RedBarn Studios

For the last few weeks (in between doing Symposium stuff) I’ve been working on this one quilt that came to me as I was reading an article somewhere. I read so much in quilt magazines, blogs and online  that I can’t remember where I read it but the words resonated with me and Lightness of Being was born…in my mind at least.

Most of the time I work intuitively…..my abstract pieces are usually born through feeling and touch and intuition, picking up and auditioning fabrics and finding those that fit the piece.

Recently though, especially since the Orchid Show pieces (below), I been feeling the need to work in a representational manner. One of the tools I use to gather information and to have a starting off point for these pieces is to mind map words.

Part of the Orchids: Sensuality Stitched Show

I am not very good at drawing…..this is not a whine nor a complaint but a fact…..so instead of getting frustrated at not being able to draw images that I see in my minds eye, I mind map those images with words instead. These words turn into ideas for surface designs or stitching or the images themselves.

It still fascinates me what happens when you release control and just start writing without checking for content, grammatical errors, words that don’t fit or giving in to distracting thoughts. The flow, if allowed to continue, is almost cathartic. Images into words tumble out (most of the time that is).

Sometimes one of these words pops out at me and I take that one and run with it. Soon the page is filled with “images”. From this cacophony of words I pick out ones that resonate and start the quilt.

I haven’t finished this one I’m working on, still needs to be quilted, but I like where it’s going. Here’s a sneak peak.

What do you do to release control and let your work flow through you?

Tags: defining one's art, fiber art by k grace howes
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Today I went for a change…from the neck up that is.

The Back Story

One of my blood pressure meds was discontinued (did the manufacturers bother to ask me first….NO!) and for the last few months have been going thru the rounds trying to find meds that worked with my body without making me dizzy or lightheaded and a plethera (love that word) of other side effects.

Now I’m on one that just makes my head feel thick (one step down from dizzy I suppose) but it also dries out my skin. This last bit, a too dry scalp, is what has led to my from-the-neck-up transformation today.

Because of the dry skin issue my hair was a mess (those who regularly see me know this as the honest truth,) and, it was continually breaking off. So today I told my hair stylist to chop the darn thing all off! I was done with the bad hair I was bizarrely still trying to hold on to, as if having that hair was what made me who I am.

Today

After leaving the salon, feeling good about my decision, I headed to the vision center to pick up my new glasses. When I got back home I went around to my neighbors to see if they recognized anything different.

I got all smiles, everyone seems to love this new look. My best friend kept smiling and hubby, well he kept peaking his head back in the room to check me out again and again.

Wow!!

Who the heck knew this little change would affect people so darn much, not to mention how good I would feel about myself.

Here’s a before…

(looks like a lock-up pic doesn’t it…all I need is the number plate)

and here’s the after shot…..ta da!

I heard somewhere that as we women get older, shorter hair is better (never found out the reason just know this is what I was told…Ha!).

Most of you know I rarely post pictures of myself…that self conscious thing coming into play I guess….and besides, I like to be behind the camera. Today, though, I thought I’d step in front for a moment. Tomorrow I’ll be back in my role as amateur photographer.

Thanks Cassandra (of Ce’mour’s Hair Studio), you did good.

Toodles all,

Tags: life etc., pic of day by k grace howes
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I got a large package the other day but was unsure what it was. I had not ordered anything online for a long while so wasn’t expecting anything.

As I walked back in the house the phone was ringing so I put the box down on the counter. One thing led to another and I forgot about it.

About 3 hours later my son comes in from school, sees the box on the counter and shrieks gleefully. Poor kid…..he thought I bought something for him. Sorry bub, it’s addressed to me. A few seconds later he’s looking at me strangely as I shriek!

“Mother Love” is back!!!

This quilt has been traveling for the last year and a half and had finally made it home!

“Mother Love” won Judges’s Choice Award (thanks Jamie Fingal) in the “My World in Black and White Revisted” exhibition by Fiber Arts Connection of Southern California.

This quilt is about the relationship between a mother and her child in transformation. In the midst of the turmoil and chaos that can permeate a teenagers life, a mother’s love, like a continuous circle, is enduring, never ending in helping her child transition.

I had a hard time with my eldest but we’ve come through the other side intact and actually friends.

May you and your teenager’s experience be less chaotic and much more about the love.

Tags: circle series, fiber art, juried quilts by k grace howes
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When you host your own blog you decide the content that it contains…all the things that you think are pertinent to you and your readers.

Some of you may know this but each of those things in my sidebar is called a widget.

—a widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship-– yada, yada yada

In other words I search for widgets with a code that someone else has written, plop it into a text box and that’s that! The thing with WordPress.com that I found so very restricting is that they controlled some of that content by not allowing certain java scripts (the script that makes up the code) to be embedded in my blog (mainly commercial activity widgets)

One of those widgets that I found and love for this blog is the Fun Facts widget (a WP widget). Every time you visit my blog a new fun fact is displayed like the new ones I got today….

