Category Archives: Pixies Group

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

 

Black Roses, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Pixies Group, Quiet, Raw Edge Applique, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Gifts

Hello,
I feel so very fortunate to have such kind  and generous friends. Last week I got a surprise package in the mail from my friend Patti. It was a paint brush organizer. So very handy and I put my brushed in strait away. I feel so flattered that she would share her time and effort to make and send me such a nice gift. People can be so very kind and it is doubly wonderful when it comes for no reason. It touches the heart. Such a small act can really lift the soul and raise one’s sprites.   I will try to do the same in the future.
I had four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s meant on Tue with the FAB and Pixies meeting yesterday. It so good to stay connected. The Textile Artists Stitch Club started a new project with Jude Kilgshott. I am still not done with the handwork on my leaf print, but I went a head with the new assignment anyway. Jude asked us to collage a bit with fabric pieces and then stitch them down. I am half done with that as there are suppose to be 8 pages. She was trying to help us see the beauty of the back of the stitch work as well as the front and the transparency of Organdy really does allow that. I will keep working and hopefully get back to the old project too.

Progress Report: Murder  II This work is 36″ X 46″.   I discovered that I had on older piece named Murder of Crows   so I had to rename this work.

 

 

 

 

I did stitch in the ditch  in the seams and around the crows. But I felt that was not enough so I added what I call “ wind lines”  of quilting that run horizontally across the quilt in a wavy pattern. It works and the piece is stable now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I made  a trip to the Dr on Monday and he said I was healing nicely and could go back to normal activity.  That meant that I could lift things without fear of breaking the stitches on the back of my hand. So the first thing I did was quilt this queen sized quilt. It was hard to rustle about under the machine but I did it. Then I did the binding and it is done now.

 

Quiet- Daily Practice One of the other things I could not do with the hand , was stretch this piece. So I did that this week  now  that I have full use of my hands.

 

Black Roses      The work is 38″ X 36″ .    This is a rescue piece. The base was the original  background for Three Sisters.  I removed the figures  and had the old background  piece on the table.  Next to it was   black and white rose fabric .    It was a  gift from my friend Tanya. She often passes me interesting fabrics to play with. It just seemed to go together. And I had a chance to use my cording foot tht I had purchased for the machine.

 

I enjoyed this project.

 

 

 

 

Three Sisters So this piece got a new base and some additional build up. I think I am now ready to stitch the parts down.

 

 

 

 

 

After the Fall This work too had to be put on hold until I got the OK form the Dr. It takes about 10 min to stitch down each  leaf and I find that I can only work  for about half and hour before I begin to tire. All the stopping and truing the whole quilt to sew half and quarter inch sections  is slow work.

Felted Backs I built these backgrounds for the machine drawn birds. I will get out the Felter and do the  felt work this week so I can put it all together.

 

 

Daily Practice I am working away on the daily practice too. This is the new one with a week’s work of effort on it.

 

Childhood Memories- Dr Kunkel and Sailing
Moving to Muncie changed the lives of all of the family in different ways. Gene seemed to have  had  the most difficulty adjusting to a new bigger school. Dad said a new place was a great chance for a fresh start and I took it that way.   One of the changes Dad did was he started using his real first name. When Dad was born  one of his cousin’s  was born across the county   a day after  Dad.   Both boys were named James McElhinney. To keep them strait in the community, Dad went by his middle name of Howard. When we moved to Muncie and his diploma said “James” , he decided to go by that name. In October, I was really  feeling my oats and that nearly lead to disaster. I was comfortably reading away in my room one afternoon when the phone rang. I go up and went down the hall to our only phone and answered.
“Is Jim there?” asked the voice. I said “No” and hung up the phone. I had just gotten settled  when the phone rang again. This time it was the same question and same answer. I returned to my room and the phone rang yet again. As I walked down the hall I though, “ I ‘ll play a joke on this guy.”
“Is Jim there ? ” the caller asked for a third time.
“Yes,” I said. “But he is too drunk to come to the phone.”
“Is this Jim McElhinney’s home?” the caller asked.
I was not smart enough to just hang up, but said. “ Oh! I am so sorry. He is here and I will got to the garden and get him for you.”
After Dad got off the phone he gave me a bit of a dress down for being such a smart-allic.
“What if that had been one of my bosses?” he asked. I never did anything like that again.  As it turned out the man thought the whole thing was quit funny.    He was Dad’s office partner, Dr Kunkle. He and Dad got to be great friends and traveled all over Indiana working with teachers to develop curriculum programs. The two of them also went to Alaska to do the same thing with the Klincket Native American tribes off the coast.   I also developed a connection with Dr Kunkle when I went to Ball State. He was the sponsor of the sailing club there. That is were I learned to sail and I became proficient enough to be a Captain. My friend Margaret and I went out in one of  the club’s Windmill lots of times. On one trip with her I even swamped the boat and had to haul it back to the dock myself. It was a cold event. I only had one more  experience with sailing when I was much older. I spent afternoon trying to learn to sail surf on Cazenovia Lake. I could not “come about”  so I could “tack” north.     I kept   losing control and falling off the board.   So I was slowly “sailing”  farther and farther down the lake. Finally the owner came with his son and rescued me . The son sailed the board home and I rode in the cab back to the house.   Gene got to be good friend with Dr Kunkle too and also learned to sail with him. Gene was a good sailor and the two of them went to lots of sail boat races on weekends.   They eve won some cups.

Stay safe

Carol

Birds, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Holidays

Hello,
Happy Chinese New Year to you! It is the start of the year of the Ox tomorrow and the beginning of the Spring Festival. With the new moon tonight, it is also the start of the lunar new year.   Add to that, Valentines Day on Sunday, and one has a lot to celebrate in the up coming days. I find it interesting that all of those holidays include a lot of red in their celebrations.  I guess we are getting a bit tired of the grays, blacks and whites of winter.
I had a few Zoom meetings this week. The Retired Art Teachers meant and we enjoyed the talk as we are all spread out now and some  gals live in  FL and South Carolina.   They joined us  in  this meeting. The Pixies also talked this week. Zooming is a real pick me up for me, but  I do miss the social contact of live meetings.
The Textile Artist Stitch Club project is going well. I do not think I will have the handwork done before I get the next assignment, but I am not too worried as I tend to complete projects. Good thing that is one of my better habits as I keep staring things due to the hand operation. The fact that I can not rustle the big projects under the machine means I just get to a point and I must stop. The UFO pile is really building up. I hope that the Dr gives me the Okay to go forward on Monday and I can finish up a few things.

Progress Report:  Lap Quilt – Glyph    This is the only project that I completed this week becasue it is small.   It is  37″ X 46″  .   I enjoyed working to finally put these  stenciled  squares into a work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt IV I am using my hand dyed as a starting place for this project. It is layed and I have stared the quilting in the ditch work on it. I am sure I will finish it in the next day or two.

 

 

 

 

Scarp Happy Quilt I am assembng the back of this project now. It is a great way for me to use up bits and pieces.

 

 

 

 


Murder of Crows I finally put this work together this week. It too is at the stitch in the ditch quilting step. I can manage these smaller works under the machine even with the hand limitations.

 

 

 

Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge- Three Sisters The assignment is to do something with portraitures with a Picasso influence. I am going for the cubist period. But this is awful! Too much of a good thing I guess. I will dismantle it and start again.

 

Thread Painting – three birds   I did these birds, a Chickadee, a Finch and  a Cedar Waxwing thinking I had three felted backgrounds on the shelf. When I pulled the backgrounds out, I discovered that only two would work and the felting step was only just started. I will  make one more background and  work at getting them all felted properly.

Daily Project I am on the second piece of fabric in this nightly handwork series. It is a very calming way to end my working days.

