flour & threads

2009-12-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

The show came down, we had a great response to the work by everyone who saw it.

Can't wait for the next one!

2009-12-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

The show opened last night, i was able to show my quilted map, the in progress afghan, a silk of the city and my fall sketchbooks.

2009-12-11T05:18:00.000-08:00

Mallory Biggind, Courtney McKenna, Danielle Spurge, Melanie Laramie, Nicole fletcher and I hung our show, The C Word (craft) yesterday.

This is the front of the postcard I designed for it.

2009-10-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

This has been my train project for the last few weeks, I try to work on it a little whenever I go anywhere. My commute to work and school are so long it has gotten very big i will need to carry it in it's own bag soon.

This is my first afghan, I am crocheting it in the round. It is a series of ruffles made from wool, cotton, silk and acrylic found yarns in neutral colors. The choice to keep my pallet neutral is becoming a problem, i am quickly running out of materials. I think i will have to spin some this weekend so i can continue working. So far i have 10 rows and it is now 12 1/2 feet in diameter, only 3 1/2 to go.

2009-10-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

The fall is here and quickly leaving, I have been thinking about getting a pumpkin since august but haven been able to justify it. Why are they so expensive, is it just the city? i haven't been able to find them for less then $15 so i haven't spent the money, after all I'm not going to eat the WHOLE thing.
this pumpkin is from Rhinebeck, no I'm not this good.

2009-10-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

My Mom and I went to the Rhinebeck sheep and wool Festival last weekend!!

We took a knitting class in the morning on Increases and Decreases with Annie Modesett. I learned so much, for example there are no wrong increases or decreases only right and left (and vertical). I learned how to make a hole when increasing and how not to and many other stitches that will make my knitting not only look better but be more deliberate.
before I was ashamed of my occasionally messy additions or subtractions now I have NO FEAR!
after the class Mom and I had lunch (pulled pork sandwiches and Mac & Cheese ummmm)
Then we went to look at the rest of the festival. There where barn after barn of wool producing animals and vendors who sold everything from yarn to soap. I took lots of pictures but didn't realize until i got home that i didn't take ANY of people. ha ha

the sheep above was HUGE, it was at least the size of a cow. I'm sorry there isn't anything in the shot to compare him o you will have to trust me.
This little goat was asleep when i first came over, he opened his eyes long enough for me to get a couple of shots. so sweet.

2009-10-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Though I have been VERY poor lately I am Making the most sincere effort to bake. It may not seem so but baking is expensive, whenever I decide to make something I almost always have to go to the shop and buy this or that and it usually isn't something that I will use again.
It being fall I have been making lots of apple crisp, its quick easy and all of the ingredients are on-hand. I got this recipe from one of the ladies at the museum and she got it from her grandmother. I have made some small changes from the original ingredients.
Recipe

5-7 Macintosh apples
1C Sugar
1/2C Flour
1/2C Oatmeal
1tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
Cinnamon as needed

Peal and cut apples into cubes about 1"
sprinkle with Cinnamon and toss
mix sugar, flour, oatmeal and baking powder in a bowl. fold egg into dry mixture and stir. The egg will not soak up everything in the dry bowl, holding the egg mixture in the bowl with a fork pour the remaining dry ingredients onto the apples. Finally spread the egg dough onto the top of the apples, cover as much of the top as possible.
Bake at 350 until the apples are soft

Amazing!

2009-10-24T09:45:00.001-07:00

As I have not been the most dedicated blogger, I have made a Halloween resolution to be better. I have also decided to start carrying my camera more, hopefully this will help me with my resolution. Here are some pictures of Lowell on my walk to the museum.

I have been very busy with the museum and school. For my studio work this semester, I am continuing to quilt whitework maps. I am going to complete3, 2'x3' hand quilted wall hangings.
I am going to Rhinebeck New York for the Fiber Fair this weekend, i hope to take lots of beautiful pictures.

2009-08-15T16:17:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was the Lowell quilt festival. I put in ALOT of overtime but got to meet lots of amazing people.

