Category Archives: Pond Water

Fall Events

 

Hello,

This week was full of events.   Last weekend  I went off to the Tompkins Quilt guild show.  Cheri won a ribbon  there.  So too did my friend  Pat.  But this  red work is not the one she won a ribbon on.

IMG_9458 Regina and I enjoyed viewing the show and talking about what we saw.  My shots of Regina’s quilts are not good enough to share.

I went off to the Schweinfurt with Marty and we  vied the  Geologic Landscapes show on Wed..     This wall piece is of the watershed  of the lake.   The white lines are of the creeks and streams that feed into the lake and the white area near the top is the lake.   The outline  of the shape is of the highest elevations around the lake area.    I loved this concept as I have always liked topographical maps.

IMG_9489Then this morning was the FAB meeting.   Both Judy and Nancy are working on different variations of Disappearing Four Patch.   Judy’s is the one in dark blues and whites.   Nancy’s is the one with the greens in it.   It is great how unique they both are.

Patty  has finished her  extruded cotton  thread  knitted shawl.IMG_9492   I think it is great!

 

Progress Report: Buggy   This work is  40” w X 49.5” l.   The bugs are oil stitch on fabric  using my own designed and cut  stencils.   The gray and light green panels are made from stamps I cut in Pat Pauly’s  class at QBL two summers ago.    I dyed the dark green and the fabric with the turquoise and white in it too.   Liz had challenged me to use some of the stuff we have been creating and this one fills the bill.   IMG_9472The reflective quilting looks like bug trails one of my friends said.      These big black insects are based on cockroaches.   IMG_9473  The blue green insects are also beetles.

Quartered Glyph   This work is 44” w X  48” l.   I used a smaller version of the Owl Glyph pattern that I created to do this work.   IMG_9486  The quilting is strait line  starting from the center and working out  using variegated thread.   IMG_9488  The shapes of the glyph are raw edged  appliqued.

Glyph IV IMG_9467I just keep beading away on this project.     I like the effect, but progress is slow.

Tossed Salad  This quilt is made from all the cut away parts of Quartered Glyph.     I am machine stitching down the parts in the raw applique style here.   I have  added the back and batting too so this time I am quilting at the same time as I put the parts on.  I do not know if I will have to add additional machine lines until I am done with this step.

Pealing Oranges    This quilt is still growing.  I made a smaller Owl Glyph pattern and used a beautiful piece of orange fabric from Regina to place that pattern on.    It is being mixed with some of the other cut away fabrics from various other Glyph projects.  This is an early step in the process.

 

IMG_9469Wool Work   I have started doing free motion machine drawing on this felted work.  I am also tacking down bits of fabric and yarn with the machine stitches.

Card Confused   I build this card from multiple copies of the same image trying to mix and confuse the eve.  All the cutting and pasting made it warp a bit  but I think the confusion is there.  I sure feel that way about the world at large at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Pond Water IMG_9479   I am now  hand quilting on this project.  The horizontal quilt lines are  meant to give the impression of water patterns as well as hold it all together.

Label Quilt    This work is 95” X 95”.    I am now done with this weekly project.  It has been an enjoyable and calming evening daily work.  It took  me a week to finish each of the 144 squares.   I am now trying to decide  what the next daily practice project will be.

Keep Creating.

Carol

Water Main Break

  Hello,

One of the  big excitements for this week was a water main break on Sunday morning.   I was washing up after making muffins and suddenly no water came out of the tap.   I looked out the kitchen window to see the road full of muddy water.    I went out doors and discovered the gal across the street  had just called the water department. The water was bubbling up and running down the street- it overwhelmed the street drains  and ran all the way down to the park – four blocks away. IMG_9390  The water was so powerful it cracked and threw up the street.   The men came in about 20 min and turned off the water.  A little later they were followed by a  repair crew who started about 9.    First they broke up the tar via and cleared away all the mud and stone to expose the pipe so they could replace it.IMG_9393  The whole was about 8 feet deep and 10 feet wide.  It was huge.  They cut away the broken area of the pipe and then put in a new section.  It was about 3:30 by that time.   Then they began to fill in the whole with loads of stone.  It took four trips with dump trucks full to do that job.   Lastly after 9 in the evening they patched over the  filled opening with tar via.   There was lots of mud on the street and the street sweeper made five runs up and down the road to get it up on Monday – but it is still dusty here.

