Category Archives: Pixies Group

Blue Water, Consider, Contemplating, Coy Pond, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand Out, Koi in the Kelp, Pixies Group, Pondering, Three Witches, Wall of Fire

Hurricane Ian

Hello,

The hurricanes that have hit the country the last few weeks have raised my concern for my fellow Americans.   So many of my friends live there  and there is  family too.   It is hard to face such destruction from nature .  The water and wind sure makes one humble.   I did talk yesterday with the Pixies who live in Gulfport Florida. Robert was staying in the area and the other two had both evacuated.  My sincere wished go out to all who suffered any loss and I hope you are all back to balance as fast as possible.

For me here in central New York, I am still feeling very positive as I received my award from the Art show on Sunday.   I was delighted by the support I received from my quilting friends too.

The Schweinfurth asked that artists contribute a small work to be raffled to help support the institution, so I started a new piece called “A Little Action.”    I now remember why I only did one work a day and it is a bit tedious.

 

 

FAD meant at Nancy’s on Wed.  It was good to see all of them  and Nancy shared her wonderful new piece.   I think it looks great!

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Wall of Fire    I built up the fire portion of this work this week.  I  think I am nearing completion.

 

Lap 4 This work is all ready to be quilting now.    I am always surprised at how fast the pin basting goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 5   I had extra time in the studio on Monday so I started a new lap quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Hand out  This work is done now.  I will give Ginny first choice on the one of the four that she wants  sense she gave me the wool coverlet that the hand units were cut from.

 

 

 

Consider   I finished the hand work on this piece this week.   Now all three works are complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other two works in the series are

 

 

Contemplate

.and Consider.    They are all the same size  and use complementary colors.   I am going to put them in the Associated Artist show at May Memorial for the month of Oct.

 

 

Blue Water   I have now placed and zig- zagged down the top half of all of the fish in this work.   It is building nicely I think.

 

Koi in the Kelp After consulting with Jane Durawall, I changed the orientation of this  piece and added kelp.   I like the feel of the action much more  and the extra layers of depth it now has too.

Rework -Coy Pond    Again after feeling a bit unhappy with this work I got some critique from Jane.  She had several suggestion that I liked and I finally decided to cut away the brown background and mount the whole interlocking fish unit on a new background of blue and yellow.    I am about half way done cutting away the background now  and think it will be a lot stronger when it is complete.

Three Witches   I had to wait on a friend in the parking lot while she had an in office procedure done today.  So I worked on the right side of the face this morning.  I think it beginning to feel solid.

New Handwork for Slow Stitch    I finished this work early in the week .

 

 

 

 

Then I had an idea for a second  textural piece so I did this work this week too. Texture is my real love so I guess this is natural for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork     This work is part of the leftover fused fabric pieces that I started a few weeks ago. Sense I finished the “hand series”, I  pulled up this work and started it late last evening.

Again my thoughts are for the Hurricane victims.

Carol

 

 

 

`

Coy Fish, Creative Strength Training, Diva Meetings, Fire Wall, Fish, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Three Witches

Rainy Days

1 Comment

Hello,

We are enjoying a series of rainy days here in central New York.     I am thankful as so may are in drought or in flooding conditions.    Here it is just gentle and soaking into the ground for the most part.   I like to walk in the rain too so I am taking advantage of it.

It’s the beginning of the month and I had several meetings.  The Creatinve Strength Training group meant.  The element of emphasis this month is Texture- my favorite so I will enjoy this one.    The Pixies meant and Quilt Divas too.

Barb had a  great little quilt based on a Slot Canyon that I really liked.

 

 

 

 

And Terri shared her news work too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Coy  Fish   This work is 34.5 ” X 35.5″.  I like how this project came out.  I still have not come across my inspiration work, but that is not necessary now.

 

I really like the fish forms and playing with them is fun for me.

 

The second piece with more Coy fish I have  set aside as I am feeling it is too busy. I am thinking on it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching  This work is 15.5″ X 26″.  The color here as well as the textures are what I really enjoy about this piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hand Out  I am still building on this piece.  I want more hand work here than on Reaching.  I do like the complexity that the spider webs add too.

 

Lap quilt 2  With this quilt I am again using up Sue Elle’s blocks.

