It is a most beautiful day here in Little Rhody...my latest office area is on what was a screened in porch and was done over with windows and heat last fall...not too shabby. Windows all around. Can see the bees, the chicken coop and if I turn to the right, I can see and hear the pond and waterfall!!

So many things have happened since my last post! Allison, Linda and I went to Somers, NY a couple of weeks ago to do a quilt show. We had heard nothing but wonderful things about it, and it was as lovely as we had heard. We had a booth set up to sell Artgirlz Goodies, and we gave two presentations. They seemed to go well, but of course I thought of a million things that I would change if we were to do it again! The hard working women that put the show together were gracious and helpful. Hopefully we will get invited back! The quilts in the show were very good. The work was wonderful, thoughtful, creative, and inspiring!!

Midge and Allison spent last week packing up a POD with all of their stuff! It was amazing that all of that stuff came out of this house and we still have plenty of stuff left here. Now they are waiting for the POD to arrive in Florida and then they can unpack it into their new place....exhausting.

But, they are excited about getting set up! Sue and I moved furniture and rugs around last weekend to fill in the gaps! It is very strange in our quiet house!

We spent last week helping Cathy, George and Dan get ready for their plant sale. We stuck a lot of nicely painted price tag/tongue depressors into plants. Moved things around. Put up Signs. Weeded and cleaned up paths. Had lovely lunches and the Sale was a huge success! It was crazed for the first two hours. As things slowly calmed down, plants marched home with happy shoppers, pizza was served from the outdoor pizza oven and it seemed like hundreds of home made biscotti disappeared from the scene!!

SELF PORTRAITS!!

Allison in various mediums and colors!

The weather is seriously wonderful here on the coast of Rhode Island and it is hard to concentrate on work work. We have 10 yards of compost sitting outside just waiting to get spread around!!!
But, back to Artgirlz and the Nation. We had a wonderful Self-Portrait Class last weekend! It was very gratifying to see hands and spirits at work! We used fabrics, papers, the sewing machine, glue, gel medium, the scanner, and the camera through out the day. Christy was once again our competent lunch server and superior scone maker. Linda brought oatmeal cookies to help the energy levels up.
We started off the class by doing an exercise from "Mixed- Media self-portraits" by Cate Coulacos Prato. Kelli Perkins instructs how to do a portrait in a mirror with transparent paper and a marker (p. 51). Tape the paper to the mirror, close one eye and outline your face. It is quite an interesting spacial and visual exercise.

I love this image of Jackie with the crack in the face! She mixed paper and fabric and was having a great time with our Bernina and the Stitch Regulator!! What a better way to do needle doodling!!

Linda (above) first did a drawing, added color, rubber stamps and and outline of the original sketch. She painted up leaves and machine stitched plain and painted leaves for a hair do.
Friends Elaine (L) and Alayne (below) showed up a bit nervous about their Artgirlz Adventure but I think we managed to put them somewhat at ease and they just rocked!

We were lucky to have the two big cheeses from "Art Is You" join us. Ellen and Sallianne dove right into their projects and shared some of their visions for their most wonderful fall gathering in Connecticut! Sallianne added some wonderful words about the class on her blog... and below you can see two images of her work.

Ellen's smiling self!
I believe that a good time was had by all! We formulating plans for the next class in which we will work on book components and celebrate the Summer Solstice!!!

Does anyone have any self-portrait tips?
Bye Bye for Now!

COCOA BEACH...WARM BREEZES...FRESH OJ...SWIMMING POOL

Sue and I headed to Florida with Al to check out the Artgirlz Southern Headquarters and say Happy Birthday to Midge! It was very relaxing...reading, sudoku, hanging around the pool, jumping in the pool, eating, walking, biking, and generally enjoying the warm weather! It was all about palm trees, surf shops, fresh orange juice!

The girlz have been working hard on their new digs and it is almost ready to welcome their furniture! As it is, it is quite easy to move things between the porch and the dining area...modular living at its best!
They have reported that garage sales are excellent sources of furniture and odds and ends and that garbage picking is an endless source of creative supplies! Just walking around the neighborhood one finds palm tree parts, leaves and pods that are just begging to be wrapped, painted cut up and put back together.

Sunday morning we checked out the Cocoa Beach Farmers Market and came home with some delicious mangos, beautiful hydroponic lettuce, and oranges. Al bought some local organic honey as a gift and Sue and I brought fresh lemon grass and brought it home. We've stored it in the freezer for a refreshing addition to home made treats!

We arrived home last Monday to very rainy, windy, New England spring conditions!! And back to work building Artgirlz Nation!

PEAS ON EARTH!

With spring in full swing, it is all about the gardens! Raking leaves, digging, moving rocks, trees, shrubs, constructing new veggie gardens, planning, scheming...Sue and I planted peas a week or so ago, and Allison and I have been forming lovely large pea pods out of fabrics, felt, wool beads and threads...Ours happen to be green, but in this wild world we live in, I don't see anything wrong with blue, red, or yellow peas, or a combination for that matter!

