Category Archives: Lap Quilts

Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Dark Mystery, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Saturday Afternoon, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Busy Week

Hello,
This week had been exciting because I had two meetings where we meant face to face.    What a relief as we all get vaccinated and the governor  lifts the restrictions  of  Covid.    I did not realize how much one reads body language. And  in these meetings,  there was no talking over one another either. The first meeting was with the Quilt Diva’s. We meant in the Schweinfurth after picking up our work form the Members Show. We did business and then shared our work. Alice has been working with clay and these are her “obers” .

 

 

 

Barbara had a real nice piece. I brought home five works for other artists that live here in town and will distribute them all back to their owners by tomorrow. There was also a Pixies meeting on line and it was up lifting too.

 

 

 

The second meeting was with four of the FAB group here at my house. Again we all had a lot to say and enjoyed our selves. It is so nice to set out doors and enjoy each other and the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I worked on the Textile Art Stitch Club project. This week she showed us how to add punch needle texture t our work. I also finished up my Blue Fox from the last assignment this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Saturday Afternoon This work is 36″ X 34″. I learned a lot about yarn applique doing this project. It is a skill I need to work at I think.  The project is an answer tot eht Picasso Challenge by the Sisterhood of the Scissors.

 

I used some of Grandmother Ruth’s hand made lace for part of this project.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 13 This project is made up of many of my hand altered fabrics. I made the stencils earlier this winter and printed them with acrylic paint. This is the fabric of half of the stencils I printed at that time, so there will be another similar piece in the near future.

Green Base I got an idea for another leaf project and built this curvy cut base to support that idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Side of the Moon( formerly Dark Magic) I decide that the old title was not the mood I wanted to set for this work. I am hand quilting around the featured woven sections of the kimono at this point. This will be a slow project as I am not a fast hand quilter.

 

 

Daily Practice This is gong smoothly. I think I will finish this strip in the next two days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Horsetails   After showing this work to the FAB group  and thinking about it, i decided it needed more.  So I took out some of the stitch work and added the sun to this piece.  I am now in the process of assembling it.

Drawings for Pixies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Summer 1963
>
> Summer was always a busy time. I did attend summer school in the mornings, but the afternoons were mine. Mr Mc Daniel’s, the band teacher, also kept us busy. We did have practices and activities. It was so hot that many times we would play out on the front lawn of the school under the big oak trees. The  band  also marched in the 4th of July parade . It was a much smaller event then what I was familiar with from Grandview. We participated in the county fair and the band had a white elephant sale for that. Many of the kids manned the booth and we had fun afterward on the rides and such. There was also a Cake Walk that we ran one of the days. For that I baked a Cherry Cake- my favorite. The money we made went toward our summer field trip to Detroit. We left on a Friday morning and rode the bus to the city. We played a concert in a city park in a band shell that afternoon.    For that we did not wear our uniforms, but all dark shorts and white shirts.  I still remember being hot.   I went to dinner with a group of fellow band members and had my first commercial pizza. Someone persuaded me to try an Anchovy. That was a taste surprise. I shared a hotel room with three other gals and we talked late into the night and did not sleep much it seemed. Saturday morning we went to a rehearsal of the Detroit Sympathy. It was informative. In the afternoon we all went to see “How the West Was Won” on a wide screen movie theater. I really enjoyed the movie and purchased the record of the sound track when I got home. We then all piled into the bus and rode home. We sang a lot and it was quite late when we got back to Muncie. Grandmother and Grandfather Cocklin were visiting and we all went to church the next morning. I do not recall much else about that Sunday except we made homemade ice cream. Gene and I went off with the grandparents on Monday to Iowa for two weeks before Mon and Dad joined us. It was a great time. We got to see all three families of cousins and spent a lot of time with the Bells. Casey and Curt Dean were little boys with lots of energy and fun to play with. They only visited tow days and then went home with their mother Aunt Shirley. I did baby sit for Aunt Barbara one day out on their farm. I remember climbing the apple trees with cousins Timmy and Tom along with Gene. We also played space travel using their beds that were built into the wall under the slope of the roof. We pretended the Radiometer was our power source. That evening I went on my first date with cousin Danny. He was a year older and had a car. We added one of his friends and drove to Muscatine to the fair grounds. His buddy brought me French fries and we all rode the Ferris Wheel together. It was a good time. What I remember the most was the time spent with the Bell family. Tracy and Kelly came into Grandmothers one day and we played dress up in the play house. Then the girls stayed the night and we played with the ice skating paper dolls that grandmother had. One day out at the Bell farm we played war in the trees hoses. We loved the goldfish-carp in the house tank and we fed them oatmeal. The fish were about eight inches long. Cousin Russell got stung and I learned he was allergic. His Mom rushed him off to the Dr to get a shot I think. Another day we spent the day playing board games. I fell in love with Trade Winds- a game with little ships that had to collect barrels of rum, doubloons and gems stones. I asked for that game for Christmas, but Mom never found it. One afternoon Aunt Marce took all five of us off to Wild Cat Den State Park. We all had a great time running the trails and hiding from one another. We came home exhausted from that fun afternoon. One night the Bells took Gene and I to play miniature golf . It was a great time and Doug ended up with the best score. It was a great time with all my cousins.

Please stay safe and be Creative

Carol

Bonsai, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

New Growth

Hello,
Spring continues to explode around me. It is so beautiful ! Over the long winter one tends to forget  how powerful green can be. I had two Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s meant and the Pixies  did too. I also had two meetings face to face. FAD meant in Judy’s garden and enjoyed ourselves greatly. Today I meant with my fellow quilters in the Sisterhood of the Sisters group as we viewed the Members Show at the Schweinfurth.  This shot is of Sharon her work.    As it turned out there were only seven of us- but it was still great. 

 

This is a shot of Ann at the show.

 

 

The only other member of the Sisterhood   who had a piece in the show was  Noel.

 

 

But I have lots of other friends who were in the show too.   This diptic is by Barbara Vural , a gal that I taught with for over 20 years.

 

 

This sculpture is by Carol Adamack,  another Art  Teacher that I taught with.

 

 

 

 

 

This shot shows a quilt by Mary( the Haron) who is  Quilt Diva’s and a work by Cindy,  another art teacher /quilter I know.

 

 This is a work by Anne another active Quilt Diva  member.      It is a great show and will be up until  May 30.   I found it very stimulating.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fiber Artists Stitch Club got a new assignment from Saima Kaur. I am enjoying working on my project.

