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Archive for February, 2009

It’s Been Five Years

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Five years ago I started blogging. This is what I said:

This is my first blog so please be kind. I enjoy reading the blogs of family, friends and perfect strangers so I thought I would jump into the fray. As my Blog title says, I am crazy for fiber. I make fiber art and I’ve been knitting forever. I hope to share my works in progress – both blunders and successes. Once I figure this out, I’ll add some photos. I like blogs with photos and few words.

I have done a pretty good job of sticking with my plan! I must admit that as the blogosphere grows, there are days when I think I will quit and find something else, but I am still here.

To celebrate, I want to give away a couple of gifts to my faithful readers. So, if you leave a comment on this post, I will add your name to a drawing to receive one of my Valentine collages:

modvalentinecollage

kyotohearts

I will wait until Monday to do the drawing.

Today was crit day. I took my camera and actually remembered to take some photos. June is spending more and more time painting. She brought this abstract with colors that just made me happy.

junepainting

We wondered how it would look with a different orientation. I liked this one.

junepaintinghoriz

Mary brought a piece that she made after a trip to Paris. This is a map of Paris with buttons designating the places she visited. That is the Seine running through the piece. The fabrics were purchased in Paris.

maryparislove

Here are June and Mary getting a closeup look at Terry’s latest piece:

closeuplookatterrysquilt

Oh, do I love that green.

Terry’s home is so lovely and reflective of her art and design skills. I love poking around and looking at the art and objets d’art. Here are a couple of compositions I found on her coffee table. Those are coasters from Equidor.

terrycoffeetablecomposition

terrytblecomposition2

Clutter Management

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

I will never get rid of clutter in my studio. I just have too much stuff with which I can’t part. For a couple of days, I have been slogging through the studio, cleaning  and sorting.

I once had my threads on the ledge of the wainscoting, but I think they get too much sun and dust. I have several of the small plastic organizers. One was under utilized, and it now holds my thread.

bluegreenthread

redpurplethread

I cleaned off both my print table and ironing table which were piled with stuff from creating pieces for my show. I love the images that are left on my print table.

printtableimage

printtableimage2

printtableimage3

I just need to unpack stuff from the collage class and I will be back in business again. By the way, the painting and new shelves are in my office/grandchild play room. We have some dry wall work to do in the studio and then we will paint it. Today, Mr C painted his office/tv room. It is one of our favorite colors — Harley Rumble — sort of a dark taupe.

Tomorrow is crit group. I will be taking the chairs because I don’t have anything new that isn’t hanging in the show.

Some This and Some That

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

First, I just want to say how ver klempt I am over all the great comments I received here and over at 12 X 12 about my chair piece. It was a piece waiting to be made since I took the photos. I have selected the next theme and it is window. You can read about it at 12 X 12.

I have spent all of today working on SDA conference stuff. I am caught up for the time being. Tomorrow, I will be back in the studio — cleaning up my mess.

Mr C painted my old bookshelves to match the other woodwork in the office. They look so great.

paintedshelves

What is that on the shelf? It is a nice little gifty from Deborah — a been thinking about you gift with a lovely note. I love snail mail. Thanks, Deborah!

deborahbird

We found these really cool shelf brackets at IKEA. Mr C is making shelves. I think they have the first coat of paint. At least, I have the makings for getting organized.

Last, but not least. I love my new grocery shopping bags that I found at IKEA. Brightens up an otherwise tedious task.

ikeashopbags

Chairs in a Salvage Yard

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

When we lived in California (seems like eons ago), I took some photos of some fabulous old chairs in a salvage shop. I have always loved these photos so when Deborah chose the chair theme, I immediately went to those photos that have been languishing on my Flickr site.  This is the photo I used to create the screen a couple of posts ago.

lots-ofchairs

As I walked around the yard, there were more chairs in little vignettes.

twosalvagechairs

2morechairs

I looked in my art cloth bin and found this fabric that was soy wax printed with some found objects. The colors were perfect for the background. I printed a stack of turquoise chairs and then got stuck!!

chairbackground

I played with the other photos and printed them on cotton. I cropped the stack of chairs and printed some chairs in different sizes. It was all too monochromatic.  The original salvage sign was blue with copper writing. I played with it in Photoshop to make it the complement of the turquoise colors. I also made the chair sign with the Broken font in orange.

That was just what the piece needed. Here it is. I am really pleased with this piece, and I am so glad that I put the time into it, even though it was very difficult for me this past month. You can click on this to see the details.

salvagechairsfinal

Here is a detail:

salvagechairdetailfinal

I have often wondered where these chairs were in a previous life and what stories they would have to tell. Now, go on over to see the other chairs on the 12 X 12 site, you will not be disappointed.