 

 

 

Childhood- Jr High continued
I continued to play my clarinet after we moved and all through high school.  In eight grade I befriended a tall, some-what gangly, awkward gal named Margaret Dunn. She played the drums and bells . Our friendship was a powerful influence in my life. She is the only person I am still connected with from high school . She now lives in Rhode Island. She and her husband travel all over the world judging Kite Competitions and teaching folks everywhere how to make kites. Both Margaret and I took part in the school musical, “When Our Hearts Were Young and Gay”. We were in the choirs, so we had lots to time to talk and enjoy the event. We were also together in Science class with Mr Davidson. I will admit that when the class dissected a frog, I was not impressed. It was smelly and colorless, a bit of a let down after Mom’s rabbit the year before. My lab partner was thrilled. Like Mom, Mr Davison had ways to add points to one’s grade. He had a big collection stamps of wild animals and one could enlarge an image for extra credit. I took out my colored pencils and got busy. I did several, although I only recall doing the Sage Grouse with his tail feathers all fanned out and the chest wattles enlarged. Mr Davidson also sponsored early morning bird watching walks. Margaret and I arrived at school at 6 on several occasions to accompany him along with other kids to spot birds. Dad let me borrow his binoculars and that made the project more enjoyable .
> A brand new class for me was Home Economics. There were two Home Economics teachers . One taught sewing and health/hygiene . The other taught cooking and nutrition. I remember learning how to make Tuna Salad with hard boiled eggs and making cookies. In the sewing class our first project was a felt pajama bag shaped like a cat’s head. The skill the teacher was shooting for was how to put in a zipper. My experience with Grandmother Ester helped me in that class. I did get a speeding ticket in that class, for running the sewing machine too fast. Our second project was a straight skirt. She stressed that we all needed a good set of sewing scissors. I got some with Singer printed on the side and I still have them. I selected a pattern with a skirt and shell and then picked out black and white plaid corduroy fabric to use. Matching the plaid was a lesson I will never forget as I had to rip out my seams several times. I created a separate challenge for myself by making the shell reversible. That was the start of my career of making one garment do two jobs. I don’t know how many costumes I made using that trick. In Hygiene we learned how to wash our faces using little circular motions. We did craft projects in that class too. In Nov. I ordered a kit to make Mom a ceramic tile tray for Christmas. It came and I assembled it according to the instructions. Mom loved it and the tray sat on its side on the counter under the china cabinet for years. I also remember that we “learned’ how to knit a flat tie under the chin scarf/ hat. I did learn enough to get the job done, but the practice did not stick ! I was over fifty when I felt I could call myself a novice knitter.
> I was becoming aware of popular culture. There were two popular TV shows about Doctors at that time- Ben Casey and Dr Killdare. People seemed to like one or the other, but not both. Dr-like shirts were all the fashion that spring. Mom knew I liked Dr Killdare, but she refused to purchase me a trendy bit of clothing. And she was correct, by the next fall no one was wearing them any more. Another TV star that was popular was Carol Burnett. I was thrilled that she and I shared the same first name. I had a job at home ironing clothing and I would often set up the board and watch “Frances Farmer Presents” old movies on TV in the afternoon when I got home from school while I ironed. The family watched lots of westerns together and my favorites were Maverick, Have Gun Will Travel and  The Rebel with Johnny Uma.

I hope you have good TV show memories too.

Stay safe

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Textile Artist Stitch Club

Grounded

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing well.  My big excitement for the week was a little operation on my the back on my left hand on Monday morning to remove a growth. That has really slowed me down as I can not lift much. I can do hand work sense I am right handed and can work on a few things – but lots of work will need to wait two weeks until I see the Dr again. It is good to slow down and take stak every now and then.     I survived the big snow that hit our area by just staying put, Zooming and working.   I did go for a walk in the cemetarty today inthe sun shine though  and enjoyed it throughly. I had lots of meetings this week. The QuEGs, FAD and Pixies meant and it was all stimulating. There was also a RATs ( Retired Art Teachers) meeting too. It is good to stay connected with folks in this time of isolation. The Textile Artists Stitch Club ‘s new teacher is Caroline Nixon. She had us do a bit of bio printing before we started stitching this week. I have only done a little of the stitch work so far.

