The woman who works with her hands is a laborer. The woman who works with her head and her hands is a craftsman. The woman who works with her hands , her head and her heart is an Artist. St Francis of Assisi
This quote really spoke to me this week. My wish for all my friends is that they be Artists. I spent a lot of time with those artist this week. One day I went to the Turquoise Street Studio and work with three other gals. Beth was doing pastels, while Barb and the other two were painting. What a lot of fun to work with this energy flowing.
Then because it was the beginning of the month the QuIGs and Diva’s meant too. The gals in those groups help me so much when it comes to problems I have with my techniques. I learned a lot about mixing different types of fabrics this week. Corrine was showing off her daughters aromatic jewelry at the meeting and she even sold one. Then yesterday the FAB group meant at Patti’s house. She shared beautiful fabrics from the far east with us. There was wonderful weaving in all of them with lots of color and gold threads. My one other event this week was to be a part of the judging of Scholastic Art. I so enjoy seeing what the middle school and high school students are doing when it comes to art. It was very enjoyable.
Progress Report: Creative Assistants While I was at the studio with all the other artists I worked on these little guys. I was only stitching them closed and adding a pin to the back, but I got 20 of them done. I added the paint when I got home and they are now ready to pass along to others.
Williams’s Quilt I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on this project this week. There were lots of lines to do. Now I am ready to start to do the binding. It will take about and hour to do each side. It is a bright colorful work – just great for an active little boy.
Coastal Colors I made progress on this piece this week. It is done as far as the machine work is concerned. But I am concerned about the ripple. The gals at the meetings all had great suggestions about how to deal with that and I learned from them.
Hopefully I can stretch it well enough to get it flat. The bad news is I already laided out and started two more that I fear will have the same problem. But the next time I try to mix felting with machine drawing, I will know better then to put stiffener as a part of that step. It does not shrink at the same rate as the wool and that is the source of the problem we think.
Autumn Leaves I am doing the free motion drawing of the vanes of the leaves now. I am having fun and I have learned how Mother Nature designs each species differently.
Label Block #34 I remember taking the Pooh label off a blanket for Alexis when she was little. She is 20 now. Do I hold onto things for a long time or what?
We are coming to the end of another year and I have been thinking not only about my dreams for the future, but also reviewing what happened in 2015.
A Jewish Proved says it best:
The Quality of life is fuelled by our productive wealth.
With this in mind I can say I am very wealthy. For me it has been a very productive year. For the first time I counted the number of spools of thread I used in my work. All that machine drawing does add up and I finished off 65 spools this year. This is reflective of the number of works I completed and with Autumn Collection added today that number is 49. I do so enjoy challenging myself and the amount of work I do reflects this drive I have.
I enjoyed my travels this year and visited lots of friends. I went south to Susan in Florida in March. I took a trip to Maine to see Barbara and Elizabeth with Marty in May. I went to see Barb in Indiana in June. There was also loss in my life this year as two friends died. The WWII veteran, Fred Bishop, who lived up the street passed away in March. My good friend and mentor Ethel Whitmore died in August. I miss her greatly, but do to the generosity of her children I am wrapped in her fabrics and dyes that now fill my studio. I made a promise to myself that I would use some of her material in every work I create for a year. That will not be too much of a challenge as I already find her fabrics blending into my work with ease. She helped me grow so very much and all the joy I find in creating and using Silk Paper is do to her introduction to that material. I am thankful that she was a part of my life for such a long time.
Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs This diptych is now complete. Both units are stretched and measure 16” X 20 “. I learned a lot about cutting up a unified work with this project. I had to make some additions to both sides when I sliced it to make each section work on its own as well as in tandem. I based the work on this part of a photo I took last summer. I enjoyed building up the surface with lace , velvet, cotton, felt, silk and organza.
I continue to use the fabrics that do the job texturally as well as colorfully to keep the piece functioning.
Autumn Collection This work is 37” X 30.5 “ With is quilt I finally used the silk leaves that I created with Cris in the silk paper workshop earlier this fall. The piece has lots of different techniques and fabrics in it. Not only the silk leaves but also leaves cut from cotton and organza fabrics. The trunk has some of the fabric that Marty and I spray painted after we came back from visiting with Elizabeth last spring. I also included some colored pencil drawing along the top of the hill to suggest far away trees behind the weeds. It was great fun to work on this piece.
Autumn Leaves I am now doing the quilting on this piece. I loaded the bobbin with thick cotton thread and did the outline of the leaf from the back of the quilt. Then flipped it over and drew in the vanes. I am happy with how it is coming along.
Coastal Color- Red Rock I have only just started the thread painting on this work. It is different to be building on top of a felted surface. This work is based on a small portion of a photo. I block off only the section I want to look at and use it as my starting point. This is the section of the rock face.
New work I built this collage a few weeks ago and it is the start of another work. I am not going to copy the colors – but try to keep the shapes and tones in the work the same. This is the first pin up of the fabrics I have selected for this project. Two of them are from Ethel’s stash, but most are ones I have altered with dye and paint.
William’s Quilt The top and back are now complete and I have the two sections united. I am doing stitch in the ditch quilting starting by quilting around all the photos and working out form there. This process is not fast, but it is enjoyable for me.
Label Block # 33There is not rush here just slow and steady progress on this project.
I want to talk about being eliminated from a judged show. I have entered three this fall and of the five quilts I entered and paid fees for, none was accepted for the shows. One never knows the” why “of such rejections. Even having been a” holder” for Scholastic art compactions and being in the same room as the Judges- I sometimes could not understand that “Why” question. Judges are people with tastes and biases of their own. One time I did hear one judge say” I never accept any art with a skelton in it.” Sense I as a teacher, had used a skelton from the science room as part of a still life with my own students, I felt that sure was an unfair feeling for a judge to carry. But they are people – not gods even though they are given lots of power. Perhaps the work did not go with the others selected. Or maybe the judge did not like the design or color combinations. The artist never knows those things. My Father often said” It’s not so much what happens to you, as what you THINK about what happens to you that makes the difference.” With that in mind, the whole experience becomes one of choice. I could be angry , hurt and sad by these developments, but I choose not be be. I still feel my work is good and I am proud of what I do. I
enjoy the process and that is the important part for me. It would be nice to have someone- a judge confirm my feelings- but that is not the case at this time. Lastly, I am the one who chooses to enter the competitions. I will let time heal over the feelings and try another competition that may fit what I do a little better next time.
I spent a couple of days working with Nancy on her sky again. She is becoming quite a good painter with a sponge. She built up more clouds and the work has some real depth now. I think that we are done with this step and the quilting will add even more demention to the final. I am so proud of all the chances she takes with her work.
Asurite Foundations XX 34″ X 44″ $1100.00
Progress Report: Asurite Foundation XX This quilt was finished in June, but I have not posted it because it was an entry for one of the shows I mentioned above . One of the limitations on entry to this show was that the work was not to be shown publicly before . This quilt was lots of fun to work on and I am quite happy with it even all these mouths later. I added lots of metallic fabric in this work as well as many silks and satins.
I used some fancy yarns and threads in this work as well. I find that when I pickup the actual rock that I used as inspiration- I see more possibilities for additional pieces . Only time will tell.
This is a new technique that I am developing that is a very college like approach to quilting. I am continuing to think more in the way of color for the solutions then the type of fabric I am using. I even used an old bit of a paper quilt that was the correct color and texture for the water in this work. I used some double knit on this one as well as silk, silk paper, organza and cotton fabrics. I even did a little free motion zig zag work to add more texture to the tree. I need more practice to get that under control.
Agate I am still adding hand work to this felted work to add texture to the surface. I may have given up doing Daily’s , but I still am doing lots of hand work.
WaterMarked Sandstone I started this new Foundations Piece earlier this week. This one is loosely based on an old black and white photographic of sandstone that has watermarke erosion on it. I know the typical colors of sandstone so I am trying to stay in that limited range with this first step. I really love the texture and I am having fun planning ways to show it in this work.
New work This is a pure play piece. I am not at all sure what I am doing and have no clear idea where I am going with this. The scarps had just been in the bottom of one of my baskets and I thought they looked good together…… Quilting, crumpling and following the directions of the work may or may not help this. But I am willing to give it a bit of time and freedom to see what happens. Giving myself permission to mess up is very freeing!
I so enjoy fall, not just the color- and this year it it wonderful, but one of the best things is the sound of walking through the fallen leaves. The crunch, the swish, the crackel, all those sounds and the earthy smell always seems to bring me warm feeling of golden days and slowing down. A heightened feel of awareness of the wonder of the world we live in. I love it.
These beautiful flowers are a gift from my friend Noel. They sure bring the colors and feel of the season into my dinning room.
This was meeting week for me. Tuesday QuEG’s meant at noon. Everyone had lots to share. This shot is of some electron microscope images that Linda thinks she may use as starting points for some work. All of these are various liquors.
Liz is just home from a two week trip to Ohio to Nancy Crow’s barn and a workshop in using Graffiti and Lettering. She had a pile of altered fabrics that she has created that will keep her busy working all winter on just this topic. This one is called “Art Boys”. It sounds like she had fun.
