Category Archives: Pixies Group

Childhood Memories, Mayan - Lead Dancer, Mayan- Water Dancer, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Squares a Dancing

Fresh Snow

Hello,
We had our first big snow over night. It is so lovely how the snow softens all the sharp edges of things and cleans up the world a bit. I did not have to do too much of the shoveling so I am sure I enjoyed it more then my Husband.
I had four Zoom meetings this week so I feel very full of inspiration. The QuEGs group meant on Tue. There were only three of us, but it was still enjoyable as Sue Ellen had lots of table runners to share. FAB meant yesterday and that was exciting as we added two new old friends to the mix. Then the Pixies meant in the afternoon yesterday. Good to talk with these Florida folks. They had rain while we got the cold version. Today the Sisterhood of the Scissors meant.
          I finished up Kathy’s Quilt on Monday and it got delivered yesterday. It went through some modifications from last week. This shot is of the finished work and Kathy.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Water Dancer This quilt is 20″w X 25″ l. I am quite pleased with how the water came out.

 

 

The strong graphic quality of these works sure make them eye catchers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lead Dancer I have moved on to the Lead Dancer piece now. This step of cutting and placing the parts,  always takes a lot longer then I think it will.

 

 

Bone Dancer While I was working on the Lead Dancer I got going on the drawing for this one too. I am still not real happy with it or I would have started the cutting of the fabric for it as well.   Time and thinking will help.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Quilts I only need to do the quilting on this work and it will be done. I am working on assembling two more scrap backs for the other two quilts in this series.

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep shuffling these squares about. I am not pleased with any solutions yet so I will keep playing until I do.

 

 

 

 

Old Mayan In my search for fabric for one project, I came across this old batik of a Mayan seated figure. I guess that really proves I have been in love with their style for a long time as I have no memory of when I did this piece. I started quilting it this week and will add it to the show of the other pieces if I get it done in time.

Christmas Gifts     I made three polar fleece comforters for the kids this week.  They are all boxed and wrapped now .  It has been the year of cover   gifts from  me.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- 7th grade Science- the Rabbit
There was one other big event in Mom’s Science class. She was teaching us about how the body works for all mammals. She talk about how they all had common parts like lungs, hearts, livers and so on. The text book everything was drawn and so very clean. I’d helped Mom and Grandmother prepare Chickens for eating so I was a little more aware then some kids. She decided to dissect a rabbit so we could see and generalize from that experience. We were prepted and and she had us all come to the front of the class room and gather around her. First she anathematized the rabbit. One of the boys pulled the rabbits tail and out popped a little “raisin”. We all laughed, Mom quickly got control of the class and then she cut into the rabbits chest to the heart. She wanted us to see the heart mussel at work. I remember being surprise at how small it was, about the sise of a shooter marble, and how fast it was beating. We could easily see the blood being pushed into the arteries. Then she cut away more of the body to show more of the parts and she cut the heart out. In doing so there was a big surge of the artery and blood spurted out onto Bill Wilson’s arms. Now Bill was a bit of a bully and he always had to be at the front of everything, but he was not prepared for this to happen. Mom quickly sent him to the sink to wash off. With the rabbit now dead she went on with the digestion explaining and showing us the parts as she went. Bill went and sat in his desk for the rest of the lesson and he was never quite so pushy after that.
At home things were quiet in the evenings. One of our little rituals was nightly Reading. While Gene or I were in the bath tub cleaning up, the other child would set with mon on the floor outside the bathroom with the door ajar while she read to us. She read some of the books I had purchased from the book clubs in the earlier grades. I have very vivid memories of two books. The first was “Yellow Eyes.” That was a book about a mountain lion, all told from the cats point of view. The other book was “The Mystery at Thunderbolt House.” That book was about a family that had inherited a mansion in San Francisco in 1849. At the end of the summer after they moved, there was a big earth quake and fire. I found that story fascinating and I still have a copy of that book somewhere.
Not only was Dad gone, there were other changes too. Over the summer five houses were built in the meadow where the creek was. That made for more kids to play with- mostly boys. The big empty lot where we usually played baseball was sold and a pink marble Methodist church was being built there too. We did roam around in the basement structure for a few weeks before it got closed off. One of the boys in the new houses was Chris Moore. During the winter he and I spent a lot of time playing chess.

