Wednesday, July 23, 2008

What Fun!

Yesterday I got to help hang Fiber Art Fusion's show at The Art Place gallery in Marietta, Georgia. The title of the show is Transformations. There are some incredible pieces at the show. It will be up until August 22. If you are in the area, stop by. I have three small pieces in the show, and one that my geometry classes made.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

New Work and the Kids

Here is a 4x6 piece I did. You cannot see it very well, but there is a map of Europe stamped on the lutridor. The charms are stamps on shrink plastic.


And here are my two youngest children.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Gifts from Margaret




Here are pictures of my wonderful gifts from Margaret. Thank you very much. After I post this, I am going to add beads to something...

Monday, July 14, 2008

Another 5x7 and a Trip to Margaret's House


Well, blogger won't let me upload any pictures right now. Suffice it to say, I worked on another 5x7, and I was going to show it to you.

My three youngest and I visited my friend Margaret this morning. I wish I could point you to a site with Margaret's beautiful work on it, but I don't think her work is on the internet anywhere. Margaret, we need to fix this problem. Margaret does the most exquisite bead work and crazy quilting. She is an important and integral part of Fiber Art Fusion. And she is one of the most generous people you could ever meet.

I mentioned in an email that I wanted to go bead shopping and asked for suggestions for bead stores. Margaret invited me over to shop in her home. (I would love to show you pictures of the beautiful beads Margaret gave me, but blogger won't let me.) Not only did she give me beautiful beads, she also gave me some sweet little ceramic pots, and some gorgeous velvet that Nicholas Kneil had given her. (And in my mind, it is leftovers from some beautiful designer gown that Nicholas was involved in making. Probably not, but I can pretend...)

Margaret also entertained my children with matchbox cars, colored pencils, an electric pencil sharpener (Sam is finally clean, Margaret,) and Mardi Gras beads. We have all been wearing bead necklaces all day.

So thank you a million times Miss Margaret. You are one sweet, classy, and wonderful lady!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Abstract??


At Fiber Art Fusion, a friend said she was going to try to work in non-abstract (I know there is a word, but it is escaping me) for a change. Well, I decided to try something more abstract. So I am trying some 5x7 pieces with different techniques. On this one, I just sewed various blue-green fibers onto a black piece of fabric. The black fabric was fused to a piece of interfacing to facilitate sewing. I used invisible thread and my darning foot with a small zigzag stitch. Then I fused it to a piece of Peltex for stability. Here is a close-up shot.


I think this could make a good ocean background. I was going to add some shells, but I really like it the way it is.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Chicken Mummy Day 1


Here is our chicken mummy on day 1. I hope this works and doesn't just make a smelly mess. So far, we washed him, put him in a plastic bag, and covered and filled him with salt. Then we washed our hands really well. Ed, Amy, and Sam are involved so far. I think Alex will get in on it before the end.

Next step in our history study is to put a time line up. I am trying to figure out the best place. I think we will use the upstairs hallway. If anyone has done this, please let me know how long your time line was, and if you did all time on it, or divided it up by what you were studying. I know I cannot put Big Bang on one end and today on the other and just divide time because everything would happen in the last few inches. I was thinking of starting around 7000 BC and going to now, and put an arrow on the end saying 5 miles to the beginning of time or something like that. Any opinions?

Another day, another appointment

Now that I am teaching, I make a lot of doctor and dentist appointments for the summer. Today I took my oldest to the dentist. I just realized that on all the millions of forms I had to sign, I put yesterday's date. Ugh. At least they let me fill out all the paper work for the middle two who go in 11 days today. (Or yesterday, I guess.)

I ran two miles the morning. Well, I walked about 1/4 of one mile up hill. Those hills are killing me. Tomorrow I am going to add in some distance.

Today, I am going to work on a 5x7 piece for the Fiber Art Fusion show at The Art Place on Sandy Plains Road.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Fractured Quilt

Last night at Fiber Art Fusion, we had a new member. He has just moved here from Northern California. (He told me the town, and now I can only remember that it was 2 hours north of San Francisco.) Anyway, he and I were talking about doing a fractured quilt. So if any of you Fiber Art Fusion ladies are reading this, think about it. He said we could just do one with the two of us if no one else is interested.

One of the things I teach in geometry and algebra is proportions. To hook the kids on the first day, I do a fractured artwork piece with them. This first one is of a Picasso. It was done by my Algebra I students.

This second one was done by my geometry students. It is an Ellis Wilson print.