There is still lots of quilting to do on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt 3   This is just the start of another lap work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches  I am enjoying doing the hand work on these interesting faces.

 

 

 

Feather Dancer   I uncovered this work while looking for another project .  There is so little left to stitch that I decided to complete it.  Getting closer every day.

Fire Wall   With new fires in the west I felt I needed to create a new fire piece.  I got the base fabric from a fellow quilter at QBL this summer.  These layered quilts always take lots of time to build up to the level I feel is complete.

Ponder   I am done with the hand work on this piece now and only have the hand work to do on the last one in the tryptic  to complete the series.

 

 

 

 

I hope the fall is developing nicely for you.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Drawing, Hand Out, Hand work, Pixies Group, Reaching, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Three Witches

Beginning of Fall

Hello,

It is September and I see that as the start of fall after so many years  of beginning the school year at this time.   This milkweed seems to be agreeing with me as it has started to change its summer color for the fade of fall.  The seed pods look good.

I had a mixed week with only the Pixie meeting this week, and a Dentist an Dr appointments.

The big event was a field trip with the Sisterhood of the Scissors yesterday.  We me meant at   the Memorial Art Gallery on the University of Rochester Campus.   The show was Ubuhale, and it was of seed bead work from seven women from an area in South Africa.     The works were all large mostly  8 Ft by 10 ft and all done with beads.    By the end of the show one could easily identify the work of each artist.

 

 

This gal did not mix her bead colors much, but I love the effects she got.

 

 

 

This woman liked trees and even in her work with the cattle she had a tree as part of the composition.

 

 

All the works took about a year to produce and they were specular!

We all went away  happily inspired.

 

Progress Report: Coy Fish    I finished the binding on this work yesterday evening  and I am now ready to begin the hand detailing.  I did the applique with a metallic thread and a gold colored thread both fed through a big eyed needle.

 

 

 Frenzy   I have built all the fish I want to use on this piece.   But in taking this photo I realize they really do not work for what I wanted to say.    Back to the drawing board…

 

 

 

Reaching    I added the spider web and have started on the leaf forms here.

 

 

 

 

 

Hand Out  I haves started to stitch down the leaf shapes on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches   I keep filling in the hand stitching on this piece.   Again the photo helps me see were I need to add more shadows.

 

 

 

 

Drawing    This is the drawing for the third witch.  I think she strikes the correct note for the work.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt    I have done all the stitch in the ditch work here and I am now adding free motion work in the big areas.

 

 

Cut away blocks    I keep exploring with this technique.  I am doing two blocks every day so this is just a sample.

I hope everyone is enjoying the close of summer and ready for a new school year.   Stay safe.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Applique, Consider, Contemplating, Coy Pond, Creative Strength Training, Hand Out, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Pondering, Reaching

Rolling Along

Hello,

This week was a good one for me.  I had lots of social stuff over the week end, and great studio time this week. The Pixies and Creative Strength Training went forward as well.  I am re reading the Creative Strength Training book that Jane wrote and I had too.  I am following the exercises she recommends and I started a little self challenge to do a bunch of Expanded Squares.    In keeping with the ideas of using what you have I cut my squares out of some dark gray paper that I had. 

 

Too  easy to  put  off   doing the exercise when one does not have exactly what is  required.

 

 

I also put in a day in the studio with my Grandson Nick on Sunday.   He designed and printed the shirt  for one of his friends.

We  spent the rest of the day designing and starting a back pack in the form of a fox.     Without  a pattern it took a lot of thought and we got about half done we ran out of gas on that project.  It was great fun though.

Progress Report:    Ponder   I  worked on all three of the pieces in this group.  This one is now done with the quilting and the binding has been completed.  I need to do some hand work in the solid colored areas to hold them down.   Contemplation is at that same point.  I need to finish the binding on  Consider and add a sleeve there too.

Lap Quilt  I stared and completed this top this week. I intend to send it to my Uncle in Iowa in the fall when it is done.

 

 

 

 

 

Golden Leaves   This work got its start at QBL this summer.  I am now ready to begin stitching the parts down.

 

 

Three Witches  – Samantha   I worked mostly on this second witch this week.    I am mixing the weight  of the thread just like I would do if I was drawing and adding more or less pressure.   I like how it is developing.

