Winter has begun according to the calendar. But I am not so sure about that as our mild weather sure makes me feel otherwise. I have enjoyed my walks and the sun shine helps me feel calmer and much less stressed during this holiday season of hurry and worry. This shot of the sky reflected in a rain created pool is also a part of this unique season. If I ever had any doubts about how the weather effects my work a look at the colors of the stuff I am working on this week will sure confirm the fact that I am still feeling the influences of fall.
My only out side activity this week was an afternoon when I sat in the gallery at the Schweinfurth to answer folks questions. It was pleasant to talk with students and quilters and I did a lot of hand work. More little faces for Creative Assistants.
Progress Report: Buffalo Bluffs
I am now done with the assembly of this work. This is the last photo of it as a total unit as I plan to cut it in half and make a diptych out of it. That was the plan form the start and building it as one big unit first makes for unity I think. I will slash it and stretch it before next week I hope.
Autumns CollectionThis is a close up of this work as I am almost done with the building. I even got the silk leaves on the piece this time. I am adding the facings now so it will be done by next week. I have a little bit of bobbling in two areas so I will need to go back in and quilt a bit more to flatten it. I can always draw more leaves with my machine.
Turning Autumn This quilt is ready for the quilting step now too. I am doing stitch in the ditch at the moment to stabilize it for now and then I will begin to do the machine drawing step. I will do some sketch book work before I begin that however.
Williams Quilt This is a shot of the back of this work. I only need to add to the sides about 10 inches as it is a bit narrow . Then I can begin to assemble the parts. It sure is bright and colorful for the grand child who will receive this gift.
Coastal Color This series of three works is based on a photo of the Atlantic coast. On one cliff the color of the rock went from green moss covered section to red rocks at the top. I tried to capture that feel with these three starts. My main machine had to go for a quick cleaning – I can not believe I have had it a year already. So I pulled the Felter out for a little play in a different mode. They are starting places for machine and hand work now .
I feel so Positive when I think about my work. I did a solo trunk show yesterday for the North Syracuse Art Guild titled
Out the Window 16.5″ X 21.5″ $125.00
” Your Art /My Art”. In that lecture/ trunks show, I compared my work to the many styles and types of work that the members use. In doing so I really realized how much I draw from the other art categories to get my ideas across. I draw directly on the fabric with pencils, crayons and markers. I use my machine as a drawing tool too. I Paint with acrylic,water color and dye on the surface when I need to create a special effect. I print on the surface using silk screens, stamping and stencils to get images I want on the work. I use some weaving techniques like felting, silk papers and frapping. I often use collage techniques to build up my surfaces with
Red Nebula 18″ X 24″
textures and transparencies and different already textured fabrics like velvet and satins. I even embellish with old jewelry on occasion. I am thankful that I get to use from all the different art areas to full fill my creative drive. I realized too that I have been using my experiences and interests to fuel my work for most of my life. Doing a presentation like this is a good way to reflect and re evaluate oneself.
Oak Leaves 45″ X 30″ $ 350.00
I now have the monster job of returning all the work back into the category packs that I store them in. I feel so very thankful that I am working in so many ways to fulfill my creative ideas.
Acanthite: Foundations XXIV 18″ X 23″ $ 150.00
Progress Report: Acanthite :Foundation 24 This quilt is went together very quickly for me. This stone added some problems as some of the areas where a sold white. I wanted to be sure to use velvet and now whale corduroy on this work to show the wonderful textures they add to the surface. There were also lots of cracks on the surface that added interest to this one.
This shot also shows some of the chenille yarn( dark green) and some silk paper( blue- near the top).
Broadcasting I am enjoying doing the hand work on this piece. Most of the saxaphone pads are stitched down now and I am adding beads and french knots to the surface. I have added some reflective quilting to the surface too. This work is going along well at the moment with each actions leading to the next.
