Category Archives: Diva Meetings

Blue Beach, Circulation, Curvie Cuts, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Take Off, Uncategorized

Under the Weather

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Hello,

I am suffering a sore throat at the moment.  I caught it from my husband and I am not real happy about that.   I really don’t fee too bad, but I sure do not want to pass it on to anyone I know so I have canceled a few things already.     Before I became ill I had a busy week.  Friday Liz, and I drove to Palmyra to help  Marcia sort and price items for the Perilla sale in June.    There are a lot of her beautiful coats that are for sale.  Liz and I both priced fabric  and we all talked the whole day.   It was a good time.   I will post more about the sale as it gets closer.

I made it to the Diva meeting  and it was very stimulating.   We are working on a  group project and that took most of the meeting time.   We are doing a group banner for Together Women Rise. Then we did do show and tell.  Cheri is doing some great printing.   I really like this approach.

 

 

 

 

 

Denise went off for two weeks to an artist in residence program and came home with three wonderful fiber works.   They all have so much texture and color.    They are felted wool plus so much more in the way of fabrics and stitching.

 

 

 

Mary is still  working through some of her purchased fabric prints that she  got in Africa.

I made it to the Zoom meetings this week too.  The QuEGs  meant on Tue, the Pixies meant on Wed and I did the Schweinfurth Art Talk with Nancy Crow yesterday.

 

 

Progress Report:  Together Women Rise-  Equal Voice.   This is the start of  my project for the group.  I have cut the figures and will keep building on this through the month.

 

 

 

Circulation   This is the second in the Split Complement Series.   As the photo shows I am to the quilting step of this one now.

 

 

 

 

Circus Grounds  I am also doing free motion quilting on this project.   This is the last of the SAQA 100 day challenge.  I found that without the requirement of   daily posting I do lots other projects instead of focusing on this one.

Blue Beach  I just keep adding buttons to this surface.   I am beginning to feel like I am near the end.

 

 

 

 

 

Take Off  I am working away on this project and drawing the more Terns in take off mode.   I am using inktense pencils to add the details.

 

Hand Work    This is the on going project that I only pick up when every thing else is “done”.   I did work on it although the Pixie meeting this week.

Creative Assistants     I finished another batch of these little guys.   Each completed one is closer the end of the process.

I hope no one else is under the weather and that  enjoying spring is your main goal.

Carol

 

100 day Challenge, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Hand work, Meandering Mind- Examine, Pixies Group, Purple Impinging, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

April 2023

Hello,

There were lots of meetings this week as it is the first week of the month.  The QuEGs  had a Zoom meeting and although the attendance was low we had a good time.  The Diva’s had a real productive meeting too.

This is Ann’s  piece based on her trip to Yellowstone last summer.

 

 

This is Cheri’s work for the up coming show at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noel is honoring her grandmother with this piece as the gloves were created by that lady.

 

 

 

Next is the work of  Terri

 

 

 

 

 

I love this felted work that was then cut up and put back together again.   The artists is Denise.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pixies had there usual meeting yesterday as well.  This fun painting is by  Laura.

 

 

 

 

 

I continue to do the SAQA challenge and I am now working on a piece I call  Circus Parade.    I also listened to the SAQA Lecture yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

Sketchbook Revival is over as far as presenting new material, but I am still playing catch up.  This portrait was directed by Irene Ruby.

 

 

 

 

This water color fox  was directed by Tamora Laporte.   This is the second year she has been a part of this program.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Imagine Purple    This work is 37″ w X 44″ t.   It is the last of the monochromatic series.   I  have learned a lot about color doing this group of pieces and they do look good together.

The metallic inserts were a fun addition as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tigers in the Ring  I am quilting circles on this project.   It is one of the SAQA 100 day works .   I place the paper circles on the surface were I think they are needed and then machine quilt around them.  I am using the for different sizes as you can see to add interest.