Al made up some patchy fabrics from a variety of green cottons stitched onto a piece of batting.
A piece of green cotton was used for the backing. After cutting a pod shape out of the pieced cotton, the top edges are finished with a binding. Stitch along the bottom of the pod and add your peas. This particular pod has four 3.5cm and two 2cm "peas". The leaves are just shapes cut from patchy fabric and the tendrils are "tubes" filled with a piece of wire.

The pea above was put together with a sewing machine, embellishing machine and hand stitching! I used two layers of green felt for the pod to give it stability. The word "peas" and the leaves were needle felted with an embellishing machine. The machines are great to play with and don't use any thread, just 5-7 needles that punch fabrics together. The possibilities are endless!!!
On this side, I went over the letters with French knots.

The other side of the pod has needle felted leaf and pea shapes with a bit of hand embroidery. I used a Bernina decorative stitch around the top of the pod and to hold the piece together. The peas can be stitched or glued in place. Using Artgirlz wool felt beads, you can make pods of all sizes!!!

Check out our Peas on Earth Economic Recovery Package!!! ONLY five bucks...with goodies to make a little pea pod pin, and charms to help you through these tough times!

Have fun! I think that we are going to do a survey...have to figure out the details, but would love to hear from you!!!

Looking Into

I took this picture in St John in 2004.
Doesn't it look yummy!

I am excited about my move to a tropical zone.

It seems appropriate that I investigate the color turquoise.

Although turquoise is a cool color,

it reminds me of warm tropical water,

a color that easily hypnotizes and relaxes me,

and one that I can easily swim in.

Turquoise is a calming feminine color. It is also a very spiritual color, used by many ancient religions. Perhaps this comes from the use of the stone turquoise.
The color turquoise identifies with
love, healing, generosity,
emotion, feeling , the unconscious ,
intuition, individual responsibility, creativity ,
communication, self reliance ,
and independence.

Turquoise is a mix of blue and green.

Turquoise is a hip color for decorators this spring.

I think it is a lot like the color yellow. It can easily go with any other color.

It's compliment is orange.
It also looks fabulous with red.
This combo is very reminds me of Mexican folk art.

We wanted to share some of the Pin Cushions that we've put together with Artgirlz Wool Felt Beads! Using our Big Pin Cushion Monograph as a guide, you will find endless combinations of bead sizes and colors. What a great way to keep your pins together! No pesky magnets to mess up your fancy computer driven sewing machines...for those of you luck enough to have them. The Pin Cushions are so cool, that they will fit right into your living room accessories on those days that your projects are flowing all over the place!!

Lots of options for adding your own special touch with needle felting, embroidery, beads, sequins, found objects. Never too many and great gifts for all of your friends!!!

Stay tuned for the Pea Podz for Pinz!!!

When word went out in our family that we had purchased a house in Cocoa Beach Florida there was no one happier than Tracy's son Don. He was ready to book his plane ticket from California for the shuttle launch for Feb 12. Well it turned out that the lift off didn't happen until March 15th. Midge and I left our family's St Patty's celebration of corn beef and cabbage to hurry up the coast to our new beach to watch the launch. It was spectacular! We missed you Don.

The first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911. It was planned as a day of demonstration for the rights of women, primarily the right to vote. It was a great success. It still amazing to me that we have had this right for such a short time and I think that we all take it for granted.

This year International Women's Day was officially on March 8 and it's theme was "Women and men united to end violence against women and girls".

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/default.asp

I made the quilt above about 15 years ago. I spelled out around the quilt how women are still beaten, raped and killed everyday for little or no reason, simply because they are women. I asked that it be stopped. I saw it as a way to put it out there, to say it, to break through our denial and remind us all that it goes on everywhere and we are all responsible do something about it. So check out these links and don't forget to spread the word. Thanks

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/facts_figures.php

How about this tribe of Artgirlz from Marlayna Telfer! They look like a strong and forward thinking bunch! Thanks for the good work and sending the picture our way! I love the way that you combined all of your materials! They look like they are ready to take off on a wonderful journey!!

Artgirlz Alert!

We are trying to get in touch with Fine (Fina) Gelfand! If you read this Fine, or if someone knows her, we have orange beads for her...but we don't know how to get in touch with her! Thanks!!!!

Sarah Lawrence: Wild Women Stitched Art Brooches

This is who Sarah is in her own words:
"Sarah Lawrence is a well-established contemporary textile artist based in Newark, Nottinghamshire. She combines her innovative approach to felt-making with embroidery, beadwork and gilding to produce rich, textured pieces that are exhibited worldwide."
One look at her website and blog will bring inspiration to anyone interested in beading, felting and embellishing!!
Mix up Sarah's Ideas with Your Ideas, add Artgirlz faces, arms, legs, shoes, and hands and make up your own tribe of Wild Women!!!! Take a minute to look over other little doll samples on the Artgirlz website!
Now, if you need your Creativity Crown plopped on your head before you begin your Wild Women Collection, we have the pattern and directions that will guide you through a perfect project! One side could be the Creativity Queen and the flip side might be the Queen of the Organized Life!!! You will be happy!!!


Keep on Keepin on!

