Never make plans when you're tired.

 Today was a bit of a bust.  I prepared my machine for stitching decorative yarn on the front of the cuffs.  This is a bit of a job to set up the machine for, and required a very special foot for FMQ'g with a zig-zag stitch.  But when I first tried stitching with that foot, I realized that the opening for the needle was not as straight as it should have been, and the needle would be hitting the foot itself, with every stitch. So I called the store, and left a message on their machine--which I'm sure they will ignore.  Not much else accomplished today.

Catch up for Tuesday

 Tuesday was the day of a large monthly shopping, and bill paying.  This took until close to 3:00, by which time we were both exhausted.  But I went down and addressed one small drawer in a rolling cabinet.  One I've been avoiding.  There are two more drawers that have been rigidly avoided so far, but have now presented themselves for consideration, and that may happen today.

Yesterday's drawer contained three antique beaded evening purses, and one contemporary evening purse that I made as part of a major, in-person, workshop with an international instructor.  That one purse appears pitiful when compared to the the beaded purses, and as such, I feel no emotional ties with it.  Neither do I feel emotional about the beaded purses, but would still like to see them  preserved in some way.  I have an idea about how to deal with that, and will follow-up with a phone call in the next few days. (It's in my BuJo)

There were also a pile of photos I've taken and hoped to use to stimulate creativity.  But these have been hanging around for almost 20 years, and will be culled.  Finally there were 24 Polymer clay buttons purchased from a well known local artist from whom I've taken several classes in polymer clay. The original intent was to use these as focal point in small matted pictures.  However, this intent has lead to several discussions with other artists regarding copywrite, and even the loss of integrity associated with using some ones else's in your own art.  It is often done but then described as a collaboration.  These will be offered to a group  of knitters I know to use as buttons in their creations.

My final sitting down task yesterday was to look through my quality cotton collection and see exactly how much I have and figure out how it might be used.  I have enough cut squares and yardage to finish at least two flannel crib quilts.  Nothing being discarded there.

So for today, my plans are to clear off the work table and sewing machine and deal with the already cut pieces for coffee cuffs.  The cut pieces that were of similar colours to the finished pile have been disposed of and only yellow and red based pieces saved, as I already have more than enough for the upcoming sale, but desperately needed some colour variation.

 

Back after a short "time out"

 Not that I stopped working but simply that there wasn't time and energy to post.  Yes, the pace has left me exhausted, and after a discussion with DH I've decided to slow down the process.  I also discussed this with a friend, who suggested that I limit the amount of time I work on the "purge" each day, and instead take time to work on a project.  But, I know I would find it impossible to work on a project when the whole studio is in a mess of things needing sorting.  At the same time, preparations for the craft sale at the end of April need to be given some degree of priority.  

The theory of a challenge is a commitment to work for a set period of time each day, on a specific task, usually practice with a specific skill.  There is also supposed to be some sort of accountability, which for me, has been this blogging about progress.  In terms of my "purge", I've decided to consider this blogging a form of accountability, as part of my time commitment. 

In any case, my purging progress will be slower in future.  I'm exhausted every day by about 2:00pm.  Progress may come to a halt after the main part of the studio is done, but before starting on the storage area, which is in, just as much if not more, need of a good purge.  Instead, the accumulated piles of scrap fabric, UFO's, and craft sale items will be dealt with, over time, but equally as part of the continuing purge. The storeroom will not be forgotten, but may be accomplished bit by bit over time while during quick breaks from UFO's.  Posting will continue.

But, to the weekend's work.

This part of the shelving unit has been sorted, purged, and cleaned.  I don't know where the after picture went.

The rolling cabinet, and bookcase have both been sorted out.  The bulk of stuff taken from these areas went straight to the recycling bin or garbage.

The bulletin board and rolling cabinet under it have been sorted. The whole design wall has been cleaned off .  Along with some painted fabric from the shelving unit, the painted fabric on the design wall has been culled with about half of it going to scrap, and the other half stored away for future reference.  In the rolling cabinet I discovered three sets of shears that had been sharpened, put carefully away, and forgotten.

As well as the above, DH washed the floor under the ironing board, where it had become sticky with over-spray from the Best Press I use to help with the ironing.

