TIS THE SEASON FOR PARTIES!

Okay....so you will probably see many Christmas trees this season....but for those of us who are empty nesters and will not be hosting guests for Christmas, meaning......an excuse not to decorate our homes.....it's a welcome sight.

Today kicked off a round of Christmas parties for the various fiber groups I belong to.  Gen hosted our PTA gathering today.....and it's Gen I can thank for this festive view.

 Pot luck meals are nothing new to quilters.....yet I need to brag about the fest our members made......believe me....there were only crumbs left....

Here's a sample of the fantastic work Gen creates.....she's a MASTER of everything, and I swear she can make her sewing machine stand up, walk across the room and take a bow!  (Judy Simmons is captivated by another PTA member as she waits her turn at the buffet.)

 Linda Cantrell (after getting her viddles) is entertaining Dort, Georgia, and Janice while they too await their turn.

 We are quilters....so of course there needs to be dessert!  Linda brought her FAMOUS coconut cake......

....and Judy treated us to these beautiful and delicious eclairs.

Another one of Gen's quilts decorates her living room wall......  Picture taking abounds with this group....one must be careful about their behavior...you never know what is being documented.....


Tomorrow my documentation continues.....

LOOKING FOR A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT??

"The husband" volunteers one day a week for Sarge's, our local animal rescue foundation......I'm guessing no matter where you are reading this.....there's an organization nearby that is working hard to save as many animals as possible too.

Our no kill group is very active....and VERY needed in our area where there is a definite excess of stray dogs.

 "The husband" visits the county animal shelter and takes the dogs into the outside play area to take their portraits.  He then puts data about each pet on Sarge's website in the hopes of getting every one adopted.

This little guy was less than a year old and isn't allowed outside yet......so play time and photo taking is done indoors.....


Perhaps someone in your family would love to give a pet a home for Christmas??

PINE NEEDLES - COMPLETED NEW WORK

This little project was such fun!  Well, I always enjoy creating....but sometimes an idea will be a departure from the norm which can provide such a pleasurable journey.  

Spying piles of pine needles decorating our daily walking route finally lured me in.  They became an interesting focus for a piece of felted hand-dyed wool that I've been wanting to use.


The pine needles were hand couched to the wool which had been stabilized with a non-fusible Pellon interfacing.

As is typical, when the design comes together, I begin thinking how to finish the outside edge.  In this photo, some hand-dyed perle cotton is being auditioned.  It was made and given to me by Nancy Bruce, a fabulous expert dyer of anything she can get her hands on!

While the edging treatment is being mulled over, additional auditioning continued.  I'm definitely favoring more simplicity in my work.  But, I've learned this end goal can become uninspiring if one doesn't pay close attention.  


With that in mind, some small brass washers were unearthed and scattered around the piece to provide more interest.

Alas......I took them off as they seemed too 'staged'.  Instead, I went back to an earlier idea; to add a line of (undetermined) color, either vertically or horizontally.

Of course it would have been easier to incorporate this detail BEFORE the pine needles were in position....but I'm a gal who likes a challenge!

For me, this small detail worked......  Next, I added a wool backing and hand embroidered the two layers together using Nancy's beautiful thread. (Thank you Nancy!!)

PINE NEEDLES

7.5" X 14"

available for purchase

So.....after studying the completed piece for a day or so, I decided to add another red line.....which was EVEN MORE difficult now that the backing was in place!  


The piece will be displayed with a border of hand-made paper and then framed. The finished (outside measurement) size will be 11 1/2" x 19".


Visit my gallery shop for purchase information and an updated photo in a few days.  If anyone is interested in the piece as is (unframed).....please email me asap using the link on the upper right side bar and we can work our the details.

WILL IT BE 12-0 ???

I can't help it.......we Packer fans are obsessive about our team.....so will they make it 12-0 today???  Our Green and Gold flag is already flying.....the Green Bay Packer M & M's are set out, along with other snacks......

All I can say is.... 

Pull it in....

 Hang on.......

 Throw it straight........

Plan well.......

GOOOOOO PACKERS........

PINE NEEDLES - NEW WORK

It's been a wonderful week with lots of studio time.  I'm multi-tasking on several projects.  This one is the farthest along.....

I've been hoarding some of the felted wool that was dyed during one of our Fiber Junkie's activity days. An idea to feature this particular piece has been brewing......

