Goldilocks Principle

From Wikipedia: Author Christopher Booker characterises... the "dialectical three" where "the first is wrong in one way, the second in another or opposite way, and only the third, in the middle, is just right".

And now I think I have got the just the right space for my studio. It is the largest bedroom and is at the front of the house, with morning sun and two windows to view it. I have been here before, in January of this year, but moved out so Dave could have a night nurse sleep in this room with him. That lasted until last month when I realized Dave was sleeping through the night and I no longer needed the care at night. Now that we have April and I can once again have the time and space to be creative, I switched rooms with Dave and am so much happier, already.

Well, I say 'I switched' but in reality our hospice nurse Rochelle and April did the heavy lifting of Dave's hospital bed. They tipped it on its side and managed to slide it across the floor on an old quilt, into the new room and set it upright in seconds. Women can do anything!

I had moved all the studio stuff out of the way into the living room and it being all on wheels had it in my new place in no time. 

My wonderful new table doesn't have wheels but slides nicely and I lowered it to the exact level of my machine table so I could start quilting.

I have my tunes, and a big chest of drawers for storage, as well as a small closet.  

Here's a video from January showing how I used this room as a combo bedroom for me and studio. It was very cramped. No bed this time and just perfect for my needs.

The top on my design wall has since been added to by 40 or so more blocks, but has yet to be completed. Now there is a chance to get back to it. Yay!

A Tale of Two Aprils

 Earlier this year my nephew Michael proposed to his love, Marianna and set their wedding date for April 5th. I called my sister in law and asked if they were registered so I could send a gift. She told me that Michael was hoping I would paint (watercolor) their cat, April,  as a wedding gift. Hoping? I was thrilled to be asked! So I tried to find the picture he had sent and eventually got it and began to draw out the design.

There were several false starts. 

 

I realized that the nose was wrong, which in turn made the eyes wrong,  and nothing I could do would fix it. So at the almost finished stage, I scrapped it and started all over. 

I might add I was pressed to paint this during the few hours that I had a care person here to care for Dave. I would get started and into the zone and it was already minutes until she left. Very frustrating. Then I started getting up at 4 to paint when Dave would still be asleep, hence making drawing mistakes because I was still sleepy. 

Eventually I just got through it a second time and was all ready to record the image for myself, before I sent it on.  It was just days before their wedding ( of course) and I needed to get the painting in the mail. I made it just in time. Phew! When I got home I looked at the pics I had taken of the details and then realized O NO!!!! I made a really stupid mistake.

I painted their wedding date, 4-5-25, and then I repeated it under the body of the cat, as April 4, 2025!

 I was so so so upset and it was already in the mail, impossible to retrieve and probably unfixable at this point anyway. I felt so terrible and angry at myself for this goof up. I called or texted everyone and they could tell I was verklempt to the max. They were all so kind and understanding and still loved the painting. But still....

This event made me understand my situation more clearly. I really couldn't focus on making art and maintain my responsibilities caring for Dave. I put away my paints, packed up all the studio supplies back into the closet and begrudgingly attended to my patient. There were things I could do, like knit, or cook or garden where I could be creative, but my need to make art, had to be suppressed.  

Until now.

Now I have a new care person, (also named April!) five hours a day for five days a week, And she is great! She can lift Dave out of bed and into his wheelchair, and not hurt herself. Phew! And I have a studio where I can close the door and focus and when she leaves, I have actually gotten something accomplished. This means I can be kind and caring when it is just Dave and me alone. 

What a blessing for us all. 

Ready to start quilting!

I am trying out all the possibilities of what I can make in this new small studio. After making two small pieces, I decided to quilt this top, as I have a recipient in mind and she is due to pop in October, so no time to waste. 

This top was made three houses ago, (8 years?) and stayed safe in my closet top collection until today. This is the smallest of  the collection, but if this turns out to be easy to do in the space I have, maybe bigger ones will get finished too. No promises, heehee.

LOTS of rearranging has already happened and that leads me to think about maybe switching Dave to this room, as soon as I can find a home for the twin bed which we no longer need. Hence my interest in FB Marketplace.

In my previous studio, where Dave is now, I have two pin up walls, which is really important for figuring out designs. I am gonna think seriously about switching rooms. Stay tuned.

