Contained - er

Just a few minutes in left-over time.   A study:  contained.  My wool vase with flowers on wool. Yet to be completed but still worthy of a picture in its 'as-is' place on the shelf. 

VASE:  A decorative container typically made of glass and used as an ornament or for displaying cut flowers.

 

Reading this morning about tapestry weaving in an issue of Fiber Art Now magazine  ".....it starts at the beginning and moves on until you

 

 

reach the end.  You can't go back and fix something you did at the beginning without unweaving."   A quote from Dr. Jessica Hemmings, head of the faculty of visual culture, National College of Art and Design, Dublin. 

 

So it could be said about life from beginning to end....except we can't unweave. 

 

  Continuing to quote Dr. Hemmings, " Tapestry creates an unforgiving record of our inattention." 

 

Have a wonderful day and weave it well.

 

Moving On ~

It's Monday, already,  and I'm still mulling over my feelings of yesterday.  I had a wonderful nights' rest and am ready to make the most of my day.  Except I need to review my feelings of yesterday for just one more minute.  

When I'm focused, I'm the one who can work for hours on a project.  The flying geese project held my attention for a time yesterday,  but then not.

I sat down to some hand quilting for a while, but again my attention span was short.


 So I grabbed my book and read until my hands started to cramp.

 It was then that I dug out some fabric and covered it with a thin layer of gesso.  Of course, that took forever to dry with our humid air so the cycle started over again:

flying geese, hand quilting, reading, painting.  It was as though all the kings' horses just couldn't put me back together. 

                                              We had frozen pizza for dinner last night and the grass continues to grow

Not sure what was causing my anxiety....not even sure it was anxiety.  I just couldn't stay focused on any one project.

Here's to you, Monday morning......You are feeling good. 












 

As time lets me ~

Ginger came by yesterday with the newest Jen Kingwell fabric line - a fat quarter bundle of Moving On Lawn - that she picked up from Brenda's shop.  We split each of the 34 fat quarters right down the middle and I've been moving on with it.   Oh, heart! Stop racing ~

 
 



















It fits beautifully with a Jen Kingwell's Gardenvale line from a couple of years past.  And it all fits in beautifully with my flying geese on the design wall. 

As time lets me, this quilt top is growing, but not in the direction I originally thought it might go.  You see, I wanted to get this quilt top done quickly so decided that six vertical rows of flying geese with big wide white sashing strips in between with big white borders surrounding would just do the trick.  This one needs to be at least 80" by 90" which is a little larger than I've been making, so this design layout immediately began to bore me.  Imagine that!




I pulled a few mixers Thursday night, but when Ginger got here yesterday and started pulling even more, I began to see the light.  This one needed to be in my usual style, not something in a picture I found on Pinterest. 

 
 
 




As time lets me, this one will grow to the needed size. 

 

 

 

 

I'll keep you updated - as time lets me.  TaTa for now and have a beautiful weekend. 




 

Flying With Geese~

It's personal, flying with geese.   How they are constructed.  How structured their formation is.  The direction the geese take.  The randomness of their stops and starts. 

The decision is made.  The new quilt in the guest bedroom will be all about flying with geese. 

We, the HUMan and I, (well, mostly I).....you see, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the 20 year old drapes and shades in the living, dining, guest bedroom and office!  I didn't see anything particularly wrong with them either, so that's why they continued to hang, until I decided that there doesn't have to be anything wrong when a change is needed.....and a change was needed, I declared so all the drapes, cornice boards, window shades - all of it came down and now each window has a fresh new white Havana/Bahama style shutter.  I am over-joyed with the freshness of it all.   Except now the quilt in the guest bedroom looks tired and I'm tired of looking at it. 

The room looks just about the same now as then.....the walls are still the raspberry red, the old iron bed frame is still the bed of choice, the white wicker rocker is still in place as is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival poster.    I change the pillow arrangement from time to time and put different quilts at the foot of the bed on a whim, but it's the whole cloth quilt that's underneath all the other quilts that needs to be updated.   

 

 
 

Back to my flying with geese......I decided to draft and paper-piece my geese.....time consuming to make 216 geese blocks, but that seemed to be a good enough place to stop last night around 6 p.m......just in time for dinner.   I also decided to make each of my geese blocks by randomly pulling scraps from my scrap bags and by using remains of whites and creams and yellows as my background.  It felt good!   Now don't you be going feeling sorry for me because I enjoy paper-piecing and scraps and random mixes of fabric.  Kinda crazy, but I love to just let loose and enjoy the improvisational style that comes forth so don't you go feeling sorry for me.
 
 
 

Flying With Geese - the saga will continue after I decide what to do with all these blocks.  Keep in mind that we live in a  modest house in a  pretentious neighborhood.  I don't try to keep  up but don't mistake - my gaggle of geese will be flying high with the best of them.