Archive for July, 2009

Back to Flowers

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

It's been a while since I showed any new flowers here, so here goes… The Echinaceas are in full bloom now, along with a few other pretties.

Out my kitchen window, I noticed this flower opening… I have not had white Echinaceas here for a few years, and was surprised to find this seedling blooming in white with a touch of yellow at the tips of the petals. I am so happy… My yellow one died a few years ago, and so did my white ones. I love seeing what new colors pop up from so many varieties crossing with each other.

A closer shot of this flower…

OK, Here is an even closer shot- see the tips of the petals? I think  it may be a seedling from the apricot colored ones called "Harvest Moon".

At first glance these Echinaceas look like regular purple ones…. but check out the leaves… They are spotted with lots of white on them. The variety is named "Sparkler" the flowers are a deeper shade than most of the purple ones.

This variety is one that was sold with part of the sales going to breast cancer research. The name is "Hope" It has a much larger center than most Echinaceas. I even caught a visitor on this one.

More Echinaceas…. These are from a big group of plants that have seeded themselves over the years. Some of the flower petals droop more than others. It has been fun watching the Goldfinches this summer. They have been trying to pick seeds from these flowers even before they have a chance to form them. This photo also shows the really tall Thalictrum, or Meadow Rue towering over even the ornamental grass, with it's delicate lavender flowers. Most of the plants in this area of the garden are nearly armpit high… It will be even better when the tall Garden Phlox begin to bloom. I even allowed a few wild Milkweed plants to stay here for the Monarchs. They usually end up popping up where I have the shortest plants growing, and I have to pull them or leave them looking out of place.

Last photo for tonight… Annual flowers in a planter- White and deep purple Angelonia with bright pink geraniums. I never thought I would be buying geraniums to plant around my home, but these were on a bargain rack at Lowes at half price. Beautiful plants, just not in bloom… With a little TLC, they are pretty now. I do like the color..

Now I just need to keep attacking the weed populations… Photos are great…. I can shoot around the weeds and no one knows how bad they really are:)

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How to Cause a Fibro Flare 101…

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

I don't usually post about my Fibromyalgia, but for some reason this post seemed  to need to be written…. I know from experience what can cause nasty flares of my Fibro, and have learned what to do or avoid to keep flares to a minimum. This past weekend, that all went out the window, and now I am paying the price. Here is how I caused this flare… If I had not put off things that should have been done sooner, I may have avoided the flare, or at least not been hit this hard…. Living with this disease is a lifetime learning experience. Pardon any rambling, errors in grammar, etc….. Fibro fog here, too.

