Category Archives: Presume

The Rethink

Hello,

I am facing mixed feelings with my self commitment to the QSDS 100 Day Challenge.  It is not that I want to stop- no,  it is more case  of I having a much bigger bite than I can really chew type of thing.  We are now at day 26 and I have 100 new stamps/stencils. I also have at least that many or more printed fabric units.   If I stay on my original plan I will have double that number before I begin to play with and put anything together.  That part of the idea seems really overwhelming!   So I think I will give myself a break, print the work today, and  hold open the idea that I can at any time cut and print new things to go with or extend and idea that I am playing with.    But  now  I will begin to use/build the fabric I have created.   That seems much more manageable to me and it is my self designed project so I can change the rules any time I want.

The first print of new images are on the left and the mix of old and new images are on the right.

 

 

 

I cut this Ram for the Chinese Zodiac  series.

 

 

 

 

 

  These are the prints from the cut above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second cut for this week was the Zodiac for the year of the horse.

 

 

 

I did not print in the order I cut stamps/stencils due to the workshop over the weekend.   I could cut and listen – but not print, so when I printed I mixed up the order of the images I used.

 

These will be printed later today.   Then I will do some serious thinking about putting some things together.

 

Over the weekend I participated in Interlude on line.  It is the follow up/ introduction  for Creative Strength training.   Folks lead some fun exercises and this is one of my solutions to  a design game we did.

 

On Sunday we did Avatars.  And  this is my sox  figure/doll I did for that one.  She is dressed thanks to my friend Susan who allowed me to raid her stash last summer.    I have not made any dolls in a long time , so  it was a pleasant diversion.

Yesterday there was a FAD meeting in the morning.  Sharon sharded her progress on the three projects she is working on.  She is doing lots of handwork on things like I do.   She started this at the Schweinfurth  Retreat last fall.

The Pixies meant as usual too.  I always find those discussions stimulating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Presume    This work is 36″w X 34″ t.   It is the green response to the monochromatic self challenge.

I really like doing the hand work as a parallel and extension of the metallic inserts  on this project.  Exploration and play is what it is all about.

 

 

Envision   This work is 32.5″ w X 37″ l.     This is the yellow study  of the series.     I am learning a  few things about color with this challenge.

This time I did free motion quilting like my class last summer.

 

 

 

Understanding Orange  is as the name says working with the orange family.  It is almost assembled and I hope to finish that step this afternoon.

 

 Creative Assistants     I did a lot of work on these little guys this week.  I have been watching lots of football and basketball, so lots of handwork is being done.

 

 

New Work  Because I can see the end of the building process for Understanding Orange, I pulled my purples for the last one in the monochromatic  series.   I was surprised by the large number of metallic  purples I have.

I am hoping everyone has a pleasant  Valentine’s day

Keep Creating

Carol

Now February

Hello,

I am surprised that we are now in February.  January flew by in my eyes.   I came across a quote by Salvador Dali this week and it is haunting me.

Mistakes are almost always of a scared nature.

They sure do seem to stretch us and make us rethink what we are doing and how things are going.  I, like most folks, have made some “duzzies”.     My Father always called them learning opportunities and I guess looking at the quote in that light they are scared if you use them that way.  I sure know they have lead me down so strange pathways I am sure I would not have explored with out the errors.   Like the time I accidently cut a whole in a finished work.   It resulted in a whole series were I did wholes on purpose and I learned a lot.  It is something I am now rethinking.   Perhaps there may be some more wholly quilts in my future.

I continue to work away on the 100 day challenge for SAQA.  I  was sick for three days so I am a little behind but working to catch up.   I cut a Rooster as my next image for another  Chinese Zodiac symbol.

 

 

 

I did the printing the same as before with the new images on the left and the over printing on the right.

 

 

Next  I cut a Tiger.

 

 

 

 

   I mixed and orange just for the tiger here.   But it reads as red.