 

 

 

 Coy Pond    I started this project before I went off to QBL and it got buried.  I uncovered it this week and went to work . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the coy fish are made of at least three  parts and many have four. I think it needs about 10 more fish for me to be happy with the numbers.   But in looking at it  I realized that everything is of the same value .   That dose not make for a good work so I will build a new background this week  and hope I can fix the problem to my satisfaction.

 

Reaching ( hand project 3)   I was given a wonderful old  hand worked wool blanket that was falling to shreds.  My friend Ginny  said do what ever you want with it.  I am trying to save the good parts and make tributes to the hand work of women in the past.  I made two works using parts of the blanket  for Creative Stitch Club and I had  a few new ideas so I am moving forward with them now.

 

 

Hand Out( hand project 4)   This is the other idea.  I have only laid out the back ground at this point.     I sure have lots of hand work to do this week.

I hope you are enjoying the summer and keeping creative

Carol

 

Brown Study, Cattails and Dragonflies, Consider, Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering, Three Witches

Summer Days

  Hello,

I hope summer it treating you well.   I am enjoying my walks and savoring every moment of the sun, pleasant temperatures  and gentle winds of the season.   I have had several encounters with wild life this week.  On my way home in the city of Syracuse at about 2:00 in the afternoon, I turned a corner to find a doe crossing the street followed by a young spotted fawn.  It makes one slow down and really look at our wonderful world.  Then on Tue eve when we were setting out on our patio, listening to music and quietly talking, a skunk walked about a foot away from my husband on his nightly food search.  Then Eric had a face to face encounter with yet another Skunk last eve.   No doer either time.

I had my usual meetings with Creative Strength Training and Pixies this week.  There was a special class for  CST called Negative Painting that I enjoyed too.   I have not finished the work for that class yet so.  The Slow Stitch group meant last week and I have finished  two  6″ squares that were the challenge.    This one is the non objective square.

 

This one is the abstract one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are all sorts of extra positive effects from QBL.  For example, I got  a box full of ties to use a raw material from my friend, Diane.   All the ties are gutted now and ready for use.     Here are my new treasures and a new challenge too.

 

 

 

 

I also made a connection with a fellow post card creator,  Becky.   She sent me this wonderful work this week.

 

 

Progress Report: Twilight Crows    This work is 16″ w X 30.5″ l.   I made the work in Valerie Goodwin’s Light and Easy workshop at QBL and finished it this week.

 

 

 

 

I am enjoying the working with crows and the transparency stuff too.

 

 

Brown Study- rework    The work is 24.5″w X 8″ t.  This piece is another project from QBL that I completed this week.  Paula Kovark taught us how to insert quilted  pieces into existing quilts.   The four contrasting triangles show that effect.    She called the effect “suturing “.    It sure makes for lots of fun applications I think.

 

 

 

 

Cattails and Dragonflies   This work is 11″ square.  This project is also the result of Paula’s class. one of her many challenging assignments was to make a continuous line drawing the filled the page.  I was not quite successful with the continuous line part,  but most of it is.   Color and paint were added this week.

Circling Circles  I have been working on the quilting of this work for a while and I can now see the end.  I only need to quilt three more of these circles and I will completed the job.

 

Complementary Colors Tryptic 

 Paula’s emphasis on quilting lines and talk with my friend Sharon has lead to some great quilting with this series.  I am all done with the quilting on Contemplate ( yellow and purple).  Not only did I make the quilting reflective , but I also inserted little points into the lines sometimes.   Now I am quilting on Consider( red and green), and I am starting with the colors them selves and will build out from there.    I will begin to quilt on Ponder this  week with yet another quilting approach.

 

 

 

Handwork  With the addition of a few more beads and stitched I declared this  work done and I will move on.

 

 

Three Witches  I won a beautiful piece of linen as a door prize at QBL the first week.  So I stared a big project.  I am going to try to created a black on white hand  stitch  piece of the Three Witches from Macbeth.   I have drawn one an done some research on faces for the second and third.   I only started stitching yesterday.

