Quilt Cookie

New Blog Coming Soon!

2011-10-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a long time as I have slowly been creating a new blog that should be easier to find me. You can find it here, although not much as been done or posted as of yet. If you'd like to have a look and care to give me any suggestions - please go to www.jennywilliamsartquilts.blogspot.com
Thanks! Hope to see you there soon!

Sketching?

2011-01-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

So - I did sign up for the sketchbook challenge and I know I haven't posted anything yet. So - I'm taking the leap and posting now.

So - I showed this to Steve and asked him who it was. He said he had no idea. I asked my friend, Jennifer, the next day, and she knew immediately that it was our daughter, Keri. Okay - so I did it from a photo that doesn't look like her that mu ch, but c'mon. If Jennifer recognized her, ?????
I did this with Micron pen. So - it's a start.

It's not perfect, but look at the photo I sketched it from

I don't know why I can't get it closer, but there it is

Here are also some fool-around sketches of a wine label that I've always loved called "The Other Hand". Not something you'll find in your local stores, but a really cool label.

And - my copper gingko leaves - I MUST post those, even though they are painted.

These were the inspiration for the copper gingko leaves I created for "Tranquility".

Sketched, then painted with copper metallic paint.

I use my sketchbooks constantly in designing my work. I like to draw loose sketches, and while the finished work rarely even resembles the original sketch, I like to keep it for future reference. good for another "beginning".

Some finished work

2011-01-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

I feel better - I finished 3 more pieces for the Jonesboro, Arkansas show. Having 3 snow days following a weekend was a major help - giving me so much extra time. I really needed it, too, because the last piece gave me such angst in trying to figure how to attach the metals to the fabric, while retaining the integrity of the metal.

This piece follows the "Reeds" piece previously shown. This is titled "Dunes", as it reminds me of the beach. Thanks Jennifer - for not letting me chop half of it off and giving me a hint at how to fix it. Add some cattails on the left!

Here is a close-up of the copper "grasses". On this one I thread painted some of the short green grass on water soluble stabilizer and tulle in a hoop, then dissolved, trimmed and stitched them on to cover the bottoms of the paddles. They just didn't look right in this piece without the grass.

This long skinny piece I just call Chains - because that's all I could think of. I started out with just the center black rectangle, then added the narrow rust, but realized that wasn't enough, either. So I gave it more presence by adding more black.

Here is a closeup. Red copper wire pounded flat and kind of woven together. The gold looking diamond on the orange fabric is actually bronze mesh - it's a metal cloth. I pound this with my hammer and it gives it really cool highlights. This was a lot of fun. I will make more like this. No angst!

This is the angst piece - "Tranquility"! So titled because it does look very simple and tranquil - NOW! - but not so tranquil trying to figure out how to actually accomplish it caused me great anguish last week.

Below is the left panel - the gingko branch. The branch is copper that was dragged through liver of sulphur to darken it and then hammered to hold its shape. I hand-stitched the branch to the fabric with smoke monofilament thread.

The gingko leaves were cut out of thin copper sheeting, hammered so they would keep their shape, and then the lines were carved in with a stylus. I hand-stitched these leaves to the branch with copper metallis thread. You can also see the little bit of free motion stitching on the "moon".

This is the detail of the panel on the right - the bamboo trees. These were cut from the bronze metal mesh. This stuff really hurts when you are cutting it - it's very sharp and sticks in your fingers. I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to stitch these onto the panel. I tried just stitching straight down the center with clear monofilament thread, but the holes looked huge and it was horrible. Took that off. Then my biggest fan (Steve) suggested that I stitch them on the "nodes" - where they have their growth spurts, or whatever. I did that with smoke monofilament thread. The bamboo leaves are copper sheeting that I hand cut, hammered, and embossed lines. So how to get these to stay on? I actually did it on the sewing machine with monofilament thread. I then dabbed some clear glue on the thread to help hold it.

So - my 3 new pieces for Jonesboro. Sigh. And now I'm having a 3 day weekend (MLK) and my muse went on vacation. I have accomplished nothing. I have a piece on the table that I'm playing with, but as Steve says, I'm at a wall. Working working working for so long and so intense. Need to just breathe.

Thanks for reading and I would appreciate any suggestions - like how I'm going to ship these things! lol!

Updated and New Work

2011-01-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

The winter storm that is moving up the east coast began here about 5:15 this morning. Beautiful big flakes of white snow. But we know that following the snow is the nasty sleet and wintry mix that makes driving so hazardous. All of the public schools are closed and that's usually my barometer for whether or not I stay home. The university isn't closed, but the snow, etc. hasn't hit there yet. I hope they will close when the roads start getting bad.

So - I have another day in the studio! I promised Laura that I would post photos of the pieces she and Eileen helped me with at lunch last Friday. The first is the one I posted last week. We decided it could do with a little more "presence" - so here it is with some attitude! I really do think that adding the large black background helps it a lot.

And here is the new one on the right. The piece is laying flat on the worktable. I'm working very slowly on this. I've changed the original design completely - that will be a different piece altogether. I'm enjoying working with the copper and bronze mesh and wanted to do more with that, so here is a look at the preliminary layout. There are still lots of changes and additions to be made, but this is where I am beginning.

On the left is a closeup from overhead. You can see the "moon" hiding behind the two panels and the bronze mesh bamboo trees on the left with just a couple of copper leaves suggested. My plan is to lightly threadpaint the moon to highlight some of those "clouds" crossing in front of it. The right panel will have the gingko in copper. I know it will need more, but that will come when this part is more finished and I can better feel what it will need.

So - we are making potato soup with leeks and ham today and staying inside where it is dry and warm. Back to the studio! Thanks for checking in and please feel free to make comments or suggestions!

Happy New Year and New Work for Jonesboro!

2010-12-27T16:16:00.000-05:00

First - Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all had a warm and wonderful time with family and/or friends. We did both and are so thankful for the fact that we get to see all of the kids and parents, and that we enjoy it.

I am way behind in both keeping up the blog and getting these pieces made for the show in Jonesboro. I should have 10 pieces done by March 1st, so I can let them know sizes, numbers, etc. I am excited to report that today I have 2 pieces very well on their way and several sketches that I can't wait to get to.

As I move along this new path, I find I am really enjoying playing with fabric and metals, and making something arty and unusual and hopefully, beautiful, that others will enjoy. I know not all others will, but I hope some will. I like the Chinese-style coins on the right and the hammered and colored copper wire. I haven't yet decided how to attach the wire, or what I want the final effect to be.

Well, here is a HUGE detail photo of the top of the piece. Orange torn, hand-dyed fabric (dyed for me by my friend, Laura McGrath - http://periwinkle-quilts.blogspot.com/), copper sheeting that I annealed with a blow torch and hammered for texture, and a curly-cue of bronze mesh. Combining fabric with metals is a lot of fun and offers such a variety of textures and techniques.This is a very preliminary stage. Nothing is attached except the background, which is sandwiched with batting and black backing. But I am still thrilled with how much I have accomplished in 2 days. I don't believe I've been able to do this much in months and months.
I'd like to know your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc. about this piece, but please hurry! I have a lot more to do, both on this and upcoming work. And I am off work all this week, so I intend to be creating in leaps and bounds!

AND - have you considered your word for 2011? I hope mine will be two-fold - Search and Discover. I intend to search out more techniques for working with metal on fabric and discover more about myself and my fascination with both metal and fabric.
I hope you will think about what you'd like 2011 to be? Rather than making resolutions that will be broken within a week and make us feel guilty again, why not establish a word in your mind that will inspire you? I'd love for you to share them - either on your blogs or here, on mine.

Thanks for looking and have a Happy New Year!

Sketchbook Challenge

2010-12-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

I have just joined Lyric Kinard's Sketchbook Challenge for next year. I have several sketchbooks in a variety of sizes. Perhaps this challenge will help me fill them up faster. And improve my sketching skills along the way.

We have just finished putting up the outside Christmas decorations. For the first time in my life, I get to have outdoor lights! I was going to put them up, but when I climbed up the little ladder on the porch, things got a little tilty. Fortunately, Steve came to the rescue and put them up aftet I put all the little clips on the keep them on the roof. What a guy. We put the tree up this morning and got the lights on (multi this year). We had to stop and do the outside because it's supposed to rain cats and dogs tomorrow. So we I can finish the inside tomorrow. Steve raked the entire yard and is a bit whipped, so I won't push him today. He has to get the stuff down from the attic. And he does help decorate the tree.

As far as art - not much going on. I did get the background for a new copper piece stitched together, but the copper paddles I was using fell kind of flat against this piece of dull green fabric. I'll have to use some other colors. Since I learned how to make alcohol inks this week, I think I'll go make some and paint some copper paddles darker. Great idea! No photos right now, sorry.

New Studio!

2010-10-17T18:30:00.011-04:00

Well - the time has come and now I can share some photos of my new studio! I am so thrilled. Steve was so generous in taking out the twin beds. In his words, it really did sort of look like "a yard sale" with all of the stuff piled on the beds and everywhere else I could find to stash it. He has been an absolute gem in wanting to do this right. His eye for detail is spot-on and I am so grateful. It was also quite nostalgic for him to turn this completely over to me. We removed all semblance of the boys living there. He did have a couple of moments, but he was still all for it.

After my good friend, Lynne Lanning (Quilting Quest Quilt Shop!!) was kind enough to take the beds over to my mom's in her pickup truck to store, I cleared the room. Sorry I didn't take "before" pictures, but it was total chaos.

Last weekend we drove to Charlotte to IKEA to get the shelving. What I had seen online wasn't nearly big enough when I saw it in person. We did find something even better and it's terrific.

Here are the 2 shelving units we purchased. They can actually be used vertically or horizontally. I chose to use them horizontally, as I felt like they gave me more usable storage space.

Steve really wanted me to have a good place to work. He was concerned that I be comfortable and have good views all around me. Now I can see out the window on my left (no photo - duh), my stash shelves on the right, the doorway & hallway so I can tell when he's coming in without startling me (!) -

So now I have no reason not finish enough pieces for the show in April in Jonesboro, Arkansas. uh oh. ! ;)

I didn't have a design wall up yet and Steve had decided he wanted mine to be mounted on the wall and be framed. wow. I would probably be the only fiber artist I knew with a framed design wall. He thought about it some more and decided that a nice sized cork board would work (and relieve him of having to figure out how to frame the design board! lol!). I covered the cork part with flannel and Steve stapled it in place. It's not that large, but I work fairly small, so it's perfect for me. You can see a bit of the design board in this photo -

Thanks to Laurie and Ian (our kids) for their terrific taste in lighting fixtures. We went to Lowe's to look for one like they had, but they didn't have one exactly like it. We found this one, instead, and it works perfectly. I can change the arm direction and point the little spot lights wherever I need them. I love this fixture.

I promise to get better photos when it is all complete.

We intend to add a little more storage in a couple of weeks. I need a place to put my thread out in reachable distance from my sewing/work table. And there might be a bit of rearranging, but not much. Thank you to my incredibly supportive husband. I am a lucky woman!

Featured Artist!!??

2010-09-26T14:13:00.007-04:00

I have to share the good news I received last week. A lot of people have heard this, but I can't help but be thrilled, so I'm repeating it here. I received a wonderful email from Nancy Chrisman, representing the Women's Advisory Council for St. Bernard's Development Foundation, Inc. in Jonesboro, Arkansasa (a non-profit organization supporting the mission of St. Bernards Regional Medical Center), inviting me to be their featured artist for their exhibit in April 2011!!! The net proceeds from the show are donated to The Flo & Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro. The Council raises money from a silent auction, from vendors' booths and from sponsors.

Fabulous! Nancy said they could easily have space for 20-30 pieces of my work, since I work fairly small (not larger than 36" any direction). My dilemma is that I only have 10 pieces at this time that could be featured and sold (they appreciate a 20% donation from the sales). Holy Toledo! I have until March 1st, 2011, so I'm not too concerned. I'm sure I can get at least 10 made by then. If I work at it!

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I have been moving in a completely different direction with my art lately. I am an ardent admirer of Mary Hettmansperger and have taken the leap to using copper with my fabric. It is so much fun! I have a Fat Boy Bernzomatic propane torch for annealing copper sheeting! Woohoo! Is that ever a blast! Can't you just see me with a blow torch!!?? I hammer copper wire and have some beautiful color-coated wire. I play with copper foil and I got some Mica to have fun with, too. So - here are some not-so-great photos (sorry - copper is very difficult to photograph well).

This is the first piece I made. I used some tiny cloisonne' beads (on the right) that I just love, as well as the two in the center of the copper that I made with fabric. The copper piece has been annealed (torched!!!) and hammered for texture. The copper paddles have been hammered and then tied onto the copper sheet with very fine blue-coated copper wire. The pinkish-beige backing is actually paper ribbon and I hand-stitched this onto the multi-brown background. The small blue dot on the tiny copper piece is a French knot of embroidery floss.

This piece I call "Verdigris I". It is not my favorite piece. I stitched a piece of cheesecloth that I dyed over a piece of green and blue fabric that I also dyed. Copper leaves and shapes are annealed and hammered for texture. Most pieces are held onto the backing with teeny tiny brads. One rectangular piece with a bent copper bead is tied on with the fine red wire and the paddles are stitched down with thread. The square in the upper right corner is copper foil. What appears to be a painting is some thread that I had stitched together with water soluble stabilizer. A piece of mica is on top of that to hold it in place. Fun techniques - not crazy about the outcome.

"Verdigris II" is a little better. This has 3 layers of cloth on a foam core base. The top layer of fabric is one I had previously rusted and thought it would work well. Again - lots of fun techniques here. Pounded wire into shapes, used leftover strips of copper sheeting to make the curly-cues, and more mica and copper foil with tiny brackets.

This last one Steve named "Reeds". We think it looks like sunrise at the beach or on a marsh, and the various colored and hammered copper wires are the reeds. When the light hits the colored wire, it is really beautiful. I'm quite thrilled with this one. Steve says it's not leaving the house. Guess he likes it! 8>)

I haven't decided whether to use some of these in the Jonesboro show or not. Steve thinks I should, to show part of the "journey" I'm on with my art. I'll have to think about it. In the meantime, I need to get back into the studio and get some work done, so there can be a show!!
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment.

A New Blog Year

2010-09-21T17:29:00.019-04:00

So - it's been a year since I last blogged. Steve and I went to New England a year ago and I took so many photos that I was overwhelmed with them all, and when it came time to choose some for the blog, I abandoned it.

So now - Steve and I have just returned from a quick weekend holiday at the Outer Banks (OBX for those who don't know). I had never been that far up the NC coast and it had been about 40 years since Steve had. I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't a Myrtle Beach type of jammed up 3 story cottages and no view of ocean no matter where you drove. I felt somewhat like someone from another country coming to visit Texas and finding out there aren't really cowboys and Indians riding the wild west. I guess I expected there to be a lot more openness.

So - my main reason for going was to see the wild ponies up at Corova Beach - where the OBX road ends and you have to drive on the beach. It's important to check your tide tables before attempting this, which we did. Now, my 2009 Honda CRV has all-wheel drive, which is always good. Not quite great for driving on sand, but okay. It was the ground clearance that was the problem. Like a snow plow - it tried to push the sand, but wasn't strong enough.

So - here are the lovely ruts in the sand and here is Steve trying to shovel the snow out from under the engine.

He wasn't able to do that, but a nice gentleman from Utah stopped and pulled us a short way out so we could get back to the road.

Unfortunately, the nice gentleman didn't pull us out quite far enough, so Steve got the shovel out again. He still wasn't able to dig us out. And then another nice gentleman with a much larger pickup truck came to our aid and actually did pull us out far enough. Who says size doesn't matter? hah! In ground clearance, it certainly does!

We gave up on the ponies and decided to drive south to check out the other 2 lighthouses. We'd seen the Currituck light and it was pretty cool. But everyone takes pictures of light houses and I had a new camera, so I took this photo, instead.

We were disappointed in the Bodie Island Light - it is currently covered in metal scaffolding. You could see it through the scaffolding, but who wants a photo of metal scaffolding?

I was talking with Keri as we continued our drive south to the Cape Hatteras Light. Suddenly, on the sound side (right) of the road, we saw what appeared to be several large half-moon-shaped kites.

I quickly hung up from Keri & Steve pulled the car over. There were about a dozen sail boarders taking advantage of the 30+ mph winds. It was so exciting to watch them speed across the water and then fly up into the air! One guy was definitely a hot dogger and waved at us while I took his photo - too bad I didn't catch it! 8>) But these are some of the fun ones I did get.

Those guys really move and often look like they are about to run up onto the beach, but manage to turn on a dime and keep moving like the wind! Definitely a sport for the extremely fit!

The Hatteras light was nice and I took the standard tourist photos, which I won't bore you with, and we went back to our room (which did not have an ocean view!). We had some time before dinner, so we decided to take a walk on the nearby pier. The waves were incredible, thanks to Igor. "No Swimming" signs everywhere.

But the signs didn't deter this young daredevil - it took him forever to fight the waves and current to get out far enough to make it worthwhile, but he finally did.

When we got back to the motel after a fabulous steamed clambake at the Black Pelican (a MUST-DO!), Steve went out to have fun feeding the gulls, although it looked like they really meant business!

We'd had more than enough sun, sand (stinging our faces, arms & legs with the wicked wind) and waves and, not having been able to see the wild ponies, decided to cut it short by a day so we could relax where we really enjoy it best -

And when Steve had filled the bird feeder, our resident wildlife were glad we were home, too. (there is actually more than one bird - but he was the only one willing to pose!)

So - back to work tomorrow. Blogger has definitely changed during the past year, so I apologize for the erratic photos and I fully intend to get more up to speed with it, but bear with me. I promise to post about my art and show some photos of the new copper stuff next time. Thanks for reading and enjoying my very short vacation with me! I hope you read again soon!

2009-09-17T21:05:00.003-04:00

I am ecstatic that tomorrow morning Steve and I are beginning our vacation. We begin by driving to Boiling Springs, PA tomorrow. It's a beautiful and interesting town/area. Very American Revolutionary style of homes and buildings. And there is a fantastic river for fly fishing - which I'm hoping Steve will take advantage of.

Saturday we will drive to Bridgehampton, LI, NY. "The Hamptons". Steve's Uncle Dick just turned 97 and, though hard of hearing, is still quite clear thinking. He has self-published 3 books in the last 8 or so years. One historical about the weather of the Hamptons - he's been doing the weather since he was 17 - and 2 poetry books that are just fabulous. We get to spend the afternoon and night with Dick and his wife, Lillian.

Sunday morning we will take a ferry to Shelter Island and then drive to Greenport where we will catch an hour and a half long ferry to New London, CT ($47!! for the car & driver - I have to pay extra at the gate!, but it's worth the shortcut). Then we will drive to Freeport, ME.

Monday Steve will get to revisit (and likely mourn) seeing L.L.Bean (he was there 30+ years ago when it was the only thing in the area). Then we get to do the lighthouse photoshoot - there are tons of lighthouses in the area. And eat LOTS AND LOTS OF SEAFOOD!! And we will drive to Camden, ME.

We will actually be staying a few miles north of Camden in a cabin resort area where Bob Lacey (Bob & Sheri radio show in Charlotte & nationwide) stays a lot. Camden is supposed to be an incredibly picturesque harbor town. I am really looking forward to that. And more seafood.

Wednesday we will drive to North Conaway NH. We will see the something Birches- a big birch tree area. Looking forward to that. And some personal reasons for Steve wanting to visit.

Thursday - our 15th anniversary!!!- we will be in Manchester,VT. Another personal reason for visiting. It will be a special night for our anniversary, so I hope there's a good restaurant. If not, a good pot roast will do.

