Check it out!

Just visited the Kingsport Art Guild's website for the dates of an exhibit and found my piece at the top of this page. Cool!

Narrowing it down

Ex-per-men-ta-tio-on, Ex-per-men-ta-tio-o-on, it's makin' me gray!

(you know, like anticipation and Heinz ketchup?)

(and yes, I know there's an "i" in experimentation, but it didn't fit in the song--artistic license and all that!)

Spent the day yesterday closing in on my method and think I'm getting there.

Nope. Not enough shape, too much difference in texture from middle to edges. Do like the distortion the stitching caused and will try to figure out how to make that happen on purpose.

Nope. A little better at evoking a "bushy" feeling, but don't like the lines crossing from one layer to the next.

Nearly there. Need to create a "trunky" bit or some brush at the bottom, though. Think I might create some nuno brush. Has its own texture and color variations and great to sew on since stitches sink down and hide in its depths.

Hopefully color will help, as well, since it will add visual depth and interest to the "trees."

Tomorrow I must begin using the actual materials--no time to procrastinate. Darn it--I think this creating quickly and on a deadline might be good for me! Mom always said things like this build my character and she may be right. Double darn!

One of these days . . .

. . . I might do a quilt that doesn't require me to tackle a construction conundrum (sure would save a lot of time)
. . . but I don't think so.

I need to make trees. Abstracted trees that have the texture and general shape of trees without being either too literal or too cartoonish.

So I started fooling around with scrap batting and remnant wool fleece. Needle felting always is near the top of my mind but wouldn't work at all in the materials (a variety of fabrics, including dyed cotton batting) and at the scale I wanted. And while batting is cake to needle felt, layers of batting are not. So nix that idea.

Got out the SetaSkribs to see about shading with them, but realized quickly that wasn't the solution because they pick up fibers from the batting like mad AND I've finally faced the fact that I'm a purist and would far prefer to create shading with my fiber materials rather than paint or a marker.

That's not a judgment, 'cause loads of folks use paint and ink to tremendous effect, and now that I've said it out loud (-ish), just watch--I'll have to eat my words on my next work. Anyhow, nix on this approach, too.

Well, looked back at my study and began playing with layered batting again, this time without needle felting, and realized I might finally have stumbled on to something good. Really?! I know you're looking at this thinking, "O.K., if you say so, but I don't really see it," but my mind was racing several steps forward and I thought I was on the right track. So . . .

Kept on playing around with batting and muslin and think I'm still heading in the right direction. Will have to fine-tune my method AND figure out the best way to contruct them, but that's the fun part!

I'll be using this variety of fabrics I dyed, including aida cloth, cotton batting, muslin, Kona, and silk gauze. That should be the final ingredient in creating the texture, shading, subtlety and abstraction I'm aiming for.

If I'm really honest with myself, I must admit that these puzzles, though sometimes frustrating in the moment, invigorate me. They stimulate me to push the boundaries of what I think quilting can accomplish. DH had it right when he said that if I ever make a quilt I'm completely happy with it will be one of the saddest days of my life 'cause I'll have to give up quilting for something with more challenge. I'm happy to report that I still finding quilting plenty challenging--and rewarding!

Oh, and by the way, finishing this quilt quickly is now very important because I'll be having a solo exhibit at City Hall in Kingsport, TN, from Aug. 3 to Oct. 1, 2009, and need it to anchor one of the main walls. If you're local or passing through then, stop by! Woot! (It's been a pretty good couple of weeks!)

Award of Merit

The Beach at Castle St. Gregory
(c) 2007 Cindi Huss

Happy day. Am in the middle of a fun visit from family and found out today I received an award of merit for "The Beach at Castle St. Gregory" (above) at a fine art exhibit at the Renaissance Center here in Kingsport. WOOT! WOOT!

Amber Waves

Despite summer busyness I'm making progress on the first (and most labor intensive) part of my current work and (after realizing that my clever new method of binding small quilts absolutely does not work) have nearly finished rebinding the color study for my current commission. Hope to finish both this week.

Here are the amber waves of mown hay I've been working on:

But alas, that is as far as I'll get today unless I pull some late-night work time because the day is full of other summer busyness and fun. Why is it that summer lasted forever when I was a kid but flies by now?