 

Progress Report: After the Fall I had started stitching down the leaves on this project before Mon so there is a little progress.  I will not be working on it until later now as it requires lots of handling and with the stitches in my hand I can not pull the fabric around as I need to for the outlining of the leaves.

Lap Quilt – Glyph I layered this quilt yesterday. I think I can stitch in the ditch quilt this work because it is all strait runs and not much else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6X6 The Rochester Cultural Arts Center has made it annual call for little six inch by six inch works so I got busy and finished off these three during some of my meetings this week.

 

 

 

Old Project I found this piece while hunting for bases for the 6X6 projects. I will finish it up quickly I think.

 

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I finished the hand work on this big piece this week. I want to stretch it so again that will be put on hold .

 

 

 

 

But I did begin a new Daily series after talking with my friend Barbara. I am going to use a lot of my paint and hand dyed fabrics as a base and use the left over pre fuzed solid fabrics from the Mayan series to stitch into. It should make for a complex and interesting surface to work on.

 

Collage Crows  I did a few more crows in the collage techniqie this week .  I used an old fabric that Marty and I had made after a visit to Elizabeth Bush where she showed us how she was using spray paint on fabrics to create some wonderul images.  The backgound is fine for this strong contrast in the pieces of black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood -Mr Carr
A teacher that had a profound effect on my development was Mr Peter Carr. Mr Carr wasmy  summer school art teacher the summer between my Junior and Senior years in high school.  His classes were  structured, his lessons specific. The first day of class he gave all the students  a sketch book and said we would have three  pen drawings due very week . One would be assigned and the other two were our choice. The first assignment was to draw what was under the kitchen sink and  I remember having the most difficulity  drawing the gallon glass vinegar bottle.  Then with  the intention of impressing him, I drew a portrait of a Viking with a helmet with fur and horns.   Using a ball point pen made one slow down and look carefully before putting down the lines- there was no erasing. The Viking looked great- but some how I had given him a very crooked nose. Mr Carr gave me high marks for the work , but on the nose of the Viking he had corrected the line  of the nose in red pencil.  I never made an error in the nose alignment again as every time I look at the sketch I see the correction. Other assigments included a trip to  the cemetery, what was under our beds, and our reflection in a shiny object. I  still love to draw with  a Bic ball point pens. We did ceramics, his art form of choice, painting and collages  that summer. Then the  last few weeks of class we had choices. I decided to try doing a punch needle rug for the choices offered. This was my first real use of fibers as a art material. I did my designs in colored pencil keeping in mind that rugs had no up or down and needed to look good from all points of view. I selected the strongest design  with his help.   I built a wooden frame and stretched the burlap over the frame and  begin the work.  I drew a design of FIRE in magic marker on the burlap and began punching in the colored yarns. The rug was successful as the shapes were good, the colors strong and the stitches were of varying heights. I spent many happy hours working on the project, but I  did not complete it before the end of the class.  I got an A none the less. Mom hung  my  “Fire” in the front hall so you could see it when you came into the house. “You could not put it on the floor,”she said. “One does not walk on fire.”  The rug won a blue ribbon in the Art Fair my senior year at school.

The rug hung in the hall until Mom moved to AZ in 1979 when it came back into my possession. I went on to do a “Water” rug and one all in greens that I called “Fields.”  That  work was like looking at the earth from an airplane- some thing I had not done at the time.
Mr Carr came back into my life when I was a senior in college.  At Ball State all folks on the path to becoming teachers took a class called “Practium”.

The class was a chance to teach a few lessons with the supervision of a master teacher in the lab school. Before we ment the kids to beging that experience, we had a meeting with Mr Carr were he  prepared us for the experience. He told us all to come to class the first day dressed as an Artist. “ Look the part, act the part, and you will be the part,”he said. I went out and purchased myself a pair of blue bell bottom throusers that covered my shoes, a white highly  textured blouse and a navy blue wool Nehru jacket. It passed the text. Mr Carr  was as good at teaching us how to teach, as he was at teaching art.   One great pointer was to limit the scope of the assignment so kids don’t flounder around and waste time.  Another was to break  complex projects into small units that kids can build on to create good work.  He reminded  us to reward the students  efforts along the way as much as theie final projects. That is where the real growth happens. I credit him with setting  on a great path to becoming a successful teacher.

