Category Archives: Creative Strength Training

The Rethink

Hello,

I am facing mixed feelings with my self commitment to the QSDS 100 Day Challenge.  It is not that I want to stop- no,  it is more case  of I having a much bigger bite than I can really chew type of thing.  We are now at day 26 and I have 100 new stamps/stencils. I also have at least that many or more printed fabric units.   If I stay on my original plan I will have double that number before I begin to play with and put anything together.  That part of the idea seems really overwhelming!   So I think I will give myself a break, print the work today, and  hold open the idea that I can at any time cut and print new things to go with or extend and idea that I am playing with.    But  now  I will begin to use/build the fabric I have created.   That seems much more manageable to me and it is my self designed project so I can change the rules any time I want.

The first print of new images are on the left and the mix of old and new images are on the right.

 

 

 

I cut this Ram for the Chinese Zodiac  series.

 

 

 

 

 

  These are the prints from the cut above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second cut for this week was the Zodiac for the year of the horse.

 

 

 

I did not print in the order I cut stamps/stencils due to the workshop over the weekend.   I could cut and listen – but not print, so when I printed I mixed up the order of the images I used.

 

These will be printed later today.   Then I will do some serious thinking about putting some things together.

 

Over the weekend I participated in Interlude on line.  It is the follow up/ introduction  for Creative Strength training.   Folks lead some fun exercises and this is one of my solutions to  a design game we did.

 

On Sunday we did Avatars.  And  this is my sox  figure/doll I did for that one.  She is dressed thanks to my friend Susan who allowed me to raid her stash last summer.    I have not made any dolls in a long time , so  it was a pleasant diversion.

Yesterday there was a FAD meeting in the morning.  Sharon sharded her progress on the three projects she is working on.  She is doing lots of handwork on things like I do.   She started this at the Schweinfurth  Retreat last fall.

The Pixies meant as usual too.  I always find those discussions stimulating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Presume    This work is 36″w X 34″ t.   It is the green response to the monochromatic self challenge.

I really like doing the hand work as a parallel and extension of the metallic inserts  on this project.  Exploration and play is what it is all about.

 

 

Envision   This work is 32.5″ w X 37″ l.     This is the yellow study  of the series.     I am learning a  few things about color with this challenge.

This time I did free motion quilting like my class last summer.

 

 

 

Understanding Orange  is as the name says working with the orange family.  It is almost assembled and I hope to finish that step this afternoon.

 

 Creative Assistants     I did a lot of work on these little guys this week.  I have been watching lots of football and basketball, so lots of handwork is being done.

 

 

New Work  Because I can see the end of the building process for Understanding Orange, I pulled my purples for the last one in the monochromatic  series.   I was surprised by the large number of metallic  purples I have.

I am hoping everyone has a pleasant  Valentine’s day

Keep Creating

Carol

End of 2022 Reflections

Hello,

It has been a full year for me.  I started the year by doing the Quilt Surface Design 100 Day challenge.    That resulted in the two black and white figurative quilts that both won awards.  One at the Associated Artist Show and the second is still hanging as a part of the Quilt=Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurth until Jan 8.  I plan to do that challenge again this year and do it as printing.   I did a lot of hand work this year response to the Fiber Artist Stitch Club’s mini lessons.  I was distressed by the wild fires in the west and did two different  wild fire quilts this year.    I started Creative Strength Training in March and that proved to add lots of meetings and challenges to my creative life too.  I was glad to be a part of that.  We have  our final meeting on the year on Sat.

I continued my weekly meeting with the Pixies.  We discovered at our meeting on Wed that we have been getting together virtually sense Aug of 2020.   I completed my Childhood Memories series this year.  That was a prompt from Susan.

Happily Quilting by The Lake returned in the summer.  I had two great classes and I am glad to say it will meet again in July of 2023, but in a new location.

The Sisterhood of the Scissors had  their retreat in the fall  and I made three new tops in those five days.  I finished the last one this week.   I had a fine year and I resolve to pass forward some of my materials and  to be a bit more selective in what groups I join this year so I can spend more time in the studio.

 

Progress Report: Analise   This work is 30″ X 31″.   I did the top at the Sisterhood retreat and only finished the hand work on it this week.  I really liked playing with the complementary colors  and that sparked the monochromatic series that I am in the middle of now.

 

 

 

 

Michell’s Project   This little project is 26″ X26″ and is a commission for my friend Michele.   It is going to be framed so it is not a traditional quilting job.   It is made from the neckerchiefs that her dog wore when he was alive.  A  memorial project of sorts.

