Cross Over Benefits on Off the Wall Friday

 

This week's progress 

To all my US readers, Happy 4th - I feel so blessed to be an American. Hope you get some time with ones you love.  

WoW everyone, thank you for the warm welcome back.  It's always nice to see the internet being used for actually bringing people together.  It's funny, the minute I finally got myself writing and creating, all the normal ideas would pop in my head.  My workflow the last 15 years have been that during my week, I'll get ideas on blog posts and then jot them down quick before they're lost.  For the last 6 months there weren't any and all of a sudden now they're too many!  

But today, I picked the elephant in the room - Cross Over Medium 

At first, when I decided to try to my hand at rug hooking, I thought, I'll just keep this as my little side gig secret.  It's something to do in the evenings while I indulge my deep dive on YouTube (don't ask but let's just say my husband thinks there might need to be an intervention soon.)  But the more I learned about rug hooking, the more I enjoyed it and could see similarities it has to art quilting.  Plus, it's fun to learn all the little nuances of it (something that I conquered with quilting long ago).  

Recent things I learned: 

• After MUCH research, the easiest and most economical way to cut wool strips, is to use a Sizzix system.  Sizzix is a die cutting system that is mostly used for paper crafts, but it can be used for other materials.  They did try to market it for quilting but have since dropped that line.  Thank God, the Old Tattered Flag came up with the brilliant idea of using it to easily cut strips of wool in different widths.   The whole system might cost you about $400, but its WAY cheaper than any other wool cutter they have on the market.  Traditional cutters are machined which makes
  
  
  them expensive.  Plus, as the craft gets less popular they are harder to find.  I found the Sizzix to cut quickly, efficiently and with very straight lines. (Part of the issues is that the strips are cut in 32nds widths from about 3-10)  That all said there is no reason you can't cut your strips with a rotary cutter  - although I have YET to hear a rug hooker say that - lol!  Let me know in the comments if you want me to talk more about this cutting system.  
• Most rug hookers are like quilters, they are a traditional lot.  They like to have patterns and they like patterns to show them exactly how to make it.  That said, I do think more and more hookers are branching out to make their own design.  This week I sat in on Cindi Gay's weekly Saturday Hook -In. It's free and there were about 12 ladies just hooking for about an hour chatting over Zoom.  People showed what they are working on and new people asked questions.  In the discussion, I learned a lot of hookers struggle with value and shading (that sounded familiar).  With a little research I learned about an app - Value Study App - finally a little app that will easily give you value study of picture.  I thought - WoW - where has this been all my life!  The android version is still in beta testing but I didn't have any issue getting mine to work on my Samsung Galaxy. 

Apparently, I'm not the only Sayre in this house that needed a change.  My husband decided last year that he wanted learn how to paint - yes not my house but actual paintings.  He first looked for painting classes locally and not finding any, he did what we all do lately...turned to YouTube.  Since he's retired, he then spent quite a bit of time watching videos until he started to follow some teachers he really liked.  He set up a little painting space in our basement (14 rooms in this Victorian and he chooses the basement which to me is like a dungeon) and started painting.  Over the last year, he's turned out some really nice pieces but his last series is kinda crazy good - no, seriously - here they are 

They are from copy-right free vintage photos from around 1910 done in oil.  He recently entered them in a local art show and won his first ribbon.  He's entered this show before but always with his woodworking pieces.  Imagine the surprise from the gallery owner when she saw he could paint.  (I knew exactly how she felt- I had no idea he has progressed this far in a year!)

That's right he taught himself off of YouTube.  Now for the first time in our marriage all he talks about is paint rather than wood.  He did easily make his own frames and stretched canvases.  Plus, he's planning trips to art museums rather than me for a nice change.  

That's the Cross Over Madness that is going on in the Sayre's house ...  (I'm linking up to Kathy Quilt's Slow Sunday Stitchin' because my hooking is all done by hand!)

What are You Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Off the Wall Friday

 

So right now my life is in a season of change.  I was laid off suddenly from a job I love because they outsourced the positions to the Philippines.  In all honesty, I was VERY ready for my next challenge but there were so many good benefits with the job, I hadn't made the move.  Until I was made to.  As always, God blessed me with finding the right job, right away.  Go figure that having good customer service skills would be very marketable in today's job climate.  