How to Cause a Fibro Flare 101
  • Friday Evening- Finally start getting fair entries ready to deliver to fairgrounds by noon on Saturday.
  • Start painting a piece of canvas needed for one of the entries. Hurry the drying process by blotting moisture from the canvas, then ironing over and over and over…. until it finally dries. Set aside.
  • Finish edging on art quilt to be mounted  on the painted canvas… OK, I enter things that are not fully finished….
  • Stitch quilt to painted canvas….  Realize it doesn't look right… designs on canvas are too bright.
  • Pull out paint and brush,  thin titanium white paint to tone things down… remember the quilt is stitched to canvas.
  • Late nite TV shows are now over…. go to bed…
  • Saturday 7AM- Drag out of bed… fix breakfast of hot chocolate and cereal.
  • Start eating cereal while checking email… no news from 2 military sons… try not to worry…
  • Pull out fair entry form to lay everything out in order. Hot chocolate cooling down, cereal half eaten…
  • Oops! find another item that needs work…. Fix it..
  • Iron canvas that was over-painted last night… it looks OK!
  • Staple canvas onto frame…. Checking to be sure the quilt is centered properly.
  • Run out of staples in the staple gun… need only 2 more… can't find staples…. running out of time…
  • Borrow staple gun from Ken who is finally working on our bathroom… another procrastinator in the family :)
  • Look for wire and eye hooks to put on the back… can't find… steal from another piece not entered.
  • Finally finished!! Eat a bit more soggy cereal… hot chocolate no longer hot.
  • Cover name on quilts with tape… stack and roll, Oops…forgot… need rods to hang them….
  • Put everything into the mini van…. drive to storage trailer- where are those rods?… find them.
  • Drive to Ken's workshop to find dowels for smaller pieces. Find dowels, how do I cut them?? Look for something… find really rusty pliers that will work, sort of….
  • By now it is 11:30AM… Troy Fairgrounds are 20 miles away…. pray for no traffic…
  • Part way there realize I forgot my water bottle… getting thirsty… no time to stop anywhere…
  • Lucky me… arrive at fairgrounds 11:55… take items to Home Arts building… leave most of my stuff
  • Take last minute finished, canvas mounted art quilt to Fine Art building, drop off… I'll be back…
  • Am told the piece is in the wrong building- it's not art…  Yes it is… I'll be back…
  • Check in quilts, etc. at the Home Arts building….  My canvas mounted piece is returned to me… not art?…
  • Put piece into car… go to Fine Arts building to ask "What is considered mixed media??,
  • Told there is no category for my piece… they do like it, though- "How did you do that?",etc…
  • Mini meeting in back room…. The piece can be hung, but may not be judged, is that OK? YES!
  • Whew!  Done with that….
  • Nearly 1PM, no water bottle, hungry…. go to McDonald's and order a Happy Meal.
  • Sit and eat my Happy Meal… Realize I walked into McDonalds with a big rusty pair of pliers in my bag…
  • Drive back home… much calmer now… pick up sweet corn and peaches at farm stand on the way.
  • Arrive home, put away produce… Lawn Really needs mowing… it's not raining…
  • Help Ken with a piece of drywall in bathroom…
  • Lawn Really needs mowing….
  • Check mower… add oil, drag air tank out of workshop, fill tire with air, lug tank back…
  • Can't find gas… Ask Ken… doesn't know… find gas, yay! only a couple gallons and I can just lift it.
  • Put on ear protection and plug into walkman… start mowing, will just do what shows most…
  • Stop to help Ken with another piece of drywall.. good to stretch legs after an hour anyway….
  • Back to mowing… after another hour, notice bulging front tire- not the one that goes flat…
  • Keep mowing… when this thing stops, no  mowing until fixed.. may be a while, so better keep going.
  • Need a path to compost pile and veggie garden, keep mowing….
  • Finally stop mowing without running out of gas or blowing a tire- yay!
  • Hands and feet feel like being stung by bees- not fun… doesn't last long- Whew!
  • Ready for a nap….
  • Looks like a storm coming… yes one is coming… lots of drywall outside… full sheets, part sheets, etc….
  • Ask Ken if prepared for storm… (I can see Not)… a few little sprinkles…
  • "Should I help with covering things up??" No need to get big pieces into house and small ones, too.
  • I help carry in small pieces (NOT that small) pretty heavy, this will hurt tomorrow…
  • Now I could really use that nap, but time to fix supper….
  • Cook corn and chicken on grill, eat supper…