Stay Safe

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Ethel Scarp #6, Fall Gathering, Mayan Series- Fire Dancer, Mayan- Water Dancer, Pixies Group, Squares a Dancing, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Thanksgiving

Hello,

It has been a turbulent year with lots of disasters from fire, flood, illness and death. I am thankful that there are so many wonderful willing souls in the world who are willing to go forward and help. They really make the world a better place. We all do the little things that we hope will make the world a better place too.
This week I took two works to the Everson for their Festival of Trees. My tree is part of a series I did years ago exploring how I could use “glitz” in my work.   In this case I added sequins to the tree and used a opalescent paint.
The flower basked is a stretched work that is a result of one of the challenges by Textile Artist Stitch Club.
This week the club’s teacher was Jennifer Collier. She taught us how to stitch with paper. I have admired her work in the past and enjoyed making these 3-D paper gloves. They are resting on top of my stitch sketchbook from the week before.
The Pixies were the only other group that meant this week. It is good to stay connected.

 

 

Progress Report: Burning This work is 41″ X 35″ and is all free motion quilted and appliqued. It is my tribute to the fire fighters of the west who bravely go on day after day fighting fires to save homes and landscapes.
I dyed  lots fabric for this piece and I made silk paper with this project in mind. I used organza and nylon netting as well to promote the feeling of fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wake Up Call This quilt is 36″w X 41″ l. I made the stencils form Robert’s photos of crows in flight. Then I created the trees from a photo I took on my walk. The crows are made with silk and velvet. I enjoyed this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Gathering 3 X 3 Challenge This work is 40″ 40″. The Challenge was form the Sisterhood Of the Scissors. There was a size limitation and one had to use black and white somewhere in the work. I mixed two sizes of broken nine patch blocks plus some 3.5″ fillers to created 14″ squares that I then joined. This work lead to  another quilt as I though I should spark it up a bit with some metallic fabric. When I pinned the metallic triangles  on the surface they just faded into the background. They were too close in value.   The result is below as new work.

New Work This is the new base I built for the leftovers from Fall Gathering.   I hand painted and dyed all the fabrics in this base.

 

 

 

Ethel’s Scraps I built four square blacks with the patterned squares mixed with the solids and then when all the units were connected into blocks I made rows for the quilt top. This is the first one and I think I can make at least one more top from the remaining squares.

Squares A Dancing I finished doing the hand work last week and so I worked at various ways to connect them. Found some more of Eric’s cast offs and thought I would try them. I hope there is enough fabric.

Fire Dancer- Mayan Series I just keep stitching down the parts of this piece. I think it is moving along nicely.

 

 

 

 

Water Dancer- Mayan Series I enlarged my sketch this week and just started cutting out the solid fabrics for the parts of the piece. I hope to get to the stitching stage by next week.

Tyvec Painting     Enjoyed reading an article in Quilting Arts on the use of painted tyvec  to create leaves so I painted a postal envelope form my friend Sharron.  I will post the results of the process next time.

Childhood Memories- Dad

When we moved to Carroll Dad became the principal of a much bigger school than before. After he finished the building of the house, he didn’t have time to build any more furniture and his work with wood although an interest mostly died away. The new job demanded much more of his time. I found it a lot more exciting, as we went to football games, basketball games, baseball games as well as all the band and choral events. Most things took place in the gym that was attached to the high school.    I remember one time when Dad lets us go with him into the basement under the gym. It was full of old school furniture and in one corner there was a collection of old trophies gathering dust. One was almost as tall as I was. The three big trophy cases in the gym lobby were full and since the school was built in the 20’s some had been retired.
> One of his more enjoyable activities was supervision of the Foreign Exchange program. One year the school hosted a young man from Denmark named Hans. He lived with the Annaburgs ,who were our neighbors,so I had a little contact with him too. Early in his visit both families went to the Drive-In to see “The Ten Commandments”.   It was a  powerful movie.  At intermission we went to the refreshment stand. Hans was appalled when we ordered hot dogs and root beer. “How can you eat dogs and give beer to young children,” he asked? This was my first experience with the translation of the English language and how  our use of words works. With careful explanations Hans realized that it was not as bad as he first thought. I am sure that sort of thing happened to him many times over the course of his year in the States. The Annaburg family enjoyed their time with Hans so much that they went to Denmark and visited him and the country. They purchased some Danish furniture and had it shipped home in big wooden containers. Those big boxes became forts for us . The following year the exchange student was from  Austria. She did not adapt as well as Hans  had and was very home sick. She ended up going home at Christmas time.
> Dad did all the normal stuff a principal does, like budgets, schedules, student supervision  and he ran the  teacher’s meetings. Dad was again in charge of discipline. I recall him telling a story about one of his delinquent students who was skipping lots of school in the spring. Dad said “ Well he is learning something- even if it is   only how to avoid me… temporally.” He was also active out side of school. He was a member of the Iowa Teachers Association and went to their meetings and did some presenting there . He was active in the community as deacon in the First Presbyterian Church, a member of the Jaycees  and the Rotary Club. There were lots of nights when he was away. I remember hearing the garage door going up under my room when he got home after I was in bed.
> At the end of my sixth grade year there was a big change. Dad and Mom decided that he would resign as principal so he could finish his education. He spent that year in Iowa City doing his Doctoral  Dissertation and the last of his classes. It was a five and a half hour drive both ways from Carroll so he did not come home much. He did call every week end , though. Mom was a single parent that year and we all grew as a result.

