Category Archives: Label Blocks

3X3, Forest Fire, Label Blocks, Rocky Shore, Totem Fox, Waterfall

January Joys

January 4, 2019 admin

Hello,

This work Sun Skies 24” X 35”, along with thirty of my other experimental pieces was hung in the gallery at May Memorial on Genesee St yesterday. That is why I did not do the post. I spent all day on Wed preparing for that hanging by pressing, making labels and fixing my hanging units to work in that space. I really like more than a week to prepare for a show and that was all I had this time. One does need to take the opportunities when they arise . This work is Ice Crystal Forming.

Progress Report: Totem Fox This work is 20” X 27”. It is my solution to the Totem Challenge by the Sisterhood of the Scissors. I tried to keep the color range limited like the native Americans do with their totems and at the same time make the work my own. I feel like I did so with this machine appliqued work. I found all the hand quilting to be very calming during all the rush of the holidays too.

Rocky Shore- Elements Series I This work is 15.5” X 19” and the first in the Elements Series. I was following the online class instructions and although the body of the work was done long ago I did not get to the finishing section until last week. I faced the first one that I finished Gathering Storm as she suggested. This one I used the small binding method but could not do the sheer ribbon technique that she suggested because I did not have the materials. I will apply the technique to a later work.

Forest Fire- Elements Series 3 This work is 17”X 21”. With this one the finishing was to be done with a binding that changes color as it went around the quilt. I think in this case that was a strong idea as having an orange strip at the top of this work surely would have limited it. I enjoyed using Angelina for the spark in the fire and the painted organza too. There is a little silk paper in this work as well.

Waterfall- Elements Series 4 This work is 18.5” X 22”. It too has Angelina and silk paper in it. The big tree on the left is made with yarn, bits of fabric and nylon netting. Some of the smaller stones where made with squeeze paint on fabric- one of the lesson’s from the class. The finishing of this work includes a binding with a beaded element for a bit more sparkle . I learned some new tricks to apply to my collections of effects and I am glad I did all the projects.

Jeanne’s Quilt I just keep adding to this work and it keeps growing. I hope to get to the side this week and then only the flaps will remain

Forest Flock All the little red and gray birds are finished for this project. I have drawing and started the blue and gray ones as well. ( they are at the bottom)

3X3 Challenge Now that I have finished the Totem project I am ready to move onto this challenge. The rules include making nine little quilts that go together into a bigger piece that is 3X3. All the blocks need to contain some black and white as well. I have decided to make my blocks 20”X20” and use this black and white print. This will change with time but I think those elements are set.

Knitting Because I have not gotten far enough along on the 3X3 challenge and I have no other hand work I knitted as my hand project this week.

Label Cards: Dream I had to use this Fortune Cookie as it made me laugh. Dreams do not need to be big ones, but they can grow. It is most important that one dream.

Hope , like laugher and honey is a comedy that we need more of in this world.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily Practice, FOX, Journeys, Label Blocks, Memory Map Quilts, Mulberry Memories, Wildfire, Word Forms

First Opening

September 20, 2018 admin

Hello,

The fall is a beautiful time and I am enjoying it. I went to visit with my friend Chris who has a camp on Kuaka Lake this week. This wall work is by her late husband and one of the new items she has placed in her cabin.

This week was also the opening of the Broad Street Galley show. This is a shot is of two of my smaller works along with other gallery work. Sharon and I shared a pleasant evening talking to folks.

On Friday Liz and I spent the day painting on fabric. It was a new experience for Liz and she did lots of experimenting. I painted organza for use in my Wildfire piece.

We had fun.

I am off to a three day workshop at the Schweinfurth Art center with Pat Pally on dyeing, tomorrow and so I have been packing. I hope all this stuff fits into Liz’s car along with her collection too.

Progress Report: Label Block When you are a part of the Quilts =Art = Quilts show one is often asked to contribute a small work to be sold to raise funds for the gallery. This is my contribution for that cause.

Mulberry Memories

This work is 38″ w X 23″ t. It is part of the memorrie map series about my childhood. The town represented is Carroll Iowa and we lived in this town for 5 years.

