New projects

In the past week I've become part of two different projects. The first one is The Sketchbook Project and I received my sketchbook in the mail today. The sketchbook has to be completed by the end of the year and then sent back in to become a part of The Brooklyn Art Library's permanent collection. There are several themes to choose from and since I'm not a sketchbook user I chose "This is not a Sketchbook". I plan on filling the pages with fabric and possibly some stitches. I've tried many times to keep a sketchbook but have never succeeded, so by using fabric and not thinking of it as a sketchbook I'm hoping to succeed with it.



The second one is online at ideas of inspiration. I've joined a group of creative souls that are given a theme twice a month as inspiration for a photo or project. The theme for the beginning of June was turquoise/teal. I had a few photos that fit the theme, so I posted those. I'm hoping that it will help jump start me when I'm stuck or getting bored with the photos I've been doing daily.

Both of these projects will force me to step out of my comfort zone and I'm looking forward to that.

My fiddle takes first place

This picture was taken the day I turned the fiddle in. I got a call yesterday that it had taken first place. So Monday they've scheduled a time for a photo op with the newspaper. I may have won a prize, but have no idea what.

We have had rain everyday this week, everything is wet,wet, wet. This is quite unusual for us, normal for this time of year is dry and quite warm (80). It hasn't been very conducive to working with my bricks, in fact nothing has been done in the yard since last Sunday.

Bricks, diamonds and hand stitches

This is the area where I'll be putting my pile of bricks, where all the weeds and crab grass used to be. I've been spending my mornings digging and am now ready to start laying bricks.

Then in the afternoon I've been spending time in the studio. The picture below is what I put on the design wall yesterday. It's the leftovers from the big green diamond quilt, plus a few additions.



It will be my blanket for yoga class. We need a blanket to cover ourselves in the winter when we lay on the floor because the building we use is very cool. I've been using an old quilt I made but it's more lap size and I'm tall and always have extremities hanging out. So this one is long and slender, made just my size.

This is what I should be working on.


It's a very large mono print that I'm doing some hand stitching on. My plan is to get it done and enter it into Quilt National. I can't show you the whole thing because of their entry rules. I must have needed a break from it because I kept finding excuses to go to the kitchen for a snack or to play with other fabric. So I gave in and played with fabric, I really don't need the snacks.