SPRING

The snowdrops are just glorious these days. I was finally successful in capturing a shot of them today. It feels like 60 outside in the sun today. The bees were out in force buzzing around the snowdrops completely ignoring my presence, as if after a long winter they have much better things to attend to. If you look carefully in both of the snowdrop pictures you can see bees at work.
Clumps of snowdrops are now visible all over the yard. I have always loved them more than crocus and the owners of this property prior to us put in scads of them. I also have daffodils which I am sure are up, but they are in the most boggy places in my yard. We have just had a week of rain, which followed a week of snow showers. Needless to say, I need a good pair of garden rubbers before I venture to all of the gardens.
I just love looking closely at the ground in spring. So much is going on and you can see every little thing, pebbles to sprouts to bugs. Above is my 'silver mound' sprouting it's first spring leaves. They are such an interesting shape. Fun for drawing especially if you are looking to draw graphic representations of nature. My favorite model for such drawing is Jane Sassaman.
A flock of titmice are chitting just above where I shot this photo. This is a shot of one of my strongest foxglove perennials. There are several planted in the half moon garden in the shadier areas under the dogwood and close to the stone wall. As they start shooting up and blooming they create a beautiful vignette in peach and yellow from the other side of the wall.
And with any luck, the giant alliums which are companion planted with the foxglove will be blooming at about the same time bringing a touch of purple to the garden. I peeked under the large foxglove leaves to find allium shoots beneath. Yay!
I have a couple of these 'coral bells' planted in the half moon garden too, along the wall. 'coral bells' have the sweetest spikes of tiny flowers but it is the shade of these leaves that I love the most about these plants. They stay a reddish, pinky shade all summer and fall.
My garden walk ended today on my deck, as I took stock of winter's harsh weather. My poor cactus does this each year during the winter months. It looks like someone has sucked all the water out of it, as if it were half dead. As the weather warms, it's arms will start to plump up and rise to it's usual shape and with any luck by May I will be seeing the most beautiful yellow flowers. It has grown in the past three years to a decent sized plant and is living in a large pot in a protected and sunny spot on the deck. I hope I never have to repot it as it's tiny cactus needles are nasty. I decided that as it is not a native plant it had to be planted high in a pot to keep native animals away from it's nasty thorns. I'm sure the chipmunks and mice will be all the happier without noses full of thorns.

I have been steadily working on 'Peter's World' bit by bit, hand-stitching one piece at a time. It's going slow. But I am determined to finish it this year! It is my #1 priority and thus everything else has stopped but it in the studio. I must remain focused and this is why you haven't seen any artwork. By April I hope to have all the stitching done on Peter so I can start on the wicker settee.

So I'll just keep stitching and writing here about my garden until I get it finished and can move on to other things in the studio which I can share in pictures......

This sunbather is our dog, Tiger, as he looks longingly out the back sliders, wishing he could race around in the muddy woods chasing squirrels and chipmunks. I'm with him on that one. We both have spring fever, but spring is long in coming in New England, as has been proved by a week of snowy days. Thankfully the snow melts almost as soon as it hits the ground these days.

I have been a bit remiss in posting lately, however, life has been changing as it usually does. I am feeling better than in January, due to some diet changes and a cholesterol med which is slowly but decidedly taking my high number down. Days in the studio have been few, unfortunately, due to a promotion at work which has taken me up to 32hrs each week. It is good for our growing bills, but not very fulfilling for me, and those 32 hours are not the 'sittin' at the desk' type of hours. I have been exhausted.

I am hoping that as I settle into this new position, I will get more used to the flow of it and able to find more time in the studio.
Soon it will be time to get outside and into the gardens to prepare for the growing season. The shot above is of my 'butterfly garden', a woods to yard transition garden, heavily planted with perennials which attract butterflies. My euphorbia in the foreground is sprouting spring leaves already, but the general condition of the garden is still very boggy from melting snow and there is not much happening in the way of growth yet.
The 'Half-moon' garden is sprouting my favorite 'snow drops'. I tried to get a close-up shot of them poking through the leaves, but the camera kept focusing on the leaves. They are planted in large groupings under the dogwood and all around the half moon stone wall. As they start blooming I will attempt another photo session.
I am always amazed that sedum is one of the first garden perennials to sprout green leaves and one of the last to mature their flowers in the growing season. I have them everywhere as I love their display in the fall.
My last shot is of my poor allium bulbs. Seems they have wiggled their way up to the surface of the garden bed. They are the giant kind which sprout a head full of flower that is 4-5 inches in diameter. I guess I need to leave them alone until they have bloomed and then transplant them deeper. For now I am just happy to see them sprouting.

