Hi followers,

I messed up and left my camera at my daughters today.  I will get in in the morning and post for this week tomorrow.

Thanks you

Carol

Hello,

I am feeling like we are to the dog days of summer now.  The slow down and the feeling that nothing is really pressing is  upon me at least.  We had a good time this week on our visit to Philly and the Barn’s Exibit.  I did use the audio guide that the museum provides and that did enhance my experience.   I enjoyed all the images.  I had forgotten that he collected so may African masks.  That is a subject that I too love.   Barns took so much care in how he presented the material that it was quite enjoyable.    I found that by the beginning of the third  hour of intense looking that my mind could not really absorb  much more  material.   We really only did a through look at the top floor as the ticket man told us floor one was crowded when we started, so he sent us upstairs.   Eric and I agreed that we will need to do a return trip.   I was exhausted and slept really well that night.   I feel really good about looking at art too- it is so stimulating.  Because I was away for three full days this week I did not get too much done.

  Progress Report: Thoth  Eric’s birthday gift is finally finished.  I will add the sleeve this evening and then give it to him.  He can take it to his office and hang it next week.  I like the stencil of Thoth and I am sure I will use it again.  

This second shot is of the eye is one of the Egyptian’s favorite symbols.    I quilted in papyrus plants  and leaves in the back ground as a part of my new push to add interesting quilting to my work.

This golden scarib is from an old stencil that I did several years ago.  I have made it a habit to always create a new stencil or stamp in the Egyptian style for each additional quilt that I create in this on going series.     There seem to be many people in my life who find Egypt fasinating, including myself.

Wind Fall   I stared this quilt weeks ago and I have only just gotten back to it.  I wanted to do something for the “Sticks and Stones” show that was not rock related.    We had some sever weather a few weeks ago and there were lots of little dead branches that were blown down after the storm.  I had collected a pile as they were so smooth and simple in shape.  I hand stitched with heave cotton some to them to the surface over the course of the last few weeks.  They are all attached now and I will begin to quilt the piece this week .  So the final will show up next time.

I hope summer is proceeding in a clam forward motion for everyone.

Keep Creating

Carol

  Hello,

Quilting By the Lake is over for one more year, but I am still in the happy after glow of seeing everyone.  Week two brought with it   new classes and some additional people.   This first shot is of the mini mall that happens both weeks and is when the participants can sell their wares- books, patterns, posters and fabrics- to others at the conference.  This event is always well attended by both faculty and the students as we all check out the special items our fellows wish to part with.

Week two is always as much fun as week one because I enjoy  watching as new a different ideas emerge from my  peers.    This shot of Sharron shows her 4.1/2″ Dear Jane blocks behind her.  She is doing this quilt in six variations and claims that after she has worked out the “bugs” with the first block the others are easy.  

Debbie continued to work away on her scrap quilts and finished two more tops the second week.    Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves in the Independent Studio class and produced lots of work.  Linda ( on the right) quilted and completed this this beautiful orange and black piece.   Betty worked very hard on this black, white red and yellow quilt for her grandson.  I think Cathy did a lot of exploration with her seven  works that are pictured behind her. I feel the smiles say as much about the good feelings that carried us all home as any thing.

Apron Auction  Last week  there was an apron auction and this week that was repeated.  All the teachers made or altered QBL aprons. Cynthia Corbin skillfully hid a small piece of her  work on the back of this fuffy/furry apron.    Rosalie continued her fish theme with fried fish this week.   We all had fun bidding and enjoying the festivites at the end of the session.

Progress Report Exploration 1:   I did some work myself  too.   This new bit of exploration was more work with the curved line connections.   I made the white, rust, orange and green fabric in a QBL 2 class about four years ago.  The colors fit well with the rock and canyon things I am doing now that it has now found a home.

Exploration 2:    Here  I used a piece of Randy Keenan’s discharged fabric as my starting  place.  I had purchased it at the mini mall.  I was also feeling a bit out of my depth with the curved work so I wanted something I felt comfortable with too.   I started quilting this with silver thread this morning. 

Exploration 3:  This work too started with and older bit of Randy’s fabric.   I purchased it last year  and it got burried.  It only came back to light when I was doing my cleaning in preperation for  QBL three weeks ago.