Friday - I hope we can drive to Williamsville to see Deirdre Scherer's studio. Susan's partner, Richard, gave me her phone number, as her open studios are generally on the weekend. He also gave me directions to his family's farm, which is nearby, and if we get to visit Deirdre, we will definitely drive by his farm. And then on to New Paltz to see my new great-nephew - Kelso Ronald Woodburn. From his photos, he's adorable. and Keith says he is very good.

Saturday - alas, we will drive home. But I will be much rested and fulfilled with nature, great food, incredible love, and the warmth of family.

So - now we begin that much-needed journey. Later.

Monday

2009-08-30T20:33:00.006-04:00

It's been a very productive weekend. Yesterday Steve and I made our monthly sojourn to Winston to Total Wine and Fresh Market. Managed to spend a bunch, but it will get us through the month. Well, the meat, anyway.
I got my most recent fire quilt back on Friday and was thrilled to see that I still like it. I will have to think about where to enter it in the next year or so.
I am even more thrilled that I finished the coleus leaf yesteray. It was a bit wonky, so I threw a damp linen dish towel over it and pressed it and it took the waviness right out. It's more perpendicular than the Lily. So - here it is - what do you think?

Here is the whole piece on a black background. I haven't made the quilt backing for Jennifer to work her magic on yet. This took longer than the lily. Not sure why. Here is a closer up:

Got a lot of house cleaning, some birthday cards, and lots of laundry done. Wednesday, Sept. 2nd., is Steve's uncle's birthday. He will be 97 years old and still an incredibly alert and intelligent man. We get to visit him in 3 weeks when we make our New England trip.

I have to make a not-fun comment here. I have always liked WonderUnder as a fusible. I especially liked reusing the paper backing from it. I got a bad bunch back in the early spring and, after posting about it on Quiltart digest, I got the info to contact the company and complain. Michele was very nice and apologized and sent me an entire bolt of WU, along with their new paper-less WU, and some new thing that has a clear backing. Karen Fridy and I have had some problems again with the new bolts. It has to be a different product. The fusible webbing doesn't want to melt and stays quite stringy. At the same time, the backing is still peeling off in strips and small pieces. I am very unhappy and will let Pellon know. The fusible that has no paper backing is heavy and not a great find. I have been a little hesitant to use the new product, having had few reasons to use fusible at all this weekend. I will be contacting Pellon again. They really need a product control person to be checking this stuff.

that's all for now.

2009-08-15T19:21:00.011-04:00

Okay - I'm not blogging very frequently, but I'm trying. Just too much going on. Gosh, it feels like I just bought that car last week.
But what was better last week was taking Sarah and fishing and....(DRUM ROLL) A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER!!! Iris Grace Williams arrived about 5 weeks early and we got to go up and see her. She is doing well, but at this time (born Sat. Aug. 8th and today is August 15th) she is still in the hospital. Ian and Laurie were hoping to take her home by the end of the week because she seemed to be doing quite well, but now it will be another couple of days. So here is the new baby beauty!

And my bonus son, Ian, with his beautiful daughter...

Last weekend we also took Sarah fishing. She had a blast, Keri had a blast, and even though he would never admit to "having a blast", so did Grampa. We went to Finch Park in Lexington, NC and this was taken by Keri and it looks so cool in black and white. You can just hear someone whistling the theme...

Sarah was so excited when she caught the first fish - it was very tiny, but the next one - a blue gill, was a keeper. She decided she caught it, but Grampa needed to get it off the hook. Keri had to walk back to the car for the bucket and after that, Sarah kept trying to feed the worms to the fish. (Guess he'd learned his lesson). But Grampa was explaining the high science of fishing to Sarah...and named her "Worm Girl" so she could bring him the worms. So we all became "Worm Mom", "Worm Grammy", and "Worm Grampa".

This is a photo of a really cool tree stump laying on the ground near the pond. I have not PhotoShopped it or done anything to it. I don't think it had been burned, but it was very cool. I will have to find a use for this, furshur!

Is that cool, or what?

I totally forgot to post this picture of my finished Dandelion Fuzz. I had threadpainted it months ago, but wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it off. So = I just did. I like the way it came out. It's a small piece - about 9" x 12"? I added beads for the "water droplets" and I like how they look.

I think you can see the beads on that, but just in case, here is a closeup.

This afternoon I had a visitor to my goldfish pond. It was really pretty funny because I collect frogs and have them posted around the pond. Some have been assimilated into the periwinkle around the stones, but some are very conspicuous. So - a real frog - the very first one - on a lily pad! He appears to be facing off against the big daddy frog I bought in Blowing Rock...

So today I worked on my next total threadpainting some more. Ran some errands. Bought some country cd's I'll give to Keri. And had fun. Tonight I made a new gelatin mold -(the one I made 2 weeks ago I screwed up - only put half the needed gelatin in), so I'm trying again. Tomorrow I will play with that again. After I give Bev a haircut... for those of you who don't know - Bev is my mother. Laugh-a-minute in-your-face-with-fun-Bev... Can't you just see it?

2009-07-23T20:06:00.008-04:00

I know it has been a loooong time since I posted. Too much going on, too much to pinpoint and too much to try to recount. So I'll just start this past week. So much even with that!

First - I have a new great nephew! Keith & Mary had a baby boy on July 15th and named him Kelso Ronald Woodburn. Kelso is Mary's maiden name and a pretty cool name. I am hoping they will call him Ronnie, after Keith's Dad & my brother, but he's a gift, whatever they choose to call him. So -here's Kelso Ronald - (as long as they don't call him that!)

It was a really busy weekend - Keri came down and we did the WWPW (World Wide Photo Walk - you'll have to google it - it's too complicated, but a blast!) in Mocksville at the RayLen Winery. Got lots of photos of grapes and some cool leaves (and much more) in a two-hour period.

Next - I got into my car a week ago Tuesday and my AC didn't come on. Found out that the compressor exploded in the AC system, sending shards of metal all through it - to the tune of $3,000 to replace the whole system. With 94,000 miles on it, needing $500 worth of tires, and the 90,000+ ($600) checkup, we decided to nix it and get a new one.
I do love it, but it was totally unexpected!

Sunday morning Steve and I took the new ride up to Stokes/Surry County so Steve could check out the river for fishing. It's a beautiful river with lots of rocks in it - cool drifts. I was disappointed that there were so many trees along the river bank that I could barely see the river, but I found spot where I could...

And, one of the best parts of the week! I finished the Asiatic Lily some time ago, but couldn't decide how to mount/finish it off. After some collaboration with a very talented quilter friend, we came up with this - I think the quilting is exquisite and I am proud to be partnering with her on this.

And here is a bit of a closeup (I've had to really lighten up the lily in order for the black on black quilting to show up):

Peter & Jill came back from Italy yesterday and came over for dinner. Unfortunately, they don't have their photos yet. We did have a great visit and made fun pizzas.

Duh

2009-06-16T11:11:00.002-04:00

Thanks Zoe! She just showed me how to make a hyperlink so you can click right on the name and go to it.
www.zoenelson.etsy.com
Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock, NC
Hands Gallery in Boone, NC
Artist Alley in Southern Pines, NC
Carlton Gallery in Foscoe, NC

Karen Fridy - Karen Fridy - http://designerstitches.blogspot.com/
Ann Flaherty - http://annflaherty.wordpress.com/

2009-06-16T09:43:00.002-04:00

My friend Zoe Nelson just awarded me the One Lovely Blog award. How sweet! She is a jewelry artist in Boone, NC. She sells her gorgeous silver jewelry in the Blue Ridge Mountains and online in her etsy shop. You can find and purchase this wonderful artwear at these places:

www.zoenelson.etsy.com
Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock, NC
Hands Gallery in Boone, NC
Artist Alley in Southern Pines, NC
Carlton Gallery in Foscoe, NC

You must pass this Lovely Blog award on. First, post it on your blog, giving props to the person who gave it to you. Then, pass the award on to other bloggers. I'm afraid mine might not link cuz I'm really techno-challenged blogwise. And I don't know a lot of people who have blogs, but here goes:

Karen Fridy - http://designerstitches.blogspot.com/
Ann Flaherty - http://annflaherty.wordpress.com/

Need suggestions

2009-06-09T13:30:00.009-04:00

Here is the sign hanging on the entrance to my cubicle at my current job:

Dear Aunty Em -
I hate Kansas. I hate you.
I'm leaving and taking the dog.

Dorothy

I think that says it all.
____________________________________________________________________________

I've been working on another threadpainting. It's small and I'm not thrilled with it at this stage, but the practice is good for me. So I've posted several photos I've taken recently of the flowers in my yard, trying to decide which one/s might be most attractive threadpainted. I'm considering a series of them - since I do love making flowers in any medium.

Here's #1 - the Rhodendron (shhh, this is actually in my neighbor's yard). Nice shadows on this one.

#2 is the Wild Orchid - not too much interest here, I think. Too much same color.

#3 The Poke Berry - This is kind of neat, but a lot of the same/close colors. Could be really difficult to find threads just a tiny bit off enough to see the changes.

#4 My purple Iris - I really like this one. Interesting enough? Those striations could be really difficult...

#% - and the last one - my White Asiatic Lily from last year. This is similar to the yellow one I just did. There are no interesting shadows on this one, but the pink markings on the white are nice, some shadows on the petals, and the leaves and mulch in the background are a bit different.

So - anyone out there? Favorites? suggestions? I have some more at home I'll post later in the week.

2009-06-03T10:10:00.007-04:00

I broke a tooth on Sunday, so I had to stay home and go to the dentist Monday morning. Of course - a temporary crown. I took the rest of the day off and got my quilts ready to send to Sacred Threads. I love that show, but getting everything ready to send is a real pain. I just realized last week that I had 2 pieces accepted! There was only one letter in the acceptance packet when I received it and since I had done this 2 years ago, I didn't read the rest at that time. So one night last week I started going through everything to refresh my memory of what I had to do and realized both pieces had been accepted! I emailed Lisa to be sure and they were. So Monday I got them both packed up, hauled them to the UPS store and said goodbye.
"The Stories of Women Are Told in Their Hands"

And my "Self Portrait"

I am so happy to have a job, which I will be starting July 1st in the UNCG Dept. of Nutrition, but it will be sad to say goodbye to my 10-year stint with NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care. Our cube farm has been the perfect gallery backdrop for all of my quilts, which I have exhibited several times a year. My new office is very small and it doesn't appear that I will have anywhere to hang even one. But - I have a job and for that I am extremely grateful. I hope everyone out there who is in need of a good job will find one.

2009-05-24T18:12:00.007-04:00

Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted to my blog. I wanted to wait until I had a "real" piece of free style machine embroidery finished, and now I have one.

But first - for those of you who haven't seen it on my Facebook page -

I GOT A JOB I GOT A JOB I GOT A JOB!!!

I found out Friday at 5:00 after having the interview at 3 pm Friday. Then I got even better news - that I will be keeping my current salary! What a wonderful day!

And then today Keri called to tell my she had won $500 in the Power Ball lottery. What a terrific weekend! It could only be better if Steve were here, instead of fishininmichigan. But it's his annual trip and he deserves it. He's thrilled for both of us - now he can retire next May as he'd planned.

My aunt Allie, who visited at Easter, bought me a beautiful Asiatic Lily for my birthday. My birthday was the day before Easter and hers was the day after Easter. We planted it, but it didn't bloom til I came back from the workshop with Carol Shinn.

Here is the original photo of the whole stem blooming:

Here is the full photo (12" x 12") of my free style machine embroidered Lily. As you can see, it is reversed from the original. One of those things easily forgotten when printing the photo.

Here is the detail photo showing the shadows:

I documented my hours on this for future reference for myself. I put 36 1/2 hours in the stitching. I can't tell you how much thread I used because there are so many colors blended. I can tell you that jus in the dark green background I used 1 whole spool plus probably 1/4 of a second spool. There are 250 yards of thread on each spool. There are layers and layers of thread and it's pretty heavy, but also pretty good and flat.

I am pretty happy with the end results, but I'd love to hear comments on what you think. I need to continue practicing my fm stitching skills, but I also need to decide where I want to go with this, style-wise. Would you buy a picture like this of just a flower, or would you want something a little more interesting and unique? Like maybe a collage of parts of the flower? I appreciate whatever you offer for suggestions.

I also finished a small quilt, but I can't show that here in case certain people look here. Next month.

Thanks!

Springtime? and Workshop

2009-04-28T09:13:00.012-04:00

I am back from Carol Shinn's workshop at the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops. I learned so much I can't believe it! But first, springtime was just beginning to peek through in the Catskill Mountains of upstate NY, but here is what greeted me when I got home.

My Lilies of the Valley opened up while I was gone.

And my Solomon's Seal in all its splendor

I was thrilled to be able to spend several days with my buddy, Karen Asherman, at the workshop. We hadn't seen each other since Lowell Quilt Festival in 2006, so it was great fun and we both learned a lot. Here's Karen at the cutting board, with a view of Carol's work table under the overhead mirror.

Here is the porch where Karen, Carol, Kathy & I shared our pre-dinner glass of wine each night. The porch was just the coolest! It was too ironic to learn the names of everyone in the class - Jeannie, Jenny, Jody, Judy, Karen, Carol, Kathy, & Leslie (and a guest named Lynne!) And of course the owners Kim and Mark! J-M. Oh - and one person who cancelled - Martha! Too funny.

This is the gob of (mostly Judy Sebastian's) thread I collected at the workshop. It will show up again in another form.

Here are Carol & Judy checking out some of the work. You can almost make out Carol's piece behind her. It's breathtakingly beautiful, but I don't have permission to post it. I know she is entering it in a really BIG show, so don't want to preempt anything.

So - here at the pieces I made in Carol's workshop. We began with just practicing the direction of the stitches (top left). She then had us stitch "across the color wheel", blending stitches using many shades of each color and keeping the stitches in the same direction. This was very difficult, but the most important for me (top right).

The next step was to draw and paint shapes on white fabric, which we then fused to a piece of canvas backing. When the paint was dry, we stitched over the picture, practicing keeping all of the stitches in the same direction. That's a lot more difficult than you would think, especially with pears. You can see the distortion that so much thread causes (bottom left) - my bottom pear looks like my pregnant goldfish! Carol suggested I do a contour effect around the pears, which turned out to be much harder than I'd expected, having to keep the stitches going in the same direction!
The last piece (bottom right) is of the center of a leaf that Carol had printed out on a iron on transfer sheet. We transferred it to white fabric and then fused it to canvas. Instead of straight stitches in the same direction, I meandered my stitching around in small circles. It gave it a more organic feel and looks more like underwater fan or coral than a leaf. Carol said the purple part is too fat and I should go back and take some out (by adding more blue/green over it), but I have moved on.

Below is the first piece I've made since the workshop. It is a Black-Eyed Susan.

I was happy with keeping the stitches in the same direction, but I really needed more shades of yellow and orange. More thread!
Here is more of a closeup:

I am working on a much more ambitious piece now, but don't want to show it until it's finished (in case it really sux!) I will photograph it in various stages to post later.

Woohooo!! Hudson River Valley Art Workshop!

2009-04-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

I am leaving in the morning to drive to upstate New York. Tomorrow night I will stay with my sil, Susan and hopefully get to see my nephew, Keith, and his wife, Mary. Mary is pregnant and due in July. It will be terrific to see them. And as good as that is, Thursday I get to drive to Greenville, NY for a workshop with Carol Shinn at the Hudson River Valley Art Workshop. My friend, Karen Asherman, is driving down from Saratoga Springs to take the workshop, too. This will be so much fun. Not looking forward to the drive up and back, but definitely the rest of it.

Carol Shinn is an extremely talented artist and machine embroiderer. Her work is so incredible - layers of thread that blends so well, it looks like a painting or photograph. I've done quite a bit of threadpainting, using a variety of techniques, but I can't get the blending she gets and mine wants to warp. I must learn her secret to keep it from warping!

I'll return next Monday, so I'll report how it went.

Advice Needed - Thread Lace

2009-03-25T10:34:00.004-04:00

Nearly all of my work has been realistic or representational and I have wanted to try my hand at some abstract or simplie collage work. I am finding that I am being drawn to really well-executed collage with simple lines and not a lot of extraneous "stuff". I have been experimenting with different techniques to use in collage, but now find that they are pretty "important" pieces (to me) in themselves and I am really unsure of where to take them. I need some advice/suggestions/HELP! on where to go with these pieces that seem to be "whole works", for want of a better description.

The first piece I'm posting is Thread Lace. I took handfuls of thread that I had been saving in its own wastebasket along with some ribbons, trims, etc. and laid it all out between 2 layers of Vilene (heavier water soluble stabilizer). I machine stitched it all together with several different threads - a green/blue variegated, orange, and clear monofilament. When I thought it was stitched enough to not fall apart when I immersed it in water, I put it in the sink and dissolved the stabilizer. Here is what remains:

I love this on the black background and I love how it turned out. But what do I do now? I love it, but it needs something more. Yet, not so much that it detracts from the main body of lace. Perhaps a particular edge treatment would help? Hand stitching? I wouldn't know where to begin. Beading? The trim in the lace already looks like beads, but I guess more could be added. I'd love to work this into something to enter a show, but it's just kind of "there" right now...
Here is a little more detailed image:

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Watch Your Language by Christine Kane

2009-03-18T13:31:00.003-04:00

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Christine Kane, but she usually has pretty good advice in her newsletter. Like this, which I absolutely believe:

Watch Your Language
by Christine Kane

A few years ago, I was in a car with the promoter of one of my performances. He had picked me up at the airport and was driving me to my hotel. On the way, we talked guitars. We got onto the subject of Olson Guitars, arguably the best guitar in the whole world. At one point, the promoter said, "Yea, well, in my entire life I'll never own an Olson guitar."

There was a time when I'd let a remark like this slide on by, even adding my own "me either" to the mix.

Now, I can't. Yoda steps into my head and says, (in his Yoda voice) "So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done."

So, I turned to the promoter and said, "You are NOT allowed to say that!"

This is because I know the power of language. When you know that words become things, it's hard to let language slide.

I can't help it. I have a rule:

Friends don't let friends speak crappily.

Language is powerful. Words can create reality. Even if my promoter friend doesn't know how on earth he'd ever get his guitar, it doesn't mean he should cut off the possibility with his own words.

If you're wondering how to begin watching your words, here are 7 practical language principles for becoming a better creator of your life.

1 - Eliminate "never" and "always."

Never and always are words of hysteria. "I always mess everything up!" "I'll never figure this out!" "I'll never get an Olson Guitar."

First off, it's not true. If you always messed everything up, you wouldn't have made it out of the womb.

And second off, extreme words are designed to hook you. It's just your emotions taking a joyride. You're more powerful than that.

2 - Use AND instead of BUT.

"But" dismisses the statement before it. "And" includes it. For instance, "That's a good article, but it needs some editing" isn't nearly as encouraging as "That's a good article, AND it needs some editing."

"I love you, but..." is another great example of the dismissive power of "but."

3 - Avoid "Should."

Should is a heinous word for many reasons. It is victim-speak. It disempowers its object. It negates desires, thereby making it harder to make choices. It adds a nebulous energy to the decision making process. Use empowered language instead: "I could..." "I would..." "I am choosing to," "I would like to," "I don't want to," or "You might consider..."

4 - Stop calling yourself depressed.

Also stop allowing anyone to tell you that you are depressed. When you call yourself "depressed" or "obsessive compulsive" or "ADHD" or whatever - you're claiming this thing. You're calling it forth with the most powerful two words in our language: "I am." That creates very little option for the transformation of this condition.

5 - Delete the word "hate" from your vocabulary.

"Hate" has lots of energy. When you use it, you send lots of energy out into the very thing you "hate." Even if it's negative energy, it's still a powerful force, adding its charge to that thing. You're also depleting this energy from your own spirit as you say it.

6 - Be "great." Or "wonderful."