Stay safe,  and keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Winter White

2 Comments

Hello,
Winter has made its self present in central New York. We get a fresh addition of snow every day and it is starting to build up. The new add on’s do keep it looking fresh however and white.    It is amazing how white, black  and a bit of gray can be so beautiful!  I have had a quiet but busy week. I did deliver the twin Scarp Happy quilt on Monday and promptly started another. Some how no face contact with folks is starting to diminish the joy of sharing. I have become acutely aware how important saying “Thank You” is.   I am still a little burnt by giving 21 quilts to the nursing home and having the guard tell me to drop them on the floor while he continued to play on his phone. He said my contact  was unavailable. I  still do not know if the woman I talked with  on the phone got the quilts or they went out in the trash. That was three weeks ago.  I know that everyone is busy and Covid complicates things, but I did leave my business card in all the bags, so one hopes they could find me if they wanted to.
I did get a great deal of joy in the mail this week with two different events. My Spoonflower order arrived and I am delighted with the results. I will have to feature it in a work soon. My second delight came in the form of a package from Robert of the Pixies group. It was a new hat! It make me smile from ear to ear every time I look at it. It sure made our Zoom meeting fun as we all had new toppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club assignment for this week  was from Valerie Goodwin. I have had several classes with her and find her to be a strong teacher. We made a map of our neighborhoods using Goolgel maps as our jumping off point. It was fun and I enjoyed doing the hand work.   The purple round objects are my trees as viewed from above.

Progress Report: Scarp Happy This work is going quickly as I already had a backing done from some time in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

Crow Fabric Collage I could not make the crow that I did last week work by its self, so I made a second one yesterday. I like to do things in odd numbered groups so I will make a third feature unit this week to mix with the two done ones.

 

 

 

Autumn Fall The base is all assembled and quilted so now I can add the Tyvec leaves on top. I am doing the vanes by machine first. It takes me about 12 min to do each one.   I am about half way done with the vain work.

 

 

 

 

Black base I am doing more hand work with the wool treads that Nancy gave me. This is a second piece of black fabric that I tried to discharge last summer so there are some slight color changes in the black.   I am exploring with my stitches.

Daily Practice Because I am using the  same wool and lots of old dyed lace this work is moving along a lot faster then I expected.  Wool needs bigger stitches and that fills thing in quickly.  Fun work however.

 

 

 

New Lap Quilt

I have pulled these fabrics for my next lap quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood/ Adolescents Memories Jr High
>
> My entry into Storer Jr High was different in many ways.
> I was just Carol McElhinney , one student among many  and my parents were not known in this community . Though Dad was in the Education department at Ball State Teachers collage, he was also new .   With time  his name became know and that short unanimity disappeared, that only   changed when I married Eric and changes my last name. Then I  did get out from under Dad’s big shadow. The middle school went from 7th grade to Freshman year and there were over 350 students in each grade level. This was a another big difference .My school records from Carroll followed me and I was placed in a low level home room with Mr Dillon. He was our teacher for Language Arts. I don’t recall much instruction , but I do remember lots of sustained silent reading with book reports to follow. The report was  a simple, title, author and short plot line. Since I had really started to understand how to decode the printed word over the summer, it was a real growing experience. By the end of the first semester ,Mr Dillon moved me a different home room. That was a math home room and since I did well with numbers, it worked well for me. My new English teacher was Mrs Middelton .  I had her for 9th grade too. I do remember one incident in her class very well. We were silently reading O Henry’s short story, “Ransom of the Red Chief.” I saw the story so vividly in my mind that I burst out laughing in the silent room. I got quiet embarrassed , settled down and started reading.   But again I got so lost in the story and soon  was laughing uncontrollably again. Mrs Middelton sent me to set in the hall for the rest of the period to finish the story and not distract anyone else. Years later when Eric and  I visited Storer on a teachers’s visitation day our paths crossed again. She recognized me and told Eric the story of that day. Later that spring, she hired Eric for a teaching job there.
> My school was about a mile from our house and across the creek that ran behind our home. There was  one foot bridge  near the school   and no road crossing the creek until one was a mile and a half from home.    I often rode my bike to school early as I had a job. I was the kid who opened and ran the school book store. I would go to the office and pick up the cash box and key to open the big display cabinet were a few simple school supplies were kept. Paper, note books, pencils, compasses, rules and such, were what the store  sold. After locking up I went to Math class first period. My seat was behind John Isenbarker, one of the popular Jocks. He was a quarter back for the football team and a center for the basketball team. When we were paired to do work together I Learned how lazy he was. I had too much self worth to let the “ big man on campus”, copy my homework so he sort of black balled me. It was a big enough school that I still survived.