IMG_9437This shot of a side walk that got flooded and is still muddy this morning when I walked.   The street sweeper could not get to that space.   It was  quite and adventure.

FAB meant here last week too.  Marty came as she is in town.  She brought  her newest little project.IMG_9383

Patty had just finished a new scarf that she shared with us.  I think it is grand- only knit and pearl she tells us.   Judy brought one of her Disappearing Four Patch blocks that she started  up at camp when we were there. IMG_9382It was a good meeting and we all had fun.

The  first  Tuesday  of the month came this week so I had QuEG’s and Diva meetings too.

 

IMG_9398Angela is taking an on line class in felting and having a grand time.  She showed us about ten pieces she  had done already.  These two show different wools on the left and adding  different silks on top of the second one.Linda is finishing up this “ Almost Black and White “ top.   IMG_9406   Sally is working away on Christmas gifts and this bag she made was full of them- hand bags,   soft toy bags and such.  She dose great work.IMG_9404Corrine had this wonderful bracelet to share.  She made it from and exchange she did at a conference where she traded a great luggage tag for the charms.

 

  Before I went to the Diva meeting, I stopped and had a little private  visit to the Rock Garden Show in Homer.   Cheri and Terri- the gallery guru  show me through.   They both  had work there of course.   Cheri’s was one she started in the class she and I were in with Kerr at QBL.   IMG_9411   Terri’s work is much larger and full of texture.   It is a great little show with nine artists  and wonderful work.   IMG_9409  This work is Cheri’s too.

The Diva’s were hopping as well.   Lori had this wonderful little bag to share with us.  She did it for her entry for the Embroidery Guild of American  2017 challenge.   She got feed back on several other  stamped and hand dyed projects that she is working on.

 

 

 

 

Alice has  almost completed her Mary Colter quilt for the Woman Museum.    It looks great.

 

 

 

Liesa has  completed her quilt for the “Threads of Change  Show”.   Let Us Stay-is wonderful commentary I think.

IMG_9427Regina  wowed us again with all her indigo dyeing.  She is creating up a storm of beautiful work.

Anne has finished “ Blind In justice”   her work on the American’s with Disabilities Act.    All those brail dots are three dimensional.

IMG_9430 Ruth’s wave is moving along as she wants it finished for the  quilt show  this week end.     It was a powerful meeting and I enjoyed my self .  Came home all hipped up again.

The other thing I tried this week was dyeing with wall nuts.  IMG_9384It is great fun and I got some real nice browns.

Progress report: Buggy   I am to the reflective quilting stage on this project.  I  added two more oil stick stenciled insects to  it this week too.

Glyph IV  IMG_9449I just keep putting in my hour a day on this project.  It is moving forward.

Quartered Glyph   I started this one up  at camp.  I am ready to start assembling the  four units now that I have trimmed away the second layer.    The Cut aways are so beautiful that  I may need to do another  work using these shapes and  pieces. IMG_9450

Pond Water   This project has become my short term evening project.  I am hand quilting it so this is a good replacement for the time being.   I do have a new nightly project in mind however.

IMG_9432Card   Make Believe  This is my newest card.   I am so distressed by the shooting in Los Valgus that I want to escape into make believe.  Thank goodness I have art as a way of getting away into my own world .

Label Block quilt.  All the blocks are assembled now.   I will stitch in the ditch quilt it and finish the job.

Keep Creating

Carol

Two Trips

IMG_9045.jpgHello,

The past two weeks have been ones of travel for me.  Last week at this time I was on my way to the the Dairy Barn in Athens Ohio.  Liz and I were visiting Quilt National.   They have changed the entrance and it looks great.  No photos are allowed in this show, but my memories are rich.  I was epically taken by  Natalya Aiken’s Iron Spine work and then saw that she was the feathered artist in  the QSDA magazine that came this week.     I also like Colleen Anbaugh’s Hot Sugar Cell piece.  Lots of glitz and Liz said it was like my work in some ways.   Liz and I were both excited by the many techniques we had just explored in Kerr’s class at QBL two weeks before  and noticed several of them in the quilts on display at this show.  IMG_9057.jpg   This fact will  pushed me to do more exploration.     The next day we drove north to Zanesville to check out their museum and see another quilt show.    Liz has been in class with this woman at Nancy Crow’s barn.  We both noted Nancy’s influence here.    The museum was a bit of a work it’s self and I took lots of inspirational pictures  of the stairs and shadows.IMG_9062I can see works coming from these images.

