Recently I have been working with Spirograph. Yes, the spirograph from the 60s, and something I had as a kid.  I have a few videos on YouTube about Spirograph and PTSD, and today I added a video about using a spirograph design to make your own quilt motifs.  All the videos can be seen at this Playlist.

What I wasn't sure of when I first made the video was how well the transfer pencil would wash out. Below are photos of the test sample I did:

This first photo is the design transferred to fabric. In this case I used muslin.

 Below is the design, hand-quilted with black and purple threads, with much of the pink transfer showing.

After quilting, I washed the sample in very warm soapy water.

As you can see, all of the pink transfer washed out.

Below is the sample design after pressing. This is done as a "rag quilt" block, but it could be used in most quilting applications, anywhere that a design can be ironed on.

 UPDATE: I am only getting one use out of each design drawn with the Aunt Martha's pencil, meaning it has to be gone over with the pencil before transferring again.  I am looking at other transfer pencils for multiple use of one design. Below are some photos showing how I also used this same design to transfer onto cross stitch fabric.  I did re-trace the design with the transfer pencil in-between each transfer.  One sample cloth has been tea dyed.

If you want to knit yourself some simple socks, this vintage pattern from Columbia-Minerva is an easy one to start with.  I also have several patterns in my Etsy Shop, but the pattern below is very simple.

I took photos of the book:

I use these as bed socks because they do not have a heel and the toes are simply gathered and sewn.  They do also make a good thick boot sock.

Sinningia pusilla - a very pretty micro-miniature gesneriad that is very easy to grow.  This plant is related to African violets, Chiritas, Epicias, Streptocarpus, etc. I grow the plants in a "dry" fish tank to keep the humidity levels up, especially in winter with dry heat.  Seeds are for sale in my Etsy Shop. Below are some photos, and the general directions for starting them are at the page Gesneriads. There are also a few videos about these plants on my YouTube Playlist: Horticulture

Today is January 28, 2017, and even though it is January, I had ordered a 3 foot White pine (Pinus strobus) seedling.  It just arrived and below are the photos of how it was shipped and how I am potting it up.  My older White pine, a 15 year old tree I had also grown from a seedling, is planted in the ground, and many times that is where I would put any size seedling, and generally in May, not January.

But I had grown my 15 year old tree in pots until it was 13 years old.  After making sure it was firmly established in a good pot, it stayed outdoors at all times except one or two storms with extreme wind.  I plan on doing the same with this new tree, and 50 smaller seedlings that will be arriving in the next few days.

In the first two photos below, you can see how a larger seedling is shipped from the grower.  The roots are damp and wrapped in plastic, the top of the tree is bent over to shorten the length, the tree is wrapped in plastic and then newspaper, and then put in a plastic bag.  That's it, and thankfully I have had warmer weather than normally, so the tree has not been exposed to freezing while making it from Georgia to Cape Cod.

In the photo below, if you look closely at the group of needles, you can see white aphids. Not too many of them, but I will have to either remove them by hand, or otherwise get them off of the tree.

The pot I am planting this is is a one-gallon container, about 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide at the top.  I will fill it with some sandy soil about 4 inches from the bottom before placing the roots in and spreading them across the soil.

After getting the tree set in straight, and the roots placed with plenty of room, I fill the rest of the container with sandy soil and place small rocks on the top of the soil to prevent soil loss during rain.

The seedling then gets a brief shower in the tub (will help to remove aphids), and then the pot is placed up to its rim in tepid water until all soil is moistened.  Then, I will make sure it drains well before starting to acclimate it to the outdoors here.  Next week is supposed to get cold, so the tree may stay overnight(s) in an unheated room, then back outside for the day.

Below is my new White pine after planting.  I have been keeping it indoors in the shower (with the bathroom window open) at night, and putting it outside in this sheltered area during the day.  Additionally, I put its pot in a 5-gallon pot and wrapped the smaller inner pot with plastic bags and old rags, insulating the roots.

And here it is in front of my 15-year old White pine, for a photo op!

When you get the chance, please plant a tree!

Spirograph -believe it or not, I am finding there is a great value in drawing with a Spirograph set.  Because it is based in math and on the number of teeth each wheel or template has, it removes the thought process of adding and subtracting while drawing or painting.

If I stipple with ink a flower, it is a constant process of adding dots to complete an image.  When using spiro, that adding thought is eliminated.  Even if originally done subconsciously, I do not have to count or add as I work when using spiro because the teeth are counted, the design defined.

I had said in my video on spiro that by using a math-oriented tool, I can focus less on creative, more on mathematical. True, but not because of my thinking. I am thinking less math, and allowing myself to be influenced by math.  Someone else has done the math for me, and my spiro designs will be better or worse (shakiness, skipping, etc.) depending on how I am letting the math of the tool influence me, not by my own thinking.

An anlaogy is to driving a car.  I can rebuild a carburetor on my old MGB and have it run the way I know it can, but now, with Spirograph, I am driving someone's else's Corvette.  The MGB (stippling) feels good, the stick shift is"mine", but the Vette seat is back a bit too far,  it's a red car so it is louder, unfamiliar, it is using someone else's expertise.

In such a simple tool as a Spirograph, there is the same thinking of building a Corvette: math, engineering, that I do not have to think about.

The value of the art piece is no longer my thinking, but my ability to "be one" with math, science, and engineering. The universe is based in math. So, instead of limiting me with a simple tool, it is allowing me to think about the universe and not about counting the dots. Balance, neutrality, both hope and despair, in the simple math of a Spirograph.

Today is January 20, 2017.  When addressing my political views, I realized I am not addressing grief.  Grief for America, grief over losing my parents, my son moving away, my dog getting old, just all aspects of grief.  Here are the stages of grief:

The 5 stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

So, I am currently in denial.  And I realized I am displaying that by refusing to do abstract art pieces in yarn.  Painting, drawing, writing in calligraphy, are all easier than simply doing abstracts in yarn.  Why yarn? well, when I was very young, I had a scooter and a knitting doll.  My mother was an expert knitter - and every time I have a seizure, I am back to a point where knitting with a knitting doll is safest.  Now, add that I think Mr. Trump is going to cut back on vital housing and health programs, I have to again face that I could end up homeless.  The easiest art tool to take with me is a knitting doll and yarn.  It really sucks.  I am "better" than abstracts in yarn, I do already know that.  But perhaps I am stopping myself from excelling at abstracts in yarn.  So, here we go.....

I have wonderful Persian yarns, I have 72 or so knitters, I have thread, backing fabric, and my Singer Spartan sewing machine for yarn placement.  What could be simpler?  :)

It might be simple, but I don't think it's going to be easy.  I have a tendency to say "Oh, I'm fine", but I think this time, I need to address grief.

Update: That didn't last long!! I do believe it is grief, but also shock over this election. I don't think yarn is going to address this for me. I got the yarn out, started an abstract, and after sleeping a while, woke up and realized it just wasn't the way to address this. Pen and ink and drawing will be.

I am switching gears a little.  I have several ink drawings in the works and will be finishing them shortly. I have deleted my blog "Quilts For Veterans" out of respect for my father's wishes.  I have a few quilts ready to be finished, but to be honest, they were more art projects than in a Veterans-appropriate theme, so they will be art quilts.  They are all fairly small - about 45 inches x 60 inches.  I will be sewing blocks into layered blocks by machine, and then hand-quilting my logo on each block, along with other designs as I go.

The first is called "Hello"