Aldermere Farm in Winter

March offering:

Okay, enough of snow and winter. I'm ready for a bit of color, even brown would do, knowing green is not far behind.

February offering

Back at the beginning of winter, I took this picture of some gone-by wild roses along the beach thinking how much I liked the composition. Even though it was a very gray day, it still appealed to me.




I began with 3 layers of fabric for the sky, water, and land and found some dyed cheesecloth to add another dimension to the foreground






then started threadpainting and finished with some hand worked grasses and rosehip french knots. Admittedly, I could certainly do more with the threads, but for this 'practice' piece, enough is enough. Maybe next time.

Blueberries in Winter

We have a lot of blueberry fields here in Maine. And any time of the year, they are beautiful. Summer green with big fat berries, fall red stretching over acres and then add white snow in winter. Beautiful. So, after passing this field so many times I decided to make it my next project. I started out with a plain piece of white cotton and after a quick sketch,  added colors here and there.


From there I started adding threads, many, many layers of colors. My new machine is so nice, my first Janome and makes it so easy.

 


Remember, I'm just learning this technique so don't compare the (not so great) photo with the finished piece. As with everything, the more you do the more you learn and I AM learning. At least I think I am.



After adding some finishing touches by hand, I finally called it done.

Channeling Great Aunt Maddie

Or was it Mary? Jody? Celia? Four sisters living in the same house for 80 odd years. That doesn't happen too often these days. An afghan very much like this was given to my parents as a wedding gift and held the place of honor on the back of the couch for all my growing years. On days I stayed home from school sick, lying on that couch, I would stare at the squares, wondering about the color combinations and trying to distract myself from my poor tummy or stuffy nose.



 I'm pretty sure this is where I began my love affair with color, with what I like and don't like. That throw has disappeared from my parents house, (actually the house and parents have too), and so I decided to take a break from quilting and recreate my own. These little granny squares work up quickly and the feeling I get seeing a stack of them get higher is so satisfying.




And, just like 50 years ago, I still find myself looking for my favorites.

The Little Things We Do To Get Through Winter

Is everyone very tired of seeing winter pictures on blogs? And it's only January! But these are my kind of winter scenes, despite the fact that when these were taken the outdoor temp was 2 degrees above zero. Not too many people partaking outside, but when the sun went down the die-hards came out and the ice bar at the Samoset Resort in Rockport was full!!

 

And this Cold River Vodka makes the BEST kind of martini. Icy cold. Perfect. With the warm temps and expected rain coming tomorrow, this will all be history...till next year.

Good Morning

I'm on my second cup...how about you?

Blue Skies

I am pondering new years resolutions concerning my 'art'. Do something daily. Something done weekly. Doing something 30 days in a row. I'm seeing plenty of resolutions on other blogs, and I hesitate to throw mine out into the universe for fear of failure, or, because everyone else is doing it. It's like announcing you're going to lose weight, and when it doesn't go exactly the way you want, people are disappointed in you, and worse, you're disappointed in yourself. So I' ll keep my resolutions to myself for now, but maybe, just maybe you'll see more fiber related things appearing here in the coming year. AND more things appearing here, on my blog, in the coming year!

 

I'll be working on mastering some thread painting, using what I see around me daily. Things I see on my walks, things that inspire me to want to rush home and sit at my machine to create something out of thread and fabric. Maybe a little paint too. Perhaps when I get to the end, I'll have picked up some valuable skills.

New things!

I've added some new items to my Etsy shop. Because. Well, because they're just gathering dust? Because I'm tired of tripping over them? Because they aren't making anyone happy hanging out in the closet? And because of all that, they're priced to SELL! If you're one of those people that like to get your holiday shopping done early, check this out.

Big Frost Comin'

The last beautiful flowers rescued from my garden before the first frost due tonight.

Finished!

And I'm pretty happy with the results, despite all my struggles (or maybe because of them!) There were many frustrating moments, but overall, things worked out. The colors are a bit brighter in real life and it doesn't look 'painted' as this picture seems to.

 
 One struggle was the hairline behind the ear, trying to make it blend in.  And then there was the ear...this is the second try, cutting out the first one completely and attaching a new one. Better.

And the ponytail, slipping out of it's elastic. Love this. I'm looking for a title, any suggestions?

Hello everyone, I'm back with a new fabric collage to share with all my quilting friends. I've always been so impressed with what some fabric artists do with light and shadows, dark and light areas that I thought I might try it for myself. I'm finding it challenging and just the right mind stimulating project to be working on as fall approaches. I'm also reaffirming some things I already knew about myself. I don't follow the rules. I don't color in the lines, literally. I can't for the life of me cut a piece of fabric to FIT in those shapes (and apparently I change the shapes too). So, I fly by the seat of my pants and somehow I think I'm making it work. And if only I did it the 'right way' life would be so much less stressful. I SHOULD have fused all the fabrics first. But, she says, I wasn't sure which fabrics I'd use for sure, and I didn't want to have tons of fused stuff I could have used for something else if they weren't fused. So, I used Susan Carlson's technique of using a dab of glue to hold everything down, and it's maybe not as neat as it could be, but it works.

