on moving furniture at long last.....

 two years ago I decided I wanted to rearrange my studio so I could have a new (BIGGER!) design wall, since I had begun making pieces that were bigger than the space I had

as with most of these kinds of projects, I encountered the "what do I have to do first?" issue --- at the ripe old age of 71, I can no longer shove around every piece of furniture in one day and then have a fun evening with friends --- my method of younger years was to push everything into the center of the room and then start putting things into the places I wanted them to be -- um, not so much now days

there has been, however, some real progress in the last week or so

this is the newly installed shelving in the back room of the studio where all of the "paper crafting" and the family history projects go on --- in order to set wood shelving on top of a metal file cabinet safely I built a wood top for the cabinet --- a piece of plywood with pieces of 1x2 on each side measured carefully so it is a really TIGHT fit so it won't slide around, then all of the particle board closet shelves stacked up and connected with small dowel pins to stabilize them

it gives me a safe and convenient place to store boxes of pictures as well as the certificates and photos that we have found that are bigger than 8 1/2 x 11

and this is the long planned stacking of two cabinets that began their life with me as storage in the kitchen of a different house, and then sat side by side in the studio

just like the shelving unit in the other room, with the help of my wonderful son-in-law who lifted the one on top and then fastened them together with metal bracing and the appropriate screws, these are safe from shifting, and I will be using them to store things like my tools --- electric staple gun, battery powered drill --- and other supplies like Madera 1000 spray fabric glue, E6000 glue, Alene's Clear Gel Tacky glue, textile medium, gel medium, starch, etc, etc, etc

so now I'm ready to move my stereo system (don't laugh, it's an ESSENTIAL part of my studio set up!!) over into the space vacated by the cabinet that is now on top --- soon, like maybe tomorrow

there has actually been work on art projects this week too

the stitching on this piece is finished, I just need to do the edges, which I'm still thinking on -- leaning toward doing a machine satin stitch around the outside edge and having an irregular outline -- I'll take it to my art group on Monday and see what kind of feed back I get on that idea

I've also worked on the bird quilt this week -- the second bird is nearly done, and I'm pretty sure I've decided on a background, so I'm happy with that 

all of the pieces for the bulldog are done, so I'll be putting him together so I can measure to knit his vest

moving along nicely despite loosing most of 2 days this week for the most dreaded of all medical screening tests - the colonoscopy - I survived another one!!  the test was done Wednesday and I'm still feeling the unhappy gut issues, but I don't have to have another one for 5 years, so I'm happy

time to get moving on some projects
 

ending one week, beginning another

making progress is a good thing!

the quilting on this is coming along nicely -- I've just started working on the "shadows" below the bottles on the window sill -- so far I like it -- 

I'm hoping to get this piece finished this coming week -- still have not decided how I will finish the edges -- I've been thinking about using a very tight machine satin stitch around the edges and leaving them uneven and somewhat "ragged" -- we'll see

 have finished stitching down this bird -- have one more to do at the other end of the "perch" -- the pieces are somewhat "fiddly" as this is all hand stitched raw edge applique and some of those pieces are smaller than the size of my little finger nail

on to the next bird (which is all blues, and smaller), and while I'm working on that one I can think about what I'm going to use for the background 

 

for a number of years I've been building some sort of "stuffie" as a stocking gift for members of the "clan"  

this year "Mr Cute" is in his first year of middle school (!?!? how DID that happen?!?!) and his school mascot is a bulldog, so I decided he needed a bulldog as his "stuffie"

the pattern does this all in white, but I know not all bulldogs are just white, and that pattern thing in that case is just a suggestion as far as I'm concerned - I'm adding little splotches of brown in random places

so far the body and the 2 front legs are ready for the assembly, and the yarn arrived this week for the appropriate sweater vest for the dog to wear (I get to "make up" that pattern on my own -- it wasn't included -- no problem, I've knit a few vests!)

feels like there was an inordinate amount of time spent on medical stuff this past week -- the annual "smash and flash" of the mammogram and checking on blood pressure and tweeking the meds, trying to get it to the proper balance -- nothing serious, just annoying as it takes me away from the studio

this coming week is the dreaded every 5 year check for colon cancer --- the procedure itself isn't all that bad -- just a little nap while they take a look around -- but the prep for it is torture as far as I'm concerned -- and again, it takes me away from the studio -- I'll be happy to be done with it 

see y'all on the other side

why we keep learning

I've been reading a book about Leonardo di Vinci

 (and may I add as an aside that it is wonderful to be able to read again --- the cataracts were really impacting that more that I realized!)

anyway, this quote really grabbed me:

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed, and the first of that which comes...The instant does not have time; and time is made from the movement of the instant....Observe the light.  Blink your eye and look at it again.  That which you see was not there at first, and that which was there is no more."

 I am more aware now days of time's passage -- wondering some days how it got to be Thursday again already -- fussing about the idea that I never seem to get the house cleaned to my prior standards, yet feeling little inspiration to spend time doing that -- I want to make more art!!

Also feeling more pulled to taking the time to spending meaningful time with other people -- family and friends

Does it really matter if the house is spotless (or as close to that as it ever was)?  I think not --- 

I'm going back to the studio to work now --- new art is calling, the river and the instant and the light keep moving on

When last we saw our hero......

 Yes, I know ---- it's been a really L .O. N. G.  time since I put anything out here ----

It's not that I have nothing to show for the last two years, it's just that I have not  felt like writing about it any more that the brief FaceBook posts --- writing something bigger than that requires more concentration 

And I'm not promising this will continue on any regular basis, we'll see how it goes

As I write this I'm listening to the thump, thump, thump of the tennis balls in the dryer that are doing the "fluff" portion of the drying cycle on the first of the loads of flannel that arrived yesterday.  It's nearly November, which means shortly the PJ factory will temporarily take over my studio so I can get the Christmas sewing done.

If you visit my kitchen on any given day, you may see odd things going on!

Like this little set up, for example.

I'm in the midst of a piece that includes bottles sitting on a window sill, and I've been struggling with the shadow aspect of them for several days.  Yesterday I was approaching the "sling it across the room" stage when I had a conversation with a fellow artist about figuring out this issue.

No matter how many formulas or written descriptions I might read on the subject, setting these up and taking that photo provided the answer I needed --- a picture is worth thousands of words!!