every-single-day

Um, I am a quilt artist!

Hi!!! Do I have any readers any more? Hi Judy, Jeanie, Deb, Mom!

I do make art, I really do! I just got back from filming two episodes of Quilting Arts TV. I didn't think I could post about it, but I was wrong. I will post about it in a couple of days, my camera pooped out (sorta figures, huh?) and I await images to create an entire post. It was an A-W-E-S-O-M-E experience.

But. Suprisingly, I came home feeling the need to work in my studio. Between just finishing the manuscript and prepping for the TV show and a magazine article, I have been flat out creative for 7.5 (almost 8) months straight. So when this drawing on silk organza came into being,I was suprised! And happy.

Oh Wait. This is an organza drawing on top of a previously printed piece of broadcloth. So the pink/yellow/orange is the broadcloth. The daisies are drawn in Procion MX dye on the organza.

This is an idea/style that I have been thinking about for a while. Pretty cool, huh?

Here is a detail:

Cosmic Loot

Perhaps the largess coming my way is due to it being my Birthday Month, or perhaps good karma is coming my way, This fantastically amorphous hat appeared with some books on spinning and a book of poems; The Very Stuff.

That last is a link to The Library Thing, a social networking site based on the books you have in your collection. You need an account, but it is EASY to get one and well...

Anyway. If Deb knew the 'Hat Climate', if there is such a thing, she would know that Flagstaff is the time and place for this hat!! And it is so very Deb, I love it. I think it is made of Recycled Sari Yarn, Crocheted, even.

I love it. I can have a pony tail and a short hairstyle all in one day. It makes me think of an octopus, and octopus are smart, sentient. Not to mention, pretty. But I digress.

A, who'd given me the spindle in the last post, also gave me a set of Hand Carders. Am I in yarn heaven? I may be having an identity crisis of passions. I am a fiber artist, need I limit myself to textiles only? You, dear reader, if you haven't fled from lack of posting in the last seven months, might think I had gone over to the knit side of the plank.

There is much happening behind the curtain, but I cannot speak of it or show it. Secret stuff. Good stuff. It is difficult to have done all this and not be able to show it.

And then there is JJ, who made and embellished a bunch of stuff for my birthday. Thanks J. I am very proud and happy for JJ. Glad she is a part of my life.

Old and New

David is home with me for good. We had some really deep talks, and decided that if we did not whole-heartedly try to make a go of living in the south-west, we would regret it for the rest of our lives. We have lived apart for long enough.

But while he was away I took photos and emailed them, we texted and kept in contact that way. One day I took a photo of this photo of a homemaking squirrel. That wad of stuff was as big as two golf balls and s/he was industrious! Super fun to see. But I never emailed the photos! So here you go, so as not to waste the fun.

And since finishing the manuscript, I have gotten firmly entrenched in a love of spindling. I swear, if something takes a long time to do and is somewhat monotonous, I will love doing it. Over and over again.

I have about 4 ounces of this roving. I bought it from a sheep who lives about a mile away. The woman who keeps the sheep has a blog. I drive by the area where she lives and can see the sheep. I like knowing where the sheep and the shepherdess live.

But do you see the nostepinne? JJ made it for me. I wound the skien of wool off yesterday morning. I am going to ply this yarn, when I have spun and equal amount. I have no idea if this will be enough yarn to make anything in particular.

Then my pal A, who hasn't given me permission to talk about her in this forum, gave me this bottom whorl spindle, need to learn more? It was her mother's and I do not know how old it is. It needs some love and care. Glue, in fact. But I sure wouldn't mind knowing what I am doing before going at it.

Hi.

Last week Barb Wills, Carol Soderlund and I taught at the Coconino Community College. The above photo is Barb Wills answering a students question.

Lorraine enjoyed Barb's class.

Carol had many happy students. She taught Color Mixing for Dyers. The class was quite well attended and had a waiting list!

And if you know anything about Carol and her approach, you know why her classes are so so well attended.

I taught too.

And here is a photo of my newest obsession. Spindling. This is keeping me calm and focused. Thank goodness. I need it.
I will be able to blog and show things again, more or less, anyway. I still have some super secret work (Can we call this work SS Melly? ) to do, but can start working on artwork for public viewing.
I have missed being able to blog. I love the immediacy of Show and Tell through the web. It has given me so much, great friends, a means to see my artwork outside my own mind and judgements, and a community of like minded souls.
Deb Lacativa passed two blogs on that have been favorites in the last month, Spirit Cloth, who makes me want to jump ship and make cloth like hers, and Needled. If you are still reading after this long hiatus and you have a fantastically inspirational blog, please, tell me about it.