I disappoint myself…

I worked very hard in the studio today to finish up the article I’m reworking. Process photos, of course, which are a royal pain, but absolutely necessary. When I sat down to finish my editing and add my photos, I could only find half the pictures. The ones from the beginning, which I took last week, have totally vanished. I searched in every nook and cranny and under every rock in my computer, to no avail. I think I deleted them from my camera before I downloaded them. I felt so stupid.

But I can place the blame on this delightful distraction.

When grandson AJ saw my tripod, he just had to be AJ Cameraman for the day. He hauled it around the house all day, “filming” things just like he has seen TV cameramen filming when he was at hockey games. He had a great time and I smiled for the camera for hours!

However, I believe that when I was deleting his pictures, I deleted mine, thinking they were already on the computer. Sigh!

Luckily, in this case I have enough fabric to duplicate my efforts–and my photos.

Some days the hamster wheel just spins around and you hop on and off as the moments pass by!

Whew! Under Control!

Trying to get that fabric explosion under control was NOT a task I really wanted to tackle. I was very tempted to just put it ALL in a trash bag and never look at it again. But then I looked a little closer and saw some of the fabrics that I loved so much, just strips and scraps and oddball pieces left and I knew that I would have to sort and keep.

This is all that ended up in the trash…a healthy pile, for sure, but it is really teeny pieces or so ugly that no one that I know would want to touch, much less USE.

I had a slightly larger pile than this of fabric pieces that are useable, but that I don’t want to use, or ever even see again!

This will go into a bag and get taken to my quilt retreat in 2 weeks. There is a woman that loves to work with small, small pieces and she may want this. If not, it will already be in a bag and ready for the trash, ’cause it’s not coming home with me!!!

And just when I thought I had sorted all of it, I found another bag! Easy, peasy, though, ’cause it was mostly trash! Maybe I started a trash bag once and then accidentally added some other stuff to it…like some unfinished projects. I ended up with just a partial tub of unfinished, ‘special’ fabric.

And the rest is all good fabric and UNDER CONTROL!!!

Sorted by color—I know, some people sort by light, medium, dark, but sorting by color works better for me. Down to three small baskets again, but not overstuffed at all.

I’m thinking that perhaps I should work on creating something from these scraps. Like I said, I have a retreat in 2 weeks…

OMG! There’s been a fabric explosion!

I just barely touched it…it was an accident…really!! I was only reaching for a little piece of binding that was hanging over the edge. And then the next basket kind of slid off the shelf from the weight of all the fabric overflowing it…the basket in the middle stayed safely on the shelf but fabric seemed to jump out of it trying to join the rest on the floor.

Oh, my…how did all that fabric fit into those little baskets?

I think I can see a need to sort scraps and use some of them up.

And I’d better not go down there and find that they have multiplied in the dark! That would be really scary!

48 hour days?

Yep-that’s what I need this month, 48 hour days. I committed myself to so many things this month that I don’t know where the time will come from to get them all done.

How does this happen? I’m retired and have time to do anything I want.

And I only do things that I want to do. But it becomes harder to say no, because I only do things that I want to do!

Except for those things that I don’t want to do and have to do…like go through 3 weeks worth of accumulated mail. That’s one of my chores for today and I’m betting there are a bunch of bills that need to be paid, too. Those things don’t go on vacation!

I’m looooonging to be secluded in my studio again, sewing away, but today is not the day. Well, the sooner I get my necessary chores done, the sooner I can get to my dream!

Display Space

I’ve been browsing quite a few new blogs lately. Basically wasting time, but looking at some beautiful work…hung all over the artist’s studio/home space. I also visited a fellow artist and was totally enchanted by her work which was hanging or sitting everywhere I looked.

I have piles of quilts. And piles of folded quilts. And stacks of mounted work. I have very little that is actually on display in my home or in my studio.

Made me wonder why. Who am I creating it for? Potential customers that may never materialize? Class samples? Lecture material? Yes to all of that, but I do it because I love it. I need to get it out and hanging around my house. Granted, I could change things out weekly for about a year without repeats, but if I haven’t put up rods or hooks or cleared shelves, it’s like I’m hiding what I do.

Will something possibly get dusty? Faded from sun that I never realized passed across that spot? Maybe…but in the meantime, I’m having the pleasure of enjoying what I have done, my house will be filled with color and I won’t feel guilty about just throwing everything I make on to the pile.

And speaking of guilty…I have 3 wonderful hanging racks that my father made tucked away into a closet! Now why haven’t I gotten those up?

When you start really looking, there are display opportunities everywhere!

Goal: find spots and hang everything I can, all over the house.

Why, I have one bedroom that has bare walls! Shame on me!

Dithering About

Yesterday was another day of looking at this and that in the studio and trying to make some decisions.

Unsuccessful: Do I want an entire border on this piece or only top and bottom?

Successful: New sample for Quick Start Quilting class next month–actually got 2 done out of 3!

Unsuccessful: Tried to figure out what I was going to make for a demo on Friday evening, playing with lots of different fabrics

Successful: Decided not to re-invent the wheel and will put beads on this piece, already done, for Friday demo

Successful: Every piece of fabric I pulled off the shelf seemed to spark an idea of how to use it!

I only showed you a few of the combinations I put together. It must have been at least an hour that I spent pulling fabric and playing with ideas. It was not wasted time. It showed me that I’m far from running out of ideas, that I still have too much fabric, and that it really is the fabric that gives me my inspiration. I guess I’ll probably never quit buying it, but I am positive that I cannot live long enough to use it up, even if I never bought another inch! And after two days at the AQS show in Grand Rapids, I’m pretty sure to come home with even more.