 

Progress Report: Bonsai This work is . I challenged myself to not use any cottons in this work and it did prove to be a challenge. The silks and synthetics do slip around a lot. I am working hard to get it to be flat and I will make another attempt at the pressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Afternoon I am in the process of zig zag appliqueing yarn down to out line the shapes.

 

 

 

 

Poppy Field After talking with Liz I decide that this piece needed a center of interest. As my friend Ethel said” you make good backgrounds”. So I took the information that I learned in Amanda Mc Carver’s class a few weeks ago and stared some bigger Poppies in wool and thread. I have these two about ready to put together and I want to make three more and hope they do the trick.  I plan to place the three petal piece on top of the twin petals and add a center to create the blossoms.

Drawing I did four more drawings this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt       This new work is make from all fabrics that I have altered .   I am still enjoying building with my own stuff.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories :  Portland OR
The school play my senior year was “Girl Crazy.” I worked backstage and enjoyed the process. In the spring we did a variety show called “Musical Moods” For that production I was on stage as a dancer in the piece about the south pacific. The Tiki that Mom had carried home on her lap from Hawaii was on stage too.   It is now residing in the corner by the bookshelf in our east bed room. The National Thespian Convention that year was in Portland Oregon. Mr Fee took seven of us to that event. I sold lots of candy to raise money for the trip that year. I was the only senior , with two Junior girls and four Junior boys. We boarded the train in Muncie at 4:00 am and headed for Chicago. There, we joined a train that was exclusively for Thespians going to the convention. Kids from further east were already on board. Our group was seated together at the end of a car in the last four seats. It was long ride of two nights and three days with new car loads of kids being added as we went along. Sitting in front of us was a group from PA. One of the boys just in front of me had a guitar. He played beautifully and we all sang folk songs all the way across the country. Songs like “If I had a Hammer” and “ This Land is Your Land, This land is My Land.” It was very enjoyable.
Mr Fee challenged each of us to come up with a personal bit of acting to do some time over the week we were at the conference. I decided that with the help of the others I would try to play the part of some one who was deaf and could read lips. I did a good job fooling the gals on my floor in the dorm. Only once in the shower room did I almost blow it. My back was turned to a gal in the shower and she asked me to hand her a bar of soap on the bench. As I turned I realized I could not have herd that request, so I quickly said in my flat voice, “ Good Night” and left the bathroom. We had a dance one evening and I went of course. One of my boys from Central had to explain to one of the gals on my floor that I could feel the beat of the music through the floor so I could dance. I could not have pulled the week off without their help.
The Conference was at Lewis and Clark college in a remote beautiful hilly setting. When we got our room assignment I was a solo so the other girls helped me with my acting by waking me up each morning by coming into my room. I had a great view of a beautiful gully like the one in Columbus Junction. The conference went on for five days with workshops in the mornings a play preformed by our peers in the afternoons and a second each evening. We really covered a lot of ground. Again I did two workshops on costuming. I learned some nice tricks. As to the plays, I really only remember “Waiting For Godot”. The group discussion after that was very lively. The memorable evening performance was of “Peter Pan.” It was great to talk with the stage hands after that one and have them explain how they built the equipment to do the flying. That was also the last event of the conference. The train ride home was not as exciting as we were in a different car then the PA folks, and we were tired . Mr Fee did ask us about our” acting “ experience. I admitted that I was tired of playing that part by the end of the week. It did make me more sensitive towards others with that impairment.

Stay safe and Keep Creating
Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, Felt Work, Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Siding Complete

Hello,

The work on the siding was completed on Wednesday.  It looks good  and the house looks longer to me.       But this morning we decided to change the siding on the gables too.  So more construction is in my future.
I am really enjoying my walks now that the weather is a bit more comfortable and the views are great. Every day I can see the changes in the   new growth of the leaves of the trees. The color of the flowers tickles me too. This is a great red  here.
I went and helped my friend Noel sort and roll her silk kimono parts this week. She was sorting to pass silk forward to others in one of the quilt groups that I am a member of t so she kindly gave me first choice and I came home with some real beauties.   There is lots of new inspiration for me here.
The Pixies was the only group that meant this week and we did enjoy our talk. No new assignment came out of that meeting, but I am keeping up with my drawing. I continue to work my way through the 1938 book called “The  Secret Museum of Mankind” . I realized that having a source  of subjects at my finger tips helps me get the drawings done every morning. I guess I just needed a prompt.

Progress Report: Horsetails This quilt it 30″w X 41″ l. The plants are made from polar fleece and couched down with embroidery floss.

 

 

 

 

I love the texture contrast.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt   # 11      This work is 40″w X 50″ l. The blue squares are all indigo sun printed images that I made. I also did a little oil stick color additions on some of them. A woman from PACE, a local elder care facility, came and picked up ten of these lap quilts  for folks who are wheel chair bound.   I  made all of them Jan. 1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonsai I just finished sewing down all the leaves this morning and now I am ready to begin to quilt this work. I did stitch in the ditch before I added the trunk so there is a little quilting already, but it needs a lot more to make it flat.

 

 

 

Saturday Afternoon ( Cubist piece) This work is for the Sisterhood of the Scissors change. The black is fused to the edge of the shapes and adds a lot to the look I am after. The bottom three pieces  of fabric are what I plan to use to make their clothing.

 

 

New Lap quilt.I pulled these fabrics to be the next lap quilt.     I like having and on going little project.   It is a good opportunity to play with different color combinations and not feel stressed about doing so.

 

Drawing    I am still drawing on old dictionary pages.   I like the unity that gives the work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felting      I made some backgrounds in felt this week  as I wanted them so I could just move forward when I got a new idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice I worked on this during the Pixie meeting as well as the usual news hours this week.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Theater

