Category Archives: Scrap Happy Quilts

Birds, Childhood Memories, Collections, Creative Assistants, Drawing, Scrap Happy Quilts, Thread Painting

Thread Painting

Hello,
This has been a busy week. I went to Judy Hand’s opening on Sunday. She is an amazing painter. Tue was the Diva meeting. There were only three of us so it was a bit disappointing. Regina gave me this wonderful little stitch piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She and I also made our UFO exchange. I think I got the good end of this as two of the three are only fabric .      The ones I passed to her are farther along.

The FAB group meant today and it was good too. Always lively discussions.

 

Thread Painting.   I have been doing this and I thought I should explain   my process.   After I have selected  subject, I sketch it   in  my sketchbook.  That way I can trace it on the wash away.   I then make a sandwich that is one layer of wash away, a layer of  nylon netting as I tend to tear the wash away if I do not reinforce it.    In this case with the Kill Deer I have added a bit of brown roving too.   Then a second layer of wash away with the traced images on it.  This all goes into a hoop where I then do the thread work.    I outline the   one colored area I want to fill in first.  Then I fill in small sections until I am happy with the solid feel of the area.

 

  I change color when I need to and often times run  two different colors of thread through the same needle to get a richer color.   I continue until the total figure is filled in.  I tear away as much of the wash away as I can before I  pin it to foam where it is flat and I use hot water to remove the rest of the  wash away. ( Check out the Robins)   I let the project dry over night and then trim away the nylon netting that remains .( The Cardinals are trimmed and pinned to a background)   I hope this makes it clear enough for folks to follow.

Progress Report: Snow Dye

Here is the result of the was out that I showed last week. It is unique I think

 

 

 

 

Cardinals The Thread painting is going well. Now I need to build a limb for them to rest on.

 

 

 

 

 

Robins I finished this family yesterday and did the washout. I need to unpin them and trim away the  nylon netting next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaves I tried the machine drawing on roving with these leaves too. They worked well and are just pinned down here.   I’ll adds some birds and until I get that done I do not want to make the final decision about the leaf locations.

 

 

Collections- Memoirs of the Women  The women on this piece are  Grandma Butterworth, and Mom.   The pictures are from when both were about 20.   The bits and pieces are all from their lives. I only have a few more things to attach and this will be complete.

Creative Assistants I added the arms, hair and backs to these assistants this week. Then I turned and stuffed them. They were sewn shut and the pin backs added. Yesterday I added the squeezie paint embellishments.

 

 

Scrap Happy     I finished this work this week too.   It has been waiting for the return of the  sewing machine.    I  have been work with  one that only does strait stitches and zig- zag  so I could not apply the binding with the button whole stitch that I like to use.

 

 

 

 

Drawing –   

I was trying to work with reflection this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Junction Bed Room

My bed room in Columbus Junction was also the den. It was just to the left inside the front door. Along that south wall was a window and below it was a small book shelf that Dad built. Grandma Ruth had seven grand children by then and she gave us all magazine subscriptions for Christmas. Gene and I had subscriptions to Humpty Dumpty and Child Digest. They were stored in the book shelf and Mom or Dad would often pull one out to read to us at night. That was where I was first introduced to “Mike Mulligan the Steam Shovel and wonderful Dr Suess stories like “ It happened on Mulberry Street” and “ Mac Elliot’s Pool. “ On top of the book shelf was a lamp that Grandpa Howard made from wool that was cut and milled from the timber near the cabin he owned. The lamp was made of five blocks of walnut there were 4″X 4″ X 2″ stacked on alternating with 1 “ thick circles of a lighter wood. There were several other lamps like this in the house too. Next to the book shelf was a single bed. Mom made a cover that was gray on top with a long slightly gathered ruffle of 1″ strips of cream and black that hung to the floor. Along the back were two bolsters in red that Mom made and stuffed with rolled woolen blankets. There were two pictures above the bed but I don’t remember what were the subjects. I was sick with chicken pox in that bed. On the north wall was a door to the hall and the piano. Many times my Paper dolls were dressed up and lined up on top of the closed key board for a parade on that piano. On the east wall was a closet. I had a little dressing table with a bench and mirror in the closet. Sometimes I hid in the closet with the door slightly ajar and studied the shadows cast on my face in the mirror. Next to the closet was that chest of drawers that Dad and Grandpa built, and on top of that was a record player I had gotten for Christmas. It played 33.3s, 45s and 78s. I had a set of children’s records in red and yellow plastic that played such tunes as Poor Little Robin, Take Me Out to the Ball Park, The Rolly Poly Man in the Moon and Oh Susanna. I played them until I knew them by heart and can still sing them all.

I will be away for two weeks to help my friend. I know we will make art, but I will not be posting until I return so the next Bolg will be Feb 6.

Keep Creating

Carol

25 Million Stitches Project, Childhood Memories, Creative Assistants, Owl, Scrap Happy Quilts, small god

Happy Kwanzaa

 

Hello,
I hope the holidays are being filled with joy and delight for all of you. Kwanza begins today and for those who celebrate it, enjoy. This time of year one  takes stock of all the people who mean something to each one of us. As I write each holiday card I think of old friends and miss those who are on longer part of my life.

This week was full of many for me with lots of family events and for that I am truly grateful. I did finish Nick Quilt on Tues eve so I really meant my goal.


