Where Does The Time Go?

Where does the day go?  I got up at 6:30 this morning, didn’t get dressed and immediately went to the sewing machine to finish the quilting on my new Words piece.  Some days I do that.  I stay in my pajamas. I planned on working on this art piece yesterday…but my husband has been rained out of the field since Sunday afternoon and so I never got to touch the quilt.  After he went to bed last night I worked on it, then got the quilting and squaring up done this morning.  I am still adding paint highlights to it, but here is a sneak peak.

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It is called “Sticks and Stones…but Words Will Never Hurt Me”.  This is my second one.  Rusted cotton sateen, screened designs with procion dyes, handwriting, stamping, and painting.

Oh yeah, Facebook and Twitter now “demand” my time too.  My Twitter name is Katheeann if anyone wants to follow me. I spend too much time checking them since I am new to them.  I always do that with something new…play with it a lot.  I also got a good deal on a new Sony camera yesterday…I’ll probably play with it a lot too.

After the quilting is finished, now I can move the sewing machine back to my messy workroom.  I set the machine up on the kitchen table to quilt anything larger than a tablerunner because I don’t have the table room in my “studio”.  Now I can clean off the table so my husband doesn’t go crazy.  Not that we eat there…we eat in the living room in front of the tv.  The kitchen table is not needed for much of anything.

I need a whole day to clean up and possibly organize my sewing room.  Maybe tomorrow?  Unless I have to mow grass or go to town or clean the house.

A Bit of This and That…

Not much to share. My husband was off work for two days as they were rained out of harvest. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t get any art done while he’s around. :=) Saturday we just worked around here, then took off for Harrisburg to shop at a different Walmart (I go to the local one more times than I care to count) and to eat Chinese and visit Radio Shack. Sunday I yelled at the kids in class at church ’cause they just wouldn’t shut up. They seem to think every time the teacher isn’t talking, it’s their turn. I still love ’em, God bless their little hearts, but some days I could just scream. They are very social little people. After that, home for lunch and the Traditional Sunday Afternoon Nap. I love that part.

Today, I am getting ready to leave tomorrow. My friends Susan and Robin will be driving home from Houston tomorrow. I am driving home to visit quilt guild, see a friend for her birthday, see my niece and nephew and maybe take them out for dinner, and then catch up with Susan and Robin. I will spend the night and we’ll party on Wednesday!! I do have to teach sewing this afternoon and make sure hubby has food, but I am looking forward to a couple of days’ break in the routine of life. We filled up the gas tank in the van for $2.59/gal. Woohoo! I couldn’t believe the cost was only $45. (It doesn’t take much to make me happy.) How boring my life must seem to most of you.

I’ve made my decision for entering “..Sticks and Stones…Words…” and I won’t be entering it in any shows that prohibit prior posting on a blog, so here is the finished (I think, but who knows?) piece. It’s very possible it could evolve from here. It measures 33″ x 42″, the largest piece I’ve done in quite awhile.

Moving Right Along…

I love it when I get on a schedule where I can work steadily. It feels good to be getting things accomplished.  Working from home guarantees lots of interruptions! Now that I’ve said that, let me show you what I finished today…the “Kemshall Bag”.  My progressive work on this bag has been documented in previous posts.  The sample in Quilting Arts had square beads hand sewn on the edge and there were lots of them.  I had already put so much handwork time into this, I wanted to finish the edge in a more timely fashion, so I chose a pre-packaged beaded trim.  A little ribbon for the hanger and it’s finished and ready for gift giving.

This next project is in process.  It all started with a piece of rust dyed cotton sateen.  That was the inspiration along with a piece of screened cloth with turquoise and black dye.  I have had the pieces laid out together so I could stare at it for a couple of weeks.  Today I went into action to implement my vision. In the book The Painted Quilt, by Linda and Laura Kemshall, they document how they never start working on the cloth until they have sketched, painted, and mapped the initial idea out in a journal.  I love their journals and that is a wonderful idea, and I will do sketches and doodles, but so far they have never emerged into anything full blown.  I was enjoying the colors of the rust and turquoise together along with some discharged black cotton sateen.  So I took pictures of the layout, ran some photos out and then proceeded to sketch my ideas onto the photo.  For some reason, I find that photographing the layout and seeing it on the computer screen helps me to better see and finalize the initial composition.  Having photographs of that gives me the opportunity to sketch onto it more layers of what I see as the final look.  If that look doesn’t work for me, I can make another photo to work on.  I use 4″ x 6″ glossy photo paper from Epson.  Every time I order ink from them, I get a free packet of 4″x6″ photo paper, so I’m not really out anything but some ink.  I have done this a couple of times and find the idea very helpful for me.  I wish I were as organized and thoughtful as the Kemshall’s, but at this point, I’m just not.

The piece is larger than what I have worked on recently.  I decided I needed to do something larger.  Since I’m not sure what I will do with this or where it might be entered, if at all, for now I am going to hold out on the full view and just show a few closeups.  It is ready for quilting and I am excited to get it to this stage.  I don’t know if it’s good or not, but I love the colors and I’m happy with the theme and it does look just like my sketch on the photograph.  The name of it is….But Words Will Never Hurt Me. (You know the old saying..sticks and stones may break my bones…)  And who knows…maybe the start of a series?

Rust dyed cotton sateen, dye painted screened cotton, discharged black cotton sateen, stamped, discharged, inked.