Author Archives: ruthlane

Sewing Again and More Daffodils

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Here’s the daffodils today compared to last week when there was only a couple blooming. That’s Symphony coming down the path showing off her new hair cut that she got yesterday.

Here’s a shot showing most of the ones blooming. There are still a bunch that aren’t blooming yet. It’s a beautiful day here and it feels so spring like. It’s supposed to get colder this weekend though.

This is a felted piece that I have slowly been working on. It is based on the colors of river rocks.

Here’s a close up to show some of the hand stitching. I did sew on the machine today. I decided not to wait any longer due to my back injury.  So I did 4 sessions of sewing today that lasted between 5-10 minutes each. I just was getting so discouraged about not being able to do what I wanted to do so I decided that I would do things in small time increments and then rest in between. That is working well and I’m much happier than just not doing any. It may take a bit longer but I’ll get it done eventually. Now I just have to figure out how to felt without re-injuring my back. The problem is that I don’t have a dedicated felting space. I usually work in the kitchen and I can’t just leave a half finished project lying about. But I’ll figure out something.

The other exciting news: Kay Petal of Felt Alive is coming to Kalispell and teaching a 3 day workshop on needle felting dolls. I signed up for the class with a couple of friends. The class is in the middle of May and hopefully, my sitting tolerance will have increased a bit by then. But I’ve always needle felted at the store standing up so that won’t be a problem if I need to change positions. I’m excited to finally meet Kay. I’ve ‘known’ her online for a long time so it will be fun meeting and taking a class from her. If you’re in the area, there are still openings for the class. It’s being held at Camas Creek Yarn in Kalispell May 14-16.

Signs of Spring

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For me it isn’t spring until the daffodils bloom. Today is the first day for blooms. They poked their green shoots up on March 6th (which was really early) but haven’t bloomed because it has been cold and snowy off and on since then.

This one is the first to be almost all the way open. But I’ve got many, many more that will be blooming soon. It’s in the 60’s here today but supposed to get cold again next week. Ahh… spring in Montana.

I can’t leave you without a little of what I’m doing in the fiber world. I still have to say that it isn’t much. My back is taking it’s time in the healing process. I did sew on the machine for about 10 minutes today but it still isn’t very comfortable. I am working on my Traveling Page for April – the theme is flowers and the photo above is a peak at what I’ve done so far. It’s all hand stitched as I can do that in little bits at a time.

Rearranging Priorities

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I have been trying to create without sitting or standing for more than 15 minutes at a time and without bending at all. It’s not been easy and my priority right now is healing my back. I am improving but I think it will be at least another month before I am back to normal. So I have been working in my studio journal and doing very small projects. Here’s my first journal spread.
I can’t decide if it is finished or not.

I was thinking about adding some bigger text to the pages but I like it the way it is. So I’m just letting it simmer for a bit to decide.

Here’s a start to another spread.
I used the left over paint from stamping this Easter wrapping paper for the start of the page spread above. The wrapping paper was for gifts for the grandkids. I didn’t manage to get a photo of the wrapped gifts but I used raffia tied around the boxes for ribbon.
Amazingly, I won another blog give away. Robin was having her blog anniverssary and was giving away one of her adorable needle felted sculptures.
Meet April! She came neatly wrapped with a certificate of authenticity.
Isn’t she adorable?
Here she is in her new home next to Slime. I think Slime has fallen in love (either that or he thinks she’ll make a tasty bite for lunch). My husband thought that Robin had “stuffed a real mouse”. She is so realistic. Thanks so much Robin! Do go check out Robin’s blog to see more of her adorable sculptures.
I had a question about how I was doing on my goals for the year. Since it is the end of the first quarter, I thought an update was definitely in order.
If you have been reading, you’ll remember that my main goal for 2010 is to develop my voice as an artist and begin to produce a consistent body of work in my own style. I set 5 steps to reach that goal.
The first is to spend more time in the studio. I consistently did this in January and fairly well in February although I did go out of town for a week. March is where it has all fallen apart. I injured my back and have not been able to work consistently at all. I have been trying to do bits and pieces so I certainly haven’t given up but not being able to felt or sew has put a damper on things.
The second step was to do more sampling or small pieces. I have been doing small pieces for the Traveling Pages book swap. I’ve completed 3 of these and I’m working on a fourth. I started working on 3 dimensional felt pieces and completed 3 of these. I also tried cobweb felting and did more nuno felting. I have also felted a few small pieces that I am now adding hand embroidery but haven’t shown any photos of those yet. They are small color studies.
The third step was to practice art/design in my studio journal. I have been working on this fairly consistently. I’ve been checking out various art books from the library and reading through these. Several have been very helpful in the design process. I was trying to keep track of my time but that seemed to make me want to do less as I felt it was too regimented. I did better when I just tried to do something creative every day and then work a full day on Fridays, my day off from work. I had even started sewing for 10-15 min. every day before I left for work but that has stopped since my back injury.
The fourth step is to begin Level II Machine Embroidery in November 2010. I started working on applying for a grant for this but they changed the grant process so now I have to start again. I’m sure my work on the first application will apply to the new application but they haven’t gotten it completed yet so I have to put this on hold for a bit.
The fifth step was to work in a 3D format in felt with a combination of machine embroidery. As I said above. I did 3 pieces in felt in 3D. I did some practice in machine embroidery on one piece but otherwise have just been completing my large piece that I haven’t shown yet as I am planning on submitting it for a magazine article.
The last step was not to feel guilty about spending my time on creative outlets. I am getting better at this and I”m spending much less time in front of the TV. Of course, not being able to sit on a couch helps tremendously with that as I can’t sit for any length of time.
Overall, now that I’ve reviewed it, I haven’t done too badly. I think it will be another month before I am recovered from my back injury but I will keep up the work in short segments until then. In the next several weeks, I am going to try sewing again for small amounts of time to see how that works. So it will be a gradual return at best.