Question for You

I try to post a reply to all my comments (a big hunkin thank you to all of you who leave a comment) but don't know if you receive my reply post as an email.

If you don't, does anyone know how to make it happen in Blogger? or Wordpress?

The reason I ask about Wordpress is I'm actually thinking seriously about switching over to them. My art group blog, FAB (a wonderful bunch of ladies if I say so myself) is there and everytime I go to use it I find it a more managable thing to use. I like the format, ease of use and the fact that your photos are stored rather that have them floating in space with access only thru the posts.

I know some of you use Typepad (a pay-for-use service), how is that workin for ya? Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh...and hear's a peak at one of the fabs I dyed before the family invasion. Just got around to ironing and photographing them. I'm calling this one "Scrumptious Mud Pie". Wanna take a bite????




See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

July TIF Concept

Sharon says:

"The challenge this month is perhaps a bit obvious but I am going to ask …What is it to be at the half way mark?"

One of the things I'm proud of concerning this TIF challenge is that so far I've managed to keep up with it (except for May's of course which seems to be an ongoing, ever changing thought process on "how to describe myself as an artist").

I generally tend to finish things I start, mainly because I tend to harangue myself for not getting it done (while still procrastinating about it mind you). So the fact that I am at the halfway mark doesn't suprise me much. The fact that I am up to date with it is definitely knocking me off my chair (and some of you may know this about me...but love me anyway, hee hee).

Sharon took her concept apart and started thinking about it like this.... "Half" /"Way" /"Mark". She sees this leading into all sorts of directions.

One of the things that triggers my mind is the word "mark". I find I'm thinking more and more about mark making in terms of surface design and the workshop with Lyric Kinard I took last month has really brought it to the forefront. Remember I already have a fascination with words since I was a young tot so going in this direction isn't far off the mark...

......get it?..........off the mark????

HA!

Anyway, I've already have a piece started where I'm exploring mark making. I started with this dyed piece of fabric (above).

Then I filled a squeeze bottle fitted with a metal tip (easy to find at art/craft stores like Dharma Trading or Dick Blick) with a 50/50 mix of Jaquard black textile paint and textile medium.

...wrote on it a mind map of words related to my thoughts on this piece.

(sample writing at left)

I then tried flour paste resist, painting on it with Dye-Na-Flow paints. I pinned the fabric down to a base layer of white felt (double layer) and, on top of that, a torn section of an old sheet. [This helps keep the table from getting messy and makes a sturdy pressing base for surface design work].

Above you can see the flour resist painted fabric. I did however unpin the fabric to move to a more convenient spot. NO NO!....don't do that, leave it in position to dry taut, then unpin and scrunch the painted flour paste.

The effect was not exactly successful as you can see. My original idea was not to have the blobs but I think it's still usable, definitely needs more words.

The dots are drips of paint I dropped on it instead of painting in with a brush (very impatient person that I am, want things done now darn it!). The grayed out area in the center is the ONLY flour paste resist area.

So.......I would say it needs more.

Next, I'll use either a sheet of dotted computer paper and/or sequin waste to paint over (or under, haven't decided yet) in another colour.

At right is a smidgen of what I intend to do on this background piece but I've been so obsessed with trying out a bit of surface design that I went ahead with it on this one.

I have been carving some stamps and finally got all my supplies in to make some silk screens. More about that later.

What kind of surface design projects are you up to? Have you tried flour past resist? If you have leave a comment and let me in on the tricks for success....please, please.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Reading Blogs

I love to read other people's blogs, That's one of the highlights of my day (if I get to it) to see what other artists are up to. I've subscribe to about 50 blogs (so far) and am finding new ones all the time.

I came upon a blog yesterday by Peggy (don't ask me how I got there) who is from Germany and, unfortunately, I can't speak or read a lick of German. Now I have an out because my daughter is fluent in the language having attended a German Immersion school since kindergarden. But I would rather read the post myself.

I left a comment for Peggy telling her I wish I could understand what she had written cause I love viewing her work. She wrote back saying it was hard for her to translate all of her posts to English (boy do I understand that). That's when I went googling and found......TaDa.......translation widgets for blogs.