I'm working now for Channellock, Inc.  They have been making hand tools since 1876 and for the most part are made entirely in the USA from US materials.  It really is a great job.  I'm working up in my really nice big cube on the second floor and the whole room shakes like an Earthquake.  I look around and nobody even notices.  I soon find out that's because the offices are attached to the machine floor and there is this HUGE machine pressing out HUGE wrenches.  Whenever it's running the building shakes.  My team assures me I'll get used to it.  Three weeks later, I am.  It's a constant reminder that I work for a company that makes things.

Anyways I say all this because right now I'm going to focus on my home life, my family and getting used to working outside the home again.  (BTW - I know people love working from home - not me - I'll take a nice office any day!)  So, for foreseeable future I'll host Off the Wall every Friday with bits and bobs.  As soon as I got something creative to post I will.

Seasons - they're a fact of life!

So, What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sutton Foster on Off the Wall Friday

 

Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center

We interrupt your regularly schedule programming to bring you something a bit different today.  Anybody who is a regular reader will know that I am a firm believer in exposing oneself to all sorts of art and culture.  My reasoning is that not only is it good for your own personal education and mental health, but also you never quite know where the inspiration for your next piece will come from.  When the plague struck, it reinforced this belief that culture is essential to one's life.  I told myself that I would never take for granted chances to enjoy art again.  

With that in mind, I went to see Broadway/TV singer/actress, Sutton Foster.  We are blessed in Erie, to have the Mercyhurst Institute of Arts at Mercyhurst University.  They bring in a full schedule of world-class entertainment each year including singers, dancers, musicians, and authors/lecturers.  Tonight it was Sutton.  

I love Sutton Foster.  She's a two-time Tony winner who has starred in  Broadway musicals like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek the Musical, and most recently, the Music Man.  She starred in the short-lived show Bun Heads (which I totally enjoyed and can't believe they canceled but still can be streamed on Hulu).  You'll also see here guest stars in  TV shows like Elementary and Instinct (yes - you got to enjoy Alan Cummings AND Sutton Foster all in one episode!)  Anyway, let's just say she has had a full and successful 20-year career.

Tonight though it was just 75 min of her, a microphone, and her pianist, Michael Rafter.  It really was my favorite type of concert.  Just a person simply standing there showcasing her amazing voice and stage presence. We also were treated to a look into two of her obsessions...her only daughter, 6-year-old, Emily, and Crocheting.  You know you've found your kind of singer when right in the middle of the concert, she takes a moment to pull out an LL Bean canvas bag and a chair ('cause these shoes are pretty but they kill your feet).  Sutton went on to say that she has always been a maker all her life since her mother was a cross stitcher.    She then sits down, pulls out a blanket that she has been making on this year's concert tours, and proceeds to sing "Sunshine on My Shoulders" while crocheting another line in

purple.  All on key.  Without missing a stitch.  

Really there are a lot of singers who can dance (and she's a great dancer btw)  but how many can do it while crocheting!  She also treated us to her daughter's favorite song, "Raining Tacos" which brought out my own obsession with kid's music.  Among all the Broadway numbers, though my favorite song was Joni Mitchell's A Case of You.  Honestly, that is just such a great song, and sung by Sutton it was the highlight of the evening of my night.

I felt so happy, I smiled all the way home.  

So remember check your local venues - see who is playing  - spend the $$ and go!!

Under things I like, my daughter, the author (lol), has opened her Etsy shop featuring her new book Kit & Basie, Tales of Long Lily.   Watching the success she's having has been fun since it's amazing how an indie-published book can gain a following.  So if you are looking for a cozy romance (queer M/M), I highly suggest it - not because she's my daughter - but 'cause it really is a good book.

So next week, I promise back to quilting and art but I just wanted to share my night.  I mean it's not every day you get to see one of your favorite Broadway stars perform in your own backyard!

(Sorry no photos from tonight, cameras are forbidden).

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Tess Take-Over: Publishing an Indie Novel on Off the Wall Friday

I used to think that there was nothing better than a good book—the kind that makes you spend days cocooned in your favorite reading nook, not a care in the world. Turns out, the only thing better than reading a good book is writing one. My name is Tess, and this week I'm taking over my mom's blog to tell you about my debut novel, Kit & Basie (Tales from Long Lily, 1), and how the heck I got to this point. 

My mom can tell you I've been writing stories since before I could accurately spell, but I didn't become serious about being a novelist until adulthood. That was when the Real ideas started to hit me, beautiful worlds filled with complex people, somehow always about love. 

