time constraints

After working the weekend and using yesterday to catch up on errands, I woke up this morning fully convinced it was Sunday, fell back on my face and wasted half the morning of what's really my Monday. Ugh.

To compensate for the disjoint in time, I set about building my friend's Pink quilt with wild abandon. Ripping, ironing and piecing without a measuring tape or pattern in mind is very freeing.  Once the top is finished I plan on some very organic machine quilting - more fun for me and a good warming up for working on the Big One.

stalling

 one of many neocolor sketches from last night. it's still on my mind.









I'm still thinking about how I want to proceed with the new piece on the wall. I like it for it's simplicity and vigor and don't want to screw it up, bog it down with a technical misstep.

I gave fleeting thought to finishing it like "Beach" - only two layers, aside from the design elements and all hand stitched. It was finished as a functional summer quilt, one of my "flings' and I spent most of last summer stitching on it. The pale blue in this one is cotton lawn, the blue in the one on the wall is silk chiffon. Is the energy and immediacy of the new design cancelled by miles and hours of my very small Kantha stitching?

It feels that way to me.  I am more inclined to layer it over a light batting and machine stitch it, the way it did with "Innocent Bystanders" or "Roadkill"

So the question, dear readers, is machine or hand stitching..and why?

detail from Roadkill

new on the wall

Just something to think over in my sleep.

this is big, 4x8 feet (hear it crack in the wind!)




I met my friend Jan for lunch at our traditional place los Hermanos Taqueria in Lilburn where the California Quesadilla is  so reliably delicious I don't know why we bother with the menu.
One of Jan's sons, Ryan,  has been recruited to be on the Taiwanese version of American Idol!
Does anyone know how to access Taiwanese TV via the internet?

Sunup

I spoiled my own coffee yesterday and walked around with a headache until after lunch, grumpy. This morning I got up to find the dishes already done and good coffee (correctly made) just a button push away. I love you Jimmy.


In a few minutes the sun will have cleared the eastern horizon and come blazing into the studio and I'll go back up there and take advantage of the light and work a bit more on this which has to be named "Clara's Tattoo Dream". 

I'm off from the office today so it's going to be an art day for me with a tentative break for lunch with humans at an actual restaurant. Wonder if I'll know how to act??

There is cloth to select, sort and iron, a big New piece to get up on the design wall, stitches to stitch and laundry to catch up on before the weekend rain sets in. ciao4now.

after dark

My end of the swap arrived yesterday! It's more subtle and mysterious in person than it was on the web and impossible to do justice to with a hasty snapshot. Thanks again, Clara. For now, I have it stuck to the mirror right over my monitor.

I was inspired to take up tools and doodle a bit and a little later, I closed my eyes and reached into the scrap basket for two pieces of cloth and I was amazed that I never found them together with my eyes. This will be a part of a much larger whole:

worky worky

The morning was given over to a combination of cooking, laundry and cleaning - all satisfying pastimes with immediate and visible outcomes, unlike art.

But a new dye season is on the horizon and I'm already collecting the white goods. There's an Antique Depot nearby that has a great load of old damask table cloths with a half inch of dust on them, in time I will make them an offer they can't refuse.

My wish list at ProChem changes almost daily. I have to keep reminding myself that old dyes still make great fabric.

Lest you think I have been consumed by cooking and cleaning, (those who know me well are having a good laugh) above are two single sized tops waiting to become quilts destined to be shipped to Japan when I finish them on the machine.  I'm grateful that there are those in the US who are organizing the transport and distribution. I knew when I made them that they would be useful someday to someone.

This little exercise  is already finished off.  It's now a kindergarten sized quilt with a tiny black and white checked border and a soft blue and white pin striped cotton backing, built for living.

dream influenced

I wanted to show this new piece in progress the other day but Voodoo decided I should go do something else for a while.  He was quite insistent.


I'm glad everyone else took great pictures of the super moon last night - although it was clear as a bell last night and I could see the craters and such, I still couldn't persuade my camera to come up with anything more that a fuzzy white ball. I did remember to take my tarot cards outside for a blessing.