Hope you are safe and had a quiet and safe holiday.

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Mayan Series- Fire Dancer, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Squares a Dancing, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Lots of Meetings

Hello

This week has been  a time for lots of meetings for me. I have found my walks to be a bit brisk as the temp has been low. We even have snow on the ground.    The high number of  Zoom meetings meant I d I did lots of handwork. There  was also the  second class from Textile Artist Stitch Club with Ali Ferguson. She gave us ideas on how to further embellish our pages and books.
The QuEGs meant and the population was low with only 4 of us. The FAD group was busy will all of us in attendance. I also did a class with Rosilie Dace on  Thur and enjoyed hearing her voice and found the lecture to be stimulating.   Then There was a meeting of the Sisterhood of the Scissors too.    I am pumped up by all the outside stimulation.

Progress Report: Mexican Blossoms I did the free motion work on this piece this week and added the sides It is the same size as the first one and I will pass them on as a set.10″ X 19″ in size.

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt      I finished this work this week.     It is 40″ w X 45″ L. I intend to take all of them to the Nursing home this next week .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burning I did a lot of free motion work on this project his week. I am now ready to face it and do the pressing to make it flat. I am sure it will be done soon.

 

Kathy’s Quilt I have the key board all laid out and fused down. I will do the zig zag work on this and this section of the quilt will be complete. I did order photo transfer paper to do the posters for the shows she did this week and it will show up some time soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing  This is the end of the squares plus the two extras. Now I need to plan the assembly of all of the units.

 

 

 

 

3 X 3 challenge This project is for the Sisterhood of the Scissors challenge. I made two sizes of broken nine patch blocks and joined them with additional fabric to create the finished 14″ blocks. I made and extra and so I could shuffle them in many configurations. This is the  row I was most pleased with.  Part of the challenge was to create units that could fit together in many ways and that proved to be the most difficult when I decided to unite my blocks.

Ethel Scrap Happy I am now adding solid blocks to the 5″ squares. I seem to be able to created about 70+ units and press them in an hour. I am on day nine of that process and it looks like there is just one  or two  more days worth of scrap blocks in the box. Then I will begin to add these units together  to make blocks of four units that I will use to create my rows for this quilt.

Black Rocks   This project is 20″ w X 15.5″ t.      It got a lot of attention due to all the meetings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire Dancer-Mayan Series      I am working away on this project and I am as excited about it.    The hand work is slow and calming.

 

 

  Wake Up Call    I did the wind motion quilting on this piece this week and I have pinned the trees in place.  I want to cut the crows that will be in the trees and place them before I stitch  both the trees and the birds to the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Bikes and Such
Memory is a strange beast. It comes to the surface like bubbles rising from deep water and at other times is just flows out. I try to write down the little bits as they come to me and then organize them into units that belong together. This week I am writing about bits and pieces that don’t really hang together, but I know they all happened before I passed into seventh grade.
When one moves things get lost and left behind. Such was the case of my big red tricycle when we moved to Carroll. I had really out grow it by third grade, but I missed having wheels. I brought up the idea that I was older and bigger, so perhaps a bicycle was in order. Mom got Aunt Shirley old one for me. It was a big heavy washed out pale blue bike, with a big tank on the bar the swooped done to the peddles. I would grow to see that as “cool” when I was older – but not at this time. It seemed a disappointment. Mom assured me that she could remove the tank, add a new seat and give the whole thing a new coat of paint and she did. It got painted black with a long triangle on the front and back bumpers. There was also a gold strip on both sides. It was heavy for me and I did fall down and get many scraped knees but, I did learn how to ride on it with out any training wheels. Later we use close pins to add Gene’s old baseball cards to the cross pieces so they would flap against the spokes. They made a great sound. Gene had a red wagon and we tried to tie it to the back so I could pull him along. That was not a good idea and we had one spectacular crashed before we abandoned that idea. One could not turn or stop the wagon from the bike- something that was not good.
Gene and I also had roller skates with steel wheels that one clipped to  the toes of ones shoes.      Keeping track of key one skates used to tighten them to ones shoes was always a challenge. I remember that my saddle shoes worked best because they had such good solid soles. I we only skated on the long cement driveway.
Aunt Shirley, my Mom’s youngest sister, was a great one for providing me with fun. I remember her sending me a package that contained a small red painted wooden apple about the size of a plum. It could be twisted open and inside were three little wooden pink pigs. I still have it in my memory box in the attic. I also recall one day in summer when Aunt Shirley showed up at Grandmother Ruth’s house with her new sewing machine. It had lots of cool automatic stitches and we spent a lot of time trying them out. Then she pulled out a piece of apple green cotton fabric selected one of the stitches and stitched two rows of stitching on all four sided of the square of material. She did the same thing with a second pattern of a second color of thread. Then we fringed the edges by pulling out about an inch of thread on all sides to create a  fringed  table cloth. I smiled with the memory of helping make it every time I saw it for  many years  after that day. On special occasions I got to play with Aunt Shirley’s paper doll collection. It was very extensive with a few repeats and most of the figures were Ice Skaters.  I think that they came from ice cream containers.   The costumes were beautiful and to positions  of the skaters were so graceful. I don’t remember changes of clothing, but I do remember spending hours arranging finalizes after swirling them around the floor.