That's what Kit & Basie is: a story about folks who love each other and want to find the place they belong. It's an LGBT, cozy romance that tells the story of an immortal man who falls in love with the fella that moves into his late mother's house. I wrote it as a love letter to the queer folks in my life and all my favorite small towns in Pennsylvania. If this sounds like something that is even remotely up your alley, it is set to release in August 2023. I'm also running a Kickstarter to cover the publishing costs — more on this later! 

My mom asked me to talk about how I landed on this story, this genre. The truth is, sometimes stories are just meant to be told and it's a writer's duty to tell them. I had been wanting to write a collection of interconnected stories about small town people that was just a little magical. I pulled inspiration from The Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, a collection of poems that narrates the epithets of all the passed residents of Spoon River, Illinois. I also drew lots of inspiration from Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery and even The Raven Cycle, by Maggie Stiefvater. All of these stories feature small-town people that are heavily interconnected with one another. 

Shortly after I conducted all my research, I went to a wedding in Virginia outside the Shenandoah Valley. Driving through Appalachia was a huge source of inspiration. The only downside was, I immediately caught Covid and came back quite ill. Buuut, it meant that I had plenty of time to quarantine and write. 

For the life of me, I don't remember writing the actual words of the first draft. Fever brain will do that to you. But, two months later, BAM! I had a completed manuscript. I recall writing most of it on the back porch, listening to the birdsong, or the soundtrack to the 2003 Pride & Prejudice. I let the novel rest for eight months after it was finished, before making the decision to revise it so that it could be published. Overall, Kit & Basie fell together so perfectly, so differently than I initially imagined, but I believe it's the way it was always supposed to be. 

Now, it must be said, self-publishing is not for the weak of spirit. I am a one-woman publishing house — equal parts author, editor, marketer, publisher, distributor, etc. I've worked with excellent editors and artists who helped me. Some of it was easy! For instance, my best friend is a professional, freelance illustrator. I commissioned her to illustrate the cover. My running draft is pictured below.

But ultimately, despite my collaborators, the end quality of this book is entirely up to me. That has meant editing the book nine million times, developing a social media presence, and planning fundraising. It's a lot on top of working in a library full time and going to grad school, but the hard work has been very worth it. 

For all that self-publishing is a lot of work, time, and money, it was the best choice for me. I knew I could do it. I had enough support from loved ones, artistic connections, and savings to make it happen. The main reason, though, was because the traditional publishing process is very long, tedious, emotionally taxing, and entirely contingent on the state of the book market. I wasn't confident that I'd find an agent or publishing house that would want to publish K&B. It's very short and character driven, and overall not what's on-demand on the book market. Yet, I was confident that the story deserved to be published and read, and I wanted it to be published on my terms. 

The last major undertaking for Kit & Basie's success is the Kickstarter. If you're not familiar with Kickstarter, it's crowdsourcing. Supporters of a project pledge money toward a creative endeavor, and if the creator meets their goal, supporters receive the product and often other goodies too! I decided to launch the Kickstarter as a way to break even on my publishing costs and a way to personally give fun things to the folks who support my journey as an author. My goal is to raise $3,800, and I'm already over 60% of the way there after only 24 hours. Kickstarter is all or nothing, so the only way this project comes to fruition is if it is fully funded. 

If you'd like to support Kit & Basie's publication, you can find the Kickstarter here. Pledging gives you access to the rewards, all designed by either myself or other PA locals. Two of the rewards are pictured below — a keychain I crocheted myself and a tea mix — but there's plenty more to be found on the Kickstarter page linked above! You're able to pledge as much or as little as you'd like, with or without rewards. I promise, every little bit counts. 

Time will only tell about where my journey as an author takes me. My mother is hoping it's more Long Lily stories. I'm hoping it's a fun fantasy story. Whatever it is, I'm excited to find out! Thank you for letting this indie author take over the quilt space today. If you have any questions about the project or even about self-publishing in general, feel free to reach out to tesscarletta@gmail.com. 

Enough about me!

What have you been up to creatively? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Do You Need a Website? on Off the Wall Friday

Paul's latest coffee Table

 Shhhhhhh, can you keep a secret? My husband, Paul is turning 58 this week and I decided it was

The man, the myth

high time he got his own website.  You see he became a full-time artesian woodworker when he retired a couple of years ago and he really needs an online presence.  So with a lot of help from my daughter, Tessa, we put together a portfolio site.  A portfolio website is a site that is primarily there to showcase you and what you create.  Not only can it include a gallery of your work but also a resume and even a blog.

