Category Archives: Geza Series

Prep Week

Hello,
This week has been a quiet one. I did go and dye with Liz on Monday. We had fun and I worked to create several fabrics that look like rocks for my class. The work  pictured is what Liz created. Most of my efforts this week have been in preparation for QBL that begins for me on Friday. That day I will help hang the quilt show at Onondaga Community Collage. Then all the action will begin on Sunday. There will not be any new posts until Aug 1 after QBL is over.

Progress Report: Old and New- Purple and Blue The rework of this project is very satisfying. I like how it is much flatter too.

 

 

 

 

 

Diminishing I work hard on this project to complete the car wash series before I encountered Rosalie Dace again at QBL. I am done with the quilting. I did free motion spirals in the circles and pebble quilting in the rest of the work. Then the back ground was zig -zag stitched. That was new for me but I like how it looks.

 

Wool Rounds I started this new hand work piece this week as I finished the last hand project. I am not sure where I am going with it but I am enjoying the process.

 

 

 

 

New Work I am ready to do another forest fire piece and so this is all basted for that purpose.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories :Parade Win When I was in the second grade there was a local parade in Columbus Junction. Mom made a green and gold tutu for me and a matching one for my Tony doll. I was so proud to be allowed to march all the way downtown without my parents. I had earned a quarter from Mrs Fister and I was going  to spend it all by myself.  After the parade I went into the drug store to do my solo shopping and the Draggiest leaned over his counter to talk to me. He said “ Congratulations”. I asked for what and he told me I had won a prize in the parade for my costume. I was surprised as I was unaware there was a contest at all. He told me to go across the street to Roundies Grocery and pick up my prize. When the manager, Mr Roundy gave me the prize of $5.00 I was delighted. I thanked him and took the money and ran all the way home to tell Mon, totally forgetting my goal to spend a quarter.

Gingerbread Men At Christmas time one year, again in Columbus Junction, Mom and I made gingerbread men with raisin eyes and mouths. We took them to the “shut ins”  in the community and hung some with red ribbon from silver ropes in the windows. I was disappointed that I did not get to eat any, but Mom said when we took them down from the windows after Christmas I could eat them all. That was about a dozen. I was nullified. When we took down the tree the weekend after New years, I got my reward. Then came the disappointment- the gingerbread men were hard as rocks and we had to throw them out.

Keep Creating

Carol

Summer 2019

Hello,
This week has been a full one for me Summer comes and we all get busy. I taught a workshop in silk paper making on Thur and we all seemed to have a good time. Joyce did a lot of work that she will really use in books I think.

This shot is of Regina separating the silk paper from the nylon netting.

 

 

 

 

 

This shot is of my final products. I was working on building some material for my Rock Class at QBL in two weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

I also did wash out the dyed work from the week before. It was very pale so I think we need to add more powered dye to the mix to keep the intense colors.

 

 

Progress Report: Heat This is the fourth work in the Car Wash series. It is 31″w X 38″l. I had a good start on this work when I was in Ohio.

The two orange panels are silk paper that I made before I made the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old and New- Purple and Blue 3X3 This work is 56″ square. It is my second entry for the 3X3 show. I found the blue squares and I made the purple ones to add to them to create this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diminished This work is the last of the Car Wash series. I was following a driver who kept hitting his breaks and the circles of his tail lights made an impression on me. I have abstracted it to suit me as you can see.

 

Shirt   I keep putting in the stitches on this work.    I  have also added a second color to the work.

 

 

 

Childhood: 4th of July 1961 Being a part of the of 4th of July parade in Grandview Iowa was always one of the joys of summer. Grandpa Howard was the organizer for yeas and that also pulled me in. In 1961 at the 100 anniversary of the start of the Civil War, that was the theme of the parade. Many kids dressed in blue shirts, union hats and carrying BB guns marched with tags around their necks listing the 27 men who went form the community to join the 19 Regiment of the Iowa Infantry. My cousin Danny, wore the sign for our great grandfather Herman Gast, who was a immigrant from Germany. Great Grandfather was discharged from Mobile in July 1865 and walked all the way home to Iowa from that point. He arrived in Oct. I wore a sign for Heneritta Wickelman, the only nurse from the county that volunteered to go. Because she was not a family member I do not know any history of that woman. It was a good experience for me as a kid.

Have a pleasant  Holiday on the 4th and I will post again on Friday next week.

Keep Creating

Carol

Quilt Canada 2019

Hello,
I missed doing a posting last week because I was off at Quilt Canada with the New Your Quilt Consortium. I caught the bus and rode along with 54 other quilts five hours to Ottawa. Regina and Liz shared the trip with me. It was peasant and we really caught up. There was a second bus from NY and we knew lots of gals on that bus too and had dinner with  several of  them.

Then on Friday, off to the show. We shopped of course and then went to the National Juried show. There were lots of very impressive works. I really liked the mix of hand and machine work on this Cherry Blossom Triptych.(Close up)

This work by Daniela Tiger, “Where are We Going from Here” about emigration was very thought provoking.   This is a close up too.   The machine drawing is wonderful and the paint work is strong.

 

 

I really liked all the wonderful machine work on this face.  “Arborist: Tree Spirit” got my vote for best of show.

 

 

 

 

 

This “Exotic Fathered Friends”was a great study in Machine work and painting.

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed the mixing of media in this work “ My Tribute to Indigenous Powwow Dancers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the ribbon  work and beading was stitched to the background before it was quilted together.

 

Thousands of pieces of fabric where used in “Technicolor Dream Parrot” by Roxanne Nelson. It was a visual feast and we ran out of gas before we visited all the works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered out Chinese at the hotel the second night.   This is dinner with Bev,  Joyce  , Liz, Regina and Terry.   We laughed a lot and fell into bed exhausted.

 

 

 

Day 2 we visited the QSDS  Metamorphose show. It too had a lot wonderful work.

I was delighted so see this felt work as apart of this show.     Wonderful hand dyed stuff too.

We went home on the bus very tired with our treasures that eve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz and I got back on track to doing our weekly  dyeing again and this is what the line looked like on our first run.

 

 

 

I really liked this little piece of Liz’s work.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Into It –Geza Series.   This work is 41.5″ w X 35″ l. I did the last of the quilting and bound it before I went off to Canada. This is the first one in based on the  Car Wash.

Rosalie really helped me with the quilting on this project. I had not thought of using double needle for this work, but I think it helps.

 

 

Heat – Geza Serious.   I am quilting away on this work and will soon be ready to all the silk paper to the piece. I will stitch it down by hand.

 

 

Old and New , Purple and Blue This work got a lot of attention on the bus. I finished all the purple blocks and made all the nine patches. Now I am adding the sashing and will begin the final assembly this week.

Scarf Liz purchased this bit of commercial Cant-ha to make a scarf. I did the assembly with the twist in it so I have a mobious strip.

 

 

 

 

Jacket I observed Victoria’s blue jean jacked with a panel sewn on the back when we went to Ohio. In my search this week for a fabric this week I came across this beautiful bit of Shobori and though I would add it to my own jacket. It now has a good home.

Handwork Shirt Having finished the hand work on the blue squares I needed a new project. So I pulled out this shirt that I had purchased in Florida earlier this spring. I will keep adding the distorted blanket stitches to the shirt until it feels finished.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories: Homes
My childhood was full of moving. My parents were always finding better jobs and moving to new locations. Be cause they were teachers that also meant that summers also included living in different locations. This also meant building new houses and I have lots of great memories of that activity, but I will include them another time.
I will try to cover them in time order. My fist memory is of the house in Ainsworth,  Iowa. It was a simple four rooms and a bath set up and my brother Gene was born there. Mom saved every thing and I even have the recite for the lumber for that house $350.00. I remember too that they did not build a barrier in the closets- back to back – between the two rooms and we could run through the hanging clothes into there room and jump onto their bed when we hear them in the mornings. Dad was an English teacher there and basketball coach. I got to be the mascot and at half time I sat in my little purple skirt and white sweater on the center of the court while the cheer leaders did there thing around me.

