Category Archives: Pixies Group

Black Roses, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Pixies Group, Quiet, Raw Edge Applique, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Gifts

Hello,
I feel so very fortunate to have such kind  and generous friends. Last week I got a surprise package in the mail from my friend Patti. It was a paint brush organizer. So very handy and I put my brushed in strait away. I feel so flattered that she would share her time and effort to make and send me such a nice gift. People can be so very kind and it is doubly wonderful when it comes for no reason. It touches the heart. Such a small act can really lift the soul and raise one’s sprites.   I will try to do the same in the future.
I had four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s meant on Tue with the FAB and Pixies meeting yesterday. It so good to stay connected. The Textile Artists Stitch Club started a new project with Jude Kilgshott. I am still not done with the handwork on my leaf print, but I went a head with the new assignment anyway. Jude asked us to collage a bit with fabric pieces and then stitch them down. I am half done with that as there are suppose to be 8 pages. She was trying to help us see the beauty of the back of the stitch work as well as the front and the transparency of Organdy really does allow that. I will keep working and hopefully get back to the old project too.

Progress Report: Murder  II This work is 36″ X 46″.   I discovered that I had on older piece named Murder of Crows   so I had to rename this work.

 

 

 

 

I did stitch in the ditch  in the seams and around the crows. But I felt that was not enough so I added what I call “ wind lines”  of quilting that run horizontally across the quilt in a wavy pattern. It works and the piece is stable now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I made  a trip to the Dr on Monday and he said I was healing nicely and could go back to normal activity.  That meant that I could lift things without fear of breaking the stitches on the back of my hand. So the first thing I did was quilt this queen sized quilt. It was hard to rustle about under the machine but I did it. Then I did the binding and it is done now.

 

Quiet- Daily Practice One of the other things I could not do with the hand , was stretch this piece. So I did that this week  now  that I have full use of my hands.

 

Black Roses      The work is 38″ X 36″ .    This is a rescue piece. The base was the original  background for Three Sisters.  I removed the figures  and had the old background  piece on the table.  Next to it was   black and white rose fabric .    It was a  gift from my friend Tanya. She often passes me interesting fabrics to play with. It just seemed to go together. And I had a chance to use my cording foot tht I had purchased for the machine.

 

I enjoyed this project.

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters So this piece got a new base and some additional build up. I think I am now ready to stitch the parts down.

 

 

 

 

 

After the Fall This work too had to be put on hold until I got the OK form the Dr. It takes about 10 min to stitch down each  leaf and I find that I can only work  for about half and hour before I begin to tire. All the stopping and truing the whole quilt to sew half and quarter inch sections  is slow work.

Felted Backs I built these backgrounds for the machine drawn birds. I will get out the Felter and do the  felt work this week so I can put it all together.

 

 

Daily Practice I am working away on the daily practice too. This is the new one with a week’s work of effort on it.

 

Childhood Memories- Dr Kunkel and Sailing
Moving to Muncie changed the lives of all of the family in different ways. Gene seemed to have  had  the most difficulty adjusting to a new bigger school. Dad said a new place was a great chance for a fresh start and I took it that way.   One of the changes Dad did was he started using his real first name. When Dad was born  one of his cousin’s  was born across the county   a day after  Dad.   Both boys were named James McElhinney. To keep them strait in the community, Dad went by his middle name of Howard. When we moved to Muncie and his diploma said “James” , he decided to go by that name. In October, I was really  feeling my oats and that nearly lead to disaster. I was comfortably reading away in my room one afternoon when the phone rang. I go up and went down the hall to our only phone and answered.
“Is Jim there?” asked the voice. I said “No” and hung up the phone. I had just gotten settled  when the phone rang again. This time it was the same question and same answer. I returned to my room and the phone rang yet again. As I walked down the hall I though, “ I ‘ll play a joke on this guy.”
“Is Jim there ? ” the caller asked for a third time.
“Yes,” I said. “But he is too drunk to come to the phone.”
“Is this Jim McElhinney’s home?” the caller asked.
I was not smart enough to just hang up, but said. “ Oh! I am so sorry. He is here and I will got to the garden and get him for you.”
After Dad got off the phone he gave me a bit of a dress down for being such a smart-allic.
“What if that had been one of my bosses?” he asked. I never did anything like that again.  As it turned out the man thought the whole thing was quit funny.    He was Dad’s office partner, Dr Kunkle. He and Dad got to be great friends and traveled all over Indiana working with teachers to develop curriculum programs. The two of them also went to Alaska to do the same thing with the Klincket Native American tribes off the coast.   I also developed a connection with Dr Kunkle when I went to Ball State. He was the sponsor of the sailing club there. That is were I learned to sail and I became proficient enough to be a Captain. My friend Margaret and I went out in one of  the club’s Windmill lots of times. On one trip with her I even swamped the boat and had to haul it back to the dock myself. It was a cold event. I only had one more  experience with sailing when I was much older. I spent afternoon trying to learn to sail surf on Cazenovia Lake. I could not “come about”  so I could “tack” north.     I kept   losing control and falling off the board.   So I was slowly “sailing”  farther and farther down the lake. Finally the owner came with his son and rescued me . The son sailed the board home and I rode in the cab back to the house.   Gene got to be good friend with Dr Kunkle too and also learned to sail with him. Gene was a good sailor and the two of them went to lots of sail boat races on weekends.   They eve won some cups.

Stay safe

Carol

Birds, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Holidays

Hello,
Happy Chinese New Year to you! It is the start of the year of the Ox tomorrow and the beginning of the Spring Festival. With the new moon tonight, it is also the start of the lunar new year.   Add to that, Valentines Day on Sunday, and one has a lot to celebrate in the up coming days. I find it interesting that all of those holidays include a lot of red in their celebrations.  I guess we are getting a bit tired of the grays, blacks and whites of winter.
I had a few Zoom meetings this week. The Retired Art Teachers meant and we enjoyed the talk as we are all spread out now and some  gals live in  FL and South Carolina.   They joined us  in  this meeting. The Pixies also talked this week. Zooming is a real pick me up for me, but  I do miss the social contact of live meetings.
The Textile Artist Stitch Club project is going well. I do not think I will have the handwork done before I get the next assignment, but I am not too worried as I tend to complete projects. Good thing that is one of my better habits as I keep staring things due to the hand operation. The fact that I can not rustle the big projects under the machine means I just get to a point and I must stop. The UFO pile is really building up. I hope that the Dr gives me the Okay to go forward on Monday and I can finish up a few things.