We've been extra busy around the house this week. Jim is about to start a full time job and I am going to have to relearn how to shop and cook. Prepare for tales of woe from the kitchen.  

 
I'm been daydreaming about making this since I saw this.

the Big Swap

 
"Deranged" is being prepped to travel to it's new home.  I've worked out a swap with artist Clara Fialho and can't wait to show you what I will be receiving in return.

The sale is going really well. Thanks to everyone who has participated so far - it's been real a shelf sweeper!

Helping Japan

I was going to raffle off one of my larger pieces but local regulations make that idea a headache I'm not willing to live with. Instead, I'm throwing open the store at Random Acts of Dyeness  through March 31. Here are the details:

Any fiber bundle or grouping is $22, any crocheted cusspot is 12$. 
First come, first to make off with a bargain and help others.
Email me for availability and a PayPal invoice.
I hate it, but I can only ship to the US!.

50% of the proceeds will go to the most direct "to the people" relief fund
I can find and I'm still doing research, all suggestions will be welcome and investigated.

painting, not.

Did anyone else think how incredibly arrogant I was  to think I could just pick up a brush and wail away in a medium that I never came close to understanding, much less mastering?  

My husband won't even let me paint the window trim.

Watchover completed

And not without some bizarre challenges. I went to press it and saw something dark in the water reservoir of my iron.

Rather than spew unknown crud on a finished piece, I took the iron into the bathroom to empty it out and clean it. The dark stuff was a horde of ants that took me close to an hour to evict down the drain. WTF?

That background damask is such a difficult color to photograph. This was taken outside just a few minutes ago, the sun down in the trees.


I haven't measured it so here is Karma to help with the scale.

with clara's permission

With Clara's permission, this is listed as

"Untitled"
2005
watercolor & gouache on paper, 30"x22"

but the name of the jpg file is "dream" which suits it perfectly.

stick a fork in this one

Isn't early morning light peculiar?
This looks like a sonogram!


I'll post a decent picture once it's blocked and finished off but no more needling for this one.

I still haven't taken a moment for some painting - I'm relearning my way around the kitchen now that Chef James will be having better things to do during the day. My problem is that we are all spoiled rotten and his culinary magic will be a hard act to follow.

other mediums

  this is from the Scribbler
 
this weekend I'm going to take a break from sewing and feel around with paint and see what I find and how well I like it.

The fragrance of  this day is "Un Jardin sur le Nil" by Hermes. I think I have a winner.

link love

Get out your happy faces and party hats! No time to ask permission to post an image so you'll just HAVE to go there and see Clara Fialho's work for yourself. 

And....they are whoppin' huge!!

the watchers

They were there all along just waiting for me to bring them up from the white on white. These beings always find their way back into my work -this time after a long vacation. I'm good with it - an audience is always fun.

"Atavistic Inclinations" 
28"x 23" 

from 2006

the dragonfly quilt

A few years back I gave this quilt to my Dad. It had to have been a "hurry-up-Christmas-is-coming gift" because it was not quilted at all but tied with DMC floss. All but one or two of the ties had disappeared so I brought it back with me and put the Janome through it's paces and stitched in the ditch all over the place, gave it a good wash and was pleased see it restored. I'll get it packed up and back to them before the season is over.

Watchover

I knew the eye would be appearing, just didn't know when.

Sights, sounds and smells

I eavesdropped on about six consecutive hours of "Ancient Aliens" through my very slow shift last night and I'm thinking I've been 'fluenced.

Looking forward to a Braves game on TV later on(even if it's only spring training) and more time working on this one while a pot of home made chicken noodle soup simmers.


The fragrance of the day is "Creed Aventus" which I liked from the very first whiff.   OF COURSE I did...turns out it's a man's fragrance (adored by women, the ad sez). Well, they make the stuff to turn our heads and make them follow them down the street, right?  It's cool that they offer sample packs of their other offerings.

ps...I have given my husband a headache.

frangrance as the live link to memory

Yesterday my patron saint A, bless her daily,  sent me box of treasures. I had the nerve to ASK for any pinks that she might have languishing as I don't have nearly enough for a badly planned gift.

She also included a bag full of perfume samples!
I almost peed m'self in delight as I went through the bag.

