Winter Solstice II

After finishing Winter Solstice I, I had an idea of simplifying the tree shapes using only lines. I was still fascinated with the greys. I had been in the garden and had noticed that there was a lot of green for late December: the lichens and mosses have sprung back to greenness; the freesias are popping up; the Daphne odora , with bright green calyxes, is loaded with buds and looks as if it is ready to burst into bloom. I was also having so much fun with the hand stitching that I wanted to do more.

One of my goals for 2008 is to post something that I’ve made at least once a week.

Winter Solstice I

The Gang of Four (pending some other appellation) met in early November for the first time. We are all young artists, at about the same place in our careers. We are close to each other in age but our children range in age from 13 to 24, so our parenting responsibilities are not the same. I believe that our goal, for now, is to encourage each other to make more art. We plan to meet about once a month. We were inspired by the Twelve by Twelve gang and have adopted that format with the idea that we might make smaller format work that we could show together.
We decided to challenge each other to meet in December with a fiber response to the winter solstice. It was very exciting to see everyone’s work. In addition to making more work, another of my goals is to do a better job of using my digital camera. This was another scan with my new scanner.

Seasonal Content

I saw this on the Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog and couldn't resist it. Those girls are hilarious. By now the post is buried in the archives but Kay wrote:

"I'm embarrassed to report: my interest in collegiate a cappella remains undiminished. (Symptoms d'une femme d'un certain age: fluctuation of estrogen levels, and yearning for harmony and rep ties.)"

And I thought I was the only one who loved this kind of thing.

Happy Birthday, Ludwig!

It's Beethoven's Birthday. We should celebrate!

Working Small

This is the first really small quilt I’ve tried. It's 6" x 7" I think of it as a prototype of sorts, as I have decided to work small for the time being. I love how Terry Grant (August 30 entry, Almost Finished) has mounted her work on fabric, so I have been experimenting with that.

This is the first time I’ve used my new photo scanner, an HP G4050. This would be a great step forward except that my latest obsession is with the 12” x 12” format I’ve been seeing and thinking about from the 12 x 12 blog. Inspired by their creativity, I’ve started a small group. We are doing a 12 x 12 about once a month and we are off to a good start. Pictures to follow.

This is a Test

This is only a test. It is always a test. This is what happens if you scan a quilt and then send it to Blogger with Picasa.

Now we know that the scanner works!

Rosegarden Quilt

2007 Journal Quilt: My story

This project had several requirements including a size of 17" x 22" in the vertical direction; and that the design incorporate at least three techniques from the Creative Quilting book. I had never done any beading so I tried that in the "bubbles" in the water and the pots on the deck. I love Pamela Allen's big stitch embroidery and I used that as well. I really love seeing hand work in fiber art. I am probably happiest with the quilting. I had so much fun with that. The quilting really tries to tell a story: this year I gave myself permission to call myself a swimmer.

We have been members of this pool for almost thirty years. Our two sons learned to swim here. I began quilting here with my dearest friends, The Poolside Quilters. We sat by the side of the pool and quilted while our kids swam back and forth during swim team workouts. Both boys retired at age 18 but I didn't really start swimming until three years ago. When I began, 25 yards left me breathless. It was not unusual to feel panicky half way across the pool. I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan and I learned how to swim at the Y, but I never really swam for fitness. This year was my best "season" ever. By mid-July, I was swimming a mile (that's 1760 yards, 71 laps, 45 minutes) and I averaged 4 times a week. All of that information is quilted in the "water." But the pool was also a wonderful, magical place at 6:30 AM with the sun rising, only a handful of swimmers around, and the crows! The pool closed for the season on October 29, and will not re-open until the beginning of May. I am looking forward to getting back into the water.

2007 Journal Quilt

The Pool

A Page from My Book
Journal Quilts 2007 - Journal Quilt Project
inspired by Creative Quilting: The Journal Quilt Project, Karey Patterson Bresenhan, ED.

After three years of living vicariously through the Journal Quilt Project on the QuiltArt listserv, I finally joined in the fun. This piece was inspired by a summer of swimming at the neighborhood pool.