Category Archives: Hand work

Childhood Memories, Jumping Off Place, small god, Wool Rounds

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween,
The color here is beautiful, but it will be raining this evening with lots of wind. Not great weather for the little costumed children  and I am sure it will change our landscape.

I have had a good week. I went down to Millport last Friday to spend a day playing at Regina’s studio.

Liz is holding up one of Regina’s new tops. I am so happy to she her cutting up her fabric.   Regina printed all the fabrics.

 

 

 

I also spent an afternoon with Tanya this week. She is doing eco -dyeing with silk. This is her beautiful stash so far.  She is experimenting and exploring.
I did a trunks show for the Mohawk Valley Quilters this week too. It was fun preparing for that as I try to approach each talk with a little bit different slant.  I discover something about myself with each talk too.   I still need to put away some of the work.

Progress Report: Wool Rounds

The wool units are all stitched and they needed a good foundation to show them off. So I spent a lot of time this week building up a base.

 

 

It is made from layers of organza in earth tones that I quilted in place. I will pin the rounds in place next and stitch them down.

 

 

 

 

 

Applique- small god  I have finally started working away on this piece. I think I did the original drawing over a year ago. The beautiful woven red piece from Guatemala that Sharron gave me, was what I needed to get moving I guess. The pattern is enlarged and I am cutting out the units to applique down now.

 

Jumping Off Place I did more hand work on this piece this week. It has not gotten any attention in a while, but now it is the top of the pile of hand projects.

Childhood Memories- Kindergarten

I started my school career when we lived in Columbus Junction.  It was all day Kindergarten that I attended  along with lots of other excited young people. I remember the first day of school where I wore a red buffalo check gamin dress that Grandmother Ester had made for me.  I was so prod.    There were three girls in the class with Carolyn for first names. Carolyn Reed, Carolyn Woods and Carolyn Hall, but I was the only Carol. There was a big calendar in the front of the room and every day we gathered around it to select a symbol of the weather- clouds, rain, snow, a  smiling sun ect to put on the correct day. We learned the days of the weeks an the months of the year. There was nap time  after lunch and if you had earned the privilege you got to spread your rug under the grand pinto on near the windows . I only remember getting that pleasure once. Art class was in the afternoon with Miss Clark just before we went home. I remember cutting out Jack-o-lanterns from orange construction paper and cutting very small triangles out for eyes. Then on the back we put a button under a soda bottle cap that we taped down behind those  cut out triangles so the buttons would move if you shook the paper pumpkin.
In the spring we took a field trip. We walked around to the back of the school and carefully took a set of steep  wooden switch back stairs down the long  hill to the road. We   then crossed the main street and walked on down the hill downtown into the Dr’s office.   There  we each got a Polio Shot.   The needle looked huge to my young  eyes.   I did not cry but many did. Mom had taken me to visit an acquaintance of one of the folks she knew.   They had a daughter. The girl was 8 and confined to an iron lung. It filled the room and she was never going to leave that huge, noisy mechanical tube for the rest of her life. She could talk, eat  and turn her head , but that was all the movement she knew. I learned then that I would do just about anything not to have that be my fate. I am glad that the disease is almost a thing of the past now.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Creative Assistants, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Wool Rounds

Visiting Sharron

Hello,
I am enjoying the wonderful fall colors of central New York. My trip to visit Sharron was wonderful. She has a very beautiful new home in a country village outside Chicago called Somanack.

 Sharron enjoys lots of space and has a very nice new studio.  This is a shot of the design wall there One of the amazing features of the new house is a 6 foot walk in safe in the basement.  Sharron had shelves built and stores her liquer and soda there as it is behind the bar.    We spent five days breaking in her new basement studio. She learned that she can handle up to 11 folks for workshops in the future. Gals cycled in and out and four of us were there for the whole five days.

Sandy took the trophy for the most tops completed in the five days with three.   I only have good photos of two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Melody was working on a “block of the month project “A Stroll in Paris BOM”. It is very quiet and lovely.

 

 

Susan happily worked on several projects. She and I talked a lot about books.