My parents did a lot to expose my brother and I to different things. The first time I remember going to the theater was in Greeley the summer between third and fourth grade. The College had summer theater program and we had season tickets. I do not remember the titles of the plays and sometimes I did not under stand the stories, but I enjoyed watching the actors . Gene almost always fell asleep but I never did. It was not until years later that I realized the ghost I remember on stage was from Macbeth that summer. When we moved to Muncie the new Emerson auditorium had just opened and my parents got season tickets to the Artist Series. We had
seats in the second row in the center on Sunday afternoons. I got to see such wonderful production as “Oklahoma,” “ Gigi” and “Camelot” with Robert Goulet . We also had season tickets to the Ball State Drama Department series. Again our seats were near the front and I remember great performances of “ Once Upon a Mattress” and “A Mid Summer Nights Dream”. I still love and support live theater. It is magical to me.
When I was a Sophomore my last class of the day was Drama with Mr Fee. We had to read a play every week and write a little synopsis. We also did lots of little 10 and 15minuits scenes in class for our class mates. We leaned how to apply makeup effectively. One day I got made up as an oriental with black spray painted hair. I just could not resist wearing that home on the bus that day. I got lots of strange looks, and Margaret laughed and laughed at me. Another day I was made up as a young witch, but I did not wear that make up home. Mr Fee also ran two drama clubs. Stage Door was for kids who were underclassmen and wanted to participate in school productions. We mostly did crew work for the plays. To be in Nations Thespians one had to have experience it at least two productions and by the time I was a Junior, I qualified. For the sophomore year, the play was “ Everybody Loves Opel”, and I painted lots of scenery. I helped with costumes for “ Bull in a China Shop” the next year. That interest in dressing up folks only grew with time. There was a state Thespian Convention one weekend at Ball State and I participated in that. I was in the solo competition and did a piece called “ The Button”. I do not remember what my score was, but I sure remember working on it in drama class. The morning of the conference when Dad was driving me to campus he suggested that “ I try on a different personality, like show more leadership, and see if you like it. You will never see these people again so what do you have to lose?” I sort of tries that as I did know the campus and could easily direct folks to the correct locations for performances and such. I liked helping people. I did have a great day and did connect with a few folks from Fort Wayne. I even got to show them were Burkes was when we went out for a quick dinner. Theater is still dear to my heart.
Stay Safe

Carol

Bonsai, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Poppy Field, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

New Siding – Step one

Hello,
It has been a busy week for me. Yesterday the workmen came and started on the next step of the house renovation. They pulled all the old siding off in less than an hour and then spent the rest of the morning adding a new layer of insolation. My studio is on the end of the house and has three out side walls so it sounded like I was trapped in a wood peckers den with them pounding on three sides of me as they attached the new covering. I had to remove my thread rack as the pounding knocked the spools off the wall.  We do not have a date for the new siding yet, but I am sure it will be soon and I will have a second day of nailing.
I did have four Zoom Meetings this week- QuEGs, The Diva group, FAB and the Pixies. I enjoy the meetings, but I do miss seeing folks in person.   That is changing I think. The Diva group is working hard on getting shows going and that is a positive thing. FAB is considering meeting in one of the gals gardens next time too. Susan of the Pixies is pushing us to draw more and I did some work on dictionary pages.
I am working from old photos from “The Secret Museum of Mankind.”

 

 

 

 

 

A book  was  published in 1935 with only little lines about the location of the image and a few words about the subject. I am working on the section about the Americas now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Poppy Field. This work is 34.5″ w X 43″ l. I did stamp on top of the first batch of quilting of the poppies and leaves. It did help I think. There is still a limited contrast here.   I will try to pay special attention to that factor as I go forward.

 

 

 

 

Horsetails All the polar fleece is stitched down now and I am starting to quilt it . I can see a challenge   for this piece and that is   getting this project  to be flat.

 

 

Lap #11 I just keep playing at fabric combinations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonsai This project has a  challenge of its own and that is  using all silks and synthetics as the base.    Those types of fabrics  do shift around a bit. I did the trunk  of the tree  out of several yarns wrapped in nylon netting.   Now I am adding the leaves in metallics and silks. It take me about an hour to add fifteen leaves so this step is slow.

Cubists Project.     I built this base for my second run at a cubist study   for the Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge. I am using my collage construction approach on this work.   I hand dyed al the fabric in this base.

 

 

Daily Practice I am still working on filling in the background areas on this piece.

 

 

 

Dyed Mayan I am now quilting in this old Mayan piece. The pale colors of the dyes are a lot closer to the colors of the real walls at this time them the applique ones are.   I do need to push for a little contrast here too I  think.

 

Childhood Memories- Kennedy Assignation
Band was the first class after lunch. We got our uniforms the first day as well as band lockers. The uniforms were black pants with a purple strip and black suit jacket type coat with a purple strip on the cuff. Add a white military type hat with a brim, spats and white scolder caps with purple ” M”s  on them and the uniform was complete.   We did not wear the hats when we play concerts.   All Sophomores were seated at the end of the rows of the other like instruments. One could challenge another student to move up at any time and there were “ play offs” during study halls or at the end of the day. I held   first chair of third   clarinets for all three years of high school. By having this  class after lunch we could start a little early and practice routines and formations on the football field. Mr Mc Daniels would let us go early so we could hassle the eight blocks back to the High School building in time for our next class. We preformed on Football field for   the first Friday at the first football game of the school year.  We  learned new routines for all the  home football games for all three years. We did pep rallies and also play at all the home Basketball games too. The band gave me a social network and identity as well as assuring that I had a social life that involved me in lots of active events. I am sure that I came in contact with students that I would not have know other wise. There was no incentive to got to competitions like there had been in Jr High and I really did not miss that much. Mr Mc Daniels did keep it interesting and fun by having special events. One time we did a clown band and all dressed up in silly clothing. Another time we went patriotic and all wore red white and blue clothing.and a third time I remember, we all dress as colonial  Americans.   I made a special red check dress, bonnet and pantaloons with ruffles on the bottom.  My best friend, Margaret played the Sax a phone,  and  her sister, Ceicle was a part of the band too. She was two  years older and played the Oboe. Cecil got a black ford Mustang conveyable for her birthday in 1963 and she included me in her transpiration circuit when we went to band events. The gang that I did hang out with all grew from band. Bobby Cornell played the Trumpet and he lived near Margaret and Ceile. Mike Ritter also played the clarinet, he was a first chair and he and Cecil were an item so he was part of the group. Susy Bright, was a Band Aid, and lived in the same area as did Jim Freshwater who played drums that made two car loads of us and we did lots together. Sometimes it was a simple as going for a coke or a drive to Burkie’s a local restraint for fries. We did have a Mc Donald’s but it was across town and off the highway so we did not frequent it much.
After Band I had Physics class. I enjoyed it and had a better student teacher for that class then the regular guy. That class was followed by English  with Miss Meehan. I hated diagramming sentences, but enjoyed the literature section of that year. We were silently reading Silas Marner on Friday Nov 22, when the class was interrupted by the intercom with a radio broadcast. We all sat silently stunned and listened to learn that John F Kennedy had been shot in a motorcade in Houston. My last class of the day was Drama and it was a bit chaotic and three of the other older girls in the class were sobbing the whole period. At the end of the day we were told that all after-school activities were cancelled. The ride home  on the bus  was very crowded with many of us standing in the isle and no one was talking. The TV news with Walter Cronkite was very sad.  We had a Basket Ball game on Sat and it too was very subdued.    At the end of the game, Mr Mc Donald told us to appear at the field house at 1:00 on Sunday to march in a memorial parade to the cemetery. When we got there we all had black ribbons attached to our marching helmets and black arm bands. The white arm caps, spats and feathered topper for our helmets were removed. The drums all were draped in black too and sounded extra solemn . I am sure we played something somber but I do not recall what. When I got home, I to learn the Jack Ruby had been shot too. There was no school on Monday and it rained all day.