Yellowstone The ease that Broadcasting is a great contrast with my slow process on this work. I think I finally have the map portions the correct size and location. I will do the paint step for that and then I will move forward. I also realized that the piece is too pale. Yellowstone has lots of forest and I want to project that feel too so I pulled out dark green organza ( pinned to the left) and adding that will help me go forward I hope.
The Blues This work just needs time as the hand work is a slow thing. I am playing with three of different types of stitches- the chain stitch, the blanket stitch and the fly stitch. I am varying the size of the stitches to add interest.
Caramelized This is a new work that is still in the shifting and pinning stage. I melted the Tyvec that I painted in the fall colors last week, with the iron between sheets of parchment paper. The melt results are so much fun because they are uncontrollable. Mixing them with silk paper makes me think of carmel and melting butter. That is were the title came from. I am enjoying the play.
Spring is finally showing it’s self her in central New York. Three days in a row of blue sky and sun shine! Tue and I spotted this garden full of spring flowers and it made me smile every time I thought of it all day long. Hurry for the new season! This week has been so very full of stimulation I, hardly know were to start. At the FAB meeting Patti showed us two scarves she had knitted to send off to be given to runners at the end of the Boston Marathon this year. They both were so very soft that I am sure they will be welcome gifts. Victoria had been to a little workshop that Noel is giving. They are playing off the ideas of the necklaces that Mackenzie- Childs sells. The catalogue in the background was the inspiration, and Victoria really put her own spin on it I think. The when I went to the Diva meeting last evening I found that Noel was the gal who is leading this play. She is giving up her rented studio and cleaning as well as trying to create a new workshop for herself. Everyone in both groups loves the idea, myself included so she has agreed to open her space and try a variation with several more of us. I am looking forward to that play day.
The QuEG’s meeting was in morning on Tuesday and there was lots of inspiration there too. We got to meet in Sue Ellen’s studio, always an inspiration place all by its self. She ” wowed” us with six new works! Like all of us she has lots of fabric and these two pieces were created from her first dyeing experience over 15 years ago. She says she did them to try out different quilting patters on similar tops. I think she proved her point.
Then there is the wonderful on going work by Sally. She does such amazing stuff with her embrodery machine. The birds just blew me away all by them selves. Then all the unique nine patch blocks on top were just wonderful too. In addition to that she had a pack of about a dozen 6″ cards that used smaller images. Each card was different and where she used varigated gray black and white thread for this card, many of the cards used different threads for different sections. She pushed the idea further water color pencils to add more color to these small wonders. She gets sure gets miles of usage out of her machine.
Liz is playing with retro fabrics and antique blocks that are six inches on a side. The fabrics and patters sure play together well and are a delight to look at. The small size means it is not overwhelming- but it will sure take a lot of blocks to finish the piece.
Barb is working on this colorful work for her grandson. The dark blue is denim- just the wright thing for a young boy. She is just starting to quilt in the areas around the zig-zag lines- the white is chalk that will disappear when that job is done.
Then there was the Diva meeting on Tuesday evening to add further delight to the eye.
Anne is pushing forward trying unique quilting patters with the works she showed last month. I really like how the horizotal varigated thread seems to disappear in places on this work. Class projects are great places to play with new ideas and explore.
Alice had yet another new wall book to share with us. This one is called We Love the Water. The bid bird is one she hand painted on black fabric. The loon and flying Canada Goose are both from commercial fabrics. I find the way she mixes thous two ideas amazing. Most of the time putting these two things together just does not quite meet the mark- but she does it flawlessly.
Noel is working with thin strips now. All the brown units that are cut on the biases sure add to the challenge here. I like the limited values that she uses here.
She also had a second larger top in this same vain with kits in some of the diamond shapes.
Cheri finished the wonderful work she shared with two mouths ago. She has added a lot of hand work to her canvas painted quilt Fiddle Heads. I really like this work!
The last of the three Scarp Happy quilts was picked up on Friday. It went to the local Public Television Station for their spring auction. I also gave them a small wall quilt. I have done this for years as I so believe in public broadcasting.
