I Like #240

 Welcome to another week of things to like.

I've been really enjoying the Hamish Macbeth books by MC Beaton.  I know they're old, but I've just discovered them.  I've read a few Agatha Raisin books in the past (by the same author) but never really got hooked on them.  In contrast I've been listening straight through to book after book in the Hamish Macbeth series.

We had some beautiful sunsets this week,  I captured this one while waiting at a stop light on my way home from work.

I've been practicing quilting with my new sewing machine some this week, and quilted up a couple of baby quilts for practice.  

Spooky and Blue keep trying to pile up on top of me in the comfy chair-  I think they miss having a couch where we can snuggle.  In any case the chair really isn't big enough for all three of us...

I published my 2021 wrap-up post this week (read it here) and shared about one of my last knitting finishes for 2021 (here).  It felt good to catch up a little on blogging.

I've been having lots of dog snuggles and a little sewing, I hope you are all having good weeks!  Click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

2021 Wrap-up

 2021 was a hard year in a lot of respects and that manifest clearly in my art quilting output.  I made the fewest number of quilts this year in many years, and the fewest number of blog posts.  While the number of quilts I make isn't a particularly important metric for me, I also spent more months not working on any art than in years past.

It's the first year in a while I haven't made a piece for my liturgical series, and between being ovewhelmed at work and other outside obligations and life chaos, I just didn't create as much.  

My goal for 2022 is not necessarily to make more, but to hopefully just spend more time working on things (like my art quilts) that are positives in my life, rather than running around constantly feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and negative.  My goal for 2022, articulated by LeeAnna, but resonating so much with me I decided to adopt it, is to promote goodness.  I feel in need of an attitude adjustment, of reframing to not necessarily always see the bright side, but to work toward something good.  I'll try! 

Now on to a quick summary of 2021 creations:

Quilts:

Glycocalyx

The Armadillo and the Cow

AH 107: Range Grasses

Eclipse

Solar Flare

I also made three small art quilts for the SAQA auction, spotlight auction, and trunk show:

Bright forest

Andropogon Scoparius

Gourds #4

I didn't do as many small projects in 2021 either, no fancy bags or embroidery projects.  I did make one bag to hold knitting which featured a couple of smaller embroideries:

I did have a few knitting finishes, it felt like a year when I was able to knit even when I wasn't able to quilt.

Green socks

Pink socks (these are the ones Spooky ate)

Truffle Shawl

Ruffle socks (I love these- I'm going to have to make some more).

Knit hoodie

Here's to a good 2022!

Knit Hoodie: Finished knit

 In preparing my 2021 wrap-up post (going up on Wednesday) I realized I never blogged about one of my big knitting finishes of 2021.  I spent many months knitting it so I'm glad to finally get to share it with you.  I finished it shortly before Thanksgiving and it has been a regular part of my winter wardrobe since then.

The pattern is the Hoodie Shawl Cardigan .  I picked it because I wanted a fingering weight cardigan, something not too heavy and easy to get on and off.  I loved the way it was constructed, beginning with a triangular shawl and then picked up with short rows.  The whole thing was pretty easy, though with fingering weight yarn I did feel like it would never end on some days!!  

I'm pleased with the fit- it fits much better than some past sweaters (all error on my part rather than patterns).  The colors are pretty fun too- the purple/yellow/green is a bit unusual and lots of fun.

Alas, while wearing it I got asked by the rental car guy whether I was going to an ugly sweater party, but I guess my taste just isn't for everyone!!

I Like #239

 Welcome to another week of things to like! I missed last week- I was with family in New Mexico, but I'm back now and trying to have a reframed view for 2022.

Since I was with my family, the last couple weeks were filled with things to like, so this is an easy post to write.

Someone stuck a gift tag on Blue on Christmas morning and he wore it around for quite a while!

It was very very windy most of the time we were there, but we did get to hike one clear day.

We had eight dogs at my mom's and one the one day we got to hike I was able to get all seven on the walk (Bentley can't really go anymore) in one picture!

Spooky mostly spent his time curled up in my dad's lap (he's recovering from knee surgery) but everyone also cycled through all the other sofas and dog beds.

We played tons of fun games over the break with everyone.  This game is called Outrage: Steal the Crown Jewels, which is fun, but the biggest hit game of the break was called Seven Wonders.  Really fun, lots of strategy, not too long, and easy enough that the kids could play too.