 

 

 

 

 

One gals spent her time honoring her daughter by working on a quilt that her daughter started before she died.  She made lots of units.

 

 

 

 

 

Val did 20 of these leaves for a quilt she was working on. She also built some bigger center blocks too.

 

 

 

 

The holidays were on Sharron’s  mind.       She showed off  her snow men project from QBL. Then got busy  making  lots of pillow cases for her Christmas party.

 

 

On the last day she put together this top.

 

 

 

 

 

I Worked on my Collar project of Aunt May’s collars and wool rounds.

This shot is of the  wool rounds at the first of the week.   I got a lot done thanks to Sharron’s encouragement and the fellowship of other quilters.  I always enjoy working in a group setting like this.

Sharron and Jim kindly took be back to the airport early on Thur morning and we got to see a spectacular sun rise.

 

 

 

 

There was also a FAB meeting  this  week.  Sharon shared her latest commission in the series of 6.  This is #4

 

 

 

 

Project Report: Collars and Old Lace This work is 34″w X 53.5″ t.. I intended to applique all the parts by hand but Sharron encouraged me to use her sewing machine. I included some lace sleeves she made and hankies too.

 

 

 

 

I am so glad she did as I applied all the pieces before I flew home. Finishing took place this week. I also discovered another box of old family lace this week……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wool Rounds: I built this base to put the wool pieces on. I will machine stitch them down today and take the circles  with me to Regina’s for a play day tomorrow and work on this project.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the 1/4 of rounds ready for cutting and application to the background.

 

 

 

Pin Wheels:

Sharron surprised me with a gift of a kit of beautiful fabric. It is very traditional- and not my thing. I learned how to make perfect pointed centers – but not before I made some awful ones. Now to move on to the next step.

Creative Assistants: I did watch a bit of football this week and so I finished up 18 of these little folks. I have added the pin backs now and will do the squeezie paint embellishment before I put them away for QBL.

Pillow Case

Sharron mentioned that no one had ever made her a pillow case so when I got home I made her one of her own from some of the fabric that I got at the Quilt show in Canada.

Childhood Memory -Columbus Junction Basement

We moved to Columbus Junction the summer before I started Kindergarten. My parents parched a huge lot with a finished basement on it. We lived down there while Dad, Mom and Grandpa Howard put up framing and worked on finishing the up stairs. I took a good part of that first school year to do the finish work and Mom and Grandpa did that, while Dad went off to his first job as a high school principal . The move up stairs was gradual. After all the building was done, I remember Mom painted a mural on three sides of the big room at the foot of the stairs. It was of mountains and a lake, a theme that she repeated many times. She also made me a play house from old sheets that fit over a card table. There was a door and flowers painted on the out side. I spent may happy hours in there with a card board table, sink and stove. The basement was also the home of my first pets. I had white mice that lived in a blue glass battery jar at the foot of the stairs. It was my first bit responsibility. I remember too that it did not last long and we had to let the mice go in the timber.

I hope everyone is  enjoying fall.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS. One more shot of that wonderful sun rise.

Autumn Leaves, Childhood Memories, Jumping Off Place, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Three Sea Horses, Topographical, Two Trees

October Cooling

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Hello,
There is a real feeling of fall now as it has turned quite cold around here. The hardy Zinnia are still doing well and we have not had a frost yet. But if is in the air. I did some house/studio cleaning too. It seems I need to get my “nest” in order for winter. I have eliminated three boxes and a bag of stuff to pass forward for others to use. It makes me feel good to do that sort of thing.
There seems to be another thing in the air too,  because three of the groups I meet with cancelled meetings this week. Two due to low audience.   Perhaps everyone is busy hankering down for fall and winter too.

Progress Report: Three Sea Horses This work is 22″w X 16″t. Noel talked of this method of laying down roving and then putting netting over the top so one could  machine stitch on it. I tried that method on this project. The sea horses are cut from felt so there are sharp edges and then I added roving on top too. I like this technique. It is very soft, but  I think I need to work on contrast more the next time I try it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Trees The work is 18″ w X 18″ t. I started it in the Rock On Class With Cynthia Corbin at QBL this summer. This week I got busy and did machine drawing of two trees from a photo of them on Dad’d farm. It sure has the gray feeling I was having about the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Topographical I had a good time working away on this piece this week. I think two more hours of couching will complete the process. I feel there is lots of potential in this process and plan to explore it more in the future.