A disease of the creative temperament is a belief that we must be authentic at all costs. So we can't answer a simple "How are you?" without delving into an in-depth scan of our emotional temperature.

Try this instead: When people ask you how you're doing, just say, "I'm great!"

I used to think if said this, then I better have a good reason for saying it, like I just won the lottery or something. I thought it would make me look suspicious, and people would start to wonder if something was wrong with me. But then I did it. And you know what? Most people don't care why you're great. You're saying it for you.

7 - Pay attention to the music of your speech.

You know how some people? They talk in question marks? And you have no idea why? But it makes you think you shouldn't really rely on them? And it makes you not want to hire them?

The music of your language says a lot about you. If you let your sentences droop like Eeyore, ("Thanks for noticing me.") or if you do the uncertain question mark language, take note of what attitudes are causing this. These patterns are created for a reason. Even if it feels like faking it at first, generate confidence as you speak.

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

Sacred Threads! and New Work

2009-03-17T13:28:00.008-04:00

I'm so thrilled that my quilt, The Stories of Women Are Told in Their Hands was accepted into Sacred Threads 2009. This is of the hands of my mother, myself, my daughter, and my granddaughter. Steve took the photo of all of our hands on the coffee table on a piece of fabric. Our hands weren't entwined. I desaturated them in PhotoShope, posterized them, then colored them. I printed them out individually on fabric, stitched them down to the background and threadpainted them. I created "continents" on the background with free motion threadpainting and stitched that to the night sky background. Then I stuffed the "earth" from behind to make it 3D.

I have been wanting to paint Wonder Under after watching Pokey Bolton do it so effortlessly on her Quilt Art Workshop dvd, so I tried it using Lumiere paints. It wasn't quite so effortless for me. The WU wouldn't come off the paper without the fusing. After ironing one piece again, the paper backing wouldn't come off the fusible & fabric except in small sections. Very disappointing and frustrating. Some of the people on SAQA digest suggested trying other fusibles (most of them hadn't had problems with WU so it must have been a bad batch.) I did manage to pull enough small sections off the paper backing to fuse it to a piece of hand-dyed fabric and it was pretty cool. I decided to put some beads on it, but I haven't beaded much and this is as far as I've gotten with that. Where to go from here?

I wanted to try painting Misty Fuse, which I love anyway and today I painted some on a piece of parchment paper. It was like a dream! And the bonus was that the paint that stayed on the parchment paper was wiped onto a paper towel and now I have that for my paper stash - for someday. Here's the MF painted and fused.

I've been doing a lot of doodling with pen and ink - mostly at work, go figure. I've been looking back at them and trying to figure out how to work them into fabric. Here's one of the doodles I decided to play with:

I saw on a website somewhere - Zentangle - where they create boxes connected together and doodle inside them, sometimes connecting the doodles from box to box. It's really fun and easier to play with on a small scale. So - I took one of the doodles from that box and enlarged it, then traced it onto fabric twice. On one I painted it with Golden Acrylic paint and still have to stitch it:

And the other I stitched and am considering how to paint or finish it. Not sure yet. But it was fun playing with them.

Any suggestions on how to finish this?

WISS + WIP

2009-02-22T14:50:00.010-05:00

This is my shadow standing in the backyard, the grass dry and bits of leaves blowing around. I came outside to take some pictures of the shadows of the hemlock tree on the fence. It's been really windy and they wouldn't stay put, so this is a bit blurry, but I loved the dark contrast on the faded wood fence.

I am so ready for springtime, but it seems a farway off so I have taken springtime into my own hands, literally. I have been wanting to do some beading so I did. After watching Mary Stori's beading DVD and perusing Larkin Van Horn's book, I finally felt confident enough to try it myself. I brought a little springtime in with this:

I have quite a few flower photos that I took last spring and summer and the sunflower is from one of those. I printed it on fabric and threadpainted the petals. I intend to take Lyric's advice and mount this to a small, square gallery wrapped canvas. I think I will blend some greens on the canvas as a backdrop. And I enjoyed making the sunflower so much that now I am working on a Gerbera daisy. Here it is in progress:

I will threadpaint the petals when the beading is finished.

I have also been rusting some more fabric. I have fallen in love with the Hubble Telescope website and the incredible images it posts. There are some that really draw my eye and they remind me of rusted fabric, but they look a bit "fluffy". In order to capture that texture I decided to try rusting some batting. Here is the the whole piece:

And here is a detail:

I played with adding some paint to it to get the amazing colors that seem to explode from these galaxies and nebulas. It is hanging to dry right now, but I will post it next week if it works out.

I have also been fooling around with some rubbing plates that I purchased from a child's school suppy website a year or so ago. Sorry I can't recall the name of the company. I used my Caran d'Ache water soluble oil pastels - without water - on black and a hand-dyed purple fabric. I love the colors and will keep these in sight as inspiration for something in the future. Not sure what, but I really like them.

So we'll see the future of the rubbing plates brings. Later.

WISS

2009-02-15T16:28:00.006-05:00

As you can see, we finally got the new floor down last Wednesday! Unfortunately, the molding and threshold haven't been done. Our contractor swears we are first and foremost on his list for tomorrow. Let's hope so. Steve won't let me put the kitchen table or the butcher block table back in until it's finished.

I've actually accomplished quite a bit this weekend. I rushed home early Friday and made Steve's Valentine card. Yesterday I made two cards for birthdays next weekend - mil and niece. They are already in the mail.

A couple of weeks ago I made a donation piece for the Salisbury NC animal shelter's auction which will be held March 7th. It was very cute and when I showed some people at work, one fell in love with it. She has an old Pug and asked me to make another just like this for her. Warhol Pugs - who'd a thunk?

I played with the photo (from a free-use website) in Photoshop - desaturated it and then played with the hues to get the 4 colors. I arranged them in Adobe InDesign, printed it out on fabric, and fused on a batting. I played with a variety of thread on a practice piece until I found the colors I liked and then threadpainted them using 2 different thread colors on each - a light and a dark. I couldn't decide how to finish it, so after putting on a backing and doing a pillowcase turn, I painted a canvas black and stitched the piece to it. I think that was just the ticket.

I also made some more leaf cards. I scanned some leaves back in the fall and printed them out on fabric to make cards and a donation piece for Alzhimer's. I printed some out today and stitched around them with copper metallic thread. Now I'm going to play with some beads on them to give the impression [hopefully] of water droplets. We'll see!

BIG NEWS & WISS

2009-01-26T16:54:00.008-05:00

First the BIG news - we are going to be grandparents again!!! Ian and Laurie just told us last week that they are expecting. Laurie went to the doctor Thursday and is due Sept. 15th. A long way away, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it. I'll have to check out some baby quilt patterns.

Well, this is not exactly Sunday, so the photo will have to be where I Stood Sunday. As you can see, still no new kitchen floor. This was taken with Sarah standing in front of me. Maybe this week.

And no new work this weekend as I had my wonderful girls here to play with. I had to catalog a bunch more PAQA-South Transitions entries and do some office work on Sunday. This weekend maybe I'll finish up my butterfly piece. maybe not.

We had a light dusting of snow last week. Not much, as you can see. The birds were loving having the feeders full. Raleigh got 6-8" so Keri & Sarah enjoyed more than we got.

In this drab gray-brown winter, this is the one bright spot left. The birds don't spend much time on it because it's right beside the carport and in front of where I park.

WISS & finished piece

2009-01-18T14:14:00.006-05:00

As you can see, I'm still standing on the grungy old kitchen floor. No new floor yet. I was really hoping we'd have it in by now. Ah well. When you are at the mercy of a contractor...

I've been getting a lot of work done on my butterflies piece. I don't know whether it will be done in time to enter ARTQUILTStransitions for PAQA-South, but I'm feeling good about it. I've never worked on a piece this long. I actually began it last March or April. Now it's headed in a very different direction. So we'll see whether it works out or not. Great learning experience anyway.

Peter's girlfriend, Jill, has a birthday tomorrow. The same day as Edgar Allen Poe. They came for lunch yesterday and I gave her the piece I made last spring at the PAQA-South's spring retreat at Mary Beth Bellah's house in Charlottesville, VA. Jill fell in love with it a couple of months ago when she saw it. It's not very large and I'd been trying to figure out how to show it off to its best advantage. After seeing Lyric Kinard mount small pieces onto stretched gallery canvases, I decided to do that. I painted the canvas a combination of the colors in the piece and it came out really nice.

The photo doesn't do it justice. It looks much better in person and she was absolutely thrilled.
Here is some detail:

I hope she has somewhere to hang it...
Maybe NEXT week there'll be a new floor to show off!

WISS - WIP

2009-01-11T15:11:00.006-05:00

Where I Stand Sunday - over my old, beat up kitchen floor. We put this linoleum floor in 14+ years ago when we got married. It has not weathered well, at all. It is impossible to clean and is beginning to peel up where it was seamed. We have made arrangements for a new one to be put in, so keeping our fingers crossed that it will happen this coming week. Maybe a new floor under my feet next Sunday!

I've been working in my studio all day on the butterflies and got a lot done. I really happy with how the crysalis came out. The pupa is okay, but I'll work on that some more. The green is a little too bright.

I got the other two milkweed plants drawn on the background. I think I will paint one on and try to find some silk organza in the right color for the other one. Give it all some depth. If I can find the organza.

I mentioned in the last blog about making postcards for the American Cancer Society for Virginia Spiegel. Hopefully these two cards will be part of her Collage Mania, but I have to mount them on heavy card stock before I can send them to her. We have permission to post them on our blogs. Collage Mania will begin in March, I believe, so be sure to check here to purchase or view some fantastic art (not just mine).
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageManiaCall08.html

This one is called Raven's Jewels. It's kind of hard to photograph well because it's so dark. I guess I think of crows and ravens stealing shiney objects, so here is a lucky Raven catching jewels as they fall from the moon. I don't know why they're falling from the moon, but they are.

This was made from a free stock photo. I altered it in Photoshop to make it into a stamp, then free motion embroidered the raven's feathers. I added the red eye bead and made it a combination of two of Poe's poems. It is titled "The Telltale Heart - Nevermore." I like it.

My Word for 2009

2009-01-08T14:15:00.004-05:00

I decided to revoke my New Year's resolutions and, instead, follow the path of Christine Kane and choose a word as my guide for 2009. Christine Kane is a life coach and a singer in Asheville, NC. She's very enlightening and hands-on, and a fun songwriter. http://christinekane.com/blog/

Christine provides a list of good words to choose from as your word for 2009, but I did some soul-searching and found my own. My word for 2009 is Journey. Life is supposed to be about the journey and what you do and learn along the way. So instead of scheduling and planning (most of the time) what I'm going to be doing next week, I'm going to pay more attention to what I'm doing now and with whom. Be Here Now. Be the Journey.

I also intend to incorporate the word and the essence into my artwork. I am ready to let the journey take me places I would otherwise be apprehensive to go. 2009 is the year I am letting the journey lead me to other techniques and styles and designs. I want to be in the moment with my art - not focus on the finished product. I want the journey to help me find my art voice. Or rather, a new art voice. 2009 will be more about the art and less about the shows or challenges. If something artful comes out of the journey and is right for a show, I will consider it. I will not rush to try to make something to fit a show.

Except for the Raven challenge, which I signed up for before I chose my word. And it's for a great cause - another for Virginia Spiegel and the American Cancer Society. The theme is Raven. So here is a stamp - I'm posting because I'm not using it for the challenge fiber card. I just thought it was cool.

WISS and WIP

2009-01-04T15:58:00.005-05:00

In my last post I wrote that I wanted to begin the Where I Stand Sunday group. Well, this is where I'm standing. I've had this nasty head stuff since Wednesday (New Year's Eve!) and haven't been out of the house since Wed. morning. Pretty much staying as close to the tissues as possible. Bummer.

I don't want to set goals and don't consider this so much a resolution, but another thing I decided I want to do is show more work on my blog. A lot of people on the QA digest stated that they enjoy seeing WIP (work in progress), as well as finished work, rather than reading about how sick we are or seeing our (glorious) kids and grandkids. So - I will try to do more of that.

In that vein, here are some photos of my latest WIP. First is the original sketch (I don't draw well, but I can usually get the idea down.)

It's not very straight, but you get the idea. This is a milkweed plant. The sketch was small so I scanned it into PhotoShop and printed it out much larger. It is now 17" x 22". And you can see that I added additional plants to the larger version. I didn't want just a single, lonely milkweed plant by itself.

You can also see the sketching (doodles) of some Monarch caterpillars and the various Monarch stages. The butterflies were threadpainted - some on 100% cotton duck and some on Vilene. They are not all shown in this photo. The milkweed pods are in progress and I don't have a photo of them. They're a secret. ! (In case they don't work out - at which time I'll post a photo so you don't try the same thing).

So - what do you think?

Almost a New Year!

2008-12-29T13:44:00.006-05:00

Wow. Time really does fly! Keri reminded me last night that I hadn't blogged in a long time, so I'm trying to catch up. Christmas has come and gone and it's nearly a new year. I guess one of my resolutions should be to blog more frequently. I'll certainly try.

Someone on the Quilt Art Digest posted on their blog about name tags for Christmas packages. I thought mine were pretty cool. Here's what they looked like:

I took photos of everyone and made tags. The idea was so that Sarah could pass out the gifts without having to be able to read. Great concept, but she was too involved in her own gifts so Ian played Santa.

And here is our little Christmas Princess in her red and white velvet dress.

She was obviously too engrossed in getting her present opened to even look up for me to take her picture. But that's what gifts are for.

In the last blog I posted some photos of the tissue box covers I made. I ended up making 11! They were so easy and so much fun. Here's the one I kept for myself. Pretty ingenious, eh?

The fabric is a hand dye from Lyric Kinard. It just screamed fish bowl. I drew some goldfish and stitched on along with some cool "coral". Simple, but fun. Now I have to redecorate my bathroom around this! The box covers only take about an hour and a half, a little more if you thread paint and/or embellish, as I did with most of them.

And if I don't have enough photos of my little princess, here's one Christmas night. She and Mommy were dancing to Bella Dancerella. Sarah is wearing an old nightgown of mine tied at the waist with a Christmas ribbon.
Mommy doesn't like me to post photos of her, so I cropped her out. I couldn't believe how much energy Sarah still had at 8 p.m.!
So - our Christmas was wonderful. Fast and furious as always. I hope everyone out there had a wonderful holiday and now we are looking forward to a New Year. Wow. Seems like last year was the new millenium.

Resolutions? Yes, I'm going to make some. Some common and usually broken. Some, I hope, will stick and make me a better person/mother/wife/artist. Guess we'll see. So -
1: I resolve to go to Curves 3 times a week to get my exercise and keep my husband from constantly asking me if I'm going to go or are we just paying them for empty space. Oh - and lose that 10 lbs I've gained since last February. Hopefully Curves will help with that.
2: I want to begin the Where I Stand Sunday on my blog. I love the concept and I am always curious to see where they are.
3: I am taking a beading class at Quilt University beginning Jan. 23rd. I really want to try to embellish a bit more. I think that will also help me move in a different direction with my art. A little less realism. Maybe. Or just realism with a few beads. We'll see where that takes me.
4: I want to reorganize my studio. There have been some wonderful suggestions on Quilat Art Digest on how people have done theirs and I plan to look back at some of those for inspiration and help.
I think that's enough. If I keep any of them, I'll be way ahead of the game.
How about you? Have you made resolutions? Or have you given up on them? I'd love to hear from you!

Advent Calendars and Tissue Box Covers, plus

2008-11-25T19:38:00.001-05:00

Well! I can't believe time is flying by so quickly. A few weeks ago it was Labor Day, last week was Halloween and now it's Thanksgiving. Holy Cow! Where is the time really going? Is there a hole somewhere that swallows up chunks of time like the sock monster that steals single socks - never to be retrieved? It certainly feels like it.

Last week we had our first snow of the year. Before Thanksgiving! That's a big deal in the Central Piedmont area of North Carolina. Okay, so it was only a dusting, but schools were delayed 2 hours and it was cold and windy enough that the dusting remained in the shadows all day. It was very pretty and not a driving hazard, so we loved it. Okay, you weathered Yankees, laugh at us! I used to be a Yankee, but I've been in the south so long it's kind of crept into my bones. That's a good thing.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and working for the NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Awareness Network (the state's resource exchange), we are invited to attend a lot of events across the state. I had the opportunity to attend a "Calling Out" ceremony in Hickory, NC. The name of each child in foster care waiting for a permanent adoptive home in Catawba County was written on a balloon and as each name was read, the person holding his/her balloon released it. Not to fear for those concerned that balloons end up in the ocean or water to choke sea/wildlife. It was so cold that nearly all of the balloons withered immediately and fell to the ground. It was a nice gesture and I was glad to attend and show our support.

I mentioned that a couple of weeks ago Steve and I drove to Seagrove, NC - the land of potters. Cady Clayworks is one of my favorite potteries there and we managed to purchase several Christmas gifts. Steve also purchased mine - which won't find it's way under the tree, but is great exactly where it is. Cady carries more than pottery. They have baskets, candles, some wall art, and this...

Beautiful yard art. I love how you can see the shadow on the fence behind them. We had to move the praying mantis that he bought me for Valentine's Day and I think it's hysterical how he looks like he's sneaking up on the flowering tarragon.

A few weeks ago I asked the Quilt Art Digest for some ideas on making an Advent Calendar for Sarah. I received several interesting suggestions, but many included using traditional patterns that I wasn't familiar with and not really ready to tackle for this kind of project. Susan Brubaker Knapp sent me a link to her website (http://bluemoonriver.com/) (sorry - I don't know how to make links on the blog yet)where she has a fabulous pattern for a gingerbread Advent Calendar. It was very cute, but I didn't really want a pattern. I did, however, borrow her method of attaching the days/numbers and will pay her for the pattern for that inspiration, as I don't know that I would have come up with that method. But I am happy with how it came out.

I had also mentioned on the QA digest that I wanted to make tissue box covers for Christmas gifts. This started a good thread of people discussing what they make, why they like or don't like making gifts, and some who seemed to consider it again. I had made a house a' la Jane Davila from the Quilting Arts Gifts magazine, but wasn't sure how to connect something with an attached top (the house roof is glued on). Thanks to Karen Fridy (www.designerstitches.blogspot.com) for her simple explanation of making a "cross" and stitching the sides to the top first. Karen, it was so easy I can make them in my sleep now, and I am a total visual learner. Here are the two prototypes with only a little threadwork for embellishment on the redish one;

So now Thanksgiving creeps up stealthily and before we know it - it will seem like next week will be Christmas or Hannukah. Wow. But I am close enought to be ready. Lighter budget this year, some handmade gifts and lots of cheer. I hope all of the Americans have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that all of the Candians had a great one, as well.
So - see ya later!

Something new & fun

2008-11-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

I amazed myself last week. I actually made a fabric handbag. ME! I just don't follow patterns well, but Karen made it so easy that it only took about 2 1/2 hours. And I love the fabric colors.

It's very fall-ish and Thanksgiving-ish. I definitely want to make more, but I need heavier fabric or to quilt it really well. It's not very substantial. Plus, it needs a board or something in the bottom to give it something to stand on.

My Uncle Dick has not been doing well and his birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. Mom told me that all he wanted was one of my cards. I have trouble coming up with designs for fabric cards for men for some reason, but I remembered the leaf piece I did for the Alzheimer's Art Quilts Iniative (the Stay-at-Home challenge) and thought something like that would be just the ticket. I went outside and gathered more leaves to scan and reduced their size. Cutting the little buggers out wasn't easy, but I think it turned out pretty good. Actually, I liked the first one so much I made a second one. I had a lot of leaves, anyway. I threadpainted the leaves with copper metallic thread and I really like the effect. I had some fabric that I had done just a litle rusting on, so I used that as the background.

