Hello-

It’s September and the kids are back in the classrooms across this country.   New pencils, rulers,  and notebooks  now find their way into many   households.  I even purchased a new box of crayons for my self- My nod to the beginning of school and the beginning of fall for many of us.

It was also the fist Tues of the month this week and I had my regular meetings.  At the QuEGs meeting Lynn shared her new stash of fabrics that she had purchased on her trip to Alaska.   Linda shared her piece from her QBL class with  Jane Sassman .  Wonderful colors here.   Dory shared her new wall quilt.   I like her applique work with the birds and berries.

Then I went off to Susan’s and enjoyed her work with the garden and banners.   She is doing fun stuff with transparency.   Together we went to the Diva meeting.   Lots of great work going on here too.  Maureen shared her banner of Shobori  for the Huston show.  It is two feet wide and 24 feet long so this shot is only a small portions of the piece.   Regina is working away on this piece of machine work by adding beads.  It is for the Rhapsody in Blue show.   What a challenge.    This is layer two of Lori’s newest Fireweed piece.    I know she is just started with her many layers of work.   I recalled that there was a fall call for 10”X 10” work so I finished up this piece.  When I finished up I could not find the source for my memory.  So I emailed the gal in charge only to learn that it is an alternating yearly event.  I am prepared for next year.  This one is done and here is a second start.      I always was one who liked to have the work done well in advance.

Progress Report:   Birch Trees  This quilt is a rework and it is 14”w X 18” l.    The landscape was all that was on this work before I reworked it.     I added the canopy and the birch trees this week .  It helps the work a lot I think.   I really learned that I need to slow down and just let some work rest on the shelf for a while before I rush to finish.

  Daily Practice IV  This  piece is 18”w X 24”l.    It has taken a little over 7 weeks to complete.    With this work I limited myself to only three stitches – two variation’s on the Fly Stitch and the Chain Stitch.   The brass add on’s are from my friend Carol and they are   from her grandfather’s collection.

Daily Practice V   This is the new base for my next work.   I plan to add a few more circles before I begin   the hand stitching on this project.

Forest Fire This is the next piece in my elements series.   I was tickled by the idea that I burnt the fabric edges of the front trees in my effort to get the edge I wanted.   I feel I am ready to begin a bigger Fire work now.

Collection 3- So True This work is 16” w X 20” l.      It is my adaptation  of the technique suggested in the August/September  issue of Quilting Arts by Libby Williamson, titled Sip then Stitch.   She suggested the use of tea bags mounted on felt  for bases for machine work.    I used pattern tissue instead.  I can not follow directions without changing them to suit myself.     I really liked her use of zippers  as” add on’s”   and I did apply that idea.  I also liked the idea of stitching down all the little bits and part of things around the studio to make something bigger and more interesting.   Our lives are made of lots of little bits and pieces so the work sort of represents that as well.

Collection IV- Friends    I continue to look at all the little parts and things in my studio and built a base for more stitching.    The title comes from the fact that there are already three little elements that friends have given to me on this surface  at this point.   I look at the purple applique at the top and think immediately of my friend Tanya.   The same can be said for several other little elements.

JIG    This work in in the washer at the moment.  I want  it  to fray out the edges of the words  and I followed Sharon’s technique to do that.   It will be clean and pressed next week.    

Scarp Happy  I started another in my ongoing works made from scarps.  Again I am pulling fabric from a box of material from my friend Ethel.   This is the forth bed sized quilt  from this box.  I have six of these  panel  pieces done  that I will eventually cut into small units.   I  think it will take over 25   panels to do the quilt  so I am just at the beginning of a  long process.

Label Cards- Sing your Song    When I was working on my cards this week I was aware that each of us is unique and we need to all celebrate that uniqueness.   Sing one’s own song is an important part of that.

 Fashion   As our culture grows and changes so too do our ideas of what is fashionable.  I an glad I did not live in a time when ones undergarments included  this much confinement.

Keep Creating

Carol