Miss Fisher was the girls gym teacher and I really liked her. I  experienced the  big change in the rules of how girls played basketball. In eighth grade, girls played half court and I was a forward.    We never crossed the center line.  In ninth grade after the rules changed, it was full court like the boys played basketball ,and I was a guard. I remember a fierce competition between Jo Ann Walker and myself. Jo Ann was in Mr Dillon’s class so we had a bit of a history . She was scrappy, and taller then I was. I came home with many scratches on my arms after basketball games from her aggressive attitude. This was also about the time I realized that the world was stacked in favor of boys and men. I was quite upset and angry about this. Dad and I had several talks on that subject. In the end, I went away from those talks with Dad’s assurance that I could do what ever I wanted and I would have his support.

Take good care of your self

Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Lap Quilts, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Technical Difficulties

Hello,

For me it has been a strange week. We suffered a technical miss hap.   Two trips to the store,  playing with cable connections and a bit of crawling around on the floor and now we are back in working order.    One forgets how much we have come to depend on this machine for so many things. I was able to make my Zoom meetings through my phone- but I am sure I used lots of Data to do that and I will pay later. There were four Zoom meetings this week. The QuEG’s group meant before the modem failure so it went well although there were not a lot of folks in attendance. FAB meant on Wed and they were my first challenge with doing the zoom on my phone. Wed eve was the Pixies and it took 20 min for us all to get in aliment and able to talk. Susan suggested that we try a create a While Voodoo character to push positive energy into the world. This is my start.

 

Sisterhood
of the Scissors meeting went well because I was at Liz’s and we just tacked it on the end of our class with Rosalie Dace from Stitching Post. It was the last class and I am feeling a bit let down about that.

I also had a new assignment with Textile Artist Stitch Club this week. The new teacher is Valerie Goodwin. I have had classes with her at QBL so that was quiet enjoyable. I can not do the assignment because that had to do  with printing out a map, and the printer is wireless. I did finish my piece from last week however.

My other big event was to hang my solo show at the Life Force Studio. It consisted of the 13 Mayan pieces. I will add them at the bottom of this blog. We also did a video but it was too long so I do not know were that stands. Learning lots of things every day as far as technology is concerned.

Progress Report: Captured This piece is 32″ w X 42″ l. It came out stronger then I expected and I think I will try some more work in this vain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bone Dancer – Mayan Series This is the last of the series and it is 20″ w X 24″ l. I only had to add the binding, sleeve and label to complete this quilt this week. I will not show it in the lineup at the end of the post, but it is there too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Lap Quilt This is the newest finished lap quilt for the nursing home. I am using these as a chance to put together different fabrics and play a bit.

 

 

 

 

Orange Lap Quilt This is a second lap quilt that only needs the binding and it will be complete.   This quilt is also made up of mostly hand dyed and altered fabrics.

 

 

 

 

Twin Scrap Quilt This quilt is the commission I have been working on and it only needs to have its binding attached and it too will be complete. I am all excited about doing some more scarp quilts in the near future.

 

 

 

New work – Big Leaves This is the beginning of my use of the big Labrador that did not work on the pieces that became High Anxiety.