Tree Down

One of the things I find awesome (in the old-fashioned sense of the word) around here is the weather. Last week we had a doozy of a storm. The rain came sideways in sheets, or maybe blankets. We were at a lesson in a third (and top) floor office and decided to go down a couple of flights for a while because the storm was that violent. Didn't last for long, though, went back up the stairs, finished our lessons, and went home.

To find this:For scale, the girl standing near the tree is approximately 50 inches tall, so say about four feet. And this enormous Southern White Pine just tipped over in the storm, roots rent from the ground. So now we're waiting for the ground to dry enough that the tree guys can bring their trucks to the bottom of the hill (where the tree is) without tearing up our yard.

The most ironic part of all is that we have two enormous pines--and this is the one we were going to keep! Can't argue with Mother Nature, though.

And the best part? Well, there's just so much interesting stuff to see--in the roots, among the branches, along the trunk. I've been taking loads of photos for inspiration!

Studio Tour

Well, it hasn't been quite a year since we moved and at last I have photos of my new studio. I'm pretending that this is like wedding presents--you have a year to do it before you're really a social pariah.

So . . .

First is my shelves covered with zip-off white shower curtains. Lightens the place up a little and gives me a place to pin things I'm not actively working on but am actively thinking about You can also see my classroom tables (that double as more workspace, of course):


And my sewing area with one table that can be either countertop or table height--where I do most of my needle felting (since the bins with my wool are behind curtain #2 above:


(In theory the wall behind my sewing machine will be my design wall, but don't like the close quarters there, so might move shelving there, move sewing machine farther into the room, and use the long wall. Researching design wall materials for now, enjoying having my studio put together, and will probably wait until the fall to tear it up again. Besides, the shower curtains work well enough for now!)

Then there's the little alcove where the TV and comfy chairs are. Hand sewing of all sorts, come computer work, etc. happens there, and hubby can join me in the evenings (since it's the only TV in the house):

And last but not least, my current project storage and office area. The bathroom and laundry room are in this corner as well, and an outside door, so the studio can be completely separate from the rest of the house when I have students here.

Having the bathroom and laundry room is handy for dyeing and felting, too, of course. Boy, I love having all this convenient space--and not having the stuff all over the rest of my house!

And that's about it. The wall you haven't seen has two more storage shelves for the kids' craft stuff and will (hopefully not too far in the future) also have LOTS of bookshelves for our library. We still have eight boxes of books we haven't unpacked as well as an entire bookcase double stacked. (DH's hobby is collecting excellent fantasy and sci-fi, which I happily enable and enjoy.)

Well, now that I've given you a tour, it's back to ripping stitches, then quilting up the orange field in my newest piece (on curtain #4). Have a fabulous day!

Please excuse this temporary interruption . . .

Just when I thought I'd gotten back in the posting groove . . . my two left feet betrayed me! Was heading out to the deck to water the tomatoes and potatoes (that I haven't killed yet--they're actually thriving!), tripped on the threshold, and ended up losing a tooth (has been reinserted), getting 5 stitches in my bottom lip (they've been removed), and scraping and bruising both knees and an ankle. Yeah--ouch! I've healed remarkably quickly, though, thank goodness.

Didn't stop us from going on the trip we planned for VA and DC, but that's because Sir Robert, Knight of Damsels in Distress (so dubbed by my mother with a hearty second from me) managed most of the preparations and all of the driving. I'm mostly recovered now, but still can't bend my left knee all the way, so will hold off on dyeing but am back to stitching and such--Yea!!!

So will try to get back in the posting groove again--here's a start!

Nearly a year in Tennessee

Well, we've been here nearly a year and feel very at home. We've made the transition pretty well, the kids are thriving, DH loves his job, and I am in heaven in my studio. The weather is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, there's almost always a little wind, and the clouds (and thunderstorms) are way more impressive.

One of the hardest things to get used to is that things like pita bread are considered exotic here and only show up seasonally in most grocery stores. I haven't really figured out what the pita season is, but that's what the lady at the deli counter told me.

The other unexpected oddities are a couple of expressions.

A friend of ours is a physician's assistant (also a transplant to the area). When he first moved to the area he'd ask a nurse or an orderly to do something and they'd reply, "No, I don't care to." He, of course, was a little taken aback at this challenge to his authority, but figured he just had to earn his wings as the new guy and do it himself. But when he went to do it he'd find it already done. Turns out that in NE TN, "No, I don't care to," means, "Sure, I don't mind."

