Category Archives: Lap Quilts

100 day Challenge, Collage, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Barbara

Hello,

I write with a heavy heart today as one of my best friends died yesterday.  She enriched my life so very much,  We both taught Art int he Westhill School district,    I did middle school and she taught high school.    Many was the evening when we would meet  after school and have a little dinner and then go to her class room and play for several hours.  We painted, drew, dyed and explored anything we could think of to try with our kids and for self enjoyment.  She was a great leader and she ran Art club at the high school. As a part of that she took students to NYC for the Columbus Day weekend for many years and because I knew all the students too I got to go along as a chaperone.    She provided the students with a rich experience there.   After arriving and getting the bags into the Edison Hotel , she would gather the kids together start. Her first act was to give them all a hotel card so they could always find there way “home”, and a map of the city while she made sure they understood that they should never go any were alone.  The next instruction was to find the hotel on the map and tell them to mark it’s location.  She followed that by saying our first destination is Museum of Modern Art at 11 W 53 street.   When they had found it she would. then select two students to lead us here.   I usually walked near the front of the group and she did he rear.  When we arrived she would direct them to an exabit and we  would do it together.    Now we had seen many of the works before, but hey were often surprised by how work looked in reality.   She then would allow the students to wander the museum and we all collected at an appointed time and go to a second exabit that usually involved a second bit of map use and walking.  At about 4;30 or five she would pull them all together and remind them of staying in groups of at least two and say ” Make your own way back to the hotel and have dinner.  Be ready to go to the theater and meet us in the lobby at 7:30.      The evening was usually an  off Broadway show , but we did do the Empire State Building one time and took a boat tour around the Island one year.   Saturday morning we crowed into a bus and went down to SOHO . Stop One was Tower Records.    Then we would visit gallery after gallery.  I recall seeing an exabit of work were very thing was made of Chocolate.   It had among many other things, a life sized chocolate moose head along with chocolate playing cards and chess pieces   too.  One time we visited a show of tattoo art .  That was mostly drawings of pieces and lots of photos of the images on bodies.  Every visit it was different.   She would allow the students to explore on there own  in the afternoon telling them to meet us at the McDonalds to catch the subway at 4:30.   After the subway ride it was dinner on your own with the meeting again for the theater in the evening.   I got to see Meet Me in St Lewis, Into the Woods, and South Pacific to mention a few.   Sunday was always the Metropolitan Museum.      After handing them a map of the museum Her instruction was for them to visit at least three galleries of their choosing and then they were free to spend the rest of the day as they chose be it exploring Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, shopping- what ever, but be in the  hotel lobby at six with dinner in hand ready to get on the bus to go home.    On the bus ride home she would talk with each student about the exabit they had visited in the Met as her follow up.   It was always a great experience for  the students as well us.    Barbara and I traveled on our own too. We went to a Maine and visited her college roommate and drew int the Maine woods and the rocky sea shore.  We went to California to visit her sister and had a good time exploring there as well.  We traveled with  retired teachers to Turkey and Greece.     She introduced me to pastels  and water color as well as encouraging my fabric work.    Her fearless approach to the world was always in inspiration and I loved her like a sister.  I will miss her greatly , and I am so very thankful she was in my life!

The week was full of other action for me too.  Associated Artists had a meeting on Sat.    FAD meant here yesterday and Sharon had a new a bit of work to share with us.

Noel has just started a stitch group too, and I went to that.  I also made it to the Pixie meeting yesterday too.

 

I am working away on Finding Fragments.  I  have started the stitch work on this collage.

 

 

 

 

The SAQA 100 day project is on day 11 now and I have made some blocks.    These are the middle sized ones and they are 12.5 X 4.5.   I am ready to cut the pieces for the smallest ones in the set now so the real fun will begin later this week.  I think now that I will call the blocks Barbara Blocks in honor of my friend.

 

 

  Progress Report: Past Times  I added a  pair of gloves to this square this week.   A new square got started as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Tidewater II  I am going to try to not go so overboard with the textures on this one and just have more space.    I did make some felted “Kelp ” for it however.

 

Ethel 2     I only need to finish the machine quilting on this project and it will be complete.

 

 

Valentines   The shapes are cut and applied to felt.  Now I need to mount them on the cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 Lap 3  I have these pre cut squares of woven purple and so I decided to use them as the focus for the next lap quilt.  I gave Judy two to pass to her friends on Tue.