Stay safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Coral Sea II, Daily Practice, Drawing, Horsetails, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Stencels, Twilight Crows

Quiet Spring

Hello,
This week I seem to have finished up lots of things. Clearing the decks is always a good thing in my mind.   It is like the raking I have done this week to clear out the gardens for new growth.   One needs to move on.

Yesterday Liz ands  I went to “Sew What”, a recycle sewing supplies shop in Auburn NY .   It felt great spending my money to up cycle materials that other sewers no longer needed.     I know that as a society we are generating far too much material that can easily end up on land fills  or polluting the water.  That is really only  a poor solution for our planet.    This resel/recycle shop is so much better!      Liz purchase two quilting hoops as they were so inexpensive and she did not know what would work best for her.    She also sorted through there button    bin to find some 50’s buttons to make a bracelet for herself.   As you can see I made a bigger purchase- but it is all stuff that I can and will use.  I used the pre wrapped bobbin thread today in my machine when I did the illustration  for Childhood.    They had a wide selection of sewing related materials, yarns and books.    It is a good resource and I will donate to it as I sort through my studio and support it by stopping and purchasing materials that I will use in my work.    We all need to take care of this world and recycling is one of the best ways we can all do our small part.

Pixies was the only group that meant this week. Susan challenged us to draw last week and these two are my answer to that. The Woman is my Mom.

 

 

These are my favorite red shoes.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Coral Sea II This work is 16 X 18. I enjoyed embellishing this work. The fish are made from fancy ribbons so they will not fray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight Crows This work is 40″ X 48″. I cut all the stencils in the past and just used them together in a different arrangement this time. Most of the other fabric are altered as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt # 10 This work is 37″ X 51″. I so enjoy just putting fabrics together to create a new unit. I always seem to make extra filler and I am challenging myself to use that as the starting off point for then next one.

 

 

Scrap Happy. I finished this scrap happy this week. I plan to pass it on to my granddaughter.

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Fields I was frustrated by this work and Liz suggested that I stamp on it to build up the contrast. I am much happier with it now. I plan to push forward now.

 

New base I built this base of all silks. It proved to be a challenge to get them all strait. I plan to use it for a base for my next leaf exploration piece.

 

 

 

 

Horsetails This quilt is a result of a dream I had this week. I have no idea where it came from, but I am enjoying the process. I have not tried couching poplr fleece before.

 

 

 

Daily Practice I am done stitching all the units down now and moving on to the background. I am about one forth done with that step on this section.

 

Stencils   I cut and printed some new and stencils that I mixed with some other ones.  A fun way to build more complexity in my work.

 

Childhood Memories – Sophomore Year II
I was always good at sports and   loved the gym class that meant alternate days with the Health class. Indiana is a big basketball state and Muncie Central was a real sports  power house .They had won the state   Basketball championship several times and for  two years in a row before I attended. I was looking forward to playing basketball in high school, so when  the school  morning announcement   made no mention of girls  basketball try-outs, Iwas  baffled.  After  the second day announcement of boys try-outs, I went to the Principal’S office and asked. The Vice Principal told me that” We don’t do that, because its not “ Lady-Like”. When I asked Dad about this, because I knew he had coached girls ball, he just laughed. “ Carol,” Dad said, “ There is only one gym and if there is a girls team, that would cut the practice time for boys in half.” That realization made me quite angry. I also realized that the cards were stacked against me and there was little I could do. I sort of worked on the issue of girls sports with Miss Anderson and by the time I was a senior there was a girls Track team and I was on it. No threat to the boys with that sport. We had the hand me down uniforms from the boys team. I was the base for the relay team and we won several races. I do have one ribbon from that activity.    I took synchronized S swimming at the YMCA as my  fall Junior year  physical ed class and joined that team. I was glad that having  straight hair was popular as the class was just before lunch and my hair was dry by the time my first class started. There was no travel for the swimming team and we did only  two performances . Despite the lack of outside support, I did have fun. I can still do all the fun moves we learned like  the clam shell and star fish.
> Lunch was a full hour and I  often at in the Cafeteria .   Sometimes I spent some of my lunch hours playing Chess with the Chess Club  that met  in one corner of the big room. We were also allowed to leave campus at noon to eat in the community. I got in trouble financially with that in October . I went with a couple of other gals to the Woolworths counter and  where we ate lunch. The cost of one Woolwoth lunch was more then a whole weeks work of lunch from the school lunch room. I should have realized early on – but the social aspect of it captured me. The last week of Oct I had only 15  cents in my pocket. Just enough to purchase milk at school at three cents a box for the week. So I stopped going to lunch with the “in crowd” and carried peanut butter sandwiches that week. I needed to learn that lesson. Being downtown also presented other temptations. There were three bookstores in the downtown area and I used them to purchase many paper back books. I know I spent money on every copy of an Edger Rice Burrows book I could find. Charm bracelets were all the rage at this time and I often checked out jewelry stores for charms for my self and gifts for friends Birthdays. My friend Ann’s parents owned a jewelry store there too. I did go several times and looked at charms there, but found they were just a little bit more expensive than the other stores, so they did not get much business from me. I still have my three bracelets that include charms from all the states I had lived in and some of my interests,   another bracelet that is all gifts , and a third , witch was the last one I built and it is very eclectic with a small Opal, a cowboy, a part of scissors  and a graduation hat , among other things.

Please take good care of yourselves
> Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Coral Sea II, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Twilight Crows

Earth Day

1 Comment

Hello,
Happy Earth Day 2021. I got up to a fresh dollop of snow this morning. The Hosta were just coming up outside my window and now they are covered in white. Mother Nature and Old Man Winter are at odds I guess.   It is a good time to consider how important this planet is to our existence.     We do need to care for it as there are no alternatives.

QuEG’s, FAD, and Pixies all got together via Zoom. I am happy to be saving the fuel it takes to go to meetings, but I do miss seeing folks face to face. I did use my paint brushes that I had created for Pixies. Here are a few of the more successful ones.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report- Lap Quilt #9 This work is 37″ X 63″. I used mostly my altered fabrics on this piece. There are only two commercials. I am enjoying making these little works as there is no pressure from anyone to do them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight Crows I finally got this top all assembled.   I used several pieces of my hand dyed along with commercial fabrics here.   There are also several types of silks and syntheticts in this top.   I will layer and quilt it in the next few days.