Playing marbles and learning to ride a bike were important events in those years. Gene and I also spent a lot of time climbing the mulberry tree in the front yard.

FOX At this point I am attaching the words to the background with invisible thread. I plan to cut away the back and then I will be ready to applique the words down and quilt the piece.

Wildfire This work is shaping up now. I used some of the organza that I painted on Friday in this piece and I added some silk paper from my stash too. I need to build a foreground now and then I will be ready to stitch the work together.

Scottie block Lori’s new granddaughter has an eye disability and she asked us to make a square with lots of texture for her. This is my Scottie that I made with a soft velvet and an old towel for the grass. I want to add a eye made with a doll eye to give another texture too.

Collection III- Friends I have been working away on collecting more elements to add to this work and doing a little stitching too. I feel like there are enough items on the surface now and so I will concentrate on the handwork from now on.

Daily Practice This work is moving forward. I only have a few more circles to add to the surface and then I will be able to go forward with stitching designs.

Label Cards:This card is obviously a travel card and it is nice to go on journeys. But there are lots of potential trips just outside one’s own door that are journeys too. Be open to adventure.

And this adventure is one of the immigration.

Enjoy

Carol

Buggy, Confussed, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Label Blocks, Pealing Oranges, Pond Water, Quartered Glyph, Raw Edge Applique, Tossed Salad

Fall Events

October 12, 2017 admin

Hello,

This week was full of events. Last weekend I went off to the Tompkins Quilt guild show. Cheri won a ribbon there. So too did my friend Pat. But this red work is not the one she won a ribbon on.

Regina and I enjoyed viewing the show and talking about what we saw. My shots of Regina’s quilts are not good enough to share.

I went off to the Schweinfurt with Marty and we vied the Geologic Landscapes show on Wed.. This wall piece is of the watershed of the lake. The white lines are of the creeks and streams that feed into the lake and the white area near the top is the lake. The outline of the shape is of the highest elevations around the lake area. I loved this concept as I have always liked topographical maps.

Then this morning was the FAB meeting. Both Judy and Nancy are working on different variations of Disappearing Four Patch. Judy’s is the one in dark blues and whites. Nancy’s is the one with the greens in it. It is great how unique they both are.

Patty has finished her extruded cotton thread knitted shawl. I think it is great!

Progress Report: Buggy This work is 40” w X 49.5” l. The bugs are oil stitch on fabric using my own designed and cut stencils. The gray and light green panels are made from stamps I cut in Pat Pauly’s class at QBL two summers ago. I dyed the dark green and the fabric with the turquoise and white in it too. Liz had challenged me to use some of the stuff we have been creating and this one fills the bill. The reflective quilting looks like bug trails one of my friends said. These big black insects are based on cockroaches. The blue green insects are also beetles.

Quartered Glyph This work is 44” w X 48” l. I used a smaller version of the Owl Glyph pattern that I created to do this work. The quilting is strait line starting from the center and working out using variegated thread. The shapes of the glyph are raw edged appliqued.

Glyph IV I just keep beading away on this project. I like the effect, but progress is slow.

Tossed Salad This quilt is made from all the cut away parts of Quartered Glyph. I am machine stitching down the parts in the raw applique style here. I have added the back and batting too so this time I am quilting at the same time as I put the parts on. I do not know if I will have to add additional machine lines until I am done with this step.

Pealing Oranges This quilt is still growing. I made a smaller Owl Glyph pattern and used a beautiful piece of orange fabric from Regina to place that pattern on. It is being mixed with some of the other cut away fabrics from various other Glyph projects. This is an early step in the process.

Wool Work I have started doing free motion machine drawing on this felted work. I am also tacking down bits of fabric and yarn with the machine stitches.

Card Confused I build this card from multiple copies of the same image trying to mix and confuse the eve. All the cutting and pasting made it warp a bit but I think the confusion is there. I sure feel that way about the world at large at the moment.

Pond Water I am now hand quilting on this project. The horizontal quilt lines are meant to give the impression of water patterns as well as hold it all together.

