Lisa Call

Today I finally feel back to normal after my acquaintance with the bug we brought home from vacation last week. I haven’t been in my studio since early august and today would have been a great day to get some art done but it’s fall, which means harvest time.

I planted 30 tomato plants this year. I’m not sure what I was thinking but that’s a lot of tomatoes. I froze 16 quarts of pureed tomatoes for making spaghetti sauce and chile and canned 9 pints of homemade salsa today. As you can see there are still more tomatoes on the counter and the plants are just warming up. I’ve probably got another 6 weeks to go. What the heck am I going to do with all of these?

I also have more cucumbers and squash than I know what to do with. I’ll make zuchinni bread with the zukes but does anyone have any idea what to do with those flying saucer looking squash in the bowl in the back of the picture (called patty pan I believe)? They seem to be multiplying rapidly.

To stem the tide of the cucumbers I yanked 2 of the plants out of the ground this weekend. Their fruit wasn’t the best, they had a 1 day shelf life and they were in the way. The squash better behave or they’re next.

My green beans had stopped producing before I left on vacation but now they are back again making more. So today I canned 2 pints of dilly beans (this isn’t actually the recipe I use but close). These are the best – spicy dill pickled green beans – yum!

I also made my second huge pot of vegetable soup this evening from my garden veggies and froze most of it for a nice treat this winter.

I also picked (and ate) and froze (and then ate in smoothies) 2-3 quarts of raspberries. The raspberries are just getting going so I’ll probably get 4-5 quarts a week until we have a hard frost. I’m looking forward to some raspberry pies and lots of smoothies this winter.

And with my free time I went to the farmer’s market and bought a box of western slope peaches (grown near Grand Junction Colorado). I cut up and froze a few (a gallon bag) for smoothies but it barely made a dent. They will only last a week so I need to make some jam and freeze a bunch more before they go bad.

Tomorrow I hope to return to the studio although I suspect I’ll be back to freezing and canning again next weekend. I feel like a squirrel hiding nuts.

Omega has a post today that I could really relate to. Work and life have been overwhelming lately but this chorus line from Anthem really speaks to me:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

Thanks Omega!

 
I designed 2 new quilts yesterday so today I’m hoping to get at least 1 sewn together and possibly both. I have some house stuff to do also – I have to stain my decks again or all that work last summer to sand them will be for nothing. Ugh – home ownership – check out Omega’s post linked above – the first image certainly captures my struggle with this house!

One of the things I finished over the weekend was a small piece that I have been carrying around and working on here and there over the last year. I do the hand stitching while waiting for kids or on a rare occasion at home when I’m in the mood to just sit and relax and do nothing. Since I don’t have a TV this is my level of mindless entertainment.

The last of these small hand stitched pieces I completed was Squares #3, posted here. It takes me about a year to make each of these pieces. I don’t make them for any reason other than I really enjoy doing the hand stitching. And it keeps me occupied while waiting at the orthodontist office.

(The image was taken with flash as it was too soggy to take photos outdoors this morning. I’ll have to retake them later as the glare from the flash on the embroidery floss makes it look kind of odd.)

Squares #4 ©2006
9" x 11"

I doubt anyone will recognize the colors in this piece but they are the same fabrics (plus or minus a couple) that I used in the piece below and posted a while back. I really like this color combination.

Structures #44 © 2005
28" x 28"

 
It stopped raining this morning and the sun came out, although it’s looking like rain again this evening. At least my airconditioning bill will be low for the week. This morning it was foggy and damp and I took a couple pictures of my garden. It doesn’t look dry and Colorado-y – definitely unusual for around here.

This first garden is my veggie garden. The front part has about 30 tomato plants and the back has green beans, cucumbers, squash and beets and maybe something else. I’m having serious deer problems this year and they keep munching my tomato and strawberry plants. It’s very annoying. I haven’t gotten a single strawberry all year.

 
The second image is my herb garden. The front part is being taken over by oregano. This used to be a second veggie garden but with the day job I no longer have time to deal with 2 large gardens. So the last few years I didn’t water this garden and it was a weed bed – only the oregano survived, barely – this year it got water and went crazy. My neighbors are thrilled I cleaned it up and put in stepping stones, mulch and some more herbs and flowers.

