Category Archives: Curvie Cuts

Blue Water, Coy Fish, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Human forms, Koi in the Kelp, Lap Quilts, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Three Witches

Fall Abundance

Hello,

Fall is really starting to show up in this part of the world.  Color seems to be at every corner and the fruit is beautiful too.   I love the daily changes this season brings.

It has been a busy week for me.  On Friday, Liz and I went to the Member’s  Show at the Schweinfurth  and saw lots of great work from lots of fiends.

 

I really liked this little collage/ assemblage  by Victoria among many others.   It was a real visual feast.

 

 

 

 

Then I ran the Diva meeting on Tue with lots of new work there as well.   Ann is working away on her newest Yellowstone inspired piece and I am so impressed.   She is aiming for the feel of the heat and I think she is achieving that.

 

 

Therese, our newest member, shared lots of work.  But I loved this little owl piece the most.   She will be a great addition to the group.

 

 

 

 

Cheri and Terri both have work in the Rock Garden show that is up at the Art Center in Homer.   I like the irregular shape and high texture Cheri is playing with in this one.

 

QuEG’s meant as did the Slow Stitch group and they both were inspirational.

 

Progress Report: Blue Water   This work is complete now and is 39.5″ w X 35″ t.    The fish eyes are double buttoned and made with some of Aunt May’s buttons.

I used the metallic fabrics to give the fell of the scales of the fish.

 

 

 

Lap #4   This work is done except for the binding that I hope to finish this evening.  I also plan to send this work off to my aunt in Iowa next week.

 

 

 

 

Lap #5  This work is all pin based and ready for quilting now It will go into the nursing home stack.

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Action   I am now doing the hand work on this little piece.  I want to finish  it by Tue so I can mail it to the Schweinfurth at that time. It will be for the raffle.

 

Koi in the Kelp  All the kelp and the fish are attached  and now I am ready to add the eyes and sequins for added texture and color.

 

Frenzy    I have now cut away all the original background and pinned the fish to the new surface.  I did leave some ” bridges of fabric between some of the fish for stability.  I will cut the “bridges”( brown ) away as I reach them with the zig zag stitching.

Three Witches   I finished the left eye and added the bottom lip among other things this week.  She is beginning to feel solid I think.

Pillow    Because I can’t seem to throw anything away I stuff pillows with the cut away parts from other projects.  This pillow is one example.  The silk embroidery work is from my trip to China with my Mom in 1998.

 

Hope you are all enjoying fall and not working too hard.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Blue Water, Consider, Contemplating, Coy Pond, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand Out, Koi in the Kelp, Pixies Group, Pondering, Three Witches, Wall of Fire

Hurricane Ian

Hello,

The hurricanes that have hit the country the last few weeks have raised my concern for my fellow Americans.   So many of my friends live there  and there is  family too.   It is hard to face such destruction from nature .  The water and wind sure makes one humble.   I did talk yesterday with the Pixies who live in Gulfport Florida. Robert was staying in the area and the other two had both evacuated.  My sincere wished go out to all who suffered any loss and I hope you are all back to balance as fast as possible.

For me here in central New York, I am still feeling very positive as I received my award from the Art show on Sunday.   I was delighted by the support I received from my quilting friends too.

The Schweinfurth asked that artists contribute a small work to be raffled to help support the institution, so I started a new piece called “A Little Action.”    I now remember why I only did one work a day and it is a bit tedious.

 

 

FAD meant at Nancy’s on Wed.  It was good to see all of them  and Nancy shared her wonderful new piece.   I think it looks great!

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Wall of Fire    I built up the fire portion of this work this week.  I  think I am nearing completion.

 

Lap 4 This work is all ready to be quilting now.    I am always surprised at how fast the pin basting goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 5   I had extra time in the studio on Monday so I started a new lap quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Hand out  This work is done now.  I will give Ginny first choice on the one of the four that she wants  sense she gave me the wool coverlet that the hand units were cut from.

 

 

 

Consider   I finished the hand work on this piece this week.   Now all three works are complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other two works in the series are

 

 

Contemplate

.and Consider.    They are all the same size  and use complementary colors.   I am going to put them in the Associated Artist show at May Memorial for the month of Oct.

 

 

Blue Water   I have now placed and zig- zagged down the top half of all of the fish in this work.   It is building nicely I think.

 

Koi in the Kelp After consulting with Jane Durawall, I changed the orientation of this  piece and added kelp.   I like the feel of the action much more  and the extra layers of depth it now has too.