I spent most of my time running between festival locations and Gallery sitting.
The gallery which I was fortunate enough to spend so much time in is in a building owned by the national park service and was originally built to be one of the many textile mills Lowell is so famous for.

Garald Roy a Quilt collector and appraiser set up a show for the Quilt Festival called "A Sense of Balance" in the mill gallery which included lots of historic quilts with unusual compositions.

I wasn't able to take any of my own photos, I'm sorry this one is so small, I found it online. The quilt on the right is a perfect example of the anomalies found in Mr. Roy's exhibit. This tiny quilt is a strange assortment of blocks which have been cut up and re-assembled.

While in the gallery I had time to focus on my own work. Inspired by my time in the museum collections and working with historic quilts I have been hand piecing hexagon blocks. In the sixties my grandmother bought a bag of unfinished quilt pieced, including squares i used for my studio work fall 2008 and a group of "grandmothers flower garden"blocks which i have been finishing.

I will include a photo of my project later, my computer bit the dust a week of two ago and I haven't got my camera software uploaded yet.

2009-08-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

Back in July, I started an internship at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell MA.

For the past two months I have been working directly with quilts both in the museum's permanent collection and quilts on loan for exhibition.

I was directly involved in the current show, Massachusetts Quilts:Our Common Wealth and am working hard on the next show, Habidashery.

I am so incredibly lucky to have found a job that fits both of my majors so perfectly.

QUILTS!

2009-06-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered these "cookies" which are more like a dense cake. rainbow cookies are a new york food so until recently i had never come across them.

The recipe is similar to a Battenburg cake which is traditionally larger and covered in marzipan rather then chocolate. They where delicious and very photogenic!

1 can (8 oz.) almond paste
1 cup butter, softened (no substitutes) 1 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose flour

food coloring

1/4 cup seedless red raspberry jam
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Grease the bottoms of three matching 13x9x2 baking pans (or reuse one pan).

Place almond paste in a large mixing bowl; break up with a fork. Cream with butter, sugar and egg yolks until light, fluffy and smooth. Stir in flour.

Fold egg whites into dough, mixing until thoroughly blended. Divide dough into three portions (about 1-1/3 cups each). color each portion. (i used red , orange and left the final layer uncolored) Spread each portion into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Invert onto wire racks: remove waxed paper.Cool completely.

Place first layer on a large piece of plastic wrap. Spread evenly with raspberry jam. Top with second layer and spread with apricot jam. Top with final layer. Bring plastic wrap over layers. Slide onto a cookie sheet and set a cutting board or heavy, flat pan on top to compress layers. Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, trim edges, melt chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over top layer; allow to harden.

now your done!

2009-06-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Look what happend while I was gone!

My beans grew

2009-06-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

My first internship with Doryne Pederizani was amazing! She owns a machine quilting business, Happy Valley Machine quilting out of her home. For the past two weeks I have been able to both experiment with her machines and work on some charity quilts for premature babies. My first project was this sample quilt, it's 4x6 ft and its covered in maps. This project was perfect for my introduction to the machine.My second project was this 6x8 ft whole cloth quilt, white thread on white cotton. This piece required alot of research, as some of the maps on my sample piece were not to scale. I had to create a map using actual pictures to keep it proportional. I like how it came out, though this photo does not do it justice as it's too dark and red in color.

These next two quilts where made by the women at Southampton Quilts in Southampton, MA. I was able to practice custom quilting which I was able to design to complement the shape of the piecing.

I was also able to practice "stitch in the ditch," a technique in which the quilting echos the shape of the piecing as close to the seam as possible.

Both of these techniques are used often by Doryne on customer quilts.

Though my official time at Happy Valley Machine quilting is over, I plan to be back in the studio off and on for the rest of the summer.

2009-06-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

I'm at home in Florence MA. for part of the summer working on a series of fiber internships.

when I was driving into town the other day I took this. I don't think I ever really appreciated this view when I lived there.

