Category Archives: Trees

Hand work, Landscapes, Lap Quilts, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Trees

Moving Along

Leave a comment

Hello,
I am feeling like I have my feet back on the ground now. I do get so much from QBL and it so exhausting too.
My big adventure for this week was a little trip to Homer to see the Rock Garden show at the Art Center and spend the day with Cheri. She had lots of great work on the wall. Exploring faces is her goal of late. I really like this work of her friend Liz. I think it looks like her too.

Terry also had a great piece in this show. We enjoyed our time to just talk as well.

Progress Report: Lap 19/26 I am still trying to use the extra edge pieces that I have created for other lap quilts. I think there are two more quilts in this style in the box. I only need to sew down the binding on this work now.

Lost Liberties I stitch down the flame and the broken tablet this week. I am working on the tree lines now. I hope to complete this project this week too.

Tree Blocks – Joshua Tree I finished up this work while I was in the Pixie Zoom meeting this week. I am getting close to the end of the blocks for this project. I think I will need to add a bit to the earlier blocks as I seem to have gotten a bit more elaborate over time.

Sorrel Cactus I started right away on the next block when the previous one was finished. I do so enjoy hand work.

Cross Lake I stared this at QBL in Valerie’s class. I am almost finished with this project. It needs a label and a bit on the binding.

Wildfire The wildfires are haunting me as we seem to have smoky skies almost daily here. Not having any more Judy Robert fabrics to use as my starting point I created one of my own yesterday. The colors are not as rich, but the challenge is to make it work.

Keep Creating
Carol

QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Shows, Trees

This year’s QBL

Leave a comment

Hello,
I got home from the two weeks of Quilting by the Lake last Friday. It was a good time as usual. It is aways so much fun to reconnect with old friends. I think I made a few new connections too. I had class With Luke Haynes week one. He dose fun work and a self portrait every year. He helped us all through exploring doing self portraits. I still need to do the stitching down and make a quilt out of mine. I was surprised at how much it looked like me in the end. We then went forward to do a second one. I am still struggling with that one. Some how I got the glasses out of alinement and that messed p the whole face.

My friend Thresa was in the class and this is her self portrait. I think it is great!

So too was Ellen. i love her background choice. We had a good time and all learned a lot I think.

Week one we auctioned off the quilt that I helped cut parts for last two years ago. Last year at QBL Kathy pass out bags of parts to folks and they assembeled them and returned the finished blocks. The money raised goes for scholarships and the quilt raised $350. Kathy put them together and quilting them over the winter. This year she is just asking for 6.5″ squares from folks. I am sure she will get some wild work.

Week two was Transparencies with Valerie Goodwin. This class was small with only 10 of us, but it was great too. This first transparency is Victoria’s work. She is having fun playing with her rooster image.

I did these two works. The Black and White is made from pieces Valerie provided for our use. The landscape of the lake is all my own creation. I had pre-sent her the water lilies and just tried to build a home for them. I would do it a bit differently if I could re do it. The flowers are too harsh.
I am still playing catch up with myself, but I am feeling like I an getting my feet on the ground. It is alwasy so very stimulating and I come home full of new ideas and things to think about.

On Monday I hung my Solo show at Piet Library in Syracuse. The set up there dose not work well for quilts so I used only my beaded work as it is mostly stretched on foam core or stretcher bars.
This show will be up until August 28.

My other excitement this week was meeting with Lawyer Emily Larson-Hatch to get approval to move forward on a wall piece for her office. This is the drawing. Now I need to purchase the fabric to do the job.

Progress Report: Lady Liberty I am moving forward on this project now and feeling good about it. This is my work on the torch.

Tree Blocks: Palm Tree – Joshua Tree I finished the Palm tree block before I went off to QBL. Then I tried to work on the Joshua Tree while I was there. But I was usually too tired to put in the time in the evening. It is moving along nicely now.

This entree is so late because I was having trouble with the computer. It seems access to my email, where I collect the images, was unaccusable yesterday.
Keep Creating
Carol

.

Lap Quilts, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Trees

Movening Forward

Hello,
Summer is a busy time! This week I spent three days preparing for a big house party here and then another day doing clean up.
We have been in this house for 50 years and so we celebrated. Needless to say that except for doing a lot of studio clean and organizing, I did not do much this week. I did pull materials for QBL that starts on Sunday.

