Design Wall

I've made lots of progress since this I took this photo. It's interesting to look back on it.

Clockwise from the top left: That's a print-out of an image of a necklace I made to submit to Belle Armoire Jewelry. They liked it and asked me to make two more to go with it. I couldn't remember what it looked like, so I had to print this out for inspiration for the other two. I'm happy to say that you'll be able to see this piece in the Winter 2008 issue.

Thin strip of purple: no idea what that is.

Gold and black: that's the background for my illumination piece. Only three days until the reveal! Don't miss it here!

Small bluish square: that's a stack of various stuff including a snippet of some handpainted fabric from Kathy, felt and a bit of tulle. It might be made into a small brooch someday.

Lone blue strip: ummm, just random.

Purple and blue printed image: that's my long suffering landscape. I've printed out lots of images and made sketches for potential free-motion-quilting designs and hand embroidery. (Check the late March/early April 2007 archives for more about this piece.)

Green and yellow: it's a 4x6 cut out from a reject 12x12 piece from our community challenge. It has potential as a very small, spare work. Someday.

Stack of blue stuff including old jeans: those were auditioned for another piece that is in-the-works that I am not supposed to tell you about.

Large blue/green piece with stamped circles: same secret piece.

In the middle of the design board: two stacks of paper with scripture and images of illuminated bible pages from the St. John's Bible used as inspiration for the illumination piece and the secret piece. (Oops. I've said too much.)

Small stack of canvas squares: I considered making these into a tiny book. But they are still tacked in the same spot.

What's on your design wall?

Crazy Fun

I read about the "super foam-erator" on Betz White's blog a few weeks ago. I thought it looked crazy fun, so we gave it a try on a free afternoon at Mom and Dad's house.

It was a blast and like nothing I have ever seen before. (That's Lake Ontario in my parents' back yard.)

Bubble snakes!

You can see the details here: empty bottle, old wash cloth, rubber bands, water, dish soap. So easy.

If you want to try this, Benjamin would like to advise you: Do Not Inhale. Only Exhale Into the Bottle.

 

The bubbles floated all over the yard and disintegrated into shiny blobs.

Isn't it great to have fun with a toy that you didn't buy at Target and does not require batteries?

Home Again

Ok, really. I think I'm done traveling now. The kids and I were in western New York visiting my parents last week. I didn't take too many pictures, but check these out...

I loved the Lockport Caves tour along the Erie Canal. Last year we did the canal tour, so this year it was really fun to see what is behind all those run down stone structures.

Kinda freaky.

"No really, Claire. YOU go first."

 

That door is actually an old water tunnel used in a factory in the 1850s. This tunnel was blasted out by hand by men who made about 12 cents a day. It really is amazing to think how much our lives have changed in only 150 years.

It's not a natural cave, but it has some real cave formations. Speaking of caves, we've recovered the pictures from our road trip and I'll be able to show you some pictures from our visit to Wind Cave later in the week.

Diversions

Not only did we visit The Getty, we spent two wonderful days just playing at the beach.

I never used to enjoy the beach much. I grew up in Kansas and Nebraska, so our family never really did *beach* when I was a kid. When we lived in Florida, where both of the kids were born, I felt obligated to *beach* and I never much enjoyed it. Not for any reason other than pushing a stroller through the dunes is impossible, sippy cups and diapers do not mix well with gritty sand, babies need CONSTANT supervision and entertainment and sun screen and it's hot. I know lots of people manage all these things beautifully and spend whole summer seasons laying about on towels and dancing in the surf. Not me...

...Until now. We had so much fun. Maybe I'm just more relaxed than I was nine years ago. But having older kids makes a big difference!

Claire could dig and build with sand for hours. She also loves catching sand crabs and we had our own little aquarium in a bucket right by our towels. I love walking down the beach, people watching, looking at the water and the sand and the buildings. We saw several dead sea lions. Totally gross and covered with maggots, but also interesting.

Aunt Joanna and Uncle Matt spent a day with us in Santa Barbara. We took a trolley tour and enjoyed exploring the city.

We also saw Wall-E while we were on vacation. Thumbs down. I read Wicked. I'm not sure whether to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Claire read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She says, "Thumbs up."

Hope you're having lots of "thumbs up" adventures this summer.

Wowza!

I admit that I browse through Etsy way too often. I just tell myself I'm doing it to gather inspiration. (Which is mostly true.) Imagine my delight when I saw one of my pieces in the Treasury on the front page!

(This image isn't from the actual front page, but you get the idea.) The Treasury includes all kinds of wonderful fiber art and stitchy goodness. It's called The Stitch Itch and was created by La Pomme Stories. (Doesn't she have a lovely shop?!) My small art quilt is on the lower left and is titled Stitched Horizon.

To celebrate this fun event, I'll offer free shipping on any purchase in my shop through this weekend. Happy shopping. Just wait for a revised PayPal invoice with the shipping charges removed.

Check out some other shops too, but don't blame me if you get sucked into all kinds of fantastic handmade art.

Field Trip

I was having so much trouble with my 12x12 "Illumination" piece, I decided to take a field trip to The Getty Museum in Los Angeles for some inspiration.

Jeff and the kids came along.

The manuscripts in the Imagining Christ exhibit were amazing and it feels like such a privilege to view such significant, ancient works. But, not exactly inspiring for my style of work. Oh well.

I did love this piece. It's a Roman wall fragment from about 100 AD.

I love the contrast of the horizontal/vertical composition and the symmetry mixed with just a few spots of asymmetry.

The best news about my progress on the 12x12 piece is that after of day of fussing with various ideas and elements, I've decided I have to scrap it all and start over completely. Disappointment mixed with relief and new energy.