 

 

Forbidden Fruit    This is the first in the Monochromatic Series. That is a sub set of the Meandering Mind series.  One thing leads to another in my processes I guess.   I started the quilting this week.  I am doing all the hand work  at this point and extending the curves to see how they can interconnect and pull the work together.

 

Blue Horizons     This is the second in the Monochromatic Series.   I finished assembling the top yesterday.

 

 

 

 

New Work  In keeping with the series I pulled all my greens yesterday.  I hope to begin today on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants  I wrote last week that I will make this my last tribe of Creative Assistants.   It will be a big one as this is the pile of started body bases and I plan to make them all before I stop building.

Scrap Assembly   I continue to strip together my scraps for my scarp happy quilts.  The baskets does not seem to diminish very fast even though  I try to put in and hour at that task every day.  I gave myself a break yesterday and cut the 2.5″ strips I use in the quilts for about half an hour and put a few together.

Do stay safe and keep Creating throughout  2023!

Carol

Dec 16, 2022

Hello,

I am deep into the holiday season now.  I have packages under the tree and dates almost every day with various friends and groups.     Saturday was the Finger Lakes Fiber Artists group meeting.   There were only nine of us but we had a good time.  Pat Pauly showed us her newest Creations.

 

 

 

 

  Maureen is doing lots of printing.

 

 

 

 

 

Joyce   has finished up her forest doll series.  Cute solution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ann is having fun mixing charts  with this work.

 

 

 

  Susan took a drawing class and shared her work too.

 

 

 

The last   Creative Strength Slow Stitch group meeting was this week too.  I will miss those gals.  I enjoyed our little challenges.   This is my last 6″ challenge.  I have set ups to do two more to fill the book.   There was also a FAD meeting and Pixies too.    Mix all that in with a few parties and such and that has been my life of late.  I do enjoy all the movement of the season.

Progress Report:   Explore  This work is 32″ X 37″  and the second in the complementarity/tint and shade self challenge.

 I am enjoying mixing machine and hand work with this group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Dreams     I have been working hard on this one this week and now need to add eyes to the fish and do the binding.  I  am sure I will finish it quickly.   Working with the taffeta  has added to my holiday spirit too.

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   I seem to be moving very slowly with this project.   there are lots of decisions to be made along the way here.

 

 

 

 

Blue Monday     Finished this hand work piece this yesterday.  I did take three Witches off to the framer yesterday too.  It will be a Christmas gift for my husband as he likes Shakespeare’s  “Macbeth”

Stay safe and enjoy the season.

Keep Creating

Carol

Busy Times

Hello,

The season of rushing around is here.  It seems like I spend all my time at luncheons and gatherings.  I do enjoy it however.  I went the  Open Studios  in  Rochester with Noel on Friday.  We were impressed with lots of work and visited Pat Pauley studio and had a wonderful time.

 

 

 

On Sunday I went off to the Schweinfurth and went to the Trunk talk with Daisy Aschehoug.     She is part of the Modern Quilt movement and has a work in the show.  The talk was strong and we enjoyed it.

 

 

 

Then on Tue, Liz and I went off to visit with our good friend Angela. We ate Christmas Cookies  and got to see her new studio.

Associated Artists had their Christmas luncheon this week as well.  As a result of all the running around I did not get a lot done in the studio, but I am enjoying the season.

Progress Report: Examine  I am to the  handwork step with this project now.  All the quilting is done and I will add binding later.

 

 

 

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   I am still building on this project.  I am enjoying the slipping in the slender lines of metallic fabric.

 

 

 

 

Sun Shine-  Slow Stitch  This is the last little project for the Slow Stitch  sub group of Creative Strength Training.  I have enjoyed the little challenges and will miss the folks, but I think I will not join this  program a second year at this time.

 

 

Sea Dreams   I  put a lot of time in on this project this week.    I built the back and added the sea weed to that unit.  All three of these fish got water marked satin inserted into them.  I have cut four more fish in a different paid that I want to add to the mix.

 Creative Assistants  I spent time watching basketball and football games this week too so I did a little hand work to finish up that step of these fellows.

 

 

 

 

Handwork   I am working away on this piece of handwork when I am at zoom meetings.  It is fun to keep my hands busy.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that everyone is enjoying the wonders of the season.

Keep Crating

Carol

 

New Month

Hello,

I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday.   We had the whole family for the feast, enjoyed each others company  and ate too much.  My Husband and I had the last last of the turkey leftovers yesterday.

At this time of year my only meeting was with the Creative Strength Training group.    I did the suggested assignment of six little works for   abstract and here is my result.

