Re-designing Glacial Recession

This is why I seem to have so little to show from my studio work of late:

It's the re-design of the sky and foreground of my Glacial Recession piece. All those little blocks of color were drawn out and colors chosen from a limited palette. Was it a pain? Yes. Why did I do it? Because I think it's the best way to make this come out like my "vision." Each of those pieces has a number and letter(s) to distinguish it from it's friends, and each one will be cut out and pieced together. The whole quilt is designed so that all I have to do is sew in straight lines. Yay!

Ok so why did I redesign the sky? (If you haven't and you want to see the timelapsed progression of the sky as I've worked on it, go to my last post on this subject.) Well, it's currently a little too "Picasso" for me. It's supposed to be a little blocky- abstract- if you will. And it just feels weird to me. I am taking my friend Mindy's advice and waiting until the rest of it is together before I re-cut the sky, but I have a feeling that's what's going to happen.

Just tonight, I've finished cutting out pattern pieces for the foreground and started some more dyes specifically for that area. This past weekend I spent some time picking out more fabrics for the green mountain on the right and I'll get that timelapse posted when I get to it.

Final Day in the Grand Canyon

I realized recently that there was something I left out of my previous post... Walking the 1.5 miles from Plateau Point to the Indian Gardens campground after sunset it's almost pitch black out as you enter the campground. As you cross the creek, the crickets and frogs create a symphony of music which I stopped to capture on my phone. Perhaps I'll use it as a backdrop for a video in the future.

We could not have asked for a more perfect day hiking out of the Grand Canyon. It must've been in the 70s at Indian Gardens when we started out. The clouds and haze kept the North Rim almost invisible. The wonderful weather made for a good restful night of sleep, so I was ready for the hike. And it was a great hike! The first time we did this hike - six years ago - this was the worst day for me. Fortunately, we didn't have the weather to contend with and I was in much better shape.

By the time we were on the last couple of miles, where almost everyone who comes to the canyon and decides to hike just a bit crowd the trail, we were seeing people in down coats and hats as if it were snowing at the top. When we reached the top, we knew why. The wind was whipping right through us and we found ourselves quickly heading for the car for warmer clothes! Didn't expect that!

One would think we might skip our ice cream tradition, but you can't mess with tradition! So there we sat, shivering and eating ice cream.

Next Up: Zion, Our Three Year Tradition

This is a series on our 2012 trip. In case you missed them, here are my previous posts:

• Little Oases in the Grand Canyon - Day 3
• The Sky In the Grand Canyon - Phantom Ranch Part 2
• Rockin' the Bottom - Phantom Ranch Part 1
• Trekking the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon
• Petroglyph National Monument and the Painted Desert

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles