write it down

when my daughter graduated from the 8th grade, her teacher talked about having a top ten list (a la David Letterman)

her top ten list began with:  #10 -- Write it Down!

in the past few months I have tried to focus on working in a series for my pieces -- or rather two series!

either way, it's a good thing to keep a list of what the ideas are for each series - preferably in a place that I can't loose them

this was my solution -- a small white board hanging in my studio to write those ideas on

and oh yes -- it's color coded -- the goal is to have every one of those ideas be written in red -- that's the "finished" color -- one down and many to go

the quilting on the background for the parched earth tree has begun

and of course as soon as I started selected thread for this I found that I had the color I wanted to use, but only a tiny bit of it

so that meant a trip to the local quilt store to get a spool of thread -- uh, since when can I buy just one spool of thread?  I came home with 5 spools -- all of them to be used on the Parched Earth series

one of those spools of thread is specifically for the bottom edge of this piece


I solved the issue of the "floating trees" by putting a small section of the "parched dirt" looking pattern at the bottom under them -- only in this piece that will be shades of gray for the ash of the fire

the pattern pieces for this have been prepared, so I can start on that applique work soon

as soon as I finish appliqueing this one that is

the entire sky for the background of the truck is done and I'm now working on the mountain --- looking good!

at the design wall the sky and most of the fields for "The Farm" are in and it was fun to put in those gloriously red trees

about 2/3 of this is done, and I'm getting antsy to have it finished and off the wall so I can start the next one

not long ago another fiber artist said to me "you need to have something you can carry to show your work to people"

at the time I didn't take that very seriously because I really didn't have a lot of work to show

this week for the first time I wished I had taken her advice when someone asked me to tell them about my work

ok -- I get it (I'm slow, but I do learn!) -- so I have ordered one copy of a small (8"x8") paperback book that has 23 pages showing my work

and my plan is to update it at the end of the year so it will reflect all of the 2016 fiber art projects

it's actually kind of exciting to see that on the screen -- and I'm thinking having the actual book in my hands will be even more so

the last of the leaves for this project are complete!

now I'm waiting for the leather for the backing and the beads for the edging to arrive -- hopefully this week

onward and upward!