Hi followers,

I messed up and left my camera at my daughters today.  I will get in in the morning and post for this week tomorrow.

Thanks you

Carol

Hello,

I am feeling like we are to the dog days of summer now.  The slow down and the feeling that nothing is really pressing is  upon me at least.  We had a good time this week on our visit to Philly and the Barn’s Exibit.  I did use the audio guide that the museum provides and that did enhance my experience.   I enjoyed all the images.  I had forgotten that he collected so may African masks.  That is a subject that I too love.   Barns took so much care in how he presented the material that it was quite enjoyable.    I found that by the beginning of the third  hour of intense looking that my mind could not really absorb  much more  material.   We really only did a through look at the top floor as the ticket man told us floor one was crowded when we started, so he sent us upstairs.   Eric and I agreed that we will need to do a return trip.   I was exhausted and slept really well that night.   I feel really good about looking at art too- it is so stimulating.  Because I was away for three full days this week I did not get too much done.

  Progress Report: Thoth  Eric’s birthday gift is finally finished.  I will add the sleeve this evening and then give it to him.  He can take it to his office and hang it next week.  I like the stencil of Thoth and I am sure I will use it again.  

This second shot is of the eye is one of the Egyptian’s favorite symbols.    I quilted in papyrus plants  and leaves in the back ground as a part of my new push to add interesting quilting to my work.

This golden scarib is from an old stencil that I did several years ago.  I have made it a habit to always create a new stencil or stamp in the Egyptian style for each additional quilt that I create in this on going series.     There seem to be many people in my life who find Egypt fasinating, including myself.

Wind Fall   I stared this quilt weeks ago and I have only just gotten back to it.  I wanted to do something for the “Sticks and Stones” show that was not rock related.    We had some sever weather a few weeks ago and there were lots of little dead branches that were blown down after the storm.  I had collected a pile as they were so smooth and simple in shape.  I hand stitched with heave cotton some to them to the surface over the course of the last few weeks.  They are all attached now and I will begin to quilt the piece this week .  So the final will show up next time.

I hope summer is proceeding in a clam forward motion for everyone.

Keep Creating

Carol

  Hello,

Quilting By the Lake is over for one more year, but I am still in the happy after glow of seeing everyone.  Week two brought with it   new classes and some additional people.   This first shot is of the mini mall that happens both weeks and is when the participants can sell their wares- books, patterns, posters and fabrics- to others at the conference.  This event is always well attended by both faculty and the students as we all check out the special items our fellows wish to part with.

Week two is always as much fun as week one because I enjoy  watching as new a different ideas emerge from my  peers.    This shot of Sharron shows her 4.1/2″ Dear Jane blocks behind her.  She is doing this quilt in six variations and claims that after she has worked out the “bugs” with the first block the others are easy.  

Debbie continued to work away on her scrap quilts and finished two more tops the second week.    Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves in the Independent Studio class and produced lots of work.  Linda ( on the right) quilted and completed this this beautiful orange and black piece.   Betty worked very hard on this black, white red and yellow quilt for her grandson.  I think Cathy did a lot of exploration with her seven  works that are pictured behind her. I feel the smiles say as much about the good feelings that carried us all home as any thing.

Apron Auction  Last week  there was an apron auction and this week that was repeated.  All the teachers made or altered QBL aprons. Cynthia Corbin skillfully hid a small piece of her  work on the back of this fuffy/furry apron.    Rosalie continued her fish theme with fried fish this week.   We all had fun bidding and enjoying the festivites at the end of the session.

Progress Report Exploration 1:   I did some work myself  too.   This new bit of exploration was more work with the curved line connections.   I made the white, rust, orange and green fabric in a QBL 2 class about four years ago.  The colors fit well with the rock and canyon things I am doing now that it has now found a home.

Exploration 2:    Here  I used a piece of Randy Keenan’s discharged fabric as my starting  place.  I had purchased it at the mini mall.  I was also feeling a bit out of my depth with the curved work so I wanted something I felt comfortable with too.   I started quilting this with silver thread this morning. 

Exploration 3:  This work too started with and older bit of Randy’s fabric.   I purchased it last year  and it got burried.  It only came back to light when I was doing my cleaning in preperation for  QBL three weeks ago.

