Tracy Stilwell's Blog

Tulips in Feb!

2012-02-01T08:03:00.000-05:00

Kathi Jahnke brought these tulips as a house gift this weekend! Thanks Kath!!

What a Great Weekend!

2012-01-31T17:02:00.000-05:00

We had a great weekend with eight women joining us for classes, food, laughs and a few tears.

We worked with paper clay, paints, wire, cloth, old yarn spools, trims, ribbons, yarn, glue, needles and threads...

Paper Clay Bird

Elizabeth's Stamped Face

Kathi's Head

Kathy's Gypsy

Sandi's Shoulder

Loretta's Mermaid

Anne Holliday

Hillary Meekins

Stephanie Suskin

Kathi Jahnke

Hil and Miss Linda Willis - Stitcher Extraordinaire

xxxxxx

Preparing For our Figure Extravaganza!

2012-01-09T10:26:00.000-05:00

Started with crunched up newspaper wrapped in paper tape.

Then added a layer of plaster gauze.

Paperclay was used to create the facial features and then painted with acrylics.

Working on a bird that will sit on her head!!!

Check out the latest Cloth Paper Scissors...my sis Allison has a great article! As you can see from the picture below, she is clearly very excited about the exposure!!!

Dec Has Flown By!!

2011-12-29T14:28:00.000-05:00

If I sneak in a quick blog post, I will have managed to say something this fine month of December! Loved that it was soo warm here in the Northeast!!!

The Studio Sale was great with visits from friends and new faces, sharing holiday goodies with the locals! With that big event over, Sue and I headed for Florida to visit the Stilwell sisters...all four together for the first time in eight years!! Took lots of presents to pass around!

Midge and Al have been working on their Florida gardens, shifting the plantings to local shrubs and flowers. It was remarkable to see the number of butterflies that danced around their front yard enjoying the plantings. It was like a little paradise with the butterflies, caterpillars and chrysalis doing their respective jobs. We had been watching the chrysalis pictured below, hanging onto a twig outside of the front door...and voila!! there is miss monarch!

It was great to see everyone and I helped Midge and Allison with a few jobs as they prepare for their March show at the Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery . Opening March 17th if you are in the Orlando area!!
Also made a pile of screens that I am happy to say are all taped and ready to use!

Back in Little Rhody Sue was dealing with a chicken slaughter....

something got one of our new girlz, and the following morning the five older girlz were dead. The night I got home from Florida a possum got the second bunny. Thank goodness things have calmed down and the girlz are out eating bugs.

Helped our buddy Rick move into his new house.

The holidays have come and gone in a rather relaxing manner for us!

Visited with friends.

Chowed with the family. Did I take one picture? No.....

Working in the studio...getting samples together for our Jan workshop.

Happy New Year to all and hope that folks can find serenity from day to day!

Studio Sale!!

2011-11-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

Still Stitching Away...organizing...cleaning...

Getting Ready For You!!!

California!

2011-11-01T15:51:00.000-04:00

It seems so far away already, but in September Linda Willis and I took a great trip to Petaluma, California for the premier of the West Coast version of Art is You and couple of added on days for visiting old friends! The venue (Sheraton) was great and of course the fact that we got to meet new peeps and see some long lost buddies was the best! Among an inspiring array:

Ricë Freeman -Zachery and her amazing husband Earl!

Was feeling inspired by the work that was flying around the hotel. Loved Petaluma and thank you Julie Panusis for taking us around town!!!

Got to visit friends in Joan and Pietro Parravano in Half Moon Bay (where I spent many years). The weather was unusually warm for the northern coast of California and I loved the Giants game, picnic on the beach, relaxing sauna, the most excellent food and the time to just chat! Thank you!!

And Leo, Great to see you!

Finished up the journey with MT Silvia, former girlfriend and maker of the film "Atomic Mom"! We had a wonderful dinner with her best girlz some of whom I hadn't seen in 25 years. A talented and very funny group of women!! Got to sleep under the quilt I made her in 1985!

On my to the airport in Oakland, I check out the Institute Of Mosaic Art. (Thanks for the tip Katherine) It is a building in a mixed use part of Oakland that is filled with wonderful finished pieces and many ongoing works, such as the bathrooms. As you can see the outside of the building beautifully reflects the good works.

I missed my baby and was glad to get back to the East coast to see Sue and prepare for the Danbury Art Is!!

Time Flying By on the Farm!

