Bedding and Beading

My artistic mojo has been a bit so-so since my last post.  I've been feeling compelled to plug away at the "Frolic!" mystery that Bonnie Hunter introduced in November.  I wanted to get it to a point where I had all the "moving" parts and could assemble it a bit at a time.

Why?  Because it's an elephantine-sized quilt.  How does one eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!  So...I've been trying to put the "meal" together in order to do that!

Those who follow this blog might recall that at the beginning of this month I'd come down with a serious case of "start-itis".  It has abated somewhat...because I've been working at what I started.  With respect to "Frolic!", here's where I am:

Clue 6 - DONE!

Clue 7 - DONE!

Clue 8 - All pieces cut!

Now...see that row-and-a-bit of squares?  Those have now been put into 4-patches with the blue-and-aqua Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) from the top photo (Clue 6)...and these from Clue 1:

And those four-patches PLUS the rest of Clue 6 are -- as of this post -- being assembled into 25 quilt blocks, each of which should finish at 12" square.

Considering that some of my art pieces for sale are each 12" square, well!  For me, those are BIG blocks!  For the record, I have five (5) assembled (no photos yet).

In other "bedding" news...I've cobbled together the last few rows of blocks for the centre of my postage stamp quilt, and hope to put the entire top together over the course of the next month...or so.

But there are other commitments...

And that brings me to "beading".

In my last post, I asked for feedback about beading both the 'sample' and the second piece.  Each of them were inspired by photos taken of trees in my yard in December, when we had a lovely bout of hoarefrost.

The general consensus was"BEAD!" -- both pieces.

So on Saturday, I did.  The first piece (shown here without the beads) was really my 'sample' and...sure enough, it finished too small (by fractions of inches) to be submitted to the SAQA Spotlight Auction fund-raiser.  BUT not so small that I can't have a mat cut for it and offer it for sale as a 'mini' at the Lacombe Art Show & Sale in April!

I love it when that happens!  😊




The second piece was larger -- mainly because the piece of hand-dyed fabric I had for the background was larger to start with -- so I beaded it too...and now it has been submitted to SAQA for the fund-raiser:

When I Look Up: December
Hand-dyed cotton, ink-jet printed from a tracing;
machine quilted, painted, hand-beaded.
Size: 6" x 8" -- to be matted
with a 4" x 6" opening

My dear friend who bought my piece entitled When I Look Up in the Spring has said she'll be bidding. Much as I'd love her to win it, I hope there's healthy competition!  😉

In other 'art' news...I got a chance to photograph the six remaining pieces from the "Inspired by Scotland" collection, currently hanging at the Alix Public Library and yes, available for purchase.  The librarian has to hang them up high based on the configuration of the space, but they still attract attention.  Look up.  Look 'wa-a-a-ay up!

Abbey Echoes I

(L) - Mended Wall: Stirling Castle
(R) View from Eilean Donan: Loch Duich

(L) Impressions of Portree
(Centre) Blossoms: Gardens at Clan Donald House
(R) Loch View: Inverness to Eilean Donan

And...this week our County Councillor called to tell me that someone from The County News would be in touch with me in March about my being chosen as "Featured Artist" for the Lacombe "Encore!" Art Show and Sale in April.

On the knitting front, where the "startitis" really hit...I've been dyeing yarn!  Some months ago, in a bag of yarn donated to The Shop, there were batches of unusual skeins of 100% wool -- 2-ply! from two different (and very long-ago) makers -- Munrospun "Morning Haze" in a natural colour (sorry, no photo) and Patons...

There was very little difference between the two.  Both were 100% wool.  Both were 2-ply.  And both were put up in skeins of long "sub-skeins", 28 grams each.  BUT the "Munrospun had been dyed an ugly old gold.

Y'all know I prefer magentas, blues, purples, hot pinks, teals...jewel tones.  So...what to do?  Dig out the dye!

