Bright Colors on a Dreary Day

It's a gray day here in Maine.  The rain comes and goes, with periods of thunder and lightning.  The cloud formations keep changing; sometimes you can see across the lake and sometimes you can't.  It's kind of dreary, but there's always something to see.  A pair of loons just drifted lazily by, so I'm enjoying myself despite the gloom.


Here's the view from one of our front windows.  This was taken a few days ago when the sky had started to brighten a bit from what it is now.  Today we've got those same low dark clouds.

Here's my "view" inside today.  

I'm starting a new jacket with colors to brighten the day.  This is going to be another of my peek-a-boo jackets.  The bright blue linen is the outside; the batik stripes will be the lining, collar and cuffs.  I have cut triangular holes in the blue to allow the wild lining to show through.  (You can see my sample piece on the left here.)  I found a great nubby yarn in the right colors that I will add on the surface to bring in more texture and line (and help to hold down the facings of the triangles).  When I work on something so colorful and whimsical, I feel like I'm just playing not working.

It's a happy contrast to the one I just finished--Drama in Black & White.

Wabi Sabi Project Update

One of the things I love about a cruise vacation is that I have forced relaxation time.  My two favorite relaxation activities are reading and stitching so before we left for Barcelona I loaded up several books on my e-reader and got a new stitching project ready to go.  I finished two books and most of a third while I was away and got a good start on my new stitching project.

Here's my stitching progresst.  I am not totally sure where this is going, but I'm trying to straddle a fence between traditional and contemporary embroidery, honoring the old but adding something new.  On the traditional side, I'm enhancing the leaf motifs with fishbone and stem stitches in varying shades of green and blue.  On the contemporary side, I'm stitching in words around the edges of the center design using a variegated thread in brighter colors.

Here's a closer view.  The words around the outside are meant to convey my thoughts on our Wabi Sabi theme as it relates to this piece.  (As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Wabi Sabi is the theme of a joint exhibit that Sonja and I are doing in February 2013.)


So far it says:
New life to something old and treasured...
a treasure revitalized...
revered, revived, recycled...
rejuvenated old gem...


I plan to continue in that vein all around the edge.


Beyond that I'm not sure.  I'll let you know as I progress.

From Barcelona to Maine

We got back from Barcelona late Monday afternoon and by Wednesday noon we were up in Maine--laundry done and groceries bought.  (Skipped the cleaning, that can wait!!!)  Took care of a few things at the studio and packed up what I needed to be able to do my work here while enjoying the views and sounds of the lake.  Aaaah...

We had a wonderful trip.  The weather was fine, the Mediterranean smooth, good entertainment on the ship, and good times with our son.  Barcelona was definitely our favorite city of those we visited.  Beauty everywhere, such a nice ambiance,  and outstanding food. Inspiration everywhere. Here are just a few pictures.

View of the Pyrenees as we came into Spain.

One of the Gaudi-designed houses in Barcelona, love those curvy lines

I loved this statue over the water faucets (my son Peter  on the left there)

Entrance to Gaudi-designed Parc Guell - more curvy lines and colorful mosaics

View of Barcelona from the undulating benches in Parc Guell

And finally...how about this...All along the street near our hotel were these glass cases 2 or 3 each for a number of fashion designers who had won some awards.  It went on for several blocks.  There were at least a dozen of these--with the display and an artist statement.  One of the artist statements stayed with me.  She said "I don't dress this way to attract attention.  I attract attention because I dress this way."  This way of turning things around makes me think.

Wabi Sabi for Barcelona

Tomorrow I'm off to Barcelona for a week-long cruise on the Mediterranean with stops for Rome, Naples, Florence, Marseilles and Cannes.  Can't beat that!  It has been a busy week finishing up things here at the studio so that Sonja can manage while I'm away.

Today I finally had a chance to do a little for myself.  Whenever I'm traveling one of my main concerns is making sure that I have books to read and a stitching project.  For me, true luxury is time to sit and read or stitch.  Tonight I will load up my e-reader with some new books.  This afternoon I prepared a new stitching project.

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Sonja and I are working on a joint exhibit for February 2013 at the public library in Topsfield, Massachusetts.  The theme for the exhibit is Wabi Sabi.  One of the things that this theme says to me is timeworn elegance.  We are incorporating a variety of well-aged textiles into our art.

I started looking through a fabric bin a bit ago looking for a fabric to use as a base for what I thought would be a piece incorporating some of the sari ribbon we got recently.  This is what I found instead:

It's an old table-runner (?) that we bought at a flea market years ago.  It's a thin, very soft cotton (?) with some holes and stains.  When we bought it I figured that we'd cut it up and use the good parts in something.  When I saw it today, it immediately cried out Wabi Sabi to me.  The fabric is certainly timeworn, but I think the design is very elegant.  So, I've basted it to a length of flannel and I'm going to pick out some new threads and so I'm ready to stitch tomorrow.  We'll see where it goes.

Drama in B&W

I have often said that my artworks/jackets are inspired by my fabric stash.  This time it was a pile of black and white cottons collected over the years - when I was making more traditional quilts.  As usual, I had many small pieces of a wide variety of patterns.  I realized recently that they would be fun to use in pieced insets for jackets.  It would be a good way to use up a bunch of really disparate fabrics.

