Category Archives: 100 day Challenge

February Begins

  Hello,

We had a light snow earlier this week.  It reminded me of how I use to use days like this one to teach drawing a tree to my students.  I would pass out gray paper dark crayons and a white one to each child.   Using one of the dark colors they were instructed to start an upward line that began a little ways for the bottom edge to moving vertically and stopping about an inch from the top of the page.  Starting again at the base the next line was to run up the paper touching the original line and “Y’ing  off near the top of the first line.   Repeat the second action on the opposite side of the original line.    The next set of lines was to begin  again from the bottom only this time there should be two sets of   “”Y”  on on top and one below the branch.   Line set  four started at the base and went up about one third or less  of the trunk then was to veer hard  slightly upward to the right or left  depending on the side of the trunk were the line began.    The students were then told to add more lines starting at the base and  “Y”ing  the branches  to fill in the tree.   Now I would also tell the students that the snow rested on the top of the branches and so they also needed to add  a white bit on the horizonal portion of the trees.    These drawings although very similar were always beautiful.     The kids trees got more interesting and personal with observation and time.   It was a good jumping off place for them however.

This week was quiet and my only trip away from home was to visit with Angela.     She took  the Bits and Pieces class too and this is one  of her works from that on line class.   She gave me some valuable  feedback on my work and I am doing some corrections now.  Angela is also working a lot with felt and took a class on line were she learned how to make vases and lamps.  These are impressive I think.

 

The Pixies meant as  usual  too.

 

 

Progress Report: Ethel  3 I keep working away on assembling this project.  I have five rows added and seven to go at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 3    This work is pin basted now and ready for the stitch in the ditch quilt work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidewater II   Angela and Liz gave me some good advice on how to go forward with this work yesterday.   I am excited about it.

 

 

Barbara Blocks  This is my SAQA  100  project  with the top all assembled.   I decided to call the work Barbara Blocks in memory of my friend.   I am sure I will make the 25 day dead line for this now.  I also plan to try a second arrangement as I have lots of blocks left over.

 

 

Past Times  I finished another block for this project.   I will add more handwork to the blocks before I put them together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentines.   I only need to do the message inside to completed these cards.  I will mail them next Wed.

 

 

 

 

Collage   This work is part of the Bits and Pieces  class work.  After seeing what Angela was doing with hers, I was inspired to finish off some of the stuff from the class.   This is the first.

 

The days rush past and I try to pack them with lots of creative work.   I hope your days are similar.

Stay safe

Carol

 