A number of years ago now (maybe 8 or 10?)  I bought some acid dyes from the original owner of Pam's Woolly Shop of Stony Plain, Alberta -- now retired (her shop was bought by a long-time employee and is now known as Jo's Yarn Garden.  If you're in the area you might check it out!)

I bought it at a retreat where Pam had a 'pop-up' shop...and at a discount because it was 'old stock' even then.

Old wool yarn.  Old dye powder.  What did I have to lose?  Nothing...and everything...

So I dyed the entire batch -- 4 skinny skeins of 28 grams each (112 grams total) -- a Crimson...

The results?  The colour is deep, rich and glorious! Even over that ugly gold!

So...I sampled from partial skeins (about 10 - 11 grams each) of the natural-coloured Patons 2-ply fingering

:

Preparing the sample dye stock: Scarlet, Golden Yellow,
Warm Yellow and Turquoise

Four samples in four dye-baths...
in ONE pot of simmering water

As you can probably surmise by now, this is a process that requires heat.  I have done it in second-hand pots never used for food, on my kitchen stove.  I wear a mask to prepare the dye powder and water intial mix, but after that, all is well.  I use tongs to lift and stir -- never used for food.  And I can put this on heat and go about my day, checking in from time to time.  This is ACID Dyeing...and I use vinegar as my acid.  I dye till the dye bath is clear or almost so...and neutralize with baking soda -- testing with Ph strips I bought at the local pharmacy.  In the summer I would "sun dye" because the heat of the sun would work beautifully...but there are no excuses for not dyeing at -35 C outside...when you have a cozy kitchen and the right equipment!

What will I do with the results, you might ask.  I have long wanted to recreate one of the 'percentage system' pullovers designed by the inimitable Elizabeth Zimmerman, so...from her book Knitting Around I have chosen her "Seamless Yolk Sweater" -- see her chapters two and three.  I have enough skeins of the "natural" Patons to make the body, and plenty of the dyed yarn for the coloured yoke, from which I have selected Scarlet, Golden Yellow, Turquoise, some of the natural...and I have some black (natural from another supplier) if I need it.

I've cast on 316 stitches in the natural colour on a 2.75 mm x 32" (24 cm) circular needle...and have managed almost 1" of 2:2 ribbing.  This will be a Long, Slow Project.  Sort of like running a marathon, without the blisters and the sweat!  😉

I think that's enough news for now...so I will leave you with a wish for a lovely week -- no matter the creative journey you're on -- and with a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Just think!  Next weekend at this time we'll be watching for ground hogs and their predictions for those in wintry climes...  Hugs to you all and have a great week!

Two New Ones Up!

Can you handle two artsy blog posts less than a week apart?!  😉

Here goes...

Fridays this summer have often been an "Artist's Date" kind of day.  Today was no exception.  Having finished the two pieces I needed to replace the "sold" ones at the Camrose Art Walk, and having taken them in for framing, I had to pick them up today and deliver them to the Walk's organizer.

I invited my friend G along for the ride, for a bite of lunch and for a viewing of some of the other work in Section II of the Walk.

The artwork had to be picked up in Stettler, which meant approaching Camrose from the east end -- something I'd never done.  After meandering for some time -- and getting confused as to the order of streets and avenues! -- we found the Chuck MacLean Arts Centre and dropped the work off to the lovely and capable Jane Cherry, organizer of the Walk.

Starving (it was then after 1 p.m. and neither of us had eaten since early morning, a good 6 hours before) we went to Fiona's for lunch (and to admire more art).  We both agreed it was the best chicken noodle soup we'd had in a long time!

We followed that by crossing the street to see the art featured at Candler Art Gallery this time the work of Cindy Bouwers.  Getting into the car, we drove down to City Hall to enjoy the Paverpol sculptures of Beverly Oliwa and the wet-felted creations of Kathy Warren -- a student of Mary's in a wet-felting workshop last year!

From there, we went on up to the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta to see the work Mary and I had in the foyer of the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre -- and to my delight, those new pieces were already hanging in place.  Even lovelier was the news that Mary had sold another piece that day!

