Big Leaves Draft

A few more ways to make the big leaves that I need for my next piece. This is about 3 feet wide, a bit too large to use, but fun to make.

The Great and Famous Two

Will Rogers visited Naples, New York and performed at the fair. This photo that I printed from the glass plate negative, taken and signed "Widmer". What fun to have a darkroom back in the late 1970s. Negative from a private collection.

Fire First, or First Fire

Had the chimney guys give me the okay to use my new fireplace (new to me, that is) for Thanksgiving. This pic does not convey the warmth in the room, but it was certainly there. Happy T-day.

A Naan Event

Enough non essential jokes, non sequiturs, and nonsense was about in the kitchen while daughter "nonber" 1 made some naan bread to go with the vegetable sweet potato chili. For the run-up to Thanksgiving.

Snow is On Its Way

Redecorating the deck will have to wait until the storm is over. I have no place to be, except getting the studio ready for work -- and getting the long arm in place. 

Haul Out the Old Quilts

Winter is here, for sure. And the thermostat is set for "conservative" so get out the old quilts and cozy of to the laptop. Besides, there is Thanksgiving stuff to get done.

Quilting the Sketch

I've gotten most of the quilting done on my sketch. Cleaning up includes burying the threads, and that was in front of PBS. Sunday night and classics.

Warm-Ups

To the right of my latest sketch is a little doodle on the machine. I have, surprise surprise, fused a small square of light to the dark background, and am trying some quilted stitch. Like it all right.

History Revisited

Thirty years ago I designed exhibits in a museum, and tonight I went to their Holiday Bazaar. Behind the goo-gaas and ornaments were my museum displays. This one is just as I left it. The large case features plains indian artifacts, and here are shirts and an explanation of the ghost dance.

Beauty in the Ordinary

Let's go back a few weeks to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the piece, shown in detail here, by El Anatsui. He used found objects like bottle caps and bottle wrappers to form this abstract work called "Black River". Regardless of your interpretation of the title, the surface quality is mesmerizing.

Instability

While checking in with the doctor's office about my newly healed knee, I spotted this poster on dislocation of shoulders. Nice to know that illustration has not gone away. Much nicer to get the bad news through gently colored pictures.

Raking Leaves

I should be raking leaves, but instead am in the studio trying to make more. The yellow-green light leaf in the background is from the screen I showed yesterday, the darker ones are printed with transparent base and textile color. (Don't make me go back to the studio to tell you the exact product names.)

Foolin' Around With Dye

Nothing like trying out new forms and experienting. I am using transparent base with color concentrate to do some mono-printing. Also, a bit of screening with thickened dyes. How quickly you can go through 20 yards!

Stencil Leaf

Freezer paper and scissors make a quick stencil that I will use for a silk screen. I have leaves to do!

View From the Kitchen

Living with your art is important. The light changes through the day, you see relationships in a casual way, and the setting influences the scale of the work. And it is easier to convince someone else to own it, as well.

Order Here

Came across this plea still tacked to the cabinet that was for sale in the antique store near home. Asks "PLEASE HELP ME KEEP THIS PLACE IN ORDER". Not a bad idea for the studio. Where I will find the help, don't know.

Marimekko on the Chopping Block

When I asked students to bring in their wildest printed fabric, I was looking exactly for this. A large scale Marimekko fabric with lots of punch, as well as a fabric that begs to be used. It worked beautifully for this exercise.

Shibori on the Half-Square

Today's class in Cleveland, with Northwest Coast Needlers, had this design. We are trying out what would work to fill in the corners. Ended up with the green in the lower right. Lots of work, and lots of great solutions using half-square triangles.

Snow and Fabric Search

Yes, I brought the snow to Olmsted Falls, Ohio. A quick visit to Abigayle's Quiltery to find some wild fabric for tomorrow's workshop. Only to learn this was the "traditional" store. No problem, found some Jane Sassaman's fabric.

Almost Forgotten

"Pink Leaf 2" was traveling with Quilt National 2011 so long, I almost forgot about it. But it is with me as I lecture in Ohio. Nice to see it again, now to find a place to hang it and get reacquainted.

Autumn Winds

At my lovely B&B "Our Sunset Place", the winds whipped up Lake Erie, and the bits of fall color held on, just to give me a show. Great place, if you are near Port Clinton, or better still, make it a destination.

First In, First Finished

Sandy works quickly, decisively, and has a great time with us all. Here is her "Big Leaf" from today's class in Port Clinton, Ohio. Me? I had a great time, too.

Quilt Police-- Not!

Friday night's lecture at the Port Clinton's Ohio Stars Quilt Guild had a group taking a very close look at my work. Scrutiny of a different kind,  and they were indeed kind.

Dorothy Behind Glass

One room is devoted to Contemporary Craft at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Dorothy Caldwell's piece struck me as scale-less. This is approximately 12" x 20" but might as well be 12' x 20'. Her works are monumental no matter how you look at them.

Shibori Comin' Your Way

My week's work of making shibori, a fancy term for tie-dying, is piled and waiting to go to Ohio. I will be in Rocky River next week teaching my Shibori Half-Square Triangle Quilt workshop. These yards are paired up with a companion piece, and make one spectacular quilt.

Close Quilting

Diane Evans signed this in the same line she used for the quilting -- steady, clear, and precise. Her friends say that she stitches very very slowly. The echo quilting line around the black figure is a knockout. From the Old Forge show.

Mood Music

Tucked in the corner of the Quilts Unlimited exhibit at Old Forge's View Gallery was this talented guitarist and his roadie. Nice touch for opening night last Friday. Show is up till first week in January.

Simple But Dramatic

Bethany Krawiec's two works have denim, printed duck weight fabric, and hand quilted stitch around the shapes.Very pleasing, and definitely caught our attention at the View exhibition in Old Forge, New York. Thanks, Linda, for passing on her name!

Silly (?) Quilt Dance

Somehow the photos taken by Bev at the exhibition at View, in Old Forge, New York, melded and so here I am doing some goofy dance, or at least appear to be. The work on the left "Mummy Bags Influenced" brought me first place for art quilts.

Pink Leaf 3 at View in Old Forge

My second entry Pink Leaf 3, for Quilts Unlimited, at the View in Old Forge, New York, started with a 4" x 6" sketch. I enlarged it to 4' x 6'. Simple to do. The exhibit runs until January 5, 2014.