A Friend of "Twelve by Twelve"

Twelve by Twelve is a group of twelve art quilters making a 12 by 12 block on the same subject. This was the "chocolate" themed work and today is the debut of all the work. I do not have a link because I didn't plan ahead.

I'm not a member of the group but I started making things when they did. So this is my humble chocolate piece. It was difficult to photograph due to the shine of the fabric used. I wanted to create in fabric the "mouth feel" of chocolate. Soft, creamy, heavy, thick and with a bit of upholstery sample-- a crispy nougat. Everything is sewn down by hand with perle cottons as I wanted it all rumpled, like poured, melted chocolate.

I added a ribbon of silk couched down to look like liquid chocolate. I'm not sure my work qualifies to be in the company of the Twelve. I will be going to their site often this weekend to look and look again at what they have created. Wow!

My Dandelion for the first of the Twelve challenges. I made this awhile ago when I was working in a series and kept making flowers using this strange polka dot background which I had purchased in three color ways. All were sold almost as soon as they came out from under the presser foot. So much for having a "body of work".

It really was "good stuff". And I stopped making them because I had used up all that strange fabric and couldn't find anymore of it. I lost my "muse". I did try to use other fabrics with dots, but it just didn't have the energy of these crazy dots. In blue, green and orange (I'm sure it came in other colors as well, I just didn't know about it). I tried painting my own fabric to look like this and that led to "other" things and I never went back to this series. I always wondered where this path would have taken me if I had had more of the strange dots. I was certainly on my way to developing a style that was instantly recognizable and readily purchased.

Friend of Twelve By Twelve

Blue, White and a Touch of Black

I decided to use a theme for the new Colorplay Series that Twelve by Twelve is doing. Their pieces can be shown as 12 of each, mine, if they are ever shown, have to have some connection to each other. So each will have a vase, of some kind, and flowers.

The background here is acrylic painted cotton duck (my own). The applique is commercial cottons and a piece of an old white linen robe. I like the Zen of the piece. It makes me happy.

Pink

I missed the deadline for this piece. I wasn't going to "play along" at first because I had fallen behind with the first series and hadn't gotten the last three challenges completed. But I changed my mind and made this.

The background is acrylic painted fabric (my own) with some bubblewrap stamping. The flowers are created in the style I learned in a Pamela Allen workshop one summer. It's kind of odd but it works here, I think. I backed both of these pieces with white felt (Deborah's suggestion) and I love how easy it is for me to do the zigzag edges and the quilting. No wiggles and nice stitch lines.

I'm looking forward to the next Colorplay challenge.

I am continuing to work on the three unfinished pieces from the first series and will show them next time I do a Friend of Twelve by Twelve post. They are, all three, nearly done.

Friend Of Twelve By Twelve- Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis.  Painted fabric, commercial printed fabric, paper, ink.  12 by 20 inches.

If I were to have added a title to this piece, it was to have been Artist's Statement.  I had wanted to express how the written statement somehow distorts and changes the art from one thing into another.  Never what you had intended.  Not exactly what you wanted.  Sometimes, outright bull shit.

The art without a statement can be anything the viewer wants to see or interpret.

I took a partially finished segment of something else (how's that for a statement!) and added to it until I had reached 12 by 20 inches.  Really.  The initial segment is perhaps 6 by 8 inches. Then I had to figure out how to make the two sections work together.  I don't think I ever managed to do that over the entire surface. There are places that work much better than expected and others that fail no matter what I try (pen).  The bottom half is layers of prints and ink that resemble text (the statement).  The top half is pure collaged color and texture (the art).

Since I am not a part of the actual Twelve By Twelve group, now that I have "revealed" my work, I think I will give in to the urge to cut this piece up and turn it into something else.  And here you have the changes (none are permanent) I made after walking the dog (18 degrees today).

I am interested in hearing what viewers to this post have to say.  There might be a way to make all this work--something I am too blind to see right now.

I have to go find the URL for  another Friend who is also revealing a piece today.  And then I will link to her.  So, come back later.

Six Things

I finished hand stitching the December, 2009 Twelve by Twelve challenge yesterday. Twelve. It isn't quilted or bound and it could use some tinkering but at least the concept I had for it is there. I sharpened the image in iPhoto here and warmed up the saturation in the second photo.

I'm liking it a whole lot more in the warmer color combo. Now, how do I make that happen in "real life"? I am also considering painting a darker, warm wash over the background fabrics to make the twelve circles pop a bit more. Or I could stamp dark circles around the appliqued circles. I think I have a stamp.

But that was yesterday and today is today. Here's what we did today.

One :: G and I had breakfast at the Freeport Cafe and our server noticed my tan. Asked if I had been to Florida. So I am getting darker. Had giant blueberry pancakes and two eggs.

Two :: Finally changed the time on the Fit clock. And made an appointment to get the oil changed next week. Almost 5000 miles.

Three :: Visited a local quilt store. The clerk was busy chatting, endlessly and non-productively, with one customer while everyone else milled about. So, I helped a woman select a fabric. And bought three more half yards for my French quilt. If I use everything I have purchased for this "wallhanging" it will be king sized. Duh!