Rework -Coy Pond    Again after feeling a bit unhappy with this work I got some critique from Jane.  She had several suggestion that I liked and I finally decided to cut away the brown background and mount the whole interlocking fish unit on a new background of blue and yellow.    I am about half way done cutting away the background now  and think it will be a lot stronger when it is complete.

Three Witches   I had to wait on a friend in the parking lot while she had an in office procedure done today.  So I worked on the right side of the face this morning.  I think it beginning to feel solid.

New Handwork for Slow Stitch    I finished this work early in the week .

 

 

 

 

Then I had an idea for a second  textural piece so I did this work this week too. Texture is my real love so I guess this is natural for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork     This work is part of the leftover fused fabric pieces that I started a few weeks ago. Sense I finished the “hand series”, I  pulled up this work and started it late last evening.

Again my thoughts are for the Hurricane victims.

Carol

 

 

 

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Blue Water, Coy Fish, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Three Witches

Working Week

Hello,

There is  still a lot of color  here.  I am plant setting this one for a friend who is away and enjoying it a lot.

This week I taught a workshop on Collage Cards at the  Associated Artist meeting on Sat.       Folks seemed to have a good time, created some fun stuff  and we ran 45 min over our allotted time.

I also  had a pixie meeting and a meeting of the Slow Stitch group so I was busy.    The Slow Stitch group gave put out a challenge to do a work with texture.  I have two pieces pinned and ready for work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Lap 3  This one is finished now.  I also shipped the third lap quilt off to my Aunt who is now in a nursing home.

 

 

 

 

Lap 4   I just seem to always need something on going so I started this next lap quilt on Tue.

 

 

 

 

 

Wall of Fire  I think I am nearly finished with this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches  The hand work goes on with this work.  I am enjoying it even if it is slow.

 

 

 

 

 

Hand Out   I will admit that I have neglected this work this week.   But I am making progress.

 

 

 

 

Little Action   The Schweinfurth  has asked for a small work to raffle in the lobby of the building to help add  funds for the Art Center.     I decided to make a small version of the work  in the show to do this.    Now I recall why  I only did one block a day as the cutting is very difficult.

 

 

Consider    I am doing the yellow handwork on this piece now and then it will be complete.

I hope folks are enjoying Equinox today.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

Blue Water, Creative Strength Training, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Lap Quilts

Flying High

1 Comment

Hello,

I am flying high as I was just informed that my work “Athletes ” just won Best of Show at the Associated Artists 95  Members Show.   The opening will be in two weeks.  I just could not believe it when Mimi called me.    My husband said that from the look on my face,  he thought some one had died.  I was stunned.

Just got a second call form Liz and she said to check to see if I got into The Quilts =Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurt and to my surprise – I did.  The other quilt from the black and white 100 Day SAQA challenge got into that show.  Action is what it is called and it is very like this one.

I did have a few other things happen this week.   FAD meant and we had a good talk.

I continue to work through  the Creative Strength Training  book and did a lot of righting for that.  I also did several more of the exploding blocks.  I also got back into my Inspired to Design book and did a bunch of tone studies.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Feather Dancer    I need to do a it more quilting on the right side and then this work will be finished.

 

 

Wall of Fire  Work is going well on this piece.  I am building up lots of layers of transparency on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2  This quilt is all quilted now and I am doing the binding.  I am sure I will finish it this week.

 

 

Lap 3  I finished quilting this work this Moring and added the binding too.  Now it too is ready for completion.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches   Filling in the blacks solidly take lots of time so this face is going very slowly.

 

 

Blue Water    This is the base for the next work with the fish .  I want to try using only metallic fabrics on this one.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Enamel Beetles, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Uncategorized

Receptions

Hello,
We are starting to feel a bit like fall around here.  More fungus in the yard as you can see.   Eric and I took a long walk this week and did some exploring in our local cemetery.

 

 

 

Oakwood is very old and full of beautiful stone work.  We walked all the way to the old entrance and this is a shot of the Chapel there.   

 

 

There were lots of hills too.

 

 

 

It has been a busy week, with two receptions and a Pixies meeting.   we shared our work hand had a good talk.  I enjoyed both receptions as well.   The first was on Friday in Homer for the Diva group. This shot is or Maureen and her work. The second  was    the Associated Artists reception  in the Manilas Library and was on Sunday. Fun to talk with fellow artists as I had not seen many of them in almost two years.   Glad things are getting a little closer to normal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Lap # 18 This work is 40″ X 56″. The colors sure are summery and peasant.

