Category Archives: Scrap Happy Quilts

100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Granite and Silver, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Inching Forward

Hello-
I hope everyone is doing well as we head into the last few weeks of Aug.    I am just working away one day at a time on my projects.   Sometimes that is all one is doing.    My big excitement for this week a quick trip down to New York City by bus with Liz to see the Virtual Van Gogh show.   I really liked the interactive “rooms” that were set up so one could go into the paintings.   Liz and I got silly and she tried to throw me into the insane asylum at one point.   It was a beautiful experience  and I enjoyed it very much. We walked a few blocks from the display to the World Trade Center Memorial and enjoyed that as well. We followed that by a quick trip back north to the bus terminal and back on the bus at 5:30 for the rid home. It was all a bit of a whirl wind trip but is sure was wonderful.
I had two Zoom meetings this week too. One with the Pixies and a second with the Sisterhood of the Scissors. Bother were good stimulations for me.

Progress Report: Poppy Field This work is 34.5″ w X 43″ l. I made the big poppies at the bottom out of wool roving with thread drawing to hold it all together. The centers are yo-yo’s with beads added to the centers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granite and Silver The Silver Maple leaves resting on the granite are a great contrast.    The idea is from  a old cover of Adirondack Life magazine. I painted the base with a rubber band brush to get the texture and added nylon net to create shows on the stone, with the leaves on top.   It is a very shallow image.

 

 

Scarp Happy I am having fun doing the rows for this project.

 

 

 

 

Lap quilt # 16 I started to do stitch in the ditch quilting on this work today. I am sure I will finish it soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap quilt # 17 This is number  two on the   current assembly process.   I like building the units and then uniting them.

 

 

 

 

100 Days Project I am up to day 71. Today is actually day 73 so I am behind myself I will need to do a few extra later today.

 

Daily Practice This small wipe up rag will be done soon.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Christmas 1965
We enjoyed a bit of rock hunting at a ranch and then drove on to Big Ben National Park. The camping that night was in a very empty campground. Lots of evergreens in the area and almost every other tree supported a bit of mistletoe. Christmas morning started with a good breakfast and a few gifts. I got a ID Bracelet that I had been hoping for and a beautiful hair piece. I then realized why Gene had wanted a lock of my hair in Nov.     I wore the hair piece a lot when I went back to work as it was a perfect color match.      We    then hit the visitors center, were they had a hug Century Plant decorated with Christmas balls. We went on from  to get our first view of the Rio Grand. The shore was sandy, the water was muddy and there were steep bluffs on both sides. We saw fossils imbedded in the canyon walls. We walked down the canyon a bit and came upon a young man who would take one across the river on the back of his burro for a dime. So on Christmas day we all rode across the river on the back of a mule. We climbed the bluff toward a small village. In the process we were “ attached” by a bunch of bambinos” selling rocks. Grandma and Grandpa both purchased a pockets  full  of useless rocks, but I am sure that the process made the kids day. The town was dusty and very poor. There was a small open school building, scattered mud huts and a saloon. It was sad. The next day we went east and visited a country store. Dad brought us all soda pop that we enjoyed in the heat. We cross the Rio Grand a second time- this time by row boat. On the Mexican side were steps up the bluff and we emerged into a more substantial town. First we came across some men making pack saddles. This village had streets that were packed dirt and many more buildings. There were lots of active people doing business. There was a small church and a water pump in front of it. There was a wooden school house that I went into. There were benches and a chalk board but nothing else. I had my sketchbook and soon tried out the little bit of Spanish I could remember from 3ed grade on some children. Some how I got to asking them their ages. I would write the number and then turn it into one of the cartoon characters that I had created for my Honor Society speech. The kids were thrilled and I folded pages and tore them out and gave them to the kids until I had use all my paper. I didn’t  see much of the town, but I did have a good time.    That night we camped again in Big Bend in a different camp ground. The following day we drove east out of the park and crossed the boarder a third time on a bridge this time. The town was very prosperous. We did lots of shopping there. I perched a famous Mexican Bandit Marionette that wore a sombrero, black flannel suit that sported a white zig-zag trim down the legs and had a six shooter in each hand. Mom purchased me a beautiful turquoise and purple poncho that I loved.    Grandmother got all three kids sombreros. As it turned out, I think our younger cousins, Casey and Curtis ended up with them when we got back to Grandview. My favorite purchase was a guitar that I got for $6.00. I spent hours trying to learn how to play it. But the thing would not hold tuning. The neck kept bending under the pressure of tuning to the point were the strings and the neck were so far apart that one could put there index finger between the strings and the frat board at the bottom and not touch either surface. After our shopping we returned to the states and drove north. Our Next stop was the Alamo. Gene and I had seen the movie and were a bit disappointed. It was much smaller then I expected and being in the middle of the city with big tall buildings all round made it seem even smaller. It sure made me realize how much Hollywood played with reality. We continued north and stopped at Platt National Park, one of the nations smaller parks. It was too cold to wade in the river, but Gene and Danny threw lots of rocks in the river. Crossing Kansas and Missouri we arrived back in Iowa. Dad and Mom went to see Grandpa Merit, but Gene and I did not. Then it was another 12 hour day drive back to Muncie and School the next morning.

Stay safe

Carol Boyer

100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Fields, Scrap Happy Quilts

Summer Days

Hello,

We are feeling the heat of summer here this week.   I am not complaining as it is very mild compared to some forks – but unique for us this early in the season.    We continue to walk in the  early  morning and we have shortened our route to adjust.    These  wild grapes are a sure sign that summer is still producing her bounty.

 

 

 

 

It has been a full week.  On Saturday the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist meant live for the first time in months. was very exciting and folks had lots to share and talk about. Pat had two pieces and they were very fun, active and bright.

 

 

 

 

Susan came with her work from a on line class she had taken with Joe Cunningham.

 

 

 

 

 

Bev brought the piece that was in the Made in New York show. Good to get a second look.

 

Maureen had a wonderful collection of her hand dyed scarves  along with several other works.

 

 

 

 

Mary brought her fabric baskets.   Great fun.

 

 

 

Sharon showed her latest work and a few of her new cards. It was a great meeting and I think everyone came away super charged.
I also did a Zoom meeting with the Pixies and a live meeting with the Retired Art Teachers.

 

 

Yesterday, Liz and I mad a trip to our friend Paul’s house to drop off out quilts for him to do his Photography magic. We both want to enter some shows.

We visited our friend Angela’ new house that is under construction. She is looking forward to the completion of this wonderful kitchen/ dining room/living room. I love her view too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Lap Quilt # 15 This work is 40″w X 70″ l. I really enjoyed doing the drawing of the trees to add interest and quilt in some of the bigger areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 16 I just keep playing with these projects. I will deliver 15 to one of our local nursing homes soon.

 

 

 

 

Poppy Field I am still building more thread painted blossoms for this project.

 

 

 

100 Day Challenge Here is the next batch of finished pieces. I am up to day 72 now.

 

 

 

Granite and Silver This work is on level two of its building. The granite base is just about done. I plan to add silver maple leaves on top when this step is complete.

 

 

 

Daily Practice The hand work just keeps moving forward here. I think I will complete this bit of fabric in the next day or two.

 

 

Scrap Happy    I started a new scrap happy because I gave away the one i had  to a refugee family from Banqualadash.      I also gave away two more for their children.   Glad to find homes for them.     I like to keep a scrap happy  on the shelf for just such events.   These are just the strips before they are cut into squares .

Childhood Nov/Dec 1965
When we got home from Iowa in 1965, Gene started pestering me for a lock of my hair. I resisted a while, but finally gave in and cut a small section from the middle of the back. School was a busy and fun as ever and the work picked up at the Student Center, so Dec flew bye. We got a letter from the Dean Family and a second from the Bells saying that a trip to Texas was not going to happen for either family at that time. I was disappointed, but everyone has a life of their own. We celebrated our Christmas before we left for Iowa as usual. Gene and I got Walkie talkies so we could communicate between vehicles on the trip. We were excited about that. When we went got to Iowa we went with Grandmother to visit Grandpa Merit in the hospital. He had lost a lot of weigh and did not look as robust as he had in the past. He begged to come home, and Grandmother reluctantly refused. She just could not care for him. It was heart braking. Our family went forward with our travel plans and got up at 4 and drove to Grandview were we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to get going. It was snowing and cold, but we got going with cousin Danny driving the Van and following us. The Walkie talkies worked and it was great fun. After lunch time Grandmother Ruth joined us and Gene went to the van. Mom moved to the back seat with me. We drove south west all day and stopped at a run down motel in Kansas. It reminded Grandfather of the ones he ran next to the Station in Grandview. We moved our sleeping bags inside and slept on the floor of the room that night. It was still a bit cold. We continued to drive south most of Tuesday too. There was one stop to do a tour of a Cotton Refining Factory. It was fascinating to see all the steps from removal of the seeds from the cotton balls to the spinning of the thread. The air was full of cotton fluff. I remember being amazed at how red the soil was in that area. Wednesday as another day spent mostly on the road seeing lots of oil derricks pumping away before the scenery gave way to catus and lots of yucca plants growing on the genital hills. We did arrive at Carlsbad Caverns National Park and camped. It was warm and pleasant that night. We spent the whole day doing the full tour of the Cavern the next day. It was specular with wonderful formations . We saw lots of stalactites and stalagmites as well as cave straws and what the guide called popcorn formations. We went on a boat ride on an underground river and ate lunch at the underground lunchroom. Ham and cheese sandwiches I think. The guide turned off the lights and although Mom was setting next to me, it was so dark and quiet it was like no one in the world existed but me. We even saw mummified bats before we exited the cave. It was great! We loaded up and started driving east into Texas. At that time we got caught in a wind storm that blew huge tumble weeds as big as the car across the road. It was like a big game of dodgeball for a while.  Exciting and scary at the same time. Our next stop was Judge Roy Bean’s office/salon/courtroom. Langtree was almost a ghost town with the exception of the saloon and the tourist store. We did the talk/tour of the Lilly Langtree Saloon. It was about the size of a half basketball court like one sees in a park, with tables at one end and a bar at the other. The guide explained how Bean was the law
“West of the Pacos”. He   used the bar as his court room and would close the bar for court  actions  .  He was know to change fines that  that took most of the person cash. If they could not pay and sense there was no jail, he would chain them to a log out back  for the night. As soon as the case was complete the bar opened and jurors were expected to by a drink. On a shelf behind the bar was Bean’s law book. I did purchase some little carved turquoise heats in the store and glued them to a bracelet that I had purchased at Carlsbad. Mom got a very nice silver bracelet that I still have.

Stay Safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Coral Sea II, Daily Practice, Drawing, Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Stencels, Twilight Crows

Quiet Spring

Hello,
This week I seem to have finished up lots of things. Clearing the decks is always a good thing in my mind.   It is like the raking I have done this week to clear out the gardens for new growth.   One needs to move on.

Yesterday Liz ands  I went to “Sew What”, a recycle sewing supplies shop in Auburn NY .   It felt great spending my money to up cycle materials that other sewers no longer needed.     I know that as a society we are generating far too much material that can easily end up on land fills  or polluting the water.  That is really only  a poor solution for our planet.    This resel/recycle shop is so much better!      Liz purchase two quilting hoops as they were so inexpensive and she did not know what would work best for her.    She also sorted through there button    bin to find some 50’s buttons to make a bracelet for herself.   As you can see I made a bigger purchase- but it is all stuff that I can and will use.  I used the pre wrapped bobbin thread today in my machine when I did the illustration  for Childhood.    They had a wide selection of sewing related materials, yarns and books.    It is a good resource and I will donate to it as I sort through my studio and support it by stopping and purchasing materials that I will use in my work.    We all need to take care of this world and recycling is one of the best ways we can all do our small part.

Pixies was the only group that meant this week. Susan challenged us to draw last week and these two are my answer to that. The Woman is my Mom.

 

 

These are my favorite red shoes.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Coral Sea II This work is 16 X 18. I enjoyed embellishing this work. The fish are made from fancy ribbons so they will not fray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight Crows This work is 40″ X 48″. I cut all the stencils in the past and just used them together in a different arrangement this time. Most of the other fabric are altered as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 10 This work is 37″ X 51″. I so enjoy just putting fabrics together to create a new unit. I always seem to make extra filler and I am challenging myself to use that as the starting off point for then next one.

 

 

Scrap Happy. I finished this scrap happy this week. I plan to pass it on to my granddaughter.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Fields I was frustrated by this work and Liz suggested that I stamp on it to build up the contrast. I am much happier with it now. I plan to push forward now.

 

New base I built this base of all silks. It proved to be a challenge to get them all strait. I plan to use it for a base for my next leaf exploration piece.

 

 

 

 

Horsetails This quilt is a result of a dream I had this week. I have no idea where it came from, but I am enjoying the process. I have not tried couching poplr fleece before.

 

 

 

Daily Practice I am done stitching all the units down now and moving on to the background. I am about one forth done with that step on this section.

 

Stencils   I cut and printed some new and stencils that I mixed with some other ones.  A fun way to build more complexity in my work.

