Thursday, November 22, 2007

Snow on the ground and cold for Thanksgiving. Just perfect to remember my childhood ones.Been taking my color class (nine months) with Heather Thomas. It always inspires me. The first month was a black, white and neutral project. I had decided on separate parts that would show my quilt journey from the basics to beads and things. It developed into a human figure (sortof). I love it. The second month was for monchromatic (one color). I like blue-green as a background player but always have a hard time using it as the prime player. Anyhow ended up with a smaller seascape look with some thread painting. I had thought it was horrible and hated to show it in class - they really liked it. I just took the picture this morning and suddenly saw what the class was seeing - the whole and not the mistakes. In addition, I have added a jewish star baby quilt. It was going to go to my brother's son but then my brother told me that he did not like that quilt block. So, brother's sons do not get quilts (or anything else) from me. Not a big change.

Monday, October 15, 2007

I can not believe that I have not posted since May. Not that my life is that exciting.
Ceil is still with me. We went to the American Chesapeake Club National Speciality in September and he was wonderful. We were in the veteran's over eight year old class and while we came in third (out of three to be honest) we were a great team and it was a magical moment. I am posting the professional picture that we got from there.
I am also posting a picture of Echo (my little 3 year old chessie) and I in the ring. Again, we did really well though we came in last.
Did not do a lot of quilting in the summer. Some partially completed projects and one baby quilt with jewish stars that will need to find a new home. I need to get some pictures.
Am back in quilting class (nine months this time) and is just ripping along. Will post that picture as well.
Life is good, no problems, no depression, lots of satisfaction - is this really me?

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Just as a reminder, you can click on the pictures and enlarge them on your screen. The first Ceil picture does not make a lot of sense until you realize that the words on the background are "Pond Hollow Bronx Ceil" which is his show name. Maybe it does not make sense to anyone but me even then.
I like quilting, I have ideas, try things out, fix things when they do not work, slave at it till I am happy. I wish working with people was that easy but the little buggers keep moving the target and their positions. I did just finish my second Ceil piece - done after I knew how bad the situation is. It will be going to Design class (theme is emotions using words) with me on Thursday. It is about 22 inches wide and 36 inches long. I would have like more graceful but this is me.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Ceil and I are managing. The biopsy could not be taken, chemo and radiation are not options so we have turned to holistic medicine. Ceil is loving all the food that I am making for him and he is willing to eat as many pills as I feed him as long as there is a bit a cheese with it. Actually, since he is eating so healthy, I have started eating better. I have been busy quilting. I finished a piece last month that I was doing while they were trying to figure out what is going on with Ceil. It represents parts of our life in a collage - has a jean pocket with leash, branches, clay for the earth, water representations and elk antler. First time I have tried a variety of object like this.
I did finish my dolphins and mermaids quilt for my grand-nieces Nadia and Leah - it will be sent off as soon as put the label on and vacumn off all the dog hair.
Went to a national quilt show today in Denver. Lovely, lovely show. So many creative people working with quality. Makes me want to up the quality level in my work but I know it will just take time. Amazing!!!
So back to my next Ceil piece (do I have a theme or what). This is for this month's design class and it should show emotion through words. I have the words, I definitely have the emotions. Good things my friends are helping me through this. Of course, Ceil feels great - what else could I ask for.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Just came back from the vet. My chessie Ceil, my pride and joy, has cancer in some very nasty places. It is growing quickly and surgery is only a partial answer. The vets are all consulting with each other and will get back to me.
I have put a top together for my grand-nieces. Not sure when I will get to it but it is very blue. In its rough stage it is around 60" by 50". Not much joy in it right now.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Many snowstorms have passed since I last posted and I have been doing a bunch of quilting. I know that there are at least three of you checking this blog on a regular basis and I hope there are more of you out there. My six month design class started and the first class asked us to use the Golden Rule (~1:1.6 ratio) and the Fibonnai sequence (1;2;3;5;8;13;21 etc). i just kept staring out my living room window at the snowstorms and decided that is what I would do. So, a moderately successful, somewhat dismal picture of snow and what things look like in the snow. It was not a great success in the design class.
But I have my second design class this week and the topic was lines and shapes. Cannot seem to get myself away from my chessies so there is a dog in the piece. If you think fall season and a calm piece then I succeeded with this.
I did finish one of my chessie pieces for the national speciality in the fall (hopefully they will be donated and auctioned). It is about 20" wide and about 55" long. I love it and hope I will be able to give it up when it is time.
My Ceil dog has an internal tumor - please send him good thoughts as they try to figure out what is wrong.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

I was able to get some pictures of my 'snow from my window" partially finished quilt - I am ready to apply paint and I wanted a memory of where I started. I also partially put together the five piece chessie piece - all I need to add are the outer borders and I have not decided if I really want them.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

I have been working on my design class project. It was easy to decide that the perimeter would reflect the golden square (~1:1.6) and that somehow I would use the fibonni (?) numbers in it - the sequence of 1:2:3:5:8 etc. Part of the design class requirement for this month was to work with fabric paints - something I had never done so I went and bought a small beginners package to play with . After that I wanted to set some rules for myself - I started with the negatives (not the right place to start but oh so easy to go there) - because of all of the chessie blocks I had been doing, I did not want a landscape, green. blue or brown, or dogs in the work. I forced my mind around and decided on positives - I want loud, vibrant reds, orange-yellows, violets. In testing, discovered that fabric paints do not show up well on dark colors - oops. Then the snow started again and I realized that I wanted to reflect all the time I have been spending staring out my window at the snow falling or covering everything. So the piece is turning out very white; cream and overall pale. I layered the top - put a road, cul-de-sac curve and some trees (and yes - one dog) on a muslin layer and then put the snow layer (in the 1:2:3:5) pattern over it so the objects just barely show up. Now working on a few objects on the top; will quilt and then do pale fabric painting. It is an experiment! This is a picture of the piece after the first quilting work and before painting - just so I will remember it.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Pretty Cold January Day - Colorado is in the middle of its fourth weekend storm in a row. Got to say that I prefer them during the week so the weekends are nice. However, temperatures below zero always make you appreciate the rest of winter. A six month design class started with Heather Thomas on Thursday night. We get together for dinner first so it is a fun night. I asked a big favor of Heather and she came up with several design ideas for all the chessie blocks (I had been having a lot of trouble with that). Once I saw her ideas, it was a ah-ha! moment for me - of course those went together - guess that is why she is the instructor. Anyone, I am going to focus on those blocks, work out all the details, play with fabric paints to work on eyes and things and hopefully get them put together in the next two months. Just do not want to have to work on them in the spring. I am going to play with the other blocks to figure out all the details.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Thought I would post two landscapes I did. Right now the chessies are hiding in the trees because I can not think what to do with them - any ideas?

Friday, January 05, 2007

Another Friday - another big snowstorm. Just finished shoveling another 12-15 inches. Just happy to be home. Thought I would show some more chessie blocks for comments. You can call, email or leave messages as appropriate. The leaping chessie was revised from the original picture. The sleeping chessie is very rough and I would love comments.