Dad got a job as a principal in Columbus Junction, Iowa and we moved. This time they purchased a house were the basement was built into a hill and with Grandpa Howard’s help built the main floor on top while the first school year went on and we slowly moved up stairs. I stared kindergarten while we lived in that house. The city park was our view from the front room and as kids we spent a lot of time there.

The summer I was seven, Dad got a job as a temporary ranger for the summer in Yellowstone National Park. My parents burrowed a air stream trailer that they pulled out and back with our yellow and white Ford. We did not have electricity that summer and only had fresh meet and milk on the night after we went to West Thumb( no longer there) to the store. I remember sleeping in the front room of that trailer and watching the full moon one night line up with the circular window in the door and listen to the coyotes howling.

Our next move was to Carroll Iowa where I started third grade. Again we lived in the basement that Dad, Grandfather and twin high school boys built into a hill the summer before school started. We actually lived in an apartment for the summer. It was across the street from the city park and both Gene and I took swimming lessons there. Gene started Kindergarten and Mom went back to work for the school as a seventh and eight grade science teacher.

Our next home was again a temporary summer Ranger Job for Dad in Tetons National Park at Colter Bay Campground this time. They provided housing and we had electricity. We spent the summer in a army surplus tent with a wooden floor, wood stove and screen door. Mom made a birthday cake in the electric fry pan that she brought with us. We did have to walk/run to the bathroom in the camp ground though.

We continued to live in the house in Carroll in the winter and we went off to Greeley Colorado so my parents could work on there Master’s degrees. We lived in a much nicer trailer that had two bed rooms. Gene and I both went to summer school that summer. We played with kids in the park in the afternoons. The girl and I played dolls. Barbie was popular by that time, but my little doll of choice was Betsy Mc Call. Her legs bent and she could set in chairs.

Dad Graduated from the University of Iowa and he and Mon got jobs at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. That was the only house that they did not build them selves. But they did choose the lot and arranged the floor plan to suit us. We moved in there and I started eight grade. Gene was at the local elementary and for the fist time we did not go to the same building for school. My parent shared that house until their divorce in 1973.

Childhood Memories: Dad’s Office
Fathers’s day is Sunday. In thinking about him I have wonderful memories to share
We moved the year I was six and ready to begin Kindergarten. Dad took his first job as a High School principal in Columbus Junction Iowa. I remember going to his office. The Superintendent was across the hall and there was a huge grandfather clock that fascinated me in the hall. I was really hypnotized by the hug pendulum and I love the chimes. Dad’s office had a clerking floor that even made sound when I walked across it. I remember setting in Dad’s chair and my head was barley above the desk top. There was a closet in the back of the office that held the candy that they sold at sporting events. There was also on the back of the door to that closet a big wooden paddle. It was larger then I was tall. I had always know that Dad meant business when he talked- but this really reinforced that in my young mind. It Dad gave me a Milkyway from that closet when we left because I had been so good. Later he sat me down at home and we had a serious talk about behavior. Dad said I was getting too old to spank, but I was still responsible for my actions and there would be other punishments if I needed them. We had other variations on the responsibility talk as I grew up.

Gardening with Dad
Every place we lived Dad had a garden. I recall the second spring in the house in Columbus Junction and watching him use the spade to turn over the ground. I sat near the strawberry bed and he uncovered a carrot that had survived the winter in the ground. He wiped it off on his pants and told me I could eat it. I backed a bit”Its still dirty” I said. “Aw,” he replied and wiped it a second time. “Don’t you know you have to eat a cubic acre of dirt before it will kill you?”, as he tried yet again. I took the carrot and took a small bit from the cleaner end- it tasked OK. Dad smiled and said “That’s my girl- my Carrie berry bin” -And I got my first and favorite nick name. As Dad was always teaching he explained about nick names when I asked him. This one is a sign of “endearment “ he told me and I added this to my list of growing vocabulary.

Hope you are all creating wonders of your own

Carol

PS   Posting for the next two weeks will be on Friday.  Next Thur I will be teaching a Silk Paper workshop and the following Thur is 4 th of July.