 

 

 

Coral Reef II This hand work piece is nearing completion too. I enjoyed adding the fish as they give it an extra feel of life.  The fish ar cut from metallic ribbon so they do not fray and need lots of stitching.

Poppy Field I did the grass the other day. Then I felt defeated. There is not enough contrast and from a few feet away it looks like nothing is going on. I was ready to toss it. But after talking with Liz, I have a few things to try to see if I can save the work. Only time will tell.

Daily Practice This work continues to grow each evening. I have learned that I do not want to do another piece for this project that is this large. If I have another base this big I will tear it in half before I begin working. It is too difficult to see all of the surface at once in ones lap.

New Work     I started a new lap quilt today.  This is the first step were I lay out colored blocks in places I think they might work in for the piece.   I will add strips in 2.5″ and 4.5″ around these blocks to unite them and build the top.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Sophomore Year

 In the fall of 1963, I started attending Muncie Central High School in downtown Muncie, Indiana.   That change presented me with lots of changes.    For the first time I caught the bus at the end of our driveway and went for a 20 minute ride to school.     To my mind, the building was huge- it took up a whole city block.   It was crowded as it was the only high school in town.  A new high school called South Side opened the following fall and cut way down on the crowding.    I was the last stop on the bus route and the first one off in the evening.     My best friend Margaret Dunn however was the first one on and last off in the evening.  She often saved me a seat near the front of the bus.  Her ride was an hour and a half and she often was done with homework when she got there.    She calculated that by the time she ended high school she had ridden the bus 12 days going to and from school.    The first day started by going to a home room of fellow Sophomores and we remained together for all three years.  We were selected and seated in alphabetical order.   I was seated between Mike Merl and Marla Miller.   Marla and I became friends and  we were initiated into  Honor Society together.   As it turned out she and I were both commuters at Ball State and in the same class of 350 freshman there in the fall.  We agreed to  sit  in the front row to make sure we stayed awake as the class was at 7:00 am  three days a week.  When class was over at 8 we went together to the  Music Library to study and hang out until our next class.    There is more story there, but I will hold that until later.     In the first home room meeting we filled out lots color coded cards.  Name, add, phone number, date of birth etc…….   Then the teacher collected them ; the white card, the blue card, the canary card, the violet card and the salmon card .    We got locker cards and we were given our class order assignment after she went over the  rule handbook   with us.   We also returned to the same room for  standard tests and to  get class assignments and fill out the same cards in our Jr and Senior years.     There were few changes over the three years, but a few folks disappeared.  I did not have class with any of the folks in the home room or any of the friends from Middle School.  I wrote in my diary that I was not happy about that.

   The Geometry class that Dad had insisted that I take was my first one every day.  I remember the yellow paper back book that we used.     It was complex, but logical.  I do not recall needing help from Dad either.     I think I got mostly A’s and B’s in that class.     My second   period class was  World History.    There was lots of geography in that class too.    Period three was Art class.     I recall that there was much more Art History in this version of art class.    We studied Cubism and did paintings in that style.  Later in the year we studied Alexander Calder.    We made big mobiles out of the big metal cans from the Calfeteria. I remember making a Mandolin  out of one of the cans and punching holes  with a nail to outline the hole  and the edges of the instrument.   I used wire to show the strings.     I also make a bunch of flowers out of wire and balanced those elements with others to make my mobile.  It was huge.  When the teacher hung them from the lights , mine was quite low and some one attached a note to one of the flower stems  that said “ Take me down!”

Fourth period I had Nursing class with Mrs Webster.    The only thing I recall from  that class was learning about Syphilis.   The images of its effects were so gross, that I swore I would never kiss any body in my life.   She did scare us  straight- for a while at least.

Stay safe,.

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club, Uncategorized

Getting Green

Hello,
I hope everyone’s holiday was pleasant. We are really starting to feel like spring as the greening up of the world gets going here. Ones views are being cut back too as the leaves grow and fill in all the possible openings  of long distances and grow  to collect light for Photosynthesis.
I had several zoom meetings this week. tThe  QuEG’s, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists,   Sisterhood of the Scissors  and  the Pixies meant. There was an assignment for the Pixies from last week and that was to make ones own brushes. These are mine.  All have chopsticks for handles and yarn, fur, and rubber bands for the brussels. I will try them all out this week.

 

 

 

I finally finished my Coral Sea piece for the Textile Artist Stitch Club. It is 14.5″ X 13″. There is a felted base that I stitched the various beading, and sequin  techniques on top of it.   I am quit happy with the work.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: 10″ X 10″ s   These works are  for the Quilt Consortium.     I have been working on these 10 X 10 inch works to go for their fundraiser. This week I put sleeves on them and added the labels so they are ready to ship. They will be sold for $10.00 at the show later this year.
Camels Today

 

 

 

 

 

Plant Play

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragonfly Days

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exploration

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Aid

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coral Reef II I actually started this work before the one I did with Textile Artists. Completing that project pushed me to work again on this one. I am trying more unique materials as a result of the doing the first one. The green plants for example are cut from a bit of Christmas ribbon.

 

Crows I printed more crows and I have now pulled fabric for the beginning of the assemble of the project.

 

 

Lap Quilt X I just keep doing these fun little explorations. This one has lots of my altered fabrics in it.

 

 

 

 

 