Label Quilt This work is 95” X 95”. I am now done with this weekly project. It has been an enjoyable and calming evening daily work. It took me a week to finish each of the 144 squares. I am now trying to decide what the next daily practice project will be.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Buggy, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Glyph IV with Beads, Label Blocks, Make Belive, Pond Water, Quartered Glyph, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Water Main Break

October 5, 2017 admin

Hello,

One of the big excitements for this week was a water main break on Sunday morning. I was washing up after making muffins and suddenly no water came out of the tap. I looked out the kitchen window to see the road full of muddy water. I went out doors and discovered the gal across the street had just called the water department. The water was bubbling up and running down the street- it overwhelmed the street drains and ran all the way down to the park – four blocks away. The water was so powerful it cracked and threw up the street. The men came in about 20 min and turned off the water. A little later they were followed by a repair crew who started about 9. First they broke up the tar via and cleared away all the mud and stone to expose the pipe so they could replace it. The whole was about 8 feet deep and 10 feet wide. It was huge. They cut away the broken area of the pipe and then put in a new section. It was about 3:30 by that time. Then they began to fill in the whole with loads of stone. It took four trips with dump trucks full to do that job. Lastly after 9 in the evening they patched over the filled opening with tar via. There was lots of mud on the street and the street sweeper made five runs up and down the road to get it up on Monday – but it is still dusty here.

This shot of a side walk that got flooded and is still muddy this morning when I walked. The street sweeper could not get to that space. It was quite and adventure.

FAB meant here last week too. Marty came as she is in town. She brought her newest little project.

Patty had just finished a new scarf that she shared with us. I think it is grand- only knit and pearl she tells us. Judy brought one of her Disappearing Four Patch blocks that she started up at camp when we were there. It was a good meeting and we all had fun.

The first Tuesday of the month came this week so I had QuEG’s and Diva meetings too.

Angela is taking an on line class in felting and having a grand time. She showed us about ten pieces she had done already. These two show different wools on the left and adding different silks on top of the second one.Linda is finishing up this “ Almost Black and White “ top. Sally is working away on Christmas gifts and this bag she made was full of them- hand bags, soft toy bags and such. She dose great work.Corrine had this wonderful bracelet to share. She made it from and exchange she did at a conference where she traded a great luggage tag for the charms.

Before I went to the Diva meeting, I stopped and had a little private visit to the Rock Garden Show in Homer. Cheri and Terri- the gallery guru show me through. They both had work there of course. Cheri’s was one she started in the class she and I were in with Kerr at QBL. Terri’s work is much larger and full of texture. It is a great little show with nine artists and wonderful work. This work is Cheri’s too.

The Diva’s were hopping as well. Lori had this wonderful little bag to share with us. She did it for her entry for the Embroidery Guild of American 2017 challenge. She got feed back on several other stamped and hand dyed projects that she is working on.

Alice has almost completed her Mary Colter quilt for the Woman Museum. It looks great.

Liesa has completed her quilt for the “Threads of Change Show”. Let Us Stay-is wonderful commentary I think.

Regina wowed us again with all her indigo dyeing. She is creating up a storm of beautiful work.

Anne has finished “ Blind In justice” her work on the American’s with Disabilities Act. All those brail dots are three dimensional.

Ruth’s wave is moving along as she wants it finished for the quilt show this week end. It was a powerful meeting and I enjoyed my self . Came home all hipped up again.

The other thing I tried this week was dyeing with wall nuts. It is great fun and I got some real nice browns.

Progress report: Buggy I am to the reflective quilting stage on this project. I added two more oil stick stenciled insects to it this week too.

Glyph IV I just keep putting in my hour a day on this project. It is moving forward.

Quartered Glyph I started this one up at camp. I am ready to start assembling the four units now that I have trimmed away the second layer. The Cut aways are so beautiful that I may need to do another work using these shapes and pieces.

Pond Water This project has become my short term evening project. I am hand quilting it so this is a good replacement for the time being. I do have a new nightly project in mind however.

Card Make Believe This is my newest card. I am so distressed by the shooting in Los Valgus that I want to escape into make believe. Thank goodness I have art as a way of getting away into my own world .