Here are those pieces, framed and labelled, in situ...

View from Eilean Donan: Loch Duich - (c) 2018
Needle-felt, commercial fabric,
machine quilted, painted,
mounted on stretched canvas.
10" W x 10" L

Loch View: Inverness to Eilean Donan - (c) 2018
Commercial fabric, wool felt, machine quilted;
applied to painted stretched canvas.
12" W x 12" L

We ended the afternoon with a bit of grocery shopping at the local Safeway, and our favourite coffee selections -- while viewing yet more art! -- at the Starbucks in the same outdoor mall complex.

All in all, a very satisfying day!

Have a lovely rest of the weekend, Gentle Readers.  Linking this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- with the hope that she's inspired to break through her current 'writers' block'!

Oh, What a Time It Was

The "detour posts" about my disconnected comments aside, I left off with a brief post as I was leaving for an "artsy" weekend south of Calgary with two good friends, visiting them at their new home (of about 18 months) on a small acreage in an area known as "Foothills" -- somewhere near Okotoks and Dewinton.

We had a lovely time!  Not much in the way of dyeing, painting or otherwise messing about, but a great deal of good conversation, long walks, good food, good books, and wonderful feasts for the eye: a yarn shop, a quilt shop, an art gallery, a museum and the Leighton Art Centre.

Tower Gallery,
Leighton Arts Centre

The latter is the place in which -- you may recall -- I hope to have a solo show -- and I was delighted to be able to meet the Curator, and have a wee chat.  I was also able to see the Tower Gallery, which is the space in which I'm hoping to show my work.

I'm rather relieved to realize it's not as large as it looks in this photo I found online!

The day after I returned from this mini-vacation, I was adopted by a stray cat.  The poor wee thing came to my door on the Tuesday evening around supper time -- likely drawn by the smell of the chicken I had on the barbeque.  It was very scrawny, a brown-black long hair with very matted fur, and what appeared to be an abscess on its left shoulder.

I got hold of a good friend who's very knowledgeable about animal care, and then got hold of my vet -- a stocky fellow of Ukrainian heritage and indeterminate age, who makes his living mainly with cattle and horses, but who has a soft spot for the smaller animals as well.  I arranged to bring "Mr. Cat" in the next morning.

Mr. Man Eating After Surgery

He weighed in at only five (!) pounds, even with all that fur, and the abscess turned out to be a tumour.  The vet anaesthetized him, shaved him as best he could to get rid of most of the matting, and removed the tumour, sending us home with antibiotics and instructions to come back in 2 weeks to remove the stitches -- but to keep him posted in between on progress.

The next week was a real challenge.  Miss Pookie wasn't at all happy about this interloper, whom I'd now named "Mr. Man" -- expanded to "Mr. Messy Man" as I watched him eat!  His tongue was not only swollen, it had an old wound -- a split -- that probably came from eating out of a can at some point.  He had trouble grooming himself, and confused his litter box and a 'nesting' box I'd set up for him.

It was a roller coaster experience, with the two cats sometimes tolerating each other, but more often than not, not doing so.  Cleaning up the widespread mess Mr. M. made when he ate -- and then watching that improve as he became re-hydrated and the swelling in his tongue went down.  He was a real lamb taking his liquid antibiotics, and letting me wipe his face after his meals (I had a face cloth just for him).

I slept poorly, sometimes with both on the bed with me, and sometimes worrying about Pookie, who spent more time than ever outdoors and seemed to be subsisting on air, as she was refusing her food.

And then...it was over.  Wednesday this past week, Mr. Man collapsed after a warm sponge bath (I was cleaning his nether parts as he'd managed to mess 'em up).  It appeared he'd had a stroke.  Back to the Dear Vet, who took him into a heated kennel, and said he'd try to feed glucose and see if Mr. M. would revive.