So all of this got me thinking.  I've been writing this blog for 13 years (that's a bit scary!) and I never felt the need for a website.  On the other hand, I never felt the need to market myself and I definitely never felt the need to bolster my brand.  (I mean do I even have a brand?)  But you might!!  I mean do you want to sell your work?  Teach nationally?  Build a fan base?  Or just have a place to direct family and friends to what work you've been up to.  There are several host websites that can teach you how to build your own website and cost about $100-$150 dollars a year.

Sound daunting?  Well like anything, according to Tessa, it's an acquired skill!  Since I'm the one that will have to fine-tune and maintain Paul's site, I'll let you know how big the learning curve is. Things to think about as you design it:

• Curate:  Use the best of your work.  Not everything needs to be on there
• Simplify:  Make it easy to navigate and read.  Remember less is more
• Modify: Update and grow the site as you grow 
• Promote: Add links to your social media accounts, exhibits, and ways to contact you

Need further inspiration?  Here are some sites I thought were amazing!!

• Adam Halls
• Shivani Aggarwal
• Saskia Wassing
• Hannah Lamb 
• Sara Leighton
• Dorothy Russell

So remember, Paul's new website is a secret!  I promise you that I'll add a link as soon as we've fine tuned it!

Got a Website?  Let me know your experience with it

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Timna Tarr at Marc Adams School of Woodworking on Off the Wall Friday

This is why we asked Will for more tables!

 Is anybody surprised that a week after getting home, not only am I just feeling normal again but my
studio is not unpacked?  Gosh!!  There it all sits in the middle of the room just waiting to get back to its proper place.  It really was a great class....exhausting...but great.  After spending 2 years isolating it was so odd to be around people for most of the day!

Back in the early 90s, Marc Adams had the vision to start a woodworking school in the middle of a cornfield in Indiana.  Since then it's grown to 100's of classes given annually from March - October by world-class teachers.  On top of that, he's been adding alternative crafts to the schedule so that family and friends can join their favorite woodworker.  That's where Timna Tarr came into play.

Timna Tarr  is a quilter, teacher, fabric designer, and now an author.  Her book, Stitched Mosiac Quilting comes out in August (taking preorders now).  What I loved about this class was the technique wasn't terribly hard but you could make it as easy or complicated as you wanted.  Everyone was using the same technique but all of our projects looked totally different.  Honestly, after I finish this one, I want to explore what else I can do with it.  

Timna's Example - Seriously how did she do that???

Why I Recommend taking a Timna Tarr Class

• She's nice...no I mean it ... she's really nice.  In this world of division, Timna has learned the skill of being kind, thoughtful, and supportive.  I'm personally annoyed I couldn't take her home with me and make her my new best friend.  The remarkable thing is I bet that everyone in the class felt that way.  
• She knows how to meet her students at their skill level.  If I was going to be honest, I didn't need a lot of help figuring out colors and values and such....what I did need was encouragement and cheerleading.  Timna was there all week and never looked too tired to do it.  
• She knows her technique.  This lady knows this technique inside and out.  She makes it look super easy - which it is NOT (go figure).   She always had the time to show you exactly how to get the look we wanted.
• She's enthusiastic.  You can tell she loves what she does and that is infectious.  I never got the feeling like she was the teacher and we were all below her as the students.  It was more like we're all in this together kind of atmosphere.  Her attitude never changed from 8 in the morning to 6 at night.

So if you get a chance, take a class with Timna virtually or I would highly suggest it in person.  (Did I mention how nice she is?)