Progress Report: Green Grow the Grasses This pale spring quilt is now complete.
Green Grow the Grasses 23″ X 32″ $260.00
It too makes me smile as I recall the joy of creating the stamped areas as well as all the free motion flower and leaf forms I put on the surface of this one.
I really feel the sewing machine has become a drawing tool for me. That has only come with years of doing the process, but I want to encourage everyone to keep doing it until it is a natural act for you too.
Smoke 23″ X 52.5″ $395.00
Smoke
This work was also completed this week. More than once I thought that I was done, and I would hang the work on the pin wall at the end of the day. Then when I would look at it with fresh eyes in the morning I would see easly what else was needed- more hand work for the most part. I had never quilted through silk before I tried this project and learned a lot doing so. I really like how the needle glides through the surface of the project.
I cut up an silk scarf that I had created years ago and was not what I would call a success. All the dark and gray areas are a part of that project. I like the result here.
Grove I am still working on the insertion process. I only have one more tree to add the branches to and then I will start the stumps and setting. I may shuffle the parts I have created too. But I make those visual decisions by looking at the subject.
New Work This is the top half of the work I was considering cutting apart last week. It was not working as it was so I cut it. The black tree is just pinned in place. I did try several other placements before I settled on this one. Again the visual decisions was made visually. I have quilted in the ditch the background sections of this work and plan to free motion in the tree with additional limbs as needed.
Daily‘s I am working away on the these little fellows. I discovered one of the black circle and units from last month in the bottom of the tin where I keep the prepared squares. So I finished it too.
One problem I often face when I paint is not knowing when to stop work on a painting. So I often go too far and add that extra tree or bit of red and then ruining a work because I am not be able to repair the problem…… I usually do not face that with my fiber work because I can pin things up and nothing is permanente until I make the final decision ans sew then down. This week I seem to be filled with lots of doubt about this completion “thing”. I can not seem to decide if I am finished with either of the two Foundations pieces that I am currently working on. So I pinned then backward to the wall and have not looked at the surface for several days. I hope when I face them with fresh eyes early next week the absence will help me make the decision about rather to go forward or stop. There is one other little quirk in my mental state as I discovered a work I had folded up last fall with a similar problem. (This blue and purple work) Now it is easy to see that the there are really two haves to this work and they do not go together. So I think I will slice then apart and try to solve each half independently of the other. After I slice them in two I will be able to work with each half to see if I can save all or any portion of the work. I may still need to rotate the sections but as seperate units I think my chances of success are much better.
Progress Report: Scarp Happy I have been working on this bed quilt for a few weeks. It is done and has gone from my life. The woman from Prevention Net Work came yesterday and picked it up for their Spring Fund Raiser. This organization works to keep teen off drugs by providing alternate activites for them to work on. My grandson worked on a play with/for this organization a few years ago. I am glad to support groups that deal with teens.
Scrap Happy I also passed this quilt to a second auction. This Scarp Happy has a diagonal block lay out. It is going to the Meals on Wheels of North Syracuse for there benefit. I was assured that it will sell well and add to their coffers. Again I am happy to support this organization.
Electric This top really went together quickly when I finally got to it this week. I am now in the process of adding the quilting. I am using the silk screen printed fabric that I made as the inspiration for that quilting. It is fun- but very slow as I have to stop so often and change the direction of the stitches at sharp angles. No stitching line thus far is longer than an inch and a half and most are under a half an inch.
It is quite a slow process.
Green Grow the Grasses I am having a good time doing the free motion drawing of the flowers on this quilt. Some of the machine drawing is just on top of the print on the fabric and some is just my own creation. I have also added some leaves to the surface to add interest and varity.
Smoke I am still working away on this piece. Every time I think I am done with it I pin it on the wall at the end of the day and then look at it first thing in the morning before I turn the lights on. That is when I can see what the quilt needs and thus far that has been more hand quilting. One cannot rush the process.
