Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Restless

When I've been away from home for a while -- even a few days, a mere handful, a trio, such as this past weekend immediately followed by a full day's work at The Shop -- I find I awaken at home in a restless state.  Nowhere to go but much to do -- and where to start?

I began today with great intentions -- and hit the ground running. Literally.  Almost as soon as it was light I went out for a jog around the hamlet, my first since Friday.  My legs felt strong and I set off at a good clip in the nippy autumn morning.

Home, then, and breakfast, just in time for a Studio Art Quilt Associates Webinar: "The Life Cycle of An Exhibition".  This was a wonderful peek inside the very hard work of SAQA's largely-volunteer (16 members, only one paid person) Exhibition Committee.  Exhibiting is a primary mission for SAQA.  As a result, in the past five years, a shipping department has been developed. The organization has gone from two or three exhibits a year -- largely via the International Quilt Festival in Houston -- to double that plus over-lapping touring exhibits internationally.  In 2016 there will be 16 running concurrently -- 15 booked for museums and 13 travelling outside the U.S. (where SAQA is based), including venues in Canada, Australia, and Taiwan.  Whoa!

With that inspiration behind me, you'd think I'd travel right down the hall into the sewdio but no...I puttered.  And puttered.  Made my bed.  Tidied up.  Went for the mail.  Had a bit of lunch.

Finally I got my act together.  I contacted "my" new gallery and confirmed a date on which I'll deliver the first pieces to be shown there.  Nothing like working to a deadline to get one in gear, eh?

Then I blocked out the first of two pieces for EB on our "Mood" theme this month.  Yes...I'm still working on keeping  CALM!

I began with "Becalmed".  In her feedback, EB had this to say about it:

That's a beautiful photo which definitely shows calm with the dominant blue grey and the horizontal lines - good spotting for mood!  It will be important to dye the grey-blue fabric in three values at least for the sky, the lake and the distant horizon - they are the same color but different values...and note the gradation in the sky piece getting lighter towards the horizon.

Keep the table as it is...completely horizontal - that emphasizes calm mood...and don't omit that lovely stripe of white that sets everything off beautifully.  I don't think you need the sailboat.

And here are the two samples I sent in -- blocked out only, nothing fused or stitched:



For the first one, I used one continuous piece of hand-dyed 'crinkle' cotton for sky/water, and stretched a thin slice of hand-dyed fabric across it for the opposite shore.

Decided I didn't want the sky to crinkle, so in the second sample, I replaced it with hand-dyed silk left over from my indigo experiments in early August:




Ah...much better.  Much CALM-er...

I think the silk has a better gradation in colour with a bit of "white" near the horizon.  I will, however, think about adding a hint of grey in that horizon fabric, likely using a bit of InkTense pencil...

While I await EB's feedback, I'm going to do some more stitching, knitting, and machine quilting.

The stitching?  Mark on the Body, which is closing in on its second anniversary.

The knitting?  Casting on a third pair of slippers for my daughter's B&B guests, casting on Christmas Knitting, and working on the October Socks from Stash:


Pattern: "The Desert Planet Tatooine" by Heidi Nick
Yarn: Opal 4-fache "Le Petit Prince" (Colour 7764)

The machine quilting?  Section 1 of the Japanese Taupe Quilt...no photos to date.  :-)

Before I go, I'm linking this to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network.

A bientot mes amis...

5 comments:

elle said...

puttering! ah, I can recommend a vitamin for that. lol But hey, that second one gets my vote!

Jo Ferguson said...

I've been known to get lost in puttering. I'll have to ask Elle about the vitamins. I like the second calm, as well. The first one looks like the water is a bit rough and I think that takes away from the feel you want. Looking forward to hearing EB's comments.

Linda A. Miller said...

Yes, I like the second version of calm, as well. Great colors on the yarn! Nothing wrong with puttering... can allow creativity to bubble up.

JennyPennyPoppy said...

Your 2nd Becalmed using your hand dyed silk looks very nice and calmer indeed. Lovely knitting too!

AnnetteJ said...

It must be the time of year...all this beautiful weather. Who wants to be indoors? I've been so restless and couldn't figure out why. You won't believe my solution, LOL.
Tires yet?