Monthly Archives: December 2012

For Those Missing Snow

tempting view from my sewing machine 

downtown Stowe

Stowe Community Church steeple

snow and more snow

You can’t even see the mountains between the house and the trees.

Lucy just wants to sit in the snow

    I have snow for you here in Vermont.

    The last few years have been all about the learning but now it’s about the making and doing.  But today is for having fun ,  just enjoying the family and the snow. Happy New Year and thanks for reading and checking in with me the past year.  I appreciate the  new connections and the friendships I have made.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Working Away in Vermont

      I traveled to Vermont the day after Christmas. We have a houseful for the vacation so lots of cooking has been involved but also lots of great snow so the family is skiing and playing in the snow.

     And I am back to sewing. I started with working on my free motion quilting. I really want to find a way to make the quilting aspect of it less tedious. So I will dedicate specific time over the next few months to work on it every time I am in the studio.

   I made a small bag out of this sample so I could document : the beginning.

     I also realized I would need a big design wall to work on the next project. So, I took a trek to the hardware store and came home with a 2″x 4 ‘x 8’ piece of insulation.

      I covered it with flannel and am working on a Sets and Variables # 3 workshop piece. It hopefully will be pieced tomorrow. It’s been great to be back to sewing!

Merry Christmas To You

   
     Merry Christmas to you and yours.  I hope you took time to celebrate the birth of Jesus today. We had a quiet day celebrating with just the five of us for the first time ever. My mom stopped over later in the day.  I received this cute little Santa in my stocking. I am grateful for all I have been blessed with.

     My prayer is for peace, kindness and more gentleness in the world in the New Year.

     Again, Merry Christmas!

     

I"ve Been To Mars

     Last week,  a friend and I traveled to Muskegon, MI  to take one last workshop for 2012:  Lines, Curves and Figure Ground taught by Nancy Crow. It was given by the Muskegon Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition titled: Innovators and Legends.

The exhibit: Excellent venue and very fine textiles from some of the great legends. Opening night was Thursday so it was great to take a break from the huge final project and be inspired by lots of different styles of work. If you have the opportunity, you need to see this. It is traveling to the Schweinfurth after this venue.

 The first book is a exhibit catalog. (The second book is a book showcasing Nancy’s new monoprinting work that I bought at the workshop directly from her).

The workshop: As always, it was intense. The pace is fast, the mind spins with new ideas and the hands struggle to do the work as quickly as possible. I found this workshop really enjoyable. I am very excited to incorporate curves into my pieces as I truly never knew how to do curved piecing. I always marvel at the gals who have grown up sewing garments as they never struggle with the piecing. This is a shot of the first exercise before I started piecing it.

Unpacking: not done yet.

I kept leaving class and would hear Christmas music playing.  I felt really oblivious to the season. But when I got home, I felt like I had been to Mars for a week and dropped right back in to the Christmas season.

It was a great time with Nancy, old friends and new friends. Fantastic memories.

Now back to the season .