Barbara

Hello,

I write with a heavy heart today as one of my best friends died yesterday.  She enriched my life so very much,  We both taught Art int he Westhill School district,    I did middle school and she taught high school.    Many was the evening when we would meet  after school and have a little dinner and then go to her class room and play for several hours.  We painted, drew, dyed and explored anything we could think of to try with our kids and for self enjoyment.  She was a great leader and she ran Art club at the high school. As a part of that she took students to NYC for the Columbus Day weekend for many years and because I knew all the students too I got to go along as a chaperone.    She provided the students with a rich experience there.   After arriving and getting the bags into the Edison Hotel , she would gather the kids together start. Her first act was to give them all a hotel card so they could always find there way “home”, and a map of the city while she made sure they understood that they should never go any were alone.  The next instruction was to find the hotel on the map and tell them to mark it’s location.  She followed that by saying our first destination is Museum of Modern Art at 11 W 53 street.   When they had found it she would. then select two students to lead us here.   I usually walked near the front of the group and she did he rear.  When we arrived she would direct them to an exabit and we  would do it together.    Now we had seen many of the works before, but hey were often surprised by how work looked in reality.   She then would allow the students to wander the museum and we all collected at an appointed time and go to a second exabit that usually involved a second bit of map use and walking.  At about 4;30 or five she would pull them all together and remind them of staying in groups of at least two and say ” Make your own way back to the hotel and have dinner.  Be ready to go to the theater and meet us in the lobby at 7:30.      The evening was usually an  off Broadway show , but we did do the Empire State Building one time and took a boat tour around the Island one year.   Saturday morning we crowed into a bus and went down to SOHO . Stop One was Tower Records.    Then we would visit gallery after gallery.  I recall seeing an exabit of work were very thing was made of Chocolate.   It had among many other things, a life sized chocolate moose head along with chocolate playing cards and chess pieces   too.  One time we visited a show of tattoo art .  That was mostly drawings of pieces and lots of photos of the images on bodies.  Every visit it was different.   She would allow the students to explore on there own  in the afternoon telling them to meet us at the McDonalds to catch the subway at 4:30.   After the subway ride it was dinner on your own with the meeting again for the theater in the evening.   I got to see Meet Me in St Lewis, Into the Woods, and South Pacific to mention a few.   Sunday was always the Metropolitan Museum.      After handing them a map of the museum Her instruction was for them to visit at least three galleries of their choosing and then they were free to spend the rest of the day as they chose be it exploring Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, shopping- what ever, but be in the  hotel lobby at six with dinner in hand ready to get on the bus to go home.    On the bus ride home she would talk with each student about the exabit they had visited in the Met as her follow up.   It was always a great experience for  the students as well us.    Barbara and I traveled on our own too. We went to a Maine and visited her college roommate and drew int the Maine woods and the rocky sea shore.  We went to California to visit her sister and had a good time exploring there as well.  We traveled with  retired teachers to Turkey and Greece.     She introduced me to pastels  and water color as well as encouraging my fabric work.    Her fearless approach to the world was always in inspiration and I loved her like a sister.  I will miss her greatly , and I am so very thankful she was in my life!

The week was full of other action for me too.  Associated Artists had a meeting on Sat.    FAD meant here yesterday and Sharon had a new a bit of work to share with us.

Noel has just started a stitch group too, and I went to that.  I also made it to the Pixie meeting yesterday too.

 

I am working away on Finding Fragments.  I  have started the stitch work on this collage.

 

 

 

 

The SAQA 100 day project is on day 11 now and I have made some blocks.    These are the middle sized ones and they are 12.5 X 4.5.   I am ready to cut the pieces for the smallest ones in the set now so the real fun will begin later this week.  I think now that I will call the blocks Barbara Blocks in honor of my friend.

 

 

  Progress Report: Past Times  I added a  pair of gloves to this square this week.   A new square got started as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Tidewater II  I am going to try to not go so overboard with the textures on this one and just have more space.    I did make some felted “Kelp ” for it however.

 

Ethel 2     I only need to finish the machine quilting on this project and it will be complete.

 

 

Valentines   The shapes are cut and applied to felt.  Now I need to mount them on the cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 Lap 3  I have these pre cut squares of woven purple and so I decided to use them as the focus for the next lap quilt.  I gave Judy two to pass to her friends on Tue.

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Dyeing.   One of the other gals in the 100 Day challenge was snow dyeing and with all the snow we got on Monday I decided to do to the same.

 

 

 

Sense I was inspired by the 100 Day gal, I decided to use the fabric from this experiment as the jumping off place for the colors for the next 100 Day squares.

 

Cold January

Hello,

It is cold here in upstate NY.   Were I live we did not get much snow, but a lot of wind.  There are lots of limbs down here.   Friday was a very nice day however and I made a trip to the Schweinfurth to deliver my Three Witches work for the Both Ends of the Rainbow show.   I also delivered the work to two other folks .   I made a stop at Artistic  Impressions and dropped off some work for her.   On the way home I delivered nine lap quilts to a nursing home.    Then last stop, was at the Bette Library were I left three quilts for their Cabin Fever Quilt show in Feb and March.  It was a busy day.

I went to Barbara’s opening on Sunday.  It was great and lots of folks were there.   She however was not and is still under the weather.     Hope she gets well soon.

The Pixies meant as usual and Robert had some wonderful images to share.

I continue to work on my Finding Fragments class work .    I have added stitch work to both of these collages and have ideas for more .

