Cheers to a New Year!

On this final day of 2009, I am thankful for good health, a wonderful family and the possibilities for the coming new year. Happy New Year!

The Healing Tree

There was an old maple tree that stood for many years, on a dirt road in NH, long before our house was here. It grew to tremendous stature, weathered and aged, then fell in an ice storm last year. I have looked out my windows at that tree many times, and in my mind, I see it still, like the people who have passed through my life. Some people are gone, but they stand here still, in my mind's eye, forever there as an influence on my life. Gone for the moment, never forgotten.

Stamping and Pattern Board Quilting

I just completed this piece that feels a little oriental to me. I used a stamp that I won on a give-away from Ruth Powers website. Instead of my usual intuitive freehand quilting, I used a pattern board with a spiral square. When I finished, my thought was, that anyone could have created this piece, because it doesn't, " look like me." This makes me wonder if there is the same level of satisfaction for people when they use patterns or stamps that they have not created? How do you feel that it is your own work?
I am a long arm quilter who quilts only my own pieces. I did a few customer pieces when I first got my machine, but in truth, finishing someone elses work, does nothing for my own creativity. I feel that my pieces have to be totally my own, based on my own drawing, from my own photo, from my own imagination. Do other people feel this way?

It's Snowing in New Hampshire

We have snow flurries today, after unusually warm temperatures in December. I am working on small pieces. I just finished this piece which may become my fiber art grab bag gift for an upcoming Christmas party. Would you like to pull this out of the grab bag?
Back to sewing!

Water Lilly: From photo to fiber

Just finished this piece that I start last week. I am working through digital photos that I have taken. This photo was taken on a northern lake in NH, this past summer. I am always intrigued with the beauty of water lillies.

I don't know if I have done too much quilting on the lily pads? I started with white cotton and painted the fabric. I trapuntoed the pads and the lilly. The water is three layers, hopefully to give it depth and shine. Feedback is welcome, not just positve feedback. Tell me what you don't like, please.

Photo to Fabric in Progress

Last week I was painting fabric, trying to get the right green for the leaves of water lillies. I painted cotton and rayon lining material. I've ended up using the cotton in this piece, and I'm at the, " putting it together phase!" It's still at the sewing machine, but have a look. I layered pieces to get a dark water look......I hope. Say tuned. My husband said very little when I said, "Come look at this." That means he doesn't like it, but is not trying to discourage me. I think he wanted to give it a, "two thumbs down award!"

Two pieces finished !

I recently finished two pieces and am now wondering what to start working on today? I had painted a small version of my large quilt, "Saturday in Searsport," taken from my own digital photo of a harbor seal, but never quilted it. I put it on my machine about a week ago and decided after doing some of the quilting, that it needed sheer fabrics layed over part of the painted surface, to show the, "splash." Then I decided that all the water needed sheer fabric, so I added more. Then the question was once again, to bind or not to bind? Here is the finished product. Feedback welcome.

The next piece was a labor of love, a gift for a friend. This image was in my head and wanted out! She burst onto the fabric with the pure joy, that I wish for my friend, Judy!

Now off to the drawing board to see what's next!

Discharging

Discharging This video was shared by my friend Judy Marble. It is a You Tube video by Bob Adams and it is very interesting.

Project Funway; 4 so far!

I've been asked to show the other Project Funway pieces I created as Journal Quilts, so here they are; Betty Beach; Penny Proper and Fancy Nan. They are a little bit of foolishness; quick and fun!

New title on last piece

I decided to change sunset sail to Catching the Wind. I also put a narrow binding on it and I think it looks better. Now......what will I work on next!

Catching the Wind: From photo to fiber

I have just about finished this piece. I have to do my final triming and then I think I will face it , rather than bind it. I usually like to post my photo and then my fiber, but as you can see, there is a sun bather on deck, which surprised me. I am not going to post the pictue. It was the color of the sails, against the water and sky, that caught my eye. What do you think?

