In November I traveled to Paducah, Kentucky where I took a class from Nancy Crow ( \http://www.nancycrow.com/ ). It was an awesome experience.

This class was her beginning class, The best of Strip Piecing I and II. It was fascinating. Cutting solid coloured fabrics into strips, sewn together, re-cut and re-sewn... We worked on a design wall -- which I have done, but really working at looking at each step from -- in a vertical orientation from a distance. Funny the things you know yet don't do and their impact when you start!
I am currently working on a version of strip piecing for a challenge quilt. It's image will be revealed after the acceptance or rejection of it (Summer or next month!). I am very excited by the process. I am anxious to show and get feed back, but am following the guidelines...

Speaking of guidelines -- or perhaps just common sense... I am hoping the public is not falling for this!
I was working in the studio. The television was on and here comes an advertisement for "High Fructose Corn Syrup". The first commercial for HFCS got an audible laugh from me. Subsequently I have grown ever more irritated.
THEN I found this article talking about the environmental impact of HFCS. You should check it out!



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603294.html

Let me know what you are up to or what you find irritating.

Eighty! Can you imagine eighty birthdays? That's a lot of cake, candles, gifts, days, everything! My Father just turned eighty this month. He is quite the musician; playing the sax, tuba, and saw amongst other instruments. I recently purchased a dulcimer and have had so much fun I thought it might be something he would enjoy.

So this is his present for his eightieth. The base clef sign (for the sound hole) is in honor of his sixty-fifth year playing tuba with the Cedar Falls Municipal Band. Underneath is a patchwork bag I made and quilted to hold the instrument while not being played.

My pal Kate, at right is such a joy... for a holiday gift I made her a pillow with a stumpwork initial, beading and quilting. Not the radiance that she portraits, but lovely none the less.

And speaking of radiance...

Yesterday Christopher alerted me to the impending beautiful sun set. He could not have been more correct... and here is one shot of the sky filled with colour.

So how were your holidays? What gift were you the most proud of giving? Did you make something as a gift? Please share...

Stripping...

Nature and Decay
Why are we so interested in these things?
I was at a party last weekend at a friends farm. This structure was on the property adjacent. I was fascinated not only by the whole, but the parts -- Ghosts of the past immortalized in the barns...

And this has the look of a pieced quilt. Linear, repeating with variation. Quite interesting.

What in your world excites and stimulates you visually?





This piece: a top that is pieced but not quilted yet...
Has a similar quality.

Here the light filters around smaller objects. Perhaps the Sun rising or setting viewed from behind a, iron fence or prison...

This is a present in process. I am hoping that the recipient will not see it. I had to share it as I am SO EXCITED that this little bag (it will be) has it's points matching. And I only redid two seems. Not bad!

After this election I decided I could try anything!

If someone knows what this manner of setting is called -- please let me know. Streak of lighting? Or is that only with 'Log Cabin'?

Visual Splendor

This weekend was spectacular…

Most of you probably share my opinion about spiders: I don’t like them. However during the past year living in the country I have grown to appreciate and understand them. They must have had a convention over night because when I took the puppies out for their morning walk around the pond Friday there were the most beautiful spider webs all kissed with dew. Thankfully no spiders were in sight!

Saturday I was introduced to the Ghost River. It is part of the Wolf River basin. There you will find a beautiful boardwalk over a swamp. The diversity of plants; berries, leaves, lichen, bark were all visually intriguing. And the light – the light filtering onto the plant filled watery surface was spectacular – a few rocks, trees with knees and buttresses, a turtle and the occasional water lily.

Where have you gone that you were inspired by what you saw?

The portrait is finally finished or at least the embroidery part is finished. Now the question is what next... perhaps a layer of trapunto and then a painted layer under that to give more dimension like in "Icon". Here is a closer look at the 'back stitch'. In an earlier post there was another version of this image done in 'chain stitch'. I was not please with the ease of manipulating the stitch. Another embroidery artist, Michael Aaron McAllister (http://www.michaelaaronmcallister.com/) suggested the 'back stitch' was more suited and his preferred stitch. I love the ability to create lost and found edges with this stitch.
After a year in Tennessee I went to a Quilt Guild meeting. There I met a group of art quilters who have a bee. I so miss my bee in Florida, BeeArty. Now I have a new group to play and learn with. This is the tart of my version of the current challenge. The challenge, a cliche...
Can you guess what mine is?
Whether it is cliche or not the autumnal colours are breath taking. And best, they are just beginning. This year I promised myself I would not miss photographing the change. Here is one if the first bursts of colour.

There is new wall in town...

There is a new wall in town. Last week I took down the smallish flannel I used as a design wall and replaced it with a new one. Larger and pin-able it is terrific to work on!

I started with a layer of insulation board. Two pieces that I cut and wedged into place. The outlet and the light switch were cut out and the whole was wrapped in 'headliner' (the stuff used for the ceiling of your car, foam on one side and a knit fabric on the other). It is perfect to pin to and large enough for a couple of projects at once or one really large one.


BeeArty, the quilting group I belonged to in Florida has been including me in a number of their projects. The current one is the annual "Zippy Challenge". That is where you take a number of items, fabrics, trims, etc, and put them in a Ziploc bag to exchange for another person's. This is what I made the machine lace for in a previous entry...

This is the fabrics that I received. After studying them I saw something... can you guess what it was?

This is an image of the piecing. Now I must determine how to quilt it. I will let you see in an upcoming post...

Being

I had the opportunity yesterday to just 'be'. I was outside sitting for quite a long time. I noticed all the various greens of plants, the crystal blue sky as it reached from one tree lined horizon to another, the quiet and solitude of the country...

Then I noticed the grass. There were a few blades of grass where I was sitting that were taller than the others. I watched them shiver in the wind. Then it occurred to me -- what if they aren't shivering, but dancing, swaying. Firmly rooted in the soil they are free to bend and twist with the whims of the wind without consequence or harm.

It was a beautiful realization. For how often have I looked at my life as something at the effect of a force outside myself. What if it is all perception? If I am rooted in my values and goals life may happen around me and yet I am strong. My family and friends give me strength and grounding to enjoy the winds life blowing at me.

If I pay attention that is...