Cutting them in strips and sewing them together randomly was a good project for the busy days last week when I was feeling fragmented  due to the variety of other tasks I had besides sewing.  I could work on this in short spurts without losing my train of thought and still feel like I was moving my art ahead.

Here's the results of that first step.  At this stage the various patterns have started to blend together, but some are still jumping out at you.  They worked together well enough that I could tell that when they were cut into strips again, the results wouldn't be so jarring.

This is step two (and three).  I had a nice large piece of heavy black cotton with a woven pattern leftover from a previous jacket.  This large rectangle will comprise the body of the jacket.  The back of the jacket is at the bottom of the photo.  

I inset strips of the pieced black & whites in radiating lines.  Then, thinking it needed something a little more, I went through my stash of ribbons and yarns to see what I might add.  I found a thin black & white ribbon with a very interesting texture  that worked well with the insets so I laid those down with a zigzag stitch.

For the lining and collar I've got a dramatic black and white batik.  You'll have to wait to see that.

For a little entertainment while you're waiting, might I suggest listening to the podcast of my appearance on Liz Smith's Makers in Business.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Debut Night for Makers in Business

I am having trouble settling down today.  Yesterday afternoon I got the e-mail from Liz Smith that her new television program, Makers in Business, will be airing for the first time tonight.  It will be on Comcast channel 8 here in Lowell on Tuesday nights at 6:30 and Thursday nights at 8:30.  It can also be viewed online both "live" and on demand at ltc.org.  You can read Liz's official press release on her Mill Girl blog.

If you read my last blog, you know that I am the featured guest on this first program - which accounts for my jitters today.  We taped the program a couple of weeks ago, so my part has been finished for a while now.  I'm just excited and nervous to see myself in this way.

Truly, mine was the easy part.  Liz has done all the hard work conceptualizing it and working out all the details.  She just stopped by to let me know that she has come up on a last minute glitch which might mean that tonight's program won't be the totally final version - SO - you might want to plan to watch it again on Thursday!  Seriously though, this particular program will run for the next few weeks until Liz can complete a second one, so if you miss it tonight you'll have more chances.

While following all the behind the scenes on the program, I've been working away on another jacket.  I finished up Silver Spring yesterday afternoon.

This one has couching to accent various motifs in the weave of the fabrics.  The lining, collar and cuffs are a crinkled satin.

Here's a detail of the handmade glass button I used for the closure.  My photography's not the greatest, but you can sort of see how the sparkle and "texture" of the button pick up the color and texture of the fabric.  The loop closure is made from the same yarn I used for the couching, but I braided together several strands to make it thicker and studier.  Then I hand couched the loop in place.

This back view shows the diagonal pattern of the piecing.

Makers in Business

Oh my!  My television debut is coming!  I can't quite believe it, but the show taped last night and it went great.  Here's the scoop...

My friend Liz Smith, of Made in Lowell, is putting together a new television show for Lowell Telecommunications Corporation.  The show, called Makers in Business, is designed to showcase local artists and help viewers understand just what it takes to succeed as an arts business.  And, (drum roll please!) I am her first featured guest.  How exciting is that.  She asked me to be her first guest because I'm so "cool, calm and collected" (who cares that the calm comes from age, I was still thrilled).

You can read all about how this show came to be in Liz's great Mill Girl blog. It's a great story and certainly shows how you never know where each little adventure will lead.

So we met up in the LTC recording studio last night about 6:30.  It was my first time in a television studio.  I had no idea what to expect, but it was all much easier than I ever imagined.  Liz had set up a little round table with two comfy chairs and mugs of water for us.  (Absolutely gorgeous handmade mugs, by the way - and which beautifully picked up the colors in the jacket I was wearing - and yes, Liz did plan that)  There were bright lights shining on us and three cameras behind the lights.  They also turned on a monitor so we could see what was being filmed.

During the set-up the crew made us feel so comfortable.  Once we were miked, we each had to count to 20 so they could adjust the sound.  Once they did that, they assured us that we didn't have to worry about whether we started to talk louder or softer, they could adjust either way.  Then they showed us what the picture was from each of the cameras so Liz could tell them whether to zoom in or out--so we'd know whether to worry about the position of our feet and knees, for example.

Once all that basic set-up was done, they gave us a count-down, Liz did a little introduction to the show and we started to chat.  It was so easy.  You couldn't really see past the bright lights so it was easy to ignore the cameras.  It really was pretty easy to pretend we were just having a conversation in a cafe and we each learned a little more about each other and our businesses.  

I got to impart a few words of business "wisdom" and to toot my horn about getting into the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.  When the show is edited, a few of the great pictures that Adrien Bisson took of my friends modeling my jackets will be worked into it.

So we taped two 12-minute segments of the two of us talking, plus short closing and transition segments from Liz.  We were all done less than an hour after I arrived.  No redoing, no fussing around.  An awesome job by Liz and the whole crew.  Liz might have been nervous on the inside, but she was cool as a cucumber on the outside.  I know many of my friends will be doing this with Liz and they should have no worries.  It's fun...and did I say EASY.

But now that that's over, I need to get back to making jackets.  Here's just a teaser of the next one.  I'm putting together larger pieces of fabric this time and working with more dramatic diagonal lines.  I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do for surface design to tie this all together.  That'll come when the basics have had a chance to stew in my brain for a bit longer.