Well, it is 50 degrees today and sunny, so I think I will go back out and rake up some of the hundreds of twigs that have fallen this winter from our River Birch trees. They are messy trees! Wishing all my readers a happy spring, as I am sure some of you may be seeing more spring than I am up here in the NE. Later this evening we are celebrating an early St. Patty's Day with some Irish stew, colcannon, soda bread and Guiness. We can't afford to travel lately, so we are doing so in our cuisine. Have to go make Tiger a green bandana. Bye for now. N

For those of you who have been following here, an update. I'm feeling OK, no more episodes sending me to the ER. I am waiting to hear from the insurance company confirming my coverage before running the stress test. So I sit each day praying that my arteries are clear enough not to bring a stroke before I get that test. I'm taking it easy. Lots of time to sew and to think.

As a result of my thinking I have decided that although a very pleasant part of life, it is better to curb a great deal of my computer time. It takes time away from my art. So I have canceled my twitter, flickr and facebook accounts until such time as I feel I can afford the time. I feel twisted about this decision because I have met so many wonderful associates this way. I will miss chatting with them and I am hoping that some of you will be reading this. I will continue here to blog as I have time and hopefully keep in touch with at least some of you here. I encourage your comments more so now, as it is a way of communicating with you.

On a brighter note, I have restarted my work on a piece called 'Peter's World.' It is a pictoral portrayal of my son at age 11 watering his morning glory plants which had grown so profuse as to completely cover a wicker settee. This is a very large piece which will top out in the range of 7'x8'. I am a little hesitant to put my progress in pictures here as I will want to enter this one in one of the bigger quilt shows. I'm not sure what the rules are about showing a work, in piece or in whole, before entering it for a show. The wicker settee is being drawn with resist on a beautiful hand died piece of cotton. Before I begin on it I will be doing many test runs, as I don't want to ruin the good fabric. Perhaps I can show you my progress on my testing. But I can at least talk about my progress. Peter is about half constructed. His face, hair, and upper body are completed in three sections which need to be sewn together. This week I am working on his shorts, legs and shoes. All my piecing is being done as applique and reverse applique by hand - tiny stitches. It is very tedious and hard on my eyes and hands, but very satisfying when completed.

Well I hope that I will be hearing from my followers and some others regularly. I regularly check out your blogs and will continue that because you are all so inspiring to me. With my son, Peter, as helper, I will be figuring out a website so that I can show my completed work. He has switched his major, bringing a smile to my heart, to ART. He is working towards learning graphic computer programming.

My love and appreciation to all my readers and to those who regularly chatted with me on twitter, flickr and facebook.

Detail 'Blue Girl'

That's me today, blue girl. The new year is not starting off as planned. It's all a bit more challenging than expected.

Late into the night on new year's day I had an episode resembling a heart attack. I ended up inside a rescue headed towards the local hospital with a nitro pill under my tongue wondering what in God's name I was doing there. Several doctors and many tests later they discharged me from the hospital saying that it was not a heart attack but it indeed could be angina. I am at high risk for a heart attack or stroke. I have scheduled a stress test. Until then, I feel a bit like I'm hovering over a cliff waiting for someone to push.

I've been trying to keep calm, my blood pressure as normal as possible, and I have been doing absolutely nothing which could constitute strenuous activity. I've been sitting in my studio just looking around at all the stuff. Been thinking about what things will get finished in my life and what will be left behind. We always think we have so much time for all we want to do in life, until we are reminded of how quickly it could end. I am expecting that with modern medicine being so advanced that some crew of doctors will snip and sew their quilt of me and I will have more time to enjoy this life. But I really just don't know for sure. No one can.

I am, as always, very grateful for the life I lead, my family and the wonderful people in my life, the freedoms I enjoy. As long as I am able I will continue to do the things I must do, love, live and sew!