Progress Report: Owl quilt for Nick This queen sized quilt proved to be a struggle when it came to appliqueing the owl down. It is difficult to roll the quilt tight enough to fit under the arm of the machine and still be able to turn it to do the machine work. Nick and Haily did seem to like it however.

 

 

 

 

 

Small God      This work is 23″ W X 28.5 “ long. I found the blue woven fabric when I was pulling fabric for the back of Nicks ‘s Owl and set it aside.

So it did not take long to add it to the sides of the already stitched piece.  I did the drawing for this work over two years ago.   Sometimes I just have to wait for the fabric to show up to complete the task.

 

Scrap Happy I just keep inching along on this project. I surely will finish it soon.

 

 

 

 

 

25 Million Stitches Project

I am working away on the figures now and only need to add the work HOPE in the center of the circle and complete the figures.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants These little guys just keep rolling off the work table. I will need to stop and count sometime soon.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories: Yellowstone Critters
Mom was a continuous explore and   constant teacher. We learned the wild flowers in Yellowstone just like back in the Junction. I could quickly identify Bear Grass, Fire Weed and Shooting Stars. We walked up the high way one day and spent the afternoon exploring a lily pond. Gene just wanted to throw in rocks, something he seemed to driven to do with any body of water. One day we saw a solo Buffalo in a small meadow off the road. Mom charged us to take note of how high the buffalo was in relationship to a small tree there. On a later day we stopped the car and walked across the meadow up to the tree. I realized that my sense of scale was way off as I could only reach the branch that seemed to be level with the buffalo’s hump, if Dad boosted me a bit. They are very big animals!

On one of our outings we saw a Porcupine. He was very shy and ran away before Mom could get a photo.

One of our hikes revealed a Fire Ant mound. The nest was built of pine needles to help it suede water, Mom said.  The mound also made it possible for some of the aunts to weather the winter.  The mound  was so tall it reached about Gene’s waste and was three feet across. The bite of those ants hurt a lot too.
One of our outings  was up to a fire lookout station. The station was above the tree line and one could see across tree tops and peeks in all directions. There was a large brass device in the center of the room that cold be turned in any direction with a little window that the ranger then lined up with smoke so the fire could be pinpointed. The Range also gave us his binoculars and pointed out a Balled Eagle nest with 3 young all brown birds in it. They do not get white head feathers until they are three years old.   They were only six weeks old he told us.    Yellowstone  was a great experience for me as a kid.

I am stating to think about my goals for 2020.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Creative Assistants, Jumping Off Place, Owl, Scrap Happy Quilts

Working Away

Hello,
With Christmas fast approaching there are always lots of craft fairs in our area. I went to one and purchased these wool dryer balls. They are a great way to speed up dryer time and fluff up the clothing just like lint sheets- but no waste. They work well.

Progress Report:   Owl   Quilt – Nick’s Christmas   I am assembling the base and quilting that part now. The quilting is all stitch in the ditch.

 

Scarp Happy I finished the back and I am now flip quilting all the rows together. Only have a few left.   I will do a diagonal quilting pattern on top to make even more connections.

 

 

 

Jumping off Place This work got berried under other projects and only came to light again this week. I want to add some buttons for emphasis and think I will finish soon.

Creative Assistants I did watch a lot of football this week so I finished up 25 more of these little fellows. More are in various stages too.

25 Million Stitches Project My good friend Cheri alerted me to this project to note and bring to the attention of others the fact that there are 25 million refugees in our world at this time. I continue to be worried about the children that our country has separated from their parents and this is my small contribution to  that  awareness  and to other aspects of this problem. I started my contribution last eve. If you are interested in participating the email add to find information is AQUinfor@comcast.net

 

