This is the beginning stage of "Secret Life of Nutmeg" as it looks laid flat on my work table. The pieced fan shape is laid on top of the background fabric I've been preparing for a few days now. The background base fabric is a navy blue Bali batik with star fields I created by sprinkling the surface with
Bo-Nash adhesive powder following up with a heat application of a foiling product. Voile'!! The star field of my dreams. I've been wondering how I was going to create the effect I could see in my head when I spotted something about this wondrous product in Jane Dunnewold's recent book, "Art Cloth" - a book I highly recommend to any fiber artist for its inspirational effects/techniques and clear instructions on how to achieve them.
Progress is taking longer than I'd like - it's finally summer here which means it is time to repair the damage from the previous winter and get a grip on the yard and gardens which grow at a rapid rate of speed with any encouragement and long daylight hours. Because of all the wet spring weather, I had a bumper crop of rhubarb this year. It was so lush that I actually cut, sliced, and froze 7 zip-locks full that I know we'll appreciate during "the long dark", which is the phrase an Alaskan friend of mine uses for "winter".
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| Lovely Rhubarb |
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| Warm Red Fir |
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To the right, is another reason for "slow art". Around here, we say we are either living winter, or getting ready for winter. That includes cutting firewood, which my wonderful and strong husband is shown doing here. You can see at the top of this photo where the tree snapped off in a wind storm and thereby made itself available to us for harvest. So far, we have hauled home around 3 cords from this one tree and there is quite a bit more. This may be my first One Tree Winter - amazing and we are grateful.
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| Tyndall Creek/Vulcan Hot Springs |
You say you want to hear more excuses for slow art? Well, in addition to working around the homestead, it is important to take advantage of living in such a beautiful area. I've made it a priority this year to hike with a group of girlfriends weekly. I have lived here many years but there are many, many hikes I have not taken because of family commitments and employment. With the kids grown and having been unemployed for a couple of years, I finally have the time to go hiking and I have to admit it has been a grand treat. I feel guilty about my hikes sometimes, but then remind myself that summers here are short AND, I am taking an on-line Pharmacy Technician course to re-instate my license and
hopefully find gainful employment upon completion. It's likely I will not find a job here in McCall, but will need to look in Boise and come home on weekends. It is not uncommon in my area for one spouse to work "away". We'll just have to see how all that works out.
It was a beautiful 4th of July here. My first year here was 1979 and it snowed at the BBQ I was invited to. My Midwestern roots were properly shocked and I knew the folks back home would not believe it. This year, we were fortunate enough to have a ring-side seat on a deck overlooking all the downtown fun. I leave you with a couple of images from that beautiful summer night.
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| Fireworks! |
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| Waiting for the Show to Begin |
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