WIP

I've had something like this image in the back of my mind for several months and when the blue sky fabric came out of the dye bath, I knew what it needed to be used for. I think the green cheesecloth is not going to survive. And I'm not sure of direction at this point, but hopefully something will pop soon....any suggestions?

Book Jackets

Back this spring, Frayed Edges had decided to cover an artist journal with our own designed covers and swap them at our meeting in September. This is the one I made. It's hand painted fabric, in blue of course. I'm getting pretty sick of myself for always choosing blue, but I can't HELP it! The leaf print was done by holding one foraged from a walk on top of the fabric and using a paintstick, blending out from the edge. Wish I had taken a picture of the inside because it had a place to hold a dozen colored pencils. Ready to go!

You can see all of them by going to Sarah's blog and scrolling through her pictures of Mt Washington to reach it.

Common Ground Fair

Every year in Maine this country fair is a much anticipated event. It draws people from every walk of life. It bills itself as a "celebration of rural living" and promotes all the things we should all be conscious of. Recycling. Promoting sustainability in gardening and energy. Behaving like the responsible human beings we should be. Truth be told, I love this fair but can only take it about every other year. This was an on year and along with 59,000 others (over three days) I checked out some new crafts, some cute animals and ate some not so "fair" food. No sugar allowed, as well as coffee, though you can get that outside the gate. One year I went for the fried dough (it was okay) and Maine's famous John's ice cream. (disappointing, but that just proves how addicted to sugar I am). Moving on...

Beautiful handcrafted canoes being made while you watch.


Gorgeous colors!

Wool in the most beautiful shades.

Socks just waiting to happen!

Some new and different pottery this year. Always in the past, too much pottery, but this year the balance was just right.

Rug hooking, the old fashioned way. Made me want to take a class and learn how to do my own.

And of course vegetables: tomatoes and pumpkins along with some of the best looking herbs and flowers.

A good day and a great fair.

Already????!

Something happens this time of year, no matter how much I want to hang onto summer. I'm NOT ready for it to be over. NOT. But there's a tug inside me that I'm realizing is as strong as the tides and the full moon and despite the fact that I'm FIGHTING it, I start to gather and store. Just like the squirrels. I start looking at pumpkins in the field and think about putting them all over my house, for decoration at first and then to use for pies. I look at all my beautiful herbs in the garden and start making pesto like crazy, bring my rosemary inside, freeze sage and thyme. Fresh corn right off the cob: freezer. Applesauce. Zucchini bread. Blueberries picked straight from the field and into the freezer. I'm retired now, so I can.

We had our first mild frost last night...just nature's way of saying, "Be Prepared! It's coming!" Yuk. But really, well defined seasons are the reason we stay here in Maine, despite the fact that I don't want summer to end.

Fall Flowers

Lovely

Read It!!!

I'm enthralled with this book. Garth Stein wrote it. Whoever would have thought I'd read, and ENJOY a book written from the viewpoint of a dog? I've been listening to this as I do tedious machine quilting on a new piece and I love it. My daughter gave it to me months ago, and I really put off listening to it thinking it was just going to be another sad ending, dog dies(as they do) story I didn't think I wanted to experience. But my enthusiasm for this book equals that I had for Water For Elephants which up to now has been my very favorite book this century. I find myself laughing and at the same time, surprising even me, find tears in my eyes. I promise you, if you read this, you'll never look at a dog in the same way again. And for an even greater treat, listen to it. The reader, Christopher Evan Welch, is talented and reads with perfect inflection and voice changes.

Some things never change.

Another two picture comparison...this was taken last year when Deborah and I sat in the early morning sun and just enjoyed being feet apart as opposed to miles (Texas to Maine) apart. This year was no different. Friends are the best, after family of course. I feel rich with both!

We, (the frayed edges) stayed in a sweet little Maine cape right on the edge of the river. Beside the very large pine tree with the eagle nest practically out the back door.

What do these....

...two pictures have in common???? This is why I would NOT make a great photographer. I have the perfect cute, handsome, and awesome subjects in my sight and something always gets in the way. Charlotte having her first ever merry-go-round ride with her dad, a moment to surely document as the horse moves by...and I get the pole. An eagle in it's nest just feet from me, and I get the limb. Drats.