Folks also use this expression in a statement, not merely as a reply. For example, DH got a message asking him to "Please give me a call back if you don't care to."

And then there's "Bless his heart." You can say anything and add that at the end to make it all right, like, "That whole family has enormous heads, bless their hearts," or "He just can't hold a woman or a job, bless his heart." Now if anyone blesses my heart I wonder what they really mean. :-)

Northeast TN doesn't have a lock on strange expressions, though. Took us years to get used to the dual meaning of "Are you all set" in Western MA. If you're in line at a sandwich counter in western MA and the wait person asks "Are you all set?" . . . it's not a yes or no question.

If you answer "yes," chances are good the waiter will walk away thinking you have already ordered.

If you answer "no," chances are good the waiter will walk away thinking you need more time to decide.

And in Pittsburgh "City Chicken" is pork or veal. Go figure.

Making Panir

I'm a little behind on the whole blogging thing, but have had some company and some deadlines, all of which ended well, so am trying to catch up now.

So, I went to a retreat in January and the first thing I learned there was how to make cheese. Cheese?! Yup, and it was excellent! Here's a little something from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (page 131):

" . . . it takes less time to make a pound of mozarella than to bake a cobbler, but most people find the idea of making cheese at home to be preposterous. If the delivery guy happens to come to the door when I'm cutting and draining curd, I feel like a Wiccan.

"What kind of weirdo makes cheese?"

Well, uh, that'd be me.

Anyhow, inspired by the great mozarella and ricotta we made at the retreat and that quart of goat milk Rosemary (the cheese mistress) game me, I returned home ready to strike out on my own. However, a local scarcity of renet meant I had to make panir. Boy, that was a shame! Mmmmm, mmmm was it good!

Panir is made of milk and lemon juice. That's it. Well, you can put a little salt in it, but I just salted mine before I fried it lightly and it was great. I hear you can do anything with panir that you would do with tofu, and I recommend it, but then again I'm not crazy about tofu.

I was a little worried because I don't have a cheese thermometer, but it turns out that my electronic thermometer is perfect for cheesemaking because I can enter a target temperature and an alarm goes off when the milk reaches that temp. Just about takes the brainwork out of the process.

Anyhow, all the utensils and surfaces you use during the precess have to be super clean so you don't contaminate the end product. Shiny, eh?!

I got my recipe from fiascofarm.com. It was easy to follow and there were loads of other recipes as well.

So, after the milk gets hot enough and stays there for a few minutes you add the lemon juice and stir gently. All of a sudden you have curds and whey instead of hot milk. It's cool. It's magical. It's alchemical!

Anyhow, I just strained the cheese in a collander lined with a clean flour-sack-weight dish towel then hung it over the bowl to drip a while.

Some time later I had a ball of cheese which I cubed and cooked in a simmer sauce (shown here--doesn't it look good?).

I also tried making my own saag panir--it was all right, but bland. It will be better next time now that I've finally unpacked my Madhur Jaffrey cookbook. (Thanks, Margaret--I'm still using it after--yikes--20 years!)

By the way, don't just let the whey run down the drain! I use it in breadmaking instead of water or milk, and when used as the liquid for cooking rice or potatoes it gives them a nice creamy mouth feel without fat. It also is supposed to be great for watering gardens if you can't get in to using for cooking.
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As an aside, once I managed to get my hands on some (vegetarian) rennet in March I made mozarella and ricotta as well. The mozarella was amazing and the ricotta (made with the whey left from the mozarella process) was beyond words. I don't particularly care for ricotta, but this was like nothing I have ever tasted before. So good!

I used them together with some cottage cheese I made--yup, I'm a cheesemaking fanatic now--for a lasagne (noodles cooked in whey, too) and it was wonderful. Of course using the sauce my eldest made and a little homemade italian sausage helped, too.

I'll add photos of those processes once I repeat them. Just paid attention to the process the first time. And paying attention sure paid off!

More Sculpting

Next step in creating the depth of this field. Can you see the difference? (My photo skills not on par with my quilting skills.)

Sculpting With the Quilting Stitch

I just love my medium!! Working on a quilting study for my current work, and it's just so full of yummy texture--and this is only the beginning. Quilting really does make the quilt!