 

 

 

 

The class is drawing to a close and I am working to finish up the work for the Slow Stitch  sub group too.  I did one more little work using paper this time.  The photos is of my mom who passed away 11 years ago now.

 

 

 

Then for my final 3D project I bound the hand work projects into this book.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Poem Tree   This work is 39″ X 38″.   I started it at the Schewinfurth Retreat in early November and finished it on the 30th.     There is lots of free motion machine drawing in the leaves and flowers.

 

 

I machine wrote all the words to the poem by Joyce Kilmer around the out side of the the tree .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meandering Mind Series -Examine    This work is all most done as I only need to finish tacking down the binding on ones side so I am calling it complete for this week.    I need to do the pressing too so it is flat.       I am now doing the quilting on Explore.

 

Hands  I have been working away on this now that I have lots of shots of hands to work on.  I took most of the photos at the same retreat and it was good to have lots of subjects.   I try to do the positive and negative of each set of hands on the same day.

 

 

Three Witches    I think I am done with this work now.  I will be taking it to the framer later this week I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue and Gray  I seem to always need a hand work project so I started this project.   I am exploring using  the Strait Stitch, Chain Stitch the Fly Stitch and  French Knots together here to unify the leftover fused pieces  from some old projects.

 

 

 

Forbidden Fruit   It seems that I am fascinated by pomegranates again.  So I started this piece yesterday at the end of the day and I can hardly wait to get back to it.

 

 

 

Sea Dreams    I did think I was done with the fish theme and then I had this dream of Angel Fish and so I am off and running again.  I am using this plaid that I was given by the daughter of a friend.   Sally Fellows passed away  in early Oct and I helped her daughter empty out the house.

Creative Assistants    I have been watching lots of football so I have been making these little guy again.  I always find it fun to see how they come together.

 

 

 

 

6X6   I know that there will be a call for the little 6X6″ squares for the Rochester Center in the up coming year so I started this one last week.   It still needs a boarder.

Enjoy the season and keep creating,

Carol

 

Back to the Studio

Hello,

I am glad to  finally home for after a lot of activity.  I am also delighted to say that the little Christmas Cactus cutting that Liz gave me in Aug is blooming.    This fall has been a  full and exciting time for me.

I went to the opening of the Quilts=Art=Quilts show on the 29 of Oct and it was a delightful show.  I was just so happy to be in again and could not believe it when I won the Judges Choice Award  for my piece Action.  My friend Ellen won Best of show and friend

 

 

 

 

 

Pat Pauly won the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist award for Best Embellishment.    I was floating on air all the way home and still can’t quite believe it.

 

 

 

There was a Diva meeting at the beginning of November and we added a new member to the group, Denise Cooperman.  She is a feltier and I love what she dose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barbara also had some wonderful new stuff to share with us.  She had a great sale as a part of the Ithaca Art Trail.

 

 

 

 

Then I went off to a five day Sisterhood of the Scissors retreat.   The event the year before involved a lot of “give aways”  of raw materials- yarn and beads.   So this year we got finished work back.  I gave folks cowls and Ann gave us neck scarves.  There were also necklaces. We did show and tell  as well as lots of work.

 

Joyce made   all three of these dolls and the basket during our time there.  She takes the prize for being the most productive.

 

 

 

Ann did hand work all five days and made great progress on this beautiful  landscape.     I worked on the next three tops of the Meandering Mind Series.

Marcia created a new jacket form some of her Perilla fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

Then last weekend I went off to a three day Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center.  It is such a fun and stimulating event for all of us.   Most of the same folks were there again. 

Ann had been inspired by what I was doing at the Sisterhood Retreat so she tried it.  This is her start.

 

 

 

Sharon was working away on a piece from one of her photos from her late summer trip to Montana.

I think is it a strong piece and I love the high contrast.  We sure had fun and I made progress too.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Koi Joy  This work is 39″ w X 43.5″ t.   This is the last of the koi series I think.   I have enjoyed doing them and playing with the metallic  fabrics sure has been a learning experience.

They   tend to fray out very quickly and I had to do fray check along many edges .  There is leather behind the button eyes.

 

 

 

Leaf Pile   I am working away on this project and being away from it has helped me see that it needs more color contrast  to really build a center of interest.   Perhaps a yellow leaf  instead of the red one that I have pinned there now.  It’s value is too close to the greens.

 Meandering  Mind Series -Examine  This is one of  the three tops that I created at the Sisterhood Retreat.  With this phase of the series I am using tints and shades of the complementary colors  without any naturals.    I pin based all three of them this week and I am now ready to quilt away.