Who the heck knew that!!

I figured if I can't read a blog post that's written in another language then there are artists out there who experience the same when they come to my blog (bummer) so I added another little widget to my sidebars. Check it out now over there on the right...go on...click on your flag.

If you read my blog regularly (and hopefully you are...right???) and your native language is not English let me know how this new widget works. Looking for some good feedback here.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Sad Sad News Day

I am blown away by the death of Tim Russert as I'm sure most of you are that watched his political commentary.

We knew he was really good at his job but the extraordinary man that he was has only been truly revealed to us in the "Remembering Tim" programs that have been airing this weekend.

Seems he was bigger than life and more caring than any of us, his audience, ever suspected.

We will sorely miss you Tim........your insight, your honesty, your tenacity, your BIG heart, your loyalty to friends and, most of all, your ultimate and all consuming love for your son Luke and your Dad, Big Russ.

Our hearts go out to your family. Sleep long and well,

Ouch!!

I'm in a bit if a pickle today. I finally decided to get the cortisone shot in my foot that had been recommended to me. Can you say BIG big OUCH!!

My husband sat with me (thankfully) as Doc gave me 2 injections and I just about squeezed the bugger out his hand on that second one. That one really hurt. Apparently that injection site was the exact area where I've been experiencing my foot problem.

So 7 hours later here I sit, on my bed, with my foot propped up on 3 pillows wishing I could be at my friend's 1st gallery opening tonight. Boo hoo.

Are you feeling sorry for me yet? Aw shucks forget about me (for now at least), go create something new in my honour. I'll just deal with the pain......sigh...that might last 48-72 hrs.

Oh well, it's all for good. It has to be. I'm taking a workshop with Lyric Kinard tomorrow and my foot has to be able to be hobbled on at least!

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Speaking of Revamping

Please bear with me while I check out some other templates for my blog. As you know I'm revising, rethinking, retooling.........and my blog is obviously not immune from change.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

p.s I think I kinda like this one. whadya think????

Books, Books, Books

Most of my friends know I have this pact with myself, to add one new book to my library every month. Some months I don't buy any new ones at all but I do love it when a shiny new book arrives in the mail. YUMMY!!!!!!!

Most of the books I buy are reference books (as opposed to those that contain how-to-do-exactly-what-I-do tutorials).

That's because I am in a learn, learn, learn phase and since going to workshops given by top artists is out of the question for me right now, I can take a lesson on some interesting technique thru their book.

So with that said you just have to check out my little library widget that I added on my sidebar! It's just way too cute.

Take Katie Pasquini's latest, "Color and Composition". Such a great book that contains a slew of exercises to help you thru the two things that can stump a new quilt artist.

My latest purchase is "Mixed-Media Collage" by Holly Harrison. Holly takes you on a fantastic in-depth journey with five mixed-media artists, going thru step by step (though not a turorial) as the artists make a particular mixed-media piece their own unique way. She then lets you sit in on her interviews with them as they reveal thier thoughts on being artists. Way cool book!

I have always wanted to share the books I'm reading with you and now I get to thru my "Little Library Book Club".

Happy reading!

What Do You Call Yourself?

capturing ourselves

For the last few weeks I've been thinking about Sharon B's TIF challlenge for this month. I think it's a great question but it's a hard one to answer succinctly AND make a small piece to capture the essence of it.

If I've answered the question of "what do I call myself" (a fiber artist) then why is it so hard to create that expression in a piece of artwork? That then prompts another question...have I fully answered the question?

For a while there, in the last couple of months, I wavered back and forth about the "label" I give myself to be placed out there everywhere to describe what I do but, now that I'm really thinking about it, deep down I don't really like labels for me or anyone else. Why can't I just make artwork and be done with it?

Ya like it or ya don't. End of story!

It's only now that I realize that the label is not for me...no, not at all....it's so that others can recognize me in some way to help them SEE ME better, put me in some subjective category and file me away in some recess of their brain..."oh yeh..Grace, the FIBER artist" (whatever the heck that means they think to themselves).

So if I am to label myself to inform others of who I am and what I do, how do I express that in a quilted piece effetcively? More thoughts to ponder.

