will begin to quilt on Ponder this  week with yet another quilting approach.

 

 

 

Handwork  With the addition of a few more beads and stitched I declared this  work done and I will move on.

 

 

Three Witches  I won a beautiful piece of linen as a door prize at QBL the first week.  So I stared a big project.  I am going to try to created a black on white hand  stitch  piece of the Three Witches from Macbeth.   I have drawn one an done some research on faces for the second and third.   I only started stitching yesterday.

Stay cool and keep Creating

Carol

 

Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Explorations, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Time Life Line

July 2022

3 Comments

Hello,

Summer is always a busy time and this week was no exception.   We had a big family Birthday party picnic on Sat to celebrate the July birthdays and it was wonderful.   Everyone ate great food, enjoyed the weather and laughed a lot. What more can you ask for.  Then I went off to a play day in Varna on Sunday.   Spent the day with seven other folks exploring printing.  I did work on my Pondering piece.  I am so glad events like that are  opening again.  Then on Tuesday, Liz and I got together and dyed again.  That is always lots of fun. 

 

The Creative Strength Training class meant yesterday and it was a good discussion.    I also had a session with the Pixies on Wed too.

My other big news is, my friend David B is now the proud owner of Against the Wind.

This will be the last entry for July as I am off to Quilting by the Lake on Sunday for two weeks.

Progress Report: Pondering   

This top is all put together now.  My goal is to have  the tops of all three of the pieces of this set before I go off to QBL.

 

 

 

 

Contemplating   This is the third top.  I have only made a few of the units for this work.  It is pinned to a dark background so I can see how I want the placement of those parts.

 

 

Daily Practice Quilt  I am now quilting circles on the  quilt.   It is calming work.

 

 

Handwork    I keep adding to this work every evening.  It is nearing completion.

 

 

 

Life Line Drawing  After giving it some thought I decided not to add color to this work and I consider it done.   It was a good way for me to think about my life beyond the childhood work.

Enjoy Summer  and I will write again after Quilting by the Lake with lots of new stories and ideas I am sure.

Keep Creating

Carol

College Life, Consider, Creative Strength Training, Explorations, Hand work, Pixies Group, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Summer Season

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying the season.  I am just home from my daily walk and I enjoyed the sun, sky and the green world.   Our  block party was on the week end and it was great to reconnect with the folks who live around me.  Several folks know us by seeing us walking by.  This week was the end of the month and there were fewer meetings.  I did meet with the Pixies and Textile Artists Stitch club had a new assignment so I was still busy.    I did work on  both of the pieces that I started using the hand as the beginning.

This work,  Reaching Up  is       2535443543o  X 23432439u .  I need to finish stitching on the sleeve but that is all that remains for completion here.

The second one,  Reaching Out, is all stitched together and now needs a boarder and the rest of the finish work. 

I have enjoyed using wool as the primary element in these two works.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Against the Wind

I have now layered and pin basted this work.  I hope to begin the “wind” quilting later today.

 

 Handwork Top     I have now assembled all the parts for this work and added boarders.  I need to do the pin basing and quilting on this one as well.

 

Consider  I started this work last week in response to Jane Dunnewold’s  challenge to do a work using complementary color combinations.  I mixed this idea with the exploration of the some of  suggested  piecing processes in Irene Roderick’s book “Improv Quilting. ”   I had fun and plan to to the other two complementary color combos and explore more of the suggested techniques.

New Daily Practice   I decided to challenge myself to do some hand work were I add unusual objects to the surface of some of the stained old family fabrics I have an abundance of .   This is painted and melted Tyveck with part of an old hat vail.

 

This is the last of my childhood series.  I think changing my name from Carol McElhinney, my birth name to Carol Boyer is a good marker for the end of childhood.  Susan challenged us to do this project in April of 2019 and all the other participants have long dropped away, but I am glad I did it.  There have been 162  entries.  It has been a good journey and I look forward to a new project that will engage me as much as this one has.

