Dog Days

Are you keeping cool?  It's tempting to just stay indoors in the AC but Cassie and I still venture down to the garden a couple of times a day to pull a few weeds, enjoy the view, and contemplate the miracle of a flower.  It's nice and shady down there early and late, although since we took down that huge oak in the spring, there's been several hours of direct sunlight in the afternoon, allowing for the waterlily and trumpet vine to finally produce some flowers.  Hooray!  All that hard work and expense paid off in blossoms.

Cassie likes to gaze into the pond for another reason too:  the frogs.  This week, there are two rather small ones, but they're fast.  She likes to watch them float up to the surface, then she puts her nose almost on top of them, and they zoom away.  Then the process starts all over again.  Can you see the little guy's head sticking up out of the water?

And aren't those waterlilies breathtaking?  I just love the layers of arrow-shaped petals tinged with pink and the bright yellow center - just gorgeous!

     You're probably wondering what else I've been doing for the past two months, besides admiring the flowers.  I have to admit, I have been doing a lot of gardening and other yard work, especially when the weather is not too hot.  Our yard has several huge challenges: the slope of the land, very poor clayey soil, and deep shade behind the house.  In the last few years, my DH has been driving his little ATV up and down the hill (it was a  huge help when we were putting in the garden three years ago) and that has eroded the soil on the sloping path from front to back.  Last summer he spent a lot of time and effort trying to dig "French" drains, but I'm not sure they're working as well as we hoped.  I'm furiously planting english ivy and spreading pachysandra in an effort to slow things down in the planted spaces, but the path has been quite an ongoing challenge.

Our front yard also has some challenges.  We had a trampoline here for a year or two (because it's almost the only somewhat flat spot) and that caused part of the grass to die off.  Rather than replace it, we decided to expand the front foundation garden, which was overcrowded anyway.  So late this spring, we defined the area with edging, and moved some of the smaller bushes out. I scattered some seeds that my daughter picked up and I put in some marigolds and salvia to help get us through the rest of the summer.  We'd eventually like to put in a small flagstone patio area, just enough for a small table and two chairs, so we can sit out here on in the sun on warmer afternoons in the spring and fall. And then I'd love to fill it with perennials, like an old fashioned country garden.  The front gets a good deal of sun so we can actually plant dahlias, hollyhocks, sunflowers, and all kinds of colorful, tall bloomers!  Next year...

And of course, the summer is also the busiest time of year for the Youth Services dept. of the library.  I worked four days a week for the last 6 weeks and when I got home, I often just wanted to sit and chill out with a cold drink and a good book.  And of course, my DH has been traveling again, which leaves me in charge of our 3 lovelies.  They're pretty self-sufficient at this point, but still need a parent around.  I've been doing quite a bit of reading as well, now that I'm leading one of the adult book discussion groups.  Among my favorites this summer were Clara and Mr.Tiffany by Susan Vreeland, The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (which will be released in the movies in October).  Looking forward to that!

And yes, I have been puttering around my art table now and then, but not as much as I'd like.  Norma guessed correctly when she said my plan is to make a library.  All summer, I've been collecting discarded books and their jackets and cutting them up for collage.  I'm making progress, but it's slow, and I think I'll still need more.  Luckily, titles cannot be copyrighted, and I'm using mostly the book spines and trying to choose texts that are old enough to be in the public domain.  I'm considering adding some color with paint and stitch, after everything is glued down.  It's very slow going.  Our deadline is Sept. 8th, so I still have a few weeks.  Now that work isn't as hectic, I hope I'll have more energy to continue working in the evenings.

Emerging

It's hard to believe April is here already!  Where did the month of March go?  I was a bit under the weather the entire month, coming down with the flu early in the month, then fighting that lingering cough, which eventually became pneumonia last week.  I'm finally getting my energy back and have caught up on most everything around the house (with the help of all my wonderful family) so now it's time to catch up on the blog!

Even though I was not very energetic last month, I did manage to finish my final "Fiber Fall" chain, this one with the Earth theme.  A portion of it is laid out on my worktable below.