Past My Window- Autumn Leaves

I stared working away on this piece this week and it just seemed to take on a life of it’s own.     I started pinning the leaves I had created to supplement the ones I had made in Betty’s class on the final day.  Then I found a package of silk leaves that someone had passed my way and they just seemed to go together so I was off and pinning like a fool. It will take a long time to do all the free motion applique I think. But it is enjoyable for me.

Jumping Off Place        Angela gave me a packet called Through the Looking glass. It contained some great textured yarns and fabrics. I pulled it out yesterday and read the instructions. It is not my thing any more then it was Angel’s, but it turned out to be a good starting place. Only the organza, and little blue sequined square are from the kit. The rest I pulled from my collections. I will use the wonderful threads and supplement then with my own as the project was designed for a 12 “ square and I have gone way beyond that.

Coral Sea This work did not get much attention this week. But I did find some more felt that has misty fuse on it already so I am off and running again.

 

 

Wool Rounds I keep my hand in this project and finished three circles this week. My process is to fill in  one circle  at a  toime and every time when I finish with one stitch on a round, I have thread on the needle. I use that  thread  to do the blanket stitch on a new wool unit to tack it down. When all the units are tacked down I will move onto the next ring of stitches in the circles while still finishing off one fully.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories Depot

My parents built their first house in Ainsworth Iowa. Mom saved the check for the lumber yard for the construction and it was $180. In thinking about the houses I lived in I realized that three of my childhood homes were built into hills with a walk in door at that level.  Two of the them had garages . The Ainsworth house faced south with a gully on the west side that slopped up to the high school where dad taught high school. When we lived there we  two trips to the train depot in town. One time it was to get a great big box that contained parts for a rocking chair with an  apple green plastic on it. I got to play in the box while dad did the assembly. That  process was mostly one of  adding the arms and legs. I love rocking in it . The second time we went to the depot, it was to pick up a shipment of 100 live baby chicks. We took them home and checked them before we drove the m to Grandmother Esters house. I remember setting next to the box in the dark in the back of the car listening to the little peeps. I think I fell asleep. Because my next memory of the chicks was in Grandmother’s basement behind a 2″x 12″ that made a short wall next to the corner furnace. They all ended up in the brooder house and later in the hen house. I’m sure I must have gather eggs from some of them in later years. and  had some of them for Sunday dinner too.

I hope everyone is enjoying fall and creating great work.

Carol

Childhood Memories, Coral Sea, Curvie Cuts, Felt Work, Hand work, Machine Drawing, Night Fire, Wool Rounds

Fall

Hello,

The world keeps tilting back toward the north and as we passed the Autumnal  Equinox this week , the light of our days is diminishing every 24 hours.  The trees are showing color now as well.
This week has been a quiet one with lots of studio time for me. I did go to Liz’s house on Friday and we dyed. She is getting ready to go to the Barn and work for two weeks so she did some pre -work with green.
I just made yardage and after washing it out, we both agree the dye is getting old and is very pale.

Progress Report: Night Fire This work is 39.5″w X 34″t. I am quite happy with this work. The high contrast in color adds to the drama of fire. Judy gave me a photo of fire burning at night and that was the inspiration. I used lots of silk paper, and organza in this work as well as the traditional cotton.

 

 

 

 

Topographical I continue to do the couching on this work. I would say it is about half done at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Horses

I got excited about felting again and worked hard on this piece. I plan to add roving to the felt sea horses too. The brain coral is yarn felted with roving.

 

Coral Sea. As one can see this work was influenced by the felting project. I have not done much work here as the Topographical piece has taken most of my handwork energy this week.

 

 

Autumn Leaves    I The season dose have an impact on my work.   So I did print another collection of leaves for this work. I am still building parts here.

 

 

New Work    I pulled a work that I started at QBL in the Rock class out and sewed down the parts this week .  I then found one of my favorite pictures from Dad’d farm of trees and started  some to add to the work.    The trees are on wash away and when I have built them enough I will then add them to the base.

Wool Rounds I finished this panel this week completing 16 of the circles. I pulled out one more pair of old blue jeans to do more rounds. I still do not know exactly were I am going with this piece, but I am enjoying the process.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Stories

Memory is a strange thing.   Some things are all linked together in day units and some things I remember like beads on a string.    In doing this project I have learned that geographic and physical location  is a strong element for me to tie my memories together.    I am calling this panel Stories because I know these things happened to me,  but I think they were told or explained more than true events that I recall.  For example, I have a faded scar in a grid pattern on my left arm.   I was told by Mother that when I was very young and we were living in the trailer in Ainsworth that I fell against a heater and that is the source of that scar.  I remember a gold sweater that Mom gave me for a doll to wear.  The source she said was from the time Dad was a girls basketball coach.     It seems she knitted the sweater and added the A for Ainsworth to the front.  When she took me to the ball game the cheerleaders insisted that I set with the ball in the center circle during half time cheers.  I was a mascot of sorts.      A third event that was recorded as a photo that Mom took at  the time that I had wondered out to the barn behind the house.  I crawled over the gate and got into the pig pen and was playing in the mud with the 200 pound hogs when Mom found me.   She was horrified, and amazed that  I  did not get hurt by the animals.   I  got a good spanking , and a hot bath to remove the excessive mud- but she had to take a photo non the less.    Every time we looked at the photo album she would retell the story.     Even though I have these memoirs they are not really mine in the same way most of the things I talk about are.   They remain a part of my past that this exercise is suppose to cover.

Keep Creating

Carol

Apples and Chickadees, Autumn Leaves, Childhood Memories, Coral Sea, Night Fire, Wool Rounds

Working

Hello
As summer fades there seem to be an abundance of events.   These flowers are form Mim’s garden and they added to the setting for the the opening of the Associated Artist Show  this week.

This is a shot of three of the winners of awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I went with several quilting friends to the Cornell Full Circle Concept Fashion Show. It is always full of wild clothing. I was taken buy this dress called Earth Angle.   In talking with the artist I learned she used many melting techniques that I have used to get the moss like texture in the bodices  of this gown.

 

 

I marveled at this work with its use of broken mirrors and clock works.  the creator admitted to getting lots of glass cuts from the mirrors when she put this together. The clothing is not meant to be worn, but to explore ides for the young fashion gals who will be a part of the wearable fashion show in the spring. It’s a good program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Apples and Chickadees This work is 12″w X 19″l. I did the silk painting in a class with Michelle de Groot in Rochester earlier this fall. All the machine drawing came later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topographical I started this project in class with Cynthia Corbin at QBL this summer.    This is a close up.     The couching adds color and texture to the surface.

 

Wool Rounds This is my handwork project for the time being.    This shot is close to life size.   I am trying to finish a circle before I start  a new one  while I watch the news.

Night Fires This project is going well. I have finished the trees now and only need to free motion quilt in the underbrush to finish that step.

 

 

 

 

Collaring Aunt May I will be going to Chicago to visit with Sharron in Oct and I want a hand project to work on. So I am going to applique down some of my Great Aunt Mays’s collars and lace work as my project.

 

 

 

Coral Sea

I only created the crochet plants this week. They are not tacked down yet as I want to add fish swimming through some of the branches.