College Life – Wedding Day

June 7, 1969, finally arrived. I was more scared than excited. I was full of doubt, but Eric came up stairs and talked with me about my fears. I will admit I was ready to run away from the whole event, but he assured me that we would be fine and it would all work out. Then it was off to Brook Drive and my old home. The house was full of family all excitedly preparing for the church. The Dean boys seemed to be every where, helping with everything. It was my last time in my old bedroom as Carol McElhinney. That was my thought as I put on my gown. Carrying the veil, I got in the car with Mom, Dad, and Gene and we drove to the church. Kelly looked so cute in her white dress, with her new pixie hair cut and the little basket of flowers. Tracy, wearing a dress with a matching coat, was tending the wedding book at the door to the chapel. She was laughing as usual. I went into the prep room and Mom helped me with the veil and someone handed me the beautiful yellow flowers. Margaret and Ellie filed into the sanctuary followed by Kelly and Scott. Then I heard Larry’s beautiful voice singing “What is a Youth?” He was followed by the recorded entry music, Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntary, which Larry had selected. Dad took my arm and told me I looked beautiful as we walked down the aisle toward Eric, Dean, and Gene. I only had eyes for Eric and the beautiful green of the woods behind him.

It got quiet as Reverend O’Kelly started the service. Folks told me later that I was so quiet in my responses to his questions that they could not hear a thing. Eric did and that was the only thing that was important to me. It was time for the rings and Scott passed them to us. I jammed the ring on Eric’s finger when he presented it to me. “I pronounce you Husband and Wife.” We kissed each other, turned, the wedding march started, and we hurried down the isle out into the lobby. Eric dropped my hand and ran to the bathroom. I turned a little panicked to see Mom and Dad coming out and seeing me standing alone both had expressions of inquiry on their faces. That uncertainly did not last long as Eric re appeared. It seems he had stuck out his right hand and I had forced the ring onto the correct finger of the wrong. A little soap and things were fixed. “I hope its still official!” Eric said.

The rest of the reception, in the education hall of the church, was a blur of happy faces, hugs, and words of congratulation. Punch was served along with wedding cake, of course. Eric and I then opened some gifts. I don’t remember most of them, but I do recall being a little embarrassed by Eric’s joke about a cut silver waste basket and matching tissue box from Aunt Margaret. There were also red pots and pans that lasted years. Eric and I went off to the chapel for pictures and then we both changed for our trip north. Folks threw rice as we went to the car and drove away, heading to Holland, Michigan, for our weekend Honeymoon. I was excited, but I don’t recall too much except we went swimming in the hotel pool after dark one night. At one of the little shops in town, I did purchase a little pair of wooden shoes that I still have. Sunday and it was time to start for home. We took some back roads and had to make a stop just after crossing back into Indiana. There was a turtle crossing the road. We picked him up and took him to the side before continuing our journey home. Monday was the start of summer school for both of us, and the start of our life together. Reverend O’Kelly had told us to check with the court house to make sure the marriage licence got filed properly. We never did. “It’s our escape clause,” Eric said. The event must have been a good take, since fifty-three years, one child, two dogs, a bunch of cats, four moves, and several college degrees later, we’re still together.

I hope everyone continues to enjoy the season.

Keep playing

Carol

 

Childhood Memories, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Dancing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Pixies Group

Summer is Here

Hello,

  Summer solstice was Tue and now we are officially into the  summer season.   That also seems to mean more and more out side activates.    I found I did not have much time in the studio this week and next week looks the same.  The yard gets more attention for one thing and I love it.  I have lots of flowers blooming and the world is full  of greens.    I have also been to lots of picknicks lately.  We had a big Birthday party on Sat and we will have a second family event in two weeks to celebrate the July birthdays.

I did attend a FAD meeting this week and got some help with a few works that I had questions about as well as enjoying the socialization.   The Pixies had a video meeting on Wed and we had a good time sharing our works.  The project for the Textile Artist Stich club is coming along.   I am starting to really fill in the spaces now.