Something put it into my head that I should add a little hand stitching to these, so before I strung them together, I added some detail with pearl cotton.  I didn't embellish every rectangle, but I did do quite a few.  It added a little more textural interest and kept my hands busy while I was on the mend.  These will be hanging in the NSQG spring show early next month, along with all the others made by my fellow FANErs.  I'm excited to see them all hanging together.

Of course, another great thing to do when you're lying in bed not feeling well is READ and I certainly did my share of that last month!  Some of my favorites were The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (a fabulous non-fiction choice), The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (a mystery by J.K. Rowling under a pseudonym), The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, and The Hired Girl, a fabulous YA novel by Laura Amy Schlitz.  I also read Where'd you go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple for the Light Bite book club that I lead at the Mahopac Library, and I just started The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.  So I kept busy while I was resting!

And now spring is here and I'm anxious to get outside in the garden again.  We've had a few mild days here and there and I was so thrilled to see snowdrops, crocuses, and these little purple star-shaped flowers.  I transplanted them all last spring and it was lovely seeing my efforts yield some beautiful blooms!  These little purple things (don't remember what they are- will have to look them up) are all over the front lawn and I hope will spread as much down in the back.

As happy as I was to see things emerging and growing, I also see lots of things that need work.  We had a couple of days of heavy rain in February and March that resulted in lots of silt washing over the pebble path as you can see below.  I'll have to see if I can clean it up a bit one of these days.

Also we've had a shade problem in our backyard almost since we moved in, and that was twenty years ago!  There are so many tall trees we could take down to give the area more light, but it's outrageously expensive, as well as disruptive to the lawn and garden.  I've singled out this one very large oak that would give us the most bang for our buck and that will probably be coming down sometime this month, before it leafs out.  I'm looking forward to getting some much-needed light back there (but heaven knows how we'll deal with all the branches.  We have neighbors that will take the larger pieces to burn as firewood but the tree guy said the piles of branches will fill the yard if we don't chip them!).

In addition to that, I want to finally finish the stone steps we started last year.  We've been scrounging the yard for large flat stones that will work as steps and have finally located another 3 or 4 that should bring us up to the top.  That'll be nice to have done!

So we've certainly got our work cut out for us as far as the yard and garden go... I think I could keep a full-time gardener quite busy!  But after the weekend, the weather here is supposed to get chilly again, so I'll refocus on interior things a bit longer.

Summer Blues

The last few days have brought us beautiful sunny weather, so I decided to try making some innovative sun-printed fabric for my innovative project.  I splashed some diluted Setacolor paints onto some prewashed, damp fabric, then lay it in the sun and covered it with various flowers, ferns, vines, and pieces of lace.  I covered a portion of it with an acrylic plate to keep the plants flat.  Then I waited.

 
After a while, I couldn't resist taking a little peek.  It seemed to be working.  Under the leaves, it's lighter, as the sun draws the paint away from the areas in shadow.

Here is the fabric after the paint was completely dry and the plants and things removed.  I've had better results from sun printing, but I did get that great clear fern print in the right corner.

I decided to augment my white shadows with actual plant prints.  I gathered some more leaves and flowers, some diluted white acrylic paint, and a brayer.

The resulting prints added some clearer detail, interest, and depth to the fabric.

I've also been stitching these daisies in the evenings, so . . .

I now have a good selection of collage materials to use in the "Summer Blues" quilt, including an old photo of my sister and myself on vacation (circa 1967?) printed on fabric, the back pocket from an old pair of jeans, and the laced edge of an old cotton summer shirt I used to wear.

I even started looking through my ribbons and rick-rack to see if any of it might be included.  It's a start!

Seeking Inspiration

 As I've been going about the busy-ness of daily life (senior prom, end of school exams, prep for summer library programs, graduation, fourth of July, keeping up with the house and garden), I've been mulling over ideas for my next piece.  The only requirements are that it measure 18"x36" hung vertically, it can be considered "innovative fiber" (the title of FANE's next show), and it must be finished and photographed by Sept. 4th.  So the sky is pretty much the limit as far as subject matter, materials, color choices etc.  Maybe it's too wide open and without a hook to hang anything on, I find myself searching for inspiration.

