Category Archives: Mayan- Vulture Priest

Studio Time

Hello
Another week is passing and summer is in full swing. I love the color that is all around me at this time of year.   This week I spent a lot of time in the studio and enjoyed every min.  That is where the work gets done!

This week was also a  lay off week for the Textile Artist Stitch Club so I gave myself a little assignment. I found this project that I had started on a visit to Florida with Susan a few years ago so I decided this week would be a good time to complete it.   I cut the bird stencil with Susan and applied the color then too.
It is 15.5 “ X 19.5″. I am happy with the final results.

I spent the day with Liz today. We had fun.    We ended up reorganizing the work space and sorting through our collection of stuff.   It was a job that we really needed to do.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Parrot Priest: Mayan Series # 5 This work is 20″ X 23″. It is fused down ad then out line stitched by hand. The Parrot is my favorite part of this project.

 

 

I am getting good at doing the feet for these fellow as they are all so similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Priest: Mayan Series # 6 I did the drawing and then enlarged it to make a pattern this week. Head dress, clothing and hand position are the things that change for the most part with these little fellows.

 

 

 

 

Blue on Blue This project is             36.5 w X 41″ l  . I really enjoyed the play factor in the work on this project. I love all the textures and tints and shades of blue too. It was a good work to try stuff and explore.

This work is really a collage of textures using silk papers, ribbons and various unique weaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Garden I did a lot of hand work on this piece at the end of the process. My stitches are mostly in the applique of the circles and not decorative. That is a way to go on the next piece.
Nancy is the person who pushed me to make this into a garden setting.

Wool Birds Doing the birds for “Susan’s Birds” got me to thinking how much I like bird shapes. That coupled a big bag full of felted wool that my friend Angela gave me, were the inspiration for this new start. Then while I had the roving out I thought I’d add the light chests to the little birds. It will be fun to play with this piece and see were it leads me.

 

Felted Dryer Balls I finished up these five balls this week. They were all started way back in Feb. But got burred. Good to move forward with this project and complete the task.

Felted Back grounds- Landscape When I had the roving out to finish the dryer balls I looked at the colors and started playing with layouts. I will use some of the wool from Angela’s bag for this too.

Shore Line I was looking at a calendar page and thought the simple background would be a good place to add some machine drawing on top. Time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Projects    I pulled fabric for two new projects this week too.  Not sure what I want to do , but I feel that the colors work well in both collections.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing  I just keep working away on these fellows.    I now have 117 finished.

Childhood Memories- Summer: Grandmother  Ester

My parents went back to school in the summers following grade five. Mom went back to Greeley Colorado and Dada went to the University of Iowa in Iowa City. As kids Gene and I stayed with the grandparents alternating from week to week. Dad would drive in and make the exchange on Sunday afternoons and spend some time with us. I have a difficult time recalling what happened each summer so I will talk about the homes of Grandparents as separate entries. First I will cover staying with Grandmother Ester and Grandpa Merit my Dad’s parents. They lived on a farm they owned about five miles outside Morning Sun Iowa. Both of their families live within 30 miles of that small town. They were Presbyterian and the church was an important part of their social lives. The daily routine in that house involved reading a chapter from the Bible every morning after breakfast. When they got to the end of the book, we would start at Genesis again. Gene and I both went to Vacation Bible School at the Sharon Church that was on the opposite side of town and surrounded by a cemetery and corn fields. We always had to memories a new Bible verse every evening for the next day so I knew lots of them. Grandmother usually stayed and helped distribute a sack of cookies and juice  for the kids in the late morning.
The summer that we were studying Romans I learned to carve Ivory soap. The class did a map and I carved three domed homes for it. I later carved an own out of some green soap that was part of a book report for school. I loved the stylized illustrations in the little hand outs that we got in church school and spent many hot afternoons trying to mimic that style of drawing.
Because Mom was in Greeley, Dad encouraged me to write to her. I do remember doing that several times over the summers. When I was done I went to Grandmother for an envelope and after the add was added, Grandmother gave me a nickel and told me to put the letter in their mail box across the road, saying the mail man would add the stamp at the post office in town. That system worked as Mom did get the letters.
Grandmother Ester had a big garden on the south side of the house. Her fruit trees were there too. I remember climbing and picking the cherry’s from the cherry tree. I love her cherry pies. She also had a peach tree and a plum tree, but I have no memory of helping with the harvest of those. Tomatoes, beans, peas and onions were always in the garden too. She canned and froze lots of things. They rented a locker from a man who ran a big freezer with lots of smaller units called lockers in town and she kept some frozen vegetable there along with cuts of beef. When we went town on Wed night for the usual grocery shopping,  the locker was the last stop before we headed home. Grandmother did not have a strawberry bed but the farm north of theirs did and we went there to pick berries. That farmer had big 2″ X 12″ boards laid out across the patch to walk on and harvest the berries. After the season was over, they took the boards up and let the plants spread out. In the following spring the farmer would put the boards down on the older plants to  assure that the  newer plants were always vigorous. As a part of the strawberry season we always had a family ice cream event. In the late afternoon I would go with Grandmother to town to the ice house where she would purchase a block of ice. We drove home and Grandmother made power milk biscuits. The family started to arrive. It usually consisted of Grandmother’s sister Helen and her husband Bernard along with their grown childerden’s families. The men cranked the ice cream churn in the basement. I tried once, but found it too difficult and I really wanted to play with the other kids any way. We all ate out doors at the big pick nick table  in the fading evening light and enjoyed our home made ice cream , biscuits and strawberries. It is still one of my favorite desserts.

Please stay safe and I will write again next week

Carol

Thankful

Hello,
I hope everyone is continuing to do well in these trying times. I feel so very thankful  to be an artists and a person who can entertain myself. Being able to set my own rules and goals allows me to choose to be selective in who I have contact with as well as where I choose to go. I can and do make my own fun. This week was quiet but I am still playing in the studio

There was a new assignment from Gregory Wilkins this week. We are building a mixed media collage with lots of stitching. I love his last bit of advice” It is not done until it is over done.” What and excuse to just keep going.   I had fun stitching down  big sequins, key pads from a saxophone, some  of Grandmothers Ruth’s old glass beads and old lace on my painted base.

Progress Report- Vulture Priest- Mayan Series # 3 I finished this piece yesterday. It is 21″ X 23″.   This series is proving to be a challenge in the assembly process.  Cutting all the little fabric pieces and putting them back together is a bit of a challenge. 

 

I am learning a lot about stitching small circles too.

 

 

Parrot Priest- Mayan Series # 4 When I start ed quilting on the Vulture Priest I started the drawing on this work. It took the better part of three days to get the fabric cut and fused down. Now I am ready to begin the stitching outlines.

 

 

 

Time Check Last week was an off week for the Textile Artist Stitch Club so I put my time in on this little work. I think the class is helping me think in a new direction.

 

Bunk Bed Scrap Happy I started this Scrap Happy as a Christmas gift for the twins. Putting the rows together sure goes fast when there are only 10 rows of 5.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I put in a lot of time doing hand work in the evening lately. With 91 squares done now I will soon reach the original goal of 100. But sense I cut up two more pair of Eric’s pants for bases I will keep going until I have used them all up. Then I will decide on the size of the final quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 New work  

 

I usually audition fabrics before I start a new project.  These are the ones I am thinking about at the moment.    After several days of looking I have decided that there are really two bases here.  So I may just make two

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories-Thanksgiving- the Feast

