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Archive for the ‘This and that’ Category

This and That

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

It was another dreary day in Portland today. On our misty walk with Scooter this morning, I saw these beautiful flowers. Purple and yellow  — the colors of the next Twelve by Twelve color theme. They brought a little sunshine into my day.

I finished quilting the Old Growth Forest piece and am not that happy with it. I love the quilted background. I love the felted trees, but I am not sure they are working together. I will do a zigzag edge on them – perhaps in lime green to give it some pizazz.

Here is a detail.

I will finish it and photograph it. Maybe I have just spent too much time with it!!

Hope you are all enjoying a nice holiday week-end with better weather than we are having.

Busy Day

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

I have started the quilting on the Old Growth Forest piece.  The trees are not attached. I will stitch those down after I have finished the quilting. I am using a variegated thread that has all of the colors of the shibori fabric and does a wonderful job of creating a mystical forest  background.

I am leaving in the morning to go on a two day retreat in Central Oregon with my STASH group. It will rain, but we will have a great time, anyway!! I stitched up a couple of sleeves and finished machine stitching the facing for the aspen quilt. This will give me lots of hand sewing to do.  We will be near Sisters, OR, a great quilting town so that should provide some entertainment.

Look at who is hanging out in our front yard and driving Scooter nuts.

It seems to be the season of pairing off by the ducks from the Rhodie Garden. I have seen pairs here and there when I take my walks.

We have wifi at the house we have rented so I hope to be able to check in with a report on our frivolity.

Batik Goodness

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

This is my batik stash which I have sorted by colors in these baskets. They are stacked in the IKEA cabinets in the background. I love batiks, and they are about the only commercial fabrics that I buy any more. Now, I hardly ever use any fabrics but those that I create.

I am doing a 15 X 15 inch piece for the Quilt Art list 15th anniversary. I came up with an idea and decided to get into my batik stash. I selected 15 different colors to make up a rainbow.

I have 15 hands in descending sizes drawn on freezer paper that will become part of the design.

I am taking these to San Francisco with me and will do the fussy cutting while I am lounging in the hotel with my buddy, Liz Berg. I will have dinner with my SF kids tomorrow night and then the conference. On Monday, I will spend the day with Lisa. I have never seen her studio.

I will be checking in with photos and postings of all the fun.

A Slow Week-end

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

I am still pacing myself after the frenetic work I had to accomplish earlier this year. I can hardly remember what I did yesterday!! I leaned my desk, trying to find a missing credit card bill – no luck. I guess the USPS has missed delivery once again. Our postal carrier retired and now we have had a variety of people, never the same one. We have also had lots of missing mail.

Last night, we went to a wonderful service at church  — a Eucharist liturgy set to Bruce Springsteen music. It was very well attended. I enjoyed it immensely. He is a poet and a champion of the downtrodden.

Today, I did some neatening of my studio. Stephanie is coming over tomorrow to help me take some studio photos for the Twelve X Twelve book. She is very good at staging and has a great eye for the interesting shot.

I folded some fabrics to neaten my wire basket storage. I found that I have quite a bit of dupioni silk in many colors — two wire baskets full. I used to use a lot of silk dupioni before I started dyeing my own fabric. I am thinking of washing it and making a quilt for our bedroom. But some of those colors will not work.

I took this photo of my print table before I put a clean sheet over it. I just love it.

I do a lot of fusing and while I was in the cleaning up mode, I cleaned the soles of all my irons. I have lots of options! I love my Panasonic with the titanium sole. It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. I can’t tell you how many times I have dropped it.

I was itching to do some more small roots/weeds pieces, but never got to it. I have a few deadlines looming. I need to make a couple of new pieces for our Japanese Garden show. I want to use some of my vintage textiles. I need to make a 15 X 15 piece for the Quilt Art @15 online show. I want to make some smaller pieces for the Artists Among Us show. I did not get into Visions, so I have two more pieces that will be available for that show.

I am getting excited about going to SF next week for the SDA/SAQA conference and to spend some time with my children. Life is good.

A Fresh Start

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

I have to clean my studio and put things away before I can start a new project. I finally finished it this afternoon and started work on a 36 X 48 piece for an invitational show. I pulled some fabrics to audition, but am not sure anything is speaking to me. I may have to mix up some dyes and alginate and do some dye painting tomorrow.

Scooter was hanging out in the studio with me today. I grabbed my paint rag t-shirt and put it on him. He nicely sat and posed for me. He is such a doofus.

In May, I will be the featured artist at the Artist’s Among Us Fine Art Show and Sale at Trinity Cathedral. I received two versions of the postcard. Guess which one I chose.