Blue Beach    I just keep stitching away at this project.   I got lots of positive feed back on it at the Pixie meeting  as I was stitching on it during our Zoom meeting.

 

New Work   Sense I finished the monochromatic series, I have decided to try some Split Compliments.   This is the first one using primary blue and yellow orange and red orange.   I am using the shades and tints of the all of the colors too.

 

 

 

Stay Safe and Keep Creating

Carol

Blue Water, Coy Fish, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Human forms, Koi in the Kelp, Lap Quilts, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Three Witches

Fall Abundance

Hello,

Fall is really starting to show up in this part of the world.  Color seems to be at every corner and the fruit is beautiful too.   I love the daily changes this season brings.

It has been a busy week for me.  On Friday, Liz and I went to the Member’s  Show at the Schweinfurth  and saw lots of great work from lots of fiends.

 

I really liked this little collage/ assemblage  by Victoria among many others.   It was a real visual feast.

 

 

 

 

Then I ran the Diva meeting on Tue with lots of new work there as well.   Ann is working away on her newest Yellowstone inspired piece and I am so impressed.   She is aiming for the feel of the heat and I think she is achieving that.

 

 

Therese, our newest member, shared lots of work.  But I loved this little owl piece the most.   She will be a great addition to the group.

 

 

 

 

Cheri and Terri both have work in the Rock Garden show that is up at the Art Center in Homer.   I like the irregular shape and high texture Cheri is playing with in this one.

 

QuEG’s meant as did the Slow Stitch group and they both were inspirational.

 

Progress Report: Blue Water   This work is complete now and is 39.5″ w X 35″ t.    The fish eyes are double buttoned and made with some of Aunt May’s buttons.

I used the metallic fabrics to give the fell of the scales of the fish.

 

 

 

Lap #4   This work is done except for the binding that I hope to finish this evening.  I also plan to send this work off to my aunt in Iowa next week.

 

 

 

 

Lap #5  This work is all pin based and ready for quilting now It will go into the nursing home stack.

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Action   I am now doing the hand work on this little piece.  I want to finish  it by Tue so I can mail it to the Schweinfurth at that time. It will be for the raffle.

 

Koi in the Kelp  All the kelp and the fish are attached  and now I am ready to add the eyes and sequins for added texture and color.

 

Frenzy    I have now cut away all the original background and pinned the fish to the new surface.  I did leave some ” bridges of fabric between some of the fish for stability.  I will cut the “bridges”( brown ) away as I reach them with the zig zag stitching.

Three Witches   I finished the left eye and added the bottom lip among other things this week.  She is beginning to feel solid I think.

Pillow    Because I can’t seem to throw anything away I stuff pillows with the cut away parts from other projects.  This pillow is one example.  The silk embroidery work is from my trip to China with my Mom in 1998.

 

Hope you are all enjoying fall and not working too hard.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Coy Fish, Creative Strength Training, Diva Meetings, Fire Wall, Fish, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Three Witches

Rainy Days

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Hello,

We are enjoying a series of rainy days here in central New York.     I am thankful as so may are in drought or in flooding conditions.    Here it is just gentle and soaking into the ground for the most part.   I like to walk in the rain too so I am taking advantage of it.

It’s the beginning of the month and I had several meetings.  The Creatinve Strength Training group meant.  The element of emphasis this month is Texture- my favorite so I will enjoy this one.    The Pixies meant and Quilt Divas too.

Barb had a  great little quilt based on a Slot Canyon that I really liked.

 

 

 

 

And Terri shared her news work too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report:  Coy  Fish   This work is 34.5 ” X 35.5″.  I like how this project came out.  I still have not come across my inspiration work, but that is not necessary now.

 

I really like the fish forms and playing with them is fun for me.

 

The second piece with more Coy fish I have  set aside as I am feeling it is too busy. I am thinking on it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching  This work is 15.5″ X 26″.  The color here as well as the textures are what I really enjoy about this piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hand Out  I am still building on this piece.  I want more hand work here than on Reaching.  I do like the complexity that the spider webs add too.