The meal for Thanksgiving was a big job and Grandmother Ester’s big day. When we returned from our little family walk the first thing I did was get dressed in fancy attire. When I came down stairs the work began. Grandfather would have turned the dinning table and added all the four leaves. The pad was added and then the white Damask table cloth was all spread . My job was to set the dinning room table with the good china from the china nook and the silver from the credenza. I was given Grandmother’s silver plate dinner ware many years after her death. I decided to use it daily and enjoy it. I did that for many years until the plating wore off some of the piece. Doing so made me feel like Grandmother was a daily part of my life for years. Back to the Thanksgiving feast. I carefully arranged the plates for 16 and put out the utensils and napkins. The five kids ate in the kitchen. People began to arrive  around 1:00. First were usually Aunt Helen and Uncle Bernard followed closely by Jim and Herta with their three kids, Charlie, Mary Helen, and Tom. Then the other sisters and there spouses.  Grandmother Esterd was the oldest of the family.  There was aunt Loretta and uncle Bert, aunt Illa and uncle Nathan, aunt Ethel and uncle William, and the two aunts who lived together because they had both lost their spouses- aunt Vivian and Lovel . Everyone broth in food and it was a major pot luck. Grandmother Ester always did the turkey and dressing along with the mashed potatoes and gravy. There always were two dishes- oyster casserole and Golden Glow jello salad. Pulse pumpkin, apple, and cherry pies with lots of whipped cream. One always ate too much. The talk was lively even for us kids. When the dishes were done then men would turn the table back and take out the leaves so they could watch football and the women would play Canasta at both ends of the shortened table. When I got older one of the Aunts tried to teach me Canasta- but I did n’t really get it. We kids would retire to the upstairs and play board games. Monopoly mostly- Gene loved that one. The Bates family had animals on their farm and  they always left early so we never rarely finished the Monopoly game. It was cool up stairs and Gene and I often took a nap. Folks drifted away as the afternoon wore on and we ate a leftovers that evening. Dad and Grandpa would go out do his few chores too. It was a big and happy family get together with great feeling of warmth and love.
The next day we would drive to Grandview in the early morning and meet up with Mom’s parents. Many times we joined the Bell family and went from there to the Christmas Parade in Muscatine. It was the start of the holiday season. We would window shop and then go back to Grandmothers house in Grandview in the afternoon.   One of the other activities that was a part of that weekend was the selection of one’s magazine subscription for the year.   It was  a Christmas gift from Grandmother Ruth. I sure enjoyed that gift. My parents always chose National Geographic. My choice for years was one called “Pack-O-Fun”. It was full of little craft projects one could create from trash like plastic berry boxes and egg cartons. The start of my “ look at one thing and see it’s possible reuse” , I guess. As the Cocklin family grew it became cumbersome to purchase gifts for all the kids;there were 14 grand kids on that side, so at Thanksgiving time we would draw one other persons name. That was much much simpler and with time that even disappeared. Being together was the important thing in both families.

Please stay safe and keep creating

Carol

I will be away nest week so the next post will be  August 6.

Health

Hello
The human body is an amazing machine. It does so many things with out our giving it any thought. There are lots of actions that go on in our bodies with out or direction like the heart beats regularly, we breath in and out, the digestive track dose it thing and we maintain a constant body temperature. All that plus the actions our body takes on with our brains commands, like walking, eating, talking, touching, hearing and sleeping to name a few. We take it all for granted until something goes wrong. When we trip that is when we notice how we are walking.        When we get bitten by a misquote is when we notice the exposed skin. When one gets sick is when we realize how much we take out good health for granted. So take good care of your health now while you have it, it is one of your most valuable possessions, for without it you have nothing of value.
This week was a “by week” for the Textile Artist Stitch Group so her was no new assignment, but I did finish up my Concertina Book from the week before.

Cover

 

 

 

 

 

Spread one

Spread two.      I enjoyed adding the hand work to these    pieces.

 

 

Third section

 

 

The final

 

 

 

 

Liz and I did do a bit of dyeing this week. This is her mixing the dye power. Can you see her smiling?

The pieces in the pot are washing out the color.   I like this green.

Work on the line that Liz dye painted.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Scrap Happy I added the rows all together and added the boarders as well as the first step of binding. I can see the end of this project now.

 

Top I put this top together and although I like the color – it is not doing any thing for me now. It is in the ugly stage and I am ready to toss it out. Guess it will have to disappear for a while before I can see it’s potential again.

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep putting in the time on this project. I now have 77 squares done.

 

 

 

 

Vulture Priest I finished the top this week and now I only need to do the scepter and I will be ready to quilt it.

