Moving on

I spent quite a bit of time just cleaning up in the studio this morning -- while listening to Car Talk. Now I'm ready to begin work on the third of the Lark projects. It's going to be a largish *pieced* wall hanging. Can you believe I'm abondoning my fusible for the moment?

Here is an in-progress shot of another of the projects. You'll recognize this as Encrusted Cobblestones. (Actually, I called it Encrusted Pathways when I posted about it earlier. That was wrong. I forgot my own title. Duh.)

Because Lark requires several inprogress shots, I had to remake the quilt. That's ok. I liked it even more the second time around.

As far as the triptych landscape... it's done. And I am not happy with it. It's fine, but not my best work. As I was talking with my best friend, Lucy, I said, "Well, I suppose I have time to just start over." Ding! Of course, I must start over. Now I'm excited about doing it again and making some needed improvements. Sometimes you need a test piece.

I also took some time to do something totally new and fresh. And it's looking great. Lots of handstitching that I did while watching Deja Vu last night. Hmmm. A freaky movie -- in the most excellent sense of the word freaky.

(Didn't DebR recently post a list of books and/or movies involving time travel? Add Deja Vu to the list!)

Yes yes. Pictures of the completed Encrusted Cobblestones II, the triptych and the new, fresh piece coming soon.

Soccer

The spring soccer season is over. (It started at the end of February. Spring?!) But it was a great season. Claire's team played in the finals of the U-8 league. (That's under 8... as in 6 and 7 year olds.) The game went into double overtime and ended up in penalty kicks. So exciting! And pressure-filled! Claire played goalie and was able to stop nearly every kick that came her way, but the Blue Tigers lost by one goal. Oh my goodness, the tears were flowing... even from Coach Jeff. The girls made big improvements this year and MORE IMPORTANTLY are showing such thoughtful, enthusiastic spirits.
Claire is a great goalie! Every time she turned around after the game there was another player or parent or coach telling her what a great job she did. The coach of the other team said Claire was the best goalie in the U-8 league. She was a bit overwhelmed by the attention -- especially since they still lost.

She'll move up to U-10 for the fall season. That will be a big change. In the meantime, I need to register her for a soccer camp this summer. It will be good to mix in some soccer with the sleeping in, the swimming lessons, the travels, the library summer reading program, Vacation Bible School and playing at the pool.

Entertainment

Claire had a birthday party to attend this weekend... so that meant a trip to the bookstore to get a gift for the birthday girl! And some items for me! (And some for Claire too, in fact.) We love bookstores.

I bought Eat Pray Love. There were five holds on it at the library and I didn't want to wait two months to read it. It keeps popping up wherever I look -- so I had to listen to the karma. I've only read a few pages, but CLEARLY I am going to LOVE it.

I don't suppose it's a coincidence that there is a short little recommendation quote on the cover by Anne Lamott. Because I also bought this.

The third in Anne Lamott's series of spiritual autobiographies. The first, Traveling Mercies, is one of my all-time-favorite books. All of her non-fiction is really wonderful. (And if you think I'm implying that her fiction is not-so-great, you would be correct.)

Are you wondering what Claire picked out?

We got the first two books in this series for the birthday girl. Claire and I read them together and really enjoyed them. We bought the third in the series for us. Maybe we can loan it to the birthday girl when we've finished and she has read the first two. Never too early to get in the habit of book swapping!

We also watched this movie this week. So good!

Totally quirky and unexpected.

And I must say, I have a new favorite show on Food Network. I love love loved Ham on the Street last year, but it doesn't seem to be returning with any new episodes. No matter, Duff is my new love.

Ace of Cakes is about all the arty, young, hipsters who work at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. They make some wicked amazing cakes and have a great time doing it. (Or at least they make it look that way for the cameras.)

I won't bore you with my other guilty obsessions: Survivor, America's Next Top Model and Amazing Race.

What do an elephant, car and tree have in common?

I'm working on the projects for publication in the upcoming "Quilting with Beads" book from Lark. One of my projects is a triptych landscape. I really enjoyed the series I did last spring based on the titles "winds of change, tree of life and fields of gold." So, I thought it would be an interesting project to repeat -- in a new way. Look familiar? Here is where I am at the moment. I'm struggling with how to do the tree trunks. Here I've pinned some small rolls of fabric in the trunk space on three of the trees. Hmmmm. Not so sure. Want to see a close up?

How did I do trunks in the past? Embroidery.

Small sticks sewn on the surface. I am unsure about how the natural stick elements will contrast with the glitzy sequins and beads. Anyway... it's just simmering on the design wall for now.

Thoughts

I adore Nikki Giovanni. I studied her a bit when I was in high school. It's amazing how a poet can capture the feelings of a nation, give us permission to embrace our feelings and encourage hope.

Benjamin has a new imaginary friend, The Little Cutter Guy. Apparently Benjamin found him in a tire during recess and brought him home. He can cut things. Even cars! He is joining Benjamin's two imaginary ponies, Sparkle and Sprinkle.

Claire is starting paino lessons on Friday. Right now she is working on Hot Crossed Buns.

It's pledge time again on my NPR station. Grumble.

I've been making smoothies as after-school snacks several times a week. So yummy! I also bought some Vanilla Bean Chiller from a friend who recently started selling Tastefully Simple products. Yowza! Delicious! (Even though it adds way more fat and calories.) A squirt of whipped cream and a straw make it extra special. (And sometimes an extra squirt right into some wide-open mouths!) Sometimes we even enjoy them at the picnic table in the backyard.

I don't suppose this post is a good example of a "thinking" blog. I'll try to remedy that soon.

Thinking Blogger

Sonji named me a "thinking blogger." Kathie and Dara named Sonji as a "thinking blogger" and so the cycle continues...

It's funny, because I think my blog has lacked some depth of late. I struggle a bit with direction in my blog. Sometimes I have big ideas or questions that I wish to post about on my blog, but I don't always want to take the time to really put the words together carefully to express my thoughts. Thinking takes time. Sometimes I think it's ok to to "dance through life." There is a song in the musical Wicked called "Dancing Through Life" which includes the line, "life's more painless, for the brainless." Of course, I note this in jest, but only slightly.

By the way, Claire and I are going to see Wicked on Thursday.

So, thinking blogs! Here are some that come to mind (that haven't already been named on other thoughtful blogs).

Amanda at Soulemama. There are many things I love about Amanda and her blog, not the least of which is that she posts EVERY weekday. I also love her creative spirit, her retro style, her dedication to her children, her honesty and her view of beautiful Maine.

Ali Edwards. So delighful. Ali is a big-time scrapbooking designer and teacher, and though I do not scrap book, I love her thoughts about "capturing life and creating art." Her dedication to raising awareness (and money) for autism is also quite inspiring.

Julie at A Nun's Life. Actually this blog is totally new to me. I heard about it on the NPR Pop Culture Podcast, so I've been reading it for a couple of days. Having grown up in an church-going family, I am very drawn to the real lives of people who are active in ministry. It's definetely a "thinking blog."

Kim at Something to Say. I think Kim posts even more than daily sometimes! Always something fresh. She's got a great eye, amazing links, inspiring ideas!

Joshilyn at Faster Than Kudzu. Definetely not enough pictures, but so witty. Also a nice peek into the world of being a novelist (for when I get tired of reading about art quilters). But :: get this! :: I've heard Joshilyn's next book is about an art quilter!

And so many more!

New Projects

I got some great news a couple of weeks ago. I submitted three project proposals to Lark publishing company for their upcoming "Quilting with Beads" book. The editor contacted each of the Frayed Edges personally after our profile in Quilting Arts magazine. We all submitted proposals. (Except Hannah who was on her way to China and preparing to welcome their fourth daughter. Understandably, she was too busy!) All three of my proposals were accepted and the book will be full of art from the Frayed Edges! How exciting.

I'm working on Encrusted Cobblestones now.

It's very much like the original Encrusted Cobblestones that I used in the proposal, but since I must include several "in progress" photos for the book, I really had to make it again. It will be embellished with lots of different kinds of washers. Why go to the bead store, when you can go to the hardware store?

More on the other two projects soon. Everything is due May 21, which is very very very soon!

Landscape Continuing

And then there was this... I am so pleased with it. Your comments and recommendations were immensely helpful. Lots of you made suggestions about how to make it look more realistic, but that's not really what I'm going for. I'm more about the lines, the shapes, the colors and the potential for interesting small details within the larger composition. I want the scale to make sense so it doesn't just look

choppy or distracting, but I still wanted to incorporate some abstractness.

In my original sketches I played around with the idea of a composition within the composition. I wasn't sure if I was really going to make that work, but I just love the postcard sized cutout in the blue house where I've played with the scale by adding a tiny tree on the horizon.

This is all fused down and just waiting for the next steps. That will probably mean fusing some additional small details: windows, grassy/leafy/flowery shapes, and pathways maybe. Then I'll start the embroidery. But for now, it's just simmering.

Eggs

We had a wonderful Easter. Of course... we dyed eggs. I actually bought three dozen this year, so I could dye some too! Here's Benjamin sticking with his signature color.
Here is a shot from Easter 2005. Isn't that one of the joys of blogging: noting the cycles of life and how the sometimes change and sometimes stay the same.

Grandma K and Grandpa J were visiting this week -- very fun.

Can you see that I dyed a color wheel? One wonky third in pink, one wonky third in blue and one wonky third in yellow. It was kinda cool. (And made a tasty egg salad sandwich.) Jeff made a "Go Navy" egg. Mom did a take on Ukranian style eggs.

I'm ashamed to say I did not keep that beautiful paper towel to add to my paper collage materials.

Back to the studio today!

Blogging

I just uploaded pictures for about five posts -- so eventually I'll add some words and other thoughtful comments and post them. But for now, I'm off to wrangle the family and find something to do. I guess we won't be going hiking since it's only 37 degrees. (Seriously. I'd rather have snow.)

Edited to Add:

Oh my gosh! Be careful what you ask for. Yes... this is snow in Dallas on April 7!

You can barely see it, but those white flecks are snow. And you can see that Claire has two sweaters on. (Layering is very "in" right now.)

Landscape Continuing

After soaking in all those excellent comments and spending way too much time on google images typing in things like "trees on hillside" and "funky landscape," I came up with this:

(And a smiling boy with big eyebrows!)

You'll notice that I made the houses on the green hill way bigger and added a large tree. I moved a medium size house over to the mottled hill and kept the fence mostly as it was.

Then I added some fields of crops in green fabric on the purple hill. (The green and the purple!) I decided I like the fields... but not the exact size, placement or color. This would mean making a pattern. What???!!! A pattern??? The horrors! I wasn't even sure what I could use to create a pattern. I finally stumbled upon the idea of using freezer paper. And that's what we have here:

I also moved the fields over a bit so we still have some of the purple hill on the right side of the fields. I think I need something to draw the eye from the house section over to the field section. (That idea is totally inspired by Kathy.) So I added that strip from the mottled fabric. It could be a stream. I don't really like it, but the concept is ok. I'll be working on that. You can see I moved that large tree also. It will not be staying there, but I haven't decided where it will be (or at all).

Then I began auditioning fabric for the fields. I took tons of pictures... it's very helpful to give a slightly different perspective.

The original green.

Batik baby poop brown. (With a little green... just like baby poop.)

Gray blue with a subtle leaf pattern.

Purple silk from an old ratty kimono that originally belonged to my grandmother.
I have chosen which one to use. Care to guess? I hope to make more progress on this quilt this week. But lots of other projects are calling.