Its a Beautiful day in Chicago...

bring on the arctic blast. add wind. whatever you do, don't look at the thermometer.

ice blue sky. sun. cotton clouds.

these lane markings are confusing...

the geese take sudden flight in a chorus of honking calls

the appearance of the peregrine falcon caused the noisy departure

a sunset in shades of roses ends today's visit.

Playing in the studio

As I worked away on the flying geese I set aside all the little scraps of batiks. I couldn't just toss em out!

So that left me with the dilemma of what to do with all those itty scraps of fabrics. Since I am in a frame of mind for experimenting and challenging myself I decided to just go for it and fused the bits to the black crow cut-out. It is not attached to the quilted piece you see it on . I just tossed it there and then shot off a photo. The quilted piece it is sitting on is another bit of experimentation. That one was done using inks and then satin stitching on the machine. It may end up being the background for this crow.(the orientation would be shifted though.) Kind of fits in with the crop rows look for the crow. Isn't it funny how sometimes things just sort of happen!

I want to hibernate

It is COLD here! I am working on the new piece bit by bit. Here is a peek at some of the finished part. Lots more work to do on this. I love these Batiks. Not getting much accomplished just yet. This cold weather just saps my energy. Amazing how while I am outside working I plan on doing all sorts of things when I get home and then once home I just fall out! Ah well... spring is due to arrive in what, about three months.. LOL. More to come.

New year.New thoughts. New work.

The Maiden and the Trout.
a detail of the tail fin.

today I started on a new work. I have put the Maiden up on the wall where I will decide if she is truly finished. I think she is... though finished is something I look forward to, in truth she still needs a hanging sleeve and a label. The new work is going to stay un blogged for a bit. I want it to be a bit further along and right now it looks so stark. Also I have to get more fabric...ran short. I was going to use up some of the stash fabrics before I buy any more and then I decided I really REALLY needed some of the same stash or at least something nearly the same. My sketch book is LOADED with ideas . I wish I had more time for working on them all!
With the new year I set some new goals for myself. I want to experiment more. reach and grow as an artist. I hope to toss out any preconceived ideas I have about what is or isn't acceptable within the boundaries of quilt/fiber art.

And for experimenting, here is a dragon done with fabric inks.

This is in progress. It is on a fat quarter of the yellow fabric.

Along with all that I was going to work smaller, say 12 x12 or 16 inches, so I could finish more...we shall see about that.LOL.