Childhood Memories Base Camp in Yellowstone
Dad was stationed at the South Gate Ranger Station  in Yellowstone so that was where we parked the tailor for the summer. There were four families there plus a barracks full of young men who were the trail crew. They also tended the horses that were in the meadow in the day time and in the barn at night. Two of the families were permeate ranges. They lived in a three story duplex that the park service provided. There were three stories because the snow became so deep in winter that one could only escape from one of the upper stories through doors on those levels. The Children- all boys- five of them were home schooled. Across the dirt road on the meadow side sat our trailer and the smaller camp tailor  of the Jaquin’s .    We where  the  seasonal ranges families  and there was no housing provided at that time. We did not have electricity or running water.  (Welcome to how most of the world lived for hundreds of years.)    Mom had to hall water and the out house was down the road a bit and closer to the barracks. There was running water there and the barracks had indoor pluming so we never really crossed their paths. Mom had to use a wash board to do the laundry. With on way to keep food cold we only had real milk and fresh meat on the evening after we went to West Thumb and visited the trading post. We did drink a lot of powered milk though.  Because there was no  electricity and running water meant that Mom had to boil water on the Coleman stove for baths. We had a big stainless steel tub that we used for that. But I only remember doing that a few times . More often we went off to secluded section of the Snake River down stream from some geyser activity and went “swimming” there with soap. Mom often washed my hair there as well. It was great as it was warm and very clear. There was electricity available as Gene discovered the first night we were there. It was dusk and  he and I where catching June Bugs. He ran into the electric fence and it knocked him to the ground. He was more surprised then hurt. The fence was there to cage the horses and we had not noticed it when we parked the trailer. Later that summer we ducked under the single strand of wire and went into the bog part of the meadow. I was fascinated by the fact that one could find frogs in all stages of development from tad polls to two and four legged  little frogs with tails ,  all at the same time in the small horse hoof  pool wholes in the bog. The bog turned into a small stream just south of the barn. Jay, Gene and I played in it the first week or so. We built dams and such. No chance of getting lost as long as one stayed in the stream bed or next to it ,  so we did wander far. That all ended when a bear went through the camp area. Mom could not find us at that time and after that we had to be within hearing or eye sight of the camp for all our unsupervised play time. With only seven children and me the only girl,  it was a bit wild. We played hide and seek, tag and various other made up games. There was a big Marian of smooth rocks left by the glaciers that we used to play King on the Mountain on too. The rocks were all rounded so there were no sharp edges to get too badly hurt on. There was a big sand box near the big house and as kids we played there a lot. Gene had a toy we called a Trunner Rucker. It was a toy version of a road building bit of equipment. It was deep green and consisted of a cab unit with a trailer behind that had a crank on it so you could rise the bed and dump out the contents. It was a popular toy in that sand box and we played there a lot.    One day when Jimmy got angry with me and brook a glass jar on top of my head. I was banned from the sand box after Mom picked the glass out of my scalp. My first experience of “might makes right”. Dad tried to explain that even though it seems I was being punished –  sometimes it was better to avoid a conflict.     I just felt” wronged “and things between me and the boys were never the same. Mom did build me two tents- one out of a green army blanket and one out of a red Indian blanket to compensate.   It was fun but lonely.
We did eat a lot of peanut butter and canned meat that summer but we did get fresh fish too. One early morning the rangers took all the kids fishing on Yellowstone Lake. The kids mostly played on the rocky shore and only reeled in the fish that the men caught. Each child got the limit of 3- Cut Throat Trout. I remember being very proud. The eating was great too.

 

Hope everyone is preparing for the holidays and enjoying the time.

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Creative Assistants, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Owl, Scrap Happy Quilts

Busy Time

Hello-
As the photo shows I am still sorting my images of Australia.

I have been busy this week with a Finger Lakes Fiber Artist meeting. We added a new member to our group and I welcome her. Her work is very personal and this quilt is about her concern for a friends lung cancer.

 

 

Angela shared her second quilt for her brother that is constructed with fabric from her fathers old shirts.

 

 

Noel showed two baby quilts and her new excoriation work with pears. She is expanding her knowledge form her QBL class- one on the many qualities I like about her.

 

 

 

 

Pat just completed this big work.

 

 

 

I also spent time at the Quilts = Art= Quilts show. This was my second visit and I was attracted to new works this time. This work is by Shannon Costly  if Marco Island Fl  and is called Emerging.   The white words are “cut through”   the quilt and only connected with thread.    I love how used color and negative space to convey her message.

Progress Report: Bed For Kids- Scrap Happy I put in a lot of time on this to finish it on Tue.

 

I am glad I have done the build work with scraps so that this quilt only took two weeks to complete.

 

 

 

 

Pink Windmill This work was what I started at Sharron’s earlier this fall. It too went off to the Beds project on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

 


Owl- Nick’s Christmas quilt I have built the back of this quilt and I am now assembling the rows. I hope to get to work on the owl piece for the top soon.

 

 

 

Creative Assistants These guys have served as my hand work for this week. It looks like I need to add the arms and hair so I can complete these guys.

 

There are two Childhood memories this week in my attempt to catch up.


Childhood Memories- 6th Birthday

In my family we always celebrated birthdays with candles and cake. One time Mom made angel food cake and inserted a little doll in the opening and made the cake frosting her gown. Mom did special parties when one was 6 and again when one turned 13. I’ll do 13 later. For my 6th birthday I had six guests all from the neighborhood- Billy, Susan, Sally, Doug, Anne and my brother Gene. The theme was Out of this World. The party hats were red vinyl with red crepe paper manes and two antenna with a ball on the end of each. The party favors were little forest green clothespin men with red ta-bards that sported a lighting strike. The were set in marshmallows to stand up.

Mom made a cake shaped like a space ship. The base was the usual cake tin and the second layer was baked in a domed Pyrex bowl. It had pink frosting with gum drops on it for lights. I got a big tricycle for my gift from Mom and Dad. It was red and white with a huge front wheel. I really loved it.   I spent many and afternoon  riding  it in the basement or up and down the driveway.