Progress Report:  Lap Quilt – Glyph    This is the only project that I completed this week becasue it is small.   It is  37″ X 46″  .   I enjoyed working to finally put these  stenciled  squares into a work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt IV I am using my hand dyed as a starting place for this project. It is layed and I have stared the quilting in the ditch work on it. I am sure I will finish it in the next day or two.

 

 

 

 

Scarp Happy Quilt I am assembng the back of this project now. It is a great way for me to use up bits and pieces.

 

 

 

 


Murder of Crows I finally put this work together this week. It too is at the stitch in the ditch quilting step. I can manage these smaller works under the machine even with the hand limitations.

 

 

 

Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge- Three Sisters The assignment is to do something with portraitures with a Picasso influence. I am going for the cubist period. But this is awful! Too much of a good thing I guess. I will dismantle it and start again.

 

Thread Painting – three birds   I did these birds, a Chickadee, a Finch and  a Cedar Waxwing thinking I had three felted backgrounds on the shelf. When I pulled the backgrounds out, I discovered that only two would work and the felting step was only just started. I will  make one more background and  work at getting them all felted properly.

Daily Project I am on the second piece of fabric in this nightly handwork series. It is a very calming way to end my working days.

 

 

 

Childhood- Jr High continued
I continued to play my clarinet after we moved and all through high school.  In eight grade I befriended a tall, some-what gangly, awkward gal named Margaret Dunn. She played the drums and bells . Our friendship was a powerful influence in my life. She is the only person I am still connected with from high school . She now lives in Rhode Island. She and her husband travel all over the world judging Kite Competitions and teaching folks everywhere how to make kites. Both Margaret and I took part in the school musical, “When Our Hearts Were Young and Gay”. We were in the choirs, so we had lots to time to talk and enjoy the event. We were also together in Science class with Mr Davidson. I will admit that when the class dissected a frog, I was not impressed. It was smelly and colorless, a bit of a let down after Mom’s rabbit the year before. My lab partner was thrilled. Like Mom, Mr Davison had ways to add points to one’s grade. He had a big collection stamps of wild animals and one could enlarge an image for extra credit. I took out my colored pencils and got busy. I did several, although I only recall doing the Sage Grouse with his tail feathers all fanned out and the chest wattles enlarged. Mr Davidson also sponsored early morning bird watching walks. Margaret and I arrived at school at 6 on several occasions to accompany him along with other kids to spot birds. Dad let me borrow his binoculars and that made the project more enjoyable .
> A brand new class for me was Home Economics. There were two Home Economics teachers . One taught sewing and health/hygiene . The other taught cooking and nutrition. I remember learning how to make Tuna Salad with hard boiled eggs and making cookies. In the sewing class our first project was a felt pajama bag shaped like a cat’s head. The skill the teacher was shooting for was how to put in a zipper. My experience with Grandmother Ester helped me in that class. I did get a speeding ticket in that class, for running the sewing machine too fast. Our second project was a straight skirt. She stressed that we all needed a good set of sewing scissors. I got some with Singer printed on the side and I still have them. I selected a pattern with a skirt and shell and then picked out black and white plaid corduroy fabric to use. Matching the plaid was a lesson I will never forget as I had to rip out my seams several times. I created a separate challenge for myself by making the shell reversible. That was the start of my career of making one garment do two jobs. I don’t know how many costumes I made using that trick. In Hygiene we learned how to wash our faces using little circular motions. We did craft projects in that class too. In Nov. I ordered a kit to make Mom a ceramic tile tray for Christmas. It came and I assembled it according to the instructions. Mom loved it and the tray sat on its side on the counter under the china cabinet for years. I also remember that we “learned’ how to knit a flat tie under the chin scarf/ hat. I did learn enough to get the job done, but the practice did not stick ! I was over fifty when I felt I could call myself a novice knitter.
> I was becoming aware of popular culture. There were two popular TV shows about Doctors at that time- Ben Casey and Dr Killdare. People seemed to like one or the other, but not both. Dr-like shirts were all the fashion that spring. Mom knew I liked Dr Killdare, but she refused to purchase me a trendy bit of clothing. And she was correct, by the next fall no one was wearing them any more. Another TV star that was popular was Carol Burnett. I was thrilled that she and I shared the same first name. I had a job at home ironing clothing and I would often set up the board and watch “Frances Farmer Presents” old movies on TV in the afternoon when I got home from school while I ironed. The family watched lots of westerns together and my favorites were Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel and  The Rebel with Johnny Uma.

I hope you have good TV show memories too.

Stay safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Textile Artist Stitch Club

Grounded

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well.  My big excitement for the week was a little operation on my the back on my left hand on Monday morning to remove a growth. That has really slowed me down as I can not lift much. I can do hand work sense I am right handed and can work on a few things – but lots of work will need to wait two weeks until I see the Dr again. It is good to slow down and take stak every now and then.     I survived the big snow that hit our area by just staying put, Zooming and working.   I did go for a walk in the cemetarty today inthe sun shine though  and enjoyed it throughly. I had lots of meetings this week. The QuEGs, FAD and Pixies meant and it was all stimulating. There was also a RATs ( Retired Art Teachers) meeting too. It is good to stay connected with folks in this time of isolation. The Textile Artists Stitch Club ‘s new teacher is Caroline Nixon. She had us do a bit of bio printing before we started stitching this week. I have only done a little of the stitch work so far.

 

Progress Report: After the Fall I had started stitching down the leaves on this project before Mon so there is a little progress.  I will not be working on it until later now as it requires lots of handling and with the stitches in my hand I can not pull the fabric around as I need to for the outlining of the leaves.

Lap Quilt – Glyph I layered this quilt yesterday. I think I can stitch in the ditch quilt this work because it is all strait runs and not much else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6X6 The Rochester Cultural Arts Center has made it annual call for little six inch by six inch works so I got busy and finished off these three during some of my meetings this week.

 

 

 

Old Project I found this piece while hunting for bases for the 6X6 projects. I will finish it up quickly I think.

 

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I finished the hand work on this big piece this week. I want to stretch it so again that will be put on hold .

 

 

 

 

But I did begin a new Daily series after talking with my friend Barbara. I am going to use a lot of my paint and hand dyed fabrics as a base and use the left over pre fuzed solid fabrics from the Mayan series to stitch into. It should make for a complex and interesting surface to work on.