 

 

Autumn Leaves I made the leaves in Betty Busby’s class at QBL this summer and plan to make additional ones. The base is simple and will support the idea.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Jackson Hole
When ever Dad had time off as a ranger, Mom had a travel plan of some sort. One week end we went down to Jackson Hole to view the ski lift and see what was there. We climbed to the top of the lift with Gene and myself in the lead as usual. Gene and I ran full speed down the wooden surface much to Mom horror. We both stopped before the end- but she did not know that.
We explored the town and went to a restaurant to have a late lunch. It was memorable for two reasons. One we rarely ate out. Two, because we had buffalo burgers. I do not remember them tasting all that different from beef- but I was a kid and do not nor do I know have a very good pallet. The then went to the Native American Dances up on a Masa like area. It was not commercialized and there were no seats. I remember tiring and setting on the ground at Mom’s feet and leaning against her legs as we were in the front I could still see the women dancing in one direction and the men in the opposite, around a fire. Drums and singer/chanters were the music.
It was late when we started back toward Colter Bay but we stopped at a fruit stand on the edge of town and got Bing -Cherries among other fruit. They were our dinner and we spit the pits out the windows as we drove home in the dark. They tasted great and I still think of that time every time I eat them. What we did not discover until morning was the streak stains on the white car. They did not wash off well. Years later when we sold the car one could still see a faint hint of the stains if one looked for them.

Keep Creating

Carol

Burning Woods, Childhood Memories, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Mom VI, Tee Shirt Quilts, Wool Rounds

Labor Day 2019

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Hello,
This week was Labor Day and even though I have been retired for years it still represents the end of summer and the beginning of   fall and school for me. It was a quiet day and I worked in the studio a lot. I got to thinking about horizons as I watched the children walking to school this morning. The Father was sharpening them along toward new futures that would certainly broaden the horizons of those young minds. Horizons are a important part of artists work too. It is a part of many a landscape and a great tool to use to show depth in art work. Just a small shift can change ones perspective and the horizons one sees. It is a way for one to explore even thought we are through with formal schooling.

I did unroll my Eco Dyeing projects from the  Finger Lakes Fiber Artists play day two weeks ago.   I am sorry to say the beets red dye turned black  with time.  But the red silk that I used did transfer lots of its color.      This is the paper.

This is the fabric.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Seven Feathers I have stitched down all the feathers at this point and I am doing reflective quilting to complete this piece.

Tee Shirt Quilt I finished the construction of the back for this quilt yesterday. Now I can begin the sandwich and quilt it.

 

 

 

 

 

Burning Woods It seemed like it took a long time for me to begin pinning on this work. Now it is moving along quickly. I have even started to stitch down some of the parts of this work.

Memories of Mom This work appears and disappears the stack of things to do so progress is slow. I am also unsure about whether I   have pulled together all the items I want to use on it.   I just need to keep exploring.

 

 

Wool Rounds     I am finished with this first batch of circles.  I am now working on a second bunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Schoolroom Glacier

This memory is also  of the Tetons. When Dad was a ranger Mom wanted to go to Schoolroom Glacier. It is a classic example of how a glacier pushes rocks to for a moraine and a lake as it moves forward. We never made the trip that summer as it is 14 miles from the trail head at Jenny Lake to the glacier. Farther then she thought we  ( I was 10 and Gene was 7 ) could hike in one day. But when we returned to the Tetons and Yellowstone the year I was a senior, we rented horses and made the trip.  Do to a heat event ( precursor of climate change) the snow at the front of the glacier collapsed into the lake and a lot of water flooded out. This destroyed the perfect V that was usually a part of the moraine. It left a big cave like form in the front of the glacier too. Mom was very excited and took a lot of photos to use in her class.  She also purchased older slides of how it had been before the collapse. While we were there it stated to rain. I had a new cowboy hat as I had out grown my old one,  so my head was dry. But to my dismay the horse I was riding threw a shoe and I had to walk her most of the way down. My hat’s form was ruined by the rain, but I still have the horse shoe.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Feathers, Mom VI, Old and New - Purple and Blue, Tee Shirt Quilts, Uncategorized, Wool Rounds

Busy Week

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Hello
I have enjoyed a very active week. Last Friday I went to a silk painting workshop in Rochester with lots of creative gals. Liz did a great piece with flowers.

 

Joyce worked from a photo from her yard.

 

 

 

 

Regina explored a drawing.
I worked from the sketch I had drawn last week.

 

 

 

 

 

Karen did a great job from one of her photos of grapes.