 

Lap quilt 2  With this quilt I am again using up Sue Elle’s blocks.

There is still lots of quilting to do on this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap Quilt 3   This is just the start of another lap work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Witches  I am enjoying doing the hand work on these interesting faces.

 

 

 

Feather Dancer   I uncovered this work while looking for another project .  There is so little left to stitch that I decided to complete it.  Getting closer every day.

Fire Wall   With new fires in the west I felt I needed to create a new fire piece.  I got the base fabric from a fellow quilter at QBL this summer.  These layered quilts always take lots of time to build up to the level I feel is complete.

Ponder   I am done with the hand work on this piece now and only have the hand work to do on the last one in the tryptic  to complete the series.

 

 

 

 

I hope the fall is developing nicely for you.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Machine Drawing

After Quilting by the Lake

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Hello,

I have been home  less then a week from Quilting by the Lake and I am still flying high from the two weeks.  Week one I had  Paula’s Kovarkis’  Playing in the Garden of Stitch class.   I have long admired her work at the Q=A=Q shows at the Schweinfurth.   We spent the week playing and designing with free motion work on our sewing machines.  It was fun and  full of great explorations.

 

Paula showed us how to insert shapes into the work and that alone was worth the whole week for me.

 

 

I am  have a  long way to do to make this technique my own, but I am delighted by the nee technique.

This close up is of the teachers work so you can see some possibilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 Week two was with Valerie Goodwin, and was called Light and Lacy.    In this class we worked with layers of organza and a Lazore cutter.  It was fascinating as well and mostly hand work, with lots of fusing.

 

I learned a few new tricks here too.

 

 

Davana  gave a great talk on Indigo and then she shared her dye pot with us during week two.

 

 

 

 

My friend  Sharon  did a trunk show one day and another friend Donna, did one on her rust dyeing.

 

There were also lectures several evenings as well as  a trip to the Schweinfurth to see the  shows there.  I loved the show of work from Fiber Arts Magazine.  There were wonderful materials and techniques there.

The shadows are and imports part of this work.

Meeting with old friends  was great  and  I think I may have made  a few new connections as well.  I am looking forward to next year too.

 

 

 

I had one other nice event at QBL, my old teacher Jeanette Meyers gave me a little hand made book she had made.  I have been saving and sending salvages to her ever since I was in her class 5 years ago.  She is so kind.

 

Years ago I was the beneficiary of a scholarship to QBL at a time when I could not afford it , so I have a soft spot for that gift.  In return I made a raffle basket  to go for the scholarship fund this year.   The doll is one I made years ago and I added lots of books as well as several dryer balls.   There were lots of tickets in the bag and the winner came to me and thanked me for the basket after her name was drawn.

 

Then on Monday I helped with the hanging of the Diva  show in Trumansburg NY.

 

This is Donna’s entry for that show.  The opening is Sat from 7 to 9 and the show will be up until Sept 26.

 

The Fiber Art Dames had a meeting on Wed and Sharon shared her work from the Slow Stitch class at QBL.   She thinks it will take a year for her to complete this one.

 

 

I had a Zoom meeting with the Pixies as well.  It has been a full week.

 

The Slow Stitch CST group meant yesterday as well.  Our little 6″ mono chromatic pieces were due.  This is my piece.

 

 

 

I also want to do a little bragging about my grand sone Nick.  He is a welder and his newest  work is this trunk bank.

 

 

 

 

Progress Report;  Circling Through  I have not done a lot of work sense QBL , but I am now in the middle of quilting this work with circles.

 

Complementary Color Challenge Purple and Yellow    I am now in the machine quilting stage on this work as well.

 

I hope you are doing well and that summer is all you expected.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Hand work, Pixies Group, Pondering

Quiet Summer Days

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying the after the holiday quiet.   Things did slow down a bit for me and I spent some time looking at the sky and enjoying all the greens.    I join a great Diva meeting in Trumansburg, NY. this week.   Our next group show is there and we went to see the space and get things limned up for Aug when we will hang the show.  Donna had some great new rust pieces to share with us.  She is getting really good at that I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen showed off her latest work too.

There was a Pixie meeting and a Show Stitch Group Zoom meeting as well.  It is the season of lots of family and  out door activity for everyone  so I did not do much work.

Progress Report: Against the Wind     It is   54″ X 54″ .     I am all done with this work now.  I have learned a lot about free piecing and it remains a real challenge for me.  I will try it again, but not any time soon.   The quilting did not smooth it out enough for me to be real happy with it.

 

 

 

 

 

Stitched Top   I have done stitch in the ditch work on this piece.  Now I will do some hand work as it needs more quilting to be complete.

 

 

 

 

Goldfish   I started this work based on an old sketch and I am using  some of my hand dyed fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

Pondering    This is the second in the complimentary color challenge from Jane.  I am still working through the Irene Roderick’s  book,  “Improv Quilting ” with its exercise and the units are based of her suggestions.   The black will disappear from the final top.

 

 

 

Handwork  This is the newest hand work piece using add-ons.  They are painted and heat treated Tyveck shapes.  I will continue the embellishment with beads.

 

 

 

 

Drawing   For Valerie  Goodwin’s class “Light and Lacy ” I drew up these birds to use as my first print.   I am looking forward to QBL in two weeks and seeing how we use them.

Enjoy the season and keep creating

Carol

100 day Challenge, College Life, Creative Strength Training, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Felt Work, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs)

Every Day Longer and Brighter

Hello,

The days grow and grow like all the plants that are opening and extending their limbs.   The tilt of the earth and the warmth of the sun really makes our lives worth while!     Every day I see changes in the landscape and I enjoy every walk in the world.

I drove off to Bever Lake on Sat and went to the Fibers Festival with Sharon.      We both had a good time and purchased roving.     I am now jazzed to begin a new work on the piece I want to do about the fires in New Mexico and Arizona.    We took the Swamp path after the show and saw lots of turtles sunning as well as lots of new buds.

It is the start of a new month so I had lots of meetings.    The QuEGs had a zoom meeting on Tue morning with only three of us.  I did enjoy it none the less.

Then I joined Noel and we went off to Ithaca with Terri and Cheri to the DIVA meeting.    Terri and I got a little silly before things started.   Our show was a big success and now we are planning for the fall show in Trumansburg.

Barb is trying a new approach were she is building a quilt based on one of her paintings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noel did another of her roving stitching projects that she dased on one of  her drawings

 

 

 

 

 

I did work on my Creative Strength Training stuff and also did the Textile  Artist Stitch Club work for this week.  It was stitching on paper with geometric shapes.   I used some of my Gelli plate print papers form the week before for a base for that project.

 

 

The FAD group meant Wed.  Sharon showed off her son’s   illustrations in a new book that just got published.

 

 

 

 

Thursday I spent the morning doing Gelli  plate work with Barbara again.    I was working to create stormy sky fabric for a new piece.

Progress Report: Lap # 11 I am half way through machine quilting this project now.   I am sure it will be finished by next week.

 

 

 

 

Athletes  This work is  75″ w X 31″ t.   I am happy with it, but as you can see my space is not big enough for me to hang it flat.    It has quite a different feel from Action, its partner piece.  The close up work allow you to see the blue figures I outlined from the back .


 

 

 

 

This shot of Action was done at the Schweinfurth were I could pin it out flat.

Blue on Blue    This is my handwork project that I am doing as a part of my Creative Strength Training  program .  It is what I work on during the mini Slow Stitch meetings.