Our daily 'forced marches' get me outside for long periods of time (longer than I'd like to be honest with you!)  Luckily, our scenery is so inspiring and ever changing I'm not bored....just tired.  (Walking 90 mins. daily can do that do a gal.)  These pine needles, acorn caps and other interesting buds and sticks got my attention.  Next thing I knew, a small collection began.

I feared they'd dry out and wouldn't be usable in my work so I covered them several times lightly with a protective film.

After examining the felted wool, I decided to use just a portion of it.  Liking the uneven edges, I duplicated the look by wetting the wool, then stretching/pulling the cut top edge to provide the same appearance.

Now it's play time.  Here some of my treasures are being auditioned....more tomorrow.....

TIS THE SEASON - ALMOST

The first winter of our move to Western North Carolina, I noticed these large clumps in some tall, tall trees.....

It took a bit of investigating to understand what I was seeing.  Mistletoe!  I knew it was a parasitic plant, but had never seen it in person.  You'd think it would be prized. However it can kill the host tree when heavy infestation occurs.

So.....I've been wondering....how on earth are these treasures harvested for us.....given that one's I've seen are growing 100 feet or more high?  


My new friend Vita Marie Lovett just answered that question.  Some folks just shoot them down!   Check out her blog http://vitamarielovett.com/blog/?p=1153

Thanks Vita for answering that mystery.....

SMALL TREES COMPLETED

After studying the final appearance of this piece with the binding attached......

........it screamed.....bead me.....so of course I did.

Detail

SMALL TREES 14" X 15"

Artist deconstructed screen printed cotton, hand embroidered trees with wool thread, background hand embroidered with commercial floss, and featuring beadwork.

$150.00 

(includes insured shipping - payment via check or paypal)

Use email link at right side bar to contact Mary - further photos are available for interested parties.

Yup....that's just what it needed.  The black binding framed the piece well.....but frankly, it was a bit too harsh....so the beads really helped to add complexity and softened the look.

SMALL TREES - continued...

.....I'm still plugging away on this little quilt as time permits....

 All the beading is done, and as I mentioned previously....the next step was to quilt it.

After much pondering because deconstructed hand-dyed fabrics have a surprisingly amount of energy to them, I decided to hand embroider the background instead.

The binding is on.....not blocked yet so it's a tad wonky in some areas.  It's always a challenge to square a quilt that has been beaded because the rulers won't sit accurately on the surface. 

After reviewing the impact of the piece this morning, I may replace the binding with a narrower one OR bead the edge to soften the impact a bit.  

It's good to be back in the studio playing......I dare not call it work!

.....CONTINUED SHOPPING STUFF

Here are more inspired recycled treasures we found at the Screen Door in Asheville, NC (a really fun shop to browse and buy all sorts of truly unique items.)

 'The husband' would have loved to take this one home......if only we had room to display it!

 Here an artist (I couldn't find any business cards to acknowledge that person) is using pages from an old dictionary to make an unusual wall sculpture.

 ...here's another using catalog pages.  I loved the perforated edges the artist added.

Sitting down on the floor under a table in a nifty old wooden box were a pile of dried sunflower heads.  They were so full of texture and interest.....if the price would have been in my budget, I'd have brought some home.

 It's unusual to find newly made fiber pieces on display.  I gravitated toward this framed piece because it was hand appliqued wool.

This one may be difficult to see....the blue is the wall it was hanging on.  It's an unusual frame system....of which numerous configurations, colors, sizes were available. Basically, squares of old wainscoting were recycled and attached to another distressed plank of wood. What a clever idea to make it simple to slip a photo behind a piece of glass....allowing one to change the featured photos often.


Hope that if you are shopping on this cyber Monday.....you are finding great bargains of items on your Christmas list!

DID YOU SHOP???

I'm not much of a shopper....but there are a few favorite shops I enjoy exploring.  The Screen Door is near the top of my list and one where I could easily part with some hard earned money!

Here's a sampling of some of the innovative artists whose work is on display.

This booth featured the most adorable wall art.....highlighting vintage infant and baby clothing.  It's creator is Erin Brittain of Fabrications Designs.  Her card did not have a website listed so if you are interested, connect directly with the Screen Door folks.

 This booth, Splurge design, was very intriguing....featuring a lot of cleverly recycled materials.  This lamp is an example.....  

And here's a closeup.....

In the same booth we found this driftwood or possibly just weathered sticks made into a large Christmas tree.  It was decorated with wired/beaded ornaments (sorry they don't show up very much).


More tomorrow.....rushing today to reorganize after our company has departed for home.