I also put in some time on the second hand piece.   I tried to create a totally different feel for the hand surround.

 

 

My other activity this week was to start summer dyeing with Liz.   We spent one day checking and cleaning out old dyes  and one day dyeing.   I am in the wash out step now.

Progress Report:  Dancing This work is  31.5″ w X 39.5″ h.    I started this work at my friend Sharron’s a few weeks ago.   All the figures are hand drawn from photos of ballet dancers.

 

 

This close up is of the big figures hands on the  right side of the quilt.

I enjoyed the process, but at this time I do not  have any ideas of new directions to follow.

Against the Wind   I am now in the process of building a  free piecing background for the birds of this project.   It takes a lot of looking and thinking to do  this, almost more then doing the birds.

New Work   I got a new book last week  that  is  authored  by  an  artist  I have  long  admired.   Irene Roderick has had many works in Quilts =Art=Quilts so I have had the opportunity to study her work, but the book sure makes it easier to follow her thinking.    I  now  in the process of doing some of  the exercises she suggests.    They are techniques I am familiar with, but my goal is different this time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Memories Spring 1969

March was the beginning of spring term and Eric and I decided to get married at the end of the quarter. So it was a whirl wind of activity for both of us. He would be graduating at the end of summer school, and I would take classes and then only have my student teaching to complete my degree. My most rigorous class that term was Comparative Religions. I did not know a thing about Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam, so I learned a lot. The class I enjoyed the most was Sound and Light, a class designed especially for Art and Music majors. There were lots of experiments and the teacher explained things well. I got an A in that one. My three art classes were Sculpture II and two night classes. Tuesday was Nude Drawing. We started out each evening with short two- and three-minute drawings. The posing time expanded gradually ending with and hour and a half at the end of the evening. I filled several big news print pads and they are still in my portfolio. My other night class was Ceramics III, on Thursday. That class was lots of exploring of mixing glazes, so I did lots of throwing that term to have work to experiment on. It was fun. With Eric around it was back to lots of movies. I remember seeing Flower Drum Song and really liking it as I had listened to Mom’s record for years. Among the other movies we watched on campus were Chalk Garden , Gypsy, East of Eden and Friendly Persuasion. We went downtown to see the big his of that spring, Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. Bill Cosby also entertained us that spring in Emens Auditorium. We had seats in the second row and enjoyed ourselves very much.

I spent a lot of time at home that term sewing. First I made my wedding dress. It was white full length silk with woven diamond pattern in organza on top. I then made two bride’s maid’s dresses, a blue and white stripe with little flowers woven into the blue. They were for Ellie and Margaret. Last I made a little white dress in the same weave pattern for Kelly, who was to be my flower girl. Eric’s youngest brother, Scott, was the ring barer and he wore a suit like Eric. Dean would be the best man accompanied by Gene. Larry spent the spring transcribing “What is a Youth” from the Romeo and Juliet record album, as there was no sheet music available yet. Later, Larry would it at the ceremony while a fellow music major accompanied him on the piano. There were so many preparations and details to attend to I felt like I was always moving. We tried to keep the costs down and I do remember thinking that $70.00 for flowers see like a huge sum. I did have a wedding portrait taken and it appeared in the paper. We wanted to have the wedding ceremony in the Unitarian-Universalist Church–it had such a glorious setting with a glass wall that looked out into a green wood behind the front of the sanctuary. Eric and I had to attend several marriage counseling sessions with Dr. Kelly, too. It must have taken, as we celebrated anniversary number 53 on June 7 this year (2022). Finals arrived and were taken, the last being June 4–three days before the wedding. All the family was there, of course. Dad had set up for all of my extended family to stay at one of the conference centers that Ball State owned near by. Eric’s father opted for the local Holiday Inn for his half of the family. Eric and I had decided to rent the upstairs apartment from Mom and Pappa Mayor for the summer and I moved in after the final exam. We had our rehearsal and it went well. Afterward, Bob, Eric’s dad took us all to dinner.