2011-10-21T13:47:00.000-04:00

My last post was in August and now way into October! We have harvested 5 kinds of potatoes, dry beans, squash, eggplant, peppers, grapes (made juice), froze bags and bags of roasted tomatoes, spun out honey, got eggs from the new chickens, planted garlic and clover, scored two loads of alpaca manure..

We were very grateful to have made it thru Hurricane Irene with minor damage. Sue picked good tomatoes just before the storm. Happy to say we still had garden goodies after the event!

We had a lovely surprise one day with the arrival of a new baby for the garden. George rescued her from horrible fate! Thanks George...she is very happy in her new ferny area! And as you can see, she always uses her seat belt!!

With the veggie gardens in good shape for the winter the pressure is off somewhat. Now raking leaves, cutting back perennials and planting bulbs...

Last weekend we inoculated a bunch of logs with mushroom spawn. With oak as a base, we drilled holes, pounded little plugs into the holes, covered the plug holes and ends of logs with bees wax. We all enjoyed a great meal of pizza from George and Cathy's outside oven!! Thanks again as always.

So with proper care, we will all have a log of mushrooms blooming in the next 6-18 months. Time will tell on that one!

New Girl in the Works!

2011-08-20T16:01:00.000-04:00

Working on some new dolls!

She is very happy to be coming into her own!

Fabulous Creative Fling - III

2011-08-16T08:16:00.000-04:00

Go Figure - Mixed Media Dolls

January 2012

Friday 27th - Afternoon

Saturday 28th - All Day

Sunday 29th - Morning

Charlestown, Rhode Island, 02813

Join us for a weekend of relaxing, creating, sharing...threads, food, ideas...

Friday Afternoon: Making Faces...all kinds

Saturday: Making Bodies to go with Face

Sunday: Studio Time and The Ever Popular Surprise Collaborative Project

Schedule with Tracy and Linda

Fri

1-4 Class

Dinner

Sat

Breakfast

9-12 work

Lunch

1-4 work

Dinner

Sun

Breakfast

9-12 work

Snack and Go Home

Unbelievable Delicious Meals - Home grown and GOOD!

$400.00 * 2 Teachers * 5 Great Meals * Endless Inspiration!

Local Beds for Rent:

Surfside Motel, Charlestown, RI

General Stanton Inn, Charlestown, RI

LaQuinta - Stonington, CT

You can check Westerly and Charlestown area for other choices!

It's really really fun!!

So Much Happened in July!

2011-08-03T10:10:00.000-04:00

July was so busy. My sis Allison and girlfriend Midge arrived, having driven from Florida with boxes of mangoes from their yard and a thermo fax machine! We were thrilled to see them and consumed bowls filled with mangoes as we caught up on life.

We had to get right on the first two day task of helping to setting up tables, chairs, dishes etc and making pizza dough for 100 folks that would be attending a fund raiser for the Salt Ponds Coalition that was happening at George and Cathy's beautiful home and farm. All went well and then it was right onto Al's Birthday Celebration that went on for a couple of days with family, friends and a fancy brunch at the Ocean House.

Looming in the background was the list of preparations that needed to be done for our big creative weekend with the brave women heading this way from NY and NJ!!! Finishing name tags, food, supply piles, presents, cleaning, weeding....The day arrived, the girlz arrived with all of their goodies, and off we went...

The overall idea for the weekend was to create an 18 inch pillow. To that end, the first project was fabric painting outside. To survive the 100+ degrees, we quickly watered down fabric and each other, sprayed and splattered paint and retreated to the very cool basement to carve stamps! It is the space that saved the weekend!! So we over came fears of drawing, so so attitudes about carving and with a bit of urging, developed amazing stamps!

Somewhere in there we ate, snacked, drank large volumes to liquid to help with the survival of the 100+ degrees and who knows about the humidity!!! We then moved all of the screen printing materials from the garage down to the cool basement. After a brief demo and discussion we went to work on our painted fabric with silk and thermo fax screens. My sis was developing her new themo fax screen empire as we worked. "Do not let the screens dry out" was the mantra of the afternoon.

Saturday was printing with rubber stamps and sewing day. The afternoon was broken up a bit for some by shopping at a Folk Art Quilts, Wakefield and chowing the best ice cream on the planet!

By the end of Sunday everyone had survived the heat and each other, had a great project done or almost done, a hand made "friendship" book constructed from painted and stamped papers that were worked on over the weekend and shared with everyone, presents from everyone, a fat quarter trade stash, hand made rubber stamps, and a pile of painted, stamped and screened fabric.

