Lemon Cupcakes

Served with berries, vanilla ice cream and a star candle.

As Colbert would say, Happy Birthday, Nation!

My regime of stretches, icing the bum, ibuprofen and short walks seems to be working. Last night, I was not awakened by pain in my leg, but by a horrendous clap of thunder. I went back to sleep, ignoring the storm, and felt refreshed from my first good night’s sleep in some time. Mr doc ordered vicodin for me, but I don’t think I will even pick it up.

Look at who else is feeling much better. She is checking out the bathroom reno with me, after the tile man left for the day. She is still on antibiotics and pain meds, but she is returning to her normal self. We went for a short walk this afternoon and she was leading the way.

The first coat of paint is on the wall. In that right hand corner will be one of our custom built storage units. Behind Maggie, there will be another built in with drawers below and shelves above and a beautiful granite counter.

Here is another view of the extra large subway tile and the floor. No grouting has been done and there is some tape holding the tile in place. The sinks will go on the wall on the left and the shower is on the right, out of site. The shower pan will be installed on Monday, and then they will start on the mosaic that I designed.

This morning, Stephanie dropped off two of my fave people in the world. Here they are having lunch on the deck.

In the morning, we went to the Dollar Tree. I needed to buy some storage bins for my art tools.

Miles bought some pirate stuff. There is a ring on his other ear. He looks quite fierce. Mia bought colored pens, pencils and another journal - what else.

And, we bought every kind of bubble paraphernalia you can imagine.

And so, the annual bubble fest ensued.

Where did all the bubbles go?

Poor Maggie. There is nothing she loves more than chasing bubbles and jumping in the air and popping them. I made her stay in the house because I didn’t think it was a good activity so soon after her oral surgery. JR’s do not know their limitations, so I had to play the alpha dog.

Tonight, we had dinner at Burgerville. Everyone ate every thing on their plates. After dinner, Mia and I watched the Ace of Cakes on the Food Network — one of her favorite shows. Miles and Mr C started building the Great Lego Wall on the front porch.

Tomorrow, the Portland Clan will gather for a BBQ and then watch fireworks.

Happy Fourth of July!

Where did Monday go? I did the washout on my remaining fabric from the workshop. I hobbled around the house and the neighborhood like an invalid. (More later) I spiffed up the house, went shopping and put together some appetizers for later. By 3 pm, I had to shower and get ready to greet our friends from Schenectady, where we used to live. They were visiting Bill’s sister in Beaverton and he and his wife, Joy, came by to spend the late afternoon and evening with them. We gave them a tour of the Rhodie garden, which they proclaimed as the best back yard they had ever seen! We came back to the house for drinks and snacks before walking over to Reed College for a picnic on the lawn and a concert of all Schubert music — it was divine. Throughout this, the tile guy laid the bathroom floor; it looks great - photos later. And, we discovered that Maggie had a very swollen cheek:

Now, on to the good stuff. Here is the cotton piece that I stamped the potato dextrin with a net and a plastic grid and over-painted with dark turquoise. You can click the detail to see the wonderful. subtle  netting.

Next, is the yellow/green silk scarf that needed help. I used combed potato dextrin and over-painted with dark turquoise dye.

This piece was pfd cotton. I  screenprinted corn dextrin using a thermofax of a hand drawn circle and stamped with bubblewrap. I rolled on chocolate brown dye.

This is silk organza that was stamped with chocolate brown dye (no resist) using a round sponge. I then squiggled it with black dye.

This habotai silk was painted with dye in the primary colors and generously squiggled with black dye (I have to learn how to control that syringe!).

The last piece is silk organza, painted with left over dyes that I  mixed. It was the last piece and I did not want to mix up more dye.

I just love doing this thickened dye work. I have plans for some more good stuff!!

Back to the goings on here at home. It seems that I have piriformis syndrome causing sciatica pain in my left hip. I couldn’t get physical therapy until July 22 and I am going to be at the Coupeville Art Center  then. So, I did an internet search and found some exercises and other things to do for this. It seems that women who walk or run a lot are more prone to this. I am doing the exercises and icing and I am feeling better. It is worse in the middle of the night when I need to get up or when I have been sitting for some time. Lots of ibuprofen, too.

Maggie went to see her Doctor this morning and she had to have 2 abscessed  teeth removed. She will be out of it for awhile and eating soft foods, but hopefully, she returns to her normal joyful self. I gotta run; I have a communications committee meeting at the cathedral.

Today was the last day of our thickened dyes/liquid resists class, and there was a flurry of activity as we tried to fit in lots of dye painting. When I arrived this morning, I first went to work painting the resisted pieces from yesterday. I mixed up some dark turquoise for these pieces. The first is the potato dextrin resist in which I stamped netting and a plastic grid. All photos are clickable for bigger view.

This is the back side, and you can get a better idea of how the resist is working. It is curing and will get washed tomorrow.

I also used the dark turquoise on the yellow/green silk scarf which had combed potato dextrin. Here is the front.

Here is the back which shows how the design created from the resist. I don’t know how well this will take the dye. Jeannette says that silk has fewer dye receptors so a second dye does not usually take. I did not know this and have often over-dyed silk. So we shall see!!

On the white cotton fabric which was screen printed with circles and stamped with bubble wrap, I used chocolate brown. I will probably over-dye this. This is the back side.

My next activity was to wash out the resist from yesterday’s dye-painting. This is a blurry photo of the torn paper screen print with corn dextrin. I think that I will discharge and additional design element on this piece.

The dye in the corn dextrose worked, but the black color washed out to a gray. The potato dextrin crackle gave it some great texture.

Jeanette demonstrated painting directly on fabric with thickened dyes without resists. I had lots of fun. Here is some free from painting on silk habotai. Hey, Picasso, I’m not!

On some organza, I stamped chocolate brown circles with a round sponge and then squirted black paint with a syringe.

This organza is painted with left over thickened dye that I gathered from other students.

A great time was had by all. I feel more competent to play with thickened dyes in my own studio. just need more time!!

My car thermometer was registering 103° when we drove home from New Seasons tonight. It was too hot to cook and even too hot to eat on the deck. I was so wiped out from the heat of a day in the OCAC classroom. I took a shower and Mr C and I drove to New Seasons for some takeout and a replenishment of some fruits and veggies. I had one glass of wine and I was loopy!!

Back to the workshop. The first thing I did this morning was to dye paint three pieces that had dried over night. Then, was the excitement of washing the dextrin out of the fabric that had been painted yesterday. Here is a sampling of the class work hanging to dry.

Here are my first two potato dextrin resist pieces.

And closeups. I really love the mosaic-like lines that are created.

These pieces were created by stamping with corn dextrin as the resist. Click for better view.

These pieces are drying  and will be ready for the thickened dye in the morning.

Potato dextrin, using a grid and netting to create patterns.

A cotton/silk blend, stamped with corn dextrose

An ugly silk scarf with potato dextrin. I am going to paint it with turquoise.

I am having a great time in this class. The members of the class are a wonderful, educated and enlightened group of women. There are 9 of us in all. Jeannette took such good care of us today.  She had her husband bring us cold lemonade and salty treats to combat the heat.