Barn O’Copia

September 28, 2006

I had a lot of momentum working on this quilt last week, when we had to leave town suddenly to attend the memorial service for a friend who passed away unexpectedly. It was in Pennsylvania, and having other business on the east coast we decided to drive, ten hours one day and five the next.

Since I can’t read or work in the car without getting car sick, I tried something different. Russ told me about another artist who visualizes ideas in early in the morning in bed with his eyes closed. So I reclined in the truck wrapped in my fluffy pillows and visualized two new quilt ideas, one actually in color.

Pennsylvania is really beautiful country to drive through — lots of scenic farms, so I also collected some ideas for my rather barren-looking farm by trying to shoot blurry photos of barns out the car window. Russ said I shouldn’t be doing this while driving though, and took the camera away. I’ll have to add a silo to my barn because I saw them everywhere.

Some telephone poles and a dented mailbox might be fun to add too and help create that empty-country-road look that I imagined when I started this project.

Here’s how I left things last week. I’m still struggling with what alien flight uniforms look like, but if it were up to me would include mock turtlenecks, my favorite wardrobe basic. I’ve also re-drawn and re-cut that silly road twice. Sometimes what looks okay in a really small drawing doesn’t look so good when it’s blown up to about five feet across. Maybe the telephone poles will help.

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Houston Calling

September 19, 2006

Quilts Inc. called today and left a message. My quilt won a cash award. I wonder what it is???? I’m happy, but won’t know what it is until the end of October at the International Quilt Festival.

Ever have trouble deciding what to wear? Stripes are slimming, but then bold prints make such a great statement…hmmm, maybe I just need some more alien accessories.

I was kidding about being abducted by aliens last week. The current project may have been inspired by listening to the B52’s greatest hits cd too many times. They did several funky space songs that are a good accompaniment to cutting fabric.

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A New Project

September 17, 2006

Here’s the beginning of a new project. Lately I’ve been selecting fabrics and finishing a new drawing while I’m quilting another project, so the next one is all ready to go. And working at least four hours a day in the studio. You can get a lot done if you put in four hours a day consistently.

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Illustration Friday: Farm

September 12, 2006

This week’s theme for Illustration Friday is “Farm.” By coincidence, I was already working on a drawing about when I was abducted by aliens, and the drawing had a farm in it. Also a cow, a sheep, and some crop circles.

I imagine when aliens travel, they do all the same things we do on road trips…like nap and eat junk food. These aliens are drinking Tang and eating white powdered donuts, one of my favorite travel foods.

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Barefoot in the Studio

September 9, 2006

I like summer in the studio, because I almost always take off my shoes to work. So even though I’ve had to dress up for some meeting or other silly reason, when I kick off my shoes I immediately feel more creative. Now I know when you’re probably thinking — oh horrors, what about the pins and needles??!! But I do try hard to keep track of those things so there’s no loose ones in the carpet.

Going shoeless is also good for sewing, because I have more control of the foot pedal on my sewing machine when I’m barefoot.

Here’s the new work that I’m getting ready for quilting. It’s titled “It’s Only a Leaf” in honor of the outrageous case of poison ivy that I got earlier this year. My doctor said it was the worst case he had seen all summer!

I usually start a piece like this by throwing some fabric on the floor to get an idea for the color palette, then move to the design wall as I cut out the figures. I take a lot of photos as I work, and it’s fun to look them over in the evenings to decide what I want to add the next day. I’ve organized the photos into a slideshow and you can see the sixteen-second version of how I got to this point.

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