Trees on the Beach

Live Oak trees live for 200-300 years. The coastline of Hunting Island, SC continuously changes and as the beach shrinks, trees lose purchase in the ground and fall. The beach is littered with tree corpses. It is horrible and beautiful at the same time. We counted rings of the largest live oak we saw on the beach. 280 rings.





The Cabbage Palmetto trees are hollowed out by the surf and sand.

Just as ours, the faces of the trees change as weather, sun and exposure do their damage.

From the wilds of South Carolina

Hunting Island is exactly as it is pictured. Wild, full of trees, windy and rustic. We LOVED it.

Our campsite was on the beach. The high tide came within 30 feet of our campsite. It was terrifying and fascinating. Each night we could hear the crashing waves and wondered if the tide would breach our camp. I have never slept so close to the ocean.

We built sand castles, played in the ocean and visited the lighthouse. We grilled out very night and ate like kings.

Hunting Island is full of artistic inspiration. This trip I was determined to only draw in the abstract. This exercise was hard for me, but after a few hours I felt free from the burden of making things look "real" and was actually able to enjoy it.

This week, we will reserve the campsite again for next year. It was that fun.

Post script: I have to share this unbelievable, but true, siting. In the middle and rear sections of the campground, set back from the beach, were hundreds of campers with RV's. Scattered in between were tent campers (as we were). At night, the boom boxes, televisions, and Nintendo games blared through the darkness. Thankfully we could not hear any of this from our oceanfront campsite. On our last evening, my 5 year old daughter and I took a walk through the campgrounds and came across a large screen outdoor projector with twenty people sitting movie-style watching "Big Momma's House." We could hear it from across the campground. I had to wonder what the other campers thought about this. And since there is no ranger supervising the park at night, there was no one to put a stop to the loudness.

We stood and watched for a moment. I was delighted when my daughter asked me: "Mommy why are those people watching a movie instead of singing around the campfire?" I told her I honestly didn't know. And then we walked back to our campsite, sat on the ground, looked at the stars and marveled and their beauty.

Ladies, I am taking one for the Team!

Tomorrow night at 3:00 am my family is going camping. We are going to Hunting Island, SC. Some call this place Isle of Palms. But we think of it as Hunting Island. It was once a hunting preserve for the wealthy Charlestons.


It reminds me of Robinson Crusoe. It is beautiful and rustic, featuring palm trees, live oaks, palmetto and other vegetation. It is known for excellent bird watching. We plan to swim, build sandcastles, explore, play and sing. In the heat of the midday sun, everyone will find shade.


But mostly we will be together and we will be a family. A family without the daily distractions of the computer, phone, bills to pay, laundry to wash, fold and put away, errands to run and obligations to fulfill. There will be no pressure to take a daily shower and fix our hair, or to dress for dinner. Just a bathing suit and coverup, a big hat and a pair of sandals. Oh yea, don't forget the sunscreen.

My studio which has remained dark this week, will continue to gather a layer of dust. But I will return with an overflowing sketchbook and renewed energy to dedicate to the pursuit of new ideas.

Miss Shirleys' Breast Cancer Shrine

I had a request for this posting. Julie loves my "Miss Shirley's Breast Cancer Shrine." Julie loves it and I love it too. I actually asked for it back so I could show it the same day I showed "Lost." I guess I wanted to show that I could make something not quite so dark. But look, it's so black.

Miss Shirley is my daughter's preschool teacher. She had recurrent breast cancer and a mom at our school organized us and asked each one of us to take a week to cheer up Miss Shirley. This is what I made. At first, Miss Shirley just looked at me with that "what am I supossed to do with this?" look. No offense to me, really folks, if you have a southern styled, chintz curtain house with mahogany walls, where are you going to put this? At that moment I decided never (yes I said never, and I'm sticking to my never) to make stuff for others again. If someone wants to buy my art, that's fine. But no more gifting of my work. I think, over time, Miss Shirley has come to appreciate the piece.

Anyway, in the center is Miss Shirley. I first planned for lovely round breasts, but listened to my inner voice which told me THAT would be too much. Instead, I found this piece of fabric in my stash and made a heart. The swirls are nicely placed, no?

On each door of the nichos are milagros, which is Spanish for "little miracles." They are tiny metal medals representing various body parts or figures. If a part of your body is in pain, or needs healing, you pin a metal in that shape to your shirt, or to a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Then you pray. As I sewed on each medal, I prayed for Miss Shirley to be well. With each medal I would think of a different prayer, but always as a pathway to heal her breast cancer. (For the leg medals, I prayed that Miss Shirley would be strong enough to continue to walk to her chemotherapy sessions. For the arm, I would pray that she would still have the strength to pick up the children she loves so much, and so on.)

It is my favorite technique, raw edge, fused applique. Topstitched and quilted on top of Pellon 70. I actually bought little medal hinges, sewed them on, but was not satisfied with the stability. So I bought some black/gold cording and sewed it on with monofiliment. Then, along the sides, I sewed the two edges of black/gold cording together. The stitching is invisible and it folds nicely.

