the series takes a giant leap

in the last few days I've been on a real roll working on all of these pieces

each of these pairs of pictures has the "before paint" on the left side and the "after paint" on the right

because we have been organizing all of the items in the garage that will eventually go in my studio, I have located the drawer units with the spools of thread that I will need to do the stitching on these, so I'm hoping to get to the stitching of these in the next few days --- WHOO HOOO!

the beading on this is now done -- ready for the finish work

and this one is about half done

I need to finish the beading on the red, white and blue one before I can cut these two apart since the original design was one wider bracelet and I decided at the last minute before I started stitching on the beads to make it into two narrow pieces instead

I still have over a month before my next show, so I'm sure I'll have both of these done by then

now that Mr Cute is a big boy and uses a booster seat in the car instead of a car seat that has sides all the way up, when he would nap while riding, his head would "bob" -- not a good thing!

while he was visiting at "gramma's" house over the weekend, we created something that would take care of that problem

a small chunk of cotton fabric stitched into this over sized horseshoe shape, firmly stuffed with polyester fiber --- he watched while I did the cutting out and stitching (he loves watching the sewing machine work!) and then he helped me with the stuffing

and there he is modeling the finished product

now his mama has requested one of her own for when they take car trips -- I think I can make that happen

returning to artistic pursuits

another of the Gees Bend Tribute bracelets is complete

I'm really pleased with the way the design of this one turned out

and this one is in progress

one of the fun things about these pieces is that I get to do beading that mimics the look of fabrics -- this piece includes a section that is green and white stripes and another that is orange with white polka dots

it's fun!

meantime, I have also returned to working on this series of shed door pieces

each of these picture pairs is the "before paint" on the left side and the "after paint" on the right

I'm excited to be back working on these and in a way impatient to have them finished so I can move on to the next series -- so typical of my thought processes!

and while we are discussing sheds -- we had this installed in the back yard last week

the first things we did were to paint the floor (to protect it from moisture) and install a shelf along one side to store chemicals and small tools

I'm so thankful we were able to have someone else do the hard work of the basic installation -- we've built a few sheds from scratch, and right now it just felt like our time and energy was better spent elsewhere

the studio finishing is now at the "waiting for permits and inspections" before anything else happens -- must be patient now

surviving in a work zone

this week's work began with the sound of jack hammering

apparently when they put in "rough ins" for plumbing in a basement, there are exactly that -- ROUGH!

because we were okay with putting the bathroom in that corner, the breaking of concrete was minimal

the rest of the week was filled with the HVAC folks putting in new heating and cooling ducts and the electrician stringing wire and installing outlet boxes and round fixtures for can lights in the ceiling

and while that was happening, the unpacking and organizing and even "making look good" portions of moving continued

until we starting grouping these together, I didn't realize what an extensive collection of chicken and rooster pottery pieces I had (some of these had not seen the light of day for a very long time!)

work on art projects continues too

this quilt is moving right along -- it is getting close to being wide enough, and is about half as long as it needs to be

I was notified this week that I got into the ArtWalk Longmont show in July, so it's a good thing that these pieces are moving along nicely

the top one is finished, and the edge work has begun on the second one

rolling along

it's a frame job!

yup, the walls are going up!

for the past few days other projects have been accompanied with the sound of a compressor running and the air nailer putting up the framing for the walls of the new rooms

yippee!

meantime, I've been starting to do some of the fun part of unpacking

in my new kitchen I have high ceilings and space on top of the cabinets to display some treasures

there are some more pieces to go up there, but it is a start

 I'm working on some bead work too

this bracelet is ready for the backing and the finishing work

and this piece has been started

looking good!

can we introduce our doodle bird?

picked up this fun metal sculpture over the weekend -- love the bright colors and the funny motion he does in the wind

cool -- it's really starting to feel like home

another finished piece

Postcard from Russia

my piece for the Hoffman Challenge is complete

this is the second piece I've done that involves part of the design running off the edges of the piece -- just a little thinking outside the box

amidst all of the ongoing unpacking and arranging -- and re-arranging -- I'm working on other projects

doing the ArtWalk Longmont show earlier in the month got me excited to do some bead work again, so I went and got supplies to make some more of the "tribute to Gees Bend quilts" pieces -- this one is getting close to being done

progress is being made on the quilt I'm making for my daughter -- it's nice to be able to spread it out and figure out how much wider and how much longer it needs to be!

Christmas knitting continues -- yesterday I made a visit to my local yarn shop (happy to find one here in my new town!) -- I needed to get the proper tools for the next project I will be casting on

you never know when you move stuff what the causalities will be

the last time we moved one of the side pieces of glass in this cabinet got broken

this time the glass all survived, but the taping that held the three pieces of glass in the front together just fell out - taking a lot of the gold leaving down the center with it

I spent several days with gold paint pens (Sharpie makes several widths of tips in these now), redoing all the gold and then reapplied tape

good as new!  ready to put all those collectibles back into the cabinet

the demo part of the remodel is done!

this contractor believes in reusing materials that can be, so there are sheets of drywall and a stack of 2x4s waiting for the next step

moving right along!

lost in transistion

I did pretty well making sure that items that I knew I would need right away were in boxes that were clearly marked.  For the most part we've been able to do whatever work needed to be done without having to go and buy a lot of duplicate tools or materials.

Except for this

Early on I borrowed my daughter's for a week or so, but it soon became apparent that I needed to get one that I could continue to use until the studio is ready -- there are just too many things I do to make art that require this tool!

This piece, for example, is now in the finishing stage -- yesterday I cut the edges and started putting on the facings

That activity requires some "aggressive pressing" to make sure the edges are firmly turned under and there are no "ugly edges"

The replacement iron is working adequately -- it will probably continue to live in the laundry room when studio is finished -- who knows, I might actually iron a piece of clothing -- but don't hold your breath waiting for that!

This has been a busy week

I have hired a contractor to turn this unfinished space into my studio

 

In order to do that, these walls must all come down.  They were put in by a previous occupant without permits and the workmanship is awful, so the decision was made to just rip it all out and start over

The most positive thing about this space is that the rough in for the plumbing is already here which makes the plumbing part of this project much easier!

There will be a bathroom and a room that I will use as an office at this end and all of the rest of the space will be open to be used as studio space for the DH and I

Time to hang out the sign that says "Watch This Space" -- let the demolition begin!!!

Accepted

this piece took me a long time to make

here is the artist statement that I wrote about it for submitting to Sacred Threads:

"Much of my work comes out of pictures seen in my mind in that time between being fully asleep and fully awake.

In May of 2013 a close friend whom had been like an aunt to my daughter had been told there was nothing more that could be done for her ovarian cancer.

This piece represents the picture that I awoke with in my mind on the morning of her passing.

The creation of this piece has given me time to remember and honor her memory and to work through my own grief of loosing her."

having finished this piece just before the deadline early in March and just prior to the big move, I had moved on to thinking about other things

so it took me by surprise that the letter telling me that this piece had been accepted for that exhibit came almost exactly 2 years after the phone call I got telling me the doctors had done everything they could for her

sometimes the timing of things just stuns you

I'm glad this piece of art will get to travel to the East Coast -- I hope it is well received