and a busy one it was!
the list is out for the Hoffman Challenge 2015
this piece will be traveling until about this time next year with the traveling trunks
I will get to see the entire exhibit at The Ranch in Loveland, August 15 thru 17 as the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival is the only place all of the pieces appear together
on Monday I got to see this quilt (which I submitted to the Sacred Threads exhibit)
as it appears in this book -- the catalog of the entire exhibit
this was a great thrill for me as it is the first place one of my quilted pieces has appeared in a show that is that tough to get in to
I've been working on this piece of jewelry this week, and it is now ready for backing and fringe and a "chain"
the gradation of color on this worked really well
and since the next show for jewelry that I will apply for will be held in September, I'm thinking about fall themed pieces for that
this will be a beaded pin
and there was enough of the prepared backing in the center of the necklace that is almost finished to do the beading in for this piece -- cool -- no wasting!
the trees have all been fused down on this piece now, and I have started doing the color stitching --
the first step was to use black in the very center of every branch and trunk
I'm still doing the hand stitching of that part on those little bitty trees/bushes at the very top along the horizon, but the bigger trees were all done on the machine, and I've started doing the lighter color along the outside edges of each one
I decided that the light for this piece is beyond the horizon on the right hand side, so I'm shading and highlighting accordingly
and the biggest news of the week
the basement has been magically converted into the studio space!
my contractor was here on Friday to finish up the bathroom -- including hanging that antique mirror and the carpet guys were here Friday evening to put down the carpet
the final inspection was done on Friday too, so I can start moving things in --- WOO HOO!!
I'm so glad to be through this step and ready to start setting up shop
this was part of my set up for ArtWalk, which concluded yesterday
because it's July, I used a lot of my summer themed pieces for this show
the next ArtWalk is in September, and I will feature more fall things then
one of the fun things about ArtWalk is that it is held in the quirky old buildings in downtown
my pieces have been in the Inspire Salon and Spa, and I could not resist taking pictures of the finishes on the wall (check out the cool pieces of weathered and painted wood!) and the random pieces of tile work at the front entry
it's a fun environment
and while we're discussing environment -- here are the latest pictures of the progress in the studio
the painters have been here doing the walls, the flooring is down in the main room of the studio and the cabinet, sink and counter tops are set in the bathroom
on Friday my contractor told me I can plan to be able to start moving into this space the end of next week
Wooo Hoooo!
meantime, in the makeshift studio upstairs, work continues on the shed door projects
there are now 3 of the 12 that needed stitching that have been done -- only 9 more to go
and the kitchen counter got pressed into service for the layout on this piece
the plan was to have this piece on the left finished in time for the ArtWalk show this week -- and that just didn't come together
so I have put it aside for now and started on something new --- hope to get both of them finished shortly
and the fabric for the kitchen arrived this week --- it's pretty cool to be thinking about making things out of fabric I designed!
hoping to get lots done this week
welcome to the studio
the work has progressed to the stage that there is a door at the bottom of the stairs (which also means the work noise is somewhat muffled while noisy things like compressors are running, which is a big relief!)
but that is not the only door that is in place
the rest of them have been all fitted up with hinges and trimmed so they fit perfectly
and the tile for the bathroom is all in too
the painting begins bright and early tomorrow morning -- Yippee!
meantime, work on art continues
on Tuesday I'll be setting up my pieces in a local beauty salon where they will be on display until Saturday evening's ArtWalk
this necklace won't be done for Tuesday's set up, but it should be by Saturday
I've returned to working on shed doors
the quilting on this one is now done and it needs to be trimmed and bound
the stitching on this one is still in process
I wasn't sure I would like this one -- it was the very last one I stitched and the last one I painted and so far it is the one with the most stitching -- I think it's going to be okay
this is moving along too
on Friday I went into my local quilt store to pick up a spool of thread to do the thread painting on the snow part of this piece -- ended up with 5 spools of thread and some fabric for the next part of this -- hmmm, thread is like potato chips, you can't get just one!
the other exciting thing that happened this week has to do with finally accomplishing something that I set out to do six years ago
when I joined SAQA I was specifically looking for a one on one mentor to help me take the work up that next step that would help me get my work into more shows and possibly into a gallery
at the time, SAQA didn't have a one on one program in place, so I just continued to do "independent study" and ask a lot of questions of anyone that would listen
this month SAQA instituted a mentor program, and I signed up right away -- this morning I got the email that the program coordinator has matched me up with someone and I should hear from her soon -- very exciting!
look at that --- a new dedicated studio and a mentor all in one summer --- no more excuses! time to get to work
this arrived in the mail on Thursday
it is the sample swatch of the fabric I designed for my kitchen, and I have to say it is pretty cool to see my work transformed into cloth!
yesterday I ordered 4 yards of the fabric to use for the planned projects
and shortly I will make the fabric available for purchase through SpoonFlower -- pretty cool!
