fiberhart

A little something quilty-- and more

It was a busy week at work, some late nights- so I never got anywhere near the studio. Then a lot of this weekend was spent cleaning, budget planning for the month and menu planning for the week- so I only got a little time to play today. And most of that was de-stress time from a scare this morning.

I'd planned to stop and drop off my HOA payment on the way home from church. After church, I realized I'd forgotten to bring an envelope. No big deal, I'm running low, so I'll just stop at Shopko on the way and grab a box. Got up to the checkout, it came to a whole $1.48. I ran my debit card, and to my amazement it came up denied. I tried again, and still no luck- so I left the store without my envelopes. Then I figured I'd go to a nearby branch of my credit union, get some cash at the ATM, and get the envelopes. The same thing happened there. Now I am scared- I KNOW I have plenty to cover either of the withdrawals, I was just checking my accounts online on Saturday!! All I could think of was identity theft, or someone hacking their way into my account. By the time I got home, I was just a step this side of panic. I got online- to find out that my accounts were intact, just where they should be. So what the heck happened?? I will be visiting the credit union tomorrow morning to find out. My son Sean called to let me know that he also had trouble with his debit card, it would only work as a credit card- so maybe it was something nationwide. I just know I was scared.

So I went into the studio to de-stress. I'd been thinking about making a covered book for a friend who just got through some very difficult times with her family. Shannon decided she wanted to make one for herself,so we pulled out my hand dyes and painted fabrics, and anything else I had in terms of embellishments. And here is what we got done today, we are letting the glue set until tomorrow to finish.

Mine--



And Shannon's--



We both used Angelina fibers and hand-dyed silk organza. I added some hand-dyed cheesecloth and some beading. They are glued onto the front covers, tomorrow hopefully we'll finish them. Unless we actually make it to the free yoga class at our Hari Krishna temple, then maybe on Tuesday!

I set the snowy mountain piece aside all week. I looked at it again, and I'm torn. I still like the idea of trying to capture this image in my head, but I've been thinking a lot about Nellie's suggestion to cut it up. Maybe I won't cut this one up, but maybe I'll try doing something like her ortwork technique. She has done such a wonderful job of capturing the many moods of Lake Michigan (or is it Superior, I can't remember!) with lots of small pieces of fabric. I have a sizeable stash of bitty pieces, so that would be very doable. I've got that idea in the back of my head. In the meantime, I'm posting a picture of the piece as it looks today, after lots of machine embroidery and some hand stitching.



I know I need to add some shadows in the snow area, it is just flat. I'd probably use a fabric pen, that would be the easiest to control. But I would love to know what you think of the piece so far. It is so frustrating when you can see something in your mind, and the efforts to bring it to life just aren't working. Ah well- it will either be successfully brought to completion, or I will have one more to add to my crap quota!!

I don't know if I will be able to stand another eight months of electioneering. I am amazed at the narrow minded stupidity that permeates some layers of our country. I am both pulled in and repulsed!!