The Commission has started!

Yesterday I finished the quilting on another circle piece, finished up a banner for our youth group at church and then laid out some of the fabrics and the colors the the clients sent me.

So I decided I might as well get started. The creative process has been going on in my head for a number of weeks now and I am ready. I am far enough along with the quilting on the Life Circles and there are no other commitments right now.

Decided to start off with a pearly lighter orange in the upper right corner so I needed to iron on the Misty Fuse. And then the fun began.

Out came the ladder, and I started cutting pieces for the background. Up the ladder, put a bunch up there as far up as I can reach, down the ladder, walk to the other side of the room, decide I need to intersperse some other oranges, cut them up, up the ladder, play around with them, down the ladder, walk across the room and contemplate. And contemplate some more since I am tired or going up and down the ladder...I have to go all the was to the last rung in order to reach the top.

Brought in my 120" tape measure and have it hanging. I figure if I work toward 120 inches then I can trim down to the finished size of 9'3". All of a sudden it isn't looking as big as it did before! This is do-able. I can do it. I love the colors.

After doing a lot of thinking about the major form which is a cruciform, I decided not to do it in cut squares, etc and to make it more organic.

I got so excited about the turquoise that I started cutting it out and putting it up to see how it looks. Changed it around and then realized that I had not ironed on the misty fuse before I started cutting. That meant that I had to start laying down misty fuse, lay down odd shaped pieces of blue, cover top and bottom, iron the stuff on, peel the teflon off and then pry the extra misty fuse off. What a pain in the patooie... I'm still working on getting the blue that I cut covered in misty fuse. I won't make that mistake again.


This is beginning to feel exciting! After I took this picture, I ironed a lot and was able to start putting, just sticking on the wall, more oranges that I could reach without going up and down the ladder. I didn't fuse them or tack them down so I will see if they are still there on Tuesday when I hit the studio again.

Now I want to be there all the time but I think that I will work on this piece, take some time out to contemplate it while a machine quilt another circles quilt, and then keep working. I don't know yet if I am going to have to paint more fabric...may have to get Jacob to come down and work with me on that if I do!

I've also been making a lot of silk screens and have some really neat new textures, grasses, bare tree branches, etc that I can hardly wait to start using. I do love that surface design!

It's been fun reading Gabrielle Swain's blog...she has been at the Out of Heart and Hand Retreat where I will be teaching next year. Sandy Turner is sending out brochures for me so if you want one, send me your snail mail addy and I can send you one.

So, I am in a good place! Tomorrow I spend running my dad around the two doctor's visits, one of which is with him brand new gp, then we head out to buy cigarettes at a reduced rate courtesy of the Coast Guard (as a retired military person he has PX privileges) and grab a sandwich along the way. That takes up most of the day and I can do my EFM homework while I am waiting for the eye doctor...will be going in with him with his internist. What fun! But, then Tuesday comes and it is back to the studio! Whee!!!!