Barb continues to work on her crazy quilts. I really like the Victorian feel this one has. She will have some great family remembrances when she is done and what a great way to collect and display the little bits one seems to collect from family members- like pins and such.
Angela is busy dying again. I love how she uses her abilities to get such wonderful work. This work has several layers of dye on it. These scarves are for the hostesses who are doing a baby shower for her grandson later this fall. She is so wonderfully generous with her work.
Sally is back at her embroidery machine creating wonderful cards for Christmas and fun family gifts. This strawberry is her own design and a family gift. She always give the kids $ presented in a unique way. This year the cash is wrapped inside the layers of the toilet paper inside the berry. She also went so far as to machine embroider the family’s name on the first sheet of each roll. Too much!
Sue Ellen and Corrine are both doing finish up work. Something about fall I think, we want to tidy up a bit before the confinement of winter. Corrine had three wedge cut baby quilts that she was finishing.
Sue Ellen had three distinct, but traditional quilts she had finished and this wonderfully fun Sea Horse piece she created. Each panel in the horse body is a different print and they are all connected with metallic cord that has been zig zaged in place.
Then I went off to the Diva meeting. Cheri and several others of us had spent a few days felting last month. Using materials she produced at that time, Cheri has finished a felted vest for her grand daughter. She used one of her jelly roll slices to create a pin too- its on the right. What fun!
Marty went along with me to the meetings and she showed one of her wonderful Nebula quilts. Everyone is amazed, myself included, in all the bead work and her tiny button whole stitching. She told us she used over 400 beads on one of the nebula pieces. I enjoy how she uses hand dyed fabrics too. wonderful images.
Liesa is working on her Map quilt. All the trees and buildings are in place now. She says there will be more quilts like this one of different locations.
Anne had lots of work to show- four pieces I think. She is getting ready for the Ithaca Art Trail that happens this weekend and next. I like this little whimsical piece the most. So much freedom and action here.
Noel had a wonderful little work that again displayed her techinque. She makes all the blocks and then can try out several arrangements before she puts them together. I like this layout myself.
Susan is getting ready to fly south for the winter. She sold one of her unique little birds that she showed us at the last meeting. Because she wanted to commemorate that event she did these four little paintings of the birds saying good bye. They sure project the happy smiling feeling that Susan always brings to every situation.
Then there was a FAB meeting yesterday morning. Nancy is making great progress on her Flower Bed quilt. She uses big prints and strong colors so very well. This is about one fourth of the top. I can hardly wait to see the full effect.
Patti is doing beading. I love this wonderfully designed small bead- it is only about one fourth inch long( that is the grid of a cutting matt it is setting on) This is the first for a bracelet that will have at least eight unique beads similar to this one .
Chrysanthemum 39″ X 48″ $675.00
Progress Report: Chrysanthemum I am very happy with this work. I used lots of the wonderful silk that I had pruchased from Ginny – most of the reds and purples are her fabrics- and I used the fabrics I had printed on as well. I am still playing with the off square cutting and piecing with this work. It creates challenges when one is quilting and putting sections together, but I am enjoying the process.
I had a good time with the free motion quilting on this work as too. I started with the center most blossom and sort of followed the shapes and forms of the flower to unite the layers of the work. This photos shows how I extended the quilt lines out to finish the petals were need be too. I did total free designing of the flowers in various sizes to fill in all the spaces that remained. I enjoyed this project, but I will admit that I will back my silks with interfacing the next time I use them so I do not get quite so much uncontrolled movement of the seam lines.
Golden Weeds This quilt is having a second life- a sort of face lift. I thought it was done three years ago- and it was OK- but when I was considering work for the Man In the Moon show and I had pulled it out- I thought this just is a good background. Then it hung on the wall for a few weeks. While on a walk, I was taken by the beauty of the Tessel weeds along the road side and thought they were strong enough to stand on top of the old work. First I machine drew in the heads and stems of the plants in a variegated thread. Then I looked for a stronger unit to place on top of that work to make it appear as though some of the plants were even closer to the viewer. I found this copper colored woven ribbon in my stash and felt it would do the job. By adding folded satin ribbon for stems the job was complete. The work is a lot stronger now and I just added a second label to give info about the additions and name change on the back.
Alpine Lake I started playing with the idea of creating a landscape of a mountain setting with a lake. It is all created on top of buckram- so it will not wrinkle up on me – in what I am starting to think of as my college style of construction. I am not gluing anything down, but building from the sky forward with the image. I attach all the parts with machine drawing that adds texture and detail to the work. It is a process that I am enjoying.
New Work blue This is just a background- done this time on purpose- that I want to play on top of. I have some vague ideas about where I am going, but I am still in the sketching stage.
New Work- wavy cuts This top is the same as the one above it. No plan other than to see if I could use wavy cuts in this piece. This too is pure experiment.
I am having a good fall and enjoying walking in the leaves, keeping my eyes open for ideas and just soaking in the sun shine.
It has been a very busy two weeks for me. I not only traveled to Ottawa for four days I took a felting workshop, spent a day with Ethel making silk paper and a day painting sky with Nancy. The world around here is starting to show its fall colors as well and the days have all been wonderfully comfortable. I spent the end of the first week doing a felting workshop. We played at all the techniques we knew with each one of the participants demonstrating her expertise in different areas. Victoria taught us about nano felting as she has been doing a bit of this with her niece. All of us come with a different design approach, so they all came out very unique. Cherri really liked this method of creating felt and she ended up doing at least three pieces in this style. I was told she is making a vest for her granddaughter with some of it. One of the gals did not do wet felting but started with wool that had been felted in the washing machine and needle felted little pins with this technique. By doing this method she had lots of control and created very detailed work. She was making pins and added beads and manipulated the felt as she worked to create various textures in her pieces. I really liked the way she manipulated little wisps of wool to add nice details like the soft line of green in the leaves of the red and gray green pin. The second day we did wet felted Jelly Rolls. Mostly we created flat disk like units – but Cherri also created some plant like forms with her green felted units. After lunch I tried making felted beads and had a good time with that too. I have no goal for their use and they may rattle around the studio for a long time before they find a home- But I sure enjoyed the process. One can also do three dementional felting using the dry method. This mushroom is a great example of that. I did a little seasonal piece using a wool base and dry felted roving into the surface were I wanted the different colors to remain. It was a fun time and I enjoyed it very much. I can certainly add this technique to my work.
Then I went on my travels to Canada. I love to travel and feel it is very invigorating. Travel can open ones eyes to look at ordinary thing and pay attention to the every day. I was especially taken by the wonderful gingerbread work on this house. I might have noticed it at home, but I probably would not have taken the time to look carefully at it or take a photo. The fact that it would not appear in my life again if I did not act then helped to sharpen my vision. We went to Ottawa with the intention of visiting the museums and did that. We visited all three of the major ones there. Our fiat stop was the museum of First Peoples. It is a wonderful mix of history and the current lives of the Native Americans of Canada. By building these mock up of Traditional Northwest Tribal buildings the museum presented the totem poles in their normal settings. Inside the houses were displays of artwork again showing historic works and contempary ones as well. I found the whole day very exciting and I am sure I will soon create a work using this influence.
The next day we went to the National Art Gallery of Canada. Again it was inspiring. I have always liked the work of the Canadian seven and it was great to see the work live.
Then on Friday we visited the Museum of Natural History. The building is beautiful although it looks like it was built in the early part of the last century with its stain glass and carved wood. Some of the displays show this same old flavor but most are very current. There are lots of interactive displays and each sections also had a play area for smaller children.
I spent yesterday working with Nancy painting a sky for her quilt. It was a beautiful day to paint out doors.
We had a good base to work on top of from the first attempt two weeks before. We agreed it needs one more day to get the finial effect she wants for this portion of her quilt.
Progress Report: Harmony
Harmony 24″ X 42.5″ $370.00
This work displays the Japanise Character that stands for Harmony. That is where I got the title. The two orange silks are from Japan and I felt that this was a good way to celebrate that fact. I looked at many renditions of this character before I settled on this form. The black of the shape is all chain stitched in embroidery thread.
Sand Stone Church
Sand Stone Church 16″ X 21″ $125.00
I purchased Valerie Goodwin’s book “Art Quilt Maps” in the spring even before I took my second class with her this summer. I thought I should try to follow her instructions on how to build this type of map quilt and this project is the result. This work is based on childhood memories of a Sand Stone Church that was in the pasture next to the one my grandparents owned. My brother and I often played in the church and in the cemetery that was just up the hill from the old building. The church it’s self had no roof and the local natural stand stone was curmbeling away in some places so we felt safer in the cemetery- espiceally under the big old oak that stood in the corner. The branches were low and we could easily climb quite high in that tree. The second close up is an areal view of the gravel rural road that ran in front of my grandparents house and the farm yard around the house, plus the garage and barns.