Childhood Memories – 1948 Ford 

As a kid, I did not pay much attention to cars until we got a used 1948 Ford. It was a ugly faded shade of dark green. My parents took it off to the garage and had it updated. The visor over the front window was removed and it got a new coat of paint. The Sunday before it came home we visited the car at the garage. The windows were taped with paper and the wheels were protected, the smell of paint was strong in the air and the ugly duckling was now yellow on the bottom with white on the top. It looked great! It was the car my parents used to pull a rented air stream from Columbus Junction,Iowa to Yellowstone National Park for that summer. I was seven. Mrs Mc Donald across the street gave  us a box of cookies the morning we left. Mom carefully dulled them out and made them last the whole trip. She also used the top of the box to keep track of the mileage. I recall smuggling down on the floor with my head resting on the lump- (drive shaft) and falling asleep on that trip. Later that summer we used the cookie box to create a diorama. Sand was on the bottom with short branches for trees, wolf liken for bushed and peeled corrugated cardboard became  the log cabin. Mom arranged a trip away from South Gate every weekend Dad had off from his guard duties. The car got a lot of use. On the first trip out of the park we went to Silver City- a soon to be tourist attraction. We walked the town and talked to the man who was running the press.    He was printing  hand bills for a show that evening at the opera house. We decided to stay . It was a Melodrama and great fun. I had never “Booed” or thrown peanuts shells at a villain before. When the show was over it was too late to drive home,so we stayed just out side of town sleeping in the car. Dad proceeded to pull the back up from the front seat and lay it down between the front and back seats. We were sort of flat and all four of us slept that way that night. In the morning Dad put the seat back in place and we drove away.
My only other memory of that car was going home. We were pulling the trailer over the centennial divide and the car did not like the work. The engine overheated.  Dad stopped the car and we all got out. Dad carefully removed the radiator cap -jump back just in time to avoid a scalding eruption. We had our own “Old Faithful” with lots of steam! After it cooled Dad filled the radiator with water from a canvas bag that hung on the front of the car. It was mostly down hill the rest of the way home so it did not happen a second time.  It was a good car that sure provided me with lots of memories.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season and is not stressed .

Keep Creating,

Carol

Childhood Memories, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Scrap Happy Quilts, Wool Rounds

Australia plus

Hello,
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and enjoy the day. It has been a long time sense I have written and a lot has happened. The trip to Australia was wonderful. Wendy and I tried to do everything.
Melbourne was a beautiful city .  Wendy took a selfie of the two of us every day and this was our first.

 

 

 

 

 We did explore a small bit with our guide.   They have a great policy about art- a lot like Maine.    They have also cut down on graffiti by  designating special ally ways   to be used as such.

There were lots of wonderful ones.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went off to Phillips Island to see Fairy Penguins with to stops on the way.

We went on an Animal park and got to see and pet koalas and feed our first Kangaroos.

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a surfing beach were the wind was blowing sand so hard one got a facial just stepping out of the bus.   Yes, those streaks are sand.

 

 

From there we went farther along the shore, checked out some penguin burrows and marveled at the crashing waves.

 

 

 

At sun set we watch the small navy blue Fairy Penguins come ashore to feed their young. No photos are allowed and the one shone here is form their free down load. They were very cute.

 

 

We   then flew from Melbourne to Cairns for more adventures. We went directly form the air port to a crocodile area. We saw emu and cassowary there. The Cassowary are very big- over 6 feet tall and a bit vicious. They are a very primitive bird with a finger nail type crown on its head. When she made a sound it traveled through the ground and we felt it in out feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did got to hold a three year old crock and have an experience with a anaconda. On the boat trip through the marsh we witnessed adult crocodile on that was 16 feet o long and was estimated to weigh over 600 pounds. He could have easily over turned our boat if he had wanted to the guide said. No swimming in that area!

We were still a bit messed up with time so we got up at 5 one day and went to the lagoon with four of our new friends and went swimming at 6 in the morning.

 

 

 

 

That day was also the day we went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. The fish were beautiful and the coral was as well. I swallowed lots of salt water as I tended to watch fish as they would swim under me and the snorkel would fill with water.

We also took a ride on a glass bottom boat. That is were my photos of under the water came from.

 

 

In Cairns we saw fruit bats that have 6 foot wing spans. This is a shot of them resting in a tree in the center of town. We also saw them in flight at night when we were watching a fire dancer.

We went on a train ride up ( 52 degree incline) to Kuranda, a gold mining town. It is now an Artist colony were art was every where.

This shot of the side walk was only one of many like it, There were murals all over town and every sigh post sported a welded insect of some sort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went on to to Sydney and took a dinner cruse on the harbor. We visited the Opera house- it is amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a Animal Rescue Center were we saw many animals.   We got to feed kangaroos again .

 

 

 

 

This is my shot of Fairy Penguins that were there for help. There were Koalas there too and I was told that they were expecting a dozen more from the burn area later that day.

 

 

 

We had an aborigine experience that evening.  They even taught a simple dance. I learned a lot- mostly what I do not know about those peoples. Like the fact that there are over 200 different tribes that all speak different langues and have different practices. The only two myth’s they all share is the one about the Rainbow Serpent who is said to have crawled across all of Australia and in doing so sculptured the land. When you see a rainbow the Serpent is said to be going from one water whole to another. The other myth that is shared is that all creatures were born out of a Cassowary egg. Every area has a distinct type of painting and one can identify the tribe if one know the code.

These are the only pieces of fabric that I purchased and I learned that the artist gets a commission on the sale of each tea towel.

 

We walked the harbor one afternoon. There we took a photo on Santa’s large lap and were joined by another tourist from Russia, she is setting on my knee.

 

 

 

We went to the Chinese gardens and I got to have a wonderful review of all the different gardens I had visited with Mom on our trip to China 20 years ago.

 

 

 

 

It was a wonderful experience and I am glad that I did it with Wendy. We did celebrate her 50 birthday at the Harbor View Bar at the top of our hotel in Sydney.

 

There was a QuIG’s meeting on Tue this week. Susan shared her piece that she worked on at the retreat at the Schweinfurth that happened when I was away.

Liz also used the retreat to further her free motion quilting skills.

 

 

 

Yesterday was a meeting of the FAD group. Sharon shared her leaf quilt. She also showed us her new landscape , both she will be selling at the Plowshares Christmas show this week end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Wool Rounds This quilt is 36″ w X 59.5″ l. I really finished this before I left. I really like the circular pattern building and hope I can up with a new variation to do again soon.