Lured in by Marketplace

 I may have mentioned that my new porch inspired me to zhuzh up my living room and maybe get a couch. Gulp. It happened all in one day. I didn't have a Facebook account so I asked my sister to shop for me and after losing out on one couch, I just used the link she sent me to look at other offerings. Doink! I found exactly what I wanted, an IKEA Ektorp, which I used to have when we first came to TN in 2007. I gave mine to my sister, when I was about to make my last house move. Not sorry, cuz I really wanted the white slipcover and all I had was the red. IKEA no longer sells the Ektorp and the replacement sofa is like $899, compared to the $350 I originally paid. This new one, and it is really new and improved, was $225, and right here in Chattanooga, rather than going back to Atlanta where my 'local' IKEA lives. My wonderful b-i-l John and my equally wonderful sister picked it up in their truck for me and all three of  us got it up the front stairs. It got a bit dirty on the way in, so I washed the slipcover and popped it right back on, a major reason why I wanted this sofa.

It's really big for my long skinny front room and I wasn't happy with this arrangement. So at 5am, my preferred furniture moving time, I decided to try out the far end of the room.

 She fits! And with a tiny bit of space to spare. Now I really must do something about that bare window. So I ordered more of that red gingham for a curtain.  That's how these things are. One change leads to another and pretty soon the whole room is transformed. 

 

Now about these red recliners...I was all set to try and sell them on Marketplace, since I caught the bug, but after washing them up, I thought, hmmm. They might work after all.

 What if I made a conversation area facing the sofa? Or what if I switched them out with two of my white armchairs that are in my other living room?  I might 'need' a narrow table to place behind them to visually define the space, or a small bistro table and chairs. I'm onto something! Oooo la la!

UPDATE: 

Yup, that's the ticket. Insta-curtain. Thank you Command Hooks.

House Series #38

House Series #38

Hand dyed and commericial fabric, fused, machine quilted and hand embroidered.

11x14", mounted on painted wood panel. Available for $100 plus shipping. Email me.

Number 38? That's gotta be a misprint, so I looked it up on my Pinterest board for House Quilts. Well, I guess this is true. But keep in mind that I have been making these for years. Like since 2007. Yipes! Where does the time go? Listening to the oldies this morning I bopped along to a Beatles song from 1964, which if my math is right, is 61 years old. Geesh. 

So you might think that when it comes to making these house quilts, it must be like falling out of bed for me, which it isn't. I never know what I will do with this next one. I start usually by making the house, or the multi-fabric strip that usually appears in one of these. Then I've gotta find the sky fabric, and the background and of course the 'tree' fabric which has to be one that's dyed to change color gradually. Once all of those are placed and fused together, I take a break and cut out the dots. Then if it looks finished, it's time to machine quilt it. I've learned to cut the batting smaller than the top, or the other way around, I make the top bigger so that I can turn the edges under after I finish quilting it. That way I can sew right off the edge and eliminate that awkward stoppage at the sides. OK this is just a thing that affects me, so you won't even notice what I mean. And for a finale, I machine stitch my signature. Then I paint the wood panel and attach the quilt with those Velcro dots. Voila~ Number 38 is born!

machine stitched signature

Landscape painting

 

Tres Sombreros Coneflowers 

Acrylic on canvas, 12x16" $100 plus shipping. Email me SOLD

This summer I decided to tackle painting landscapes. I wanted to paint from my imagination rather than copy a photo or sit outside in the heat (ugh) and paint what I saw. Most of what I painted were small studies, about 8" square which really doesn't support the vastness of the landscape imagery. I was shooting myself in the foot with this approach. I did about 10 paintings and then kept just this one. The rest went to Goodwill, without regret. 

Painted edges make it ready to hang.

These Coneflowers are from my garden, their second summer. The start out pinky red, then turn red and later brick red. They stay in bloom for a month at least. Just a great plant. I'm saving seeds so I can have them all over my garden. 

Sweet Tweet

Sweet Tweet. Hand dyed cottons and silks, commercial cotton, fused, machine quilted, mounted on painted wood panel. 11x14". $100 plus shipping. Email me.

 Gosh it has been so looooooong since I have made a finished piece, and it feels so good. I managed to find all the necessary supplies and it came together so neatly, that my innermost self is beaming.

Machine quilted signature.

How is this mounted, you may ask? I use Velcro sticky dots which have recently come out with a thin version which I really like. They hold the quilt flat on the wood panel, just the way I want it to be. I think the panels I use came either from Michaels, or Dick Blick. Needless to say I have a collection of them, just ready to display new pieces.

My plan for making this little quilt worked just as I had hoped. I closed the door on my studio, confident that our new nurse was in charge of Dave for the afternoon and then putting on my earbuds, I slid into the 'zone'. 

