Visiting Priscilla

Beth and I had a fun day visiting Priscilla after her return from her trip to Panama and the San Blas islands.

All the blooms in her planters are gorgeous, but her rhododendrun bush is the star!




We enjoyed the beautiful weather outside on Priscilla's new patio and loved her new umbrella-covered furniture.










Priscilla also added a very comfy-looking "swing set" in the corner.












Priscilla's teddy bear has his own mola vest -- lucky teddy!!

Here's a small sample of the many molas that Priscilla brought back with her. See her blog for even more pictures... (http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/)

Sewing with Barb

Barb came for a sewing day and concentrated on sewing together a raffle quilt she's making for her church. I decided to make more fabric squares in light colors to add to some existing fabrics I started in our Improvisations class.










This is Barb's composition done in neutral fabrics from our Improvisations class. She has a little sewing and squaring to do and then it will be ready for quilting.













These are some of the fabric squares I made and the fabric I want to add to them.

















This shows the four light-colored squares I made, all cut and ready for sewing.

Restocking the pond

Our large holding pond suffered from the dry summer last year and totally dried up. Our fish became an easy catch for the blue herons in the ever-lowering water. We had released 6 goldfish into the pond many years ago, and there was a sizeable population.








This photo was taken in January, and we were surprised how quickly the pond filled again.











With thanks to Melody Johnson (http://www.fibermania.blogspot.com/ 5/16/08) for the suggestion, we followed her lead and headed to Walmart for a new supply of goldfish. We're starting with 25 -- a bargain at 28 cents each.

Start of the Gardening

The faithful old tractor and the two-bottom plow turn over the vegetable garden one more time. Our warm April was followed by a cool damp May, and the Memorial Day holiday marks the beginning of the "safe" planting season for this year.








The flower boxes were stored in the equipment barn for the winter. As you can see, Suki and some of her friends have walked the perimeter with muddy feet. She has been everywhere!









More cat prints adorn the arrangement in another flower box. The boxes add nice color all summer long on the deck overlooking our pond and waterfall.










Flowers start the path to the horse barn. They bring brightness and joy to each day as we head out for daily chores in the barn and beyond.

Jet Trails

Our south and west skies are constant sources of inspiration for Marcia's series of Jet Trail quilts. The atmospheric conditions highlight the jet con-trails some days more than others, and Saturday's display was particularly impressive.









The images that fill the sky are familiar to everyone alive today. Even jungle tribes who have never seen a car, to say nothing of an airplane, connect with these lines in the sky. This collective consciousness (a real modern-day Jungian archetype for you psychology students) is powerful and makes human connections all around the globe.





Here the contrails bend and cross each other in transit across the skies. How fortunate we humans are that the blue of the sky and the green of the trees are the color spectrums that register through our eyes to our brains!








The white puffy cumulus and the wispy stratus add another dimension. Maybe we'll see some personification of these additions in Marcia's future work.

Jeanne Beck's Opening

Tonight was the opening of "Notations - New Work by Jeanne Raffer Beck" held in the Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester.

I went with Pat Berardi and Barb Seils, seen here talking to Jeanne Simpson.

Two of Jeanne's pieces in her Parables series are in the background.






These are some of the pieces in Jeanne's Pages series, hung and held out away from the wall by elegant acrylic holders made just for the pieces.

For more information on Jeanne's work, see her blog at http://www.exploringthesurface.com/.








This is my favorite Parables piece with the stitching that was added to the red line work and the added dark areas.









Jeanne also showed these small pieces mounted on stretcher frames.

Sewing Day

Friends Beth Brandkamp and Priscilla Kibbee came to the studio today for a sewing day.

Beth brought her Yellowstone #2 piece, all finished with quilting and binding, for "show and tell". Her quilting looks terrific -- double-click to see it








Beth also brought her completed quilt with batik squares and the wonderful seminole borders.













To work on, she brought the fabrics for her "Slash and Burn" project that was started some time ago, but is now evolving to include some abstract flower images.







Priscilla has started a new "ice cream treat" jacket. The centerpiece for the back is a neat mola of a pelican serving an ice cream cone to a teddy bear, which Priscilla has embellished with beading. All the fabrics have ice cream cones and/or other sweet treats.

Family Visit

Bill and his brother, Jim, (you can't fool DNA) are discussing possible ideas for landscape development on Jim's property.

Jim owns a rural piece of property outside of Geneseo and is thinking of adding to his gardens. We shared some ideas.







Jim and his wife, Doreen, are retired educators. He taught English at Rush Henrietta High School for many years, and she was a building principal in several area districts.

We enjoyed a Palmyra diner fish fry and caught up with some family news.

Week 2 at The Barn

Barb is working at her table in The Barn. We all kept lots of fabric at hand on the tables and under the tables.









One of our assignments was to make several "fabrics" from curvy strips, and Barb pinned her completed pieces to her design wall.
















I made some slashed and pieced fabrics for a composition, but then decided to try adding in other colors.







After working with some of those colors, I decided to add some gold and white pieces and combined them to make more fabrics.
These are to be used in yet another composition.

Week 1 at The Barn

Barb Seils and I spent much of the first week of our Improvisational Composition class working from a simple 12" square sketch that we devised.

We made 4 copies of our sketch in fabric and created a composition.














Then we exaggerated the shapes to make a larger composition.

















And then we made another version of the composition using neutral colors.
It was much fun, and hopefully will lead to lots of new ideas.














Barb and I stayed with her cousins in Granville, OH, so we had all the comforts of home and very much appreciated not having to stay in motels.

Plus, we got to pet Harry Dog, the LabraDoodle, who is a real sweetie. Here he is on duty near the door, waiting for his owners to come back home.