Starting to add some color. The photo was enlarged using PosteRazor, thank you Deborah.

Today I start working on hair.

No Starfish were hurt....

I love summer in Maine. Finding these little treasures hiding under the seaweed is one of the true joys of a day spent at the beach.

I met this lovely young woman at the quilt show today. She had the most amazing 'sleeve' tattoo on her arm that immediately caught my eye. Before I describe it, I have to say I had a conversation with my 30 something kids this weekend saying I just didn't get these big tattoos every young person seems to be sporting these days. I felt like my grandmother complaining about Mitzi Gaynor's bare legs. And, boy, did I think she (my grandmother) was out of it. Back to this beautiful piece of art on skin: it was colors, soft greens and pinks (maybe?), some blue?, but it was also about the design; scissors covering a bicep, a spool of thread with a needle through it, and a measuring tape wound around it all. Check it out here.

As you can see, I haven't been motivated to post in a very long time, but meeting this young woman, Brooke, has stirred things up for me. Her 'package' was what I always felt was inside me but could never express. Things are so relaxed nowadays even though I was a teen in the 60's (late 60's that is) and some remember that as a very relaxed time. I WANTED to dye my hair and wear different clothes, but I just couldn't, shouldn't. Well, if hydrogen peroxide counts, I guess I did once. I think I was too afraid of what people would think. It wasn't done in those days. You know, "only her hairdresser knows for sure" attitude prevailed.  It was just really cool to see that the way I thought of myself inside then was present in front of me today in living color. Cool.

I still don't think of myself as old on the inside, though I surely am on the outside. I've heard more than one older person say that, and I plan to continue to think 'young' even if I don't express it in sleeve tattoos or clothing designed with the twenty something in mind. I think I can create a bit of wiggle room between 'age appropriate' and 'thinking young', don't you? At least I'll continue to try.

Work in Progress

Still working on water.

Sunday afternoon spiders and snakes

Assignment for the day: make 15 spiders and 15 snakes to be sold at the 'Sidney Mall' for 50 cents each. A classroom assignment to raise a little money for the kids. Each 3rd grader had to come up with a product to sell and make 30 of them.

Attending: one 9 year old with an experienced eye for color and two 'olders' with exceptional eyes once they had their reading glasses on.

Materials: wire, beads, polymer clay heads and bodies made ahead of time. Tea and cookies. Laughs and good conversation.
A good time was had by all.

Little Chicks

Here's a fun project I found one day while checking out other blogs:

Done by using the blanket stitch, (which I'd say I need to practice a bit more). They're tiny, less than 2 inches so they work up fast. The directions call for felt or wool, and really, that's the best.

I tried using some of my cotton scraps and they're okay but not as smooth as felt or wool. If you want to make your own, here is the link.

Two New Littles

I like to try to make my own thank you notes when I can. If I were smart I'd sit down sometime when I can't think of anything else to do and just make up a bunch. IF I were smart. But I always wait till I need them. I don't know if they're appreciated by the recipients, but I feel like I want to do something special for someone who did something special for me. This first one started out as just experimenting with some fiber I had on a piece of background fabric. If I had known how much I'd like it in the end I would have chosen a different background. It's okay.

And this one. Love the sky peaking through the branches.

Hand dyed fabric, scraps of yarns, thread. Next time I think I'll try for denser thread painting.

Frayed Edges March 2012

We had a great Frayed Edges meeting today! This one's for you Deborah.

I provided fabric and pigma 08 markers (sorry no microns to be had) for Kate and Sarah. And then we watched the tutorial she made, which I'm having one heck of a time linking to, so for anyone who's interested just go to Deborahs blog and scroll down a couple of posts and it's there.

Yes, those are your hands on my computer screen. We watched. Then dove in. Things we learned:

1. Following your advice, we worked loosely, keeping those wrists flexible.
2. Don't try to ask fellow workers questions that require a thoughtful answer while trying to write. No one can do this and respond at the same time. At least Kate can't.
3. If you can't think what to write try Music lyrics. Mary Poppins. Chim chim-in-ee works well. Happy Birthday would work too, everyone knows those lyrics though there's not much to them.


When the writing was done, we added a bit of color. Now to use this great new fabric in some sort of project.

Blue

I'm into my typical March behavior: longing for spring to hurry up and get here. Along with the birds and the warm sun. Until then, I'll have to settle for pretend.

Snowy owl in a not so snowy winter

Does anyone else besides me have a hard time spending $15 on shipping for 25 lily bulbs, or
$17 shipping for 3 /$4.95 lavender plants? Grumble. Needless to say, I won't be ordering any plants on line. I should buy local anyway. And hold off on those springtime longings.

On another note, birding is free and sometimes you win the golden ticket. Like seeing this beautiful and rare snowy owl. He's been hanging around the Samoset Resort golf course for a couple of weeks, just waiting to be photographed. I was able to get right under him yesterday morning before he took off.

Friday morning moment....

Who doesn't love pink tulips in the middle of winter. Or anytime.