The SAQA Oregon region recently juried a show with the theme, Habitat. I mulled many different ideas. My go to art quilting technique is to freehand cut dyed or painted silk and create a composition. I live in a condo that is white and surrounded by other condos in an array of non-descript neutral colors. I have always been enamored with villages in Europe with colorful homes such as Bergen, Norway or Tobermory, Scotland or the painted ladies of San Francisco. I was watching the movie, “Judy” and at the end, she sings “Over the Rainbow”. That song had great meaning to me as a teenager. It brought me to tears, and I knew that I needed to construct my fantasy condo land of rainbow buildings.

I started by ironing fusing to a beautiful piece of hand-dyed silk. I have some electric scissors that work great for cutting Mistyfuse.

Then, I started cutting my tall buildings.

I found some handpainted silk to represent the sky and trees.

I fused the pieces together on a large sheet of Teflon.

Next, I cut a lot of windows in various colors.

The windows were fused in place. I like to have a handmade, imperfect look to my compositions so they are a little wonky!

This was fused to batting and a backing fabric.

I had this variegated Aurifil thread in my stash that was perfect for the quilting.

I did zigzag stitching around the buildings and then did straight line diagonal quilting, which is a common feature of my work.

And the happy news is that this piece was accepted into the show. The first venue has been canceled because of the Covid-19 virus, but hopefully, the October venue will happen.

I have mostly been housebound for the past two weeks. I have been out for some walks. Portland is beautiful right now. Flowering trees are everywhere. We are ordering groceries online and picking them up or having them delivered. Who knows how long we will have to do this?

I got this much stitching done on my indigo raw silk squares and then I ran out of that beautiful naturally dyed embroidery thread and had to order some more.

This is the latest embroidery for the Tiny Pricks Project. It is a quote by the president about using the malaria drug for Covid-19: “I feel good about it. That’s all it is, just a feeling. I’m a smart guy.” This is a vintage child’s apron. I am going to add some more of his quotes to this.

This is my latest weekly torn paper collage. The words kind of represent how my week was. We had no internet for 2 and 1/2 days. I had paid a sizeable registration fee to be part of SAQA’s online conference which was to replace the real conference in Toronto. I could not log on using a cell phone because the data charges would have been sky high.

On a positive note, I was happy that my little rainbow condo quilt that I made for the spotlight silent auction garnered $100. A record $28,000 was raised for SAQA exhibits.

Thanks for checking in. Keep on washing your hands and practice social distancing. We need to flatten the curve.

Since I am 81 years old and have a history of respiratory problems, I am self-isolating and trying to keep my husband isolated, too. I have lots of projects. I ordered groceries online for the first time. I have signed up for BritBox so I have a lot of great British crime shows to watch. We were supposed to go to Denmark and Norway in May. We have canceled the trip because I doubt that we will be out of this by then.

One thing I have on my to-do list is my annual contribution to the SAQA benefit auction. I love sitting and slow stitching in the evening so I cut up some raw silk that was indigo dyed and am doing some stitching with a circle motif on each square.

I am still working on that bottom one.

This is the most recent torn paper collage. I look through the New York Times Sunday Magazine and see what piques my interest.

I found some vintage textiles on E-bay and bought a boxful so that I can do some more embroidery for the Tiny Pricks Project. More on that later.

So, stay six feet away, sneeze in your elbow and for goodness sake, WASH YOUR HANDS!!

I have done two embroideries for The Tiny Pricks Project.

“Tiny Pricks is a public art project created and curated by Diana Weymar. Contributors from around the world are stitching Donald Trump’s words into textiles, creating the material record of his presidency and of the movement against it.

Tiny Pricks Project holds a creative space in a tumultuous political climate. The collection counterbalances the impermanence of Twitter and other social media, and Trump’s statements as president through the use of textiles that embody warmth, craft, permanence, civility, and a shared history. The daintiness and integrity of each piece stand in stark contrast to his presidency.”

I found vintage napkins on Etsy to use for my embroidery. The top one was Trump’s unhappiness with low flow water use for toilets and showers. He was going to have the EPA look into it.

This one comes from one of his monologues about the Corvid-19 virus. I am kind of addicted to this so I am looking for more vintage linens to use.

I finally picked up my last acrylic pour painting from the last class. I am disappointed with it. It dried to a very moody dark piece. I think I might try to add some life to it at some point.

These are my first attempts at adding imagery to the prayer flags. I used stencils and acrylic paint pens. I want to make it simple for children to do.

I need to make up some more, but I have been in a bit of a funk this week with my sinuses blooming from allergy season. I was also obsessed with the Super Tuesday elections. I am feeling so sad that Elizabeth Warren had to drop out. We do not have our primary until May 19th so I will have to choose between two old white guys. Actually, it is an easy choice for me.

This week was busy and I didn’t get a post done. This is my weekly torn paper collage, using the New York Times Sunday magazine.

I got the photos of my SAQA Oregon Habitat quilt back on Monday and got it entered. I will share more about it after the jurying.

In April, I am teaching a prayer flag workshop at Trinity Cathedral for the Art for All Ages program. I have started gathering supplies and am getting some samples made up. I cut bleached muslin into 8 X 10 pieces. I like to paint with Jacquard Dyna-flow paints.

Here is the fabric drying.

It was a nice day yesterday, so I painted outside on the deck. Tomorrow, I plan to get some images printed or transferred onto the flags.

I got a nice surprise this week, one of my friends tagged me on Instagram for a giveaway of beautiful natural dye cotton thread. We won and mine arrived yesterday.

I do not have a design wall here in the condo. There are times I really want to work on one. I saw some felt tiles on an Instagram ad and ordered 12 of them. They are 12 inches square so I am going to make a 3 foot by 4 foot design wall that will look classier than using styrofoam covered with felt. I will post a photo when I get it up.

Thanks for checking in!!