WINTER IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

A beautiful winter scene at 24 degrees during this morning's 'forced march'.

Time has evaporated!  Can't believe we've lived here now for nearly 14 years.  I never imagined living out my days anywhere but Wisconsin..but oh my we really stumbled upon the perfect environment for us!

BLACK AND WHITE - BLACK BACKGROUND

Continuing on the black and white theme..... I've decided to work with prints with a black background for my upcoming retreat project.

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you know that where patchwork is concerned I prefer to do most, if not all, my cutting and arranging of the patches on my design wall before sewing.  Many quilters successfully chain piece with amazing speed.  I'm a slow poke....often taking only two or 4 patches to the machine, sew their seams, press, and reposition back on the design wall.  Maybe it's my age or a control issue, but I get too easily mixed up any other way!

 This by no means is a finished arrangement ...3" sqs. have been cut from some fabrics just to see if what's in my head is a viable direction to travel. I'm considering piecing or fusing colorful squares to make an otherwise dark piece sparkle.

 The small test section above wasn't big enough to make a decision so I enlarged the sample.

 To get a better idea of the look, I sewed some blocks together.

Next, I auditioned various sizes of colorful squares and circles. Initially I started with 1" squares then decided that was too small and cut 1 1/4" squares.  But now after seeing this view, which are mostly too many and too overpowering 1 1/4" squares, I may just go with 1" squares.

However, that decision will wait until the entire 60" x 60" top is pieced.  I may not even do squares or circles or squares and circles together.  Time will tell....but for now I'll cut the nearly 600 black and white patches, pull some solid fabrics, and get the rest of my supplies ready to pack.  When I tell you this event isn't until mid March you'll really be shaking your head....YES.....I am an A+ type.....I'd have been a good Girl Scout as I do like to 'Be Prepared'.

BLACK AND WHITE

The 12 annual retreat for the PTA (Professional Textile Artists) is approaching.  We are a small fiber group, numbering 14.  Ten of us will again be gathering for 3 days at Lake Logan in the mountains of Western NC.

Which of course brings me to the task of coming up with an EASY project to work on.  There's far too much giggling, food and beverage consumption, flash exercise requirements, chatting, and oh ya....checking out what everyone else is making.  For me that means coming with a plan and having all my pieces cut ahead of time because I'm easily distracted!

I pulled out a big bin of black and white fabric and after studying it I realized there are mostly darker shades, very few lights.  Many smaller light pieces had already been cut for a previous project and soon they jumped onto my design wall.

However, after previewing them for awhile, I decided to reduce the width, preferring a longer more narrow background.  Which of course threw off my careful arrangement.

 I didn't mean to actually make a top.....but knowing this piece wasn't big enough of a project for retreat, I found myself stitching the patches together right then and there.  It will probably remain in this state until I get my real retreat project organized.

So, back to the bin and more head scratching. As usual, I'm determined to use fabrics I already own and create my own design which of course is a fun challenge.  Stay tuned..... 

MORE GROWTH CHARTS

Because someone asked.....here are a couple more growth charts I've created.  They make nice personalized baby gifts!  Sorry no patterns available....they are my own designs.

GROWTH CHART

Receiving a request for a commission is always so flattering. Naturally it's nerve wracking too! I've made several growth charts, they're fun to create. I'll spare you from viewing all the photos of the design process, instead I hope you'll enjoy a few and perhaps even notice the motif changes as the design came together.

 Did you notice the binding is attached BEFORE the last couple of elements were added?  Cloth tape measures seem to be a thing of the past and replaced with plastic.  So, it was one of the last motifs to be added for fear of damaging it with a hot iron!  The red horizontal dashes are merely to help break up the space.  There is plenty of room to write measurement dates in the entire column. 

OWEN'S GROWTH CHART - 18" X 46"

BREAD AND BUTTER

Wall art sales unfortunately take time so I've always offered smaller 'bread and butter' items where my work is for sale.  The fiber notebook covers I create in several different sizes make great use of the smaller pieces of my hand-dyed & printed cottons, silk noil, & felted wool.

 I'm always experimenting with new looks like this one, taking advantage of digital printing of unique subjects.

 And these two using some screen printed fabrics.

CAN'T RUSH THE PROCESS!!!

In an effort not to aggravate my troublesome shoulder I cut the felting process too short and had to go back and redo 3 pieces. Good decision, though they shrunk in size, they are now thicker and sturdier.  All are now tagged and ready to sell.

Votives, vase, & vessels with sea glass embellishment

TRITE BUT TRUE

Yup....there's always next year.  Despite this encouraging photo....the Packers fell to the 49ers 20-37.

San Francisco has a great team that played almost flawlessly, Green Bay has a very good team that played poorly.  They gave us an unexpectedly exciting year and nearly reached the end with a 1st year coach. No complaints from me.

I'm a Packer Fan, I'll always be a Packer Fan......GO PACK GO!!

Happy Birthday CWS......we were blessed with one child and hit the jackpot!

 First Birthday

Jackpot # 2 - marrying Kelly -  We love you both.......

WAITING

GO PACK GO!!!!!