Cool but sunny Morning in NH

It is cool this morning, but looks like it will be a nice day, before the rain starts tomorrow. I am working on a new piece, that will be called Sunset Sail, I think. As usual for me, it's based on a photo that I took while out on our boat, fishing with my husband. You be surprised by some of the spectacular views, some surprizing, that you see through your camera lense. Hope to have this piece completed soon, and up on my blog.

Four Pieces to Fiber Fest, Exeter, NH

It's October 1st, and chilly in New Hampshire. Yesterday I dropped four of my fiber art pieces at the Exeter Town Hall Gallery, for their annual Fiber Fest. There will be a variety of fiber related items, made by local artists. I have a variety of submissions, ranging from my large equestrian piece, "Morning Ride,'' plus "Beach Blossums," "New England Winter," and "Winter Beach," pictured here. All are for sale, except Morning Ride, which is a family piece.

Project Funway Continues - Paper Challenge!

Just finished a journal quilt that I have been thinking about as we traveled in the RV this past weekend. I was thinking about the, "paper challenge," on PR, so my journal quilt is Reta Recycle. Her teeshirt is a tea bag envelope, her skirt is newspaper and bits of yarn, and like all self-conscious women,she put a bag on her head to cover a bad hair day. What do you think? This is # 4 in my series, Project Funway.

Just Watched PR.....

I feel a personal paper challenge coming on! Yipes.....mabee I'll sort through the papers on my dining room table......I could always open the mail!!!!!

Winter In New England; finished

Just made my label for this quilt that I posted about when it was on my machine. I faced this one instead of binding. What do you think? This one started out not from my usual photo, but because I wanted to use some of my metallic paints. Metallic stripes became trees, and I went on from there. I added the deer in the lower field by cutting a small deer from a picture of deer in our field that I had printed on cloth. I guess I do always have to get a photo influence in there!

I just love those shiny fabrics for an icy lake!

Feedback welcome.

Journal Quilts Submitted !

Thanks to Linda Minton's generous deadline extension, I got three journal quilts into Quilt Art! I had actually forgotten about this opportunity, until Linda posted her extension.
Journal quilts are a great chance to work small and quick! For someone like me, it is exactly the change that I need. I tend to work large and keep adding more and more detail to my work. My projects go on and on!
About four years ago, I posted to the quiltart list, my thoughts for, " Fast Friday." I was thinking out-loud and said that I needed to challenge myself, like the designers on Project Runway. I needed to sketch an idea, pick fabrics and make it work! Another list member jumped on the idea and proposed starting a Yahoo group and the rest is history. I didn't need more time on the computer........I needed more creative action!
Years ago, I used to attend lots of business seminars. I would sit down front with my friend Patti and take notes, but beside the notes, I'd sketch what the women speakers were wearing. Patti used to glance at my notes and say, "You're doing it again!" My journal quilts are, "Project Funway." That's because they were just plain fun to create. If they make it to the online show, I post pictures after they have been put up on the website. Happy sewing!

Another Day Fishing - but it's winter on my longarm!

We spent a lovely, but cool day, out on the boat in Portsmouth Harbor. All kinds of sailboats and kyaks were out. It was a great fall day. I got home and decided to turn on my long arm, to thread paint a little more on my winter scene. Don't know why I'm working on a winter piece right now, except that I am trying to get it off my machine! Summer pictures are waiting in the wings, and three small off-the-cuff journal quilts are waiting to be completed. So many pictures in my head and I am trying to stitch them out!

I think I am trying to get back to a clean slate. Does that ever happen? I hate having incomplete work!

It's Already September !

Although it is hot and sunny today, September is already upon us! We've been out in our boat in Portsmouth Harbor just three times this summer. Each time I take many digital photos of boats, ships, lighthouses, sea birds, etc., because in my mind I can translate everything into cloth and threads. I have photos for a lifetime, because I just can't stop taking pictures!

Now the challenge is to translate these photos to fabric. I have to find a way to speed up my process. I have to think about the pieces less and produce more! Time to stitch!

World Quilt Show, Manchester, NH

I spent last Thursday afternoon, at the Mancusso show in Manchester. It was a fantastic show with wonderful fiber art from around the world. Shows like this are such an inspiration! Quilters' ideas are limitless. These shows make you want to try new mediums and expand your style. Congratulations to all who exhibited their work. Sharing your vision benefits us all.

Maine Seashells & Seaweed Mounted

Thanks for the feedback on the little seashell and seaweed piece. I have decided to mount it on canvas. I took 50+ digital photos yesterday, so I have plenty of new work to consider.

Beach Series / From Photo to Fiber

Just finished a very small piece, for me. This one is about 13 inches square and I did not bind it, but did a zigzag stitch edge. I used a strand of pearl cotton under the zigzag, but can't see that it really made any difference. Someone gave this tip on the quiltart list, so thought I'd try it on a small piece. I don't know that I like this edge. I painted white fabric and trapuntoed the shells with a low loft batting. Feedback is welcome.

Maine Quilts

Last weekend again, we fired up the RV, and headed for Maine. We spent a couple of days at one of our favorite beaches, Popham, and then headed for Augusta and the Maine Quilt Show. My Quilt, Saturday in Searsport, took a third place ribbon, and was surrounded by the work of many wonderful artists. The show was lovely and I look forward to next year.

Artistic Inspiration

On July 18 & 19 we fired up the RV and headed for the Rock River Artists Tour in Vermont, with one destination in mind. I am a major admirer of the work of Deidre Scherer, art quilter. I had traveled to Boston, to the MFA, a year or so ago, to see the independant film, Holding Our Own, which was centered on Hospice care and featured Deidre and her work. I love portrait quilts and I am a former hospice nurse, so Deidre's beautiful work really speaks to my heart. There is no comparison to seeing the work in person. Both the woman and the work, are outstanding.

On the same trip, I had thought to send an email to my friend, Frances Holliday Alford, to see if she was perhaps in Vermont? Luck would have it that she was, and were were able to meet at Deidre's studio. At long last, I was able to spend time with Frances. She is a marvelous, generous person and artist, and being able to spend time with her and see some of her work, was a fantastic treat.

The world of fiber artists is full of love, talent and generosity. I am blessed.

Taking Digital photos

I still have not started a new fiber piece. I have taken many more digital photos in our RV travels to northwest NH to help our daughter settle in her new home. We stayed three nights at Lake Mascoma RV park. All the moving and lifting fall to my daughter and her father, so I am the photographer.

The Sun is Shining: It's time to start a new project!

Well, the sun is shining and I'd be lying if I said that my mind is going a million miles a minute! I am actually moving like a snail this morning, try ing to kick-start a creative idea. I have many digital photos for inspiration. It's time to pick a new direction and start.
I am surrounded by flowers and natural beauty. Here goes......as soon as I can focus.

Raining, raining, raining!!!!

We are water-logged in NH! The town I live in has closed roads, had power outages and still, it continues to rain! Just finished up a baby quilt for the granddaughter of a friend. I love to add embroidery to these little quilts. In this case, "Sweet Dreams," and "Thank heaven for little girls." Now I'll finish the embroidered birth annoucement, then back to art quilts.

On the Road in the RV

A week ago Wednesday, we hit the road for a short trip north. We headed for northern NH, Vermont and NY, so that my husband could make those out of the way sales calls, that don't fit into his usual routine. Usually I stay home, but we decided it would be a good RV trip as I have wanted to see the Vermont Quilt Festival for some time. We stayed a couple of nights on Lake Champlain in a couple different spots, we headed for Montreal and stayed just south of the city, and then headed down to Burlington, Vt for the quilt show. I took some great photos along the way and stopped at an interesting shop in Potsdam, NY, where the work of members of the St Lawrence County Arts Council was on display. The work of the members was beautiful.
The quilt festival was also well worth the trip.

Second in Beach Series: Birds Of A Feather

I just stitched the binding on, "Birds Of A Feather," the second in my beach series along with Blue Jellyfish, shown in an earlier post. Boy, I hate binding! I am purposely keeping this as a, "soft quilt," as I may enter this piece in a quilt show, as part of a group exhibit with some Florida quilters.

There is this dilema, do I mount the piece on stretcher bars, on canvas, frame it, or leave it soft? Leaving it soft, is easier for shipping purposes. But the bottom line is.....oh how I hate to do binding!

What are the rest of you doing, for the most part?

Juried Into Lowell: Images 2009

I just openned my acceptance letter from Lowell! Morning Ride and Saturday in Searsport have been accepted for the show! I'm excited! Saturday in Searsport will travel first to Maine Quilts in Augusta, Maine in July. Morning Ride will go to Lowell to be seen for the first time.

Okay, back to the quilt that is on my machine right now!

Up early

I am up early on a Saturday morning. That's rare for me, as I tend to be up half the night and sleep late. We have a pheasant who is marching around the perimeter of our house, raising a racket! I have taken many pictures of him, but his days are numbered if he dosn't stop waking me up, after I finally fall asleep!

I decided to pay attention to, "different birds," since I was up, and started painting some seagulls from a digital photo that I have taken. On quiltart, we are talking about working in a series. I guess I work in a, "beach series," so perhaps this will be a piece to go along with my Jellyfish. I took the photos on the same beach. I guess fish, seashells and birds of a feather, should flock together!

Scotia's Videos

My email address is derived from the town that I grew up in; scotiagirl@metrocast.net. This weekend, while looking over a website on Synesthesia, recommended by my daughter, Elizabeth, I found a vodcast video that I have seen before. It is an interview with Georgia O"Keefe and the video is outstanding. I have added a gadget at the bottom of my page for you all to click on and enjoy, hense the term, Scotia's videos.

Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens by Patricia Lynne Duffy is a book that my daughter found at the library, which is our first introduction to the term synesthesia. I am just starting the book myself, but it looks like a very informative read for anyone, but especially for artists.

This has been a great weekend, so far. I did a short paddle in my kyak with my daughter, and got pictures of nesting loons, and then some walking on Hampton Beach and Seabrook Beach, to look through tidepools and enjoy the summer sun! All of this becomes more ideas for fiber art!

Blue Jellyfish finished

I just completed my blue jellyfish piece and am sewing on the sleeve and binding. My husband is making a frame for the original picture. Hopefully, I will send it off some place to be displayed. I always wish that I could send the photo and the fiber piece to a show, so viewers could see the inspiration behind the piece.

Adding Thread

My fiber art pieces usually start with a digital photo that I have taken. When we were on Hutchinson Island in Florida, at Christmas, the beach was awash with blue jellyfish. Their long blue tendrils spread out over the sand, and you really had to watch where you stepped! I took some great photos, now I'm working at turning one into fiber art.

Monthly SAFA meeting

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of Seacoast Area Fiber Artists, a small group of fiber artists from southern Maine and NH, that I am lucky enough to belong to. The meeting was in Old Orchard Beach, at the home of Kathy Angel Lee, and we were trying some NeoColor Water Pastels, that Kathy has worked with. These pastels were new to me. It is always fun to be able to, " Try before you buy," new art supplies. We brought a piece of PDF white fabric, or something else that we had on hand, and just sketched a design and tried a little blending with water. I reached for the, "fleshy tones," and tried sketching a face. I want to add people to my pieces, and I am always looking for another product that will work.
I like these pastels. They blended well with a light touch. Now I want to buy a big set! On the way home from the meeting, I stopped at The Art Mart in Biddeford and bought a few colors. i am now thinking of the colors that I didn't buy, so more things are added to my, "wish list."
We talk on the www.quiltart.net list about the fabric stash that many artists have, I want more paints and now pastels!
Maybe I'll add this face piece to a larger piece.

Learning to Draw

I have subscribed to Sarah Ann Smith's generous offer of following along on her new blog http://seedrawquiltlearn.wordpress.com/ and have ordered the suggested books from Amazon. This is very timely for me, as the small project that I have been thinking about starting, has involved drawing hands. I did do a study of my mother's hands, last August, before she died. I had been re-reading Deidre Scherer's book, Work In Fabric & Thread, ( I highly recommend it ), and it made me want to remember the contours of my mother's hands as she held her Rosary Beads. As Sarah has said, it's about, "Seeing." For me in this instance, it was also about remembering.
I am anxious to start the project.

Great week for fiber art!

This past week was great! I am usually at home with only my own on-going work to look at, but this week I went to three art shows. On Tuesday, I attended the opening of the Families First annual art exhibit in Portsmouth, NH, where there were over 100 new art works on display. Most of the work is done in oils, water colors or acrylics, but there were three fiber art pieces. My small framed piece, Whaleback 2, appeared in the show.
On Friday, 5/1, I attended the opening of Kathy Angel Lee's solo show at New England College in Biddeford, Maine. Kathy has spent the past year creating small watercolor pictures, which she has also translated into fiber art. The show runs through May and is truely lovely. I would urge anybody who can get to southern Maine to go and see the show.
On Saturday I traveled to Springfield, MA, to attend a SAQA meeting and trunk show presentation by Elin Waterston. It was great to meet other art quilters from neighboring states and see Elin's trunk show. Elin also gave a lecture on painting on fabric. It was a great day to expand my vision of art quilting.
It is now the start of a new week and time to see what new works I can create.

RV Makeover

I finished my makeover project today. We purchased a used RV in the beginning of March, so that we could travel to Florida for a workshop that I wanted to attend with Hollis Chatelaine. It was a great workshop with Quilters' Unlimited, based in Ft Myers, Fl. This is just the beginning of our RV trips, and I wanted to begin making the RV look like us. Of course, I added textile art! I painted and trapuntoed the headboard for the bed and covered the window cornices. Then I added the whitework quilt that I made last year. I replaced the flowered wallpaper border with a lighthouse border. Now it looks like we are headed to the beach.......our favorite spot!

Computer Crash!!!!

Well, all those things I was going to finish today took a back seat. My Dell notebook ( less than a year old ) crashed this morning. I have no idea why? I spent HOURS online with Dell and I'm up and running again and I did not lose my data and my pictures. I take a ton of pictures because in my mind, all of life can be a quilt! That's it for now.
I am an avid NBA fan.......watched four games yesterday and painted cloth while I watched. Now I am going to watch the game that's on and finish the RV project tomorrow!
Thanks to all who have viewed my horse quilt and left comments.

Thanks for the visits and the comments

I am so excited that someone actually visited my blog! Thank you for the comments on my quilt, Morning Ride. When I visit other people's blogs, I feel so encouraged that there are other people, "out there," who love doing what I love to do. I really thought, if I had a blog, who would visit it? Your comments have truely encouraged me. Thank you all!

Morning Ride

Just finished a quilt that has been in process since last fall. It is based on a favorite picture of my husband and my oldest daughter, on our Morgan horses. The picture was taken six years ago. The horse that my husband is riding, Bismarck, was a family pet for years. My daughter Julie, kept him until his death just shie of his 30th birthday. She is riding her Morgan mare, Ellie. I love the original picture, and I hope that I did it justice.

Warm weather has finally come to the northeast. With the arrival of spring, and Daffodils finally in bloom, I have decided to finally start a blog. I hope to share my work, both in-progress and complete, and get feedback from other artists. I have really enjoyed both the blogs and websites of other creative people and I hope that you will enjoy mine.