Lists: to do

Flying away....

Due to the death of a friend, I am off on a short trip until next Monday. Check back for an update on my co-operative "healing blanket" project....my version of a Knitalong. Plus hopefully a photo or 2 of the baby blanket I'm knitting--which is accompanying me on the trip--and since I have a 2 hour layover both directions in the Seattle airport--I should get quite a bit of knitting done...

Tree Quilt--Work in Progress (WIP)

So here is my last 2 days of the CREATIVE EVERY DAY challenge.

This small "quilt" is titled HOMAGE TO TREES and is part of a series of small mixed media (fabric and paper) quilts I am making on the theme of the Earth and the Environmental Crisis. This is a creative work in progress or WIP.

I started with a vintage deck of Tree Spotter cards
---stitched some cards together, added batting and a fabric backing--and now I'm working on embellishing with buttons, beads and embroidery. I will use the green leaf fabric as a border---and plan to hand quilt the borders....











"I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do." --Willa Cather

Sweater WIP

sweater front

This is one of those projects I have had going for several years--a gift for my oldest daughter---and every so often she gives me some flak about "just when are you going to finish my sweater?"...as you probably could guess---I'm making this one up (as I go!) and using up scraps and bits of yarn I saved for years---so much of it is primo silk/wools and angora that costs too much to buy now. I was a handweaver for years, and saved left over yarns from weaving projects, so I have included mohair, wool, silk and angora yarns in this cardigan. And whew! all those ends are going to be a pain to weave in at the end...



sleeve and half of the front

And now she wants me to create a hood for this sweater, and I plan to edge the front and create a closure (with buttons) with a crocheted edging. I'm thinking about lining this sweater---so I can avoid weaving in all the ends---is this cheating? what do you other knitters think? I guess I'm going public with this too give myself the push I need to finish this project--which has been languishing in my WIP (wip = work in progress) pile for too darn long.

R is for Ripple Rainbow

Don't know why this baby blanket is taking so darn long to finish...maybe because I only crochet on it while I'm watching TV? ---and I don't watch very much TV.....

Crocheted with wool scraps and left over bits from other projects---the beige, gold and browns I dyed (an eon ago) with natural plant dyes.

June Bead Journal Update

Awhile ago I joined the Bead Journal Project (you can read more about this project here) -- started by noted beading teacher Robin Atkins---and so here is a peek at how far I am on my June bead journal page. Getting very close to finished--just 1/2 the border around the edge to go...

Yeah--I know, I know--it is July now--but I have resigned myself to the fact that I may not finish each beaded page during the month it is started. We are supposed to make one beaded journal page a month--and I will do this--but the creation of the various pages will undoubtedly overlap some months--and I am ok with that. Some journal pages will probably have more beading on them than others--so will take longer to complete --like this one! which now is about nine-tenth completed. I have decided to not start July's page before the June page is completed, however--because I know myself well enough to know that this one will languish, while I become enamored with the new one I'm working on. I think the Yarn Harlot calls this syndrome "startitus"---and I have the disease bad...always starting new projects, and so have several projects on my "WTBF" (waiting to be finished) shelf. I suffer from "too many ideas--never enough time;-)" and summer traveling, music camps, music festivals and so on seem to get in the way. I just haven't found an easy way to take all the beads and supplies I need for bead embroidery on a trip...it is so much easier to pack some bead crochet, or socks to knit...

and here is a close up (I find beadwork hard to photograph with my point & shoot camera... the colors just are not correct here, and the bead reflect so much light...and this whole piece is really very much greener than this photo--like the lush forest greens of Southeast Alaska)

New Bead Crochet

New bead crochet--orange leaves and fringes....a choker to wear to my daughter's graduation...she's finished her Masters! and this just happens to go with the dress I'm wearing--so I finished it, just in time! and it seems only fitting that the big carved leaf was a gift from my other daughter....

Happy Graduation Kesia! and much Congrats from your Mom! you are precious and will give much to the world.

A note on technique: the free form fringes were added on after I completed the bead crochet.

New Projects

Ripple crochet scarf in various wool yarns (some natural dyed by me about 15 years ago!)--I just need to weave in all the ends, then it will be sent off to the Afghans for Afghans project. They accept not only afghans--made of wool--but hand knit or crocheted (from wool) baby blankets, hats, vests, mittens, socks and scarfs to help keep Afghani people warm.


