Tomorrow would be my dad's 85th birthday. Feb. 4th would have been my brother's 61st birthday. Melancholy. Miss them both. Next Wednesday, the 20th, will be my mother-in-law's 91st birthday, Thursday will be my niece's 26th (?) birthday, and the 25th will be my brother-in-law, Stuart's, 61st birthday. February is a big month for birthdays in our family.
Today has been a wash-out for creativity. Actually, the entire weekend has pretty much bummed out. The only thing I've accomplished successfully is painting a new forest fire background. It's drying so I won't get back to that for a couple of weeks. This will be my third attempt at getting a forest fire just right. The second one was really good, but the fires look like they are floating. I need to 
put some stuff on the ground around the fires to resemble sticks and stuff. Ground it. Here's a photo of #2 (#1 was awful!) This picture is very blurry, although it isn't on my desktop. See how the fires look like they are floating?
put some stuff on the ground around the fires to resemble sticks and stuff. Ground it. Here's a photo of #2 (#1 was awful!) This picture is very blurry, although it isn't on my desktop. See how the fires look like they are floating? Ah well. I like making these. My mother wants this one - she says just looking at it will warm her up on these cold winter days. As soon as I finish the last one she can have this.
I am entering a quilt in the PAQA-S spring exhibit - Artquilts:Cultures. I had Steve take a photo of my mother's, my, Keri's, and Sarah's hands on the coffee table. I Photoshopped the picture, desaturated the color, posterized it for extra detail of the lines in the hands, and then added a yellow filter. It came out really cool. I printed each hand out individually on fabric printer paper and arranged them with fingers intertwined. I threadpainted them onto a green and blue mottled background that reminded me of the earth. I quilted "continents" into the background, then cut it in a circle (earth) and stitched that onto a night sky with 
stars background. I cut a small hole behind the earth and stuffed it with more batting so it is rounded and is very cool. I zigzagged the edges, but I'm not thrilled with that so I'm going to make a facing to finish it off and give it a little more stability. I played and practiced with facings today and I think I'll be able to do it right, now. Here is a photo of "The Stories of Women are Told in Their Hands" (thank you, Karen Asherman, for the title!). I hope it will be accepted, but if it's not I feel pretty good that it will be somewhere. Everyone who has seen it loves it. What do you think? I hope it shows up better when I finish this.
stars background. I cut a small hole behind the earth and stuffed it with more batting so it is rounded and is very cool. I zigzagged the edges, but I'm not thrilled with that so I'm going to make a facing to finish it off and give it a little more stability. I played and practiced with facings today and I think I'll be able to do it right, now. Here is a photo of "The Stories of Women are Told in Their Hands" (thank you, Karen Asherman, for the title!). I hope it will be accepted, but if it's not I feel pretty good that it will be somewhere. Everyone who has seen it loves it. What do you think? I hope it shows up better when I finish this.We'll be going to Raleigh next weekend to celebrate mil Edith's birthday. His 2 brothers and 1 sister-in-law will be flying in from Minneapolis and Indianapolis. It's always a good time when we all get together. The kids will all be there, too, and we'll get to see our granddaughter, Sarah (2 1/2). We'll come home Sunday morning and rush around doing all the house-stuff. I'll likely be too worn out to do anything creative. That's usually the way. It's worth it.
I have decided not to push myself to try to make things for specific shows. I have finally learned that I need to try to make things that make me feel good. If they fit into a particular show and are done on time, that will be icing on the cake. I don't have that many pieces and need to build up a few that can be ready if the size, time, theme, etc. are right for any of them. There are several places I think I can enter the forest fire when it's done, so I'm not rushing to finish it just to get it done. I want this one to be what I 
envision.
envision.
These are pictures of my Koi Pond quilt hanging at the Schweinfurth Center in Auburn NY for the Art=Quilts=Art exhibit 2007-2008. My friend, Karen Asherman, was able to attend the show and they let her take photos, which she emailed me. I didn't make it, so that meant a lot. It looks pretty good up there, doesn't it? This belongs to my mother and she's been bugging me for months about when it was coming back. I got it back a month ago, but she didn't get it. Last week it opened in the Davidson County Arts Center annual quilt exhibit. It will be there until March 25th, then she can have it back.
Well - I think that's enough musing and meandering for now. Should hold for another month or so, no?
