Heads or Tails?

My weekend started with a rare opportunity to see a dead grey whale that had washed up on the beach at East Sooke Park and unexpectedly, I also later saw the bones of another grey whale, near the end of the weekend, at Pearson College, while I was out that way to see the 'Consider the Lilies VIII' fibre art show, when I also stopped in at the campus. I felt awed by the size and magnificence of the whales, but I have to say I much prefer when I have encountered them live, rising from the deep to stare at me. It was the second day of the Lilies show and I noticed there seemed to be fewer pieces then other years, but heard that quite a few had sold the first day. There was still plenty to see and be inspired by - art quilts, fibre pieces, journals, calendars, cards, clothing, dolls, bags and jewlery. Ten local artists pooled their talents to produce the beautiful show, which I attend every year and wouldn't miss! I also happened upon a dream garage sale with tables and boxes of every imaginable kind of bead - the photo above shows some cultured pearls and crystals I bought for a pittance, but I found other types, as well, including some hand carved bone horse heads and natural coloured stone geometric shapes that I especially like. Today I reorganized my studio, managing to find space to put away the leftover fabrics from the Nancy Crow workshop by a series of moves - almost like a giant chess board with a win being the resulting clean counter space!

A Bird in the Hand ...

I spent a fair bit of last weekend reorganizing and creating space in my studio area. I emptied two sets of plastic drawers I had been using for storage in the carport, and filled them with some of my fabric, scissors, measuring tape and other such items. The storage stand I had been using in the space where I put the drawers, I then moved beside my cutting table and the stuff piled there I moved elsewhere... One thing really led to another with the end result being a much more inviting workspace. I find that it takes time and experience to find what location works best for my supplies, and how they might most handily be organized. In 2 and a half years, I have moved from a sewing machine on the kitchen table with a portable tv table of stacked fat quarters next to it, to taking over the dining room, to filling a hall closet, to various versions of my current basement studio. Since my Pfaff was stalled and I ran across this bird pattern online at http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/ which looked easy and applicable to hand sewing, I decided to make one. I used backstitch, thinking it would make the seams nice and strong so stuffing wouldn't poke through. However, when I turned it inside out, there were numerous openings, so then I was back to the Pfaff, where fortunately, after taking the bobbin out and reapplying it, the machine decided to work. 'Chirp' still needs eyes, but the beads I have weren't quite right, so I feel an artist date coming on...

Discharge

I've got the counter cleared in my studio now - a temporary measure though - as I've stored my fabrics in boxes in several cupboards, and I prefer to have easier access to them for when I'm designing. I also did a quick discharge experiment, cutting two hearts from freezer paper and ironing the surrounding freezer paper to this fabric and painting the cut out inside with a bleach pen and the other with dishwasher soap with bleach. I purchased the bleach pen at a dollar store and it did absolutely nothing. The dishwasher liquid left this lovely pink heart that will form the base of a card.

Brooch

Here's the brooch I made for a friend a few weeks ago, starting with a wet felted base and adding felt, curly wool, embroidered handstitches and machine stitching. The back is green satin with a pin attached. Earlier today I carried on sorting in the studio for a brief time, and came up with a solution of how and where to store my fabrics which will require another weekend, probably, to put into place. I also popped by to the community art show where my quilt is being shown and I learned that it's been receiving alot of interest - people are stopping to really take a look instead of perusing it briefly and moving on. So that was a pleasant surprise!

Clearing Space

I've been re-organizing in my studio today, trying to make more counter space available. My dyeing supplies, paints, glues, and stencils are now in a cupboard by the sink, and my felting supplies are near it, as well. I think this will be a much more efficient arrangement. To get an empty cupboard in the first place required assessing other areas of the house and brainstorming how to make room for what was already in the cupboard, which required moving other things, etc... Inevitably, once I get this process started, there's quite awhile where everything gets much messier and appears worse, before the tide turns and the overflow begins to recede again. It's in the receding stage now, but there's still more to do.