developing the pollock

I really have to start calling this something  else. As I work on it, I'm realizing that all my stitch and thread choices are about construction - the stitches are smaller and smaller and the color of the thread blends in with the fabric. All the big white lines of basting are slowing being removed.


The shapes, color and placement of all the elements are what matters here - I could be gluing them on, or painting them on for that matter, but I am staying with stitching for my own satisfaction.


The pace slows me down, forces me to consider and reconsider and, if something is not right, it's not a huge pain to clip the thread on the backside and snatch it out so the wayward scrap can be relocated or replaced. Slow going on purpose.

election day

After a sleepless night and a busy morning, all I felt like doing was mixing up these jewels and starting another pieced top.

We went out in the cold and rain and voted. Now it's nap and wait and see.

last of the trio

This is the third of my QN entries. "Los Dados Encantada" was inspired in part by Grace's black and white kids .

The ground pieces for this one (dyed and discharged vintage sackcloth, damask and sheeting)  have been "in waiting" for some time. Once I paired them with the high energy of the graphic pieces, the whole thing fell into place within 24 hours and is entirely machine stitched and finished out at 59x34 inches.

Despite the simplicity of the graphics, there's a lot going on when you come in for a closer inspection. This is another line that I will following in the months to come.

detail from Los Dados Encantada

a wistful day

Today is my Mom's birthday and I've given over much thought to her today.
I have to admit that I could never remember her birthday spot on..it floated between 11/2 and Election day in my mind but today, for the first time it was fixed and correct.

Jim read my mind and brought home a bouquet of red roses in her honor (she adored my husband).

This photo was taken in 2002 on one of her rare visits with us down south. She loved Jinx and Jinx seemed to love her right back. Miss you Rosie.

waiting in the wings

I'm finding there are some  problems and benefits to having a string of works-in-progress, especially if the the pieces are, if not a series, at least cousins in some way.

You fool with the thing until it begins to annoy you but don't set it aside at that point or you are asking for a permanent UFO bound for the shredder.  Find the problems areas and at least take some notes somehow towards remediation...that way you won't be stonewalled when (and if) you pick it up again. I unfolded this one grateful that I had pinned some bits and pieces of maybes and possibilities on it's face.

The base cloths for this piece are two very old huck tablecloths that came out of the dyes looking like a rainy weekend. Dreamy but coma inducting except for the way the woven textures came to light.

For a long time I wanted to examine just what the hell Jackson Pollock was up to/looking for besides wrecking his head. Without doing any reading or presupposing - except for that damn Ed Harris film - this piece is my exploration in that territory. It's going to be some time in the making because it will be all hand stitched in keeping with the very old and tender fabrics. I don't know how fast Jackson flung the paint around but I do know how long it takes to stitch a large piece by hand. Come next summer, maybe.

And now I have to go out and buy a new iron. The 9$ special that is at least five years old has bit the dust and puked on my cloth for the last time.

a push

My new business cards came today..I did away with the extravagant glossy color image on the other side, saving myself a bundle,  opting for a nice clean space where whatever could be written.

Now I have to challenge myself to the rest of the nitty gritty and finish the website makeover.

I taught myself as much html as I needed years ago and used to have real fun with it but the gloss has worn off that toy entirely. I'd really like to just hand it off to a pro..but I'm too cheap.

TGIF

I've been machine quilting this all morning and, as I suspected, have not much more than cold feet and hunched shoulders for my trouble. I'll keep at it though now that I'm committed.

And I am taking more than just a moment to give thanks for a roof over my head, a dry bed, someone elses cooking and loving companions here to help me make it through the day.

fretting & rejoicing

The problem with mixing hand and machine stitching on a piece is recognizing when your hand work is no longer for the purpose of the design...when you keep on stitching because it's a comforting action, like my drug of choice.

To keep from running off the rails I put this one back up on the design wall this morning and found a few places where less was more and few others where something else was needed. I hope to get it back under the machine needle tomorrow.