May TIF might just not get made in May.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Time & MONDAYS

"Time is the quality of nature that keeps events from happening all at once....lately it doesn't seem to be working." --Anonymous


You may have noticed that I haven't posted lately.

It's not that I don't want to cause I do. I regularly make a mental list of the things I want to post about then things....finishing artwork....dealing one or another family "crisis".....feeling ill or just uninspired...any number of things get in the way and, frankly, I don't like that.

So I'm gonna try a new thing (yeh right you say?) I'm gonna try an experiment for the next month--to have one day a week for posts and I'll make that a Monday. Monday is my wash/clean day and now I'm adding blog post day to it.

Let's see how far I get.

Oh no!...another goal to add the never-ending saturated list. I'll need to take pics of the things I've been working on for this coming Monday's post. How's that for staying on task?


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

April TIF

I have actually been working on my TIF challenge for April, just haven't posted about it. I'm also thinking it might be a stepping stone to a bigger piece (probably why I haven't finished it yet) but wanted to let you in on what I was doing.

My thinking with this one was to portray a woman who is shedding the old (don't know if you can see the coat she's dropping) to ascend into the new...the new phase...the new thinking...the new (art)work...the new way of life.

I don't use the word ascend lightly because I truly believe we come into a certain greater wisdom on the other side of all this change we go thru, if we are willing to see pass the pain and conflict that might occur...be willing to walk the path that will lead us to a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

I am a firm believer that change, and all that manifests itself thru change is good. We'll see where this one leads.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Believe it Baby!

Check this out.

I happened upon this narrative short film about women and their thoughts on all sorts of topics including their own beauty. Take a peek but don't stop watching until you see the credits roll.

You can find it here at In the Trenches Productions, a website with the tag line "Power to Women Over 40!" (isn't that way cool?) Anyway, scroll down and click on "Believe It Baby" on the left. Have a laugh, ponder a thought and get back to me on what you heard.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft,

Listen to the Whispers

I am truly grateful for what I have and am thankful for the things I have accomplished so far in my life. My prayers are mostly of gratitude rather than requests, my one main request being strength...strength to get thru whatever struggle I might be going thru at the moment.

Oprah's new show, "The Big Give" is a must for me and invariably I end up in tears because someone in need is rewarded with a Big Give and it's usually a powerful experience. The premise of this show is based on the thought that prompted me to do a Pay It Forward post a while back...giving for giving sake only, with nothing expected in return.

Tonight as I sat and watched the Oprah Show (recorded) with Oprah interviewing the latest contestant to leave the show, Rachael Hollingworth, I was perplexed.

To recap, Rachael and the other three Big Givers were to make dying wishes come true for two people. One of them, Miss Emily's wish, was to play at Carnegie Hall. Miss Emily is on permanent oxygen and sits in a wheeelchair most of the time but from the time she was a little girl had seen herself on stage at Carnegie Hall.

Racheal, who could only see things in terms of herself finnagled her way into doing a solo performance at this dying woman's big event. I was truly upset that she would take some of the limelight away from Miss Emily. She did not see the big picture!

She did not see that she was taking away some of the beauty of the Carnegie Hall moment that belonged solely to Miss Emily. She did not hear the whisper that kept telling her that this moment was not about her. She missed all the cues until Oprah sat her down and explained that she was only the vessel in this life event, not the event itself. She was looking out into the ocean to catch the big waves but missed the ones lapping gently at her feet.

Yes, she will always be able to brag that she sang at Carnegie Hall, but in the sunset of her life she'll always have the knowledge that she encroached on someone else's moment...that it really was not her time. She'll have to come to terms with the fact that she just didn't listen to the whispers...this time.



Listen to your whispers.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

"Stuff"

"There may not be enough hours in the day for everything I might possibly want to do but there is always time for the stuff I really really care about...it’s about identifying the important stuff".

This is a quote from an artist's blog I read regularly, Lisa Call. She blogged recently about priorities and finding time to do the "important stuff". These last few weeks I have been committed to getting a few things finished in my studio, stuff to get my business going.