Although the deer have eaten most of the flowers. I love pansies but apparently so do they. I never had problems before, I’m not sure why they feel a need to munch my stuff this year. Anyone know a way to get rid of them without a fence (or a gun)?

I will eventually add more herbs and flowers but this year I planted watermelon in the empty space. We really don’t have a long enough growing season for watermelon but I thought with global warming and all I’d give it a try. I have 2 tiny baby watermelons on there right now.

I haven’t spent much time in my studio the past few weeks. I made this post about getting all organized and having goals again and then the day job took over my life. Way too much stress and deadlines and working overtime. That is NOT what I signed up for at mega-huge multinational software giant corporation. Sigh.

It saps all my energy when I’m stressed with the day job. I guess the reality is the day job is really a career. It’s hard to be a software engineer without some buy-in to the projects. And I have to admit I’m working on a really interesting project and I’m getting to do work that I enjoy doing (organizing, writing requirements, etc). Problem is there is just too much to do.

But they’ve assigned me to do something I don’t feel competent to do. Not that I can’t learn it – really it’s not hard to do and infact it is really easy but if you screw up (which there is a darn good job of happening because it’s about picky details) the project is delayed and it is all my fault.

So a boring task that often fails yet carries a big responsibility. Serious yuck. I tried to say no to this task but I was the only one that forgot to bring in a note from their mom saying they were going to be sick that day.

So what does this have to do with art? Well – actually nothing.

And that is precisely the problem.

 
Okay – I’m definitely whining and feeling sorry for myself here. I better get over this and just do the work and get back into my studio before I go nuts!

I was at Joann Fabrics this weekend. I don’t often visit these huge craft meccas as they don’t sell anything I buy except the occasional spool of thread. I find them a bit overwhelming.

I had my kids with me and my almost 14 year old son picked up a project book with instructions titled “Your Guide to Creativity” and said:

“In addition to tacky knick knacks you can also buy oxymorons here.”

 
Very perceptive kid.

I’m feeling better today(thanks for the get well wishes) so I decided to complete the postcards for MaryBeth’s exhibit, Postcards on the Edge. Read yesterday’s post for details.

Most of the fabric used in these cards is fabric that I hand painted (with prochem’s textile paints) 7 or 8 years ago. I used to do a lot of stamping and painting of my fabric but now I just hand dye solids. And no more textile paint – it’s too thick for the piecing I do. Although it makes a really nice crisp edge when doing the raw edge applique.

I’ve run out the things to procrastinate on so it’s time to tackle my taxes. Hm – maybe I should have done more than 5 postcards!

Abstract #1   6"x4":

 
Abstract #2   6"x4":

 
Abstract #3   6"x4":

 
Abstract #4   6"x4":

 
Abstract #5   6"x4":

Well I’ve done something I thought I would never do. I’ve made my first ever fabric postcard. A friend and fellow The Fiber Connection member, MaryBeth Bellah, is curating a show "Postcards on the Edge" and I want to support the effort so I said I’d make a few cards. You can read about the show info over on Kit Vincent’s blog.

I wasn’t planning on making the cards yet but I just read on Gerrie’s blog about how she was feeling really tired but making some fiber postcards perked her right up. Gerrie makes quite nice postcards, and has made quite a few (how many Gerrie? hundreds I would think) . Check out her latest batch, on their way to FiberArt for a Cause.

I was home sick the entire week and I’m still feeling pretty horrible so I thought I’d see if this activity would work for helping me feel better. I followed the directions over on Deb Richardson’s blog and made this little piece in about 15 minutes.

It’s wonder under! The scraps are left over from a quilt I made years ago in a Pauline Burbidge class (I’ll post a picture of it when I review the workshop at some point, I haven’t forgotten I said I would do this, just haven’t found the time yet). I have no idea why I saved these tiny little pieces of wonder undered fabric but I guess I knew someday I’d find a use for them.

Flight #1  6"x4"

 
This piece won’t be sent off to the show, I kind of forgot and quilted through all the layers. Next one I’ll quilt it before I put on the back.