 

Childhood Memories – Sophomore Year II
I was always good at sports and   loved the gym class that meant alternate days with the Health class. Indiana is a big basketball state and Muncie Central was a real sports  power house .They had won the state   Basketball championship several times and for  two years in a row before I attended. I was looking forward to playing basketball in high school, so when  the school  morning announcement   made no mention of girls  basketball try-outs, Iwas  baffled.  After  the second day announcement of boys try-outs, I went to the Principal’S office and asked. The Vice Principal told me that” We don’t do that, because its not “ Lady-Like”. When I asked Dad about this, because I knew he had coached girls ball, he just laughed. “ Carol,” Dad said, “ There is only one gym and if there is a girls team, that would cut the practice time for boys in half.” That realization made me quite angry. I also realized that the cards were stacked against me and there was little I could do. I sort of worked on the issue of girls sports with Miss Anderson and by the time I was a senior there was a girls Track team and I was on it. No threat to the boys with that sport. We had the hand me down uniforms from the boys team. I was the base for the relay team and we won several races. I do have one ribbon from that activity.    I took synchronized S swimming at the YMCA as my  fall Junior year  physical ed class and joined that team. I was glad that having  straight hair was popular as the class was just before lunch and my hair was dry by the time my first class started. There was no travel for the swimming team and we did only  two performances . Despite the lack of outside support, I did have fun. I can still do all the fun moves we learned like  the clam shell and star fish.
> Lunch was a full hour and I  often at in the Cafeteria .   Sometimes I spent some of my lunch hours playing Chess with the Chess Club  that met  in one corner of the big room. We were also allowed to leave campus at noon to eat in the community. I got in trouble financially with that in October . I went with a couple of other gals to the Woolworths counter and  where we ate lunch. The cost of one Woolwoth lunch was more then a whole weeks work of lunch from the school lunch room. I should have realized early on – but the social aspect of it captured me. The last week of Oct I had only 15  cents in my pocket. Just enough to purchase milk at school at three cents a box for the week. So I stopped going to lunch with the “in crowd” and carried peanut butter sandwiches that week. I needed to learn that lesson. Being downtown also presented other temptations. There were three bookstores in the downtown area and I used them to purchase many paper back books. I know I spent money on every copy of an Edger Rice Burrows book I could find. Charm bracelets were all the rage at this time and I often checked out jewelry stores for charms for my self and gifts for friends Birthdays. My friend Ann’s parents owned a jewelry store there too. I did go several times and looked at charms there, but found they were just a little bit more expensive than the other stores, so they did not get much business from me. I still have my three bracelets that include charms from all the states I had lived in and some of my interests,   another bracelet that is all gifts , and a third , witch was the last one I built and it is very eclectic with a small Opal, a cowboy, a part of scissors  and a graduation hat , among other things.

Please take good care of yourselves
> Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Poppy Fields, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Signs of Spring

1 Comment

Hello,
As the photo shows one is beginning to see signs of spring around here. I also noticed lots of bird calls on my walks this week. I find that I am going through the world a little wide eyed of late trying to find those signs of the changing season. It is far to easy to look but not really notice the changes. The bright color really helped me notice these small flowers. One tends to categorize objects and in doing that, that action  make it easy to move onto the next thing, object or event and ignore the uniqueness of things around us. Claude Monet said” To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” He was speaking to art of course and I do agree, but there is another aspect too. I spent twenty min looking for my cell phone on my desk yesterday and only found it when I had my husband call the number an it rang. It was  lying  directly  in the center of the desk, but because it was setting on its side instead of on its back or front,  I did not recognize the form. I could not see because I had named and categorize the cell phone in only one form.   I feel that is a bit of a cop out for and artists and I am trying to really see the world now.

The week has been as busy as usual. In the Textile Artist Stitch Club we had a new teacher, Jette Clover. We did a winter landscape with her were we added paper to the work in the form of a stamp. I enjoyed the process.

 

I continue to work on my coral sea piece too. I added pipe cleaners as steams for my plants and added lots more big sequins this week as well as ,many beads.

 

 

 

 

 

Project Report: Lap Quilt #8 This work is all pin basted and ready for the quilting step now. There are lots of my hand dyed and painted fabrics in this one.

 

 

 

 

Poppy Fields This project is going forward. I finished the circles that represent the flowers and I am working on the tree and leaves now.

 

Shattered Stars I an quilting this work with silver metallic thread. I drew a big star on  a pieces of paper and then cut it up into triangular units  to create shapes for the quilting patterns. There are parts of three stars here and only four sections   of the third star be quilted.   They are the white paper units n the edges.

 

 

Scrap Happy This is a pile of the two and half and four and a half inch strips that I will add to various blocks to build the backing for this next quilt.

 

 

Crows I have created some new works to join together for a new work in this series.

 

 

Daily Practice I am setting this block aside now and moving onto the next. I am leaving some open area on each one as a place for the eye to rest.

 

 

 

 

Drawing I did a little playing with leaf shapes in the sketch book and think there is yet another project in this vain in the future.   One can save a lot of time and effort by drawing first some times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New   I am playing with stitching down bits of fabric just for fun with this piece.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Travels 1
The move to Muncie also brought a change in our travel patterns. Mom saw each school holiday longer than than a weeks time, as an opportunity to explore the country . She planned a trip for each vacation. Our first Christmas , as usual, we went home to Iowa and celebrated with our families. But we started for Muncie  a bit early that year, and hit spots in Illinois on the way home . Our first stop was Dixon Mounds. It is a excavated burial mound of the native Americans on the bank of a river. That first time that we visited it was still being excavated by the farmer, Mr Dixon and it was inside a tent covering. We were the only visitors and so we talked and asked questions directly to Mr Dixon. We were up very close to the few bodies that he had exposed. I recall a Mother with her  arm bones wrapped around a child and two pots there as well. We stopped there several times over the years and each time the excavation was bigger and more sophisticated. My last visit was with Dad about 12 years ago and it is now  a big museum with several buildings . There are 248 exposed bodies that one can view from a raised walkway the surrounds the excavated space inside a fancy building. One is not as close as the first time  of course, but the size of the burial is much more evident now. There is also a display of pots, arrowheads and stone axes . We also stopped at the Illinois State Museum in Peoria. To see its wonderful displays of wild life and life sized dioramas of Native Americans. Mom was just getting into her museum studies and she really enjoyed it.
During spring break that year,  we drove east to Acadia National Park. I remember that Gene and I had illusions of swimming in the Atlantic ocean before we got there. It was very windy, a rocky shore and oh so cold! We spent a lot of time walking along the rocky water line and throwing rocks into the water. I still love the sound of waves as they crash on the shore. I remember Mom pointing out an old lava filled crack in one section and her talking about how it was like the lava deposit on Mt Moran in the Tetons. We did some hiking and exploring. For the most part were had the place to ourselves.
At the end of summer school that year we went to Toronto, Canada, my first trip to a foreign country. I was not impressed by that, as it looked the same as the land we had been driving through. I did notice some folks speaking French in the capital. We toured the capital building . I remember being fascinated by a statue of a Unicorn ,setting on his hind legs and holding a coat of arms. I mistakenly thought it was part of the coat of arms, and learned later that it was not.    I spent part of my allowance on a little doll dressed in a kilt with a beret. She is still in my collection. We visited a great rock and mineral display and the usual stuffed creatures at the Natural History Museum there too. We then drove south to Niagara Falls. I was impressed by their size and sound. On the Canadian side we visited a museum that was more like a Victorian curiosity cabinet than a museum. There were lots of interesting things, but no real organization. Mummies were in the same room as various turtle shells. There was one of the broken up barrels in which someone had gone over the falls. It was really shattered! I recall a big slice of a red wood tree that was over twenty feet across. It had markers on some of the rings noting historical events- like building of the great wall of China, Christ’s birth, the fall of the roman empire, and Columbus’s arrival on this content. We crossed to the US side, and were  much closer to the falls. I was impressed by how loud the water was and how very swiftly it was running. We started home and camped on Lake Erie.   That night Mom, recited Hawthorn’s Song of Hiawatha. “ On the shores of Gitche Gumee, of the shining big sea water….” It sure is a big fresh water sea!