Keep Creating

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Crows in the Morning, Diva Meetings, Mayan Series- Fire Dancer, Mayan- Rabbit Dancer, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Series, Textile Artist Stitch Club

Leaves and Bare Trees

1 Comment

Hello,

We are in a time when the fall has  finally hit us.  For six days we had beautiful Indian Summer weather and it was glorious.  The sun was bright and the leaves were colorful although drifting down.  I worked in the yard   as did many others.  Then yesterday  it rained and today it is cold an gray as we return to real fall like weather.   The city has cleaned up most of the leaves  in the streets, so walking is back to being a silent  activity.    With most of the leaves gone one can see great distances again.  The bare trees  also  ravel lots of leave ball squirrel nests  as they too have prepared for the change of season.   I feel fortunate to live were the environment shows great change with the seasons. 

I had several ZOOM meetings this week.      This is my project for the Pixies using Roberts crows to make stencils and them applying them to the surface of fabric.   I plan to build up the surface more too.

There was also a DIVA meeting on Tuesday .  It is always so stimulating to talk to fellow  fiber Artists.        Then I topped off the week by going to the Quilts = Art = Quilts show at the Schweinfurth  Art Center  in Auburn.  Liz and I   wearing out masks meant  three other fellow Finger Lakes Fiber Artist there and it was delightful.     The show is amazing.     This work is by Candace Hackett Shively is called Unsafe, Unseen, Unheard 2018   is her response to the children that were separated from their parents at the boarder and are still in captivity, with no hope of being united with their parents.    What a shameful citation for our country! 

 

This piece is by Denise Labadie and is also in the show.  It is called  Bonamary Friday.  She hand painted all the rocks.

 

 

 

 

The Textile Artist Stitch Club also presented me with an new artist and challenge.   Ali Ferguson is the teacher and she walked us through how to make a seven signature book.   This is my cover.

 

 

 

Then she challenged us to  add stitch work inside.   Here is a start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Rabbit Dancer  – Mayan Series   This quilt is 20″w X 25″ l.      I am excitedly looking forward to a show show of all of these works when the last one is done.

 

The rabbit head was especially fun to stitch.

 

 

 

Fire Dancer -Mayan Series   I am making great progress on cutting the parts for this next work in the series.   I am anxious to begin stitching on it too.

 

 

 

 

Squares A Dancing    Seven more completed and only two more weeks worht of  squares cut.   I need to start to think about how I want to assemble  the pieces of this work.

I now have 231 squares done.

 

 

 

 

Mexican Morning    I painted this in Mexico when I visited Susan in  January 2018.  I added color to the background this week and will begin to stitch it soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt  This work is all pin basted and ready for stitch in the ditch quilting soon.   I think its colorful pieces will cheer some wheel chair bound person.

Now I only have two more to build before I take them off the  nursing home.

 

 

 

3 X 3 Challenge    All the units plus on extra are pieced now.  I need to do the quilting and finish the units  next.   The squares are going to be 15″ square.

 

 

 

 

 

Burn   I  got going again on the free motion work on this piece.  I really love my new Phaff as it cuts the tread at the end of the stitching work and that really speeds me along.

 

Ethel Scrap work   When the Fall Retreat got cancelled I decided to put in and  hour everyday  assembling  the strips that Ethel had cut.   Tue was day 21 of that activity and Wed I would have started the retreat had it still be a reality.     Instead I started cutting 5″ squares from the assembled units.  The box is overflowing and I still have units to cut.  When they are all cut I  will begin to build blocks for  more then one quilt I  hope.

