Month: January 2026

Octopus Family Planning Two: The Pin Up Girls

| ellenanneeddy

You can blame this on three stinky days when I couldn’t get to the studio due to bad weather and hinky cars. I do not do well in captivity.

Usually, when I’m working on a piece, there’s a moment when I sit with 3-4 backgrounds, deciding which will work best. What I’ve found is that the background tells the story. The image is the who. But the background is the where, what, and when, Here’s a blog that talks about it. Telling the Story: The Background Changes Everything.

So I pin up backgrounds and move images from one to the other until I have the background that either shows up best or explains things better.

With three pieces in a display, that’s overwhelming. My arms aren’t that strong. So I’m going to use Photoshop and the art boards to interview my fabric choices. I don’t need to see the actual placement. I need to see how they go with each other. The octopuses are my pin-up girls and this is a virtual pin-up.

What am I looking for? What do I need my backgrounds to do?

  • They need to be 45″ tall
  • They need to match in intensity
  • They do not need to be blue
  • They need to flow into each other
  • They need to show off each octopus well
  • In the end, just like Highlander and Sudoku, there can be only one chosen for each octopus. There is no way of reproducing hand-dye.

I need to say this was not seamless. Photoshop seems to change every ten minutes, and I was not up to the latest artboard information. But it’s given me a chart to help me decide what works best.

I chose my fabric so I’m looking at 1 yard pieces, 36″x 45″. The edges will be irregular, so they don’t need to be exact.

My third octopus is not completely done and is only partially cut out. I don’t think that will make a big difference.

Here are some of my best choices.

This is a reasonable amount of pin-up. Once I’m back in the studio, I can put up the best choices and turn them in different ways. Strangely enough, the orange went with everything. I’ll put them up on the board and fussy-place them to settle it.

Would I have done this if Don hadn’t called a winter day off? Maybe not. The cats and dogs are way out of the way. That may have involved screaming at the computer. It was not simple. At one point Photoshop locked up and we had to give it the purge. No, I’m not kidding.

But it did give me a way to sort my tops all in one piece.

Why am I fussing? I’m planning on a layer of rubbed sea shells and pebbles on the bottom of each. I’ll get one crack for each to get it right. Testing out my options just seems smart.

Saying Goodby: Ruth Rackster

| ellenanneeddy
Ruth and Krystal

One of the things I’m most annoyed about with age is the loss of old friends. I’m not just getting older. My friends are too. Sometimes it’s just space, distance, and travel limitations that make being close harder. Sometimes it’s recalcitrant beliefs. But as we get older, the ultimate distance is death.

At 72, I’m still asking who I might be when I grow up. It’s a different list than it was 20 years ago. But I know for a certainty I’m not there. When I lose people who I would like to be like. it unmoores me. We lost Ruth Rackster, right before Christmas.

I met Ruth Rackster through her daughter, Krystal, at St Francis’s Episcopal Church in Chesterton, IN. She was sitting with Elena, Krystal’s third child. Elena had a huge thing for ladybugs. She’d found some that had died and was inconsolate. But Ruth was there, consoling her. Somehow that turned into a lap that smoothed away the horror of the moment.

Ruth was a beautiful person, especially as she aged. But what she did best was radiate calm. I’m not sure if it was strictly a Christian thing on her part. It’s just what she brought to the party. She didn’t try to fix things, or tell you what to do, or what you should have done. She brought her presence and warmth to each situation, and that was real comfort in acceptance of what was going on, and of yourself.

It was a well-needed gift. The Levis had some hard times. Ruth was there, and she was a calm path past the current hardships.

I remember sitting at her table, tea in hand, over and over as she pulled me back into the light.

I’m glad she got to see her grandchildren grown into such excellent people. I’m glad she got to see Krystal marry the love of her life. I’m glad got to live in the light she radiated, as she illuminated us.

I hope I grow up to be like her.

Here’s your wings Ruth. Fligh high.

Planning a Surround: Family Planning for Octopuses

| ellenanneeddy

I’ve been noodling around the idea of a series planned as a surround. I’ve done many series over the years, but this is different.

I suppose you could plan a series. But I’ve never seen it happen. You do one quilt with a subject that is either so fun or compulsive that you do another five more. That’s an organic process that I enjoy. But it doesn’t lend itself to consistency.