Stay Safe and play  little this week.

Carol

 

Chickadee, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Experiments, Lap Quilts, Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Looking

Hello,
I hope spring is knocking at everyone’s door.  Somewhere I read the line “ we live in an unending rain fall of images” and I can’t get that idea out of my head. It is so very true. This world is so full of visual stimulation! We have all learned to filter out lots of it however. I now set in my studio surrounded by, a lamp, a bookshelf full of boxes full of threads , baskets, jars and glue sticks.  There are cups of  pens, pencils and paint brushes marauds of other things, but due to my focus on writing this I really do not record any of those objects at this moment. How much else do me miss by our tunnel vision? Or is it just a learned self defense due to the over stimulation? I know that I approach my walks with an open mind and search out differences from day to day, but most of the time I just label what I see in my head and do not really look. There is a local grocery store that overwhelms my vision every time I visit. So many colors, shapes and textures that my self defense is to make a list and only purchase what is there. That is my intent when I go in but…..I still can not pass through the store in less than an hour as I always find something new that I did not see before and become distracted. It is a wild wonderful rainfall of ever changing images that we live in.

This week I had only two Zoom meetings and a visit from my daughter. Good to catch up on all fronts. Wendy came with some fabric that she wants me to turn into curtains.

I did make some new print blocks this week with fun foam and a wood burning tool that some one gave me.  I was in the 60’s out side so I took advantage of the temperatures and worked outside were the fumes would blow away from me.  I will print them tomorrow.

I continue to work away on the coral reef for the Textile Artist Stitch Club project. I think is is about a forth done now. I am enjoying the process although it is slow.

 

I did the final work on this stitch project from earlier.   I really like  how doing my hand work personalizes this type of project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress report- Black capped Chickadee This little 10″ X 10 “ piece is done now. I enjoyed working on it.

 

The leaves are commercial and from a friend.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt #6 This work is 37″ X 47″ . I enjoyed playing with lots of commercial fabrics this time.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters -Rework In all the quilting and re squaring such this work shrunk a bit. It is now 36″ X 36″. All the black out lining really does help I think.   This project is my response to the Sisterhood of the Scissors Picasso Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I started a new one this week. I think it will go to my grand daughter as I have not made one for her in a long time.

 

 

Poppy Fields This whole cloth quilt is moving along slowly. I am getting really good at free motion circles though.

 

Daily Practice I am on my third piece of fabric for this project. It is going well.

 

 

 

New Work     I started a new pieces this week using nine different pieces of related fabric.    I wanted them all to be 20″ squares- but some of the fabric was not that large so I just added to the edges to make them that size.    I am now in the process of cutting the pieces and reassembling them.   This is pure play.

 

Childhood Memories- Summer School
Another big change that came at the end of eight grade was a summer change. We did not build a house or go spend the summer with the grandparents. Mom was working on her doctors degree and Dad was teaching summer school at Ball State. “We have to go to work and so do you.,” they said. So Gene and I both went to summer school at the lab school, Burris. WE were in school from 8 in the morning to noon. Gene was in the fifth grade class and I took typing and Industrial Arts. I did learn the location of the key and I don’t need to look at the key board when I type, but I never got any speed. For the last two hours I was in the industrial Arts class. I love the floor in that room as it was all made from 2X4″ that where set on end and all the little half circles were pointed up. I just thought that was cool. I started out the summer by working in the photo lab. I learned how to develop film and how to print my images. I also did a few mono contact prints. At the middle of the term I moved into the wood shop. There I got to use the lathe and I made three tapered candle sticks that Mom proudly displayed in our living room on the coffee table that sat by the front window.
The second summer, between Freshman and Jr. year I took Chemistry. It was a four hour class and we covered that same amount of material every day that was covered in a week during the regular school year. There was lots of homework for that class. It was also the first time in my life that I fainted. I recall getting a very warm feeling and my vision closing in from both sides. Then a blank and I sort of came too I was being carried down the stairs to the nurese office. I could feel the movement, and hear what was being said, but I could not open my eyes or talk. It was frightening. Mom came and picked me up from the nurses office and we went to see Dr Ball. No one came up with a real reason for the incident. Except to say they though it was heat and dehydration. The only other time in my life that I have fainted was when I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled at 21. I fainted in the chair and as a result I learned I was pregnant with Wendy.
The third year between Jr. And senior year I took Music appreciation and Art. Music was great fun as the class was very small, only 12 of us.The teacher taught us how to create our own little Mnemonic devises to recall the titles and composers of the works we needed to identify. It really helped and I can still recall some of them. I got to know one of the boys in the class well. Michel Sears and I went on a couple of dates too. He was a fascinating person as he was the first person I had ever come in contact with who was an orphan. He lived in the hospital dormitories with his older brother who was doing his internship at Ball Memorial Hospital. Michel was a real intellectual and he introduced me to Ann Rayn. I read Atlas Shrugged that summer and we had many conversations about that book. He and I were setting on the edge of the patio on sunny afternoon and playing chess when, after pointing to the grass and then the red squares on the board, he asked me. “ Are those both the same color?” He was color blind and that was a real shock to me. He carefully explained what he though he was seeing and I felt a bit sorry for him. Michel’s brother finished his internship in early October of my Senior year and they moved to Kansas. We wrote a few letters at first, but then lost interest or at least lost the connection. I wonder how his life turned out.