Black Rocks    I am doing handwork on this black project.   So far – so good.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- The Nearby Wild
When I look back on those years in Carroll , I feel Gene and I were given great freedoms to explore beyond where Mom could keep an eye on us. We spent a lot of time building forts. One of the early ones was at the end of Adams street where the pavement ended in T to connect to a gravel road. Across the gravel road was a fenced farmers field. We built that first fort in the run off gully that was there by pilling limbs and brush against the fence to create a lean-to type of thing. Then we wove cat tails into the fencing to block off that side. It was a nice enclosed tunnel-like thing.
We also walked east up the gravel road, crossed the fence and walked across the farmers field to a raised portion of the land that was not cultivated. It was a big area that was where the farmer dumped debris. There were rocks from the plowing, and lots of old limbs and dead trees. There were live trees too, wild grasses and weeds and a rather steep but short gully. We called the area “ Dead Horse Canyon” even though the few bones that where there were from a cow. We were influenced by Cowboy shows and movies I’d guess. All the natural debris provided lots of building materials for forts and we usually had two or three going at the same time. We played lots of “Cowboy and Indian” out there. In the winter after a big snow storm we would walk out there too. The wind often blew the snow across the fields and piled it up in the gully. We would spend hours digging out forts and tunnels in the snow bank. Many was the time when we would stay a little too long and the walk home was very cold and uncomfortable with snow encrusted pants and coats. We went directly into the basement and shed our wet clothing, then run up stairs and quickly get into a hot bath to avoid frost bite.
If we walked farther to the east down the gravel road we would arrive at a new housing development. Most of the houses were going up at the north end of that area and we did not pay much attention to them at first . When other kids moved into the finished houses that story changed. For a few years we only went to the creek at the far east end of the area to fool around.  We caught frogs, and snakes along there. We would take them home to Mom who took them to school and put them in her classroom. At the far east end of the territory where another gravel road bridged the creek was a pond. Gene threw lots of rocks into that pond. It was fun to go under the bridge and yell as the cement tunnel distorted the sound. One winter after an especially long cold spell, Lee, Gene and I visited there. We ventured out on the ice as the pond was frozen solid. As kids we tried to break the ice by jumping on it. There was not even a crack. The Gene and Lee “dared” me to jump off the bridge and break the ice. I foolishly took the dare and on my way down after the jump – I thought to myself “ I’ll never do anything this stupid again!” I didn’t hit the ice square, so my feet flew out form under me and I hit hard on my behind. My heels did hurt a bit but not bad- and I did not crack the ice. We all realized how dangerous it was and didn’t tell anyone until much later. I was in my mid forties when I did tell Mom of my foolishness and she was appalled.    I never took any more dares either.

Stay safe, and create if you can

Carol

 

Childhood Memories, Curvie Cuts, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Fish Bones, Mayan Series- Fire Dancer, Mayan- Rabbit Dancer, Pixies Group, Scrap Happy Quilts, Squares a Dancing

Wild Temperatures

Hello,

This week has been one of wild temperature swings here. We where in the low 20 one day and had snow.    It was light and I liked how it stayed on the fallen leaves and pine needles.  Then the weather turned up and yesterday and today temperatures are set for nearly 70.       Our Indian Summer is set to last through Saturday. I sure enjoy it.
I spent a lot of time in Zoom meetings this week. There was a great meeting of Sisterhood of the Scissors. We are revising the 3X3 challenge of 2019. We were to make nine little quilts that could be put together or work independently.   I was the only person who followed through and did it last time.  I ended up uniting mine. I decided to challenge myself to doing this a second time. I will put that image in the Progress section.
The Pixies, FAB and QuEG’s meant too. I am bowed up by all the talk and support that they provide.

Progress Report:   Fish Bones  This quilt is 37″ X 29″.   I did free motion drawing for all the fish images on nylon netting that was trapped between two layers of wash away.

 

The curvy cut background adds a great feeling of movement I think.

 

 

 

Rabbit Dancer Mayan Series I finished the quilting of this work yesterday. I will add the binding and sleeve and it will be complete for next week.

Fire Dancer Mayan Series As I am nearly done with Rabbit Dancer I got busy and started the Fire Dancer this week.   I did the enlargement and the face base  is pinned in place at this point.

 

3 X 3 challenge II I built these nine patches and then realized that the smallest size of the units for the challenge is 12″ squares. These will only be 9″ when they are trimmed so I need to get creative and add to them to fit the challenge.