Stay cool and keep Creating

Carol

 

Contemplating, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Explorations, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Time Life Line

July 2022

3 Comments

Hello,

Summer is always a busy time and this week was no exception.   We had a big family Birthday party picnic on Sat to celebrate the July birthdays and it was wonderful.   Everyone ate great food, enjoyed the weather and laughed a lot. What more can you ask for.  Then I went off to a play day in Varna on Sunday.   Spent the day with seven other folks exploring printing.  I did work on my Pondering piece.  I am so glad events like that are  opening again.  Then on Tuesday, Liz and I got together and dyed again.  That is always lots of fun. 

 

The Creative Strength Training class meant yesterday and it was a good discussion.    I also had a session with the Pixies on Wed too.

My other big news is, my friend David B is now the proud owner of Against the Wind.

This will be the last entry for July as I am off to Quilting by the Lake on Sunday for two weeks.

Progress Report: Pondering   

This top is all put together now.  My goal is to have  the tops of all three of the pieces of this set before I go off to QBL.

 

 

 

 

Contemplating   This is the third top.  I have only made a few of the units for this work.  It is pinned to a dark background so I can see how I want the placement of those parts.

 

 

Daily Practice Quilt  I am now quilting circles on the  quilt.   It is calming work.

 

 

Handwork    I keep adding to this work every evening.  It is nearing completion.

 

 

 

Life Line Drawing  After giving it some thought I decided not to add color to this work and I consider it done.   It was a good way for me to think about my life beyond the childhood work.

Enjoy Summer  and I will write again after Quilting by the Lake with lots of new stories and ideas I am sure.

Keep Creating

Carol

Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering

Quiet Summer Days

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying the after the holiday quiet.   Things did slow down a bit for me and I spent some time looking at the sky and enjoying all the greens.    I join a great Diva meeting in Trumansburg, NY. this week.   Our next group show is there and we went to see the space and get things limned up for Aug when we will hang the show.  Donna had some great new rust pieces to share with us.  She is getting really good at that I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen showed off her latest work too.

There was a Pixie meeting and a Show Stitch Group Zoom meeting as well.  It is the season of lots of family and  out door activity for everyone  so I did not do much work.

Progress Report: Against the Wind     It is   54″ X 54″ .     I am all done with this work now.  I have learned a lot about free piecing and it remains a real challenge for me.  I will try it again, but not any time soon.   The quilting did not smooth it out enough for me to be real happy with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Stitched Top   I have done stitch in the ditch work on this piece.  Now I will do some hand work as it needs more quilting to be complete.

 

 

 

 

Goldfish   I started this work based on an old sketch and I am using  some of my hand dyed fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

Pondering    This is the second in the complimentary color challenge from Jane.  I am still working through the Irene Roderick’s  book,  “Improv Quilting ” with its exercise and the units are based of her suggestions.   The black will disappear from the final top.

 

 

 

Handwork  This is the newest hand work piece using add-ons.  They are painted and heat treated Tyveck shapes.  I will continue the embellishment with beads.

 

 

 

 

Drawing   For Valerie  Goodwin’s class “Light and Lacy ” I drew up these birds to use as my first print.   I am looking forward to QBL in two weeks and seeing how we use them.

Enjoy the season and keep creating

Carol

College Life, Consider, Creative Strength Training, Explorations, Hand work, Pixies Group, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Summer Season

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying the season.  I am just home from my daily walk and I enjoyed the sun, sky and the green world.   Our  block party was on the week end and it was great to reconnect with the folks who live around me.  Several folks know us by seeing us walking by.  This week was the end of the month and there were fewer meetings.  I did meet with the Pixies and Textile Artists Stitch club had a new assignment so I was still busy.    I did work on  both of the pieces that I started using the hand as the beginning.

This work,  Reaching Up  is       2535443543o  X 23432439u .  I need to finish stitching on the sleeve but that is all that remains for completion here.

The second one,  Reaching Out, is all stitched together and now needs a boarder and the rest of the finish work. 

I have enjoyed using wool as the primary element in these two works.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Against the Wind

I have now layered and pin basted this work.  I hope to begin the “wind” quilting later today.

 

 Handwork Top     I have now assembled all the parts for this work and added boarders.  I need to do the pin basing and quilting on this one as well.

 

Consider  I started this work last week in response to Jane Dunnewold’s  challenge to do a work using complementary color combinations.  I mixed this idea with the exploration of the some of  suggested  piecing processes in Irene Roderick’s book “Improv Quilting. ”   I had fun and plan to to the other two complementary color combos and explore more of the suggested techniques.