 

 

 

The  last thing  I cut  was an Ox for the series.   I plan to print it later today and  cut another creature for the group too.   That will make me caught up I think.

The pixies did meet this week and that is always an up lifting thing.

Progress Report: Presume   All the machine quilting is done on this now and I am ready to square and add a binding.   It will be done in the next day or two.   I learned that doing reflective quilting  creates bubbles in the surface of the quilt if you do not alternate the directions of the path ways with each trip around.   The pressing that out is not fun.

Envision  I finished the hand work on this on   Tue and started the free motion machine work yesterday.

 

 

Understanding Orange   I am almost done building units for this top.  I am still shuffling them around and will soon begin to assemble the units.

 

 

 

 

Textile Artists Stitch workshop  I stared this project in the free workshop a few weeks ago.  I am working slowly away on it  and like  the addition of some solids in it.

Stay safe and Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Opening +

Hello,

  The opening on Sunday was the big event of the week for me.      I was happily pleased by all the folks who came to support me.    Two of the gals in this photo came from over from an hour away  and that was a big surprise.   

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and youngest grandson came as well .   He is over six feet and makes me look really like a small grandmother.

 

 

With this show I tried to show old work and new as well as show all the different techniques I use. This work in the show is my first Fire piece and it was done about 25  years ago.

 

I put this work in the show to show off my applique skills and my handwork.

 

 

 

 

Granite Grannies is and example of a work that is both painted and dyed.  I did free motion drawing to out line the faces.

 

 Calling Crows is a work that won Judges Choice at the Adirondack Quilts Show a few years ago.   I did it after being awakened by crows at 4:00 in the morning when I was staying in Auburn.

  This work is called Forest Flock.  I machine drew all the little birds  and then appliqued them to the background.  The dark  tree is made from an old black skirt that I felted.

 

 

Briar Patch is a work that came about because I was playing with metallic threads and they suggested shinny berries to me.

 

 

 

Lastly I included the last three studies I did this fall as a part of the Explorations series.   I am in a new phase of this same self challenge now.

 

 

 

 

There were more works in the show , but I did not include them all.  The pictures show of the show were taken by my daughter, Wendy.

There was a Pixie Meeting this week and we shared lots of ideas.  I am continuing to work away on the 100 Day SAQA challenge. Friday I printed these images .   The images on the bottom  are new and the ones on the top are the new blocks over an existing image.

 

I printed new images on  Saturday.

 

 

 

 

I did a Rabbit to celebrate the Chinese New year of the Rabbit

 

 

 

Tue I printed the new images

 

 

 

 

 

Wed I cut these new images.   I decided to do  a Rat as the Chinese symbol because that is my year.

 

 

Today is the twelfth day and an even one so I printed .  One the left are the prints them selves and on the right are them used on top of  another printed image.    I am having fun and learning things so I feel good about this project.

Progress Report: Blue Horizons  This work is 34.5 ” X  38″. I enjoyed doing the handwork on this piece and finished it on Tue.

The   free motion process is also  fun for me.   I have fun dreaming up  images to machine draw.

 

 

 

 

Presume    I am still in the hand work stage here.  I am out lining the metallic’s  like I did on Forbidden Fruit.

 

Envision   I finished putting together the top for this work on Monday.  Then yesterday after pin basting it I did some stitch in the ditch work to stabilize it  so I can do the hand work here.   I am just thinking about the the pattern the hand work will take at this point.

 

 

Understanding Orange  I have just begun this top.  It is number 5 in the Monochromatic Studies of the Meandering Mind series.  I will start using purples when this one is done.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants   I finished off 22 more of these little guys this week.  This  is the most recent bunch ready for the paint and pin backs.   I hope to do a few more faces and add bodies before I complete the batch.

