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Archive for the ‘Sketchbook Project’ Category

What Do You Mean It’s Wednesday

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

I was too hot and tired to blog yesterday. I didn’t accomplish much other than getting to my Dr’s appointment in the morning. I got to see my CT Scan and was shown how clear all my sinuses are except for that bit of blockage behind my right eye near the optic nerve, the carotid artery and my brain! Not a fun place for someone to be poking around. He believes that my headaches are from allergies and not blocked sinuses. I am following good hygiene of saline rinses and cortisone nasal spray – without those, I would have more problems. So for now, we are putting surgery on the back burner. I will go back in December and probably have another CT scan.

Yesterday, we had the east winds which are hot and dry and blow everything around. Today, I had an allergy headache, but I dealt with it. It is probably something I will have to live with here in the NW.

Today, I went to Terry Grant’s house to help check with the color proofs of our Twelve x Twelve book. We found a few blips, but overall it looks fantastic. It is really gorgeous – bigger than I expected – nicely laid out. I can’t wait for it to arrive next March.

Tonight, I was determined to do something in the studio so I did another fiber sketch which is a variation on a theme. It is the photo up at the top. I am working up to making some of these larger.

I have also been working on allegro, thinking about various layouts for it.

I have been thinking about going back to making some of my own clothing. I love artsy things and it is very hard for me to find clothes in a retail shop that fit me without some altering. I love this outfit that Michelle Obama was wearing on Martha’s Vineyard.

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest tonight. I enjoyed the trilogy and am sorry that there will be no more. I am happy that I have gotten back in the habit of spending some time reading a real book every day.

A Day of Getting It Together

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

I am working on a couple of pieces that I cannot show. Today was a day of getting myself organized so that I have some uninterrupted time for working.

I bought some beads and blue perle cotton to finish the lorikeet felted piece. I love to test myself. I went off to the store with no color samples and came home with perfect color matches.

When we were remodeling a house in North Carolina, we had all of our furnishings in storage. The designer we were working with picked a blue for the dining room walls. I came in and looked at it and said, this is wrong. It will not match the Karastan rug that is in storage. We kept fiddling with the color until I was happy with it. When they unrolled the carpet from storage, she took one look and said, “Damn, you are good!”

I found a bag of scraps that I started saving after taking a class with Sue Benner. She is a fuser. When you attach Wonder Under to the back of fabric, it does not go all the way to the edges. She cuts these off, leaving a bit of fusing on the edge and then uses them to create wonderful strip landscapes.

I used some of the painted lutradur as the background and let it show through in areas. That piece is rather Lorikeet looking, don’t you think?

Tomorrow, I am off  to see the ENT doctor and find out if sinus surgery is in my future. Then, I hope to get a lot done in my studio. No time to waste.

This and That

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

I have been dealing with the heat and struggling with this piece that is on my design wall. have you ever gotten an idea for something in your brain and then struggled to see it come to life? I had this idea for a simple abstracted aspen landscape, but was having trouble with the fabrics.

Last night, my art quilt group, High Fiber Diet, met here for a potluck and celebration of our great year and our new members. It was a lot of fun. Bonnie Bucknam, our fearless leader, dyes fabric and sells it under the moniker, Handwerks Textiles. She always brings her latest collection to entice us. I bought this bundle, titled Storm Watch.

I used a couple of these fabrics with some I already had in my stash. I think I am getting somewhere with this. I am calling this piece Stormy Aspens.

It was really hot yesterday, and they were doing noisy construction work on the road behind us. The house was vibrating from the machinery. I soldiered through with the help of Mr C and we got the house ready for guests. We put out fans and turned on the AC, which is not that efficient. By dinner time, it had cooled off quite a bit and some of us ate on the deck.

I received this postcard for the Blurred Boundaries Show. I shipped my two quilts on Monday. You can click on this to see it larger.

I just found out that 50 quilts were submitted, 2o were accepted from 12 artists. I am quite happy to be a part of this show with some great fiber artists.

Today was farmer’s market day. Here is by take home:

I finally got a new fiber sketch done.

I don’t usually stitch these. I think the stitching makes the aspens come alive so this seems a bit lifeless to me.

Dance!

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Tonight was the finale of So You Think You Can Dance so I made a fiber sketch titled, Dance! My favorite dancer did not win, but I won’t say anything else. I don’t want to spoil it if you have not watched it, yet.

I have been trying to get myself back in studio mode, but I keep having to take care of other things plus I still have the issue of running out of the white to black YLI variegated thread. I am going to run out in the morning to check another store.

I like the way it randomly variegates when I do satin stitching. So today, I used the Superior white to black to do free motion quilting on the edges of the tree to create additional markings. I hope to start adding the leaves tomorrow and move on to another piece.

Here is a photo of Scooter. He is such a good boy!! It is a little blurry, but sweet!

Back Home

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

We arrived home last night after a bumpy flight and incredible lightning show seen from the plane. We spent a little time hugging Scooter and then crashed. I awoke New York time so I am very tired tonight. It was a busy day of stocking the fridge, unpacking and doing laundry.

I did manage to make a fiber sketch. I must get the next Twelve by Twelve piece done. Our color theme is the colors of lorikeets. I went searching in my stash for lorikeet colors and found it severely lacking in the blue and green. I made a little study with those colors trying to warm up to them.

I found these photos from our trip on the camera. The first is the lake side view of an artist’s home. He makes art out of found objects.

Here is the front of his home with one of his creations perched on the wall.

I took this photo on our last morning. The sun was hazy. I love the mood of this.

I am very inspired by the sculpture of the fields where I grew up. This was taken from the car as we drove by.

I hope to get a good night’s sleep and then tackle finishing the silk aspen piece. I need to move on to other things.