I'm hoping Keri & Sarah will come down this weekend. We are going to Seagrove (NC) for some Christmas gifts. Seagrove is one of several towns in a two-county area that is known for generations of potters. Jugtown owned and run by the Owen family are probably the most famous and one of the spots we will definitely hit. The potters are spread over quite a large area, so you really need a map and be aware of who you want to go see. There are some sections where you can just walk around to a group of shops sort of huddled together, but mostly you have to drive from one to another.

This is the entrance to the Jugtown store. We always find some really neat things there.
So - maybe that will get most of my Christmas shopping done.
Later!

Lots of new work

2008-11-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been pretty busy again. Making Christmas cards, which I can't show you here. I made another piece for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Iniative, which I forgot to size for this.
But the big news is that 2 people sent me photos of my Forest Fire quilt in Houston! I was so thrilled to see them. Sherry Kleinman had a beautiful piece in our spring PAQA-South show and I sent her (along with the other artists) photos of her piece hanging in the show. Also the catalog. And then she kindly reciprocated with three wonderful photos. Here is the best one:

And then my friend, Jeanelle McCall in Texas, sent me a fabulous photo with this note:
"A lot of the comments I heard about yours was WOW I can really feel the heat. Yours was FABULOUS. You were there in spirit!!!
: >
Jeanelle"
Thanks for that, Jeanelle. And if you haven't seen enough of this quilt, here is Jeanelle's photo.

I've also finished my commissioned piece and am pretty thrilled with this. Steve isn't. But that's not unusual - some of my favorite pieces are not his favorites, and some of the ones he goes wild over I am sometimes almost apathetic about. So - tomorrow I'll find if the person likes it. Yikes. Here is a photo, although it really doesn't show up well - I tried lots of angles and distances and lights. It just doesn't want to photograph well. But here it is anyway.

Another thing I am excited about is having my friend, Lynne, who owns the quilt shop, has finally broken out of her block/box and stepped up to the artquilt plate. She decided on her own after hearing about the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, to make some herself. She's really proud of herself and thrilled at joining her first Yahoo Group challenge, and I am thrilled for her. Here are her fabulous little (9" x 12") art quilts.

This one is called "Pieces" - for obvious reasons, but how cool of her to transfer her love of traditional blocks into something so cool for the AAQI.

This one was done with her new die-cut machine, but she was clever (and artistic!) enough to also make the shadows. The colors and layout are very good, too.

And this is my favorite. She calls it "Out of the Box" - which is perfect. Her traditional quilt is literally spilling out of the box it is in. The quilt falls out the front about 1" and is perfect. Great job, Lynne! I am really proud of you for jumping out of your box!

New Work!!

2008-10-27T13:12:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? It hasn't even been a week and here I am posting again. I'm proud of myself!

I had such a productive weekend and I'm blown away about it. I have so many projects going on that I often walk into my studio, pause, look around, turn around and walk out because I can't get my head straight about what to work on. That didn't happen Saturday or Sunday and I managed to get so much done.

The rusted fabric from Lois Jarvis for the Stay At Home Challenge arrived Friday and it was beautiful. Very simple, but I loved it. Last week when we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway, I picked up some colorful leaves that were lying on the ground. I stuck them in my sketch book and forgot about them until this past Saturday. I got them out and laid a few on the rusted fabric. They looked great, so I scanned them into the computer and printed them out on cotton fabric. The copper metallic thread was perfect for FM stitching the leaves and then FM quilting around the rust areas. I think it came out pretty cool.

This will be auctioned off probably in November at Ami Simm's Alzheimer's project - to bid go here http://www.alzquilts.org/

I also realized that IQF is now open and several people have posted their Journal Art Quilts that got juried into the 2008 Elements exhibit. I wanted to compare the two forest fires - the first one that was accepted into the Rocky Mount Arts Center represents Eastern NC with it's scrub terrain and pines.

Below is the one juried into the 2008 Journal Quilts exhibit and represents the NC mountains. This is what I had in mind when I began my forest fire obsession.

I am also working on a sun for our Deputy Director. I wish I had thought to take photos as I went along, but I didn't. I worked on that and another project for a coworker and will try to remember to get photos of them. And I made another 4 or 5 Christmas cards. I am moving right along, I tell you!

The days are shorter

2008-10-21T12:31:00.002-04:00

I've not been keeping up as regularly as I've wanted, but I continue to try. The days are getting much shorter now and it's still dark when I get to work in the morning. That's probably the worst thing about fall and winter for me. I leave my house at 6:20 a.m. and get to the office at 7:00 a.m. and it's still dark. And it's not like there were enough hours in the day when it was still light in the morning and at night! I hate it. But my favorite thing is watching the leaves turn color.

Steve had a terrific idea last weekend and we took a day trip up to the NC mountains. We went north to Mount Airy and then jagged left to Low Gap. We drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway and got off around Wilkesboro. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining on the leaves which, while not quite at their peak, were still beautiful to see.

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We thought this was a really cool sight - seeing the moon just above the tree tops on a bright sunny day with a buzzard floating through the air.

I forgot to post the photo of Sarah riding the pig on Main Street in Lexington. They came down a couple of weekends ago and I took them and Nana out for lunch at Noah's Kitchen. The food was great - fabulous sandwiches - and they have live music on Friday nights. Of course, as with most of the restaurants in Lexington, no alcohol. Makes for a good family atmosphere. Anyway - after lunch we walked up and down Main Street so Sarah could see the pigs. Lexington IS the Barbecue Capital of the World, so of course we have pigs! And this weekend is the Lexington BBQ Festival. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain. I really hope not - it's a huge deal for the town.

Mommy won't be happy that she's in the photo, but she had to hold Sarah's hand to keep her from sliding off. Back at the house Sarah decided to work in the garden. From this photo she's more plumber than gardener. She's the Plumber Gardener!

The excitement around the neighborhood last week was the cat up in the tree. The cat visits our backyard regularly because we have bird baths & bird feeders all over the place. She thinks it's a smorgasbord of songbirds. Well - on Monday the 13th of Oct., she found herself stuck in a tree in our neighbor's yard right behind us. I didn't know who she belonged to and assumed whoever it was would come looking for her. By Wednesday when she was still up there - and higher than before - I asked my across-the-street neighbor, Dot, who the cat belonged to. She took me to Marc's house behind her and he came over, but couldn't get her. It was Saturday before he could get someone with a ladder to help him out. That someone with the ladder turned out to be Terry, my dil's father. What a small world. Well, Lexington IS really really small, but still...
So here is Marc rescuing his cat - she doesn't look happy, but she was.

I've been working on a commission piece for the Deputy Director of our Center. She wants a big sun with oranges & yellows, but it will hange next to the opening to her living room and the furniture is burgundy. So I've been working with that. I'll post a photo in a few days. I promise. I also managed to get 15 Christmas cards made and haven't taken any photos of them yet, either.

I just signed up for the Staying At Home challenge - with the International Quilt Festival opening in Houston next week, those of us on the Quilt Art Digest who can't go decided to make a quilt to donate to Ami Simms' Alzheimer iniative. Lois J offered to give whoever wanted to make one a piece of her rusted fabric, so I'll wait til I get that and then make another Alzheimer quilt. I'll post a photo of that, too. I promise.

Exhibits and Returning Work

2008-10-13T13:44:00.005-04:00

It's been too long since I last posted. I've been meaning to, I just didn't have the photos I wanted with me when I had time to write. So much has happened that now I don't know where to begin.

The opening for the PAQA-South Member's Show - "ARTQUILTSreflections" was a big success. This is a wonderful exhibit showcasing members from PAQA-South (Professional Art Quilter's Alliance-South) and there are some outstanding talents in the organization. Janine LeBlanc, who does the graphic work for the shows, managed to take some fantastic photographs and create a website for viewing the exhibit online. Janine claims she's never done a website, but she's certainly done an outstanding job with this one. You really get the sense of being there. Please check it out, and if you can get to Cary, NC before Oct. 29th, be sure to go by the Page Walker Art and History Center behind the Town of Cary offices. Use this to see the exhibit.
http://web.mac.com/janine_leblanc
For some reason, it doesn't seem to want to make a link, so you might have to copy and paste it. It will be well worth it.

Okay - the long-awaited Cutie Patootie photos from 2 weeks ago when we went to Raleigh for the PAQA-S opening reception. On Saturday Keri and took Sarah to the park that edges Granny's property. It's a great park with fun things for kids to play on.

Lynn Krawczyk has done a terrific job with their Breaking Traditions exhibit this year. She is donating all of the entry fees to Virginia Spiegel for the American Cancer Society. The theme this year was "With One Voice" (in case you missed the earlier post) and each piece had to be 12" square. She hung them side by side like blocks to make a huge quilt. Here is the link to that. You have to click on each piece to read the artist's statement. There is also a link to purchase a printable catalog. Most of the proceeds will go to Virginia for ACS.
http://www.fibraartysta.com/breakingtraditionsmain.htm
Sorry - another cold link.

I received word via email today that my "NC Forests: Under Fire" is being returned from the Rocky Mount Arts Center, and my Journal Arts Quilt "Welcome to NC's Beautiful Beaches) is at the post office. It has to be signed for and the form was left in my mailbox on Friday. Today is a federal holiday, so I guess I'll get it tomorrow. "Beaches" has been gone for a year, so I'm really anxious to see it again.

Keri and Sarah came down over the weekend, but I will post later in the week about that when I get those photos sized. I'll try to get them by Thursday. In the meantime, I'm trying to get Christmas cards done and I'm working on a commission. More about that later, too.

One of the girls who works with me purchased a piece from me last week and is thrilled with it. She bought it as a wedding gift to a very good friend. Now she wants to purchase a piece for herself and is showing everyone she knows who likes art my website. Maybe she'll bring in some new collectors. That would be grand.

The weather has been glorious for the past several days and will continue to be so until the weekend (of course). It has been in the mid-70's and sunny, but by Thursday & Friday it will be in the low-mod-80's. Then Monday back into the 60's. I love Fall, even if it does screw me up.

New projects

2008-09-21T16:34:00.007-04:00

Well, after doing all the regular house stuff yesterday, I managed to start something fun that I didn't have to make. It's a house that Jane Davila showed how to make in Quilting Arts magazine. I wanted to try one and it was so cool. I was using copper metallic thread and ran out yesterday. I was pretty bummed about not beign able to finish it, but then thought - "This is practice. I can use other thread." So today I finished it and I plan to make more.
The roof came out a little wonky because I didn't make it exactly the size Jane gave instructions for. But now I know what to do. Also - she didn't suggest zigzagging off the edges - but I did that and I like it better.

I've finished all but one of the birthday cards I need for the remainder of 2008, but can't post most of them here because who knows who might be lurking? But I can post this one that I made for Steve for our anniversary because he's already seen it. It doesn't show up well in this picture, but it has some foil on it. Those blobs on the sides. This is the Chinese character for Love - or as close as I could replicate it.

Our anniversary is Wednesday - the 24th. We'll be married 14 years. Seems so much shorter. We're going out to eat at La Carretta - Mexican restaurant.

Friday we're going to the opening reception of the PAQA-South Member's Show at the Page Walker Arts & History Museum in Cary. We're staying at Granny & Abbie's til Sunday morning so we can visit and not just run in and out. Hopefully we'll get to see Sarah, too. Keri took her to a neighborhood carnival yesterday and she got to ride a pony. I didn't get to join them, but Keri sent me some photos. Looks like she was having a blast!

Hopefully there will be more photos of our Cutie Patootie next week. Can't wait!

The Cube Gallery

2008-09-18T12:52:00.010-04:00

I decided, since I don't hang my quilts at my house (no available wall space) that I would bring them to work and hang them in the cube farm, thus "The Cube Gallery". Also, I am preparing to send 3 of them off to shows, so this has given me an opportunity to see them all hanging around the office.

Here we have the outside of my cubicle, just to the left of the entrance. My "Self Portrait", the "Threadpainted Butterfly", and the "Lichen Tree". Our Deputy Director wants my "Self Portrait" because she says it feels like her. I suggested she give me some adjectives, likes, attitudes, other things and let me make one of/for her. She wants a larger one, anyway. She still likes mine so I will likely make one similar, but larger.

Here is the long wall outside my cube. From left to right we have "The Stories of Women Are Told In Their Hands" (which now 3 people have wanted to buy, but it hasn't even been entered in a show yet!), "Angel of Grief: A New Dawn for the People of New Orleans", my fake mola "Two Ducks, Two Lizards, and the Sun" (or something like that), "Steve's Trout", "Psychedelic Steve", and "Welcome Sarah". Interspersed are some postcards.

This shows the second section of cubes and it holds "Eye of the Gull", "Parrot Head", and "Paradise", which is the other piece the Deputy Director wants. yay! I will take it home and put a sleeve on it so she can hang it when she takes it home.

This is a not-well-known Matisse called "Coffee" that I recreated in fabric in Marilyn Belford's "Artist's Revisited" class several years ago. This is hanging outside Sinthia's cube. Sinthia is one of the people who wants my "Stories of Women" piece, so I suggested to her that she get someone to take photos of the hands/arms of who she wants in it and we will make one of her family. She loves that idea. She also wants me to make a piece for a friend's wedding present. Wow. 2 commissions and 2 sales! And another person was asking about the cards. I think the cards are great and a fabulous value - a little piece of art for next to no investment.

I thought this piece that I made in Lyric's demonstration at the retreat in Charlottesville would brighten up the fax area and give people something to look at while they are waiting to send or receive a fax.

And last, but not least, my fun convergence piece really brightens up my cube. I really like this here.
So, tonight I am taking them all home to put sleeves on those without (we all know how tedious it is to sew the sleeves and put labels on, so we don't do it until we have to). Then they'll be ready for whomever decides they can't live without them.
Terri, the Director, also said she wants two pieces in the hallway by her door - a rotating gallery. We can put slats in the back with that 3M tape that doesn't destroy the walls/paint and if it's on the slat, it won't hurt the quilt, either. What a great opportunity for exposure. I'm feeling very appreciated right now.

This is one of the birthday cards I made last week. I can't say who it's for because she might read this. But the Director also really liked it and said she might have to have it. I can always make one more! 8>)
I'm hoping to have time to make a lot of Christmas cards and that they will sell here. Also, some not-Christmas cards that people might want to give as gifts - those little pieces of art! Gosh - I'd better get to work. I'm taking tomorrow off to get the PAQA-S quilts prepared and shipped and then the JAQ ready to send to Houston. After all they've been through with Hurrican Ike, and to have to worry about getting the International Quilt Festival up and going. Which reminds me, I still haven't got my NC Beaches piece back from last year's JAQ exhibit. I'm sure I will get it soon.
So - here's to another weekend of productivity! and to hoping hubby goes fishing Saturday!

PAQA-South & just fun

2008-09-09T10:46:00.007-04:00

Had a good and productive period last weekend. I spent 5 1/2 hours cleaning out my studio on Saturday. Whew. I nearly filled the giant trash can that the city provides. But I can now walk in there and look around and breathe - and actually envision or think about beginning something. I managed to make LaTonda's baby card and got 2 Xmas & 2 birthday cards fused.
On Sunday I cleaned out the old raggedy tomato & pepper plants. I also harvested my tarragon and dried that in the food dehydrator. This coming weekend I'll tackle what's left of the basil.

I was pleased to learn last week that two of my pieces, "Welcome Sarah" (only part of which is shown here) and "Psychedelic Steve" , were accepted into this year's PAQA-South's members show. I did the receiving of entries & cataloging and there will be some really spectacular work in this exhibit. The opening reception is Friday night, September 26 and it will run until Wednesday, October 29th. Steve and I are going up for the opening reception and Keri and Abbie will also most likely attend. It will be great to see some of the PAQA-South members again. As well as Abbie, Keri, Sarah & Granny & the new puppy. Now to get them packed up and ready to ship, along with the NC Forests Under Fire II for the IQF in Houston. I haven't received my JAQ piece from last year, although others have posted that they have. I guess it'll be here soon.

The woman who quilted my beautiful bed quilt brought in this twelve-step plan that her husband began and she edited. He calls our classes "Quilters Anonymous", which isn't all that original, but they actually came up with the steps. It's pretty cute and funny.

Quilters Anonymous - For Help With Fabriholism
12 Steps -
Jennifer Fouke

1. We: admitted we were powerless over fabric - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could get us to finish our UFO's.
3. made a decision to turn our will, our lives, and our entire paycheck over to the local quilt shop.
4. made a searching and fearless fabric inventory and shopped for more.
5. admitted to ourselves, and to anyone who would listen, the exact nature of our quilting.
6. were entirely ready to buy a bigger house just to have our own quilting room.
7. humbly ask that no one talks about our cut-off star points.
8. made a list of all persons we could give our quilts to, and became willing to give them away...if we ever get around to finishing them.
9. made direct threats, whenever possible, to any husband who touches our quilting shears.
10. continued to take fabric inventory and when we needed more, promptly admitted it.
11. sought through prayer and meditation to improve our understanding of working on 20 projects at once.
12. having had a spiritual quilting awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other fabriholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

I think it's perfect!

Tomorrow we are having a baby shower for a coworker who is having a girl. I will post photos after I give her the baby quilt. I also got her a crib blanket and beautiful little outfit with cap, top & pants. The top is long-sleeved, but she's not due til October and it could be a lot cooler then. Will post photos later.

Quilts, Family, & fun!

2008-09-01T13:08:00.010-04:00

What a busy weekend, and what fun! First - I am totally thrilled that the queen-sized bed quilt top I put together last summer ('07) is finally on our bed! Jennifer - who is taking my Artquilt 101 classes - has a longarm and is an excellent stitchmaven and agreed to quilt it for me. It's absolutely gorgeous and Steve is thrilled. Of course, something had to be wrong and that was that he'd preferred it to be about 6" wider, but he's still very happy with it. So - my first bed-sized quilt top - Turning Twenty! Don't you know I'd choose the very easiest pattern? But the fabrics are sumptuous and the quilting is exquisite. Thanks Jen!

Now "we've" decided to make each of the kids one for Christmas next year ('09). Just have to find out the colors they want. Peter and Jill saw it and Peter said, "I want one!" So that's good.

I had fun one afternoon last week playing with Ricky Timms' Convergence technique. He showed how to do the simple version on one of the recent shows on The Quilt Show and I had a couple of hours to play. He showed using 2 fabrics, but his were hand-dyed with lots of variation in color. I used 3 hand-dyes (dyed by Lyric Kinard) and blended them a little differently than he suggested, but it was fun. It's so unlike anything I do that no one knew what to think of it. Couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. Well, it's not supposed to be anything - it's just supposed to "be".

I finally got to see my Cutie Patootie Saturday and Sunday. We filled her little pool and put out the Dora sprinkler and she had a blast. She loves to sing and makes up songs about anything. So here she is singing at the Metropolitan Pool Opera:

What a ham. She's only 3, so maybe she will choose a profession in the entertainment field and make her mom rich!

We had our Labor Day cookout yesterday, Sunday, so everyone could go home after lunch and still have a good bit of the weekend left (including us). Granny and Abbie came from Raleigh Sunday morning and brought Katie, the Cockapoo puppy. She's about 14 weeks old and weighs about as much as a minute. Just a little tiny bit of fluff. Sarah totally fell in love with her, as did Keri and I.

We had a black Cockapoo for 13 years and she was such a sweetheart. I'm envious, but we don't have a fenced-in yard and live on a very busy street, with an even busier one one house up the street. Our Sugar got run over chasing a car on Christmas Eve in 1993. I can't do that again. One day maybe Steve and I will have our farm and a fenced in yard for a dog.
But she certainly is a heart-stealer.

And now the end of the holiday weekend draws to an end. Steve said we needed to treat ourselves tonight, so I went out and bought a lobster. Holy Cow! This baby weighs just a hair under 4 lbs! She's a monster, but she's going to be delicious!