I meant to post this here yesterday...everyone is doing as well as possible under the circumstances

This morning Jake called to tell us that he has proposed to Missy and she has accepted and we are thrilled!

a sad sort of Halloween

2008

no pumpkins and no posers this year.

something new

Back in August I had a giveaway of a couple of test pieces done with what I can only describe as the direct print method. I've added a new page called "A little piece of my Art"  (there's a link on the side bar too) and I'll be adding new items as time goes on.

It's a pretty simple and I encourage other fiber artists to give it a go. Put the work right side down on the (recently cleaned) glass of a high quality, color printer first, making sure the piece is  absolutely spotless or you'll be marveling over images of cooties, lint  and pet hair. Take your StickyBuddy with you to the copy joint.

(The staffer at my local Fedex/Kinkos was a great help steering me to the "queen" of her machines once I explained my purpose to her.)

I pulled a test print on plain paper to make sure of the color quality and then used a card stock weight semi-gloss finished paper for the actual prints.

The level of detail captured this way cannot be reproduced digitally. The hardest part is the cropping. With only an 11x17 inch print surface it's tricky to position the work on the glass deciding what to keep in the frame and what's to be left waiting in the wings.

fall for real

I just brought all my houseplants in from the deck where they have been flourishing all summer. There's no freeze in the works but why risk it. It's cold, windy and damp for the first time in memory -  a perfect day to spend curled up in the chair stitching with good company and a fun movie on. I'm staying with the challenge of combining hand and machine stitching on this large piece. 

Yesterday I finished off a single sized quilt...no batting but a pieced top backed with an old flannel blanket. Once it was done I realized that it looked like an old flannel blanket back there so I put the whole thing into the washer with some navy/intense/boysenberry dye, let it stew til cold and then soda ash into the second go round..that's it folded up on the table..in the background, bits and pieces for another pieced top, gathering forces.

fiber frenzy

The reason behind this frenzy of organizational activity, you ask? Aside from not being able to turn around or find anything, A gift! A boon!

A box arrived the other day with 33 pounds of fibrous glory inside - a trove of premium commercial cotton prints from my dear St.A.

She buys the cloth for the love of it and commands me to be creative...mission accepted my friend!

I hardly know where to start but the beautiful collections from Japan are already set aside  in the "do not touch...yet" pile and you know I'll have to start pulling the strings on those little bundles of batik fat quarters just to see what I have been missing.

I've covered the shelves with bits and lengths of heavy vinyl wallpaper that was rescued from some restaurant renovation years ago. It's interesting stuff but I never had enough of it to make sense of the pattern.  So very functional - I came close to chucking the whole many times and now I'm so glad I didn't.

The floor! the floor! I can see it! a beautiful dark navy blue carpeting..badly in need of a thorough vacuuming!

That dark pile in the foreground is the cloth I dyed yesterday..but for one span of ocean blue, all murky and in need of further work.

Time to test drive that new FM foot that arrived the other day.

a good day's work before noon

TADA!  tomorrow I'll cover the wood with a layer of this slickey restaurant wallpaper that fell into my clutches and then get everything loaded back up..
OR I could hang out the Opium Den sign and rent out the shelves to four dragon-chasers...just close the doors and turn off the lights. Can you tell by the crazy that it's FRIDAY!?!!

I have a squadron of flags stewing in the dye - everything bagged up on black plastic to take advantage of the sun's heat and earlier, buzzed around a the print joint this morning and took about 20 Fabulous (if I must say so myself) prints of the pieces that just came home from the latest show..I'll scan a few and drop them into the store later.

Now, it's off to the Whine & CYA mine for the afternoon.

the Pomodoro technique

When I read Robert Genn's newsletter this morning I realized that I have been doing my own version of the Pomodoro time management technique all week, without the windup tomato time.

The studio has been in turmoil as I am finally getting proper shelves set into the closet. Everything that was stacked so precariously  (and impractically) in the closet is piled all over the studio with barely a footpath for my Goodman to work.  It will be finished today!