• did you know that a person uses approximately 57 sheets of toilet paper every day (yeh, like you really needed to know that)
• that Happy Birthday, the song, is copyrighted? (so much for observing copyright on that one)
• or that in medieval Thailand, they had movable type printing presses. The type was made from baked oxen dung (Yummy!)

Now if you so choose you can keep hitting the refresh key on your browser to get new and interesting fun facts but I think your time will be better spent on art.

When you do visit my blog however, don’t forget to scroll down and check for another bit of  useless neat bits of information waiting there to fill another brain cell that could instead be used to listen to all the mindless drivel on the TV. Take your pick.

I’m going For the Fun Facts.

p.s.

Here’s are a few places I’ve found some of the widgets I used (disclaimer…I am not affiliated with any of them nor do I vouch for their reliability)

Widgetbox
Widgipedia
Google Gadgets

Tags: monday posts, this 'n that by k grace howes
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In cleaning out the closet in my studio I unearthed (and I don’t use that term lightly) a large quilt I made when we first moved back to North Carolina from our short stint in New Jersey.

We were living in a temporary apartment, our “stuff” had not been delivered yet (boy did that end up being a 4 month nightmare) and I NEEDED to get my hands into something creative.

So hubby convinced me to go buy a cheapy sewing machine. It was a good decision cause I could occupy my mind while waiting for the contents of our household to arrive.

I located the closest fabric store, stocked up on some fabrics, set up my space and sat down to sew. It was a tight squeeze….five us us in a 2 bedroom apartment…(Yikes!) but everyone was good about me taking up some space to calm down and stitch to my heart’s content.

I didn’t have a plan in mind so just kept sewing. Using 3 primary colours I strip pieced, cut into triangles then pieced into squares. I added a large 9″ black border but don’t have a clue why. Looks a lot like stained glass huh?

So anyway, the other day while cleaning out, I happened upon this quilt that hadn’t seen the light of day since 2004!! In the mindset to purge as much as I can as I clear out my studio, I immediately put it in the give-away pile.

But later I had a rethink. The quilt I made for our couch in our family room, oh sooooo long ago, is falling apart as a write this, so instead I’ll have this found treasure quilted and will drape it over the back of the couch.

Hopefully the things I do give/throw away I won’t find I need at a later date but …oh well! It’s now been handed over to my favorite long armer…Judy Whitehead of Goneaway Quilter. Judy is such a prolific long armer. I don’t tell what to quilt, she just instinctly knows what my quilts need and gets on with it.

Can’t wait to see what she’s done, especially on that large border. Then it’s on to the binding (not my favorite quilting activity by far) and a new colourful quilt ready to wrap around someone, will be finished.

Nice!

Tags: In My Studio, artful creations, this 'n that by k grace howes
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Yesterday my only daughter celebrated her 18th birthday!

Wow!   What an unbelievable milestone this is, for her and for us.  Join me on a small walk down memory lane….

a cutie pie who smiled all the time

3rd Birthday

1st Holy Communion

a new style..her way

YEH….she’s all that and more

My Beautiful Daughter!

Tags: captured moments, family by k grace howes
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If this doesn’t bring a smile to your face I don’t know what will. Sometimes it’s the simplest things that pull at our heart.

And if we can pull this off, in this many countries (mine included–see the Bahamas at time mark 3:19), at the same time across the world, why can’t we just do a little more to help each other?

Some small gestures….

• smile (really smile) and say hello to a perfect stranger on the street today,
• complement someone on their attire today,
• write a love note to someone you love and stick it in their pocket to find later today,
• pay for the coffee of the next person in line today,
• say sorry today,
• let someone else win for a change today,
• spend time with your kid(s) — call them, play a game, c’mon you can think of something today,
• smile and hold the door open for somebody today,
• be pleasant to the person over the counter today
• give yourself a hug today.

ALL WE NEED IS LOVE.

p.s. the video above is a project by Starbucks to raise money for medicine for those living with HIV in Africa. They celebrated the generous donations of many by organizing a worldwide, all-at-the-same-time singing event…..ONE SONG, ONE WISH, 156 COUNTRIES. Lend your voice to the effort by going here.

Tags: community, pay it forward, this 'n that by k grace howes
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I decided, after writing yesterday’s post, that I need to get back into the swing of things so I finished building the 2nd shelf for my closet and got into the purge mood.

I used to be a wanna-be hoarder but NO MORE! Out goes these taking-up-precious-space items….to others who want to have them or straight in the garbage! So there!

painted metal shelf

Some of the things that were in that closet were so old they’d become fossilized. I mean really….paints from 1995….so 20th century don’t you think? Shook the bottles and nothing moved. Okay….so these things REALLY had to go.

Back in my other life I had clientele I sewed clothes for – no more (thank goodness) so those items needed to be banished forever! I still have decorator and upholstery fabric hanging around (from when I was a home designer) and will keep most of those for mixed media art or for the backs of some quilts.