 

 

 

 

 

The class was great and I learned a lot. I will add thread painting and quilting to finish this up in the next week or so.

 

The Michelle the teacher from Australia, did a wonderful trunk show at the end of the day.   This is her use of the techniques she was teaching us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Sunday I went off to Moravia and visited with Susan and Sally. We talked of may things and I got some great feed back on this piece- Old and New.

 

 

 

Tues I picked up Patti and the two of us drove north to Mill Sight Lake and Judy’s Camp for three days. Judy shared this colorful quilt that   Judy made and a Amish gal had quilted for her.

 

 

Patti and I worked with our machines while Nancy and Judy went out on the lake and platted around the island. We had a good time and made a few plans for the fall.

 

 

And just to let you know I make mistakes too.  I was not paying full attention while I was  working on my scarp  quilt and  I accidentally  ran the sewing machine into my finger nail.     I only caught the tip on my nail and a bit of skin.   So  please  be careful!

Progress Report: Tee Shirt Quilt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have now finished the assembly of the top of this work.  I have pulled flannel to make some base blocks that I will surround in the log cabin style for the back.

Feathers  I am half way done adding the feathers to this quilt.  I plan to do reflective quilting around the outside.

Wool Rounds     

I just keep building on these wool units.   It is calming work.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap  I worked on these at Mill Site.  I am pleased to say I only have one more box of scraps to work from.  Over the weekend I finished up nine more units.

 

 

 

 

Memories of Mom

I did a little hand work on this piece this week that is made from  things that Mom had in her home.

Sketching   I just keep my fingers in the drawing game by doing a new one every now and then

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Lessons
The summer I was ten and Dad was a temporary Ranger in Tetons was a great one for me.  We went to many ranger talks and sat on logs looking at the lake with the mountains beyond  and learning fun facts while the sky darkened and the stars came out. Because all rangers need to be able to rescue hikers from the mountains Dad  learned to repel.  He took us along for his practice with a second ranger named  Jim. Gene and I also got to take a hand a repelling and I loved it. It was great fun to jump away from the vertical rock face and sour down with the rope to help one land safely back on land.
We rode across Jackson Lake to the undeveloped side and bushwhacked up the mountain one day. Saw a heard of wild goats and got lots of scratches on that adventure. Dad also taught us that if we ever got lost in the wilderness to do two things. Always go down hill and when you find water follow it down too. It will always lead you to civilization eventually and you will have a vital life saving source close at hand. I am glad to say I have never had to apply that knowledge. At the end of the summer there was a range’s picnic. Gene and I were the only kids. Lots of great food. The only things to drink were water and beer. So I thought I would try the beer. Just as I opened the can Dad came around the cabin. He was not happy with me. But he insisted that sense I had opened the can that I drink the whole thing. Then I promptly emptied my stomach on the grass. I was never tempted as a teen- and even later I never learned to drink beer. The lesson was learned.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

PS this is a shot of the sun set over the St Lawrence River.

 

Childhood Memories, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Tee Shirt Quilts, Topographical, Wool Rounds

New Experiences

Hello
This week has been a busy one for me. Saturday was a Finger Lakes Fiber Artists Play day at the Schweinfurth. There was a lot going on. Cheri painted. Barb, Parilla, Marcia, and Joyce did starch resist work. Maureen did a little mini workshop on indigo printing and Eco-dying.  This shot is of the Eco-Printing that Maureen did before hand.   

 

This  is what my Eco Printing looks like as one needs to let the plant dyes  seep into the paper and fabric in the cold printing style we used.  Keep it moist for a month Maureen said, before you unwrap it.   Stay tuned.

The Indigo  printing was more direct,  and is finished like  other dyeing processes.

It was fun and enjoyable as well as a learning experience for me.

 

I did wash out some fabric that Liz and I had done on a print day earlier in the summer while I was at it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday the FAD group meant at my home. Sharon has finished another of her commissions works and they continue to be better and better.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Feathers This work is at the quilting stage now.  The feather on the right is all quilted the one on the left is only started.    I have learned that it take me a little more than an hour to do each feather so I will be at this project for a few weeks.

Tee Shirt work

I am quiet pleased with the progress on this project. Three of the four columns are done now. The top will soon be done and I can move onto the back construction.

 

 

Topographical I continue to hand couch down the yarn to show movement in this work.

 

 

 

 

 

Wool Rounds

I keep working to finish up each circle.  The are a limited number of stitches I can think of to do in a circular  fashion.

 

 

 

 

Class Preparations I am taking a class in silk painting tomorrow and in preparation for that class I have drawn the image I hope to use in colored pencil and black and white.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories: Colter Bay Camping  Grounds
The year I was 10, Dad was again a summer Park Range. This time it was in  Tetons National Park. He and two other men ran the camp ground at Colter Bay on Jackson Lake. We were housed in a white army surplus tent with a   wooden frame, wooden floor,  door,  screen door, and potbelly stove. It was 18 feet square. Gene and I had bunk beds in one corner and Mom and Dad had a double in the opposite one. There was one chest of drawers with four drawers,  and a table with  four chairs. Suit cases were stored under the bunk beds and the wood box was at the foot. There was electricity, but we had to carry in the water. Next to the stove, there was a small unit for food prep and dishes as well as supplies. I do remember that Mom baked a birthday cake in the electric skillet she brought for Pete Nickel’s Birthday. ( He was one of the other rangers  in  another   tent on sight.) The bathroom was in the campground and it was always a brisk walk/run to visit it in the mornings. To bathe we went to the Snake River near a hot spring twice a week. It was a great summer with lots of hikes, going to campfire lectures, and traveling.  Mom and I even made little pillows and stuff them with pine needles. They smelled wonderful  for years after that. As it got closer to Labor Day and our return home, it got colder and colder especially at night. Two nights before the close of the campground and our drive home, when the lights were out, I heard mice in the wood box. I though I felt one run across my legs and when I mentioned it -Dad pooh-poohed that and said go to sleep.   Then just as I was dozing off one ran across my face. I screamed. Dad was not sympathetic and said I was imagining things.   Some how I did fall asleep. But the last night I refused to sleep in the bottom bunk- and insisted on sleeping at the opposite end of Gene’s bunk on the top. In the morning I was vindicated by little mouse dropping all over the bed spread. When we got home to Carroll two days later my own bed seemed huge and very secure.

Hope you enjoy your childhood memories as much as I do mine.

 

Keep Creating

Carol

PS

The post next week will be done on Friday because the FAD group is going up to Judy’s camp from Tue to Thur.

Childhood Memories, Falcon, Hand work, Landscapes, Tee Shirt Quilts, Wool Rounds

Summer Calm

Hello,
The squirrels in upstate New York are in full harvest mode. It has been a bumper year for acorns as we have had lots of rain. Our new driveway  is covered with their discards. This week has been a quiet one and I have enjoyed lots of time in the studio.

Progress Report: Falcon This work is 23″ w X 40.5″ l. I started this in the Rock On class at QBL. It too needed a center of interest so I drew on the new techniques I learned in Betty Busby’s class and produced the falcon. The use of Intense pencils to do the  shading really is wonderful.

 

 

 

I made the branch out of yarn, nylon net and fabric scraps. Then did a thick layer of free motion stitching on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wool Rounds This is my new handwork project. I have not done any planning as to how I will use these or how many there will be. I am just enjoying the doing at this point.

 

Tee Shirt 2 It has finally been long enough that I feel I could tackle this second tee shirt quilt. It took three hours to fuse the inner facing to the back of the tees so they would not stretch when I stitched them to the cottons. The assembly strips are cut and the small ones are sewn together. I will be laying it out and putting it together next week.

Topographical I started this quilt in the Rock On class too. I am couching down the yarn at this point.

 

 

Mountain This is a work that grew out of the scraps from the Rock On class too. I had created the clouds at the play day where I was teaching silk paper and I wanted to use then. It needs a focus.