Stay safe and keep looking,

Carol

Black Roses, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Pixies Group, Quiet, Raw Edge Applique, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Gifts

Hello,
I feel so very fortunate to have such kind  and generous friends. Last week I got a surprise package in the mail from my friend Patti. It was a paint brush organizer. So very handy and I put my brushed in strait away. I feel so flattered that she would share her time and effort to make and send me such a nice gift. People can be so very kind and it is doubly wonderful when it comes for no reason. It touches the heart. Such a small act can really lift the soul and raise one’s sprites.   I will try to do the same in the future.
I had four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s meant on Tue with the FAB and Pixies meeting yesterday. It so good to stay connected. The Textile Artists Stitch Club started a new project with Jude Kilgshott. I am still not done with the handwork on my leaf print, but I went a head with the new assignment anyway. Jude asked us to collage a bit with fabric pieces and then stitch them down. I am half done with that as there are suppose to be 8 pages. She was trying to help us see the beauty of the back of the stitch work as well as the front and the transparency of Organdy really does allow that. I will keep working and hopefully get back to the old project too.

Progress Report: Murder  II This work is 36″ X 46″.   I discovered that I had on older piece named Murder of Crows   so I had to rename this work.

 

 

 

 

I did stitch in the ditch  in the seams and around the crows. But I felt that was not enough so I added what I call “ wind lines”  of quilting that run horizontally across the quilt in a wavy pattern. It works and the piece is stable now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I made  a trip to the Dr on Monday and he said I was healing nicely and could go back to normal activity.  That meant that I could lift things without fear of breaking the stitches on the back of my hand. So the first thing I did was quilt this queen sized quilt. It was hard to rustle about under the machine but I did it. Then I did the binding and it is done now.

 

Quiet- Daily Practice One of the other things I could not do with the hand , was stretch this piece. So I did that this week  now  that I have full use of my hands.

 

Black Roses      The work is 38″ X 36″ .    This is a rescue piece. The base was the original  background for Three Sisters.  I removed the figures  and had the old background  piece on the table.  Next to it was   black and white rose fabric .    It was a  gift from my friend Tanya. She often passes me interesting fabrics to play with. It just seemed to go together. And I had a chance to use my cording foot tht I had purchased for the machine.

 

I enjoyed this project.

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters So this piece got a new base and some additional build up. I think I am now ready to stitch the parts down.

 

 

 

 

 

After the Fall This work too had to be put on hold until I got the OK form the Dr. It takes about 10 min to stitch down each  leaf and I find that I can only work  for about half and hour before I begin to tire. All the stopping and truing the whole quilt to sew half and quarter inch sections  is slow work.

Felted Backs I built these backgrounds for the machine drawn birds. I will get out the Felter and do the  felt work this week so I can put it all together.

 

 

Daily Practice I am working away on the daily practice too. This is the new one with a week’s work of effort on it.

 

Childhood Memories- Dr Kunkel and Sailing
Moving to Muncie changed the lives of all of the family in different ways. Gene seemed to have  had  the most difficulty adjusting to a new bigger school. Dad said a new place was a great chance for a fresh start and I took it that way.   One of the changes Dad did was he started using his real first name. When Dad was born  one of his cousin’s  was born across the county   a day after  Dad.   Both boys were named James McElhinney. To keep them strait in the community, Dad went by his middle name of Howard. When we moved to Muncie and his diploma said “James” , he decided to go by that name. In October, I was really  feeling my oats and that nearly lead to disaster. I was comfortably reading away in my room one afternoon when the phone rang. I go up and went down the hall to our only phone and answered.
“Is Jim there?” asked the voice. I said “No” and hung up the phone. I had just gotten settled  when the phone rang again. This time it was the same question and same answer. I returned to my room and the phone rang yet again. As I walked down the hall I though, “ I ‘ll play a joke on this guy.”
“Is Jim there ? ” the caller asked for a third time.
“Yes,” I said. “But he is too drunk to come to the phone.”
“Is this Jim McElhinney’s home?” the caller asked.
I was not smart enough to just hang up, but said. “ Oh! I am so sorry. He is here and I will got to the garden and get him for you.”
After Dad got off the phone he gave me a bit of a dress down for being such a smart-allic.
“What if that had been one of my bosses?” he asked. I never did anything like that again.  As it turned out the man thought the whole thing was quit funny.    He was Dad’s office partner, Dr Kunkle. He and Dad got to be great friends and traveled all over Indiana working with teachers to develop curriculum programs. The two of them also went to Alaska to do the same thing with the Klincket Native American tribes off the coast.   I also developed a connection with Dr Kunkle when I went to Ball State. He was the sponsor of the sailing club there. That is were I learned to sail and I became proficient enough to be a Captain. My friend Margaret and I went out in one of  the club’s Windmill lots of times. On one trip with her I even swamped the boat and had to haul it back to the dock myself. It was a cold event. I only had one more  experience with sailing when I was much older. I spent afternoon trying to learn to sail surf on Cazenovia Lake. I could not “come about”  so I could “tack” north.     I kept   losing control and falling off the board.   So I was slowly “sailing”  farther and farther down the lake. Finally the owner came with his son and rescued me . The son sailed the board home and I rode in the cab back to the house.   Gene got to be good friend with Dr Kunkle too and also learned to sail with him. Gene was a good sailor and the two of them went to lots of sail boat races on weekends.   They eve won some cups.

Stay safe

Carol

Birds, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Holidays

Hello,
Happy Chinese New Year to you! It is the start of the year of the Ox tomorrow and the beginning of the Spring Festival. With the new moon tonight, it is also the start of the lunar new year.   Add to that, Valentines Day on Sunday, and one has a lot to celebrate in the up coming days. I find it interesting that all of those holidays include a lot of red in their celebrations.  I guess we are getting a bit tired of the grays, blacks and whites of winter.
I had a few Zoom meetings this week. The Retired Art Teachers meant and we enjoyed the talk as we are all spread out now and some  gals live in  FL and South Carolina.   They joined us  in  this meeting. The Pixies also talked this week. Zooming is a real pick me up for me, but  I do miss the social contact of live meetings.
The Textile Artist Stitch Club project is going well. I do not think I will have the handwork done before I get the next assignment, but I am not too worried as I tend to complete projects. Good thing that is one of my better habits as I keep staring things due to the hand operation. The fact that I can not rustle the big projects under the machine means I just get to a point and I must stop. The UFO pile is really building up. I hope that the Dr gives me the Okay to go forward on Monday and I can finish up a few things.

