hunkered down

The snow started in a light flurry.  Big flakes, so it must have been warm.  I ran to the store because although I don’t get into that pre-storm shopping frenzy that empties shelves and renders lots a tangle, it seemed like a good idea.  Everybody must have shopped yesterday, because it was a ghost town.  The snow has come down steadily all day, but only a few inches have accumulated.
Our local schools were closed.  My husband’s office was closed.  And the T stopped running two hours ago.  It seems a little over-reactive, but then, you just don’t know with these big storms anymore.  And anyway, I understand the bulk of the storm is due to arrive tonight.
Here are my plaster friends before I went to the market.Here they are midday.  I could see them from where I was pressing seams.And here they are in the gloaming.
Progress is being made (that is, “I am making progress”) on the second barn quilt.

The rooflines have been tricky.
And scale matters so much.
The FIRST barn, dubbed, finally, “Blue Hills Barn”, is hanging at the B.J. Spoke Gallery in Huntington, NY, thanks to my cousin, Ginny.

I had to scurry on Monday to get it trued, bound, signed, sleeved, and photographed. 

I include the above picture for scale, and also to note that if it doesn’t sell, I won’t mind having it back to hang exactly here.

And finally, what a good day it was for homemade chicken soup (is there EVER a day that is not good for homemade chicken soup?!)

Stay warm all you readers under the same Arctic air!

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quilts-into-bags

More on this after the show this weekend, but how fun was it to turn two quilts into this messenger bag:

These quilts always kind of reminded me of oversized potholders, anyway.   It’s two same-sized quilts, one with a pocket sewn on the inside, with a single strip of fabric stitched as the sides/bottom/strap.  Side two:
Also finished these bags today:
Now everything needs priced before tomorrow!

Will show you the lovely Japanese bag that was the inspiration for the construction method on the messenger bag next week.

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playing with dolls

Dressing a doll can be a good place to gather ideas about garments.  The blue batik ‘shirt’, here, works off of the garment-as-a-series-of-rectangles idea (recently explored in Jude Hill‘s Boro class).  I learned that just by folding the ‘sleeve’ rectangle base in as a triangle, you achieve a class sleeve outline… simple, I know, but it is different to read, study, than to tuck, finger press, and stitch! (That’s Athena by the way, and I think I will give her a weapon or two).

This dreamer wears a fun assortment of charms, including a pewter, retro airplane.  I love that plane.  But, really? It’s her pigtails that make me smile. They are tied up with plastic-coated telephone wire. Remember hunting for remnants of that as a kid and making bracelets and rings?!  If she had arms, I’d give her a typewriter, just to keep the retro business going.  The blue floral linen was a dress, probably from the 60′s.

Here the garment idea is the basic triangle-shawl.  It is hard to get more simple than that!  This pristine doily came out of my vintage linens drawer.

Now the next doll is naked.

Every once in awhile, batik offers its swirls to the imagination in a very particular way.  Years ago, I saw a penis in the swirls of a yellow batik, and gave a two fiber-collaged primitive-styled men well endowed figures (here’s one below – not a great picture, but you get the idea).

On the new green female, however, the swirls suggested breasts… and as I wrapped red thread around the waist, it wanted to go up and circle one of the breasts, which turned into a meditation on mastectomy, which a good friend of mine’s sister had had just days prior (did you know that this is a seven hour operation?!!)

This started as the idea that playing with dolls can help one learn about garment construction, and turned into something quite else.

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finishing, finishing

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trees as subject

As promised, here are a couple pictures from this week’s class, where we experimented with Natalie Sewell‘s method.

Here is the source book, as well as the photo that G. was working from — a Hawaiian scene with dramatic shadows.

I referred to one of my gardening books.

And, L. preferred to create a fully-imagined tree, using a toile background, which lent the piece a little whimsy.

Both G. and I used white acrylic to emphasize where light was falling on the trees.  After pinning, L. used a medium matte varnish to secure pieces of the bark.

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