  • Can I babysit grandkids tomorrow so son can help with bathroom?? I know I'm going to hurt tomorrow…
  • Kids coming… need to do dishes (sink piled and more on stove), kitchen is biggest space for kids…
  • Take shower to ease aches….
  • By now in manic mode…. no nap, stressful day… kids coming… need to get ready…
  • Load dishwasher, load clothes washer, Ken goes to bed…. still dirty dishes… wash them by hand…
  • Clean counters, stove, put away dishes…. move clothes from washer to dryer….
  • I better get to bed…. nearly midnight… 2 late nights in a row not good….
  • Sleep like a rock from exhaustion…
  • Ken was up before me… unloaded dishwasher!! Yay!
  • Wake Sunday 8AM… drag out of bed… make hot chocolate… go to studio to check email, nothing from boys,
  • Find yesterday's unfinished cereal and day old, now cold chocolate… no wonder I got so hungry yesterday!
  • Find clothes for church… top needs ironing, take to studio, turn on iron….
  • Walk through kitchen while waiting for iron to heat up… Floor needs sweeping…
  • Where is the broom?? Take out compost… Put bucket into sink with clorox and soap, start filling with hot water..
  • Look for broom, find it on deck… Bucket is overflowing with suds and hot water..Oops! Sweep floor….
  • Where is dustpan??  In bathroom being remodeled? too far… use a paper, sweep fine dust under trashcan.
  • Almost time to leave for church…. where is my top? Oh yea, on ironing board, iron has turned off, turn it back on..
  • Fix hair, iron top, get dressed…. gulp down rest of now cool hot chocolate… forgot cereal…
  • Off to church eating a fiber bar on the way, don't get chocolate on skirt… Don't fall asleep during service…. good!
  • Stop at grocery store on way home for a couple items….
  • Arrive home, ask when kids are coming… 1PM??? it's 12:45!  Kitchen table is still buried in old mail, etc.
  • Put leftover mac&cheese in microwave for lunch… Ken already ate, he stayed home to work in the bathroom.
  • Sort old mail, papers, put away various other stuff… find table top… Hey there it is! Pretty cobalt blue!
  • 1:10PM no kids yet… wolf down mac&cheese… change clothes… no kids yet…
  • Lay down in bed until kids arrive… head hits pillow, kids arrive…
  • 3 kids instead of 2… Grandkids plus a cousin- 1yo baby, and 2- 5yr olds….
  • Put baby in highchair, other kids at kitchen table with coloring books… they like I Spy better…
  • Tell grandson and cousin to use one I Spy book… this grammy can't keep up with 2 books…
  • Baby not happy in highchair, put up Pack & Play- fills kitchen… add little girl and toys…
  • Baby not happy in her "cage" and very tired…. maybe a nap???  No nap.. try with playpen in bedroom, no nap…
  • Daddy can't ignore the crying like this grammy can… gets his little girl to sleep for 5 minutes. Give up on that.
  • Pack & Play back in kitchen… Daughter-in-law coming for supper… need to make salads…
  • Entertain graddaughter while cooking pasta…. older kids want cereal, get it for them…
  • Older kids still hungry… didn't eat lunch??? Find out they ate breakfast at 11AM
  • Heat soup for late lunch for 2- 5yo's Forgot pasta still cooking on stove…. a bit overcooked…
  • Make space in livingroom amongst stuff from remodel… unbury kid's table for puzzles.
  • 5yo's busy with puzzles and games, I'm finishing salads…. baby acting sleepy….
  • 5 PM… Fill bottle, baby falls asleep really fast… late for a nap, but a nap!!
  • Older kids are OK in livingroom, I tell Ken and son that I'm taking a nap… baby is sleeping.
  • Lay down… kids no longer in livingroom, outside in yard… sound busy and OK.
  • Nearly 6PM, get up… time to start grill for burgers and hotdogs… DIL arrives…
  • I find kids along the woods pulling walnut branches down to pick nuts… they have collected a lot.
  • Find a place for the collected walnuts the kids will use for when they "hibernate" :)
  • Serve supper on paper plates, eat supper… clear table, put away extra food, etc.
  • DIL and kids leave… load dirty dishes in dishwasher…start it….
  • Guys still working in bathroom… will it EVER be done?? Oh yea, it has to be done by next week…
  • Check computer for signs of other sons- #2 in Iraq had a post on Facebook… he is OK… nothing from #3
  • 9:30PM Crash into bed…. fall asleep even with the sound of the drywall screw gun…
  • Monday 8AM, Ken up… 9AM, I can finally move enough body parts to get out of bed…
  • Those are new pains!?… feel like I'm wearing a lead bodysuit… moving v e r y  s l o w. . .
  • Eat and drink breakfast while checking email…. find that son #3 is back in Hawaii, will call later- Yay!!
  • Take phone to bedroom…. back to bed at 10:30AM…

