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Archive for the ‘My creations’ Category

That Was Fun!

Thursday, June 20th, 2013

cargocolor

 

I had a great time spending the day with Diane Hock, yesterday. We met downtown for lunch. Steph joined us and had to leave to take Mia to visit a friend. She is really busy this week with 3191Q project deadlines. It was a bit rainy and a bit sunny, but we enjoyed walking around the Pearl district and doing a bit of shopping. Our first stop was Blick Art where I bought a tube of Invisible Glove. Has anyone out there tried this. Supposedly, you can coat your hands with this before getting into paint, dyes and other stuff and it will wash right off.

invisibleglove

 

I also bought some Dyna-flow paint, some time easels for tiny art and some drawing pens.

Our next stop was Cargo Imports. This store is a visual treat for the eyes. The photo at the top is of some Chinese furniture in wonderful colors. I found some beads for my 3×3 project.

turquoiselimegreenbeads

 

They had just gotten in a shipment of wood printing blocks. I bought these two. They are really awesome, especially that large wavy one.

printblock1

 

printblock2

 

We also went to Mill Ends our near my house where I found a Vogue pattern that I have been looking for.

Our last stop was the Moreland Farmer’s Market where I bought salmon and fresh veggies for dinner, some wonderful bread for Diane and Mr C and some raspberries for the freezer.

It was really great to get caught up with Diane and the happenings in my old guild and the art quilt group that I started and now has 40+ members. She left this morning for Port Townsend and then is going on to Victoria and then back to Oregon for further adventures before heading back to California.

I got the quilting done on the background of the red organza collage.

redcollagebackgroundquilting

 

I added some of the red/black organza squares. I keep changing the layout.

organzasquaresadded

 

I am now hand stitching them in place.

redcollagehandstitching

 

I have to keep working to reach all my goals. Life is good, but the weather is lousy. Fortunately, we only have to wait a bit for it to get better.

On a side note, my daughter Lisa, has an interview in the latest O magazine about her love of collecting. Proud of both of my daughters.

Time to Think and Dream

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

REDCOLLAGE

 

I am enjoying life at the moment. So nice to have time to stop and smell the roses. I really tried to pace myself over the past few months, but now I realize how nice it is to have a bit more time to just be.

I am happy with the background of this piece. Every thing is fused down but the smaller pieces on the top. I will probably do some machine quilting before I add more. I am in danger of doing too much. The small red pieces are just areas where I plan to do some red stitching.

I am excited that Diane Hock is in Portland. Steph and I are meeting her for lunch tomorrow and then I we will find something fun to do before we come back to my house where she will spend the night. Most of you probably know that Diane was a good friend when we lived in Santa Rosa. She started Twelve by Twelve and the Artful Quilters Web Ring. I owe her big time for including me in the Twelve project.

Studio Time

Monday, June 17th, 2013

redorganzacollage

 

I gave up on the painted batting that just didn’t work. I used gray felt for the batting which was perfect. The gray felt is covered with gray organza squares. I started tearing my organza pieces to collage, but the plain gray areas were not working for me so I took a deep breath and painted some marks with black paint.

graffitiorganza

 

It is drying and hopefully, this will work. At any rate, I am having fun, again.

I also did a test swatch of cotton stitched to pre-felt and then shrunk in the washer and dryer.  Not thrilled with this. I think that silk works better.

redcottonshrinkydink

 

We had a nice father’s day family time yesterday. I made oven fried chicken, roasted potatoes, asparagus and a couple of salads. Stephanie made the annual strawberry shortcake for Mr. C. She bakes the best biscuits.

I am finally feeling rested and able to get caught up on every thing that I have been neglecting. My mojo has returned!!

Still Catching UP

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

redgraycollagefabrics

 

It is taking me some time to get my mojo back. Things are still in a mess around here, but I have made some progress. I managed to unpack the supplies that I took to San Antonio and sort of straightened up my studio. I started working on a piece for the High Fiber Diet red show. I have had a piece in my head that is a collage of grey, black and red organza. I started to work on it, but needed more of the gray background. I went to the store where I bought it and they didn’t have just the right color. I am trying to make what I have work. I didn’t like the gray organza on white batting so I painted the batting black. I will have to see how that looks tomorrow, if I have time since it is father’s day, and I am cooking for the family.

Yesterday, I went to Miles’ graduation from 5th grade to Middle School. I really enjoy being at the school. It is such a great school where they really work at making all the kids feel welcome and important.

hugmiles

 

You will notice that Miles does not appreciate hugging. This kind of public display of affection, except from Mia, is uncomfortable for him. Here he is in a natural Miles pose with his diploma.

sombermiles

 

And here he is, obliging us with a smile.

smiliemiles

 

Despite the Aspergers/Autism, Miles has made great achievements in his ability to interact with the outside world, even though it is uncomfortable for him. One of his teachers told Stephanie that he is different, but better. That made her very happy.

Checking Things Off My List

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Montanas y Lunas copy

 

If I am going to leave for California next Tuesday (and I am), I have to keep moving and shaking and getting things done. Yesterday, I sewed the sleeve and made a label for my XOXO quilt as I had to ship it off before I leave town. I also finished the hand stitching on my SAQA quilt, Montanas y Lunas. I submitted the online auction entry form for SAQA. Tomorrow, I will get it in the mail and cross that off my list. Here is a detail:

Montanas y Lunasdetail

 

I love the organic quality of this and the texture. I don’t know if it will sell, but it is the type of work that I like to purchase.

At the end of June, after I get back from San Antonio, I have to have a submission done for the next High Fiber Diet exhibit, Simply Red. I pulled out my red fabrics to see what I have and to encourage some creative juices to flow.

I have some nice organza. The piece on the left is silk as is the black and red in the middle. I am pretty sure the other piece is synthetic.

redorganza

 

I also have a funky piece of cheesecloth that might be interesting with something else.

redcheesecloth

 

These are various shades of hand-dyed red cotton.

shadesofredcotton

 

I was thinking that I would try to do a larger piece of shrinky dink red with a discharged design. So I did a couple of discharge samples. The one of the left is with Soft Scrub with bleach. I left it on for quite awhile with hardly any change. The one on the right is deColourant discharge paste. I like what has happened so I think I will go with that. I just have to come up with a design that will work with the shrinking process. I probably will do a sample as I have not done this with cotton.

red dischargesamples

 

I have been working on the name tags for the conference. I have several different types to do and I need to get them printed and shipped on ahead to San Antonio so that I don’t have to take them in my luggage.

This afternoon, I headed out to the mall to get a few new things to fit my shrinking body – I especially needed new summer pants. I also got some new black sandals that I really like. Tomorrow, I am going to try on my dress and see if I think it needs to be shortened. I also need to go through my clothes and decide what to take for the upcoming events. Making lists and getting things done – that is my life, right now. Since we have the return of winter weather, I might as well be hunkered down, getting things done.