Daily  Practice   I continue to enjoy doing this work every evening and the piece keeps filling up.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories High Finance
I started serious baby sitting after we moved to Muncie. My first job was across the street with Steve Ballow. He was the same age as Gene and Dad worked with his Mom, so we did know them. That job lead to other jobs with faculty members. By the third year I had so much work that Gene was pressed into service too. I lost several costumers to “ The Gentle Giant”, as he was called, because he had a big growth spurt in 8 grade. In early Sept of 1963 Dad pulled me into the den for a big talk. He told me it was time for me to be more organized and responsible with my money. He then pulled out the family books and showed me how he was organized with categories of different kind of expenses and bills. He pointed out several months of clothing entries , and we added up how much was being spent on my clothes alone . He said he would provide a clothing allowance based on an average of these figures. He went on to talk about other expenses, like food. In my case lunch money would be provided. He then said that if I packed and carried my lunch from the family stores, he would still provide the food allowance, and I could save for special expenses that way. You will be riding the bus to and from school, it is too far to walk, so you will have a transportation allotment. Then he covered recreation expenses. You will want to go to ball games, dances and other school events that fall into that category- and extension of your old allowance is a good way to think of that. Your mother and I get paid once a month so you will too. You will supplement you income with your babysitting, of course, but you must live on those incomes combined, so I suggest that you save some money for emergencies too. You can not come to me or your mother for cash any more. Then he gave me a little red note book and I set it up to suit me. I was always good at following instructions so I did well with this too. I quickly learned that I could stretch my clothing budget and have fun sewing my own clothing. The next trick I learned was that if I made a wool plaid skirt and jacket, and I made a solid blue skirt, I had two outfits, economically. I added to that a turquoise skirt and jacket that picked up one of the stripes in the plaid to make more parts, and so my wardrobe grew. I added browns and tan skirts and vests all in classical styles that served we all through collage and beyond. This idea of making simple but related pieces that could be used interchangeably served me well when I was doing costumes for the school plays when I was teaching. Red check shirts made for “Guys and Dolls” were used in Annie Get Your Gun”, with the addition of a white lace edge for the cow girls in the wild west show for example. The efforts that my Grandmother Ester put into teaching me, and the Home Economics from middle school, have been sources of great joy and economy for me.
> Dad also started teaching me how to drive at this point. We used the station wagon as it was an automatic. We began by driving in the country, then moved to quiet town streets. I never really learned to drive a stick shift , although the two -tone green Rambler was a standard. One evening, Dad thought I was ready to drive down town to the high school for a math club meeting. It started out well, but I was not very good at using the clutch. We were waiting at a stop light in the growing darkness, the car facing uphill just before the bridge across the White River when things went wrong. I rolled back into the car behind before Dad took over and we went forward across the bridge. We stopped on the other side and talked with the other driver. No damage done, but I was quite shaken. Dad drove the rest of the way to the high school and I went off to my meeting. One of my friends brought me home. I just could not get past that event so even though Eric and several others have tried to teach me, driving a standard is not one of the skills I have.

 

Childhood Memories -Summer 1963
In the summer of 1963 I was 15 and Gene was 12. That made us both a bit more independent than in the past, so with that in mind , Mom took her first Summer School Field trip with Dr Cooper. She spent 8 weeks in Hawaii studying biology there. She sent home lots of post cards and we enjoyed them. She also brought gifts when she returned. I got a great University of Hawaii sweatshirt. It was always a conversation starter when I wore it.
On Wed every week, Dad, Gene and I went to the Student Center and had dinner. Then we would go down stairs where Dad taught us how to bowl. Gene caught on very quickly , but for me it was a bit more of a challenge. We did have fun though. By the end of the summer I had the hang of it and we repeated that pattern for several years. Some evenings when it was not Crowded, Dad even worked with us on how to play pool. I recall his careful explanations about how to use the cue stick to line up the angle with your eye to project where the ball should go…… Then there was the part about where on the ball one was to hit it to be successful. Again it was a skill that Gene excelled at and me not so much. It was still fun.
> When Mom got home we still went for an end of summer trip. We drove to Chicago and spent a day in the Field Museum. It is on the lake in a building that was part of the worlds fair when it was there. I was struck by the two big totem polls that flank the doors when one first comes inthe doors of the museum. I think that is were my love of the northwest Native American’s art started.
The two big bull Elephants that are in the center of the main hall were surrounded by special displays and booths as they were having a Mexican Celebration. I was captivated by the pinata they were building. They were made with a cardboard box as a base , with a head, a tail and wings added in more cardboard. The whole unit was then covered in crepe paper and tissue paper. I tried to build my own when I got home from what I remembered. The rest of the museum is wonderful too. I enjoyed the many animal dioramas and sea floor exhibits the most.
There was a skeleton of a sperm whale and it was huge! Mom was the most interested in the displays of the cultures of the South Pacific sense she had just been there. There was also a display of Northwest native peoples that really impressed me. Gene liked the fossils and dinosaurs. There was a Transistors Rex skeleton in the same area as the whale, I think . It was an exhausting day.
> The next day we went to the Art Institute. There was a special exhibit of a scaled down version of the Sistine Chapel on display . It was amazing , with lots of detail and one could really see all the angles and figures as it was much closer to the visitor than the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Mom said. even so, the Sistine Ceiling was glorious- though one’s neck got a bit tired from the looking up. The only other thing I really recall was George Seurat’s Sunday In the Park! I was blow away. It was my first real mural sized painting, and to add the stippling to the size really amazed me. I had done mosaics and knew how long those took to do – so the thought of doing all those little dots really registered! I do not know if there was any other work in the room- but if there was I never recollected it, and I have visited the painting several different times. I even took 5 of my students on a field trip in my car my first year of teaching to see the museum and that work of art. We went from Chicago to visit the grandparents in Iowa for a few days. There was a big family picnic at the cabin while we were there. It was good to see the cousins again. I did not realize how much I missed the long summer stays with them.

Stay safe and make wise choices,

Carol

 

Birds, Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, Daily Practice, Lap Quilts, Poppy Fields

Quiet Times

Hello,
It has been a quiet week here. I spent one day working on curtains for my daughter’s camper and then I delivered them to her. She was delighted. I had two Zoom meetings, one with the Retired Art Teachers and the other was with the Pixies. Both were fun and enjoyable.   I did a little yard work one day as the weather is so delightful.

Progress Report Lap Quilt # 8 This quilt has lots of my altered fabric in it. I especially enjoyed making the reconstructed screen printing with the petro glyph type images on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poppy Fields I feel I am now finished with the tree in this piece. The leaves really fill it out. I now need to tackle the grasses and steams of the poppies.

 

Shattered I have finished the quilting on this piece and now I am working on the facings. It is a 3X3 piece.

 

Coral Reef This work keeps growing. Not a lot this week as there were only two meetings, But each stitch helps it along.

 

 

Crows I drew two more crow  this week.   The stenciled birds I did to add to the first two,   were to strong to work with the drawn ones.  The one on the left is only about half done. I like to build the dark’s up slowly so they are exactly where I want them to be with the intensity I am shooting for .

New Work- Oak Leaves This is my new venture for the week.   The base is a curvy cut .   As always it is changing under my fingers I envisioned it a lot closer to the drawing from last week. But I don’t have many browns and orange organizes.

 

 

 

Daily Practice This work is moving along with it’s daily attention. I am sure I will move onto a new base some time soon.