Welcome to another Fibro Flare!  Does anyone else do things like this???

I've been diagnosed for 3 years, now and have learned what will cause the worst flares. The problem is that when life gets out of hand, I don't always pay attention to what I am doing and do more than I should. It really is hard to not overdo things on good days, and the busier I am, the less pain I feel. Once I realize I have overdone things, and will probably feel bad the next day, I will end up in a manic phase and try to do everything that I know I won't feel like doing the next day….. Not that smart…. Today was a day to lay low… Tomorrow may be better, but may be worse…. I never know…. If I would not leave things for the last minute, I could reduce a lot of stress. I hate wasting the flare days in bed….   And son #3 called this afternoon!! Made a crummy feeling day better!

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Fair Week….

Monday, July 27th, 2009

This has been a very busy week and especially busy weekend. Tomorrow, the 134th Troy Fair officially begins in Troy, PA. It has been a few years  since I entered anything in the competitions in the fair, because I was busy doing art and craft shows, and preferred to have my best work with me in the hopes it would sell. Now that I am not doing the shows, I decided to enter some things again.


My biggest problem trying to enter my work into the fair is that it doesn't fit most of the categories in the Home Arts Department. The biggest number of quilt related classes are for bed quilts which I don't do. There are classes for framed pictures, cross stitch, hand quilting, etc. I try to find the classes that have the "other" category, or "original design" where there are no exact limitations.  I entered one of my notebook covers in the household accent- "other" category, and one of my pins in the beaded jewelry category. I never know exactly what other items will be my competition- there could be almost anything.

There are a couple categories for wall hangings that I entered a few of my more recent pieces in, including my "Stained Glass and Ferns", but I decided to try something a bit different this year…. I consider my quilts to be works of art, and thought I would enter my newest quilt below in the Fine Art show in the Mixed Media category. That's what I do- mixed media… acrylic paint, digital photos, chalk pastels, and anything else I want to play with. I use fabric as one of my media.
This is a photo of "Water Road House", which is finally finished!  The 12" square quilt is mounted to a piece of canvas that I painted with acrylic paint and drew on with chalk pastels to bring the design of the quilt into the canvas bordering it. This photo was taken when I thought I was was ready to mount it to the frame. I looked at this photo and decided that the colors done in the pastels were too bright and drew my eye away from the quilt more than I wanted, so the night before it was to be delivered to the show, I was painting on another layer of thin titanium white to tone things down. The result was much better to my eyes, much softer looking.

Well, when I got to the fairgrounds and delivered the piece to the Fine Arts building, I was informed that it belonged in the Home Arts building with the quilts….  There is no category I hadn't entered anything in that this would fit, and not really one it would have fit in anyway.


I decided to ask what was considered Mixed Media in this showing, so that if anything in the future might fit, I might try again (can't hurt to ask…) I explained that I believed that my piece fit that category- a work of art using multiple media. (I guess they were of the opinion that only oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings, pen and ink,  charcoal, etc. were considered Fine Art media) Long story short… there was a little huddle in the back room, and my piece has been allowed to hang with the rest of the fine art (in the mixed media category) and the judge will decide whether it would be judged or not. Even if it isn't judged, at least I have got my little toe in the door, and maybe it will gain a bit of attention.

This seems to be a problem many quilt, or textile artists have…. we don't make quilts for the bed, we make art for the wall, just not with oils, acrylics, etc. Especially in a rural area like the one I live in, the quilt categories are mostly for hand quilted quilts, very few opportunities to show machine quilting, even though machine quilting has become more common than hand work. It will be interesting to see what happens with my "Stained Glass Ferns" above…. With it's non traditional piecing and no "real" binding.

Sometimes we just have to dip out toes in new waters and see what happens. I am not sure if I will get to the fair, so it may be a week before know if my "Water Road House" got judged, or how my other pieces fared. I will update when I find out….

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Now the Garden Photos…

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

After spending a few days in my own gardens, I thought I would get back here and show off a few of the over 600 photos I took after QSDS.

 

 

 

At the Columbus Park of Roses, there were so many varieties of roses in all colors and sizes. I visited the park on Sunday evening after class was over and my class things were in the van. The first is a mini rose in multi  shades of orange and yellow.

 

 

This variety- “Cinco de Mayo” was really pretty with it’s ruffled looking flowers. They are almost single and this was a great cluster of them.

Pink Roses

 

 

 

 

I am not sure of the variety of this one, but it was pretty in many shades of pink in each flower. Many of the flowers at the park showed a lot of wear and tear from a rain storm a few days before I went there.

 

At the center of the park was this fountain surrounded by the roses. I loved the fact that each variety of rose was labeled with the variety name. There were many benches throughout the gardens similar to the one here.

 

 

 

This was one of the most perfect flower clusters…. This pale yellow was beautiful and these were not affected by the rain.

 

 

The rose park in open from dawn till dusk, and since I got a late start I was still snapping photos with very fading light. This one was taken with the flash on, and it came out great. I love the pale colored flowers against the almost black background.

On Monday, after getting lost in Columbus trying to find the Dick Blick art store (I did finally find it- I’m not a city gal), I found my way eventually to Inniswood Metro Gardens. It is a very large garden that  is free and open to the public like the rose park. This is the building at the entrance to the gardens. It has a lot of interesting features.

 

 

 

Not too far from the entrance were these large pots of Hosta plopped in a shade garden. The plants are probably nearly 4 feet wide- beautiful!