Four :: Raked dead leaves and junk out of two beds in the back so I can notice any new things coming up. I have daffodils, crocus and ajuga. I plan on killing the ajuga. Also, picked up Riley's chewed sticks and plastic bucket chunks.

Five :: Sprayed lime sulphur oil on the budded fruit trees and roses (G did this). Finally. We always think we will and miss the "still closed" bud opportunity.

Six :: Purchased new gas cans at the hardware store and filled them up at the gas station after filling up the Fit (G again). G also gave a woman in a Volvo the finger when she refused to back up so he could leave the pump area.

And that's our day so far. G & Riley have gone for a walk on the Town Commons and I am here with you, blogging. I have a blister from raking without gloves.

Found a wonderful cookbook at the library yesterday, Love Soup by Anna Thomas. She also wrote The Vegetarian Epicure which I am going to request. I may buy this one. I also found the Missing Manual for Snow Leopard the operating system for my new computer. I can use the scanner G bought years ago (and misplaced the manual) because this system overrides any manual. Isn't that cool? And it explains how to use Photo Booth. G discovered how to check if the batteries in the keyboard and mouse are still good. And we've only read it one day. I can't give this a number because it happened yesterday.

We are having record high temperatures and dryness here in Maine for the month of March. 62 degrees today. Short sleeves. No coat or jacket. Flies. No stinky spring mud. Next week it will be in the 40's and that's more normal for March. The furnace hasn't gone on for days. I am loving El Nino.

G and I have decided to rent a dumpster and clean up around here. And hire a company with a dump truck to carry away all the shed lumber G has collected in piles in the yard. He was going to build something years ago. Now it's all crumbly and rotten. I think it was from a torn down old barn. G has his eye on an already built shed ($$$) but we need to clear a space for this new shed to sit. (cut down trees) The shed would have double doors so the snowblower could go inside. And the wagon. And the lawn mower. And any number of things in the garage. He's going to find out what it costs. G is trying to spend my inheritance on things he wants. I also need to spend some of it on the remainder of the roofing. The only thing I got, so far, for myself, is 6 pairs of Smart Wool socks and this new computer.

I feel dizzy.

Mosquito

G is in Orlando and I am on dog duty. Riley woke me at 7 am this morning with flappy-ing ears. I dressed and we went outside to do "morning business" along with about a million or so hungry mosquitoes. I mean, literally, about a million. Clouds of them.

It started to rain yesterday at about 6 pm and rained all night. When Riley and I walked at 11:30 last night (just around the garden) there was a misty, foggy rain falling and the bugs were so excited to have some "blood". Well, this morning they are hungry for BLOOD. They are all over both of us. Ugh! G has this stuff he buys and sprays around the house with the an attachment to the garden hose. Wish I knew how and what to do because the stuff really cuts down on the bugs. The sun also cuts down on bugs, but we won't be seeing the sun until Saturday.

Art Club is trying to participate in some kind of local venue art evening (slides of 2 pieces of work plus a 2 minute verbal by each artist) and I am getting repeat invites to "participate". Which has lead to me having to admit to everyone that I don't do "participate" very well or at all. Art Club members are all working on a small 3D collage assemblage for a coffee house show in September. Guess who isn't. I mean, I will make a collage, but the chances of it going into a show are very slim.

I am usually surprised that I post the bimonthly Friends of Twelve by Twelve piece. I missed the June first reveal (identity) and am not even working on the reveal for August first (passion). The wheels on this project have stopped rolling for me and once stopped, it is difficult to get the wheels in motion again.

I tried explaining that just thinking about a project and working on it (and sometimes almost finishing it) are enough for me. There are fabric artists who submit queries to a host of magazines in hopes of being published. And burn CD's and fill out applications and write artist statements to enter quilt shows and competitions. And pack and ship the quilts. Not me. I did it once. It was a rush to have been juried into a show, pack and ship. But not enough to continue doing it, keeping track of deadlines, and worst of all, making stuff to suit. There is NOTHING I detest more than working on something I have no interest in doing.

In order to see my work, you actually have to arrive at my house and demand to see stuff. Or appeal to my softer side by begging for work because you have no one else to ask. That's how I got into a two month, one artist, show last year.

When I worked at the library, I would hang my recent pieces up behind the CIRC desk to screen, from view, the CIRC workroom. Then patrons started asking about the work, started asking for new work, started requesting old favorites etc. They even began buying the work, literally off the wall. It was fun at first and then became another "job". I did enjoy helping new quilters with their projects, solving problems and teaching beginners. But, at the core, I was always happiest when it was over.

Right now I have about a dozen or so very promising pieces in various stages of progress. Some have been this way for years (about 8 years for one large 16 block applique). All the interesting problem solving/learning/experimenting is in the past. Now I only have the hard repetitious hours of work to do to finish. And why? Yes, that's the question I ask. Why finish them?