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Dyeing.   One of the other gals in the 100 Day challenge was snow dyeing and with all the snow we got on Monday I decided to do to the same.

 

 

 

Sense I was inspired by the 100 Day gal, I decided to use the fabric from this experiment as the jumping off place for the colors for the next 100 Day squares.

 

100 day Challenge, Collage, Experiments, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Re Work

Moving Along

Hello,

I like this time of year as I seem to find things are clammer and I get a lot done.   I made it to the Pixie meeting this week and got back to the Finding Fragment class with Shelly Rhodes.

 

 

 

The lesson yesterday was about building a base of fabric and paper.   I collaged a bit and came up with five I liked.   I will keep up this work more carefully I hope.

 

 

I also decided to join the SAQA  100 Day Challenge again.   That starts on Monday the 15 and goes until April 24.   I decided to design four blocks and work on each one for 25 days.    I also decided to render each  the block  design in three sizes so I can mx and match them in my final work.     This is the the block( really a rectangle)  with the three variations.  This is a shot of the  cut up  block ready to trace onto the fabric .

Progress Report: Ethel 1   I finished this queen sized quilt this week and I am quite pleased with the results.  I think it will be the raffle quilt for our nationhood art trail in Aug.

 

 

 

Lap 1  I finished this on Friday last week and immediately  started a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2    Sense I decided to do the new SAQA  challenge, I thought I really Ott to use the prints I made for last years challenge in my lap quilts.   So I got this top done yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Past Times ( formerly Age of Elegance)   This block is all stitched down now.   I like how the lace adds to the work.

Tidewater Pool  I am enjoying working on this piece as much as the first two.   I decided that the base was too big so I cut it in about half  and I started with this .

 

I have been working on it for about an our every day and this is were i am now.   This one has more found objects form the shore than the first two.

 

 

 

 

 

Branching Out    Last week this top was two tops that were related.  So I thought I would merry the two of them with vertical cuts and flipping of the images..   Well now I am not so sure that was a good idea , but the job is done.  I have decided to set it aside and perhaps in time I may see a future for it.

For Joyce  My friend Joyce just had her 90th birthday .  Because it is so close to Christmas she has decided to celebrate in May instead.  Several years ago she gave me this cape and dress that were her grandmothers.  I have decided to get the piece done for her celebration.

 

 

 

I hope that all is well and you are safe and happy .

Keep Creating

Carol

Explorations, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Raw Edge Applique, Re Work

New Year 2024

Hello,

As 2024 begins some have asked me what are my resolutions.     I am not into doing resolutions.  I do like to set little goals for myself, but all the emphasis at this time seem to imply something is wrong with one.   I am just not convinced that is so and as a result I don’t do the resolution thing. The time we are living in is stressful enough without  adding personal guilt to the mix.   So I am starting a fresh calendrer with the same attitude that I start any new month.    And I plan to fill each day in happy pursuits of my own choosing.

  The FAD group meant for lunch  this week instead of a regular meeting.  It was a nice change.    The Pixies were reunited  again yesterday too.  They are such a diverse and stimulating group, that I had a good time as usual.

I finally got back to work on Finding Fragments this week.    She had exercises that mixed drawing and painting of fabric for us to do.    I plan to keep moving forward with the assignments at this point.

Progress Report: Tide Pool II  I finished off this work this week and I am so inspired that I plunged directly  into the next one.   I love all the textures and found objects.    I did not get it done in time for the show of the class work, but that is not the real impotent thing for me.   I used the pompoms she encouraged us to create and the frapped work as well on this project.

 

 

 

Orange Peelings  This work is   53″ X 35″.    It is built on a split nine patch but that is totally lost in all the fabric that I fused down on top.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed making the rime of the orange peels using the zig zag stitch in the free motion mode.

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel 1    I got going on Saturday on this project.   I am starting the boarders now and liking how it looks.

 

 

Lap 1- 24   I am quilting away on this project at this point.  I have decided that I will use the remaining prints from 100 days of last year as my starting point for the next lap projects.

 

 

 

 

 6X6  I finished up two of the little works for the Rochester  gallery sale this week.  One more to go.

Tidewater pool  This is the base for the next in this one going tide pool series.  It is really big and all the beads add a lot of weight. I think I will cut it down and make two bases from it.