Label Block quilt. All the blocks are assembled now. I will stitch in the ditch quilt it and finish the job.

Keep Creating

Carol

Fall, Fractured Glyph, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Glyph VII, Label Blocks, Quartered Glyph

NYC trip

September 28, 2017 admin

Hello,

I went off to New York City this week with Sue Ellen for three days. It was great fun. First we went to the Museum of Craft and Design. There was a different show on each level as usual. They were mostly about light and sound. It was fun and beautiful.The next stop was Central Park where we watched the pigeons as they enjoyed the sculptures too. We walked to Time Square where we stopped in the M&M store. I had to purchase Pumpkin Pie Flavored M& M’s. I was amazed by the walls of choices Across from this on was another with eight shades of purple on it.

Friday we got up and went to the Bronx to the Botanical Garden to see the Chihuly show. This ” Rods and Logs” sculpture was the fist we visited. Then we walked to the Native Plants garden to see this Boat.I really like the colors here and the reflections. We walked to the library and viewed his sketches and “Baskets”. Even though the drawings were one three or four lines, it sure was a great testament for doing sketches before you begin a work. This Ice Blocks sculpture was in front of the Library. We went to the greenhouse and looked at more work. I think I took as many photos of plants and flowers as I took photos of the glass. In this last one the glass and plants sure blend together nicely. We visited the Succulent Garden the Rose garden, the Lilac Garden, the Cherry Blossom Garden, and two waterfalls. We rode the sub way back to 59th street where we got off and walked to a restaurant for dinner. Then we went down to Time Square and the theatre where we watched “Kinky Boots”. We enjoyed our day and we walked over 23,000 steps. I will be hard pressed to beat that record.

Saturday we got going and went south to the Whitney. I liked the Calder display the most. But I have been in love with mobiles sense I was in the sixth grade when we made them in art class with Mrs. Fister. After eating on the museum patio we walked the High Line Park north. It was a chance to get some great views of the city and the Hudson River as well as people watch. We had a good time and I enjoyed myself a lot.

Tues I dyed again with Liz. It is so much fun and relaxing to know we will be doing in again in a couple of weeks- so there is no pressure to do it all at one time.

Progress Report: Glyph VI This work is 33” w X 43” l. I quilted this one from the center out. Each section is in a strait line in both directions. I enjoyed working on this project.

Fractured Glyph This work is 32” w X 43” l. This quilt is a made from the cut-aways from Glyph VI. I pebble quilted in the green and gold areas, and reflective quilted the other areas. This method of quilting means the raw edges are more rugged.

Glyph IV I am still beading away on this project. It is slow, but I am enjoying it.

Quartered Glyph VII I started this project at Judy’s camp. All the sections are stitched together now and it is time to connect the units and begin the quilting.

Fall Card I did this card to celebrate Autumn Solstice. It is so beautiful here and I am enjoying being out doors.

Label Blocks These are the last two blocks. I still have labels- but I have run out of gas for this project. I will make rows of blocks next.

I am going to build the back out of black and white fabrics. So I started cutting today.

Keep Creating

Carol

Diva Meetings, Glyph II, Glyph III, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph V, Label Blocks, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Time

Time out

September 7, 2017 admin

Hello-

Again my mind is with the folks in the line of the new Hurricane. The folks there have my thoughts and best wishes for a minimal impact and a easy recovery. I have been thinking about time a lot this week. It is such a forward moving event that effects each of us . Time is used to label when events will happen like tomorrow, next week two weeks from now and years off. It also can be a general time of day like meal times, bed times work time and play time. Time can be used to demote an event time like time to get up, time to brush your teeth, time to move, time to go to bed. It can be used for the seasonal events like summer time, winter time , fall and spring. Or more specifically, like a holiday time, celebratory time, or time to morn. It can be used to describe moods like high time, good time troubled time, or a disastrous time. We try to control and use time to our best advantage by setting time limits or dead lines. Time can have speeds like move at a snails pace, it can inch forward, drag, race, slip away, and fly. When I am creating in the studio I get lost in time and the clock will indicate that four hours have past in what feels like the blink of an eye to me. We can spend time, but we can not bye time unless you are talking about purchasing a time piece. We mark time with seconds, minuets, hours, days. months, years, and centuries. Our bodies change with the passage of time and our memories fade and change too. It is constantly with us and shapes our future. We are effected by the times we are in and the history that came before. It is a powerful force that is constantly with us. I guess our best bet is to use our time wisely and enjoy the time we have together.