Spoonbill Series

These birds just happened. I love the shape of them, the bills and that crazy pink coloration. So I’ve made a number of roseated spoonbills.

We’re talking something different here. A surround has to be planned so that each piece flows into the other one. I can do that somewhat with the drawings. They need to flow across the different quilts into eachother. I can do that somewhat with background images. Rocks and seashells can make a pathway. I can also do that with small fish. I’m thinking of clownfish and something small and gold in color. That is the plan.

The coloration should be easy. The hand-dye needs to be all of the same intensity, and we’ll keep the octopuses bright. They should fitin with each other well.

The first octopus is embroidered and ready to place in background elements.

The second octopus is almost embroidered. I need to outline the suckers.

He’s already had a large change. Originally, I had one sucker tentacle closer to the head. It worked in the drawing but not in execution. So I cut it out, and moved it. I think it works better.

shell rubbings from another project

The next steps will be tricky. I plan to rub seashells into the fabric on the bottoms of all of these. They’ll need to fit into eachother. I’m not sure if I can display them all on one photo wall. But they need to dance across four pieces altogether. The last time I did something this large, I hung it off the back porch of my apartment building and walked down the alley to where I could see it as a whole. That was three homes ago. We’ll need to figure it out.

I’ll keep you posted as I work on this. I think it’s going to be a wild ride.

And Now for Something Completely Different

| ellenanneeddy

I’ve just spent two weeks making zil muflers and rubbed fabric panels for belly dancing belts. Why, you might ask. There’s only one reason. For love!

No. Don has not taken up belly dancing. And if he asks me for zill mufflers, I’ll tell him to scroung around the corners to see what he can find. No. This is for my goddaughter, Sarah.

Balcony Scene: Tom and Sarah

My godson Tom brought home Sarah his first year in college. I stood at the top of the studio steps and looked down. It was me, thirty years ago with blond hair. She looked both of us over and asked if this what Episcopal godmothers were like. No. This is just what happened. Tom is my heart. When she asked if she could be a godchild, I told her if she asked, she already was one. Funny, arty, up for adventures, huge heart, mind like a steel trap. I adore Sarah.

For some while, Sarah has been into belly dancing, and she runs a belly dancing convention called Migrations, in Austin, TX.

It appears to be a hoot. It appears to be a young person’s quilt convention without sewing machines.

What business do I have with belly dancing? There’s more connection than you think. Fabric. Check. Shiny, Check, Outrageous. Check. I may fit in better than anyone thinks. Besides, if Sarah asks me, I’m in.

Along with helping run this, she’s been given a booth in the convention mall. She asked me personally for some embroidery work for costumes and has offered to sell some rubbed panels

I’m embroidering several of them, just for her. We’ll see how they fit in.

So, as quilters, what do you think about this kind of thing? They’re a product of the rubbing plates I’ve just learned to make. I’m excited about them, but I’m not sure how they might fit in. It may be that we need long, skinny quilts.

Quiling has a wide skill base that includes many processes, many techniques and unheard of uses. Surface design is always one of them. And, for me, a siren song.

2025: A Year of Experimentation

| ellenanneeddy

I didn’t have any shows this year. Which is ok. Every artist has ideas they aren’t quite sure how to approach. Instead, I spent a lot of time trying out ideas I wanted t do my quilts. That takes time and effort. It messes with production significantly. So I’m glad to have spent my studio time this last year in this way.

I learned how to make waterfalls.

There and Bacl Agaom

I learned how to make a reflection of my subject in water.

In the shell

I worked on seashells and tenacles.

B;lue Herons

I experimented with extreme borders.

I learned to make my own rubbing plates from stencils.

Three Cranes

I learned to incorporate those plates into my work.

I worked in desert landscapes.

I finally worked out the cat head fountain.

It’s been a good year for learning. If you’ve followed my blog, you know, because each week I show you what I’m working out, working on, and working through.

Here’s to 2025:

Major quilts

Small work

Unfinished work

I couldn’t do this without your support. Not necessarily monetarily, but spiritually, personally, and energetically. No art is in a vacuum. I suspect that I would do art if it were just me arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but your company on this journey has made it much more worthwhile.

Thank you!