 

 

 

 

Raven I got busy and drew in crayon and colored pencil on a bit of fabric this week. He is a bit menacing, but I like him. Not sure were I am going here, but I like a challenge

 

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I continue to applique down old lace and stitch with wool on this piece.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Muncie Neighborhood

The Neighborhood in Muncie was like all the other neighborhoods in some respects. My parents seemed to always select locations on the out skirts of town with farmland near bye. In this case it was just across Petty road at the north side of the house and across the creek to the west. Dad did dig a garden in the back south corner of the yard as usual. He had a nice strawberry bed and corn every year along with tomatoes and other vegetables. The creek that ran along the back of our lot was a steep five foot drop to the water from our yard. Although the water did get high in spring it never flooded over those banks. I can’t say I ever climbed down to the water even under the bridge over Petty Road. I did explore the lands on those two farm though. The area directly behind the house across the creek was a field  that was going back to nature. There were lots of adolescent trees and brambles in that area. There was also a pond that I visited many time to watch birds and dragon flies as well as listen to frogs. Beyond the that field was a field stone house . The farm widow lived there. I only saw her once . The rest of her farm was across the road and it too was going back to nature as well. There was a great old gray barn that I looked at a time or two. One day it caught fire and the arrival of the fire trucks alerted everyone to the event. We were held at bay and that was a good thing as the metal sheets exploded off the roof of the barn in the middle of the fire and flew in many directions. That was also the day I saw the widow on the stone poach as she watched along with many others as the barn burned to the ground. Across the road on the east side of the creek was another active farm. That property had five different wind breaks/ wooded areas with plowed and planted areas in between. The wooded strips were all about seventy feet wide and supported a mixture of pines and hard woods . I explored them all of course. Two had little interest for me but the other three had elements that I returned to many times. One had a section of white pines that I would visit when I want to be calm. I would lie down on the many years of pin needles and enjoy the smells and look up through the branches at the sky and just day dream. Another section closer our house had two wonderful trees for climbing and I visited that area the most. The third are was on the far east side of the land and there was a great old willow tree there . I went there several times and tried to weave willow baskets. I was not real successful with those attempts, but that did not stop me from trying.
Dad had discourages me from playing football with the boys and although Gene would let he help his when no one else was available, but Steven would not tolerate my participation at all. It was lonely. In early October walking home form school I did meet another older girl in the neighborhood. Ann Pazel was in seventh grade and she lived six blocks from my house. Her parents owned the fanciest Jewelry store downtown. Her parents tightly structured Ann’s live with lessons and such  the only day of the week that we could play together was Tuesday. She had a Parakeet and I was fascinated. Mom disliked birds because a rooster had flown into her face when she was young. So having birds around was out of the question for me. Ann was a avid stamp collector and we all spent hours sorting, examining and sharing those wonderful little images. I still have my original stamp album and continue to save every different stamp that arrives on mail sent to me. Someone will have a treasure trove to sort and enjoy some time in the future.

I will add a separate post of all of the pieces in the show.

Stay safe and keep Creating,
Carol

Childhood Memories, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Lap Quilts, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Bone Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Winter work

Hello,

Now that the holidays are over and all the decorations are put away I can really concentrate on the studio clean up and sort.   It is a good time to do this sort of thing as there are few  distractions.      I am nearly done with the fabrics. For the most part I have put like colors and fabric types together. I did make some selections of things that I can pass forward  to give away. The only material  left is  my hand altered fabrics and then I will call that step done. My plan is to tackle the remaining book shelves next.
I had a Zoom meetings this week with the Diva’s and the Pixies. It is always good to talk with fellow artists. Textile Artist Stitch Club gave us a new assignment too. This is my drawing. I will use a view finder to select a small portion and begin the  stitch work.

 

 

Progress Report: Lead Dancer Mayan Series # 13 This work is 20″ w X 24.5″ l. With  this finished up, there is only one more in the series. It has been and enjoyable one for me. I am looking forward to the show next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wind Blown 3 X 3 Challenge This work is 38.5″ X 38.5″. All the Gingko leaves are raw edged appliqued to the surface thought the batting. The leaves are all silks of various types.