I hope that my readers are stay safe and enjoying the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Pushing Forward

Hello,

 All my efforts at the moment are to prepare for my solo show that gets hung on Sat.   This is a shot of the post card.  I addressed and mailed out  30 on Monday.  I am excited even though it seems to have taken over my life of late.   I have 18 pieces that I have prepared labels and polls for at this point.   I will spend most of Friday doing one last press of them so they hang  as flat as I can make them.   I have a nice mix of new things that have never been shown any were and a bit of a review of older work.     I will polish up the artist statement and be all set I think.   I also pulled work for the Cabin Fever Quilt show at the Betts Library that opens in early Feb.    I only have three pieces in that show and I have very little work to do except turn in my art for that show.   Koi Joy(  at the right)  is one of my entries for that one.

 

The Pixies were the only group that I meant with this week so there was not a lot of outside in put.  I am glad however as I had plenty to keep me busy.

Progress  Report:  Forbiddin Fruit   This work is 35.5″ X 55.5 “.  It is the first in the mono chromatic  works although it is also my entry for the Red competition for Quilt Surface Design Isolation  that is due at the end of the month.   I did a lot more hand work on this then I intended at the beginning, but the work called for it so I pushed forward.

 

 

 

Blue Horizon    This is the second in the mono chromatic series that is a sub set of the  Meandering Mind series that I started in the Creative Strength Training class.  I am doing free motion work and hand work on this piece too .

Presume    The green work in the mono chromatic series is all assembled now and pin  based.   I am learning a lot about color with these challenges.

 

 

 

Envision  I started working away on this piece on Tue.  Still playing with curves and the mono chromatic thing and having fun.

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I pushed myself to get hair- my third step in the construction of the tribe done this week.  Each of these bags holds about  35  bodies so  I have lots of faces to do now.

 

Handwork  Its time for the Rochester  6X6 show stuff so most of my efforts in the hand department are going in that direction at the moment.  Two are done and two to square and bind.

Finish up  I added the binding to this work so it is done now and I can go on to other things.

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing   I enjoyed the on line drawing class this week.  This is my response to the   Bird- House”  challenge.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Into the New Year

Hello,

I hope the new year is treating you well.   I am moving forward with my many projects and working hard to prepare for my solo show that I will hang on the 14 of Jan.      I spent Tuesday judging for the Scholastic Art competition.  I helped judge Film and Animation this year.    There are lots of great  programs going on and the work was strong.

The Pixies meant on Wed.  I am playing with the new markers that Laura sent me  and shared my image’s with that group. 

The FAD group also meant this week.   Sharon generously gave all of us one of her hand made scarves.   She also shared her newest work in progress.   We had a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am doing a five day drawing challenge as well and enjoying that too.   It is good to stretch out those mussels some times.   The assailment for this one was ” Bunny,  Flower”.

 

 

 

 

I stopped at my friend, Barbara’s to drop off a lap quilt for her and she surprised me with a gift too.  She gave me two boxed of her fabric to use or pass on.  What fun.

Progress Report: Forbidden Fruit    I keep stitching away on the extension of the curves that I built into the work.   I am moving along , but it is slow.

 

 

 

 

Blue Horizons    This work is all layered and pin basted.  I did stitch in the ditch quilt in  a few places, but it has not gotten any attention beyond that this week.

 

 

 

Presume   I got going on the mono chromatic color scheme thing with greens this week.  Most of the units are built now and I only need to put them together  so I can move to the next step.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I did lots of faces this week and added the backs and arms to those little dolls.  They are turned and stuffed now too so I can add the squeezie paint to them today and  then the pin backs.   All the body bases now have their trim so I can move onto the hair step with them now.

Scrape assembly   I just keep putting in the hour a day on this step of this project.  I can see that there is less in the basket- but it still seems very slow work to me.

 

Handwork   I did a little handwork during a Zoom meeting this week and this is the result.  I think it will go off to the Rochester 6″ X6″ show later this year.

 

 

I hope that the new year is only presenting the types of challenges you want to deal with.

Keep Creating

Carol