 Ah birdie! Ah garbage can...o dear. I recently put up a bird feeder in the flower bed directly in front of our living room window, so I can watch the birds swoop down and have a seedy breakfast. I bought cracked sunflower seeds so they won't sprout, which made this all doable in my garden. Our visitors are mostly purple finches, goldfinches and sparrows, with the occasional cardinal who was too big to fit on the original feeder, so I got a tray feeder for them. However the dozen or so neighborhood mourning doves call that tray their personal dish.  

Note the missing parts of the garden bed. I had to pull out all the tall zinnias after the flood made them fall over. O well.  The new birdbath was a gift from my sister Brooke and her husband John, who also is the genius who made my new front porch. I am so thrilled to have this beautiful entrance to my house which has brought glamour and safety to all who visit. He constructed it over the concrete steps and landing which were imperfectly designed, or shall I say designed to trip you up if you weren't aware that they were too shallow and too high to be safe. A lawsuit waiting to happen. 

I've since brought out some chairs and a bench and I regularly enjoy bird watching up close. Having this pretty new porch has inspired me towards bringing the rest of the house up to its standards. Could new furniture be in the picture? I have to get rid of some stuff first. That's doable. We'll see.

Woman at Work

As predicted, Studio Immaculata didn't last long. Getting all the fabric at my fingertips makes a confusing pile. This will be addressed today, me thinks. During the night, which offers me a couple of hours of insomnia beginning at 1am, I did some switching around of things, like removing a boombox, a Walkman, a speaker box and all their accompanying wires. I realised all I needed was my phone and earbuds for tunes or audio books. I also brought in a chair at the appropriate height, which probably won't be used for seating, but for my cuppa and my ruler which gets lost often in the fabric mess. I actually got started working yesterday while Dave was napping in the afternoon. I am halfway to a first finish.

 I do have this alternate table at the ready for the fabric and that will be my solution this morning. I am going to weed out the scraps in the bin and remove the bin entirely for better organization. It only encourages keeping garbage, that is, fabric that is just too ugly to use, yet never gets tossed. Bad economy.

 I've set up a tea bar, so I can keep motivated and hydrated. I had a cup of real coffee yesterday, and it was a big mistake. I was jittery and impatient all day. Tea does not do this to me, and I find a tea break in the afternoon can often lead to a really nice nap. The Brits have such a great system of getting the most out of the day with tea breaks, and then of course heavy drinking later in the evening. I no longer drink but wish I could sometimes. But then I risk the after effects which are a lot worse than missing the booze. 

Speaking of the Brits, we have been watching Escape to the Country on Youtube. It's a House Hunters kind of show for the UK. The countryside, mountains, seaside and ancient historic sites are so wonderful and are satisfying me for my longed for trip to the British Isles. I won't be going, of course, but it's nice to visit on TV.

OK back to work!

Studio Immaculata

Tada! I am so happy to once again have a dedicated space in which to make new work. My new table arrived and I managed to assemble it 80% of the way and then my brother-in-law (aka Second Husband) John did the heavy lifting and it was up and running. I cut down my previous ironing pad cover to fit this surface and am dinkin' around deciding how to keep it secured to the top. At the moment I have elastic straps pinned to the edges in two places, and running underneath, which is temporary or permanent if I can't decide on a better way. I used to secure it on my other table with ties, but there are moving parts under this table that sorta make that idea a dubious fix. I have cutting mats hanging on the shelf supports and rulers hanging too. I am ready.

 It has an hydrolic lift mechanism which I just love. I will use it as a standing work table for making quilts and then with the press of the button I'll lower it to desk level for painting and drawing.  

 On the other side of the room is the machine, my music speaker and boom box, thread cart, tools chest and and Alex chest from IKEA which holds everything else I might need. I get a kick out of seeing other people's studio set ups, and I would love to have this room decorated with pretty things, but honestly, this is a work space and it will get messy in no time, so fussing it up just isn't the point. 

Here is my fused fabric stash, which I intend to use up before I die, or find someone who will want to use it sooner. Ha! I do have a person in mind, but (at this time) she feels that fused quilts are just not real quilts. O I have heard that so many times before, that it no longer hurts my feelings.  I don't care if my work isn't 'real quilts'. Whatever it is, I need to be doing it and having it in my house. I wanna make again some of the things that I have sold to support my habit. I should have examples of it on my walls, doncha think? And now I will have the time and space to do it. The new nurse starts today (yay!!!) and I will begin the process of trying to remember what I used to do. Luckily I saved a box of scraps with which to begin. I still find it difficult to cut into large pieces of fabric, but I'll get over that again, soon.

Some of my previous work that I might want to make again, or aim at making.