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Busy Summer

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Hello,
Summer is officially here and I am off and running. We saw this beautiful Heroin in the pond we pass on our morning walk. He is inspirational when one considers that the city is on all sides and it was mid morning when the picture was taken.
I have been busy since I last posted. I went to Marcia’s and worked along with friends on my stitching project. Then Last Thru I went with Victoria, Susan, Zaza and a bus load of other quilters to the Vermont Quilt Festival. There were lots of quilt displays and wonderful lectures. This is a shot from the Modern Quilt Guild of Vermont. There was also a wonderful collection of antique quilts that focused on Cheddar orange. Linda S had a quilt in the SAQA display along with lots of other wonderful works.

I especially enjoyed this little study. My love of birds on power lines mixed with crows really got to me. I attended lectures both days we were there and enjoyed them a lot.

Susan, Victoria and I all purchased some clothing too. Victoria got a cute summer dress and I got a light quilted blue jacket. We all had a good time.

Then on Saturday we had a FLFA meeting. It is always exciting to catch up with all the doings of that diverse group. Jean M showed off some of the pieces she dyed in Pat’s dye class from a few weeks before. She did very well epically considering it was her first time dyeing.

Maureen continues to add to her handwork piece. She declares that she feels it is complete now.

Susan had finished stitching down the letters for “Black Lives Matter”. She wants to add so I am sure it will be back here in the future.

Linda had finally finished her Holding Hands quilt. The double image is great and her thread work is amazing here. Her work is always so very concise and she really works to make the thread do her bidding.

Anne has added more to her top. I really like the hand rows and her change in scale really makes the work exciting I think.

Victoria surprised me with this great top. The colors and patterns are so delightful and enjoyable.

Bev built this great piece. The tree is high relief and made with burlap. Her work is out of the ordinary. It is a good group and I always come away inspired.

Progress Report: Shoreline Wash Up This work is 18″ X 24″. I have enjoyed working on all the create4d textures here. The blue veggie bags are a gift from Marcia. I am building this for my solo show in Aug.


Liberty Loss This is part of my entry for the Justice for All show next year. I have been struggling with how to express my concerns about how things are going.

Weeping Willow Tree Block I enjoyed working on this block. I think I only need eight more to finish this step.

Sisterhood of the Scissors Retreat Challenge: Broken Blocks Now I am only posting shots of the pieces I am using to build the back of this quilt as it is suppose to be revealed at the retreat in Sept. The front uses the same fabrics built as broken blocks. They are all assembled into rows to be stitched down on the batting and backing when it is done.

Color Challenge for the Pixie Group- Lavender and Yellow The pixies are doing a color challenge every week. Susan selected Lavender for the first week. I decoded to take this challenge as a color drawing instead of a fabric piece.

Robert selected yellow last week and I selected a Dandelion as my drawing subject.
Have a good week
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

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

Experiments, Hand work, QBL- Quilting By the Lake, Uncategorized

Return form Quilting By the Lake

Hello,

Summer is rushing forward and I am feeling a bit behind.   The two weeks of  Quilting by the Lake was  a wonderful  time and I am still coming down from that.    Week one I had independent studio with a dozen other gals.

I worked on two projects that I will cover later.   I did spend time every morning doing  a block for the raffle quilt that will be a part of QBL next year  as  a fund  raiser  for  a Donna  Lamb Scholarship  to  attend.

And then I did a few extras for Liz as she could not attend.    This sample is one from the fabrics that Nancy and I cut with Kathy earlier this spring.   The fabric all came from the Sally Davis donated fabrics collection.

 

 

There were lots of old friend in the first class.   This is one of two Christmas tree skirts that Barbra A was working on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda L did this little quilt as a gift for her nephew’s  new baby.   Among other works.

 

 

 

 

Jeanette  created this memory quilt as a why to help work through her grief.

 

 

 

I had friends in other classes doing other things.   Susan was in Paula Kavairk’s  class.   This is her project.  I had given her old work to share with the class for cut up and she used one of my pieces here.

 

 

 

 

 

Another friend, Diane was also in this class and this frog is her work.  I love this little sculpture.

 

 

 

 

Show and tell at the end of session one was enjoyable.   This is Emely showing off her pieces form Sheila’s class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jea was in a dye class and this is one of her works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessie was also in the dye class and this is her work.

 

 

 

 

This class produced a lot of variety and Lori’s work is more prof of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The teachers did auction off their aprons with Linda acting as auctioneer.

 

 

 

 

Week two I was in Sheila Framton-Cooper class.      This is her work and she taught me a great way to do curves so they really lye flat.

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of friends in this class too.      Lisa was setting next to me  and she really powered forward with her piece.  I do not have a shot of the finished piece, but believe me it was powerful!