Progress Report: Broken Blocks- Sisterhood of the Scissors Challenge 2025-2026 This work is 50″ X 58″. I enjoyed working on this after I got going. It is a different pallet for me and I liked that.

Lap 18-26 This top is all done now and I have even pin basted it. I will not get back to it for a while as QBL will take all my time.

Palm Tree Block As you can see I only worked a few min. on this project. I am off to Marcia’s Makers tomorrow and I intend to spend the day at this then.

Enjoy your next two weeks as I am sure I will too.

Keep Creating,
Carol

Hand work, Lap Quilts, Trees

Summer

Hi,
Summer is in full swing and everyone is very busy. I had a stomach virus for three days last week and so I stay home and did not get much done. I missed most of the 4th of July events. I only watch fireworks on the television. Being ill sure makes on appreciate their good heath!
We are putting lots of effort into preparation for out annual July Birthday event on Sunday. We are mixing it with a celebration of living in this house for 50 years. Today, we will put up the assembled cabinets in the laundry room. Tomorrow the yard clean and organize will be our goal. Sat will be food prep and finish up. It will be fun to see everyone.
Progress Report: Lap 18-19 I did set at the machine a bit yesterday and added to this piece. It may not be finished before I go off to QBL, but I am Okay with that.

Broken Blocks I have pressed the back in preparation for layering and assembly. Again, this may on may not get attention as the yard and so many other little things are demanding attention.


Tree Block- Palm Tree I seem to find more time to do handwork as that is a sit down activity I can do in the evenings.
I am off to hold up cabinets while Eric connects them to the walls.
Keep Creating
Carol

Drawing, Felt Work, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Trees

Adirondack Trip

Hello,
Last weekend I went up to Marcia’s camp on Chase Lake in the Adirondacks. I enjoyed the dock and did my morning pages there every day. We had three wonderful days of good weather and good times. On Friday we went out and did a bit of shopping.

One of our stops was a basket makes and we all purchased great baskets from her. We visited two jewelers and the others spent there as well. Our last stop of the day was the sweet shop for ice cream.

Then on Saturday we took a dirt road north to Old Forge and went to The View to see the displays. We were not at all disappointed there either. The Members show included this awe-inspiring felt work. There were several other felted projects to and I am sure I will do some work in a similar direction. There was also a wonderful tryptic by our friend Divina Roddie. So good to finally see one in real life.
There was also a solo show that was inspiring. Then Victoria and I took a long walk on Sunday morning before we started home. The whole time was relaxing and very pleasant.


Progress Report: Lost Libertys I was away so much this week that I did not make a lot of progress, but the flag as a binder is all sewed down now.

Tree Block This was the only project that I took on the trip so I finished it. I intended to make a cherry tree- but the French knots looked more like apples so that is what it became. Sometimes the materials have a mind of their own.


Color Challenges – Green This was the color word for this week and I just started doodling in the sketch book for this one.

Broken Block backing I used leftovers from the front for this backing. The starter fabric is the Sisterhood Retreat Challenge fabric. None of it is visible here. It was a challenge for me as I usually don’t use this pallet of gray and pale rose. It pushed me to look at my stash of neutrals and so I pulled some out for the next lap quilt.

‘


Lap 18/26 AS you can see I have done very little on this project so far- but I think it will go together quickly.

I have to add this shot of a power line full of sneakers that we passed under on our travels over the weekend. It was/is very impressive as it stretched across the highway! I can’t imagine how many hours and dollars it represents.

Enjoy the 4th, stay cool, and be creative.
Carol

Hand work, Lap Quilts, SAQA, Trees, Uncategorized

Moving Forward

Hello,
It has been a quiet week with family and yardwork being where most of my energy went this time. I am also pulling materials for a three day silk screen workshop that starts tomorrow.
Progress Report: Lap 16/26 This work is nearly complete. I have a little quilting and the binding to do and it will be done. Nice bright colors for the gloomy day I started it.

Night Tree I am enjoying working on this block. Making lots of fly stitches for the branches here. I hope to get so inspiration for the next tree block soon.

New Block I drew out this block a few months ago and then put it aside. I came across it again this week and blew it up and did the drafting of the templates. I like the block parts- but this sample block has too many different pieces and graphics to be effective for me. I will try something else with this one later.

Shoreline Wash Up I keep working away on this project. It is starting to feel like it is moving in the direction I want. I am still not thrilled with it so I glad that I will have my mind in a different place during the workshop this weekend- I hope that brings me back to this project with fresh eyes and I can see where I want to go with it.

Fungus There is my play with the SAQA Fungus Challenge, I am fooling around with caroche around the plastic units that hold soda bottles to create some interesting high relief forms for that purpose. It is a pure experiment and it seems to have a life of it’s own. But I enjoy it.

Liberty Loss I’m moving forward slowly on this project. added the purple mountains and trees this week. The fields of grain are pinned in place Too. The city will complete the background I think.

Enjoy the season,
Carol

Hand work, Lap Quilts, Shows, Trees

Noticing Nature

Hello,
Nature is really all around me of late. This family of Canada Geese crossed our path as we walked yesterday. Then this morning we saw a skunk in the back yard and an open blue Robin’s egg on our walk. I love the great things that appear in Spring.

I went to the Art Rage gallery on Thur even and enjoyed the show on Plastic in Our World show. This use of detergent bottles was my favorite.

Last Friday Cheri and I went to the Genesee Valley Quilt Show in Rochester. FLFA was well represented. These two works are by Bev.

Jean won two first place ribbons for her work. This piece looked really great and the washboard musician from last fall was the other pieced. My Plastic Silverware was part of the NY/ NJ SAQA show too. We had a great time and saw some old friends on this trip.

Progress Report: Lap 14/26 I need to finish the quilting and add the binding on this work. I will do that today so I am showing it for the last time today. I will make another run to the nursing home on Tue and it will be gone.


Lap 16/26 I pulled all these bright colors for the next lap on a very gran and gloomy day this week. They cheered me up.

Night Tree I appliqued the moon on this next tree block. I will stitch the tree in this week.

Liberty’s Loss I am struggling with how I want to do the background for this piece. I seem to be a bit overrun with ideas. I may just have to do them and make the decision visually. Sometimes that is the only way to go forward.


Doll Pins I played with applique by adding scraps to water color paper and doing free motion stitching on top to distract myself from the Liberty project and made some more bodies for the pin project. Sometimes distractions helps.

Blue I need to do this handwork at my desk because of all the beads and such so it does not get attention on a daily basis, but I am making progress on it.

I am enjoying spring and I hope you can say the same.
Keep Creating
Carol

Applique, Hand work, History, Lap Quilts, Trees, Uncategorized

New York City Trip

Hello,
I hope you are enjoying spring. I am now home from a three day trip to NMYC with my daughter. First stop was the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It was inspiring, haunting and informative. Some parts were beautiful and others brought me to tears. They have done a great job with the whole thing including information about the other two sights. The two exterior pools representing the buildings were beautiful as well.

From there we walked to our hotel in Chinatown and checked in so we could drop off our back packs as we had packed light. Then off to the National Tenement Museum. There we took one of the five different tours they offer about the early livers of immigrants in this country. Ours was about a 15 year old girl’s immigration from the Irish Potato Famine and her life here. The tour was in an actual old Tennent building- three rooms 250 square feet, fifth floor without running water. That was only in the well on the ground as well as the out houses for all the building. That space was shared by as many as ten people. It was fascinating and when the guild told us there were 62 layers of wallpaper on the walls- I was amazed.

We did a lot more locations on Thur. Started out at Castle Clinton- the first fort that was built in NYC during the revolutionary war.

Next stop was at the Museum of the American Indian. Again good history lessons and beautiful examples of tribal clothing, pottery, basketry and living implements.

There was also a wonderful exhibit of modern native American art glass makers.

We moved from there to the National Monument of the Negro Cemetery. This sculpture is made from a study of three skulls that were exhumed and then reburied. We got another history lesson. We then walked back to Chinatown and visited an old Jewish Synagogue- that is now a museum. The same area had one been populated mostly by Jews when they first migrated to the US. It too was full of history and beautifully done.

After dinner we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Lots of people were there and lots of vendors selling tee shirts and other travel trinkets.

Friday we donned our backpacks and walked to the subway where we rode up to 153 street. We got off there and walked to the Hudson River. First stop was Hamilton’s Grange, another Natural Monument. We watched a great movie about his life. We did not tour the house as it did not open for tours until noon. Wendy is on a quest to visit all the National Parks and Monuments- there are 433.