 

 

Ethel Scraps I keep adding the strips and leftovers together to created these big   unit pieces. I will cut them into 5″ squares today before I make any more units. I still do not see much of a dent in the box of per cut strips of Ethel’s that    I started with.  I am enjoying using them however.  I made a little personal rule to not begin assembling any blocks until I had made the 5″ squares for 21 days. Today is day 16 so I am getting close to moving onto the next step in this project.

Burn I got a little frustrated while I was working on this project because the machine kept freezing up on me while I was doing free motion work. I could sew for about a min and then it would stop and tell me to remove thread from under the bobbin. I did take the machine apart and use the bush in that area even though I could not see any threads. After the fifth time I just set the project aside and put the machine away. I will go to the Phaff dealer before I go forward with that machine. I got out the Bernia and have been using it for  work most of this week.

Squares A Dancing This is the latest group of seven. I only have enough squares for two full weeks at this point. I have 231 squares done. I may cheat a bit and cut some additional squares from some old jeans to make a third week for a total of 35 weeks. I will make decisions as I near the end.

 

 

Black Rocks I already mentioned all the Zoom time I had this  week. Well when the meetings are going on,  I stitch away .

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Neighborhood Kids 2
Another Catholic family lived in the house just south of ours. I remember that they had a wonderful lilac hedge all around the back yard. It smelled heavenly in the spring. There were only two children in that family, Bill, who was older, and Jane who was a year younger then I.  Bill was a bit of a bully and I recall him throwing Walnuts at me in the fall. He was also the only person who teased me with a nickname. He called me “Carol Kay Cumber Cackle Hanney. ” Mom often said that she  gave  both Gene and I names that could not become nick names. Her name was Margaret and she got called Maggy, Peggy, Margo and even Liz. She did not like it at all. Bill’s nick name did not last too long as they moved away. Jane, Mickey and I often played in the Honeysuckle in the empty lot behind Jane’s house. The old bushes grew close together and arched creating a tunnel-like place that we could get into. One day Jane provided us with a thrill by bringing out one of her Dad’s Playboy Magazines. We felt safe viewing that under the bushes and got an eye full. One time I sort of stood up under there and disturbed a bees nest. I got 5 stings- two on my head and three on my hands before we got out from under the plants. Needless to say we did not go back there again. There was also a rusted swing set frame in the empty lot and we spent lots of time hanging upside down and swinging from our arms on it. There were lots of sticker bushes there as well , so we mostly had the lot to ourselves. I remember pulling those round stickers off my socks before I put them in the clothes hamper, because if one didn’t, they were still there when the socks came back from the laundry and much harder to remove.
Two older women lived in the house directly behind ours. They had a beautiful flower garden and a few vegetables.  A huge rhubarb plant was on the boarder between their house and ours. I had permission to pick and eat as much rhubarb as I wanted whenever I wanted. What a privilege. I did eat quite a bit. We would use the big leaves as hats and pretend to do fairy dances with them on. That part of eating the rhubarb  and dancing  disappeared as I grew older. but I still enjoy  raw  rhubarb  .
Behind the Lightning’s  house,  was a house with only one little girl in that family. Her father adored her. He took a pair of his wife’s cast off heels and cut them down to fit her feet. All the rest of us   girls envied her. We tried to trade some of our treasures for the shoes, but she was not having any of it. The next lot was also a basement home. A family with three little girls lived there. I got to babysit for them when I was in the sixth and seventh grades. I got an amazing 35 cents an  hour. They did not have a TV, but had a great radio instead. I would stay up after the girls were asleep and listen as I did not want to fall asleep on the job. I remember late one  night when I got a Spanish speaking station from Mexico. Dad explained about how radio signals could “ skip” so you could hear stations from far away, but he didn’t really think it was Mexico. I never heard it again even though I did try.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Birds, Childhood Memories, Crows in the Pines, Drawing, Hand work, Mayan- Deer Dancer, Mayan- Rabbit Dancer, Pixies Group, Squares a Dancing

Fall Color is Building

Hello-
The weather is becoming cooler and the leaves continue to drift down when we walk. Tues we were walking along the two block empty lot  wooded area and we saw two deer. They just watched us pass and  they were about 10 feet from the road.  We were not a threat in any way and when I looked back they had returned to their grazing.   More trees have started to color but we are not at peek yet.  I was captured by these zinnia’s all wearing the orange of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

For Textile Artist Stitch Club this week Vinnet Stapley challenged us to build a second work using some additional techniques that she suggested. I did a piece using the negative spaces left over from the original assignment. I also did the sewing with the free motion of my sewing machine in metallic threads. It was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pixies had their meeting on Tues. We were challenged to find and artist and use that person as jumping off place for a work. I looked at William Kentritch  for my artist.. He used maps as a base for a few of his early works so I took that idea. He also likes silhouetted figures. So I found a map of California, painted fires on top and  then added a fire-fighter to create this image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Crows in the Pines This work is 18″ X 16.5″ .  I printed the pines with a silk screen that I made and then I added Robin’s Egg Blue dye to the back of the fabric.