 

 

 

 

A new aqueous, Phuong was on my other side.  She came with a very clear vision of what she wanted to do as well.   It was fun to watch this piece change and grow over the week.

 

 

 

Sue Ellen  was a real power house and did three pieces  during the week.   This is a shot of the last one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debbie did this wonderful work.   The colors  and fabrics  are all from the Cherry Wood Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newbie Jane really plunged into QBL and took two weeks.  This  is her work for week two.

 

 

 

Peggy did a great little job after lots of struggle.

 

 

 

 

 

Another new gal I enjoyed was  Ashley.   I liked her colors.  She was by the door so I talked with her every time I came in and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annette did a a clean little work as well in this class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bree did a huge pieces and really hassled at the end to pull it together  so she could take it home as one unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Show and Tell for the end of session two allowed  us to see what folks did in other classes.   This is Emely again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan had fun in Studio  and did this work.

 

 

 

 

 

Victoria also arranged a little Retirement party for Susan at QBL.    She is a full time artist now.

 

 

 

 

 

Progress Report: Lap #17   I started this pieces before QBL and now I have done most of the stitch in the ditch work.  I used fabric I printed in Pat Pauly’s class as my starting point for this work.

 

 

Lap # 18   This too is also a pre QBL project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoreline    This projects is one going.  I am making progress even though it is slow.

 

 

 

Sisters   This too is a pre QBL project.    I did work on the body of the dark haired gal before I went away.

 

 

 

Canadian Wildfires  This is the first project I worked on in Independent Studio .     I am pleased with how if it developing.

 

 

 

Spring Sparrows   This is the second project that I worked on week one.   I cut the five  full  stencils of the birds.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I cut new stencils for each of the  four colors of  each bird.      It was difficult to line them all up .

 

 

 

 

 

Blue  This was my first project in Sheila’s class.   This is were I really learned about the insertion of the curves.

 

 

Under Grand   This is my second project from Sheila’s class.     It is based on the Grand Piano in the class room.      It was a good growth project for me.

 

 

 

 

There were many other friends and  buddies a QBL, but I did not capture images of many of them.  I had  a great time as always   and I came home happily exhausted with a mind full of new ideas and directions.   I am still playing catch up and will continue to think and develop ideas got there.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

Experiments, Felt Work, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Re Work, SAQA, Uncategorized

Canada Trip

Hello,

  I am posting today because I will be off to Mill Sight Lake tomorrow.

The trip to Quilt Canada was wonderful.  There were so many inspirating works I hardly know where to start .  I am glad we had two days to absorb all the pieces.

 

 

This three part work won best of show.    It sure is a subject that is close to my heart.

There was lots of work with wool this time.   I really liked this sampler with the use of rick rack  as the edging of the circles  was also a nice touch.

 

 

One could also see the Modern Quilters influence.   There were several pieces like this in the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This work was so quiet among all  the bright colors that many just walked past it.

 

 

 

I was impressed by this work because it is all machine drawn.   I can’t imagine how many hours it represents.

 

 

There was also a limited fabric challenge  show .    A pink print, cream print and a black print were the required pieces one had to use.   This one is specular.

 

 

 

 

I found this work to be inspiring as well.   So many layers of depth here.   I am sure lots of careful planning went into it.

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a SAQA show and I found it very inspiring as well.    This work used paper as a base with organza as color on top.   It is a quilt as it is three layers.

 

 

 

 

 

The SAQA exabit had a 3-D part too.   Wool and corduroy were used in the stump part .

 

 

 

 

This work was called Save Our Wetlands .   The turtles were stamped blocks and  the quilting was the words of the title.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   I did go to  Sue Sherman’s Lecture Activist Art: Let Fiber Art Do the Talking.       She had beautiful work and the strong  point that I took away from  it was try to do it with humor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz  came prepared for rain, but we did not need it.    I am very glad I went and I am inspired with new ideas to explore.

 

 

 

Monday was our day to meeting at Marcia’s.  We did share our first solutions to the Experimental Challenge, but I did not take any photos of that.    Liz worked on her little houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy shred a pieces that she   purchased and did some repair work on .  Its a real beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

Jean has been dyeing with grapes and had some glorious fabric to show for that effort.

 

 

 

Progress Report: Distracted 

This quilt is 24″ X 42″ .   I enjoyed working on Spot on so much I just kept playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pat’s Posies- Lap 13-25   This lap quilt came out of my first attempt at using the fabric I made in Pat’s dyeing class.  It is difficult to use with print fabric as it is so strong.     I mixed it with some old fabric from my fist class with Pat about 15 years ago and solids.