 

 

Parrot Priest As I can see the end of the Vulture Priest,  I moved onto do a drawing for the Parrot Priest so I can start on it this week. I am happy with this series.

 

 

 

Drawing     I am still doing a bit of  drawing.  These are all ocean micro plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Thanksgivings Mornings
>
> Even after we moved to Carroll, my family still drove the 5 hours it took to return home   to the Grandparents for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. For Thanksgiving we left from school on Wednesday. Mom packed sandwiches and fruit so we could avoid a dinner stop. But as we neared the edge of Illinois we would often stop at a dairy bar called “ Cow Jumps over the Moon” and get ice cream. The place had an amazing sign on top. It was a big shell with the moon, stars and the cow ,of course ,all outlined in neon. The cow’s neon turned on and off in a series so the cow actually appeared to jump over the moon in the course of sixty seconds. It was wonderful to my eyes. We then drove on to Grandmother Ester’s house where we stayed. We would arrive and talk a bit before going up to bed. I remember it being very cold in the mornings and snuggling back under the quilts until Grandfather Merritt got the coal loaded and stoked up. That changed when they got a new furnace of course. Thanksgiving was Grandmother Ester’s big day. She always cooked a big turkey with all the trimmings for the family gathering. I don’t remember much of a breakfast- Grandmother was too busy, so we as a family just mostly went out for a long walk to stay out from under foot. We would exit through the door yard into the machine yard, past the wind mill, and climb the big wooden gate into the barn yard. We crossed between the two barns and the corn crib to climb another wooden gate moving into the east pasture. Grandfather usually had cattle there, but I do remember one time when he housed some horses as well. We avoided the cow pies that were near the gate as grandfather fed hay from a  rack there. Then into the grass and down to the meadow to wander along the creek. Gene threw rocks as usual, but we mostly walked along, noting the changes in the few pool sizes and such. At the far south east end of the creek on Grandfather’s land was a big sandstone cliff where we almost always found some conoides- fossilized sea plant steams. Mom said that the Native Americans used them as beads and I can easily see why. Many times we would cross the fence near the creek into the neighbors pasture and explore the old abandoned sandstone church. There was never a roof in my memory and the window and door frames were gone too. There must have been stairs at one point as the two door jambs were about three feet off the ground. There were three window openings on both the east and west sides. The back wall was solid stone to the peak. We would then climb the hill behind the church to the fenced cemetery that was well maintained and always mowed. It was a fascinating place to me with lots of old markers. That was where I learned how many children  died  in their first year- some lives as brief as three days, five days, four months up to two years. Then there seemed to be a drop off. There was a huge oak tree in the south east corner. It had low branches and Gene and I love to climb it. It was so big around at the stump that Mom, Gene and I could barely touch hands if we all wrapped our arms around it. In the south east corner of that cemetery was a big sink whole about the size of a barn. Mom said she was sure there were caves in the hills around there. We did discover a opening in a corner of Grandfather’s pasture up behind the cliff face. Grandfather fenced off the area so no animals would wander in accidentally. There was a lane that lead out to the gravel road from the cemetery that separated Grandfathers land from the neighbors. One summer while I was out there with only Snookie, Grandfather’s dog, I startled an orange furred bodied  bat hanging from a branch along that lane. There was also a mound that was along the lane on Grandfathers pasture that Mom speculated was an Indian mound, but we never did anything to follow that up. We wandered back to the house around 11:30 and prepared for the feast.

Stay safe and keep creating

Carol

Quiet week

Hello,
I hope folks are staying safe and enjoying summer. The Mulberry tree we walk under is nearing its end of the fruit baring time.  On the other hand, the wild raspberry patch is just getting started, so I enjoy a little treat on my way home.

