the upside of just doing the work

 

earlier this year I finished this piece which is titled "Out to Pasture" 

it seemed a natural to enter in a show titled "Pieces of the Past"

 this popped up in my email yesterday --- at some point in the future a picture of this piece may show up in a quilting magazine

how cool is that!?

 

 clearly I'm on a bit of a roll here --- this piece, which is titled "Caribou Porch" had been entered in a local art association's annual show

over the weekend, it was awarded an Artistic Achievement ribbon, which also included a small check

woo hoo!

 

I am always pleased when the pieces speak well at a show or competition

 

yesterday I received the annual call for entries from the Loveland Library district (where I have had several of my smaller pieces on exhibit in the past)

my plan this year is to enter several pieces from the "Women's Work" series -- maybe these three

I do have two more pieces for this series in process, and I do have until the end of October before the entry is due, I might have a couple more to enter as well

we'll see

moving along in the studio on pieces that were already in the planning is helping me find a new sense of purpose

meantime --- more tomatoes got put up

last weekend I stripped the garden because we were going from 90 degree heat to snow within about 36 hours, and I didn't spend all summer tending those plants to loose those tomatoes!!

these 8 pints bring the count for the season to 25, and there are still 3 baskets full ripening on the counter that I will either can or turn into basic pasta sauce that I can put in the freezer 

tomorrow will be a day off --- I will have my grandson here while his mother takes care of some things in her office that can't be handled from home, so I will be "supervising" his school work in the morning then we can do a project or two in the afternoon --- should be fun

Reasons for happy dancing!

Yesterday was one of those days that you hope will happen at least once a week!

this piece, titled Tsalagi (Cherokee) Trail of Tears has been accepted for the Hands All Around exhibit at the Houston quilt show at the end of October

I entered it on a whim at the last minute before the deadline, with the idea of "if you don't enter you can't get in"

I was stunned when the email arrived late in the afternoon telling me that it got in -- Wooo Hooo!

the second great news was that after one day on the market an offer was made and accepted to sell my parents house

another big Wooo Hooo!

in addition to those big things to celebrate, there has continued to be creative work done here

after the first backing had to be discarded, I have now successfully backed and edged this piece so it is now ready for the fringe and the necklace work

the final placement of the corn stalk has been determined and I will begin stitching it down (adding some batting to give it dimension as I go)

my plan after that is to do some additional quilting and to add some color/shadows with inktense pencils

the very first tentative stitching on the dog nose was done yesterday -- lots of positive affirmation going on as I work on this piece!

and some utilitarian sewing is taking place too -- now that the daybed is in place, I have no excuse not to make up those pillows I've been talking about and get that big bag of pillow filling out of my studio!

here are the first two -- there will probably be 4 or 5 more

and of course all of this under the supervision of the studio dog!

Dragon at Bay -- Quilt on it's way

every time I submit a quilt (or anything else) to a competition there is a certain amount of dragon slaying that goes on

I can say that it has gotten a lot easier, however

today when I head out the door to run some errands I'll be taking these two packages to the local mail station to send them off

the bottom one is a box full of afghan squares that go to Michigan to be turned into afghans (our last batch went to Alabama, the next group will go to Joplin, MO, and you can learn more by clicking on the Close Knit Hugs button there on the right side of the blog)

that top tube is the Hoffman Challenge entry -- about 3 weeks ahead of the deadline

SWEET!
so this is the next due

all of the flower is stitched down now, so this afternoon I'll be playing with some fusing to see if I can create some butterflies with wings that will stand up away from the surface

that should be interesting


and I have about half of the palm tree fronds stitched, so that project is moving along quite nicely too


the strip of right angle weave is now being rolled and made into a long skinny tube that will become the necklace "chain" for this piece

I hope to get it all "zipped" up today so I can start working on the next step -- a spiral of beads that will run around the chain

or at least that is the plan -- we'll see how that goes

got giraffes?

even leaving off the originally planned row of Santa's this is still going to be a plenty big Christmas sock for Mr Cute

the heel is turned

which means the sock is 60% complete


once again today we went out and did yard work before breakfast -- and in the hour we were outside doing that the temperature rose almost 10 degrees

its going to be a hot one

when we get back from that errand run we'll be hiding out in the family room -- the one place where we have a portable swampy cooler

time to go fix some breakfast

Mission Accomplished!!

it's finished!

all of the edges neatly covered with beads

and I still have plenty of time to finished up the paper work that is required to enter it in the competition

and I really like the way this one came out

today I'll start in on the list of materials that has to accompany the entry form -- that will take a while!

despite several days of thunder snow and waking up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground yesterday, the robin thinks it's time to build a nest

I was talking to a friend on the phone yesterday afternoon when I spotted this robin pulling up the dead grass in the front yard and taking it off into the big blue spruce tree that stands at the corner of our house

the lighting was pretty dim, since it was cloudy, but I still managed to get this shot of the robin with its beak full of dry grass

pretty neat

time to run the vacuum again and gather up some nice soft dog hair for them

this photo should be titled "monkey business"

a quick trip to my local store yesterday afternoon and now I'm ready to start in on the toy for Mr. Cute -- and it was nice to reach for the gift card from my daughter when I got to the check out!

