Category Archives: Fallen

100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, Fallen, Smoldering

Perception

Hello,
Summer is in full swing here in central New York. On my walk I saw a deer this morning and noticed that I have a double blossom on one of my Day Lilies. One needs to keep their eyes open to perceive the world. We seem to live in a world of lines, both strait and curved. Our buildings are mostly sharp edges and lots of squares and  rectangles. To balance that we often add shrubs and trees that have curved lines.     Most roads are laid out in strait lines  with curves that are created mostly by the landscape.     For the most part here in the west we do not live with may circles like the beautiful moon gates of the orient or the curved onions of the middle east domes. I wonder if there is any   cultural  reason for our preferences or are we just familiar with them?
It was a quiet week for me. I did a zoom with the Pixies and Liz and I spent a day dying. We did a progression emersion dying process. Turquoise to Orange. I learned a lot and we plan to try it again later this summer.

Progress Report: Fallen I did finish applying the leaves to the surface and I washed the quilt in the washing machine. I like how washing frayed open  the cuts to reveal the layers of cloth beneath.  I now need to add a focal point to this work.

Smoldering I am stitching/quilting this work now. The process is slow as I am trying to spend more time looking at the work as I go along.

 

 

Butterflies I finished the machine drawing of the butterfly and I sewed him down to the quilt base. I am now in the process of quilting in butterflies  around the big one with  thread.

 

100 Days I am moving along on this project. Today is day 45. I am starting to play a bit more with how I might arrange them.

 

 

Daily Practice I finished another square this week and started a new one last night.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing I just keep doing a drawing every day or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adolescence Spring trip II

We went to the White House on the Tues morning of our Spring Trip. The line  wrapped around the outside of the building along the black wrought iron fence and  it took an hour to get to the door. Rooms were huge and I recognized a few details from the TV tour that Mrs Kennedy had done a few years earlier. We then went off to the Treasury Building were we looked at counterfeit currency and got to see a real 100,00.00 dollar bill. There was also a exhibit of how folks had mutilated bills and a second exhibit of sculptures made by folding bills . I remember a bird and a dollar car. Next stop was the National Aquarium. I enjoyed the sea turtles the most. The National Aquarium is no longer in DC, but in Baltimore. After a light lunch we went back to the Smithsonian again. We visited the Space exhibit and saw Freedom 7 and Friendship 7. I was surprised that the capsule was smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle. We also checked out some amazing doll houses full of beautiful hand made furniture.
> Wednesday was our day to do history outside DC. We went to Fredericksburg first. Gene and I did look for bullets in one of the battle fields after reading a sign that said folks could still find them- but we were not successful. We then went to Williamsburg. We checked out the visitors center and enjoyed a historical movie about THE area. It was my first experience with a living history museum, and I liked all the colonial dress. We went to the Hatters, a Cabinetmakers shop and an Apothecary  shop. There was a demonstration going on across the green from where we were on the use of long guns. Gene and I started out running toward the location and one of the guns was fired. I know I changed direction in mid air, I was so startled. The demo was interesting when we got there. Next stop was the National Seashore and Cape Hatteras. We stopped at Kitty Hawk, first with a stop at the little museum. They had a model of the Wright Brothers plane that I found a bit flimsy to my way of thinking.  Good use of wire though.   We checked out the light house and then did a little beach combing. The water was too cold to even wade in, but we had fun building sand castles and collecting shells. I even found a sword from a swordfish. I remember that the wind was blowing so hard that the tops of the waves were blown backward . It was a nice restful day for us.
> When we got up and we started home, I was not feeling well. I could not get cooled down, but I did fall asleep until we blew a tire. When we got home I went straight to bed and did not feel any better on Sunday. Monday morning found me weak and I stayed home from school. I was still running a temperature in the afternoon. I do not know how or what happened next, but two days later I woke up with a clear head in isolation in Ball Memorial Hospital. I had Hepatitis and was one sick    yellow puppy. I was in the hospital for two weeks. Mom and Dad both came and visited me , but had to remain outside in the hall outside  the room. The room was just above the bay were the ambulances delivered their patients and near the end of my stay I sometimes learned out the window and talked to the drivers while they waited. No one else in the family got sick . I was Still weak when I was allowed to go home. I got steadily better, but I was very tired. I read Oliver Twist, Beowulf, and Return of the Native in that time. After six weeks I was allowed to go back to school for two hours every day to take English and History class. I can’t say that I know much about American History from 1900 to 1950. I did pass into my Senior year and I was well enough by June to go to summer school. My best friend Margaret and I took Art and Music Appreciation together. I remember going to the cemetery with her one hot summer afternoon to do our sketchbook assignments for Mr Carr. I recovered fully over the course of the summer.
Stay Safe  and keep your eyes open

Carol

 

 

100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Craow Calling, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fallen, Hand work, Lap Quilts

Summer Travel

Hello-
I hope folks had a good Forth of July.  We sure had lots of fireworks in our area.   I enjoyed my trip to Ohio to see a lost cousin. She really showed us around her area and I enjoyed the covered bridges of her county. We saw the longest one in the country and it is also a double bridge as the long one  is on top of a gully with a smaller covered  foot bridge underneath it at tht bottom of the gully.