My own dayjob has had me on early starts all week leaving precious little time for anything else. The weather has been glorious all week so I have been grabbing the River basket and skipping out with this piece to the park. I make camp at a picnic table by the pond and, with no phone calls, no music, no books on Ipod, no TV in the background - just focusing on stitching for a full hour. Why does that small chunk of time seem so remarkable?  When did I let my day get eaten up by stuff that doesn't pay off??

This mornings precious free time is going to a quick  and dirty dye session - today the temps are supposed to scratch at 78 but will plunge to the low sixties tomorrow. This is really it and I want it for my own.

not robot-rabbit buggery!

A good friend has reminded me to keep pushing my art - reaching beyond my comfort zone. Thanks for the prod St. A.

Here's another of the three pieces that I had to keep under wraps all these months.

 "Jazz Takes Over" is 41x40  and was the middle piece in a progression of work moving from all hand stitched to completely machine stitched. This piece is the crossover or hybrid and a jumping off point for all of the things I have in progress right now. It was a lot of fun in the making. This post title was one suggestion from my in-house critic for a title..it was hard to deny him.

detail

calavera

well that was fun but now I'm over it.

facing the work week

It was such a great weekend that I plan to wrap myself in the good feelings and fly them into the next five days. We cooked (chili and home made chicken noodle soup) enough that no one has to monkey around in the kitchen much for a few days. A little laundry and vacuuming out of the way early and I'm already thinking nap.

There was a little picking up (in preparation for the new closet shelves that I have been putting off) which revealed that I four large works in progress and at least two on the mind-shelf.And last night I somehow  convinced myself that I needed to make a calavera since it's been that kind of year.

more help in the studio

I spent 20 minutes organizing these in the basket in order so I could buy some replacements from the web without doubling up. I looked down after staring at the computer screen to catch this performance.

tight focus

I got an early start again today and was alone in the house for most of the morning. Anyone who does free-motion quilting will know that you can become quite oblivious to anything other than sewing your fingers to the piece. (If I do not find a proper FMQ foot for this Janome I'm going to freak). Stitching loosely woven cloth like damask is pesky as hell. The cloth will do every thing in it's power to avoid the needle.

I had stopped sewing to replace an empty bobbin when a hairy paw reached through the harp followed by it's body (who barely made the squeeze) .

Sweetie insisted it was time to stop that noise and do something else with my day. A split second after this shot, I got the gentle face-bite.

with a witness

All this closet digging and retrospection had me asking myself about all the large, machine stitched pieces I was so focused on five years ago - what was the draw? 

I made a point of NOT taking peek back at those pieces and just set about this one before the sun was really up this morning. It's about 5 feet wide and will go under the needle tomorrow with out too much further ado. 

then I went looking and found Roadkill from '08 and remembered why.

out of the loop

Annulus

I was out and about yesterday re-celebrating my birthday with my buddy Janice. We scared them at I-Hop, pillaged the 50% off goods at the Salvation Army (great cloth scores!) and then caught a mid day showing of "Looper" - my idea of a great day on the town!

It's not often that I am lost for words when it comes to a film. I like this one so much that I need to see it again.

Going to the movies in the middle of the day has a way of taking me out of time.

This morning I pulled a box out of the closet and packed it off to NY. Most of the pieces were from 2005. It's weird to think they've never been in public before. I wish them luck.

Leaking Transom

a good days work

I got this one finished by midmorning and gave it a hot water machine thrash and dry  to test the fleece as batting. Very nice result..it has that "been loved and dragged around lots" look to it. Packing it off to Kara tomorrow. Thre are sixteen more blocks waiting to be organized.

Late morning I got outside on the dyedeck to soak up some vitamin D...the sun was blazing but the air was cool and dry..a rare day in Georgia. I was out there so long a group of vultures were circling overhead.

The pool is well on it's way to swampland..these colors are just a little bit lurid. My camera has a "foliage" setting but I wonder on what planet?

fruits of the birthday dyeday

well wouldn't you just know it?

this was the only piece that held my interest while  I was working on it (I really was absorbed by Elizabeth's machinations with calculator and scale, full on mad scientist stuff!) and now I can't find it in the batch that's come out of the washer and dryer.  For all I know it washed away entirely if the rest of the pieces are any measure of the lack of success. Although that dark was EB's Havana brown...ice chips in the dye is not conducive to strong colors, my guess. I think this one needs to be painted on a canvas. *

 My dyes were really played out and just didn't hang on leaving me with a batch of lovely pastel princesses with superwhite where the soy wax was dug in like a tick.

here are a few of them playing around on the design wall..this is going nowhere in a handbasket...

new eyes in the morning.The fun was in the doing.