This week however, business "stuff" took a back seat. It has been a fun week but a long one. I found that I scheduled too any things for this one week and am paying the price for it. I AM TIRED! My days were extremely long and my feet are so very sore from constantly standing but, despite that, it's been a good week.

I had the pleasure of hostessing Esterita Austin at our guild meeting on Wednesday. She did a 1-day workshop yesterday and a 2-day workshop held today and continuing tomorrow. She is funny, inspiring and a real hoot to be with. Thanks Teri for making it easy for me. I also taught session 1 of my Beginning Quilting class last night. Whew!

On Sunday I'll be doing one important thing and only one important thing...putting my tired feet up and getting some much needed shut-eye...okay, one eye will be open...y'all know I still have to watch my sunday morning news programs!

Pics of some artwork coming soon.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

January TIF Challenge

I finally got round to getting something done on the TIF Challenge. I must admit I had a lot of commitments to finish this month and TIF took a back seat this time unfortunately.

To recap, the concept for this month was to expand on feelings of admiration, to pick someone, something you admire and work from there.

After a few days of thought I chose my friend, Susan. Despite the ups and downs of her life, her ability to produce meaningful, prolific artwork is a quality I greatly admire. Her tenacity and forthright manner and her get up and go attitude is something we should all strive to emulate.

From Within"

The piece I made is called "From Within". It is so named because for many of us like Susan who choose to make a living as artists and trying to maintain some sort of balance in our lives, we call on that core part of ourselves, that inner strength that we sometimes forget we have to carry us forward and keep us centered despite all that we encounter as we live our lives.

My idea came from wanting to depict a life unfolding, constantly moving (the center portion) with wands or tentacles of creativity constantly being developed and reaching out to become full expressions of ourselves, our art as a part of our center souls.

The piece still needs to be quilted. I will add some hand stitching and more machine quilting to further develop the piece. But for now challenge #1 is done (sorta kinda).

Check out other January TIF Challenge pieces here.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

The Piece That Wasn't Supposed to Be

I design patterns. I like designing patterns. A friend suggested, however, that I design a quilt pattern around a particular fabric line, get some attention coming my way. So off to the quilt shop I went.

I chose 9 different fabrics from the April Cornell line "A Little Romance" by Moda Fabrics . Had the quilt in mind that I was going to do and skipped all the way home (taking literary liberties here...me skip?)

The small quilt I had in mind only needed 1/8th yard of 8 of the fabrics but I got a full 1/3 yard (big spender I am huh?) of the beautiful mint green solid you see below.

I washed and ironed the fabs and got ready to create. I cut a background from the solid green and laid it on my worktable. Somehow, 4 hours later I came up with "Windy Day". Not one blessed piece of the April Cornell fabric made it into the quilt, not that I didn't like the fabs mind you.

Moral of the story, sometimes you gotta go where the muse takes you (yeh, she found her way back to me eventually).

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Deadlines

Deadlines are good for me. They have a purpose. They keep me on track. They help me finish the things I tend to put off.

Procrastination, on the other hand, is an even better friend to me sometimes because I get to delay something my mind can't settle on in the moment. So the question becomes how to not let procrastination take over so much so that the deadline is compromised.

One thing I've found that works for me is to work in small sessions...I mean really small. In those small sessions I might do some prep work (like fuse sheets of fabric) or doodle in my sketching journal (with no pressure to create any one thing) or organize my studio (oh no, I said the dreaded "O" word). This way I let my muse figure out she can come back from her mini vacation and help me out a bit before she saunters off again. I swear she must think we head south for the winter or something.

Procrastination can be good sometimes. Like when you really want to throttle your teenager for doing (or more likely NOT doing) whatever it is they are not supposed to do (see, I can find the good in anything).

With that said I have decided to start a new creativity club for us all . It's gonna be fun. It'll help us overcome all those pesky little obstacles to creativity.

I'm sorry to report though that the first organizational meeting has been put off till next week.

Smile today and give your face a break.


See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

A New Class

I've been interested in colour theory for a long time and have wanted to come up with a class that was interesting (not having your students fall assleep in a theory class is a good thing) but also informative, covering everything you ever wanted to know about colour (not really, just the important bits like value).

