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Archive for the ‘This and that’ Category

My Exciting Life

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

I am feeling so much better that I have been spending the last two days doing some much needed cleaning. As many of you know, Mr C prefers to do our cleaning rather than have someone come in to do it. I hate regular housekeeping — dusting, vacuuming, etc. However, I can really get into scrubbing and purging various locations in the house. In the last two days, I have done the kitchen cabinets, the master bathroom cabinets, the pantry and the fridge. I also helped Mr C do some purging of the garage and it got power washed.

So, I have not done much studio work. I have done lots of hand stitching on the gray piece. I have to say that I love the piece so much. I am not sure if the value is working, but I don’t care because I love exploring the elements that I have included. I am looking forward to sharing it on July 12th.

I have enjoyed taking Scooter to the Rhodie Garden in the afternoons.

Today, Scooter went to visit the groomer and got his summer do.

A couple of days ago, he looked much chunkier!!

Tonight, we attended a dinner and lecture by Bishop Gene Robinson. He was the first openly gay priest to be elected a Bishop in the Episcopal Church. He is an incredibly gifted speaker and a man full of grace who is not afraid to speak the truth. Tonight he said he was going to do something his mother told him not to do — mix religion and politics. He spoke about his growing concern about the political climate in this country and how he wants the church to step up and speak out about the inequality — the concern that the poor are bearing the biggest burden of the downturn of our economy. I had just told Mr C this morning that I was so depressed with the crap that is happening in the Supreme Court and in Congress that I felt I was almost ready to pack up and leave for another country. Of course, I won’t. I will stick it out and hope the pendulum starts to swing back.

Sorry for the downer. Here is the gorgeous peony that was the centerpiece for our table tonight.

And, here are Jayme and Mark, kayaking in the San Juan Islands. Love this!!

Filling in the Blank

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Another day has gone by and I have avoided the studio and new work. I just can’t get my rear in gear.  I thought it might help to get out some paper and pencil and try my hand at drawing. I am late to the Zentangle madness, mainly because I feel quite inept at drawing.

I found a tutorial on line and started in. It recommended starting with pencil on 3 1/2 inch squares of paper. I liked that — not a big commitment!! It was kind of fun. This photo was taken with my iPhone and there is some red reflecting from our red leather sofa, I think.

I downloaded a scan app for my iPhone. I thought I would scan these and then post them.

Not very good results. I think the scanner works best for documents, but it is a cool app to have. You can scan recipes and stuff you find in a magazine at the Dr’s office, instead of sneakily tearing out the page!!

I think I will try more of these, using a micron pen for sharper images.

This is what our deck is looking like today.

There is even more deconstruction since I took this photo. I wonder how long it will be before I can sit out on the deck again?

I will probably avoid the studio again tomorrow because Mark and Jayme are arriving this week-end and I must get some guest bedroom and bathroom cleaning done.

This and That

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

I missed attending the SDA conference in Minneapolis last week for various reasons. One of the state reps that I work with sent me a goody bag of stuff attendees received. This is a pin with the SDA logo.

This is the official goody bag.

There were several magazines, but no Fiberarts. I was disappointed to hear that the summer issue is the last one to be published.

There was a small bottle of PROsapol – Prochem’s version of synthrapol. There are fabric samples from Exotic silks and Spoonflower. It is nice to see the quality of the fabric that Spoonflower uses. The little bag contains lavender scented wool scraps – smells delightful.

I also received the Quilt National book from Amazon today.  I have to spend some time with it later.

I think I have finally kicked the virus. I am tired tonight, but it is a good tired, not a sick tired.

This and That

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

These are three of the quilts that Jane Sassaman brought with her for her lecture at Columbia Fiberarts Guild tonight. She is so talented and a genuinely funny woman. We had such a great time hearing her artistic journey. Here is a bad iPhone photo that I took before the meeting.

Before the lecture, we had a SAQA gathering for dinner and lots of chatter. Here are Terry Grant and Suzy Bates waiting for the guild meeting to start. I will be seeing them tomorrow morning for STASH. It is my quilting friends week!

I finished cleaning up my studio and office. Now, I need to have some inspiration strike. I need to get a studio practice going once again. I have been in a slump. Wish me luck!! It would help if I stayed home. LOL!

Finding Closure

Monday, June 6th, 2011

I am continuing with the sorting and purging. I am happy to say that I found my button collection. They were in the bottom of a plastic tub. I like them better in this quart jar. Looks like something my grandmother would have had.

I also found a selection of buttons still on their cards. I suppose that I once had plans for these.

I also found an assortment of snap and hook and eye closures.

I also found this little treasure — a silver heart charm or bead. It is only about 1/4 inch.

I wasn’t very ambitious today. I find that on days when I go to Pilates in the morning, I get a slower start on other things. I had some SDA work to do. I also spent some time this afternoon taking some stuff to Steph and shopping at Trader Joes. Then there was the hour that I spent on the phone with AT&T, sorting out our account. We switched the account to Mr C’s name so that we could get the GE employee’s discount. However, when I paid the bill, I didn’t switch the account number in my online bill pay so it went to the old account. This is the second time that I have gotten the same customer service rep. She is very nice and very thorough, but I hope we are done meeting on the phone!!

I saw these beautiful red poppies on my walk today.