I finished quilting this piece

way back last Winter. Do you remember last Winter when most of the country was wearing coats, mittens and hats and now here we are melting?

Before the facing and sleeves were in place I took it to Kissimmee for the shop to use as a sample of my machine quilting. There it has lived until I retrieved it last week. It still needs a facing and sleeves which is the task that will keep my hands busy on Thursday or Friday of this week for an hour or so while I sit in the condo waiting for the plumber to come back and for the plumbing inspector to make his final visit and while the window company to come to install new energy efficient windows. Another one of the jobs the original contractor contracted to do but failed to do.
All the while I am at a stand still with my painting so much so that I have made two batches of soy milk only to pour it out because too much time had elapsed without me using it. Plus I have made no progress on sandwiching the blue morning glory piece mainly because I didn't know on what days and for how long I will be at the condo - condo sitting.

I've always known I was a single minded "get-er done" person and I am not a good, "do a little here and there, hit and miss" kind of person either I've come to realize. I find I really like concentrated long stretches of time where nothing interferes and living alone has intensified this trait.
And while no creative work is getting done, I have been busy doing the paperwork needed to submit entries in three competitions. One for Lark Books. There was a call out for artist who's quilts were based on or influenced by nature. That certainly was up my alley.

Number two was a call from a locale Museum that features Art by Women in Deland. And lastly for the Mancuso's Florida show. I'm a little ahead of schedule on this one but needed to get it done because they always want a description of the work in 250 words or less and that always seem to take some thought and a lot of editing to fit those thoughts to their parameters.

When I first did this piece

some 2 years ago while still in Missouri, I was not at all pleased with the results of my screen printing, dye painting and stamping efforts. The piece measured initially 50" wide x 44" long . It was done with thickened dyes stamped and screen printed on silk broadcloth.

This piece was one of several pieces I did during a week long session in my wet studio using similar surface design techniques. Most of the others pieced done during that period were finished or trashed, however this piece was folded up and put away. Not sure why I kept it. But I really didn't think it would ever be quilted.

A few days ago I got an email about an up coming themed exhibition and a light bulb came on. So I pulled it from the basket in which it was folded and has lived since moving to Florida.

One good thing about having down sized and not having acquired a lot of stuff since moving, I can put your hands on everything with little effort.

Retrieved it... Ironed it... Pinned it to the design wall and photographed it. Then I down loaded the image into the computer and played around viewing and contemplating several cropped versions. I settled on removing initially about 12 inches from the left side of the piece. It was quilted at approximately 36" x 44" a little bigger than this cropped version that now measures 31" wide by 37-1/2" long

Now my question to you is what does this piece say to you?

I would like to have your comments before I tell you what the theme is and what I had in mind initially, which is not what the piece is saying to me now.

Up date on blue flower( Morning Glory) piece. It's still on the design wall. I added another layer of color to the upper most bloom improving the shape of it I think. My friend Marti has suggested some cropping in an email to me, but I will talk to her on the phone to get more of her thinking in a few days.

Not much will get done on the studio front for a spell because I will be spending the next couple of days at the condo while the dry walling and tile is being done.

Then comes the painter and the plumber again. last week while Rene was out of town I was there while the plumber ran new water pipes and installed the tub and shower last week and shook his head at the poor job that was done last time. When he returns it will be to put in the vanity/sink and toilet.

Oh did I tell you the electrician was back again to move some wiring in the bathroom. I was there that day too.

The totals (both time and money) are mounting!

Rene' is hoping it is all done by this weekend. She is living in a hotel until the bathroom is done, however, she is not holding her breath and neither am I.

Man... I can't believe it is Wednesday already.

But when I paused this evening long enough to take a deep breath, it dawned on me that it has been a few days since I last blogged. Since finishing the painted blue flowers I have kept myself busy by teaching a machine quilting class in Kissimmee on Saturday, going to the movies with my daughter on Sunday to see the absolutely cute" and funny movie Despicable Me. While sitting there in a seat about five rows from the screen, because the theater was full to capacity I found myself laughing out loud and tee heeing through most of it.

If you decide to go, don't leave your seat or remove your 3-D glasses until ALL of the credits roll at the end of the flick.
The first small quilt below was my Monday project and was done for a class sample for the quilt shop in Kissimmee, "Quilt first, paint later" The second quilt below is an updated remake of a class sample for my one day "Round Flowers" class. The original sample I made several years ago for this class was sold while I was in Missouri. Making this one reminded me of how much I still love the tradition of quilt making. For parts of this small quilt I sat on the couch and did hand piecing.... ahhh, relaxing. It felt good remembering the start of my quilt journey and it does help to update things from time to time.

I spent most of today at the condo while the electrician came to move the electrical box in the bathroom and waiting while he installed a new more generic chandelier in the dining room. I was also there to wait for the plumber to come to look at the stripped to the studs bathroom so he could give us an estimate on how much it will cost to put in a new tub, toilet and vanity and do it according to code and with a permit. Both of which the first contractor failed to do. Not knowing when the planned for work on the bathroom would begin Rene' scheduled a trip out of town and will be away until mid-afternoon on Sunday. That leaves me to man the fort. Or be on call for the plumber, drywall-er, tiler, electrician and any other tradesman that will come calling.

Here is a look at the last painted piece. Not sure if I am all that pleased with the look of it. The top flower seen in profile just has an awkwardness that just does not feel right to me. But I do love the little buds in the upper right hand area. I might play with cropping it in my photo program to see if I would be happier if I could make everything above the three flowers in the center go away. Will let you know when I know.

