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Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

I Love a Parade

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Our little neighborhood has a beautiful boulevard with rows of trees down the center. It creates a wonderful canopy in the summer. On the 4th of July, the community dons red , white and blue and marches around a section. I always forget that it is at the far end of the boulevard from where we live. I barely made it there in time this morning, with Scooter in tow.

This couple had great seats.

I love the chocolate labradoodle.

Here is the requisite police escort.

The end of the parade.

Check out the American Girl doll collection.

Hope you are having a happy 4th of July. The family is coming soon for a BBQ, but it is too gray and cool to eat outside. Boo hoo. Steph is making some of her famous biscuits for strawberry shortcake.

You can see the rest of the parade on my Flickr set, Click Here.

Happy Solstice

Monday, June 21st, 2010

The Solstice has long been my favorite day of the year because it is the day with the most sunlight. Unfortunately, today we only had a little bit of sun in

Portland. I am still wearing layers in my studio.

For the Sketchbook Project, I decided to do an abstract titled Solstice. This is the kind of day I would have loved to have. I think it will happen, soon.

I finished my Twelve by Twelve purple/yellow piece tonight. Here is the back:

And here is a pretty pile of skinny bits left over.

We had a nice Dad’s Day party here at the house. Steph brought the makings for a shrimp boil. Shrimp, red potatoes, sausage, corn and onions with Bay Seasoning. Our plan was to serve it low country style – dumping it on newspaper on the table on the deck and then everyone digs in. It was cold and rainy so we served it on a big platter in the dining room with crusty whole grain bread and greens from my garden followed by carrot cake, Mr C’s favorite dessert.

Take a Deep Breath

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

It has been a whirlwind few days. Lots of up time and some down time.

We had a great time having brunch with M & M and their parents. Mia managed to consume the Farmer’s Waffle Special and a hot chocolate. I think she is a growing girl. Today, I got phone calls from Mark and Lisa. So, mother’s day was great. Mr C and Scooter gave me some awesome striped Smart Wool Socks in two different color ways.

After checking in at the show, we went to the nursery to get some plants. The sun has come back and I was itchy to do some planting. I planted my herbs in the new kitchen garden bed, but decided to wait to plant the “farm” down below. We may still have a couple of cold nights and then I think I can plant them.

In my quiet times, I have been cutting yellow aspen leaves.

I was able to get the tree fabric misty fused this afternoon before Mr C came down to do more work in my studio. I am so excited because the drywall work has done and he has started painting. I love it.

As you can see from the first photo, I cut a strip of tree fabric to see how it looks on the background. I love the background! I think the tree fabric is working, too.

Tomorrow, I have to go back to Trinity and help take down the show. That has been a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed showing my work and getting lots of questions and nice comments about it. However, my sales were very pitiful. People were not really looking at my small items. Most people were after the traditional art forms – photography, paintings, etc. The last time I was in this show, I said I would not do it again. When they asked me to be the featured artist, I thought I would give it a go again.

I did get a lead from another vendor for a newish gallery near me that she thinks would love my small wall pieces. So I am going to check on that.

My daughter Lisa had a two page spread in the SF Chronicle today, about her collecting. Click on this link to read it. Be sure to check out the slide show of photos of her home.

Today, I found out that the husband of a frequent commenter who is a  long time online friend, passed away. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and went very quickly. Christine, you are in my thoughts.

Meeting My Deadlines

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

I am feeling so much better, but a little tired. Maybe because I have been moving at a pretty good clip to meet my deadlines. I have a very busy week.

I finished Kimono III and you can see it attached to a bamboo hanging rod. I attached the other two to rods, also.

Today, the family came for dinner. I made roast salmon on a bed of potatoes, peas and parsnips. Steph made delicious brioche and lovely arugula salad.

When Steph was a little girl, if her birthday occurred near Easter, I made her a bunny cake.

I thought it would be fun to make her one again this year. It is a more adult version — coconut pound cake with dark chocolate frosting and toasted coconut garnish.

He is a little scary looking, but he tasted delicious!!

Tomorrow, I have guild board meeting in the morning. Then, I have to finish all my work for the Japanese Garden show. I want to dye some scarves and perhaps make some postcards. Everything has to be delivered on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I have a committee here at my house all day, working on selecting slides from the guild slide library that will represent a retrospective of guild activities and work. These will be digitized and the rest will be donated for study or thrown out. Slides are now obsolete!!

We won’t have STASH this week because Gale is in Arizona visiting her sister and Terry is working for the census and Beth is over at her beach house. It is Terry’s birthday tomorrow and I was hoping to celebrate, but we will have to wait until next week.

I hope you had a lovely holiday!

Once in a Blue Moon

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

I was going to do one of those wrapping up the old year blogs with photos of all my work, but you know where to go if you want to see my work. Instead, I had a frenzied cleaning up session down in my studio. I want to hit the ground running tomorrow. I have so many deadlines looming and a big trip at the end of January which will allow hand work, only.

I walked into my studio this afternoon and wondered where I was!! It looks great. I just had to get out some indigo and make a Once in a Blue Moon piece. It was a quicky – took about half and hour.

Laura Wasilowsky was offering a pair of hand-dyed socks with an order from her website. My order came today and I was struck at how the colors are the same as the new Kleenex packets that I bought yesterday.

I am feeling so happy about my energy level and state of mind and really looking forward to the new year and the new decade. I cannot say that the past year was bad. It was a great year in so many ways.

In January, I had my first solo show and sold 5 pieces right at the get go. In March, I took a shibori class from Jan Newberry Meyers. April was the opening of the High Fiber Diet Line Dancing Show in Roseburg, OR. In May, I went to Kansas City for the SDA conference and got to hang out with my good friend Judy C and Scooter joined our family. June was rather low key – not much going on.

I finally got back to work in the studio after a drought and made Illuminated Aspens for Kristen. In August, I had my 1000th blog post. September was jam packed with activity. Laura Cater-Woods was in town. We had 3 days of family celebration for Mark and Jayme. And of course, we lost our beloved Maggie. In November, I did Art Every Day for a Month and had a ball. I started the Drawing with Expression book and plan to pick that up again. In December, I was honored to have my work reviewed on The Textile Blog and John Hopper helped me understand my work in a new way.

I managed to get into a couple of shows this year, but it was not a great year. I hope to change that this year, but I make work that I love. I do not make work for shows. I enter what I have done and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

OK, I didn’t intend to go on and on about 2009. I just want to thank all my readers for stopping by and to wish you a Happy New Year and a Happy New Decade.