The newest issue of Quiltfolk magazine landed in my snail mailbox today. I had pre-ordered a copy (I no longer subscribe) when I learned that Maryland was this issue's focus (each issue takes aim at quilt making and makers in a different state). Worth every penny I paid for it! :) The photography is excellent and the writing warm and inclusive. Why did I stop subscribing? Not because they were not deserving but because I had to lighten the load of what comes into my house!
I actually got to page 64 before they wrote about someone I did not know personally. (And I think she might have been a customer in my shop:). Learned a lot in my first go-through ... sure to learn more in my next as I am not very in-touch with the eastern shore or southern areas of MD.
This past weekend was quiet and peaceful here chez Schiffer. It snowed about an inch (not the inches the forecast called for - most of that slid northward into NY and the New England area) and was cold, cold, cold all weekend. Sunny outside today. I walked out to get the accumulated mail this morning (hence the magazine in my mailbox:) and the sunshine felt lovely. The snow has not melted any so it has definitely been cold (especially for here abouts).
I spent most of the weekend with my head down, trying to stay warm, doing my embroidery still and some art journaling. I got quite a bit of the posy panel done and am waiting for more thread to come in the mail (thankfully the shop where I bought the original bobbin still carries the brand of thread and has the color I need in stock!:). I started work on the last panel which is one of the largest. Here is part of what I've done so far, a quick pic spread across my desk:
These flowery motifs are corner-wise in the design - one down, three to go.
I also spent a little time last night playing with pigments again while working on the next exercise in Creating Art at the Speed of Life. This was not a completely successful lesson as I lack some of the called-for supplies. We do not have an inkjet printer any more - only a laser jet. Mostly because the inks are just too darn expensive for the yield ... but partly from purchasing inertia. The supply list included a requirement for an inkjet transparency print for which I substituted a clipping from a Dover book (Haecker's Art Forms from Nature). Not sure exactly what the animacule is, really, but it reminded me of octopi. :)
Here is the double page spread. The point of this lesson was apparently to work in multiple layers that would simulate digital imagery manipulation.
The first instruction was to fill the blank page with asemic writing. That turned out to be both harder and easier than I expected. My normal writing is pretty disfunctional (my son's IEP called him 'dysgraphic' which he gets from me) so I figured it wouldn't be hard to make the 'text' look unreadable. It was really hard for me to just scribble and not make the words readable, though! I also discovered that hand sanitizer makes a good blending solution for Prismacolor pencils. :)
The facing page was supposed to hold our personal critique of the work we made. I settled for making the scribble on the diagonal - which made creating text-like work without meaning _much_ easier. I also recorded my observations rather than outright critique. Shrug.
Other than putter around, I tried to keep my stomach happy and stay warm all weekend. Still deeply appreciating the electric blanket to warm my bed!
:) Linda