Smoky Twilight I am enjoying using the many tints and shades of gray I have for this work. It is in the very early stages of assembly, but I think it is starting work.
Chrysanthemum I am to the free motion stitching/quilting part of this project. This work got away from me as far as size is concerned and grew quite a bit from my original plan, but that does happen from time to time. Again I am using some of Ginny’s silk in this project( the red show here)
Enjoy the colors of fall and keep your eyes open to the possibilities for ideas all around .
It is cold here in the north east and that has kept me indoors more than normal. I really enjoy the ice crystals on the storm door and I tried to take a photo- but they are not at all satisfactory. So I will use the old fashion method and just keep the selected sections of the patterns in my memory. Staying inside means I worked a lot in the studio however.
Charlotte’s Shadow III 19 ” X 30″ NFS
Progress Report: Charlotte’s Shadow III This is the last of the quilts made with Charlotte’s fabrics. I even used her stuff on the backs. These quilts are not for sale as I intend to give them as gifts to the three gals who were her sweet mates at Quilting By the Lake for many years. I feel I got better and better at doing free motion flowers by the time I reached this third piece too. One does hope that is what happens at any rate. I did start out copying the printed image and then progressed to creating my own flowers and leaves to fill the rest of the quilt. I did take creative linces and created some of my own flowers near the end too- mostly due to the space limitations and I did not want to compete with the images too much. I also did lots of swirl and free curves in the quilting to cross over areas and pull things together. The whole process was pleasant and I enjoyed myself.
III Foundations VII- Fragments
Foundations VII-Fragments 38″ X 40″ $535.00
I am happy with how this quilt looks. The full shot does not show how it flows for me but the color patterns are very visable. This quilt has yarn, silk paper, organza and nylon netting on the top of a base built with cottons, parts of a wool jacket, a section of one of my husbands shirts and some very old taffeta. I really enjoyed mixing all these fabrics to get the colors and textures I was seeking with this piece. The back has been dry brush painted to seal the threads created by all the free motion work. I did the free motions work with nylon threads and cotton ones to get the colors I wanted in this area too. The more I practice sewing with the free motion the easier it becomes. I am espically happy with the ability I am building sewing down the yarn without trapping it under organza first. It means that I must move very slowly- but it is worth the effort.
I also did some used some colored pencils in different areas of this top to add more texture and detail to some sections. There is a little paint on the surface too. This new direction makes me I feel like I can employ any tool to create the texture and colors I want with these work. Very Freeing!
Maya’s Tee Shirt Quilt I am starting to build the units for this quilt. Yellow – for Yellow Jackets- is the main color. I have various patterns and shades. Then for interest I have inserted narrow bits of black patterned fabric at random locations. The process is very slow- but I think it will be worth the effort.
Stenciling with Shaving Cream I spent a few hours on Monday afternoon using my stencils to create some new images on fabric. I created these and several other screens in October. I like to do the printing of them in the winter when things slow down a bit at this time of year. I am espically pleased with the white print on the dark fabric of these thisel inspired images. I mix ink with shaving cream and push the mixture through the thermo fax with a credit card. I like the slender lines of branches in the gold on the white fabric on the left too. That image is older- but I always find it very useful in my stash. I will print a second color on top of some of the images in a day or two.
New Work I decided to do another collage quilt. I started out with a drawing based on a photo of fungus growing on a rock wall. Then is the source of the colors. I also decided to work smaller this time and the work is only 18″ X 24″. The fabric is somewhat pinned to the burckrum and I will start free motion work to tack it down tomorrow. The fungus will be added at a later date.
Daily’s I was surprised to realize that I was at the end of my fifth mouth of creating Daily’s. Well perhaps it is more accurate to say my fifth set of thirty blocks. I finished the last red circle with a black L last eve and the next series is a half red circle and two black strips. New challenges await me.
Tonight is the full moon, but last evenings moon light was beautiful too. The light was so silvery white through the sky light that I had to go to the window and look out. Most of the snow had melted, but there was still one drift in the back yard. The tree limbs cast beautiful blue gray shadows across the snow and my mind catalogued the colors and patterns for a new work. This morning I did a sketch of the idea so I would not lose the feeling. I can hardly wait until I have time to begin this new project.
Pomegranate 33″ X 46″ $535.00
Progress Report: Pomegranate I am quite pleased with how this quilt ended up. All the shadow quilting around the fruit did have a pull on the seams- but I minimized it as much as possible by sewing in one direction all the way around and then doing the next pass in the opposite direction. All this action made for very slow work. I also added a spike every now and then to the pattern so there were some strait sewing lines too. I also tried a little experiment with the paint on this project. To give the fruit a little more “punch” I painted clear fingernail polish over some of the red seeds. I really like the transparency of the paint on this piece. It adds to the interest of this work for me. The paint is fabric paint.