IMG_9075.jpgThen yesterday Eric and I went for a road trip to Corning New York to the glass museum there.  We watched five demonstrations and learned a lot.  The artists made it look easy, but I know from my one experience blowing glass it is far from simple. IMG_9078    I also enjoyed the Tiffany exhibit.  Mosaics are always  fascinating and these were amazing.   This clock really blew me away.Tiffany glass clock  Tiffany’s many recipes for the  colors of glass were a real game changer for his work as well as the glass industry.     It was a great day.

Glyph I

 

 

 

Progress Report: Glyph I   This work is 26.5” w X 41”l.    I started the series in Cynthia Corbin’s class at QBL this summer.  The Glyph is based on the word OWL.  IMG_9098  I used simple  outline quilting because the shapes and the colors in the fabrics( by Judy Roberts)  did so much of the work for this piece.IMG_9099

 

Glyph II IMG_9094.jpg This is the second in the series.  I have pin based it down and I am now zig zag appliqueing down the  glyph.  I will make a second run around the out sides with more zig zag to make it smooth and solid.

 

 

 

Glyph IVGlyph IV    The bead work goes on for this project.   I am stitching it down with beading thread and back stitching every fifth bead to make a strong connection.

 

Pond Water IMG_9103  This work continues to get attention .     I did bead work here this week too.

Ethel's scrap happyEthel’s Scarp Happy   I finished the assembly added the boarder and binding on this piece this week.  I only need to do the diagonal quilting and the project will be complete

   Creative Assistants  IMG_9105  As fall approaches I start  thinking about doing these little guys.  I pulled out the box of trims that Debbie sent me this summer and  added a  row of trim to 100 bodies.  The last eve I did four faces.  One small step.

Cards  Ever sense I visited Susan in March I have been participating in a weekly collage card creating challenge with several other artists.    It began loosely based on Tarot cards but with time we have pulled away from that.    This is my card for this week titled Activities  and the accompanying  text.  IMG_9090

Activities: 
 Over the course of a day we demand many little task of our selves-One walks, 
talks , comb hair, opens doors, turns on and off lights, reads, checks the 
weather, brushes teeth,  drinks tea, washes hands, sets, collects and opens 
mail, takes pills, writes, climbs stairs, prepares and eats food, ties shoes, 
uses zippers and buttons, looks at the sky, does dishes, changes cloths, checks  
e-mail, and creates something.  It's a complex life. 

Label BlocksIMG_9100.jpg   I finished these two  blocks this week.   I only  have four more  to finish and the job will be done.    I need to start to think about another hand weekly project.

Keep Creating

Carol

Tree Work

 

IMG_9007.jpgHello,

I am feeling a bit sad today as the tree men came today to do some necessary tree trimming and removal.   As this shot shows the oak was rubbing on the roof as was the white pine.    I love trees and have done many works celebrating them so having two cut to the ground is the source of my distress.  One,  the ash in front of my studio window was suffering the effects of the  ash bore beetle.    I did do a drawing of IMG_9023 a short branch.   The second was a Maple that was greatly distorted because it was growing in the shadow of a second tree.    There is a lot more light in the yard and house now.    The roof will  be  better for the cutting, one can see the street signs again and walk the sidewalk without ducking.   All this is positive and I will concentrate on those positive things.   One can always plant more trees.   IMG_9011.jpg And there are always more quilts to build using trees as there themes.

IMG_8979As if a week of dyeing with Kerr was not enough, Liz and I did dye on Monday.  This is a sot of the dyes we have to choose from on the work table.   What fun.IMG_8978Some of the  altered fabric on the line.

I received a wonderful gift this week too.  My friend Marilyn stopped with a bag full of trims and linens from her Mom’s attic.  IMG_9020She said I knew you could and would make something wonderful out of some of this.  What a fine vote of confidence.  I can see several things I want to work with already.

 

owlProgress Report:   Owl   I am to the quilting step of this work.     But I have also decided I like it with a vertical layout better then the horizontal way I had it laid out.

IMG_9019That means I will need to change the title as one can not “read” owl with this change in orientation.   But it is still a work in progress so things could still change.

IMG_9021.jpgPond Water  I am still adding hand work to this piece.  The end is in sight however.

