Back from the dead

okay... the almost dead

well... maybe just from the languishing... or from the misplaced!

I am trying to get back to blogging!!!! More for myself than for any blog readers who may still be around to read my blog!

I am hoping that posting will keep me accountable... keep me on track... make sure that I follow through with my intentions, with my projects.....

and to help with that, I have created a "To Do" page with my must start and finish projects. As I work on them, I will post my progress. My plan is to post at least 3 times per week...

Monday: fiber art/textiles

Wednesday: photographs

Friday: mixed media/journaling

Being that it is Monday, it is time to post about my fiber art/textiles work....

Before the holidays, I did a bit of snow dyeing...

for a new project which is now the second in a series that began with this piece originally made for the "balance" challenge with my Tangled Textile blog friends...

Life is a Delicate Balance

(aka Life I)

I found an image on Google under "frustrated", saved it, enlarged it, changed it to black and white, and sketched an outline of the body, adding "my head" to the sketch...

and to date, using my hand painted and hand dyed fabrics, I have created the basic design...

the plan is to call this piece Life II: I Have a Teenager (that topic could probably take a month of posts but I won't bore you with the miserable details!)

The plan now is to hand applique the pieces to the snow dyed fabric background and then, similar to Life I, hand embroider some lettering and embellish with pearl cotton or embroidery floss and perhaps, some beading.

By the way, the photos of this project were taken at my new-to-me studio!!!! Yes, I moved into a studio in the beginning of October at a rehabilitated shirt factory which is home to a community of artisans...

I am sharing the space with two of my fiber art friends.

These first two photos show my area when I was setting up...

because, of course, my area is now completely filled with all kinds of stuff!!!

The Shirt Factory had a couple of weekend open houses and this is a collage of our studio set up for visitors....

I am using my studio space for my fiber art and textile projects, especially all the messy painting, dyeing, stamping, fusing, printing... as well as for all my equally messy mixed media but I will still do most of my sewing with my Bernina in my home sewing room which has been re-organized some since a lot of my supplies have moved out...

Oh! I just spotted another project to add to the list! A bargello that popped into my head one day... luckily, there is no due date on this one!

Stay tuned for more!!!!