Until next time.

To me knowing when to stop

is the hardest part of painting. It is so easy to sail right past the point of done in an effort to make it perfect. In most cases this quest for perfection in my case can leads to a piece that is over done. So this piece is at my acceptable stopping point even though I feel it could use something more in the way of shading or highlights or more leaves or... or... or.

I did a little work on it this morning then stopped and took myself off to the library to get away from it. I got an e-mail from the library that they were holding a Lee Child's I had requested. I've read or listened to so many of his books that by the title I couldn't remember if I had read it already. While there I looked at and checked out several books on watercolor painting and two books on tape about a female detective/medical examiner partnership based in Boston written by Tess Gerritsen. It is this author,s books I believe the new series on TNT "Rizzoli & Isles is based on.

I guess I was in a book mood today since I purchased four books on water color from Amazon this morning as I was eating breakfast. I would have purchased more but when the total came up I nearly choked on a frozen blueberry. Needless to say I quickly deleted more than a few, made a list of the deleted ones and checked while at the library to see if they were available . Several were thankfully...

So now I will move this piece to the design wall and look at it until next week before I sandwich it and begin to quilt.

Maybe I'll take a picture of it on the design wall so you can have a look at the entire piece next week as well.

I'm teaching FMQ at Queen Ann's Lace QS in Kissimmee on Saturday. Tomorrow I will assembling my teaching materials. Print the handouts and settle into my favorite chair to read after doing my morning walk at the lake or on the treadmill.

So unless something unexpected and exciting happens between now and Monday, I'll not post again until then.

At the start of the day

this is where I was

At the end of the day this is what I have
and will see tomorrow when I get started again. Right now I am not getting a complete feel for the piece because 12 inches of it is folded to the back. I know more shading needs to be done in the flowers and I need to decide if it could benefits from adding one or two more leaves in the lower left. But I will leave that to after I have a chance to view the entire piece.

Had a full day on the 3rd

Did my walk at the lake, then came home to paint. This is how far I got when it was time to go to the Bar-B-Q. Saw so many people from the building that I have never laid eyes on before. The building management moved the serving and eating area to the sixth floor of the garage instead of keeping it on the roof adjacent to the lounge. It was threatening rain all day and we did get a few heavy sprinkles from time to time, but the food was good. They said on the TV this morning the crowd was down and only 140,000 showed up instead of the usual 180 to 200,000.

I had a hot dog with the trimming, (no bun) and slaw and a small piece of grilled chicken breast that had the best flavor. After we ate, Rene and I sat watching the History channel until it was time to go look at the fireworks. I knitted to pass the time. I have never been as close to a display as I was last night. We had an excellent standing spot. This is one of the photo's I took, but mostly I used my camera to film the display. First time I have done that and it worked out pretty good.

The fireworks last night was spectacular. Tonight there is one schedule at Lake Eola (sp) in Orlando that is suppose to be rather large. I should be able to see it from the garage roof since my view toward the city is unobstructed. I will let you know if the one tonight was worth the ride up in the elevator.

Today, I walked around the lake and marveled at how fast it was all torn down, cleaned up and nearly back to normal. Shortly before 11:00 am Rene and I went to the movies, she to see Twilight and me to see the Air Bender. Air Bender was far from the worse movie I have ever seen and equally far from the best. All in all it was not a total waste of two hours. After a little must attend to house work I will see if I can get in an hour or two of painting today. If so, will give you a peek at my progress tomorrow. For now....

Wishing all, the best Fourth ever!!!

Yesterday I curled up

in my favorite chair and read a Lee Child's book from cover to cover. So no painting got done. My excuse was it was too gloomy to work. The day started off cloudy and stayed that way all day except when the sky opened up and poured making it a perfect day to read and sip coffee and sip coffee and read.

This morning the sky was still grey. A misty rain was falling. Not heavy enough for an umbrella, so instead of walking on the treadmill, I went for a walk around the lake to see how they were progressing getting the park ready for the big fireworks display that will happen tomorrow night. People come from all over they tell me, saying the fireworks display is the best in the area and is billed as Red, white and Boom. The party on the lake starts at 6:pm with food vendors. A multitude of Port-A-Pots were strategically place about along with fencing to keep people out of the gardens.

At the end of my walk I was no wetter than I would have been if I had simply been sweating.
The Loft Apartments; were I live, is having a Bar-B-Que and fireworks party for us residents in the 7th floor lounge that overlooks the lake. There will be additional seating on the top level of the parking garage. I saw the maintence crew moving all the tables, umbrellas and chairs from the garden and I suppose from around the pool as well to the roof. How fun!!! Rene and I are going up to join in the festivities. The view should be fantastic.

I have two hopes. 1. I hope the food good. and 2. I hope it does not rain.

Now for a quick quilt report.
The first picture is what I got finished this morning before I decided to take myself to the Mall and to Sears to check out their bikes. Saw one I lliked but didn't buy it. Then I stopped in Barnes and Nobles for iced coffee at Starbucks and browsed through several magazine v=before deciding to buy one. Then I caught the bus to the Town Center Mall on 434 where there is a Bike shop. There I think I found my bike. It is really cute and I can get a lime green basket to attach for my trips to the market. But not wanting to do something impulsively I decided to sleep on it.
Will let you know if I decide to buy it next week.
The second picture is what was added when I got back from bike shopping.