I also started the punch needle work for it this week.

 

 

 

New Nine – Age of Elegance   I have cut nine solid squares in pastel colors that I want to use as bases for a  bit of hand work.   I have some beautiful  old hand made lace and a box full of gloves  gloves.  Both represent a by gone area. So I decided to put them together and honor them with this project.

Branching Out   I did a bunch of drawings at the Sisterhood Retreat in  November and one of the gals was quite taken by one of them.  So I used it as a jumping off place for this new project.  I drew the subject on the solid burgundy and cut it out.  As I did so I realized that I liked the cut away negative pieces too. so I found a simpler background in similar colors to the one I was using and pinned the cut ways  to it.  Now when I get them both   all sew down I am thinking of ways I want to combine the two pieces into one unit.

I hope you are enjoying the New Year in ways that suit you

Keep Creating

Carol

Drawing, Lap Quilts, Nine Play

Cold Moon

Hello,

The moon was full on Wed and it is what is called a Cold Moon to represent the cold dark long nights of December.   It sure was a crisp one here.    The joys of Christmas are still running around in my head and I hope you can say the same.   Now one is considering plans for what changes one will try for the new year.

 I didn’t have any meetings this week but I did put in time on my “Finding Fragments” class.   I still have two more sets of exercises to do but these drawings of the objects I connected on my walk are the best of the bunch from exercise one.

Progress Report: Lap # 21   I have to get these works delivered here soon.  The quilts  are filling up my car so I will get going on this task today. 

 

The best part of these projects is getting to really play with the smaller fabrics that I have created in the past.

 Tide Pool    I picked this work up form the framer yesterday.     It is now hanging in the hall.  

I got to sew so many of the beautiful bits and pieces that I always seem to collect.   It is great fun for me.

I do love how it looks and that has inspired me to work even more on Tide Pool II

Tide Pool II      This is a close up. With this one I am using the textural ideas that the teacher encouraged us to create.   The Pompoms  and the needle punch for example.     It sure is what I love as texture is my thing.

 

 

 

6X6  I realized that the Rochester Art Center will soon be calling for pieces for it’s  6X6 auction, so I started this little one to work on during the news this week.

Orange Peelings  This is the New Nine that I started last week.  I really went crazy with the addition of the pre- fused  fabrics and all the efforts to make the split blocks really got lost.  I am ok with that, but I think I will try again with a variation on that idea.  The other idea that I played with here is doing free motion zig-zag’   I decided to use it as the peel edge of the orange slices.

 

 

New Lap   I pulled  these fabrics for the first lap quilt for next year.   It’s always good to have something in the up coming idea pile.

Have a joyous New Year and I will post again the 2024

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories, Drawing, Experiments, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Re Work, Tide Pools

Winter Solstice

  Hello,

We have reached the end of the earth’s elliptical trip around the sun for one more time.   It is a tine for the return of light here in the norther hemisphere. The long winter nights will now begin to shorten once again.    I also see it as a time to begin reflecting on the events of the last year and star thinking about what I want to do differently in 2024.

This last week included a FLFA meeting for me.  I do enjoy seeing that creative group of gals and the work they do.      This work is by  Julia.  I feel she is really beginning to “speak ” with her own voice.

 

 

 

Bev is doing some wonderful silk work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat is working away too.

She is really a printing crazy lady.

 

The Pixies also meant this week and everyone is busy and happily preparing for  the holidays.

Progress Report: Spores    This work is 18″w X 32″l.   It is another work that came out of the Joyous Embroidery class.   I made the tubes and stuff them with thick yarn and then couched them down.  The pompoms were another suggestion from Flur.

The painted parts in the  background is my own too,

 

 

 

 

Split  This work is 53.25″ w X  58″ l.    I started this work at the Sisterhood Retreat last month.   I put it through the wash to encourage more fraying of the torn and raw edges.

I really like texture and the feeling of depth they layers create.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #21  I am to the stitch in the ditch quilting step now.  It’s about half done.

 

 

 

Scrap backs  I am working on building backs for the Ethel Blocks now.  I think one of the units is nearly big enough to start layering the first quilt together.

 

 

 

 

New Nine   I am starting a new quilt that is  a broken nine patch design.   This is in the early stages and even not all the blocks are built yet.

Or perhaps I should say broken at this point.

