Winter's Here



so we put up the Christmas tree last night. This year, it's more out of the way of traffic next to the fireplace. Here's Bentlee and Jaden striking a holiday pose for Santa! (Yes, one of these years I will get the red drapes for the door done--)



I also got some work done on a challenge piece for one of the online groups I recently joined- the 12 by 12 Project. Can't show you the whole thing, since the reveal is later this month- but here's a teaser.



I'm pretty happy with how it is turning out. Just a little more embellishment, face it, and we're good.

I'm also looking around at my studio and trying to figure ways to make it more functional and inspirational. I feel the stirrings of a definite clean, de-clutter and reorganize coming on! (Couldn't have anything to do with the new issue of Studios, could it?)

Hope your weekend has been inspirational and restful!

A Gift in the Mail

I am feeling better today- and something in the mailbox was a real boost! Nellie sent me an 8 X 10 piece made from the leftovers of her wonderful Prairie Performance that was installed in a hospital in Illinois last week. It is wonderful!



Nellie does amazing art with fabric and bits of thread, ribbon, you name it. She calls it ortwork- and it's done with snips and bits that most of us would throw out. I love it, and I am thrilled to have a piece of her work in my home. Thank you, thank you, Nellie!

Bleaaagh

about describes the way I've felt since Thursday evening. I did manage to get the kitchen cleaned up after our feast, but we were in bed before 9- that's how lousy I felt. And I've spent the better part of the last two days just laying around- since leaving home has not been an option even if I felt like it, for reasons I won't go into.

So I have no pictures, nothing interesting. My bead stash is reorganized to take up less space since my nifty carousel broke- I'm just going with cheap, small ziploc baggies and a container of some sort. At least that was a low energy activity I could do from the recliner while watching endless episodes of Law and Order! I have also played with the design of a small piece for group I recently joined, modeled on the 12 X 12 group that has done such interesting work for the past two years. It's due the end of December- so I won't be posting any pics of that until they all go up. If you're interested, the blog for the group is here.

To top off the weekend, the U lost to BYU in overtime. What a way to start the holiday season. It can only get better from here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm counting my blessings today- health, home, family (even though most of them are distant), a new, beautiful granddaughter- we truly are blessed to have such abundance in this country. I learned this first-hand when I spent a year in Africa with the Peace Corps in my early twenties.

The cooking began yesterday. I made an apple-cranberry pie, Shannon made yeast rolls. The topping for the green bean casserole is done, and I'm cooking the beans as I type. DJ and Bentlee are making peanut butter pies- definitely not my cup of tea, but some in the family love them. I'll stick with pumpkin and apple, thank you very much.

If I remember, I'll get a photo of the bounty. In the meantime, may your Thanksgiving be full of family, friends, and a sense of gratitude.

Frustration

I have been working on the small study piece of the lily- and I am glad that I did not start with the big quilt. I got the small one sewn to the stabilizer, and started doing some threadwork on it this morning. I am not happy with the results!!

I've not done a lot of realistic quilts- in fact, I can only think of one small one, the batik sunflower. On this one, the large lily is driving me crazy. How do you portray soft, like a flower, with the hard edges that sewing produces? Aaaargh!!!

So I will put this one in the back of my mind, to think about and see if I can figure this out to my satisfaction. In the meantime, I am going to work on a couple of 12 X 12 pieces for a group I just joined. The first one is definitely abstract- the second, sort of. But it is also something that hard edged threadwork will enhance, not detract from.

And maybe I just need to stick to what seems to come more natural. More food for thought!

Study One

I got to work on the first small study to try out the effect of piecing or otherwise breaking up the negative space behind the lilies. Here's my progress so far- the background is pieced, with 2" strips and the joins between the strips offset. I've selected my greens, and pinned it all up on the wall to see how it works.



I like how the greens I chose work together. The large white lily will get some paint this afternoon- this time, I think I will see how Setacolors look. As for the background, I will have to live with it a bit. I know these oranges are a little different than the yard I dyed, so that could be affecting my feelings about it.

So, what do you think?

WAQ Friday

We had our small quilt group meeting today, minus only Jalaine. Suzanne did a hands-on tutorial of quilt construction Katie PM's way. I have her books, but it was helpful to see it done.
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And, I got a lot of feedback on the lily quilt. I took the patterns I've done and the background. Most of the feedback was about the large amount of negative space and what was I going to do with it. My idea of a cool quilting design didn't have much traction- and I haven't figured out what that would be anyway.

There was some talk of cropping, which I am reluctant to do because it would change the lovely lines that drew me to the picture in the first place. Then we talked about piecing the background, and how it could be done without detracting from the lily.

If I were better at PSE, I'd figure out a way to try it out on the computer. But I'm not, so I'm thinking of making smaller 12 X 12 quilts to try out the idea. To that end, I cropped out two sections of the original photo.





Trying out these ideas in a small format makes more sense than trying, and possibly screwing up, the larger quilt. And, I'll be able to try out the construction method in a more manageable size. Nice projects for the holidays, I think.

We also talked about the beads I'd planned to use. In the large size, the quantity of beads would weigh a lot- so I will probably end up with lots of French knots and some beads. At least the quilt will hand straight!

I have some minor house cleaning to get done tomorrow, and the laundry. Then we'll start playing with the small size.