because it's about the journey, not just the destination

 it snowed all day yesterday, and this morning there was a lot of fog

one of my jobs now days is to make sure Mr Cute gets to school on time, so today we set off a bit early that we usually do

for one short stretch, we came out of the fog bank into a little patch of weak sunlight, which we right away called "our own little sun ray", and his instruction?  "pull over and take a picture"!

so we did

it makes my heart sing that he is inspired by some of the same beauty around us that I am

as I drove back home after dropping him off at school, I was thinking about the times that I have driven someplace and arrived realizing that I hardly remembered getting there -- in a way it makes me a little sad that I might have missed something as spectacular as having my own little sun ray -- but I also realize there is a time for each season -- and I think this is my season to really see those little bits of joy and to share them with such a special young man

I'm actually working on a couple of pieces in the studio

this one is titled "Transformation" -- and is based on a photo of a sunrise from late August

right now I'm doing the needle turn applique to create the big (40x54) sky that has only a very small strip of land at the bottom --- I'm past half way now, so I'm already in the "are we there?" feeling -- just chugging along

my artist group (https://4commoncorners.com/) has a current challenge for a piece on the theme of "Heat"

this piece is titled "What Icarus Saw"

based on manipulation of colors from a paint pour in PhotoShop and printed by Spoonflower on organic cotton sateen -- I am now doing the quilting with a variety of cotton, rayon and metallic threads and have done some painting -- more to follow -- with metallic pearl paint

this piece is totally different than anything else I have ever done -- very much an experiment!

what's happening in the studio

finished!

this piece began a few months ago, created out of the t shirts I had been collecting and saving from our various athletic activities, community involvement and our daughter's school productions

these two photos were taken before it was backed and quilted, but they show just how big this quilt is

 I had finished the quilt top on August 14, at least the DH got to see it

and now it will go on the bed -- it's not really cold enough to sleep under it yet as the temperatures here are back up in the 80s, but it won't be long before I'll need it

 

this is a piece for my Women's Work series -- right now I'm calling it "Ironing Day" -- started working on the background yesterday afternoon

 

I'm spending some time almost every day doing some deep cleaning, doing some paperwork and working on some kind of art

 

working toward creating a new sense of "normal"

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!

yup, I'm still here!

somehow the entire month of August slipped away without any posting here --- YIKES!

it was a busy month

we are approaching the Christmas crazy phase of the year, so some of what I'm working on can't be shown just now, but I am working on things every day

and here's what else is happening in the studio (in no particular order!)

this piece, which was the very first in the Parched Earth series, has gone to a gallery in Webster Groves, MO for a show titled "Green"

I have just finished the quilting on this piece -- and I hope to enter it in a show titled "Landscape:  Real and Imagined" -- that particular theme is a perfect fit for a lot of my Parched Earth series, so I will probably enter three pieces there

this piece was started while I was at Caribou in July, and I'm pretty pleased with how it is progressing

it was fun to pull out the InkTense pencils and do the graffiti  on the water tower!

this piece is being done specifically for a SAQA show titled "Forced to Flee"

the deadline is the end of October, but I am already working on the quilting

when finished, it will be three individual panels that will be hung together in this order (but with a little more space between them)

I made a few changes in the design of this piece -- adding a certain bridge at the top right hand corner that will add a bit of color -- time to start the fusing

I have until mid December to get my piece finished for Caribou, and I have finally decided what it will be

this is Charlie, posing behind the wild grass

my plan is to make this 16"x20" and to mount in on a canvas for hanging

time to get the pattern drawn!!

of course there have been other things happening here too

with a little bit of assistance from me, the DH has finished this end table for our daughter's house

it is made of oak and was intended to replace a small round table she was using in her living room

big success!

in the middle of the month we had a big hail storm that trashed our garden

these were the tomatoes that I picked up off the ground the next morning, and since then I've been picking tomatoes off the damaged vines as they've started to turn orange

seems like the grasshoppers moved in right after the hail stripped most of the leaves off the plants

we won't get as much production as we hoped for, but I'm not letting what we have go to waste

so far it's been either made into pasta sauce which has gone into the freezer, or tomato sauce

my sister brought me some peaches right after that hail storm, so the canning kitchen has been busy with that too --- lovely peach jam for the winter
 
over the Labor Day weekend, we had our kids, grand kids and great grand kids all together to celebrate my husband's 80th birthday

the girls

the grand kids

the great grand kids

the cousins

we did this at my daughter's house as she has more space to let this fun group romp and play together

it was warm enough for water play and the basement became the "war zone" for Nerf gun play (each kid supplied with safety glasses for that activity!!)

Mr Benson did not get to go to the birthday party, but he got lots of extra attention afterward

time to get back to work

 

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!