Exploration 4:    This is another of the curved line piecing / rock wall projects.  I am not at all happy with it so far.  I think I did too much in the way of curves and so it is very warped…… A new problem for me to solve before this will be seen again.    But I am showing it to let you know I make mistakes, especially when I am trying new things.  If one does not make errors every now  and again then one is playing it too safe.

 Good Habits   This quilt was also started at QBL  and I finished it this week.  I think the completion was do to the small size as much as any thing.    I challenged myself to create a block of a simple every day object.  I chose a toothbrush.      The white areas are the bristels of the brush and I added lots of line quilting to add to that feeling.  The  multi-colored area is the handle of the brush.   I quilted in toothpaste tubes in various stages of usge in the solid areas.  I did have fun with this project and plan to make the idea a challenge to one of my design groups.

Do to a change in plans I will be away next week on Thursday  so this blog will be posted on Friday next week.

I hope everyone is enjoying the bounty of summer and creating great things.

Hugs

Carol

Hello,

I am home from Quilting By the Lake for the week end and it has been as fun and exciting as always. I helped hang the quilt show on the 12th. We stared the morning with a big empty gym and boxes of quilts and hanging units.    We asssembled units and started putting the work up.  This shot is of Tony – a long time assistant that has followed QBL from  Morrisville Community College,  its last home,  to Onondaga Community Collage, the new home for the last five years.  By  noon the gym was starting to look like this shot.    We continued to hang and make alternations as the day went on.  There was a featured exebit of the work of one of our quilters.  It showed her work from the first year  of QBL to last year when she passed away.  It was lovingly curated and hung by two of her good friends Debbie( standing) and Andy( on the ladder).  Although the job was not complete we went  home at 4:30.  A new crew came in on Sat and finished the job.

I started giving away little doll pins that I now call  Creative Assistants to folks at QBL years ago.  They stared by my making a pin for a friend that was a copy of a petroglyphic that she had shown me the year before.  The pins have taken on a life of there own and I enjoy making them over the course of the year and them passing them out to folks that I come in contact with.   They are fun and a bit silly- they always make everyone smile.  Some folks have very big “tribes” as they add a new member every year as the pins change each and every time I do them.    ( I will post a tutorial on how you can do it too after QBL is over. )

I spent my week of uninterrupted  quilting in a class called Independent Study.  It is unstructured and undirected.  We all work at out own thing at our own pace.    These shots of some of my fellow class mates gives you an idea of the wide range of actions going on.  Everything is relaxed and enjoyable with folks working on finishing projects,  to staring new directions.     One gal even spent some of her time creating little pig dolls and enjoying the process.  Most of the gals in this class  are old timers.  We all enjoy the atmosphere.   I  can not believe I have been participating for 31 years- but that a fact….. Only my Marriage is a longer relationship.

Progress Report

I did start lots of work too.   Project 1

I am continuing to use images from the trip to Idaho as inspiration.  This is one from a rock wall at Dry Falls.  I am still playing with strips of fabric that I can wad and fold over to create texture.

Project 2     This one is of a small crack in  another stone wall.  It was in direct sun light and the contrast of the rock face and the shadow was very strong.

Project 3   This work is also inspired by a rock picture.  I used a much more traditional way of assembling this one however without the folded textures.

Project 4 Oak Leaves    

I played  silk that was fused to cotton.  I sewed the leaf vains on to the surface and then cut the leaves out.  I picked some real oak leaves( deep green) and used them as inspiration.   I learned that the side one puts on top when sewing in the vains is the way the leaf will curl when you let it hang.

The last event of the week at QBL is an auction of aprons that have been altered by the teachers.  The money raised goes to the scholarship fund .  It is always lots of fun and we all get a bit silly.  This time Rosalie Dace quilt teacher from South Africa, really went over board as she dressed her part.  It seems the IRS in response to her inquires about paying taxes had written her a letter.  On the back in pencil was a message that told her “she need not pay any taxes on any fish that she caught or sold”.   So she dressed up in wades, a fishing hat added a net and poll to illistrate her story.   Also shown in the photo are Cynthia Corbin, Hollis Chatelain and Katie Pasquini Mastopust.It was a fun week and I look forward to more of the same this next week.

I hope your week is as creative as I expect mine to be.

Hugs

Carol