 

 

 

I started the SAQA 100 day challenge for this year on Monday.   I decided to challenge myself to make four new block design over the course of the time, putting in 25 days on each.  I  want to make the blocks in three sizes and mix and match them  in the final work.     Today is day 4 and I have six blocks arrange in this photo.   They are twice as long as they are wide so they can be arranged in may ways.

Progress Report:  Tidewater Pool  This project is nearly complete.  I only need to decide how I want to finish it- by binding or framing.    I am anxious to start the next too.

Ethel 2   All the rows are attached to the back now and I am ready to do the boarders that I cut yesterday.

 

 

Past Times   I have not quite got the lace stitched down for the second block for this project.  But i am moving along.

 

 

 

Joyce Project   I uncovered this project when I was deciding what work  I wanted to take to the Cabin Fever Quilt show.  I have decided to finish it for Joyce for her Birthday celebration later this spring.   This is her great grandmother’s  wedding travel dress and cape.    I am only appliqueing it down at this point.

Pillow   I finally got going on this long over do project to do another letter for the series.  It will become a pillow.

 

 

 

 

Valentines    Some Angelina came in the mail this week so I had to play with it.   I mixed it with roving and I made some raw material to cut up for Valentines this week.

 

I hope everyone is warm and well.

Carol

 

 

Moving Along

Hello,

I like this time of year as I seem to find things are clammer and I get a lot done.   I made it to the Pixie meeting this week and got back to the Finding Fragment class with Shelly Rhodes.

 

 

 

The lesson yesterday was about building a base of fabric and paper.   I collaged a bit and came up with five I liked.   I will keep up this work more carefully I hope.

 

 

I also decided to join the SAQA  100 Day Challenge again.   That starts on Monday the 15 and goes until April 24.   I decided to design four blocks and work on each one for 25 days.    I also decided to render each  the block  design in three sizes so I can mx and match them in my final work.     This is the the block( really a rectangle)  with the three variations.  This is a shot of the  cut up  block ready to trace onto the fabric .

Progress Report: Ethel 1   I finished this queen sized quilt this week and I am quite pleased with the results.  I think it will be the raffle quilt for our nationhood art trail in Aug.

 

 

 

Lap 1  I finished this on Friday last week and immediately  started a new one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2    Sense I decided to do the new SAQA  challenge, I thought I really Ott to use the prints I made for last years challenge in my lap quilts.   So I got this top done yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Past Times ( formerly Age of Elegance)   This block is all stitched down now.   I like how the lace adds to the work.

Tidewater Pool  I am enjoying working on this piece as much as the first two.   I decided that the base was too big so I cut it in about half  and I started with this .

 

I have been working on it for about an our every day and this is were i am now.   This one has more found objects form the shore than the first two.

 

 

 

 

 

Branching Out    Last week this top was two tops that were related.  So I thought I would merry the two of them with vertical cuts and flipping of the images..   Well now I am not so sure that was a good idea , but the job is done.  I have decided to set it aside and perhaps in time I may see a future for it.

For Joyce  My friend Joyce just had her 90th birthday .  Because it is so close to Christmas she has decided to celebrate in May instead.  Several years ago she gave me this cape and dress that were her grandmothers.  I have decided to get the piece done for her celebration.

 

 

 

I hope that all is well and you are safe and happy .

Keep Creating

Carol

Moving Along

 Hello,

Summer is moving along and the world here continues to stay green and lively.  While I was trimming the hedge on the west side of our house I spotted these tiny mushrooms.    The are like little beads.

This week I had two meetings.   The Quilt Diva’s meant on Tue.  It was a lively meeting with lots of great work.

Alice shared more of her bottom line works.

 

 

Tis is her thirteenth piece in this on going series.   

 

Cheri has now finished her piece for the “Together We Move Forward ” challenge.     I like her solution.

 

 

 

The Pixies also meant this week.  Our challenge for this month is to do work with letters.  This is my solution  for the first week.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Prepared  I have now started to quilt this project.  All the purple areas are done and I and now doing meander quilting on the yellow orange and yellow green areas.

Scrap Happy   I am now building the scrappy back for this quilt.    I am really using up my leftovers.

