What about those Praying Crows...

I'm working up to working on a quilt.  Designs have been rolling around in my head for months.  A few weeks ago I began touching cloth.  I know I want to use this slip which has been in my stash for years.  It was among my oldest Aunts items years after she passed and right before her daughter made the decision to "let it go".  In my eyes it was the last tie we had to rural life.  But none in our family were interested in farming or even renting the land out to other farmers.

Here is the slip with the praying crows I thought I would be using.

I ex-nayed the crows for now but am making hexies as part of the design. And drawing and some writing on the quilt will be involved.  The working title is "Something Beautiful".  It is my emotional response to so much heaviness and injustice.  It will be a take on the phrase #BlackGirlMagic.  

Above is the beginning sketch for the quilt which was preceded by writing about my vision. The writing helps me navigate the competing ideas in my head and arrive at at centered intent.  It also helps me make and understand my decisions to alter things in the process.  The only time I don't journal is when I'm doing a quilt filled with mark making and exploring colour and abstract.  Those quilts have been driven by processes of moving while handling the cloth and paints and tools for marks.  Picture.narrative quilts are driven by the finished quilt and are not my favorite quilts to get out of my head.  I was kinda hoping that this one would turn but that slip (and the crows) have been whispering at me for years.

And this is a quilt with a deadline for an exhibit...maybe I need those praying crows afterall.  Hangeth in. Peace.

Episode 3 is Up.

This is episode #3.  I share a finished hat I made for an Aunt and talk about what is due to be made, including an quilt that has a deadline.  Below is the rough sketch for it and the hexies for the flowers.

The slip will be used in the quilt and it has since been dyed a burnt orange.  The crows, I'm undecided about including in this quilt.  The working title is Simply Beautiful.

Soooo Young Grasshopper....What do you really want>

Okay, something is really wrong with me...I have been aiming to go to bed since around 10 p.m.  It is now 3:41 a.m.  I can't stop knitting!!!!!!  Let me continue.  I'm a newbie knitter depending on YouTube and Craftsy.  Going Continental because I crochet (and do it a heck of a lot better).  I've wanted to cry, scream and throw these needles across the room. At one point I considered putting my small stash of knitting needles in the Goodwill box.

Just when I am about ready to call it quits, I find a new YT video and I say "this one is better, I can do this".  Right now I have 4 rows of 43 stitches and I guess I will make the dreaded boring scarf that is every beginners fate.  I purchased Pure Joy, a beautiful shawl by Joji Locatelli that I wanted to be my first knitted item but that ain't happening no time soon I think.  As for now, this young grasshopper is really quitting for the night while me and this yarn are still on speaking terms. Peace.

Rambling thoughts...

For over a month I've been going to sleep with the thought that tomorrow I'll wake up and get to the garage early and dye or marble on some fabric before the days turn cold.  I have yet to make it.  I haven't dyed, marbled, screen printed, laminated on fabric for 2 years.  All of last year was understandable.  And even some interruptions in this year, but to let the summer completely go by and now Autumn is here, I am not sure if I will or not.  I don't have and haven't had the stamina for it.  The physical stamina hasn't returned.  I have returned to sketching out new quilt ideas but now that I'm faced with wanting to really get going on a new quilt, to really engage the process again, the question of how to get it all completed by hand stitching arises.  What I really want to do is sit and make little hexies and sew them together...little hexies from my own dyed and painted fabrics.  But I have a quilt that needs to be completed by the end of December, so hand work is out of the question.  The part that I'm mostly dragging on is sitting down at the sewing machine.  Also, my mind feels cloudy when I try to approach design on the design board.  Everything feels new like I have never performed any of these tasks before.  So I just keep sitting my happy butt down to crochet or flip through crochet patterns.  I even tried to impose a "learning curriculum" on myself and the one book I keep avoiding is Ruth McDowell's book on piecing because I need to sew.

What is appealing to me about crocheting and making the hexies is not having to tax my soul to create from scratch.  Although deciphering a pattern in crochet and learning to knit has it brain boost challenges, its no where near the same.  It connects back to the stamina.  I am due to start strength training around mid-October.  I can't imagine not hooking and want to add yarn dyeing to what I do.  I already have everything I need to do that so it would be a natural fit. Just need to figure out who I am once again.

If you don't change, life will sure change you.  Peace.

Pilot: THIS IS THE ONE

Hello.  Finally decided to just go with it instead of waiting until I get it "perfect" which could be the 12th of Neverary.  I'll learn as I go and hopefully improve over time.  The pilot episode for my YouTube podcast about my yarn related (mostly) projects is up.  It is 42 minutes long.  I'm aiming for 30 minutes in future episodes.

Here are the show notes with links of items referenced:

Pacific Rim Shawl
Jojoland Yarns
Malabrigo Yarns

Child's Crew Neck Pullover
Yarn Bee Soft Secret (is a Hobby Lobby Yarn)

Project Bags by Kim the Crafty Nomad (EboniePearl on Etsy)

Izumi 

Lacy Fans and Feathers Wrap
Juniper Moon Farm Yarns

For Viking of Norway Yarns, Google to find inventory at either you local yarn shop or an online retailer.