So we then walked along Riverside Dr south 20 blocks to Grant’s Tomb. The visitors center there had a great film and was full of info too. I’ve filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge on this trip! We walked from there back to another subway stop and rode down to 42 street and did Time Square. It’s a real visual overload and very crowded event in the afternoon.

Went to the Port Authority and caught the bus to come home. We walked over 19 miles over the course of our three days and I’m still a little tired.
I am slipping back into my home life feeling glad and thankful for it.

Progress Report: Confused This work is 43″ X 52 “. I enjoyed working with the metallics on this project.

Crow Calls I started this at the retreat and only got back to it this week. It is 20″w X 16″ t. I tried a new mounting technique were it is taped to the stretched canvas. I feel a bit like it is cheating, but I will reserve juidgement until I see how it holds up over time.

Lap 12 I seem to be really rolling along with these lap works of late.

Lap 13 For this lap quilt I used only leftover strips from old lap projects. I have lots more and will do this again as they are fast projects.

Lap 14 For this work I used some of the hand printed fabrics form my dye class at QBL three years ago.

Lap 15 Here is the next lap project. I used some old wipe up fabrics from print projects for this one. I now have seven completed so I will be making a trip to a nursing home soon to deliver these.

Cheery Tree Block I finished this before the trip.

Stenciled trees Block This project was my started to get back into being home.

New Project I can’t seem to go to long without a hand project. I sure love playing with texture.
Hope you are creating with joy.
Carol

Applique, Birds, Drawing, Experiments, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Paper Dolls, Raw Edge Applique, Trees

Spring Openings

Hello,
Spring is a magical time as every day brings changes in the plants around us. Each time we walk we can see differences in our the world. The opening leaves on the trees keep filling in the long views and offering beautiful delicate leaves for one to view instead. I love this time of year.
It has been a quiet week with a few Zoom meetings and a FAB luncheon.

Progress Report: Confused This work is going well. I have appliqued down all the parts and the quilting is done too. I am working away on the binding and will finish it soon.

Lap 11/26 In my usual fashion I moved directly into the next lap quilt as soon as number 10 was done.

Unicorn I have appliqued down the silk head for this project. I added color with markers and colored pencils. I hope Alexis will be pleased with the results.

Jean’s Challenge This is the forth and final piece for challenges. It is not due until September, but I felt inspired to work on it. I may add more as the deadline gets closer.

Crows This is the second bird work I planned to work on at the Spring Retreat. I used a mix of the raw edge applique and some seaming on this background. It is almost ready for the applique of the birds. I feel I may play a little more with this style and make my own. On to the birds next.

Doll Pins I continue to assemble these little gals. I have put together 104 at this point. I still have lots of bodies to add to so I will go forward. I am shooting for about 225 for QBL with some to spare.

Walnut Shell Drawing The squirrels have been busy eating up their winter supplies and dropping the shells in my path. I came home with a pocket full earlies this week and so I did a little sketch work.

I will be off in New York City with my Daughter next week so there will be no post. See you again May 14.
I hope the spring brings you delight.

Keep Creating,
Carol

Applique, Experiments, Lap Quilts, Trees

Warmer Weather

Hello,
It has been a joyous week. A the days grow longer and warmer the local pants are responding with more green and flowers.
Over the weekend I attended teh Schweinfurth’s spring retreat. It was a small gathering this time with only 6 of us in the dry studio and two working in the wet studio. We did have fun and got a lot of work done.

Sharon worked on a three unit landscape.

Susan did a lot of handwork and displayed her response to the Sisiterhood challenge.

Victoria played with lots of projects and this work with tea bags is one of them.

The made in New York show was up in the main gallery. Julia had this work in that show.

I was specially taken by this work with all the great detail and machine work.

Progress Report: Confused This is one of the projects that I worked on at the retreat. I am doing the applique work now.


Sea Gulls This work is 20″ X 16″ and stretched . I tried a new way of building the image for this project. It was very freeing to stitch down the background with fancy stitches and then add teh birds on top.

Lap 10/26

Cherry Blossom Tree Block I did not do much work on this projects this week because I was away from home so much.

Doll Pins I just put in time when I can on this on going project.


Alexis Project I asked my granddaughter what she would like for a new wall hanging. She said a “Unicorn”. So I have a base and I am ready to start building the head now.

I hope the spring is filling you with joy.
Keep Creating
Carol

I seem to having a technical problem with the first image. So sorry . Now that Patty had moved away I do not have teh help I once did.