Childhood Memories- Travel 1962 Florida

Our Christmas trip in 1962 was to Florida. We went to the Atlantic shore first. The ocean was very active and a bit cold , but we did swim anyway. We then drove across the state and viewed the Gulf. It seemed much calmer as I remember it. Where we were  along the coast, I am not sure, but it was a lot less developed and there were lots of different plants. One really had to stay on the trail as the vegetation was thick and there were lots of sharp leaves, twisting roots and grasses. Then we went a bit inland and north to Wiki Watchie Springs. I recall loving the performance of the mermaids with all the wonderful color and movement. When Eric and I took Wendy in 1974, it felt like it was much modernized and slick.. There was new seating too.   The family  continued north and visited a restored historical Southern Mansion. We did the guided tour. The rooms were large with lots of doors with lots of details, making us aware of the wealth it represented. I think I liked the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees that lined the drive the most though. The next part of the trip was a study in contrast as we drove north. Dad liked to take side roads and we came across a poll Church in one remote corner. There were no walls and logs for benches. Across at the front of the seating was a log cross. The roof was supported by cut saplings that were “Y”ed at the top to support cross saplings and on top  of them it was  covered by more leaved branches  lying a contrasting directions  to provide shade and protection form rain. Dad said it was better then nothing, but not by  much in my mind.
We continued driving and come upon an abandoned sand stone swimming complex. There was a front bath house of sorts and behind was a beautiful sand stone swimming pool. It was spring fed so it was still full of fresh water. There were leaves in the water too as well as tad polls . One could see the remains of diving boards that we stayed away from. The swim that we took that afternoon was lots of fun.        As we continued north we saw many farms with soil so poor that the only crop they could count on was more rocks . Dad called them Rock Farms. The houses looked very run down even to my eyes.   When we went arrived at a bigger city we went to the grocery to stock up. Mom discreetly pointed out the beautiful print flour sacks along one wall. In the car she explained that folks would wash out the sacks when they were empty and make clothing from them.
Mom always joked that one day she would write a book about the Restrooms she had visited and this trip provided a memorable one. At  a gas station in the middle of what seemed like nowhere to me, we asked to use the bathroom. “That’s be out back.” the attendant said. “ Don’t mind the cats.”   Around behind the station was a gray weathered wooden out house, with cats all about it. The door would not really close and there was no “paper” of any kind. The door handle was a knotted rope thought he door with a loop on both ends.  The building just sat on flat ground without a pit below the whole. There was no evidence that it had ever been used before we entered. In a day or so the evidence that Mom and I had stopped would vanish too. Dad talked about how it was not that long ago that most folks lived like what we had seen those last few days. Those experiences really made me grateful for living in the time and place were I did live.

Stay safe  and enjoy Spring

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Poppy Fields, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Signs of Spring

1 Comment

Hello,
As the photo shows one is beginning to see signs of spring around here. I also noticed lots of bird calls on my walks this week. I find that I am going through the world a little wide eyed of late trying to find those signs of the changing season. It is far to easy to look but not really notice the changes. The bright color really helped me notice these small flowers. One tends to categorize objects and in doing that, that action  make it easy to move onto the next thing, object or event and ignore the uniqueness of things around us. Claude Monet said” To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” He was speaking to art of course and I do agree, but there is another aspect too. I spent twenty min looking for my cell phone on my desk yesterday and only found it when I had my husband call the number an it rang. It was  lying  directly  in the center of the desk, but because it was setting on its side instead of on its back or front,  I did not recognize the form. I could not see because I had named and categorize the cell phone in only one form.   I feel that is a bit of a cop out for and artists and I am trying to really see the world now.

The week has been as busy as usual. In the Textile Artist Stitch Club we had a new teacher, Jette Clover. We did a winter landscape with her were we added paper to the work in the form of a stamp. I enjoyed the process.

 

I continue to work on my coral sea piece too. I added pipe cleaners as steams for my plants and added lots more big sequins this week as well as ,many beads.

 

 

 

 

 

Project Report: Lap Quilt #8 This work is all pin basted and ready for the quilting step now. There are lots of my hand dyed and painted fabrics in this one.

 

 

 

 

Poppy Fields This project is going forward. I finished the circles that represent the flowers and I am working on the tree and leaves now.

 

Shattered Stars I an quilting this work with silver metallic thread. I drew a big star on  a pieces of paper and then cut it up into triangular units  to create shapes for the quilting patterns. There are parts of three stars here and only four sections   of the third star be quilted.   They are the white paper units n the edges.

 

 

Scrap Happy This is a pile of the two and half and four and a half inch strips that I will add to various blocks to build the backing for this next quilt.

 

 

Crows I have created some new works to join together for a new work in this series.

 

 

Daily Practice I am setting this block aside now and moving onto the next. I am leaving some open area on each one as a place for the eye to rest.

 

 

 

 

Drawing I did a little playing with leaf shapes in the sketch book and think there is yet another project in this vain in the future.   One can save a lot of time and effort by drawing first some times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New   I am playing with stitching down bits of fabric just for fun with this piece.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Travels 1
The move to Muncie also brought a change in our travel patterns. Mom saw each school holiday longer than than a weeks time, as an opportunity to explore the country . She planned a trip for each vacation. Our first Christmas , as usual, we went home to Iowa and celebrated with our families. But we started for Muncie  a bit early that year, and hit spots in Illinois on the way home . Our first stop was Dixon Mounds. It is a excavated burial mound of the native Americans on the bank of a river. That first time that we visited it was still being excavated by the farmer, Mr Dixon and it was inside a tent covering. We were the only visitors and so we talked and asked questions directly to Mr Dixon. We were up very close to the few bodies that he had exposed. I recall a Mother with her  arm bones wrapped around a child and two pots there as well. We stopped there several times over the years and each time the excavation was bigger and more sophisticated. My last visit was with Dad about 12 years ago and it is now  a big museum with several buildings . There are 248 exposed bodies that one can view from a raised walkway the surrounds the excavated space inside a fancy building. One is not as close as the first time  of course, but the size of the burial is much more evident now. There is also a display of pots, arrowheads and stone axes . We also stopped at the Illinois State Museum in Peoria. To see its wonderful displays of wild life and life sized dioramas of Native Americans. Mom was just getting into her museum studies and she really enjoyed it.
During spring break that year,  we drove east to Acadia National Park. I remember that Gene and I had illusions of swimming in the Atlantic ocean before we got there. It was very windy, a rocky shore and oh so cold! We spent a lot of time walking along the rocky water line and throwing rocks into the water. I still love the sound of waves as they crash on the shore. I remember Mom pointing out an old lava filled crack in one section and her talking about how it was like the lava deposit on Mt Moran in the Tetons. We did some hiking and exploring. For the most part were had the place to ourselves.
At the end of summer school that year we went to Toronto, Canada, my first trip to a foreign country. I was not impressed by that, as it looked the same as the land we had been driving through. I did notice some folks speaking French in the capital. We toured the capital building . I remember being fascinated by a statue of a Unicorn ,setting on his hind legs and holding a coat of arms. I mistakenly thought it was part of the coat of arms, and learned later that it was not.    I spent part of my allowance on a little doll dressed in a kilt with a beret. She is still in my collection. We visited a great rock and mineral display and the usual stuffed creatures at the Natural History Museum there too. We then drove south to Niagara Falls. I was impressed by their size and sound. On the Canadian side we visited a museum that was more like a Victorian curiosity cabinet than a museum. There were lots of interesting things, but no real organization. Mummies were in the same room as various turtle shells. There was one of the broken up barrels in which someone had gone over the falls. It was really shattered! I recall a big slice of a red wood tree that was over twenty feet across. It had markers on some of the rings noting historical events- like building of the great wall of China, Christ’s birth, the fall of the roman empire, and Columbus’s arrival on this content. We crossed to the US side, and were  much closer to the falls. I was impressed by how loud the water was and how very swiftly it was running. We started home and camped on Lake Erie.   That night Mom, recited Hawthorn’s Song of Hiawatha. “ On the shores of Gitche Gumee, of the shining big sea water….” It sure is a big fresh water sea!