 

 

Little  Priest I finished the back outline stitching on this piece this week. I want it to be a bit bigger so I am considering boarders now.

 

 

 

 

Nick’s Quilt Nick asked for a new quilt with an owl on it. I built this graded blue background this week and will move forward with the bird when it is assembled.

 

Beds for Kids Project-Pink Quilt Liz V asked me on Tue to make 2 more twin quilts for this project a week ago Tue. There are over 200 children in this county who do not have beds. I though of this work that I stared at Sharrons earlier this fall and though some child would enjoy it. The top is all done and I am working on a back now.

 

Scarp Happy This twin quilt will also be a part of my contribution to the Beds project. This one is better suited for a little boy I think.

 

 

 

Scrap Happy Queen I have put this quilt on hold until the kids ones are done.  The rows are all done and the back is made so when I get to it it will go together quickly.

 

 

Childhood Memories- May Day

When we lived in Columbus Junction our house was at the edge of town in a hill. Along the east side and that the back of the garden was there were steep gullies that were fully wooded. Sometimes Mom would take us for a walk in the timber. The walk would begin at the back south east corner of our lot where we would climb a fence and descend the steep gully side that was well forested with oak trees. At the bottom was a little spring that produced a small flow down the center of the gully to the east. We would follow along the bottom and Mom used the trips in spring to teach us to recognize and name wild flowers. Yellow Dog Tooth Violets, along with the normal purple ones, Dutchman’s Britches, Trillium, Indian Pipes and Jack in the Pulpits were to be found there. They became familiar and we learned to recognize and spot them. At the end of the gully the stream headed South east along a meadow before it entered another wood and gully that flowed down to the Iowa River. We never went that way but instead turned south and east across the meadow to a large boulder about the size of a half sofa. It was pink quartz and Gene and I would race to it and scramble to the top where we would face West and yell” We have discovered America!” Because the boulder was know in those parts as Plymouth Rock.

In spring after my Birthday, I spent time making 3 construction paper baskets. Then after school on the first day of May I went to the edge of the wood and picked some wild flowers- violets mostly, and put them plus two hard candies, a piece of gum, and a lolly pop in each basket. Taking the baskets one at a time then I stealthy went to the front doors of three of my friends and hung a basket on the knob. I ran home hoping not to be seen ,and waited, hoping I would be fortunate enough to get a May Basket from an unknown friend. I got one in the two years that I did participate in this May Day ritual. We moved away after second grade and the new community did not follow this tradition. I still recognize all the flowers Mom taught us about though.

I hope all are doing well and enjoying the delights of the season.
Keep Creating
Carol

Autumn Leaves, Childhood Memories, Coral Sea, Curvie Cuts, Landscapes, Out the Window, Scrap Happy Quilts

Quilt Show

Hello,
Fall is really in the air as we continue to have cool nights and crisp days. I went off to see the Thompkin’s County Quilt Show on Saturday this week. It was fun and full of old friends.
Tracy had a wonderful solo show within the quilt show of some of her thread painted birds. She did the work from photos she took on her many adventures. They were wonderful. Kirsten finished her her project form the Rock class this summer. I think it came out great.

 

 

 

 

Donna had this fun little quilt as a part of the auction that was held. I got excited about the work and came home all revived.

 

Progress Report: Autumn Leaves-Past My Window

This work is 35″w X 29.5″ t. I got rolling and this piece went together quickly. I used leaves from my class with Betty Busby and made more in that same style.

Then I found a bag full of silk leaves someone had passed my way and they were added. The quilting is all free motion in a leaf pattern too.

 

 

 

 

Topographical This work is 39.5″w X 27″t. I enjoyed working on this project and learned a lot about how to couch yarns. I think there is potential for more exploration along these lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy

This quilt is queen sized and will go off to the Ronald Mc Donald House some time soon. The centers for the Roman Strip blocks came from fabric that Angela gave to me. It has a fun feel.

 

 

 

 

Nick’s Quilt

I pulled all these blues and even started cutting some for that base of Nick’s owl quilt. It is early.

Jumping Off Place I just keep doing hand work on this piece. I am trying to use yarns and threads that are atypical for me as part of this exploration.

 

 

 

Coral Sea

I just added fish and starfish to the surface this week and started to stitch stuff down. It is colorful and fun too.

 

 

 

Mountain study I stared this in the Rock class this summer. Pulled it out and did a little work. I am unsure as to  where to go with this point, so it may need some down time for me to think on this one.

 

 

 

Wool Rounds I just keep stitching away with this project. I finished up 5 rounds this week and continue to button whole stitch down the last sheet of cut wool  circles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Chickens
This will be the last piece dedicated to Ainsworth as we moved in the spring just after I turned 5.  I have one more” Storied Memory ”  to tell here. My brother Gene was born in Feb before I became four in April. It seems that I was in Grandmother Ester’s care while Mom was in the hospital for 5 days. She says she was anxious to see me and according to her I disappointed her by being more interested in chasing chickens in the chicken yard then seeing her and the new baby.

I do remember her giving me a Toni perm though. It stunk and burned my head a bit. I also  remember helping her clean chickens in the sink standing on a stool. I was plucking feathers and I soon tired of the task.     Many days Mom  would ask me what I wanted to eat  for lunch. My response for many times  was “ Spinach again today.” I still love it.