Now a little about Marc Adams School of Woodworking

• It truly is woodworking paradise.  They have all the best equipment, all the best teachers and the best spaces to work.  My husband truly loves it.  Just ask him.  He'll tell.  A lot! I mean really, don't ask him about the school unless you have some time on your hands! (grin)
• Lunch, snacks, drinks (coffee, tea, fountain pop, water) are included with your tuition.  The food was great and you won't go hungry.  They accommodated my blasted food allergies easily.
• They have their own ice-cream machine - yes you read that right  - their own ice cream machine that you can use any time of the day.  Our class decided that 3 o'clock was renamed ice-cream o'clock.  (I got that tip from my husband who could live on the stuff!)
• Classes go from 8 am - 6 pm with all machine equipment shut down after 6. Then  people are allowed to use the building as late as they want for hand, design work or socializing.  Luckily sewing machines could be run after 6...BUT let me tell you that is a LONG day to sew.  That is a long day for Timna to teach!
• Tuesday night is considered pizza night and if covid allows lecture night where the teachers share their work. (that is included as well)
• Our classroom came with a "Will".  Will kindly checked on us periodically during the day to make sure we had all we needed.  Funny how every time he came the first couple of days we asked for more tables.  He also did a lot of the cleaning up at the end of the week since at the school you are expected to leave the room as you found it.
• 
  

  

  Our Class 

  
  
• The school has artwork and samples throughout.  Plus it has a media room and a library of woodworking books.  A lot of Gabriel Lehman's work is featured ... that's how we ended up with his painting on our wall,
• The school employs a photographer to  document your week.  All the photos from this post were taken by Diane who does an excellent job!  Each student gets a class photograph plus a wooden nameplate to take home as a souvenir.  The nameplate has the class and date on it.  Paul has 22 of them  - I now have my own!
• Marc does have some rooms to rent in nearby houses, but other than that you'll have to find a place to stay.  With bed and breakfasts nearby, airbnb etc it's not that hard.  There are plenty of places to eat within a few miles.

Paul working on his Apprentice Class Designing me a Table

To tell you the truth the only thing I would have liked is a rolling, secretary chair that would go up and down for my 5 ft self.  I was too low all week even with a pillow under me.  

So that's my story of how I took a great art quilt class at a woodworking school in Indiana.  

Marc asked our class for suggestions of other quilt classes and teachers we would like to see come to the school.  I have my ideas but I was wondering if you had any?  Please leave them in the comments!!

So What Have Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Are Quilts Art???? on Off the Wall Friday

 So this week I got my feelings hurt.  My husband and I heard of a local art show for artists over 55.  Since this year I have officially aged gracefully into that criteria, Paul brought in two of his woodworking pieces and two of my art quilts.  He chose a chest with a marquetry tiger on it as well as this nice concrete/wood table.  (Both of which were just taking up space here!) .  I sent the Lilies and Clapboards and Birdhouses quilts.  He came home with my two wall hangings.  Apparently, my work is not considered art.  It's a craft.  He explained to them that it is original designs but that did not matter.  What's funny is that his work instantly sold.  Paul was even asked to make another table to match the 

first.  Yes, you heard that right.  His table was considered art so much that they want him to produce another one just like it again. OMG!

Now  you'd think that at 55 and being a quilter for 30 years, I would be over people having this prejudice against our art.  Apparently not, since it's been 48 hours and I'm still pissed.  I think the problem lies in the ignorance of some in the art community.  They hear quilt,  they think of  100's of years of a traditional female dominated craft.  They think home, warmth, and security.  All of which are true.

But, as most of you out there know, it is so much more.  In fact, when I started this blog, the title of it came directly from this debate.  It's Art, it's craft...it's whatever.  I do what I do.  I did not want to get hung up on the idea of labeling what I did.  Now, once again someone else has done it for me.  Idiot.

 

This is a good reminder that there are still idiots out there and you can't let them dictate your art.  I mean really they aren't putting this art show on for nothing.  They put it on to sell the art work and get commissions on it.  Not to mention bring exposure to their gallery space.  It's totally their loss if they
are rejecting a whole medium and potential income due to their ignorance.  

Like I said Idiots.  

So now I know exactly how Andy Warhol felt when people told him his work wasn't art.  Hmmmm that didn't stop him and he seemed to have landed on his feet.  

And this one man's ignorance is not going to stop me either.

There I feel better...grin.  Rant over!

 

So What Have You Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A New Master Bath on Off the Wall Friday

 

The longest Spring Rush continues at my house.  Contrary to what most people would think, Spring Rush is the busiest time of the year for selling women's clothing.  Apparently, ladies have places to go and "doings" planned for 2021.  As most things this year, Spring Rush is unprecedented.  What normally is a 2 week buying frenzy of everything short sleeved and coral has turned into 6 weeks with really no end in sight.  It's exhausting.  