The fist Tuesday of the month came this last week an so I had meetings with both QuEG’s and Diva gals. This is Sue Ellen’s latest garden quilt. Lynn showed us this vegetable garden quilt for her nephew. Lots of color in this one.Liz took a water color class and she shared her exercises with us. Angela showed us her works from Kerr’s class. Nice strong prints.

The Diva gals shared lots of work too. This is Regina’s wall of completed projects. The one on the upper left was what she started in Cynthia’s class. Her word is love. Ruth is nearly done with her “ foot print” project. It looks good to me.Anne is madly quilting away on this piece. Blind Justice is spelled out in Braille here. It is always so inspiring and enjoyable to meet with these women.

Progress Report: Glyph III This work is 28” w X 41” l. The word owl is still the base of the glyph and it really grew out of the cut away from Glyph IV. I pebble quilted in the yellow area of the actual glyph and reflective line quilted the orange area. The bottom was line quilted.

Glyph II This work also came as a result of the work before it. The cut aways from Glyph I were added to the surface of this cloth construction and then Zig-Zagged down. I only need to decide how I want to quilt the purple area and I will be ready to finish this piece.

Glyph IV This work came out of the cut away from Glyph III. I am beading on all of the orange from that work.

Glyph V I was still in love with the complex shapes of the glyph- but I was ready to branch off for this one. The parts are there but scrambled and there are additions. I have started to pebble quilt in the green areas on this peoject.

New work Glyph VI And here we have the leftovers from # V. I feel the from has changed enough that I may drop the glyph reference. I have only tacked the piece on top of the cream and green background. Those colored sections will be cut away from the bach and be a part of the jump off for the next piece.

Time Card I continue to do the cards for Susan’s challenge. This is my entry for this week.

Creative Assistants Football season has begun and my work on these little fellow has started too. Debbie sent me a great box of trims and yarn bits. These guys all show some of that influence.

Label Block I am excited as I see there are only three more black square in the basket. I am pondering what I will tackle next too. I need to brain storm a bit on that topic.

Keep Creating

Carol

Considered, Glyph II, Glyph III, Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph V, Green s=Soul, Jazzed Lines, Label Blocks, Scrap Happy Quilts

Hurricane Harvey

September 1, 2017 admin

Hello-

The hurricane is on my mind this week. I have spent a lot of time listening and thinking about how much the people of Texas have lost. I fear I can not really comprehend it. My heart goes out to them.

Progress Report: Jazzed Lines This work is 37″ wX 51″ l. Due to the fact that I spent so much time in the studio this week I got a lot done. This is a project that I started before QBL. I added some lines in black felt and ribbon that I had noted from an image of some of Picasso’s drawings that were in an old sketchbook. My tip is keep a sketchbook and fill it with what interests you.

And be sure to occasionally look through the older ones to refresh your mind.

The black images add another layer of interest to a somewhat dull piece.

Considered This 12″ X 12″ stretched piece is one of the three felted wool pieces that got started before QBL too. It is based on a rock with a fossil in it. The sea shell is in the lower left is the fossil and it is hidden on purpose as it is in the rock.

Scrap Happy- Ethel ‘s Scraps #5 This is the newest queen sized scrap happy work built with Ethel scraps. The solid blocks are from the samplers she had purchased. The striped blocks are ones she started and then did not use for some reason. I believe there are at least two more quilts in that scrap box.

Lettres ( owl) This work is 22″ w X 43″ l. It is based on three blocks that spell the word owl. But I have turned the work on its side as I think it works better in this direction.

I used some old fabric that I had printed text on a few years ago. It is the gold here.

Glyph II This top grew out of the first glyph quilt as the text ( the orange and purple shapes) were cut from the back of the first Glyph quilt. I have zig -zagged around the shape and I am now quilting down the background units.

