Hello,
This week has been a quiet one with not a lot of activates. I have done a lot of work on the computer and getting ready for shows and such and put in alot of time in the studio. But beyond on that I have mostly enjoyed the rapid transformation that Mother Nature is doing to the plants. The grass is so much greener. As the leaves unfurl the long views of the neighborhood are cutting down. 
There is a wonderful feeling of being surrounded/ hugged by the natural world around me. Every day there are more buds opening and green things sprouting. I love it.
Progress Report: Two for You, One fore Me
I pulled out this work started by Ethel and worked away on it this week. The two trees; center and right were created by Ethel and I added the one on the left for balance. 
They were all bare trees at the beginning of the week and as the outside world added foliage so too did I. 
Ice on Vincent I put in a lot of time on this work this week. Thread painting is a very slow process but I so like how it looks. 
It is another form of texture to me. I only started adding the ice yesterday. Fortunately I have several types of organza to build with so I can make the surface look similar to the photo I am working from.
Blue Stone This work also involves lots of thread work so it too is still in the building stage. Again I am adding lots of ribbon, nylon netting, organza and thread texture to the surface of the piece.
Memory Map: Columbus Junction This work also got attention this week. It is also a slow process as I do the machine drawing of specific events and things on this project. I tried drawing myself as a six year old on tissue paper and then following that lines on the sewing machine. It took several tries to get a image I am half way happy with. 
I added the nylon netting on the ballet skirt because I remember how very scratchy it was. The little matching skirt on my doll is lost in all the netting though. I had better luck drawing directly on the organza and then stitching on the lines like on the child climbing the slide.
This morning I did drawing and painting on the organza to create the wild flowers I remember being so abundant around that house. 
I will stitch them down using black thread and they will be a lot easier to see I think. I am sure I am not the first to try to adding this type of detail to my work. I just am inventing as I do not know of any other way to find out what works.
Scrap Happy I did work on this project to balance out the careful intense work of the first three mentioned here. I have made so many of these quilts that I do not even need to think much when I am working on them. Some times I need that type of work.
Along the Shore When I finished the tree project I went back into the UFO Ethel box and pulled out this photo she had transferred to fabric. The I read an article in the April May issue of Quilting Arts about a way to Make a Mixed-Media Landscape , and thought I would try that technique with the photo.
This is what I have so far. I need to do some hand work on the surface now.
New Project A possible title for this work is Wine and Cheese as the colors suggest that to me. 
It is in the very early stage. Again it is a process that I know well and I needed to begin this to help balance off all the machine drawing that Ice and Blue Stone require.
Label Block #49 They just seem to keep getting there little bits of attention and in doing so get completed.
Keep Creating
Carol
One last spring thing. May Apples