Last blooms of August

The flower bed is wild with these self seeding cosmos and sunflowers. I reserve a bed in the garden just for them. After the June and July flowers have gone to sleep, they blaze forth in riotous abandon! And I love black eyed susans. They are a part of the landscape of my yard and the dreamscape of my childhood in Rhode Island.



I know the title refers to flowers but I could not resist this picture of Basil. He had four molars removed Monday and is still rocovering from the surgery drugs. He is pretty mangy looking here. I would like to dunk him in a soapy bath but Mike won't let me.

the Dutchess County Fair

Here are some pictures from the fair.

One Ogre Out of the house

Today I send my Ogre off to be transformed into a quilt. I have decided to have it quilted, so it will actually be a finished piece. Ah The Blessing of the internet to make these friends who are quilters!!!
Today is a dreary dismal chilly day. Perfect for staying home and sewing. I may work on my Ping blocks, or pin a top for machine quilting, or cast on a knitting project. O bliss! a day of fiber immersion.
Some idiot has decided t infect blogger blogs with some sorry garbage mind stuff so I have had to re enable my comment permission thingy. I do not care what adults want to look at but I do not want it on my blog or my friend's blogs. Don't these people have anything better to do than to push potty pictures onto quilty blogs. Good grief.

August Ogre Challenge

As far as Ogres go, this one was a creampuff, not so old as to be onerous, it was still very lovable and I loved working on it.I am so glad I did not leave it in a pile to grow old and surly. Any resistance to finishing it was akin to a parent who does not want her baby to grow up. I will have empty sewing room syndrome-NOT!
This this quilt was a joy to work on because it was a shared journey with a very special friend. And of course I am a Dear Jane/
Dear Hannah addict. I am not sure how I am going to finish it-send it out to be quilted or do it myself. I am leaning toward sending it out because I would like to see it finished in my lifetime.
This was the third Frenchy bag I made with the vintage wool. Making doll quilts and bags and small projects is a nice break from making bigger projects. You get to finish something in a managable timeframe.
Shorter days get me in the mood for knitting. But I have some other things to finish first...and miles to go before I knit.

on the road again

We went to Greenport and these are some photos taken from my car while in motion! Don't worry I wasn't driving.
It was a gorgeous day and I went to the Now and Zen yarn shop too! (click on title for the website).
There was a sale so I bought some cascade yarn to make a felted bag-brown-a luscious brown wool "noni bag"-actually it will be more of a valise. And....drum roll please......they were selling their beautiful Vietnamese silk roll up knitting needle cases--also fifty percent off and.....another craft case which had snap out pages which will be perfect when I start my new Dear Jane quilt.
Call me materialistic. Call me shallow. Call me content.
I loved the sign in the picture above. Pure tongue in cheek NY.

One Bag Finished

City adventure

On Sunday we drove into the city to go to the Met and to go to the City Quilter in Chelsea. I bought some bag patterns-Amy Butler and a cute bunny pin cushion pattern-to be made with wool. The red and black fabric comes from Jenny's Grandmother's stash. She is cleaning out some stuff to sell her house. Jen's great grandmother was an amazing seamstress. She was a fitter for models in the garment district in the forties. Her skills as a sewist meant that her family would not be poor when her husband died suddenly at a young age. I will make a bag for Jen from the fabric. It is called the Frency Bag, by Amy Butler, of course.In the Chelsea district (25th and 6th ish) there is a great out door market on weekends. We strolled through it and my eye caught this chest of drawers!
Is this not spectacular? However it was too dear and we passed on by. The image did not leave me however and Mike said "you could paint a chest like this!?" he did not realize that these were fighting words!! The chest was solid wood and six actual drawers and no way could I find a chest like this for the price they wanted -- and any how--do I have to do all the work --all the time???

...on we went , uptown to the Metropolitan, and here are some photos I took there. You are allowed to take pictures in some parts of the Met-no flash. These were taken with my phone~














Sometimes I feel like the camel.
Sometimes I am the Siren.
One of my favorite parts of the museum is the Temple of Dendur.
These are the Spirits who guard it.

After lunch at the Chipotle Grill-excellent- and three hours in the Met, we did go back to Chelsea and get that chest. It was the end of the day and it was a hundred and fifty dollars less.....

Not an Ogre anymore

In my WIP (work in progress) group where we are challenged to actually finish our quilt projects, August's challenge is to finish work on a project that has become an Ogre, or something that we have stalled upon due to our procrastination, or perfectionism, the twin "p"s of failure. So, I was stuck at this border, wanting to do justice to these beloved blocks. And this became my Ogre.
Now-thanks to my freind Tilde, who made half the blocks! and inspires me every day, and all the inspiring people who share their works of fabrc art on the internet, it is revived, and I AM going to finish it this month. Here you can see the progress: the hidden "p" in success.
I do plan on adding more applique to the yellow in the border. Life is good.

Remedy for summer doldroms

Loud cars and loud fabric!
Gotta love it~

The Met

What can you say about it that hasn't been said? I took myself to the Met today, after my plans to go with any of my daughters did not happen. I hopped on the train and went by myself.


I brought my doll quilt on the train to stitch the binding. Now the new owner can say they own a piece that has been in the Met:)





I went to the Poiret "King of Fashion"exhibit and then dined with some girls (we shared a table on the balcony) from California. I visited some favorites in the Modern wing.
I do think I could live at the Met if they would let me. Wasn't there a book about that?

kuler

very cool website if you are into color...be sure to click on the community link for some neat graphics peeps.

dab dab

This morning;s rain left the back yard green and lush.
It has been a very busy week. Which is a good thing. And I got a short short haircut and I like it until tomorrow when I wake up and it will be strangely sticking up all over the place.heheh. I have no pictures of my hat cut yet. hat cut. That is what Bailey called it.

Last weekend we dropped Bailey off at Pace for a week workshop in eco save the world something. She is enjoying it. We need to have the world saved so I hope she learns how.
working on a painting of bailey. here it is in the ugly stage and I am going to collage it with rice paper and encaustics. I have even printed on the rice paper and I have even cleaned off my table and I am really really going to do this!
One of my painting teachers once said that you should not worry about likeness because in a hundred years no one will know the difference. This is a major procrastinastion point for me because I always paint people I know and~~ I want it to look like them. This is why I am going to segue into another medium, to force myself to look at the whole picture and stop obsessing over likeness. Wish me luck! You can see I have started to add the paper-just taped a bit on to see what I could see. A first tentative step. Tomorrow I take it off the easel and lay it flat on my encaustics table. Let the melting begin. o and I should mention it is almost life size. I like to work big.
.... for something completly different: Mike made me submit some pieces for publication. Why is this so hard for me to do?
any way it is done. I am not responisble for the outcome. I just have to do the work and the results will be what they will be.

nuther one

collage

Lately I have been intrigued by collage and that has got me to thinking that i want to make one...I am thinking really hard about this and I want to begin /I think I am going to use rice paper and some fabric and some encaustics as a binder on the bailey painting. The canvas is mounted on plywood so it can withstand weighty attachments.
first a snack.cheese and trisuits.
Went to ikea and did not buy anything:) But I love to walk around and think about what I want to do in my house. latent decorator impulses...

Quilting magazines

If any one is interested, my aunt is selling magazines from the old daze, on ebay.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpurtypaperdolliesQQhtZ-1
(or click on title)
she may have what you are looking for:)
she also makes purdy jewelry

creativity

what helps me create:
small steps
threads
journaling
being willing to fail
support from you
a good marriage
enough money for supplies
older children
knowing it is my legacy and my reason for being here
what stops me:
job (which also gives me money)
grandiosity (thinking it is not enough so why bother)(answer is, why not?)
procrastination (it is never really later)
hhmmmm
what about you?

Doll Quilt I

This is one of a pair of doll quilts that I made to be swapped with a friend. I will put a border on it, the nature of which I have not yet determined. I am stuck at the border. A quilting dilemna. But It will pass. The other little quilt is the same block design and the sameplum colors with blues and greens as the smaller bits. First I had them all mixed together but liked the way they looked divided into separate color families. The next on will be finished by the week end. The colors are mush more vibrant than this picture but I ave no time to post another so you will have to trust me:)

Katy drives!

This is a self potrait done from a picture a long time ago and when I took this picture of katy I thought we do look alike. The quality if the picture is not great beause I had to blow it up way big but I thought t was cool.

