STUDIO

I have many things on my mind lately. My studio is one of them. This is because of the upcoming summer art lessons I hold. I give classes to young students, 4-9 years old or thereabout. I am realizing I have to do something about my seating so I am analyzing my workspace. I think I may have to make a trip to IKEA. They have very economical prices and good design. I will also try some of Richmonds' great art stores such as Main Art in the Fan district. This is a place packed with treasures. It is located next to Virginia Commonwealth University which has an excellent art program. Main Art also has a small store located within Plant Zero, local art studio space. This place has a very hip vibe and as it is a revamped warehouse, its a cool arcitechtural space.

There are also Plaza Art and Art Market who also supply the endless stream of VCU students, local artists and designers. So, I suppose I will have to start moving today, get my run in and then get out there to these stores. Maybe I will find some more inspiration for my next project.

CHANGE IS GOOD...RIGHT?

Well, I am told change is good. Sometimes I believe it and sometimes I don't. Regardless, I went for it. Let me know what you think. I tried to organize things a bit better for you all. Hope it was successful! While I am speaking of change, I will be posting of the changes in my work right now. As I just finished a piece this is always a very interesting time inside my head, gearing up for new pieces and new directions.

INSPIRATION MEDITATION

Buddah!

In the past I have listed my inspirations for a day or week. I havn't paid too much attention to mine lately as I have been busy working but I have completed the projects I wanted to and now I am thinking about inspiration. Here the New York Times Magazine has an article on inspiration. And another site illuminates Artistic inspiration

Also, a site I just had to include because I cant really believe it...talk about inspired; Humanity Quest.com on inspiration

So my inspiration today:

Meditation - This is a fantastic site for those interested in learning a bit more about meditation and how it works in Zen Buddism. If you happen to be in the Richmond, Virginia area you can visit the Ekoji Sangha in the Fan district if this sort of thing interests you. Meditation allows me some space and time to stop all the planning and just be happy with being still.

So I will leave you with this image. Sit peacefully.

THE MUCH AWAITED...AT LEAST IM DONE!

I am very pleased with how it came together. I am also glad I am done. I learned some new skills. Patience being one. This is a small quilt, 12"x12". In this way I could finish it without taking too much time away from my bigger pieces but it provided me with much needed stitching and machine practice! I will continue with these 12"x12" quilts periodiaclly. I think I will stick with favorite books, as I love to read. Again, this was inspired by Mark Helprin's, A Winters Tale. A great read for those of you with some time on your hands. Enjoy and thank you to all for visiting!

These gems are much more sparkly in person!

PLAYING AROUND

Okay, so I was playing around and I just love this new blogger feature. So excited I had to make another post tonight. I am bringing you Josh Ritter on You Tube. He is a very inspiring young singer/song writer and I often listen to his work while I am working. It helps the creative juices flow! I hope you listen to him and feel inspired enough to go get some of his CD's. They are great!

A REFRESHER COURSE

I have been thinking about all my blog visitors lately and thought that there may be some new to the blogging world. I figured you might like a few tips about navigating a blog page...in particular, mine. If you notice a change in color of text it is likely you can put your cursor over it and click it. This is called a link and will take you to a site that is related to the text you clicked. Lately I have had many links to quilting or fabric art type web or blog pages.

Also, on the side bar, to the right of the main text and photos you will find an assortment of information. I like to try and post Amazon links to the books I use either for reference or inspiration. I also have a Flicker account. This is a place where I post some of my paintings. They are categorized and show a bit more of what I do besides my current obsession with quilting.

Another important tool is the blog archive. You can click on previously posted blog entries. This is a way for you too see what has been going on and find out how the work has progressed. IN addition, are the labels. These are so great because you can go to just what you want and it so neatly categorizes everything! Love it!

So please explore and if you have suggestions for what you would like to see, definitely send them my way. I would love to hear your input and find out what you would like to see or hear about! All you new bloggers out there, don't be afraid....click away.

FINISHING WINTERSTALE SOON

I dont know if I posted these already but anyway, here are some shots of another step of the process. Here you can see the free motion machine stitching. This was a challenge getting the tension right. I am pleased how the quilting has meshed with the needle work. At first it was a very thick 'sandwich' but after some quilting it became much easier to handle.


For help, I have used a text by Diane Gaudynski called, "A Guide to Machine Quilting" over and over again. I also like to visit her webpage, Diane Gaudynski. This site also gives a biography and other great information and inspirations. I saw the authors work at the Mid-Atlantic quilt show and greatly admired it. I found her book at the library and thought it very clear and aproachable.

FLORIDA



Sorry about the delay in posts. You faithful viewers were probably wondering what was going on. Well, we decided to make a much over due visit to my aunt in Florida. Such gracious hosts, it was a very relaxing place to be. We also bit the bullet and went to Disney for a day....kids had a blast! Us, not so much :)

So anyway, I am back and very much needing to return to my work but of course am finding other diversions such as; laundry, cleaning, organizing etc! Once the dust settles...literally....I will work, I swear!

BACK TO WINTERSTALE

So here is the Winterstale quilt that I am finally getting back to. I am trying my hand at freehand machine stitching and am having a devil of a time working on tension. It is great practice though. I have double batting inside due to the fact that I have a layer of needlepoint fabric inside and had to conceal it.

I have double batting inside due to the fact that I have a layer of needlepoint fabric inside and had to conceal it.

You can also see the markings from the pen I used to mark it up. This will disappear after it is washed....one hopes!
After all this stitching I am thinking of doing a bit more embroidery and I am going to being doing a painting of a young girl and then stitching it on in trapunto. Tons to do but it is getting there.
This is a detail of some of the stitching and needlepoint.

MINI WINNIES

Well, for practice I made up a couple mini quilts for my girls. I tried different techniques on each quilt. On my first attempt I did not match up the squares just right. On this first one I tried stitching diagonally across the squares, intersecting at the middle and creating an "x" shape with the stitching.



On the second, I choose to practice some free stitching, meandering and spirals on some squares. In the middle I wanted to try my hand at stitching parellel lines. I like the effect of using these different techniques. It made this quilt much stiffer then the other. I have enjoyed seeing how the different stitching really changes the textural and visual quality of each quilt.



The last image is a detail of the parellel lines.



So you can see I am learning. The first photo show my lack of precision and the wobbly edges of the quilt. In the second you can still see some wobbliness but, improved. The parellel lines are not perfectly parellel but getting there.

RUNNING THE 10K




I know this entry is a bit off track but I had to boast :)

I have met my goal and run the Richmond Ukrops 10K. After months of being sick and discovering I had a mold allergy I decided I needed to do something to get my body healthy. The first step was to sign up for this race. I have run in the past and felt it was something I could do without too much fuss. I stuck it through a very cold winter and ran the race on my birthday, March 31st. It was a beautiful day and a ton of fun. A crowd of 20,000 plus runners turned out that day and ran a great race!