 

 

 

 

Linen Shirt   This  project only gets attention when there is no other hand work that needs doing.   That  happened this week so I put in time.    I am doing the flowers and French Knots on the shoulder area and across the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tied Pool 2   I got a lot done on this new highly textured piece this week.   Starting with a old rock quilt as my base  others makes it easy and fun for me too.   Pompoms again and the frapped circles are some I made in the  Joyous Embroidery class as well.    She also encouraged us to use old bits of handwork that had no use any more.  The green lace  came from an old pillow case.   I painted it and used it in a seahorse  work this fall.   This little bit remained and I recall seeing a bit of sea weed in a tide pool when I visited Korine years ago.

 

 

Christmas Balls   I decided I wanted to decorate some new  balls for our tree this year.     At the RATS  ( Retired Art Teachers ) meeting a few weeks ago , Beth described what she was going to teach at the YMCA class and I took what I remembered and created these fun balls.    I made some as gifts too.

New Work   Last week I was working a project using a technique that was only described to me.   Well,  I think I did give it the college try- but it really is a disaster!    There are so many wrinkles and parts are not fitting together at all.   Not having the true instruction means I am flying blind.

 

 

  So I have decided to admit that I don’t get it and abandon the idea.  There are always mistakes very now and then.

 

 

 

Food Memory. 

Scramble

My Mom was a “stay at home Mom” until my brother, Gene went off to first grade. All that time she was always busy with one project of another . I remember her making and printing silk screen plant images on fabric that she made into kitchen curtains. She painted two big murals in the house in Carroll too. One was in the bathroom in the basement and a second was over the sink in the kitchen. For Christmas she was scenically busy. One yare she mad a little church out of sugar cubes and icing with a foil roof. That project was around for years. One of her seasonal traditions was to make Scramble. She would get out the blue speckled roasting pan from Thanksgiving and fill it with a mix of Rice Checks, Corn Checks, Wheat Checks, Cherrieos, mixed nuts and pretzels. She added some other ingredients and cooked it all in the oven, taking it out to stir occasionally. When it was done she put it into foil lined boxes and wrapped it as gifts to the neighbors. We al ways had some too. Her other seasonal cooking thing was to make chocolate fudge. There was always the candy thermometer and lots fussing with that project. I loved the smell of the house when she was doing that project, and the eating of it too.

Enjoy what the season brings your way.

Carol

 

 

Drawing, Experiments, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Busy Season

 Hello,

I am enjoying the season and I hope you are too.    The wreath that I was working on last week got finished and is hanging on the front door.    I missed my only zoom meeting with the Pixies this week because I was off at my granddaughter’s college graduation instead.    With the packages wrapped, cards all written and set  and with  all the decoration up , I can listen to Carols and enjoy the merriment all around me.       I have done a lot in the studio and enjoyed every min.

Progress Report: Hand Out This quilt is 38″ X 50 “.  It is made up of left overs from my previous hand studies.       I did lots of hand work one the negative areas of this work and I machine quilted inside the hands .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 20 I finished the binding on this protect last evening.  There are lots of old experiments in this project.    Printed blocks, painted blocks , and one were I experimented with markers too.     These project’s are a good place to try things our on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Lap Quilt #21   This is the next top all assembled and ready for layering and quilting now.

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel Squares  I am working on creating backs from leftovers for this project.   The stack on the right is backs that I have started for the five quilts.

 

Spores     I work on this project  as my handwork while I watch the news at night so it goes forward slowly.

 

  Split  I am ready to add the textured cream units on top now.   .  Then I will begin to quilt it.

 

 

 

 

 

New Work    This project is again my attempt to apply what folks have told me about a new process.    I do enjoy trying out new things.

 

 

 

Pudding  

The years we lived in Columbus Junction I grew from six to eight. I loved the house that my folks and Grandfather Howard built there. Along the east wall of that dwelling was a long row of windows that faced east into a deep gully full of old trees. I enjoyed watching the seasons changes from our dinner table there. One of my favorite desserts was chocklet pudding that Mom would some times make. She served it in yellow Melmack bowls. There was a thick skin on the top of the pudding that I would carefully scoop into along one edge of the bowl to create a little arch that looked like a little head in a dark pudding bonnet. I would then add a bit of milk into that opening and joyously eat my dessert.

Enjoy what you can of this season.