Unfortunately the activity didn’t perk me up and I still feel pretty horrible. I’ve got to be better by monday because I’m out sick leave! So time for a nap.

While I always think I won’t wait until the last minute to finish a big project I always seem to manage just that.

I deliver my quilts for my solo show to the gallery tomorrow in the middle of my work day and I have a full days work to get them ready.

I had planned on doing some of this yesterday but instead spent 4 hours in search of hardware I will need for my quilts to work with the gallery’s rail and hook hanging system. My hometown hardware store closed up shop a few years ago when Home Depot and Walmart moved in next door. And of course none of the big box retailers had what I needed. After a few hours of grumpy artist (and grumpy kids that had no choice but to join me on this quest) I found what I needed at an Ace hardware store about a half hour away. What a hassle.

This little episode killed my motivation for the day so I spent the afternoon lounging about and fixing Melody’s blog for her. As I use firefox her broken sidebar has driven me nuts for months and the geek in me just had to fix. And what a great way to waste time!

Now it’s a new day and I must get these quilts finished, the boards fixed for the rail and hook system, and them all packaged and ready for delivery.

Here is my list for the day:

• Finish quilting Structures #33 (I have 2 hours left).
• Binding on Structures #33.
• Make labels for #33, #39, #53.
• Make sleeves for #33, #39, #53.
• Attach sleeves and labels to #33, #39, #53.
• Photograph #33 & #39.
• Cut boards for #33, #39, #46, #53.
• Attach hardware to boards for all 17 quilts going to the gallery.
• Make 3 more cloth bags for transportation to show.
• Package up all 17 quilts, delint and steam quilts as needed.
• Make popovers for breakfast as I promised the kids.
• Order pizza for dinner as I will be in total panic mode by evening.

Lest you think blogging is yet another procrastination technique (never!) I have completed the labels for the quilts. I print my labels on fabric from my printer so I had to use the computer!

Hm – I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight.

Tonight I updated the Material Evolution website. There is a bit of new content, most notably the home page where I’ve removed the stale content and added some resume type information .

There are also links to everyone’s individual websites. Four of the 5 member websites are new. Carol Krueger and I completely revamped our websites and Christine Ambrose and Sandra Woock now have their own websites, designed by our fifth member Deidre Adams.

This is my local artist support/critique group. We get together in person once a month and email each other often throughout the week. This group is extremely active as you can see from the selected collective resume on the front page of our website.

This is also the group that was filmed for the upcoming new TV show Uncommon Threads. We still haven’t heard when our three shows will air but hopefully soon.

 
Now it’s time to stop messing around with websites and get the final work done for my solo show. I deliver my quilts to the gallery on Monday and all of the boards that are used to hang my quilts on the wall have to be modified to accommodate the rail and hook hanging system the gallery uses.

Not to mention that last quilt for the show, Structures #33, still needs to quilted. I’m about half way finished and this morning my sewing machine stopped sewing. I’m most aggrevated because it did this back in October when I had it serviced twice. Apparently it’s not quite fixed.

Fortunately I have a spare machine so tomorrow I will can get back to quilting. Both of these machines are Pfaff 1475s and I am on the looked for a 3rd machine so I have an extra back up. Not that I’m paranoid but these machines are getting old and hard to find and I just love them.

A few months back I got the idea that I should maintain a lens on Squidoo about contemporary art quilts. I’ve been slowly adding content to the lens and while it’s far from complete I thought I’d launch it out to the world today.

I’m sure the first question you might have is "what the heck is a lens?". Well, it’s kind of a cross between a blog and wikipedia (an free online encyclopedia that anyone can add content to).

I’m not sure Squidoo and lenses will ever have a big impact in on the web but being a computer type I thought I’d give it a try. Martha Stewart has a very successful lens about cookies. And well, I’m not sure what that says about Squidoo, but I guess it says something.

So anyway check it out! My Contemporary Art Quilt Lens (www.squidoo.com/artquilts).

Let me know what you think.

And if you are inspired you can create you own lens about quilts, or fabric, or even cookies.