New Work Then of course when I do not know what else to do I start a new piece. Seriously, I was not done exploring the slender inserts idea and this thing popped into my head just as I awoke the on Tueseday morning. So I am off and running with a new thing.
Daily’s These little works seem to be one of the constants in my life at the moment. Thank goodness for routine.
Here we are at the first day of spring according to the calender. It is also
Striking Gold 17.25″ X 25.75″ $160.00
the time when light and dark are at equal lengths for our part of the world. I always enjoy watching the world awaken from winters grip and the surge of life as it goes into high. I will be watching for little shoots of green this week and hoping there is no more deep cold to cut off the new growth.
Progress Report :Striking Gold I am done with this piece. I am excited as this time I have tried a combination of hand work and lots of free motion along with the direct applique technique of the foundations series without the buckram. I used one solid piece of fabric ( the gold printed material) for the base with two layers of felt behind it instead of batting and then used the same techniques. I was not sure that I could do all the free motions work with out the strong base of the buckram for this process. But it worked. I used nylon netting and ground cloth on the surface as well as bits of fabric . I did some bobbin work on this piece too( the zig zag across the painted ground cloth shown here). I tried several types of hand stitching on this piece too. French knots, stippel stitches and some X’s to hold down some of the yarn that was applied to the surface. I feel like I have expanded my choices when it comes to adding textures to the surface of my work and that is one of my main goals.
Green Grow the Grasses It was fun to work on this pale quilt this week. The soft colors seems so in tuned with my spring cold. I have done some of the free motion work in the green grass sections and a few of the little flowers. I am not sure how I will quilt the rest of the project.
Smoke I am doing hand quilting on this project. I decided to follow the black and gray painted lines on the silk fabrics as my inspirations for those stitching lines. I think it will need some machine work as well – but I will not really know the answer to that before I finish the hand work.
New Work As always I am thinking a head so I pulled out a new batch of fabrics for possible use with my next top. I am sure I will not use all of these on this work as I plan to work small- but it is always easier to eliminate than to not have enough.
Daily’s The Daily’s just keep coming. I have only four more blocks with the black circle and two red rectangles to complete. Then I will need to dream up a new layout challenge for myself. Look for that next week.
It is thawing here and the sound of dripping water from melting snow has been going on all day. The street is running water and directing it toward the storm drains. I find it is cheering as though Spring may in fact come. The fact that I herd song birds this morning helps with that feeling too. I have worked in the studio a lot this week.
Blooming Bacteria 24″ X 38″ $320.00
Progress Report : BloomingBacteria This quilt is based on an image from an electron miscrope of bacteria- that is were the name came from. It has taken me a long time to complete as I had to make each one of the black button whole circles by hand with a small crochet hook. I know I started it last fall when I was taking my grand son to Physical Therapy. I then stitched the units down to the surface. The free motion work in the red is called pebble quilting and it really unified the quilt. I did reflecting quilting around the outside of the circles. This quilt also has a background that is curved pieced . The red is a hand dyed piece that I received from a fellow quilter. It was only a fat quarter and I used every bit of it that I could in this work.
Foundations IX Spring Moss 19.5 ” X 26 “ $ 180.00
Foundations IX Spring Moss This work in the foundations series, was influenced by that spring desire I felt last week too. It is also loosely based on a shot I took of some Granite a few years ago. Like most of the works I have been doing in this series there are lots of raw edges and a tron fabrics here. The dark green is Dupni Silk. It frays so much that I saved all the threads and applied them to the surface as well. I continue to use the silk paper I created last fall. I am looking forward to warm weather when I can go out doors and create more- it is too messy do inside in my dry studio. I used lots of different colored thread when I was doing the free motion work on this work. Some apple green, yellow green, yellow and pink to get the effect I wanted for this piece.
Foundations X When I could see that I would soon finish with Foundations IX- I started thinking about the next one in this series. I was trying to make the top section of this work lighter than the bottom, but still have shadows near the top. I am not happy with the solid unit on the bottom right- but I have enough to begin work. I want to bring in more of the rusty coloring into this work.
