Grocery shopping the other day, I couldn’t resist this cheery Cyclamen! They like it cold so don’t last too long in the house but for now it brightens my studio. I love the shape of the flowers and the leaves are beautiful too. My hostess in England had them in her garden but I don’t think they would do well in mine!

I replaced the large belly piece with something lighter and I think it is better.

I don’t like the light rock underneath though, as it it too close to the color of the goat. It’s a struggle to get the rocks right, to give good contrast and still read as stone.

This process requires concentration, and that was pretty hard to do yesterday with the men in and out cutting holes and installing things. But now they are done and we have a new furnace and heat pump, new duct work and more heat. I don’t quite understand how we are getting all this heat out of cold air, I guess it is magic!

This photo shows what little I got done yesterday, most of it not yet sewn and subject to change. Hopefully today will be more productive!

There’s not a lot to show for yesterday, with the men here replacing the furnace, I spent the afternoon in town seeing Avatar in 3-D. It was long, very beautiful to see, but based on the never ending theme of man’s greed. I won’t need to see the sequel.

With only a few hours to work, I did some of the chest and belly and changed the chin. That’s better!

When I got home, the men were gone but the furnace was not yet working so we spent a chilly night with just the fireplace. I am VERY thankful we have the fireplace! This morning they are back and finally we are getting heat.

I tried several different fabrics for the last neck section- here you can see the first two and then the one that is more blue right above them. I really like the fabric that is right below the chin for rock shadows. Much better than the stark dark ones on the right side of the piece. I’ll replace those. I only have a small piece of that good shadow fabric though, not enough to do what I need to.

Checked the shelves and there is no more. So I dumped the scrap basket. More often than not, I can find what I need in there and this time was no exception!. Only one more small piece, but at least I can spread it around and augment with something else. One of the good things about this technique is that it uses small pieces so I can often work from scraps and I don’t worry about waste because they are so small. I don’t plan to purchase any new fabric for this piece and will work with what I have.

I decided that the last neck piece was still not right so I divided it, using one of the rejects on top with a blue shadow at the bottom.

Much better, so I sewed the seams, softened the facial blues and added background above the neck. Now I think the chin is too white against the dark rock so I’ll have to do something about that. No wonder it takes so long!

Yesterday was a satisfying day’s work. First I made the last baby’s eye bigger and I may also make the first one’s eye bigger. I noticed that the last baby was missing his horn so I fixed that. I think the blue on his face and neck is too dark at this point. Getting more background in helps and will be even better with quilting, especially on the rocks.

I’m thinking that I will use a pigma pen to make their nostrils as I was not able to find a fabric to do that for me.

When seams get sewn it tightens up the design to look better. Here I have replaced some of the blues to a softer shade and will do more today.

Nothing is set in stone and I can still make changes.

Too many interruptions- I didn’t get a lot done yesterday. Sewed some seams from the day before and started the third face.

The eyes are bothering me – I will have to do something about that. I need to get more background in so I can tell if the kid colors are OK. It’s snowing like crazy today so maybe I can get some work done!

There’s not a lot to show for yesterday as we had company-anyway I deserve a day off! There is a little more background and I’m starting to lay in some color on the third kid but nothing is sewn yet.

We are having a new furnace installed so my studio is about to be invaded for new duct work. This may be a trying week.

Yesterday’s snow was the beautiful fluffy kind that I like. Not too cold, not too deep, no wind.

Too heavy to stay long on the branches, the beauty of it didn’t last very long though,

and now much of it has melted into puddles and mud. More predicted for tomorrow. I’m ready for spring!

Mt goat number two has a butt!

Here on my monitor the shadows look blue-er than they really are. I see some areas that may need tweaking but for now it’s OK. I will wait until more surrounding stuff is done to decide.

And finally- we have an ear!

Can you stand yet another acceptance announcement? Yesterday I got the news that “Spring Burning” will be going to IQF’s “Celebrate Spring” in Chicago! I am having such a lucky month I think I may go buy a lottery ticket!

Yesterday we spent most of the day in town running errands so, again, I didn’t make a lot of progress on the kids. Today I’ve got to give that baby his ear!

A new exhibit goes up this month at the Topeka Art Guild Gallery and I have three pieces there. The theme this month is PINK so I entered “The Merchant’s House”, “Spirit Horses” and “Cornflower Pink”. I had to scramble to find pink things.

“Cornflower Pink” is an old piece, from 2001! It was one of the pieces shown on yesterday’s local news to advertise the show which will benefit The Marion Clinic for Women’s Heart Month in February. The gallery is very pink this month!

More good news, “Burlingame Fire” has been juried in to AQS, Lancaster, PA. March 24-27.