I had to be away that evening, so followed up with a phone call the next morning...but Mr. Man was gone.  He'd tried to stand in the kennel the evening before, but collapsed again, bleeding from his nose, and quietly succumbed to whatever abuses and illnesses he'd experienced.

A bouquet of comfort
from my good friend, G.

It never ceases to amaze me how loving a creature even for a very short time can be such a risk -- for relationships always involve risk of loss, with attendant grief and pain.

But there's no way around it; we must love anyway.

Blessedly, the comfort of good friends and the need to return to my work has restored my equanimity (for now!)

Inspired by Scotland -- A collaboration
with Mary Wilton 

The evening Mr. Man left us, I was at the Artists' Reception for the Camrose Art Walk, with my friend and colleague, Mary Wilton.  The event was held where our work is showing -- the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre -- which added extra excitement to the evening for us.

The attendance was not as great as expected, but the smoke from the fires in B.C. and Northern Alberta were having an impact on people's leaving home, as visibility was affected on the roadways, and breathing was a challenge for patrons with heart, lung and allergy issues.

Still, we met some very interesting folks -- and each of us ended the evening with two pieces sold!

I worked in The Shop on Thursday, and was in Sylvan Lake much of Friday, due in part to a meeting with a young woman in the Tourism area of the Town, working to establish an Artists' Co-op Gallery there.  She shared the concept with me, and gave me time to show her some of my work.  A very exciting prospect about which I expect to hear more in the fall.  Stay tuned!

Then Saturday -- back to work!  I'd been asked to replace the two sold pieces at the Art Walk, ASAP, please -- and so promised to do so by this coming Friday.  I called my framer, Andrea, and found out that she has enough moulding in stock to do at least one piece.  She'll also be able to get more moulding this week...and would get them framed so I could pick them up on a circuitous trip that will end up in Camrose on Friday afternoon.

I've never worked this quickly -- but by Saturday night I'd chosen my inspirational photos and had one 12" square canvas painted, and the background prepped for a 10" square piece.

This one has inspired the 12" x 12"...and is still under construction.

This one..."View from Eilean Donan"...

Has become this...

View frome Eilean Donan -  (c) 2018
10" x 10"
Wool, commercial fabric, paint.
Needle-felting, machine quilting, painted,
mounted on stretched canvas

So there you have it..."[the] time it was" in my life these past couple of weeks.  Probably pretty much like "[the] time it was" in your lives too, Gentle Readers -- ups and downs and sideways moves, love and loss, excitement mixed with anticipation and not a little joy.

I wish you fewer 'downs' and 'sideways moves' this next week or two -- and much more peace and joy.

Linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday..."see you" soon!

It's All Worth It (Long, But LOTS of Pictures!)

I'm talking about the 'bit of a slog' that I came through recently (and not for the first time), as well as the ongoing learning curve(s), the disciplining of The Voices (you know: the ones who ask you repeatedly, "Who do you think you are?").

It's all worth it.

In the month (!) since my last post, I've taken two workshops, visited several galleries, enjoyed a local quilt show in the company of a friend who's a new quilter, and finished the last five pieces for my contribution to Inspired by Scotland, my collaboration with SAQA colleague and dear friend, Mary Wilton, which opens at the 2018 Camrose Art Walk on July 24.

There's been travel and fun, and hard work, and education, some disappointment...and a couple of wonderful surprises!

Where do I start?

Hmmm....Perhaps with those pieces.

The first one I tackled turned out to be the most unusual (I think).  Part of the Scotland series, it was inspired by a photo I took out of a window at Hill House, built for publisher Walter Blackie and located just west of Glasgow -- one of Charles Rennie MacKintosh's most wonderful achievements:

I had a vision of how to do it that involved both piping (for the leaded glass) and a three-dimensional effect of the plant inside on the window ledge.

First, I auditioned the fabric and created the background, which I sandwiched and quilted:

I learned a great deal putting this together...because my sewing machine absolutely refused to rejoin sections if I insisted on using piping for both vertical and horizontal leading.  In the end, I used it for the vertical -- and bias tape for the horizontal.  Here's how it went:

First bit of piping.