When I got home I assembled this super fun lego Hufflepuff book that opens up into a Hogwarts greenhouse.  My friend Kristin gave it to me for Christmas.  I love legos but never buy them so I was very excited to put it together..

My big Christmas cactus blooms in November and is done, but my other two started blooming in mid-December and are still going strong.  Interestingly, they both have both red and pink flowers on the same plant!

Finally, I also blogged about my last quilt of 2021 this week.  Click over here to read more!

Happy New Year to everyone, and click over to LeeAnna's for more things to like!

Glycocalyx Finished!

Earlier this week I talked about the construction of my most recent (yet still not very recent) large art quilt, and today I'm back to share the final pictures.

The piece is called Glycocalyx by which it is very loosely inspired. The glycocalyx is a protective layer of long carbohydrates/proteoglycans that lines the inside of blood vessels and other anatomical structures in the body.   It helps in cell-cell adhesion and recognition (for example for immune cells), as well as providing a reservoir for important extracellular enzymes and a physical barrier to help protect endothelial cells from direct exposure to shear stresses associated with blood flow.  All in all, it's a very helpful structure!

Of course, in my pieces the spiky furry layer is protruding outwards (rather than inwards), but I still think of it as a protective layer.  From a purely physical standpoint, the spiky layer is a barrier- every time I moved it or tried to hang it up, it poked me!  But it's also a metaphorical barrier- a reminder that having boundaries is important for our well-being.  While making it though, I also thought a lot about the value of community, and how too many barriers can impair that.  For me at least, I need a good balance of being alone and being with others or else I start to feel out of whack.

Glycocalyx, c. 2021 Shannon Conley, 48" x 48" x 20"

Anyway- I'm very happy with how this came out.  I love the half-tube shape that enables the spikes to radiate out in a partial circle.  I love the added texture that comes from the roving-wrapped wire, and I love the pinky-purpley colors.

The only things I don't love are practical.  It's four feet by four feet by about 20 inches, so it's very hard to move around, hard to transport, and is too big to ship.  Sadly that means it won't likely get to go to very many places in-person, but for now I get to enjoy it hanging on the wall in my bedroom.

 

New Quilt: Glycocalyx

Well, I'm shamefully behind on blogging again.  This was my last quilt for 2021 (it was a bad year for me quilting wise, but that's a story for another day), and I finished it several months ago, but am just now getting around to blogging about it.

We moved labs early in 2021, and in the process I found three boxes of 1ml serological pipettes that everyone hated, so I took them home determined to use them for something.  Each one is about 11 inches long and a rigid tubular shape.  With only the vaguest idea of a plan, I started covering them with some fabric I'd painted.  I had a total of 300, and after covering about half of them, I realized I needed to branch out color-wise (all the original fabric was the pinky-orange you see in the second picture, so I added the turquoise and a few purple and fuchsia ones.

After covering them, I took the remaining hand-painted fabric and attached it (front and back) to a big piece of peltex interfacing.  I wanted something with a little more stiffness than batting in the middle layer of the quilt.

The next step was sewing in the spikes; I sewed them to the background one row at a time, and while the peltex quilts and sews well, it is stiff and hard to maneuver, especially once you start sewing down hundreds of fabric covered rigid plastic tubes!

After getting all the spikes sewn in, I quilted the background.  It was tough to free-motion quilt something so stiff but I got through it!  

After quilting, I loved the dimension of the spikes but the background felt very plain and bland.  It lacked vibrancy and contrast- too much peachy pink.  So I painted the bottom darker and more purple, and added lots more color to the top including intense pinks and yellows.

I really wanted it to feel like the spikes were protruding in all directions, so I stitched the whole quilt to a half-circle sized piece of sonotube.  It's what they use to hold concrete when pouring concrete footers.  They're made out of very sturdy cardboard, so it felt like a great thing to use as an armature.

After mounting to the cardboard, the next step was to stitch the spikes into their spikey positions.  In order to get them to stand out properly, they're hand stitched to each other.  The last construction step was to add some roving wrapped wire snaking along both the top and the bottom.  I love the extra texture that added.   You can see it pinned in place in the picture below,

 

This was a fun quilt to work on; come back on Wednesday to see pictures of the finished piece.