Exploration 4:    This is another of the curved line piecing / rock wall projects.  I am not at all happy with it so far.  I think I did too much in the way of curves and so it is very warped…… A new problem for me to solve before this will be seen again.    But I am showing it to let you know I make mistakes, especially when I am trying new things.  If one does not make errors every now  and again then one is playing it too safe.

 Good Habits   This quilt was also started at QBL  and I finished it this week.  I think the completion was do to the small size as much as any thing.    I challenged myself to create a block of a simple every day object.  I chose a toothbrush.      The white areas are the bristels of the brush and I added lots of line quilting to add to that feeling.  The  multi-colored area is the handle of the brush.   I quilted in toothpaste tubes in various stages of usge in the solid areas.  I did have fun with this project and plan to make the idea a challenge to one of my design groups.

Do to a change in plans I will be away next week on Thursday  so this blog will be posted on Friday next week.

I hope everyone is enjoying the bounty of summer and creating great things.

Hugs

Carol

Hello,

I am home from Quilting By the Lake for the week end and it has been as fun and exciting as always. I helped hang the quilt show on the 12th. We stared the morning with a big empty gym and boxes of quilts and hanging units.    We asssembled units and started putting the work up.  This shot is of Tony – a long time assistant that has followed QBL from  Morrisville Community College,  its last home,  to Onondaga Community Collage, the new home for the last five years.  By  noon the gym was starting to look like this shot.    We continued to hang and make alternations as the day went on.  There was a featured exebit of the work of one of our quilters.  It showed her work from the first year  of QBL to last year when she passed away.  It was lovingly curated and hung by two of her good friends Debbie( standing) and Andy( on the ladder).  Although the job was not complete we went  home at 4:30.  A new crew came in on Sat and finished the job.

I started giving away little doll pins that I now call  Creative Assistants to folks at QBL years ago.  They stared by my making a pin for a friend that was a copy of a petroglyphic that she had shown me the year before.  The pins have taken on a life of there own and I enjoy making them over the course of the year and them passing them out to folks that I come in contact with.   They are fun and a bit silly- they always make everyone smile.  Some folks have very big “tribes” as they add a new member every year as the pins change each and every time I do them.    ( I will post a tutorial on how you can do it too after QBL is over. )

I spent my week of uninterrupted  quilting in a class called Independent Study.  It is unstructured and undirected.  We all work at out own thing at our own pace.    These shots of some of my fellow class mates gives you an idea of the wide range of actions going on.  Everything is relaxed and enjoyable with folks working on finishing projects,  to staring new directions.     One gal even spent some of her time creating little pig dolls and enjoying the process.  Most of the gals in this class  are old timers.  We all enjoy the atmosphere.   I  can not believe I have been participating for 31 years- but that a fact….. Only my Marriage is a longer relationship.

Progress Report

I did start lots of work too.   Project 1

I am continuing to use images from the trip to Idaho as inspiration.  This is one from a rock wall at Dry Falls.  I am still playing with strips of fabric that I can wad and fold over to create texture.

Project 2     This one is of a small crack in  another stone wall.  It was in direct sun light and the contrast of the rock face and the shadow was very strong.

Project 3   This work is also inspired by a rock picture.  I used a much more traditional way of assembling this one however without the folded textures.

Project 4 Oak Leaves    

I played  silk that was fused to cotton.  I sewed the leaf vains on to the surface and then cut the leaves out.  I picked some real oak leaves( deep green) and used them as inspiration.   I learned that the side one puts on top when sewing in the vains is the way the leaf will curl when you let it hang.

The last event of the week at QBL is an auction of aprons that have been altered by the teachers.  The money raised goes to the scholarship fund .  It is always lots of fun and we all get a bit silly.  This time Rosalie Dace quilt teacher from South Africa, really went over board as she dressed her part.  It seems the IRS in response to her inquires about paying taxes had written her a letter.  On the back in pencil was a message that told her “she need not pay any taxes on any fish that she caught or sold”.   So she dressed up in wades, a fishing hat added a net and poll to illistrate her story.   Also shown in the photo are Cynthia Corbin, Hollis Chatelain and Katie Pasquini Mastopust.It was a fun week and I look forward to more of the same this next week.

I hope your week is as creative as I expect mine to be.