Progress Report:  Lap Quilt – Glyph    This is the only project that I completed this week becasue it is small.   It is  37″ X 46″  .   I enjoyed working to finally put these  stenciled  squares into a work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt IV I am using my hand dyed as a starting place for this project. It is layed and I have stared the quilting in the ditch work on it. I am sure I will finish it in the next day or two.

 

 

 

 

Scarp Happy Quilt I am assembng the back of this project now. It is a great way for me to use up bits and pieces.

 

 

 

 


Murder of Crows I finally put this work together this week. It too is at the stitch in the ditch quilting step. I can manage these smaller works under the machine even with the hand limitations.

 

 

 

Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge- Three Sisters The assignment is to do something with portraitures with a Picasso influence. I am going for the cubist period. But this is awful! Too much of a good thing I guess. I will dismantle it and start again.

 

Thread Painting – three birds   I did these birds, a Chickadee, a Finch and  a Cedar Waxwing thinking I had three felted backgrounds on the shelf. When I pulled the backgrounds out, I discovered that only two would work and the felting step was only just started. I will  make one more background and  work at getting them all felted properly.

Daily Project I am on the second piece of fabric in this nightly handwork series. It is a very calming way to end my working days.

 

 

 

Childhood- Jr High continued
I continued to play my clarinet after we moved and all through high school.  In eight grade I befriended a tall, some-what gangly, awkward gal named Margaret Dunn. She played the drums and bells . Our friendship was a powerful influence in my life. She is the only person I am still connected with from high school . She now lives in Rhode Island. She and her husband travel all over the world judging Kite Competitions and teaching folks everywhere how to make kites. Both Margaret and I took part in the school musical, “When Our Hearts Were Young and Gay”. We were in the choirs, so we had lots to time to talk and enjoy the event. We were also together in Science class with Mr Davidson. I will admit that when the class dissected a frog, I was not impressed. It was smelly and colorless, a bit of a let down after Mom’s rabbit the year before. My lab partner was thrilled. Like Mom, Mr Davison had ways to add points to one’s grade. He had a big collection stamps of wild animals and one could enlarge an image for extra credit. I took out my colored pencils and got busy. I did several, although I only recall doing the Sage Grouse with his tail feathers all fanned out and the chest wattles enlarged. Mr Davidson also sponsored early morning bird watching walks. Margaret and I arrived at school at 6 on several occasions to accompany him along with other kids to spot birds. Dad let me borrow his binoculars and that made the project more enjoyable .
> A brand new class for me was Home Economics. There were two Home Economics teachers . One taught sewing and health/hygiene . The other taught cooking and nutrition. I remember learning how to make Tuna Salad with hard boiled eggs and making cookies. In the sewing class our first project was a felt pajama bag shaped like a cat’s head. The skill the teacher was shooting for was how to put in a zipper. My experience with Grandmother Ester helped me in that class. I did get a speeding ticket in that class, for running the sewing machine too fast. Our second project was a straight skirt. She stressed that we all needed a good set of sewing scissors. I got some with Singer printed on the side and I still have them. I selected a pattern with a skirt and shell and then picked out black and white plaid corduroy fabric to use. Matching the plaid was a lesson I will never forget as I had to rip out my seams several times. I created a separate challenge for myself by making the shell reversible. That was the start of my career of making one garment do two jobs. I don’t know how many costumes I made using that trick. In Hygiene we learned how to wash our faces using little circular motions. We did craft projects in that class too. In Nov. I ordered a kit to make Mom a ceramic tile tray for Christmas. It came and I assembled it according to the instructions. Mom loved it and the tray sat on its side on the counter under the china cabinet for years. I also remember that we “learned’ how to knit a flat tie under the chin scarf/ hat. I did learn enough to get the job done, but the practice did not stick ! I was over fifty when I felt I could call myself a novice knitter.
> I was becoming aware of popular culture. There were two popular TV shows about Doctors at that time- Ben Casey and Dr Killdare. People seemed to like one or the other, but not both. Dr-like shirts were all the fashion that spring. Mom knew I liked Dr Killdare, but she refused to purchase me a trendy bit of clothing. And she was correct, by the next fall no one was wearing them any more. Another TV star that was popular was Carol Burnett. I was thrilled that she and I shared the same first name. I had a job at home ironing clothing and I would often set up the board and watch “Frances Farmer Presents” old movies on TV in the afternoon when I got home from school while I ironed. The family watched lots of westerns together and my favorites were Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel and  The Rebel with Johnny Uma.

I hope you have good TV show memories too.

Stay safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Winter White

2 Comments

Hello,
Winter has made its self present in central New York. We get a fresh addition of snow every day and it is starting to build up. The new add on’s do keep it looking fresh however and white.    It is amazing how white, black  and a bit of gray can be so beautiful!  I have had a quiet but busy week. I did deliver the twin Scarp Happy quilt on Monday and promptly started another. Some how no face contact with folks is starting to diminish the joy of sharing. I have become acutely aware how important saying “Thank You” is.   I am still a little burnt by giving 21 quilts to the nursing home and having the guard tell me to drop them on the floor while he continued to play on his phone. He said my contact  was unavailable. I  still do not know if the woman I talked with  on the phone got the quilts or they went out in the trash. That was three weeks ago.  I know that everyone is busy and Covid complicates things, but I did leave my business card in all the bags, so one hopes they could find me if they wanted to.
I did get a great deal of joy in the mail this week with two different events. My Spoonflower order arrived and I am delighted with the results. I will have to feature it in a work soon. My second delight came in the form of a package from Robert of the Pixies group. It was a new hat! It make me smile from ear to ear every time I look at it. It sure made our Zoom meeting fun as we all had new toppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club assignment for this week  was from Valerie Goodwin. I have had several classes with her and find her to be a strong teacher. We made a map of our neighborhoods using Goolgel maps as our jumping off point. It was fun and I enjoyed doing the hand work.   The purple round objects are my trees as viewed from above.

Progress Report: Scarp Happy This work is going quickly as I already had a backing done from some time in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Crow Fabric Collage I could not make the crow that I did last week work by its self, so I made a second one yesterday. I like to do things in odd numbered groups so I will make a third feature unit this week to mix with the two done ones.

 

 

 

Autumn Fall The base is all assembled and quilted so now I can add the Tyvec leaves on top. I am doing the vanes by machine first. It takes me about 12 min to do each one.   I am about half way done with the vain work.

 

 

 

 

Black base I am doing more hand work with the wool treads that Nancy gave me. This is a second piece of black fabric that I tried to discharge last summer so there are some slight color changes in the black.   I am exploring with my stitches.

Daily Practice Because I am using the  same wool and lots of old dyed lace this work is moving along a lot faster then I expected.  Wool needs bigger stitches and that fills thing in quickly.  Fun work however.

