November 2008 Archives

Already it's a Saturday again, and a lot happened between the last photo and this one... including Thanksgiving, which meant I had to totally clear my table. There's always that bit of a bridge of time after that where the table is refreshingly clear... even if it's still cluttered. This weekend, I've been hard at work finishing up three custom pillows that got put on hold during Opal's visit. These are for holiday gifts, so I'm glad to have them done and ready to mail out next week. it's a beautiful trio, I think. Also, with the boys out of school and the table clearer than usual, both chess and Sleeping Queens happened here last night.

I have to go back, really, and blog Day 6... but I don't have the photo I need to tell you what happened. Let's just say an important "tool" went "kaput." So, this photo... is Day 7 (which was a Saturday)... it doesn't show you all the things we finished or all the things stuffed into Opal's suitcase to take home and really finish. Instead, it shows you my space sort of cleaned back up, a bit empty now. There are still the two machines though... and you see hanging off the front machine the pathetic vestiges of my practice with freeform quilting. I'm pretty convinced that I'd have more luck and more success and more satisfaction if I practiced on something pretty rather than pastel (and mint green) fabric! But, some good practice happened... and many wonderful things created. We also spent a lot of time talking about... coffee. You'll see!

While Opal worked on the "next" tote, constructing the back and pocket to go with the front I made, and then putting it together, I worked on adding the next level of bordering on the "daybreak" piece, building off of the birdhouses she'd put in place. Late one night, I stood looking at the piece where it was pressed up against my small makeshift design board (a piece of flannel covering an ancient artist's clipboard). I was trying to figure out where I would head with the border, knowing the piece is vibrant and busy as it radiates out from the inside and wanting to not compete too much with the inner levels... but also not wanting a solid border. I held up a piece of gridded fabric, appreciating the ways in which the colors bounced around and the boxes echo the squares from elsewhere in the piece... and as I looked at that fabric... I saw it sliced this way and that with strips pieced into it. I knew that was the next step for a pieced border, but we talked it over and decided we needed a simple border before that to give everything some breathing room. We talked over colors and patterns, tried a few, agreed on the white with black stars print, and Opal put that in place. Then I got started on the outer orange border... a process which actually took quite a bit of time... but which was wonderfully satisfying. At the end of the process, we have a large art-quilt piece... ready for Opal to take home to sandwich and quilt and bind.

While Opal worked on her birdhouse border on the "daybreak" piece (we keep waffling about the name), I worked on panels for a tote using one of the stack of birdhouses we had out. Iroinically, it was with the thought to make a larger piece with several birdhouses that we started this week... and branched out and worked on the "canopy" piece with the black strips and integrated small bird prints. So, while she camped out in the dining room with the big cutting mat, I worked in the kitchen at the bar laying out a new tote. It's shown above in a very early moment.

It's Day 3, and we are working on many things and having a good time working... coffee or tea at hand, iPod playing, sewing machines running, the constant back and forth to iron or to rifle through one of the many bins or bags of scraps. I wanted to show this photo today, however, of the two totes Opal finished and brought with her... the orange one is hers; the pink one is mine. They are similar in feeling even though their treatment is different in many ways. I think they turned out amazing, and I'm glad that this week I'll get to see the process of constructing one of these totes first-hand. I know there are four layers of fabric here... and yet the totes feel wonderfully light and thin.

It's Day 2 of my visit with Amy, and while we had a list of things we hoped to work on this week, already we've branched off and are working in the realm of the unexpected. We are sharing a work space...actually, we are sharing her work space...the table in her dining room....two sewing machines...and piles of inspiration all around us. We share one Ott-Lite and two rotary cutters. And in this shared space we bring our ideas together differently than by email or over the telephone. Our first project was a complete departure from what we have been doing...and it happened by accident, both of us willing to try someone really different. We have pushed ourselves and encouraged each other in many ways.

One of the early projects we worked on was started by Amy. She composed a wonderful curved fan of oranges and reds, and combined that with two framed bird sketches. The piece is breathtaking. And as we talked about how to finish it, we thought it would be fun to work in a round-robin where one of us would make the first border, and the other would follow with another border. I took the first border...and started with small rectangles of blacks and whites. On a whim, I started laying out tiny bits of remnants into bird house shapes...and soon I had a collection of tiny birdhouses framing Amy's pieced centerpiece. You can see it beginning to take shape in the photo, snapped early on in the process.

