Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Earth Stories

Earth Stories

The Studio Art Quilt Associates show, Earth Stories, opens today at the University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art and Design, Warrensburg, Missouri, January 19 - February 28, 2015. There are many stories of hope across the globe. Both individuals and small groups are working on projects that, when added together, make a positive impact on increasing the quality of life on this planet. Earth Stories celebrates the stories of people or projects that enhance the planet, make a significant difference in restoring and/or protecting the environment, increase sustainability and otherwise improve the earth we all occupy.
Crowded House
 Inspired by Annie Lennox at The Story of Stuff, I created my pieces for the exhibit to start a dialogue about over-consumerism. On a personal level, I have too much stuff.  I am in conflict because I value a simple lifestyle, so I decided to count all the objects in my house. It took me 6 months. The larger piece is called Crowded House, and is a testimony to too much stuff, as it spills out of the confines of the edges of my house. And it has the Number...the ginormous number of objects in my house.
Crowded House - detail

The second piece is called Manufactured Demand.  The smaller piece is a tribute to a few of the many brands of bottled water and the trash resulting from it.   And as the title implies, advertising has convinced us that we need bottled water...in order to make a profit, at the expense of wasting huge amounts of petroleum, both in making the bottles for the water and transporting it to all the grocery stores, often for a resource that comes to us mostly free right out of our taps.
Manufactured Demand
To see more of my project, use the link "Earth Stories" in the sidebar under "Labels", or go here.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Cat Hats

Cat Hats

My daughter and I have been playing a "game" involving her toys and specifically these 4 beanie baby cats.  It involves secretly placing the cats rather life-like positions and waiting until the other person finds them....and then laughs hysterically.  My favorite was this one of the cats left in the refrigerator sniffing my salmon!  Too funny!
Or maybe this one?  of the cat sleeping upside down on one of our cat shelves?
These two poses were her gifts to me.  This is one of mine to her....climbing the tulips kitty....

For Christmas, my daughter let me know that she was expecting something interesting for the cats.  Drats!  I hadn't even thought that far ahead! I finally came up with this at the last minute.  I knitted scarfs for each cat and made them little hats.  I had intended to make red and white Santa hats, but I didn't have any red felt, so I improvised.  I actually like the individualized colors better.  It looks so cute!  And it was fun to have a little secret project to surprise the young teenager!


What I learned:  if you knit tiny scarfs for cat toys with tiny knitting needles, it still takes an unreasonably long time to do it!!  Must use larger knitting needles!


First day back to school, the kitties sit by the window....waiting....
Kitties "play" the guitar, or play on the guitar?
If you are following me on Instagram, you may have seen how the beanie baby game has changed slightly to the sharky game.  Stay tuned, I will post those photos here too!  Or you can follow me on Instagram at kakiyork.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Charity Quilt by Austin Modern Quilt Guild

Charity Quilt by Austin Modern Quilt Guild


The Austin Modern Quilt Guild is participating in the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge.  Participating guilds use a predetermined color palette and collaboratively make a quilt.  The quilts will be on display at QuiltCon Feb 19-21, and then donated to a charity for children.  

This project was perfect for me and I was so glad that our guild decided to participate. It was a fun and easy project!  This one came as a small kit with the fabric and instructions in little ziploc baggies that our guild members cut and assembled.  I picked up 2 sets to make a few blocks for our charity quilt organized by Amanda Hohnstreiter.   Meanwhile, it was fun to learn something new!!  I mailed the blocks and some of our guild members magically transformed the collection into this WONDERFUL quilt!!
I love it!!  And, I look forward to seeing all the charity quilts hanging together at QuiltCon.