Carol

Aplique, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

December is Here

Hello,

Time seems to be flying and I am busy with events of the season.   This week I had three  of Zoom  meetings.   The QuEG’s and Diva’s meant on Tue and Wed the Pixies had there weekly meeting.  It is good to stay connected.

Progress Report: Hands Off   I put in a bit of time on this work this week and now all the hand work has been done.   I will now quilt in the hands themselves and complete the project.

Lap #20 and 21      I started Lap # 21 this week.  I did not have any polar fleece to use as the middle layer for Lap # 20, so that top is waiting for attention.  I did get the fleece yesterday and I will start the completion  process soon on Lap#20.

 

 

 

Split   I started this work at the Sisterhood retreat.   It was intended to be my response to the workshop that I could not attend.   I cut and applied the top layer this week.      I have sense learned that this was not the direction that the teacher was trying to teach and I will soon be ready to try her approach.   Now I need to decide if there should be a layer on top of the textured brown one.       I have learned a bit doing things my own way none the less.

Rocky Tide Pool    I finished my hand work on this project this week and it is now off at the framers to be completed.

 

 

Wreath  We had a bumper crop of beautiful pine cones from our White Pines this year.  Eric and I collected three big shopping  bags full of cones.  I passed one onto Sharon and I am now making my own wreath for the front door.

 Ethel Scrap blocks   I have been making 9.5″ blocks from groups of four for a while.  When I finished using all the Ethel scraps , pulse some of my own, and had made the all into the big squares I put them into rows of 10.  It takes a dozen rows to make a quilt top.   Pictured here you see five packs of 12 rows each.   So now I will begin to make backs for these last five quilts I will make to honor my friend Ethel Whittemore!

Food Story: Eating Out

When I was 10, Dad was the High School principal in Carroll, Iowa. One of the things did then and for all the years he was a principal was attend the state Principal’s Convention. It was held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Des Moines. The city was only a little bit of a detour on our way back from spending the holiday in Morning Sun so the whole family went. While Dad was off at this meetings, Mom, Gene and I would spend the day shopping. One of the big events of that day was picking out a special new ornament for the Christmas tree. The one I recall the most was an orange Santa with a white fur beard and a lot of glitter. His other special feature was the fact that he could be split apart just above the belt and Mom always filled the open space with a special foil rapped candy. Gene, selected an air plane that opened up too.
At the end of Dad’s meetings and before we headed for home, we went to Bishop’s Buffett for dinner. It was a real special event as we did not go out for meals. I remember sliding my tray along on the metal bars and Mom helping me select what I wanted to have for dinner. There was always a special dessert island too were Gene and I loaded up on the sugar treats there too. It was wonderful. But the part I looked forward too was when the waitress came around with Balloons at the end. The balloons had Bishops’ Buffett printed on them and then had cardboard feet so they would stand up. Gene and I would bounce them on our hands. It was perfect ending to a tiring day.

These food related stories are a part of a challenge that Susan suggested.

I hope the days a head are full of joy for everyone.

Keep Creating

Carol

Curvie Cuts, Drawing, Ethel's Nine Patch, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, Machine Drawing, Nine Play, Pixies Group, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Joyous Season

Hello,

It feels like I have not done this work in a long time.   Lots of things have gone on in that time too.     First I went off to the Schweinfurth  Open Studio Retreat.   Three days of doing my own thing along with  8 other artists.    Linda  delighted us all with special cookies that her daughter had made. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria   was  working  away  on  a fabric collage  where  she  was  using  a part  of  one  of  night gown that was one  of my grandmother’s.

 

 

 

 

Susan was finishing up her project from the workshop with Irene Rodrick that she had attended a  few weeks earlier.

She did finish making all the units by the end too.

 

 

 

Nancy did lots of things, but this landscape was my foavorite.

 

 

 

Linda’s project was coming along beautifully as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellen    was busy  finishing up a project she had started in a workshop at QBL

 

 

 

 

I also visited the Q=A=Q show while I was there .  Sharon’s work looked great!

 

 

 

She was busy on a new piece.   It too is based on her trip our west last summer.

 

 

 

 

Judy, Sharon and I went off to visit Marty  on Tue the next week.   She is doing some fun water colors now.

