I'm getting there

I woke up this morning to a gray day. Four days ago it was 90 degrees and today it has been in the mid 60's. Yesterday the fog came in which means that it is cooler in the morning and when (if) the fog burns off, it wards up. Yesterday got up to the 70's. I have found, tho, that when the sky is gray I don't want to get up. I pull up the covers and hide. I get up to go potty and then rush right back. I may linger there until 8:30 or so...very decadent!

So I finally got up, didn't like the gray day, but knew what I needed to do today. Stopped by church where we were having a plant sale and picked up a couple of things for the garden. And then, off to the studio.

I really enjoy coming in to the studio. I have developed a routine when I get there...put away my purse, get out my telephone, put my Nano in the speakers, chose the music, and sit down to contemplate things for a few minutes.

Because I don't have all of my "stuff" there, I am much neater and put things away when I am finished using them. When I shift from one project to another (which I can now do as I have enough stuff there) I clean up so if I am painting it doesn't get on the quilts, etc. I'm so good I don't know what to do with myself! My goodness, why can't I do this at home? I really know why...I don't have the room to put everything away.

So, first off, paint more orange fabric. Did that.

Then, when it is drying, quilt another circles quilt...the pile is getting smaller and I now have fewer to quilt than I have at home (which all need sleeves). I have been getting the labels on them...that is the only way I can keep track of them!

Once the fabric was dry, I ironed on my Misty Fuse and then started cutting. Had a big pile and sat down to finish off the left side. Got down to about 2.5 square feet left to do and ran out of orange of orange fabric.


You don't want to know the words I was thinking. I was about to decide that I never wanted to see orange again and it is my absolute favorite color...in all of it's nuances. But I needed to paint some more.

However, time for a break so I worked on my lutradur book. Did some writing on several pages..on a red page I wrote in purple...really cool. Then wrote in yellow on another page. And then had fun doing rubbings with various things I have collected. Then, back to the painting.
I pulled out another orange piece and thought I would recolor it but decided I didn't need to do so much so found a couple of other smaller pieces and redid those.

Then, let them dry while I make a list of galleries in San Francisco that are listed in the entertainment weekly thing from the newspaper. I am supposed to look those up and see if any look appropriate for my work, and if so, to contact them. Not my favorite thing to do.

I really need to find a gallery in the east where work sells for so much more money. Oh well.

The fabric I painted already had fusing on it so when it was almost dry, I cut it up, pulled up a chair, plugged in the iron and went to work.


The orange is finished!

Now, when I return next week, I start working on the blues. That should be finished by early next week and then I will call on a friend to help me take it down.

And then, the backing...that is the part I don't enjoy. And then I can start quilting unless I decide to go ahead and add the foiling at that point. And then I need to bring in my Janome so I can do a lot of satin stitching through the blue...oh, it will be so great!

I have received a number of queries from people via my website who have been reading this blog and have enjoyed the process. Someone suggested they could come and do the drudgery just to watch me work. All I could think of was that it really wouldn't be very interesting...the work starts in the head a month or so before I even start with the fabric. And then the fabric starts, and keeps going until I am happy with it and then hours of fusing, and then cutting and then, finally the fun begins. However, this piece is big and I have found that working on it for four or five hours a day is about all I can do. Up and down that ladder...you would have thought I would have lost some weight during this time but I have an emergency supply of chocolate to give me energy when I feel it lagging. This piece is really a stretch for me...as a friend said, I am doing what I always do, only bigger!