2009-05-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

My review was on Thursday, I think it went well. Lots of constructive comments. I cant wait to start my work next semester!
Bear rug finished. The edge has black pom poms with shiny brown beads.
Close up of baby mice.
Something I'm going to be working on over the summer. Tiny stitched citys!

2009-05-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Possibly the most beautiful cake I've ever made! Lemon with grapefruit frosting.

2009-04-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Our feild trip to the Keldaby and Tregelly fiber farms. The best field trips I have ever been on!

2009-03-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Pieces of my bear rug.

roar!

2009-03-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

At the fibers opening! detail of the quilt I'm leaning on below.

2009-01-19T15:57:00.001-08:00

SPINNING!!!

2009-01-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

While at home I found a group of poems

written by my great grandmother.

I have been spending my break typing

them, and plan to eventually print

and bind them into a book. I dont know

what I expect to come of this.

The picture is a drawing she did of herself

to accompany a group of poems she

once gave to a friend.

2008-12-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

The fibers show went up last sunday, the opening was on thrsday night. I thought it went really well, and alot of people came. I took these pictures thursday afternoon, right before my review. The first picture is my corner which includes my knitted reading records, my november 3rd day graph and several crochet

vessels. The table in the front was not there for the show, just for my review.

The second photo is a

close up of the reading records for october and november. Everyday I would write down the number of pages I had read and which book they where from. Then I would knit one centemeter of i-cord for each page, while changing colors for each new book, magazine, etc. Each cord also has a tag on the bottom with the date it records, the number of pages and what book they are from. The third picture is a close up of the vessels, those hanging on the wall are the newest; they seem to be more like nests then

vessels. Similar to the reading records, I kept

track of the time I spent on each peice, the

date of completion and where I was makeing them. All of this information was recorded on a time card. The pieces in the front are earlier work that did not turn out to be as successful. The last photo is of the two quilts that I finished this semester.

2008-12-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday night I decided to make a cake, I hope to use the recipe and photos for my project next semester. I made yellow raspberry frosting from scratch, hoping to make it pink but...but Stop and Shop only sells yellow. I thought yellow would be second best but it turned out quite well.

I used a fancy mini bundt cake pan to create the shape. When I took the cakes out of the pan they where almost too cute to frost.

I over filled the bundts in the first batch, so I cut the tops off and made some perfect whoopie pies! I think I will have one for breakfast.

After all the chocolate batter and raspberry frosting I ate I am craving something savory. I will make a holiday ham, mushroom and cheddar grilled sandwich. It was so beautiful, I took a photo. (left)

2008-11-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

I spent Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family in NYC. It was kind of a long week but we are home now and I made celebratory blueberry muffins. A muffin is always perfect for a celebration.

While coming back on the Long Island Ferry, I realized I have just three weeks to finish my work for the semester! Ugh! Talk about a heart attack.

This is a photo of the page I did today in my sketchbook to hono my upcoming assignments. I also took a preliminary photo of one of Yo pots. I plan to dye this one lime green, if i can get the colorjust right. I can't wait until next semester, I'm ready to be done working on this assignment and be inspired with new and exciting ideas.

I am thinking of creating pieces in pairs for my studio next semester. Two items together, one baked or cooked and the other an art object made to compliment. A few few preliminary thoughts: a big decorated cake and a tea cozy made using the same colors and motifs. Something to consider...

new blog!

2008-11-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

As the first blog post I think I should introduce myself. I'm a Fibers and art history major at mass college of art and design.I love to knit, bake, sew, watch movies and read books. the purpose of this site is to bring together all of my interests. i will be posting pictures of things i am working on as well as general facts about myself and how it relates to my work.

this is a photo of me in my studio in school with my new yarn, alpaca sock yarn. Ive been slowly knitting the first sock but i have trouble knitting socks for very long because my fingers cramp up holding the small needles.

i am working on getting all of my work finished for my reviews in December.

I just finished embroidering one of the self portraits i plan to show.

i painted the quilt before I got my hair cut so it doesn't look much like me anymore. I'm currently working on two more. one portrait will be attached to a quilt and the other two will be 2yd wall hangings.