Quilt and Surface Design Symposium

 

Hello,
I am home form my adventure to QSDS.  Susan very generous and kindly asked me to ask me t replace her on this adventure. It was great!   This conference was held on the Columbus Collage of Art and Design  campus  in Columbus Ohio.    I was  in Independent Studio/ Master Class with Rosalie Dace for seven days. What a great way to imerce one in a new challenge. I prepared myself by choosing a new subject that I had never tried before and set a goal of trying to find ways to blur the edges of my work. I am pleased with my progress and will keep developing this train of thought.  My photos of the car wash were a great jumping off place. The class only had 7 folks in it.
Jenny was setting behind me and her simplified drawings developed into a wonderful work by the end of the week.

 

 

 

Sherry spent the week working on a quilt based on the back side of a water lily leaf.

 

 

 

Dale worked on a piece based on the blue sound in space.

 

 

 

 

Susan was preparing for a solo show that has 30 works in it. She is also writing a book and hopes to turn her quilts into posters to sell to other cooks.

 

 

Rosalie did hand work all week jumping from one project to another. This is one of my favorites.

I checked in with Victoria too and this shot shows her first piece dealing with fusing.

 

 

We took a field trip to on Wed. First stop was the Ohio Museum of Craft. I was delighted by this wonderful sunflower by Mark Wiesner. It made me recall my corrugated mask series that I did at SU.

The show was wonderful with a lot of great work.
Then it was back to the bus and off to Athens to Quilt National. No photos there of course but it was stimulating. I was looking seriously at how others blurred the edges and ways they quilted that were not the typical strait line work. I got lots of ideas.

 

Victoria’s fist class ended on Friday and she had three more works to add to her future.

 

 

There was a walk about on Friday too and I visited all the classes.

 

 

 

This is a shot of Pat Pauly’s dye class- one of five rooms.

 In keeping with my attention focus on machine work, I was fascinated by this work by Joe Cunningham that he had out for the walk about.
Victoria went on to a two day class with Joe for the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a challenge and Pat Pauly did these works in response to that.  The folks  where to do four little 12 X 12 quilts in red, yellow blue and green.   These are Pat’s yellow and blue works.

 

 

 

This is Susan’s response to green .

 

 

 

 

 

The teachers did a lecture one evening and this is a shot of Joe on stage talking about his work.

 

 

 

 

There was one other event that needs to be mentioned, it is not offered every year.    But on Tues at 11:45 we had to evacuate our beds due to a tornado alarm warning. We all went to the basement were we  enjoyed a sleep ware fashion show while we waited to return to sleep.
The week was great and I feel like a gained a lot from being there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Geza series: Pants Leg Monster   This work  is 38.5″ w X  50″ l.     I did it in class with Rosalie. One of my faults is I try to put everything in one work and being in class stopped  me from dong that with this time.

 

 

 

 

The parts are suspended from the top with a few  “drops” running down as quilting.

 

 

 

 

Geza   Manzi         Manzi   is Zulu for  water.    I am still straggling with the quilting on this project. Again Rosalie saved me from trying to fill this with too much stuff.

 

Geza series: 3 I have not decided on a title for this work yet. It is loosly based on the bubbles sliding down the windshield and grew directly out of my photos . I had intended to put the Tyvec bubbles on top of Manzi .

This work is also my first mix of hand stitches with machine work.

 

Geza 4 I made the heat panels from silk paper before I left for Ohio. This  is early in the process and only pinned in place.

 

 

 

 

 

Geza 5 The car in front of me in the wash  kept tapping his breaks….. this work grew out of that.   I am feeling more confident just using the suggestion of the idea as my starting place then before this class.

 

 

 

 

Purple Squares At night in Columbus  I worked on my Daily Practice every eve. I got ten  blocks finished.

Childhood:  Milking     Grandfather Merritt taught me to milk when I was 10.   I was quite proud although I never developed enough stamina to to fill a bucket.   My cousin  Kelly was allergic to cow’s milk so they had goats.  Phoebe was her favorite and one day after proudly barging I could milk a cow she challenged me to milk the goat.  I almost completed the task and the goat kicked over the bucket and knocked me off my pride perch.

I had a good and full week and feel charged to go forward.

Keep Creating

Carol