Trying on a new scent is an amazing adventure for me. Fragrance can take me places I'll never see and likewise can deposit me squarely in the past as vibrant and rich and fully expressed as the first time around. Perfume is a time machine.

Today I am rocking Cartier de Lune. I think I like the name more than the cloud I'm in but I'll give it the day and see what it conjures. My sense of smell may be slightly damaged though. I was so excited to check out all the little samples I accidentally beheaded a tiny bottle of "Jimmy Choo" thinking the spray top was a twist off..a fat dollop went directly into my mouth. Now THAT was an experience I don't want to revisit.

Here's just some of the bounty she sent and a few of my own wilder creations. I forget that pink doesn't' necessarily have to be riotous.

the arc

During my morning blogcrawl the arc in Jude's work in progress caught my eye and made me wonder about why such a simple shape has so much appeal for me. I've been using it a lot in my own work lately. I'm sure it's nothing more than the biggest shape I can draw in one swipe reaching in all directions at once.
Casting the circle, setting up the boundary of my influence.

Stop over at Wake Robin where Velma has posted several more incredible photographs. I could babble on in artspeak for hours about the second chipmunk shot taken through the screen, but just zoom in on it yourself and take in all the tiny little things that make it so compelling to look at from those two snow sparkles, the light in his eye, the arc of his ear and the cruciform shape on his back. Just marvelous.

back in harness

As much as I enjoyed seeing my family in NY, it was good to come home to my crew in GA, February in NY is plain nasty.

I'm just now shaking off the effects of the flight home. The plane seemed to be waddling through the air, like riding in a bowl of jello, and that would have been ok but for a nearby unhappy child. Unhappy because she needed a diaper change even before we boarded. Twice I saw my hand reaching for the paper bag and twice I told myself "you won't feel any better afterword so don't do it" It was very good to touch down in the ATL.

There's much to look forward to and plan for. An invitation for a group fiber exhibit here, AQE to plan for in the fall. Closer in, a big sale at OHCO this weekend - imagine, piles of fabric pushed around by little bulldozers....

I'm taking small steps with this one making each stitch count for a lot.

The dragonfly quilt has come back from NY with me for repairs. It's nice to have a day off in the middle of the week and needful things to do.

art on the run

Of course I took more time thinking about and packing sewing stuff than I did clothing (NY in February, no coat).

Both of these little things were rolled up filled with pins and a note to the TSA to be careful not to get blood on the art in progress. From the looks of the bundle they took the warning and didn't bother to investigate. Neither was I groped at the security gate.
We'll see what the return trip is like.

I'm almost afraid to start stitching on this piece for fear of screwing it up, I like the design so well. The first one, not so much but I have a lot of successful red-headed stepchildren and superstars that have languished instead of shining.

I'm in NY for a surprise visit for my Dad's 88th birthday. This house is full of my quilts, big and small, all of them hard at work. That is my nephew Dallas continuing a nap that that started in the car.

The house is full of family, fun and food for the occasion.

 

I really wanted to go out onto the ice and lie down and listen to it but this is February ice, dead now with nothing left to say this year. Rotted from below by moving water, a few hours after this was taken it was soaked by heavy rain.

Scissors Found!

No, Sweetie's not the klepto-kitty, she's just attracted to the tail that I've put on these scissors since I found them hiding in plain sight, almost, on the dark blue carpet.



I'll be MIA for a few days. It's a surprise so mum's the word for now.

Winter Behind Us is finished

This piece has been such a pleasure to work on. No angst, no regrets. Each element taking it's place in the construction phase and very few false starts (and picking out) as I stitched. So contemplative I really didn't give a  thought to the title until it was finished.

I was cleaning up the scrap heaps last night and found I have a good deal more of that tablecloth with the embroidered wheat stalks, leaves and vines in a variety of dyed colors. "Sweet", as Jake says.




"Winter Behind Us"
2011
14"x11"

go here for a large image and here to purchase.

yellow perils

Scanning through the blogroll this morning when I came across an interesting post at Rough Around the Edges. Robin is taking an online class offered by my talented friend Pamela Allen.  The exercise is interpreting a favorite painting in fabric. All unknowing, I've been stumbling along the same path with no guidance and using my own oil pastel cartoon. 

