color journal :: April

I think this might be my favorite block so far. I can hardly wait to see these colors again.

A favorite walking destination of the pup and I, taken after a big rain April 2013.

(See all color journal blocks so far… here.)

color journal :: the ocean in March

I am going to try and catch up on the color journal blocks so I can get on to piecing the quilt. I had made a few little piles of the fabrics in the colors I wanted to use for several of the months last spring, but never managed to get the squares cut and stitched. All has resurfaced after tidying the studio and so I am putting them all together almost a year! later and here we go. This block is for our March 2013. We traveled to the ocean for a week, thanks to good friends who agreed to share their lovely accommodations with us. It was a really wonderful time. The sunset was my favorite part of the day.

It's going to be fun to look back through the warm weather images that inspired the fabrics I chose for each month. A nice reminder of Spring to come.

the outside edge of home

Less talk and more stitch after this, I promise. I want to post these to remind myself what this little room looks like when it is tidy and welcoming. This is how it looks when I really look forward to being in here. I am so grateful for this little space on the outer edge of our house, the "old side" (1917).

It's working very well to leave the computer work in here - not to mingle so much with the rest of the house.

The light in here is really nice. With all the cold outside, at least the sun is shining.

ceramics student

I am looking forward to my next ceramics class - continuing with wheel throwing. Class starts up again this week (once we are through all the cancellations and delays due to the bitter cold). All good stuff - learning something new, making something beautifully long-lasting and practical and (my favorite part) sharing time and conversation centered on creativity. I am so grateful to have the very talented artist and teacher Soyong Kang Partingon as my instructor. For local friends considering a ceramics class - Soyong teaches at our local Sullivan Munce Cultural Center and also at the Indianapolis Art Center.

I thought about taking classes for years and have been so happy that I finally did it. I have been inspired by these ceramics classes in so many ways. I have truly loved being home with the boys for many years and really enjoy freelancing from home, but I have really missed the creative buzz that happens in learning something new in the physical presence of other people who are very interested in doing the same.

The blue bowl above is a favorite from last class. I like the practicality of the wide shallow dimensions and hope to produce a few more like it. Before this it was mostly cat size bowls - and that was before I had a cat. I now have so much appreciation for what goes into making something out of clay. There is much time invested in following a piece through each step of throwing, drying, trimming, embellishing, firing, glazing and firing again. In the end there is this thoughtfully produced object, both beautiful and practical that will likely long outlast me. I really like that.

I would like to eventually think about a relationship between cloth and bowl or cloth and vessel - lots of possibilities there. Goals for this class - maybe four good size bowls of a very similar size and shape possibly resembling a set. That would be really nice. Also maybe a pie plate, we like pie.

connection

I am really excited about what I have been working on, just a little bit at a time. I have been feeling like I have finally figured something out - like I could think, draw, paint, stitch and daydream about it forever and never run out of inspiration. It's the feeling that keeps us going on anything, right? Like everything I have made up to now has led to this and that these little ideas might help me work out everything I have been stuck on. It all boils down to connection, so that's what all of these will be called for now, so I can keep track of them. I might just be working on them in the background with emphasis on details now and then. I have thoughts of one day sharing them with someone(s) around here in person, accompanying them out into at the very least the local world. I am thinking it might be nice if they hadn't already been everywhere without me.

link

:: When I posted this earlier today I thought I had it all figured out, but I don't. I am unable to sign in to comment on typepad or wordpress as I used to. I have tried everything that is suggested in such a situation but it's not working. So I have been around to visit, just unable to say hi. ::

studio mates

It's nice having company in here. They sleep and watch the bird feeder and then sleep some more. 

Eva was making that hunting clicking noise yesterday, while watching the birds flying above and then down to the feeder. It's the first time I've heard her do this.

Next week I will tidy the studio to start the year. Bring the things I really need out in the open and put everything else away.

unexpected

It's a snow globe kind of day here - very beautiful - even as I am daydreaming of spring.

...and back to the leaves

I copied the winter sketch from the previous post onto a fabric block and stitched most of the lines on the machine as I had planned to do. It wasn't quite right, I didn't like it as I had liked the drawing, which was frustrating because I was sure I had it all figured out before I started. I even tried 2 more times working with other colors, less machine stitching, still not right. Something was lost after I planned it out so carefully, or because I did.

Last night I drew branches and oak leaves directly onto a fabric block and started hand stitching the lines. I stitched a little more on it today. Feeling much better.

I always have very high expectations for the start of a new year and new work and that always makes it tricky.

I will be following some simple lines for awhile because lately it's been too easy to think too hard about everything. All is a little muddled.

It's too soon to start thinking about spring, but that's also what I am going to do.

winter sketch

My boys are on day 4 of school days missed due to the gorgeous heavy snowfall on Sunday and the temperature drop that followed the next few days. A lot of snow that's not going anywhere. We played outside today and stayed oh so comfortably warm at 20˙F compared to the -15 of Monday and even colder with windchill. How fast our sense of "cold" has changed.

I love being snowed in. I am comfortable in the rhythm of outside to play and gather wood and move snow and then inside to warm up by the fire and eat (homemade bread and pie!). I love it as a separate thing from Spring, because I love that too, but this is nice. However, we did not lose power in the snowstorm as some of our friends did and that would be another story. Hoping everyone has made it home safe and warm.

Plans for stitching the seasons in progress. More soon.

snow

Eva

Three weeks ago a friend and I found a black and white kitten meowing loudly, shivering and sneezing huddled up beside the front steps of my house. There have been efforts to find out wether she is someone's lost pet but no replies. From the start she has acted like she has never known anything other than living with a big furry dog and two little boys constantly interrupting her naps and carrying her around. She already looks less like a kitten and more like a long lean cat.

I love her loud loud purring (the boys call this her motorboat) and the deep brown tiger stripes that are showing up in her black fur. Her quiet moments of contentment are contagious.

Stitching attracts the quiet company of my animals so I thought I would take a moment to introduce her here, as I am sure she will show up often.

The beginning of my new year of stitching is likely further postponed due to the expected arrival of ridiculously cold temperatures here these next few days which may extend the boys' holiday break from school a day or so. Today we will play in the snow.

first day :: new year