 

Collage Crows  I did a few more crows in the collage techniqie this week .  I used an old fabric that Marty and I had made after a visit to Elizabeth Bush where she showed us how she was using spray paint on fabrics to create some wonderul images.  The backgound is fine for this strong contrast in the pieces of black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood -Mr Carr
A teacher that had a profound effect on my development was Mr Peter Carr. Mr Carr wasmy  summer school art teacher the summer between my Junior and Senior years in high school.  His classes were  structured, his lessons specific. The first day of class he gave all the students  a sketch book and said we would have three  pen drawings due very week . One would be assigned and the other two were our choice. The first assignment was to draw what was under the kitchen sink and  I remember having the most difficulity  drawing the gallon glass vinegar bottle.  Then with  the intention of impressing him, I drew a portrait of a Viking with a helmet with fur and horns.   Using a ball point pen made one slow down and look carefully before putting down the lines- there was no erasing. The Viking looked great- but some how I had given him a very crooked nose. Mr Carr gave me high marks for the work , but on the nose of the Viking he had corrected the line  of the nose in red pencil.  I never made an error in the nose alignment again as every time I look at the sketch I see the correction. Other assigments included a trip to  the cemetery, what was under our beds, and our reflection in a shiny object. I  still love to draw with  a Bic ball point pens. We did ceramics, his art form of choice, painting and collages  that summer. Then the  last few weeks of class we had choices. I decided to try doing a punch needle rug for the choices offered. This was my first real use of fibers as a art material. I did my designs in colored pencil keeping in mind that rugs had no up or down and needed to look good from all points of view. I selected the strongest design  with his help.   I built a wooden frame and stretched the burlap over the frame and  begin the work.  I drew a design of FIRE in magic marker on the burlap and began punching in the colored yarns. The rug was successful as the shapes were good, the colors strong and the stitches were of varying heights. I spent many happy hours working on the project, but I  did not complete it before the end of the class.  I got an A none the less. Mom hung  my  “Fire” in the front hall so you could see it when you came into the house. “You could not put it on the floor,”she said. “One does not walk on fire.”  The rug won a blue ribbon in the Art Fair my senior year at school.

The rug hung in the hall until Mom moved to AZ in 1979 when it came back into my possession. I went on to do a “Water” rug and one all in greens that I called “Fields.”  That  work was like looking at the earth from an airplane- some thing I had not done at the time.
Mr Carr came back into my life when I was a senior in college.  At Ball State all folks on the path to becoming teachers took a class called “Practium”.

The class was a chance to teach a few lessons with the supervision of a master teacher in the lab school. Before we ment the kids to beging that experience, we had a meeting with Mr Carr were he  prepared us for the experience. He told us all to come to class the first day dressed as an Artist. “ Look the part, act the part, and you will be the part,”he said. I went out and purchased myself a pair of blue bell bottom throusers that covered my shoes, a white highly  textured blouse and a navy blue wool Nehru jacket. It passed the text. Mr Carr  was as good at teaching us how to teach, as he was at teaching art.   One great pointer was to limit the scope of the assignment so kids don’t flounder around and waste time.  Another was to break  complex projects into small units that kids can build on to create good work.  He reminded  us to reward the students  efforts along the way as much as theie final projects. That is where the real growth happens. I credit him with setting  on a great path to becoming a successful teacher.

Stay safe,  and keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Winter White

2 Comments

Hello,
Winter has made its self present in central New York. We get a fresh addition of snow every day and it is starting to build up. The new add on’s do keep it looking fresh however and white.    It is amazing how white, black  and a bit of gray can be so beautiful!  I have had a quiet but busy week. I did deliver the twin Scarp Happy quilt on Monday and promptly started another. Some how no face contact with folks is starting to diminish the joy of sharing. I have become acutely aware how important saying “Thank You” is.   I am still a little burnt by giving 21 quilts to the nursing home and having the guard tell me to drop them on the floor while he continued to play on his phone. He said my contact  was unavailable. I  still do not know if the woman I talked with  on the phone got the quilts or they went out in the trash. That was three weeks ago.  I know that everyone is busy and Covid complicates things, but I did leave my business card in all the bags, so one hopes they could find me if they wanted to.
I did get a great deal of joy in the mail this week with two different events. My Spoonflower order arrived and I am delighted with the results. I will have to feature it in a work soon. My second delight came in the form of a package from Robert of the Pixies group. It was a new hat! It make me smile from ear to ear every time I look at it. It sure made our Zoom meeting fun as we all had new toppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club assignment for this week  was from Valerie Goodwin. I have had several classes with her and find her to be a strong teacher. We made a map of our neighborhoods using Goolgel maps as our jumping off point. It was fun and I enjoyed doing the hand work.   The purple round objects are my trees as viewed from above.

Progress Report: Scarp Happy This work is going quickly as I already had a backing done from some time in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Crow Fabric Collage I could not make the crow that I did last week work by its self, so I made a second one yesterday. I like to do things in odd numbered groups so I will make a third feature unit this week to mix with the two done ones.

 

 

 

Autumn Fall The base is all assembled and quilted so now I can add the Tyvec leaves on top. I am doing the vanes by machine first. It takes me about 12 min to do each one.   I am about half way done with the vain work.

 

 

 

 

Black base I am doing more hand work with the wool treads that Nancy gave me. This is a second piece of black fabric that I tried to discharge last summer so there are some slight color changes in the black.   I am exploring with my stitches.

Daily Practice Because I am using the  same wool and lots of old dyed lace this work is moving along a lot faster then I expected.  Wool needs bigger stitches and that fills thing in quickly.  Fun work however.

 

 

 