Dad was going to school working on his Masters Degree at this time. He took a class in early childhood literature. I benefited by having lots of books read to me. Two that seems to have nestled in the back of in my young mind were Lois Linsky’s “Strawberry Girl” and “Cotton in My Sack.”   At Least the illustrations did because when I came across them later and asked Mom why they seemed so familiar she told me of Dad’s readings. Dad spent lots of special time with me because Gene demanded so much of Mom’s attention. I remember his taking me up to the high school one sunny day.     The librarian was culling the book connection. I was allowed to select one book to have as my own. I chose one book full of black and white photos of Japan. I spent hours looking and later drawing women in komons. I can still bring some of those images up in my mind as an adult.

I am off to a week quilting retreat in Chicago with my friend Sharron on Friday so there well be no posting next week.
Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Collage, Creative Assistants, Finger Lakes Fiber Artist Group, Scrap Happy Quilts

Lilac Time

 

Hello,
As the photo shows the Lilac are blooming. The smell is wonderful. We continue to have warm days with lots of rain.
There was a Finger Lakes Fiber Artists meeting this week end. It was good to see the gals and the discussions were good ones.   I know I took photos but I can’t seem to put my fingers on them at this time.  Lets just agree it was a visual feast.

The Sketchbook Revival class ended and I did a lot of drawing / collage works to finish up. It was enjoyable to stretch in that way for a while.  It is always good to step out of ones routine and try new things every now and then.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Circular Thinking I am glad that I did the rework on this piece. The edges are square now and I like the flipped piece. It did mean some additional stitching across the seams, but it was well worth the efforts.

 

 

 

 

Tee Shirt Quilt 1 This work is moving forward now. All the shirts are assembled into the top  and I am building a scarp back in  shades of green and brown.

I would love to get this one completed in the next week.

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Assistants I got busy and made a new batch of faces for these little fellows this week. It is always a playful activity.

 

 

Prep Work I am going to the Surface Design Symposiums in Ohio the last week in May thanks to Susan G.   She can not go due to a join replacement she had last week. She is gifting me her spot with Rosalie Dace in Independent Studio for seven days. I am working on sketches of things to try with her guidance.
The this one is of an antique auto  that I took years ago. I want to do a few more before I limit my choices and then I will start to pull fabric to do the work.

This is my pencil interpretation of a shot I took in the car was.   I have several more from this adventure that I want to try.

 

 

 

 

Scrap Assembly   I  keep putting together my scarps and the box is now almost full of units to cut up. I have emptied one of my five bags of scarps too.

 

 

Purple Squares I had a good week and managed to finish off six new blocks this week. I want to complete three more and then I will build a nine patch by adding them to some of the blue squares that I excavated before the retreat.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Berrying Doubloons One of the summers that Gene and I stayed with the grandparents while my parents went to Iowa City to work on their Master’s Degrees, we where in love with the idea of pirates. Our great Aunt May had worked in the button factory when she was younger and she was allowed to bring home the button  seconds. There were buckets full of pearl buttons in Grandmother Ruth’s house. Gene, cousin Russell and I called them doubloons and decided to make a treasure map and bury some. We got a old cigar box from grandmother and filled it with the buttons. We even tried to make “ink” with some berry juice, used a chicken feather for a pen and drew a map of “ Cocklin Island” .   Cocklin was my grandparents name- and the map was our interpretation  of the yard.  We noted all the landmarks in the yard like the three Blue Pines and the dead cherry tree .  We  put an X where we buried the treasure of course.   It was in the garden near the old  stone encrusted  cement pillars that  great  grandfather Herman, had made when Mom was young.    We berried the “treasure chest”  there because  it was the only place in the yard that was soft enough for us to dig  successfully.   I do not know if anyone ever went in search of the treasure or what became of the map. I am sure grandmother dug up the box when she dug potato that fall. It was a great way to spend a summer day  and my memory of the day is a golden one.

Keep Creating

Carol

3X3, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Icarus, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Re Work, Scrap Happy Quilts

Spring Studio Schweinfurth 2019

Hello.

This last week end was the spring retreat at the Schweinfurth.  It is a time when one can work on projects of one’s own choosing and be with other like minded folks. This time I was in the dry studio and worked on lots of projects. Many of my friends were present too. Sharon did some wonderful pillow covers down stairs in the wet studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joyce did some explorations that look a lot like her paintings.   As you can see she really  loves the apple green color.

 

 

 

 

 

Regina worked in the wet studio too and showed me one of her finished indigo/ hand dye painted pieces the first morning before she got to work.

 

 

 

 

Liz was up stairs and she took advantage of Nancy’s expertise to move forward with machine quilting.

 

 

 

Donna did hand work.

 

 

 

 

Norma put together a new top made with fabric her grandson brought back from Sweden for her.

 

 

Sally worked diligently on this piece and got the top all assembled over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

I worked away on may projects- but folks were most amused by my “Pig Pen” like approach to building scrap units.

 

 

 

 

I put in a lot of thought into the old blue squares and decided to cut them down to 6″ squares. The 42 of them will be added to 43 newly embroidered  purple squares that will be my new Daily Practice work.   Later   I will assembled the old ones and then new blocks into  a quilt.

It was a great fun weekend and we did get silly as this picture shows- we were excited talking over one another and laughing when the Kindergarten teacher in Liz came out and she put us in line.