Foundations XI I pinned up this new top this morning. I have been experimenting with long stitches in yarn on nylon netting. I was trying to create another texture that I could use in my work. The four pieces are on the surface and may or may not stay as I go along. This is a pure experiment, but then not knowing how something will work out never stopped me before. I will keep you posted.
Scrap Happy I am working on the scarp box and I decided to start a quilt using what I have. This is a good thing too as this morning I had a call from our local public TV station and they want a quilt for their auction. This shot shows the red and earth toned centered blocks as they look when they are assembeled.
Daily’s I am reaching the end of this style of block. There are only three left that have the half red circle and two lines. So next week there will be a new layout.
Welcome to all the new followers that have signed up this week. 32 new folks were added to the subscription list and I am quite flattered.
This is a shot of the Turquoise Street Studio wall with work by Beth Houston Barholdt and Barbara Vural. They are having an open studio this eve as a part of Third Thursday. I was asked to join them and I have work for sale as well. I know I should have posted this bit of news last week- but I did not think of it. I will try to keep my eye on that ball in the furture. So as that bit of news suggests I have been busy getting ready for that event. Tagging, matting and framing of little works really take a lot longer than their size suggests.
On Tuesday, I went along with the other gals who are part of FAB- our mini group, to see the Quilts= Art= Quits at the Schweinfurth Art Center. We spent two hours looking and talking about the work shown there. It is always so inspiring. Then on the way home we stopped at Patchwork Plus and did a little shopping. Nancy and Victoria both purchased material, while Patti and I purchased other things. We had a good full day and I went home with my mind spinning in many directions.
I started working on Christmas Cards this week too. I stitched down green silk scraps from the Oak Leaves project on top of green triangles. Then I added a star and squeezie paint balls to the trees. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Oak Leaves 45″ X 30″ $ 350.00
Progress Report: Oak Leaves This quilt is complete now. I had shown it to the gals in FAB at the last meeting and they suggested that I add something to the bottom left hand side. This work hung on the design wall all week and finally yesterday morning it hit me that what it needed was a little bit of suggested green leaf fromation from another branch. So I added it. I really like how the silk leaves are fraying with time on this piece. That added texture plus the wonderful shadows created by the overlapping leaves, especially were they cross the frapped branches, are enjoyable to me. I have never used silk in this fashion before and think there is more exploration for me in that direction. I do not have any more silk at the moment so it will have to stay at the dream/ imagination stage for now.
On the Raod To Dry Falls 29″ X 39.5″ $290.00
On The Road to Dry Falls This is the lost top that I mentioned last week. I had started it at QBL. I used some very old material here- the yellow, orange and white in the center and left sections- and some more recently altered stuff. The cream and green at the top on the right and lower left is from the discharged play day I did with Marty last spring. I also used some of the silk paper on this work. I am enjoying the process of free motion attachment of yarn( the white lines) as well as the sewing/quilting lines for texture. I am getting better at stretching the silk out to create more of a web like effect too.
This quilt also has some hand painted fabric in it. Well that many not exactly be hand painted as this light sections is really a wipe up cloth- but I do not know how else to describe it. Nothing is trash to me I guess.
Daily’sThe Daily’s continue to be joy for me. This week’s collection seems to be a mixture of crazy and control…. I am not even going to guess what that says about my mind. There are only a few more prepared blocks using the black circles and red squares….. So there will be a change in something by next week.
The weather is still somewhat mild here. I find because I am working on the quilt with the oak leaves on it I am looking more at other oak trees too. This one is in the Oak Wood Cemetery were I walk some days. I Have noticed how different trees have differnt colorations. This old one is a deep red. The one along the drive is primary yellow- but that is only at the bottom, now as the top has turned brown. I have also observed that there are many different shapes to the leaves. I know that has to do with species differences. Some leaves are very sharply pointed like the one in my yard and some are all curves ends. I picked up one in the parking lot in Ithaca yesterday and not only were the ends of the leaves very curved the leaf had a really deep dip, almost to the spine, after the first vain from the base of the leaf. Mother Nature loves variation on a theme. I may have to get a tree book and do some serious study.