 

 

 

 

Daily Practice  I work on these pieces of wipe up fabric that I have added  fused cut away fabrics to.   I have only three more pieces of fabric that I want to treat in this fashion before I start to assemble them into a quilt.

 

 

 

Sea Floor     This is a stitchery that began on a felted base.  I have been working off and on with this piece for a while.  It only came to completion with the fish that are cut from leather that Noel gave to me.

College Life- Camp week one

Reveille got us up at 6:30 and the next day began. At breakfast on Monday we passed out the campers’ class assignments. And we got ours, too. I had two sessions of Nature Crafts and then I helped with Archery for the third session in the morning. In Nature Crafts we printed leaves, painted and collected spider webs, wove cattail matts, painted rocks, along with other activities. It was fun and I think the kids enjoyed it, too. Throughout summer, I had two sessions where I taught three classes of Nature Crafts. And over the course of the summer I got to fill in with swimming, boating on the water front, and horsemanship.

At lunch, there were always announcements and singing. We sang to any child or adult who had a birthday and they had to walk around the table while we sang. Larry taught lots of fun songs like “The Grand Old Duke of York,” and “Little Rabbit Foo Foo.” It was always a good ruckus time. The afternoons the were less structured. The pool was open and a favorite of many kids. I often had that duty and for the first and only time in my life I was tan by the end of the summer. I also attribute the high number of times I was in the chorine for keeping me from getting any poison ivy that summer. Campers could also check out equipment from the sports center. When Inis had Play Ground Duty, as we called, it she always organized a volleyball game. The water front was open and kids could check out canoes and row boats to go up river for the afternoon. The trail ride was also very popular event–but hot!.

After dinner there was an event every evening. Mondays we had a movie in the big room in the main lounge. Tuesday was Olympics Night and all the campers participated events like relay races, potato sack races, three-legged races, tugs of war, and jump rope contest. Wednesday was dance night. There was a special event every Thursday. And, at the end of each day, Taps was played over the loudspeaker.

The first special event was a carnival with lots of games. Gene and Larry organized a wild game with the three ping pong tables where each player hit the ball, put the paddle down, and moved out of the way so the next person in line could pick it up and hit the ball when it came over the net. Then the players shifted to the other end of the table to wait their turn to do it again. If you missed the ball, you were out. It was wild with lots of action and laughter. It was a game that we counselors even played off and on for the rest of the summer. For the Carnival I recall a “candle bowling” game were one had to blow out ten candles from a distance. Chrissy and I ran a game with bean bags and a wooden bucket. Bubble gum was the prize.

Friday after dinner we returned to the open air chapel for closing ceremonies. Saturday morning after breakfast the campers packed up to board the busses that arrived around 10:00. The rest of the summer was alternating camp for one or two weeks each. I will talk of the special events in the next entry.

Keep Creating

Carol

100 day Challenge, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Drawing, Fiber Artist Stitch Club, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Lost Habitat, Pixies Group, Quilt Exploration Group (QuEGs), Textile Artist Stitch Club

March

Hello,

With the beginning of March life seems to be opening up a bit.  I have had lots of meetings on Zoom and the Diva’s even meant in person.    The QuEGs  and Pixies had their usual zoom events and I had a new Fiber Artist Stitch Club meeting.  Sharon Peoples  was our new instructor for that class and we are working on stitching photos graphic images.   I am not very far along on this project- but I am started.   One was to trace an image on tissue paper  and then stitch around it. That creates the outline of were there are color changes in the image.

I’m doing the little cross stitches to fill in the areas now.

I also started Creative Strength Training  with Jane Dunnwald  this week.   For that I did  a lesson with black and white  in response to a song.  The limited color really makes for a strong graphic.

There is lots of reading to do for this class too. So I am a busy camper with mental growth.

 

 

 

I did take time out one afternoon this week to do three little 6″ X6″ pieces for the Rochester Gallery for their annual fund raiser.   I could not believe it had been a year sense I did my last bunch .