July is here too soon

When the days are already getting shorter. I am feeling like I am missing the summer and I live for the summer light. I hate that it is too short. I would love to live somewhere warm, on the ocean, preferably with mountains and no earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis-and of course with museums, shopping, great restaurants and architecture and reasonably priced housing!
I have been absent due to a work shift. I am working more and enjoying it, but it does deplete my creative energies. Rather it redirects it I guess.
I am thrilled with all of the positive comments on Pindigo:) it does keep me motivated. here is my sewing kit which comes with me every where.In it are my pin cushion, scissors (ghinger) a couple of spools of thread, my ping templates and fabrics squares from Pinwheels, some doll quilt (two) beginings and a sewing kit where I stick my not in use pins and needls. I only keep one or two pins in the finger pin cushion while in use. All this stuff goes into the pouch and travels with me wherever I go. I don't always get a chance to work on it, but I know that I will always have it to do if I find myself with a few minutes to spare and the inclination to sew a thread or three.

tourists

It is fun to be tourists in NYC.
These are pictures from mid town Manhattan and the last one is the view of the three bridges, Brooklyn,Mahattan and Williamsburg from the South Street Seaport at 11 at night. And my adorable Michael. Isn't he just dreamy??? And Kathrin and Martin and Else. They are pretty cute, too.

PingIndigo(pindigo)

Meme from Create a Connection

When did you begin your first blog and what inspired you to do so?
April 2006. I was inspired by quilter's blogs~

Do you have more than one blog? Why? How are they different?
I have this blog, a blog for my girls-which is now defunct since they just read this one any way. I just started a blog for the writers at my job who want to have their work read. It is a judgement free zone and I am so excited about it! I don't know how it will evlove but it will have poetry and writing and who knows! I work in a great creatively charged atmosphere and I am inviting the others there to share their work. It is a little daunting because we all know each other! Face to face-like for real!Not like publishing to the internet! It is called Wordprocess
if you want to take a look. For me-I needed to publish my poetry without fear of consternation over my language or content-so be forewarned there is LANGUAGE in it:)It is small now but I will open it up as time goes by to others for contributions.

How would you characterize your blog?
purely creative, sometimes political, sometimes about my family-smarmy-sometimes just musings

To paraphrase Oprah, what is "one thing you know for sure" about blogging?
It great fun to get to know other artists and share your work. Sometimes the results can be surprising.

Is it important to you to get feedback in terms of comments or pings? Why or why not?
Love comments. It means you care~


What blogs would you recommend to our readers and why?
Mine are mostly quilt related and I keep them all on bloglines..
I like to find different ones. I like the ones that are personal and relevant and creative and funny! Go find your own!

Ping Block settings

I am a colorist at heart. More than form or function color drives my artistic bus.
so.
I am thinking of using these wondeful rich indigos as settings, rather than the ones that are sent with the kit which are darker versions of the taupes.I have these actual colors on my bed now, the blues and taupe and this quilt is for us. I was thinking of using the indigos on the back, but felt like it might not be fair to them to use them as a backing. Well it is also not fair to keep them in a box.
You can see the actual BOM design on the Pinwheels web site by clicking on the title.
so.
this is a terrible picture but I would love to hear some feed back
I am taking the next day or so off from work since I am beset with some uncomfortable intestinal woes that are best not discussed in public.
I hope to be back in form in a day or so. I am actually on the mend, and want to stay that way and avoid surgery if I can!
Unfortunaltely this also co-incides with having company here from Europe ( staying at my Mils) and I will not be up to my usual touring/slash hosting speed. They are planning to go to Manhattan tonight and I may have to pass.
I think my body is telling me slow down and find a better balance. But I don't wanna!
I worked on the sampler quilt corners last night and I am almost ready to attach the borders! RED ones. I do love color!
And this quilt will also stay here probably in my guest room, because I am not giving it to anyone-do you hear me my children???? No one!

small things

small things finished
nice way to spend a rainy day

Corners

The corners are fused for the sampler quilt.
I am not sure how to proceed from here but I am leaning toward a piano key border. The yellow seems so bland. Gee I wonder why. Mike says this picture is not as bright as the actual quilt. The sun will never go down in the room where this quilt lives:)
The corner blocks are made from patterns provided in "Baltimore"s County Cousins" by Susan McKelvey.