So - when's dinner? 8>)

Journal Art Quilt Project

2008-08-25T12:11:00.003-04:00

I was so excited last week to learn that my quilt "North Carolina Forests - Under Fire II" was juried into the Journal Art Quilts Project "Elements: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire" that will open at the International Quilt Festival in House at the end of October. It will also be in the IQG in Chicago in the Spring and I guess the IQF at Long Beach in the summer. Wonder if they will go to Lowell, too, or if they are too close together. The 2007 exhibit was split - half went to Long Beach and half to Lowell. A friend in Lowell said she went to see the exhibit and was drawn to a piece with beaches when she looked up and saw my name. That was pretty cool.

I have to say that the whining and complaining on the QA Digest has been very disgruntling. People whose quilts were not accepted throwing little mini-tantrums because they didn't know "why" their quilt wasn't chosen. This was the first year that Karey Bresenhan, found of the JQ Project, decided to have it juried so she wouldn't be overrun with a thousand little quilts. People were not happy about that, but entered anyway. Obviously - everyone couldn't be chosen. I don't know why mine was, but I am thrilled. Some of the names of well-known people (not the whiners) whose quilts weren't chosen really surprised me and made even prouder that mine was accepted. I wish I could post a photo of the quilt, but not until the show opens.

So Saturday I spend half the day driving around Winston-Salem looking for paper foil. I went to Michaels, AC Moore, JoAnn's Fabric, and some other little place. Not one of them sold foil. I was so psyched about doing a picture of the Northern Lights using some cool foil. Nada. I went home and tried to paint them - but just didn't do it justice. I should have ordered it last week when I saw it online. I have ordered it now, so one of these days I will get back to it and try to capture that glowing, undulating mass of brilliant greens and irridescent purples.

I've also decided that I'm going to get started on my Christmas cards to get them out of the way. (Also because I'm teaching a class making them in October.) Then I will make my Christmas gifts and then I will have Christmas time to play. I want to really focus on the butterfly project. I have pretty much figured out what I want to do, but can't make myself go to it. I really want to clean up and reorganize my studio before I begin so I can think clearly. I need a place to store my quilts (the ones I can't hang around the house because there's nowhere to hang them). I think I will use a skirt hanger that I believe someone on the QA digest mentioned. It hangs straight down but has several bars with clips for hanging them flat. I also need to find a better place for my boombox and cd's. I'm thinking I'll clear off the top of the dresser and put them up there, out of the way. Right now they are on one of the twin beds beside the pile of quilts. Things have a way of encroaching on the quilts - especially as my music library increases. Well - that will be a couple of months away. Man, I just know that as soon as Labor Day comes and goes, Christmas will feel like it's a month away and will creep up on us too quickly.

No photos this time. I'm sure I'll have some next week as the whole family is coming for Labor Day, which means I get to see my Cutie Patootie again!

2008-08-15T09:32:00.012-04:00

I started teaching a new class on threadpainting last night at Lynne's shop. I was actually better prepared for this one, having fused shapes onto background fabrics for them to practice beginning stitches on. They did well - they are all very good quilters, so that's no surprise. One of the students is particularly good and very fast. She will need to learn to slow down a bit, but I think next week when we move into making "real" stitches, she'll have to. I think it's a fun class and I think they'll be surprised at how well they will do and how much they will like it.

I finally got to Rocky Mount to see my quilt hanging in the Rocky Mount Arts Center (Imperial Centre). Steve drove and I was so happy that Keri and Abbie wanted to go with us. The building is an old tobacco warehouse that has been updated, but lots of things have been kept, like the old pipes and steam boiler, that give it so much charm. It's a very cool building

This is the sign you see when entering the gallery.

The gallery at the Arts Center is spacious and it was very well done. I was thrilled to see my quilt as one of the first pieces, hanging beside a painting the same size. They just looked so right - hanging there together. Judy Glover, from PAQA-South, also has a piece hanging in the show. Christine Zoller, whose work is fantastic, had a small, private wing to herself. Beautiful work.

This is so cool - mostly because I rarely get to see my work actually hanging in the show. It's a thrill to be juried into one, but then you just roll it up and ship it out and it's gone for a month or even a year, then it comes back. You have no interaction with it during that period. You don't know if it likes where it is hanging, whether the pieces on either side of it are playing nice with it, whether it is tucked away in some hidey hole where no one really notices it, or whether it is in a terribly lit place that makes it feel a bit woozy. You just don't know because you can't see it. It's always such a boon when someone from the Quiltart Digest attends a show and takes a photo for you, like my friend Karen did at the Schweinfurth last year. Speaking of the Schweinfurth, it's just about that time again...

So anyway, I think NC Forests Under Fire likes being next to this lovely painting. Maybe it thinks it's a firetruck. Color is right...

So here is a closeup. This was the second Forest Fire quilt I did. The first was totally practice and terrible, but I learned so much from that. Then I made this one and I learned even more. This was not right, as I saw it in my head. It was okay, but it wasn't just right. I have made the third and I think this one is just right. Unfortunately, I can't post it now because I'm waiting to hear if it is juried into the Journal Art Quilts project for the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I'll get that much anticipated email next week - Friday, I believe. Anxious.

There is a company called Artomat that bought up a bunch of old cigarette machines. They have placed them in very cool places, such as the Rocky Mount Arts Center, and they sell little boxes of art. Actually, you have to buy a token ($5.00) to purchase your little piece of art. Most of it is in a small box the size of a cigarette pack. Some of them have a little description above their slot that gives you a hint of what might be inside. Some of them are just a five dollar crap shoot. I bought a couple of tokens and gave Keri one. She got a cool block of wood (cigarette pack size) that had been painted and had a very simple, but cool, design drawn on it. I got this. I don't know who made it, but it was exactly right. Okay, I could have purchased a plate with the same design from the dollar store, but it wouldn't have come from an old cigarette machine with little boxes of hand-made art. And it wouldn't have been so serendipitously perfect.

We saw this lovely bit of roadside patchwork on the way back to Raleigh from Rocky Mount. I thought it had wonderful potential for an art quilt.

Back at Granny's and we had a lovely afternoon on the patio sipping wine and watching the hummingbirds fight over the feeder. Keri and Abbie and I played Scrabble and by then the wine was so relaxing that my brain went numb. I certainly didn't win. I didn't even come in second. But I really didn't care.

Steve's Mom and Abbie went up to Bridgehampton for Memorial Day and brought back several old quilts. Granny (Steve's mom) is 91 years old. Her grandmother made this quilt. It has some damage and shouldn't be used, but Abbie just wanted to show it to us. I would have told her sooner had I known we would be using it for our blanket. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of queen-sized beds back in the day this was made. We were both "short-sheeted". It's a lovely old piece and should be restored.

I didn't get to see my cutiepatootie Sarah over the weekend. She was with her dad. I really miss that little munchkin.

So - this weekend I have a ton of things to do. Seems August 22nd is the magic day this month. Receive the email from JAQ, get my Abstracts Dancing quilt ready to ship off on Monday to the Threadlines exhibit at the University of Missouri, get some good photos of one of my quilts to submit to the Schweinfurth (only one is the right size), and try to finish my piece for the PAQA-South Member's Show - Reflections. Not sure it's going to work, but I still have the vision, so I'm going to keep trying. Busy busy busy!

2008-08-05T13:22:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged because I didn't want to post anything without the photos. Now I have them and can add a bit more interest. There is still not a lot happening this summer. Kind of boring, actually.

First I want to post my piece for Breaking Traditions' "With One Voice" exhibit that will be held in Novi, Michigan, in November. The $10 registration fee will be donated to the American Cancer Society for Virginia Spiegel. The exhibit will travel to several cities - I believe there are 3 in Michigan at this time - before returning home to me. It is in the car and ready to be taken to the post office today.

Here is a photo of my art quilt:

"With One Voice" was created to celebrate those people or agencies or organizations who do good for the community, the county, the country, whether it is thanking your neighbor for shoveling your driveway or an organization you'd like to thank for doing something wonderful.

NC Kids Adoption and Foster Care Network is the organization I want to thank, even though it's also my employer. We are the Resource Exchange for the NC DSS where all social workers register their foster children who are legally free for adoption. Our Family Service Reps answer questions to families about the North Carolina children and the NC process of becoming foster or adoptive families. I personally write the profiles of the children and scan their photos. This is all put into our Photo Adoption Listing Service (PALS), on http://www.adoptnckids.org/, http://www.adoptuskids.org/, and http://www.adoption.com/. When a familiy interested in adopting sees a child they feel a connection with, they call us (1-877-625-4371) and our FSR's work with them. We successfully assisted in 30 adoptions in the last year and are thrilled to have made a difference. So here's to NC Kids!

I found a photograph on Flickr that I flipped over and wanted to try to adapt to fabric. I contacted the photographer through her blog and she emailed me with permission to use the photo. So now I had to figure out how to create ocean foam on a wet sandy beach. I posted to the Quilt Digest and received numerous suggestions from using Angelina fibers to melting celophane, to using cheesecloth, Solvey water soluble stabilizer, and threadpainting. I gathered the information all together and visualized how it might work out.

I had 5 yards of Vilene, which is a heavier water soluble stabilizer than Solvey (used a lot by needle felters), and used it doubled, as suggested by Heidi Lund. Heidi's suggestions most closely correlated with what was in the back of my mind. She said to use the water soluble stuff doubled, and to use different threads and metallic thread. She said that if I didn't rinse ALL of the stabilizer out, it might be easier to shape and retain the shape. Well - she was right. Here is the first part of that process:

I hooped this in an 8" wooden hoop to prevent too much draw up. I used a gold/brown towel on the background so it would show up better, but the lacey foam is pretty delicate. I used a white shiney polyester thread first, then highlighted it with Sulky's Sliver Metallic. Here is a closeup - if it helps:

This is just a practice piece and the first step, so the final one won't be so round. I will add color and some other things for a surprise. Hint: those holes were intentional and will be filled! We'll see how it goes after this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, I hope to drive to the Rocky Mount Arts Center to view the exhibit and see my "North Carolina Forests Under Fire" quilt. The VCR in our bedroom died over the past weekend and we've trying to decide what to do. New TV- wait - he's been pacing about it all week. So - maybe I'll get to see the show this week and maybe not. And maybe I can post a photo next week of the show.

Another great weekend and fabric cards

2008-07-23T14:00:00.001-04:00

Another great weekend with the girls. We hadn't seen Sarah since we went to NY and we still had a couple of birthday presents for her. Keri and Steve put her Dora hot wheeler together and she tried very hard to help them. She's still having a bit of trouble with the pedals, but she's having fun. Here she is from the back - sorry - all you can see is her wet underpants from swimming in the little pool. She forgot her bathing suit. It definitely wasn't easy trying to ride

this in the grass. And then Sarah and Mommy had a game of chase around the back yard.

We also gave her a little fishing game. There is a magnet in the tip of the "worm" and in the nose of the little fish. That's very difficult to do when you are three. That's difficult to do when you are 57! Sarah tried and tried and finally got one! (I think she cheated).

And I couldn't resist my little Sarah Marx shot. She's too funny.

Steve downloaded the photos he took at the coast of the fire situation. No big flames, just smoldering in the peat 3 feet deep. Here you can see how they pump the water from canal to canal until they get it to where they need it.

And here is a helicopter dropping a bucket of water on an area still burning.

And I guess this is the mascot. Steve said this goat and a wild pig just wandered around loose wherever they wanted to go.

He is scheduled to go back to the fire the first week of August for another two weeks. Aside from a hurricane, he'll likely have to go. Of course, the way the hurricanes are flaring up now, who knows?

I'm really excited about tonight. An old friend who moved from Raleigh to Winston-Salem is coming for dinner. I bet I haven't seen Pat in nearly 10 years. We're hoping to cook out, but we're back into that thunderstorm mode, so we might be using the grill pan on the stove instead of the grill outdoors.

I managed to finish 5 postcards for Lynne. She is having a fund raiser for a pastor who has a shelter and needs to raise money to keep it going. I will also donate a quilt, but not sure which one yet. The postcards are my photo transfer/thread paintings. These are fun, pretty, and quick, so they are perfect for charity. These are all from the photos I took of my flowers a month or so ago. Except the butterfly - I took that at Granny & Abbie's last year.

That's only four, I know. My scanner decided to hang up on the fifth one, so that's all I can get today.

I also managed to just about finish my Journal Art Quilt project. I did a pillowcase turn-inside out deal, but it doesn't look too hot. I'm taking that out and doing something else. I really like the piece, though Steve says it needs more branches. He's probably right.

I thought the grand kids were supposed to wear out the grandparents? Keri took this 10 minutes after leaving our house Sunday. Totally out.

And so am I!

One Fantastic Week!

2008-07-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

This has been a very good week! Steve came home Tuesday afternoon and I received a big fat acceptance letter from Univ. Missouri's art quilt show, "Threadlines". Woo hoo! I really had forgotten that I'd entered! They accepted my Abstracts Dancing, which was in the PAQA-S show last year (ARTQUILTSmarkings) and the first show I had ever entered. I am thrilled!

I took the day off yesterday to spend some time with Steve, but also had to take my CRV to the Honda dealer at 7:30 am. It was making a grinding sound when I turned the wheel hard to the left. Turned out to be the rear differential - right, like I know what that is! But it was only $70, and added to my inspection, $108. We were worried it might be a lot more, so that was excellent, too.

Steve took a well-deserved nap yesterday afternoon after cleaning out the state Jeep he drives. Poor guy has been putting in 16 hours a day for two full weeks. I hope he doesn't have to go back, but he thinks he might. OTOH, he did make an extra $3800! We could use that again!

Another nice thing that happened was receiving an email from Christine Hager-Braun, the president of PAQA-South, asking me to send her images (jpgs) of 2 of my quilts and 2 others from last year's show to be published in the Town of Cary's PR magazine. I think that's very cool indeed.

I also applied for a position with Davidson County DSS in the Child Support section. The price of gas is forcing me to work closer to home. Almost $600/month is way too much - even if I love my job. That's $7200 a year!!!! That's outrageous. Even if my director allowed me to work at home 2 days a week, it would still be outrageouos. Considering I would stand to get a few thousand more a year in salary and add on the savings in gas - man! What a nice raise that would be!

Tonight is the last night of my ArtQuilt 101 class. It's been a lot of fun and they had a lot of fun, too. Next month we move on to threadpainting. I'm going to give Lynne a couple of my smaller pieces to hang in the shop to generate interest. I do like the smaller sizes - 5 or 6 - but I could make more money if I had more people.

Forest Fires, Flip Flops, and Fireworks

2008-07-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

The fire is still going on the coast of NC and Steve left last Monday (June 30th) to join his team. He's supposed to be finished next Wed. (July 16th), but they might decide to keep his team for another 2 weeks after a 2 day rest (the rest would be there, not at home). I hope not. The 4th of July was pretty depressing this year - no one home but me. I gave the second week of my Arquilt 101 class at Lynne's shop on Thursday night. There was a new person there who is an art teacher at the local community college. It was fun to work with her because she's not afraid to experiment. She is not taking the class to walk out with one "perfect" artquilt completed. She's wanting to learn techniques so she can do her own.

Here is a photo from the first week's class - that is Lynne's neighbor, Gail, not the art teacher. I brought a bag of fabric scraps and dumped it in the middle of the table. They seem to be getting it pretty well, considering most of them are totally traditional quilters.

Friday afternoon (4th) I went to Lynne's shop. It was closed, but she and some of the girls were there doing their "homework" from my class, so I worked on some fabric postcards. Made the time go by much faster.

Keri came down Saturday and we went out to lunch, then out to dinner. We've had horrendous thunder storms every evening and there we were, sitting on the deck (it's a covered deck) at La Caretta watching the rain pour down and shuddering at the thunder and lightening. Oh wait. That was me shuddering... Keri was whooping and hollering and having a blast.

Sat. night we watched P.S. I Love You. What a FABULOUS movie! It's one of the funniest/best I've seen in a long long time and we laughed so hard watching it. Lisa Kudrow (Friends) was as nutty as ever and really made the movie. It's on DVD now - and not just for the 2 day rental anymore - at Blockbuster. This is one I'm going to have to buy.

More flower photos. I bought this Lantana to attract more butterflies and Hummingbirds and planted it in the vegetable garden. A nice spot of color in all that green.

I really wanted to make a piece for the SAQA One Foot Square auction this year. I wrestled with what to do for so long and nothing seemed to feel just right. Then I had this vision of flip flops - and knew I wanted to make something fun. I made this the weekend before Steve left and had a blast. I bought a box of shells and beads and a bag of the little beach stones at Walmart. I couldn't believe they had it. Unfortunately, I glued the stones and shells on before I added the back and finished the edges. That glue really holds!

When I showed it to Steve, he just shook his head like I was nuts. I figured it was a lost cause, but brought it to work. All of the women I work with loved it and all the women at the quilt shop loved it and Keri loved it. I decided it's definitely a fun "chick piece of art" and since it would be mostly chicks bidding on the SAQA art, someone is bound to see it and think how fun it is. Right? I mean, really, if you're a chick (of any age), you probably dig flip flops. It's on the SAQA auction website now.

This picture doesn't show the finished edges, but the one on the website does. I had to pull a lot of the little stones off around the edges to finish it, then added them back (plus more!) when it was done.

I think I'd like to try another one. This was so much fun!

Vacation is over

2008-06-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

Yep, it's over and done. We had a lot of fun, but of course it flew by much too quickly. The ride up to NY took 12 hours. We didn't plan well in regards to stopping for gas and meals, so we made twice as many as we should have. We got stuck in construction for nearly an hour south of Hazelton (always!!) and hit a few one-lane areas that slowed us down. We ended up taking Keri's van because it is just simply much more comfortable.

This is the reflection of Keri's van on the back of a truck ahead of us. How cool?

I love this photo and am considering adapting it to a quilt for the PAQA-S Members or SAQA exhibitions - both entitled "Reflections". I really like this.

Sarah enjoyed playing with Nana's hands on the ride up to NY. Here she was "counting Nana's bones", which were really just the veins in her hands. Nana was having fun, too.

It was cooler in NY when we finally got there. It wasn't raining, but had been. It was so good to see Allie's house again. It's the house where they were all born and raised. It was once a carriage stop on the road between Endicott and Owego NY. Allie has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears, as well as $$$$ into keeping it up. I love this house. The side view shows the pool and the new gazebo, as well as a lot of the landscaping she did herself. Not bad for 71 years old (Allie, not the house).

On Friday Keri, Mom, Sarah and I took a drive to Crescent Lake where my parents used to own a cottage. They bought the lot before I was born and built the cottage when I was very young. I grew up there, as did Keri. It's such a shame that after 60 years it is no longer ours. I hate that

Sarah will never know it. Here is a view of the lake from the side our cottage was on.

And below is the cottage. The man that bought it has never used it. He lives in Meshoppen, PA, which is about 8 miles away. Shortly after he bought it a tree limb fell on the roof (see front right side) and he never bothered to have it removed. The man across the lake that let me stand in his yard to take photos of "our" cottage said the man won't fix it or sell it. He lets friends go there to fish, but they can't use the cottage with a hole in the roof. What a shame. I wish I had the money to buy it back. It was really nice, though, to see that a lot of the other cottages were being updated and remodeled. Like a second wind...

This lovely deer was eating in the woods as we drove up the road to leave the lake. She didn't seem at all bothered that we stopped to take her photo.

On Saturday most of the family came to Allie's for a family picnic and a birthday party for Sarah. Susan, Keith and Mary arrived first and were early because they couldn't stay the night. Ritchie & Nancy, Lindy, Bobby, Jesse and Mercedes all came, too. Sarah was so excited to see all these people she had never met. She wore the new birthday dress that Grammy bought her and the new sparkly princess shoes Keri and I found at Dollar General. She had to show us how old she is now.