the van has been repaired -- almost $400 worth, but the light on the dashboard is off now -- seems there was a leak in the intake manifold gasket which could have gone on to be an even bigger and more expensive repair if I hadn't had it taken care of -- it will be a very tight month, $400 takes a huge bite out of our already tight budget

my back continues to be a problem -- our scheduled trip to Denver on Saturday for the quilt show where my piece will be on display may not happen -- no point to my going when I can barely walk around the house

geesh

totally unexpected

the box arrived yesterday

I knew it was coming soon since the Fire Mountain folks had notified me about the posting of the winners on the competition

along with my piece of jewelry (which was wrapped in YARDS of bubble wrap which I totally appreciate!) was a gift certificate that I can use when I make my next supply order

and the certificate that says I was a finalist in the Swarovski Elements design competition
what I didn't expect was the second certificate that actually looks like one of the advertisements they run on the back covers of magazines

and the little card that says my piece might actually get used for one of those back cover ads

Oh.My.Goodness!!

I'm so thrilled

(and that website work I've been procrastinating on -- I need to get to that -- because my website would be right out there on that ad!)



so after that I worked for quite a while on the next piece I'm doing for one of the Fire Mountain competitions

and I'm almost to the end of this side of the necklace

hopefully today I'll get this edge done and get on with the other side

I went through my bin of upholstery fabric and picked out a sort of cocoa colored piece that I will use as the back of this piece --

I'm definitely getting excited about having this finished


still working on the Christmas project afghan in the evenings

it is now 80% complete


and last night I finished the knitting of the blue lace piece, so it is ready to be bound off now







one more cuff bracelet added to Etsy

I want to put the piece that just came home out there too, but I need to take some new photographs and it's been too cloudy and gray to do that

maybe tomorrow

new project beginnings

since the envelope of supplies arrived, I figured it would be good to get going on the project

(not to mention that I don't want to be doing this at the last minute when the deadline for submissions is looming!)

here we have the piece all set up -- two pieces of stabilizer with a layer of bamboo batting sandwiched inside (I used some spray adhesive to hold those layers together) -- then the jasper pieces are glued down and it's ready for me to start stitching the bezels around each one -- that will take a while, since there are a couple dozen stones involved

fortunately bezel building is pretty easy, so it shouldn't take too long




my back has recovered enough that I could move tubs of fabric around and pull out the pieces that I need to start on the Hawaii piece


meantime, the big hat and the hat stand on the Hoffman design have been stitched down, so it's moving right along too


and yesterday I cut the strips for the third charity quilt top


yarn projects are doing well too -- almost 45% of the Christmas afghan done, the yolk of the shawl is complete and the hat I started on Saturday for my grandson is half finished too

moving along

another charity quilt top

after looking at these fabrics for a week I finally put it all together

paisleys, plaids, stripes and prints along with light and dark orange solids

and this one was put together by stitching up one long 3 inch wide strip then folding it in half and stitching the sides

repeat fold and stitch several times

add borders

pretty easy and it used up the little strips and pieces that had already been cut

I do still have pieces of all of these except the green plaid

maybe those will get used in some future project
I got an envelope of supplies on Saturday

these are the items I had ordered to put together a design for another competition

so now its time to get out the stabilizer and the batting and the E6000 to set this up for the bead work


I'll be working on projects between loads of laundry today

and the loser is.....

I had to make that final decision about which of the four quilts under consideration I was not going to include in the final entry

(if you missed the original post about this you can read it here)

in the past few months I've been doing a lot of reading of things that have been written by people who have actually been able to get into some of the big shows or competitions in an effort to figure out how to do just that

reading those things made it easier for me to decide that the light house was the right quilt NOT to include

it has to do with presenting a cohesive body of work

while the light house is the newest quilt, and it is more the size of the fantasy fish and the leaf, it is a totally different style

it is a watercolor on fabric that is embellished with colored thread quilting

the other three pieces are basically applique with a lot of embellishment, including three dimensional flower petals on the fence piece and beading embellishment on all three of them

hopefully this was the right choice and at least one of the three that I did enter will actually make the cut

and in other "loser" news, I recently learned that a local co-op gallery had an opening for a "wall art" artist

after checking it out, I have decided that this is not the right time for me to pursue being a part of that -- there is a considerable commitment required in terms of both financial contribution (a yearly "membership" fee plus a monthly payment that is even more) and of time -- I'm just starting to take "baby steps" to getting my work out there where it can be seen, and I need to have time to actually work on making art

