persistance

We grew beets in our front yard this year. They grew vigorously, provided great meals and were delicious. We had two large harvests, leaving the rest in the ground for later meals.

That's when the rabbits found them. One day I was out watering and found all of the tops nibbled to the ground. The beets were still there so I piled up a little mulch around them and hoped for a resurgence.

And lo and behold! little green leaves poked up above the hay...a veritable miracle.

So, I'm gonna take this as inspiration. When projects go dead, my head gets nibbled away with doubt and worry. I will press on.

another perspective

I ruined two rotary blades yesterday in the frenzy to cut and manipulate fabric. It started as an exercise in composition. What if I tilted this piece and reassembled it with an underlying grid? What happens when I requilt an already quilted surface? What if the fabric joinery is hidden behind ragged edges...sort of like my mood? Does the assemblage of parts becomes more than the original whole?

Sometimes you have to look at things sideways and forget the main road. Casualties happen. Blades can be sharpened.

triangle refuge

No juice for more than geometrics. This is what I work on when the brain goes to fuzz. The precision puzzling releases the angst of concepting.

Disappearing squares on point.

brain daze

Now what? Pundit (2) is done. Maybe. (except for the sleeve and the label) It leaves me with the feeling that I'm still missing something. Might be a brain freeze, I always get this way after finishing a piece...or maybe it's not finished? I've got that itchy feeling that its not right, not sure it accomplished my goals. I love the way this guy has dominated my studio over the past several weeks. You can ever have too much acid green, right? Maybe it really does have to be a series before I get it right. 

I need to turn it away from me for awhile in order to come at the decision with a little more objectivity. 

Pundit, detail

Pundit, back side.

practice piece gets a new job

Yesterday Jim decided to insulate the pantry a little more (seeing as how cool and dark is best). Trouble was there is a window in that space (very nice for light, not so good for cool and dark). So we decided to block the window with insulation and a storm window (which was pretty dang ugly). So here is our solution.

I have a quilt that never went anywhere. It was a huge piece that over the years has been sliced and diced into many smaller pieces (a laptop case, a purse, an experimental quilt that I am working on called fractured and the UFO drawer lining) I use it to practice stitching too.

Jim cut a piece of insulation board to fit the space. I cut a piece of the practice quilt to size and made a big pillowcase out of it with some stretchy double knit fabric. The piece wrapped tightly around the board when I pulled it on.

Jim removed the storm window, placed the insulated quilt between the storm and the window and then closed it up. Not sure what the R value might be but it sure did solve the light problem.

Now we have a decorative back entrance (which will ultimately fade and change with time) and a nice snug pantry.