There was an extra benefit to being at the Schweinfurth, we got to see the Made in New York show. I really liked this wonderful bit of fiber work that greets one at the opening of the show.

 

 

Tues was also meeting day for QuEG’s and Diva’s. For QuEG’s we meant at Dori’s house.  Sue Ellen had a great sunset to share with us.

 

 

Corrine had more of her wonderful leather works.

 

 

 

 

Victoria showed off one of her new projects too.

 

 

 

Dori had a beautiful bed quilt that she is doing for her grand daughter. Dori also shared a portion of her Paper Doll collection with us.

It was amazing and brought lots of laughs as well as memories to all of us. A fun meeting.

Diva’s was a lot quieter. Maureen showed off her newest bit of hand work. This photo does not show all the stitch work.

 

Mary brought back her finished “Painted Ladies”. They are delightful.

Wednesday, the FAB group helped Nancy do a bit of moving by all showing up at her old house and loading up our  cars and  then driving to the new house and unloading there. I took this shot of the drooping tulip in the garden at the old house. I was taken by the shape.   Nancy is leaving beautiful gardens behind- but looking forward to building new ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Icarus This work is 35″w X 41.5″ l. I spent a lot of time on this at the retreat. Not only did I add the  body  parts to the background I added the loin cloth and did more quilting. I added the harness and wing connections on Monday when I got home.

I am quite pleased with it and it is off to be hung at a part of the “ Flight Show “ by Associated Artists in the Maniluas Library for the next 30 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Circular Thinking 3 X 3- revisited. The more I looked at this piece the more unhappy I was with it. So over the weekend I took it apart and re assembled it. I am still working on evening up the sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scraps assembly This is the way the strips look when they are sewn together and pressed. I will then cut them  horizontally  into 2.5″ strips and put the strips into long rows that will later be added to blocks or as boarders for the Scarp Happy quilts I make.

 

 

Sketchbook Revival: This class is over now but I am still working doing the lessons that I did not get to. This is what I did in response to Rachel Taylor’s instruction. The whole process  has been a good way to stretch a bit.

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice – Purple squares Here is the first purple square to go with the blue ones I mentioned before.

Fortunately I still had the cut letters  that I had created for the first set of squares so I could add the stamping like the first ones.

 

Childhood Memories- Fishing in Minnesota
My brother, Gene always liked to fish. Me – not so much, but I would go along and read while he did the fishing. One summer our family took a vacation in the 1,000 lakes of Minnesota. For 10 days we did not see or talk to anyone other then the family members. Gene and I spent several days” fishing”. On one of those days we were quietly floating in a nice sunny area when Gene had a strike. He reeled the fish up and out of the water- it was a big one! Then the line snapped and the fish fell back into the water. Gene was upset. But upon looking over the side of the boat he spotted the bright silver  lure against the  dark green bottom. He quickly tied another lure  to his line and carefully dropped it back into the water and hooked the new lure into the first and proceeded to reel everything back in. This time however he quickly pulled the fish over the boat where the line broke for a second time and the fish and two lures landed in the bottom of the boat. He was thrilled. A great fish story.   He went on to catch three more fish that afternoon. And guess who got to clean the fish?- Me of course.

Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Collections, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Icarus, Linnen Jacket, Scrap Happy Quilts, The Grandfathers

Birthday Week 2019

Hello,
It was my Birthday this week and Eric got me these beautiful spring flowers a great card and took me to dinner.  I had dessert and ice cream with the FAD gals, some cards from my aunts came in the snail mail, got lots of emails, a great phone call from my daughter and a text from my grand daughter. It was a great day for me.


The FAD gals meant and we had  a good time. Sharon was doing the hem on her quilt – Moon River in the Rain.   I like the way ones’s eye roams across the surface with this quilt.


I made a vow at to try to do a follow up on an idea from one of the magazines I get every month. This month I tried cheese cloth painting from Julie Booth’s article in the April May issue in the  Quilting Arts magazine. It was fun and messy. I was trying to build up some more material for my next wild fire piece. I also just played- something most of us do not spend enough time doing.

 

Progress Report :   Jacket 
I just keep working during the news on this project. I am adding the Turkey work on the last patch. It will be evaluation time again before I know if I am done or not.

 

 

 

 

Tee Shirt Quilt I am now starting to build units with this project. I cut 2.5″ and 4.5″ strips of various blues, browns and greens and connected them to the sides of the squares from the clothing. I do not want the work to have an up or down so I am placing the blocks together with the text reading from both directions. All the small units are built and now I am adding things together.

 

Scarp Happy.     I am done with the assembly of the rows for this   Scarp Happy quilt,  But I am out of the strips of scarps that I use for the edges and boarders.   Here is one of four bags full  leftovers and “cut aways ”  that I have to make those  new strips with.  So I  guess I will have to get going and put some together for this quilt in order to finish it.

  Blue Squares  I was doing a bit of spring cleaning and I came across this stack of 42   squares. I do not remember what my intentions were- but I think I got frustrated when I reached this point because the squares are not all the same size.    After giving it thought, I think I will make 45 more squares using the same theme and put them together as nine patches. I will make them all the same size by cutting down the big ones so everything goes together smoothly.  All the new squares will be this new size to start with too!  I guess this will be my new Daily Practice for a while.