A friend, who long arm quilts my work, has been asking about that 16 block folkart Baltimore every year for 8 years. I have been saying that I am still hand appliquing the sawtooth strips that go around each block and haven't even begun to work on the borders. The quilt will be too big. I was making it king sized and not the twin size of the pattern which I stopped using after 5 blocks. I designed my own blocks. And the sawtooth strips (I've made 40 so far) are taking forever. So, in order to finish, I have to eliminate blocks and actually make the appliqued borders using elements from the original and newly designed blocks. I might have close to the number of strips if I only use 12 blocks. Or I can make two smaller wall quilts of 9 blocks each, meaning I will need to make 2 more designs and applique two more 18 inch square blocks. And we are talking about 10 year (or more) old fabric that needs to match and cover borders and new blocks and sawtooth strips. And the background fabric was an off beat choice and was damned difficult to find. Not many quilters applique on a polka dot background. Trust me on that point. I've shown these blocks and watched quilters wrinkle their foreheads in confusion. Why did she use that brown dotted fabric with the reds, blues and yellows? Because it looks nice. To me. And that's all that matters in the end.

What's this got to do with mosquitoes? I usually do have a roundabout point in these posts, eventually. Well. All these unfinished pieces are starting to "bite" me. Hound me. Why else am I thinking about these applique blocks after so long. And the piece on the design wall and the winter garden quilt. And the Twelve by Twelve "passion" piece. And the little applique circle blocks for the French quilt. Sucking the blood out of my creative self. Hard to do NEW work when the OLD work is in the studio screaming and stamping it's feet, louder with each passing year, month, day, hour.

Well, I am only working two days a week at the greenhouse. And I'd have to be a fool to actually go out into the garden, in the rain, to pull weeds. And I can muffle the screaming and stamping with the sound of the vacuum for only so long. Time to just "pull the work through" as a workshop instructor said. David Walker, I think.

I'll be here, pulling work through, and will post and photograph which ever thing I settle down to "pull through". And I'll walk the dog. And there will be mosquitoes.

Friend of Twelve By Twelve

The Purple and Yellow Colorplay. Now, I didn't like this combo. And I could have gone with pale lavender and yellow but that's not what I had to work with. This image looks nearly like the original. Purple is difficult to photograph accurately. The strips aren't that red. The yellow isn't that green. The purple is bluer. I could have added more colors to the mix but decided to be parochial in my approach: strictly limited. I am looking forward to seeing what is posted today by the Twelve. And find out what's next.

The roofers are working on the front section of the roof today. The wings are done. The first day was unbearably hot. Yesterday, sunny but cooler with a breeze to discourage flies and mosquitos. Today, cooler still (70) but sunny. Perhaps they won't need to hose down the shingles today and create muddy earth all round the foundations. And the front section doesn't have any skylights. So, it's just straight shingles but a very steep pitch (a two story roof) because I have a roof within a roof design. My kitchen dining room has its own cathedral roof and then another is built onto the front to cover the upstairs space. It is intriguing and was probably very expensive to build in the 1980's.

I am having a lunch date with a library friend. And I have two books to pick up. A really good one for G and I hope a really good one for me: The Art of Joan Schulze. I am not familiar with her work but the examples I have seen on several blogs is very interesting. So I am eager for the book and the experience of seeing new (to me) fiber art. The book traveled to me from the Maine College of Art (MeCA). This is the school I had thought about attending to finish my BFA. Now that I have money to pay the tuition I am less interested. "An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit" Pliny the Younger.

I need to get my Pole Beans into the earth today so they can grow and prosper. I love beans. I picked my first zucchini yesterday and two bunches of lettuce which took forever to clean and just minutes to eat. More radishes are ready to be pulled.

Riley just discovered I closed the bedroom hallway door. He can't get down to the bedroom to disturb (wake up) G. G got home very late (or very early) from end of the month. Now that he has new managers the paperwork and inventories aren't as perfect. And this stuff isn't what he's good at. So, he is suffering. I think it must have been 3 or 4 in the morning when he finally got home. Twelve hours working on end of the month. OMG.

I made coffee for myself but not in my dog mug. I clunked the edge of the mug with a jar bottom yesterday and now I have to think of a way to repair it. And then remember to hand wash and not drink from the chipped side. IOW, not use the mug as often or as carelessly as I have been since I received it at Christmas which is, like, every day.

I'm trying to decide whether to skip breakfast because I am going out for lunch. I have bills to pay this morning. Garden work. And that's about all.

I had lunch at the home of a gardening friend yesterday. She had made a watery potato "soup" with crunchy (undercooked) chunks of onion (old stuff she had pulled from her winter garden).

Thank goodness I had brought the leftover hot curried rice which I added to the soup along with a big swish of salt. I had also brought my sweet potato veggie burgers and we had those heated up on toasted English muffins with some of my pickled zucchini. I had added the jar of iced tea with lemon to my bag at the last minute. We finished it up while sitting on her deck under her grape vines. P is not the woman I met 8 years ago on the first day of Master Gardener classes. She has changed, gotten more scattered, less coherent, stranger as the years go by. Yesterday, I wondered why we are even friends. But, we are. I just have to accept her running away in the middle of lunch to "check the squash plants", her mowing odd sections of her lawn and then just not mowing the remainder, her running off to "help" people all the time. I get to listen to her complain that her garden is a mess, her house is a mess, she is tired, never has time for herself etc. We go places together every once in awhile, to garden events, meetings or dinner but not as often. And we don't laugh as much.