 

The crows are all done in fabric markers on top.
Then I free motion quilted around all the birds.    I quilted drew around all  the pines too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deer Dancer I am making progress on this new work. I always think this black out lining step make the work come alive.

 

 

 

Rabbit Dancer I drew the next dancer and enlarged it yesterday. He may need to hold something to balance the left side.

 

 

 

 

Goldfinches I pulled out this background that I have started felting. I will get out the machine and finish this step and then add some thread painted Goldfinches to the work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burning Woods The red and black is the base for this next fire piece. I have drawn trees ion the wash away that is on top of the fabric and will machine draw them.

 

Blue Ferns This work will become a window quilt for our bed room. I am also building a cover for the air-conditioner that will stay in the window over the winter. The opening at the bottom is were the air-conditioner fits.

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing I just keep having fun creating these little fellow. I now have 196 squares.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories 6th Grade – Miss Eaton
I was in Miss Eaton’s class in sixth grade. It was her first year of teaching and she was full of excitement. One of the fun things Miss Eaton did with us was teach us a bit of French. I the only thing I can remember is how to count to 10 and how to say “Recognize the snow”. I will not even try to spell that. In September we started a year long project dealing with poetry. To improve and practice our cursive she had us all copy “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer. Then we had a week to memorize it. After all the kids had recited it our next assignment. We had a week to find a poem of our own choosing with a historical theme. On that Friday we did the cursive step and began to memorize the first two stanza. I think I selected “Paul Revear’s Ride” but it may have been the “Song of Hiawatha” because I know I memorized both over that year. One topic was nonsense poems and I recall I learned “ The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll for that one. We continued that pattern was followed all year and I did learn lots of poetry that I can still recite.. At the end of the year we bound them all together with the drawings that we did to illiterate the works into a little book. I had it for years.

By this time my poor reading was really pulling my grades down. I did not like being in the bottom reading group with four other trouble making boys either.       Miss Eaton let everyone do Extra Credit Reports any time on animals and birds to help our grades. Mom helped me by reading from a big green leather book she had on animals. I would then, recite back to her what I had heard and do a little out line for before writing. The first report was about Buffalo and I started as the author by tell about the “Habitat”. Mom stopped me and said you can not use that word as it is not part of your vocabulary- find another way to say the same thing. That was when I learned about paraphrasing and plagiarism. Mom explained how I could not use words that I did not know or copy someone else’s words without giving them credit. It was like steeling she said. Learning that difference and skill helped me all through my education.

Miss Eaton loved Ancient history and I learned a love of some of it too. Ancient Egypt really came alive for me. Before her class all I knew about Egypt was from Bible stories about Moses. She did lots of explaining and we did several projects. But the one I remember the most was making Scarab Beetles. She gave us all an oval of plaster that she had cast in a spoon. We carved the lines of the beetle in the plaster dome and a Egyptian hydrophilic on the flat side. We painted them with Easter egg dyes. I really loved the mythology of Greece and Rome. Near the end of our study of that topic we did  a painting of our favorite god, goddess or myth. We were given a large sheet of heavy paper and told to draw a simple drawing first in pencil and them draw over it in chalk. Keep it “simple like a coloring book page”she said. I was drawing from an image in my text book when Mom came in and asked me “How  is coping an artist image  different then copying someone else’s words?” After we talked,  she asked me how I could make the picture my own. We decided one could add things, take things away,  and move them around in the picture make it my own work  . She also pointed out that you could go to a different source and mix things  into the image. After having me list what I really wanted in the picture – Diana, an Owl, a bow, the moon, Diana’s dogs and a deer she went off to get an aid. She had a green Art Deco vase with leaping deer in relief on it. They were simple too,so I started with them and Diana and built my picture. I remember I did not include all the parts I had mentioned.   Back in the class room, when  we outlined the drawing in chalk and that forced  a bit more simplification. The we pained up to the lines with thick tempera paint. That step was repeated and then lastly we painted over it all with black India Ink. After it was dry we went to the janitors closet and washed the paintings gently under the faucet so the black came away on the thick tempera as did some of the color. It was magically beautiful and well worth all the time and effort.

