I had to go to New Harmony yesterday for a meeting about our annual studio tour. I left early so that I could spend some time wandering the town and taking pictures for future collages. I came upon this. I had never noticed it before.
Something to think about, eh?
Last week I was working on getting some things ready to sell. I often do events in New Harmony, IN and have a lot of photographs from that historic tourist town. I decided to start a series of collages from photographs that might be appealing to visitors to the area.
Stories of New Harmony: Brick, log cabins mixed with modernity.
I haven’t blogged here since November 4th…how can this be? I guess I’ve just been busy.
First I was out of town for several days vending at a quilt show in Columbia, MO. I just want to give a great big thank you to the girls of the Boonslick Quilt guild….they did a great job…their show was awesome…and they were so helpful to the vendors. And believe me I needed help. Having never been to Columbia, I was lost as a goose trying to get around and find my hotel room. The problem lay with the fact that I misread the map. I was beginning to think I was going crazy.
Here’s my booth set up.
I was very pleased with my sales. I had a wonderful Mexican meal and margarita on Saturday night with some of the vendors, made new friends, then drove half way home and stayed the night with my friend Vicki. We had a wonderful visit together (hope it was for her too) and then I came home on Monday. It was a great weekend. It was just a very fulfilling weekend. Maybe I need to get out more?
Then the race was on to get ready for Select Collections. I still had plenty of sewing to do since I was making table runners and table napkins from hand printed cloth. I also finished two new pieces of art. Here’s one. I need to photograph them both now that they are finished. This is Fragments #5b. That’s right, 5b. And there’s a #5a and #5c, but that will have to wait. The reason for the odd numbering is because all three are from the same piece of cloth and actually FIT together, although one would never have to purchase them that way. They measure approximately 17″x 14″.
On the second day of Select Collections I had to leave to go home for the holiday celebrations with families. We were gone til Monday. On the actual Thanksgiving we helped out at our church and my husband had a long weekend off work. The most I got done is some cleaning and laundry. The following week (this week) I made a trip back to Evansville to do some shopping and pick up all of my work from Select Collections. I am now settling in and doing some ART!!! Yeh! About. Time.
Of course this coming weekend is Christmas in Harmony. Find me and other artisans at the lovely Granary on Granary Street.
I’ve been so busy and have not posted for awhile…shame on me! I think I will show you what I have been up to rather than tell you….
Decatur, IL – Tree Huggers Exhibit in front of the Decatur Arts Council–On my way to the quilt show one morning, I shot these pictures.. this was interesting to see!
Back home….loading new stencils from the Crafter’s Workshop in my etsy shop...these are totally fun to pattern cloth with…
Tea dying and color dyeing silk ribbon for a doll show….
…and dyeing doggie hoodies….
…and working on some artistic silk scarves for upcoming art fair…these have been dyed a base color, then stamped with soy wax, then painted with dye paint and are batching…
Silk scarves are my “practice” work…not only do I get to know the different types of silks, but I get to “play” and practice with designs and colors. Still have lots of different things to do and I will show you as I go along while I get ready for the art fair. But…today I think I want to make some paper/cloth…after I go to town and run some errands…later!
I made these little cell phone/credit card pouches last week.
I had 6 of them…before a nice new Facebook friend purchased 4 of them. Then I went to the New Harmony fair and sold 1. The other one sold yesterday in my Etsy shop. So last night I was scrambling around trying to make a few more. You see, these bags came out of playtime in my sewing room last week just using the scraps from the other bags I made. The scrap pieces were already layered and stitched; they just needed to be pieced together and then sew the bags. That made it easy. To make more, I have to layer and quilt a piece of cloth, maybe add more stuff to the cloth, then make the bag. I was scrounging around through my unfinished pile last night to see if I could find something already quilted…and I did. These were made from a collage that just never did work for me. I loved the cloth, but never could get it to come together so I cut it up last night and made these…
The bottom one is sold and I am awaiting her buttons to sew on it. The other two are in my etsy shop. One has a cool dark green antique button on it and the other has a dark brown one.
The Artisan’s Fair at New Harmony was better than last year in sales. Maybe everyone was really scared last year and they aren’t so much this year. The crowd wasn’t massive, but there was a fairly steady flow of people and they were buying. I sold several scarves each day. Although not blockbuster, I am pleased with my sales.
To purchase one of the two bags in the last picture, click here.
…for everyone! This is a kitty Christmas stocking. A friend from church posted a picture on Facebook of these, but got them a long time ago. Therefore, she could not tell us where to get them. So I went and made my own version, using red fleece and some furry white felt (I forgot the name of it). Joann’s didn’t have fur in white; that would have been nice.
Got new glasses this past weekend.
The piece of artwork I was working on has fallen by the wayside. Maybe I will just paint over the whole thing and start over. Geesh, I hate it when I get lost on work…seems like it takes forever to come back to it and get somewhere.
Yesterday, I trimmed out the fleece and cut the edges of a blanket for my niece. It’s two layers of fleece and the edges are tied. I only tied three sides and I think I will stitch one end instead. That will be the top of the blanket.
Art fair coming up this weekend and studio tour the next weekend, but I’m not getting any more art done…however I am getting all my Christmas shopping and birthday shopping done, so that’s good. Today I may piddle around with some small ideas for handmade gifts. And I have one more rag quilt to make. Next week I will prepare my entry for Form Not Function for shipping…and perhaps ship it as well!
The December/January issue of Quilting Arts is chock full of exciting articles (at least they are for me). I can’t wait to dive in to them and try some new things.
Here’s where I’ve been spending a lot of time this week, working on silk scarves. That’s my messy table. I also did some breakdown printing. I’ll show ya’ that later.
This is my collaged piece, Surface Matters, in the Recycled exhibit at Rend Lake.
Arts In Harmony is this weekend. Scattered showers are predicted and 60 degrees tomorrow for a high. I may have to wear jeans and a sweatshirt at this rate. Here’s hoping for sales.
…to coin the words to a song…On Saturday I set up a small table at the farmer’s market in New Harmony. There was an antique show in town, so a crowd was expected. This market was the beginning of it all for me, so I try to make it a few times every summer. When it gets too hot, you won’t find me there. But I do like to be there on the opening day and we had glorious weather for it. The National Guard was in town as they had been sandbagging on the river all week. The rivers are rising and rising around here.
A couple was talking to the lady at the booth beside me. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. I had noticed the women from a side view. Then I heard a voice that I recognized…she was my roommate from our first year of x-ray school so long ago. She and her husband were out for the day. I don’t see her often, rarely, as a matter of fact. We lead very different, busy lives, even though they just live 20 miles away. Now, her husband is a busy guy. He has a grain farming operation and he does something else very interesting. He goes around reclaiming and cleaning up the stacks from mines that are no longer mining. These stacks are used for storing grain. The mine stacks in their town are next to the railroad tracks. See where I’m going with that? Easy transporting for grain.
Anyway, he took the day off to spend with her because it was a special day….their wedding anniversary. And I got to say that I was at that wedding 34 years ago! Thirty-four years ago on June 13, she and I (and others) graduated from x-ray school….and the next day on June 14, she married her sweetheart, whom we had all come to know and love. Another friend and I hosted their small reception at our place. Isn’t life strange…to coin the words of another song, that I would serenedipitously get to see them on their special day, the day that I was so much a part of so long ago. Their names are Virginia (she went by the name Bobbin) and Kenny Lasater. Happy Anniversary, you two!
Art Journal---A Creative Journey 