100 Fiber Artists' teaser!

     Now that Christmas is past, I can concentrate on my quilt for the 100 Fiber Artists Fund Raiser for the Cure!  I know what I am going to do...so here is a little teaser as the process begins!!!

Twenty one DIFFERENT white on whites, a rich brown, an equally rich red....and white beads!

Check back frequently to see what is happening! Also see the other works of the talented Fiber Artists on Pintrest donating their time and creativity!

Bathroom Renovations/Makeover

     Ever since we moved into the condos, I have not been happy with my master bath. The shower is/was very tiny! Of course, I was kind of spoiled by my old shower because it was ginormous! A friend of mine has purchased a condo just down from me and is having major renovations done. So I talked to her contractor who is well known in this area as having done much work for many people here.  He came right down to my place to take a look. After I explained what I was hoping to do he said he could start right away!  

     So for over a week now I have had workmen here. They are doing a beautiful job! It is all coming together just as I visualized. And while they are here I decided to get a new vanity for my powder room.  

My master closet is right next to my master bath. So I had them close off the bathroom door which was always very narrow, and cut a door into the closet. So in order to get to the bathroom I do have to go through the closet. But in doing so I was able to reconfigure the whole bathroom; I now have a larger shower, a more accessible vanity with several drawers, and a linen closet with a hamper in the bottom of it. And much prettier tile everywhere!

My before shower

My old vanity

My old linen closet ( no door )

New vanity location

Shower in progress...I even have a shower seat!!

My old powder room vanity...nothing new here....yet!

     And, a poor excuse I know, but I have not gotten a thing done in my studio since they have begun!

Our Beautiful World-Markets

     Another blog that I have throughly enjoyed (and neglected) is the Photography website, Our Beautiful World. These are people from all over the world who post pictures with a specific theme once a week.  I always gain inspiration from them so I have decided to join in the fun again!
     This week's theme is Markets and I have a few photos of just that subject!

Holland, Michigan

Rhubarb at Holland, Michigan

Holland, Michigan

Mums-Holland, Michigan-Fall-2014

    My first three pictures were spring, 2011 and the  last one was from a trip I took with my daughter Fall of 2014.

Quilt Con

     Okay, I have decided to brave the waters and enter quilt shows other than my guild! So I entered two quilts in Quilt Con...

Yellow Fin Tuna-18" x 22"

This One's for the Girls-24" x 31"

And yesterday, I received two rejection slips!  So much for that!  But I will not be deterred!!  I am following a FB post of those who were rejected and seeing many of those, I am very good company!  I do plan to go to Quilt Con in Austin, TX in February so I am eager to see those who were selected!  It is a learning process....I just wish they would have also sent recommendations/reasons for their choices so I would know how I could improve.

Now to get busy on my Fiberarts for a Cure Donation which is due in  about six weeks!  That I am a little nervous about because I have not done this before...but I have a mental picture of what I want to do...on to the studio!!!!

AQATW-Flights of Fantasy

NASA Picture 

My "Flights of Fantasy"

The Tardis...Flying through time and space!

My "Flight of Fantasy", the theme for my Art Quilters' Around The World challenge, is a bit late. It was due November 30. I have no excuse for my lateness, but here it is  and I am REALLY going to try be on time from now on!!!

Now my explanation...when Andrea gave us this theme, I loved it! I am fascinated by pictures posted by NASA so I knew that was going to be my basis! Then as I am a fan of the Syfy character, "Dr. Who". I wanted to incorporate his Time Machine, the Tardis into my quilt. So here is my rendition of the Tardis, flying through time and space! And, much as I enjoy Science Fiction, I do realize it is all fantasy....at least I THINK it is!!!!!

Technique: black Kona cotton, Derwent water color blocks, applied with a paint brush, and beading. The Tardis is blue cotton and white paint.

And please go the Art Quilters' Around the World blog to see everyone's wonderful and diverse Flights of Fantasy!

studioQ Meeting-November/December

   My fiber arts group, studioQ, usually meets on the last Monday of every month.  As the last Monday in November was also the week of Thanksgiving so we decided to combine our November/December into one meeting.  Last time we met, we started on a new challenge.  A couple of our gals have attended several workshops about creating quilts and have learned much about design so they are sharing some of the techniques with us. Our assignment was to create several units of our chosen element so we could play with them on a design wall...rearranging them in various ways to see which was most appealing.  After we all discussed our designs, our assignment for next time is to make more elements and create a quilt out of them!
     When I first started making my elements, I didn't think I was going to like this design technique, but as I made more and thought of how I could change them up, then discussing with my studioQ people, I think it is going to be facsinating project!
     We all started with black and white construction paper and glue then most of us progressed to fabric. Here are a few pictures of what we did:

These don't look like much now, but I am really looking forward to what we can do with them.

And here we are at the end of the meeting before going to lunch. We sometimes meet at one of our favorite fabric shops, Cabbage Rose.

Fiberart for a Cause

     My dear and faithful followers...I am going to take a hiatus from my usual blog so will be putting Memory Monday on hold for the time being.  Some other exciting things are going on in my life which I want to share with you! For one.....
                                      
    I am very pleased to announce that I have been invited to be a part of the Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser!  It is an annual event whereby 100 fiber artists create a work of art which is then auctioned off on the Internet for $100.00 dollars.  The purchaser will receive a work of art selected at random which will be mailed to them by the artist.
     This is the first time I have participated in this venture and am humbled to be in the presence of MANY very well known fiber artists!  Please click on the link below for further information, to see the other artists on the list, and to go to their websites to see their outstanding quality of work. 
                  http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html
     As I begin work on my own donation piece, I will post more as well as what some of the others are doing so you can join my journey!