Keep Creating ,

Carol

Bacteria Dreaming, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Hand work, Textile Artist Stitch Club

June 2022

Hello,

We are really feeling the warmth of summer this week.   I am working away in my studio as usual. Creative Strength Training offered a nice little challenge this week.  Kathy G asked for folks to contribute 6″ squares of empty bowls for her Cry of the Poor project.   I did two little pieces for her.

I am feeling much better about my project for Textile Artist Stitch Club now that I have done some real building up of the surface.   This project really reinforced my feelings of building work based on how it is looking as apposed to drawing it all out before hand.

 

 

Progress Report: Bacteria Dreaming   This project is 21″w X 30″h.   I actually had a dream about the colors for this work.    The base is linen that I was given to me by my friend Susan.

 

 

I hand dyed and printed the lighter fabric and then did hand stitching for the rest of the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Against the Wind   I continue to build this work.  I love the process, but it is very slow.  All the birds are built now and I am only building the background.

College Life :Winter 1968-1969

On December 1, Eric proposed by asking me,“ When do you want to get married?” I was thrilled and we talked of several dates. He asked me to keep it a secret, since he could not afford a ring. He did have a plan, however. Grandmother Butter had made a deal with him that she would give him $1,000 if he did not smoke or drink until after he graduated from college. So he and Larry went to Indianapolis and persuaded her to give him the money early and then he went out and got a diamond for me. (The ring probably cost a tenth of that.) That was December 5, and I was so surprised and thrilled! We went directly to show off my “ Star of David,” as I called it, to my parents. Eric told me I floated to the front door. Mom and Dad were both pleased, too. Mom quickly went off to her desk where she pulled out a sealed envelope labeled “Prediction Letter.” It was dated August 25, 1967, and inside was a note in which she predicted that I would marry Eric in two years. My girl friends threw me a bridal shower with a white umbrella and pink flowers before the end of the month.

Eric was around for the first week of the winter term. Then he was off to South Bend and his student teaching. I worked hard on losing weight and was fairly successful that quarter. I did most of my social life with the gals in the house and put a lot of time in on my classes. One class was Ceramics II, in which learned to “throw” pots. To make a satisfactory pot and be able to fire any thing one had to throw a perfect ten-inch cylinder. When I thought I had achieved even walls and the ten inches, Dr. Reichel would test it by using a wire to cut the pot in half. If you passed, then you could throw pots to finish. I was not successful until the last week of the term. But I can still throw a perfect pot today. Art History III was my academic class, and I did the best that term as the art was more contemporary and I found that more to my liking. My physical education class was Judo. It was great fun. I still remember the teacher telling us to avoid physical action if possible and if one was attacked unexpectedly, that kicking your attacker in the shins always allowed one a chance to run away. Metal Sculpture was my last class. I enjoyed that class too. I got to be good friends with our model for the stretched lead project. Her boy friend purchased my work of her and that was my first art sale.

At the end of the term Eric and I went to our one and only live concert, a Glenn Yarbrough concert at Butler University in Indianapolis. I had most of his records and several of the poetry books that he read from, so I really enjoyed the evening.

Enjoy Summer and keep Creating

Carol

Bacteria Dreaming, Blue on Blue, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Dancers, Drawing, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Hand work, Machine Drawing, People, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Total Loss

New Ideas

Hello,

My good friend Robert sent me mushrooms to grow  and I am delighted with them.  They are editable and ready now to harvest.   Great fun.

 

 

 

 

It’s the beginning on the month and I had lots of meetings this week.  QuEG’s and Diva’s meant on Tuesday.  Noel did a great demo on how to take better photos  and I learned a few new tricks.

 

 

 

There was also a new approach presented for Textile Artist Stitch Club by artist Sabine Kamer.   I am enjoying her unique approach  so I have started two.

