Fiber art groups, and postcards, and grumpy folks, oh my!

Our small quilt art/fiber art group is having our second meeting this week! A dear friend of mine who has been a quilt artist for years and has ventured into art doll making is a member of our little group, along with another friend from the local quilt guild, to which I also belong (for how much longer, I'm not sure). We're meeting once a week and already have started planning a road trip to Quilt National at the Dairy Barn. Unfortunately, the other member of our group (in whose wonderful studio space we met) is too busy with other obligations to be involved with the group. We're also exploring the idea of challenges, with a no-pressure approach. The first one is to interpret "bird's eye view," which was spawned by the view of a nearby forest from our host's second-floor studio. I'm trying to figure out how to translate my idea into fabric--or even into a sketch, since I'm not very skilled at drawing. I'd like to construct a close-up of an owl's eye surrounded by "feathers." Trees would be reflected in the eye. I've got a pretty pathetic sketch, but nothing in fabric yet. What really has me hung up is how to do the reflection (maybe using sheers) and how to make the feathers without using feathers (which could be pretty cool). My other idea involves a view of a person from above. Having been the target of a few too many birds, I think this idea has some merit, too. :)

Now that the studio is a little more organized (meaning that one can actually walk through the door and reach the sewing machine without scaling all kinds of stuff piled on the floor), postcard construction must begin. I belong to the Postmark'd Art postcard exchange group (www.postmarkdart.com), and the deadline for mailing off this round of postcards is looming. I pulled out my batik and hand-dyed scraps the other day and started on one. I wasn't satisfied with the fancy machine stitches I had used on part of the postcard, though. So, figuring that it was probably headed for the trash can (or maybe my mom, who likes anything her baby does), I added some glitter glue swirls to it. Okay, glitter glue? I know, not terribly shi-shi surface design material, but hey, JoAnn Fabrics had this really nifty bucket of glitter glue tubes in all sorts of colors on sale the other day. I bought it with the justification that my kids can't get enough of the stuff, but I was secretly coveting all the colors myself. The glue sunk into the fabric and dried nice and flat, just leaving the glitter on the surface. I think I have to fool around a little more with this stuff before I surrender it to the kids...

I also have to finish another card that was started as a memento of our cruise in April. I took a photo of the ship, traced the outlines of the shapes onto vinyl, and used the tracing as a pattern and placement device for fusible applique. I still have to add the details with thread and possibly Pigma pens.

Okay, so is everyone just touchy this time of year, or what? I'm a confessed lurker on several fiber-related lists, and the members of one in particular seem really out of sorts lately. Meaning, like for the last several months. The delete button on my keyboard has been getting a workout. Why can't people just read the posts, maybe get peeved in private, give it a few minutes, then let the urge to lambaste the offender dissipate? And then the vocal members of the group wonder why (and complain about) people lurking. I'm not a terribly confrontational person in "real" life, so why would I want to be in my "cyber" life? And, although I may have a rather noticeable birthmark on my forehead, it isn't in the shape of a bull's-eye.