 

 

 

 

 

Then Nov 15, I went off to the Sisterhood Retreat at Kuaka Lake.   This was the third year we got together and it was a good experience too.   The whole event was a bit disjointed this time.  Ann did not stay on sigh and Deb went home ill on  Sat morning with a bad cold.   Lots of work did get done however.

We shared our solutions for the challenges.    Liz made all of us little wallets.

 

 

Joyce did a great three-D landscape.   I did too.    Marcia was still working on hers.  Next year.  We did go shopping but decided ageist another fabric challenge.

 

 

 

Jeanne was the queen of production.   She finished up  this flower top   and worked on this spider web project.

 

 

 

 

 

 She also had a great quilt for show and tell .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deb finished a baby quilt top and went on   to build this Halloween top. before she went away.

 

 

 

 

Marcia worked on putting together  two projects that were started by her good friend Perilla.

 

 

Next year the retreat will be in early October and hopefully  a little more focused.

I had  a FAD meeting yesterday and a Pixie Zoom meeting too.   Life just dose not slow down.

Project Report: Nine Play #2  This quilt is 40″ X 41″.   It is a partner with Nine play #1 as I cut the blocks for both at the same time and mixed them up in both quilts.

I was still doing lots of inserting of narrow strips in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applied Nine- # 3 in the series   This quilt is 41″ X 41″.   I started it at the Schweinfurth retreat and finished the quilting at the Sisterhood retreat.     I really deviated from the rule of inserting narrow strips on this one and applied perfused pre cut pieces from my box of fused fabrics.   I also split up the blocks before I assembled them  to add interest.

I still have lots of perfused pieces and the box is still overflowing so I think there will be several more  similar works in the furfure.

Twilight   This quilt is 18″X 28″ and my entry for the Sisterhood Challenge.  I only got the fabric from Liz( Her left overs as I had totally lost my fabric) on the Tue before the retreat,  so it was done with speed.    I did the tree on wash away with a wool center for the trunk and big branches.  The thin limbs are all thread draw.

I no longer own this quilt as it went home with Patti at the end of the FAD meeting on Wed.

 

 

Lap # 20   This is the last lap quilt I will complete before I make a run to the local nursing home.   I gave away 10 in the  early spring and I will pass the second group off next week.

 

 

 

 

Rocky Tide Pool   I continue to work away on this project from my Joyous Embroidery Class.     I try to put in an hour every day on it.   I am enjoying the textures.

Hands Off    I started assembling this at the Schweinfurth retreat.   I used all the remaining quilters hands from my work last year.   The black and white scraps came from my collection of pieces from Ethel’s box of un used  fabrics.   I finished layering and adding the binding this week.  Now I have started quilting by hand in the negative black sections .

Scrap Blocks   When I opened the Ethel  box earlier this fall I decided to finish up all the scraps  and cut blocks from them.  I finished that step and now  have all the pieced sections added to a solid square of the same size and they are all added to one another as of this morning.  I will begin adding the big 8.5″ blocks into rows for quilt tops this next week.

Spores  In my search for inspiration for work to do at the Scherinfurth Retreat, cam across a photo of spores that had fascinated me.  So I decided I would use it as a jumping off point.   I quickly realized I wanted to us pompoms at a part of the structures and they are a slow hand work  project.  So I set them aside and will now get back to that project.

New Work   I have not decided what to call this project so it is New Work.  I wanted to take a class at the Schweinfurth in Nov and had paid my money to do so only to discover I had two impotent events that wee.  So I gave my spot to Liz.  Susan was at the Schweinfurth Retreat and was settings next to me so I asked her how the class was designed and I thought I understood the process from her description.   So  I attempted to do it at the Sisterhood retreat.  While I was there Liz observed what I was doing and re educated me as to what I was suppose to be doing.  So I will finish this in my own way.