Progress Report: Lap #7      This work has lots of my altered fabrics in it.  There  is  some  shobori  that   did  Liz two summers ago  as well as lots of printed and painted fabric.  It was a trip down memory lane to work on this one.

 

 

Lap #8    This project is a real out growth of  # 7  as these were the fabrics I did not use as central units in the first quilt.  I had so much fabric cut and stitched together for the surrounds that it seemed silly to just put them in the scrap basket.

 

 

Lost Habitat  This work is 44″ w X 33″t.     I am quite pleased with how this one finally come to completion.     It is my response  to the fires in Colorado last fall when 500+ homes were destroyed by wild fire.   Some folks  had so little time to evacuate that they did not even get there photos or computer backups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed this working on this piece even though the topic is stressing.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Drawing This is a second Neo drawing  that  I did after watching a video on the subject.

 

 

 

Daily Practice This is the work I am doing during the news every nigh.  The colors do not look like Ukraine- but that is the main topic on the news.

 

 

 

Action  I keep stitching away on this project.   I will soon be close to the edges were  I can stitch with purples.

 

 

 

 

 

Beading  I did spend a little time in the bead box this week.   I am still using beads I got from Joyce in the fall,  but some of my own have slipped in too.

 

 

 

 

College Life:  Summer School 1967

Summer school at Ball State in 1967 was two five week sessions. I took Painting 1 and World Literature the first session. Both of my classes were in the morning and I rode my bicycle to campus so I had the freedom to come and go when I wanted. I can’t say that I remember much about the literature class except it was lots of reading as we did a book about every two days. The painting class was with Dr. Nickels, the head of the department. I enjoyed going to Christy Woods every day and finding a quiet place to paint plants and flowers in water color. I got B’s in both of my classes that quarter.

I did not have much social life as Margaret stayed away at school that summer too. I continued my work at the student center dinning service, so I did have spending money, but not much to spend it on. I think that my being a part of the Sailing Club and being a Captain kept me sane. I had lots of afternoon dates with my brother Gene to sail. We went about twice a week that summer. All that sailing led to a great connection with Dr. Kunkel for Gene. The two of them got to be real buddies and Dr. Kunkel often took Gene off to crew for him in races for that summer and several others summers too. There were several weekends where I went off and dove with the Scuba Club that summer. Now the fresh water lakes in Indiana are nice for swimming, and I enjoyed the water skiing as well–but visibility below the surface is four feet at best and not very exciting. I enjoyed the process but was not thrilled enough to purchase more equipment than a mask and flippers. Both items were lost at an outing at the end of the summer.

There was a wonderful summer program at Ball State called “Shoe String Theater” and the family took advantage of it. Dad and I went to all six production, but Mom and Gene were spotty. I saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Vagabond King to mention just a couple. I still love live theater and go often.

Summer school for the second session was Philosophy and an education major requirement, called Human Growth ad Development. I did well in Philosophy and got a B, but in Human Growth I was not so strong and got a C. Along with all of that, there were lots of cards and letters from Eric and a few from Larry.

I hope spring is on your door step,

Keep Creating

Carol

Childhood Memories, Diva Meetings, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Bright Ideas

Hello,
The trees are really showing off now that we have experienced a few cold nights.   I love the way the leaves are drifting off  the trees now too.

A little challenge from the Pixies this week was to think about “Bright Ideas”. Many of us have challenges from the outside world or self imposed. Just where do the bright ideas come from? I find them to be very elusive. At times I as stumped by quilt challenges and feel they just do not apply to my process. I do draw and doodle and some times that process produces an idea for the project. At other times when I want to start a new project I have a firm direction because of a logical leap. But for the tough ones my experience most successful solution is just letting a goal go to the side. Often times, when the problem as been sidelined for a while, the solution with suddenly appear – the bright idea comes into my mind a bit like magic and I am off and running again with a celare direction to solve a problem.

