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Archive for the ‘Stuff I Buy’ Category

Getting Up to Speed

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

Just a quick post to let you know what I have been up to. First, I am happy to say that I am getting stronger every day. I can get back up the hill to the condo faster and without stopping to catch my breath! I can stand up from the sofa faster ad easier each day. My backaches are subsiding. That is great progress for me.

Above you see the house that I created from the blue moon quilt.Here is the original – kind of boring. I love it as a 3-Dconstruction.

It was on display with other fantastic 3-D objects at the Oregon SAQA conference. Our Blending Poetry and Cloth exhibit is on display there now at the Salem Historical Center. I loved getting reacquainted with my Ode to aTree quilt.

That was an all day affair, and the next day, I took myself to the NW Quilt Expo to wander amongst the quilts and do some retail therapy. I love Marcia Derse fabrics and I selected these from her new line. Love the greens! I also picked up some thread and needles from Superior Thread.

The big news is that I am moving my studio next month to a place a bit larger where I can have a design wall that I can stand back from. It will be a shared space with my daughter Lisa who needs a place to do her fine art painting. More about that as we progress with the move and setting up the space to accommodate both of us.

Posted in My creations, SAQA, studio, Stuff I Buy, This and that | Comments Off on Getting Up to Speed

Fun With Color

Sunday, February 7th, 2016

The last week of my basic dyeing for quilters is a test, in a sense, of what we have learned about mixing dyes. We are to pick a photo that is a color inspiration for us and then determine what the colors are. I used Photoshop Elements to help with the process. I have always loved the colors in this photo that I took on a trip to Seattle. I love the colors of this outdoor furniture display.

Here are the colors that I pulled out.

Now, I have to go through my stash of hand-dyes to see what matches I have. Then, I will mix up some dyes and try to match the rest. I think this is going to be fun.

I had a busy few days and now I am paying for it. On Friday, my iPad died and then came back to life, but it has been working very slowly and has given me lots of problems. We went to the Apple store and I bought a new one. Wow, what a difference. I love the retina display and of course it is very zippy.

On Friday night, we went to a fun Mardi Gras cabaret at Trinity which was a fund raiser for the choir’s trip to England and France next year. They did an array of fun show tunes.

Last night, we went to the symphony and I did too much walking and am paying for it today. I can barely move, again. I only had a slight meltdown and I enjoyed watching the superbowl and especially the half-time show. And, I am getting closer to the fix for my knee.

Posted in Dyeing, Stuff I Buy, This and that, workshop | Comments Off on Fun With Color

Dyeing – Week 2

Monday, January 18th, 2016

This week, we are doing gradations of the primaries – sun yellow, fuchsia and turquoise. I did a full 8 gradation of yellow because I use it quite a bit. I only did 3 gradations of the fuchsia and turquoise.

I used plastic baggies for these.

I also did a blue gradation using Elizabeth’s divisive method: which involves beginning with all the concentrate at once, and then gradually reducing the amount of dye concentrate you pour over the fabric. These are still needing soda ash.

Tomorrow, I will do the high water version to get a solid color – you can add salt to the water to help the process.

I broke down and bought a small fridge on Amazon. It arrived packed in 3 boxes and some stryrofoam. It was a comedy of errors watching us unpack it. I need to keep my dye concentrates cold and since I turn up the heat in the studio to batch my dyes, it was a necessity!

I also finished the brown sweater set for my hair stylist’s baby boy, who is a red head.

Posted in Dyeing, knitting, studio, Stuff I Buy | 1 Comment »

I am Dyeing to Show You

Thursday, January 14th, 2016

I think I mentioned that I am taking Elizabeth Barton’s online Basic dyeing class. Her method is new to me. You mix up a lot of dye concentrate to have on hand — we have done 6 colors. The soda ash is not added until the fabric has been in the dye for at least 30 minutes and you can wait until the next day. So, this week we mixed up our concentrates and then did a gray to black gradation. I think I like this method of having dye concentrate on hand, but I have to refrigerate it so I have ordered a cute little desk top fridge for my studio.

Here is my fabric batching:

And here are my results. It is so hard to get grays and blacks that do not have purple or blue casts to them.

I also would like to get more even coloring and not have the mottled effect – things to work on.

The other thing that has kept me busy is purchasing a new car. Mr C and I have made lots of changes in our life to bring down the cost of living on the planet to have more discretionary income in our retirement. Getting the Prius was part of that, but to be honest, we never fell in love with the Prius, for many reasons. So it is leaving us and we now have a beautiful small Class C Mercedes Benz. It was a loaner at the dealership and has very few miles on it and all the bells and whistles. We just love driving it.

We decided we needed just one little splurge.

We also got a new mattress hoping it would help my sleep problems caused by my bum knees. I found this duvet cover which I love. It is reversible. Really looks great and suits our design aesthetic.

Posted in Dyeing, House and home stuff, Stuff I Buy, workshop | 2 Comments »

Living Life in the Fast Lane

Thursday, September 24th, 2015

It has been one of those weeks. I am working on a new landscape quilt whenever I can fit it in. I had a wellness check with my doctor on Monday and lunch with Lisa and Clay. On Tuesday, I had a meeting at Trinity to make plans for out multi-generational classes for this coming year. Yesterday, I spent the morning at the Expo Center hanging the new Oregon SAQA exhibit. That is Kristin LaFlamme in the first photo, hanging my Ode to a Tree Quilt.

Today, I spent most of the day at the show, looking at quilts, shopping and working at the guild booth. The guild has an exhibit titled a river runs through it. I have two quilts in the show. Here are a couple by Terry Grant and I, hanging together. These quilts have been out an about before, but fit the theme. I was disappointed with how this show was hung.

Here is my old friend, Meander, in the show.

Here are the results of my retail therapy:

Some lovely hand dyed cottons from my friend Maureen from California. These will fill in some holes in my stash.

This is a fat quarter bundle of Marcia Derse designed fabrics. She creates one of a kind prints and then they are reproduced as a fabric line by her. Love these colors.

This is a blurry photo of the landscape quilt I am working on.

Here is the zigzag free motion stitching that I have done.

I think I will do some hand stitching. I found some perle cotton at the show and also some teal thread for the sky.

My Sky Blue Pink quilt made it to New York and has a spot on the exhibit postcard.

Tomorrow, I will be hanging out at home, waiting for my new iPhone and quilting the landscape.

Posted in Columbia FiberArts Guild, Juried Shows, Machine Quilting, Quilt Shows, Stuff I Buy | Comments Off on Living Life in the Fast Lane

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