 Exploratory work    Now I think I know what the teacher was trying to teach and with Liz’s explanation, mixed with what I got form Susan I am starting again and this is my drawing to do that  idea.   Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 Food Story – Christmas Noodles

Christmas was always spent at Grandmother Ruth house when I was growing up. Seeing family and talking was the main point of the event. That was paired with the food of course and there were no gifts. Our family was coming from norther Iowa until 8th grade and then from Muncie Indiana after that time. We slept at Grandmother Ester’s in Morning Sun and then drove to Grandview, Iowa – about 25 miles on Christmas day. We were always the first family to arrive as all of Mom’s brother’s family and sisters families lived closer by and they had regular Santa morning get up. Mom would go directly into help cooking mode when we arrived. That usually meant she would start making egg noodles. After the ingredients were mixed she would begin rolling them out. The dough had to dry and set up so it was a task that needed to be done early. I recall trying to roll out the dough, but I lacked the strength to do much of it. The noodles had to rest on the top of the washer and dryer before they were cut into the noodle ribbons and cooked. The rest of the families trickled in as the morning went forwards and I along with the rest of the grand kids was shooed out of the cooking as the adult arrived. We eagerly went off to write our Christmas afternoon play that we preformed to entertain the adult s late int he day. The noodles were always a major part of the feast from my point of view and I really looked forward to eating them. They were popular with everyone too because there were very few left over for the late evening meal.

 

 

 

I hope everyone is now happily preparing for the joy of the season.   I have started my Christmas cards  and one had already come from my friend Sharron.

Keep Creating

Carol

Robert sent me a photo to go along with the noodle story-

FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, Nine Play, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sisterhood of the Scissors

November News

Hello,

Fall is started it close as the color is almost gone form most trees around here.     I am still enjoying the sounds of crunching leaves as I walk thought the piles on the walks.     It has been a busy week for me however.   Friday I helped my friend Sharon hag a solo show.  She had lots of great work and I liked this one this best.

I had a zoom QuEG’s meeting and a Pixie meeting as well.  The FAD group meant here yesterday and we had a good time talking and sharing.

 

 

I went off with another friend to the Syracuse University Gallery this  morning to see the Peter Jones , a member of the Onondaga Nation ( Bever Clan member) show.

 

 

 

 

   He is a wonderful ceramic artist and we happened on a tour of the exabit so we got an bit of extra info.

 

 

 

 

I am off to a weekend retreat at the Schweinfurth tomorrow.  I am  packed with lots of ideas of what I want to do.    The on Wed I go off to the Fall Retreat of the Sisterhood of the Scissors on Seneca Lake, so there will be no post  next week  and not one on Thanksgiving either as the family will all be here.    The next post on November 30th,  will be a big one.

Progress Report: Nine Play # 2    I am declaring this one done even though I still have half of the sleeve to stitch down.   I am sure I will finish that this evening and I don’t want it to carry over to the next post

 

 

 Judy’s Banquet   This work is 24″ w X 16.5″ tall.     It is part of the Joyous Embroidery Class stuff.    I really like how she encouraged one to add lots of dimension to the surface.

My friend Judy gave me most of the lace that I used in this work.

 

 

 

Lap # 20   This top is all ready for layering , but I don’t have any filler at the moment.  I will stop tomorrow on my way home  to get that.

 

 

 

 

Felted   Dryer Balls  These are my gifts to give away at the retreat.  I have three more that still need their hot/cold shock wash in the washing machine.  That will get done today too.

 

 

 

Rocky Tide Pool    This project is yet another that is and out growth from the Flue Woods class.   I am enjoying building up this piece and it is dominating my  desk top at the moment.     I many not get much done on it over the next two weeks, but it will get done eventually.

Twilight    Sometimes you just have to wait for the idea to come – and that sure was the case with this project.   It is due at the Sisterhood Retreat so I am really cutting it close.   The challenge is the dark blue fabric.  I will be sure to take photos of the other gals use of it to share when next I post.

Have a good Thanksgiving and I will post again at the end of the month.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Felt Work, Lap Quilts, Nine Play

Costume Recall

Hello,

This is my shot of the Harvest Moon this week.  It was almost as bright as day light out side that night.

We were talking of Halloween, and speaking of our memories this week in the Pixies group..  It was  was a fun event in my childhood. I recall Mom making an elaborate ballet costume for me and a matching one for my Toni Doll. I wore it in a parade and for the evening event as well. One year I was a nurse as I had been one in the 4th of July parade in Grandview,  and it was fine for Halloween too. I went as a miner one year and wore mom’s fringe leather jacket an old hat and jeans.   I wore a back pack and carried  Grandfather’s  gold pan.   I used a fur wrap that was for my Shirley Temple Doll as a beard.