The end of the studio purge is in sight. One more rolling cabinet and a shelving unit, including the wall space above the cabinet.  Then the scrap fabric and UFO's will have to be organized in some way.  After that, the UFO's will get first attention.  This will allow me to have some creative time, and work toward a purpose at the same time.

Work Slow Down, and time for decisions

 As predicted the pace of work has diminished, with hitting that darn shelving unit.  The number of decisions that are having to be made at this point have also slowed the pace down.  As well as "keep, donate and trash", by options are now UFO pile, craft sale pile, and internet sale? pile.  Yes, I am preparing a list of items that will be offered at a price to a select group of friends, via the internet.  There are some items that I'm not willing to give away, but could be persuaded to part with--for a price.  I've discussed this with a couple of people whose opinion  respect, ( and whose names just might be among that select few), and I feel comfortable in doing this. 

With these additions to my decision-making process, I can see a future challenge of finishing all of those UFO's, so I've been making a list of items that are going in that pile, as I expect that the pile will be stored away somewhere when my process is finished.

Another issue that's arising is scraps of fabric that would be big enough to be cut into shapes for making donation quilts, although I've recently come across a process for joining that pieces as they are without any trimming or cutting.  I just might explore that.  Here's the first box that has come to the surface.  The soft drink can is there for size comparison.  This, smaller bin, had been on top of the first half of the shelving unit, which is now done.  I have made a decision not to go through the bins of commercial fabric at this time.

Here is the first half of the shelving unit finished. The item on the top left is a fairly large pile of prepared for Dyeing  ( PFD) fabric.  More than I realized I had.  The pile on the right is all of the fabric collected for two UFO's

And this is what I'm facing on the other half of the shelving unit.  Again I started at the top. On the extreme right there are a sleeve ironing board, and a tailor's "ham"-- a round, heavily padded, item for ironing in curves.  Both are going to the thrift store. The box is a collection of a variety of items that I've made over the years, mainly by hand embroidery.  I consider many of these as my masterpieces, and several of those I've saved.  Others will be going to the craft sale.  On the left, barely visible, is a plastic bag of many shapes and sizes of wooden alphabet letters.  Those are headed for the thrift store as well. Hidden behind them, totally to my surprise there were a couple of white pre-cut matt boards.  Those will be kept for future consideration.  Everything else on the shelves will wait for another day.

Still at it

 Today's work was almost entirely dedicated to the purge challenge.  Several framed pictures and a large amount of water colour paper were delivered to the Gallery in Selkirk. 

Then it was back into the studio, where the computer desk supporting the tv set was my target. 

Above is the desk cleared off and washed.  It wasn't possible to remove the tv, but it was cleaned.  The shelving unit to the right has also been cleaned off, washed down and selected items placed back on it, such as my clock and the little bear protecting it. I also took the opportunity to clean out the rolling cabinet to the left of the desk.

Next target is the shelving unit.  This will take a fair bit of time, and I'm not looking forward to it at all.  But this unit has been the heart of my work for the past years, and there is a lot of emotional energy involved.  I will have to take care to include the top shelf, where a special bit of my finished work is kept.

Wish me luck!

Quick update

 A busy day, as I returned to the craft group I was attending last fall, in Lorette, this afternoon.  After getting home, about 4:00, I pulled everything out of the space between the wardrobe and the bead cupboard, as well as the similar space between the other side of the bead cupboard and the wall behind it.  I found not one, but two, large pads of water colour paper, as well as four full size sheets of good quality water colour paper.  I trashed some poster paper, and some painted-on sheets of Foamcore.  Then I got to work on preparing the five framed pieces that I'm donating to a fund raiser in Selkirk.  I plan to deliver them tomorrow along with the good water colour paper, as I know that the local water colour instructor will be there, and he may be able to use the paper, or perhaps some of his students.

So while I have no pictures of progress,(actually the studio is quite a mess right now,) some work has been done, and some progress made.  So I can count today as a part of my commitment in terms of the challenge.

Rescuing the Wardrobe

 As predicted, today I moved on to the Wardrobe.  Here are the before pictures.  Note the two somewhat bulky crib quilts, on the left, and the bags for transporting quilts, crammed into the bottom of the area.

Here is the smaller top section.  This has been used to store adhesives and two glass pint jars crammed with "junk".  The red thing in front left is a frame weight and indispensable, when I'm doing handwork or beading, and beside it another lead weight so very useful when gluing paper of cardboard.