And she just loved the Strawberry Shortcake quilt I made for her. She didn't let it out of her sight the rest of the visit or on the ride back home.

After everyone left Keri and I took Sarah outside (finally a beautiful day) to show her around. She loved seeing the place and we had to take some photos.

She looks beautiful and very contemplative, but she told Mommy the ants were crawling up her dress!

It only took 10 hourse to get home on Monday. We left earlier, missed the construction near Hazelton, and coordinated our lunch/pit/gas stops better. It was a relief to get home, but I wasn't ready to get back to work yet. Steve stayed home with me on Tuesday to work on the porch. More on that later....

Vacation!

2008-06-18T13:26:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, Day before Vacation. Yay. I'd be more excited if it wasn't supposed to rain the entire time we're going to be there, beginning when we hit PA tomorrow afternoon. As long as it doesn't pour down in buckets the entire time we're there. It will also be much cooler than here. It will be in the mid-to-high 70's. It's been gorgeous here this week. We had a fabulous soil-drenching rain last Sat., but need another one soon. Nice breeze. It's been great.

Keri and Sarah will get here tonight and we'll transfer Sarah's car seat to my car and pack up our stuff. I hope we get to bed early so we can wake up refreshed and ready to leave by 5:30. I will get Mom's stuff on the way home from work. I think Sarah

(insert cutie patootie photo here)

will likely go back to sleep for awhile. I bought a portable DVD player so she can watch some movies, too. It's about a 12 hour drive from Lexington, NC to Owego, NY, where my aunt lives. It's a pretty drive though, up through the Shenandoah Valley in VA.

Steve spent a good part of Saturday taking the screen off the back porch and scrubbing and scraping the paint. Monday he primed it. All but the doors and lathe. I guess it will be done by the time I get home if he isn't called to the Evans Road fire (60% contained now!) It's already looking much nicer.

Keri sent me these photos of Sarah from her birthday party (I'm these many! 3!) last Saturday. This is actually a typical scene - flying like the wind in one direction while looking in another -

Not sure where she gets that from! Except that I can walk through an empty room and hurt myself.

I worked on my new forest fire Sunday, but not going to post anymore photos. This will be for the Journal Art Quilts show in Houston and we can't show them before the exhibit. This one will be juried, so I need to really do it justice. I'm already really happy with how it's coming. Since I can't post that I thought I'd post a photo of my studio.

I don't think this will be in the new issue of Quilting Art Studios... kind of messy looking. It could use a good reorganization, but it actually works okay for me. My work table is a picnic table from Lowe's. Just the right height and lots of "spreadability".

I am looking forward to seeing family and getting away from the office for a few days. I'll be sure to take lots of photos, if they're not all of rain.

Okay - LOTS More Butterflies!

2008-06-12T14:07:00.000-04:00

Yay! The heat finally broke! It's back in the 80's and I'm luv, luv, luvin' it! I might even get some more sun printing done this weekend if it doesn't rain. We need the rain, so I won't complain. The fire in Hyde/Tyrrell/Washington county is over 40,000 acres now. Steve said everyone will have a turn (or 2) at it, but he hasn't gone yet. They could likely call on him while I'm in NY next week.

I painted another background for the butterflies. I didn't have the right size stretcher bars and didn't it stretch it tight enough, so it bloomed near the top. I can use it for something else (cut up), but not that. I want to try the Setacolor transparent paints again, not necessarily for sun printing. I want a light background and with them I think I build layers till I get what I envision. I'll have to spread it out on a table I guess. Nowhere around me to get stretcher bars. Steve is determined to do the back porch this weekend, so not sure how much "fun" I'll be able to have. Remove the old screens, strip off the old paint, sand, prime, and paint. Along with 2 new doors. Add new screen. He'd better get it done in one weekend in case he has to go to the Evans Road Fire.

So - thinking of butterflies... I played with this last Monday. It is a free photo from Creative Commons that I have been looking at for months. I didn't use a hoop or duck canvas. I used Beth Wheeler's method of fusible fleece batting and I didn't believe it was possible, but it didn't warp much at all. Steve really likes it, too, and asked me if he could hang it in his office for awhile. Sure!

And in the same Butterfly vein, I made Sarah's birthday card. For some reason I had been totally inept at making cards for several weeks. I finally got the butterfly in my head and figured this one would be hard to mess up.

Her birthday was yesterday, but as she explained to me on the phone last night, she's having "a REAL party on Saturday!" They have secured a shelter at a nearby lake and will have lots of friends and family there. When I asked Sarah how old she was now, I didn't hear anything until Jordan said "Grammy can't see your fingers, Sarah! You have to tell her." So Sarah said, "I'm these many!" Can't wait to see her next week when we go to NY.

I got out the portable DVD player I bought for Sarah to watch videos on in my car on the way up. We're taking mine because Keri's van doesn't get as good gas mileage. Sarah is used to watching her videos in the car, so I got one. Now I have to get a bag to hold it behind my headrest.

So here is Sarah's birthday card. She won't get it til next weekend in NY. But she'll have another "REAL" birthday party up there. And it looks like the weather is supposed to be much nicer. Yay!

Fires and Fishing

2008-06-09T09:38:00.001-04:00

It's even more stinkingnastyhot than it was a week ago. The difference is the humidity, or lack of it. It's been 98 for the past 4 days, but low humidity so at least, we can breathe.

Steve got home from Michigan Saturday afternoon. He left at 1:30 a.m. and arrived home about 3 p.m. Long drive. Now he will most certainly be called out to a 33,000 acre forest fire the touches 3 counties in the eastern part of the state. The fire is so hot it is creating its own weather system. Smoke is going out to the outer banks and up to Virginia Beach.

I figured it was time to get my forest fire picture going again, so here is the most recent painted background. I added in some ghostly trees for the back drop. I'm really pleased with it. I add some Dyenaflow (?) yellow along the horizon line to give it more firey glow.

So now I need to get to it. Along with a gazillion other projects. Wednesday (June 11) is Sarah's 3rd birthday. I won't likely see her until we go to NY in a week and a half, but I am making her a card. I'll post it when it's finished.

For some reason my creativity has been slumping. I have had time and opportunity to work in the studio, but I seem to go in and just sit there, unable to focus on what I want to work on. When I finally do choose something, it doesn't want to work. No use forcing it. I have been playing and practicing thread painting and quilting.

The weather hasn't been good for allergies, either. Wicked sinus headache so that I can't keep my glasses on for very long.

Steve said the fishing in Michigan wasn't all that great, although he did catch 100 trout one day. He also saw a seagull (in Michigan?!!) catch a pretty big trout and wrestle it to the edge of the water. Great photos!

Here is what was left of him after the seagull finished his feast.

Yesterday I noticed that my lavender is coming out. It's really beautiful. The bees enjoy it, too.

So - that's all there is today.

Okay - Butterflies

2008-06-03T07:57:00.000-04:00

My friend, Karen, commented that when she read my last blog, she expected to see butterflies. I had forgotten to put them on the last one, so here is a photo with the butterflies. This is a different background - one I sun painted using Seta transparent paints. Not terrible, but not what I wanted. Better than the first picture, though. I think I'm getting there. I'm looking for something that blurringly hints at background foliage. So far, all of the commercial fabric I've found is too dark or, if light enough, too plain.

I like the butterflies, but they are very thick. Each is completely threadpainted over a photograph that is fused to 10 oz. cotton duck. I am in the process of making more in a hoop with water soluble stabilizer that will be much thinner.

Below is a closer view of the butterflies. The branch going off to the top is not that dark - it is the same color as the larger horizontal branch. The leaves coming off the top vertical branch will not actually be coming directly off the branch, but will be connected to a longer, narrower stem. Haven't got that far yet. Still working on background, then placement. More leeaves. Definitely need more leaves in various colors, both from bottom and sides. Do you like the leaves coming from the bottom? Not sure what else I could put there.

And here is an even closer look at some of the butterflies. Don't look at all the loose threads off the leaves and branches. The branches have been cut off the cotton duck, so the cut threads look shaggy, but that will disappear when they are stitched down.

And this is even closer. This is my favorite butterfly - 2 of them together. Thick!

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When I was helping Keri move on Saturday, Steve's mom and sister, Abbie, helped move the plants, fish, and some small stuff in their car. Abbie brought me this birdhouse to paint for her. What was that I heard about Picasso being a painter, but you wouldn't ask him to paint your house? Just kidding! Actually, I've painted several for them and our own yard in the past and they are getting a bit old and rickety. I just got so tickled when Abbie gave me the paint set to go with it. How cute is that? They must have come with the house!

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I had a productive evening last night, though it was awfully quiet without Steve. He called and said it was pretty hot, but he was going out fishing last night and was going to get them! He's having a good time, anyway.

I managed to finish the BBQ City Quilter's Guild newsletter, email it, print out the ones that have to be mailed and get them in the mail.

I submitted 3 entries to the Uncommon Threads exhibit of "Threadlines" and got that out.

I did the yard stuff - mostly feeding/watering birds and fish (no, fish don't need water.)

I played with the butterflies in the hoop with Vilene - a heavier water-soluble stabilizer. We'll see how that turns out.

Tonight I have 2 more shows to look at whether I want to enter anything. I'm trying to be more selective about shows. Rather than running around trying to make something for a specific show, I'm looking at how long they run (paying an entry fee, then shipping to and from for a 2-3 day show hardly seems worthwhile, unless it's a really BIG show), how "visible" they are, and whether my stuff fits in theme or size requirements. I'm actually building a good stock of things that I can submit without killing myself to make something. That's giving me time to spend making what I want and (trying to) make it work - like this blasted butterfly piece. And playing with sun painting.

Oh - I also over-painted the last forest fire scene I did. I wasn't that happy with the way it came out, so I tried overpainting before using up more pfd fabric. We'll see tonight when it's dry how it came out.

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Another PAQA-S meeting this weekend. We are meeting at Christine Hager-Braun's to come up with a theme for next spring and then we will visit the Durham Arts Council galleries and conference rooms. Our exhibit next spring will be there in their 2 galleries, and we will have plenty of room for our conference there, as well. I'm looking forward to that. We are also putting together our step-by-step "manual" of how to run our spring and member's exhibits, so when we finally hand this off to new people, they won't have to reinvent the wheel. I hope to take some photos of the DAC to post next week.

We had nearly decided not to have anymore Member's Shows in the fall, but we hated to lose the Page-Walker for that time period. PAQA-S is not all that large an organization, and the local people available for the hands-on stuff like hanging, publicity, food, etc., are always overextended. But, we decided we would step up to the plate and do it again. The Member's Show is much smaller, so that will be very helpful. I will be receiving the entries again. Knowing what to do and how to do it makes it so much easier.

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Mumbles and Meanderings

2008-05-29T07:47:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been 10 days since my last post. Not that I haven't had something to say, but I kept forgetting to download my photos from my camera.

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Most folks had Monday off, but our university gives us 5 or 6 consecutive days off at Christmas, so we have to forfeit some of them the rest of the year. Memorial Day and Veterans Day are the holidays we forfeit.

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Steve's birthday was last Sunday (the big 6-0!!). Peter and Jill came for dinner Saturday night and we had an enjoyable picnic in the back yard til well after dark. It was a nice, relaxing, and fun evening. I can't believe I forgot to make him a card. I make fabric cards for all of my close friends and family and usually try to do them a month or so in advance. It completely slipped my mind. And I didn't buy him a gift because he just got a $700 used fly fishing rod. And had to immediately send it off to Orvis to have some things repaired. But he's thrilled. He had the same model rod years and years ago, but had to sell it to pay for his divorce from his first wife. It is only fitting that he find another one and be able to get it back. Full circle.

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I've been struggling with this piece for months now. It is supposed to be tree branches, which are completely threadpainted onto cotton duck, then trimmed, and leaves done separately and just tacked onto the branches so they maintain some "life". Unfortunately, I forgot to put the butterflies on the leaves for the photo, which are also completely threadpainted on cotton duck. I want to do those over again because they are too thick. I haven't been able to find the background I can see in my vision. I've tried painting it and still can't get it right. I thought this background would work, but seeing it in the photo, now I don't think so. Too much going on. The smaller leaves in this photo are the wrong color. I made more last night in a yellowish-green that are much better. Steve thinks the large leaves should come up from the bottom like ferns or large plants. He also is glad it's not coming together too easily for me. He thinks I need to sweat over my work a little more. He's probably right.

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I meant to do my work today
- but a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
and a butterfly flitted across the field,
and all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land
tossing the grasses to and fro,
and a rainbow held out its shining hand
- so what could I do but laugh and go?
Richard LaGallienne

That is one of my favorite poems. I have it posted on my cube wall at work. I'm sure there's a quilt there... one of these days. In the meantime I frequently read it and it always elicits a sigh...

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This is our guild's Raffle Quilt. We each made a block (I made the spool - 4th row down, last on the right). We are selling tickets for $1 each. I will have to buy a bunch, because I really love this quilt. Also - then I wouldn't have to finish my Turning Twenty bed quilt.

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June is going to be a very hectic month. Keri is moving Saturday from Raleigh to Knightdale (20 miles) and I'm going up to help. The movers can't come until after lunch, so we'll make a couple of trips to take the stuff she wants to carry herself over. I hope they aren't too late, as I'll have to drive back to Lexington.

Steve is leaving Sunday morning before dawn for his annual fishing trip to Grayling, Michigan. He'll be home the following Saturday. I have to go back to Raleigh that day (8th?) for a PAQA-S committee meeting to determine our theme for 2009 and to look at our new venue at the Durham Arts Council. They have 2 large galleries, as well as meeting rooms, so our spring exhibit will be there and we can hold our conference there, too. We need to check out the space to get an idea how many quilts we want to hang in the two rooms.

Sarah's birthday is June 11th, but we won't get to see her until a week later when we go to NY. Keri, Sarah, Nana, and me are going to visit Aunt Allie and all the cousins in Owego. My sil Susan and I hope nephews and niece will be there, too. We will have a big family picnic and a birthday party for Sarah. She will be 3 years old. Hard to believe - time has flown so quickly. We'll leave on Thursday, June 19th and return on Monday, June 23rd. I'll definitely be taking Tuesday off to recover.

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We had just about decided not to do a Member's Show this fall because we are not a large organization and the same few local people seem to always have to do all the work. But, one by one, we stepped up and while it is still some of the same people doing the work, others have stepped up to help, too. So - the theme for the fall show is Reflections. That should be interesting. That show will still be held at the Page Walker Art and History Museum in Cary.

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Steve's mother gave us this Mountain Laurel bush several years ago, but it has never bloomed more than a tiny bud here or there. This year it is doing beautifully, considering they don't do well in the south at all. I couldn't get a very good photo of it because it is so white and it was so sunny. But it's still pretty.

Haircuts, sun-printing and more photos

2008-05-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

First off, for those of you not too familiar with blogs, remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Had to post these photos of my cutie-patootie with short hair - dry and combed. It's not nearly as bad as I thought and as Keri said, it does fit her personality. It also makes her look even older, which I don't like at all. She's so long and tall that she looks more like 4 than 2 going on 3.

I had a fun and fabulous weekend - free to do as I pleased. I got the folding table from my mother and pulled the picnic table out of the well of my Honda CRV and set up sun-printing shop in the back yard. Steve told me not to set up in the sun, but I told him I had to make the printing work. Well - not long after I did I realized that I didn't have to do the entire process in the sun - just the last part. So of course I had to go get him to help me move the table, which he did with a smirk on his face.

The effect I was going for was a pale brownish/greenish blend to use as a background for my butterflies. I want it to look natural, but sort of blurred like a photo with the main subject crisp and the background blurry. What I realized was that I had not ordered brown Setacolor ink from Dharma, rather I had ordered Burnt Sienna. Obviously, it was more orange. So I just played to see what kinds of effects I could get. Here are some of the results.

I like these colors a lot, but they are definitely not what I was after. I was thinking it might be fun to stitch around the darker one - cut it up into cards or whatever - and do some outline stitching. There are a couple of others that might work with, too, but I don't have those photos here.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, and part of Sunday, too. I planted some basil (the first ones didn't work out after I separated them) and played around the yard taking more photos. I tried the Polarizing filter with the hood and it worked pretty well in the bright sunlight. Got a great shot of this yellow iris in the back yard.

But here is the same shot taken seconds later - how did this blue/purple get in there? I didn't change anything at all except slightly where I was standing. Isn't this cool? It would make a pretty card.

So here are my Gerbera daisies. There are even more coming up from underneath the leaves. Very prolific, this plant. Until last year I rarely had more than one flower on it. It seemed to like the drought last summer and kept blooming and blooming and blooming. Here it is only May and it's already showing off.

And here is a picture of our goldfish pond. Steve put this in for me about 6, maybe 7 years ago, for my birthday. The understanding was that he would put it in and I would keep it clean and take care of the fish. We know how that goes. I don't have as much time as he does! It is positioned right beside the screened-in porch. The chair I sit in is in that corner beside the screen, so I can sit there and look out on the back yard or down into the goldfish pond. Very serene - as long as the pump is running in the pond.

Just a few months ago something ate the three goldfish that we had had for about 4 or 5 years, so when Steve cleaned it out for spring, we had to go get some new ones. These are so tiny compared to the old ones we had. We bought 4 - one calico, two orange, and one bright yellowish

gold. The calico was floating within 3 or 4 days, but the other three seem to be doing all right. I'm afraid these will all end up the same color. The last batch we did the same - got a gold one and an orange one - and they both ended up orange. We also had a cool orange one that had big blobs of white on him - reminded me of a Creamsicle...

And here is the best photo of the day. It is the Louis Phillipe rose that supposedly washed up on the east end of Long Island (Bridgehampton) a hundred or more years ago. A French ship wrecked off the coast and all this stuff washed onto the shores. Steve's uncle had this and gave it to Steve's mother. She had it for years and gave it to us. Like the Gerbera daisy, we've never had much luck with it blooking. For one thing - being an heirloom, it is susceptible to black spot and mildew. It gets black spot every year. We can do anything about that because the rosemary bush is practically growin on top of it and we don't want to poison that.

So this year I went out and looked at it and there must be 25 or more buds on it. Of course, it already has a few leaves with black spot, but so far so good.

Life is buzzing by

2008-05-13T09:51:00.000-04:00

Life is buzzing by so fast I can't seem to keep up. What a wonderful weekend we had with most of the family coming to celebrate Mother's Day. Abbie was on call Sunday so we celebrated on Saturday. Steve marinated a London Broil and cooked it on the grill. Sarah took a bite and exclaimed, "Grampa! Your little angel just loves this steak!" She must have meant it, because she repeated it about 3 times.

The weather was gorgeous so we set up the picnic tables under the dogwood tree and at outdoors. My mother made a banana cream pie that was a huge hit with Peter (2 pieces). Potato salad, deviled eggs, and Abbie made lentils. Pretty good dinner. Peter presented "the four mothers" with two really good bottles of wine. A Volpicella and an Amarone (my middle name - I love Amarone!)

After everyone left we designated Grampa as the babysitter and Keri and I went and got a pedicure. Keri decided to have her nails done in acrylic while we were there. She needed the pampering, so we spent nearly 3 hours there. Somehow, Grampa managed to get Sarah to nap and she was still out when we got home at 5:00. All in all, a really nice day.

I managed to mount the piece I did for Lyric's workshop class and I think it came out really well.

The gray is my design board. I'd like to do more like this. I'd like more time to do more, period.

Tonight is guild night. That's getting difficult and taking a lot of time, especially doing the newsletter. I do enjoy the camraderie and the projects. I'll give it a bit more time. I haven't even been in it for a year yet.