 

 

 

My friend Ginny also gave me an old textile of wool that is in such bad shape that it can not all be saved.   After applying fusible interfacing  to the back so the fabric would not fray any more I cut the  hands  from  it.   They both need lots more stitch work.

 

 

There was also work to do for Creative Strength Training.     One of our assignment was to make a color wheel and then right around it our responses to each color.

 

A second assignment was to do an abstract from a free thought line work.

 

 

Progress Report: Total Loss   This work is done now and it is 34.25″ w X 41.5″ t.    I enjoyed doing the work although the subject is a little grim.

I used  silk papers and the organza I had painted in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue on Blue  This work also got completed this week.  It is 19″ w X 25″ t.    The circles are the liner caps from  peanuts and medicine bottles.

 

 

 

 

The background was preprinted fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Bacteria Dreaming  This has become my daily practice piece for the time being.  I can’t seem to find a new thing at the moment.  The little circles are rubber washers that I collected at some point in the past.

 

 

 

Dancers   All the blocks are assembled and quilted now.  I need to think about what images I want to add on top and from what material they will be made.

 

 

 

College Life- Fall 1968

I am not sure how I came to the decision, but for the fall of 1968 I moved out of my family home into off campus student housing. The house was just a block away from campus and I loved it. It was a single family house that had been altered with an addition on the back. Two art friends, Ann and Susan, lived up stairs, along with Jeannie Priebe. Down stairs were a house parents’ section, a living room, and a shared kitchen. I was in the new wing on the back of the house, which had two baths and four rooms. My room had white walls and a red carpet. The other three rooms in my section changed occupants every quarter that year, so I did not get close to anyone, but it was still a good experience. The lesson I learned there was that I don’t like to eat alone, except for breakfast. Eric and Larry along with Eric Gerrard and Bill Bollinger lived across town in a house next door to the landlords, Mamma and Pappa Mayor. (That’s what we called them: he really was the mayor of Muncie!) While they lived there, Eric and I built two sets of pine bookshelves she–the first of our shared furniture. I still have one set in my studio today.

The quarter flew by. Eric and I continued our love of the movies and went to see Juliet of Spirits, The Fox and Henry the V, among other things. We cheered at lots of football games that fall as well. I did well with my grades that term and got A’s in Art Education and Educational Psychology. I got B’s in Sculpture, Art History 2 and Art in America class.

At the end of the quarter Eric went with the family to Iowa to meet the extended family. He was a big hit. Grandmother Esther like him and the Bright girls were all crazy about him. He did well with Mom’s family, too. I did suggest to him that Grandmother Rugh would likely ask him to choose the morning Bible reading. Forewarned, he had pre-selected a section from Ecclesiastes– “To every thing there is a season.” (Pete Seeger had turned that into a folk song, and currently a rock version was a big hit for the Byrds.) We think Grandmother was suspicious. He joined right in with the skeet shooting we did in Grandmother Ruth’s back yard that afternoon (though he couldn’t hit anything). That evening, he teased Tracy and me about our sore shoulders from the gun’s kickback, but the next day he was more sympathetic as he was a bit sore, too. Kelly started out thinking he was “weird,” but fell in love with him by the end of the visit.    I was glad that my family loved Eric as much as I did.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

College Life, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Textile Artist Stitch Club

May Workings

Hello,

I hope that you are enjoying the seasonal changes.  I continue to see changes in the natural world every day and that delights me.

I worked hard on my pieces for Textile Artist Stitch Club  and finished my owl.  I think I will find ways to roll the fabric to couch down in future works.

 I also continue to work on the Life Time Line that I am doing for Creative Strength Training.    Each day I add a little more and fill in the gaps too.

Progress Report:   Trees in Spring  I did the painting on the canvas a long time ago  and wanted to do a little machine drawing this week,

 

Burn Out   This work is moving forward.  The lower trees are stitched down now and I ready to  begin the actual fire part now.