Stay Safe and play  little this week.

Carol

 

Chickadee, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Experiments, Lap Quilts, Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Looking

Hello,
I hope spring is knocking at everyone’s door.  Somewhere I read the line “ we live in an unending rain fall of images” and I can’t get that idea out of my head. It is so very true. This world is so full of visual stimulation! We have all learned to filter out lots of it however. I now set in my studio surrounded by, a lamp, a bookshelf full of boxes full of threads , baskets, jars and glue sticks.  There are cups of  pens, pencils and paint brushes marauds of other things, but due to my focus on writing this I really do not record any of those objects at this moment. How much else do me miss by our tunnel vision? Or is it just a learned self defense due to the over stimulation? I know that I approach my walks with an open mind and search out differences from day to day, but most of the time I just label what I see in my head and do not really look. There is a local grocery store that overwhelms my vision every time I visit. So many colors, shapes and textures that my self defense is to make a list and only purchase what is there. That is my intent when I go in but…..I still can not pass through the store in less than an hour as I always find something new that I did not see before and become distracted. It is a wild wonderful rainfall of ever changing images that we live in.

This week I had only two Zoom meetings and a visit from my daughter. Good to catch up on all fronts. Wendy came with some fabric that she wants me to turn into curtains.

I did make some new print blocks this week with fun foam and a wood burning tool that some one gave me.  I was in the 60’s out side so I took advantage of the temperatures and worked outside were the fumes would blow away from me.  I will print them tomorrow.

I continue to work away on the coral reef for the Textile Artist Stitch Club project. I think is is about a forth done now. I am enjoying the process although it is slow.

 

I did the final work on this stitch project from earlier.   I really like  how doing my hand work personalizes this type of project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress report- Black capped Chickadee This little 10″ X 10 “ piece is done now. I enjoyed working on it.

 

The leaves are commercial and from a friend.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt #6 This work is 37″ X 47″ . I enjoyed playing with lots of commercial fabrics this time.

 

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters -Rework In all the quilting and re squaring such this work shrunk a bit. It is now 36″ X 36″. All the black out lining really does help I think.   This project is my response to the Sisterhood of the Scissors Picasso Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I started a new one this week. I think it will go to my grand daughter as I have not made one for her in a long time.

 

 

Poppy Fields This whole cloth quilt is moving along slowly. I am getting really good at free motion circles though.

 

Daily Practice I am on my third piece of fabric for this project. It is going well.

 

 

 

New Work     I started a new pieces this week using nine different pieces of related fabric.    I wanted them all to be 20″ squares- but some of the fabric was not that large so I just added to the edges to make them that size.    I am now in the process of cutting the pieces and reassembling them.   This is pure play.

 

Childhood Memories- Summer School
Another big change that came at the end of eight grade was a summer change. We did not build a house or go spend the summer with the grandparents. Mom was working on her doctors degree and Dad was teaching summer school at Ball State. “We have to go to work and so do you.,” they said. So Gene and I both went to summer school at the lab school, Burris. WE were in school from 8 in the morning to noon. Gene was in the fifth grade class and I took typing and Industrial Arts. I did learn the location of the key and I don’t need to look at the key board when I type, but I never got any speed. For the last two hours I was in the industrial Arts class. I love the floor in that room as it was all made from 2X4″ that where set on end and all the little half circles were pointed up. I just thought that was cool. I started out the summer by working in the photo lab. I learned how to develop film and how to print my images. I also did a few mono contact prints. At the middle of the term I moved into the wood shop. There I got to use the lathe and I made three tapered candle sticks that Mom proudly displayed in our living room on the coffee table that sat by the front window.
The second summer, between Freshman and Jr. year I took Chemistry. It was a four hour class and we covered that same amount of material every day that was covered in a week during the regular school year. There was lots of homework for that class. It was also the first time in my life that I fainted. I recall getting a very warm feeling and my vision closing in from both sides. Then a blank and I sort of came too I was being carried down the stairs to the nurese office. I could feel the movement, and hear what was being said, but I could not open my eyes or talk. It was frightening. Mom came and picked me up from the nurses office and we went to see Dr Ball. No one came up with a real reason for the incident. Except to say they though it was heat and dehydration. The only other time in my life that I have fainted was when I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled at 21. I fainted in the chair and as a result I learned I was pregnant with Wendy.
The third year between Jr. And senior year I took Music appreciation and Art. Music was great fun as the class was very small, only 12 of us.The teacher taught us how to create our own little Mnemonic devises to recall the titles and composers of the works we needed to identify. It really helped and I can still recall some of them. I got to know one of the boys in the class well. Michel Sears and I went on a couple of dates too. He was a fascinating person as he was the first person I had ever come in contact with who was an orphan. He lived in the hospital dormitories with his older brother who was doing his internship at Ball Memorial Hospital. Michel was a real intellectual and he introduced me to Ann Rayn. I read Atlas Shrugged that summer and we had many conversations about that book. He and I were setting on the edge of the patio on sunny afternoon and playing chess when, after pointing to the grass and then the red squares on the board, he asked me. “ Are those both the same color?” He was color blind and that was a real shock to me. He carefully explained what he though he was seeing and I felt a bit sorry for him. Michel’s brother finished his internship in early October of my Senior year and they moved to Kansas. We wrote a few letters at first, but then lost interest or at least lost the connection. I wonder how his life turned out.

Stay safe and keep looking,

Carol