Clone me

Not a permanent doppelganger. Just a temporary replicant to pull out as needed. So I could be in two places at once. Or get twice as much done without a lot of instructions. Wouldn't that be great? She could do the more onerous tasks. But then maybe she'd be as onery and rebel.

I took advantage of Friday's health (as opposed to sick) day to start a new regimen and cleaned the refrigerator, cooktop, oven and hood. Part two of the kitchen next weekend. We'll see how long this lasts. If I only had a clone. But you really don't want to hear about housekeeping, do you?

Yes, some time in the studio too. My donation to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is almost finished.

Almost ziplocked another project (started here) but stayed the course. The top is pieced! No silk purse, but a good one for testing FMQ skills. I promise a photo next week after my critique group meeting.

So I was a productive homebody. Let's have more 3-day weekends and more fun! Less production?!

Sometimes a great notion

Sometimes not.

An idea for curvilicious seams tested using print fabrics to reduce my stash.

Ugg! Blame fabric & color choices on poor studio lighting. Can't hurt to cut it up.

Restructuring on the design wall. Better but not great. Possible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

Decompression Friday

Dog tired from the work week and home alone, I ate dinner in front of the tv. Wound embroidery floss around floss bobbins and re-ordered my solids fabric deck value scale back to hue groups. Decompression activities.

I did have one moment of creative productivity. Figured out quilting lines for the twisted log cabin for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

Made it to the camera repair shop Saturday. Wouldn't you know  - the camera's flash worked very ably there. It's still working now. Go figure.

Early howling

Thursday morning howling wind and rustling trees woke me up very early. In a few hours before heading off to work, I managed to

·    put away the remains of the twisted log cabin block (how do you handle all those bits & pieces - or do you?),

·    pin baste the twisted log cabin block, and

·    remove another project that wasn't going anywhere - bagged – or ziplocked, Colleen's great term).

It's a tough quest to keep my main work area fairly neat -  to get things off the worktable and to keep them off.  Always remainders and reminders left.

A workshop top on the design wall awaits pin basting. Out of the picture there's still a other stuff to sort through from my latest cleanup and reorganization binge. But maybe, just maybe, having work-able space I will be sane, focused and creative.

Twisted & girl-y

Camera is working but flash is not. The only way to take a photo is without the flash. Either a repair or a new camera is in my future. Hmm, which will it be? Meanwhile I'm making do without.

My fellow Quilt Therapists and I are make quilts for Ani Simm's Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Ahh, an opportunity to make something small and not too challenging.

My contribution: a twisted log cabin, 9" square and paper pieced. I wanted to try one. Thankfully only one. More would drive me bonkers.

Only top finished so far. So girl-y in pink and black. So not me. But someone may love it.

Testing 1 2 3

I tried out a block for a bigger gift quilt.

These eight and a half blocks went together quickly. Less thinking. More sewing. That's the power of using a pattern.

From a fat quarter of the bolder print I got six 7" blocks. Two of ones shown used other prints. But I've nixed it for the project.

Oh well. Another idea is brewing.

Start of a new year

Staying up past midnight on December 31st is an activity of a distant past, but I have other new year traditions.

Typically on January 1st I'd go for a long walk to slow down and savor fresh beginnings & new possibilities. Every new year, a book store holds a sale - any 3 calendars for $10. So one for the pocket book, one for the wall, and one for the desk.

Like many others, I set goals - rather than resolutions - for the year (see previous post). I've don't usually select a word for the year, but this time Matisse supplied one (images from desk calendar).

verve (vûrv) n.

1. Energy and vigor, especially in artistic performance or composition

2. Liveliness: vitality

Great word! Merci, Henri!

Wish you all a new year full of verve!

Little improvisations

On the road or away, when I couldn't cut and sew, I made little 2.5-inch square samplers of embroiderery stitches - lessons gleaned from Laura Wasilowski's Thread-U-cation Thursdays.

I love the way this square turned out.

But this square. Hmm, needs what? It's lacking something. Or maybe delete some stitches.

Old new tried & true

With long term intensive projects at work and at home, 2011 doesn't look promising for studio time  Work means much frustration. Home means much disruption. So what about artistic goals for 2011? They're less concrete, more nebulous, reflecting the state of affairs - guidelines.

Something old, something new,

Something tried, something true.

Old. During studio clean up, I unearthed many ufo(ld)s. I will not finish them all nor are all of them worth finishing. More workshops mean more ufos. So I will finish at least one for the EBHQ's biannual show in 2012.
New. I may not have time in the studio, but creativity doesn't take a break. I have ideas and am itching to start new work.
Tried. Something I've done before – like redoing an exercise from a workshop. Or someone else has done before -  maybe even adopt a pattern.
True. I feel the emergence of a series.

What else is store for 2011? Three week-long workshops. End of February: Indianola, WA for Nancy Crow's Lines, Curves, Shapes & Figure-Ground Composition, Part II. Mid May: Crow Barn for Dorothy Caldwell's Human Marks. End of September: Crow Barn again for Nancy Crow's Lines/Curves/Circles, & Figure-Ground. I am backing out of Carol Soderlund's Layers upon Layers in October since I haven't dyed a thing since last fall's True Colors and probably won't.

I know, I know. At some point I must stop taking workshops and develop what I know. While I am still earning a paycheck, I will continue taking workshops. Until retirement rolls around in a few years. Where I started almost four years ago seem light years away. Even if I haven't made many tops, haven't redone workshop exercises multiple times – all is not lost. Everything is starting to meld and jell. A little voice is speaking up.