And of course the whole thing was made possible because Miss Linda Willis keeps coming to my house and bringing things to eat and projects to make. Thanks Linder (rhodeislandeese)

And thanks to the creative women keep driving here to use my dried up paints and glues...They keep showing up and have advised that they will continue to do so as long as possible!

Thanks also to Midge, Allison and Sue for all of their work in the very very hot kitchen!!! Very much appreciated by all I'm sure!

Details for the next Rhody event coming soon. Save the end of January!!!

Then there is the garden and the chickens and bees...

and

MT's movie "Atomic Mom" in Providence August 12th

try to get there and please tell your friends!!

and

Art is You California in September

Art is You Danbury in October

See you soon somewhere!

Art Is You Coupon! Check It Out!

2011-07-04T06:11:00.000-04:00

4th of July Special...Art is You is offering...

Today only, $50 off coupon...code: JULY 4

For a great time in Danbury, Ct....in October!

Tell your friends and loved ones, pass it on through your magical, electronic pathways...

So much to learn and even better are those new best friends just waiting to weave you into their lives!

Pic a teacher, any teacher and you will be happy and inspired!! What is better than that!

Have a great day and will get back here with tales from the farm and studio!!

Don't Miss This!

A New Pillow!

2011-06-17T17:03:00.000-04:00

Worked in the studio this week! It felt great!!!

Made another pillow. Direct paint on fabric. Machine and hand embroidered.

Front...

Back...

Spent this rainy day organizing and cleaning. I'm quite sure that I upset many many spiders. Well, upset is a nice word.

Paris and the New Chicken Coop, Quilting Arts and Squam!!!

2011-06-09T13:16:00.000-04:00

My new computer has finally arrived!!! So I can proceed!!!

It has been quite a month. Almost no sun, but things are growing like crazy! Things are clearly alive and thriving in the cloudy, rainy, foggy atmosphere! Carrots, beets, lettuces, potatoes, onions, eggplant (well, something is dining on the leaves), peppers, spinach, asparagus (yummy, our first year) all doing well so far! Just had our first strawberries....

Went to Paris in May with my former husband Ed Booth (of Newport BioDiesel) to meet up with son Donald Booth. Don has been traveling and working for a year through a website called Help Exchange. The site matches up folks looking for help with projects with adventurers looking for work in exchange for a bed and food!

The boys having a toast in Montmartre....

Hot Chocolate from Angelina's below....it was really unbelievable....

We had a great time being super tourists, eating and drinking lots of chocolate, consuming baguetts, croissants, checking out the sights and sounds with thousands of others! And unlike my New England neighbors, we had beautiful weather!

The Paris markets were filled with beautiful and abundant items like these organic eggs!!

Meanwhile, back in the USA, our chicks continue to grow from little fluff balls into miniature chickens with wings and tails. They are in their new digs and the garage seems so lifeless and quiet. They have adjusted to the outside world and are doing their chicken thing in their new area! Thanks to my offspring Pete and Don they have a nice new home!!!

Quilting Arts Article!

I was pleased to have some of my work published in Quilting Arts this month. It is an article about gelatin printing and doll making. Check it out and give it a try! The magazine is filled with amazing work that will inspire your creative selves!!

Last week I was lucky enough to head out again and landed at Squam Lake in NH for the Squam Art Workshops! It was a wonderful time working with saws, drills, crochet hooks and a yoga mat! Saw old friends and met more good women!

There were beautiful faces and busy hands, good food and laughs, music, and a bit of cold windy weather. Follow the links on the Squam site for images of the event. I took my camera and left it in the bag....

Back home and back at it. Cleaned up in the studio this morning and hope to get some work done. I am so grateful for my life and am sending good wishes out to the world!

2011-05-05T07:55:00.000-04:00

April 22...

The warm mornings of Cocoa Beach did not fly along with me on my return to Rhode Island! It was 29 degrees this morning...quickly up to 49.

Since my return I have raked millions of leaves

son Pete has been building our new chicken coop inside existing shed

working on getting our bees in order

planted peas and just got our onion and potato starts yesterday

working on some pillows

playing angry birds...somebody help me!!!

May 5th...

I have been trying to get to this for some time now. After installing new op system and new iLife, my iphoto is soooo slow and driving me nuts...so prepping pics was annoying!!! But onward.