New Lap Quilt

I have pulled these fabrics for my next lap quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood/ Adolescents Memories Jr High
>
> My entry into Storer Jr High was different in many ways.
> I was just Carol McElhinney , one student among many  and my parents were not known in this community . Though Dad was in the Education department at Ball State Teachers collage, he was also new .   With time  his name became know and that short unanimity disappeared, that only   changed when I married Eric and changes my last name. Then I  did get out from under Dad’s big shadow. The middle school went from 7th grade to Freshman year and there were over 350 students in each grade level. This was a another big difference .My school records from Carroll followed me and I was placed in a low level home room with Mr Dillon. He was our teacher for Language Arts. I don’t recall much instruction , but I do remember lots of sustained silent reading with book reports to follow. The report was  a simple, title, author and short plot line. Since I had really started to understand how to decode the printed word over the summer, it was a real growing experience. By the end of the first semester ,Mr Dillon moved me a different home room. That was a math home room and since I did well with numbers, it worked well for me. My new English teacher was Mrs Middelton .  I had her for 9th grade too. I do remember one incident in her class very well. We were silently reading O Henry’s short story, “Ransom of the Red Chief.” I saw the story so vividly in my mind that I burst out laughing in the silent room. I got quiet embarrassed , settled down and started reading.   But again I got so lost in the story and soon  was laughing uncontrollably again. Mrs Middelton sent me to set in the hall for the rest of the period to finish the story and not distract anyone else. Years later when Eric and  I visited Storer on a teachers’s visitation day our paths crossed again. She recognized me and told Eric the story of that day. Later that spring, she hired Eric for a teaching job there.
> My school was about a mile from our house and across the creek that ran behind our home. There was  one foot bridge  near the school   and no road crossing the creek until one was a mile and a half from home.    I often rode my bike to school early as I had a job. I was the kid who opened and ran the school book store. I would go to the office and pick up the cash box and key to open the big display cabinet were a few simple school supplies were kept. Paper, note books, pencils, compasses, rules and such, were what the store  sold. After locking up I went to Math class first period. My seat was behind John Isenbarker, one of the popular Jocks. He was a quarter back for the football team and a center for the basketball team. When we were paired to do work together I Learned how lazy he was. I had too much self worth to let the “ big man on campus”, copy my homework so he sort of black balled me. It was a big enough school that I still survived.

Miss Fisher was the girls gym teacher and I really liked her. I  experienced the  big change in the rules of how girls played basketball. In eighth grade, girls played half court and I was a forward.    We never crossed the center line.  In ninth grade after the rules changed, it was full court like the boys played basketball ,and I was a guard. I remember a fierce competition between Jo Ann Walker and myself. Jo Ann was in Mr Dillon’s class so we had a bit of a history . She was scrappy, and taller then I was. I came home with many scratches on my arms after basketball games from her aggressive attitude. This was also about the time I realized that the world was stacked in favor of boys and men. I was quite upset and angry about this. Dad and I had several talks on that subject. In the end, I went away from those talks with Dad’s assurance that I could do what ever I wanted and I would have his support.

Take good care of your self

Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Technical Difficulties

Hello,

For me it has been a strange week. We suffered a technical miss hap.   Two trips to the store,  playing with cable connections and a bit of crawling around on the floor and now we are back in working order.    One forgets how much we have come to depend on this machine for so many things. I was able to make my Zoom meetings through my phone- but I am sure I used lots of Data to do that and I will pay later. There were four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s group meant before the modem failure so it went well although there were not a lot of folks in attendance. FAB meant on Wed and they were my first challenge with doing the zoom on my phone. Wed eve was the Pixies and it took 20 min for us all to get in aliment and able to talk. Susan suggested that we try a create a While Voodoo character to push positive energy into the world. This is my start.

 

Sisterhood
of the Scissors meeting went well because I was at Liz’s and we just tacked it on the end of our class with Rosalie Dace from Stitching Post. It was the last class and I am feeling a bit let down about that.

I also had a new assignment with Textile Artist Stitch Club this week. The new teacher is Valerie Goodwin. I have had classes with her at QBL so that was quiet enjoyable. I can not do the assignment because that had to do  with printing out a map, and the printer is wireless. I did finish my piece from last week however.

My other big event was to hang my solo show at the Life Force Studio. It consisted of the 13 Mayan pieces. I will add them at the bottom of this blog. We also did a video but it was too long so I do not know were that stands. Learning lots of things every day as far as technology is concerned.

Progress Report: Captured This piece is 32″ w X 42″ l. It came out stronger then I expected and I think I will try some more work in this vain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bone Dancer – Mayan Series This is the last of the series and it is 20″ w X 24″ l. I only had to add the binding, sleeve and label to complete this quilt this week. I will not show it in the lineup at the end of the post, but it is there too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Lap Quilt This is the newest finished lap quilt for the nursing home. I am using these as a chance to put together different fabrics and play a bit.

 

 

 

 

Orange Lap Quilt This is a second lap quilt that only needs the binding and it will be complete.   This quilt is also made up of mostly hand dyed and altered fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Twin Scrap Quilt This quilt is the commission I have been working on and it only needs to have its binding attached and it too will be complete. I am all excited about doing some more scarp quilts in the near future.

 

 

 

New work – Big Leaves This is the beginning of my use of the big Labrador that did not work on the pieces that became High Anxiety.

 

 

 

 

Raven I got busy and drew in crayon and colored pencil on a bit of fabric this week. He is a bit menacing, but I like him. Not sure were I am going here, but I like a challenge

 

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I continue to applique down old lace and stitch with wool on this piece.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Muncie Neighborhood

The Neighborhood in Muncie was like all the other neighborhoods in some respects. My parents seemed to always select locations on the out skirts of town with farmland near bye. In this case it was just across Petty road at the north side of the house and across the creek to the west. Dad did dig a garden in the back south corner of the yard as usual. He had a nice strawberry bed and corn every year along with tomatoes and other vegetables. The creek that ran along the back of our lot was a steep five foot drop to the water from our yard. Although the water did get high in spring it never flooded over those banks. I can’t say I ever climbed down to the water even under the bridge over Petty Road. I did explore the lands on those two farm though. The area directly behind the house across the creek was a field  that was going back to nature. There were lots of adolescent trees and brambles in that area. There was also a pond that I visited many time to watch birds and dragon flies as well as listen to frogs. Beyond the that field was a field stone house . The farm widow lived there. I only saw her once . The rest of her farm was across the road and it too was going back to nature as well. There was a great old gray barn that I looked at a time or two. One day it caught fire and the arrival of the fire trucks alerted everyone to the event. We were held at bay and that was a good thing as the metal sheets exploded off the roof of the barn in the middle of the fire and flew in many directions. That was also the day I saw the widow on the stone poach as she watched along with many others as the barn burned to the ground. Across the road on the east side of the creek was another active farm. That property had five different wind breaks/ wooded areas with plowed and planted areas in between. The wooded strips were all about seventy feet wide and supported a mixture of pines and hard woods . I explored them all of course. Two had little interest for me but the other three had elements that I returned to many times. One had a section of white pines that I would visit when I want to be calm. I would lie down on the many years of pin needles and enjoy the smells and look up through the branches at the sky and just day dream. Another section closer our house had two wonderful trees for climbing and I visited that area the most. The third are was on the far east side of the land and there was a great old willow tree there . I went there several times and tried to weave willow baskets. I was not real successful with those attempts, but that did not stop me from trying.
Dad had discourages me from playing football with the boys and although Gene would let he help his when no one else was available, but Steven would not tolerate my participation at all. It was lonely. In early October walking home form school I did meet another older girl in the neighborhood. Ann Pazel was in seventh grade and she lived six blocks from my house. Her parents owned the fanciest Jewelry store downtown. Her parents tightly structured Ann’s live with lessons and such  the only day of the week that we could play together was Tuesday. She had a Parakeet and I was fascinated. Mom disliked birds because a rooster had flown into her face when she was young. So having birds around was out of the question for me. Ann was a avid stamp collector and we all spent hours sorting, examining and sharing those wonderful little images. I still have my original stamp album and continue to save every different stamp that arrives on mail sent to me. Someone will have a treasure trove to sort and enjoy some time in the future.