   At some point in the stitching, I put the painting across the room and stopped eyeballing it so closely, mostly because the slow going of hand stitching was so aggravating when compared to the speed and spontaneity of the original.  Here are "Yellow Perils"  after the local school buses.

A different kind of Friday

With a new battery installed in the Honda I ventured out to pick up my Janome from Intown Quilters. I take pride in being able to read a map and follow directions but it's the close in places that will foul you up down here. I got lost and wandered about like the Lost Tribes of Israel until the "give me gas" light came on and I got grumpy and called Jimmy for help. He found where I needed to be  and talked me in like I was landing on an aircraft carrier.

The sewing machine doctor gave me an instructive lecture but promised to call the sewing machine abuse police if I missed my next tune-up and broken fingers if I went under the hood with a screw driver ever again.

Intown Quilters is bursting at the seams with every imaginable tasty bit of commercial cotton. There was a big dose of Kaffee Fassett who seems to be channeling my colors. I was tempted by endless fat quarters of that stripey shot cotton but resisted in favor of a pattern for these Favorite Things Happy Feet!  I can't wait to see them in my own fabric.
How's that for some exciting full moon action?

shopkeeper day

I've spent the morning unwrapping those bundles of hand work cloth, taking pictures, labeling them and posting them for sale over at Random Acts of Dyeness  These bundles were selected for their suitability for hand stitched projects. Vintage hand dyed damasks, a few pieces of silk, some vintage cotton feed sacking, soft handed muslin - all dyed, discharged and painted in my studio except one tiny scrap of printed cotton left over from a bundle made by Miss Melly! I won't tell you where it is, but I'll confirm it if you guess.

And just where the heck are my black Ginghers??? But finding them will have to wait. I have to get dressed and go outside before I disintegrate!

WIP 2.16.2011

Work on this as yet untitled piece continues. My stitch repertoire is limited and I have been carefully considering each one in this piece. Working in this super close focus keeps me mindful of how each technical move impacts the overall impact of the finished work no matter it's size.

Even as I work on this I am planning some very large pieces and have committed to making a piece for a specific upcoming exhibition, something I've never done before. There are no size limitations and the theme is "Taking  Flight", lots of room to move around in that one.

cloth history

The more things change the more they stay the same.


2005 - The cloth was from a set of cotton lawn scarves that didn't come out very stylish when dyed but were delightful once hacked to smaller bits. I loved the way it could be draped and shaped over a fat pad of polyester batting. This one led to a series of 3D pieces, "the Uninformed Innards."

running amok

Fun with good friends holds fast.

This picture is five years old! We are both a bit grayer around the edges but I had on the same scarf and shirt yesterday! We walked the mall, examined every shoe in the place (to no avail) and stopped by Saks to smell what was new and laugh about the price of mere scraps of cloth. The saleswomen were exquisitely despicable.

At the perfume counter they had a tester of Clinique Wrappings which I though had been discontinued so I drenched this velvet scarf in it. For good measure I gave my wrists too many hearty blasts of Aromatics Elixir (which moonlights as an industrial solvent) and it wasn't too long before I was making my own eyes water. The scarf is wonderful this morning.

While I was out my Valentine made a batch of his prize winning chili and these Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for me from scratch!!! I ate the one that had fresh raspberries on the top and  the rest are for anyone else.  I need any kind of cupcakes like I need a case of cooties but you have to love a man for trying so hard. Je t'adore, Jimmy.

slow steps

Although I like where it is now and the things that are planned, when I look back it it before I wonder if I should have stopped then. Schizophrenia? Working over an eight hour period each step was carefully considered, many others were abandoned. Who's running this ship?

Then there is always  my good friend, the stitch picker.

contrasts

Even as I rail about not being able to work larger I've been working on this little thing under the lamplight at night.

My office chair is surrounded by heaps of scraps that I've been rummaging through. The place is a mess!


I wanted to see it in natural light so I took it outside and draped it over my backdrop turkey platter ...that's a band of ice to the left ...brrrrr.
Close up here