We have been celebrating Sue's birthday (peeking out of the new chicken door) for days with wonderful company and food! The real day was yesterday and she has the next 5 days off! Yea!!

The chicks arrived a week ago. They grow so quickly it is unbelievable.

Bees are settled

Chicken coop for new peepers is coming along

Spied frog eggs in the pond...

Potatoes, onions, shallots, spinach, lettuce, peas in...beets, carrots, more lettuce, leeks going in and plant sales this weekend. Look out, danger...

Leaving for Paris in 6 days...

The garden is just erupting, some of the daffys need dead heading already...

While I was in Coca Beach, we went to visit the

Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery

and we bought this painting by Theresa Disney! Have been looking for something and was thrilled to see her work in person! Such good color and attitude. We love it!

So yoga and walk this morning and then back here to plant seeds, build a chicken yard, deal with daffys, new garden area, check on the chicks, enjoy my girl, maybe relax a bit!!

2011-03-22T13:24:00.000-04:00

Linda and Tracy’s Fabulous Summer Creative Fling

July 22 -24, 2011

Charlestown, Rhode Island, 02813

Three days of creative inspiration, really really good food, lots of laughs, new friends, the ocean, gardens, shopping...and more. We will be using fabric, paper, paints, stamps, sewing machines, embellishments. And there will be another secret collective project.

$400.00 includes instruction/guidance and amazing food!!!!

Friday

9:00 Charlestown Farmers Market • fab muffins etc

10:30 Start @ the Studio

Fabric/Paper Painting, Splattering, Stamp Carving and Printing.

Subject to Some Changes!!

lunch

Continue Morning Fun!

dinner

free studio time

Sat

8:00 breakfast

Patchy Face Pillows....Combining Fabric from the previous Day!

Using faces as a Guide...your own or made up,

we will combine fabrics, paints, words, stitches, threads....

lunch

Continue Project

dinner

free studio time

Sunday

Charlestown Flea Market

11:00...brunch

work

secret project....

dinner

Take advantage of local beaches, fabric stores, ice cream!

Local Motels/Hotels - Should Make Reservations ASAP

Surfside Motel

General Stanton Inn

Hathaway Cottages Mostly Queen beds and a futon but within walking distance of the event!

Any questions, contact me through comments

xxxxxx....

The Wonderful Weekend!!

2011-02-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

We had such a great time with the women that were able to make it to Little Rhody this weekend. Linda and I had been cooking and freezing goodies. By Friday morning the studio was organized and ready to rock! The table was set, name tags printed, Valentines around, goodie bags put together, beverages in place, gelatin slabs and paints waiting patiently.

Friday afternoon we played with said gelatin and made lots of fabric and paper to be used at a further date.

Gelatin, Paint, Fabric

Stephanie and Loretta

Sandi and Bev

Lots of laughs, dinner, stories, and the troops went off the the Surfside for sleep and a bit of trouble with the hot water! Back in the morning for breakfast and sewing!!

Judith and Sue discussing Bees!

Linda kicks off Saturday Morning with her new Quilt!

Judith Creating!

Sandi looking Fresh and ready to go!!

Stephanie Stitching Away!!

Betti Concentrating...

Kathy and her Fabulous Bag!!!!!!

We continued to eat good food, snacks, found gifts on our plates at every meal, had a little birthday celebration for Loretta, saved threads for the birds, made bags and wall hangings, shared dish washing, oohhed and aahhhed at each others work and it was a long and raucous goodbye. Not before we set a date for summer.

Group Made Souvenirs!

Thanks for everything girlz! Linda and I are working on the summer gathering already and will put the information out into the world as soon as we get it together!!

Off to Florida next week to see Midge and Al. We should be able to do some good work!! Thinking about silk screening and sunshine...see you soon girlz!

New Pillows!!

2011-01-31T11:47:00.000-05:00

My sis, Allison made me a pillow (seen above) for my birthday. She created some of the pieces while still in Florida, and finished it while she was here at Christmas. The crazed pink young lady was "free -stitched" with her trusty Bernina. The message "Everything was fine until my sister moved to Florida" was transferred onto the fabric. Some of the smaller pieces with the black background were created with screens and silk screen paint/ink. She (the pillow girl) is still very distressed, but feeling better now that she is living in New England.