 The lines of stitching you see in the photo above are the guidelines for where I cut the fabric -- yes, top to bottom! -- to insert each line of piping.  This process meant there were seams of piping on the back.

Whoa!  Look at those seams!!

I created the 'blossoms' for the plant by layering organza with water-soluble stabilizer (Sulky brand), stitching each shape twice with silk thread, and cutting them out individually before soaking off the stabilizer.

Petals pinned for attaching (by hand)

Here's how I dealt with the aforementioned seams on the back: I covered them up by stitching a piece of craft felt over them (by hand).

See the white lines on the blue craft felt?  Those were my guidelines for mounting the piece onto an 8" x 10" stretched canvas, coated with matte gel medium.

After consulting colleagues on the SAQA Members Only Facebook page, I took the plunge and mounted the 10"  x 13" piece (bound with a narrow black bias binding to match the other "leading") on an 8" x 10" canvas:

Through MacKintosh's Window: Hill House
(C) 2018

Here's the view from the side:

Of course, the piece will be wired to hang properly -- in the photos above it's just perched on a nail on the wall of my living room!

The next was a piece based on a close-up photo of a bit of mended wall at Stirling Castle -- the wall of one of the weavers' studios, as I recall:

I won't go into detail about my process for this one, save to tell you it involved cutting up a lovely batik into very tiny pieces and applying them to a white fabric substrate that had a fusible web coating (see below).  

I then sandwiched it, quilted it and -- using a technique similar to that described above -- mounted it on unpainted stretched canvas.  Here is is before framing:

Mended Wall: Stirling Castle
(C) 2018  (12" x 16")

At this point I took a break and went off to Olds College for a couple of classes at Fibre Week 2018. The first day was a long one -- dyeing fabric and yarn with plants and mordants -- and lead to one of the surprises I alluded to above.

On the second day I took a needle-felting (with some wet felting) class with a delightful instructor -- Lois McDonald-Layden -- who'd travelled from New Brunswick to share her vast knowledge of the subject via a variety of felting classes.  (I took only one but found myself surrounded by disciples who'd taken some already and were about to take more.)

I wanted to recreate -- or create an impression of -- this plant I'd photographed in the gardens at Clan Donald Centre (Armadale Castle, Skye):

P.S.: If any one of you, Gentle Readers, knows the name of this plant -- would you let me know?  Thanks!

We began by making our own "pre-felt" foundation -- layers and layers of merino top/roving, needle-felted together, gradually incorporating colours from our chosen background.

We then added more material -- different types and forms of wool -- to the surface to create a design, and needle-felted it securely:

At this point it was ready to be "set" by wet felting.  This we did by rolling it up in layers of small-bubble bubble wrap, inside a towel, around a pool tube, and rolling it back and forth much as one would roll out pastry for a pie -- but far longer and more aggressively!

In the end, it was 'set' -- and I was ready to go home!

Once home, I began to add the quilting I wanted, to give it definition:

And then I added embroidery:

I continued with the embroidery, enhanced by beading, until I had it the way I wanted it.  I steamed it a couple of times with my iron (from the back) and then mounted it on a stretched canvas painted black, with some hints of dark green:

Blossoms: Gardens at Clan Donald Centre
(C) 2018 - before framing (12" x 12")

Fourth piece?  Back to canvas, and another landscape, based on a photo taken on the road from Edinburgh to Eilean Donan Castle, early in our trip:

I began by painting the sky on the canvas, and then auditioning and shaping wool felt, which I layered and stitched together with machine quilting:

Layout and felting supplies!

 And here's the finished piece, photographed (rather poorly!) before framing.  Yes, it has a needle-felted foreground, and some whisps of roving applied directly to the "sky"...

