falling into winter

at least that's what it feels like this morning

when I walked Mr Benson down to get the mail it was snowing and the snow landing on the still green leaves of the trees sounded like water droplets hitting a hot pan --- hisss, hisss --- a sound I had never noticed before

since my last blog post, we've had a bit of household excitement

two weeks ago when I cleaned in the kitchen I discovered that we had a leak around the garbage disposal -- not what I wanted to be dealing with just now, but I know better than to let a leak go because my experience with that in the past is that it only costs you more

we made the decision that if we were going to replace the disposal, it made sense if we could swing it to do the whole job -- the sink that was here when we bought the house was a porcelain coated steel one that was badly stained and chipped by it's tenure as a rental house and the spray attachment didn't work properly ---   I had hoped at some point to replace the counter top and have a nice under mount sink installed, but that was just not in the budget

so, off we went to the local hardware store and did some shopping and pricing

last Tuesday morning the installer came and installed the new sink, water supply lines, faucets and garbage disposal --- all in stainless steel which matches the appliances in the room and because I paid a bit extra, I now have a 9 inch deep sink which is wonderful for doing some dye washout projects too

and because the leak had marked the veneer of the bottom of the cabinet, I picked up some self stick vinyl tile squares and my wonderful son-in-law installed those for me last Saturday

YEAH!  a small victory and learning to be grateful for what we can do even when it isn't "the big dream"

from now until Christmas, my studio takes on the look of having a million things going on at once

October is usually taken up with working on a special Halloween costume for Mr Cute, and this year is no exception

over the past 7 years I have created something custom that was requested by either his parents (the first two, when he was too little to express an  opinion) or by "the little man" himself

he's been a winged monkey

Linc (from the Legend of Zelda game)

a dinosaur

a fireman

a Ninja turtle

Captain America

and the Hulk

this year he requested a pirate outfit

and not just any pirate ---- nope, we're going to give Captain Jack Sparrow a run for his money

we ordered this pattern (and had to wait  F O R E V E R  for it to arrive)

while we were waiting, he helped me create the wig he would need to wear to make this a proper Jack Sparrow costume

this was created by using one of those soft net bags that cantaloupes come in at Costco as a base and threading bulky yarn into it for the hair --- a trip through my beads and metal charm stash provided the ornamentation -- looking good!

and now that the pattern is here, I've already made a good start on the sewing -- the vest is ready for it's buttons

the stack of fabric for the annual Christmas pj bottoms has been washed and folded and is waiting for the cutting and stitching once the costume is done

meantime, quilts continue to be entered and accepted into shows

this piece, titled "The Wheel" was originally created as a test of techniques for another piece -- because it worked so well, I finished it off and put it in with the pieces to be shown

yesterday I was notified that it has been accepted for a show titled "Overlooked" in Cumberland, MD -- I'm very pleased!

and this piece that has already been in two shows has been accepted to be printed in a special edition of the Surface Design Association's magazine in a grouping titled "Family Matters" --- WOW!

this piece is moving right along on the design wall

the figures are done, and the background is coming together ---

the background of this piece is almost complete too --- and I'm amazed at how well it has come together

as usual when I'm getting close to the completion of a piece, I'm already thinking about what the next two or three will be ---- so many choices!

this picture of Mr Benson is a candidate for one of them --- I love the light and shadow on his face and for once he is looking right at the camera without bouncing around

time to get back to the studio to work!

May Days

and here we are, already more than half way through the "merry, merry month of May"!

a little utilitarian stitching!

this was originally a t-shirt style top, and my daughter loved the print (I can see why!), but even though it was a size that should have fit her quite well, it was just too snug to be comfortable

so she asked me if I could cut it down the front and make it into a "jacket"

yup, I still can do that!  I even had a piece of an old orange t-shirt that I could cut pieces to neatly face that opening

yeah!

work on the commission continues

after I took this photo, we decided that the bottom edge looked a little stark, so I've added some little bits of grass along there

the binding is on now, so all that is left is a sleeve, a slat and a presentation bag

this will be done well ahead of my deadline

this piece is titled "View from the Farm House Window"

it is a 12"x12" piece that is my donation to the annual SAQA fund raising auction

it will be going in the mail tomorrow morning -- the auction is in September

in among other things, I have been working on the garden

I've added the wind chimes, put some pale shadows of the arbor at the bottom and painted some lighter areas in that very dark green in the background

I think I'm ready to quilt this (I know, that's what I said before, and I may change it some more, but it is getting closer!)

sometimes when I start a piece, I decide that it is going the wrong direction

I originally started doing the barn for the next piece I'm working on in brown tones and very narrow "planks"

which did nothing but frustrate

it has been redesigned, and I'm cruising along on the new barn in weathered gray "wood"

much better!