I have been working on this piece with a little more urgency this week -- I think I might actually be able to get it finished for the Art Walk show I'm doing on July 18th
the four bracelets I had planned for that show are already finished, so this one is a "bonus"!
and that is not the only thing I've been working on
this is the background layer progress made this week on the quilted piece
coming along
meantime, this photo that I took this week has become the focus of a design idea for another art quilt for a competition that has a deadline of October 1
hmmmm --- can I do this? two big projects with deadlines within 30 days of each other?
time will tell
just because I'm working on those big projects doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything else
these two pictures are actually one hat -- totally reversible -- that I made for Mr Cute this week
he was pretty amazed by it when I gave it to him yesterday when they returned from their trip to see his other grandparents
while they were away, we had their two little dogs for "sleep over camp" at grandma's
and since I still have contractors in an out working on my studio, it made for some interesting days!
these pictures don't look like much but what they mean is that all of the drywall is up, taped and textured
tomorrow the work on finishing begins -- painting, flooring, plumbing, lighting -- and the goal here is to be all done by the end of July
whooo hoooo!
and there was a bit of outdoor work done this week too
the pots were a free find from a neighbor lady that wanted to get them out of her garage -- I'm thrilled to have them
each pot has some big rocks in the bottom then some pea gravel on top to hold the wood flowers
I need to get another bag of pea gravel to finish them up, but I love this on my back deck!
it looks like I will need to repaint them before next summer, but for now I'm just going to enjoy
a lot of things actually got done during the week
this piece is finished
all four of the bracelets that I wanted to have done for the art show I'm doing on July 18 are now complete
so I decided to start work on a new necklace!
actually, I did the design work and "kitting" for two necklaces -- we'll see if I can actually get at least one of them done for that show
and every summer about this time I do some sewing for Mr Cute
this week's offerings included a new pillow case --- with Ninja Turtles on it
a pencil bag with tractors and barns on it -- his wise mommy says "no crayons in the car in the summer!" -- so he needed something to keep the colored pencils contained
a then there are the very spiffy (if I do say so myself) board shorts that were made from a remnant of Cars fabric that feature very carefully cut pockets
I have a few more of these "easy sewing" projects to work on in the next week or so, which should be fun
progress on the studio is happening
this week the walls went up and the spaces that will be the bathroom and the closets are much clearer
and the newest piece of the kitchen remodel arrived
we had not originally planned to replace all of the appliances in the kitchen -- just the refrigerator (which we knew from the day we first looked at the house would have to be replaced)
along the way though the revolt of the appliances in response to the replacement of the refrigerator has continued --- the dishwasher made a hasty exit after it proved to be untrustworthy (that final day of spewing water on the floor just did it in!) and apparently the stove decided to throw in the towel shortly after it got wind of our plan to replace it in the future by having a gas line installed
okay -- so now there is only the microwave to be replaced -- but we're limping along with what is here on that score for now
at some point in the future I want to have the counter tops and the sink replaced, but that is a while out -- the money from the sale of the other house will only stretch so far
and even though the studio is not done yet, deadlines for shows do not change, so I have begun working on this piece which has a deadline of October 31
it is bigger than the last two pieces I've done, and doesn't look like much yet, but so far I'm on track to what the vision in my head is
moving along!
oh look!
another finished bracelet
for a while I have been trying to come up with a different way to attach the clasps on these
this one is the first with the new version, and I'm pleased with the way it came out
as I've been working on doing stuff in my new kitchen, I've been looking for fabric that "speaks" to me to use for some curtains and a few other things
I have not been able to find anything that is the right combination of color, scale and whimsy
so I decided to have a go at making up some of my own
I had a file of various doodles that I had done a few years ago when I was designing some paper dolls and other paper graphics, and this is a "marriage" of several of those motifs
now that the drawing and the coloring is done, I'll be loading it up to get some fabric printed
I finished pinning up all the quilt "sandwiches" for the shed door series this week
I'm hoping to actually get to start stitching on these this week
already my mind is working on trying to figure out what the next series will be
meantime, I've started working on the next individual piece that I want to complete
this is the "pattern" to create the background layer for this piece, which currently has the working title
"tsa-la-gi", the word for Cherokee in the Cherokee language
I'm doing this one to enter in a call for entries on the theme "Diaspora"
for a while I've been thinking about applying for juried artist status in a group I belong to -- on Monday I talked to someone in person about it, and I spent some time looking at the requirements
I am going to start working on part of the process that will be required -- creating my artist resume including a listing of all the exhibits I've either had a piece in or have curated
and in the meantime, I will continue to "do the work"
searching for that next series to work on!