 

Just hitting a few highlights, here is a photo showing a couple of waterfalls with the plantings around them. It was a beautiful, sunny day and not too hot- just perfect for visiting.

There were lots of architectural features through the gardens. Here is one of my favorites- an arbor over a walk lined by the curved stone wall with stone benches built into it. There was a small flowered Clematis blooming on the arbor.

 

This gate was not too far from the arbor (I don’t think… I did get a bit lost at times). I love the design with the leaves. Each leaf had a name of someone who had contributed to funding this part of the gardens. It must take a lot to keep everything looking so great.

 

 

 

I guess some flower photos would be in order…. Here are some coreopsis flowers with a yellow Shasta Daisy, and I just happened to catch the bee at work.

 

There were lots of Echinaceas in bloom. Everything seemed to be blooming sooner than here at home. There were orange ones mixed with the traditional lavender ones here.

 

 

Another favorite bit of architecture…. I love the opening in this arbor, you can see what is growing inside and it makes you want to go in for a closer look.

 

There are lots more photos of flowers from here, but here is the last one for now. Others will surely be popping in here and there as I pull them out to use in the future. These Hellebore flowers were really interesting…. I am not sure if they were brown to start with because most bloom very early Spring, but they didn’t look dried up. The centers were chocolate brown with beige petals.

 

Thankfully upon returning home, I found most of my flowers had done well. These are spilling nicely out from their planter that has become very mud splattered from all the rain while I was gone.

Stormy View

 

 

 

 

This has been a common sight…. We did get 2 days on the weekend without rain!! It is totally hiding much of our view in this photo.

Blackcaps

 

 

 

 

I got home just in time for the first blackcaps, or black raspberries to ripen- Yum!  These bushes are going to be pulled after the berries are gone- they are covering my water garden and there are more bushes in other places. It will be much easier to pick without all the old canes and new growth that I have cleared already.

Last photo before this post takes the whole page….. This Hemerocallis (Daylily) flower was Huge!! I guess it lives up to it’s name- Bodacious Returns. It should rebloom later in the summer after the buds it has now are done.

As anyone can see, I have gotten a lot of new inspiration from my trip to Columbus and back at home. Now to just get myself back on track and back into the studio…. It has taken longer to recouperate from the trip than I hoped for, but it was worth it!

 

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QSDS Follow-up

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Since I have been home from Columbus, OH for a few days, I thought I would start catching up here.  I took the long way home from Columbus, so it took much longer to get home than it did to get there. Those detours will be discussed in future posts. Here is a quick class wrap up.

Well, here is what my work area looked like by the last day of class. Would you believe that I had put away a few things the day before that I knew I wasn't going to use? I don't tend to work very neatly at home either, and I tend to take more than I need for something like this- I never know what I will want to work with, and there's nothing worse than not having what you want to work with. My pretty hot pink chair is a great little find from a Staples store on the way to Columbus. My chairs with wheels here at home are very heavy and in pretty bad shape. This chair was much better than the heavy hotel chairs that tended to put holes in the plastic protecting the carpet from our paints.

Here is what the work board that was full of blue fabrics ended up looking like. I had been trying different ideas that didn't seem to work for me, until it was pointed out that I was trying to box in or frame everything. Once I tried just putting my flower photos together, things started moving along. I still have some more rearranging to do, but I think I like what is coming out. I have been taking so many flower photos and wanted to find a way to use them more in my work…. Here are a couple works in progress, and I also came home with a few more started. The photo of the rose along the bottom of the photo here, was printed onto Lutradur. It is a spun fiber that can be printed on or used in a number of ways in art quilts. It will be fun to play with. I see a new direction in my future that will be exciting! I really want to share the beauty I find in all the flowers and other things I find in the great world around us.

  Wednesday we had the afternoon off from class, and I got to meet Cathy of Moran Art and Quilts at Etsy We are both members of the Etsy Quiltsy Team, and it was great to meet her in real life. We were standing in front of my second work board with photos and some finished pieces we used in the begining of our class.

Someone in my class mentioned that there was a rose garden in Columbus… Well, I just HAD to check that out and visited the Columbus Park of Roses the last night I was in town after all my class stuff was packed back in the van. I am just showing the photo of the sign here…. Photos of the flowers will follow in another post…. I took LOTS of photos there and at another stop on the way home. They will come in very handy for the new pieces I am playing with.

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