It May be Spring!

Pardon the pun - I just can't help myself.  The snow is finally easing away from the edges of our lives and it is so wonderful.  The renewal of life is miraculously happening again with real evidence to back it up - like freshly grown greens and lettuces from my miracle gardener friend, Patsy, who even delivers them to me in her cute PT Cruiser.  The primal lust that rises up in me looking at the compact clear bag of greens is a strong indicator that winter has been long.  Again.  BUT!  Look at the lovely pictures below:

 I took this picture on Tuesday, May 10th.  The ice is just breaking up on the lake and rushing through the out-take which is a short distance to the left of the big rock you see on the shore.  It is rare to catch this moment and I was lucky this year.  I love the shades of sage green in the ice remnants.

Just THREE days later, we are canoeing on that same icy lake with friends! Unbelievable and joyous.  When we got to shore with our canoes, two young girls in bikinis were in the lake up to their knees and shrieking.  Clearly from out of town with no idea that ice was   

very recently covering their chosen swimming spot.  Their parents stood benignly by, arms crossed and patient.  

The water this day was the clearest, most beautiful shade of green/gold.  It won't look like this in a couple of months when the jet skis and power boats have had their way.

 This picture was taken just a few minutes ago.  Receding ice burgs allow us to do some much needed spring maintenance - Scott still had to shovel a bit of ice away to get his ladders into position for painting and window cleaning.  The green patch underneath the hammock needs mowing - all else is still thatched and flat from melting snow.  The buds on our aspen and crab-apple are just now coming on.  The good thing about this slow transition is that it gives me days to get the spring raking done!


Now let's talk about my favorite topic - art.  I like to see how things are done.  I can read and read and read, but I really don't understand the wherewithal of things until I see it.

I'm working on a moderately-sized complex canyon/river landscape right now.  You can see my line drawing in this photograph. The drawing is really a collage of closed polygons as each polygon will become a pattern piece connected to its neighbor.  The drawing took me about 8 hours to complete (I know this because I am now logging my time on the file jacket for each client) and of course is adjusted as work progresses.  

On top of the drawing, you see a piece of Sulky Totally Stable taped into position.  This is my preferred substance for making my pattern pieces because it irons onto fabrics so nicely and pulls off easily when you want to remove it.  You can see that I number each polygon and draw little hash marks through each one so that when I cut all the pieces apart, I know how to reconnect them.  As I move through each piece, I am creating one jig-saw puzzle after another.  It is so much fun!

Picking a spot to start takes some thought as the initial fabric selection sets the tone for the entire piece.  Because of the complexity of this piece, making that initial move took me a couple of days of contemplation.  My first selection was a strongly patterned piece of silk - in my mind, I could see how it would propel the entire piece in exactly the right direction.  My husband, however, walked by the studio door, looked at the silk on my design wall, and yelped!  Oh ye of little faith, I said, just watch and wait...

And indeed that piece did pull the entire thing together nicely.  This photo shows how I make sure things are fitting together properly.  As I complete each jigsaw puzzle, I tape them onto my light table and match them up to the line drawing before I join them together.  I save myself a lot of ripping and re-sewing this way.

I took these photos last week but never found the time to blog.  Today, the top of this piece is nearly complete and I'm thinking about quilting lines....