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
Progress Report: Cut Ups I am working away on this project and I want to share a little trick that I came across on Facebook. Sense I am again outlining all the parts of this scissors piece with an appliqued yarn , I learned that you can tape a straw to your machine to direct the yarn to line up with you foot so you have both hands free to control your piece as it goes under the needle. It sure makes the process easier.
Scrap Blocks I have added the scrappy side panels to all my 4.5 ” centers and cut the blocks into 8.5″ units now. The number pinned to the top tells me how many blocks of each color I have . This will make doing the layout step go quickly when I build the rows.
Playing with Purple This work is 24″ w X 12″t. I started this in the Joyous Embroidery class with Fiber Art take 2, earlier this year. It is finally done. I enjoyed adding all this fun bits and pieces onto the surface. 
Generational Mix This work us 24″ X 18″. I made some of the add on units and some were from the fabrics that Casey sent me of Grandmothers stuff. Again the inspiration came form the Joyous Embroidery class. The buttons are from the ones my Aunt May brought home from the button factory . 
They are all pearl buttons that where called seconds. I think they are beautiful in there imperfections.
Lichen I started a new piece that is built on and old work. I painted Tyvek and melted it with a heat gun and then mixed it with some new punch needle work to begin this piece. This will take a while as I embellish it with buttons and beads as well as stitches.
Handworks I also finished up these two little works from the Angela’s challenge.