The Textile Artists Stitch Club teacher for this week is Sue Stone. We are to weave a base out of fabric strips and stitch over it. To help with the stitching, it is suggested that one draw the image on tissue paper and then stitch thought it. I have only just started that second step. I like that idea however.
Liz and I over dyed this week. I pulled out some fabrics that were dyed before, but were not real successful. It was quite hot and the photo shows how the heat effected me. I really look wilted. The process was done in the Shobori style, were one warps the fabric around a poll and does immersion dyeing. I really like the effects as the colors are so very rich. We are going to do some more of that next week too. It is fun and there is lots of surprise in the process as one does not always have control of how the dye will work.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Eagle Priest- Mayan Series #3 This work is 21″ X 23″. It is the third one in the series. I learn something with each project.

 

 

 

 

I like the headdress and face area of this work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vulture Priest- Mayan series # 4 This work is all fused down now and I am starting to do the out line stitching. Some parts are three layers thick and hard to pass the needle through.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep making one and a little more every evening. I have 56 squares now.

 

 

 

 

 

Layers I pulled this out of the pile after not looking at it for a week. I immediately saw what it needed  and made additions. Now I am ready to square it up and finish the project. It is great what time can do to help clear ones  vision.

Lines of Inquire This piece us all quilted in the ditch. I am now outlining the metallic inserts in gold thread. I will make passes around each one until I have quilted the work.

 

 

New Scrap Happy I cut centers in four colors and added the sides to them. Now they are all cut into squares and I can begin assembling the top.  Yes, they are Minions

Childhood Memories- Playground
Our playground in the fifth grade was a different scene from the fourth. We had big long jump ropes and could play group games with them. The girls took turns jumping and twirling. We played a lot of Aces- a game were one ran into the twirling rope and jumped once , then exited. The next person in line was to let the rope pass once and enter, then do the same single jump. After all the girls playing had jumped the single jump, one repeated running into the rope, but jumped twice. If someone missed by jumping on the rope or not entering on time, they replaced one of the twirlers and the game when back to Aces or one again. There were lots of rhyming songs that we jumped to as well- like Johnny Over the Ocean, Sampson and Delila, Blondie and Dagwood and one that we had to modify to use. It was Little Robin Red Breast. In that rhyme the last line ends in “poop”. We got around saying that by clapping when we got to that word. We played Double Dutch where two ropes were set in action going in the opposite directions. Lana Turner was the queen of that game until she broke her leg falling off a fence. We all admired the cast and were impressed by her painted toe nails when she came back to school. She said it itched and the crutches hurt her arm pits. She finally let folks sign the cast, but I was not one who signed. In the sixth grade I got a Pogo Stick for Christmas. By spring I was very good at its use and could cover lots of ground with it. I had no trouble pogoing to and from school. I even got so I could do jump rope rhymes too. I let lots of other kids try using it. It does take skill and I remained the champion of that event. In that year my best friend became Evelyn Stouton. I walked to her house after school many times. She had three sisters and she was the third girl in the family. She got mostly “hand me down” clothing and she did not like that much. But her older sisters also made her more sophisticated. Her room, in the attic was our hang out spot. Her bed was in a little cubby with a small window at the end. It was fun to lye there and watch people walk by. Her family moved over the summer and I was quite disappointed in the fall.
> My parents took me to the dentist as my teeth were a little out of alignment. After a discussion it was decided that the Dentist would try a new experimental technique to fix the problem. So one morning I went to the Dentist office at 8:00 instead of school. The dentist put bands on back teeth and wires on springs were attached to the bands
that would force my teeth forward. When I was done I walked the five blocks to school and joined my class. We had Chow main for lunch that day. I took one bite and suddenly my mouth was full of springs and wires as well as food. I went to Miss Herd and she told me to run back to the dentist as she knew he played Golf on Wednesday afternoons. I did run and barely made it to the office in time as he was in his car and the nurse had to flag him down. The dentist took all the wires and connections out and made a cast of my teeth. A few weeks later I got two retainers, one for the top and one for the bottom. I wore the bottom for about 9 months and the top for about a year. My bottom teeth are still a little crowded and crooked in the front.

Enjoy the holiday and Stay Safe

Carol

Beginning Summer

Hello,
I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.     Summer Solstice was last Saturday and  now the day light is shortening every day.   I continue to walk and enjoy the summer season as it is a visual feast. There is a Mulberry tree that we walk under every day and it is loaded with berries now. I sure enjoy the  few  seedy fruits  I pick every day.   It reminds me of my childhood.   My garden is also hostessing flowers from Grandmother Butterworths ‘s garden. They always make me think lovingly of her and their bright  color is a joy to the eye.

