FEBRUARY PTA MEETING

It seemed like forever since our PTA Fiber group has meet....but it was only a month!  You'd have never known it with the constant chatter....you'd think we hadn't seen each other for a year.

 Mary B. brought this adorable quilt to share that she made a number of years ago.  She had the most clever 'cow puns' story to go along with it.

 I'm truly a sucker for bovine themed quilts....isn't this great??

 Georgia Bonesteel has been a busy gal lately.....she had numerous pieces to share.  I'm afraid none of my photos do justice.  This piece was so colorful and happy.

 This top will be quilted shortly....it was made for her grandson, depicting a fishing trip with his father.  It was made to replace another quilt she made that was destroyed when her son's house burned down.  Thankfully, the family was out of town when it happened, but you can imagine how many memories were lost.

 This tumbling block star quilt was stunning.....rich colors, complex piecing.....fabulous.

 Gen brought this clever folded box that was made by a friend, adorned with zentangle designs.

 She also knit these gloves.....apparently many followers of Downton Abby (or whatever the series that everyone is so crazy about is called) are doing 'mystery knitting projects'.  Gen's a wiz at knitting.....well...Gen's a wiz at everything!!

 Silly PTAer's mugging for the camera.....our Valentine cupcake desserts were decorated with big red plastic rings.....however I suggested they'd look better if worn in the mouth....and Barbara, Mary, & Linda easily complied.  

Gotta love these fun lovin' gals.....

YARD ART

Theme quilts have been a favorite method of mine since I took the 'off ramp' away from making traditional patchwork quilts.  Humorous wall quilts were often the result.

One such subject that caught my attention was the silliness often found in 'yard art'.  There was a particular love of unusual objects displayed on property in Wisconsin.

 This one always cracked me up....at Christmas the owner put blinking lights on the tractor wheels.....really!

 And...ya gotta wonder about the effort that went into this display!

"The husband' brought this gargoyle home one day....and after I refused to allow it at our main house.....we moved it to our weekend cabin.  I'll never forget the day I got into our van to drive up on a Friday afternoon...only to see "Big Em"....as it was named....strapped into the back seat!  The looks we got from the toll takers along the way was priceless..

"Blossom" was my favorite....all 65 pounds of her concrete wonder lived in front of our house for years.  She had a Rubbermaid tub of costumes....even a cap and gown when our son graduated from college!  This great Green Bay Packers blow up helmet was actually 'russeled' by hooligans.

 So one day, YEARS ago, my "Spritzer Sister", Francie Ginocchio (co-founder of our two person quilt guild) and I decided to issue a 'guild' challenge.....the subject being yard art.  

I got to wondering what happened to those pink flamingos, bend-over ladies, and black bears clinging to trees when their owners tired of them.  Did they get stored in an attic, a garage, or heaven forbid....the dump??  My quilt became "Yard Art Memorial Park".....a final appropriate resting place for beloved yard art.  It was one of the first of my major show pieces as I began entering competitions.

This piece will now reside at my friend Nan's house in AZ.  Nan being a collector of my work!  Yeah....  That's me in the photo above....turning it over to Nan.

This may provide a better view of the piece - click on photo.....as well as the two details below.

If you find this style of quilt intriguing.....see more by scrolling down here.

DAY 3 ART CAMP

On my final day in AZ....we did the tourist thing.....attending an arts and craft festival at Gold Rush Days in Wickenburg, AZ.....

 Before we headed out.....I wanted to cut open some of my felted wool balls...thinking I'd have some neat interiors to show off.  Too funny.....when I sorted my pieces......dah....I mixed them up. So instead of finding wonderful streaks of color inside...I found a wad of batting.  

To speed up the process of making these felted balls and reduce the amount of roving required....I start with a hunk of wet batting as the foundation.....we all got a great laugh.

 Another important task was to hang Nan's new quilt....so...how many quilters does it take to hang one wall hanging?  Definitely 3!!  (Nan on left, Sue on the right.)  I was providing the instructions....up on the right...no...now down on the left....

 The craft show was inspiring...though if I wasn't allergic to metal, I know I'd have been panting even more.  Lot's of wonderful jewelry.  There was lots of wonderful pottery too, but that isn't an item one can purchasewhen flying!

I got a huge kick out of this booth.  They were selling hats/caps for dogs.....however not for our big black lab dog size.  Instead they were for  more cuddly dogs.  I swear they must have drugged all 4 dogs on display.....they hardly cracked their eyes open. Instead...they were snoozing away on their pillows!!

 If you are a dog lover...you might try clicking on the photo to enlarge and get a better view....

As we were walking back to our car I spotted this unique recycled 'glass' planter wall.  Someone must have had 'fun' collecting those bottles....

So...I bid farewell to AZ and look forward to 2014 Art Camp (fingers crossed that I'm invited again!!)

I was hoping to have the time today to get started on a new project...even though I'll be away all next week teaching at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and really have very little spare time.  

But....grrrrr...and don't you HATE it when this happens....  #1 our internet router failed - like the 3rd time....so we had 'the man' in to try a different model....and #2.....we ran out of propane for our fireplaces.  That may not sound dire but the greatroom in our home has ceilings about 23' tall.....the room is always COLD w/o that extra source of heat.  To top things off....the burners wouldn't light afterwards and we spent about an hour+ pouring over the manual before we finally solved the problem.  Good thing I came back all relaxed and ready to cooperate with life.....grinning....

ART CAMP CONTINUED....

Day 2 of girlfriend Arizona Art Camp.....

We gathered all our supplies in preparation of a monoprinting day. For an excellent explanation and wonderful how-to photos on the subject...visit my pal Judy Simmons blog.