This week was the first full week of November and so I had my group meetings on Tue. Both were very exciting. The QUEGs group had severl members who had be to the big quilt show in Houston and they had lots of wonderful pictures and gadets to share. The Diva’s were inspirational too. Everyone seems to be so energized with lots to share. Ruth is working on a project using African simbiles as the bases for the block. This one sure is bold. She had also created a wonderful study using her style of expertly mixing batikand hand dyed fabrics. Cindy shared her amazing prints. She did them with the big Gelly Plate. She is now going back into the work and adding machine stitching in top. They are the faint red lines crossing the yellow in this photo. The work is very elegant. Donna was kind enough to bring her Alchemist Mask. I love masks and this one is a great one. She built it over the old store mannequin she has in her studio. The face is nobel. I like the life size doll eyes she put in the face too. They add so much in the way of focus. Alice is working on a Human Angles series and this is one of them. I am showing this image because she has a unique style of working were she paints the image she wants on the back of her cloth. Then she turn it over and lays a piece of black fabric on top. With the two layers together she flips the work to the back and sews around the image she has painted. So this picture is from the back. She then trims the black off the front along her seam lines and her images are outlined in black- her signature style. It is very cool I think.
This work with four figures is by Cheri. I especially like the unfinished edge she used here. They are a wonderful and inspiring group of gals who seem to be all working away in their own direction.
Progress Report: Blue Yonder This quilt is ready for quilting now. I have done my “stitch in the ditch” step after basting. Doing that makes the work stable for all the crazy directions I always seem to want to go. I have not decided what that free motion quilting will be yet.
Oak Leaves This is a close up of the project. I am having lots of fun making more and more leaves. I just love how the unattached body of the leaves casts such wonderful shadows on the quilt. They also flutter a bit when there is a breeze, like when I come in the studio door. There is a lot of texture here and I love that.
Daily’s The Daily’s are coming along. I now have a full cigar box of the little fellows and they are starting to look really impressive when on puts them all out. I still have ideas of layouts for the parts and shape and color changes I want to try- so I will keep the practice up. I also added a silly rule- no new purchases for this project. I am almost out of red embroidery thread so I will have to switch to crochet thread- I have several huge balls of that. I am sure that will change the character of the stitches. But that is part of the experiment.
I have spent a lot of time this week preparing for Halloween and all the joys there of. This first shot is of my grandson in his black crushed velvet cape that has a red lining of the same material. Very dramatic to my eye and worm as well. I did a second costume for the 10 year old grandson too, but as I have not seen him dressed in it, so I do not have a photo to share. Let’s just say it is a very elaborate pirate costume, from a video game. All the fun of seeing how kids portray themselves will come this eve and I do so enjoy them when they appear at my door. It is good to try on different persona every now and then.
Because I spent so much time creating costumes I did not get a lot of quilt work done this week. Progress Report: Rounds
I am working on the quilting step of this work now. I decided to emphasize the stamped circles and quilted around them all first. I also filled in the rest of a circle if it was cut off in the stripping process. Now the quilting is reflective of those first actions. All the curves means I am moving very slowly because there is so much turning of the whole quilt as I stitch along. I like the rail drops on a pool like images I am creating using this technique.
Oak Leaves This work got some attention this week too. I made a bunch more leaves and trimed them out for application to the surface. The leaves are made of various shades of green Dupioni silk that is backed with green cotton. I draw the vanes out in thread and then free hand cut the leave shapes, all the time referring to the actual leaves that I picked up last week. I will pin them on the quilt and hand stitch them down this week. I seem to have lots more hand work than usual at the moment, but I enjoy that too.
