I really should go out my front door more often

if I had, I would have been reminded that Winter is coming to an end much sooner.  Today I did and guess what I found 

blooming right outside my front door along the side of the house where the front door is located.  I go and come through the garage and  I consider view to be the front of my house and you can't see the flowers from here.. 

I spend the majority of my days looking through the slider toward the back of my place and what I see out there is  

really scruffy looking brush with Autumn coloration.  Plus today it is raining and 55 degrees.  But there is no snow, yeah!!!!

I am adjusting to painting under a fan that is not on by bringing out the hair dryer to hasten the drying of painting.  All the light are on in the studio to combat the gloom.  It's been gloomy all week.  Without the sun to warm the place, I've had to turn the furnish on to cut the chill. 

To get my mind off the weather of which I have no control, I will let you see what I have been doing since I last blogged. 

 

Three pieces complete with facing and sleeves. 

I am replenishing my inventory of small pieces that I sell  in my vendor booth.  I am off to Port St. Lucie next Wednesday. Getting ready for that show,  I want to  get one more piece finished along with this one that Ii finished painting a few minutes ago and now needs quilting.

 

All of the above pieces measure in the 12" x 18" range.

For those who have been asking where I will be teaching that is not guild sponsored,  I'm letting you know that I  will be teaching my Flowers in the Round Class on Monday March 17, in Brandon, Fl.

If you are interested, Contact Gigi at http://www.gigifabricshop.com or her cell 813-376-5015

 

The good , the bad and the so-so

of being a vendor at quilt show.
     First the good.  I love talking to people and having them look at the work I do.  If everyone or the one person representing a guild who picked up one of my teaching flyers contacted me for a teaching engagement, I will be busy teaching until sometimes in the 2020's.  And I thought I had retired to live in the Florida sunshine. I do love to teach and visit different guilds, so mind you I am not complaining here, just commenting.  Some more good is the fact that my oldest grandson does not mind hanging out with his grandmother and talking to quilters who in most cases are his grandmother's age.  There is nothing like young legs and backs that can climb ladders, steps and carry quilts.  Quilts are heavy.  He loads and unloads the car for our trips.  I would not be doing this without him, that's for sure.
     I have been to more parts of the State of Florida because of teaching and vending than I would have had I not been.  Each place I've traveled too has had a different look, but the same warmth and welcome from the quilters.
     Last week I taught a painting class to 30 with 8 or so auditing the class in New Smyrna Beach.  A new situation for me. 
     The bad of traveling to vend is still the same as it has always been for me whether I am staying in hotels, motels because of quilting or when I traveled when I was a nurse way back when.  I simply do not like eating on the road, unhealthy fast food in most cases, or sleeping in strange beds.  I liked vending this last past weekend in The Villages because I was close enough to drive home at the end of each day and drive back the next morning.  ahhh! My own sheets and blankets. 
I am hoping that last weeks cold is the last we will be seeing around here as the temperature is getting back to normal with some high 70's forecast for later this week.
     The so-so is the low number of shoppers and attendee I am seeing at some of the shows.  I am not sure what this is attributable to, but there is a decline.  The Mancuso Show in West Palm was not well attended and fewer were shopping  on all of the three days it was scheduled whereas the Quilters Market in the Villages was a zoo on Friday and busy enough on Saturday to make me happy that I participated.
I am home for 9 days before I am on the road again.  This time to Port St. Lucie for their quilt show. 
     So while I am home it is back to the easel to paint some more small pieces. 

Six little quilts to mark the sixth day

of the new year.  (they really were all finished including sleeves and labels at bed time on the fifth day.

No... I am not trying to make one piece per day.  I know several artist who do daily art projects but I am not one who wants to do that manly because I  really, really do not like working really small    The largest of these pieces finished at 12" x 19" and the smallest  10.5" x 16".  Which is in my comfort zone.  Smaller pushes my creative comfort boundaries.
I got onto doing these with gusto mainly because I  needed several small pieces to flesh out my supply of small works for the up coming Mancuso show in West Palm.   If you are in the area drop by the show and come by and say hello and take a small piece home with you or some of my hand dyes.

I am so used to my space being rather orderly I had to stop and shake my head at the mess I made while working these past five days.  If you think this is messy you should see my "studio closet room"  which is what I call the small third bedroom in my condo where I keep my bulky stuff like batting and patterns and the large raised cutting table looks like now as I am busy organizing and  packing for the show.

Since the New Year started I have dyed, washed out, ironed and rolled 100 yards of fabric to add to my inventory.

 

 

We have some truly beautiful birds here in Florida that walk about everywhere.  They are so common that I don't think they warrant me running to get my camera.  But an ugly bird, perched on top of a pine tree that had lost it's top branches in some past storm caught my eye as I was working last week. 

Looking back on 2013

Looking back  I found all  the quilts, large and small that I did in 2013.  At first I thought, "that's not much for a whole year" but when I thought about it a little longer I gave myself a pass because last year was not easy yet I kept on working at something I loved doing.  A lot happened in my life.   I lost a daughter, brought a condo and moved, had health issues, traveled to teach more than I have done in several years and began to vend at quilt shows.  I brought a new car, rather a SUV that will make packing and ferrying stuff  to vend at quilt shows easier.
Yes,  I had a full calendar and while you can not tell just how large some of these pieces are from the photo images,  five (5) are rather large.  I also had a very successful selling year and a lot of my work from previous years  now hangs in other peoples homes rather than residing rolled up in my closet.  So of that I am really happy.  I am also pleased that I am still painting and quilting the images I love along with painting and quilting some of the smaller pieces that started off being made as class samples  but are now being produced to sell in my vendor booth. 
I joined two groups of women and I love being a part of both groups.
I am dyeing fabric again, something I haven't done seriously since moving to Florida in 2009.
The stuff I didn't get done last year that was on my to do list for 2013 that I still want to do and are:
write and finish  a book and/ or get an instructional DVD done.  About the book,  I have  only three chapters done so far.  I wanted to enter my work in some in and out of state quilt shows.   I didn't get far with that plan and entered quilts in  only one in state  contest.
Oh well there is 2014. 
Hope you all have a wonderful, creative and blessed New Year.