Pool Face

It was a beautiful day. Cranky pants Debra Roby has inspired me to show you what poaching for four hours in the pool under the Georgia sun will do for you. Oh, I stay in the shade once the cleaning is done. Why encourage wrinkles at my age? A full day of R&R, dinner prepared by Chef James. His new specialty is sauteed spinach, garlic and pasta. There's a game on now and I'll watch it from the studio. Life is good.

Rain Dance in the Studio

That's us in Lawrenceville right over the weatherman's shoulder and he's saying "Y'all putcher heads between yer knees and kiss yo asses goodbye. Y'all". I don't think we have had any sustained rainfall in over six weeks. Eh. It wasn't as bad as it looked on the screen. Besides I was busy going through the stash. This is my flibbertygibbets container. Handy when postcard fever strikes. This is the part of restocking the studio that I have been dreading. All the folding and sorting. At first I was going to put everything out on open shelves so I could see it. Now I realize that I get sensory overload from that kind of visual over-stimulation. It's all going into the closet as soon as I can get some of those hanging compartment thingys from JoAnns. I had no idea how much fabric I had in those tubs and boxes and baskets. It's beyond ridiculous and I have to decide just how to convert this excess to something useful. This stack is just whole cloth dye-painted pieces and NOT the five I have lined up to work on . One of the cool side effects of this kind of in-depth inventory is finding things that have been lost. And then doing a little decorating.

beadmajik

Check out the polymer clay beads that I made at Jan Thompson's studio last week. I was fascinated with the bits and pieces that were in her scrap bucket and rolled bits of this and that into this strange little grouping. Great garbage, Jan. I'm afraid my Magpie brain went quite over the edge when I got a look at all the Shiny things there are to play with and all I could come up with was a little "pill rolling" activity like they do in mental wards. They make me smile though.

Peace at Home

I love getting good news from home while I am at the office. Jim just sent me this picture. Now, if I could only teach them free motion quilting.

Is it Thursday yet?

It's been a helluva weekend. I spent too much time at the computer getting entries ready for two different shows and I'm starting to feel a real need for keeping track of what gets entered or promised where and when. Friday night at Fiber on a Whim listening to Pamela Allen talk about her career as an artist and the evolution of her work was fun and turned out to be revelatory. The last piece she showed us was a subject matter and technique departure for her and I was quite captivated. I've been so far out in whole cloth, dye-painted country that I was beginning to think I might fall off the fiber sphere altogether and just go back to paint on canvas. Pamela reminded me of some of possibilities of working with fiber that I had forgotten about. This "Horned Newt" is hot from the design wall in just the last two innings.

Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance around the studio.....

My friends are helping me celebrate! Yesterday I got a letter from the Woodstock Byrdcliff Guild in Woodstock, NY, notifying me that "Cellular Seizure" has been juried into their first Biennial mixed media exhibit. Juried by Nohra Haime, my piece was one of 46 chosen from over 290 entries. "Thrilled" comes close. My first reaction was "that one?" and I dragged out the bundle of quilts that I had submitted and remembered why I like it so much. It had an unhappy start, languished with the "somedays" for a long time and then suffered a LOT of manipulation and changes before I called it done and still I had second thoughts about it probably because it's more subtle than a lot of what I am working on right now.I rummaged around in my files and found a picture of the whole cloth that CS was based on. The best part about this piece was that it was so difficult to photograph and it looks so much better in the "flesh" the juror will be glad she took a chance on fiber art. My next thought was "phew!". I wasn't expecting notification until the 30th and there were two other shows that I wanted to enter with some of the pieces that I entered in the Woodstock. Now I have to hustle and juggle and make decisions about what goes where and when.

Acres of Fun

You thought the last one was big, Hah! How do you like my new device for indicating scale? It's actually 40 something by 70 something. It's a good thing I'm going to Fiber on a Whim in Roswell on Friday night - I need thread, LOTS of thread. Some 20 wt sail repair rope please. Something that will make a real impact on this riot.

Pamela Allen will be there to give a yak for Fiber Art Fusion and I am looking forward to hiking over there for the evening and opening my ears. I have had my hair-hat aired and a designated driver lined up.