 

 

 Meandering  Mind Series -Annalise   This is a second exploration in this series using the Orange /Blue commentary combination.

 

 

Meandering Mind Series- Explore  And this is the third.  I am having fun using solids in this new construction method.  I also have another idea for several more exploitations along this line.

Three Witches  I have started to add a branch to the background of this work while I think through how I want to complete it.

 

 

 

 

 Play  I was not ready to quilt on the Meandering Mind series last week so I looked again at the Paula Kovarik work from last summer.  One of her challenges was to cut up an old work and reassemble it.  I played at that idea for an afternoon.   Great fun.

 

 

I also took four of her exercise and put them together to create some new pillows.

 

Poem Tree   This is one of the works I started at the Fall Retreat.   I was still feeling connected to the free motion work for Paula’s class and this thought came to mind.   I am liking how it is coming along so far.

New Hands  At  both retreats I took lots of photos of people’s hands  to start a new work like the Action project.  It is a different type of challenge as the bigger format creates a new way of thinking.  I have already learned that open hands read a lot better in black and white then closed ones.

 

 

Susan’s Doll    The emphasis last month for  Creative Strength Training was  form so I used that idea as my push to finish off this doll that Susan started .

I am looking forward to getting back into a studio work routine that will help me move forward through the holidays.

Keep Creating,

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Again

Hello,

   I am back in Syracuse after my wonderful adventure with Marty from Sandpoint  Idaho  home.

 

 

I stayed in this wonderful tower room in her son’s house and enjoyed their company before our dive began.

 

 

 

 

We drove south along the Wind River range the first day.    I love how the trees are so distorted by the wind .

Then up into Tetons to look at the park.  Both Jenny Lake and Jackson Lake were as smooth as glass and reflected the Mountains beautifully.   I was a little distressed to see the low water level   marks as  global warming shows it impact on the planet.

We crossed the continental divide and stopped to enjoy the view east across the up coming great plains.

We drove across Montana and Nebraska and noted the changes in vegetation.  We did see a Bald  Eagle, Buffalo and lots of Prong Horn Antilope among the sage brush.  Crossing Indiana,  we stopped at Nappanee at a Dairy Queen for ice cream and enjoyed the sights .  Inside were a group of older Amish women all dressed in blacks and browns with little white hats.  The weather  was so beautiful we went out side to eat on the patio were we came across some teenagers, also Amish.  Three girls in pastel dresses were seated at one table and three boys in pastel shirts and brown pants at another.  The women left the Dairy Queen and got into a dark car and drove away.  A little later as  we ate our ice cream the teens also departed. One girl got on her bike and peddled west.   Then two boys got on their bikes and went east.  The third boy also on a bike crossed the high way and went north. Then the last two girls got into the buggy and went east.    Marty and I finished and we too got into the her car and went east.  We did not see the kids again.

We notice that as we went east it seemed like there were lots of beautiful trees with lots of color in Ohio and Pennsylvania.   New York also had color.  But what we noticed most in New York was the large number of gray and silver cars we saw.

Progress report: Koi in the Kelp    This work is 39″w X 35″ t.     I enjoyed adding all the button eyes and  sequins to the surface to embellish  this work.

 

 

 

 

Koi Joy   I started this work with a curvy cut system that I enjoy as a background.

 

 

 

 

Deconstruct ( Maneuver series)

This top is all assembled now and I am thinking about how I want to quilt it.

 

 

 

 

Maneuver Series-  New

 I now am deciding if I want to do blue and orange tints and shades next or  red and green.

 

 

I think now I will take both sets of colors with me on the Sisterhood Retreat next week and work on them.

 

 

 

 

 

Book  For Creative Strength Training the element is form.  So in the Slow Stitch group it was suggested that we might make a book as our 3-D example.    The inside pages are made with interfacing and   I have mounted some of my 6″ blocks on some of the pages.

I  have  also   started  several new 6 ” texture pages to add to this work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Susan’s Doll  I did hand work in a meeting this week and worked on Susan’s doll by adding legs.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches    I am to the point were I am adding in more shading into the work.

 

As I mentioned I will be off at a  retreat next week so it there will not be an entry  until  for a while.

Keep creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

 

Forward

Hello,

Fall is all around now.   I did not spend as much time in the garden this fall as in the past and my Hosta went to seed.  I have never seen them before and love the black feather like seeds.    I wonder if I will get any germination.

The reception for the show at May Memorial was  Sunday and I enjoyed talking with folks.   The Creative Strength Training group meant yesterday as did the Pixies.  I also had a FAD group meeting scheduled, but sense Eric was ill, we canceled that one.   He is fine today.