My process is to separate items into keep, donate, and trash.  So far I've just almost filled three 5 gallon pails with trash.  I had no idea how very many crochet hooks I own.  And how did I get two medical dissection kits?  Any glue bottles or glue sticks that weren't absolutely fresh or still in the packaging, are gone.  I trashed three traditional velvet beading boards that haven't been used in years, even with the amount of beading and teaching beading that I've been doing.     Here is the after picture of the of the wardrobe.  Note, that the top of the chest on the right is also now cleaned off.  In the larger section of the wardrobe the white on the left is two quilt transport bags hung up.  The others are trashed.  The white and colour area in the middle is 4 items that are scheduled to be put into a craft sale I'm participating in at the end of April.  The dark on the right is a UFO (unfinished object) that only need quilting.

All of the drawers have been gone through, and quite a few smaller objects put in the donate box.  Tomorrow I'm taking a look at the area between the wardrobe and the Bead cupboard beside it.  As far I only know that it contains a variety of larger sketchbooks, and some large pieces of glass I use in my jury-rigged light box, or as an aid to mono-printing.  I hope there are no surprises.

There is no challenge without accountability

 So here is the Day one report.  Today I tackled the bar area.  I generally use this area as a "wet" part of the studio.  My fabric and acrylic paints are kept close by, and other inks and dyes are stored under the bar. One cupboard under the bar contains all of the plastic tubs (yogurt and margarine), while larger honey pails, useful with handles, stay on top.  They tend to be my water pails.

Here are the before pictures.  Please note the fridge, and the CD player beside it, also the griddle, slow cooker and behind the slow cooker, a small blender.

    

And here is just general junk.  I regret not taking a close up of the sink.  It was filthy

But here we are now.  The appliances, other than the fridge and CD player are gone.  The plastic tubs, other than water containers, are gone, and so is all of the junk.  The bar has been cleaned and the sink thoroughly scrubbed--several times with different chemical.

So, one day done, and planning for tomorrow.  Maybe the wardrobe, in the picture above.

Another Challenge

 So, I have experience an art-related challenge, and survived.  What's been learned?

Doing this and posting about it makes me accountable for everything that I think is worthwhile in the studio.  The actual post serves to clarify my thinking and force me to make a concrete decision about the direction my work is going.  

I'm of two minds about whether setting a minimal amount of time, that must be worked every day, in order to count as completing a portion of my challenge.  I say this because a good portion of my planning and problem solving, occurs while I'm getting to sleep.  It's really surprising how often I think about a problem before sleeping, and then wake up the next morning with the solution to the problem in my head.  I've reached a point where I'm starting to rely on this, and see it as a necessary part of my creative process.

The next challenge will be an effort to address the problem of how much time I spend thinking about how to reduce my store of supplies to a more manageable size. This is really preying on my mind. I plan to spend a few moments every day sorting the items in one cupboard, shelving unit, or cabinet.  I plan to seriously purge, but also to clean.  Right now my whole studio needs a good cleaning, and there is no way this could be done in one fell swoop.

There is a second consideration. I have quite a few small finished items that could be sold, but there aren't enough of any one item to make the effort worth considering.  But, I have been invited to participate in a small craft show, with a group of crafters I belong to, at the end of April.  I'm welcome to use a table or even share a table, at no cost.

If I could gather together all of the small items that I have, it might be worth my while, even if I put distress level prices on them.  They aren't going to sell in my storage room!

So, I have plan.  As I have an out-of-town meeting tomorrow, the challenge starts Monday.

Done

  

The Challenge piece continues but I have given it the title of Boho Revisited.  Once I started filling in the center I realized quickly that the stacked embellishments simply weren't working.  So off they came, and were re-done without the stacked elements but with one small red circle and a bead.  I'm so much happier. Here is the finally finished piece--Boho Revisited.  It still has to be mounted, which I do by hand, and then framed.

Here is a close-up of the final version of the stacked embellishments.

And this is the center section where each individual piece has been attached with tiny gold beads.  I have used scraps of every paper and fibre used in the overall piece.

Second Thoughts

 I'm liking this 30 Day Challenge piece less and less.  While I tried to follow some elements of art in my colour choices and building repetition into the design, I lost a couple by leaving too little space between elements, and no space to rest eyes.