IMG_9014Glyph  IV  I am quilting the background of this piece now.  I want to bead the actual Glyph now that I have removed the interfacing I put in last week.    I  did some stabilizing quilting every 2.5” out from the center in both directions.   Those quilting lines will stabilize the piece.     

 

IMG_9015.jpgLabel Blocks     I finished up two more blocks this week.  The pile of black squares is getting smaller.

Enjoy the trees in your life and

Keep Quilting

Carol

Travel plus

 

IMG_8279 Hello,

We hit the open road to test out Eric’s new car.  It was fun but we spent a lot of time in the rain.  We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Coppers Town first. IMG_8260.jpg Then on the Norman Rockwell museum.  We saw Edith Wharton’s newly restored gardens were a sculpture show was going on. The sculpture was mixed among the woodland paths too.  We did the Emily Dickinson  home  and then moved on to Shaker Village in Canterbury.   I really liked all the wonderful innovative machinery there.IMG_8269  These machines were in the wash house.    We made it all the way to the Maine coast before we headed back west.IMG_8272  This model boat was in an old boat house that was converted into  restraint where we had dinner.    We stopped in the Adirondacks  for the night and then went to the Adirondack  Experience museum and had a good time looking at the treasures there.   The travel was great but as always I am glad to be home with many great memories, lot of photos and the ideas are flying in my head.

Tue as the  the QuEG’s meeting so I got even more stimulation.  IMG_8324Corrine has been doing a lot of beading and the results are beautiful.

Linda's top Linda C showed us this beautiful top.   There is a lot of hand work on it.

Liz is finding lots of UFO’s as she dose some spring cleaning.  She shared three.  IMG_8328 I look forward to seeing the finished work too.

IMG_8331  Linda H shared this hand printed fabric that she has started doing hand work on.    We all had stories and lots to share.  It was a good time.

 

IMG_8338   I have such great friends .   Yesterday I got a treasure box from   Debbie.   I love all these little bits of trim and ribbon.    She knows me too well. They will all go into the next batch of Creative Assistants that I will begin as soon as QBL is over this year.

White Iris's 15" X 19Progress Report White Iris   This work is 15”w X 19”h.   The white blossoms where originally created for the 9 Blue Iris quilt that I showed in the last post.  But they were too pale and faded into the background.

IMG_8356So  I did a felted and fabric wall and used the flowers on top.     I do like the shape of iris and hope to do some more of them.

ButtonweedButton Weed    I did a little rework on this piece.   IMG_8366It needed a center of interest so I added a dragonfly.   IMG_8364The body is three cords twisted together and then zig -zagged over with a  satin embroidery thread.  The wings are a florist’s ribbon.

 

PodsPods  These are the last two pods.   I have 36 of them and I have had a good time.  I also have all my little Christmas Favors done for this year.

 

Prayer Flag Pins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer Flag Pins   I made these after reading the June/July issue of “Quilting Arts Magazine”.    The  article made it seem so simple and it really was.   This shot makes them about life size on my computer.  I will make a lot of these little guys as they are fun too.

Spring Jacks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Jacks    When I make felted backs I try to do more then one at a time.  I did three when had the felter out  and this one is going to be my support for the third Jack In the Pulpit  project.

Rainbow Tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainbow Tree This is the third of the felted  pieces.   IMG_8337I am having fun using my many clear beads to embellish this work.

Pond Water

IMG_8353This project is also done with a lot of hand work so it usually does not get much attention.  I did add the gold units and a lot of stitching this week because I got a head on my Label Block project while traveling.

JellyfishJellyfish  I continue to struggle with this work.  But I keep at it.  I sliced the top layer of the organza and did hand work on top of that.   I like the texture and will continue to work on all the Jellies in this fashion.

 

 

 

Green DragonsGreen Dragon   This work is all assembled and I have done the stitch in the ditch step on it.  Now to move to the dragon quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flags- Play Time   IMG_8250I worked on the flag project from my trip to Florida this week too.   I only have two more images to alter.  I used oil paint sticks to add color  to the works this week.

IMG_8248Flag- Monkey Business   With this flag I used a paint marker to do the lettering.

Flag –Along the Shore    IMG_8246 With this piece I used the oil sticks for the water.  The lettering was done with markers.

4 Label BlocksLabel Blocks #123, #124, #125, #126   This was the only hand work I took on the trip so every night I worked away on these blocks.    The pile is getting smaller.

Keep being Creative

Carol