*flash update! EB found it in a bag and will be sending it off to me when it's dry!!

birthday doings

Great doings for my birthday! Jimmy took me out for a birthday lunch on Saturday so I could spend all day Sunday torturing cloth with Elizabeth Barton at her studio.

Using up our leftover dyes in this way has become an annual event which I wouldn't miss.

Here she is at the magic dye isolation chamber, measuring and mixing dye powder while keeping all of our lungs intact and functioning. Her experiments for the day where about comparing two different yellows from Prochem and included weighing the dye powder and cloth with an electronic scale in an actual stab at following the dye manufacturer's instructions. Lo and behold...they were not just making those inserts up. See her results! 

From the other side of the brain, I was direct dye painting on cloth that already had soy wax applied but no soda ash. That didn't happen until this morning. Don't get too excited - you know how jazzy wet dye can dissappoint especially when it's several months old and has not been stored under optimal conditions. Everything is in the washing machine right now..now pictures until they are dry and ironed.

me and the supervisor

This is where you'll find me most sunny mornings at this time of year. It's a great way to mind the time when the sun gets up and the direct like goes away, it's time to rest my hands and eyes and move on to something else.

We are off to scout pumpkins, doughnuts and cider.

In the meantime...get delightfully lost in the Hermitage.

happy friday

After spending 45 minutes putting those pieced purple blocks together on the machine, it was nice to sit in the sewing chair and be with the sun for an hour. Good to get back to stitching.

There is more than a measure of peace in the making and this one is going to be a long time in the process..I will be dragging it out for my own pleasure.


Then, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Karma sleeping in the river grass basket. I knew it wasn't  her of course, but even the imagined shadow was a comfort. Those pieces of black and white cloth are calling me.

in here somewhere

it's kind of nice to walk into the studio and know what must be done.

I lost my cellphone yesterday - it's been turning itself off, going silent - and was ultimately found asleep in the bottom of a basket of scraps. so sensible.

shitfire

I was on my way to a friend's studio for a day of running amok with dye and cloth when my faithful green pony finally succumbed to the leaky radiator that I have been ignoring for a couple of months.

We'll try again later in the month..in the meantime I've gotten two large pieces stabilized and started stitching on this one. Twice I stitched for an hour and twice I picked it all out unhappy with the results. I think I need to sit with a book for while and remind myself of all that be done with needle and thread.

NEXT!

Well, at least the waiting is over and I can get back to "normal" life.

 None of the three pieces that I worked on most of this year and submitted were juried into Quilt National13  and slap me hard if I put myself through that again. Talk about taking the joy of  the process.  Now I am free to follow through with updating my website and posting the work I've had to keep under wraps all these months. Can anyone tell me it's worth it? I passed on two opportunities to exhibit these locally and wonder if I made a huge mistake. This is really not sour grapes just a personal assessment of cost vs. value.  I wonder how many artists have come to the same conclusion? All input is welcome.

and sincere and hearty congratulations to the hardy souls who made the cut!!

"Consolation" 2012  

saturday chores

I'm putting the rest of the dye equipment away for the season. The poly blankets are rinsed clean and dry. I can't bring myself to throw away this ironstone platter and will try one more time to mend it somehow. It's so big and heavy and the break so unbalanced that, so far, no glue has been strong enough. I'm willing to go the duct tape route if I can find white. It's been a good, useful friend.

I took the current utility quilt outside to see just how many chips I'd made and what the overall size would be.  Enought by far!

Now the trick is to sash them up and/or whack away with the rotary cutter until they are all the same dimensions.  Then comes the layout to please the eye and finally, the sandwiching and machine quilting. I am fresh out of purple!