Liz ans I dyed on Monday. I will try to wash them out tomorrow. I also had two Zooms meetings- the QuEGs group and Pixies. In addition I had two live meetings. The Quilt Diva’s meant at Cheri’s house and we made lots of decisions about the up coming show in Sept.

The FAB group meant as well. Patti brought her little loom and she worked the whole meeting adding a few inches to her scarf. Sharon shared her new project with lots of little units that she will build to float on top of a quilt base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Dark Side of the Moon 40″ w X 59″ l. This work in made mostly from kimono fabrics that Noel gave to me. It is a mixture of machine quilting and hand work.

 

 

 

 

 

The hand work is in the center of the metallic circles.

 

 

 

Calling Crows 36″ w X 52.5″ l. I drew all five of the bird panels. They are done with colored pencils and crayons. Again the silk is from Noel. I quilting flying crows in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallen This work is an experiment. Sharon kindly talked me through the technique on the phone. I did not fully get it as she told me she would not have done what I did if it had been hers. But not knowing what to do never stopped me when it comes to quilting. It goes off to the washer now with the hope of lots of fraying so the cuts show up.

Smoldering  Sense California is again  experiencing wildfires, I am doing a new piece on this topic. It is the early aftermath that I am focusing on this time. This work is only about half pinned in place.

 

 

 

Butterfly-  lap quilt  I am still doing the thread painting of the Butterfly to be applied to the top when it is done.

 

 

100 Day Challenge I keep using the sports images from the news paper for my inspirations for this project. I did a few extra this week so I am showing work up to day 40 and we are only 38 days into the challenge. But I know that my week end will be a busy one and I do not like to play catch up.

 

 

Daily Practice I finished one more panel am I am ready to start a new one now.

 

 

Drawing I keep putting in time on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adolescence- Spring trip to Washington D C

The year I was a Jr in high school the family trip was to Washington D C. We started out early on a snowy morning and entered the Applications after a long day of driving. I was struck by how much iron was present in the mountains and how many pine trees there were. We had intended to stay in Shenandoah National Park, but found it was closed. So we drove farther east and camped on the side of the road. We got up to more snow that melted quickly as the day warmed up. Our first visit was to Mt Vernon. It was a big estate with rooms that I saw as smaller then I expected it was a very big complex  however.   No mention of a black presence in 1965. From there we went to Arlington National Cemetery were we visited the Thumb of the Unknown Solder. The guards looked smart in their matching pattern. Then we went of to check out the Eternal Flame at John Kennedy’s grave sight. The vast fields of white crosses sure brought home the costs of war to me. Everything is so close together that going to Lincoln Memorial was an easy next step. I was most impressed by the carving of Lincoln’s hands.  We then  went  along the reflecting pool up to the Washington Moment.   We climbed all 66 flights of stairs with 18 steps in each flight to get to the top. It only took Gene and I 16 min. to get to the bottom when we when down. Mom and Dad followed much more slowly. Our next stop was the Capital building. I found the Rotunda to be much bigger than I expected and both the House and Senate to be smaller. Mom remained to check out me that The Freedom Lady sculpture on the top as we walked away. We  started for the campground we got a little lost and went in circles around the building complex several times before heading home. Dad accidently ran a red light and there were four policemen on the corner. The did not stop us- Mom guessed that they saw the Indiana license plate and let it slide. We camped that night in a small camp ground called Prince Edward. I wonder if it is still there. Tuesday we got up and went back into Washington DC to do the Smithson. I enjoyed the special exhibit of “Animals in Art” a lot.   I did a drawing of  sculpture of a mother chimp cuddling her young one.    We saw lots of manufacturing equipment along with lots of old automobiles. In the Natural History Museum Mom and I spent two hours in the basement and only did about half. We did the ground level after lunch and saw a Blue Whale , the Hope Diamond,  Witch Dr Masks and a great collection of shrunken heads. By 4:30 we all had “museum feet” and pilled into the car and drove to the Air Port to watch plains take off and detox a bit. We rested  and then went to the National Archives building. The Constatation had a place of honor in the rotunda along with the other founding documents. We walked right up to them and could easily read them thought the glass. I was a surprised by how yellow the paper was and how faded the ink. One could purchase copies in a little kiosk near the door but we did not.   The day was full and we all slept well that night.

Stay safe

Carol