I'll be in touch as I am able.

New Year's Eve. It's traditionally a time to reflect. I am often of the ilk to be reflecting anyway. So here goes.

I started this blog this year because I was feeling like I was in a cocoon. Hoping to extend myself into the world to become a part of it, I set out to get some feedback on what I have been doing since 1996. It's been a positive experience from which I have gained a sense of comfort in my own skin. My followers and colleagues have been so supportive that I honestly feel that I am happy becoming a part of the world wide web.

This blog alone has helped to spurn me on to things I have been avoiding. Finishing 'Nancy's Garden' was a huge success in my ability to deal with the emotional baggage that often comes along with the art process. I'm not so afraid to face the art demons anymore. I have a few left to deal with and they are on my list of things I must get to this year. Fear of failing at experimentation is a whole other demon. I'm taking it on with a piece I started a few years back which entails a large area of discharging the drawing of a wicker bench. I've never tried to discharge such a large area and this one will be about 3' x 4'.

Hmm, I actually sold two pieces this year. Woo hoo! Wasn't really expecting that. Unlike so many of my colleagues who look to art as their primary source of income, art has always been just a means of expression and a form of joy. I cart my weary carcass into work for someone else to abuse so I can take home a regular paycheck and this allows me the freedom to complain about it regularly. This last statement I've not allowed to happen with the happy inner art core of me. The rest of the world can be brutal, but the art core must remain pure. One of my best friends in the art world quit doing what he does best in life because it was such a drag trying to make ends meet. I used to watch him dive full heart and soul into a piece he was creating only to see the piece come to life in his hands. This doesn't happen anymore for him. He sells real estate. He hasn't done any art for years now. To me, this is painfully sad. So I've tried hard not to let the two worlds intersect too much. Not putting demands on the sale of my work has let me keep my love of it. It's a bit of a juggle time-wise and sometimes, as has just happened in the fourth quarter of the year, art has to take a back seat for a while.

It keeps my heart wanting for more, though. Knowing that this has been so fulfilling for me this year, and has expanded the way I feel about my art, has given me what I didn't know I could have at this point. I am looking forward to the new year as one of expansion. I'm excited about new possibilities as I have never been before. And from this I know that some fun and soulful pieces will emerge.

I'd like to thank all of you for reading this blog. Thanks especially to those who have become followers and who regularly stop by and leave comments. Your comments help me to keep a perspective I may not otherwise have.

I am wishing all of you a happy and very fulfilling new year. May you all be productive and full of joy at doing so. From the wings of the angel who sits on my shoulder......may you all be blessed.

Peace, Joy & Happy New Year, Nancy

Christmas

It has been such a busy holiday season this year. I have found myself working at not only one retail store this season but two, in order to help out. I'm used to working retail about 15 to 18 hours a week so my 30 to 40 hour weeks have been a bit tiring. November was the worst but it left me so tired that the month of December flew by in a dream state.

What time I have had at home has been filled with Christmas preparations and family time. As of today, Nick has gone home to Boston, Pete is visiting with his Dad now, Andie is starting the training for a new job and Brad is living in the city and back to his normal work schedule. Christmas 2009 is a memory. The tree is still up with all it's glorious lights and ornaments and I'm still munching cookies and sweets. But in a week it will be all packed away and I'll be on my yearly after-the-holidays diet. I have three more days of work in this quarter, then the first quarter of the new year begins and schedules change. I'll be back to 15 hours a week at work, leaving me long hours sewing.

My poor lonely studio. I keep dreaming of warm summer days past when I was working daily. Next week I should be able to pick up where I left off last summer. There are so many things going on in my head that I'm not sure where I'll start. I just know that I can't wait to start. Next Monday is the beginning of a long, snowy winter at Studio Girasole. I never thought I would ever be happy to see January linger. Hurray for winter!

As I have totally missed wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, let me not forget to wish you all a productive, joyful, happy new year!

Morning's Light

Transformation in the back yard this morning after last night's snow

It's like piped butter cream frosting...

and the whole world has been transformed to angel's wings, lace tatting sparkling like glass prisms. Time stands still for minutes at a time.