Spending so much time outdoors and being a nature lover, I usually look there first.  My DH and I have been building these stone steps through the fern hill in our backyard (well truthfully, he's been doing most of the work... those rocks are heavy!) and they might make a nice subject rendered in fiber.  It would fit the vertical format as well.  I could put some inspirational words in there as well, something about climbing, working toward a goal... hmmm, a possibility...

Plants and their infinite variety are always inspiring.  I love the bright fuchsia of this astilbe

 and the rich deep reds and pinks of this coleus.  But for some reason, these colors don't resonate with me enough.

Greens are more my style.  Maybe something in the fern family?  Ferns are so graceful...

I looked through back copies of Quilting Arts magazine to get ideas, (lots of great inspiration there, and suggestions to make my work more innovative)

 and I visited the blogs of several inspirational artists, including Jane Lofazio and Jamie Fingal.  Very inspirational!

Of course, I also went through my stash to see what jumped out at me.  As usual, I was drawn to the blues.  That bright daisy print in the lower right of the photo just looked so happy and summer-y.

I finally settled on making my next piece convey the happy, carefree feeling of summer, with a palette inspired by the sky and the daisies!

Now that I have a little to go on, I can start working a few minutes a day, even if it's just to place some fabrics on my design board and move them around, paint or write something on fabric, or take a few stitches.  The fun can begin!

Spring III

My third piece (out of 5) for the FANE cube project is just about finished!  Once Easter was over, I was able to spend my days off buckling down on the applique of the grape hyacinths (don't you just love a lawn inundated with grape hyacinths in early spring?).  I had fun using a variety of purple fabrics and snuck a small piece of batting beneath each one so that when I did some detail quilting, they look a little puffy.  Here is a detail shot.

 I also stitched among the grass to add some texture and color, then filled in some of the spots with gel crayons.  I decided it needed a touch of yellow, as well as something in the sky, so I decided on three of those little pale yellow cabbage butterflies.  I think they add just the right touch.  The largest one in the foreground still needs to be stitched down.  I'm happy with the way it's turning out, although there are some things I would change (as usual).  I'm learning, having fun, and making art which is good enough for me.  Now I have just two more to knock off!  Hope I can keep the momentum going for the next two weeks...

Good Things!

Snowdrops!  There's still a good deal of snow in the backyard and I wandered down there this afternoon to give Cassie a little fresh air and playtime and there they were, pushing themselves right up out of the snow!

Seems like a miracle, since the big picture still looks very bleak and wintry.  Sometimes you have to look very closely to find the bright spot!

Meanwhile, I received these bright beautiful blooms from one of my little fans at the library.  We just finished up the winter session of children's programs so she gave me these as a little thank you.  They just made my day!  Now they're brightening up the whole kitchen.

After working out this morning, I stopped into Homegoods and picked up this cheerful tablecloth.  I received a birthday giftcard a while back and finally found something I could use!  It will be perfect for Easter coming up, and for the spring in general.

And it goes perfectly with the mantle decorations I put up a few weeks ago - all those pinks, yellows and greens.

 I also saw this neat metal container and picked it up as well.  I hope to fill it with some flowering plants and put it on the front step just to perk up the entryway a bit.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, I finished the robins. . .

. . . and I started on the next piece.  I painted the background with various acrylic inks and paints.  First I did a thin wash, then I added some grass-like texture, first with a brush, then using the edge of a bent piece of cardstock as a stamp.

I added some more in a darker shade of green, with less water in the paint so the grass has more definition.  Now comes the real work... adding the applique focal point flowers.

More Spring Color Therapy

On my way to the grocery store this afternoon, I stopped into the Carmel Flower Shop to smell the roses - and tulips, and ferns, and all the other beautiful growing things!  This is what greeted me when I walked in the door:

Isn't that a sight for sore eyes?  Here are some other beautiful displays:
Planter baskets...

Easter bunnies...

and this adorable bird nest planter!

There are many of these lovely apothecary jar terrariums (terraria?) with cute little figurines in them.  Can you see the little hedgehog and ladybug?

The store sells jewelry, scarves, scented soaps, and other gifts as well as these lovely books.

It was like a mini vacation!