 

 

 

 

 

Enamel Beetles. I get excited when I can see the end of a project and this time I made a big error in my excitement. I did not measure the work to make sure it was square. I only discovered it when I went to measure for the size. So this morning I had to take the facings off two sides and trim it correctly.

Knitted Poncho I try to put in five rows of knitting every evening on this project. I only have the remainder of the turquoise ball and all the purple one to use up to finish the job.

New Hand Work We area going on a drive west to visit cousins and aunts so I need a new hand project. This is the start.

 

 

 

New Work – Black, Gray and Blue. This work went together very quickly. It is all layered up now too and I only need to decide about the quilting pattern to go forward.

 

 

 

New Project I want to do a piece using the poppies I created earlier so this it my start. I think I will add a figure on the left.

 

 

 

 

Lap # 19 I pulled the fabric and cut the connecting strips for this new project yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Spring 1966

Spring proved to be a very busy time for Mom and me. She was working hard to finish up her desolation. She had enjoyed the field trips the three previous summers with Dr. Cooper to Hawaii, Alaska and Jamaica. I was surprised at her because she could not swim, but she had spent five weeks snorkeling and collecting plants and animals from the sea floor in Jamaica. My senior year she really had to buckle down and get things done. She developed a questionnaire for elementary kids about their science interests. When the results came back, I helped her a little with the coalition of the results. Spring meant studding the data and drawing conclusions and writing about them. It also meant a defense of her findings to the folks on her committee. She was very nervous about that.
I was busy with school, work and lots of events. In early April I went on a double date with Mike Ritter and another couple to Indianapolis to the Circus. I remember the parade at the beginning with horses and elephants, and the early act of trained Tigers. But by the end of that event I was not feeling too well. My stomach ached and I finally asked Mike to take me to the infumery so I could lay down. He went back to the show with my urging and that attendant looked me over and we talked. I nearly sat up and slapped him when he asked me it I was Pregnant. He backed away quickly and said “ I had to ask.” I do not remember much else but I do know we rushed the hour dive home with me in pain the whole time. By the thime wer got to Muncie, things were worse so they took me directly to Ball Memorial Hospital emergency room. Some one must have called my folks because I remember Dad being there and Dr Ball. After the Dr examined me I was told I’d need an emergency Appendectomy. I also got a scolding form Dr Ball for wearing a girdle at my age, and I never wore one again. My cousin Tracy had her appendix removed the previous year and later we compared scars. I was in the hospital for four days and on the way home in the car I realized all the leaves had come out and the world was green. For the second spring in a row I had missed the opening of the spring leaves. The appendix was not the end of my problems in the lower eudemon that spring. Shortly after returning to school my period started. But unlike the usual week, it went on and on. After 28 days I told Mom. It was really heavy by that time and I was going through a pad every two classes. I remember standing up from a math lesson and feeling a big clot move out of me. Dr Ball ended up giving me iron and birth control pills to get it under control. It was an awful experience. I celebrated my 18 Birthday in the middle of all of this. I went out with the gang and we had ice cream. I got lots of cards from them and many form the relatives too. I also was treated to Cake and Ice cream at home that year.
The next big event was the Junior/ Senior Ball. Keith and I went to this one together too. I don’t know who asked who to this event. I made my own dress this time and had fun doing so. It was light blue brocade cotton. I felt so glamorous. The dress later became the dress that I altered to become Lady Guinevere’s costume when we did “Robin Hood” while I was teaching at Onondaga Hill. The ball, called “Rapacity in Gold”, was not so not so golden. I ended up driving do to a little mix up and things just went down hill from there. It was very hot and Keith did not want to dance. We ended up having a fight that ended our relationship. I’m not sure if I drive him home, but I was home and putting the car in the garage by 12:30. All kinda crazy, and Graduation was still a month away.

As I mentioned we are going on a road trip next week so there will not be a post.

Stay safe and keep Creating
Carol

Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Enamel Beetles, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Working Away

Hello,
Fall is making its selp felt in central New York with cooler nights and sunny days. I noticed these little mushrooms on my walk this week.
It has been a very busy week for me.

Saturday I went off to the Manilas Library and helped hang the Associated Artist fall show. I put in my Granite and Silver piece.

 

 

 

Liz and I did another progressive dye. I have lots of naturals this time.

 

 

 

I had three meetings this week. FAB meant at Judy’s and I knitted the whole time. The Pixies’s and Sisterhood of the Scissors meant virtually. It is always stimulating and I come away with lots of ideas.

 

 

Progress Report: Enamel Beetles
I worked on the Enamel Beetles by adding stitched grass, stitching down the beetles and adding eyes. Each little step takes time.

Lap # 18 I just keep working on these guys. I need to assemble the parts now and do the quilt work.

 

 

 

 

Tattered Memories I put in about an hour every evening doing the beading on this piece.

 

 

 

Shoes I could not get Elizabeth’s shoes out of my mind so I painted my own this week.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Gene

My brother, Gene started his Freshman year at Storer Junior High School at the same time I started my high school career at Muncie Central. Gene played on the football team and he was very good. He took it very seriously. When  he in was in the eight grade he won the county Punt, Pass and Kick Contest.    For is his prise, he won a full  football  uniform with the Colts logo.   They also took Dad and Geen to a Colt’s football game.    I went with Dad to several games that first year and many when Gene  played at the high school. He played quarter back some times and also tight end. He almost always played the full game and he got good at kicking field goals too. By the end of his Senior year his knees were shot. He did toy with the idea of being a kicker  in college, but decided against it.   By the time he was a parent, he would not allow his son to play at all, but he is still a big fan.   Gene also got his paper route that year freshman year. He delivered the Muncie Morning Star so he had to get up between 4:30 and 5 in the morning to stuf, rap and fold papers for delivery. He delivered on is bike and was really good at hitting front doors with the papers. The morning paper was a seven day a week job and he did his collections on Saturdays. He seemed to have lots of money after that. Late one night he and one of his buddies borrowed car  and went for a joy ride. That incident might have gone unnoticed if they had not run out of gas. To solve that problem they stole some gas from a farmers machine tank. The farmers dog altered the farmer who called the sheriff. The boys got arrested as they tried to return the car. Dad had to go pick him up form the station. Mom got me up so we were in the living room when they got home. Dad made Gene tell the whole story. When ever Gene tried to justify his actions- Dad stopped him by saying-” that’s an excuse. ”     For Gene’s punishment, Dad made his give up his paper route and he was grounded for six weeks. I remember his “sleeping” a lot during that time. The relationship between the two them never really was the same either.
The Senor year was the first time I had to really think about my future. I knew I was going to college- it was just were. I took the PSAT’s in October. The SAT’s were given in the big study hall- room 200.   There were  about 100 kids,some from Burris and some from s South Side too. I came home exhausted. Margaret and I had a date to go canoeing that afternoon so we did. It was a short trip that time  as she was tired too. In March  I finally got serious about the were question. I thought about Greeley Colorado, and the University of Iowa, but decided they were too far away. Purdue and Ball State were both close enough and so I filled out applications. Dad had always been a night owl and was usually up when I got home in the evenings. I’d stop many times and talk with him. We talked about my evenings sometimes or perhaps people. He helped me dissect and understand the “Why” for folks actions and some of my own. In the spring, Margaret got a new Orange Mustang convertible for her 18 Birthday/Graduation present. It was very cool. She and I went in her new car to the open house at Purdue the next Sat. It was so much fun  and I had just about decided that I wanted to go to school there when Dad and I one of our late night talks. He started off by saying it was, “My Choice,” but he wanted to offer me a deal. He said he would pay me the money for Purdue’s room, board and tuition beyond Ball States cost to use as I wanted, if I stayed home and went to Ball State. I decided that was a good deal. I do remember Dad being a bit upset as Ball State’s price increased  that fall of 50% to $50.00 a quarter. I spent the money I saved by living at home to purchased IBM stock. That grew of course and in 1970 I sold it and used the money as a down payment on our first house.

Stay safe
Carol

 

100 day Challenge, Bare Forest, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Enamel Beetles, Lap Quilts, Shows, Tattered Memories

Beginning of fall

Hello,
I have enjoyed a busy two weeks sense I posted last. On Monday last week I helped hang the new show at the Center for the Arts in Homer NY. It was great to see the gals in the group an to help with the set up.
This one is Noel’s contribution. She hand dyes most of the silk she uses in her work.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Donnas newest piece. I really like how she builds her one of a kind sculptures with found objects. This gal has wings made from Victorian curtain tie backs.

 

 

 

 

Cheri did a great job with this cheery piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are Mary’s ladies. I had to depart before the hanging was complete so that is why the wires are hanging down from the work here. The opening in a week from Friday.

