Update

Thank you for all your kind comments and excellent suggestions on my "identity" 12x12 piece.

I decided to try beads.Bleck. I really didn't like how they turned out.

So here I am cutting them all off (while listening to This American Life).
I seriously considered the suggestion of adding an eye to the hand. The "eye of fatima" is a common religious symbol and I like the concept. But, I ultimately decided there was already enough going on with the quilt.

Check back on Monday at the 12x12 blog for the final result.

In progress

I've been working on my 12x12 piece for the upcoming theme: identity. The reveal is June 1. We usually don't post our work until the reveal day, but I think I'll share. Avert your eyes if you prefer to be surprised.

The theme was challenging to me. I could go off in a thousand different directions. I could dig deep into my soul and try to define who I really am. (I really didn't want to bother with that.) So I decided to begin with my name and the story of Deborah in the bible. I've been using scripture as indirect inspiration quite a bit lately.

So, Deborah "held court under the palm" (Judges 4:5). Perfect, I love tree imagery. I can use that. Sisera will be "delivered into your hands" (Judges 4:7). Good, I can use the hand as a symbol. Plus, it fits nicely with the "identity" theme. There is also talk about the "hill country" in these verses.

So, I've got a bunch of disconnected images drawn from a pretty obscure reference for "identity." Is that ok? It's going to have to be.

I started with this.

The palm morphed into a kind of berry stalk. Artistic license. You can see that I began to add some reddish seed stitching in the sky section. There are some things I like about this piece and others I don't.

Then I did this.

Again, some parts are ok and others not-so-much. I've shared both pieces with lots of people and nearly everyone prefers one. I happen to prefer the other. Care to share your opinion? I'll probably finish both.

And while you're at it... I want to put something in the palm of the hand. Suggestions?

This and That

My mom visited last week. We had such a good time. She and my dad don't like to go without seeing the grand kids for more than four months or so -- so it was time! Dad is working more regularly, so he couldn't make it. Mom chose her visit time to coincide with Claire's piano recital. I'll post video of that later this week. Here's last year's recital. Wow. Time flies.

Besides the recital, we did other fun stuff. Claire loves puzzles. We have tons and she does them over and over. She is freakishly good at puzzles. (She was doing 200 piece puzzles before she was three.) Ben, on the other hand, prefers building with the boxes.Mom sent this cute picture of the kids. It's tough to get them to sit still and smile at the same time. Claire's bangs have finally grown out. Whew.
Here's Claire's birthday dinner from a few weeks ago. She requested fried rice with bacon wrapped shrimp.
And here is the cake from her party... she designed a green cake to look like a meadow covered with wild flowers (sprinkles) where her horses would graze.
I have mastered the Betty Crocker Bake 'N Fill pan. That's chocolate cake with chocolate cookie dough ice cream in the middle.
And way back when... during Swine Break, (not to be confused with Spring Break) the kids had fun making Mother's Day cards...
and building ramps for remote control cars on the drive way.
Here's another picture that my mom took. There is a mama duck and her three babies at our neighborhood pool. I am sure she is regretting her choice of nest building location at this point.
Such fun activities... just the daily enjoyable ordinary stuff.

Working

I've got a number of things happening in the studio. I just put some deadlines behind me and some others are sneaking up very quickly (12x12 yikes!). I like working on specific projects with specific end points, though I also long for just times when I just stitch and see what happens.

That's all for now. Just a tiny blogging break to clear my mind and now back to that stitching I just mentioned.

Catch Up

I processed entries to two art shows yesterday. It was boring and tedious, but I did it. I hope my work is accepted, but honestly... I know it could easily be rejected. That's ok. Since I was photographing a new quilt anyway, I decided to reshoot every single one of my Lent pieces. I am not absolutely confident that the pictures are much better, but I'm moving forward.

Gosh that first paragraph was full of negative energy, wasn't it? Enough of that.

As I was filling out paperwork, I realized I never posted this finished quilt from the Lent series. You saw it in progress, but never completed.

Here He Stayed
14x8 (#33)

A brief thought about LOST: Jacob is a fiber artist!

Triptych Workshop

I had such a fun time teaching my Triptych Landscape workshop at the Bear Creek Quilt Guild a couple of weeks back. It was an intimate group and everyone did fabulous work! I'm sorry I didn't make notes about the artist's names... (If you are reading, please comment and send me your names.)

I love the repetition in this beach scene. The artist will be adding bamboo skewers to those umbrellas.

Here is Kimberly, the guild president, at work on her piece.
And here it is at the end of the day. She went with a American Indian vibe and used handwriting as a surface design on those tepees.

This piece developed throughout the day and it was wonderful to see all the interesting details she added.

This artist already finished the edges on her piece. She's planning to add embroidery and other embellishments. It reminds me of autumn.
This forest scene is really fun and we all loved that stripy section in the upper part that looks like trees in the distance.
There is a little chapel tucked in the valley of this scene. It took a while to decide to use that pink as the sky. Isn't it fabulous?!

The embroidery on this beach scene is exquisite!

I really enjoy sharing the creative process. Teaching workshops is wonderful in many ways. We had the usual challenges of space, light, bad Wonder Under, and other bumps along the way. The biggest bumps are the moments of doubt that we sometimes feel when trying a new technique or when a piece is not developing as desired, or when I feel I am not providing effective inspiration and direction. And yet, when these bumps are overcome, we grow.

At the ranch...

A few more pictures from Claire's birthday party. We really had a super fun time.

The trail ride was great. We rode at Marshall Creek Ranch in Southlake, TX. We were very worried about rain, but it turned out to be a perfect day. We rode through the woods and out to Lake Grapevine.We got to cross creeks and climb small hills. We even saw deer, a red tail hawk, a rabbit and a turtle. And lots of mosquitoes.

We took pictures after the ride.


We reserved the bunk house at the ranch for our party after the ride. It was very rustic and comfortable. While I set out our lunch, I gave the girls a "photo scavenger hunt." They had a clip board with a list of things to take pictures of including...Claire holding up ten fingers,

all the party girls' shoes,one of the girls in the jumping in the air,
an animal,

... and several other items like something flying, something with words, something with numbers, something very large, something very small (They chose goat poop.) etc.

The girls loved this activity!

After lunch, Jeff and I sat on the porch while the girls roamed around the farm. They examined ant hills, fed hay to the horses, chased the cat and enjoyed each others' company. A good day for a ten year old -- or anyone!

Collage Mania

*Edited: I am thrilled that both of my pieces are marked "acquired." Wow. I am so humbled to know that someone donated $80 to the American Cancer Society and will receive one of my collages. I haven't received word about where I'll be sending the art, but I'm shouting a hearty "thank you" to everyone who made donations today. Lots of amazing work still available. Each collage will be available for a $40 donation beginning tomorrow.

I am thrilled to participate in Virgina Spiegel's Collage Mania 2009.

Virginia is an amazingly talented fiber artist and philanthropist. She started Fiber Art for a Cause to benefit the American Cancer Society in 2005 and has raised more than $170,000. Yowza. That's a big number. The goal for this year is to raise $20,000 in just three days. Many artists have donated fiber collages and small art quilts for this year's fundraiser.

There are 39 pages of images! Grab a cuppa and peruse the art. Be sure to take notes about your favorites. On May 5, each piece will be available for an $80 donation. (That's tomorrow!) On May 6 and 7, each piece will be available for $40. All the specifics can be found here.

My two donations are on page 34.

Invited #3, 10x8"

Flourish #3, 3.25x7.5 mounted on 10x8 matte

Both of these pieces were inspired by works I created during my Lenten project. You can see the originals here and here.

My local friends Connie and Sherrie participated. You can find them on pages 7 and 33.

Some of the Twelves (the Twelve by Twelve Art Quilt Collaborative) participated too!
Nikki Wheeler is on page 20.
Terry Grant is on page 20.
Terri Stegmiller is there too, I just can't remember the page.
Gerrie Congdon was a participant in the Invitational Reverse Auction.

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

I could go on and on... lots a familiar names and lots of genius work from artists I wasn't aware of until now (like Jennifer Solon -- wow!).

Thanks so much to Virginia and the many others who have supported her in this important project! I am giving thanks on behalf the people in my life who have been touched by cancer.

Birthday Girl!

Claire and some of her friends went horseback riding to celebrate her birday. So happy.