I don't laugh as much. I remember laughing a great deal when we would visit G's friends in Florida and North Carolina. Laughing a great deal with K in Atlanta. Laughing a lot with P on our garden adventures. I was trying to remember when the last time was that I really laughed. I think it must be years ago. When I was fat. Fat and very jolly. But when I was fat, people I knew hadn't started dying, getting sick, losing their jobs, having their children die suddenly and we owned a business and had money and TIME for travel. We have two weeks vacation now. Period. No time for laughing. Oh, I occasionally have a good hearty chuckle while watching Wipeout. Riley makes me smile. I am amused by life. In good humor. Just not roused to good out of control laughter. Would that be a "self limiting assumption"?

I haven't cooked anything in nearly five days now. I boiled some pasta one evening and served it with butter and cheese but I hardly think that qualifies as cooking. G ordered a complete take out dinner on Tuesday from an Italian place in town. No waiting in line for a booth or getting dressed in real clothes. And it was good. We will do that more often. I should go to the grocery and buy something but I lack the interest in doing even that.

On to the bills. The beans. Sweeping the floor (a daily chore).

Friend of Twelve by Twelve-In Progress

Identity. Now that I see this "in print" I can see that I have some work to do on the mouth. In person it reads much better as lips. The title of this would be "EYE dentity" and I wanted to emphasize the eye in my self portrait. Because it is my view, my way of seeing things that defines my identity. As a person and as an artist.

Passion. I, too, chose to do the Passion Flower. This is a close up of the block and I may crop it to a 10 inch square in order to condense the image and not have so much white space around the flower (which you can't see here, as this is tightly cropped). I understand that if we are limited to 12 inches square we should use the space wisely. I can always go back in with dyes and darken the background. I love the stitching. I haven't beaded this yet. And perhaps it will have more spokes. I'm not sure they can be correctly called petals.

I don't have a clue as to what to make for Twelve, the final image. But I do want to finish.

Events in my life "happened" at just the wrong time each of these months. I confess that my pieces were made in the week before each reveal. I did think about the subject in the 2 months we had to do the work but never actually did the work till the last possible minute. That worked for 9 of the pieces.

600. On another topic. This is my 600th blog post. I think I may have been blogging for four years now. How did that happen? The time passes so quickly these days. And, truly, I don't know how I would have gotten through this past year without you dear, dear, readers. (and the year before that)

Your comments. Well, I don't think I can express, in words, what it does to my heart to see a comment pop up in my email box. I try and reply to each comment that includes a return address.

My blog has also fostered a deeper connection with my children who are getting to know who I am when I'm not their "mom". This is especially true with my son out in California.

I may wish for hundreds and thousands of readers, but I'm sure it wouldn't be the same as having my little band of 30. Loyal, longtime readers. And the occasional surprise of a "lurker" who comes forward to say hello. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

You are the reason I get up in the morning (to check my emails and read your blogs). You are my connection to the world. You know me better than anyone. I tell no lies and keep few secrets. And I am on my best behaviour with you. Trying not to be petty (often), not talking about people behind their backs, and trying not to manipulate you emotionally. Because there are bloggers out there who do those things. And their blogs are popular. And you know I would love being "popular". :-0

My bowl today is filled with gratitude and humility. And joy. And tears. And laughter. All the stuff you and I have shared. And will share in the coming year. Each year, at blog-o-versary time, I make a promise to myself to "do better". To make the blog more interesting, more fun, more honest and in doing that, make MYSELF more interesting, fun, honest.

Last Ice Cream Cone In 2009

Tomorrow is the last day of August. Then it's September. And we start counting down to my birthday. Yay!!!!. Bravo is having some kind of Georgia O'Keeffe movie on the 15th and Survivor begins on the 17th. I'm making a chart of all the stuff that's happening. And my haircut is on the 3rd. I could even pick out new eyeglass frames this month. That would be amazingly exciting if they were "cool" frames. I'll wait to see how amazing the new haircut is. Or isn't. I should plan on a new and exciting lunch for the month of September. Today is the last day to get an ice cream cone until next year. Butter Pecan or Strawberry?

I'm working on two of the Friend of Twelve by Twelve pieces that I missed the deadline for in June and August. I'm hoping to post them tomorrow. Identity and Passion. They are much different than what I would have made at the time they were due. I like them. I may even remake Water. I'd like to frame all 12 and hang them somewhere. Like a coffee shop or library. It's a thought. The last one is Twelve. Should have seen that coming!!!!

I finished one disc of Season One of Mad Men. In one episode, two women are sitting in the kitchen, in dresses, stockings and heels, smoking. One is pregnant. Their kids, in another part of the house, are getting noisy so Betty calls them in. They are playing "Spaceman". Wearing dry cleaning bags over their heads. Betty says to the 8 year old daughter, "if I find the dry cleaning that was in that bag, on the floor, you are going to be in big trouble young lady". 1959. And we survived! And, of course, no seat belts in the car. Betty sent Don out to get the 8 year old daughter's birthday cake (big party at the house) and Don had been drinking all day (and smoking) so he went and got the cake and drove home but didn't want to go back inside, so he drove off with the cake and never came back home until very late. No birthday cake. Jeez. It brought back cozy memories of my childhood. Don could have made everyone happy by leaving the cake box on the lawn and THEN driving away. I'm always trying to "fix" the things that went wrong.

This is WHY I always baked MY OWN CAKE for my birthday. Even as a child. I was never disappointed that way. A survivor. Mad Men may be too brutal for me. We'll see.

I need to take a shower, finish the laundry, put clean sheets on the bed and figure out something to cook for dinner. G has walked the dog and vacuumed the floor. I have two more discs of Mad Men to watch before Tuesday. Six episodes. And Ice Cream. We have Chinese Dumplings in the freezer to sample for lunch or not. Busy Day. :-)

See you in September!!!

Fabric Content

My "Trade Your Stash" loot. While I was Program Chair (one month) I had my chapter members pack up a bag of items from their quilting stash to trade for a bag of some one else's stash (only 12 out of 60 participated). I picked a bag and was delighted to find all sort of odds and ends from someone's crazy quilt adventure. Silks, velvets and laces. Today another chapter member called asking if I wanted her stash of silk tie remnants (I have a reputation for taking scraps). Is the Universe sending me a message? YES!

I've gotten to work, for just about an hour, on the Twelve by Twelve challenge for October. Shelter. The recent economic disaster makes me think of "sheltering my money" but that's not what I chose. Close. I sort of "tag a long" with the group but I'm not a member. But I do enjoy tagging along and the Twelve don't seem to mind.

I'm not really a member of anything besides this blog and it's readers.

I envy all of you with enthusiastic quilt chapters, guilds and mini groups. My chapter was very active and vibrant at one time and could be again, I think. I just wasn't the right catalyst to motivate them (Program) as they saw me as "too strange". There were a few who wanted to know and do what I am doing but they weren't vocal enough to override the majority.

In "What's New", I cut open the woven gift wrap and have my Rayna Gillman birthday present book on hand printed cloth open. My next grocery list will have a large box of gelatin on it. I want to try the gelatin monoprints first. As I was reading the book this morning, and seeing the listed items that could be used for printing, I was almost ready to jump into the truck, and head off to work on my Saturday off. We had so many of the printing items in the big trash box in the annual house yesterday. Bubble wrap, Christmas ornament plastic containers, styrofoam shapes. I hope we have more of that on Monday so I can save it from the dumpster.

I have some soy wax, not much, but perhaps enough to try a sample project. I also have a small "kit" box of dyes and print paste from a workshop with Hollis Chatelain. It's probably all expired but it's what I have on hand to experiment with and will do the job, I think.

What I love about Rayna's book (and her) is that she will go out, at night, with scissors, to collect pieces of construction fencing. Because she's "an artist". Rayna has also gone into the street to do a crayon rubbing of a manhole cover she thought was interesting. Again, because she is "an artist". I love that. I need to think of myself as "an artist" more often. All the time.

What's Happening today: Since G & I both have this weekend off (rare) and it's raining and we are both tired from working so much, I have been cooking and baking. We had a really big lunch that cleared out a lot of garden produce stored in the fridge. Fried squash with onions (a nice old southern dish), steamed rice, roasted beets, sliced cucumber in sour cream dill sauce and leftover turkey breast bones (with lots of meat still on them) roasted till crispy and brown for G. I just pulled an apple and dried cranberry crisp from the oven. That will be tasty later this evening with coffee. G and I like eating a big meal around 2 or 3 and then having something with coffee around 7:30.

The garden is slowly shutting down. Tomato plants have blackened and the squash vines have died back and I can see how many Delicata and Butternut squash I have. Lots! The celery needs a bit of paper wrapped around the bunches to blanch it a bit, but I like it deep green with a strong celery flavor. The leeks look good. Carrots are getting long and fat which reminds me that I need to try my hand at making the carrot, orange and ginger soup G likes to order at our favorite restaurant. I love the black bean bisque but Thursday I tried the butternut squash bisque and it was "out of this world" good. Simple food. Simply delicious.

I bought some grass seed to plant in the garden as winter protection and a nitrogen additive. I have been adding ground leaves and lime but I think I need to add more peat now and more lime. And cow manure. I'll stock up on bags of what I need when they go on sale. Soon. Right now G and Riley are asleep so I am going back to my studio--- cause I'm "an artist". And I need to be doing "art".

Winter Scenes

It snowed and snowed and snowed. And now, at almost 2 on Sunday, it is starting to drizzle because it's warm outside. I know this, because, the rhodie leaves are big and fat. When it's cold they shrivel up. And because I shoveled the deck in Crocs and my red robe (over my pajamas) and I wasn't cold. In fact, I kept shoveling with the addition of my down liner and thermal jacket (minus the red robe). Still in my jammies and Crocs. The only problem wearing Crocs today: if I stayed in one place too long, the Crocs froze to the ground.

My shovel and the deck. My after breakfast work out. My helper was Riley who continues to dig holes looking for mice and voles who are bedding down in the leaves (under the snow) and under the deck. This work of his, keeps him very busy. G has just finished the snow removal on the driveway and that horrid pile the snow plow leaves at the end of the driveway. He and Riley are now off in the woods on a "walk". G has on his new snowshoes. Riley has his exuberance.

My "pink" piece is still not stitched but I thought I should, every so often, include a bit of actual fabric art on this blog. I painted the background piece awhile ago, when Sonji had a painting tutorial on her blog. And I went back in recently with some bubble wrap printing and then added lighter colored paint to some of the circles. I intend to use painted backgrounds for all the Colorplay work. That way the series will have a common thread. My work would be shown by itself, separate from the Twelve by Twelve members. They can hang all the work of the same theme together and have it work. My twelve pieces don't play well together. In fact, I considered doing more than half OVER just to get the 12 to work as a group. Considered.