Sigh…but I NEED it!!!!!

Photography–NOT Fun!

Spent a good bit of time today taking pictures to have some simple snapshots of newer work on my gallery pages. I also need to be better at documenting my work, so the photos are necessary.

I just am not a very good photographer and I’m really not committed to getting that much better at it. I think I’ve decided that if I need a really good image to enter a show, I’ll pay a professional to do a good job for me. Lights, cameras…all that stuff I don’t want to invest any more time or money into. I’ve followed the advice of Holly Knott and read lots of photo articles and it’s just not my thing!

For this post, I’ll give you a quick slideshow of what will be on the gallery pages. Most of this will be going up in my exhibit next week, along with a few pieces that are in another show right now. I love making the stuff, but photography really is NOT fun for me!

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Sorting and details, details, details

Doing final prep work for my exhibit…oh, maybe I haven’t mentioned it here, yet. I will be the featured artist for the month of August at Pentamere Winery here in Tecumseh. I’m adding a lot of work on canvas rather than just hanging textile work and that presents some technical challenges. While I enjoy a challenge, I don’t want my efforts to look anything less than professional, so I’m working hard on the finishing details.

I have mounted some pieces on painted canvas–those are the easy ones. Just need to decide how to finish the back, with paper or fabric of some kind. I looked for scrim and the people at JoAnn’s didn’t know what it was. It’s not really common, though, is it? All right, I’ll tell you–it’s the thin, usually black, fabric that you see on the bottom of furniture or in a theater backdrop. Possible alternatives are felt, interfacing and plain black broadcloth.

Paper will work fine for this one.

Even just wrapping a single layer of fabric leaves that untidy raw edge…and you can see the stitches where I attached the piece of art.

Some of my pieces are more problematical, however. I have mounted them first on a quilted background and then put them on stretcher strips. That makes a much bulkier strip of stapled fabric on the back of the frame. Paper just won’t cover that neatly.

Bulky and messy, in my opinion, but paper just won’t cover it well.

Scrim would be nice and the other alternatives would probably work just as well, also. I also had a suggestion to hot glue a strip of grosgrain ribbon around that edge and not cover the whole back. Not sure which way I’ll go, but I can hear the tick, tick, tick of the deadline approaching.

I have a few quick (bad) snaps of my favorites so far. Asking an artist which piece is her favorite is not quite as bad as asking a parent which child is the favorite, but it’s pretty hard to pick.

Favorite 1!

Favorite 2

Favorite 3

Which brings up one more chore to add to the list…take good pictures of these pieces and get them on to my gallery pages! Yikes!

I’m also joining a co-op gallery here in town. The Black Door Gallery is expanding from it’s original location and adding space right next to Pentamere…convenient for me, right?  I’m planning on my regular hanging textile work for the beginning, but I need to decide which piece(s) go where. My latest piece will be in the Ann Arbor Quilt Guild show the last weekend of the month. I want that piece in one of these two venues, but the timing will probably be better for the gallery.

Mounting the pieces–almost finished.

Backing decisions and getting it done–tick, tick, tick…

Labels–need to measure everything to mark sizes and titles and get them attached, as well as labels for the walls at Pentamere, with the prices.

Pictures!

And then there’s the project that’s due Aug. 1 for Women that Broke All the Rules…tick, tick, tick…

These details could just finish me off!!!

My details–Your opinions

I’ve been painting and playing with the canvases that I want to mount my small pieces on. I’m not sure I’m totally convinced on some of them and nothing is fastened down, yet! I took some quick pics of the pieces as I think they might be finished…well, they’re leaning against stuff and crooked, but you can get the idea.

I’m pretty sure about these first ones, but I always love suggestions!

   

These 3 are all small…8 x 10 canvas and the next two will be 16 x 20.

I thought I wanted the plain background shown here on this one

but I have more of the cording I used to edge the piece and tried adding it to that background. I kind of like it, but straight lines and glue….whew! I’m not too steady!

Maybe I should make wavy lines…really wavy like the edges inside the piece.

I painted a background that I hated for this one, tried overpainting it and ended up tossing it aside. It may be right for something else someday. Anyway, I thought I might like to adhere this fabric to the canvas as a background and then add the piece. If I paint it on/over with texture medium, I think it will give it a crisp look. Any experienced advice from fabric painters?

And then I took a second look at a piece I thought was long done…like in March, already! I’m not sure I like it the way it is or if I want to expand the background to make the work a little bigger and more important feeling. It’s 16 x 20 right now. What do you think?

  

All in all, I feel like I’m making good progress. Even if these change a bit, I think I’m close to final decisions. It’s just those finishing details again, then…I am not in love with screw eyes and hanging wire and I’m horrible at the brown paper dust covers in the back. Do these need them? Yeah, probably. Don’t skimp out now. Finish things professionally!

On the road again…

The suitcase looks so big when it’s empty. I start to think everything I want to bring will fit in sooooooo easily.

Then I look at the stack of quilts from which I am choosing. This lecture chronicles my early days to present work….that’s a long, long time and a huge lot of quilts.

There are quite a few quilts that will definitely not see the light of day again. But for an historical perspective on my journey, some of the stuff I no longer love must be shown. And the older I get, the more history there is to show!!!

I’ve tried so many things and have so many pieces still sitting here…

They need to find new homes. If there’s anything you’ve seen that you like, believe me, it’s for sale.

Oh, wait…a little too hasty again. My daughter has claimed a piece or two and a couple have new designated owners already, and some pieces are committed to shows…well, if you love it, talk to me. We’ll see what we can do!

In the meantime, that suitcase is full to the brim again, heavier than gravity and ready to roll again. Off for more guild fun. I really do love doing this!