The Frosting on the Cake

For anyone who has been following my studio renovation, todays' work is the piece d'resistance that I have been waiting for. What was once a blank wall now has a new window that faces north and the room is now flooded with light. I'll spare you the process pictures because I HATE the construction process. Although it's Jim's line of work, when it's happening in my own house, it makes me nervous and anxious. It's two stories down to the driveway outside this window and the whole time he was on the ladder I stalked around the house pretending to clean. And he wonders why I have heartburn. I refuse to attribute it to the fabulous batch of chili he made yesterday - it's strictly renovation heartburn but I am so pleased with the results. Thank you Sweetie. Of course I asked for the wide window ledge to accommodate cat asses but Jinx insisted on ignoring the new view and interjecting herself into my art.

Braves Pound Mets

Braves 7, Mets 3 and it was a beautiful thing to see. Besides a roster full of 300+ bats, I think the Braves were in their element weather wise. It's been Atlanta hot and steamy in the Poached Apple and our boys are used to it. Of course I have a new appreciation for "Buddy ball" too. My team's momentum drove me on at the machine and I got 75% of this piece quilted in nine innings last night. The stitching motifs are more complex than the others in this series although it was my intention to be less restrained but the colors took over and led my hands and eyes. Who am I to be in charge? Somewhere, someone broke some kind of record. I remain oblivious.

Busy week half over

I started out the week being bored before lunch on Saturday. My solution to boredom is always the Dye Solution and as my favorite old Land's End carryall had gotten pretty dingy, it became my logical victim. The next morning I was fiddling out widgets from beads and wire before I even got out of bed for coffee and the little tag on the bag is all I can say about what the workweek has in store for me. I'll go on about it at length when it's over. Then......... Remember those cute shoes I ordered from Sketchers last week? We were on our way out to see the"Simpsons" as the package landed on the doorstep so I just had to snatch them out of the box and jam on my sweaty feet. Cuter than the pictures and beautifully made BUT (and it's a BIG BUTT) by the time we walked from the car to the theater I felt like I was walking on cheese graters and several of my grotesque toes were being ground down to the bone. I laughed until I cried at the movie - (I've been loving the Simpsons since Homer was really mean and Marge was a 2D doormat) - and then I wanted to cry some more as I hobbled back out to the car. It's not Sketchers fault! The trouble is, I go around barefooted or barely shod most of the time with my giant, prehensile toes flapping in the breeze and clutching at things like a giant sloth so when it comes time to stuff my feet back into respectable shoes, they HATE IT! Does anyone have any foolproof methods for breaking in new shoes that don't involve ancient Chinese foot-binding techniques or spending hours karate kicking sacks of dry rice?

Other Artist at work

My friend Jan Thompson has gone completely nuts for polymer clay. She's so deep into this stuff sometimes I don't know what she's talking about anymore - the technical lingo is way different than dyers or quilters. She brings her California color and design sensibility to everything and is coming up with ever more fun and entertaining pieces. These are two of my favorites. Makes me wish I was a jewelry gal. These make me think of sugar cookies at Christmas.

The tough job

As summer deepens, water mishaps are on the rise as lifeguards become bored at their posts.

more Mob stuff in the works

<-This one is finished and ready for a sleeve and a good going over with packing tape for cat cooties. No name yet but I'm thinking it over. I left the images big so if you click through on them you can see the stitching. This one below is next under the needle. I have a moments fancy of doing some hand stitching but then I remember what a mess I got the last time I tried dragging six strands of DMC through cotton batting. It's all pinned tight. Now I just have to decide how I want the stitching to look which is becoming the hardest part of the process.

the Tasty Filler

It's not that Art is not getting done. Well...lots of F'arting" around still trying to stow and sort all the stuff but I keep interrupting the flow of work with more postcards. I'm down to five or six pieces of Pellon which I thoughtfully pre-cut to 4"x6" some time ago. Enough of that. You Shoe-Is-tas ought to know that Sketchers is having a 50% off + free shipping sale for a few more days. These are on their way to me right now. I just hope these Biker Blooms are this cute in size 10!

I've been trunkt

Trunkt.org Mission Trunkt is an art and design collective made up of talented painters, graphic designers, fashion accessories, apparel and home accents designers and other creative entrepreneurs that make a living from their artistic skills. Our mission is to champion independent designers and small retailers to mainstream shoppers and to keep mass-market merchandise and big-box retailers from overwhelming the globe. Ooo, it's tasty to get in on the ground floor of something cool. I have to thank Tricia McKellar for turning me on to this opportunity. So here's my first selection right up on the Mixed Media page. Let's see what comes of it.

more postcards

There's still some more floating out there in the ether for me so grab up and nail down but for now I'll put the scrap basket on a high shelf and get on with organizing what's left. This batch will get posted on the Hotcakes for sale page eventually. I just love that green flannel. The silk was rather disappointing so I used it on the backside of some of these.

