Dreaming Again......

#9 Dream


by
John
Lennon

....my contemplation of "cycles" continues.

the leaves are changing, the wind is picking up and the cold air has been settling in. i have had an incredible surge in creative energy lately. ideas aren't just coagulating inside my head they are manifesting themselves in fabric, paint and fibers. wierd.

i feel particularly energized right now to take off in a new direction. i find myself rebelling against "straight lines," grids and evenly spaced stitches. i am letting my mind and my hands wander in different directions - leaving the familiar in the past. venturing into the land of trial and error. no fear of failure.

(this piece is a 10x10 art quilt done with black and white batiks, and printed using the vintage wooden letters my friend Lisa sent to me. the letters are printed in acrylic paint on white canvas and stitched onto hot pink silk dupioni. The center of the eye is one of the art squares I was sent by Monica. This is actually the "reverse" side of my 10x10 made with the leftover Love Squared art squares. the front will be revealed shortly.)

Durham/Orange Quilt Show at the Historic Tobacco Warehouse

Sabrina and I went to a wonderful quilt show last weekend - the Durham/Orange Quilt Guild's bi-annual show - held at the Historic Tobacco Warehouse District in Durham, North Carolina. It is a wonderful venue for this show as it is open and airy with a ton of natural light streaming through the large windows of the two story facility. The walls and floor are wood and stone and make a magnificient setting for the beautiful artwork.


Here's a glimpse of a few of our favorites. I did not take down the names of the quilts or the artists, (I wish I would have,) but I wanted to share them with you anyway!












Oh, and did I mention -- our friend Jeanne won a Blue Ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair for her trapunto dogwood quilt. Be sure to go and visit her at All Things Quilty and take a look - it's beautiful! We're so proud of you Jeanne!!

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas......

No - it hasn't started to snow here yet (although it's almost cold enough at night to snow!) BUT - it's still beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Recca studio, as its full of bags, boxes and bolts of fabric.

It's been a busy week as I've been getting prizes finished and mailed out for the Pink Artist Project, as well as I am almost done with my 10x10 art quilt square made from the left over Love Squared squares. I'll be posting a picture of that as soon as I finish putting on the finishing touches.

I've also been clipping coupons and shopping for gift "supplies." All the patterns, have been purchased and studied to see what supplies were required. I made my list - Fleece, minky, flannel backed satin, flannel, thermal knit, elastic, etc., etc., etc. I don't know about you - but I can't stand running in and out of stores. I like to make my list, buy all the stuff, sit down and start sewing. No interruptions. Interruptions to make trips to the store for forgotten items and/or notions makes me crazy. As Sabrina would say, it's a "fun sucker" - it just sucks the fun right out of it for me. So I make sure I get everything the first time out.

It's also been a busy week as the North Carolina State Fair is in town which we spent the day at Monday, AND one of my favorite Quilt Shows (the Durham/Orange Quilt Guild) too place last weekend in the historic Tobacco Warehouse District of Downtown Durham.

At the quilt show, I treated myself to some really cool black and white Australian fabric (Paula turned me on to this fabric when she sent me some pieces of it a month or so ago.) I love the graphic nature of the design. Love the dots. I also spoiled myself and bought a gorgeous "Shaker" pin cushion. Made with birch wood, copper nails and filled with white sand, it's very heavy and I absolutely love it. Merry (early) Christmas - to ME!!

I have been checking in on you and as always am inspired by the creativity and love that you put into all you do. In fact, I'm so inspired by YOU, I've got a few things in the works for some very special blog friends, AND a Christmas"y" give away or two!

She's Unusually Unusual....

Girls' Weekend has officially begun. We stopped at the store and bought hot fudge, carmel and Maraschino cherries for sundaes (to eat while watching the season premiere ofWife Swap,) the spaghetti sauce is cooking on the stove, (B : bet you wish you were home right now - don't you!!!) and it's almost time to clean up for dinner.

Right now, we're both in the studio - I on my side, she on hers. Music playing, tv on, both dogs laying on their backs on the cool cement. Ahhhhh, the simple things in life. I'm working on some misc. projects and contemplating my Christmas sewing. Sabrina is immersed in acrylic paint.

Whilest in the middle of working on a painting (a repro of an old Woodstock Poster - she shares her momma's love of vintage 60's art,) she decides to put on her safety goggles (which she is constantly embellishing), and get out her Dremel so she can drill a hole in the head of a button with a skull on it (she bought at Panopolie) so she can wear it on her long silver chain with her other charms. "Won't it be cute to wear for Halloween??? she asks me. Her ability to devour life like a ravenous beast never ceases to amaze me. She never stops.

I just can't help but sit back and look at her and think, "what a wonderfully 'unusual' girl!" XOXO

Autumn Leaves......

I can't wait to get outside. The weather here in North Carolina has been so beautiful, but with yesterday being the first day I could use my studio again, I just had to stay inside one more day and honor the day by painting with Lumiere in fall colors, before begining the outside chores.

I made this journal (based upon Sue B's padfolio pattern) cover as a runner up prize for the Pink Artists' (Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) charity drawing of the beautiful, Love Squared art doll. In addition to the grand prize of Love Squared, there are tons of cool runner up prizes also made by the Pink Artists. You can take a look by going here.

These padfolios go together relatively quickly, and depending upon how much time you want to put into it by handpainting, beading, embellishing, etc., come together quite nicely.

For this one - I picked out a wild fall batik for the lining, and for the cover, I took some fabric out of the "ugly bag" to paint. (it makes me happy to be able to use ugly fabric by painting over it!)

I painted the cover with Lumiere metallic paint mixed with some acrylic. After it dried, I loaded up a leaf shaped rubber stamp with a ton of paint and stamped it. I really like "loading up" the stamp because it leaves an "imprint," (rather than just stamping on the surface.) I like that additional textural element. Once that dried, I sewed the three sandwiches of outer fabric, Peltex and inner fabric (batik) together with a satin stitch. Once the cover was put together I stitched on a silk leaf I painted with metallic paint, layered that with a bone leaf button, and put a handmade bead on top of that. I then braided some yarn and secured it with a wire laced with beads. I've got a few more in the works wherein I'm piecing the covers, rather than painting - whole cloth.

Today I'm going to switch gears and begin working on Jean's big block applique piece. She picked the Alabama Cotton Boll block to be done in red and green on white. I'm really looking forward to slowing down (physically and mentally) and doing some hand stitching.

We're Back!!!!

The work is all done, the paint is dry. The whole house repainted, carpets cleaned, closets, cupboards, drawers, etc., cleaned and reorganized, furniture scrubbed and polished - nothing left untouched. Ahhhh - even the dogs are clean and fresh. Finally - life gets back to normal - after three weeks of chaos.

I thought you might be interested in seeing how our little corner of the world turned out. Come on in -- I'll give you a quick tour..



Here's Sabrina's drawing area. She bought a beautiful drawing table with several months' allowance (she saved over the summer) from Jerry's Artarama. She keeps all of her pencils, pens, etc. in clear glass jars (from mayonnaise, pickles, etc.!) and they really look nice. (Lisa, do you recognize anyone in particular in this picture???)


Here's my area. Nothing changed here really. Just re-organized. The fabric is folded and put on some shelves out of Sabrina's room when she was a baby. They were unfinished pine and I put a clear polyurethane coat over them. The sewing desk my husband built out of plywood and covered with laminate. Really, really inexpensive - but very functional. It's also just the right height for me. (Lisa and Monica, do you recognize anything in this picture???)

On the other side of the room is another table my husband built where we keep the light-box, paint rack and a few other misc. things. I also lay a cutting mat over top of it and I can do some cutting on there. When I have yardage to cut, we have a freestanding table from Sam's club that is about 8 feet long and 3.5 feet wide that I set up in the middle of the room and then put away when I'm done cutting.

The walls used to be light blue with a slate blue floor. It was pretty, but the blue didn't reflect the light very well and was a bit depressing. I bought new daylight tubes for the flourescent fixtures (WOW what a difference.) I picked out a nice light yellow for the walls and a very light (almost white) epoxy for the floor. Not a huge room (about 15x16) but big enough for three work stations and lots of open space for Gizmo and Tobie. We also have a little closet in the back that is lined with shelves for supplies. And with the painted cement floor - if we spill something, or drop a paintbrush or a soldering iron - it's no big deal. The best part - NO clutter! I can't work in clutter.

Tomorrow promises to be a wonderful day. No work - and ALL play! I've got some serious catching up to do.

First Order of Business: Finish the runner up prize I promised to make as a Pink Artist for Girl Gone Thread Wild's Drawing for Love Squared which is to occur on October 15th. This piece is done, I'm just waiting for the paint to dry and I will post pictures of it Monday.

Second Order of Business: Finish up applique big blocks.

Third Order of Business: Get started on that huge pile of Christmas gifts!!

It's oh so good to be back. I'll see you around!!!

P.S. I have the best husband in the world!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX