Another thank you....

Its spring cleaning time and the studio is no exception. It helps that the fiber art group I am in, Running with Scissors, is having our second annual art supply garage sale. Its funny because I've been going through everything in my studio and showing no mercy.

And as I go through everything, I realize more and more just how hard the past few years have been. For those of you who don't know, my dad passed of cancer late last year. He was sick for two and a half years and it was the hardest thing I've been through - ever.

Healing is coming along, but its slow and when I sift through things like my studio, I remember how little time there was to do things. I tossed stuff in boxes and didn't think twice about it. In the midst of the chaos at home, I closed my fiber art store, Lost Arts Stitchery. Many of the things that came home from the store closing were never dealt with and I feel like I'm drowning in STUFF.

I also found the nice pottery bowl I purchased from the Plymouth Potter's Guild last year for my Fiberart for a Cause postcard collection. I was a little startled at just how many postcards I had obtained through the course of the project. But when I looked at all of them in the bowl, I was touched again at what the project had accomplished.

My dad's cancer wasn't beatable, we knew that pretty much from the very beginning. But the truth of it is that he lived much longer then people in the past with his type of cancer and he had a much better quality of life. So when I look at that bowl full of postcards, I feel like everyone involved in the project helped to give even more hope to a family in the same situation.

Its a comfort to walk into my studio and see it and to know what Fiberart for a Cause was able to accomplish. On the very top of the collection is a postcard
Virgina Spiegel, the organizer of Fiberart for a Cause, mailed to me when things were particularly bad. It was such a bright spot in my day when I received it and I don't think I will ever be able to thank her enough for all the sacrifices she made during the course of the project. She is truly an angel.

Putting it in writing...

...can sometimes make it even scarier....DEADLINES.



Although I bought a nifty dry erase board from IKEA so at least I have fun writing all of them down. I liked this one because the frosted glass let's you put a poster or large print photo behind it so you can customize it. My sister-in-law, Jill, took this really cool shot of a zillion rubber duckies when she and my brother went on their honeymoon to Hawaii. Ralph and Jill are awesome photographers (click on their names to visit their Flickr sites.)

Here is one piece that I am working on crossing off the deadline list. I joined the Kansas Art Quilters and they have an upcoming show called Altered Views. Its a spin on the eye exam chart. I'm procrastinating quilting it. My goal is to get it done this weekend and after all, its saturday envening. I have a whole another day to the weekend.



This one is different for me. For one thing, its white. I had to go buy the fabric for it. And yes, I HAD to go shopping for it. White is not a color strong in my stash.

Another thing that makes it different is that I don't plan to embellish the heck out of it. I'm trying to do some more quilts that focus on surface design. I have it up on the design wall right now and I'm thinking once I quilt it I will start to like it more. I like it, just keep feeling like it is naked.

But I promised myself that this one will be surface design and quilitng. Yes, ma'am, I mean it. No embellishments, not even beads. Nope, I swear. Only fabric and thread. *whimper* Wish me luck on this one....

Something New...

This probably doesn't look horribly exciting. But it is...and let me tell you why...

The past two years have been very difficult, lots of stress, lots of family things going on. I've managed to keep creating throughout it but I can't say that I've been super thrilled with the results. In fact, I've been letting that little voice in my head (you know the one that tells you how much you stink at art) run rampant lately. I managed to squash it today.

I've got lots of deadlines looming on challenges and projects. I decided to try to get one out of the way today. And I took a different approach to doing it:

1) I went back to working with a general idea and just going with the flow.

2) I pieced the background. (Yes, I've never done that before. Quit looking at me weird.)

3) I used nothing but the sewing machine to do #2. (If you know me, you know this is my shameful little secret. Me and the sewing machine don't always get along well. But we are working on getting to know each other better and I'm not sure who its more painful for - me or the machine...)

4) I used a rotary cutter. (Again, something I don't usually do.)

5) I made this one two friends. I'm finally making good on my intention to work in a series of at least three quilts when I start a topic.

Now, don't get too carried away. Does this mean I measured anything? Nope.

Does this mean the sides are straight? Never.

Does this mean I'll finish the edges with binding? Most likely not.

And of course these were created with a 3-dimensional embelllishment as the inspiration point so they won't be flat for long.

It seems like the creativity is slowly creeping back in. It might seem small but its a relief to know its still there and brewing. I'm hoping it keeps going!