Say Hello to my rusty little Fren...

Hmmph. I bet they all thought I was kidding about the machete. As you can see by the rust, my garden is in a pretty sad state. I forgot to ask Claire if this method works with silk. This heavy, grainy silk was, I think, a gift from Anna down in Tampa. Yo Anna. Do you remember? I'm foggy with vinegar. Now to store it away someplace and almost forget about it for a while.

Something's brewing

First of all what's a studio if you don't have an assistant? There's going to be a large window in the wall just beyond the sewing machine with a wide ledge where Jinx will spend most of her time. This pose is merely a reminder to get busy on that window. See my spiffy ironing storage back there? It's so cool even if stinky (that new heat resistant stink, heady stuff) and I can move it around with one hand because of the teflon pads under the feet. Here's the view from the driver's seat behind Big J and you are getting a good look at how the Mob Scene series is shaking out. There are at least six more waiting in the wings, most larger than these. These two on the left side design wall are just waiting for the stitching. Jim set the other design wall vertically for me so that mirror could bring the outside in a bit. Here the mob is up to more than just standing around thinking about it. That vacuum cleaner & TV set are just visiting until I find tiny, stow-able versions of both. What you are not seeing are baskets of unsorted fabrics all over the floor lined up along the walls awaiting their turn. There are a lot more still in the old studio. I never thought I had a stash problem like some fabriholics but the evidence is mounting.

New Studio - new stuff....

OKAY, I admit it - the secret of getting stuff done while I'm in the studio is having the TV on while the Braves sweep the Pirates. I just realized that I am making one per inning.... I won't mention that I should be sorting fabric and putting things away in the closet and a hundred other tiny details of getting one room cleaned out and the new room up and running. Do I think I'm going to "use it all up and then I won't have to store it?" I'm going to scan these postcards individually and put them up for sale on the Hotcakes site in the next few days.

Monkey see, monkey do

I couldn't resist this one. Any site that lets me try on an infinite number of hair colors is going to grab my attention for at least 15 minutes. This is kinda what it looks like since I cut most of it off last week. The woman who cut it measured it at 30 inches before she started hacking away. Cool way to lose five pounds. I wanted to donate it to Locks of Love but they don't love bleached blondes. And of course, I'd love to go to the midnight show when the movie comes out but I don't think I can stay up that late.

Post Card Binge

Even though my stuff is all over the place, making a few postcards after dinner is enough to satisfy my need to put the pedal to the metal. Having the Janome locked into this new table makes it feel like a brand new machine. I had no idea how much vibration and noise I was dealing with when it was perched on a hollow-core door.

From the New Studio

this WIP was on the design wall in my bedroom so it got to go first in the new location. There will be more stitching but I wanted to do some photography with the ambient afternoon light which, unfortunately, in that room, is very green- all reflected from the lawn and trees in the front yard. The afternoon light I used to shoot with in the bedroom had a golden cast that was always something to deal with too. Guess I'm going to have to set up those lights after all. So there's an ongoing discussion on the SAQA yahoo list about RGB and CMYK and I thought I would take a look at those functions in the Paint Shop Pro program that I have been ignoring forever. Mine is V.5 and I think they are up to 12 or somesuch. I "channel split" the original image above into CMYK and then "channel combined" to get the final, large image. I can see the difference but now I have to read up on the why of the whole thing. You can almost see the iridescent paint in the final.

Furniture with history

This piece was given to us before Colin was born and served as a changing table for both kids. Jim removed the four inch maple rail that used to enclose the top and for the last ten years it has been stuffed with "important papers" and holding up the TV in our bedroom. Now I am going to staple ironing board fabric to the top for a terrific functional surface which will also keep me from piling things on top of it. Notice the little Slidey feet so I can move it around easily even after I fill with whatever. I wasn't going to paint this piece but this picture reveals a pretty lousy finish. Hmmmm.

Ta-Da!

Why is Big J smiling?

Could it be his new, custom made table! My husband insists that he can make the cords go away but I'm so thrilled with things so far I hardly notice them. Do you know that I have never been able to use the knee lift before now? What neat thing that is!

almost finished

Cue the Brazilian Jazz.... My part is finished. Tomorrow Jim is going to cut the hole in the walnut top and build the support for the sewing machine. It's hard to back up far enough to get a picture of this thing.