I then got on the road and drove back north and picked up Nancy for our drive up to Mill Site Lake. Judy and I decided that we have been doing this for about 35 years.   This retreat was for years the sign that summer was over and school was starting.       Judy  got me started on a knitting project. I am working on creating a poncho.
Patti joined us on Tue and we had fun. Swimming, Kacking, and talking filled our time. We also did a lot of walking. It is always so peaceful there.

 

 

Liz and I did two color runs for our dyeing project this week. Turquoise to purple worked well.

 

 

But the yellow to raspberry one is not as strong. I do like all the colors though.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Granite and Silver This work is 45″ X 42.5″. I really like how the Silver Maple leaves look on the granite background. This work is based on a photo from Adirondack Life magazine.

 

This work is also my entry for the Associated Artist show at the Manlius Public Library.

 

Enamel Beetles I made more beetles this week. I think I am ready to start stitching them down.

 

 

100 Days Wed was day 100.  So I am done with making parts now. I will put it all away for a while and let my mind rest on this project before I begin to sew the parts together.

 

Bare Trees I thought it would be fun to do a forest with many layers of trees in lighter and lighter shades of machine drawing.

Tattered Memories This quilt is made up of cut away parts from Granite and Silver. I am embellishing it with lots of beading now.

Pillow I have three  New Pillows Mola’s that are just setting in a drawer  Have become  pillows where they will be seen. I am  stuffing  them with the trimmings of quilts.

 

 

Childhood Memories- culture and fun

For all the sadness I felt about Grandfather’s death I quickly got bach into the swing of things. I usually worked two nights a week at the Student Center and I seemed to fill most of the other evenings too. I went to the Movies a lot that spring.  I saw “Thunder Ball” and “The Great Race” as well as the foreign films on Sunday afternoons that Ball State offered. I remember seeing “Knife in the Water” and “ Unicorn in the Garden” there. Margaret and I went to the “Sleeping Beauty Ballet”, “Barefoot in the Park” and “ My Fair Lady” at Emerson auditorium. The Drama Department at Ball State put on “ Three Penny Opera”, “Fantasticks” and “Under Milk Wood”. It was great.
Gene and I decided to take Scuba Diving Lessons at the YMCA with Phil Ritter, Mike’s older brother. I enjoyed it and learned enough to certified as did Gene. I went on to help Phil teach classes while I was in collage too. I went along on many diving trips over the summers in lakes in Indiana. The visibility was limited and there was lots of mud, but it was still enjoyable. Sometimes we went water skiing on those trips too. The buddy system really works! One time in the fall Phil and I went diving in a spring fed pool. He wanted some polls that he knew were on the bottom as he wanted to put roll bars on a car he was going to enter in a race at the local track. We worked at getting them untangles and up from the bottom. As we neared the end of the process, I took a breathe and no air was left in my tank. We were down more than one G so I knew I could not shoot to the surface without doing damage to my lungs!   I frantically shingled to Phil that I had on air. He took a deep breath and passed me his regulator were I gratefully took two lungs full before returning the regular to him. We grabbed the last poll and sharing his air slowly rose to the surface. I never was so frighted diving again. Phis said it was probably due to the extra effort we were exerting to get the polls untangled and up to the top. I only remember on other outstanding event to do with diving and that was the time went diving under the ice. After descending through the cut in the ice we could see farther then usual do to the calm water under the frozen surface. When we got close to the bottom we really stirred up the mud however. We followed out old bubble trail   from the under  side of the ice back to our cut opening. It was really cold when we climbed out and I remember how cold the area around my lips was and the small patch of skin between the mask and the hood of my wet suit felt frozen.
The next big event in my senior year was the Senior Prom – “ From Lillepops to Roses” was the theme.   I worked on decorations  and  made big Lollipops.     I asked Keith to go with me. Jon Walters asked me on the Monday before the dance, but Keith had accepted by that time so I went with him. Keith wore a white jacket and a bow tie. I had a dress with a white short sleeve top and a long pink skirt. I gave him a carnation boutonniere and he gave me a wrist courage of white carnations, surrounded by baby pink rose buds and leaves of pink. We danced many dances and hug out with kids form band at the  dance. We left a little early to go to the Pizza King and got a table under the willow in the Willow Room. We ate Pizza and had a good time along with friends. I got home at 3 AM and stay up to help Gene warp his papers for delivery that morning. Then I crashed and slept until noon on Sat.  Then  I ran off to help dismantle stuff from the dance. That was a bit sad, but clean up is part of the progress.