Collections VI I have started stitching a few things to the base on this project. It is not getting much attention at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Icarus I put in a lot of time  in on this work this week. I fused the body and legs to quarter inch batting.  I have done colored pencil  drawing and free motion thread painting on he work to create  the shading. The top half is done. I have stitched down the wings so I am playing with position for the head and trunk at this point. The legs need the thread work before I can trim away the extra  batting and add them to the surface. I am happy with the progress.

 3 X 3 -Circular Thinking 

This is a shot of the back of the work.   I am done with the most of the embroidery work on this piece now and have moved to assembling the rows into a nine patch.     The yellow with the red and blue print is sashing.  The center row shows how the back of the work looks before I fuse a solid print onto it to stabilize the work  and finish it.  There are 27 sides to stitch down to finish this piece.   

Childhood Memories- the Grandfathers This project keeps evolving as I work on it.   I have been looking at slides and photos of when I was a kid  and noticed that mom seems to have dressed me   in  red a lot, so I will use that to help identify me in the works from now on.     As the title suggests this piece is about my grandfathers. Grandpa Howard was my Mother’s father. I remember him always wearing Carhart pants and shirts in forest green. He had a very inquiring mind and a good sense of humor. He helped my parents build three of the four houses that we lived in as I grew up. He was helping Mom on the house in Columbus Junction, Iowa, the year I started Kindergarten. I come home from lunch every day. After eating together he and I would set in the red and silver print chair in our living room  and he would read one chapter of Alice in Wonderland to me before I ran back to school in the afternoon.
Grandpa Merritt was a farmer. Except for Sundays, he always wore gray and white striped overhauls from Oskash and a woven hat. I remember enjoying running in the furrow of the plow behind the tractor. It was a red International Harvester. The feeling of the rich dark earth between my toes and the powerful earth smell always delighted me. I can’t remember how many springs I followed him as he plowed that 160 acre filed, planted it and harvested the bounty when fall came. He lovingly rotated his crops to keep the fields rich too.

Keep Creating
Carol

3X3, Collections, Curvie Cuts, Mom VI, Scrap Happy Quilts, Sea Stars, The Grandmothers

Itching for Spring

Hello
I am itching for warmth and more flowers and green leaves. We continue to get little tastes as these photos show.  Even the trees are blooming -But I am greedy and I want more Spring.

This week was a very quiet one when it came to seeing other folks and meetings. So I got a lot done in the studio.

Progress Report: Sea Stars This work is 36.5″w X 21″ l.  The base of this work came from leftovers from Wave. I just put the remainders together in a curvy cut fashion and had a great pallet to begin on top of. The starfish are created from wired ribbon that was leftover from Christmas.  The coral came from a purchase of paper that I made last spring in Rochester at the Art store.  Beads and yarn were in my collection. It was a fun project.   No money was spent on the creation of this project.   I already had/ have a deep supply of stuff to use in my work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puck This stretched work is 12″ w X 16″l. I stared this work years ago and came across it in one of my searches. I decided to completes this work because with time I  could see what it needed. I added some shading and then did the machine drawing on top to complete the work.

I have a friend who is in Mid Summer’s Nights Dream next month and I will give this work to her as a memento.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collections This work is slowly moving forward. I added the old leather book mark that was my mothers. The post card was from her trip to India. The pictures of Candy Grandmother, ( upper left) and Grandma Butterworth(  the flapper)  I had, so I decided to use them as well.

 

 

Icarus  The feathers are all made now and most are stitched down to the wings. I will finish this step and then move onto the body in the up coming week.

 

 

Circular Thinking- 3 X 3 I continue to work on the assembly step of this project. Columns A and B are stitched together in long columns. I have also stitched the first two blocks in column C.

Each connection also includes adding circles that cross over the boundary between squares.  I will begin to connect the columns this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap Happy This is the newest scrap happy and it is made  from leftovers. I even made the back yesterday from remainders of other backs that I created for other projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacket

I keep working to integrate the patches into the body of the work.   each stitch moves me forward.

 

 

 

Childhood Memories – The Grandmothers On the left is grandmother Ester, my fathers mother. I will show her in pale purple from now on, because the dress that she made and I loved the most was a calico print with purple pussy willows printed on it. Grandmother  Ester taught me to sew in the summer before  seventh grade.   My first project was pajamas in cotton  duck fabric. The top was white with big quarter sized multi colored circles. The bottoms were turquoise. I made them to wear to church camp that summer.
The    tall figure on the right is grandmother Ruth, my mothers’s mother. I will show her in royal blue as I remember a blue dress with a big white line pattern on it.  She always wore an apron made from a retired dress- just the skirt over the top of her clothing. I decide to show a summer day when she and I were clearing out the out buildings of Great Grama Gast’s home. ( that was Grandma Ruth’s mother)
In one of the buildings we opened the door to find a big ball of string so large it could not come out of the space. Strings from the butcher, mailed packages and groceries were tied one to the next and wrapped into this ball. Because  Grandmother Ruth and her mother Great Grandmother  Gast had lived through the depression, they   did not toss out any thing that could be reused! We had to cut away the string with a knife until it was small enough roll it our the door. But the real amazing thing was on one of the shelves in the back of the room. In a brown paper bag- and it was full- written in Grandmother Gast’s hand were the words “ string too short to save”. It was full of the knots and bits! I still have that bit of brown paper under glass on the back porch.
Keep Creating
Carol