I was then inspired to make a pillow for Sue who

has been doing ALL tasks around the house in addition to going to her regular job since the beginning of December. I returned from a week in Florida, and have been almost useless...so she has cooked, taken care of chickens, rabbits, snow issues, bills, laundry, on and on and on... I managed to sit at my sewing machine and do a bit of hand sewing. The girl on the pillow was created from a gelatin print on fabric. I used my beloved Bernina Stitch Regulator to draw around the girl and write the message.

Linda was just here and we have been working on the details for our Fabulous Fiber Weekend that is coming up here pretty quickly. Working out details for food, goodies, projects etc. It is coming together!! Better take a rest!

The Holidaze!

2011-01-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been quite a ride since our very successful and entertaining Studio Sale at the beginning of December. It was off to Florida to surprise the sisters, which by the way was a complete success...the surprise that is!! The weather was of course better than the great north east, but cold...icicles on the palm trees!

Midge, Allison and I took a weekend collage class from Derek Gores. Worth checking out his site. The work is amazing! The room was filled with women madly tearing up magazines and transforming them into portraits.

The piece on the top above, is Allison's. She had started it at home in fabric, and mixed it up with paper during the class. I used a photo of my son Don to do the piece below. Still have work to do on my piece, but it is coming along. An amazing two days of hard work, squinting and learning.

We had a great time guiding sister Beth with a potholder project, did some gel and screen printing! I also got to meet some of the Florida creative friends with back to back luncheons.

I think i had pizza every day! Watched bad tv, watched Al patiently knit a sock using her ipad as a teacher, did a bit of stitching and more eating! It was somewhere in there that my belly started to feel "full".

I returned home, plopped down on the couch and slept for 4 days, downed a couple of laxatives, had waves of abdominal cramping for the same number of days, no appetite. Finally went to a clinic, more laxatives and set up abdom ultrasound. Two days later...the blessed Solstice...Linda drove me to our new clinic right down the street...the next docs favorite lax, gatoraid, lab work and piece of pizza for Linda. We toasted the Solstice!

Next day, my blessed B'day, lab work showed something going on and the doc sent me to the ER for an ultrasound. By 9 that evening, i was tucked into my hospital bed very grateful to know that i had a blown appendix that had collected itself in a magical pocket in my belly!

Midge and Al showed up to be on the patient support staff. Midge ended up driving to NYC very early Christmas morning, so we didn't see her until late in the week. By New Years Day the extended family was together here enjoying each other and a wide variety of snacks!!

So now, the "pocket" is drained and i will have the pesky thing removed on the 25th! I consider myself very lucky and grateful to be here!!!!!

Al's New Heads Above!

Back to the Basement to Sew. Pics very soon!

Studio Sale on Friday December 3rd 5-8!!!

2010-11-29T11:55:00.000-05:00

We decided to join forces with our little community store and another local artist to help celebrate the upcoming holidaze!! Mills Creek Market will have maps to get to the other spots. Please pread the word. I know that that is a big job for all 26 of my followers and one of them is in Cambodia!!

Putting product together like the olden days...cleaning, decorating, cooking etc.

It is a good way to get the house cleaned and organized!!

Now off to the dump and the library and then back at it!

Stay warm!!!

First Freeze and November!

2010-11-01T10:37:00.000-04:00

We had our first frost last night, so with that knowledge in mind, Sue and I picked the rest of our eggplant, peppers, and green tomatoes. We took the last of the plants inside, covered the outside lettuce, and jammed the green house with more lettuce, and tropicals...

Now I have a large basket of eggplant to whip up into something yummy and freezable.

The tomatoes can go into a bag and may ripen up! Lots of beets were pulled and the garlic still has to get put into the ground. Pronto.

Last weekend we extracted honey and now the jars are in the dishwasher and we have another 4 gallons to jar up and label, trying not to get little dribbles of honey on the outside of the jar!

THE STUDIO

In the studio, I have been playing with my gel printing. Have been playing with faces and thought about trying a doll body. I the photo above, you can see a couple of examples of the fabric print (the first print) and the paper version (the second print).

Not only is the paper version very cool looking, but it also helps to remove the paint from the gelatin, making it ready for your next print.

I added a piece of batting to the fabric version and did free motion stitching around the edges and features of the doll, adding stitched hands and boots. I cut out the shape, stitched her up with a backing, stuffed and closed up the edge. Took my embroidery floss to her and love how she is coming along.

Got to go and get straw, bunny food, chunchies for the chickens and saucers for the plants.

Mid October Already!