I haven't done my 10,000 hours to establish myself as an artist. Or the 100 pieces I need to define my style. My work is all over the place; in style, in fabric and in stitching. So, by painting the background fabric, in the same way, I will have at least one common thread. I may also do a vase and flowers each time. It's a theme I always return to and enjoy. I used up almost all the blue flowers in this piece. It was a small scrap from the wastebasket. That's the problem with wastebasket scraps. No yardage.

The month and year are still pretty new, but I am feeling quite happy with the things I have accomplished so far. The television is staying in the OFF position. I made a good batch of biscuits this morning. If I had been a bit more careful measuring the flour, they could have been lighter. The blackberry spread I opened was tart and delicious. The coffee was great.

Now, a good long, hot shower and I'll move on to the next project. Whatever that is. My bowl today is open to possibilities.

Yesterday's Art

I'm working on my Friend of Twelve by Twelve piece for "twelve". Nine circles in a grid and then three more smaller circles to total 12. I found that most of my pieces had black and white in them, so there is a connective thread through the series. A few may need to be reworked. But the 12 should be interesting to view as a whole. I'm trying to finish this series before the 12-12 deadline for the "pink" theme is due. I just realized that the last piece in this new series will be completed on 12-12-12. Duh!

I have a long list of "things to do" today. None of them things I really want to do. I'm working on clearing out the freezer and fridge so I can eventually buy my new fridge and have it delivered. My Christmas present to myself. I want to start fresh with all new food inside the sparkly new fridge. Today, I removed the large package of pork and plan to put it into the crock pot tonight for pulled pork tomorrow. I can serve it with pasta, on a Kaiser roll, rolled in tortillas, on nacho chips or in a pile on a mixed greens salad (my favorite way). Lots of possibilities.

So: laundry; library; Loew's for Scotch tape (buy one, get one free); grocery for tonight's dinner for G; bank; dog walk; bulb planting; perennial planting; and then Art Club. I may even stop in at Goodwill to drop off the pile of clothing I have to donate and see what they have - I want an old worn in down vest. I will have FOUR episodes of West Wing on the TiVo that I haven't had time to watch. I am also ordering three new tops for the winter. With nice shawl collars. My favorite style of collar, which just happens to be in fashion right this minute. I want to get some to have for the next few years, when they won't be in fashion.

Time flies.

My bowl this morning was full of mini shredded wheat, plain not sweetened, and 1% milk. A treat.

Friend of Twelve by Twelve : Community

Today is the "reveal". I had an entirely different piece in progress. Couldn't find it. And there is no such thing as "coincidence". This piece wanted to be made. It all fell together in moments, each piece directly under my hand when I wanted "something".

I used bleach discharged black cotton, a vintage map of Washington, D. C., and a magazine clipping of an old hinge. I placed the hinge on the straight edge of the map of the Capital, the largest community common to Americans. To the right (?) : rough waters, and accidentally, some skulls. The choice of black and white is racial and political. Right or wrong. Yes or No. Us or Them. Good or Evil.

In the lowest, left corner, tacked down with clumsy, painful stitches is another community: Arlington Cemetery.

Not all of the community pieces made by the Twelve are joyful. The tree with colorful leaves and the birds on a wire made me smile. The text that accompanies some of the work contains a number of vocabulary words that I hadn't expected to see: couldn't, difficult, separate, disconnected, excluded, not a part of, outside. My first piece was all about loneliness.

Friend of Twelve By Twelve

My second post for today. Playing catch up with the Colorplay Challenge for May 1st. I had all these fabrics on my worktable for the past month but no time to go fiddle with them. There was another fabric, a commercially printed one, that I didn't use. All of these are either painted or bleach discharged by me. I added red with the stitching as adding red fabric set my teeth on edge. The lower part is the underground lava. The earth in the middle, still green and alive.

And then the black smoke rising into the ashy sky.

Here is a detail close up. I tweaked the color saturation in iPhoto to come close to what I see in "real life" as the light here in the house (due to skylights) is very bright and is drowning out the color. I wanted the opening to have a torn and raw look.

I have to admit to having viewed the real Twelve's and perhaps was influenced by their work. But they are all so good, it could only be a compliment.

If there hadn't been an actual volcanic eruption in the month preceding the May 1st due date, I think we would have made entirely different things. I know I was contemplating another still life of "Vase With Flowers".

Friend of Twelve by Twelve

Shelter. Unfinished. So far, I have the shapes and a few lines of machine stitching and I hope to be able to add more stitching by hand later today. I keep returning to this discharged piece of black cotton for my 12 by 12 pieces. I had to really dig around in the piles in my studio to eventually find the remaining scrap -- just big enough for this. I had used some smaller scraps to piece with my own painted fabric (the bottom band) and had to cut that piece in half and piece it again to fit across the bottom.