I will add a separate post of all of the pieces in the show.

Stay safe and keep Creating,
Carol

Childhood Memories, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Winter work

Hello,

Now that the holidays are over and all the decorations are put away I can really concentrate on the studio clean up and sort.   It is a good time to do this sort of thing as there are few  distractions.      I am nearly done with the fabrics. For the most part I have put like colors and fabric types together. I did make some selections of things that I can pass forward  to give away. The only material  left is  my hand altered fabrics and then I will call that step done. My plan is to tackle the remaining book shelves next.
I had a Zoom meetings this week with the Diva’s and the Pixies. It is always good to talk with fellow artists. Textile Artist Stitch Club gave us a new assignment too. This is my drawing. I will use a view finder to select a small portion and begin the  stitch work.

 

 

Progress Report: Lead Dancer Mayan Series # 13 This work is 20″ w X 24.5″ l. With  this finished up, there is only one more in the series. It has been and enjoyable one for me. I am looking forward to the show next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind Blown 3 X 3 Challenge This work is 38.5″ X 38.5″. All the Gingko leaves are raw edged appliqued to the surface thought the batting. The leaves are all silks of various types.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I was commissioned to do one of these in a twin size. All the rows are done and I am working on the backing now.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt. In my cleaning I found this top all done with out the batting and backing.   I added those two part and  I am   doing stitch in the ditch quilting it now.

 

 

 

Captured Threads I started this project three years ago at Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth and it too got buried. I am doing the binding on it now and so I will finish it shortly.

Bone Dancer- Mayan Series # 14 This is the last planned work in this series. I am to the quilting stage of this work now as I have a show of all 14 coming next week at the Life Force Studios. Nothing like a dead line to push one forward.

New Work I had cut these squares and pinned them down before I found the other lap quilt, but I will build it none the less. I know I can always find a home for them.

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I started this last week and I am adding yarns and ribbon to the surface at this point. I am keeping the colors simple and closely related. It is meditative to work on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Moving to Muncie Indiana
The move to Muncie was a big change for all of the family. Gene and I did not help with the actual packing up of the household. That job was carried out my Mom and Dad with the help of uncle Paul. They drove our stuff to Muncie and unloaded it. Gene, Russell and I came in Grandpa Howard’s truck. In the late afternoon one day, Grandmother and Grandpa loaded us up and we started driving east form Grandview. The three of us had a good time raising our selves above the cab and yelling into the wind for a while. But as the sun went down it became colder and colder. I remember Grandmother rotating us into the cab to warm up before we all fell asleep in the sleeping bags in the bed of the truck. The new house was in a housing development at the end of Brook Drive. It was a yellow brick ranch style house with a garage on the far south side at the end of the drive. There was one other competed house diagonally across the street where the Baloue’s lived. The adults  both worked at Ball State too and their was a son, Steven,  was Gene’s age. Many lots were not developed, but a few had craw spaces dug. There were no girls over 4 for five or more blocks in all directions. There was a big old Shingle Oak in the front yard on the west end and behind the house was a brook. Our street T-ed int Petty Road and beyond that road were fields. Across the brook was a abandon field that was going back to nature and beyond that a stone field house. From the  drive way one would walk up one step  between floor to ceiling windows on the left and a yellow brick flower box on the right , to arrive at the front door. Opening the front door one entered into a short landing with three exits. To the right was a wide opening to the living room that ran along the front of the house. If one went strait ahead there was a phone on the wall to the right and a door way to the kitchen. On turning left one went down the hall to the bath on the right across from Gene’s room. Strait down the the hall brought  one to my room, with Mom and Dad’s bedroom door just to the right. Their sweet had a small bathroom with a shower, stool and sink. I loved my new all white room. I had two windows that faced east and a third that faced north. The big old yellow typing desk, that was in my room in Carroll, did not make the trip, but most of the furniture that my parents had built did. They built desks for both Gene and myself out of doors that were used as the writhing surface. Four screw in legs were the corners, and Dad built slides for the drawers. The drawers themselves were brown plastic wash tubs that slid in on the slide tracks. I also had great bulletin board on that was on that wall. In the corner at the east side was my newly inherited chest of drawers with a large mirror over it. Mom and Dad got a new bedroom set and I got the old blond wavy cut one with big X drawer pulls. I thought it was so “Hollywood”. In the front north east corner was my new bed. Gene and I both got new three quarter beds. That was a fashion that did not last long and Mom grew to dislike as she could not purchase sheets to fit. She had to cut down and re sew doubles to fit. Later that fist fall I got a blue swivel rocker that lived at the end of my bed in front of the closet. My book shelf lived inside the closet at one end and the play cupboard that Grandfather Howard had built me was at the other. Back down the hall was the kitchen/dinning area was behind the living room on the west side of the house. There were double sliding glass doors at the far end of that are and they opened onto a poured cement patio. At that far end was a set of folding doors on the right that opened to the living room. Beyond those doors on the right was a door to the garage. Opposite that door was on to the laundry room that included a sink and a stool too. At the end of the short hall was a door to the den. There was a door to the patio from there as well. Mom and Dad both had desks in that room. The house served us well and I enjoyed it until I moved away my senior year in college to live in a house with seven other girls.

 

Childhood Memories, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Bone Dancer, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Squares a Dancing

New Year

Happy Hew Year to all.
I sure hope that 2021 brings more freedom and joy to everyone.     May we all see a little clearer, love a little more deeply and value what we have missed the most this year.  I look forward to hugs and laughter with lost of smiling faces all around me.     Good health and wonder to all.

I tried to finish up lots of little details as part of my preparation for the new year  and  a fresh start.
I did complete my English Robin as the Textile Artist Stitch Club assignment. I learned that I need to pin and pin a lot even though the instructor, Mandy Pattallo did not. My robin got very fat as the part spread out while I worked.
The Pixies had a on line meeting as usual. We had an assignment to draw something to represent what we did on Christmas day. I always associate Christmas with Pamagranits, so I purchase and eat them that day. They were on sale in our grocery,  so I purchased two. One is gone and the second is almost finished now.