2010-10-18T10:18:00.000-04:00

Last week at this time I was teaching in Conn at Art-Is. Linda and I packed up...(well, Linda was the "packing bitch" of the day) and we drove home Monday after my class. We were pretty tired and grateful to be back in little rhody. She dropped me off and blasted the last few miles on her own.

We both had a great time, great classes, students, and lots of laughs!!! I met lots of peeps and was glad to actually be teaching this time. Looking forward to next year already!!
These are just some of the very amazing people teaching. You may know some of them and some may be new to you!

Michael deMeng
Sue Pelletier
Diana Trout
Jane Davila
Judy Gula

Also check out the most amazing tiny tiny fimo cupcakes!
Oh my I have been checking out blogs as I got those links...how time flies!

So Linda showed up on Friday with a pan of plain set gelatin, paints, and goodies that would act as resists. Plus she had soup and blueberry crumble. What's better than that?!

I had heard about using gelatin as a base for what would basically be mono printing. Linda and the Florida girlz were at it when she was visiting Cocoa Beach. Judy Gula was kind enough to let me laze around her class at Art-Is so that was my first live and in person view of the process.

After letting a pan of plain gelatin set, we plopped it out of the pan and flipped it over so the flat side was up. We then applied acrylic paint with a variety of brushes and a brayer and proceeded to make designs in the paint with wire, stamps, leaves and twine.

Fabric and papers were used to pull the paint off of the gel and and infinite number of images were achieved. I almost liked the paper better than the fabric.

I have the gel block sitting in the refrigerator just waiting for another round.

Packed the Day Before!!

2010-10-06T08:58:00.000-04:00

It is a rainy day here in little rhody, but warm and dry here in the pit surrounded by my stuff! Just a few more things to pull together for CT and a pile of eggplant and cooked pumpkin in the kitchen!!

Have packed up my "Roll-Ups" to sell at the big event! I made a pile of these as Sue and I plowed thru all seasons of "Lost". There may be some cosmic, where in the world am I energy stitched into these babies!!

Off to shine up my little old Bernina...no computer chips...to take with me. It is the perfect on the road warrior! I bought it in California around the time I was making this piece. I think that was 1988. Back in the hand quilting daze...

Preparing for Classes...

2010-09-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

Spent 4 extra long days at the Co-op in Wakefield this week painting the interior! The ceiling collapsed about a month ago creating a food retailer nightmare! Everything needed to be weighed, logged into a computer and then thrown away. It was one major mess after another. Demo and rebuild. With lots of scrubbing and cleaning help, the painting was finished yesterday!! So onto where I left off last week...

Preparing for Art Is...You ( I don't think that it is too late!) and classes at Quilts and More in Westerly. Making samples, putting kits together, making piles, looking for bright new ideas to share.

Bracelet parts for Art Is

I made up this bag with our "patchy fabric" and a quick color wheel on the front. You never know when you will need that reference!! October 23rd at Quilts and More. Then onto dolls and the Holidaze!

Rag Dolls on October 30th

Stockings November 20th!

Back to my class organizing, shelling piles of beans, harvesting eggplant and honey!

What are you up to?

Mid September Already!

2010-09-17T09:19:00.000-04:00

Sue and I had a lovely staycation the week after Labor Day here in beautiful downtown Charlestown. The weather was perfect and as we constantly reminded ourselves to relax, we dug out a perennial bed to make space for an overgrown strawberry bed, prepped a new bed for said perennials, planted lettuce and clover, harvested 40+ winter squash, watched netflix. Sue took afternoon trips to the beach and I relaxed at home with my book. The time was made more precious by the fact that Sue was to and did start a full time job on the 13th.

And Bob's voice started to change...from peeping to a subtle teenage squeak. Still wondering if Bob is a boy or a girl...anybody else know?

While Sue has been orienting at Newport Hospital, I have been spending my time preparing for the classes I'll be teaching at Art-Is, and making samples, class descriptions, supply lists, etc for class offerings at Quilts and More in Westerly. There are piles of projects all around the studio. I have been pulling the old and new together, updating directions and illustrations, making new samples and of course trying to stay calm. So I am now going back to my class prep and will see where that takes me!

Hope the creative energy is surging around the world!!!

Happy 90th Birthday Eleanor!!!

2010-08-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it is Friday already. Just came back from the farmers market. Left some of my new scarves with Jan Doyle and her buddies.Will go back and get them at noon. It is a public trial!!