The shelter's roots are "stretched" across the unknown to reach the safety of the green area. The house/shelter is sitting precariously on a thin strip of safe green. In any other September, I would have made one of my "oh so sweet little houses" sheltered by huge tulips. I do not feel "oh so sweet". I am thankful that our house is paid for, no mortgage, no loans. I don't care that the bathrooms are dated or that the kitchen is not my "dream" kitchen. I'm happy for a roof over my head, the possibility of purchasing enough oil to heat the house (iffy), and enough cut firewood to cook over an open fire in the yard if the economy tanks completely (I like to plan for any future problems - I just need a nice cast iron Dutch oven with lid and wire handle and some nice insulated fire gloves and we'll be ready).

I think it is very interesting that a number of the Twelve have used enduring shelter themes of rocks, caves in this economic crisis.

Friend of Twelve By Twelve- 01-11

Colorplay Challenge: Emerald Green, Burgundy Red and Eggplant.  January 2011.  Winter Into Spring.  12 by 12.  Vintage velvet, silk, hand and machine sewn.

I managed, on this dark, snow covered morning, to get the golds color-correct, but the Colorplay colors, in velvet, are never going to be color correct without professional lighting equipment.  They are too dark and have too much textural shine.  Trust me that I have all three: emerald, burgundy and eggplant purple. This is a sliver of the "slow cloth" I made from velvet scraps.  I cut away the parts that didn't work and then finished the edges of what was left with a patchwork of silk scraps left from the making of the annual Christmas card.  In person, this has a rich almost Medieval quality; the kind of surface that wants to be touched.  My daughter saw it yesterday and the first thing she did was trace her finger over the velvets.

I enjoyed the slow pace that the "slow cloth" style allows.  It's like meditative mending. You can add or subtract fabric as you sew.  No decisions are permanent.  I got to use floss and perle cotton threads. But if I were to do this again (and I think I will) I will not be using velvet. It slip slides away.  No matter how many pins you have along the seams.

Maine is receiving 8 to 14 inches of Champagne Powder today.  The best skiing snow there is on earth.  We have no visibility.  No reason to go outside until it stops snowing.  I have things to do, the dog has been outside and quickly returned, covered in snow, to his warm bed.  The snow began after everyone was already on the road to work (7 am) so the commute back home will be stressful since the Maine Traffic Plows like to plow secondary roads after the snow stops falling.  Not during.  As usual, my street and connecting road will be far down the list, if at all.  But I have more important things to think about. What shall I have for breakfast?

Friend of Twelve by Twelve - Sweet

It's come to an end.  The five year adventure that I decided to "follow along".  This has been quite a five years for me.  I have changed.  My work has changed.  And I wouldn't trade a minute of it.  Best decision I ever made--to just jump in, and best commitment -- I stuck with it.   And I usually don't.

This piece was whole cloth (the back side of some very cheap Walmart black), chalk, and slim pickings out of the wastebasket of my own painted fabrics and the last bit of the discharged black.  One piece of commercial fabric (the one with text).  A few little cross stitches to hold back folds and French knots.  A sweet thank you to a dear friend who got me started blogging (the line drawing of a stem of flowers).

I don't think I can say much more.  I would start crying.  Not because I am sad but because my heart is filled with thankful happiness to have shared this adventure.

Pictures Of Our Lunch

This was my choice. Half a house salad with a grilled three cheese foccachia (excuse the spelling) with a cup of black bean bisque to start. I had no breakfast and popcorn (no butter) for dinner so the healthy eating plan continues.

This is G's Flank Steak Philly with the star attraction --- the Crispy Fried Potatoes which I didn't order. And he didn't share!

My find at TJ Maxx. Paper coiled bowls. Two sizes. Large will hold my 5#'s of red grapefruit for $2.99. (this week's special) I love these paper bowls because they are recycled paper. The text on the rolled paper suggests an Asian source.

My baked black bean soup turned out fantastic and will be served as my lunch today. The popcorn (fresh jar) popped very nice this time and G and I enjoyed our treat in front of the television. We watched NCIS, Bones & CSI and at 9:45 Riley started begging us for "bedtime". He couldn't wait till 10 pm, and it didn't matter that he had been sound asleep since 7. He likes everyone to go to bed and then he can sleep without wondering if we are going to get up and walk around, make popcorn etc.

We drove past the library yesterday so, of course, there are books waiting for us to pick up today. Books for G. My books have been renewed so I can let them sit unread for another 2 or 3 weeks.

I got a property tax bill for the house in Ohio I inherited from my dad. And an insurance bill for the car I inherited that is sitting in the garage of the house I inherited in Ohio. I'm hoping that the mail brings 1099's for my dad's bank accounts in the next few days so I can contact his accountant and send everything to her to file his taxes for 2008. My dad's lawyer is being very helpful in sending papers, filing things and answering my questions. I just feel so overwhelmed.

I am walking down to G's office after I post this to enlarge the chair I have for my Twelve by Twelve piece due February 1st. And then walking into my studio to set up my painting station. Then walking the dog. Then painting fabric. G just left for work. I think I might add some nails to the wall in my bedroom and hang some more of my fabric work up, if I can find some small nails. That's my day.

The waitress yesterday (when she saw me taking pictures of our lunch) asked if I wrote a "food blog" and really, I had to stop and think about that, since I do write about food a great deal and really enjoy cooking. I was going to write about the two chicken dishes I will be making this evening, but maybe not.