 

 

Progress Report: Lap Quilt This work is 40″ w X 46″t. It is made up of mostly fabrics that I altered in some way. I printed on most of them. It was fun to use my fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cold Moon Rising The work is 46″ w X 28″ t.    I changed the title of this work as I learned that the  last full moon of December is called a Cold Moon.   The branches are all wool yarn that I zig-zagged down. The birds themselves are made from various blacks. Several from the bottoms of pants that were shortened, some of velour and a bit of felt. By using a variety of fabrics for the birds I think it adds more interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I finally got to put these fellows into rows this week. It will be a very handsome lap quilt I think.

 

 

Scrap Happy I worked away on this project this week . I am at the machine quilting stage and about half way done with it. I am sure I will complete this project this week

 

 

 

 

Lead Dancer- Mayan Series #13 I am working away on the out lining of the parts of this figure. I think I am about half way done with this step and will surely get to the quilting by Monday.

 

 

 

Bone Dancer – Mayan Series # 14 I spent a few hours this week with the cutting and fusing of the shapes for this project. I think I am getting anxious to complete this series so I put in extra time.

 

 

 

 

Fall Last week I painted the tyvec to use as leaves on the colored base. Well when I finally placed the first leaves on the base . It was awful! So they will become the start of something new. I tried cutting and pinning ginkgo type silk leaves on the base and I like that a lot more. So I am going in that direction now. I plan to stitch a few down before I go any further with this idea.

 

 

New Work I got asked to do a commission by the son of a friend. It will be a twin quilt for a child. I pulled out the leftover squares from the summer quilts and I will start there.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Church Camp
The summer between seventh and eighth grade was different than past summers with the grandparents. I was older and there was more freedom in both households. I did get to wash and dry dishes in both places too. At Grandma Esters’s I was too old for Vacation Bible school, but old enough for Summer Church camp. It was held at the Rose of Sharon Church, out in the country, with bean and corn fields on all four sides. The camp lasted a week and was an overnight event. Old Army tents were set up on the church grounds, with the boys tents west of the church, next to the cemetery, and the girls tents, east of the church, next to the parking lot. Grandmother had an old army cot that I slept on in a small tent that I shared with one other girl. Grandmother and I prepared for the event by making pajamas out of cotton duck. Grandmother also make me a corduroy robe to wear over the top. At the camp we had bible classes in the mornings and sang. Each afternoon was a special event. For the afternoon of the first day we all piled into the Church bus and rode to Burlington to the public swimming pool. I was a bit mesmerized by the older kids as they played a wild game where the girls would get onto a boy’s shoulders and the pair would charge another pair. The girls would try to knock one another off into the water. I was also surprised by Kathy Paterson, the minister’s 17 year old daughter, who wore a two piece swimming suit. We did have a good time in the water that day. After dinner we had a little Bible study and sang around the camp fire, mostly Psalms. Then it was time for bed. The bathrooms were in the church and one had to leave the tent to wash up and finish preparing for sleep. I was so very proud of my new self made pajamas, that I went to the bathroom without wearing my robe. On my way back to the tent, I was walking along the side aisle of the chapel to the back door when Kathy, stopped me. She then proceeded to lecture me on how inappropriate it was for me to be out of my tent in only my pajamas. I ended up in tears as I ran back to the tent. My tent mate, also a bit of an out cast, was not very sympathetic either. After I cried myself out, I lay awake a long time thinking about the situation. I realized that I was more covered in my floor length cotton Pajamas then Kathy had been in the pool that afternoon That was really the start of my questioning religious philosophy. We went roller skating one afternoon, and had base ball games too. One night some kids went “Snipe Hunting”. I at least did not fall for that nonsense. It was pleasant for the most part.
Later that summer Aunt Hertha tried to teach Mary Helen, my cousin and me to knit. Mary Helen did get it, but me… Well lets just say I had several more teachers before I really got the hang of it. I babysat for Aunt Marty Ann too. She had two girls. Sharon, who was three and baby Sally. Sharon love to play tag. She often fell down in her hastes .Her cheerful response to that action was “ Oops-see -daisy” as she got up and ran again. It was always fun to play with her.
Another privilege of being older was that I got to go out with my cousin Ronne Lambert . He was a year older. He had a car and one afternoon we went to the county fair. His sister Ann was in 4-H and had cookies and an apron in the show. We rode the Ferris Wheel and the Merry go Round. It was enjoyable. Ronne and I went for one other outing to Columbus Junction at night. We rented a motor cycle and drove around town for about an hour. It was fun as we did go past my old house and the school as part of the trip. When we got back to grandmothers, we sat in the drive talking about our dreams for the future well into the night.

Please stay safe and have a good New Year

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Lap Quilts, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Winter Moon

Holiday Greetings

Hello,

In this holiday season one misses  the family more then usual this year. Covid’s forced isolation,  has effected us all in many different ways. I find I value my friends even more now that I can not go see them. The Zoom meetings and email do help, but I miss the human contact. When we are all past this trial and we can hug one another again it will be even more sweet to do so. For now memories of days gone by will have to help us through the days and long winter nights. I enjoyed writing my cards this year and though more about what the recipient would like to know about my life then just doing the usual news letter type of thing. I hope to hear from the friends too. As the days inch longer, I will value the light and warmth they bring with more appreciation.
The Pixies were the only group that meant this week. We all had a good talk and enjoyed the commentary a lot. There was a new assignment from Textile Artist Stitch Club. Mandy Pattallo did a step by step demo on how to do a Christmas Robin. I think my bird got a little fat, but I enjoyed learning her fabric collage technique.
I did get a little gift for myself this year. I purchased a face book “Pastbook” of my images from 2016 to the present. I am quiet delighted by the wide range of images and enjoy reviewing my past work all in one place.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Scrap Happy – Ethel Scarps This is the second one in this group. I guess they all look a lot a like, but they are all going to different homes so that is OK. I only need to add quilting and do the binding now and this one will be complete.

Lead Dancer – Mayan Series #13 I just stitch steadily away on this piece. I have learned that it works best if I try to do the center areas first and work out from there.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing These blocks are all dismantled now. So I will soon begin to assemble them into a quilt top.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt This top is all ready to layer and quilt now too. This one has only two fabrics that I did not alter in some way as a part of it. I like how satisfying these little works are.