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club had a new assignment this week. Emily Tulli demonstrated how to do a mouth. We are to do three different ones and this is my work at the half way point. I still need to add a second shade of gray and then white for the highlights.

Progress Report: Square’s a Dancing I worked hard on this project this week and finished two groups of seven. I also cut up another pair of Eric’s pants to use as bases and that is why there is a color change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I have now made rows of leftover squares for a new quilt. Nothing goes to waste in my world .

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Priest- Mayan Series I finished the quilting of this piece this week and only need to finish off the little quilt with binding and a sleeve .

 

 

Vulture Priest- Mayan Series I drew out the next piece for this series and I am in the middle of cutting the pieces to applique to created the image. It will be ready for work when the Eagle Priest is done.

 

 

 

New Work I am working away on this new piece.   The insertion of the metallic pieces is a fun process. As I have no clear vision as to where I am going- the work is slow.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- 5 th Grade

My teacher is fifth grade was Miss Herd. She had a reputation for being very strict and I guess she was. But she was also very fair. We had lots of routines in her class. After the pledge we had reading followed by Arithmetic. I remember lots of review on Division at the beginning of the year and then team games of all math techniques. At noon we walked done the hall to the far stairs and had a moment of “silent reflection” before we went down to the lunchroom in the basement. After lunch Miss Herd read aloud to us. I remember one book about a little southern girl and learning about her life during the Civil War.   I found it fascinating.   This class room had a little library like the fourth grade. I found and enjoyed all the Raggedy Ann and Andy books there. It was also the beginning of the TAB and Arrow book clubs for me. One could purchase books for .25 to .35 cents. My parents allowed me to purchase one or two every time there was an order. I did not read any of them until years later, but I sure enjoyed filling my book shelf with them. My reading was very poor and one of the things my parents attempted to do to help was have my eyes tested. I got some very stylish tear drop glasses that I wore for about a year. Mrs Fister   the high School art teacher, came for a special art lesson  in late November. It was about Alexander Calder. Then each member of the class each built a Christmas mobile out of an opened wire coat hanger. I made Christmas trees in the form of cones and added a few round candies for balls. The mobiles hung in the hall until  we left for the holidays. I love the history lessons   we had that year and did a special project for westward expansion. We had a puzzle map of the United States at home and under the states was a map that showed all the areas that were added as the country grew.   So I used the Opaque Projector to cast the map on a big piece of white paper and traced it out. I painted and labeled all the areas from the original thirteen colonies to the addition of the California territory. I painted the areas different colors and added the rivers and  mountains and also   labeled everything.    It hung in the front of the room for a long time and I was quite proud. Fifth grade was when we were introduced to instrumental music. I wanted to join the band, so Mom got me Grandfather Howard’s old silver clarinet. He also had a C saxophone, but the band leader, Mr Cox discouraged that choice. Playing the clarinet continued to be an important part of my life until the end of high school. Near the end of the year I volunteered to join the Safety Patrol and become a crossing guard. The main qualification, after volunteering and being at least in fifth grade, was to have perfect attendance. I did. As a fifth grader, I worked with a sixth grader for the last month of the year and became a full guard in the fall when I was in the sixth grade. We all had white adjustable belts and little silver badges. I had to leave the class a little before the end of the day to go to my post. I was assigned to the north end of Adams street across from the High School. I had that same post in sixth grade. We looked carefully and then went into the middle of the street and held our arms out so the younger kids could cross safely. I got to know many of the younger children who lived in that quadrant of the city. Sixth grade guard duty included flag duty. At the end of the day I was assigned to help take the flag down and fold it before taking it to the principals office for storage over night. At the end of sixth grade, I in tern, help teach a fifth grader to take my place on the squad.   I was very proud of my first job and took my responsibility very seriously.

Take good care of yourself.

 

Carol