Time flies...

Well, another year has rushed by.  Where did it go?  How come time seems to be speeding up?   The older I get the faster it moves.  Crazy, huh!

Well, it has been a year of many big changes....  My youngest is out of high school and in college;  My eldest came home from a year of living, working & trekking in New Zealand and is off to a summer job in Alaska;  After many months of house hunting,  I finally found a house that I can call home;  My mother bought a house in SLC, Utah and is planning her move after living most of her life in SoCal;  And my father, who had been suffering with vascular dementia, passed away suddenly after a rapid decline. 

Some year race by without leaving their mark --- but this year has left an indelible mark on me... And the best part is all that stress has pushed me to get some work done.  Why does stress help my creativity?  I thought that my creativity had left or something?  But it was only a hiatus.  She is back, and I am enjoying working again. 

Don't get me wrong I haven't been doing nothing all year.... but quilting was taking a back seat to knitting. 

I have belonged to an art quilt group, "Quilting Without Boundaries", for a while, but in the last year I have begun to attend on a regular basis.  And most importantly participate in the monthly challenges on a regular.  Every month we pick a word or technique as a starting spot.  This year we are concentrating on surface design, my favorite. 

I also volunteered to get us some gallery space, and we are currently hanging our quilts in a local libraries gallery.  It is a great show... very diverse.  Below are the quilts that I hung in the show.

'Memories of Loss'  This quilt was made to honor my dad.  I began it when my he first went into the hospital by the time it was finished he had passed away.  This was made using the fabrics from the rusting and stamp-making surface design challenges & the 'key' challenge.  Additionally I used my own ice-dyed, hand-dyed & marbled fabrics.  I embellished with glass beads, metal charms and washers. 

 

 

 

Details of 'Memories of Loss'

 

'Zendoodle Sunflowers'  This quilt was done as part of a zendoodle challenge.  All of the fabrics are my own hand-dyes.  I embellished with Swarovski crystals and beading.

Okay! I Offically suck at this!

Okay!  So, I am admitting it. I love knitting and quilting, but blogging I just can't seem to get it together. 

I have been working like a crazy person for the past year...  Knitting sweaters, cowls, fingerless gloves and socks. I started a new quilt series for an upcoming show!   I even did a bunch of commissioned quilted pieces.   Yet, I just can't seem to get to blogging. 
 
So, no promises about getting anything up on my blog, but here is what I have been working on for the past couple of months.

This is a scarf I knitted for my son, Cole, for Christmas.

I bought this yarn in Salt Lake City over Christmas, before I took my vow of "No Yarn Purchases for the Year".  It is Tranco by Araucania 100% Cashmere.  It is beautiful to wear and so light and lovely.

These fingerless gloves were made for my son, Jesse.  They were knitted from the fingertips down in a Spud & Chloe fine sock yarn. They came out wonderfully, but I did rip them out half a dozen times.

"Apple Shrine" - This small quilt is part of a series I am working on for an up coming show.  I wanted to make "Food Shrines".  First I drew pictures of some of my favorite foods on fabric, then hand colored the images.  Next I looked for quotes to include on the fronts about the food being celebrated, which I transferred to the fabric using a Citra-Solv transfer method. I used all of my own hand-dyed fabrics.

Close up of "Apple Shrine".

Fingerless gloves knitted for a friend in Cherry Hill's jewel tone sock yarn.

Studio Make Over.... Guilds.... Another Show at the Library!!!!

My new studio make over. I am very excited. It is not quite finished, but at least I can work in here now. The L desk I built from a couple of Ikea pieces which were not suppose to go together, but with a little ingenuity... Voila! A huge work space for my little studio.


Next to the desk is my comfortable chair and another Ikea piece that Jesse helped me build. Thanks to Jesse I couldn't have done it without him... It weighs a ton! As I said before lots more tweeking has to happen.

Well, I took the plunge and rejoined my old quilt guild. I went to the quilt show at the automobile museum and had fun. And on Monday I went to the meeting and had a very good time. A great group of ladies, but not super adventurous. They seem to be pushing everyone to expand their horizons, which is very cool. Especially since I always felt like they all thought I was completely nuts.

Speaking of Nuts, why did I agree to do another show at the Library. Mostly I just have framing to do, as the silk-screens were done years ago, but I am doing a bunch of new watercolors for the show. I wonder sometimes what I was thinking when I agreed to do back to back shows. I am as crazy girl!

Guilt... Laziness and a Show at the Library!

Okay I started this blog last year with intention that since it was looming out there I would have to get to work and produce.... Nearly a year later, and I am finally back to working on art again. It took me making the commitment to have a show to get me back to it. No Excuses. I had to finish. And for the most part I loved doing it. Why all the procrastination? Who knows.. But I am so happy to have gotten back to it.

Sunflowers

Pansy

Bubble Heart

Frayed Heart

Open Heart

Mosaic Heart

Fluid Heart