Circles

I've been enamoured with circles for a long time. Some of my most favorite quilts were based on them. Each quilt had a different feel. Thinking back to my earliest days as a traditional quiltmaker I remember that I favored the traditonal blocks, like dresden plate, the wedding ring and other patterns based on circle. So its not too surprising that that shapes had come along to be part of my art quilts too.
Some of the circles I used where sectioned and resembled flowers. Others planets and other were just shapes that carried color across the surface of quilt. I revisited this motif a couple of weeks ago and rather than piece it as had been my way of constucting a quilt in the past, I tried my hand at dye painting. I was happy with the process of dye painting. I find it relaxing to do, but I am not yet ready to say I have mastered it. I plan to do more dye painting as well as screen printing. Although this is a rather small piece, 15" square I realized that I still like working with circles and sat down to draw several different compositions using them which I plan to make in a larger scale.

Spring is coming

the signs are everywhere. Outside my bedroom window, the star Magnolia has buds that have grown visibly in the last week. When last week the grass was brown as far as the eye could see, with nary a green blade to be seen; today was very different. On my way to the mail box, I could see large areas of green in the front lawn and a green hue now lays over the whole back yard.

We didn't have that bad of a Winter here this year. Not once did we have to shovel the drive or the walkways. There are two trees in our neighbors yard that are budding with white blooms. I hope they are my favorite Bradford Pears, but I really don't care what they are, I am just so happy to see signs of Spring are everywhere I look.

Its been a while since I've blogged, but take my word for it, there hasn't been a lot to report on of late. Lyn is still baking cakes for others to eat and she's stilll volunteering while filling out papers for college. She has decided to return to school for a law degree with an eye toward public service.

While I don't have any completed work or work in progress to show, I am happy to report that Joslyn "loved her T-shirt quilt". Just so you won't think I am a total slacker, I am working, working on something that I am not ready to share at the moment. In truth this part of the project would probably bore you to tears and secondly, I don't want any comments at this point.

On one hand I hate living out of a suitcase on the other hand I do love teaching. And since I don't have a large studio space and people beating down my door or clammering to come to Columbia, It is I who must travel. Dare I say out loud that I don't find air travel that much of a hassle least the TSA institute some more rules.
So in light of me teaching this July in Louisville, I've spent the last two days at the computer writing class descriptions and supply list for the classes. If anyone is interested in what I am teaching, contact Teresa Packer at Austin's Sewing Center 502-451-9999 or e-mail her at austsew@bellsouth.net .
Yesterday it was nearly 80 degrees with a gentle breeze and I spent most of the afternoon sitting on the patio with my laptop and cups of tea which made the computer work less a chore.
Today the weather was not as good and we had periods of rain so I was inside again. Spring showers, May flowers.

I've settled into my healthy eating lifestyle to the point where the not too good for me stuff, like ice cream and candy (especially those devilish yellow marshmallow PEEPS) are no longer tempting and I am 30+ pounds lighter as a result. Again, let me say you would still know me if you saw me. Believe me, I am not wasting away to nothing at this point. I have more, more, many more pounds to go. Still haven't gotten into a regular pattern of exercise not sure why not other than the fact that sweating has never been one of my favorite things to do. Here we have this fitness channel with lots of exercise programs broadcasted daily from early morning to night, everything from beginners yoga to step arobics to dance, even belly dancing. Why is it I can sit and watch others sweat and not have the slightest desire to get up and join them.

Love the collage feature that Picasa 3 offers

it lets you get more photo images into a blog entry with less effort. When I go home yesterday and was looking at all the images I downloaded and I pondered how I was going to get all the ones I wanted to share without doing multiple blog entries.

Wish I had remembered this feature yesterday and I might've been able to forgo this entry all together.

Going from top left to bottom left, Barbara did a short demo at session end on how to add beads to an edge. I plan to try applying this beaded edge to something in the future.

Top right, is one of the many many dolls either hanging on the wall or sitting on various surfaces throughout her side of the studio.

Small image at bottom right is a portrait of Becky Covington, not sure who made it. Maybe Sharon Pendergraft or her twin sister Karon who was not there yesterday. At any rate that is Sharon's hand in the picture.

Below is Sally Johnson showing and telling a small piece she created to use the woven background she created at last month's meeting and bottom left is a section of test cloth she created using the product in her hand call Polymark.

This is Becky Covington holding one of her quilts during the show and tell session. Below left, she is talking about her approach to making cloth with acrylic paint and her technique for making marks on cloth with watered down acrylic paint applied with a jaunting tools. She cuts this cloth into smaller sections to use in her work. The image, bottom right measures about 3" x 4" and as a small section of cloth I think it is visually interest. What would I do with such a small piece of cloth..........I have no idea.

Barbara, her video camera and a not so good look at her husband who is actually picking up items to hand to her from a table to his left. Here is a look at some of his Santa's, St. Nicks, or Father Christmases. He hand carves then and Barbara paints them.

Bottom right is a better shot of Barbara and a closer look at the doodle-dads her husband RJ makes. They hang below the curtain toppers in the studio.