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Archive for the ‘Maggie’ Category

RIP Miss Maggie

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

maggieslastphoto

I took this photo of Maggie just before we drove her to the vet’s office. They were so kind and ushered us into a room and took care of all the details so that we could leave without a to do when it was over. I awoke at 5 this morning and knew that I had to be there when she went to sleep. If I could make this decision, then I needed to be there. Mr C and I held her as she went limp in our hands. I felt such a sense of relief as Maggie’s spirit was liberated from  her deteriorating body.

It has been a quiet and solemn day. Even Scooter is subdued today. At the end, Maggie had developed strange behaviors like constant pacing, licking the floor and licking her body. I didn’t realize how quiet and calm it would be when I didn’t have the constant worry about her. It was a good thing that we did today.

On a  happier note, I picked up Laura Cater-Woods yesterday and we had a wonderful evening with her. I made this tomato tart with tomatoes and basil from my garden. We ate every last crumb. It was so good. She was off teaching the first set of workshops today.

tomatotart

Today, I have done a little more work on the green flash piece. Here is a sneak peek. I am liking the way these fabrics are working together.

greenflashsneakpeek

A Green Flash of Inspiration

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

purpleorangeshibori

I love this purple and orange shibori and have wanted to use it in a piece. I started auditioning possible fabrics to go with it – different purples and oranges and a piece that I had painted. Believe it or not, that piece on the left is very purple.

shiboriandpaintedfabric

I decided I needed another color for a pop so I went to my color wheel to see what a triadic color scheme would add. I was so excited to see that it was one of my favorite colors – lime green!

triadcolorscheme

I immediately got the idea of an ocean sunset with the green flash that you hear about, just as the sun dips beneath the horizon.

Now we are getting somewhere. I went to Art Media yesterday to get canvas to stretch some work over and picked up some metallic copper paint and some pearl violet. I decided to over paint that other piece of fabric so that it would look like water with the reflection of the sunset. The colors on this are not quite true, but you get the idea. I really like it.

metallicpaintedfabric

Here is another audition of fabrics.

purpleorangegreenaudition

I wasn’t happy with that pure orange as the orange in the shibori is more reddish. So here is another audition.

finaltriadaudition

Ahh! I like this and I like the shimmering of the silk green and orange. I have actually drawn a sketch and done some chalk lines for cutting the shibori.

Yesterday was our 45th anniversary. We had a lovely dinner at Paley’s Place in downtown Portland. They knew it was a special day and treated us royally!

Sadly, we have come to the conclusion that it is time to let our beloved Maggie go. I talked to the vet on Friday and she helped me realize that we are not doing her a favor by waiting until she is even more sick. We decided to spend the week-end with her and will take her in on Tuesday and say our good-bye.

maggiecloseup

On a much happier note, I am picking up Laura Cater-Woods tomorrow at the airport. She is spending the next 5 days doing workshops and a lecture for Columbia Fiberarts Guild. I am so excited to meet her in person and spend some quality time with her.

Nostalgia

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

frankloveirma

Tonight, I spent a couple of hours going through boxes and albums of old photos, looking for inspiration for an art piece I want to create. My emotions ran the gamut. It is especially mind boggling to see the younger, thinner, more attractive me. I can’t remember where I took this photo, I think it might have been in North Carolina. I wonder if Frank still loves Irma.

I found this photo taken at a conference in Hawaii. The first person to guess who is hugging me, might get a prize. I loved this photo when I developed it. I had a friend take the photo and I had no idea that Mr C was walking up on the love fest. There was a slight crease in the photo so I look as if I have a slash through my face.

whoisit

I don’t have a lot of photos of my dad. This one was taken near the end of his life. He loved his hats.

jake

Maggie, our JR, is getting along in years. She is almost 15 and is deaf and almost blind. She is very gray. She was so beautiful as a young dog with great markings. She was so tiny that my son could hold her in the palm of his hand. That is Stephanie and Steve with them. You can see that it was December 1994 when this was taken.

babymaggie

The heat has dissipated a bit. It did not hit triple digits today, but it was so hot all night that I felt out of sorts most of the day. In fact, there was a lot of just lieing about today. Miles and Steph came over while Mia was at arts camp.

milesprone

Scooter, who is recovering from his minor surgery and is wearing the cone of shame, spent most of the day like this. Poor baby.

scooterinlampshade

I found some photos that will work for what I want to do. I have to scan them, manipulate them in Photoshop and then make some thermofax screens. I am hoping for a return of energy!!!

Passion Sneak Peek

Monday, July 27th, 2009

passionpeek

I finished my piece for the next 12 x 12 theme — Passion. Here is a sneak peek. I showed it to my daughter, Steph; after I told her the title, she totally got it. This made me feel a little more confident. It will be posted on the blog on August 1.

nextproject

I have these shibori pieces on my design wall. I have an idea percolating about how to add more dye or some paint to these. They were created by using wooden blocks as a clamped resist.

I was really upset today when I found that my HP scanner does not work with the Leopard OS on my Mac so I ordered a new Canon today – only $79 and free shipping.

We got fairly good news today that Mr C’s problem is kidney stones and not a more dire prospect based on his symptoms. He still has a wait to get in to see the Urologist and have them disintegrated – at least we hope that is what they can do.

Look at this — a rare moment of peace in our household, today. I think it was too hot to do anything else but be tolerant. Scooter is going to lose his manhood on Wednesday; but we have no desire for him to sire more puppies.

peace

It is so darned hot that they are canceling the local Farmer’s market on Wednesday. fortunately, I have my own farm that yields something new every day.

Good Things

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Thanks for the commiseration over my recent state of mind. Today was much better (even though I turned myself into WW and was up 4 pounds!! eek!!), and I think it proves the old adage that sharing our misery helps to dilute it.

I spent an hour with a charming Comcast tech who straightened out our connections so that our phone, Internet and TV will all operate more efficiently. He fell in love with Maggie and might have absconded with her if I had allowed it.

M and M arrived early afternoon (no school). We took a walk in the Rhodie Garden and fed the ducks. There were many signs of spring.

onetwothree

springdress

helibores

milescrossingwater

redcoat2

The mail came very late today, but it had two large envelopes that made me very happy.  Early in February, I won a pressie when I commented on Regina’s Mostly Turquoise blog. Regina is a talented artist who lives on the Dutch West Indies island of St. Martins (Sint Maartin). My gift arrived today and it is so much more than I expected. It is a beautiful art quilt with some hand painted fabric and of course, some turquoise.

reginaquilt

And some more Regina Art:

reginaart

Thank you so much, Regina!

The other envelope was the acceptance of two of my quilts into the Sacred Threads exhibit. This happens every two years, in June, in Ohio. The two quilts are the Galilee Sunrise and the Wailing wall with the Dome of the Rock, both of which were in my show and sold. The new owners have graciously agreed to let them travel. They can be seen on my Flickr set, Holy Land Pilgrimage, A Quilter’s Journey.

M and M brought some much needed energy and fun to my life.