 

 

 

 

New Work    I have now built a new base for some hand work.   I want to continue my play with the addition of stuff and stitches to the surface.

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice    I should finish this work this evening.  Then I only have one more base to do the hand work on and I will be ready to assemble the quilt top.

 

College Life- More Camp

All summer long there were special event s every week. I remember “Backwards Day,” where we started the day with dinner and campfire, followed by the free time and finally the classes. We had to wear our clothing backward, too. We celebrated Half Valentines Day and Christmas in July, and organized our silly version of the Olympics. There was a camp improvement day where there was lots of raking and painting to do. One week we had a camper/ Staff talent show. I sang along with Larry and Marcus. We did “Love Makes the World Go Round.” All the special events gave everyone things to look forward to and kept us involved. It was always fun. was lots of fooling around among the staff, too. One late night several other girls and I were heading back to our cabins when we heard lot of noise coming from the pool area. When we went to investigate we discovered a group of the boys skinny dipping. Suddenly, they all got quiet and stayed in the water. We teased them, of course, and dangled out feet in the water so they had to say in the pool even longer. One evening I joined Ellie, Margaret, and Susan so we could dye all the jocks that were hanging in the boys changing room purple. They got a surprise in the morning, but it only seemed to upset Jay, whose swim suit was whitet. One night someone tied a sweatshirt to the clapper on the dinner bell and that made for confusion at noon that day.

Every week all the councilors had a night off. I spent most of mine with Ellie, Margaret, Larry, and Marcus. Ellie would drive us all to Lafayette and the laundry-mat as our first stop. Purdue University is in West Lafayette, so there were lots of fun places to eat and we did explore the campus one night. I remember us doing our own little performance in the band shell on campus. One week we went to the movies to see “Rosemary’s Baby.” Marcus was a Black fellow and with a wonderful fun personality. One evening he and I went into a jewelry store and pretended to look at wedding rings. The other three stood outside laughing at the clerk’s reactions. We enjoyed being scandalous, so when we came upon a photo place Marcus pulled me in and we talked with that clerk about wedding pictures. Marcus found an album of baby pictures on the table and kept pointing out all the beautiful “brown tone” photos. Again we could hear the others out side howling with laughter. I do not remember much of the rest of the evening until we returned to the car to go back to camp. Under the windshield wiper was a note” You are not Welcome Nigger Lovers!” That put a real damper on the ride home and the next night off we went to South Bend and visited Eric and his family.

We also had time off from 10:00 on Saturdays to 1:00 on Sundays between sessions. One of those times Dad came and took Inis, Gene, and me back to Muncie. It was good to get to know her a little better, and Dad enjoyed her too. Dad took us all to dinner at Ponderosa and then to the County Fair. Inis really liked riding the Double Ferris Wheel and seeing all the 4H exhibits. We had a good time in the house of mirrors, too.

Eric came to camp on three of the weekends off. On his second visit, he drove Larry, Ellie, and me up and down the crazy back roads, hills, and ravines in that area. We had a silly time. Then he left for home and had an adventure all his own. As he was on the Route 31 by-pass around Kokomo, and approaching a bunch of cars stopped at a red light, his brakes failed–completely. (The handbrake in that green Lark station wagon never had worked.) There was a Mobil station on the right at the intersection. So, as he tells the story, Eric just aimed for the drive, bouncing over a curb, dodging the gas tanks, and creating a short cut to the side road, which was clear but sloping downhill. So he made another right turn, into the back lot of that station, and rolled slowly up to, and slightly into, a chain-link fence. Men from the station ran to see if the drunk driver had survived. They found the driver, of course, and also found a customer for their brake service. All Eric could think of were the twisty hills, roads, and ravines he and our gang had been driving through just hours earlier.

I will be away next week at a quilting retreat so there will be no post.  I look forward to seeing my friends and making new ones.

Keep Creating

Carol

College Life, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Hand work, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Spring is Here

Hello,

We are finally enjoying true spring here in central New York.   I love how the leaves are so thin and translucent.   They are as delicate as the petals of blossoms this time of year.