 

 

 

New Lap Quilt

I have pulled these fabrics for my next lap quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood/ Adolescents Memories Jr High
>
> My entry into Storer Jr High was different in many ways.
> I was just Carol McElhinney , one student among many  and my parents were not known in this community . Though Dad was in the Education department at Ball State Teachers collage, he was also new .   With time  his name became know and that short unanimity disappeared, that only   changed when I married Eric and changes my last name. Then I  did get out from under Dad’s big shadow. The middle school went from 7th grade to Freshman year and there were over 350 students in each grade level. This was a another big difference .My school records from Carroll followed me and I was placed in a low level home room with Mr Dillon. He was our teacher for Language Arts. I don’t recall much instruction , but I do remember lots of sustained silent reading with book reports to follow. The report was  a simple, title, author and short plot line. Since I had really started to understand how to decode the printed word over the summer, it was a real growing experience. By the end of the first semester ,Mr Dillon moved me a different home room. That was a math home room and since I did well with numbers, it worked well for me. My new English teacher was Mrs Middelton .  I had her for 9th grade too. I do remember one incident in her class very well. We were silently reading O Henry’s short story, “Ransom of the Red Chief.” I saw the story so vividly in my mind that I burst out laughing in the silent room. I got quiet embarrassed , settled down and started reading.   But again I got so lost in the story and soon  was laughing uncontrollably again. Mrs Middelton sent me to set in the hall for the rest of the period to finish the story and not distract anyone else. Years later when Eric and  I visited Storer on a teachers’s visitation day our paths crossed again. She recognized me and told Eric the story of that day. Later that spring, she hired Eric for a teaching job there.
> My school was about a mile from our house and across the creek that ran behind our home. There was  one foot bridge  near the school   and no road crossing the creek until one was a mile and a half from home.    I often rode my bike to school early as I had a job. I was the kid who opened and ran the school book store. I would go to the office and pick up the cash box and key to open the big display cabinet were a few simple school supplies were kept. Paper, note books, pencils, compasses, rules and such, were what the store  sold. After locking up I went to Math class first period. My seat was behind John Isenbarker, one of the popular Jocks. He was a quarter back for the football team and a center for the basketball team. When we were paired to do work together I Learned how lazy he was. I had too much self worth to let the “ big man on campus”, copy my homework so he sort of black balled me. It was a big enough school that I still survived.

Miss Fisher was the girls gym teacher and I really liked her. I  experienced the  big change in the rules of how girls played basketball. In eighth grade, girls played half court and I was a forward.    We never crossed the center line.  In ninth grade after the rules changed, it was full court like the boys played basketball ,and I was a guard. I remember a fierce competition between Jo Ann Walker and myself. Jo Ann was in Mr Dillon’s class so we had a bit of a history . She was scrappy, and taller then I was. I came home with many scratches on my arms after basketball games from her aggressive attitude. This was also about the time I realized that the world was stacked in favor of boys and men. I was quite upset and angry about this. Dad and I had several talks on that subject. In the end, I went away from those talks with Dad’s assurance that I could do what ever I wanted and I would have his support.

Take good care of your self

Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Technical Difficulties

Hello,

For me it has been a strange week. We suffered a technical miss hap.   Two trips to the store,  playing with cable connections and a bit of crawling around on the floor and now we are back in working order.    One forgets how much we have come to depend on this machine for so many things. I was able to make my Zoom meetings through my phone- but I am sure I used lots of Data to do that and I will pay later. There were four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s group meant before the modem failure so it went well although there were not a lot of folks in attendance. FAB meant on Wed and they were my first challenge with doing the zoom on my phone. Wed eve was the Pixies and it took 20 min for us all to get in aliment and able to talk. Susan suggested that we try a create a While Voodoo character to push positive energy into the world. This is my start.

 

Sisterhood
of the Scissors meeting went well because I was at Liz’s and we just tacked it on the end of our class with Rosalie Dace from Stitching Post. It was the last class and I am feeling a bit let down about that.

I also had a new assignment with Textile Artist Stitch Club this week. The new teacher is Valerie Goodwin. I have had classes with her at QBL so that was quiet enjoyable. I can not do the assignment because that had to do  with printing out a map, and the printer is wireless. I did finish my piece from last week however.

My other big event was to hang my solo show at the Life Force Studio. It consisted of the 13 Mayan pieces. I will add them at the bottom of this blog. We also did a video but it was too long so I do not know were that stands. Learning lots of things every day as far as technology is concerned.

Progress Report: Captured This piece is 32″ w X 42″ l. It came out stronger then I expected and I think I will try some more work in this vain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bone Dancer – Mayan Series This is the last of the series and it is 20″ w X 24″ l. I only had to add the binding, sleeve and label to complete this quilt this week. I will not show it in the lineup at the end of the post, but it is there too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Lap Quilt This is the newest finished lap quilt for the nursing home. I am using these as a chance to put together different fabrics and play a bit.

 

 

 

 

Orange Lap Quilt This is a second lap quilt that only needs the binding and it will be complete.   This quilt is also made up of mostly hand dyed and altered fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Twin Scrap Quilt This quilt is the commission I have been working on and it only needs to have its binding attached and it too will be complete. I am all excited about doing some more scarp quilts in the near future.

 

 

 

New work – Big Leaves This is the beginning of my use of the big Labrador that did not work on the pieces that became High Anxiety.

 

 

 

 

Raven I got busy and drew in crayon and colored pencil on a bit of fabric this week. He is a bit menacing, but I like him. Not sure were I am going here, but I like a challenge

 

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I continue to applique down old lace and stitch with wool on this piece.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Muncie Neighborhood