Disclaimer: No, I'm not pregnant...

We had a fabulous visit, my Frayed Edges friends and I. We took this picture at the end of the point overlooking the Kennebec River, or is it the New Meadows River...no matter. Sarah Ann Smith, me with the wild wind blowing my cotton shirt, Deborah, Kate and Hannah. Presents exchanged, wine drunk, good conversation, and the finale, a workshop with Natasha Kempers Cullen. More posts and pictures tomorrow.

Poppy Play

I'm trying really hard to practice 'playing'. The goal is not to have a finished product in the end. Just use the materials on hand and play with them. And I guess when you do you're sometimes pleasantly surprised by the outcome. That's what they say, and I guess the more I look at this the more I like it. Anyone familiar with Linda and Laura Kemshalls books will recognize the poppies, though I have poppies in my own garden, (and this year made poppy head dolls) and I designed and cut this stencil, and used a scrap of my own hand painted fabric, so it really is mine. Paintsticks, too. Maybe I'll do more and see where I end up.

Deborah's coming all the way from Texas next weekend for a big Frayed Edges weekend! We'll be taking a workshop with Natash Kempers Cullen on Monday, so big things in store!

Fall Socks

Vacation is over, birthday is over, and I have my repaired camera back!!! Now I can show you the socks I made while riding in the car to Prince Edward Island and home again. You know, "Idle hands are the devil's tools" and all. I made a trip to my now favorite yarn store, Halcyon Yarns, before we left and found not one but two beautiful merino wool hand dyed sock yarns, so I bought them both with high expectations. Two pair of socks. I usually finish one sock and I have to force myself to finish the second. And now, another head game...i made one of each pair so now I have to finish both. Of course there is a little loophole: they do sort of match in a funky way. But I will finish them both, she said with determination!

Birthday Gifts

She said she wanted color, texture and doo-dahs. What she really said was "I want that quilt hanging in your bedroom." This will be a miniature version of that. Well, there's lots of color and some texture which you can't see very well. Next comes the doo-dahs.

I think I'll call this one 'Patched Work' because it really is scraps just thrown on top of a base fabric...scraps from old projects and the triangles of color are actually a piece (about 20x20) I started and didn't like. It was even quilted and I still cut it up. Wow. It wasn't that hard because it wasn't very good. Too busy. This one is too but at least the black areas give your eye a place to rest.

Camera Woes.

I'm at a loss without my camera. It's on it's way to Idaho? Ohio?, to be repaired. My pop up flash isn't popping up. Frustrating. Mostly because I'm finally doing some work in my studio and I can't show you. Yesterday my husband let me borrow his to take a few shots of my in progress piece, but of course I forgot to download them last night (company for dinner) and he had the nerve to take it with him today. I'm kidding. Probably because it's his birthday and maybe his co-workers are going to have a little party for him and he wants to remember the moments. Ah, well.

I have two things going at the moment. One is a request (not commission because I won't get paid :) and the other is influenced by Sandra Meech/L and L Kemshall/and the need to create something that's different for me. I'm stuck at the point where you say to yourself over and over...PLAY, JUST PLAY, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT. We'll see.

I love the 12x12 journal project that's going on and seeing how differently everyone interprets the theme. Deborahs piece is amazing, tying together her passion for her medium and her confidence in herself and who she is and what it all means to her and how she puts it all together to make an abundant life for herself and her family. All in a 12x12 square. And my interpretation of the theme "Illumination?" I have no idea... and it's not like I haven't been thinking about it. It's a stumbling block for me for sure, this process. Maybe if I really had to come up with something I could. Joanne has been doing it independently and has a beautiful piece to show for it. Maybe I need to push myself more. I'm all for that.

Sticky Buns and Journal Writing

We're back from our fabulous family vacation. I'm one of the lucky ones who has 7 brothers and sisters and each has a spouse or significant other who all like each other so we all spend a week together in Bayside on the coast of Maine. I posted this winter about something I was planning on doing with all the kids while we were there- journaling our week. So I made journals for everyone, baked sticky buns and froze them, gathered doo-dahs and crayons, markers and glue and packed everything to go. What a fun way to start the day! By eight o'clock I had between 4 and 12 people drawing, writing and eating! I was so surprised at how much time the little kids spent on their journals, first decorating them and then thinking of things to write about.