New Daily Practice   I decided to challenge myself to do some hand work were I add unusual objects to the surface of some of the stained old family fabrics I have an abundance of .   This is painted and melted Tyveck with part of an old hat vail.

 

This is the last of my childhood series.  I think changing my name from Carol McElhinney, my birth name to Carol Boyer is a good marker for the end of childhood.  Susan challenged us to do this project in April of 2019 and all the other participants have long dropped away, but I am glad I did it.  There have been 162  entries.  It has been a good journey and I look forward to a new project that will engage me as much as this one has.

College Life – Wedding Day

June 7, 1969, finally arrived. I was more scared than excited. I was full of doubt, but Eric came up stairs and talked with me about my fears. I will admit I was ready to run away from the whole event, but he assured me that we would be fine and it would all work out. Then it was off to Brook Drive and my old home. The house was full of family all excitedly preparing for the church. The Dean boys seemed to be every where, helping with everything. It was my last time in my old bedroom as Carol McElhinney. That was my thought as I put on my gown. Carrying the veil, I got in the car with Mom, Dad, and Gene and we drove to the church. Kelly looked so cute in her white dress, with her new pixie hair cut and the little basket of flowers. Tracy, wearing a dress with a matching coat, was tending the wedding book at the door to the chapel. She was laughing as usual. I went into the prep room and Mom helped me with the veil and someone handed me the beautiful yellow flowers. Margaret and Ellie filed into the sanctuary followed by Kelly and Scott. Then I heard Larry’s beautiful voice singing “What is a Youth?” He was followed by the recorded entry music, Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntary, which Larry had selected. Dad took my arm and told me I looked beautiful as we walked down the aisle toward Eric, Dean, and Gene. I only had eyes for Eric and the beautiful green of the woods behind him.

It got quiet as Reverend O’Kelly started the service. Folks told me later that I was so quiet in my responses to his questions that they could not hear a thing. Eric did and that was the only thing that was important to me. It was time for the rings and Scott passed them to us. I jammed the ring on Eric’s finger when he presented it to me. “I pronounce you Husband and Wife.” We kissed each other, turned, the wedding march started, and we hurried down the isle out into the lobby. Eric dropped my hand and ran to the bathroom. I turned a little panicked to see Mom and Dad coming out and seeing me standing alone both had expressions of inquiry on their faces. That uncertainly did not last long as Eric re appeared. It seems he had stuck out his right hand and I had forced the ring onto the correct finger of the wrong. A little soap and things were fixed. “I hope its still official!” Eric said.

The rest of the reception, in the education hall of the church, was a blur of happy faces, hugs, and words of congratulation. Punch was served along with wedding cake, of course. Eric and I then opened some gifts. I don’t remember most of them, but I do recall being a little embarrassed by Eric’s joke about a cut silver waste basket and matching tissue box from Aunt Margaret. There were also red pots and pans that lasted years. Eric and I went off to the chapel for pictures and then we both changed for our trip north. Folks threw rice as we went to the car and drove away, heading to Holland, Michigan, for our weekend Honeymoon. I was excited, but I don’t recall too much except we went swimming in the hotel pool after dark one night. At one of the little shops in town, I did purchase a little pair of wooden shoes that I still have. Sunday and it was time to start for home. We took some back roads and had to make a stop just after crossing back into Indiana. There was a turtle crossing the road. We picked him up and took him to the side before continuing our journey home. Monday was the start of summer school for both of us, and the start of our life together. Reverend O’Kelly had told us to check with the court house to make sure the marriage licence got filed properly. We never did. “It’s our escape clause,” Eric said. The event must have been a good take, since fifty-three years, one child, two dogs, a bunch of cats, four moves, and several college degrees later, we’re still together.

I hope everyone continues to enjoy the season.

Keep playing

Carol

 

Childhood Memories, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Dancing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Pixies Group

Summer is Here

Hello,

  Summer solstice was Tue and now we are officially into the  summer season.   That also seems to mean more and more out side activates.    I found I did not have much time in the studio this week and next week looks the same.  The yard gets more attention for one thing and I love it.  I have lots of flowers blooming and the world is full  of greens.    I have also been to lots of picknicks lately.  We had a big Birthday party on Sat and we will have a second family event in two weeks to celebrate the July birthdays.