I’d Reconsider 16″ X 25.5″ $145.00
I’d Reconsider I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt before I started quilting on it. Titles are always a difficult thing for me. I had been calling this work Sunshine and Rust- but looking carefully at the surface-working out the quilt pattern- I noticed the eye shapes in the printed fabric. I decided to use those shapes as a starting place for the quilting. The shape was so easy to quilt and just seemed to flow across the surface of the work. Then when I started altering the size of the eyes to fill in the space it was even an easier process for me. It took on a life of its own and I went with that feeling. When it was all done the title of Sunshine and Rust seemed to be a major miss fit. “I’d Reconsider” seems to work a lot better for me. I have learned that I will not title a work until it is totally finished from this point forward.
Charlotte’s Shadow II I am to the quilting stage of this work now too. It is going to be more in the nature of the fabric that is the main material for this series. I have started adding leaves and finishing flowers on the top at this point. I will keep working away in this type of style until I have completed the work.
Charlotte’s Shadow III This is the third and final quilt in this series. As this shot shows I have only begun to pin some parts to the wall. I will shuffle them a bit before I begin to put it together.
Foundations VII- Fragments I am still quilting away on this work. It was pinned to the pin wall and when I came into the room before I turned on the lights yesterday morning I looked at the piece. With all the color washed to darks and lights by the laque of light I suddenly saw a section of the quilt that was not working at all. I had created a whole in the upper left hand side by surrounding a section with darks. When I turned the light on it was still there. My eye is still drawn to that flaw so I will begin the correction today. That is one really paint/college like quality of this construction method. I will build over the area that I find offensive a with layers of organza so I can keep the texture. This shot shows how I am building texture with yarn in one of the areas of this quilt.
Tee Shirt I have a new commission piece. It is a tee shirt quilt. All the images have been mounted on inner facing so they will remain square when they are seamed together. Sewing on double knit fabric is always tricky. I am now ready to lay them out and add the sassing to them so they are uniform in size- like building a log cabin block. That step will make assembly easy and simple.
Quilt Daily’s I believe the daily’s are getting more complex with time.
The New Year is starting off cold in this part of the country- A feeling that makes me want to hibernate. But I have just stay indoors and worked away instead. Last week I said that I was going to choose a word to be my guide for this year. The word I selected is “EXPLOIT”. I intend to fully “exploit” my materials, stash and potential for new directions. Like so many others I have a lot of gadgets and stuff that I have saved for just the write project- but I will not be doing that anymore. I plan to go ahead and use them now- with out fear or worry. That is not to say everything will be a big success, but that idea is an illusion anyway, I have given myself permission to “exploit” what I have and enjoy every bit of it. Saying that I was asked by a friend were do my ideas come from? After careful thought I decided there are many sources for me.
First Pay attention to what interests you. When one is interested in something they look at it and think about it more then other items. When I was teaching middle school every September when the students all had their new sketchbooks I would ask them to make a list of all the things that they liked in the front. My lists change and grow from sketchbook to sketchbook as my interests change. Together my students and I would use the list as a starting off place for new projects when we needed it. I still use this practice.
I love to travel and pictures from my adventures can be starting points for work. Like the quilt above.
I also doodle and that can be the beginning of work for me. I used this doodle as a starting place for a stamp that I created and printed this week. It is not a quilt yet, but I think the graphic is good and I am sure I will use it in the furture. I find myself searching out items that I have interests in and the list helps me remember. Pomergranates are one of the things on my list. So when I saw this shampoo bottle it caught my eye. I then purchased the fruit when I saw it again the grocery and I did a little sketch to make myself more filmier with it before I cut a series of stencils of this subject. I am enjoying using the stamped fabric that I created using this idea. So those are three sources of ideas for me. I will try to pay attention over the next few weeks and mouths and note were the ideas come from and point them out.
Progress Report : Pomegranate I This work is still at the quilting step. I have learned that I do best if I only work for about an hour before I stop and go to something else. That way I do not hurry and mess up. I am nearing the end, but I am not there yet.
Charlottes Shadow 2 I had just pinned this to the wall last week. I am building away on the top now. The quilt is taking shape. I use the tape measure to help me keep my sizes what I have in mind when I am working. I want all the pieces in this series to be the same size and this method really helps me do that.
Sun Shine and Rust I really love the print fabric that is in this top. That is the real starting place for this work. I also wanted to work with a sunny color this week when the sky was so gray and it was so cold. This project did help me feel more cheerful.
