More More More

Well, here's the newest, laid out and ready to sew together. This one is so much brighter. I must have been in a good mood when I laid this one out. My mood has not been so good since.

The grim winter "doldrums" have firmly set in. I have been a cranky person lately.

More books have come in on New Orleans. My husband realizes I have become obsessed. Oh well. I'm just going to go with the flow. My husband thinks that I have this obsession the same time each year. I was thinking it came about every nine months or so. Perhaps he's right. I can't seem to get away from the snow and ice, so I just go away in my head. And now, through the computer. I do spend too much time on Google Maps, checking out the streets of New Orleans. This morning, I discovered my husband has opened his own Google Maps tab and is cruising New York City. He talks about retiring there. I do love it myself. I enjoy walking out the door of the hotel and getting caught up in the bustle. I'm not sure I could keep up with that pace for too long, though. I prefer the more lethargic pace at which New Orleans moves. I am more molasses than quicksilver. And I do enjoy being called darlin' or sweetie at a restaurant than just being handed the bill.

Anyway, back to the artwork. The first New Orleans piece I completed is a tiny one. I have yet to photograph it. I don't know why. While I was piecing together the largest piece, posted a few days ago, I realized that smaller sections might do well standing on their own. I may try to construct a few stand alone pieces that resemble these:

One of these days, you will see the finished pieces for sale somewhere. As usual, I do not have the backing fabric I want and either have to purchase it online and wait 10 days for delivery, or go to our teeny tiny local shop and hope to find the right color. Not going to that big box place. Not gonna do it.

This Year's New Bird

This is going to be "Sweet Songs of Birds I". There are going to be 12 pieces in this series. There could be more, but . . . . I know I mentioned doing a quilt a week in a series for a year. It just doesn't seem to be the way I work, however. There are already new ideas in my head and I am ready to clean up the scraps from this project and get onto the next project. Eleven tops have been completed and are waiting to be quilted. I still have to decide whether to apply any beads. I will make the decision tomorrow, and put any beads on then. It should appear on Etsy this weekend.

No work shall be done today. It has been decreed by the local school board. We are supposed to have ice today. I don't think I see any yet. The students walking to campus seem to be moving at a brisk pace. My daughter has a morning long play date and I am on the computer. The quilts are sitting up in the attic, alone and in the dark.

I did get a bit of my "Ho" back yesterday. I was walking my dog in our lovely central Pennsylvania weather (bleak, yet not freezing yesterday). While rounding the corner next to my neighborhood home, a beautiful stone cottage, I smelled gingerbread wafting from this house. Suddenly the oppressive clouds became cozy and my coat became warmer. I'm definitely feeling more festive than I was when I wrote my last post.

Aside from the purchase of a boring man gift (not the man, just the gift), I will be done with my Christmas shopping. I have managed to purchase several hand-made items, including two from Etsy. One was from a local Etsy artist & I was able to pick that item up in person. It gave me the warm fuzzies. But, yes, I also purchased a couple of items online from Pottery Barn & they were wrapped in paper and cardboard and required the consumption of many resources. Perhaps I will do better next year.

Finished Squares

Thanks to those who responded to my rant. It's very theraputic to yell and have somebody to listen. Smoothies were served yesterday & the somewhat jaded children seemed to like them from what I heard.

Today is the last day of school and I am officially on forced vacation for the next two weeks until summer camps begin. The hubby may take a couple of afternoons off work so I can visit my studio, but I'm planning on being a stay at home mom for several days. I would like to take my daughter into my studio, but as she is a child of a million questions, it is hard to concentrate and get anything done, other than some basic sewing. Maybe I can do a few tops since the squares are already laid out.

I did manage to finish four pieces from my square making frenzy, two of which are shown here. I have enough squares to make a total of 9 or 10 pieces. After those are finished, I am planning to move on to a new color combination. No doubt one of the upcoming combinations will involve orange and brown. Perhaps I can challenge myself to work with colors that I have not used before. Any suggestions?

My Favorite Things, Part II

Here is the complete series of The Valley. My favorite series of last year. I have yet to start a series this year. I will be patient and see what comes to me.

My husband and I spend several weekends a year traveling between State College, PA, and Roanoke, VA, where my family lives. The trip can be a bit monotonous (when done frequently). That's when I take in just a bit of scenery and break it down and try to recreate that bit into a piece of fiber art. The trip begins in Happy Valley (Home of Penn State), goes through the Blue Ridge Valley and into Roanoke Valley.

Winter used to be the most challenging time to get ideas for art. Or so I thought. There is something to be said for the late afternoon sun touching on a grove of leafless birch trees, framed by a hillside of gold and brown grasses. When the landscape of central Pennsylvania gives you a bunch of lemons, you've got to make some lemonade.

I have a new appreciation for murky, muddy colors. Soil and mineral colors. Today, however, is an exception. The sky is a dirty gray. The snow on the ground is already a dirty gray. Somehow my car is a dirty gray. My skin has become a dirty gray. I need a fabric fix.

When the dog bites, when the bees stings, when I feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad. Yes, I remember. I have fabric in my studio. I'm going to go drag it out and throw it together. I will pull out some orange. Some murky, muddy orange, no doubt.

p.s. Why does Blogger frequently remove the spaces between paragraphs? Does anybody have a solution for this?