Finished a knitted scarf. Very basic...knit one way, knit the other way...

Made a paper mobile for Eleanor's 90th Birthday! Loved working on it!

Harvested more summer squash and eggplant. Yard long beans waiting for me!

Started working on some collage heads. Used the top of wooden boxes that are hanging around. I think I have a whole pile of tops somewhere. Started cutting up my old Ms. Magazines that I have been hauling around for 30 years.

Cut out shapes that will become a cover for a small foam stool. Can't wait to start sewing it together. Want to dig out a big piece of flannel that is buried in the closet. I'm sure it will be easy!!

Now going to fill out an application for the Craftland Holiday Show.

Doesn't My Hair Look Fantastic?

2010-08-18T10:33:00.000-04:00

Well Providence was it's glamtastic self last night as Adam Lambert fans gathered at Lupo's for a fashion show and rock concert! Sue mentioned the event on Sunday morning and well, since we are always wondering what people around here do for fun, we ordered up a couple of tickets. So there we were looking for a parking space around 6 o'clock and the fans were already whipped around the block.

Dreaming of a good veg dinner at AS220, we crossed the street by Trinity Rep and it was like...isn't that the dad from "6 Feet Under"? and sure enough there was Richard Jenkins just crossing the street on his way to the theater. As our dinner destination was closed, we turned around and there was Richard Jenkins doing his life.

We ended up eating a delicious dinner at Cuban Revolution. Rice, beans, Marilyn Monroe, Castro, festive artwork and fans gathering strength for the evening. Also got to see the new outdoor mural designed by Shepard Fairey. He did the screen print image from Obama's campaign. You might be familiar with his Obey street art. His work is very amazing and worth taking a look!

We crossed the street to Local 121 for some coffee and desert and noted that the line was longer, more compact and very festive! A few more fans hanging around in the the bar. We split a very local lemon pound cake, blueberries and cream. The restaurant is noted for using high quality local foods and was located right next to the ever expanding line around the block!

We were checking out the line when we heard an excited young man ask his friends "Doesn't My Hair Look Fantastic?" Perfect. We managed to get in for our "will call" tickets without standing in line, found our seats and watched with fascination the amazing variety of individuals that ended up together in the venue. By the time we had all waited, listened to Allison Iraheta (i didn't understand a word she said), waited another hour for no apparent reason (selling t-shirts maybe) listening to throbbing mixed tunes the glamster himself was on stage...and the frenzy was in full swing!! Singing, screaming, waving, on and on!!!!!!

On the way out of the venue I noticed a young woman in black underpants layered with fishnets, a belt, little top and festive pumps. I have so much to learn! It's good for me to get off of the farm!!

Happy 40th Birthday Don!!!

2010-08-17T07:19:00.000-04:00

Well, my first born ( the one on the left if you check out the link) is 40 years old today which confirms that I am not a twenty something or thirty something...

I believe that he is starting his journey from Edinburgh, Scotland toTullywood Farm in Roscommon, Ireland. He left his San Francisco job at Adobe at the end of June, gave up his apartment, got rid of his stuff and headed out into the world July 1st with his passport, camera and computer. He has worked at two farms in Scotland for room and board and is planning to continue the ride in the same manner.

His photography is beautiful, so if you want to take a brief armchair trip around the world, check out:

Flickr

Facebook

Don's Site

I hope you have the best day as you roll into the 4's!!!!!!

I love you!

xxxxxx

Honey, Onions and Garlic

2010-08-10T09:55:00.000-04:00

We have been busy little farmers! After collecting and assembling flowers on Thursday, Sue and I spent the first part of Friday selling bouquets at the Charlestown Farmers Market for our friends George and Cathy. Lucky Cathy was dancing her way around England with "The Ladies of the Rolling Pin". Always a pleasurable place to hang out, we indulged in fresh pastries, bought peaches, apples, steamers and fresh cheese, met new folks, got invited to some end of summer parties, and had a very relaxing, perfect weather summer morning!

George and Sue with Fresh Eggs!

Sue was up and working in the garage on Saturday AM before my eyes even thought about opening. It was shortly after 6 and she had already cleaned up 37 lbs of onions and was on her way to completing 11 lbs of garlic. We started picking blueberries about 9 and it took us about an hour to collect 8 lbs!