This is the empty wall

As I spend my day talking to ladies about what size tank tops they need and if they think they are too old to wear an elbow sleeve, I'm normally doodling out latest ideas.  Ideas  for what you ask?   Welllllllll...my amazing husband Paul retired last October at 55 and decided it was finally time to remodel my master bath.  I mean we've lived with it  28 years but since he had time on his hands he decided to teach himself how to do it. He literally gutted the whole thing and built it back from scratch with me designing and sourcing the materials.  Whose says watching all that HGTV was a waste of time?  

Abstract Cruciform

Our master bath is in the upstairs loft of our bedroom suite.  It sits in what was once the attic of this old Victorian but now houses the bath and a big dressing room of mostly fabric (what else?!)  I decided the lime green shag carpeting had to go and was reborned into a very neutral palette of  white, grey and black.  This way the next owners can make it easily into what they need and in the mean time I had a quiet serene getaway from the rest of the house.  Once he got it done though, it was too austere and needed a little softening.

That brings me back to my doodles.  I decided to play with some abstract compositions and make a wall hanging for the back wall of our shower.  I tried many different ideas but settled on a cruciform

Figurative Cruciform (Robert Burridge)

 
(meaning cross like) composition.   Whenever I'm stumped I tend to fall back to that form . I never seem to tire of it.. I think it's the fact that I grew up a Catholic School Girl and many, many masses!  

Even though a cruciform composition resembles a cross, it doesn't mean it literally is a cross.  It just means the major elements of the composition are in a cross like pattern.  

So this is as far as I got this week..

• cruciform composition
• approximately 45" by 36"
• whites, grays, blacks, a pinch of red
• improved pieced/machine quilted

This line drawing only proves you don't have to have fancy drawings to come up with a composition.  Just a rough (and in this case VERY ROUGH) one will do.  I pulled the fabric and just need some brain power left at the end of the day to sew!  Did I mention  I talk to 50  ladies a day?

So What Have You've Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Is Coming ... Off The Wall Friday

 This is the hardest of time of year for making my weekly blog post.  So many things are working against my creative soul.  Work is in it's rush season; the days are short and sunlight is scarce; presents need bought & wrapped; the house needs to be decorated.  Omgoodness, I could go on and on.  Even in this year of social distancing, there are plenty of things that fill a girl's to-do list.  

Tonight, I took a breathe and curled up on my bed with my hubby, to enjoy one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  Gasp!!  Whatever you're thinking....Stop .... this is NOT that kind of blog!!  Grin!!  

No, it's to enjoy our yearly tradition of listening to the Stars & Promises Concert by Peter Mayer. Every Christmas,  Mayer, whose day job is acting as the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffet, does a tour of small churches to ring in the Christmas season.  He and his excellent musicians put together a wonderful set of original songs and twists on traditional songs and a bunch in between.  

We've been enjoying the tour since  2005 when our daughter, Tessa, had the pleasure of singing back up with her choir when the tour stopped at her school in Erie, PA.  Since than it really isn't Christmas, without Stars & Promises music playing somewhere in the house.  

So if you are looking for a good mix of folk, jazz, and original joy....please look up album.  It can be found on Spotify and youtube.   Also the amazing show I saw tonight will be shown 4 other times through facebook The production was amazing. It was the next best thing to being there.  Let's just say this is NOT your grandma's Christmas Concert.....but I would highly recommend you bring your grandma! 

 So  that's what I've been doing with my creative juices....decorating...shopping....wrapping...and listening to some great music!!

 What Have Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Zen of Repetition on Off the Wall Friday

It's been hot.  I mean really HOT....well at least for the Lake Erie region it's been hot.  With that I've spent a lot of time hold up in my air conditioned bedroom doing hand work on my pinwheel's quilt.  There is something relaxing about the white noise of the conditioner  and just stitching piece after piece.  It's meditative and soothing.  Many summers I've spent the dog days of August finishing up hand quilting for our county fair.  I love the repeating of the small little stitches adding so much texture where once there was none.  Sighhhhh.....No fair this year....no quilting this year.....but still the dog days are heading our way.  So I guess my English paper piecing project is just going to suffice.

I'm not the only one that finds repetition soothing though.  I was reading about  collagist, painter Sarah Gee Miller this week. She's such an inspiration. Reading her story, you can see how she's a lady who realizes that you need to work hard for your art, but she has also learned how to find peace in it too.  Concerning her series Eye of the Storm, she writes, "a series of hypnotic repetitions either in circular or hexagon form. There is a striving for balance between optical thrill through saturated colour and calming an agitated mindset through rhythmic and repeated bands." Her video Make A Drawing on a Machine is crazy!!  (its a record player...with Led Zeppelin on it ...she thinks.)
She says of her work...