Memory Monday #81

     I am remiss on my Memory Monday again!  My excuse is that I had a birthday last week and was SO busy celebrating that I forgot to write!!  Which brings me to my  latest Memory Monday!
     I had the best mom in the world...on my birthday my freshman year, she had secretly gotten in touch with my roommate and conspired to get my favorite cake to me!  My mom was a great cook and she made an orange cake to die for! She arranged to put a cake on the bus; my roommate would pick it up and I would have a BIG surprise!!  And I did!!!

My eighteenth birthday!!

Here I am with my favorite cake which I got very little of as I had to share!!! Mom had also sent paper plates and forks with the cake!

Memory Monday # 80

     My roommate from South Dakota, Mary Jane, came all the way to attend the prestigious School of Journalism at Mizzou.

The Arch leading to the School of Journalism 

Logo for Journalism

There was a tradition surrounding the arch above.  On each side of the entrance there were statues of lions..supposedly, a guy would escort an unassuming date through the arch as a test.  If the girl was a virgin, the lions would roar...if not they would remain silent!!  Funniest thing, I never heard of those lions roaring...not ever!!!
     As I posted earlier, we lived in these temporary dorms while the new dorms were being built...then came the big move!!!  Our dorm, Jones Hall was ready for occupancy! One day, and one day only, we could have BOYS on our floors to help us move!!!  All of us who had become good friends, had signed up to be on the same floor, same hall.

Packing up old room

Moving into new room

In looking at these 50 plus year old pictures, one thing comes strongly to mind! Notice that we are ALL smoking!  In the '50's smoking was as common as chewing gum!  Everyone smoked...we could even smoke in some of our classrooms!  We had little portable ashtrays we could set on our desks....hard to believe now!

Jones Hall-one of three in a complex of girls' dorms

This was state of the art at the time!  The three dorms were connected to the cafeteria and each other by underground tunnels so in bad weather, we could get around without getting outside.

First SAQA Meeting

     SAQA (Studio Art Quilter's Association) met in Dallas  yesterday. I had joined SAQA five or six years ago but had never been active. I just joined for the wonderful art on their website and to be supportive of fiber artists! Then I kind of let my membership lapse during my rough year last year. So about a month ago I decided to rejoin.

      One of my good studio Q friends, Heather Pregger, is a SAQA rep for this area and is very active.

So when the meeting was announced on line, I asked Heather if I could grab a ride with her. I am so glad I went to the meeting! Such a talented, friendly group of folk! I came back truly inspired to get off my butt and wasting time!! 

 

     I took a couple of things to show, particularly my starts from my Susan Shie Art Camp.

      So time to put the computer away and go CREATE!!!!!

Memory Monday #79

     I missed last week for Memory Monday so will try to catch up today...Still a Freshman at Mizzou...making some fabulous friendships! My roommate from South Dakota, my gal pal Nancy from St Louis, and Beth from Kansas City have become life long friends.
     I was not a stellar student, but did love most of the classes I took.  I was amazed at an American History class lecture which held more students than my whole high school...and LOVED all my art classes!  My high school did not offer art; I had always loved art and credit a cousin (who was more like an aunt to me) for keeping my interest sparked.  For Christmas and birthdays, she would always give me art "stuff"-watercolors, charcoal, pastels...of which I had no clue how to use!  So I signed up for every "1" class I could squeeze in...Art 1, Watercolor 1, Weaving 1,  Ceramics 1, Oils 1, etc!  And I loved it all!
      I had always known even as a kid when I would line up my dolls and create a classroom that I wanted to be a teacher...not having had art myself, it never occurred to me to teach art. As an equal passion was reading, I chose to major in English with the ultimate object to teach. So with the exception of the mandatory Education classes and the other required classes, I reveled my classes.
      As a Freshman, there were those pesky required classes first...Science, math, government! And, although I really liked the information I gathered from Geology and Astrology, I did not do well on the tests! I discovered I could do really well on essay tests; but multiple or true/false that needed the knowledge of facts, were very difficult for me.  Having gone to a small high school and having to never had to really study, I soon found that skimming the reading material was not going to get me through.  But even knowing I really needed to study harder and more, the pull of the social scene was too strong.

Hill Hall was the Education Building

     Hill Hall was where I spent many an hour taking all those really boring Education Classes!

International Quilt Festival 2014

     Last Sunday, Andrea and I boarded a bus at 5:30AM to take a one day trip to the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, a four plus hour drive. The show was fabulous...we spent every moment from the time we got there 'til time to leave at 4:00 on the run!  There is so much to see!!!  Here are some of the highlights of the quilts we saw...

Close up of the one above

The above three are the same quilt....pretty amazing looking at it from three different angles!

Done by an Internet friend, Shrudi, from India "White Rainbow"

A closeup of White Rainbow

Susan Shie's auction quilt for the Libby Lehman fund

Redwork was a theme for the show

This is the Best of Show..the big winner!

And we even found time to do a little shopping!  Here are my purchases!  As though I NEED more fabric!