A moving and powerful exhibit!

I'm sharing some pieces from an exhibit in the new gallery at the college where I work.  I have been in three times and find a new favorite piece each time! 
This is the artists's statement on the show.



You can see more about the gallery and the exhibit here.









One of my favorite pieces is included in the wall of women.

Text: "Gradually....

 I took many pictures close up since I was sure the full impact would be lost in a single picture.  Make sure to note the text written over the photo.

...Among the duties and...

...responsibilities and children...

....I lost myself."

The wooden books are very interesting.  You have to go around a couple of times to be sure you've seen the whole piece.

The house is the part that takes so long to appreciate- and where you find a new favorite each time.Inside and out covered with the smaller tiles.

I think I'd get more out of it if I understood Spanish.

Eye shadow pots as embellishment

Made with hair and fingernail clippings. Read the verbiage- in red.

 

There were pieces included about domestic abuse, as well as the ones I found most moving- the ones involving self image and being a woman in general.  I'm sure each person is affected differently.  Isn't it amazing how these women are so able to express themselves this way????? 

My green tip this time is  one I often forget- take the labels off the cans and bottles you recycle and recycle them separately.  If you don't the paper is burned. By recycling the labels, we can save one million trees a year!!!

I am grateful for:
Access to art that inspires and touches me.
Jane's new fabrics are up on her website!
Leftovers so I don't have to cook every night.
Excedrin on "those" days!
Meditative time in the sewing room.

What I'm working on

 It's been a while since I posted pictures of the project I've been working on.  There's a reason for that.  I've decided it might be my entry for a challenge.  So I can't do a reveal for a while yet.  But I can tease you with some of the quilting I've done.    I am having a great time with this piece- and with the "excellence". 

(By the way, I recently realized I posted the pictures of it twice.  I sort of got the machine twice, so I guess that was why I did it.  It's a cute story- maybe I'll tell it in a later post)

I also finally finished a scrap quilt I started last
summer! I was still teaching Scrap Therapy then, and this was a new pattern I couldn't wait to try.  Since we never taught this one, I made it my "leaders and enders" project.  It finally got to the point where I had to stop and put the blocks all together.  I love this pattern!!  It's called "Square Deal".

My new Leaders and enders project is also from Scrap Therapy- called Star Light, Star Bright.  I loved this pattern, so i decided I'd use up some of the Christmas scraps on  another version of it.









At my Guild meeting this month we had a presentation on Portrait quilts, from my BFF Mary.  You may remember the quilts she made of the two of us last year from this post.  She loves doing this kind of quilt.  She even won a 3rd place ribbon last spring for her life sized quilt of her son!  After the presentation some of us were lucky enough to have her teach us how to do it ourselves! 

I used this old picture of my husband and son.  This hung over my work space back then, so it was a special picture!  I haven't gotten very far yet, but the process isn't hard and it's kind of like doing a puzzle because you can't wait to see how it looks when it's done!

Hopefully next time I'll have at least all the pieces fused down to show.

My Green Tip for this time is a reminder that green is part of everything we do. Are you a "fashionista"??  You happily trade in last year's wardrobe for the new colors and freshest styles??  
The textile industry also causes environmental damage.  The chemicals used to grow natural fibers, the dyes for our favorite colors, the power used at the manufacturing plants...It all causes more environmental damage.
So think about what you buy.  Make smart choices, find ways to make the old work. Buy something that won't go out of style, then add accents in this year's hot color. Shopin the second hand stores and save money as well!

I am grateful for:
A visit from a dear "old" friend.
Fresh apples, so crisp and juicy the pop when you bite them.
Baking weather!
Creative people who inspire and encourage me.
Second chances.

Green tips

I've been forgetting the "green tip" in my last couple of posts.  Why is it so easy to start a bad habit and so hard to start a good one?

I am very sad to see the way environmental concerns have taken a way back seat lately.
The New York State Attorney General swore he'd make the environment a top concern and no way would he support "Hydrofracking".  In fact he was suing to keep it out of New York!  But now he has to defend the regulations the DEC has set forth (basically allowing the "frackers" to police themselves).
President Obama recently decided to pretend he was George Bush by saying the new EPA regulations were too much of a burden to business.
There was also a recent survey in which a slight majority of people said the economy and creating new jobs was more important to them than protecting the environment.  ( I believe this was new Yorkers in regard to "fracking" again, but could not find it)
I know it makes me sound elitist and like I think I'm more enlightened than everyone else, but how can people not see the big picture?