 

 

 

 

Blue Beach    This work is now complete. It is very heavy  with all those buttons.

 

 

 

 

 

Handwork   I am now doing a new handwork project as Blue Beach is done.

 

 

 

 

 

Felting   I only put in a mi mum amount of time on this project this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New work     Well, I have good intentions here.   Hopefully I will get  going soon.  It will be another lap quilt.   Only a few more pieces from the  SAQA 100 Day Challenge left.

 

 

I will be going off to Quilting by the Lake this week so there will not be any posts for two week.  I am looking forward to seeing old friends and getting some new ideas.

Stay safe

Carol

 

Summer Time

 Hello,

 

It is full summer time here.    I enjoyed Fireworks along with my friends  and was out doors a lot this week.   I went to the Towpath quilt show on Sat and  enjoyed the work of many hands.

 

I got to see Noel’s  pieces for the group challenge.  Participants got a line from The Night Before Christmas” to illustrate.     I think she did a great job.

 

 

 

 

  There was lots of wonderful work.  I was fascinated by this quilt where  the artists had added ink tense color to her embordered work.   It was a great show and there were lots of good pieces.

 

 

 

I also had a pixie meeting this week.  We are challenging  ourselves to use letter or text in our work this month.   I did join the SAQA Strolling Along  45 day Challenge on July 1 too.  I am using Prepared as my first emphasis.

Progress Report: Prepared   This is the 5th in the Split Compliment series.   It is all assembled and ready for quilting at this point.

 

 

 

Collage    I did my collage work this week as usual.   This is were I did my Letters for the Pixie challenge with this orange work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did add some drawing with this second collage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Beach   I have decided that this work is complete now.  I only need to add a sleeve and labels  and it is done.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy    Our nationhood is having a Art and Garden show in early Augusts and I told them a few month ago I would donate a quilt for them to raffle off.  I had forgotten about that commitment until I saw the advertisement.   it has taken a bit of a effort, but the blocks got assembled and put into rows this week.  I will make a back and put the work together this week as I want to have it done before QBL on the 16 of July.

New Work  Sense I can see the end of a the Prepared work, I pulled some more of the printed fabric from the SAQA 100 day challenge pile and that was the starting point for the colors  for this project.

Enjoy the summer.

Carol

 

 

 

Home from Maine

Hello,

I had a great time in Maine visiting with old friends.     This is a shot of the view from our lunch table on the first day of summer.    Elizabeth was a great hostess and both Marty and I enjoyed talking old times with her.

She generously gave me a quilt to take to QBL to sell to raise funds for the Scholarship Fund.    It is a real beauty I think.     We also had lunch with an old friend in Portland on our way home.  The final stop of the trip was at The Clark museum to view the Edvard Munch show there.  It was great!   It was a show of his landscapes and most of the work was new to me.  We spent two and a half hours in the exbibit.   We then went off to look at the perinate show.  We walked in and then looked at each other and declared we were visually “full”.     So we got in the car and drove west.  We talked of the show on the way home and I am so glad we had a chance to view it.

I had a Pixie meeting and a FAD meeting this week too.  It has been a busy two weeks for me.

Progress Report:   Conflict     The work is 43″ w X  32″ t.     This  work is finally complete.  I struggled with the orientation of this work.    With the help of my FAD friends I finally settled on what you see here. It is not the way I constructed the quilt, but I too like this direction.

 

 

 

 

Hands All Around This work is 60.5″ w X 38″t.   I am delighted with how this work finally  came out.   I ended up quilting only the negative spaces of white in a reflective manner. I am thankful for the use of many of my quilting friends hands to do this work.        I am off to get a professional shots of it on Sat.

 

 

 

 

Lap quilt #10    I also managed to put together this new lap quilt in the last two weeks.   I am building a steady pile of them to pass forward in the fall.   I still have a few pieces of fabric that I printed for the 100 Day Challenge to use  so there will be a few more in the future.

 

 

Collages    I did my play with paper on Tue this week.   These pieces are more exploring  with silhouetted figures.  I also attached some of the paper with the sewing machine for extra texture here.