Hugs

Carol

Hello Friends,

Summer is really upon us, although it has been very rainy and cool here in the north east.  I can not believe that Summer Solstice  is tomorrow.  Time is flying before me.  I have been busy with events almost every day for the  last two weeks,  so time really moves in my point of view.

I started out with the hanging of my solo show at the Maxwell library.  There are 17 piece in that show titled “Earth Tones” , many have

never been seen before in public with a few works from the “Goddess” show as well.   The work spans over four years and it was a good chance for me to reflect on how much I like and use browns and golds.   This show also shows examples of the wide variety of techniques I use in my work. ” Know Now” for example has copper and leather added to the surface with some dish washer soap discharged work in the black areas of the top.   “Rusty Rings” on the other hand,  is a rust dyed silk with embroidery on it.

I also added dark fabric below the white silk to make “shadow” circles appear in the quilt.

“Collapse ” is from the Warped Work series and is one quilt on top of another with snaps to allow for a warped surface of the top quilt.  I did five works in this fashion to explore folds and shadows with my work.   I enjoyed this series, but no one seemed to understand what I was doing so I stopped working in this direction.  I may yet go back and do further exploration with this idea later.

“Mummy Cave Ruins” ( see last May 31 posting) along with  Ancient Voices and Rain Run were also a part of this show.  Putting up this show was fun, but it took me a long time to do the job.  I will be taking it down in a week.

The day after that was a Play Group event were we all played with stamping.    This picture is of cut eraser stamps that I taught.   The stamped image to the left shows how one can make a really big image by making one of your elements warp around the four sides of the eraser, so it flows together( the white line from all four images.)  This shot is of Linda’s exploration page from her eraser  cuttings.     Then I showed everyone how to use ” fun foam” to make stamps and apply the images to clear plastic so you can easily see were you are placing the stamp.   Liz made some fanciful shapes and she used a whole punch to add detail to her work as well.   Then Corinne demonstrated how to cut  on a circular form with linoleum cutters.   The shape does seem to effect the style and way one thinks about the images.    I cut two and stamped them both.   It was quit enjoyable.  I think I will use the  stamp, printed in blue here,  on my Fossil quilt as it resembles a Trilobite.

The next event in my life was a trip to  Rochester to the Genesee Vally Quilt Show.  There are 600 members in that quilt group and the show was very enjoyable.  While there  I participated in  my second Iron Quilter event.  There were 19 quilters and in 3 1/2 hours we all produced a quilt that was at least 24 inches on a side.  The topic, told to us at  the start, was  “Vanishing Act”.   We all rushed to the table of fabric provided and pulled stuff from the collection.   I started pawing with no idea at all about how to show this concept.  But I came across someone’s discarded block with two small elephants printed on it  and I had my brain storm.  I was off and running then.     This first shot is of the work at noon when then made us all stop for  lunch.  At this point I had fabric ironed and pinned to the surface, but no stitches yet.   Back form Lunch and two hours later and we all had a piece done.    I was exhausted as were most of my peers.

The “Vanishing Color” ( center quilt here) won second place.

I neglected to take a photo of the winner.

My quilt titled  “Vanishing Environments”  is OK for a work with limited time.  I learned that I can really re-lie on my machine drawing skills to pull me through when time is  short.    When asked if I would do it again- sure I would.  It is fun to stretch every now and then.

I have lots more to talk about, but find I am getting tired, so look  for an extra post in the next day or two.

Keep Creating

Carol

To Be Continued

Dear Friends,

I am still walking in the mornings and this week it really payed off.   I live a  few blocks from an undeveloped portion of the Syracuse University campus and on Tuesday I decided to walk through that part of my world as I wanted to see if  there were any wild flowers blooming.  I spotted this young deer instead.  It looked me over very carefully and then turned his white tale toward me a bounded away.      It was a great experience.

This week has been a full one as they all seem to be at this time of year.  I went to a Fiber Show Opening at the Schweinfurth on Sat evening.  My friend Angela had a whole little gallery fullof her work as a suplementry part of this great show.   I am so proud of her and all her wonderful felted Hawaiian Petroglyphs.   She told me that by the end of the evening she had been asked to be a part of an upcoming article in “Fibers Today”.     I am so happy for her and look forward to seeing her in print.   A second pal had participated in some wild knitting for this show too.  Barbara did a cover for the sign in front of the Art Center and she posed for me  in front of her work.   She told me she had to draw each letter out life sized and then work each row to match the pattern to make it work.   Trees and sign posts were also covered with colorful yarn additions.  What a fun challenge.  There were lots of folks at the opening that I knew and it was good to see all of them as well.   The Art Center is a fine source of creative inspiration and I am always glad when ever I go through it’s doors.