I'm having a hard time giving it back. But tomorrow is the last day of preschool, so perhaps Julie's request that I post this is really a sign that I should give it back. And Miss Shirley's status? Remission again. Hurray!

One friend asked me how I thought to make this for Miss Shirley. Simple. I remember as a child visiting Knotts Berry Farm in Aneheim, CA. They had this nativity display that played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. While it played, the doors slowly opened, the lights came up and you saw this beautiful Nativity scene. Then as the music reached it's end, the lights dimmed and the doors slowly closed. I've loved nichos, triptychs, icons, retablos, shrines ever since. I love them all. Here's the one that inspired me to make Miss Shirley's,

Dances with Bees

Nova has a companion site to their film "Tales From the Hive."I particularly enjoyed the Dances With Bees. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/making.html

The fiber artists I have been meeting lately are a bit like bees. The scout bees navigate the scene for new techniques. When close to a promising technique, they study and practice this technique. When the bee returns to the hive, it shares the discovery and experience of this technique and tells the other bees where they can learn this technique and find the supplies for it. Dancing like a bee ensures the surival of the hive.

Today I danced with the Fiber Art Bee from our local guild. We did some discharge dyeing in the studio at Fiber on a Whim. It was great fun and some of the work produced was fabulous. My favorite piece today was Melinda's black which discharged RED. Melinda buys all kinds of black, so she didn't know who made it! The effect was achieved with a Clorox bleach pen. One must-have -- a sponge roller to apply thickened bleach.


Here is Melinda with her incredible piece.


I played with velvet today. This is a Bengal Tiger stamp. I went in later and painted the orange in with Dyna Flo.

If you read quilart.com you will know there is a lot of discussion about the safety of discharge dyeing. Be smart about it. Do your homework! Don't try and economize on neutralizers. Buy a bit of Anti-Chlor. Don't use pure bleach (we mixed ours 50/50 with sodium alginate). Work in a well ventilated room. Wear gloves. Do your homework, and then play. Invite a few friends over to play with you and encourage the creativity to multiply.

Kitten, Fixin' and Vixen

Today I started the second session of the Tome block of the month at Fiber on a Whim. Wow. This will be a fun project and a great study of techniques.

This does have me wondering why I can't just do it like everyone else?

Here is the first step of my cover. Of course, I have to add hair, stitching and embellishments, but I rather like the triplets -- Kitten, Fixin' and Vixen. There's a little bit of each of them in me, and I suspect in each of you.

The Importance of Feeding Your Brain

I love to work in my studio. I draw and sketch ideas in a journal I keep with me at all times. I revisit the journal while I am in my studio surrounded by my fabric, thread and the instruments that help me turn that into art. There are times I think I never need to leave the room, everything to keep me alive is in here.

And then there is famine and drought. Weeks will go by and the layer of dust on my Janome 6500 grows thicker. The fabric cries out for love and attention and yet I walk by the door to the studio again.

This week I fed my brain by singing at Sedalia Park Elementary School's Multi-Cultural Arts Day. My husband is a professional musician and we have crafted a clever hour of children's songs.



There is nothing like singing and playing to children. They watch in wide-eyed wonder, they laugh, they sing along even if they don't know the words, they clap, they sway and they enjoy.



The adults always seem a bit confused when I ask them to move to the sides of the room so they are not in my sight-line. But when you are performing to a room full of children, the last thing you want to chance to see is an adult with her arms crossed, or grading papers, or talking. The contrast between the colors of enthusiasm, and the drab of cynicism is jarring and makes me fumble my performance.

Sounds like a quilt doesn't it?

And that is how my brain shows me that it has been fed. It comes up with more ideas than I can possibly execute. And to begin, I need to sign-off, turn the light on to the studio and dust off the Janome.

P.S. One of the two joys of our life was selected to dance on stage on Multi-Cultural Arts Day and her picture is in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. You Go Sarah! http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/0514sedalia.html

The Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Arts Alliance is Born

Purpose:

To create a community of artists which will encourage and celebrate the process of making art from fiber, and by doing this, each member will develop to his or her best potential. We will welcome and encourage new artists to enter the medium of fiber arts.

To educate ourselves through the sharing of techniques by members and national teachers, and through lectures and workshops.

To provide each other with critique in an environment that is educational and supportive, and not one that might destroy the confidence of participants.

To educate the public, aspiring appreciation and promoting fiber arts through public exhibitions.



28 people showed up at our first meeting tonight to confirm that they too are interested in pursuing such a purpose. Cool.

The Magic Box

A few weeks ago, Anastasia asked me "Do you know what a magic box is?" My mind instantly leapt to psychology and my favorite explanation of a woman's self esteem.

Our self esteem is a Magic Box which has a green button and a red button. Push the green button and you feel good, about your work, about how you look, your state of physical health, your children, your art, your hair, whatever -- that green button feels good to push -- so push it, push it, push it.

The red button hurts. One too many chocolate kisses, rejection, a sharp tongue, sloppy work. Ouch, too often we zap ourselves for reasons we shouldn't.