Stay safe
Carol

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

100 Day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Crow Calls, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Fields

Summer

Hello,
   Happy summer everyone.   This week has been a busy one. I went off to Ithaca with Liz and Cheri to pick up my Phaff from its cleaning. We did a little shopping and took a load of fabrics and notions to Sew Green too. It feels good to pass things one no longer needs or will never use to someone else who just might do something wonderful with them. Liz and I got caught in a heavy rain storm after we dropped off Cheri and had to double back due to a wire across the highway. Then on Wed.   Liz and I dyed for the first time this season. It feels good to be back doing that  again.    I did meet with the Pixies this week too.   Only three of us, but still a good meeting.

 

Progress Report: Crows Calling   This work is 36″ w X 53.5″ l.   All the rectangles that are not drawn on are old silk kimonos from my friend  Noel.       I enjoyed quilting crows in flight as a part of the background for this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

100 Days  SAQA Challenge    I am still doing this challenge and now on day 24.

 

 

Lap # 12- Butterfly     I have now started to build the thread painting  that I want to overlay on this quilt top.   It is slow work as this shot shows all the thread painting I did in two hours.  I  used a full bobin to do just this  much of the job.

Lap # 14  This top is all assembled now.   I will move on this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green As this project progresses I realize that I need a better title as their is less and less green in the work  and no leavers are green.      I think I am nearly ready to stitch down all the cut leaves.

 

 

 

Poppy Field    I did get the french knot flowers add to the top section of the far field this week .   Not a lot of other work on this piece.   The orange flowers I made are too big to be a part of this one.

 

 


Dark side of the Moon    I have started to do reflective quilting  on this piece.  I still have some hand work to do inside some of the circular forms too.

 

Daily Practice     I have completed another of the daily practices pieces and started a new one last evening.     They are going well.

 

 

 

 

Drawing    I only completed two drawings  this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I got a little out of alignment  and the nose it far too long.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Jr Year Education

The Jorner  year   of high school was a one of challenge and change for me.   Ceicle and Mike had gone off to various collages. The gang added new kids from band and adolescence was a crazy mix of finding ones self and trying to figure out the opposite sex. I suffered with my academics a bit too. I had Mr Langdon for English and he was a very demanding teacher. I liked the massive amounts of reading we had to do as we did British and American   Literature. I recall reading Macbeth, Sartorius , Last of the Mohekens, Brave New World, The Scarlet Letter, The Good Earth and 1984.    The class discussions we informative and fun as well. We also did the poets e e cummings and Walt Whitman. For the poetry we had memorization and I can still recite “When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloomed.” Dad also arranged for me to have a tutor for my spelling and she asked me to read The Bridge of San Lewis Ray. I did well with most of the other stuff and I still am glad for the exposure to the books. I ended my time with Mr Langdon with a C- the fist semester and a C the second.
Dad’s political connections allowed   me to be a Page at the Indiana state house for a day in Feb. I was excited and enjoyed the time.   The day was cold and the roads were icy and we arrived half an hour late to the CIrcle that the state house is on.  I remember running up the icy stairs and rushing into the building with no idea were I was to go.    Out of breath I asked the man in the front hall and he directed me.   In the page room after hanging my coat on a peg I took a deep breathe and started a wonderful day.  I got to put  bills out on the senators desks and run errands for them. The sessions seemed a bit disorganized to me as folks got up and talked to each other not paying any attention the speaker sometimes. I went to two committee meetings in the afternoon. One was on poverty and the second was on education. I almost missed being paged to do an errand at the education meeting as I was so engrossed in the topic.   It was a full day with lots of learning on my part.    Dad told me later that I really talked his ear off all the way home.
As to the social life it was full of teenage stress. Liking one person and not being liked in return and petty conflicts over boys. One boy, Bill Mohler, had a real crush on me and he was a sweet fellow. I went to a formal dance with him and he broth me a beautiful corsage. I even went on a date with him on a Sunday, went to church and spent the day with him and his family.   But there was not spark there.   Telling him I did not see him in the same romantic light  as she saw me was difficult.     Then after  my “friend “ Terry, stole Jim, a guy I was really attracted to,  away from me, before the romance even got started- I sort of swore off boys for a while. Bobby from last summer was still around and  I just could not figure him out either. So I work more along the line of ” friendships” with boys and nothing more for the rest of the year.

 

I will be away so there will not be a Blog next week.

Please stay safe

Carol