I dyed for what I think will be the last time this season. We had to run the heater to be able to work this week. I did have fun and look forward to using these along with the others this winter.

The Quilt Diva’s also meant this week. Donna is working away on a new set of sculptures. Her work with fimo and found objects is amazing I think.

 

 

 

 

Bev did a few more of her little square pieces. The colors are so ver bright.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Day Dreaming This work is 29″w X 31″l. The dress is one of my Mothers and so I added a Felix the Cat doll to the person as that was one of her childhood favorites. The flowers are made from wool with free motion drawing on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elements- Line     I have stared adding sew in lines on this project.

 

 

 

Handwork  I just keep stitching away on this project.  I’d say the end is in sight.

 

 

 


Grandmother’s wedding dress      My cousin Casey gave me Grandmother Ruth’s wedding dress when we visited.   I am going to stitch it down to the blue and embroider the  information about her  and Grandfather Howard on the quilt.

 

 Lap # 22     I just have fun making these quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Beginning College

Summer ended and September began as did my freshman year at Ball State. I carried the usual load of six classes and filled my time with lots of extra events too. Dad took me to school every morning and we headed for home every evening after 5. My first class, World History was four days a week at 7:00 a.m. in the theater with 350 other freshmen. I sat in the front row with an old high school friend who was also a commuter, Marila Miller. We agreed that being that close to the teacher, we certainly could not fall asleep. Neither of us had a place to hang out until our next class. Mine was not until 11. We tried the lobby in the music building, next door to the theater. It was cold, uncomfortable and full of traffic.

We quickly discovered the Music Listening Library. Another of my classes was Music Appreciation, so I could do my listening assignments there as well. The space was much quieter and more comfortable with couches and personal listening cubicles. A vocal music student opened the space at 8:00 just as we got out of class. His name was Larry Tackett and we became friends, since it was just the three of us many mornings for several hours. Sometimes I used the head phones and did listen to required music, but just as often Larry would .pick out something for all of us to enjoy while we talked and worked. Larry became a life long friend who sang at my wedding. Later, after we moved to Syracuse, he even lived with us while he taught middle school for the city and worked on a Masters Degree.

The first week end at Ball State the big event was the Watermelon Feed, which I attended with Margaret. It was held in a big field at the west end of campus.We had fun, ate watermelon, of course, and talked to lots of folks, but did not make any solid connections. The Freshman Convocation was the next event. I had been to Emens Auditorium many times with my folks to see plays and musicals, but it felt very different to sit in the middle of a crowd of nosey freshmen. I sat between Susy and Margaret. The only thing I really remember was the president telling us to look to our right and then our left. “Of the three of you only one will be here at graduation.” We all swore to one another that would not be the case with us, but four years later I was the only one with a Ball State diploma.

The Theater became an active place and Drama Majors did performances. I remember going to see “ Half a Sixpence “ and “Mary, Mary”. Because I did most of my studying in the music library I meant and went out with lots of music majors. Recitals and small group assembles most of the time. But I also got to attend and hear Count Basie when he did a performance in Emens for Homecoming weekend. It was wonderful! I also went the “All School Convection” with Pearl Buck that took place that fall. I’d read The Good Earth in high school and I was excited. It was a good lecture, but I mostly recall how passionately she spook on the plight of the many mix blood children that the war had created. There was also a big band day in conjunction with one of the fall football games. I got to see some of my friends from Muncie Central at that even. It was a busy and fun fall.

I will be off at a small quilt retreat next week so there will not be a post.

Enjoy Halloween

Carol

100 Day Challenge, 100 day Challenge, Childhood Memories, Daily Practice, Diva Meetings, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group

Home again

Hello,
I hope August is full filling everyone’s expectations. I sure like the many flowers that are blooming this year.