Okay……….now I’m feeling much better, the purge is done…for now at least….and I can see the floor of my studio again.  I think I need to treat myself, so some DSP and flour resist is on the schedule for this afternoon.

In the meantime…enjoy how Spring is showing itself around my house…

Toodles,

Tags: In My Studio by k grace howes
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I  have been lax of late when it comes to my blog and my Facebook and Twitter pages. Let me give you a heads up on what’s been going on.

Last year in October I made a video of my studio for Cloth Paper Scissors Studios‘ virtual tours (check my studio tour here). I had so much fun taping it and even more laughs trying to put a cohesive video together with all the retakes I did.

Anyway, I knew I needed to clean –REALLY, REALLY, REALLY clean my studio (a 2nd floor bonus room).  Of late I’ve had to search high and low for items that were always readily available and that has made working on new art pieces a hit and miss thing at best.

So I mentioned to hubby in February  (okay, okay…..I whined about having to CLEAN) and he approached me a few days later about completely revamping/redoing my studio (now that’s what I’m talking bout!)

So he started redesigning use of the space and I started on my closet…figuring that in order to effectively and efficiently redesign the  studio I had to tackle the closet first.

Took down the regular wired shelving, bought 2 new heavy duty shelving from local DIY and put those up. I did not, however, like the gun metal gray so I also bought a couple of cans of spray paint to change the colour to white.

Next step is to start on one corner of the studio and work our way around so that I could still work even if I had work around things for a bit. Now that I have the shelving in the closet, a lot of my “stuff” can be housed in there, freeing up some valuable space in the studio itself (are you seeing the BIG picture yet?)

As well, this will give me an opportunity to inventory ALL my supplies for business purposes of course (whooee…getting faint just thinking bout that task)…been a recent conversation on one of my art list about that. So that’s the long reason why there is no artwork to show you.

But there’s more…..

What has kept me from really pushing forward with the studio revamp is my position as Co-Chair for the 2010 NC Quilt Symposium, to be held June 3rd – 6th. This is a big event for our fair state of North Carolina AND, our guild, Charlotte Quilters Guild, is hosting it this year…..in 5 weeks! Yikes!!!!!

As well as being one of 3 co-chairs I am also the Teacher Chair so I’ve been working with a great bunch of teachers who will be teaching at Symposium this year. Look at this line-up (names are clickable):

Charlotte Angotti
Cynthia Corbin
Melody Crust
Patti Culea
Kim Diehl
Karen Eckmeier
Ellen Anne Eddy
Robbi Joy Eklow
Flavin Glover
Bonnie Hunter
Janet Lasher
Susan Purney Mark
Velda Newman
Jenny Raymond
Paula Scaffidi
Pat Sloan
Karen Stone
Carol Taylor
David Taylor
Laura Wasilowski
Elin Waterson
Terry White

We are all racing to get things finalized so that we can put on a fantastic event. We are soooo very excited to have everyone over our way.  There’s still space available in some classes so be sure to check out the website.

So now you know…I am officially tired but still keep trucking on. Ideas for art pieces still flood the brain but it has been told to put them on hold…at least till I can catch my breath on June 7th. Ha!

Toodles,

Tags: down time, life etc., monday posts, organization by k grace howes
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I know we live in a more technologically minded world and to try to keep up with all the new innovations and updates to the things we have already learned is, at times, mildly frustrating but interesting as well.

I recently watched a PBS Frontline video online about how we are all sooooo digitally connected that blew my mind really, especially as concerned our 21st century kids.

I have always monitored how much TV, computer and video games my kids are subjected to in any one day and have actually instituted a few times, a week free of electronics (boy did my kids not like me the first time I did that!). We read, played games and even talked more.

I have always encouraged independent play time…..I figure I didn’t give birth to be an entertainer and they had to learn to play and entertain themselves. This way, they got to be children WITH the ability to tap into their imaginations.

I can still find my 9 year old on his bedroom floor surrounded by his toys. Usually it’s a laser fight or some 21st century battle going on but HE gets to plan the play, not someone who came up with the video game for the DS or Wii.

I encourage you to watch the whole thing (it’s 86 minutes long- yikes!) and maybe even have your kids watch it. I did not have 1-1/2 hours to sit and watch it straight through so I broke it up into segments.

The saddest part for me in watching the video was the piece on the Korean kids who are so mesmerized with video games that they can sometimes play up to 16 hrs a day. What a sad waste of young brain power!

I gladly use technology to meet friends online (my blog), stay in contact with family, help me enhance and sometimes produce and sell my art, decompress by reading blogs or listen to music on my iPod, buy the latest whats-it (after most of the kinks have been worked out of course), etc. But I do tune out and not get caught up in the hype and craziness that surrounds all this digital technology we now live in.

We cannot escape technology, in fact we need to embrace it….it is here to stay and it is good, in parts. The thing to do is find out how to use it effectively for the things that we need but not to allow it to take over. Good luck!

Digital Nation Video

Tags: community, ponderings by k grace howes
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