Misty Road to Eilean Donan
(C) 2018  (12" x 12")

I decided to end the series with a 'soft' piece -- that is, one not mounted on canvas but hung with a sleeve -- and it's a miniature of a piece I finished in 2014 entitled "MacKintosh's Garden: Hardy to Zone 3".

This version is only 12" x 12".  

Mac's Garden: A Tribute to Charles Rennie MacKintosh
(C) 2018  (12" x 12"

Here it is on my design wall, to the left of the original:

And here is a detail shot:

I was blessed to have several of the fabrics I used in the original, so I incorporate them with new ones for this little piece.  The pieces each feature grids and the Glasgow Rose, both motifs associated with the work of CRM and his wife, Margaret.

"So what were the surprises?" you might be wondering.

Well...when I knew I was going to Olds, I set up an appointment with the owner of a gallery there, where I have several pieces on view.  I've dealt there for several years but this owner has only been there for a year.  I rushed to get to the appointment -- which she'd confirmed by e-mail earlier in the week -- only to find the place locked up tighter than a drum.

But...I'd spent that day in the dyeing class with a gal who just happened to be the owner of Points North Gallery -- a well-established frame shop and art gallery in Fort McMurray.  When I shared this with her...one thing lead to another and she looked at the pieces (four of them!), took them back to "Fort Mac" with her, and now a contract has been executed...and all is well!

Next...just last week I found out that the piece I'd "slogged" over -- "Incarnation to Resurrection..." -- was accepted into the SAQA Juried Show, "Season After Season"!!!  My daughter will be picking it up to take better photos -- for publicity purposes -- and I need to make a larger sleeve (5" instead of 4") and a new label (address included etc.)...so there's a bit of work to do there yet, but I'll have it ready to send by the end of August and it will go up in the exhibit at the Texas Quilt Museum in January.

This is my very first SAQA International Show (My Corner of the World: Canada is considered "Regional") -- so I am over the moon!!!

The last bit of news is that a small piece -- "In Green Pastures" -- has sold at my friend Kayleen's In Spire!  Boutique Yarn and Gifts...

So..."there's my 'three'" (based on the notion that events -- good or not so -- happen in threes)...for which I am truly thankful.  😊

And on that note, I've pretty well exhausted both of us -- writer and Gentle Reader -- so I will close, with wishes for a Happy Canada Day to my compatriots, and a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

May your week be lifted into light and creativity, wherever you are!

Making Progress

This week I've been making more fabric -- in the form of bed quilt tops.  Well...isn't that what we do when we cut up existing fabric, or piece scraps together?  Aren't we creating a new fabric?  😊

As an art quilter, I don't often make bed quilts, but the last year or two (or three!) I've had reason to make everything from comfort (lap) quilts to crib quilts to twin- and king-sized ones.  The latest crop of tops are twin-sized, and came about thus:

First, my daughter commissioned me to make one for the twin bed in her Air B&B single guest room, as the summer coverlet she had on it is wearing out.  (She has a double-bed room too, but its bedding is fine for now!)

Last summer we had a buying trip and got most of the fabric -- but as I was winging it on the calculations...well...let's just say I began it in earnest at the end of January and got only 1/2 the blocks needed out of the fabric on hand.  Blessedly, by my last post I was able to report that between us we found either exact matches or colour-ways that worked in beautifully, and that top is now ready to be quilted.

It was a not-so-easy Rail Fence.  Four rails (rather than the usual three) and "as random as possible, please, Mom."  (Hold that thought; I'm coming back to it in a moment.)

Nonetheless, I think it turned out well and hope she'll like it:

I call it "Random Rails" or "Fractured Fences" -- depending on my mood! 😉 With borders, it will measure 70" W x 94" long when bound.  It looks enormous on my own twin bed, in large part because I don't have the a deep box spring under my mattress, whereas she does.  Last weekend I procured a rich double-chocolate wide backing for it (now washed).  Yummy!

Second, my own beloved bed quilts are wearing.  Most of these were made by my quilty Aunt Alice, my father's sister, who died in 2002 at the age of 94, so you can imagine how old they are! 