Progress Report: Mummy Cave Ruins    I really had a good time working on this quilt.  The memories of the trip to Canyon de Chelly are very vivid and every time I create a project related to that experience I feel wonderful.  I did add the silk paper I had created with Ethel on Wed last week.  It is the reflective stuff  on the left hand side.  I added the painted inner facing on the top of the canyon section too.   I liked doing all the free motion drawing around the figures and creating the texture in the rock faces as well.         I used water solvable crayons and colored pencils on this work too.   All the work on this piece pushed me to work on the second canyon piece I had started.

Canyon Stains
   I have only just stared building more color on the top of the painted image here, but again I am enjoying the process.    I am off to visit the west again next week and I know the landscape will capture me again- but southern Idaho is quite different then the canyon lands of Arizona and New Mexico so I want the images of that experience far enough along before I go.  I am sure the experience will create new images for new directions.

Red Nebula   I continue to add beads and hand stitching to the surface of this work.   I think it needs a bit more dark fiber felted into the composition to make it flow a bit more.   The beading also needs more intensity in the “center” of the nebula to feel completed to me.  Taking pictures and looking at the images on a smaller scale really does help one see the design problems that get lost in life sized work.  At least that is true for me.

Fossil Bed   I mentioned before that I am off to Idaho and a part of that will be a geology lecture.  So I have fossils and land formations on my mind.  This piece is a result of that mind set I think.   I am still struggling with the light/medium/dark thing and this top is a part of that.  I now feel the medium colored fabric  is too light and gets lost, but it may still work as a back drop for the fossil stencils I want to add on top.   I  have three more stamps and stencils to use on this top.  I plan to make them in various tone and shades of the brown and golds.   The vision is not real clear at this point.

Struts and Gurders
This top is also a part of my efforts to control/plan consciously the lay out of light/medium/dark.   I am so filled with self doubt that I do not know how I feel or were I am going with this piece.  When I looked at it this morning I felt I had tried to do make it all too busy and that the orientation was wrong.  I designed it in a vertical format so if you want an idea of that turn your head to the right shoulder and look at the work.     I do not know what or were to go with this piece- so I will  keep it folded up and take it to the QuEG’s and Diva meetings next week and get some feed from some other artists.   Growth in a new style/direction is difficult!

   New work:    Block Varieations
I had started this last week and the old photo form last week  shows the work with the parts pinned up but unassembled.  Now each block is put together and that makes them easy to move about.  This was the start of the light/medium/dark work and it is not very far along from before.  I have really only changed the orientation of this work and decided it needs  four more small blocks so I can play with a different placements of  the light/medium/ dark parts in those new blocks. I can say that  I was so frustrated that I buried it  under white paper for the week and only pulled it out today.  I did my typical thing  when I am frustrated and started new stuff.   I see now all I have  really done is  compound the problem  buy creating three light/medium/dark challenges to deal with now instead of one…..   I guess we all play games with ourselves.

Keep Creating

Carol

PS.   Please remember that I will be leaving on June 5 and be  away until June 16.  So there will be three week with out a  post.

Hello,

As the drawing shows the leaves are really showing themselves now.  I am surprised and delighted by the changes that are occurring around me.  One day you can see into the neighbors back yard the next it is screened from view with tiny little leaves that will only thicken.    Its so wonderful to behold.

This week has been as full as they all seem to be.  I taught the stencil workshop last week and it went well. This photo is of Linda, Angela, Corinne and Liz looking at books for ideas for their personal stencils.    I provided everyone with a stencil of their name in a graffiti type layout.  I did this so they could all have something to work with at the beginning.  That meant that I could  give the instruction on how to use the oil stick at the start and then  everyone could work at their own pace.  The second  shot is of Linda’s stencil with several colors of oil stick and lots of over lap.   They quickly went on to creating their own stencils and working with them.   This photo is of Angela’s stencils.  The orange one in the upper right   is of a Hawaiian  petroglyph.   The blue is painters tape that we used to keep the stencil in place while we used them.