BERNINA 830
SUPER DUPER AMAZING
SEWING AND EMBROIDERY MACHINE

Al and I just came back from three days in Chicago with the Bernina Education staff and 75 Bernina's National Artisans!! Wow is all I have to say! The first night (after a candle light dinner due to no power in the hotel) we did 2 minute introductions of ourselves (we won Bernina Mugs because ours was under 60 seconds) and I have never been in a room where so many women had written so many book and produced so many videos, magazines, websites and produced so much beautiful work etc!! Very impressive!

We spent most of the time working on or learning about the new 830 machine which I have to say is unbelievable! First of all the sewing area is huge! The lights are very bright, the bobbin is big, the engine rocks, and for those of you that are machine embroiderers, it is the best! The good news is that we worked in teams as we dove into stitches, winding bobbins, auto threading, cutting, setting embroidery patterns, switching out feet...all brains working as quickly as possible, imprinting material that was flowing quickly and only scratching the surface...

We made new best friends, found inspiration everywhere, had a lot of laughs, shared information and came home exhausted!

Yesterday was spent napping, catching up on bad tv, napping and preparing mentally for this week. Al had the power to even start needle painting last night!!

Thanks to Bernina, the bright, focused and loving teaching staff, brilliant sr. management, and all of the folks that spent time putting the event together! We both felt very grateful to be a part of the team!! Oh, the machine is seen here in Artgirlz fantasy colors...

We were very excited to find five boxes at our door containing our little project booklets lovingly referred to as our Monographs! They were a collaborative project with Brewer Quilting and Sewing Supplies and we are very grateful and happy with the results!
Now they are available to you and yours. They include directions and great illustrations that will guide you through the projects. Then there is the option of taking them all in your own directions!!

We will be coming up with kits to go along with them very soon...stay tuned!

In the mean time, we have just put our big wool bags, roving and felting needles on sale!!!

Al and I are off to Chicago tomorrow morning to attend a Bernina Teachers Event! Sure to be a lot of laughs and learning. Always fun to see the most energetic and knowledgeable teaching crew. They taught me that one should change sewing machine needles more than once a decade!
On that note, I am sending out our newsletter, packing my suitcase, adding a bit of purple to my hair and having a bit of dinner!

My new favorite thing
I love to do here at Artgirlz south
is ride my new bike.

Midge and I try to take time each day for a ride.
Sometimes on the weekend it is a ride to the farmers market or the library.
But usually it is just a spin around our little neighborhood.
Like two little kids,
we pedal through the warm breezes
looking for new landscaping ideas,
checking out the sights on the river or
watching the young osprey trying to build a nest on a light pole.

Wow Florida is a place full of big birds.

I miss the small ones that we always have
at the feeders in Rhode Island.

Although up north we do have the visits from the turkey family,

here in Florida the big birds are everywhere.

Pelicans,
Osprey,
Great Blue Heron,
Egrets of all sorts,
Cranes,
Ibis,
and Vultures.

Yet it was still shocking when I found this
strange red bird slinking
around our yard.


Oh, on closer inspection I saw it was
the Artgirlz LOVE BIRD!!

Happy Valentines Day !

Don't you hate it when your sis calls from Florida and says "I called to tell you about my accident"? Turns out that she tripped (don't we all?) carrying two dishes and had one go into her right hand...good news she said that all of her fingers work, it didn't get an artery or tendon...

whew!! good news for the other half of this enterprise!!
take it easy sis! the bees are going crazy today...the temp is a balmy 56 degrees...
we will be off to a Bernina extravaganza next week...

WOW this is my first blog post.

Tracy has always done them before.
Late last fall Midge and I bought a house in Cocoa Beach, Florida
so the Artgirlz won't be creating in one spot but two.
This has been a big change for us and at times painful.
But we pick up our life tools,
try to use them well
and blast off on a new adventure.

We arrived in Florida in time to surprise Midge's family for Christmas.
We have spent the past 8 weeks updating our mid century modern pad.
Having brought only what would fit in our car,
we are managing with yard sale bargains
and borrowed beach chairs.
We have spent a lot of them time painting, painting and painting,
ripping up floors
and making way too many decisions in a short amount of time.

We have so much to learn and experience here in Florida

.

We need to relearn gardening,
because
house plants can live outside,
Veggies are planted in the fall and winter
and what the hell is that grass they have on their lawns.

And we can grow bananas here!


From flowers to fruit

We are also finding eating locally a bit challenging.


One of the nicest things about our move
is that Midge has the chance to be with her family.
Last weekend her Italian cousins
were visiting her brother Michael in near by Indialantic
and on Sunday we all gathered to cook.


As the kitchen filled with yummy smells,
Philomena patiently taught us how to make pasta
with a shake of the head or a nod
because she didn't speak English
and our Italian was nil.



We made made little pasta caps called Priest's Caps or Agnolotti.
The results were MAGNIFICO.


It was a heart warming time
hanging out with Maria, Philamena and Franko.

So now Tracy and I are learning how to telecommute.
I am trying to set up a studio in our house that is still in transition,


Midge keeps painting


and Maxine watches over us,
happy to be back in Florida after leaving when we lost Margaret.