I'm making four tops (which I also mentioned in my last post).  The first one to be finished was my "(Not So) Grand Illusion", a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt from 2014 (!) which I finished in November in order to justify starting her 2017 Mystery, "On Ringo Lake" (ORL).   Lest you missed that post, here's a photo:

I just love this one, and this week I found the perfect wide backing for it!

The second one is the "Rectangle Quilt" (what an original name!) that I showed you -- under construction -- in my last post.  That top, too, is now finished!

A Quilt Without Borders, it will finish at a healthy 67" W x 78" long (or so) when bound.  And yes, I've found just the right wide backing for it too.  😊

Now, remember that thought I asked you to hold?  The fact that the Random Rails/Fractured Fences was ''not so easy"?  This is where I get back to this subject, and focus on the word "random".  As defined by the Oxford Living Dictionaries, 'random' means "Made, done, or happening without method or conscious decision" or, when it comes to statistics, "Governed by or involving equal chances for each item".

Well.  It might be a simple concept...but it's not easy!

Both the rectangle and the rails/fences quilt required a) combinations of light, medium and/or dark fabrics to create contrast and movement; b) specific placement of said combinations -- that is, so many blocks across and so many rows down; and c) an arrangement that in order to be pleasing, was...well...random.  And random arrangements of anything (I'm guessing) require a certain...um...conscious intentionality!  

I found a method that worked first with the Rectangle Quilt and then with Rails/Fences --first, lay the blocks out on my "horizontal design wall" (my bed or my guest bed, whichever showed them off best); next, get the first two rows to work well, and sew the first row in pairs of blocks; then...move 'em around, interject different pairs, do whatever is needed to make everything play nicely together.  

Repeat till the entire arrangement is appealing, and still "random" in nature.  In all of my  attempts at designing "traditional" quilts, I've determined that they are at least as challenging (if not more so) as designing an art quilt.  The methods may be different, but the brain strain is on a par!

Of the four tops I've planned, only these three are finished.  The fourth requires borders...so it's worthy only of a mention here.  It will appear in a later post!

As for designing...

I've picked up "Storm Brewing" from the framer...I love it!

Storm Brewing Over the Lowlands
Fabric and water colour on stretched canvas
12" W x 12" L

The Call for Entry to the Annual Camrose Art Walk is now open, and my colleague Mary and I will be submitting our applications shortly for our Scotland-inspired collaborative exhibit.  Each of us is aiming for eight or nine pieces.  So far, I have five (including "Storm Brewing..."), but one is a tiny canvas and unless I make more that size, won't be included.

And as I now know that I will once again have a booth at the 19th Annual Lacombe Art Show & Sale, I am busy with pieces for that.  The "Crumbpilations" pieces are all in for framing, one mini is in the planning stages, and I finished this one this morning:

Fog Warning! (C) 2018
Commercial cotton fabrics, wool roving, tulle;
thread painting, machine quilting, fused applique.
5" x 7", matted to 8" x 10"

It's a statement about driving to work -- about 8:15 a.m. -- in the Mists of March in these parts.  The other day the fog was so dense that while I knew there was a tanker truck in front of me, I often couldn't see it at all, and was praying he wouldn't have to brake unexpectedly!

Here's a close-up:

Thanks to Elizabeth Barton's Master Class, which I attended throughout 2015, I learned a bit about getting that perspective in place.  In a 'mini' it's tough because everything is smaller and fore-shortened, but there you have it!

Well, Gentle Readers, that's all the news that's fit to print for this go 'round.  I'm going to link this up to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, and bid you adieu. 

This week she published a quote about the Art of Science and the Science of Art...and looking at my projects, I can certainly ascertain a link between the two!

Happy St. Patrick's Day for all the Irish -- and all the I-Wannabee-Irish!  Happy International Quilting Day for all of you who quilt!  

Happy rest-of the-weekend to everyone else!  😉