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed my trip to Maine. Marty and I always have a good time together and this year was no different. We visited with Elizabeth Bush and she was busy making winter hats for children. We talked and ate well enjoying each others company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home Marty and I stopped at the Fenimore Art Museum and spent a few hours in the Native American art display. This is my favorite mask this time. We really enjoyed the baskets as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I went along with Noel to the Diva meeting at Cheri’s this week and we had a lively discussion. This work is by Maureen. She dose beautiful hand dyeing with natural materials. I also made it to the Pixie Zoom meeting yesterday.

I am doing a bit of cleaning and passing forward this stack of lap sized quilts to folks who are confined to wheel chairs.

My being away means there is not a lot to share.

100 Day Project For this one I did make progress. There are two shots for two weeks. I am still two days behind, but they are cut and pinned just not sewn yet.

 

 

 

Lap # 15 I did the stitch in the ditch quilting on this work this week. I will move on later with t free motion trees to out line the ones I printed and add new ones in the big areas.

 

 

 

New Lap I just pulled and pinned up these to see if they work together for the next one. I also sorted out some old quilts to add to the quilts that I plan to pass to wheel chair folks. This is the stack

 

 

 

Daily Practice   I am enjoying doing hand work.  I find it very calming.

 

 

Childhood Memories- Adolescence – Fall Senior Year 1965

My Senior year was a full and active one. I continued to participate in Band, the Math Club and Choirs. I also added Orbal our literary magazine to my list of organizations along with Thespians.. There was also all the social stuff. It seemed like we talked a lot about values and how to have a better culture. Viet Nam was getting to be an issue in the news and that also entered into many conversations. One of my friends John Conley did join the army at the end of the senior year. He was the youngest in his family and although loved farming he knew that he would not inherit the family farm. He did go to Viet Nam. We corresponded then that stopped abruptly. I learned later that was because he died there. I had one short romance with Keith Johnson, a Jr in the band he played the saxophone. He was far to physical and “fast” for me at that time. I was not ready for the heavy necking that he wanted. But exploration was part of growing up.
I got my first real job in September. After securing my work permit I started in the Dinning Service at the Student Center on Campus. After two weeks of work I got my first pay check of $26.00. Only $21 after taxes. The job as mostly serving tables at banquets and then working in the dish room cleaning up afterwards. No orders, checks or tips. I quickly learned how to balance a tray of eight plates on my shoulder and get it safely down to the rest without a spill. I got good at that job and could work every evening if I had wanted. I also was quickly tapped to work in the Orrer Room for small intimint dinners of 12 and under. That seemed very easy after doing three tables of eight and ten in the big dinning room. I was a good way to meet kids outside my school environment. I really enjoyed one young man with red hair and frekels named Tom Sawyer. He was a real comic too. I got to serve the head table when our senator Birch Bye, was at one fund raiser there. Yes, I did break a few dishes( always in the clean up process) and my feet were sore when I got home many nights, but I really did enjoy the job. I held that job until I was a Jr in collage at Ball State when I exchanged that job for teaching assistant in the art department.
The classes kept me busy, what with English, Speech, Math, Physics, Economics and Civics. There was also the SAT test in the fall. In the spring I was inducted into the Honor Society. For my incitation presentation I did a demonstration on how one could turn numbers into cartoon characters. For example a 6 could easily become a horses head.
At Thanksgiving time we went home to Iowa as usual to the family feast and time with the cousins. The meal was much the quieter than in the past with out the McElhinney clan because Grandpa Merit was ill. No Oyster casserole that year. Grandpa had black lung from the grain dust, but we did not learn that until later. He had sold his prize heard of regerstered Black Angus and on the Friday after Thanksgiving men came and loaded them into trucks and drover away. I remember seeing Grandfather standing at the living room window with out making a sound while big tears ran down his face as he watched his dream drive away. My father pulled me away to let his father have the time to him self. When we went to Grandview at that time we made a plan to go to Texas and Big Bend National park at Christmas with all the families.

Stay safe

Carol