So- I do what I can.
I bring my shopping bags to the store.  If I forget in stores where I am only buying a couple of small items, I reject a bag entirely. If I'm in the store with a cart half full when I remember, I go out to the car and get them- that's a good way to not forget again!
I limit my driving.  I don't go to the store for one thing, or drive 50 miles for something I can get locally.
I keep my thermostat set very low in the winter and wear an extra layer. 
I do not buy seasonal items, throw them away and buy new ones the next year.
I compost my food waste to reduce my landfill usage.
I recycle everything it is possible to recycle, and pick up after others who do not. (I have picked water bottles off the top of trash cans in public places.  My husband loves that one)

All of these are simple things each one of us can do ( no, you do not have to be a trash picker).  But if everyone did it, we could make a HUGE difference!


I am grateful for:

Living in a country where I can make a post like this and not be arrested for it.
The brave men and women who protect my freedom every day.
Late summer days.
Sleeping under a quilt with cool fresh air coming in the windows.
Getting a major project done in the garden.

Summer's last dance

As we face the end of another summer, I cannot say I will be broken hearted.  I am not a summer person, although August was nearly perfect: enough rain to keep things green and make gardeing more pleasant, cool nights for sleeping and the heat and humidity haven't come back!  Still, I am ready for the change of seasons.
 Meanwhile, I am trying to enjoy the gifts of late summer!
 

Mr Dragon is smiling because he loves the Chrysanthemums!

The coleus blossoms are fading, but the colors are still glorious

LOVE the texture of the seeds in the center of a sunflower

Busy Bumbles gathering pollen while they can

Pokeweed berries almost ready for the Mockingbirds to gobble up

I've been spending long days in that terribly overgrown section of garden I mentioned earlier in the year.  There was no saving it, so I'm sort of starting over.  I hope the Lupines survive the trauma they have suffered! (The pile of sad looking leaves in the lower right corner are the Lupines)

I am grateful for:
Surviving the end of year purchasing process.
Preseason football (otherwise there'd be NOTHING on tv!)
The occasional day where I can do "nothing"
Hurricane Irene wasn't as bad as they thought she would be.
Audio books

Just Playing!

 

A new tenant has arrived in the garden!

I have been having fun in the studio the last couple of weeks- doing stuff  "Just for fun"!  It's a joy to have no looming deadlines, nothing that HAS to be done anytime soon.  At first I was a bit lost at sea without the list. But then I decided to enjoy it while it lasts!

Of course, part of  the incentive for the playing is so I can get to know the new tenant in the sewing room.  I must have been a good girl last year because I got this elna "excellence" for my birthday!  I wanted a quickie project I could use to push lots of buttons and get to know how this machine and I will get along.  (even thoughI've had an elna for years- and Love it!)

So I dug into the scrap basket and found some strips left over from old projects that went together nicely and decided to piece them all together and see what I got.  I strip pieced, cut then pieced again, then used the bits I had cut off for smaller pieces- just playing! Here's what I ended up with.

OK, so what do we do with these?
Cut them up, of course!  Now, what else does it need??  I know, I'll dig in the bins and find a fabric to put in between the pieced sections.  Something to give the piece some unity, right?
















I found a nice hand marbled piece made by one of the members of the ArtCGirlz! Ooh!  That has potential! But what else does it need???

Lime green of course!!!!  So this is where I left off when last I had time to work in the studio. I had planned lots of thread work and embellishments, but now I'm not sure it will need much.  Stay tuned.

For a "quickie" project, it has turned into kind of a major work, but the important part is I am just having so much fun doing this!










In the same issue of Quilting Arts where Mary read about ice cube dyeing, I found the article about finger paint mono-printing, which sounded like fun!
It was!  I tried some finger painting, and a little stamping and a comb.











Then I used a silicone hot pad I found somewhere to see how that looked.  At first I didn't like how uneven the paint was, but then I decided it's a pretty cool texture, even the blobs on the edges!









For this one, I used a metallic paint, and stamps, over a piece I had used to absorb the extra paint from a paintstiks piece I had done.


What will I do with them?  Well, I just got this paper bag full of oddities to use in a project, so...  who knows?   I'll just play!






I am grateful for:
Regular rainfall allowing me to work at my own pace in the garden.
The wonders of nature I wouldn't enjoy if I weren't always out there pulling the darned weeds!
The people in my life who make even simple events special.
Time to play!
Being in a good place at work, finally!

Sew, what's new?