I did attend a FAD meeting this week and got some help with a few works that I had questions about as well as enjoying the socialization.   The Pixies had a video meeting on Wed and we had a good time sharing our works.  The project for the Textile Artist Stich club is coming along.   I am starting to really fill in the spaces now.

I also put in some time on the second hand piece.   I tried to create a totally different feel for the hand surround.

 

 

My other activity this week was to start summer dyeing with Liz.   We spent one day checking and cleaning out old dyes  and one day dyeing.   I am in the wash out step now.

Progress Report:  Dancing This work is  31.5″ w X 39.5″ h.    I started this work at my friend Sharron’s a few weeks ago.   All the figures are hand drawn from photos of ballet dancers.

 

 

This close up is of the big figures hands on the  right side of the quilt.

I enjoyed the process, but at this time I do not  have any ideas of new directions to follow.

Against the Wind   I am now in the process of building a  free piecing background for the birds of this project.   It takes a lot of looking and thinking to do  this, almost more then doing the birds.

New Work   I got a new book last week  that  is  authored  by  an  artist  I have  long  admired.   Irene Roderick has had many works in Quilts =Art=Quilts so I have had the opportunity to study her work, but the book sure makes it easier to follow her thinking.    I  now  in the process of doing some of  the exercises she suggests.    They are techniques I am familiar with, but my goal is different this time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Memories Spring 1969

March was the beginning of spring term and Eric and I decided to get married at the end of the quarter. So it was a whirl wind of activity for both of us. He would be graduating at the end of summer school, and I would take classes and then only have my student teaching to complete my degree. My most rigorous class that term was Comparative Religions. I did not know a thing about Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam, so I learned a lot. The class I enjoyed the most was Sound and Light, a class designed especially for Art and Music majors. There were lots of experiments and the teacher explained things well. I got an A in that one. My three art classes were Sculpture II and two night classes. Tuesday was Nude Drawing. We started out each evening with short two- and three-minute drawings. The posing time expanded gradually ending with and hour and a half at the end of the evening. I filled several big news print pads and they are still in my portfolio. My other night class was Ceramics III, on Thursday. That class was lots of exploring of mixing glazes, so I did lots of throwing that term to have work to experiment on. It was fun. With Eric around it was back to lots of movies. I remember seeing Flower Drum Song and really liking it as I had listened to Mom’s record for years. Among the other movies we watched on campus were Chalk Garden , Gypsy, East of Eden and Friendly Persuasion. We went downtown to see the big his of that spring, Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet. Bill Cosby also entertained us that spring in Emens Auditorium. We had seats in the second row and enjoyed ourselves very much.

I spent a lot of time at home that term sewing. First I made my wedding dress. It was white full length silk with woven diamond pattern in organza on top. I then made two bride’s maid’s dresses, a blue and white stripe with little flowers woven into the blue. They were for Ellie and Margaret. Last I made a little white dress in the same weave pattern for Kelly, who was to be my flower girl. Eric’s youngest brother, Scott, was the ring barer and he wore a suit like Eric. Dean would be the best man accompanied by Gene. Larry spent the spring transcribing “What is a Youth” from the Romeo and Juliet record album, as there was no sheet music available yet. Later, Larry would it at the ceremony while a fellow music major accompanied him on the piano. There were so many preparations and details to attend to I felt like I was always moving. We tried to keep the costs down and I do remember thinking that $70.00 for flowers see like a huge sum. I did have a wedding portrait taken and it appeared in the paper. We wanted to have the wedding ceremony in the Unitarian-Universalist Church–it had such a glorious setting with a glass wall that looked out into a green wood behind the front of the sanctuary. Eric and I had to attend several marriage counseling sessions with Dr. Kelly, too. It must have taken, as we celebrated anniversary number 53 on June 7 this year (2022). Finals arrived and were taken, the last being June 4–three days before the wedding. All the family was there, of course. Dad had set up for all of my extended family to stay at one of the conference centers that Ball State owned near by. Eric’s father opted for the local Holiday Inn for his half of the family. Eric and I had decided to rent the upstairs apartment from Mom and Pappa Mayor for the summer and I moved in after the final exam. We had our rehearsal and it went well. Afterward, Bob, Eric’s dad took us all to dinner.

