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Archive for the ‘handstitching’ Category

Here I Am!!

Monday, April 11th, 2016

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Not sure if time is flying or time is dragging by, but anyway, I am in waiting mode for my new knee. I am trying to keep busy. My SDA job has been keeping me very busy. In the evening, I have been slow stitching and knitting. I am making progress on the piece for the SAQA auction. I am about half done with the front of the Winnie the Pooh sweater:

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On Saturday, I went to my Oregon critique group in Eugene. Here are two of my quilts waiting to be discussed:

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I have always felt that my Blue Picasso Woman needed something and she helped me realize what it is – she does not have enough space around her. I am thinking about cutting her up and redoing her as a more complicated Picassoesque piece:

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Today, I spent the afternoon at the hospital getting poked and prodded to make sure I am fit for the surgery. Hopefully, I am. I have seen folks in worse shape than me come through it ok!!

 

Slow Stitching

Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

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Well, I made a decision about using this fabric. None of my hand-dyes were playing well with it. Since the piece only needed to be 12 inches square, I thought it best to use just the two fabrics I purchased from Elin. I tried several different layouts and settled on a centered layout.

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I walked down to the needlework shop on my street and found some embroidery threads to use. I also have some hand-dyed perle cotton from Laura Wasilowski.

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I have been very busy with SDA database and spreadsheet work. I finally finished today and so started doing some stitching. I have also made progress on the Pooh Bear sweater. I am working on the front, now.

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We had a fun local SDA meeting on Sunday. One of our members did a presentation on natural dyeing. Yesterday, my condo art quilters met for sharing and talking and then out to lunch. The condo we went to is at the other end of the street car line from me. So I have been busy, but it still feels like April is taking so long!

Textile Printing Class Wrap-up

Thursday, March 17th, 2016

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Last night was our fifth and final printing and collage class. There was still some printing going on, but most people tried to put together a stitched composition. Barbara made some stuffed fish that are swimming with some one dimensional fish. Nicely done!

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Adia had done several prints on pieces of canvas. She cut them up and started on a collage. We convinced her to remove some items.

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Here is her final composition.

Liz helped her fussy cut her ferns.

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The father and daughter duo, Scott and Tiffany, were hard at work.

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Tiffany ended up with a composition featuring an elephant.

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Marilyn was working on an underwater scene with colorful fish and water plants.

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Ann ended up with a trio of birdy prints.

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I really enjoyed teaching this class with my friend, Allan Oliver, but I am glad it is over. I came home, totally exhausted and in the worst pain. I woke up at 5 with pain and could not go back to sleep. I was at might wits end, but I had my STASH friends coming for our monthly get-together and lunch so I had to suck it up and get busy. We were chatting away when Mr C interrupted to tell me that Kaiser had called and wanted to schedule my knee replacement surgery. Who0pee!! I called them this afternoon and got all scheduled for May 9th. I could have gone the week before, but Mr C has a colonoscopy scheduled and I need to be able to drive him. I wonder if April is going to take forever or fly by!!

I am wondering if I can pull myself together to get two quilts done for upcoming shows since I will be out of commission for a bit. Stay tuned.

Printing Workshop #3

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

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We are moving right along. Last week my thermofax overheated and melted the screen material. Last night, when I tested it, the dang light, that burns the image did not go on. Then it went on half way through the process, burning only half an image. We found a way to work around that. I also found out that the laser copier at Trinity was producing really strong carbon images and I needed to turn the thermofax down. Then we had a great night. I love the image up there that Wendy made and printed on black with white paint.

She also has been experimenting with layering images which is something I have tried to encourage.

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This is James, who moved here from New Zealand last year. He loves taking art classes and being with other folks. His mother is a sometimes quilter. I just love James!!

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Steve did this very successful zebra print and layered in some grasses.

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Scott did this musical layered print using some nice clip art.

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I threw together this collage of leaves which I am hand-stitching to show them how they can use their prints to make a piece of art. Not sure that many of them will get to this point!

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I have been sooo busy with SDA work. We have a deadline for entering an exhibit tomorrow and lots of people are joining and renewing so that they are eligible. So, too much computer time.  I did make it down to the gym to do 20 minutes on the bike.

Day 7

Monday, December 7th, 2015

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This is a little piece that I did earlier. It is an homage to the grain elevators you see in eastern Oregon and Washington, surrounded by golden fields of grain. My favorite part of this piece are the little details that I added. I did lots of stitching with perle cotton.

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Today, we braved the wild weather here in Portland. I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Hillsboro. We started up Burnside Road which is near where we live and were met with this – rushing water and debris. Traffic was totally stopped in front of us. We quickly did a u-turn and went via another route. When we came home later, they had closed the access to Burnside from our area.

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I found that I am definitely a candidate for knee joint replacement in my right leg. It was very interesting to go through my x-rays with him. The unfortunate thing is that there is a backlog of people waiting to get knee replacements so I have a 5 month wait. In the meantime, I got fitted for a brace which will hopefully relieve the bone on bone pain on the outside of my knee joint where I have the problem. I go to pick it up tomorrow. I hope it helps. It will surely add to my festive look for holiday events – not!

I feel so much better tonight just knowing that I am now on track for some relief.