The other big event for me this week was hanging the Diva Quilt Show at  Kendell in Ithaca.   This shot shows Sandi Holland adjusting a piece.  There are 41 pieces in this show representing 13 different artists.  It is a visual feast.  There is so much variety in technique and color that I am always amazed at how well they all work together.  It is a real group effort to put up the show too  and I am very thankful for  all the help.  This last shot is of Liese and Sally as they add the tags and check on final details.Progress Report:   The Lost Buckle  This quilt has gone through some major changes sense the last time I posted it.  ( Check  April 4th).  It was called Cracked Up  and when I was all done with the facings and such it did not appeal to me.  I let the work hang  on the pin wall and decided that the square format was part of the problem. So I tried various ups and downs and blocks of portions of the surface and then cut away a strip.  This shot shows the cut.   I bound the sides and changed the big section.  It needed a focus point so I added an old shoe buckle – one remaining form a set that was lost by Aunt

May at a dance in the 40’s.    It was such a treasured item that it was  in the jewelry  box I inherited form my grandmother years later.   I feel this is a good way to honer that value.      The remaining portion of the quilt was on its way to the trash when  the dentist made a comment about how important smiles were to his business.   So I used the remainder  to make a banner for his office.  He will get in in a few weeks when I go again.

Before the Buds   I am making progress on this piece although the strong desire that prompted this work a few weeks back  ago when I could hardly wait for buds to open is now a reality.   I am machine drawing the thread tree down and adding branches as I go.  It is fun and I like how it is coming along.

DMC Marty’s Challenge- Slender Cuts    This is the second of the mono chromatic color challenge fabric unit works.  I enjoyed the personal part of the challenge were I was trying to learn how to do the slender cuts.  I feel confident with there use now.    There is also more exploitation possible with this technique.  With the three works in this challenge I learned that I like to have  more color in my work and that light, medium and dark still need a punch to work for my eye.  As  Dad always use to say” You learn something form every experience- Even if you only learn what you do not like!”

Thoth:  I cut this stencil at the workshop last Friday.   This is one of the prints I made .    I did three.  the best  will be a part of the new Egyptian  quilt I had pinned to the wall last week.

I hope spring is  filling your heart with joy and delight and that the creative juices are flowing for you too.

Keep Crating

Carol

PS- Sorry this got a late post.  I always re read the post after a few hours and then publish it.  I went off to dinner with the gals and there were two who were home from a trip.  We talked late and I simply forgot to sit down at the computer when I got home  hit the Publish button.

Hello Everyone,

It has been cold here in central New York, but the contrast of  today is delightful.  I  am just home from my walk for today.  It is beautiful with summer like temperatures an lots of fall color.  I enjoyed the crunch of  leaves, but  even more the falling ones.  There are many leaves drifting down on gentle breezes  so I played my favorite fall sport of catching as many as I could.  I stood for a long time under a golden Ginko, but was unsuccessful there.  They are just a little to solid and only drop down- no drifting there.  I did manege to get five however.  One very red Silver Maple leaf and four from Sugar Maples.  I had a grand time.( after checking on old posts I discovered that I talked of leaf catching last year in Nov.17 post)

This week has been a busy one out side the studio what with plays and meetings as I get back into the swing of fall activities.

Progress Report: Lauren’s Wedding Quilt  I worked away on this project but there is no real visible change.  All the blocks are in rows and ready for assembly.  I am creating the back greens and browns but in my usual scrap back method.   I will try to take more photos this week.

Slender Cuts
I started this method with the instructions I got from Marty in Idaho.   If you look back at the June 25 posting your will see that I have been struggling with  curved piecing for a while.  With the help Marty has given me the cuts are better and they are much flatter.  I like this method and now have about 20 pieces of various widths.  I guess I should stop fooling around and start something with these fellows. Composing in Purple
I decided to try a new approach to my compositions.  I pinned up  three different layouts using mostly the same units and then looking at the digital images selected the

stronger of the three an started the new work from that point.

I altered the work as I usually do- remembering what Dr Nichols always said about making “Visual decisions Visually”.   This is nearly assembled and I do not see too many changes before completion.

I hope you are all enjoying fall and the leaves.

Keep Creating

Carol