 

 

 

Lap 14-25      This one is all pin based and ready for quilting now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re Work     I was working with textures here and mixed painted and melted Tyvek,  roving and beading for this piece.

 

 

 

Scrap Happy 2-25   I started to put the rows together on this  work this week.   I like the two center blocks, but they may get a little lost with all the prints.

 

 

 

 

New work     At the SAQA conference, one of the lectures encouraged us to look closely at the world and use that as a starting place.  I took a photo of a Sousaphone  at the Ringling Museum, and  I used that as my jumping off place for this one.  The fabrics are mostly form ones I purchased at the Canada Show.   Lots of work to do here.

 

Experimental  Challenge #2   After the meeting at Marcia’s I felt inspired to move on the next piece of the challenge.  So I picked up the second base I had made and felted roving mixed with Angelina on top.

 

 

Necklace Squares   I wanted some handwork for the seven  hour bus trip so I cut squares of various sizes from 2.5″ to 5″ and folded them as was suggested in the article  in  Quilting Arts .   I have lots of squares to fold and stitch, but I’m started.

 

 

 

Alpha Lapis Galaxy   Having the Feltre out, I thought I might try adding organza to the surface of this work.  I am happy with this, but I can see that practice will give me better control next time.

It’s been a busy two weeks and I enjoyed it.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

Aplique, Birds, FAD (Fiber Art Dames), Hand work, Sisterhood of the Scissors, Stretch Works, Uncategorized

Spring is Here

Hello,

Spring has arrived according to the calendar as well as the longer sun filled days.   I saw more geese migrating north this week as well as these Snowdrops.   The temperature around here is still doing crazy things, but the longer days really helps one’s mood.

I have only had one day at home this week.

I helped take down the Both Ends of the Rainbow show at the Schweinfurth on Monday.    We worked hard and cleared and packed all three west galleries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The yesterday I help Noel do more  packing of her studio space.  She generously gave me  lots of beads.   I will not need to shop for beads anywhere except my closet for a long time .

I also went to the  zoom meetings for Sisterhood of the Scissors and Pixies this week.   There was also a FAD meeting were I got so great  feedback and suggestions on some of my work.

Progress Report: Judy’s Banquet  This work is 40″w X 55″ t.   I made it all from the silk dress of Judy’s mom.     It was a pleasant  to work with the silk and it did not slide around much when I zig zagged it down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 6-25  I got busy and this is a new top that is pin basted an ready to quilt.  I took seven lap quilts to the nursing home this week as well.

 

 

 

Stencils- Robins and Black Capped Chickadees

The chickadees are  done with oil sticks .   The robins are  stenciled with acrylic paint.   I did another print day this week and  there are now enough robins for a quilt.

Oxymorons Challenge-  Plastic Silverware.   The fabric is all  stitched down now.   I am ready to add highlights.  I also drilled wholes in the plastic silverware  I want to add on top.

 

 

 

 

Red Tide    I am finally ready to start a new handwork tide piece.  I will be using some of the red beads beads that Noel gave me in this one.

 

 

 

Pillows    My friend Marilyn gave me the handwoven fabrics for these two pillows last fall.   I finally finished them this week.

 

My life is full and I have many friends that make it more joyful and rich.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

Applique, Clear Cut, Cut Away, Lap Quilts, Scissors, Uncategorized

Back to NY

Hello,

We are home form our California  and Oregon Trip.   It sure was fun, but as always there is no place like home.

Our first visit was to Sacramento , where my husband’s brother and wife live.   We were greeted by this display outside their front door.  There was music too as the skeletons danced and  played St James Cathredel.

 

 

 

They have a great fish pond with some of the biggest Coy fish  I have seen.   Cindy rings a bell and they all swim up to her to be fed.   We went wine tasting and enjoyed our time with them.

 

 

We took off on Friday morning north to  Bodega Bay.  Yes, that’s were the film “The Birds” was filmed.   I liked these  fellows from the window were we had Fish and Chips for lunch.  There were seals in the bay and lots of sea gulls on the roofs of the water front buildings.

 

 

We then  drove north along the twisty highway  1 along the shore.   I love the sounds of the waves crashing and the sun was beautiful too.

 

 

 

 

We stayed in the Windflower Hotel that night.    The flowers  were in such a vivid color.  It was beautiful.

 

 

Then we drove inland to highway 101 through a state forest of big Redwoods.   That road was twisty too  as you can see they road crew did not cut the trees, but dodged around them.    At times it was quite dark from the dense cover.

 

 

 

Next stop was Crescent City .   We stayed in the Northwoods  Best Western that night.   It too is on the ocean.   This sculpture was in the parking lot.

 

 

 

Leaving Crescent City, we turned land through Smith State park and again enjoyed the views.    This road too was full of S curves, and switch backs as it ran along the Smith River.