 

 

 

Winter Moon I am still in a crow mood I guess and this moon rise with trees will be the base I build on. I zig-zagged down the wool yarn branches of the trees on the far left and far right so far.

3 X 3- new I though I would try a third piece in this assignment from the Sisterhood of the Scissors. I  also  wanted and excuse to try the Painted Tyvec leaves that were mentioned in the summer issue of Quilting Arts and this seemed to fill that bill. Painting the Tyvek was fun too.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Changes
I was having growing pains,  and not at all  sure what was appropriate behavior any more. Lee’s mom set up a boy/girl party in the fall. There were about a twenty other kids from seventh grade invited. It was in the afternoon and we listen to records and danced- sort of. I liked the punch and the donuts, but…. It was awkward for me as I became aware of the beginnings of “clicks.” I did not belong to any of them and felt like an outsider to folks I had played with and been friends with for years.     Added to that discomfort   was the face that I did not know how to dance. I stood on the sides most of the time and felt inadequate. Later my friend Lora, who had an older cousin, taught the two of us how to dance so I did not let that problem fester. I did have a Birthday party of my own in the spring. It was for only girls and that was a bit better.  But Martha Annaburg, Lee’s cousin, still played the “click card” by telling everyone what to do, so even that is not one of my favorite memories.
It really was year of not being quite  a full participant in anything. We did go to band class with the high school kids in the high school building. But we were not part of the winter or spring concerts. We were allowed to march with the full band, to swell its numbers, in the parade in the spring. I was so happy to get White Bucks to wear with my first band uniform. It was a big event as about 15 different bands came to town to  all marched in the afternoon parade. In the evening all the bands appeared on the baseball field to play “76 Trombones”- with all the trombones in the front.     And yes, there were 76 trombones performing.  The seventh and eight grade choirs was a bit better. We did get to preform two numbers at each of those music concerts I mentioned. I recall leaning Little Drummer Boy as it was a new Christmas Carol at that time.
At the end of the seventh grade the seventh and eight grade had a big dance called the “Spring Fling.” Again it was the first one the seventh graders were allowed to attend. Grandmother Ester made me a pink Dotted Swiss Dress for that event and I got new white Mary Janes. I also got to wear a very special pink fluffy coat that had belonged to Aunt Shirley. The coat had big cuffed three quarter length sleeves that just wrapped across the front- no buttons. Mom let me wear her long white gloves too so I thought I was hot stuff. The lights in the gym were low and there were lots crape paper streamer decorations. I was quite impressed. There was punch and cookies in one corner were it seemed like the teacher/ chaperones hung out and loud music. I don’t remember doing much dancing except with Lora. I did do one dance with Chris Moore. I was quiet enamored of him by then as I realized I really like boys with brains. Later, near the end of school year he did kiss me in his basement between the sheets that were hanging to dry there. That might have grown to a big part of my life, but   because Dad graduated from the University of Iowa, and Gene and I went off spend our last summer in Iowa.  It was  six weeks with the grandparents while Mom and Dad went to California looking for jobs.    They did not find anything they were happy with so they went and checked out Ball State Teachers College in Muncie Indiana.      That was a fit so they purchased a lot and designed a new house before they came to pick Gene and I up.   Then at the end of summer we packed the house and  moved to begin a new chapter in our lives.

Please stay safe and enjoy the holidays
Carol

 

Childhood Memories, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Water Dancer, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Squares a Dancing

Fresh Snow

Hello,
We had our first big snow over night. It is so lovely how the snow softens all the sharp edges of things and cleans up the world a bit. I did not have to do too much of the shoveling so I am sure I enjoyed it more then my Husband.
I had four Zoom meetings this week so I feel very full of inspiration. The QuEGs group meant on Tue. There were only three of us, but it was still enjoyable as Sue Ellen had lots of table runners to share. FAB meant yesterday and that was exciting as we added two new old friends to the mix. Then the Pixies meant in the afternoon yesterday. Good to talk with these Florida folks. They had rain while we got the cold version. Today the Sisterhood of the Scissors meant.
          I finished up Kathy’s Quilt on Monday and it got delivered yesterday. It went through some modifications from last week. This shot is of the finished work and Kathy.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Water Dancer This quilt is 20″w X 25″ l. I am quite pleased with how the water came out.

 

 

The strong graphic quality of these works sure make them eye catchers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lead Dancer I have moved on to the Lead Dancer piece now. This step of cutting and placing the parts,  always takes a lot longer then I think it will.

 

 

Bone Dancer While I was working on the Lead Dancer I got going on the drawing for this one too. I am still not real happy with it or I would have started the cutting of the fabric for it as well.   Time and thinking will help.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Quilts I only need to do the quilting on this work and it will be done. I am working on assembling two more scrap backs for the other two quilts in this series.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep shuffling these squares about. I am not pleased with any solutions yet so I will keep playing until I do.

 

 

 

 

Old Mayan In my search for fabric for one project, I came across this old batik of a Mayan seated figure. I guess that really proves I have been in love with their style for a long time as I have no memory of when I did this piece. I started quilting it this week and will add it to the show of the other pieces if I get it done in time.

Christmas Gifts     I made three polar fleece comforters for the kids this week.  They are all boxed and wrapped now .  It has been the year of cover   gifts from  me.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- 7th grade Science- the Rabbit
There was one other big event in Mom’s Science class. She was teaching us about how the body works for all mammals. She talk about how they all had common parts like lungs, hearts, livers and so on. The text book everything was drawn and so very clean. I’d helped Mom and Grandmother prepare Chickens for eating so I was a little more aware then some kids. She decided to dissect a rabbit so we could see and generalize from that experience. We were prepted and and she had us all come to the front of the class room and gather around her. First she anathematized the rabbit. One of the boys pulled the rabbits tail and out popped a little “raisin”. We all laughed, Mom quickly got control of the class and then she cut into the rabbits chest to the heart. She wanted us to see the heart mussel at work. I remember being surprise at how small it was, about the sise of a shooter marble, and how fast it was beating. We could easily see the blood being pushed into the arteries. Then she cut away more of the body to show more of the parts and she cut the heart out. In doing so there was a big surge of the artery and blood spurted out onto Bill Wilson’s arms. Now Bill was a bit of a bully and he always had to be at the front of everything, but he was not prepared for this to happen. Mom quickly sent him to the sink to wash off. With the rabbit now dead she went on with the digestion explaining and showing us the parts as she went. Bill went and sat in his desk for the rest of the lesson and he was never quite so pushy after that.
At home things were quiet in the evenings. One of our little rituals was nightly Reading. While Gene or I were in the bath tub cleaning up, the other child would set with mon on the floor outside the bathroom with the door ajar while she read to us. She read some of the books I had purchased from the book clubs in the earlier grades. I have very vivid memories of two books. The first was “Yellow Eyes.” That was a book about a mountain lion, all told from the cats point of view. The other book was “The Mystery at Thunderbolt House.” That book was about a family that had inherited a mansion in San Francisco in 1849. At the end of the summer after they moved, there was a big earth quake and fire. I found that story fascinating and I still have a copy of that book somewhere.
Not only was Dad gone, there were other changes too. Over the summer five houses were built in the meadow where the creek was. That made for more kids to play with- mostly boys. The big empty lot where we usually played baseball was sold and a pink marble Methodist church was being built there too. We did roam around in the basement structure for a few weeks before it got closed off. One of the boys in the new houses was Chris Moore. During the winter he and I spent a lot of time playing chess.