Today I taught this new class at one of the shops I regularly teach at, Quilter's Loft in Mooresville, NC and it went much better than expected.

I've been teaching for close to 14 yrs (egads! who told me to put that bit of info in) and find that new quilters struggle when picking colours for their quilts, heck I still struggle at times. The class was small, only 2 students, but it gave me a chance to test my concept for the class.

My quilt, Blueberries and Mint Parfait (above), was the teaching sample. The reason I think this quilt works so well is because of how simple it is to piece. Students could quickly get to the theory part of the class without having to think real hard on how to piece the block.

When I teach I like to provide a complete picture of the subject at hand so that students walk away from my class being able to transfer that information to any quilt they produce. I'm finding these days that I prefer to teach techniques rather than how to make a particular quilt or pattern. The satisfaction I get is seeing the light bulb come on (or at least flicker a bit) in a student who was struggling before.

The class was 3 hours long (I hear a big sigh out there) but wait...it included a lot of playtime on the design wall, interspersed with all that scrumptious theory. Even so I think I can expand the class to include some colour exercises so students go home with work they can reference. For now though, I think I did good...or so my students told me.

See ya next time" In the Hayloft",

Get Up and Go Has... Been Temporarily Disabled

It's only a few days into the new year and I feel a bit like a train has struck me. Yes, I've got a bit of the blahs hanging over me and I'm finding that my body is not as young as my mind thinks it is anymore.

It didn't help that I traveled 20 miles to an early moring meeting that really takes place tomorrow and not today. But no matter, tomorrow is another day and another chance to get back into things with fervor (and make the real meeting this time).

What I have been doing though is following the political goings-on in our fair country. As usual I watched my Sunday morning news shows and...lo and behold....I found myself turning the channel. What shock! What horror! What is to become of the world when Grace doesn't watch her regular Sunday morning programs?

It says that there's too much of the same punditry, too many people analizing, too much talk on on the same things time and time again and nothing new being said. I'll still keep watching cause things matter way too much not to, but I wish the over analizing would stop and the pundits (whose numbers have risen over the years don't you think) would just let us see and hear the candidates and make up our minds for ourselves.

Nuff said!

Leave a comment and tell me what you think?


See you next time "In the Hayloft",

Some Rain at Last...Thank Goodness!!

Whenever I'm on the road I always have my camera at the ready...just in case. On the way into Charlotte for an appt yesterday it was all I could do to keep my eyes on the road, the sky was absolutely beautiful, it looked like a piece of cloth that had just had fun painting. It was heavy with clouds that were bursting with long overdue rain. This little bit we get will just have to tide us over for now.

I wish I had a better shot of this next photo. I forgot to roll down the passenger side window before I took it so you can see the messy glass I shot it thru.

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",

Mess has it's Merits

Okay, so I was watching my regular sunday morning news programs to get my fill of all things political and I hear Bill Geist, from CBS News Sunday Morning say "if I could see more executive offices that look this messy I bet we'd be a more productive nation"...and I sat up to listen.

Apparently mess is GOOD!!! who the heck knew! I constantly bemoan the piles of paper and magazines I have lying around my studio and the few in my bedroom. I stack mags by date with the latest at the top, papers are stacked as well. As the guest, David Freeman said, "Piles have a chronological meaning to them. And people know how many inches they have to go down on a pile to get so many weeks or months back in time, and that makes it very easy to find things."

This is ME!!!!!!

How wonderful to know that I am not just a messy person but a messy person with purpose. There's such a thing as "useful mess". Whoopee!! Halleuah!

Furthermore, Mr. Freeman has these thoughts:

"...Had Sir Alexander Fleming not kept such a filthy laboratory, penicillin would not have been discovered" (big one here folks)

"...employees with messy desks are 36 percent more efficient (tellthat to your bosses)

"...the bigger the salary, the bigger the mess ( yeh but I'm thinking those CEO's also have people to clean up their messes)

and lastly "...Albert Einstein said, "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?" Mmmmh?

So some food for thought folks: mess ain't what it's cracked up to be. Go ahead be messy, feel good about it, more efficient production is right around the corner. YOUR ART IS WAITING!

See ya next time "In the Hayloft",