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy I was commissioned to do one of these in a twin size. All the rows are done and I am working on the backing now.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt. In my cleaning I found this top all done with out the batting and backing.   I added those two part and  I am   doing stitch in the ditch quilting it now.

 

 

 

Captured Threads I started this project three years ago at Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth and it too got buried. I am doing the binding on it now and so I will finish it shortly.

Bone Dancer- Mayan Series # 14 This is the last planned work in this series. I am to the quilting stage of this work now as I have a show of all 14 coming next week at the Life Force Studios. Nothing like a dead line to push one forward.

New Work I had cut these squares and pinned them down before I found the other lap quilt, but I will build it none the less. I know I can always find a home for them.

 

 

 

Daily Handwork I started this last week and I am adding yarns and ribbon to the surface at this point. I am keeping the colors simple and closely related. It is meditative to work on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – Moving to Muncie Indiana
The move to Muncie was a big change for all of the family. Gene and I did not help with the actual packing up of the household. That job was carried out my Mom and Dad with the help of uncle Paul. They drove our stuff to Muncie and unloaded it. Gene, Russell and I came in Grandpa Howard’s truck. In the late afternoon one day, Grandmother and Grandpa loaded us up and we started driving east form Grandview. The three of us had a good time raising our selves above the cab and yelling into the wind for a while. But as the sun went down it became colder and colder. I remember Grandmother rotating us into the cab to warm up before we all fell asleep in the sleeping bags in the bed of the truck. The new house was in a housing development at the end of Brook Drive. It was a yellow brick ranch style house with a garage on the far south side at the end of the drive. There was one other competed house diagonally across the street where the Baloue’s lived. The adults  both worked at Ball State too and their was a son, Steven,  was Gene’s age. Many lots were not developed, but a few had craw spaces dug. There were no girls over 4 for five or more blocks in all directions. There was a big old Shingle Oak in the front yard on the west end and behind the house was a brook. Our street T-ed int Petty Road and beyond that road were fields. Across the brook was a abandon field that was going back to nature and beyond that a stone field house. From the  drive way one would walk up one step  between floor to ceiling windows on the left and a yellow brick flower box on the right , to arrive at the front door. Opening the front door one entered into a short landing with three exits. To the right was a wide opening to the living room that ran along the front of the house. If one went strait ahead there was a phone on the wall to the right and a door way to the kitchen. On turning left one went down the hall to the bath on the right across from Gene’s room. Strait down the the hall brought  one to my room, with Mom and Dad’s bedroom door just to the right. Their sweet had a small bathroom with a shower, stool and sink. I loved my new all white room. I had two windows that faced east and a third that faced north. The big old yellow typing desk, that was in my room in Carroll, did not make the trip, but most of the furniture that my parents had built did. They built desks for both Gene and myself out of doors that were used as the writhing surface. Four screw in legs were the corners, and Dad built slides for the drawers. The drawers themselves were brown plastic wash tubs that slid in on the slide tracks. I also had great bulletin board on that was on that wall. In the corner at the east side was my newly inherited chest of drawers with a large mirror over it. Mom and Dad got a new bedroom set and I got the old blond wavy cut one with big X drawer pulls. I thought it was so “Hollywood”. In the front north east corner was my new bed. Gene and I both got new three quarter beds. That was a fashion that did not last long and Mom grew to dislike as she could not purchase sheets to fit. She had to cut down and re sew doubles to fit. Later that fist fall I got a blue swivel rocker that lived at the end of my bed in front of the closet. My book shelf lived inside the closet at one end and the play cupboard that Grandfather Howard had built me was at the other. Back down the hall was the kitchen/dinning area was behind the living room on the west side of the house. There were double sliding glass doors at the far end of that are and they opened onto a poured cement patio. At that far end was a set of folding doors on the right that opened to the living room. Beyond those doors on the right was a door to the garage. Opposite that door was on to the laundry room that included a sink and a stool too. At the end of the short hall was a door to the den. There was a door to the patio from there as well. Mom and Dad both had desks in that room. The house served us well and I enjoyed it until I moved away my senior year in college to live in a house with seven other girls.