Category Archives: Crow Calls

Summer

Hello,
   Happy summer everyone.   This week has been a busy one. I went off to Ithaca with Liz and Cheri to pick up my Phaff from its cleaning. We did a little shopping and took a load of fabrics and notions to Sew Green too. It feels good to pass things one no longer needs or will never use to someone else who just might do something wonderful with them. Liz and I got caught in a heavy rain storm after we dropped off Cheri and had to double back due to a wire across the highway. Then on Wed.   Liz and I dyed for the first time this season. It feels good to be back doing that  again.    I did meet with the Pixies this week too.   Only three of us, but still a good meeting.

 

Progress Report: Crows Calling   This work is 36″ w X 53.5″ l.   All the rectangles that are not drawn on are old silk kimonos from my friend  Noel.       I enjoyed quilting crows in flight as a part of the background for this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

100 Days  SAQA Challenge    I am still doing this challenge and now on day 24.

 

 

Lap # 12- Butterfly     I have now started to build the thread painting  that I want to overlay on this quilt top.   It is slow work as this shot shows all the thread painting I did in two hours.  I  used a full bobin to do just this  much of the job.

Lap # 14  This top is all assembled now.   I will move on this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green As this project progresses I realize that I need a better title as their is less and less green in the work  and no leavers are green.      I think I am nearly ready to stitch down all the cut leaves.

 

 

 

Poppy Field    I did get the french knot flowers add to the top section of the far field this week .   Not a lot of other work on this piece.   The orange flowers I made are too big to be a part of this one.

 

 


Dark side of the Moon    I have started to do reflective quilting  on this piece.  I still have some hand work to do inside some of the circular forms too.

 

Daily Practice     I have completed another of the daily practices pieces and started a new one last evening.     They are going well.

 

 

 

 

Drawing    I only completed two drawings  this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I got a little out of alignment  and the nose it far too long.

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Jr Year Education

The Jorner  year   of high school was a one of challenge and change for me.   Ceicle and Mike had gone off to various collages. The gang added new kids from band and adolescence was a crazy mix of finding ones self and trying to figure out the opposite sex. I suffered with my academics a bit too. I had Mr Langdon for English and he was a very demanding teacher. I liked the massive amounts of reading we had to do as we did British and American   Literature. I recall reading Macbeth, Sartorius , Last of the Mohekens, Brave New World, The Scarlet Letter, The Good Earth and 1984.    The class discussions we informative and fun as well. We also did the poets e e cummings and Walt Whitman. For the poetry we had memorization and I can still recite “When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloomed.” Dad also arranged for me to have a tutor for my spelling and she asked me to read The Bridge of San Lewis Ray. I did well with most of the other stuff and I still am glad for the exposure to the books. I ended my time with Mr Langdon with a C- the fist semester and a C the second.
Dad’s political connections allowed   me to be a Page at the Indiana state house for a day in Feb. I was excited and enjoyed the time.   The day was cold and the roads were icy and we arrived half an hour late to the CIrcle that the state house is on.  I remember running up the icy stairs and rushing into the building with no idea were I was to go.    Out of breath I asked the man in the front hall and he directed me.   In the page room after hanging my coat on a peg I took a deep breathe and started a wonderful day.  I got to put  bills out on the senators desks and run errands for them. The sessions seemed a bit disorganized to me as folks got up and talked to each other not paying any attention the speaker sometimes. I went to two committee meetings in the afternoon. One was on poverty and the second was on education. I almost missed being paged to do an errand at the education meeting as I was so engrossed in the topic.   It was a full day with lots of learning on my part.    Dad told me later that I really talked his ear off all the way home.
As to the social life it was full of teenage stress. Liking one person and not being liked in return and petty conflicts over boys. One boy, Bill Mohler, had a real crush on me and he was a sweet fellow. I went to a formal dance with him and he broth me a beautiful corsage. I even went on a date with him on a Sunday, went to church and spent the day with him and his family.   But there was not spark there.   Telling him I did not see him in the same romantic light  as she saw me was difficult.     Then after  my “friend “ Terry, stole Jim, a guy I was really attracted to,  away from me, before the romance even got started- I sort of swore off boys for a while. Bobby from last summer was still around and  I just could not figure him out either. So I work more along the line of ” friendships” with boys and nothing more for the rest of the year.

 

I will be away so there will not be a Blog next week.

Please stay safe

Carol

Moving Forward

IMG_7900Hello,

I am enjoying the unfolding of spring here.   There are lots of buds and birds.  I went to the Towpath Quilt Guild quilt show on Friday.

 

Noel's quiltMy friend Noel’s quilt looked great as did many others.  I enjoyed the show and saw many friends too.   It was inspired  to go home and work in the studio.

IMG_7862  FAB had a meeting on Monday and Nancy show us this label that she programed for her Mom’s Blue Bird quilt.     It looks good to me.

Cherry Blossom timeProgress Report: Cherry Blossom Time   This work is 39” X 35”.   I created it from the branch that was left over from the Blooming Branch project.  It was too dark for that work so this one was born.  IMG_7893 The branch was created from the sleeve of a wool jacket that I then built up with two different yarns.

IMG_7891 There area 61 blossoms on this quilt.  I made the centers from silk paper that I cut in circles and then stitched down with long French Knots.

Stasrfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flag-Starfish   This is my newest flag from the Susan Challenge.    The text on this piece is machine writing in the section on the bottom.