 This was a blast......we smeared/dotted & dropped fabric paints onto Plexiglass, sandwiching the paint between another piece of Plexiglass.

When they are separated....amazing texture is created on both pieces of the plastic.

 Next, fabric is placed onto the paint and pressed with a brayer roller....

 Each 'print' yields different and interesting results.  

I wasn't thrilled with many of my pieces, however this one was pleasing.  We used a variety of fabrics to print on.....muslin, linen, the right and wrong sides of prints.

A word of warning when printing in very warm, dry weather.....don't!  There was a noticeable negative difference in how the paint behaved on the warm Plexiglass as the day progressed in the sunshine filled patio!  

BACK FROM 'ART CAMP'

Friends.....I'm one grateful gal to have had the opportunity to wing my way to the Phoenix area to spend quality time with really good pals, who were escaping Minnesota winter!  As I expected, I couldn't figure out how to post my photos via my ipad, thus my silence.  Surely it can be done....a teen would know how....but hey, we were in an over 55 community...no teens in sight!

We spent several blissful days playing 'art camp' and a tourist day as well.....I'll share some highlights...read on or not......  

 But....hummmm....where did the car get parked in the massive parking structure at the airport???  Oh my....you don't want to know how long we stumbled around looking!

 Day one.....we set up on the patio....overlooking the golf course and long range mountain view.  Sunny warm weather......really....it doesn't get much better than that!  

 We did some wet felting.  Sue is working with variegated wool roving.

 Here's my pile of finished pieces.  One goal I had was to make replacements for the dozens of 'faux' river rocks that our mischievous black lab Sooty ate. 

 We played around creating colorful felt balls by adding different strips of wool. 

 .......and got marbled results by layering several colors of roving.

 ......here are some more results......

......a fun day was had by all!!!

One big advantage of working outdoors in warm AZ is how quickly the wool dried.  Don't we all love immediate gratification?!?

ESCAPING!!

WELL......after a lovely mild winter....it's gotten cold and snowy..boo hiss.....

The wind gusts can be 50-60 MPH in our high mountain valley.  We learned after our first year here to bungy cord all our porch furniture to the deck.  Even that doesn't always help!!

However....I'm escaping...heading for sunny warm weather today...as you read this I'll be winging my way to the SW.  I'm meeting several friends in AZ where we will be having our own 'art camp'!!  No big goals....just puttering around with wet felting and monoprinting, snacking, yacking, and some cultural outings.

I'm pretty sure blog posts will be on hold till I return at the end of the week but if I can figure out how to get photos from my iphone into my ipad into blogger...well...then you'll be hearing from me.....if not....I'll catch up asap.

FAUX MARBLE

This one was a struggle from beginning to end.....but I'm so happy I stuck with it.  As I mentioned in previous posts, marbleized fabric has a lot of energy when working in a wholecloth format.  Finding just the right bead and hand embroidery techniques to further enhance the design required some false starts  which will make the next one I tackle easier!

Both the full size and detail photos are clickable to enlarge.

FAUX MARBLE 11" X11" © 2013

Artist marbled cotton fabric, hand embroidered & bead embellished.

AVAILABLE AT MARY'S SHOP HERE

$85.00

Detail

DOODLING COMPLETED

Happy ending.....  After some further attempts to 'doodle' more...I stopped and listened to the piece.  So with the exception of a few more bugle beads and bead units around the edge (in my books they are referred to as 'washer/nut'), I'm calling this one....finished!

DOODLING

6.5" x 5.5"

Artist resist dyed and felted wool, embroidered & embellished with beads.

Ready to hang or frame.

AVAILABLE AT MARY'S SHOP HERE

$35.00 

DOODLING

After over a week of postings about the marbleized piece I'm working on....nope....it's still not finished.  I'm trying to resolve the finishing details but now have a germ of an idea how to proceed....so until then....

I see so much about 'doodling' on other blogs...and the results are so intriguing.  Sadly, stick a pencil or pen in my hand and my ability ranges from a 4-5 year old!

However, I can doodle with a needle in my hand.....

This again is one of my resist dyed felted wool treasures....and I'm down to only 3 more to go before I MUST make more!!  It's tiny, measuring only 6.5" x 5.5".

Embellishment potentials are gathered.....

And the doodling has begun......  What a fun way to begin the 2nd month of 2013....a day in the studio because it's snowing horizontally and only 17 degrees.....  Hope you get some stitching time today too!

BREAD BAKING

This is why I'm not finishing my marbleized piece.....lately my attention has been so divided...what with trips to see our darling grandson, car races, household chores, year end business paperwork...and so it goes.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining....just making excuses why it's taken me a week to make a 11" x 11" piece!!!

So today I decided that my sourdough starter was long overdue to be 'fed'....as you can see, very few bubbles appear on the surface....meaning unless it gets more flour/water...it will die.  So, rather then throwing out some of the starter (in order to make room to add the flour/water) I used a portion to make bread.

Normally the surface of the starter is full of air bubbles.

 Sorry for the out of focus photo...but of course once the dough has risen and punched down....there was no chance of a 'second take.'

 Normally I make free form rustic style loaves....but I decided to try to use the dough to make sandwich bread instead.  Years ago a roommate gave me this Pullman loaf pan from her father's bakery.  It's a very heavy tin...with a lid that slides over the top....to achieve a flat top loaf.

Here's the less than attractive loaf.....the amount of dough I made wasn't enough to fill the pan properly so perfection in shape wasn't a result but the taste was super.

Sometimes I can be so one dimensional.....wanting only to spend time in the studio....which doesn't make for a very well rounded person.  Guess I'll be more well rounded after consuming heavily buttered slices of warm bread!