Foundations VII I still have not settled on a title for this piece, but I am enjoying the process. There is so much wonderful texture here and the free motion work is so very calming to me now that I have done so much. This close up shows the use of waded green organza, wool fabric and wool yarn. There is also a little bit of colored pencil drawing in the lower left hand corner here. I am exploiting all my knowledge and talents on this work!
As this picture shows I got a new camera. When it took the broken one to the only shop in town, I was told it would be $25.00 just to look at it before the repair started. What with the cost of new ones be as cheap as they are now days, I decided to go that route. It is a Cannon Power shot and I am quite pleased with it. I would have gone for the same type of camera as my old one, but as the local photo store did not carry Sony’s, I did my research and selected this one instead. There is only one camera store in town now and I am sorry about that. When I was teaching photography there were four shops as well as all those funny little booths in parking lots were you could take film to be developed and get yur pictures in an hour. Times have changed.
I did a few house hold things in the studio this week. I covered my rolling chair back and seat as it was looking a bit shabby. Then I got busy and made a hanging waste/pin cushion unit for next to my machine. It is made from the scraps of the chair- the other side of the fabric. The pin cushion part is filled with sand to give the unit the weight it needs to stay on the desk top while I stuff the thread and fabric bits in it as I sew. The sand helps keep the pins sharp too. There is a hand bag handle in the front of the bag to hold it open. That is also why the shape of the unit on the desk top is arched; it fits over the opening if I need to close and transport it. This is not my idea- I saw it some were and made up my own version.
The third bit of housekeeping was a altered box. I needed a place to store the Daily’s. I took a substantial corrugated cardboard boot box I had and glued it all over with bits of old lace. Then I painted it with black gesso on the out side and white gesso on the inside . When that was dry I applied green Lumiar paint to the surface to highlight the lace. I now have a very attractive box for the storage of the Daily’s.
Progress Report: Ebb Tide- Foundations V As the new title suggests I now have a name for this work. I am having a delightful time with this piece. I have tried lots of ways to add texture to this top. The first shot shows roving and yarns that I stitched to the surface. Then I tried using a course sort of thread(the sea green). There is also some chennelle yarn (gray) that I chrocheted to add more texture in this close-up. By using the buckram as a foundation there seems to be no limit to how much sewing machine work one can add on top and I really love that.
The third close-up shows organza that is wadded as well as old lace. Some is captured under the organza and some is free.
There is also some orange trim that I cut and added to the surface shown here. All the textures come from the images I saw in a second photo of a tide pool that I took in Maine last summer. This piece will surely be finished by next week.
Cascading -Foundations VI This little piece is also near completion. I mixed silk paper and an old silk shirt and a failed silk scarf in this work. I think is needs only a little more free motion work and then I can paint the back.
SplitsI started this top this week. It really flew together under my fingers- almost had a life of its own. I had premade the diagonal cut blocks before and have tried twice to lay out an effective arrangement. I am delighted with how this finally came together. I will need to think carefully about how to quilt this one.
Daily’s I can not believe I have nearly finished my fourth mouth of Daily’s. There are only a few more pieces with black circles and red triangles in the box. I will need to plan my next layout this week.
I hope holiday preparation and events are just what you want and need. At this time of year it is so very easy to get drawn in to doing too much. As I looked at my calendar for this week I realized there was an event of one type or another every day. I also knew I could not keep that pace up and enjoy the season so I really have cut back. Next week is much simpler and I am sure I will fill it none the less with little things that make the holiday a wondrous one- but this time I will choose with care what I do.
Last Friday I helped Cheri put up a new show in her shop Imaginings Art and Antiques. It was a delightful way to spend a winter day. This first picture is of Alice Grant’s curtain frame fiber work. Cheri put it around a mirror and yes that is me behind the camera in the reflection. Most of my work hung together. For this event I am displaying only work that in a stretched or framed fashion. The show will be up in Cortland on Maine Street until the middle of January. It was an honor to be asked.
A second event this week was the FAB meeting. FAB is a mini group of fiber artists- and although we have agreed on the title there is still dicussion as to just what FAB stands for… could be Fiber Art Bunch, could be Fantastic Artistic Babes or any other set of words that can be plugged in. I am not going to worry about that too much, I am just glad we are getting together to grow and support one another. Nancy was the big winner this time as she has finally completed her quilt for her daughter. It is chinnal and flannel with a post card type message in the center to her daughter. She even found a fabric with a stamp on it for the corner of the post card. Nancy and the quilt are off to India for Christmas.