 

 

Pods II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pods   These are the newest completed pods.  I am enjoying the embellishing step as I get to use lots of beads sequins and pearls with this project.   I cut  six more felt embellished units this morning   so there will be more in the future.

 

Crow CallsCrow Calls   This project is a reworking of a completed quilt.  I built up the trees and stitched them to the quilt.  Now I am adding the crows.  They are cut  from suede that is then free motion stitched down.    I added  twenty five birds yesterday.

 

 

Samurai Romance Samurai Romance  I have been following the suggested techniques in Stitch, Fiber, Metal  and Mixed Media.     I have not purchased any new materials to do this project, but adapted what I have on hand to do the projects.   IMG_7876  This week I applied foil to thick interfacing and then did free motion machine drawing on top to create the flowers.  The centers are glass beads.

 

 

 

 

Still LifeStill Life   This work is an experiment.  I have been making silk paper for a  while and for this project I made the silk in the flower shapes instead of the sheet form.  Now I am stitching them down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IceIce   I have started adding the leaves to this project.  This week I made leaves out of copper.   They are embossed with a blunt pencil.   This first one is trapped under a bit of “ice”  and I like the effect.  The other one isIMG_7896set to be in the water section of the work.  It may need netting too but I do not know at this time.   I also want to also add some fabric leaves too.

 

New WorkNew Works   This is a started build up for a new work.   There is a minimum of free motion machine  work on this piece at this time.    It is based on a photo of a rock face.   IMG_7872  This is a second pin up for another new work.  It is based on another section of the same rock face- with a different color base

YokeTop   I fell in love with this piece form Guatemala.    he hand work is beautiful.  But it is far too short for me and I wanted the sides closed.  So I have started altering it to work as a top for me.IMG_7887

Label Block #115 #116Label #115 #116

I got inspired  and did  two blocks this week.  I also cut  15 more black squares to complete the top.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Home again

sunriseHello-

I am home from my trip to Florida.  I had a good time and enjoyed my stay with Susan.  We got up with the sun and went to the shore to see it rise.  She and I worked on rust dyeing and I came home with a nice selection.IMG_7751  Jim took this great photo of me holding one of my rust creations.   We went to his home one night and drew  all evening too.    I will do a tutorial  of the process rust  and post it by next week.     Susan This shot is of Susan  across the table at  drawing on Tues.

IMG_7705Chris Winter visited on afternoon and  we did  image transfers with Citra Solv . IMG_7707.jpg

Through out the week we  cut stencils and made flags with them.IMG_7700 Now all I need to do is the finish up on all fifteen of them.   They all need text of some sort because  that was the main challenge to begin with.   Susan in the studio  I will put the two I have completed in the progress report section.     We  worked away  very day and the time flew bye.     I came home to  find   ice and snow still remaining from the storm that dumped 24”  before I left.IMG_7642  This shot is of the sky light in the airport.

Monday I went off to visit with my friend Angela.  She did a special demonstration for me of how to use pre felt.  AngelaI now feel I know a lot more about how to use my roving and felt more effectively.   She is a good teacher.   I am sure the processes will be a part of future  works.

IMG_7764.jpgThis morning the FAB gals meant at my house.   Nancy has finished the top of her quilt for her mom.  It is beautiful.  The colors make one feel so summery and warm.  We will get together and pin baste it in the near future.      Judy is still knitting away on her red sweater.   She is working on the arm wholes now , so the end is in sight. IMG_7766

Progress Report: Flags 1  Bee Happy  IMG_7760 This is the fist flag I finished.  I did most of it in Florida and only added the sleeve here at home.

Flag 2- Llegado IMG_7759 I added the tabs and the beaded fringe on the bottom of this one to make it long enough to fit the size we agreed upon.   Llegado is Spanish for  alight.

Blooming BranchBlooming Branch   All the blossoms are stitch down now.  I am working on the hand quilting step of this  project.   I did not add enough wind  lines with the machine for me to feel it is stable .   IMG_7779   So I am outlining  things in the background by hand.

Summer Meadow   SummerThis work is nearly done now.  I added the daises and little yellow flowers to the surface .  All the work was done from the back side of the work with  extra thick threads in the bobbin.  Another new machine process that I will add to my tool box of techniques for use in the future.

crow callsCrow Calls     I thought I was ready to add these trees to the surface of the quilt.  But when I started pinning them up,   it became apparent that the black trees are too dark.  The crows will be lost in them if I do not build up more browns and grays into the black trees.   So there is work ahead for this week on this project.   I think the wash away partly obscured this problem until this point.

Samurai Romance  IMG_7778   I am adding the beads around the outside of the leaf panels for this project.    That and the Turkey Work stitches take lots of time.    This panel  is done the other similar one does not have any hand work yet.  It is smaller then thisfist pannel.

iceNew Ice  I started a new ice piece this week.   I took a lot of photos of the ice forming in Xavier  wood and this one had leaves sticking up through the ice and snow.  I want to try to capture/show them with this piece.   I have some ideas, so stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Label Blocks # 111, #112,#113

Label Bkocks  The one thing I have completed in the last three weeks is my label blocks.   But I did discover that when I laided them out that 120 blocks will not be enough to cover the bed without sashing.   I do not like that idea so I will cut  25 more black squares and add labels to them before I put the top together.

Keep Creating.

Carol