Some beading in progress (WIP)--this one is a small bead embroidery...rather freeform, as I am just letting the piece lead me...


This one is right angle stitch, then embellished--playing around with a freeform right angle sampler....

Quote for today: "To be on a quest is nothing more or less than to become an asker of questions. " ---Sam Keen

Studio Walls

This morning I decided to share some images from my small art studio walls; some of these are works in progress, some are studies for larger fabric designs, some are just unfinished drawings(or "doodles"), and some are unfinished beaded pieces. Those of you who know me (in person) know I doodle all the time--rather obsessively. I fill notebooks, and sometimes a doodle becomes a fabric design or morphs into a large painting...and or course in between the partially finished pieces, are inspirational quotes and bits of beadwork I have picked up at thrift stores and garage sales. To some, my studio walls may look cluttered--but I only hang up images or pieces that I find pleasing to my eye--and the walls are constantly changing; I think of it as a sort of art-in-progress collage.








This beaded white owl I am creating by embedding the seed beads in wax---someone gave me this bird's nest they found---the nest and finding the "white owl" cigar box were inspiration for this piece. For awhile now I have been doing art mostly about animals and our natural world because much of the time our only interaction with wild animals is destructive to them or their habitat. I believe we must find new ways of thinking and seeing that allow us to approach our relations with other creatures in a way which balances our power over them with the dignity, reverence, and gratitude every living creature deserves.



If you read my bio here, you know I spent over half of my life working on commercial fishing boats in Alaska--hence I have a life-long fascination with sea creatures and mermaids, and with whales, and all aspects of ocean life. Mermaids tend to show up my my artwork quite often--this is only a "doodle" sketch in pen/ink, colored pencils and water color gouache.

Knitting and Community

(I am still on vacation!) So far, what an enjoyable trip I am on! I am knitting away on each leg of the journey--nothing like train and jet travel and train stations and airports to help one catch up on knitting projects. I find I enjoy knitting while watching and listening to people (all strangers) in both train stations and airports. Knitting also seems a great way to break the ice---folks who would normally not notice me as they wait for their airplane--let along talk with me--now ask me: "What are you making?" and then we get nicely acquainted. Since I am convinced that alienation from others is one reason our country and culture is so seemingly neurotic and violent, I am pleased when my creativity sparks conversations with strangers in public spaces. Hooray for knitting! if it helps foster a sense of community--even in an airport.

Yesterday I was sitting in a small Cafe--above a a nice local independent Bookstore---enjoying some tea while I knit, and two women approached me with their knitting bags and said--"We just had our knitting group meeting downstairs--you should join us!" they seemed quite disappointed when I told them I did not live there, but was only visiting. Ah! we are now everywhere...no longer do we feel we must hide out at home in front of the telly--but we proudly knit in public! and then we talk to anyone who will listen about our knitting. Who knew that a knitting revival could make such a difference? (well, maybe Elizabeth Zimmerman knew this) I feel blessed to be able to help spread the word how knitting together can help heal our fractured culture.

My own needlecraft group--which meets once a month at my house---very often is a time of healing or supportive advice for one of us, as well as a place where we help each other with our knitting or other needlecraft. I have now begun to knit with my ritual morning coffee---knitting while awakening is quite a meditative process, and a pleasant way to begin the day. I like beginning the day with a project where I can see immediate tangible progress accomplished. (oh! look! another 2 inches knit!)

Movin' On...

"There are two different kinds of people in this world: those who finish what they start, and" 
---Brad Ramsey

Ok--it is the day after Christmas now! WE ARE OVER IT and movin' on...no wait! we still have New Year's Eve and New Year's day! will it never end? Just celebration after celebration--which is why I call it the Holidaze.

I have resolved (this is not my new year's resolution--I will bloggin about that later in the week;-) to use this week to clean my office/art studio, clean out files and cabinets, set up new files for the New Year and wrap up any loose ends. Also, in all this whirlwind of end-of-the-year cleaning--I will clean up and organize the art studio space--which looks right now like a hurricane hit it. Start 2007 with an organized studio! wow!

This is also a time when I finish up those needlework projects I started months ago like these socks, the heels are turned, not far to go..



And this VERY UNFINISHED art quilt---I call this one ARTIST'S BRAIN, note that in the brain forefront is the word PROCRASTINATION, while at the back of the brain--near the neck-- the largest section is CREATIVITY, and below that a brain portion titled PERSEVERANCE, well I'm going to persevere this week.....