Glyph III

This glyph is based on the same paper pattern that I developed and interpreted in different colors. I am pebble quilting in the light shape now and will do the background in strati line quilting.

Glyph IV- beaded This glyph came out to number 3 and the orange is the cut away of the text shape applied to a dark background of hand dyed. I continue to bead the glyph and it is filling in. The back ground it strait line quilting.

Glyph V This is a close up of the next one in the series. It is cut from some of the scraps and another fabric that I added to the mix. More pebble quilting with green metallic thread.

10″X10″ Banquet – Petroglyph The Schweinfurth Art center had called for art work to be donated for an auction later this fall. The work can be any media and I have selected fabric here. These two works will be on sale at that time with all the funds raised going to support their cause.

Card Green Soul My card for this week celebrates the wonders of summer and notes that Autumn will soon be upon us.

Label Blocks Another block got completed this week. I also found a lost one under my chair so now there really are only four more to finish.

Keep Creating

Carol

Activities, Creative Assistants, Ethel's Nine Patch, Glyph I, Glyph II, Glyph Series, Label Blocks, Label Cards, Pond Water

Two Trips

August 24, 2017 admin

Hello,

The past two weeks have been ones of travel for me. Last week at this time I was on my way to the the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio. Liz and I were visiting Quilt National. They have changed the entrance and it looks great. No photos are allowed in this show, but my memories are rich. I was epically taken by Natalya Aiken’s Iron Spine work and then saw that she was the feathered artist in the QSDA magazine that came this week. I also like Colleen Anbaugh’s Hot Sugar Cell piece. Lots of glitz and Liz said it was like my work in some ways. Liz and I were both excited by the many techniques we had just explored in Kerr’s class at QBL two weeks before and noticed several of them in the quilts on display at this show. This fact will pushed me to do more exploration. The next day we drove north to Zanesville to check out their museum and see another quilt show. Liz has been in class with this woman at Nancy Crow’s barn. We both noted Nancy’s influence here. The museum was a bit of a work it’s self and I took lots of inspirational pictures of the stairs and shadows.I can see works coming from these images.

Then yesterday Eric and I went for a road trip to Corning New York to the glass museum there. We watched five demonstrations and learned a lot. The artists made it look easy, but I know from my one experience blowing glass it is far from simple. I also enjoyed the Tiffany exhibit. Mosaics are always fascinating and these were amazing. This clock really blew me away. Tiffany’s many recipes for the colors of glass were a real game changer for his work as well as the glass industry. It was a great day.

Progress Report: Glyph I This work is 26.5” w X 41”l. I started the series in Cynthia Corbin’s class at QBL this summer. The Glyph is based on the word OWL. I used simple outline quilting because the shapes and the colors in the fabrics( by Judy Roberts) did so much of the work for this piece.

Glyph II This is the second in the series. I have pin based it down and I am now zig zag appliqueing down the glyph. I will make a second run around the out sides with more zig zag to make it smooth and solid.

Glyph IV The bead work goes on for this project. I am stitching it down with beading thread and back stitching every fifth bead to make a strong connection.

Pond Water This work continues to get attention . I did bead work here this week too.

Ethel’s Scarp Happy I finished the assembly added the boarder and binding on this piece this week. I only need to do the diagonal quilting and the project will be complete

Creative Assistants As fall approaches I start thinking about doing these little guys. I pulled out the box of trims that Debbie sent me this summer and added a row of trim to 100 bodies. The last eve I did four faces. One small step.

Cards Ever sense I visited Susan in March I have been participating in a weekly collage card creating challenge with several other artists. It began loosely based on Tarot cards but with time we have pulled away from that. This is my card for this week titled Activities and the accompanying text.

Activities: 
 Over the course of a day we demand many little task of our selves-One walks, 
talks , comb hair, opens doors, turns on and off lights, reads, checks the 
weather, brushes teeth,  drinks tea, washes hands, sets, collects and opens 
mail, takes pills, writes, climbs stairs, prepares and eats food, ties shoes, 
uses zippers and buttons, looks at the sky, does dishes, changes cloths, checks  
e-mail, and creates something.  It's a complex life.