Blue Yonder
This work is fully assembled now. I enjoyed the process and it did seem to change under my fingers as I worked on it. I have created a back and will do the assemble process soon. I am trying to clear things up from the pin wall so I can start on a new series of rock pieces.
Daily’s
The Daily’s changed this week. I did black circles and red rectangles this time. I also watched a video on embroidery stitches on Wed and have a whole head full of stitches to try. It is fun and a challenge- that is what I wanted so I feel very good about the process.
I hope you enjoy all the fun little visitors this evening.
As this picture tells the color is still high here. I just keep enjoying it as I know a hard fall rain will rip the leaves away from the trees and expose the branches. I know that the world around me will open to much wider vistas whtn that happens, but I will miss the color.
I have put most of my efforts this week into the production of a Halloween costume for my grandson. It is some pirate character from a video game. There is not any commerical pattern of course. It has lots of layers-four- and lots of strage bits of leather harnesses and straps plus brass studs and rings. I even got to make some skull embellishments out of paper clay yesterday to make it more complete. I will let them dry one more day before I paint them and add that the surface. I guess he knows I am always up for a challenge. Progress Report: Oak Leaves It is hard for me to believe I started this in July at QBL. But with all the time I have spent of late looking at leaves it sure seems approiate. I have stitched down all the leaves I created last summer to the branch. I feel it looks a bit skimpy now so I will make more as I still have the bonded silk that I made the first ones from. On my walk today, I picked up four new leaves to use at patterns for the new creations. I felt a little sad as there were so many beautiful colored leaves and the oak ones are just brown. I still do love the shapes of them though. It also added a lot more quilting this week to this quilt.
Blue Horizons I started this work a few weeks ago. I spent a little time assembling this top on Sunday. It is coming along and I will soon have it completed.
Daily’s I am dutifully working away on my Daily’s. I did the fusing step on a new batch this week and tried a little twist. One of the new blocks is unique in the shapes. I hope that viewers can spot it. All the ones for the next few weeks will feature this change. I am having fun and that is the goal.
Hello,
reflected in a rain created pool is also a part of this unique season. If I ever had any doubts about how the weather effects my work a look at the colors of the stuff I am working on this week will sure confirm the fact that I am still feeling the influences of fall.
My only out side activity this week was an afternoon when I sat in the gallery at the Schweinfurth to answer folks questions. It was pleasant to talk with students and quilters and I did a lot of hand work. More little faces for Creative Assistants.
I am now done with the assembly of this work. This is the last photo of it as a total unit as I plan to cut it in half and make a diptych out of it. That was the plan form the start and building it as one big unit first makes for unity I think. I will slash it and stretch it before next week I hope.
This is a close up of this work as I am almost done with the building. I even got the silk leaves on the piece this time. I am adding the facings now so it will be done by next week. I have a little bit of bobbling in two areas so I will need to go back in and quilt a bit more to flatten it. I can always draw more leaves with my machine.
Turning Autumn This quilt is ready for the quilting step now too. I am doing stitch in the ditch at the moment to stabilize it for now and then I will begin to do the machine drawing step. I will do some sketch book work before I begin that however.
Williams Quilt This is a shot of the back of this work. I only need to add to the sides about 10 inches as it is a bit narrow . Then I can begin to assemble the parts. It sure is bright and colorful for the grand child who will receive this gift.
Coastal Color This series of three works is based on a photo of the Atlantic coast. On one cliff the color of the rock went from green moss covered section to red rocks at the top. 
I tried to capture that feel with these three starts. My main machine had to go for a quick cleaning – I can not believe I have had it a year already. So I pulled the Felter out for a little play in a different mode. 
They are starting places for machine and hand work now .
Label Block 32 I just do the work.
Oak Leaves This is a close up of the project. I am having lots of fun making more and more leaves. I just love how the unattached body of the leaves casts such wonderful shadows on the quilt. They also flutter a bit when there is a breeze, like when I come in the studio door. There is a lot of texture here and I love that. 