I have finished the next row which consists of "stacked sequins".  I prefer to call them stacked elements.  Each one starts with a small yo-yo made out of cream-coloured organza.  Then I added flat pieces of both paper and fabric, stitching everything down with a gold bead that matches the ones at the focus of the floral-type elements around the edge.

The stitching should be finished by Monday, but the challenge doesn't end until Friday the 18th.  however, my challenge was to create and familiarize myself with the methods I learned in that workshop with Jessica Brady on Textileartist.org, and there are a couple not used in this piece.  A good chance to plan another piece.

 

Thirty day Challenge continues

 The darn folded paper towers have proven a challenge all by their selves.  Each tower requires one square of coloured paper.  I chose to use four shades of red, purple, and gold as my colours.  Each colour of paper was cut into 1", 3/4", 5/8" and 1/2" squares.  I folded a good selections of each and stitched some of them down.

Oh! Oh!  Not liking this!  But I did like the corner where the towers had been turned upside down and beaded.  After thinking a bit, I decided the space might look better if the upside down towers were used in the whole area.  But that would mean cutting a whole bunch more  tiny 1/2" squares and getting rid of the other sizes.  I really dislike folding those tiny squares, and my arthritic fingers aren't too pleased with the idea either.  But, by working on nothing but that task, and working for only a short period at any one time, the job is getting done.   I can manage about 12 every day while watching the 6:00 news. Here is the first corner finished.  I think it looks good and will fit in with future work quite nicely.

One of the rules I set for myself when starting this challenge was that I wouldn't buy any more supplies to complete the challenge.  Well, that didn't last long as I had to buy both purple and gold beads.  But I was determined not to buy red beads, and sifted through all my red beads looking for beads of a size to use.  Here is the final selection.  I used some in the above and feel that they do well.  There is even a gold bead on one of the dark red pockets.

But, now I have to fold another 46 red 1/2" squares of paper.  Yuck!

New work & a 30 day challenge

Members of a Facebook art group I belong to have recently been accepting a 100 Day Challenge.  Since my art is somewhat different than their sketching and drawing, and the fact that I've never entered a Challenge before, I opted for a 30 Day Challenge.  I'm working on some of the techniques I learned in a workshop with Jessica Grady on Textileartist.com Stitch Club.

The Challenge started February 16th but I only solved my computer/camera problem recently, so there are no pictures of my early work.  However, I've managed to work every day since. My piece is a stitched fibre collage. Most of the early work was in constructing the various pieces to be collaged onto a base fabric.

Fabric circles had to be cut out, but since both sides would show, the fabric had to be fused to itself before cutting out the circles.  I needed 24 circles, but cut a couple extra in case they might be needed.  Then I cut several smaller circles out of painted tracing paper. and fused those onto a few of the circles, to add a bit of variation.  The circles were then folded and stitched to create tiny blossoms.

Then a couple of different pieces had to be created.  One used the inner liner from a box of Ritz crackers, and the other a piece of small scale bubble wrap.  The bag from the crackers was cut open, and smoothed out flat.  It was then placed over a large piece of baking parchment. I sprinkled small pieces of candy wrapper, scraps of yarn and very small pieces of red paper, folded the second half of the bag over top, followed by the backing parchment and ironed the whole thing with a dry iron.  The bag adhered to itself, trapping the small coloured bits.  This process was repeated using the bubble wrap.  The different wraps gave very different texture, when cooled off.  These will be cut into smaller pieces, either triangles or squares, and stitched down into the center of the background.

Here are the small red flowers stitched in place.  The frame is 14" square, and I hope to frame the finished result at about 12" by 12".  The straight lines are red felt , stitched down with long straight stitches from the edge into the center of the felt, with the stitches about 1/4" apart.  I chose to used Kreink couching silk, in a gold colour, for the stitching.

Next will be some three-dimensional paper pieces that will fill the corners of the shape.  There are a LOT of these, and since the challenge started, I sit and fold them, while watching an hour of news every evening.  Should be finished tomorrow.

Lastly, I plan to create some stacked pieces using a very small "yo-yo" as the base.  They will be topped with a variety of paper pieces, and some smaller cuts from the fused plastic sheets above.

I'll try to keep you informed as things progress.