Label Blocks I finished these two blocks this week. I only have four more to finish and the job will be done. I need to start to think about another hand weekly project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Glyph IV with Beads, Glyph Series, Hand work, Label Blocks, Pond Water, Series

Tree Work

August 10, 2017 admin

Hello,

I am feeling a bit sad today as the tree men came today to do some necessary tree trimming and removal. As this shot shows the oak was rubbing on the roof as was the white pine. I love trees and have done many works celebrating them so having two cut to the ground is the source of my distress. One, the ash in front of my studio window was suffering the effects of the ash bore beetle. I did do a drawing of a short branch. The second was a Maple that was greatly distorted because it was growing in the shadow of a second tree. There is a lot more light in the yard and house now. The roof will be better for the cutting, one can see the street signs again and walk the sidewalk without ducking. All this is positive and I will concentrate on those positive things. One can always plant more trees. And there are always more quilts to build using trees as there themes.

As if a week of dyeing with Kerr was not enough, Liz and I did dye on Monday. This is a sot of the dyes we have to choose from on the work table. What fun.Some of the altered fabric on the line.

I received a wonderful gift this week too. My friend Marilyn stopped with a bag full of trims and linens from her Mom’s attic. She said I knew you could and would make something wonderful out of some of this. What a fine vote of confidence. I can see several things I want to work with already.

Progress Report: Owl I am to the quilting step of this work. But I have also decided I like it with a vertical layout better then the horizontal way I had it laid out.

That means I will need to change the title as one can not “read” owl with this change in orientation. But it is still a work in progress so things could still change.

Pond Water I am still adding hand work to this piece. The end is in sight however.

Glyph IV I am quilting the background of this piece now. I want to bead the actual Glyph now that I have removed the interfacing I put in last week. I did some stabilizing quilting every 2.5” out from the center in both directions. Those quilting lines will stabilize the piece.

Label Blocks I finished up two more blocks this week. The pile of black squares is getting smaller.

Enjoy the trees in your life and

Keep Quilting

Carol

Diva Meetings, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Label Blocks, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Quilting by the Lake 2017

August 4, 2017 admin

Hello,

I can not believe that this is how the gym at Onondaga Community Collage looked on Friday July 14 the day after my last post and the day we started preparing for Quilting by the Lake for this year. This post will be full of photos and snippets of what happened in those glorious days plus a bit of what has happened this week too.

So by the end of the day we had filled the gym with all the quilts that we had received at that time. It was not ready for guests as more work

came in on Saturday, but we did a lot.

I spent my Saturday helping my friend Sharron move into her dorm room and decorate for Christmas in July. We had fun, but more about that later.

There were four special shows within the quilt show at QBL this year. One was five Dear Jane Quilts by Sharron.

She talked about her journey with the development of this project one afternoon after class. I have watched her work away on the blocks doing all the color variations at the same time for each of the 350 blocks. It has taken her six plus years to complete this master body of work. It looks great. Marcia De Camp had a solo show as well. Non on my photos of that are strong enough to be included here, but believe me when I say it was powerful too.

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artists had a great display . These two works are from that section. The top Quilt is by Sharon Souva. The bottom one is by Cheri Sheridan.

This quilt is by Liz Anderson, she is also a part of the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist’s group. The little girl on the far right is Liz at the age of six.

Noel Keith also had a solo show and talk the second week . Some of her works have been included in the Quilts=Art=Quilts shows in the past. She works with silks that she has hand dyed herself and that adds a wonderful layer of excitement to her work.

Sister Sew and Sew made an appearance at the quilt show. She had lots of tips and bits of knowledge that she shared with us as well.

This shot is of Sister checking the length of this woman’s hem from the floor. An item that my Catholic friends assure me was common in their pasts.

My class week one was with Cynthia Corbin. I am going to post a few of the solutions that folks created in class.This is a shot of Annette’s project in the middle of the week. It changes as she assembled it. I really like the quiet colors.

This work is by Diane. Her first work with all solids she tells me. This shot is of my table partner Robin and her work as we did our Mimi talks about our work for the week on Friday afternoon.

We were Cynthia’s last topic class and so we gave her flowers as a thank you for her kind support and help.

Friday night at the end of the first week of QBL we have show and tell where each class with their teacher get up on the stage and show what they worked on. This is a shot of Alice with her project from Studio class.

One class- on the use of wedges- just moved there boards with their work into the auditorium and display them. Nice touch.

Another event at the end of the week is the action of TOTE Bags to raise money for the Scholarship Fund. This is Rosalie Dace with her “Chicken bag” .

Week two I had a class called “One Theme – Many Variations” with Kerr Garbowski.

We started each morning with some drawing. This shot is of Cherri doing a blind contour.of onions- her subject.

We worked with colored pencils, chalk and paint blocks too. This is Cherri’s experiment using those things on a silk screen. With each pass she added more color so the image changed with each print.

Lots of my friends where in this class and we all had great fun. We did lots of deconstructed screen work. Cris and Ann were in front of me. Both worked hard. Robin sat next to me again and did some strong work.

Gerri really did some big works with her little screens. I have been dyeing with Liz on most Mondays this summer and her big strong gestural work is so inspiriting. These two works from class confirm this feeling.

Angela was also in this class and she did this wonderful series using a glue line print of her husband’s saxophone keys. She too changed the background color with each pull.

These are some of my fabrics from class.

Quilters are a divers group. One of my friends, Emily has done a lot of beading in the form of bracelets this year. She shared them with us. They are wonderful!

Week II of QBL also brought our Christmas in July celebration.

We played games based on carols. We pulled poppers. We drank eggnog, we had a garb bag gift exchange and laughed a lot. Sharron dressed in red and was our master of ceremonies. It was great fun.

The second week ended with show and tell like the first. Debbie had completed this quilt.

This shot is of Linda with one of the works she did in class. And another class project.

The week ended with the tote auction and Cynthia’s tote sold for $1,350.00 – the highest price paid for any work that was going to the scholarship fund. Cynthia sweetened the pop of her tote by adding some of her own hand dyed materials to the collection. This is a shot of the bag after the sale. Nice way to close QBL for 2017.

Saturday I went downtown to the Art’s and Crafts fair where I saw several artists friends and watch the native American dancers. They really moved and I enjoyed all the action.

My daughter’s company had a booth there too and this shot is of her and several of her fellow workers. Wendy is the one in the middle.

I also had QuEG’s and Diva meetings this week. At QuEG’s we looked at many projects folks worked on at QBL.This is the piece that Linda was working on in Independent Studio.

This piece is what Liz worked on in Rosalie’s class week one at QBL.

This is another 3-D work by Sally. The whole section at the bottom is all made with thread- except the door. The light house had a lite in the top too. She does amazing work with her embroidery machine.This is another bit of jewelry by my quilting friend Corrine.

The Diva gals had lots of wonderful work too. Lori showed off her knitting with these hand warmers that she made on her curse to keep her hands warm. She also showed off her stitch work.

Sandy proudly displayed her work just home from a quilt show.

Noel showed off her newest work where she was mixing black and white with solid colors.

Sally displayed her second quilt showing off her morning walks. The quilt shows a map of the rout in red and the photos are some of the items she sees.

Ruth is actively working away on her dinosaur track quilt. These first layers are ready for the mud layer now.

Maureen is working away on layers of dye for her new projects. This is lovely.

Susan is still doing little units of work on Pellon. These are memory pieces of her experience in Mexico. As I have said many times I am so very fortunate to have so many stimulating and creative friends.

Progress Report: Owl project

The first week I took a class with Cynthia Corbin called The ABC’s of Composition. In this class we design blocks using letter forms as the basis of the blocks.This is the black fabric patters for my blocks. We then interpreted the patters in color and built the quilt around them. I stayed with this word all week and went from this first start to a “glyph” using the word owl.

I have always been fascinated by the positive and negative spaces in art and this project played into and developed several more pieces in this vain.

At this point I wondered about a size variation with the glyph. I did a shrink and an enlargement. I have not done any work with the smaller ones even though I have several ideas.