We were making something different but that used these strips... and suddenly we saw a completely new piece... and so Day 1 took a new direction, and a very special piece came out of it. This is just a peek at it... in progress.

Typically, our entries are filled with stories of things moving back and forth through the mail as we work on our pieces together but remotely. This week, however, there is something different in my "studio" still... two machines are occupying space on the table because... Opal has come for a visit!

We'll be showing a few photos throughout the next few days of what we've been up to... many projects already have been underway... ones we didn't even expect. Working together is much different than working in our own studios, and we're looking forward to seeing what happens.

Last week was a busy one for Here2There. We had to set up, tear down, and set up again for two shows within a span of five days. The first show was at the Four Springs Preserve on Camano Island, a beautiful retreat center with a lake, woods, and open spaces.

We had five pieces accepted in this show. It was the first time this group had included fiber art, and the response from the members and viewing public was wonderful.It is always good to get positive feedback on your work.











Our small art quilts were displayed there with watercolors, oils, sculpture, jewelry, and pottery. It was an exciting blend of art. The show ran three days, and even with lots of rain, the attendance was good, and, we sold one piece....woohoo!







Two days later I set up our booth at the holiday shop in the local coffee roaster facility. This show runs through the month of December and includes
arts and crafts from artists in the area. We are hopeful that the pieces we have been making will find new homes. Of course, I stop by as often as I can to rearrange and, yes, stand back and admire the totality of our work displayed there.

In a few days, another assortment of Here2There pieces will be delivered for the next show. This one at the grange in the tulip fields up north. That will be another post.

Well... a day behind even with the best of intentions. And, I have to admit... the angle I took this photo from shows such a gigantic mess that I couldn't bear to post the full thing. This crop reveals enough mess. It's an odd look at my table today because I'm between things. I finished up two pillows this week, and a third is in the final stages. But this weekend, I was answering the call from the north, "Send more cards." So, I pulled the stack of cards that were all laid out and ready to sew... and got busy. And so, over the last day, this end of the table was a scatter of in-progress birdhouse cards. Tonight, they are all signed, numbered, and slipped into individual plastic sleeves. The table at that end is not "clear" but is clearer. In fact, it's empty in spaces. I spent time sorting fabrics and moving the overflowing bin of pinks into a reclaimed bin that held toys (which were either broken or moved into a bag for next week's school rummage sale). That allowed the overflowing bin of oranges to be moved into the bin that had held the pinks, and so it went. Then I settled in to prototype a "next" card. I was going to show it tonight, but I think I'll wait. I need to get Opal's feedback first. It's the next "theme" for our work, and we're hoping to focus on it in coming weeks for the new year. So, it's still under wraps, I guess. Instead, here's a look at the end result of the weekend...

I really do love this line of cards I've focused on this fall. I kept a master list by number, since the cards are each signed and numbered, and every time I add the next number, it's with a bit of shock... and a little thrill of satisfaction.

It happens! For some of us, it happens all too often. But this morning, I was surprised that it happened in that moment, even as my mind was in a dozen different places while I stitched.

I was making a card, the kind Amy and I make, using the bits and pieces of our scraps. This one made me smile...all the bits came from that plastic bin on my sewing table. I recently discovered that I can "quilt" the bits down...moving the needle freely over the piece of fabric and the card stock...a bit slower than quilting on layered fabric, but pleasing to the eye. I removed it from the machine, snipped the threads, and wrote my name on the back side. Turning it over, I saw a space that needed "something.' Yes, you are all nodding your heads. We all have had that moment before a piece is finished. So I dug into the scrap bin again and found just the right piece to add onto that card. I quilted a large X from corner to corner...and smiled as I took it from the machine (which, by the way, wouldn't stop. I had to turn off the switch to stop it, the needle going up and down without reason...lol..but that is another story). So there it was in my hands. I opened it, and , well, I tried to open it. "Oh no!" I had stitched that last piece through all the layers of the card. It was never to be opened, and not much good as a card. I tossed it into the waste basket. Well, I thought about it for a second, and then took it out, wondering how I could make lemonade out of lemons. I cut the stitching on that large X and opened the card, and then cut off the front. I trimmed it down by a tosh on all sides..and then, put it on top of a new blank card, and stitched the sides here and there. I wrote my name on the back...and the new card is perfect. It is an "Oh no!" moment that became a perfect card. And only you and I know what happened.

I took the above photo on Thursday, quickly. It was an unusual week... and between work and having a little one home with me when he would normally have been in school and it being the last week of October... things were less than calm and balanced. There was no zen. But, we'd been doing our studio stills on Thursday, so I snapped the photo. And then we waited until today... and really... "Studio Still" on "Saturday" does seem better somehow. So, that was Thursday.

On Thursday, I'd just started working on panels for Opal's personal tote. (Remember, we decided we both should have one, and she's entrusted me with the creation of her panels.) So, part of it was on the makeshift design board and the birdhouse was being constructed on the table. And, there was still an orange pillow in progress on the table.

This is today...

The orange pillow is still there in the back. The pieced pocket for the tote is in the middle. The bin of oranges is there and has been rifled through frequently in these days. And then, today, I pulled out fabrics to get started on another commissioned pillow, one based on another one I did that features a vintage rose patchwork strip surrounded by an ivory with green dots. There's a bit of "I need it now" for this one, so it was good that today I was able to put my hands on one of the roses... and start pulling the colors. It's quite a shift from the blacks and oranges I've been using all week. But, these are colors that always I find and soothing and inspiring to work with. It will be fun.

And Opal's tote? The main panel is done.

I think it will be beautiful when she brings it all together. (Hanging there on the right edge of the board is another finished photo pillow. The fourth in a set of five.)

I think my space is very hard to photograph. Maybe it's just that I'm showing you some of the mess but not all of it, so finding an angle on the mess that I can live with... is a challenge. And, today... it's been pouring down rain all day, so the light was not the greatest for an expose. But, it's me... at the end of day on Saturday. Once the boys are in bed, I've got a few hours of work to put in... all good!

The photo today of my space, just a week since the last one, tells a story of Here2There projects finished, a show opened, and new projects ready to go. Early this morning I found a window of time to sort through the piles of last week, the holiday fabric was put back into the appropriate bin, and my beloved black and whites were folded and stacked and put into their proper bin. Now there is room to lay out the pieces that I will work on today and tomorrow and the days to come before next week's photo.

As I look again at my table in that photo, I see the two panels for Amy's tote. She pieced the front and back with wonderful bits of pink, orange, and black and whites. There are curves, angles, squares and rectangles, and bits of selvages, numbers, flowers, feathers, and birds. It is a feast for the eyes...a symphony of color and line...with embedded surprises...and all those spaces for quilting...each one a little canvas for lines of thread. You can see these panels coming together on Amy's table in earlier posts. Now, they are here in my space. That is how it goes as we collaborate on our projects...from Here2There, and sometimes back again....literally.

Back to the photo, if you look behind the tote, you will see the commissioned quilt laid out with the (maybe) border fabric...and the plum piece for the letters (fussy, but worth the effort and time). Next to that is 'minkee' which just arrived...dimpled minkee...orange and blue.

With that shipment came new spools of thread...oranges and pinks, of course.

You will see my tools there in the front, on the right. There is my pink rotary cutter, my extra blades, my Gingher scissors which used to be my mom's, my ripper for all the 'reverse' stitching I do, my thimble which also belonged to my mom, a glue stick, and my 'sharp pointed thingie"....my stiletto....all lined up and ready to work with me.

You might see those long black and white strips that will become the binding for the pink and green small quilt on the design wall. If you look really hard, you will see a stack of 3-1/2" hexagons for a holiday gift..there are 200 of them...curious?

And finally, you might notice the different bird house blocks on the design wall. Amy sent these to me this week. I'm itching to get started on those projects.

The photo tells a lot about my week to be, but it doesn't tell you about the opening of a show last night in which we have five pieces displayed and for sale. This is the first public display of our Here2There work. This story will come soon.

I love seeing my work area this way, cleared and organized, but I know, as i turn now to work on Amy's tote, and stitching that binding to the pink and green quilt, and the bird houses, the hexagons, it will become an organized yet familiar chaos that in itself tells a story.