Progress Report: Flight
Flight 35.5″ X 37.5″
I feel this quilt really flows across the surface. The quilting was especially enjoyable on this work as I added extra swallows that are in just the quilting. I tried adding eyes on the birds with embroidery thread, but somehow that looked to flat to me so I added black glass beads instead. Their sparkel adds a feel of life to the work.
There are some quilting lines that are just flow lines that could be interrupted as wind or flight lines.
This last shot shows the center of the quilt and also shows how I did not use a pure brown for the birds in some cases, but added a modeled brown to the work.
Transversing- Foundations Series IV
Transversing Foundation Series IV 34″ X 39″
I am so very happy with how this quilt finally turned out. There are lots of different materials represented in this piece. I showed the painted back last week. I used some rust dyed fabric, lots of apolistory fabric, silk paper, wool and eye lash yarn on this top. It is fun for me to play with all the textures.
I did lots of free motion work on this one too. I think that adds to the flow of the work as well as holding all the fabric to the surface.
There are lots of little units on this work and I feel it is one I can look at a long time.
Foundations Series V This new member of the Foundations series still does not have a name of its own. The images I am using has water flowing between the rocks so I think a title will come out of that the more I work with the top. This one also has some rice paper in it. What a different texture that adds.
Foundations Series VI For this one I wanted to work a little smaller- its 28″ X 23″. My friend Tanya gave me some small fabric bits last week and I really like them. So I used them as the jumping off point for this. The fabrics plus a second section of the water and rocks photo work well togehter. I also used part of a silk shirt she gave me at the same time( the cream green fabric at the bottom). This is still in the pin up stage without any stitching so it may change a lot before I get to that step.
Swallows Last week the shot showed the quilt still in the construction stage. I took this close up of one of the sections as I have started to quilt it. I am out lining the birds first and will build the rest of the quilting out from those points. There is not full shot of this work because I dropped my camera and it landed on the barrel of the lense. Now the shutter will not work. I had not put the wrist unit on and for that I am paying dearly. I am not at all happy with this new development, but have no one to blame but myself. I will not post next week unless I get the camera repaired. If the cost is prohibitive I will have to ask for a new camera for Christmas. Please keep watching.
Daily’sAs this shot shows I am still working away on the Daily’s. It is good to have a little daily required to work at this time of year. That keep me on track so when I can get back into the studio is is easier to get going again.
My hope is that all find the joy and peace this season has to offer.
Hello,
three other gals. Beth was doing pastels, while Barb and the other two were painting. What a lot of fun to work with this energy flowing.
Diva’s meant too. The gals in those groups help me so much when it comes to problems I have with my techniques. I learned a lot about mixing different types of fabrics this week. Corrine was showing off her daughters aromatic jewelry at the meeting and she even sold one. 
Then yesterday the FAB group meant at Patti’s house. She shared beautiful fabrics from the far east with us. There was wonderful weaving in all of them with lots of color and gold threads. My one other event this week was to be a part of the judging of Scholastic Art. I so enjoy seeing what the middle school and high school students are doing when it comes to art. It was very enjoyable.
Progress Report: Creative Assistants While I was at the studio with all the other artists I worked on these little guys. I was only stitching them closed and adding a pin to the back, but I got 20 of them done. I added the paint when I got home and they are now ready to pass along to others.
I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on this project this week. There were lots of lines to do. Now I am ready to start to do the binding. It will take about and hour to do each side. It is a bright colorful work – just great for an active little boy.
Coastal Colors I made progress on this piece this week. It is done as far as the machine work is concerned. But I am concerned about the ripple. The gals at the meetings all had great suggestions about how to deal with that and I learned from them.
Hopefully I can stretch it well enough to get it flat. The bad news is I already laided out and started two more that I fear will have the same problem. But the next time I try to mix felting with machine drawing, I will know better then to put stiffener as a part of that step. It does not shrink at the same rate as the wool and that is the source of the problem we think.
I am doing the free motion drawing of the vanes of the leaves now. I am having fun and I have learned how Mother Nature designs each species differently.
Label Block #34 I remember taking the Pooh label off a blanket for Alexis when she was little. She is 20 now. Do I hold onto things for a long time or what?
. In actually it is about 500 yards long and a very humbling sight. I added lots of yarns and ribbons to the surface of the quilt as there were lots of little fractures and lines of thin deposited 
Cascading -Foundations VI This little piece is also near completion. I mixed silk paper and an old silk shirt and a failed silk scarf in this work. I think is needs only a little more free motion work and then I can paint the back.