The Neighborhood in Muncie was like all the other neighborhoods in some respects. My parents seemed to always select locations on the out skirts of town with farmland near bye. In this case it was just across Petty road at the north side of the house and across the creek to the west. Dad did dig a garden in the back south corner of the yard as usual. He had a nice strawberry bed and corn every year along with tomatoes and other vegetables. The creek that ran along the back of our lot was a steep five foot drop to the water from our yard. Although the water did get high in spring it never flooded over those banks. I can’t say I ever climbed down to the water even under the bridge over Petty Road. I did explore the lands on those two farm though. The area directly behind the house across the creek was a field  that was going back to nature. There were lots of adolescent trees and brambles in that area. There was also a pond that I visited many time to watch birds and dragon flies as well as listen to frogs. Beyond the that field was a field stone house . The farm widow lived there. I only saw her once . The rest of her farm was across the road and it too was going back to nature as well. There was a great old gray barn that I looked at a time or two. One day it caught fire and the arrival of the fire trucks alerted everyone to the event. We were held at bay and that was a good thing as the metal sheets exploded off the roof of the barn in the middle of the fire and flew in many directions. That was also the day I saw the widow on the stone poach as she watched along with many others as the barn burned to the ground. Across the road on the east side of the creek was another active farm. That property had five different wind breaks/ wooded areas with plowed and planted areas in between. The wooded strips were all about seventy feet wide and supported a mixture of pines and hard woods . I explored them all of course. Two had little interest for me but the other three had elements that I returned to many times. One had a section of white pines that I would visit when I want to be calm. I would lie down on the many years of pin needles and enjoy the smells and look up through the branches at the sky and just day dream. Another section closer our house had two wonderful trees for climbing and I visited that area the most. The third are was on the far east side of the land and there was a great old willow tree there . I went there several times and tried to weave willow baskets. I was not real successful with those attempts, but that did not stop me from trying.
Dad had discourages me from playing football with the boys and although Gene would let he help his when no one else was available, but Steven would not tolerate my participation at all. It was lonely. In early October walking home form school I did meet another older girl in the neighborhood. Ann Pazel was in seventh grade and she lived six blocks from my house. Her parents owned the fanciest Jewelry store downtown. Her parents tightly structured Ann’s live with lessons and such  the only day of the week that we could play together was Tuesday. She had a Parakeet and I was fascinated. Mom disliked birds because a rooster had flown into her face when she was young. So having birds around was out of the question for me. Ann was a avid stamp collector and we all spent hours sorting, examining and sharing those wonderful little images. I still have my original stamp album and continue to save every different stamp that arrives on mail sent to me. Someone will have a treasure trove to sort and enjoy some time in the future.

I will add a separate post of all of the pieces in the show.

Stay safe and keep Creating,
Carol

Childhood Memories, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Winter work

Hello,

Now that the holidays are over and all the decorations are put away I can really concentrate on the studio clean up and sort.   It is a good time to do this sort of thing as there are few  distractions.      I am nearly done with the fabrics. For the most part I have put like colors and fabric types together. I did make some selections of things that I can pass forward  to give away. The only material  left is  my hand altered fabrics and then I will call that step done. My plan is to tackle the remaining book shelves next.
I had a Zoom meetings this week with the Diva’s and the Pixies. It is always good to talk with fellow artists. Textile Artist Stitch Club gave us a new assignment too. This is my drawing. I will use a view finder to select a small portion and begin the  stitch work.

 

 

Progress Report: Lead Dancer Mayan Series # 13 This work is 20″ w X 24.5″ l. With  this finished up, there is only one more in the series. It has been and enjoyable one for me. I am looking forward to the show next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind Blown 3 X 3 Challenge This work is 38.5″ X 38.5″. All the Gingko leaves are raw edged appliqued to the surface thought the batting. The leaves are all silks of various types.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I was commissioned to do one of these in a twin size. All the rows are done and I am working on the backing now.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt. In my cleaning I found this top all done with out the batting and backing.   I added those two part and  I am   doing stitch in the ditch quilting it now.

 

 

 

Captured Threads I started this project three years ago at Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth and it too got buried. I am doing the binding on it now and so I will finish it shortly.

Bone Dancer- Mayan Series # 14 This is the last planned work in this series. I am to the quilting stage of this work now as I have a show of all 14 coming next week at the Life Force Studios. Nothing like a dead line to push one forward.

New Work I had cut these squares and pinned them down before I found the other lap quilt, but I will build it none the less. I know I can always find a home for them.

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I started this last week and I am adding yarns and ribbon to the surface at this point. I am keeping the colors simple and closely related. It is meditative to work on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Moving to Muncie Indiana
The move to Muncie was a big change for all of the family. Gene and I did not help with the actual packing up of the household. That job was carried out my Mom and Dad with the help of uncle Paul. They drove our stuff to Muncie and unloaded it. Gene, Russell and I came in Grandpa Howard’s truck. In the late afternoon one day, Grandmother and Grandpa loaded us up and we started driving east form Grandview. The three of us had a good time raising our selves above the cab and yelling into the wind for a while. But as the sun went down it became colder and colder. I remember Grandmother rotating us into the cab to warm up before we all fell asleep in the sleeping bags in the bed of the truck. The new house was in a housing development at the end of Brook Drive. It was a yellow brick ranch style house with a garage on the far south side at the end of the drive. There was one other competed house diagonally across the street where the Baloue’s lived. The adults  both worked at Ball State too and their was a son, Steven,  was Gene’s age. Many lots were not developed, but a few had craw spaces dug. There were no girls over 4 for five or more blocks in all directions. There was a big old Shingle Oak in the front yard on the west end and behind the house was a brook. Our street T-ed int Petty Road and beyond that road were fields. Across the brook was a abandon field that was going back to nature and beyond that a stone field house. From the  drive way one would walk up one step  between floor to ceiling windows on the left and a yellow brick flower box on the right , to arrive at the front door. Opening the front door one entered into a short landing with three exits. To the right was a wide opening to the living room that ran along the front of the house. If one went strait ahead there was a phone on the wall to the right and a door way to the kitchen. On turning left one went down the hall to the bath on the right across from Gene’s room. Strait down the the hall brought  one to my room, with Mom and Dad’s bedroom door just to the right. Their sweet had a small bathroom with a shower, stool and sink. I loved my new all white room. I had two windows that faced east and a third that faced north. The big old yellow typing desk, that was in my room in Carroll, did not make the trip, but most of the furniture that my parents had built did. They built desks for both Gene and myself out of doors that were used as the writhing surface. Four screw in legs were the corners, and Dad built slides for the drawers. The drawers themselves were brown plastic wash tubs that slid in on the slide tracks. I also had great bulletin board on that was on that wall. In the corner at the east side was my newly inherited chest of drawers with a large mirror over it. Mom and Dad got a new bedroom set and I got the old blond wavy cut one with big X drawer pulls. I thought it was so “Hollywood”. In the front north east corner was my new bed. Gene and I both got new three quarter beds. That was a fashion that did not last long and Mom grew to dislike as she could not purchase sheets to fit. She had to cut down and re sew doubles to fit. Later that fist fall I got a blue swivel rocker that lived at the end of my bed in front of the closet. My book shelf lived inside the closet at one end and the play cupboard that Grandfather Howard had built me was at the other. Back down the hall was the kitchen/dinning area was behind the living room on the west side of the house. There were double sliding glass doors at the far end of that are and they opened onto a poured cement patio. At that far end was a set of folding doors on the right that opened to the living room. Beyond those doors on the right was a door to the garage. Opposite that door was on to the laundry room that included a sink and a stool too. At the end of the short hall was a door to the den. There was a door to the patio from there as well. Mom and Dad both had desks in that room. The house served us well and I enjoyed it until I moved away my senior year in college to live in a house with seven other girls.