Progress Report- Lap 5  This work is 37″X52″ .   I created the patterned pieces.   I shipped two lap quilts off to my step mother and aunt this week too.

 

 

 

 

Frenzy( rework)     It is  35″w X 33″ t.  After Talking with Jane Donwald about this work I decide to alter the background.    The fish were lost in the first one.   This solution although much smaller is so much stronger.   I need to go back in now and reconnect the eyes on some of the fish .

 

 

 

 

 

Koi in the Kelp I am now doing hand work on this piece.  I am adding eyes and sequins as scales to add texture to the bodies.

 

Three Witches  I need to now fill in the rest of the wraps for the witches and build up some areas of darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

Maneuver Series – Deconstruction I received so  much positive feed about the first three works  that I decided to alter the challenge and try it again.  I am going to only use the complementary colors, but use tints and shades of them in this series of three.   All the white that is showing from the pin wall will disappear under color.

New Fish   I have pulled more metallic fabrics for another Koi piece.  So I made a curve cut background and I will make the fish to go on top.  Having learned the lesson about contrast  the metallics are   all darker.

 

 

 

Mask With October I think of mask and have always enjoyed making and putting on costumes.  This month the theme for Creative Strength Training  is form, and I though I could create a mask to fit that category.     I am having fun,

 

I am going on a trip and will be away for two weeks so there will not be any posts  until Nov 3.    Please enjoy Halloween and stay safe

Carol

 

Flying High

Hello,

I am flying high as I was just informed that my work “Athletes ” just won Best of Show at the Associated Artists 95  Members Show.   The opening will be in two weeks.  I just could not believe it when Mimi called me.    My husband said that from the look on my face,  he thought some one had died.  I was stunned.

Just got a second call form Liz and she said to check to see if I got into The Quilts =Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurt and to my surprise – I did.  The other quilt from the black and white 100 Day SAQA challenge got into that show.  Action is what it is called and it is very like this one.

I did have a few other things happen this week.   FAD meant and we had a good talk.

I continue to work through  the Creative Strength Training  book and did a lot of righting for that.  I also did several more of the exploding blocks.  I also got back into my Inspired to Design book and did a bunch of tone studies.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Feather Dancer    I need to do a it more quilting on the right side and then this work will be finished.

 

 

Wall of Fire  Work is going well on this piece.  I am building up lots of layers of transparency on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 2  This quilt is all quilted now and I am doing the binding.  I am sure I will finish it this week.

 

 

Lap 3  I finished quilting this work this Moring and added the binding too.  Now it too is ready for completion.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches   Filling in the blacks solidly take lots of time so this face is going very slowly.

 

 

Blue Water    This is the base for the next work with the fish .  I want to try using only metallic fabrics on this one.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Rainy Days

Hello,

We are enjoying a series of rainy days here in central New York.     I am thankful as so may are in drought or in flooding conditions.    Here it is just gentle and soaking into the ground for the most part.   I like to walk in the rain too so I am taking advantage of it.

It’s the beginning of the month and I had several meetings.  The Creatinve Strength Training group meant.  The element of emphasis this month is Texture- my favorite so I will enjoy this one.    The Pixies meant and Quilt Divas too.

Barb had a  great little quilt based on a Slot Canyon that I really liked.

 

 

 

 

And Terri shared her news work too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Coy  Fish   This work is 34.5 ” X 35.5″.  I like how this project came out.  I still have not come across my inspiration work, but that is not necessary now.

 

I really like the fish forms and playing with them is fun for me.

 

The second piece with more Coy fish I have  set aside as I am feeling it is too busy. I am thinking on it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching  This work is 15.5″ X 26″.  The color here as well as the textures are what I really enjoy about this piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hand Out  I am still building on this piece.  I want more hand work here than on Reaching.  I do like the complexity that the spider webs add too.

 

Lap quilt 2  With this quilt I am again using up Sue Elle’s blocks.

There is still lots of quilting to do on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt 3   This is just the start of another lap work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches  I am enjoying doing the hand work on these interesting faces.

 

 

 

Feather Dancer   I uncovered this work while looking for another project .  There is so little left to stitch that I decided to complete it.  Getting closer every day.

Fire Wall   With new fires in the west I felt I needed to create a new fire piece.  I got the base fabric from a fellow quilter at QBL this summer.  These layered quilts always take lots of time to build up to the level I feel is complete.

Ponder   I am done with the hand work on this piece now and only have the hand work to do on the last one in the tryptic  to complete the series.

 

 

 

 

I hope the fall is developing nicely for you.

Keep Creating

Carol