Open Studio Event-Dec. 5 & 6.

Busy getting ready for this weekend's Open Studio Event. Dec. 5 & 6, 10-6, 10-5pm at the studio. Send me an email, linda.ruelflynn@gmail and I will send you directions.

New work to share....I am loving the colored background of these new pieces.

In Process

This is the latest in the New England Birch series. Three feet wide by one foot tall. I am using large pieces of hand-dyed fabrics from Margaret Stancer of Pelham. I love her fabric. I don't know how she does what she does but I am so happy she does it. The placement of the blue in the midst of the green is the perfect suggestion of water running through the stand of trees. A pleasure to work with such yumminess. That is a fiber technical term....yumminess. Enjoy!
-click on the image above to see a larger version-

Daily Inspiration

When I was teaching I would tell my students - cherubic first and second graders - to look at their world. Not just glance around, but to really look. Looking takes time. Time well spent. I have been taking the time to look. To really see what is around me. More importantly, I am taking the time to stop, see and absorb what I am experiencing. This picture was taken Friday morning about 8:20am in S. Hadley along the Connecticut River. The fog wafting from the water pulled me to the river bank. It was magic. I watched for about 15 minutes as it twirled and swirled over the water. A piece of me went over the river. I will savor this quite a long time. Who knows where it will pop up in my work in the future.

Chirps

The Chirps- Sweet little bird quilts with hand-dyed fabric, hand-dyed embroidery cotton and a whole lot of fun. Having a great time divining the personalities of these little darlings.

Allowing

New work here. I love love love making the circle giggles, like the green/orange one to the left. I have always had an affinity for enso circles, and circles in general (maybe that's why I love cookies). But when I started doing the bird scenes people had such a positive response to them. I didn't expect that. I love making those too. It feeds my secret desire to do illustration. So now I am going to feed my secret desire some more and watch what happens.

Can I just be cranky for a second. My favorite fabric in Northampton closed this past summer. Every contemporary quilter in the area cried. So as I am getting all this work done I am watching my stash dwindle. Where am I going to buy this fabulous fabric? I resist buying online. I want to feel the fabric. What looks pretty is not always made well. Gee, maybe I have to go to NYC on a little buying trip!!!!

Thanks for reading.

I'm Working Here

What a great day. Much accomplished. This is what it looks like when I am done. The fruits are above the mess. I was feeling daunted by the deadline of the Garlic Fest. Now I am invigorated. Just give me a deadline and away I go. Take heart, this isn't the only space on which to create. The studio is bigger than this. More pics some other time.

The Case for Not Pushing It

Not Pushing It

This piece is 18 x 18, stretched around canvas stretchers-just like the giggles. I didn't think I was going to like this larger size. But this piece works.




The central part was made last week. I wanted it to be part of 12" x 36" piece. It just wasn't working. Spent hours...hours...hours forcing it into the space, attaching printed fabric to the sides, attaching painted fabric to the sides, tear it out...try something else....NOTHING was working. AARRGGHH. I tacked it to the wall and left. Four days go by. I walk into the studio this morning, lay it on the 18 x 18 and eureka, it worked. Pulled the dark blue fabric to the sides and I was a happy camper. Added a few more yellow hand stitches, stretched it, signed it and voila! 1 down, 22 go.

The moral to the story..see above...Not Pushing It. Just because you want something to be a certain way doesn't mean you can bully it to fit. There was no convincing that fabric to work.

The more I quilt the more I find metaphors for dealing with people. Just because you want someone to behave a way you think they should....doesn't mean they will. My Dr. Phil moment is over.