Stay Safe

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Ethel Scarp #6, Fall Gathering, Mayan Series- Fire Dancer, Mayan- Water Dancer, Pixies Group, Squares a Dancing, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Thanksgiving

Hello,

It has been a turbulent year with lots of disasters from fire, flood, illness and death. I am thankful that there are so many wonderful willing souls in the world who are willing to go forward and help. They really make the world a better place. We all do the little things that we hope will make the world a better place too.
This week I took two works to the Everson for their Festival of Trees. My tree is part of a series I did years ago exploring how I could use “glitz” in my work.   In this case I added sequins to the tree and used a opalescent paint.
The flower basked is a stretched work that is a result of one of the challenges by Textile Artist Stitch Club.
This week the club’s teacher was Jennifer Collier. She taught us how to stitch with paper. I have admired her work in the past and enjoyed making these 3-D paper gloves. They are resting on top of my stitch sketchbook from the week before.
The Pixies were the only other group that meant this week. It is good to stay connected.

 

 

Progress Report: Burning This work is 41″ X 35″ and is all free motion quilted and appliqued. It is my tribute to the fire fighters of the west who bravely go on day after day fighting fires to save homes and landscapes.
I dyed  lots fabric for this piece and I made silk paper with this project in mind. I used organza and nylon netting as well to promote the feeling of fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wake Up Call This quilt is 36″w X 41″ l. I made the stencils form Robert’s photos of crows in flight. Then I created the trees from a photo I took on my walk. The crows are made with silk and velvet. I enjoyed this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Gathering 3 X 3 Challenge This work is 40″ 40″. The Challenge was form the Sisterhood Of the Scissors. There was a size limitation and one had to use black and white somewhere in the work. I mixed two sizes of broken nine patch blocks plus some 3.5″ fillers to created 14″ squares that I then joined. This work lead to  another quilt as I though I should spark it up a bit with some metallic fabric. When I pinned the metallic triangles  on the surface they just faded into the background. They were too close in value.   The result is below as new work.

New Work This is the new base I built for the leftovers from Fall Gathering.   I hand painted and dyed all the fabrics in this base.

 

 

 

Ethel’s Scraps I built four square blacks with the patterned squares mixed with the solids and then when all the units were connected into blocks I made rows for the quilt top. This is the first one and I think I can make at least one more top from the remaining squares.

Squares A Dancing I finished doing the hand work last week and so I worked at various ways to connect them. Found some more of Eric’s cast offs and thought I would try them. I hope there is enough fabric.

Fire Dancer- Mayan Series I just keep stitching down the parts of this piece. I think it is moving along nicely.

 

 

 

 

Water Dancer- Mayan Series I enlarged my sketch this week and just started cutting out the solid fabrics for the parts of the piece. I hope to get to the stitching stage by next week.

Tyvec Painting     Enjoyed reading an article in Quilting Arts on the use of painted tyvec  to create leaves so I painted a postal envelope form my friend Sharron.  I will post the results of the process next time.

Childhood Memories- Dad

When we moved to Carroll Dad became the principal of a much bigger school than before. After he finished the building of the house, he didn’t have time to build any more furniture and his work with wood although an interest mostly died away. The new job demanded much more of his time. I found it a lot more exciting, as we went to football games, basketball games, baseball games as well as all the band and choral events. Most things took place in the gym that was attached to the high school.    I remember one time when Dad lets us go with him into the basement under the gym. It was full of old school furniture and in one corner there was a collection of old trophies gathering dust. One was almost as tall as I was. The three big trophy cases in the gym lobby were full and since the school was built in the 20’s some had been retired.
> One of his more enjoyable activities was supervision of the Foreign Exchange program. One year the school hosted a young man from Denmark named Hans. He lived with the Annaburgs ,who were our neighbors,so I had a little contact with him too. Early in his visit both families went to the Drive-In to see “The Ten Commandments”.   It was a  powerful movie.  At intermission we went to the refreshment stand. Hans was appalled when we ordered hot dogs and root beer. “How can you eat dogs and give beer to young children,” he asked? This was my first experience with the translation of the English language and how  our use of words works. With careful explanations Hans realized that it was not as bad as he first thought. I am sure that sort of thing happened to him many times over the course of his year in the States. The Annaburg family enjoyed their time with Hans so much that they went to Denmark and visited him and the country. They purchased some Danish furniture and had it shipped home in big wooden containers. Those big boxes became forts for us . The following year the exchange student was from  Austria. She did not adapt as well as Hans  had and was very home sick. She ended up going home at Christmas time.
> Dad did all the normal stuff a principal does, like budgets, schedules, student supervision  and he ran the  teacher’s meetings. Dad was again in charge of discipline. I recall him telling a story about one of his delinquent students who was skipping lots of school in the spring. Dad said “ Well he is learning something- even if it is   only how to avoid me… temporally.” He was also active out side of school. He was a member of the Iowa Teachers Association and went to their meetings and did some presenting there . He was active in the community as deacon in the First Presbyterian Church, a member of the Jaycees  and the Rotary Club. There were lots of nights when he was away. I remember hearing the garage door going up under my room when he got home after I was in bed.
> At the end of my sixth grade year there was a big change. Dad and Mom decided that he would resign as principal so he could finish his education. He spent that year in Iowa City doing his Doctoral  Dissertation and the last of his classes. It was a five and a half hour drive both ways from Carroll so he did not come home much. He did call every week end , though. Mom was a single parent that year and we all grew as a result.

Hope you are safe and had a quiet and safe holiday.

Carol