From Sunny Calgary … on taking a breath

Finally, we have a break iin the weather.  It’s a sunny 18 degrees right now.  Went out for lunch with some people from work and it was a huge effort to come back to work, when all we wanted to do was sit outside in the sun.  It’s been a long winter.  Although I have to say that the mountains look gorgeous against the blue skies with all the snow still on them.

I have not been blogging, which seems to be a common theme with me, but I have not been idle.  I’ve had a busy few first months of the year, and am finally able to take a break and do some work for me. I have been finishing a few pieces in the “Birds on a Wire” series.  I still have bindings to sew onto two small ones:  an orange one dyed with tangerine and a dash of bright orange, and a green one dyed in a new dye for me called Granny Apple Green to which I added a dash of bright green.  It is very green and very lovely.  I  will post photos soon, once the bindings are on.

As some of you may know, I belong to a small group of art quilters.  We call ourselves “At the Edge”.  And every year we give each other a challenge.  Last year’s challenge resulted in my work with neutral fabrics and once quilted, placing them in a vat of dye; that resulted in the Bird on a Wire series, the quilt called “On the Rooftops of the City where I Live” and “Just Before the Lights come on”, the Paris rooftops scene.

This year’s challenge is to work on a series.  It can be anything.  Each of us can work on our own ideas and work, as long as it is a seires of work on the same (general) idea.  The challenge is to prepare 6 pieces each on our chosen subject matter, in some very precise sizes:  the largest one being 36″ x 36″, 24″ x 36″, 12″ x 12″, 12″ x 36″ and 24″ x 24″ or something like that. You get the idea.  So I’ve come up with a new idea for me … quite different from anything else, and I’ve been playing.  The first piece, the 12″ x 12″ is mostly finished, so I’ll post some photos once it’s done.

I have also been working on two more:  the 12″ x 36″ piece.  This one is coming along quite nicely.  It still needs work; right now it’s on my design wall waiting until I figure out the last details to be added to it.  The second one is in the initial stages and, hopefully, will result in a 24″ x 24″ piece. I joined three pieces of hand-dyed fabric and am quilting it right now.  It will look quite different once I’m done with it, if I can translate what’s in my head to the actual fabric.  I will post photos as I go along.

For some reason, it’s not letting me post the photos right now, so I’ll go explore and try to figure out what’s going on.  So look for photos later.

Bye for now … and in the meantime, keep quilting.

Ana