 

 

 

Feathers      I fused down the cut feathers from Betty Busby’s class 

and assembled this top this week.    It is layered and pinned now so I will begin tho quilt this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Heart Lake
The summer Dad was a Forest Ranger in Yellowstone we did a lot of exploration of the park. We quickly discovered that we had not brought along enough warm clothing so the first time we went to West Thumb(   a shop area that no longer exists in the park) we all got new coats. Mine was a red polished cotton. I was proud. One day we did a hike to Heart Lake. It was eight miles into the lake mostly down hill. I was looking for rocks along the way and discovered a piece of flint about the size of a soft ball in a stream bed we crossed. I picked it and carried it for a while then put it in the pocket of the new coat. It was heavy so when we came across a  tall  tree stump that was along the trail I reasoned that I would put the rock there and retrieve it on the way home. The day warmed and we soon shed our coats.   Dad put them in the back pack. We arrived at the beautiful quiet lake. Ate the lunch Mom had packed and Dad started fishing. Gene and I play in the shallow water of the lake building rock towers and throwing rocks.    Dad caught one 12 “ Cut Throat Trout. Gene and I unintendedly caught leaches on our ankles. Time to go eight miles back out up out of the valley to the car and home. It was a long and difficult walk for the end of an active day. I remember Dad holding the handle of the fishing poll and my brother holding onto the poll to keep up the pace. When we got home to the trailer it was dark and we were all famished. The trout was soon sizzling in the pan and we had a great feast. Unpacking the back pack I remembered that I had forgotten to pick up the flint- and when I saw how the pocket of my new jacked was shredded by its sharp edges,  I was sure Mom would be angry with me. I don’t remember if she said anything- but I do remember every time I put hand in the pocket I recalled my foolishness.

Keep Creating

Carol

The Bachelor Buttons are in full bloom around here now.

Childhood Memories, Diminish, Old and New - Purple and Blue, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Wool Rounds

Prep Week

Hello,
This week has been a quiet one. I did go and dye with Liz on Monday. We had fun and I worked to create several fabrics that look like rocks for my class. The work  pictured is what Liz created. Most of my efforts this week have been in preparation for QBL that begins for me on Friday. That day I will help hang the quilt show at Onondaga Community Collage. Then all the action will begin on Sunday. There will not be any new posts until Aug 1 after QBL is over.

Progress Report: Old and New- Purple and Blue The rework of this project is very satisfying. I like how it is much flatter too.

 

 

 

 

 

Diminishing I work hard on this project to complete the car wash series before I encountered Rosalie Dace again at QBL. I am done with the quilting. I did free motion spirals in the circles and pebble quilting in the rest of the work. Then the back ground was zig -zag stitched. That was new for me but I like how it looks.

 

Wool Rounds I started this new hand work piece this week as I finished the last hand project. I am not sure where I am going with it but I am enjoying the process.

 

 

 

 

New Work I am ready to do another forest fire piece and so this is all basted for that purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories :Parade Win When I was in the second grade there was a local parade in Columbus Junction. Mom made a green and gold tutu for me and a matching one for my Tony doll. I was so proud to be allowed to march all the way downtown without my parents. I had earned a quarter from Mrs Fister and I was going  to spend it all by myself.  After the parade I went into the drug store to do my solo shopping and the Draggiest leaned over his counter to talk to me. He said “ Congratulations”. I asked for what and he told me I had won a prize in the parade for my costume. I was surprised as I was unaware there was a contest at all. He told me to go across the street to Roundies Grocery and pick up my prize. When the manager, Mr Roundy gave me the prize of $5.00 I was delighted. I thanked him and took the money and ran all the way home to tell Mon, totally forgetting my goal to spend a quarter.

Gingerbread Men At Christmas time one year, again in Columbus Junction, Mom and I made gingerbread men with raisin eyes and mouths. We took them to the “shut ins”  in the community and hung some with red ribbon from silver ropes in the windows. I was disappointed that I did not get to eat any, but Mom said when we took them down from the windows after Christmas I could eat them all. That was about a dozen. I was nullified. When we took down the tree the weekend after New years, I got my reward. Then came the disappointment- the gingerbread men were hard as rocks and we had to throw them out.

Keep Creating

Carol