Stay safe and keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Childhood Memories, Crows, Drawing, Mayan- Turtle Dancer, NEW, Pixies Group, Series, Squares a Dancing

Equinox

Hello,

I hope that the equinox was noted by folks this week. I sure am seeing evidence of the shorter day light. For a  few days every year  the sun lines up directly with my east facing door to the studio.  Those days  are now past and the sun is rising and setting at  about 7.
This week the Textile Artist Stitch Club teacher Carissa Caiksen, suggested and then showed us how to add found objects to the surface of our stuff shapes. I added some rusted washers and nuts that I had collected.

I added stitches to the surface of the shapes   as she suggested as well.

This was a fun challenge I think.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pixies had there third online meeting this week. We are getting better and better at working through the connections. There are two challenges this time. One was to do a group drawing that we can connect together into one image. I did my hand and I have sent it off to be married with the others. Can’t wait to see how this project goes. The second was more explorations with Crows. I did this little 12″ X 12″ piece this time. The crows are drawn in crayon on interfacing that I got two years ago in Mexico when I was visiting Susan. The wax in the crayons does make the crows shinny and it also makes it a bit difficult to free motion stitch over.
I did Dye with Liz again this week.

Progress Report: Green on Green This work s 32.5″ X 47.5″. It is all stitch in the ditch quilting. This work will also go to the nursing home for folks confined to wheel chairs.

 

 

This project has lots of hand dyed and hand manipulated fabrics too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turtle Dancer I am doing the outline and applique stitching on this work now. I can see the end of that process and I will move onto the quilting. I drew a new subject this week as well.

 

 

Sweet Peas I started this work when I was in Mexico   visiting with Susan. It finally made it to the top of the pile so I free motion quilted it this week. I will add facings and finish it.

 

 

 

 

New Work I spent and afternoon making silk paper this week. My main goal was to make material for the fire project that is on my mind. I also made these clouds to use in my next crow pieces as well. Yesterday I cut stencils of 8 crow forms to use with the clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

Squares a Dancing The collection of squares grew by seven more this week. I now have 175 and I am working on the next batch.

 

 

New Top   I pulled out these fabrics and I am considering using them together for my next top.  I always like to have something in the background waiting my attention

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories: Farm Yard continued
A little ways from the sheep shed on the southwest side of the barn yard was the Machine Shed. It was a corrugated metal shed that was open on the north side. The tractor- “Big Red”, the disk, the cultivator, the seeder, the mower, the plow, several hay wagons and various other big tools and wagons lived in that space. On the back wall were the old harness sets. Grandfather loved horses and I do remember the last team. They were both white and called Sugar and Salt. Dad use to tell stories about how he and Grandpa would go to the Chicago Stock yards and get wild horses that were brought in from the western plains by train. Grandfather had a good eye for selecting two horses that were similar in size and color to make good looking teams. They would then purchase the horses and bring them back to the farm. It was Dad’s job to break them to ride, harness and pull the farm machinery. When he was growing up there were always four teams on the farm. One older and more experienced team, two in training and a third that was “ green”. Grandfather would sell the oldest team when he was ready to go again to Chicago and get a new team. Horses usually live twenty to thirty years, so it was a good system to make additional money.
There was a narrow lane that lead to a field between the machine shed and the hog house, the next building on the south side of the farm yard. The hog house was a long one story red building with windows and a cement floor. As kids we did not go in there much as hog are unpredictable and dangerous however, I do recall one visit just after piglets were born. They were cute and squealed a lot.  At the eastern end of the hog house was a red stock loading ramp. Using fences and gates, Grandpa could load all his animals into trucks with that ramp. East and north of the hog house was the mud lot. This area connected four barns, was in constant use and was always muddy. The windmill with a connecting stock tank to hold the water that the wind driven pump brought up form the well, was next to the gate on the west side. It was the main gate from the farm yard and it was metal and always closed unless in use. There was a cement pad there that extended along the big barn to help machinery make the transition from the dry are to the muddy lot. In the south east corner of the mud lot was the big gray barn. Dad told me that was were they used to house the horses in the lower level.  I only remember the barn being used to store hay. The loft was a great place to play in the mornings, but often became too hot in the afternoons. The cats liked to have their kittens there and on occasion we found them.  In the center of the mud lot was the corn crib. Having it here meant it was easy to shovel out the corn for the animals. There was also a metal silo behind the crib.  At the back of the mud lot was a gate that went to the big meadow pasture with the creek. On the south west corner of the mud lot was the big red main barn. It had big sliding doors on the west and east sides so you could drive through it. In the front and to the left was the corn cob elevator. That piece of machinery also was used to raise bales of hay to the lofts. It was on wheels and could easily be moved. In the back of the barn, on both sides of the pull through, were “ tight rooms”. One was used for oats and the other for shelled corn. Gene and I loved to enter and climb to the tops of the grain piles and slide down.

Keep Creating  and stay safe

Carol