The next task on the list took us to the towers of bee power to extract what turned out to be 70 lbs of honey! It is truly a remarkable, miraculous substance...amazing to spend just a few moments watching the bees arrive with their little legs packed with pollen, or watching them at the pond gather up minute amounts of water, building cone, attending to eggs and the queen, filling in little spaces with propolis, jetting around their territory, chewing, building, storing...

Then get the frames, brush off the bees, haul them home to the extractor, cut the comb, hand crank the extractor, honey into the bucket through two filters, clean the jars and tops, fill 'em up, print and stick the labels...beautiful!!!

Now off to make yogurt and scarves!

What are you making with zucchini???

Chickens like zucchini!!

Wet Felting!!!

2010-08-04T09:02:00.000-04:00

Linda Willis and I trotted our bad selves up to the Rhode Island School of Design for a 4 week...one night a week....wet felting class with Anna Kristina Goransson. We had a varied, talented and enthusiastic group of women who were always ready to mix roving, water and soap! Like being a part of any collection of creative types you get to see a wide range of styles emerge almost immediately!! Always a joyful and interesting experience!

With a pile of roving left from Artgirlz, a stash of wool picked up along the way combined with the goodies that we received in class I have been playing with making holey scarves. Will anyone else like the scarves???? Time will tell, but I am having a great and somewhat relaxing time at our kitchen counter putting down roving and trying to keep the water under control!!

Have to go and check the sprinkler...so hoping for rain!!

Blueberries!

2010-08-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

Sue and I have been picking blueberries and putting them in the freezer. They usually last us through March. It has been a very relaxing venture with about 7 pounds of goodies to put into the freezer and on yogurt and to just munch by the handful!!! With a pile of Artgirlz wool hanging around, I decided to finally make a couple of blueberry pin cushions!

They were pretty easy to put together. For the larger piece on the left, I just stitched precut wool felt flowers on a 3.5cm wool bead and had myself a very large berry. Made three of them and stitched them together around the base. Cut out and stitched on leaves and there you go. It lack the most amazing range of pink, green, purple, blue of the actual berries, but your pins will hang in these quite well!

The smaller piece on the right, was made from a stitched together cluster of 1cm beads and hand cut leaves.

Have been diggin wet felting! Will take some photos of what's been happening!

IPhone Photo Apps!

2010-07-27T14:56:00.000-04:00

I had Marisa Haedike as teacher at the Squam Art Workshops (there is a session in Sept people), and she shared her favorite phone photo apps with me. So, while Sue and I were relaxing on our trip in Seattle I was crazily spending 2 bucks here and 99 cents there for the said apps. What I ended up getting was Shake It Photo, Camera Bag and Hipstamatic. I found the latter two to be more fun than the Shake It Photo which "develops" your picture as you shake your phone. The Pics below were taken with Hipstamatic. Thanks Marisa!

Camera Bag allows you to apply a filter to an existing photo and the Hipstamatic takes a photo through the "lens and film" of your choice. It is very entertaining and I found myself taking pics everywhere. Check it out if you like to play with photos and your phone!

Off to harvest garlic, check the bees and pick blueberries!

All is Well!!

2010-07-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick note to those of you that are panicked about my "new" life. I am happy to assure you that Sue is here...alive and well and we are doing the things we've been doing for the last 18 years...digging in the dirt, working on projects...you know the usual. The big change for me is the closing down of Artgirlz and the endless hours of work that went with it!!

Beautiful day here in RI! Cooler for a bit!!!

Now What????

2010-07-25T09:59:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Steamy Breezy Rhode Island and Welcome to the #1 posting on my new window to the world! I have been hanging out in our cool (as in temperature) basement, (former secret location of Artgirlz World Headquarters) organizing every little bit of arty crafty stuff that has been in my life for years!! The felt, fabric, beads, threads, papers are all stacked and packed by color... I must say that I am very grateful to have a drooly dreamy studio space in which to work in the said basement. To take advantage of the space, I will be putting some fall classes together. Will post them as soon as I get them organized. And, I am hoping to actually do some of my own work down there and get back to mixing up materials.

Linda Willis and I have been taking a wet felting class at RISD. We have both been layering and manipulating roving making practice shapes, mixing materials because we can't help it.

I have spent many hours this spring and summer working in the garden. We have flowers and vegetables, chickens, rabbits and bees. All seem to be doing well so far. We have a month old chick that seems to be adjusting to the big girlz very well...sleeping on a roost and cruising around with the group. Other than one cranky neighbor that doesn't like our chickens exploring her yard, all is well here on the farm!!