Keep Creating ,

Carol

College Life, Creative Strength Training, Drawing, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Winter/Spring

Hello,

This week has been a wild one with lots of weather changes. We had snow  and it was beautiful now it is shirt sleeve weather and the spring flowers are up.   The temperature changes sure keep one on ones toes.

I had lots meetings this week as seems to be my usual pattern of late.   I zoomed to Sisterhood of the Scissors, Pixies and  Fiber Artist Stitch Club.   I watched the  Stitch lecture and new assignment , but  because I am still not finished with the last assignment I decided I will not do this one.  One does need to say “No Thanks” every now and then.    My cross stitch of Nick is coming along slowly.  The hoop is distorting it a bit – but I think I can iron it back into shape when I am done.

The Creative Strength Training ( CST)  is still overwhelming me a bit, but I am trying to keep up.  I did two of the drawing assignments this week and  read lots of old posts as well as making it to the weekly meeting.

 

 

I will catch up I am sure and it is a challenge – something that I need and will provide me with new growth. 

 

The emphasis this month is line and for this one I just played.

 

 

 

For this one I started a line from the top of the page and squared it of and then exited from right.  After each line I turned the paper 90 degrees.  I used all 10 of the green markers that I had in my stash.

I did go to the Schweinfurth  on Monday and help dismantle the Both Ends of the Rainbow show.  I also picked up my work and the work of two of my friends .

Progress Report: Lap # 8   I stared a new lap quilt and I like how it is building.  The one I was working on is to the quilting stage and I discovered that one of the blacks is rotten so I am dismantling part of it to do the repair.

 

 

 

Action   I continue to add stitches to this work and I am feeling good about how it looks.

 

 

Cowl # 26   I try to knit a row or two every evening so I make progress on these works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Life- Fall Quarter 1967

The fall quarter started with five new classes and lots of activities. I had two Art class and I enjoyed them both. One was Design II with Dr Griner, who later became the head of the art department. The second was Weaving. I loved that class with the exception of loading the loom. I quickly learned to do the warp for several projects at once. This meant that I had to be very careful with my measuring and the actual threading process, but it also meant that I could cut off the first project and go directly to work on the second. My physical ed. class was Tennis and Eric and I played several times that fall, so I got some extra practice in. Practical Science was my science elective that term and it again was a 8:00 class. I enjoyed it as it was designed for non-science majors. The teacher kept it light and some what entertaining. My final class was English. It was a bit of a challenge and the fact that Eric was in the class also added to that feeling. Eric says he got a B, and I just managed a C in that class.

At this point I stopped working for Food Services and went to work for the Art Department in the tool cage of the Shop. The hours were regular and I really liked working with Red, the man who ran it. I checked in and out tools for student projects and showed folks how to use some of them. Helping Dad with the building of all those houses as I grew up really paid off. I could also work on my own projects when I was not too busy. I learned who among my peers were the ones who put things off until the last minute.

Eric and Larry did not live at Barney’s that year, but found digs a bit farther from campus in a wonderful old ornate concrete block house with a sort of turret, so we called it “The Castle.” It had three porches, one on the front, with the turret, one just out side Larry and Eric’s room, and one on the rear of the house. There were two floors; the boys lived down stairs, and a young married couple lived up stairs. Fred and Denny occupied the front room. Eric and Larry’s room was just behind the entry way, and down the hall was the kitchen. I think there was another room on the back corner but I am fuzzy about that. I hung out in that house  a lot that year and had a few adventures.

Football was a big part of my life that fall, too. Eric and I went along with Dad to Anderson one Friday evening to watch my brother Gene play. He was so versatile that he was on offence and defense. Muncie Central won the game. Eric and I attended the college games too. The first one in the fall was on the old field south of the physical plant on campus. It was fun and I yelled my head off as usual. The second game we went to was homecoming. There had been a parade, of course, which we watched from the front porch of “The Castle,” and the Central Band marched in it, but I did not recognize many of the kids any more. The game was played in the new Stadium west and north of the main campus. It was very impressive, with a half of a bowl set up in cast concrete. The visitors sat on wooden bleacher across from the home team. (The bleachers were replaced two years later to be like the west side.) It was a glorious fall afternoon, and Ball State won- 56 to 7.