So this morning I get an email from Keri. I screamed when I saw the photos. She let Chad have someone cut Sarah's beautiful hair up to her chin!!!! Granted, she needed a bit of a trim, but not more than a foot. I was very upset, but I'll get over it. Sarah's hair will grow. Someday. 8>)

Obviously, she's still beautiful and she's still Grammy's girl.

PAQA-South Retreat

2008-05-07T12:42:00.000-04:00

I feel like I've been in a whirlwind! This past weekend was the PAQA-South retreat at Mary Beth Bellah's house in Charlottesville, VA. What a gorgeous place she has there. Huge amount of acreage, beautiful 3-story house, and a mammoth stash of fabric! I'm not showing her wall because I didn't ask permission, but believe me, she could open a quilt shop tomorrow. 9 books cases - each about 3 feet wide - and 5 shelves high. Her fabric is color coded, folded neatly and stacked and organized. Incredible.

Mary Beth also has some pretty cool pets. She has two goats - well, one had twins last week and one had twins the day we left (after we were gone). This is the lovely Oreo smiling for the camera. Isn't she the cutest? Mary Beth has chickens and geese, too. Evidently, the geese greeted and menaced a few people when they arrived, but I never did get to see them.

Lyric Kinard gave us some exercises to do from a book she is writing (Winter printing, maybe?). We had a lot of fun doing that and learned a lot, too. Here are some photos of our little group. I have stitched down my piece and hope to get it mounted shortly. I will post a photo of it when I have it finished.

(Top): This would be Christine Hager-Braun (President) in the far left corner, Judith Glover (V.P.) in the shorts, Lynne Harrill (treasurer) sitting in the blue chair, Lyric Kinard in the way back on the sofa, Mary Corcoran (Secretary) in the tie-dyed shirt, Ann Flaherty (Spring exhibit committee) in the far right corner, and Cynthia Harrison, a guest and hopefully new recruit. Mary Beth wasn't in the room. I believe Mary is searching for a lost child in that gigantic bag she brought...

Same room with a photo of Karen Lee Carter on the left. What a lovely person and a real treat to get to know.

Here is Lyric preparing to give us our lesson, with Karen searching for something behind her.

I also learned a much faster way to and from Charlottesville! It took me 4 1/2 hours to drive 284 miles up I-81, then over to Charlottesville. It only took 3 1/4 hours to come home down 29S - and 211 miles. We will definitely be going a faster way to NY in June than all the way over to Wytheville!

So - it was so gorgeous outside on Sunday afternoon that I got my camera out. A lot of new flowers had bloomed and I wanted to try the hood I found for the lens. I've had a lot of trouble keeping the glare off the flowers in the photos when in bright sun. I put the hood on it and Holy Cow! What a difference a hood makes! Steve also gave me a polarizing filter that goes to his Nikon, but it fits my lens. These make such a huge difference. Check out these photos - I'm pretty darn proud of them!

Here is my orchid - I have no idea what it's real name is. I bought it several years ago at a small nursery that was going out of business.

Here is one of the iris growing on the far side of the house. I never go over there and had completely forgotten that we even had any flowers there. Steve showed them to me. The photos of these iris would never had come out without huge glares without the hood, I'm convinced of it.

This is one of my favorite photographs taken last Sunday. It is the Jasmine blooming on the trellis against the fence in the backyard. I put it on my computer desktop. (I guess I haven't mentioned this because so many people are familiar with blogs, but you do know to click on the photos to see a larger version, right?)

This is my other favorite. I just love this picture! I want to have it printed out really large. So - that's it for now.

This weekend is Mother's Day. We are celebrating on Saturday, as Steve's sister is on call and can't leave Sunday. Peter and Jill and Keri and Sarah will be with us, but Ian has to work so he and Laurie can't make it. It's supposed to be a pretty weekend, so I hope we can eat outside under the dogwood tree. I'm sure I'll have more photos by Sunday. I bought some Setacolor paints to play with and make sun prints with Keri & Sarah. Can't wait!

Professional Art Quilter's Alliance-South spring exhibit

2008-04-25T12:05:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been a slackard this week. There has been so much going on that I haven't taken time to think to blog. I had to drive to Raleigh on Wednesday to set up a Heart Gallery in the Southern Women's Home Show. I had to have 2 fabric postcard classes this week, as one of the women couldn't make it on Thursday, so we finished hers up Wednesday. The other two we did last night. It's been a lot of fun, but I don't think they got as much out of it as I or they had hoped. They are traditional quilters and very good at it. I think they expected to sit down and make a really fabulous fabric postcard on the very first try, and neither of them do much zigzagging or any threadpainting. They were frustrated, but their pieces came out really really well. Hopefully, tomorrow we will move on to photos printed on fabric and threadpainted.

Tonight I am driving to Raleigh again straight from work. The PAQA-S ARTQUILTScultures show's opening reception is tonight. I wasn't thrilled with some of the choices the jurors made, but I think it will still be a good show. I want to see for myself. I will be staying with Keri and Sarah, so that will be fun. Steve has Operations duty tomorrow, so he can't come. Girls Night!

Selena Sullivan's "Guardian of Generations was chose by the ARTQUILTScultures committee (me, Ann Flaherty, and Jana Lankford, along with the PAQA-S President, Christine Hager-Braun) to be featured on the postcard. This piece also won Best of Show. Unfortunately, the postcard orientation is incorrect - it should be horizontal with the lady on the right hovering over the ones on the left.

I will go home early tomorrow morning. I have so much going on - I really need to work on my butterfly piece, I promised I would show the ladies how to threadpaint tomorrow afternoon, and I haven't started those pesky director's chair covers yet! Bah.

I was going to take my Lichen Tree piece to the PAQA-S show to be featured in the glass case at the entrance to the museum, but I cut the borders off and put it in a shadow box. That would be fine, except I did it very haphazardly and didn't realize how bad it looked. It's one of my favorite pieces and Steve told me to take it to a frame shop and have them do it right. I really should. Even if I keep it myself. This is the piece before I cut off the borders. I just didn't like them. This piece is a photograph I took in the Blue Ridge Mountains on one of Steve's and my Fall day trips a couple of years ago. It's printed on fabric and the background parts are highlighted with Water Soluble Oil Pastels to give it a bit more oomph. The lichen on the tree is entirely threadpainted by machine.

And what would a blog be without a Cutie Patootie picture?

Happy Dancing!

2008-04-19T13:11:00.000-04:00

I just received a letter from the Rocky Mount Arts Center. "NC Forests - Under Fire" has been accepted in their 51st Annual Juried Art Exhibit. It runs from May 24-Sept. 14, 2008. Yippeee! I was contemplating making a new piece because I wasn't totally thrilled with the way the fire kind of "floats", but now I can wait awhile. I must say I'm surprised, because getting a decent photo has been a realy bear. The pine tree needles are rayon thread and really "shine" from the flash.

And there's another bad fire that started up in Haywood County yesterday and is already 200 acres. That's just the other side of Silva in the mountains. Pretty treacherous for the fire fighters to get to. So much wind and extremely low humidity.

So that's two quilts that will be shipped out in May. My Self-Portrait will be going to the I-4 Corridor show to Mary's portrait gallery. Pamela Allen also has a piece in that show. I feel so much better now.

I planted my garden this morning and I'm so looking forward to some fresh stuff. I put in 3 Romas (I roast them a lot and use them for fresh tomato, basil & mozzarella with pasta), 2 Best Boy, and 1 bush plant that isn't supposed to need staking. I'm really anxious to see how that does. I got my mother a tomato plant specifically for container gardening. I also put in 3 bell peppers - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green. And 2 containers of basil that split up into 8 separate plants.

In the photo above you can see the monster Rosemary bush. Steve had to but a bunch off that was hanging over into the garden.

Here is a view from the long end. The big pepper plant in front is blocking the basil plants.

Here are the herbs - they are perennial. The chives and marjoram are in far back corner, with the tarragon coming up in the center. My Gerbera Daisy on the left. Grass needs cutting, but it's been too dry. We have a slight chance to get some rain today, but doesn't look like it.

And here are Steve's cute little radishes. The carrots didn't come up. I guess the seeds must be too old or he planted too late. Maybe he'll get some good radishes, though.

Now I can go work on my butterflies!

Petting Lomsters - Guilty Daughters

2008-04-17T10:47:00.000-04:00

Keri hasn't finished the quilt, but she finally sent me the "lomster" photos yesterday, but I told her I had already posted the blog. So - here is Grammy showing Sarah how to pet the lobster. (You can also see that she is already a flip flop baby with pretty painted piggies!)

And here is Sarah getting up the courage to pet him.

Sarah loves going into Grammy's studio and goes in there as often as she can. She's not supposed to go in without me because there is so much to get into, not to mention sharp objects. She is enthralled with all my colorful threads and loves to play with the different variegated spools. I keep most of my thread on those wooden spool thingies that look like bleachers with wooden pegs. My dear mil gave me a small metal version of the same thing that she used to keep her small wooden spools of thread on. I bought a Bobbin Buddy that I absolutely love, but I have too many bobbins and need more. In the meantime, I keep the rest of my bobbins on the small metal thingy, as I have a lot of them to match my top thread. Sarah was obviously fascinated with them all being on that metal thing, and picked it up and turned it upside down - I guess to see what would happen. We know what happened. 8>) Now I really have a reason to buy more Bobbin Buddies!

I am excited that tonight I get to teach my very first class at Quilter's Quest. It is a fabric postcard workshop. Fortunately, there are only 4 people signed up to take it. It's a pretty small shop, so we will have enough room and I get to practice on a small group. That's good for me!

Collages and Lobsters

2008-04-16T10:26:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of late posting about this past weekend, but life gets in the way. And I was waiting for some photos that Keri took, but has yet to send me, so I'm going on without her.

We had a really fun weekend. The weather was pretty gloomy on Saturday, so we didn't play outside much. We visited Nana and Keri fixed a few things for her, including her cordless telephone. She does have a problem keeping her phones working.

We are moving back into spring and my plants are very appreciative. The Solomon's Seals are just exploding and the Lilies of the Valley are jumping for joy.

Keri noticed this little guy checking out the framed garden where Steve's radishes and carrots are growing. Fortunately, the carrot tops aren't up yet. I have often seen him hopping out of the rosemary bush, so maybe he sleeps there. Lord knows it's big enough.

We visited Lynne's shop - "Quilter's Quest" where I had to another thing to make for Sarah. I finally got the baby blanket done for a coworker, but haven't made the Strawberry Shortcake panel blanket for Sarah yet. Lynne had a "Curious George" fabric book panel to make for $2.00. How could I turn that down when Sarah adores the monkey? What kind of Grammy would I be?

We had a lot of spare time Saturday afternoon and Keri decided she wanted to make something. I told her she could choose whatever fabrics she wanted and layout whatever design she liked. She picked out earth-tone fabrics and said she didn't want to make "a picture." She just wanted to lay it out, kind of like a "quilt". I told her basically how to do a collage and she went to town cutting up pieces of beige, brown, green, and orange fabric. We put batting and backing under it and she stitched around the edges of her designs. She wasn't quite comfortable with just free motion stitching, but we'll get her there. Keri really enjoyed making it and took it home to finish the binding. Here she is at my sewing machine. She hasn't sent me a picture of the finished piece.

You can sort of see what she's making. I never cared much for collage because I didn't really understand it. Whenever I tried to make a collage piece, I got confused and didn't know how to put things together in a pleasing way. I was surprised then when I was giving Keri suggestions on what she could do to embellish her wall hanging. "Embellish"? Those words actually came out of my mouth? I don't embellish! Anything. Ever. So maybe I should reevaluate making a collage myself.

Steve and I went to Walmart early Saturday morning before the girls came and got 4 lobsters for my birthday dinner (Peter and Jill were coming, too). When Keri and Sarah got there, Grampa pulled one of the lobsters out of the fridge and put him on the floor. Sarah called it a bug until we told her it was a lobster and then she remembered seeing them "in the cage at Walmark!" She's right. We always stop by to see the lobsters at Walmart when we are in the seafood section. Here's where there's supposed to be a cute photo of Sarah and the lobster, but as I said, Keri hasn't sent it to me.

So Steve decided to grill the lobsters and cornish game hens. We are always having to warn Sarah about getting near the grills, so she had to stay in the house with the "women-folk." Steve got the fire going and when it was ready, pulled out the lobsters. Jill, who is just easing out of being a vegetarian, couldn't bear it and ran around to the front of the house. Sarah saw him and ran onto the back porch, yelling at Grampa not to put the lobsters on the grill because it was HOT! By the time they were done she'd forgotten about them and had no problem with seeing them on the table. She tried a bite, but didn't like the consistency. Okay. More for us!

This is just a cool photo of a rusted old truck near my friend, Lynne's, house. I love this truck and I definitely want to do something with it someday. Not sure what. Maybe use it as a base to collage? Why not?

Birthday!

2008-04-11T11:25:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday. I am 57 years along my life's path and feeling pretty darned good! I did tell my coworkers that sometimes you get older and wiser, and sometimes you just get older. I like to think that I do get wiser, but sometimes I wonder...

My cousing Richie called at 5:40 a.m. and sang Happy Birthday to me. (Yes, I was up). He's been doing that since my brother moved on to Heaven 10 years ago. Then Keri and Sarah called me on my way to work and Sarah sang "Happy Boofday Gwammy" - that's the only part she remembes - about six times. It was priceless. They will be down tomorrow to help Grammy celebrate and of course, I can't wait. We are having lobster for dinner tomorrow night! Yay!

My 3 days with Hollis and the workshop group was fantastic. We had a lot of fun, we worked really hard, and we learned a lot about drawing. Hollis is a very generous, but strict, taskmaster. She is an incredible teacher and she definitely makes sure you "get it" before moving on. She doesn't tell you to draw something and then show you how to do it right. She gives you direction and she tells you how to look at something to really "see it" from the beginning. This picture is the first morning.

After class Monday afternoon we car pooled to Duke Chapel to see Hollis' exhibit "Imagine Hope" is hanging. I have seen her work on her website and in magazines, but I was so eager and excited to see it in person. You can't imagine how incredible it really is. You swear it is just a painting until you get up very close and see the (over 200) thread colors completing it. Duke Chapel is so huge that her pieces, which are pretty large, are almost swallowed up. But they are still phenomenal. I don't have permission to put her work here, but you definitely need to check out her website, if you haven't already. http://www.hollisart.com/

The workshop was held at the Avila Retreat Center in Durham. It is owned by the Catholic Diocese in Raleigh and run by two nuns, Sister Damien and Sister Cam. They are the warmest, sweetest, and most fun nuns I have ever met. We sang our Wednesday morning blessing (optional) to the tune of the Superman theme. It was hilarious, but still warm and friendly.

In the evenings after dinner we did homework for an hour or two, then gathered in the social room. We had a circle of rocking chairs and had fun telling stories and showing and telling. There was lots of chat and even more laughter. What a great group of women. I am totally looking forward to seeing them all again next year.

After class on Tuesday we carpooled to Hollis' studio. That was wonderful. She showed us her phenomenal amount of fabric and thread. She didn't have any quilts on the walls, but she did have a working drawing up, so we didn't take any photos. Hollis was kind enough to show us how she works and she even gave us a demonstration of how she threadpaints. All I could do was shake my head in awe.

Mary Corcoran is one of the facilitators of the workshop. She is also a member of PAQA-South and I hope to see her at the Spring working retreat at Mary Beth Bellah's in Charlottesville, VA in May. Mary is also on the NC Symposium Board. The 2009 Symposium will be in Raleigh and Hollis will be teaching a class or two, so I will definitely be in on that. Life is good today. No - life is GREAT today!

Drawing with Hollis

2008-04-06T10:16:00.001-04:00

I have been rushing around frantically trying to get everything ready for my 3 day drawing class with Hollis Chatelain. I am very excited about this class. She will be taking us to the exhibit at Duke Chapel with some of her incredible work, and she will also take us to her studio! I am thrilled to be able to see that. And she will have some of her hand-dyed fabric for sale, so I'll need to carry an extra bag, I'm sure.

The retreat is being held at the Avila Retreat Center in Durham, NC. It is run by nuns and owned by the Catholic diocese of Raleigh. It is said to be in a very peaceful and beautiful setting. The rooms are sparse - no TV or telephone, which is probably a very good thing. We are supposed to have an hour's worth of homework each night, so that will keep us pretty busy, I'm sure. I am also eager to meet the other 14 students.

If you are not familiar with her work, please check out her website. http://www.hollisart.com/gallery.php She paints on whole cloth silk and then threadpaints and quilts it.

It's been a very dreary week and weekend here in North Carolina. The dogwoods and azaleas are starting to pop out, but with no sunshine it's not very spring-y feeling. That's supposed to
change this afternoon, I think. Spring is my favorite time of year and I love wandering around the yard to see what's popping up. Like this - these are the Solomon's Seals that I posted last week as small buds. They're really taken off. My Lilies of the Valley are just starting to peek up through the mulch, so in another week they'll have grown a great deal, too.

Well - lots more to do before I take off this afternoon. Laundry, water plants, recheck my list of supplies, etc. I know I'll forget something!

Later!

What Happened to Spring?

2008-03-31T13:22:00.000-04:00

Yep. Friday it was 79 degrees. Today it is 42. Go figure. It's been raining and raining and raining. Should be good for us, but the rain is light enough to not be doing a whole lot of good, and dreary enough to not be fun to play outdoors.

My plants are coming up fast and greening up really well. Here are my lavendar and rosemary bushes, which stays green year-round, but is really taking off now. The rosemary bush literally creeps around the backyard, sending new runners and moving into them. Click on the photo to see a larger version. You can see my praying mantis on the right that Steve gave me for Valentine's Day. It's pretty cool for garden art.

FIRE

The rain is not even doing much for the 400 acre fire on Sauratown Mountain. The cloud cover is preventing the plane from flying and seeing where the hot spots are and from letting the helicopter drop water over it. It's not raining hard enough to penetrate the tree canopy and soak the fire. It's raining hard enough to make it messy for the tractors to dig the lines around the fire and for the vehicles to get to the area - muddy outside the fire. Steve spent 14-17 hrs/day Thurs., Fri. & Sat. On Sun. he came home in the morning with "camp crud" - head full of congestion from the weather and smoke. It will likely be the end of the week or longer before the fire is completely out.

My good friend, Zoe Nelson, is a wonderful jewelry artist near Boone, N.C. I hope you will check out her website: http://www.zoemanybeadz.com/

"This heirloom jewelry will give joy to the wearer for years to come and is easy to care for. They can be immersed in liquid jewelry cleaner or wiped clean with a polishing cloth. "This is "statement" jewelry. It will get noticed," says one of her customers. "It's ornamentation that's unusual and distinctive."

And here are some examples of her work:

On Sunday I will be going to Durham, NC to take Hollis Chatelain's drawing class. The class is three days long, once a year, for five years. I am so excited! I'll post some of what I do if it's not too embarrassing. Hollis says that if you can hold a pencil, she can teach you to draw. I sure hope so!

Easter Bunnies and Springtime

2008-03-25T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, Easter weekend was so much fun! Sarah was great about riding home with Grammy on Friday. We visited my friend Lynne at the shop and Sarah picked out a Strawberry Cheesecake panel for a quilt. We went shopping and she told Grammy she needed a table and a chair, so of course Grammy got both. We dug in the dirt and played in the sun. It was a beautiful day.