 

There were steep hillsides of shists as well and we drove into a fresh little landslide that punctured both of the tires on the left side of the car.    Several folks stopped to give us aid, but we needed towing .

 

 

Called AAA and they sent tow truck – but do to a bit of confusion and the fact that there was a second little land slide it took the truck  four  hours to find us.  It was also Sunday  so the tire place was closed.  The tow truck driver kindly drove us back to the  Northwoods Hotel  were we spent a second night.

We ate dinner at the Fisherman’s  Cafe and enjoyed our walk along the shore were there were lots of boats.

The Tires got replaced in 15 min when the car got in and we were off again.    Back through Smith State Park .  We drove through a section where 3 three  years ago,  there was a forest fire.   Still very desolate.    Having lost a day we drove up US 5  to Portland.  That took all day.  I am a true believer in GPS as I don’t think we could have niigataite the drive through that city with out it.  It took us directly to the hotel.

Then on Tue we went to see my brother and his wife in Vancouver WA.     Cindy is also a bit of a needle woman, and although she dose not consider herself to be a quilter, I was very impressed!  She out lined   quilted this panel beautifully.

 

 

 

We went to the Cove Restraint for a late lunch that day too and enjoyed ourselves.  There was a beautiful view of the Columbia river.   Then back to the hotel and a good nights sleep.

Our last bit of excitement was on the flight home.  We flew to O’Hair in Chicago .  Landed in plenty of time, but our gate was blocked, so we sat on the tarmac  for 45 min.    The  hour time allowed for changing gates was getting short  The piolet asked folks not in a rush to let those of us with close connections  off  first.    And they did!    So I waved   and thanked  all the seated people as we exited the plane,  Then having landed at  Gate 3 in concourse   A and our Syracuse connection was at gate 1 in concourse  B.  We had 10 min to make that run.    We  hot footed it  only to arrive and discover they were holding the plane 10 min for us and one other passenger.  We were so glad to get home last night event though our bags did not make it.  They came at 11:30 today.    Thank you United!   It was enough of an adventure for a while.

I did do a little work on the week end before we left however.

Progress Report: Clear Cut   This quilt is 45″ X 45 .5″.   I have not attached the sleeve yet, but I am calling it done.

I like how the organza shows through the layers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut Away   I did a lot of pebble quilting on this before I left, but there is still about a third to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap 5    This top is all done now and ready for layering.     I so enjoy these little play exercises.

 

 

 

 

 

Roundie   I did this little guy in preterition for the trip.  It seems more timely now even though our run through the airport did not include bags.

I have a lot of yard work to do now  as lots of  leaves have fallen ,  but I enjoy being out in the crisp autumn air.

Keep Creating

Carol

 

 

 

 

Applique, Cut/ Print, Fish, Hand work, Lap Quilts, Pixies Group, Rough Cut, Scissors, Uncategorized

Working Away

Hello,

Mother Nature is starting to paint our trees with color around where.      I love  the daily changes even though I know that raking will soon be a big part of my days.

It has been a very quiet week  for me  with only the Textile Talk yesterday and the Pixie meeting.

Tomorrow I depart for a five day quilt retreat so I have put a lot of time into preparing for that event.

Progress Report: Rough Cut     This work is 40″ w X 37.5″ t.     All the scissors are cut form wool this time.

  Some have frayed out  more than others.  And several just felted when I washed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tropical Floor    This work is 27.5″w X 21″t.   I sure had a good time building this  project.   The fish are all free motion thread drawings on roving done with neon threads.

 

 

I am sure I will do even more of this work in the future.

 

 

 

Lap # 4        I now have four of these done.   I want to do a couple more before I drop them off at a nursing home.   These are always play events for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Lap #5   Yesterday I pinned out  out these blocks as starting points for the next lap project.

 

 

 Drawing   Now that Susan has reminded me how much I like to draw I am   trying to put that idea back into my routine.

 

 

 

 

 

Line Shirt      I saw a shirt for $179.0 in a catalogue this week and I love it.    But not the price. So I decided to try something similar myself.  I had also come across a new technique were on stitched across a squire to give the stitch some texture. So I am trying that on this project too.

 

 

Cut and Print       I took the Gelli Prints form last week and printed  scissors on top .  Angela suggested that one could make stencils with Tyvek, so I tried that too.   I was trying to work out a new Scissors project -but the print that is pinned to the left just dose not work for me.     At m\least not with the prints.   So I will try to work the piece out at the retreat.

Roundies     I realized I had not done any hand applique in a while , so got busy and tried my hand at a little of it.  I am pleased with these little guys.   I will keep playing until I run out of gas on this  one.

 

 

Enjoy the changing season and keep Creating

Carol