and since I am now quilting on the last fused piece, I'm now working on the design for the next one

this is titled "Sailor Boy", and I will be doing the entire piece in blues -- like an old cyanotype

looking forward to getting started putting fabric on it

of course there is more going on than just what I'm doing in the studio

back on April 18, we had a big wind storm (70 mph gusts!) that resulted in some significant damage to our roof, so we will be having a new one put on

just waiting to be "next in line" on the roofer's schedule to have this done

 

from time to time when Mr. Cute has a day off from school, he gets to come and play at gramma's

I introduced him to the concept of weaving -- every kid need to have some experience with those plastic frames and loops of fabric!

if he wants to do more complex stuff, there is a 4 harness loom in my studio he can work on!!!

and of course there was a bit of playing around with the dog

and it's gardening season again

this year I basically have a "salsa garden" --- lots of tomatoes, peppers/chilis and red onions --- but I do have two zucchinis and two cucumbers out there too

now we just hope for no hail!!

End of the month update

well, once again the time has gotten away from me --- guess there's no fighting it!

that said, here's a look at what I've been up to for the past 20 days

this piece is finally finished -- the fun part (ie the embroidery on the front) has been finished for a while, but I've finally done the finishing work on it -- yeah!

I am working on the quilting of this commissioned piece now -- as of yesterday, I'm about 1/3 finished with that, so it is moving right along

the fusing on this piece is done, and it has been put together and is ready for quilting

this small piece (12"x12") is on the design wall right now -- I plan to donate this to the annual SAQA auction, so it has a June 1 deadline -- need to step it up and get this finished soon!

I think the garden is just about ready for the quilting

there are a few things that I want to do with InkTense pencils to add some details on it, but for the most part, I'm happy with it now --- no small thanks to my critique group that helped me figure out what it was about it that just wasn't working!

since I am done with the hand work on the garden, I have started on what will be the next stitched piece

this is made up from parts of four different photos, but the point of inspiration for it is the barn

I took the photo of this barn, which has been sitting in a field a couple of miles from my house for years, slowly falling apart

not long ago, it was announced that the city has given permission for it to be torn down, so it was photograph it now or loose it forever

I think I'm going to like this piece!

and I plan to use this photo for the basis of the next fused piece

this working in two different methods allows me to continue doing both small and large pieces

this is Mr Cute following in his gramma's footsteps!

last weekend his rocket ship was part of the District Art Exhibit --- I'm thrilled that he is as excited by art (and music) as he is about sports

and of course no post is complete without a photo of The Artist's Supervisor - aka Mr Benson

he thinks he's having to work awful hard, but he's trying to keep at least one eye on the artist at work!

a taste of winter

it snowed here yesterday

which means that soon this beautiful maple tree that I've been enjoying from my office window will  be dropping all it's leaves

most of the snow is gone already, even though it is cold this morning (our first real freeze followed the snow)

fortunately, we knew the cold was coming, and I went out and pulled every tomato that looked like it might possibly ripen -- a pretty good haul for the last picking

we'll be putting up some as whole tomatoes and some as sauce

I've been working in the studio on making pieces better

this piece, the second in the Parched Earth series had a narrow binding, but it wasn't quite straight, and in places the tree limbs just blended into the sky

I took the binding and the sleeve off, did some additional quilting in the sky, outlined the tree with a dark thread and put a facing on instead of the binding

much better!

some new pieces are finished too

this one is titled Parched Earth:  The Mail Boxes

it was actually the first piece that used the sunrise/sunset sky idea, and I like the way this one looks (I've already entered it in a gallery show that I hope it will get in to)

this piece is done too

part of my on going Portraits of Objects series, this one is based on a photo shared with me by a friend -- love the look of the weathered wood on the Ice Cream Maker

this piece is the next one being quilted -- a challenge to work with the machine between and around all those little openings in the wheels!

and while this doesn't look like much, it is the last big piece of the garden piece I've been working on for a while now

I'm hoping to start putting all the layers together by the end of the week

this photograph will be the basis for the next Portraits of Objects piece -- this coffee grinder was my grandmother's and I remember turning the crank when I was a little girl and the smell of freshly ground coffee

I recently decided to enter this piece in a gallery show in Portland, Oregon. 

the show is titled "Chasing Ghosts", and I though Tsalagi (Cherokee) Trail of Tears fit that category

so did they!  I'll be shipping this piece off to them the end of this week

in keeping with a long standing tradition, I'm working on my grandson's Halloween costume

over Labor Day weekend we took a trip to the fabric store and got the materials to make Mr. Cute into The Hulk

this has been a fun costume to make, and despite not having a picture showing the progress, I'm nearly done with it

Mr Benson of course has plenty to say about everything that goes on here in the studio

and he had a grand time playing in the snow yesterday -- the deck looked like I had a whole pack of dogs that had been out there tromping around making footprints