I have been trying to get an update ready for weeks, but I just haven't had much to say.  So I'm combining all the news from the last few weeks.  Hopefully my life will become less boring soon, and I'll have more to talk about.  :-)

As I mentioned I have been addicted to making the "Kanzashi" flowers.  There is still a production line in the living room where I do my hand work.  I have not yet become bored with this process, although I have let the flowers pile up a bit.  One solution was to make a bouquet!   There are 16 flowers in this one, including the teeny ones on the stem together.   I improvised the leaves, and added some dried greens to cover up the wire stems.

Meanwhile, my real flowers are doing much better now that we are getting rain on a regular basis again!  it is so nice not to have to spend an hour every day lugging water to keep them alive!  Here are a couple of my favorite spots.

The front walkway.  Aren't the Convolvulus  magnificent this year?!?

The walkway to the back door.

I had a birthday recently.  My hubby surprised me by going out and spending way too much money on the sewing machine I had been saving up for- the elna "Excellence". He had help from the very nice staff at Calico Gals in Syracuse, NY.  They all think he's the best hubby on the planet now.  (me, too!)
Not only does it have many buttons for fancy stitches and fun features, it has a nice wide throat for machine quilting!!!  (Now, of course, I need a better sewing table for it)

My best friend Mary came over with a surprise of her own.  She loves to dye her own fabrics- and she's pretty good at it!  After reading an article on ice dyeing in the current "Quilting Arts" magazine, she made these.  I had to choose which one I wanted as a birthday gift.  (she's so mean!)
I chose the big spiral one.  It's going to be a focal point in my new office once I figure out how to get the design I want to quilt on it marked. The hard part may be deciding which way is up!

That brings us almost up to date. 
Here is my August Calendar quilt.  In the book, August is a sailboat.  I love all the yellow sulfur butterflies around my house in August better. (no offense to Nancy Halvorsen.  I get sea sick.)









My "Green" tip this time is a reminder about those compact florescent bulbs.  I have had a few of them for long enough that one finally burned out.  You should NEVER throw them in your regular trash!  They contain mercury! (I personally don't think the mercury is a fair exchange for energy efficiency, but no one asked me)  Some retailers will accept them for safe disposal.  If you cannot find one, check with your municipal or county offices to see if they offer hazardous waste collection. Here are some other options.

I am grateful for:

A good relationship with my new boss.
Birds and butterflies around the gardens.
Frozen desserts of almost any kind on a hot day.
Summertime means low effort meals.
The love of people around me who have embraced my inner 6 year old.

Hammock time!!!

It's MUCH too hot as I write to go outside and lay in the hammock, but I have been lucky enough to find a few hours of Hammock time this summer.  It is glorious- one of the most self indulgent things I do in the summer!  For any who don't know, my house sits in what used to be a cornfield.  I waited a LONG time to have a shady place to set  it up.  It's only a few short feet away from my front door, but when I'm out there, I feel like I'm on vacation!

Watching the Poplar leaves rustle in the breeze

The leaves make a soothing sound as they dance in the breezes we enjoy out here in the boonies.  It's kind of hypnotic, very relaxing!!!

Home Sweet Home

Looking toward the garden that needs so much attention

I couldn't get closer to them.  All four eggs have survived!

The mockingbird babies are growing quickly and will soon leave the nest, thank goodness.  The parents are quite aggressive in guarding them and have been chasing me right out of the gardens, even around the corner from where the nest is!!!

Daddy taking off to dive bomb me!

We had our meeting of the Art C Girlz at Lori's rental cottage on Silver Lake.   Those of us who had finished our "book page" challenge piece shared them. That was what I could not show last post.  So here it is for you now.
I had bits left over after I trimmed the patchwork, so I made a second smaller piece.  I call the small one "view from the Interstate"
The challenge was to take a portion of a picture and blow it up, then use the basic shapes in the picture to create a small quilt for a book page.  (We use old upholstery samples since they already had the grommets!)

Hard to see the part I used- it's the curved bridge way in the background!

My picture is one I took as we drove out to Portland, Oregon last July.  I think this was near Akron, Ohio.  The visual texture of the urban landscape appealed to me.  I had a blast making this piece and am thinking to do it again on a larger scale.








The green tip of the week- since I have been doing this myself to keep my flowers alive in this extended period of hot dry weather- is to save the water from doing dishes, or take a bucket in the shower with you to catch the run off.  Use this water in the gardens.  It conserves water, and the soap can actually keep pests away!


I am grateful for:
The summer TV season has finally started on the cable networks.  (LOVE "Wilfred"!)
Iced tea made the way my Grandmother made it.
Cool summer salads.
My Zinnias and the one Angels Trumpet blooming in spite of the weather.
The luxury of a nap in the hammock!