I dressed in Dad’s Range Uniform one year after I quick stitched up the pant’s legs so they were short enough. I stuff the hat with tissue paper so it would work too.
There were  also consume parties when I was an adult.   I made a flapper costume for the Society Dance.    That was apple green with rows of white fringe.    The first year of Eric’s teaching in Marion Indiana, his principal threw a party were one was suppose to hide their identity at the start. I was pregnant so I created a “great Pumpkin “ costume with a chicken wire cage inside and a green felt hat. I wore a fake face mask. When I was teaching at Onondaga Hill we had several falicty costume parties too. I wore Mom’s pink taffeta three tired prom dress one year. I wore a consume from the schools’ growing costume closet one year and went as Annie Oakley in a cream  outfit with  metallic shoulders and long   pink fringe. Several other teachers used costumes form the that source too. The year after Mon went to Switzerland and Norway I wore the Lederhosen that she had brought for me. I went as a Belly Dancer the year I was taking that class at church. One year I made chain mail out of pull tabs from soda cans. I crocheted the rows together to make it.   The pull tabs no longer come away so it would be more difficult to do that now.   The thing was very heavy even though it was aluminum. We later used that on stage when we did our version of “King Arthur”.  The years that I went to the New York Art Teachers convention and it meant on October 31, I wore costumes as many others  did. One year I was a White Wizard in a robe that was covers in layers of blue organza with suns, moons, and stars all over it. I had a pointed hat of course. I went as a Court Jester in a red and black split front costume one year. I added bells to the big zigzag bottom edge and wore black tights. I made and elaborate three pointed hat in the red and black with bells on the tips. There was also a dolls head on a stick with a small version of the hat that I carried. I made a similar jester costume in apple green and light purple later. They both ended up on stage at Onondaga Hill.
Mixed in there were also costumes for Wendy as she grew up. When she was seven she insisted on going Trick or Treating as May West. I made her a white dress with red spirals in sequins on it. They curved around her and down her hips as she requested. I also made an enormous brimmed white hat with red lining and a red bow that went under her neck to top it all off.    She walked the walk of course. One year she wanted to be a blue dragon. I made a paper mache’ head with a horn in the front. I made the body with spikes in metallic silver down the back and stuff the tail with plastic bags. She loved that one.
My scariest costume was for the Haunted House we did as a part of the Halloween event at Onondaga Hill. I wore a dark pair of pants and an old leather jacket. I made fur ears that I attached and mixed with my own spiked hair. I added makeup  and fake teeth to completed my costume as a werewolf. I went off to school and took my assigned place in the haunted maze and proceeded to scare kids. I hated it!   In half and hour I was ready to quit. I thought it would never end. I made suer I did Roller Scatting parties as my extra curricular event s after that. Eric had not seen me before I went off to school as he was not home from work at that time. I must have been very convincing as he said when I came into the living room-”If I’d had a gun- I would have shot you as an intruder!”    This year we did not have even a single child come to our door.   The nationhood seems to be devoid of kids now.

My class with Fleu  Woods is over now but I am still finishing up the projects.   This one s called Rocky Tide Pool .  I started out with one of my rock pieces from years ago as the base.  It is big, so I will be at it a while.   I think the class has given me permission  to add more stuff on the surface and I am loving that exploration.

I started a new class on Sunday.   It is called Finding Fragments with Shelly  Rhodes.    It should be fun as I am a collector of stuff without her encouragement.

Progress Report: Blue Sea  This work is  35.5″ w X 29.5″ t.     It stared as felting play and  it suggested sea to me.  So I made the little blue fish at the bottom and added the sea weed.  The blue brain coral came next.   The seahorses are from made in the style that I learned in Amanda Mc Caver’s class at QBL last summer.

 

 

Nine Play Two   I am still quilting away on this project.  There are only three more blocks that I need to tackle so I am sure I will complete it soon.

 

Lap # 19   I finished the quilting on this lap quilt this week.   It will be finished quickly too.   I sure am enjoying the play they offer me.

 

 

 

 

Lap#20  I can’t help myself as I have laded out the solid blocks for the next lap quilt already.  I see by this photo that the dark green needs to be repeated or dropped.

 

 

 

 

Judy’s  Banquet    This work is also a part of the Joyous Embroidery  class.   I am adding beads to the lace now.

 

 

 

 

Felted Dryer Balls    I need gifts for the Sisterhood of the Scissors  retreat that is later this month and so I am making these as my contribution.

I hope that fall is treating you well and you too are enjoying the wonders of the season.

Carol