We had little kids like Charlotte and Ella:

And Katherine and Bridget:

And big boys who very possibly only came for the sticky buns and white donuts, though they did make an effort the first morning :)

And white donuts. Why do kids like white donuts????

The writings and drawings were inspired by what happened the day before and what was to come. Such a nice vacation! And now back to reality and my studio.

Blueberries and Birds

Can you see all the blue?

Up bright and early this morning and was it ever worth it. These are the special things of summer. I know what we'll be doing with Carey and Charlotte come next week.

It took about 15 minutes to pick all these. First we'll read Blueberries for Sal....
And maybe if we're not too full from gorging on blueberries, we'll walk to the heron rookery.

OUTRAGEOUS!!

I'm having so much fun getting ready for our extended family vacation. Not extended vacation (which is what life feels like to me now that I'm retired!) but extended family. I think at last count there were over 30 of us for dinner on any given night. And lots of kids. They certainly don't need to be entertained, but they don't mind it now and then. So, a while back I could feel my creative juices start to overflow and remembered the "Sixtyopoly" game featured in Cloth, Paper and Scissors. I decided to make up my own game for little kids, one that would have no right and wrong answers, one that used their imaginations to fuel the game. So out came "OUTRAGEOUS!!" Making the game was the easy part; figuring the purpose and play options was harder. But I started to make these cards that the kids draw when they land on a particular square and the goal seemed to come of it's own. Using pictures and things from family events of the past, I put some questions to them and the kids will have to either make up a story or answer the question any way they like. No right or wrong, just silliness.

The cards say things like "What just happened?" and shows my brother with fogged up glasses, or a sign we saw in Ireland of a car going over the edge and the card says "What does this mean?" Funny. Silly. I'm hoping for lots of giggles.

The board is scraps of paper from magazines and on several there is a pink dot. If you land on that square you choose a pink card. If you land on a green dot....I haven't decided yet. Suggestions?

And everyone will have their own game piece. I still have a few to go and a little more 'fancying up' to do on these, but it's nearly done and ready for our BIG WEEK!!!

BEADS!

On the way to visit my sister I stopped at The Beadin' Path in Freeport, the most amazing bead store in Maine. Last time I was there it was still a small establishment. I imagine since the article in one of Pokey's Quilting Arts Magazine came out they've become the place to go for a great selection of any sort of bead you can imagine. It was so everwhelming, I didn't find a thing to buy. But the colors! Oh my.




It's like dessert for the soul.

Happy Fourth!

Have a safe holiday weekend everyone and see you next week. I have lots to share!

Sea Glass

I'm always up for new and creative things to do with the thousands of pieces of sea glass I have collected over the years. Having access to the coast and having time to troll is a good thing. I don't know if I'll ever get around to making anything with them but it's fun to take pictures of things others have done. This is one part of a large mural on the outside of the Lubec Library. The library was closed when we were there, otherwise I would have gone in and asked a lot of questions about this piece. There were lots of other book titles mentioned, so I think the kids were able to choose their favorite books and scatter the names here and there.

I also really liked the combination of wire and glass in this fish. Bith of these works are very appropriate for the town, a small fishing village on the coast of Maine. Still fishing. Barely.

Puffins!

We took the most incredible boat trip yesterday. We left Cutler Harbor in the fog aboard the Barbara Frost and headed out to sea 9 miles to Machias Seal Island. The island is being claimed by both the US and Canada, but the sweet little atlantic puffins, the razorbills, and the common murre's that call it home in the summer months don't care who owns it as long as they can stay long enough to raise their young. Which is usually from now till the middle of August. We've taken boat trips to see the puffins before, but this one was different in that we could actually get into a blind on the island and see them 2 feet away!!! I'm not a birder like my friend Loel is, but this was exciting!!! And as we talked about over a glass of wine at the end of the day, it's nice to have friends who have different passions and will draw you into their world. They've done their share of art galleries with me and mostly enjoyed it, but at the least endured it. As long time friends will.

This photo was taken on the main street in Lubec, where the sun rises first in the country. Well, maybe Eastport makes that claim, but this is a close second. The lupine are at their peak and just beautiful. One of my favorite wildflowers for sure.

Lupine
Preening
This little guy settled right down to check us out!