I'm working under the belief that if I'm supposed to be there another opportunity to do so will present itself

a new bead project

after finally deciding yesterday that the Desert Dreams project just was not going to happen for now I spent some time surfing the web, thinking about redoing my website and my Etsy shop

and then this idea popped into my head

one of the things that I really enjoy making is beaded bracelets -- especially wide bead embroidery ones -- over a metal cuff form - like one of these

more recently I've done a couple that are not over a form, but have a clasp -- like these two

the up side of this method is that a magnetic clasp is a lot less expensive than those brass cuffs that I used, which means I can keep the cost of the bracelet down when I sell it

this is one of the drawings that I did yesterday as an idea for another bracelet

(I did a second sketch too, which I will show you later if I decide to actually do the stitching)


and here is the beginning of the bead work -- this piece is bead embroidery worked on a "sandwich" of two pieces of stabilizer with a piece of thin cotton/bamboo batting in the center

and its about 2 inches wide by 7 inches long - and will have a clasp -- probably a beaded toggle clasp

I feel much better about this piece than I ever did on the Desert Dreams -- so maybe I can actually get it done and submit it for the competition -- we'll see

now that its finally finished snowing its time to get out there and get the shoveling done, then hopefully some work on the beading!

the envelope please

when you apply to shows you want the reply envelope to be a thick envelope, not a thin one because the thick envelope has all of the contracts and other information you need when you are selected to get in -- while the thin envelope just says "thanks, but no thanks"

when submitted stuff for competition, this is not so true

back at the end of September I sent in my packet of entry information and photos to Fire Mountain Gems for the Swarovski Elements Jewelry-Making Contest

I hadn't originally intended to do that contest this year, but when one of the competition judges from last year called me and encouraged me to participate

well

so yesterday, when I got the mail, there was an envelope from Fire Mountain, and since the "good" envelope (yes you've been selected, please send us your actual piece of jewelry for the next stage of judging) and the "bad" envelope (thanks for entering, but your piece was not selected) look just the same in this case, it felt like a very long walk from the mail box to the house where I could get the letter opener to slice it open

I got the GOOD letter!!!
once again this year my design has made it through the first round of judging

and since a lot of rather you make it through this stage has to do with how well you photographed your piece, it says volumes about my improved photography as well as good things about my jewelry design!

I will be packing up the piece and shipping it off to Grant's Pass for the next round of judging

I'm pretty excited about doing this two years in a row!!

and because they split up their competitions this year so they end at different times during the year, I'm now in the designing stage for another piece that is due March 1, 2011 that is mostly seed beads -- and I hope it is equally well received

this is SO COOL!!

Page 49 please

my new Fire Mountain Gems catalog arrived yesterday

we get one of these every year, and I order stuff out of it a couple times a year

I don't usually just sit down and look through the entire thing when it comes -- in fact sometimes I don't even open it until I actually need to order something

but last night while I was hanging out in the kitchen waiting for dinner to be ready I started flipping through the pages of my usual favorite stuff to buy -- checking out any new stuff they might have added that I might need to try out

stuff like seed beads


as I flipped through to page 49 I glanced down at the corner and thought "wait -- that looks like something I made"

then I looked closer and said to the DH "HEY! I'm in the catalog!!"

I had submitted the design over a year ago, knew I had made the finals, sent in the piece for the final judging, but didn't win any of the big prizes

they had sent the piece back and I had just added it to my inventory (although I had just decided it needed to go to the State Fair this year)

it never occurred to me that it would get used in the catalog!

it is also part of their online design idea gallery, which you can see by using this LINK.

unbelievable!

(and in the last two weeks there has been another idea forming for a piece I may enter in the next competition and see if I can break into the "winner's circle")

taking the flying leap

remember Cabaret?

there's a song in there with a lyric:
"It's got to happen, happen sometime
Maybe this time I'll win"

which is what was running through my head as I handed the postal clerk this box yesterday morning

inside is my entry for the 2010 Hoffman Challenge

the last time I entered a piece of art work in a national competition, it made the first cut into the finals, but didn't win

maybe this time (reminding myself to pay attention to the quote at the bottom of my email signature -- "trust your instincts, close your eyes and leap!")

I went to the store yesterday to get the quilt batting for the commissioned baby quilt -- since I'm nearly done with the applique work on it, it's time to think about that sandwich and I didn't have a bat in the house (except me, of course)

this bundle of bright colored fabrics just seemed to jump right off the rack into my basket too

got to love the swirly bright colors (yeah, like I needed to add to the stuff to go into the laundry!)

as promised, a picture of the back of the Wild About Flowers quilt that shows the quilting so far

fencing running in parallel lines up and down and across

big sunflower leaf there in the center

its moving right along!

some of the areas in the leaf were a bit more difficult -- when you have five or six layers of appliqued fabric then the bat and the backing it can get hard to keep the stitches small and even

I know there are a lot of quilters that turn over the whole project to someone with a power machine at this point in things, but I've always had this issue with -- it's my work, I should finish it -- and I kind of enjoy the whole process of doing a piece from beginning to end


finished another afghan square last night

and worked 2 rows of k2, p2 ribbing over 320 stitches around the front of the Christmas Sweater

and I'm now in row 4 of 6 around the afghan

whooo hoooo!


so, today there will be mowing and shopping then back to the sewing machine for a while before the quilting begins again

onward!