On Saturday morning we all helped Grampa wash the windows, inside and out. Sarah put on her "work clothes" and helped rinse the soap off. She was a very big help and quite proud of herself. We dyed eggs using the silk ties I bought at Good Will. Three came really cool and three came out reall dull. Sarah took one on the run to the living room to show Grampa and on the way back, tripped. The egg went scurplatt! But it was okay. We had enough fun making them. When she got a little too wound up, Sarah went to see Grampa. She came back and told me that Grampa told her what to do - a LOT- and he was a good boy for telling her that. Then she took my face in her sweet little hands and said "when he look at me, I in trouble." Melts your heart, even if she's right.
We were so busy Saturday that we forgot all about telling Sarah about the Easter Bunny! We all went to bed early and Grammy made the basket and put it on the kitchen table. There was a Good Night Peter Rabbit book with a nightlight in the cover, a tin pink and green tea set, a head band with bunny ears, a Precious Moments doll that, when you squeeze his stomach, says his prayers, and just a couple pieces of candy. When Sarah got up Easter morning, she asked "what's that?" She didn't get it at all, but she was definitely thrilled with all the fun stuff. Next year we'll plan better!

Spring appears to be here for a day or two, and then it turns cold and we have snow flurries. We have been fooled enough times before that we don't bother planting our vegetables until late April. Last year it was gorgeous and we planted a week early. We had two weeks of really cold weather that really put a damper on the early growth. I don't have any daffodils or crocuses, but my other flowers are coming up nicely.

These are my hyacinths, which smell so cloyingly sweet that I can't have them in the house. I am allergic to them. It's nice to catch a slight whiff on the breeze outdoors, though.

These are the dozens of Solomon's Seal buds just peeking through the mulch. I'm not sure how well they show up here, but every year they double or triple in number. The blooms stay on for a long time and then when they fall off (and reseed), the green plant stays beautiful for months.

Now that all of the company is gone and Grammy has had a chance to rest, perhaps I can get my friend's baby quilt finished this weekend and get started on my new project. I'm really raring to get into this one. Butterflies!

2008-03-20T13:53:00.000-04:00

As I'd hoped, I was able to play around in my studio last night. No painting, but I did manage to lay out something I'm really excited about. It involves butterflies and leaves, which is very odd, considering I'm not a big butterfly fan. But someone posted in one of the fiber art digests I'm on about making petals and leaves and described how to make them 3-D. I got the vision and now I have to make it. Or at least play with it enough to figure out how to do it. I'm really psyched about this after reading the story of Annemeke Mein and seeing her incredible work.

I get this daily email from The Story People. They sell a line of cards and little books and have the most wonderful little greetings that you can also receive daily via email. They are kind of like eavesdropping in the middle of someone else's conversation. Keri also subscribes to it and said today's described Sarah: "she's a self-playing accordian & even when she's asleep, her quiet breathing goes a-one & a-two." I have one taped on the wall to remind me that there are no rules in art quilts: "this is the exact center of the universe, which explains why none of the usual rules apply here." I have to have my Story "fix" everyday, so if you'd like to get hooked, here is the link www.storypeople.com .

I've got birthdays coming up and no cards made! I gave the few I had to my friend, Lynne, who just opened a quilt shop. She wants me to teach a postcard class so she put them in the shop window. Guess I'd better get busy next week. I also need to make a baby quilt in the next 2 weeks. Holy Cow! Better get busy.

New Work, New Shows, New Ideas

2008-03-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, as promised - here is the full photo of Psychedelic Steve. I had an email from an old high school friend who said the photo of Steve really took her back to the moment. She said she was thinking how it felt like a lifetime ago - wait a minute - it WAS a lifetime ago! Whew. That's scary.

I-4 Corridor Exhibit

I entered a couple of pieces in the I-4 Corridor exhibit in Florida. They were not accepted, but the curator contacted me and said she loves my self-portrait ("it's a pip!") and she'd like to put it in the portrait gallery. Things certainly have a way of working out, don't they? This is my self-portrait. It was one of the most fun pieces I've ever made.

There are stars in my eyes and clouds in my eyebrows, but I am planted firmly on the ground while new ideas sprout like wildflowers out of my head. Mary also asked for Welcome Sarah, but she's back home with Keri.

I really need to go through my folders of upcoming shows to see whether I have anything that fits any of them. And I need to get cracking on some new work - but not sure yet what I want it to be. I have an inkling that it include painting the background, which is always fun. Wonder if I can get something started tonight - Steve is out of town tonight and that gives me extra time to play. Good plan!

PAQA-S Jurying Over

2008-03-18T10:37:00.000-04:00

The PAQA-S "ARTQUILTScultures" jurying is over. I entered two pieces - first The Stories of Women Are Told in Their Hands and then Psychedelic Steve. At least the Hands got a maybe. Psychedelic Steve didn't get a second glance. I meant to post Steve - but I don't have a good photo at hand. Maybe later. Now I have to decide whether to enter either of them somewhere else, or wait to see if Ann has any luck with the Arts In Embassies wanting some that weren't chosen for the show.

For our SOST (Sisterhood of the Sagging Tits) group - Julaine is putting together a cd of all of the pieces finished. She hopes to get a venue or sponsor for Houston. If nothing else, maybe she can sell the cd's.

Do you remember these lacing cards?

I had some when I was little and found a beautiful set of fairy cards for Sarah through the Magic Cabin catalog. I love this catalog. A bit pricey on lots of things, but so much fun for children! I also got her a tin tea set and a Good Night Peter Rabbit book with a nightlight in the cover for Easter. Both from Magic Cabin. Sarah took to these cards and demonstrated her artistic license by stitching them the way she wanted. That's my girl!

I'll be going to Raleigh Friday morning to pick her up. Keri (mom) has to work Friday and the daycare is closed for Good Friday. So of course Grammy just jumped at the chance to get her. Keri will come down after work. We will color eggs on Saturday. I can't wait!

I didn't have a photo posted on my profile until today. That is Sarah helping me choose the binding for Psychedelic Steve - what you can see of it.

Here is the original photo of Steve from around 1967: Isn't he cute?

I played with it in Photoshop - desaturated it, made it into a line drawing, then reversed it to use as a pattern.

So now - you can look at my profile picture and see him psychedelic'd!

Now that I'm pretty much finished with my part of the PAQA-S show stuff, I can get back to Steve's family slides. I bought a slide converter and a DVD burner. Keri put the DVD burner in for me a couple of weeks ago, but we need two cables to connect it. It's going to take me awhile to do these slides, so it won't matter yet.

I also just received the 3 yards of 14 oz. cotton canvas I ordered to make new covers for our director's chairs. Abbie bought us a beautiful set of teak director's chairs 9 or 10 years ago. The covers have started splitting, so now I get to try to make new ones. The tricky part will be rolling the edges and getting the covers tight enough not to sag. I am not looking forward to this at all. I tried to tell Steve that - YES! I have a sewing machine - BUT I AM AN ARTIST, NOT A SEAMSTRESS! Didn't phase him at all.

Upcoming Artquilts:Cultures Jurying

2008-03-11T14:11:00.000-04:00

Okay. I've decided I'm really going to try to keep this up. If I find I can for the rest of this month - at least weekly - I'll be good to go and will make this public.
So this Saturday is the jurying for Artquilts:Cultures, the PAQA-S Spring 2008 exhibit. Ann Flaherty, Jana Lankford and I are the committee members. Christine Hager-Braun, PAQA-S President, will also be joining us.
This is the second year I have been fortunate enough to be the receiver of all the entries. There's a lot to do, especially when they all come in at the last minute. But it's so interesting to see all of the entries and the different styles and techniques of work. We have received 108 entries for this exhibit, and will likely only have room for about 35 art quilts. The jurors definitely have their work cut out for them! I have entered 2 pieces and am hopeful - I think they meet the theme pretty well. We'll see!
Tonight is our guild meeting (the BBQ City Quilters!). I am really enjoying being a member and have already learned a lot. Somehow I was wrangled into becoming a co-Vice President and doing the newsletter, too. Considering most guild members are not that savvy with computers, I guess I can manage. I enjoy doing it, but I have to wait for other people to provide the newsletter information and it is time consuming.
Our guild President, Lynne Lanning, is opening her new quilt shop "Quilter's Quest" right around the corner from me this Saturday. I am thrilled! She has beautiful batiks and lots of other yummy fabrics.
Okay - so this is my first March post. I will post again after the jurying process this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Well, I know you would if you knew about this blog. So that's okay. No photos because I am at work and don't have any here. More later.

February birthdays and musings

2008-02-17T16:43:00.000-05:00

Considering it's been a couple of months since my last posting, this will likely be long. But that's okay, because I haven't told but a few people about this and being so long in between, I doubt even they come back to check it.

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?

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.

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.

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?

December 9, 2007

2007-12-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

I realized that I have been extremely neglectful in my blog. I never promised to write daily, but I will try to update more regularly. I told you November flew by, and now December promises to do the same (does anyone else feel weird about that whole extra week after Thanksgiving before December?).
Tomorrow I decorate the house, but we won't put the tree up until next weekend. My house feels naked, seeing everyone else's decorations up, but we have a woodstove in the living room where the tree goes. If I put it up now there will be a true Charlie Brown bare tree with lots of brown needles on the floor by Christmas. So we'll start with the outside - outdoor lights!!!! - and then inside and then the tree. I have gifts to wrap to be shipped to my family in NY, so after I decorate tomorrow I will have time to do that and not feel shipwrecked. I kind of like this. Not having or being able to do it all in one weekend - I won't wipe out.
This extra time has also allowed me to make some extra little stocking stuffers for my coworkers and my family. Using up some odds and ends of fabric I loved - but can't say how here until after Christmas.
I'm still looking at my options for upcoming 2008 shows and they are gelling. Slowly, but surely. I have 2 pieces nearly ready for the SOST (Sisterhood Of the Sagging Tits) challenge, due Jan. 31st. I think they'll be surprised. Steve isn't going near them. Says he's not getting involved because he doesn't get it at all. I will post them when they are finished. Pretty funny, I think. the idea evolved after a mammogram..... use your imagination.

December 8, 2007

2007-12-08T19:42:00.001-05:00

It's really December already. Where the heck did November go? I can't even remember October!

I'm really thrilled this year for Christmas. I have won a major skirmish with Steve. I have always wanted, but never had, outdoor Christmas lights. Never had them. The argument (I thought) was always "the cords!" You have to leave a window or door open to get the cord inside. Think of the wasted energy! We do have an outlet in the carport -no garage - we're in NC - but I didn't think of that for some reason.

So tonight I had to go pick up Chinese takeout (no delivery except pizza in our little town) and all the Christmas lights were on and it was so pretty. On the way back I had a great "AH-HA!" moment. When I got home, I asked Steve why we couldn't have solar lights, if the cords were such a problem. I found some solar lights online and showed them to Steve. He pooh-poohed them saying they wouldn't really work and they would only last an hour or so. Plus, they're expensive. Okay. Enough! I pointed out that we can buy a bunch of lights and string them

together like we do on the tree and put them up around the door to the carport and plug them
into the outside outlet. He finally acquiesced and said that if I wanted the lights, I could have them, but I would have to put them up. He knows I have vertigo and don't do well on ladders, but I told him if he would hold the ladder, I would put them up. Yay! I get outdoor lights this year!!! And what I know, and what he knows I know, is that once I start teetering on that ladder, he'll give in and put them up. Considering I can fall off my flip-flops, it will hurt him to watch me try to do this. Damn I'm clever. Slow, but clever.

And I have to show what Grammy and PopPop's most treasured gift under the tree this year will be. How could it not be? Now tell me, don't we have to have outdoor lights for this little doll? And can you believe she is only 2 1/2 years old?

November 18th

2007-11-18T20:30:00.000-05:00

I was thrilled to see comments on my unknown blog site. Thank you all for that. And thank you Keith - my nephew - for sharing. I am glad I brought just a bit of insight to you.

Today was my mother's 77th birthday. It's hard to know what to do for my mother. She has or buys everything she needs/wants. But I was able to get her a Polartec Fleece that will help block the wind when she is out. We planned a nice mid-day dinner for her with some of the family, but she decided she wanted spaghetti (she makes the best in the world - the kind that cooks all day and includes hot Italian sausage, pepperoni, and meatballs!), so she made the sauce and she insisted on making the cake, as she always does. And as always, ithe spaghetti was out of this world. My daughter, Keri, and granddaughter, Sarah (2 1/2) came for the weekend. And one of my bonus-son's, Peter (and his gf Jill) came for mom's bd lunch. It was a great meal with great family and a fun time

I look back on photos of my mom and see Keri in her. Most people say she looks just like me, until they see the photos of my mother as a young girl. At that age, Keri and my mother could have been clones.

How funny is it that Keri looks like my mother and Sarah looks so much like me? Probably the worst part for Keri is that Sarah acts just like me, too. Or not. I like to think she has the artistic temperament and will one day be a great individualist. But that could also just be those "terrible two's", which Grammy just loves!

So, if you are still with me, I am gearing up for the 2008 exhibit season. I have lots of ideas, so let's see if they pan out. In the meantime, not sure whether I'll be back before Thanksgiving. If not - be sure to be thankful for what you have. I am - and I give thanks every day.

November 14, 2007

2007-11-14T10:57:00.001-05:00

I have to say how nervous I was last night. I joined a traditional quilt guild back in August (the BBQ City Quilters - as we ARE the BBQ capital of the world here in Lexington, NC!) Actually, it's the only quilt guild in Lexington, but that's all right. The women are wonderful and some enjoy taking new workshops and learning new techniques. After show and tell last month they asked if I would present a program on threadpainting in November, which I did last night. I am definitely an introvert, though I love people for short bursts of time, and I was in knots. I don't teach and I am not great at public speaking.

I was terrified that my 20 minute program would be over in 3 1/2 minutes, but it wasn't. I managed to get through without stuttering too much or tripping on something invisible. My presentation was a basic overall view of the different techniques and materials used in threadpainting to get the various results you want to achieve. Most of the guild members said they enjoyed it and asked me to give a workshop after the new year. So now I have to do a workshop? At least I have a couple of months and there won't be as many people. I think I can handle the individual attention better than standing in front of the crowd. So - we'll see how this workshop develops.

After an email from Pamela Allen that I must have a cute granddaughter to spoil, I suppose I should post her photo. You know how Grandma's hate to show photos of their grandchildren! Sarah is a dynamic and brilliant child, of course. Her mom says she is my clone and I feel a bit sorry for her, but am also thrilled! And I get to see her this weekend. That's the most fun. Since she's only 2 1/2 she isn't quite ready for creating much more than chalk drawings and finger paints, but we love to do that and before I know it she'll be a full-fledged Camp Grandma addict. So here is The Butterflly Girl at my nephew's wedding last summer. Butterflies on her dress and on her sandals. She looks so sweet - but what's behind that tree?

November 12, 2007

2007-11-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

I have had these fall-colored silk flowers cluttering up my studio with a vague idea of what I wanted to do with them. But the vision refused to form, lingering in the back of my mind shrouded in mist. Today I decided they would show me what to do with them if I would just bite the bullet and play with them. So I did. First I had to find a background fabric and that was really difficult. I don't have a huge stash (dh would say otherwise, but what does he know?), so it was really hard to find just the right fabric. I found the perfect piece, but there wasn't enough of it. (Being a mostly landscape quilter, I tend to buy lots of quarter yard pieces). I ended up piecing together squares of two similar fabrics. I really needn't have obsessed about it so much, because in the end, most of it doesn't show. But one doesn't know that going in, so you obsess.

I put the borders on right away because I wanted the leaves to spill over them. Dh believes that almost everything I do looks best with a narrow black border and then a second, wider border to complement it. I rarely add the narrow black one, mostly because I don't think of it. This time I did and I like the effect.

I scattered the leaves (oak and maple) around the background and it was fairly easy to get an arrangement that I liked. then I realized I had no idea how to tack them down. And then I realized I hadn't put any stabilizer on the back of the background fabric. I had to take all the leaves off and put a stabilizer on the back. Then I replaced the leaves. Back to "how am I going to stitch these down? They are all twisted and turned and overlapped." Aha! Tulle! I will cover the entire piece with purple tulle (yes, purple). I pinned the tulle over it and it was very cool. I used invisible thread to stitch it all down. It went much faster than I expected it to. And in the end, it's not so bad! A little bit wonky, but not bad for a first try. Of course, hating to bind as much as I do, I did the pillowcase and turn method. I really really hate bindings.

So - here it is for anyone out there that might be interested in how I spent my day today. I've titled it "Autumn Carpet".

November 10, 2007

2007-11-10T17:34:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and it made me remember my dad. He was in the Navy in WWII and earned 4 bronze stars. His ship was bombed 6 times. He suffered a nervious breakdown and had to go to Sun Valley Idaho for R&R before he went home. He suffered for years with depression and ultimately Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome was diagnosed after the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. As horrible a thief Alzheimer's is of one's soul, it seemed to finally give my dad some peace from the depression and nightmares. When I look at his Navy photo I see a youthful and hopeful young man. When I look at the picture of him with my daugher at her wedding, he seems to be somewhere else. Perhaps that's not as bad as it seems, for him, at least. This is the youthful photo when he still had dreams.

Here is a photo of him when he returned from the war with his mom, his aunt, his brother, and his father. Still looks happy, but not quite as hopeful.

And here is the photo of my dad at my daughter's wedding. Somewhat lost, but who knows where he might have been? He knew at some times who we were and had a lovely time. I remember he ate so much that the food got stuck in his dentures and he didn't know how to get it out so he spit his upper plate in the trash can. Fortunately, my sister-in-law, Abbie, saw it and fished them out. She was so kind to take them to the restroom and wash them out. Abbie is a nurse who works for a dental surgeon, so I guess she wasn't too grossed out. I don't know if she realizes how much that meant to me.

Dad's gone now. He died in 2003 in the beautiful VA hospital in Salisbury, NC. It is a beautiful place with a wonderful atrium. The staff is thoughtful and kind and considerate and treated him with love and kindness. We couldn't have asked for better care after my mom was no longer able to take care of him alone. I enjoyed visiting him there and taking him to the atrium. He always remembered that we were people he loved, though wasn't always certain exactly who - sometimes calling my mom sis and just hugging me. He often revealed his sense of humor in little ways like noticing that I had new shoes and he would pretend to try them and laugh. I took my mom to visit him every week. The VA hospital is about 20 miles away. We went every Wednesday or Saturday. It wasn't always convenient and I sometimes felt guilty thinking there were other things I needed to be doing. But I was always glad I went - that mom had a chance to see him and that I did, too. When we no longer had a reason to go, I missed those moments. We tried to go at lunch time when we knew he would be awake and mom would help feed him. Then we would usually go for a walk in the atrium. It really was beautiful with small waterfalls and large green plans and a little stream with short bridges that crossed it. I wish I had thought to take photos of it.

So tomorrow, on Veteran's Day, I will remember my dad and what a service he did for his country. And what that means to me now.

November 8, 2007

2007-11-08T12:04:00.000-05:00

I had to bite the bullet and post my Journal Art Quilt. These are for the final challenge of Karey Bresenham's Journal Art Quilt Project - 2007. The original JQ's had to be 8" x 11", but these were to be 17" x 22" and include at least 3 techniques from the Creative Quilting book featuring previous Journal Art Quilts. I knew what techniques I wanted to use, but it took a long time to decide on how to use them. I finally decided that I like making fabric postcards so much that I would make a sort of "travel poster" of NC's beaches and make each scene a little postcard. I really enjoyed making the small pieces - each one a miniature scene of its own. I purchased some pfd fabric from Hollis Chatelaine and used fabric dyes to paint the background in a very simple sunset with sand bottom. The fabric is like butter and takes the dye beautifully.

I decided that "painting" would be the "thread" of my scenes, both using fabric dyes and thread to paint the pictures. The backgrounds are mostly painted and much of the rest of the scenes is free motion thread painted.

The pelican and the seagulls were photos printed on printer fabric paper which was then fused to 10 oz. cotton duck. Each bird is entirely made of thread. They were trimmed from the duck and stitched on their backgrounds.

The rest of the scenes incorporate thread painting directly onto the little postcard, free motion style. The grasses, horse's mane & tail, etc. are all done this way.

I also used Angelina fiber for the light in the lighthouse and for the sun in the round photo transfer of the sea grass at sunset.