"My work is very meditative.  It's a familiar dance, and I know all the moves.

 I'll spend eight hours painting stripes and making sure every single line is perfect

 or laying down thousand of individual dots  - and the thousandth one 

has to be as perfect as the first.  I don't really know how or why I can do it.

 I'm not really a patient person.  I guess it's pure stubbornness"

Although I'm not such a perfectionist, I can totally relate to the idea of doing something over and over for the greater good of a larger piece.  Although one stitch, one quarter inch seam, one square might not be much....added over and over and over...it adds up to a LOT of beauty and interest and texture and well you get what I mean.  

I hope you take some time to look over Miller's work and find some inspiration in it!

Things I Like!

So I put the final decorative touches on my studio.  At the beginning of the project, I said I was NOT going to get all girly do cutesy decoration.  Well apparently, I was kidding to myself and ended up doing a few cutesy projects!!

Paper Machete Letters filled with rice and mod podge covered with decorative scrap paper (cost about $7 & 3 hrs)

Chip Board letters spelling out a reminder that I'm am there to get things done (cost $10 and 30 min)

Contact paper to cover the grey bins that I decided where to industrial (cost $14 and 4 hrs) 

Andddddddd my daughter pulled out her camera and came up with some shots that are suppose to remind me of why I love summer!!!

So What Have You've Been up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

What's New!! On Off the Wall Friday

Well its been a luscious, amazing, busy fall.  I've had a couple of big projects on the homefront that have taken up my time and energy.  Then there is work.  For what was suppose to be quiet little job that I could spend my menopausal years, its starting to get way out of hand.  Busy!  Busy!  Busy!!  Still I do love my customers and being busy in the retail world is not necessarily a bad thing. Little by little I'm throwing off the blanket of depression, and the old Nina is starting to emerge.


One of the things that has brighten our house  this week is our newest purchase arrived.  I'm not talking about the new front loader washer/dryer set I finally bought after 25 years of old one (amazing as they are ... OMG ... doing laundry is quick and easy now!).  No, I'm talking about the latest acquisition to the Sayre art collection.  My husband, Paul, came back from his week at Marc Adam's School of Woodworking in Indiana this year all excited by some paintings he saw displayed. Apparently one of his fellow woodworkers is an accomplished  artist.



Gabrielle Lehman is self taught painter who lets light be his muse into the surrealist world of his imagination.  I'm not quite sure what I was more surprised with.  The fact that Paul was introduced to Lehman's work at woodworking school or that he actually said to me why don't we buy a painting.  Well Aduh!!  Of course we need to buy a painting.  I myself was drawn to the bright colors, the use of light and curves and motion.  Paul on the other hand, picked a piece that was quieter, mostly monochromatic and mysterious.

As it Lept Off the Page that is relatable and mysterious all at once.  It brought memories for me when I first started indulging my love of books and now it reminds me of my daughter reading on our Victorian porch by lantern light. It really has captured my heart and looks amazing in our family room.  I know that art doesn't necessarily need to match the couch but it always good when it fits in well with it surroundings!  All week, I've caught my family stopping to look at the painting being drawn in by it.  Yes we are in love!  His site has his original art, prints and cards if you want to get a bit of the magic!!

Let's See What Else is New..

We are all starting to get  ready for the holidays.  This week we discovered the Giftster site where it makes it easy for a family to get together gift lists!!  If you're looking for ideas to add to your Christmas list take a look at past Gift posts!


And finally....I got a nice email from Vanessa over the VISIONS ART MUSEUM.  Its time for the

Quilt Visions 2020

Call for Entry: January 1^st, 2020 to February 9^th , 2020

For details please visit quiltvisions2020.com.

My friend, Emily Richardson is one of the jurors this year, so I'm excited to see what gets juried in!!

I will endeavor to get some of my own work that is in progress up next week!!  I swear I just need to shut the world out and create!!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Silk Painting 101 - Off the Wall Friday

The painting Studio

So I decided to not take a quilting class at John C. Campbell Folk School.  Okay, in my defense when I signed up last November for Silk Painting with Vicky Luffman, I really had no idea what it was.  I mean I thought I knew what it was.  You paint on silk right?!?  But gosh I've been in the surface design quilt world for so long that I thought we would go in and put some paint on silk and then it would be made into something else. But no!!  Apparently, people actually paint on silk - with brushes - paintings on actual silk.  And she wanted me to do THAT!