 

 

 

Sense I am working on my own without instruction I am really free to do what I want in this area.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Work   When I helped  empte Ethel Whittemore’s studio, ten years ago, I brought home a big box of pre made squares and many strips  that were one to three inches  wide that she had cut and not used.   I have already created five queen sized quilts from that box .  Earlier this season I pulled the box out and I am now putting forth and effort to assemble all that remains in the box.   I may be at it a few more weeks , but I can see the bottom now.

Felting   I did put in a little work on this project this week.  I am now sorry that it is so large, but I will keep working away.

 

 

 

 

 Blue Beach  I am feeling like I am nearing the end of this project.   As I see it now only a few more hours remain here.

 

 

 

 

New work   This is the next work in the split compliment series.   I also added a second challenge to myself by trying to use as may of   Liz’s the precut arches and curves  as possible.    I am enjoying the process.

 

 

I hope all my readers enjoy the 4th in ways they see fit.

Carol

Active Week

Hello,

   This last week was a busy one for me.   I stated out last Friday by working the Pricilla Sale.   I worked the embellishment and accessory tent with Deb.

 

 

 

 

There were lots of costumers in the afternoon and my friend Sharon purchased one of the many coats .

They did a booming business in the fabric tent too and  I will admit I even added  a few yards to my stash.

 

 

 

 

Garments were the big ticket items and  these three gals also purchased beauties.

Then on Sat we had even more guests.   We packed up at 5 and went home exhausted for a second day.      There are still lots of goodies that will be sold of later.

  Monday I went on a walk along Onondaga lake with Wendy and granddaughter Alexis.   We spotted this Baldeagle. ( he is on the big curved branch, lower center.    We had a good time and enjoyed the walk.

 

 

 

Tue was the Diva meeting.    We took down the show at the Unitarian Church after our meeting.   This work is by Threaea.

 

 

 

 

Alice had lots to share , but I loved  this crow piece the most.

 

 

 

 

 

 Mary showed her African pieces again.   They are so strong graphicly I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Denise  showed this collage type wool work.

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen shared this work.  She triple dyed it and then printed over it with fabric paint and stitched on top of that.  If you go to QBL you will be able to see it in person at the quilt show there.

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara is building new work too.  All the fabric is her own hand dyed and printed.   I am happy to be a part of such a talented group of gals.

Wed the pixies had their zoom meeting.  They are experiencing the hot humid summer of Florida while I am still wearing three layers.

Thursday I helped Liz do some sorting and cleaning.     She generously sent me home with bags of  fabric.   All this activity has meant that I have had little time in the studio  this week.   I did accomplish a little however.

Progress Report: Conflict  I am now done  with the quilting of this work.  I am enjoying the challenge that it has offered me.

 

Hands    I did finish satin stitching around all the organza hands on this work this week.  It took about 40 min to do each hand.   I started the quilting in the white.

 

 

 

Leaf Fall    This is my newest work using some of my hand printed fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants   I just added the squeezie paint  to this batch of fellows this morning.  When they are dry I will add the pin backs.

 

 

 

Collages     I did do my collages on Tue morning.  I did two as I will be away next week.  ( Marty and I are off to visit friends in Maine. )  In looking at these now I feel they are a little cluttered.

 

 

 

 

 

Felting    I picked up some new blue roving at the sale last week end and I just could not resist.  This on is a lot bigger then I usually work so it will take me a while to complete.

As I mentioned, I will be away next week.   I hope all enjoy the longest day of light in the norther hemisphere on Wed and the official beginning of summer.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Summer Snow

  Hello,

This week has been full of differing  weather  events.  When we last walked on Sunday the air was full of the floating seeds from the Cottonwood trees.  When my grandson was young he called it “Summer Snow” and it dose cover parts of the ground just as snow dose.   The air has changed a lot sense then.  We are really feeling the effects of the Canadian wild fires here.   Smoke from  hundreds  of fires has polluted our air so much, that warnings about the content have kept us from walking for four days.   I remember being concerned with  air pollution  40 years ago and  building  artworks with my students for a show titled  ” Once upon a time, when the earth was green and there was air you could not see…”   The kids did some great work and the quilt I made for the show ended up as a part of the perinate display at a nature reserve.   We were concerned about coal burning power plants then and we felt we could have some say about that action.   Many of them are phased out now.    But this is different as nature is in charge.    We do take the availability of clean air for granted.  The sky has been so many distressing colors and tints of gray,  and dirty yellow  over the last few days.   It is also the feeling of powerlessness that is part of my unhappiness.  What can one do?

Progress Report: Pony Boy   I did complete this lap quilt that is a part of the 100 Day

 

 

 

Challenge prints stuff.

The process is fun for me as I get to mix some strange stuff together.

 

 

 

Hands   I am to the place in the work were I am satin stitching down the organza hands.  It takes me about 35 min to do each one so this step is slow.   I do like the effect so it is well worth my time.

 

 

 

Conflict   This work is all assembled now and I am  at the quilting step.   I have made free motion circles around and along all the curves and inserted lines.     I am  ready to do the reflective quilting now.

new 110 Day Challenge piece  I am still building on this piece.  The best part in my eyes.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants   I am building lots of faces as it it baseball season and I worked during a game on the weekend.  I need to move forward with the completion steps so this little tribe can be put away until I get to a place were I can give them away.

Collage   I think there are times when one is really in the  creative grove  and then there are times when you just cannot force it.  I had five false starts this week when I played with collage.     I got too busy with layers in one case and nothing seemed to go together in a second.    The values were too close in a third.   Oh well, I can cut up what I did and look at it with new eyes next week.   And after all of that I am not suer about this one either.   Then again one does not get on base every time on goes to bat.

 

Blue Beach   I just keep building and looking at this work.  I do not feel it is done yet.

 

 

Felting  I was handed a bunch of blue roving by a friend and that made me pull out the stuff to start a new piece.  It is a bit bigger then I usually work as I want to use some of the embroidery wool on it.

I hope you are all breathing freely and that things are going well for you.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Warming Up

Hello,

It has gone from a chilly spring to full hot summer here in just a few days.  We walked at 7:30 because it is set to go to 90 degrees here later today.     It was a quiet week for me this week and my only events were yesterday.  The FAD group meant here in the morning and we sat out on the patio and had a good time. 

Sharon is making great progress on the hand work she is adding to this piece.

 

The Pixies had our regular zoom meeting too.  It is always so enjoyable to talk with them as they all have such a different point of view and emphasis.

Progress Report:   Hands   I have now completed the free motion work in all the black of this piece.     I got a little help yesterday on what type of quilting to do in the white areas.   They really confirmed what I was thinking, but self doubt had me a bit frozen as to how to move forward.

Conflict I started and just about finished the construction of this work this week.  It is the fourth in the split compliment series using yellow, blue violet and red violet.

 

 

 

Pony Boy  This is the next in the SAQA 100 day pieces.  It has a lot of old bits of altered and printed fabrics in it.   It is a lap quilt that I will pass forward in the fall.    I only have two more of the pony’s to do shadow quilting on and the quilting step will be done.

Blue Beach  I just keep adding buttons and looking at this work.  It still feels like it needs a bit more so I keep at it.

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Works  This work got lost as the title suggests.  I was organizing and discovered this work I had started as a part of a on line assignment.     Too much stuff in my space I guess.

It got completed this week any way.

 

 

 

 

 

Collage   I had a good time on Tuesday afternoon  this week.  I am feeling more confident about building up the surfaces and things sort of fell together this time so I did two.  “Lost in Thought”  is this blue one with lots of layers of transparency.

 

 

 

“Confused Thinking” is the second.  I used the same figure on both of these.   I am learning that I really like building on a heavy paper base even if that makes the work a little deep some times.

Creative Assistants  I completed nineteen more of these little guys this week.  I am happy to be using up lots of little bits and treasures that I seem to collect with out even realizing I am doing it.

I am enjoying working away on all my projects and for that I am grateful.

Stay safe

Carol