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Archive for the ‘Sketchbook Project’ Category

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Where Was I?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Finally, today, I had a fairly normal day. The crappy crud just did not want to leave my aging body.

The only fiber work I had done, up until today, was some stitching on the Alternate Universe piece.

On Saturday, we had a nice visit with my niece, Stacy, and her husband Jim and my great niece, Melina, who is 18 months old. I had not gotten to meet her until now. Stacy and Jim live in Providence, RI. He has a fellowship in drama at Brown and teaches part time as he works on his PhD. Stacy, an architect, teaches at RISD a couple of days a week. I got out my box of toddler toys, but Melina liked the box better.

Then, yesterday, back with the fever and aches and pains. By last night, I felt that I might be over what ever it was. I awoke this morning, feeling strong and happy to get out of bed.

I got some clerical stuff done this morning and then took a half hour walk with Scooter and Mr C. It felt soooo good to be out in the fresh air, again.

This afternoon, I made it to the studio and created my last fiber sketch. I used some lovely silks in happy colors to reflect my mood today. Tonight, I went through the sketch book and glued down some stray element and enjoyed looking at what I had accomplished.  There is a part of me that does not want to send this in to the sketch book project, but I think viewers will enjoy seeing what I have done.

Before I send it in, I want to create some fiber art for the cover. Here it is, all plump and lovely.

Finally,  I guess I must embrace the coming holiday season. Mia delivered these to me today. I bought them from her for a school fund raiser. They are really beautiful. I also bought an amaryllis which I will start photographing as it grows and hopefully blossoms.

Posted in Family, Flowers and plants, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

The Storm Before The Calm

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

I am in multi-tasking mode. Doing this and that and nothing is close to being finished. So far I am coping.

I decided it was time to do a major purge of stuff from my office. I have stuff from my year as guild president that can be tossed. I have a box of registrations for the SDA conference from almost two years ago. I needed to shred the registrations because they contain personal information and credit card numbers. My shredder is old and very primitive. I fried it about 1/4th of the way into the job. I have a new one that can do 12 sheets at a time and cross cuts. Now, I have boxes of lovely packing shreds. However, it will go into our recycling bin. It may take a couple of weeks to get rid of all of it.

Remember this piece that I made last spring? The Old Growth Forest?

It has some redeeming value – really! I have an idea to cut it up and create a more complex piece. Amazingly, I bought a gorgeous piece of hand-dyed muslin at PIQF which just looks beautiful with this.

When I want to cut something like this up, I print a photo of it on paper and play with it that way.

I think it has possibilities!

I ironed the two scarves that I used the deColourant on yesterday. The scarf with green and blue in it was done with Colorhue Dyes. I was wondering if they would discharge. It looks like they did. The proof will be in the wash out which I will do tomorrow.

Poor Scooter! He is having cabin fever. We have had lots of heavy rain showers so our walks have been much shorter. Here he is doing the Downward Dog in the studio tonight.

I was mistaken, I have one more page in my sketchbook. Tonight’s piece is playing with lines and titled, Fissure.

Posted in Discharging fabric, My creations, Sketchbook Project | 5 Comments »

Time’s A Wastin’

Monday, November 15th, 2010

That is how I feel most days of late. I get up thinking I will really accomplish something today. By the time I get my mundane tasks done, catch up on SDA web work, read blogs and Facebook, it seems as if the day is gone. Part of this dallying is due to my constant worry about those I love who are dealing with problems.  I can’t seem to get into a real creative groove.

Tonight, Mia and Miles are spending the night so that Steph and Jack can hear their friend, Tift Merritt sing. She was Steph’s maid of honor back in North Carolina. Scooter was so happy to see them. He kept sneaking down the hallway to their bedrooms. He usually never goes back there.

After I got them settled for the night, I went down to finish my experiment with deColourant – a discharge agent with added color.

I cut some shapes with freezer paper and added the stuff. The blue is a spray, the copper is a metallic and I used a clear spray on the right side.

Here is is after it dried (with some help from the hair dryer) and was ironed.

Here is the back side.

However, here it is after I washed it. Whoops! What happened to the blue? I wonder if I should have let it dry longer?

I like the effect that the spray gives. I think I need to do some more research and experiments.

I have only two pages left in my fiber sketchbook. I am going to come up with another regular practice. I like that I can come down to the studio and accomplish something in short period of time. It is nice to have something done!!

Posted in Discharging fabric, Sketchbook Project | 6 Comments »

Chillaxing

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

I had a very nice and relaxing day. My STASH group met at Terry’s and she made us a yummy lunch of Beer Cheese soup, homemade bread and salad. I got to see her beautiful Twelve X Twelve piece with the real leaf. Click here to see it. Terry said she thought it was a Cottonwood leaf. The back story is that she said she could not get gel medium or glue to stick to it to preserve it. I had heard someone say they used Golden gel medium to preserve leaves.

For my fiber sketch, I decided to give it a try. I grabbed a leaf from my studio patio and used gel medium to attach it to fabric and then globbed it over the leaf. I think it worked quite well. I sprinkled it with some gold glitter for a finishing touch. Before I send the sketchbook back to Brooklyn, I will make sure it is not falling apart.

I have been stitching away on my parallel universe piece.

I am stitching the largest planet in rainbow perle cotton. So, I am getting close to having half of the hand stitching finished. Then, I have to select embroidery thread for the parallel universe.

I also made some progress on straightening up my studio so that I can find space to create some new cloth to play with.

Posted in Quilting Friends, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

Better

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

I had a really good night’s sleep last night. I awoke refreshed and ready to tackle a few things in my life.

It is not all sunshine and roses, however. The day brought a disappointment and a sadness.

The disappointment is that I did not get juried into Form Not Function. Like Q=A=Q, I have been in this show before so I had an expectation that I might get in again. I received a very nice rejection e-mail and a list of those who got in. It is a smallish show so I am not that surprised that I did not get in.

The sadness was hearing from a friend that her husband has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It is devastating news. My friend, Dee, is not seeing much progress with her husband and thinks he is giving up. No news from my sister except that they have met with hospice and have that in place when it is needed. These 3 women and their spouses are often on my mind during the day. One of my friends said it is the curse of growing old — these events pervade your life.

I had fun making the fiber sketch today. I wanted to try something a little more complex. I also finished cleaning and reorganizing my studio kitchen. Now, I can tackle the studio so that I can get to work on some large projects that are on my mind.

Scooter loves to hang out in my office with me. If I am there working on the computer or sitting and doing hand-sewing, he happily stays with me. If I get up and go into the studio and start working, he comes in, checks out what I am doing and runs upstairs to hang out with Mr C.

Here is where he hangs out at night and when we leave the house for any length of time. He is such a good boy. He loves the chilly weather and seems to enjoy his walks more. Of course, he has that lovely coat that he wears all the time.

I am looking forward to tomorrow. STASH at Terry’s!

Posted in Quilting Friends, Scooter, Sketchbook Project | 3 Comments »

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