If your self esteem were actually a magic black box with those buttons on it, would you hand it to someone else? Would you let them choose when the green or red buttons should be pushed? No way. You would guard it and keep it safe. You would do whatever you could to keep control of that box.

We should guard our self esteem with the same vigor. And we should remember that when we are handed someone else's magic box, it is usually because that person is hoping we will push the green button. Try pushing green buttons more often than red ones.

I recently handed my magic box to a few people in the hopes they would respond to a recently made quilt with their comments -- not that the comments have to be positive, just that acknowledgement of the quilt's existence would have been enough. I am still kicking myself for handing the box over and am trying to figure out a way to get it back. Maybe I'll hand them a diferent box, a decoy and in their distraction I'll snatch my magic box back.

And what was Anastasia talking about?



A Magic Box converts embroidery software so it will be compatible with your machine.

Fabric Fondue

Do we all have a secret desire to play with matches and burn things? How about playing with heat guns, soldering irons and wood burning tools? Add fabric, tyvek and assorted synthetic items and you could have a fabric fondue party. Which is what we did today.

Julie, Rebecca and Sharon. Through the magic of Photoshop, I was able cut and paste two pictures together so Julie would have her eyes open, and my double chin would be invisible. Sharon looked perfect in both shots.

As always, Sharon came prepared with lots of samples of painted tyvek, painted paper-backed fusible, painted Misty Fuse, and an assortment of fabrics painted with "puffy paint." I remember Puff Paint in the 1980's. You found it in small bottles at the craft store. You could write on a sweatshirt, iron it from the back and the writing (or picture) puffed up? Well now one brand is called Setacolor Expandable "Puff" Medium. Similar stuff and very cool.

Earlier in the week, we went to Marietta Fabric and Fringe Warehouse and bought yards of opalescent sheers. This fabric is crazy, the more you layer it, the more it changes colors. With a bag full of the sheers, and a collection of assorted tulles and netting, we went to town. I think we enjoyed the heat gun the most. The results were easier to control and the way the fabrics shrunk and fused was very cool.

Here are some of the results:

Multi-layers of sheers, fused, melted with heat gun.

Paper backed fusible, painted, then fused to fabric, covered with sheers and melted with heat gun.

Two more examples of multiple layers of sheers, fused and melted with heat gun. A wood burning tool was used to cut through the fabric, then the whole thing was fused to another piece. The bottom layer showed through the cutout design. One of our favorites of the day.

Here are the results of the Setacolor Puff Medium. Sharon painted it onto water soluble paper, blasted it with the heat gun, then let the paper soak off in water.

The green is multiple layers of sheers and tulle melted with the heat gun. The blue is a piece of upholstery fabric. The fibers were so dense, that the whole thing melted together and the color remained intact.

Tyvek, sheers and tulle. The tyvek was painted with Lumiere glitter, and then the whole thing was blasted with the heat gun.





Painted Tyvek. This stuff is fun to work with and really reacts well to heat.

My Pattern's Been Poached!

Today I had a three stops on my list. Stop number two was one of my favorite quilt shops. Stop number three was the photographer to have Sophia's picture taken in her Zoo overalls -- original design by moi.

While I was at the quilt shop a lady commented on how beautiful my Sophia was. I was flattered and said "Thank you". Then she asked if she could take a picture of her. I was a bit taken aback -- all sorts of sinister thoughts flooded my brain, I mean we have all seen the horror stories of child pornography, certainly this woman wasn't taking a picture of Sophia to cut and paste her head on another body. . . Noting my hesitation she turned to her friend and said "I won't take a picture, it seems to be making her mother nervous." Then her friend quite loudly pronounced: "That's okay, I don't need a picture, I can sketch it out right here."


It was not a picture of lovely Sophia they wanted, it was the overalls.

It turns out the woman who wanted to take the picture has a daughter who paints designs on children's overalls and sells them. She has a whole boutique business dedicated to originally-designed children's clothing. If her mother gave her a picture of my appliqued overalls, and she painted my design on her overalls, would that make the design hers? Or mine? Hmmmmm. The way my parents raised me (thanks mom and dad), I'd say they'd be mine.

A few thoughts come to mind when I think of this incident. Why would someone express their intent to copy your design in your presence? Copyright, patterns, competitions, and attributing the designer for works are huge points of discussion on quiltart.com -- an on-line art quilt group. In general, quilters seem to believe if you make a quilt based on a pattern, or inspired by someone else's quilt, you should attribute the design appropriately. Hey, give credit where credit is due.

And, why not just ask directly: "Gosh those are adorable overalls, do you sell the pattern?" or "Can I take a picture of them?" The answer would have been "YES" to both questions. And without asking, here it is, a picture of the front of these overalls which I designed for my girls because they love the zoo.

You don't have to go far to find inspiration for original designs. Visit the zoo, go to the beach, take a walk through the woods. I just live my life every day with two beautiful daughters. We play, we laugh, we romp. Through those activities and seeing the world through their eyes, more inspiration and ideas for designs come to me than I will every be able to make.