I had a good week as Wendy and I went for a late Mother’s day walk on Tue.  I enjoy the woods at this time of year too.  We both took lots of photos and enjoyed the time together.

 The second event of this week was the Creative Strength Training Meeting.   I am working on my Life Line for that group and enjoying it.  I  Sort of jump around as I think of details I want to add, but my first 20 years are almost done. 

I did the lesson for Textile Artists Stitch club with Salky  eccced and I am happy with the start of my response to her technique of twisting  thin strips of fabric and free form stitching.

 

 

 

 Progress Report: New Fire  New fires in the west inspire me to do new work.   This is early but you can see were the main trees will go and the house aflame.     So sad.

 

 

 

 

Bacteria    It seems to be a week of new starts for me.  It the moon headed toward fullness?     I had a dream about a new work based on bacteria so I built a base to do the stitch work on.

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice   I finished one more of my bases as apart of my daily practice.   There are only two more awaiting my stiches and then I can begin to assemble the project.

 

Slow Stitch  

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Life – Camp II

After week one there was a two week session. This alternating pattern was the story for the rest of the summer. The beauty of the two week sessions was that the councilors could and did take the kids to out of camp excursions. On my first one I took my ten year olds to a sight that was on the edge of the camp property where we set up our own tents and learned a little more wood craft. We got the fire going and the girls wrapped the potatoes in foil and we added them. At this point I discovered we had a bit of a problem. I had asked for chicken for our dinner and when I unwrapped them, I discovered that Jay had just pulled the first thing he saw from the freezer in our pack. So we had chicken necks for our meat. We just re-wrapped them and ate the potatoes, carrots and S’mores for dinner. Needless to say, I gave Jay a piece of my mind when we got home and checked the meat myself for all my other camping trips. Week three the Camper population was down and I did not have a cabin. I worked as Ellie’s assistant instead. I learned a lot about the administration of the camp that week and had a new respect for her. She told me it was easier than organizing her sixth grade classroom. The second two-week session I got moved to cabin 16 with Jo Ann, my Jr. Councilor, and a bunch of 12 year olds. We went for a float trip like the one all the councilors took earlier. The big event for that trip was the second morning when we woke up to find we were sharing our meadow with a group of hogs. I had one camper who would not come out of her tent. So I ended up carrying her to the boats while the rest of us dismantled the camp sight. We did stop on an island on the second afternoon and had fun swimming and swinging out over the river on a big rope.

I continued in cabin 16 the rest of the summer, and for my second float trip we had a different experience. The first day was fine, but during the night it started to rain. We got up in the light rain and packed the boats and headed down river. The girls did sing a lot in the morning–songs like “Michael Row your Boat to Shore” and “My Favorite Things.” But as it rained and drizzled on us all that day, spirits fell. Everyone was soaked and miserable. We were portaging over a dam at about 5:30 and not looking forward to the setting up our tents in the rain, when the camp truck pulled into the parking lot. The girls broke into the “Hallelujah Chorus” at full throat. Jay had redeemed himself. When we got back to camp hot showers and dry clothing were our first priority. It was a subdued dinner in the dining hall for us, especially as the dinner hour was over, and then back to the dry cabin and straight to the bunks and sleep. My only other camper adventure happened when one of my campers fell out of the lower bunk in the middle of the night and broke her arm. It just so happened the nurse was not in camp that night, so I ended up riding in the ambulance with her all the way to Lafayette. Between her sobbing and the siren, my ears were a bit taxed when we got to the hospital. Her parents met us there. I do not recall what time or how I got back to camp, but I did.

Now I wrote faithfully to Eric every week. But when he sent my first letter back with all the spelling corrected I was a bit angry. I wrote to him that if he wanted any more mail that would have to stop. He kindly stopped correcting–or at least I didn’t know about it.

Keep Creating

Carol