Which Side Of The Brain Wins Today?

It's always a fight.  To do Right Side things (fun) or Left Side things (work) or a combination of the two.  I started out with work.  I need to start getting the produce out of the fridge and into the freezer (or on the table for meals) and it's a bit creative and not a little of plain work.  Breakfast (at 11 am) was diced tomato, cucumber, onion (all from my garden) with fresh mozzarella.  I had already shredded four summer squashes to use in that pizza/pasta like casserole that G ate.  I had sliced two large farm fresh eggplant for more breaded and fried eggplant.  I have the last full bag of cucumbers on the counter and will be slicing then thinly for cucumber salad as soon as I finish here.  And I have a large pile of shirts to iron.  The dog is staying close in case I decide to take him for a walk in the woods.

The dining room table remains 95% clutter free which is amazing.  I carried most of my clutter to the workspace and now it is more of a mess than usual.  I had meant to buy more storage containers.  That was long ago and I never did it.  I also meant to add labels to the already filled containers.  So I don't have to open them all to find something.  And, I am starting to realize that I gave away some fabrics I should have kept.

Another member of my former quilt chapter stopped to chat with me at work.  Dues are way up.  Discontent is up. The elders are breaking away to meet during the day.  When I was president of this group that was something I tried to get started.  Daylight meetings for those of us with night driving problems.  Yes, I was president.  I don't shy away from the hard work of being a member of a group. I was also program chair for several years.  Now that's a hard job.  Never can please everyone at once. I don't think I can ignore the Universe sending these messengers to talk to me much longer.  I tell each of them I can't drive to the meeting site in the dark.  My night vision is really terrible.  I wonder if the library has a room open at the library on Mondays?

I have the Summer 12by12 to make before summer ends on the 21st.  I have the Maverick 12by20 to make before October first.  That should be an easy one for me--someone who makes up their own rules.  There was a Maine quilt group named the Renegades.  Oh, I wished I had been doing good work at the time they were organized.  But, alas, I was only a beginner.  They are no longer a group as each became famous for themselves.  And Frayed Edges.  Now Twelve by Twelve.  It's so nice to watch these groups begin and then blossom.  Someday it'll happen for me.  I just have to actually be making art at the time.  SMILE.

I think I'll have my first cup of coffee, make the bed, iron the shirts and think about walking the dog.

When the Voices In Your Head

get too loud, do something with your hands. Paint some papers. Build a sand castle. Bake a cake. Get busy and make something beautiful.

I was reading iHanna this morning and she linked to DaisyYellow and I went there and was impressed with the number of ways I could manipulate paper and paint. So I asked G if we could drive into Portland and shop at the Art Supply. I purchased the list mentioned in the brayer card stock post.

Eight tubes of water soluble Speedball Block Printing Ink and 2 two inch rubber brayers. It cost seventy dollars but I think I will have more than seventy dollars worth of fun with the supplies. I plan to stop at my favorite print shop tomorrow and ask for any card stock trimmings they might have in their wastebaskets.

I just couldn't purchase the Golden Fluid Acrylics. $17 for a small bottle. Not. Going. To. Happen. Especially when I would need 8 bottles or more. Doesn't matter how exceptionally wonderful the color and texture of the paint is and how wonderful it would be to experiment with high quality paint. This is the same reason I have never used oils. Too much money to spend for what is really only an experiment. How do I know I will like it? Perhaps everyone using them has gotten a sample package from the supplier. That's really the only way to get an artist to "want" your product. If it's that expensive.

The greenhouse Open House on Saturday was well attended and my vegetable gardening class was full. We had to add seats and not everyone got a information package. The donuts on the refreshment table were delicious and I ate 2.5 raspberry jelly filled donuts. It was cloudy with misting rain all day and today it's colder with harder rain falling. We sold quite a number of pansy flats and I answered all kinds of questions.

I worked on my Twelve by Twelve "window" challenge piece this morning while G walked the dog. It's a reworked piece I began a while ago using an envelope of blue scraps I got from one of the Frayed Edges. It looked like a window and it looked like the window I had wanted to make. So it is. I think I will add some hand work to the piece because that always makes it better. And bind the edges. Not all of my challenge pieces are completely finished. But it doesn't matter. They have no where to go. I will try Simply Robin's new binding tutorial and see if it's easier to use than the way I have been doing bindings. My corners are always bumpy and lumpy. Ick.

So I'm going down to make something beautiful. You go do the same.

Friend of Twelve by Twelve - Illumination

Two months and nearly impossible for me to come up with even a bad idea. So Thursday of this week I sat down with a piece of dyed fabric (the "wipe up all the spills" cloth from a workshop) and a pencil and started writing on the surface. When I ran out of things to write, I copied the dictionary definitions of Illuminate onto my fabric. Then I started embellishing with my Sharpie pen.

My favorite part of the dictionary definition (this is a very old book sale dictionary) was a quote from Hawthorne about the "fantastically embroidered letter that illumed the bosum" of Hester in the Scarlet Letter. I may have to try my hand at that.

Instead, you have a collage of all the artistic ways that I "illume" my bosum (and life) with art. Dye painting, acrylic painting, hand applique, paper collage, journaling, raw edge applique. I quite like what I have made this time, which is a surprise.