Lion Brand Yarns

Evening Shimmer Wrap
Cascade Yarns

Clover Armour Crochet Hooks

Nancy's Waves Scarf
Windowpane
Premier Yarns

Creative Strength Training by Jane Dunnewold

Piecing Expanding the Basics by Ruth B. McDowell

Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker

Strathmore Journals

Artist Journals & Sketchbooks by Lynn Perrella

Crocheter's Skill-building Workshop by Dora Ohrenstein

Loops & Threads (is a Michaels Yarn)

Yarnbox

MITU Yarns (will need to translate page or check with online retailers)

It is 42 minutes long.  IF you view it in its entirety, then miracles do happen and I deeply thank you. You are encouraged to offer suggestions, comments, evaluations...will be deeply appreciated.  For those who know me, is this me????  It is like listening to one's voice on a tape recorder and being surprised at the sound of your voice.

Throwing Shade and Casting Support

So I've already started my own art school.  I'm going to skip the courses though and just award myself an M.F.A.  My retrospective show is coming up at a major museum.  By museum, I mean inside my garage, buts it will be promoted by a major outlet.  By outlet, I mean my blog, but some major art critics have planned to cover the show.  By major art critics, I mean my grandchildren who will share their thoughts and pass out flyers in the neighborhood and post up notices at Krogers.  The name of my show though is #heisalieandalickandhisdrawersdon'tfit.  I am already planning for my next show around January 20th and it is called #istoodwithher

Whats coming next....

Balls! (of yarn)

The yarn winder came Friday, the swift came yesterday.  I'm having a ball!

This is Whats Up...

I am in my space this morning to start a shawl I had counting difficulty with last night and unfrogged. The softness in the air and the quiet while everyone remains sleep I am hoping will allow me to concentrate more.  I am using a foundation single stitch which is one I haven't used often.  My plan is to also do a little piece work from Piecing by Ruth McDowell.  Once I work through a book as part of my Karoda School of Art I am also deciding if the book will remain a part of my arsenal.  I want to streamline, reel in, what I create over a long swatch of time.  I want to have more command over what my resources are and should be in order to do what I do.  You know  there is that tendency to be a grasshopper, jumping all over the place and trying out every knew tool and trend that comes out.  And that is all cool for awhile, but I'm longing for a more distinct look in all that I select to keep, whether it is encaustics or quilts.

Yesterday I spent some time working on a Mojo.  I usually do these in painted papers stitched and embellished, I do them in down time to relax my mind.  This one is fabric and has been hanging around for two years. I plucked it off the board and began adding hand stitching.  I love everything going on so far with this small piece. Here I am auditioning the porcupine quill.

This study below I did previously last year...I want to revisit it in a larger quilt.  I made a small adapted version of it that was part of a collaboration.  It is about commanding spiritual transformation.

Every Friday Mo and I have lunch.  It is her day off.  Last Friday was our next to last Friday lunch date.  She will be going to a different shift at her job so we will have to come up with another way to connect.  Maybe she can be persuaded to take up a knitting class with me in the evenings.  Here we are at Long John Silver's.  Summer means we are a foursome instead of a twosome.

I hear footsteps upstairs, so I'm going to get this shawl started.  Peace.

Tea, You Are Not Coffee

8:00 o'clock and I'm in the studio with tea in hand.  Although it is a black tea, so far it ain't doing the trick. Might have to make that pot of coffee.

I've started my studio time by watching videos on stencil making particularly katazome.  My mulberry papers has been gone several moves ago.  (one of those if I haven't used it by now, give it away moments).  Katazome uses mulberry paper.  I woke up thinking about turning my face sketches into stencils this morning.  I have used file folders, acetate sheets, and stencil sheets in the past.  I can only recall using one on a small graffiti quilt named "Do Not Fear the Intellectual".  It was a journal size quilt and I have no clue where it got to.  Hopefully it was one I sold from the Mellwood studio as that is the last time I recall seeing it.

Anyways, I'm back to my School of Art activities.  Here is my curriculum: (links will take you to Amazon)
Zentangle A Day, Mixed Media Portraits, Crochet Workshop, Piecing and Creative Strength Training.  I have yet to find a consistent rhythm for days and times so I snatch time daily even if its just 30 minutes.  Mornings seem to be my best time now.  Here is the sketch I'm returning to in just a bit.  I'm also going to start another side sketch.

I'm going to do another side view sketch before I advance to the next chapter in Mixed Media Portraits.

Naw, this tea ain't gonna do it.  Peace.

Trying It On for Size

So we are moved in and progress has been made.  Most of the boxes are unpacked.  The boxes which remain hold decor, books, toys, etc. and are pushed into corners until I decide where things will fit, hang, and so on.

My studio is set up and functional and today I piddled in it for about 5 hours trying to get comfortable with where items are placed and how to move in the space.  The new shared arrangement with Peter is nice.  He was doing some technical stuff with the computer/tv connection.  I didn't know when he was in the room or out unless he said something to me.  With what I was doing today, the only time I couldn't hold conversation was when I was crocheting.  Overall, it was a fair run for trying the space on for size.

I did a zentangle to warm up followed by a face sketch and ending with exercises from the workbook on crochet.  But in full disclosure, a lot of time was spent browsing Facebook on my phone.  Discipline is the word for the rest of the month and must be had to get a groove going.

studio music was Regina Carter's CD, Southern Comfort

A friend asked me about dyeing fabric in ombre and that got me excited.  It has been 2 years since I had my dyes out.  We're working out a Friday that she can come.  This will give me the opportunity to to try out the set-up in the garage.

Trying to describe to myself what I feel like is going on with me as a creative person, I feel like I'm forever waking up from a slumber.  The closing down of my Mellwood studio and the year dealing with breast cancer and 2 moves in 18 months created an alternate reality that I'm trying to shed or bloom out of the pod.  But one thing I know is God is here in and of it and I'm trusting the process!