Fence Rising...

A couple of weeks ago, someone had posted a reminder on Facebook that the "Super Moon" was coming. I made a note to get up and take pictures, because as you step onto our back porch from the mud  room, the first thing you see is the moon rising over our ivy covered fence, often, it seems, peeking out artfully through the clouds.

A reminder for those of you using Google Reader

Google Reader is shutting down in a just a few short days.

If you haven't already migrated your reader to another platform (I can recommend feedly.com - I use the cloud version and love it!) there are other ways to keep up with the goings on here.

You can subscribe to my feed through Bloglovin;

You can join me on Facebook where you'll not only get links to my blog posts, but also links to articles,  exclusive sneak peeks, and notes from studio); or

You can subscribe by email

And what's the picture of?  The background I'm using for this latest piece.

See you tomorrow!

P.S. If you missed my post the other day, Canadian artist, arlee barr lost 80% of her studio in the recent flooding.  Imagine - losing not only raw materials, but finished work, art, etc. and imagine how devastated you would be. (I would be crushed!) If you can spare just $5, please donate to help her re-build.  HERE

xo

In the meantime, ain't we got fun?

I've been continuing the stitching on the little onewhile I sits and thinks about the big one...

We get by with a little help from our friends...

I have completely copied Deb Lacativa's post here, because it couldn't have been stated better, or more simply. 

If you are a regular reader here, you may also be familiar with my friend arlee barr and her amazing work.

If not, you should know that she recently lost most of her raw materials and UFOs in the flooding that overwhelmed the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

If you can help get her art studio back on its "hoofies" in the smallest way, there is a link in the sidebar of her blog to donate...

Surprise! the LIMIT is the cost of one of those mocha-choke-a, latte, with a double dash of extra calorie coffees that y'all swear you should live without anyway!

One 5$ brick at a time, we'll lift her up.

Winging Away...

Made progress on the second wing this weekend, although not as much as I'd hoped.

On the other hand, brunch was had, a new dress was made, and our back yard has been transformed after 6 hours work.

More work on this piece on Wednesday!

The Year Of The Feather continues...

Right now, I'm making black wings...

True Confessions...

You know the piece I was working on last week, when I made this lovely wing? I'm not working on that anymore.  

I may go back to it at some point, but having painted and quilted the background THREE separate times (and these are not small backgrounds!  They're all 60 x 45 inches) and stalling out on it realizing that they weren't appropriate for the other elements; I have decided that clearly, the Universe doesn't want me to make this piece right now.

So I have withdrawn from the show (well, the other two pieces will still be in it) rather than rush to finish it in time and turn in substandard work.  I'll probably come back to it when (if ever!) I decide on what background to put it on. 

In the meantime, when I looked at the most recent failed background and realized it wasn't going to work, I immediately saw this new piece, whole in my mind.

My Mistake...

Can I repair him?!

Catching up on Paperwork...

Sometimes when I'm thinking about a bigger project (one that's both physically bigger, and "more important" bigger); I need to stop and have a think about it before I continue.  I've been puzzling about a particular aspect with respect to the piece that's due in <gulp> 3 weeks, so in the meantime, I've been catching up on my paperwork. 

Devil In A Red Dress...

So, the other day I mentioned that I had put "Hiraeth" on stretcher bars because I didn't like the way it was hanging. Although BSP maintains that the "waves" gave it a "very arty 3D" effect, I didn't like it, and I was pretty confident that a potential buyer/show wouldn't either (little did I know it was going off to International Quilt Festival!)

Anyway - someone had written me and asked what I had done and how I did it - so here it is!

I bought these long pieces of 2 x 1 wood from Home Depot and had them cut to the size I wanted. Hiraeth was 29 x 40 so I calculated for 28.75 by 3.75.  I also measured the wood - and even though it said it was 2 x 1, it was actually 1.75 by 1 so I also had to take that into account when I had my inner pieces cut.

I put the pieces together using the metal thingies that you see here on each corner (don't be intimidated by my technical language lol), and I| put them on inside and out of each corner - so eight in total.

And then I proceeded to wrap the framing with thin cotton batting.

I'll Fly Away

The wing is done. :) Yay!  At 14.5 inches across its widest part and 11 inches tall - it's the biggest wing I have ever made, but was just as fussy as the little ones. 

Coming along....

Well, after yesterday afternoon's excitement, I was galvanized to action in the studio last night.  Which is why there are so many feathers!

So, this is the wing as it currently stands, but do you wanna know how I got there?

ZOMGZOMGZOMGZOMG!!!!

So, when I got back from lunch this afternoon,  I was expecting a callback from the vet's office so when I saw there was a message, I   I expected to hear Dr. Munn's assistant, but instead, it was a call from Quilts Inc. and they were all, "Where is your quilt?" and so that's how I found out that :

was accepted into INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL!!!!!!!
Apparently, they had notified me back in March, but for some reason I didn't get the notification, and "Hiraeth" is supposed to be there right now! (oops!)

So then I had to ask some questions, like, was it okay that it was in another show (yes) and was it okay that it's been mounted on stretchers ('cuz I just did that yesterday as I didn't like the way it was hanging) and they said yes, and have I mentioned that it's going to be in INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL?  lol

It's the first fiber art show I entered, so to be juried in -  and into such a big show, is like...wowzers. I was literally shaking and crying when I got the news. 
You know that phrase, "Over the moon"?

Wheeeeeeee!




P.S. It's going to be in the travelling show as well, so you can see it in Chicago and Long Beach. :) :) :) :)

The Year Of The Feather

Year of the Snake? Pish tosh! I'm calling it - it's Year of The Feather!

Cuz I never seem to stop making them!

Check out what I made in kindergarten!

Okay, seriously, this is about my sketchbook and about my next piece.

So, some people have sketchbooks that are works of art in themselves (see also "journals").

It's not my way.  When I "see" the piece in my mind's eye, all I need are my notes to guide me to its completion. I have 8 x 10 notebooks in which I scribble those notes, with my rough (very rough sketches). Sometimes I'll colour them, most often not.

The piece I'm working on right now has had many incarnations - this was extremely unusual and troubling development for me.

Monday, Monday...

The weekend got away from me again (don't you hate it when life interferes with your real work? *s*); but I  had a plan. There was something I wanted to try,  an idea I had, and handwork was the key. So making lemonade out of lemons, I got to work.