I don't paint.  No really, I don't paint ever.

On Monday morning, I was thinking what did I get myself into!!   I swear to God if I had my sewing machine I would have changed to the doll making class going on in the quilt studio in a hot minute.  And I would have missed an amazing experience.

My Sketch from a Photo Inspiration

After a Monday night dinner bemoaning that I don't paint to my husband and anybody else that would listen, I put on my big girl pants and gave it my all.  It really is a versatile  medium full of so many surprises and nuances.

Stretching the silk and adding Resist

You first  start out with inspiration and a sketch.  Vicky brought many sketches to trace for those of us who don't draw.  She asked me if I wanted to trace one of hers or maybe she could draw what I wanted but after the look I gave her, I think she figured out that I wasn't that kind of girl. I figured if I was going to go down, I was going to go down with my own work.

Learning how to dry brush  -obviously its an acquired skill

We took 10 mm habotai silk and stretched it onto bars tacking it down with push pins.  Then our sketch was traced onto the lightly with a pencil.  Painting on silk is not like painting on canvas.  First of all, we weren't using paint.  We were using acid dyes.  Secondly, that dye will migrate through the silk like a hot knife through butter if you don't stop it with something.  We used a water based resist method which formed lines through our work and kept each color where it should go.  Now if you put the resist down on the white silk - it will leave a white line.  If you paint underneath it (called dry painting), it will leave that color line you painted.  Of course, I decided to do a lot of dry painting which doubled my work.

Sometime Tuesday morning, I realized that although I didn't know how to paint, I did know a lot about composition, value and color.  That was when it clicked.  I just started thinking of the dyes as fabric and started using them as such in my piece.  My life became much easier.  As I worked on my one little painting over 3 days though, my classmates were doing two, three or four of them.  Still the rule at John C. Campbell's is that this is NOT a competition.  There were only a couple of people in the class who had painted before so I wasn't the only beginner!

Sunshine at John C. Campbell's, Nina-Marie Sayre, 2019

Once the initial painting was done, it needed to dry thoroughly, then placed in a steam bath for two hours to set.  The resist is then washed off and you iron it dry.  And Wha- La.....You have a painting.  I did two others but this was my main piece.  I was so glad I chose a piece that I could play with how the dye hit the silk and how the colors mixed together.

Talking to my whole class, I think everyone had fun.  We were tired....I painted till 8 or 9 every night but I learned so much.  We also learned how to dye scarves.  Well my class learned how to dye scarves!  Apparently silk scarves are dyed just like cotton (even in their own version of the Red Solo Cup Dyeing method).  This I knew how to do so I just kept learning how to use a brush.  To paint.  An actual picture.

Peaking in on Paul

Where was my husband  during all of this???  Well he took a Windsor chair class.  Now Paul is an accomplished woodworker.  He tends to do artisan functional pieces.  This one, however, was all done by hand.  When I would mention to people that Paul was in that class, they all laughed and said don't plan on seeing him much.  And they were right.  We met up for meals and 11 pm for bed where he was snoring in 30 seconds.  Still his whole class managed to make a Windsor chair in less
than 5 days.  Now he just needs to make 5 more....grin

Tired Paul sitting on his new chair

Looking back at the class as a newly retired painter, I can highly recommend Vicky as a teacher.  She was ridiculously energetic and generous with her time.  She stayed every night to teach till 9 pm.  She came early to clean the gorgeous studio and she was our biggest cheerleader.   Really all the teachers were top notch at the school.  I didn't hear one bad comment about any of them and several - like Vicki - had taught there for several years.  I like how they made even the very beginning beginner feel successful  by the end of the week.

Some of my Classes Work

So did I find a new passion....ahhhhh no.......truth be told I missed fabric terribly the whole week.  But now I totally learned what I originally set out to do.  I can now surface design and paint on silk proficiently to be used in my own work.  I even came home with enough supplies to play with this summer.

My Class' Selfie , That is Vicky on the far right with gorgeous white hair

I love, love, love this Picture - It makes me smile!

If anybody has any questions about the school, or class or silk painting method please leave them in the comment section and I'll answer them there.  

So What You Been Up to Creatively?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter