Holidays | Crazy for Fiber

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Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

31 Day Blog Challenge

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

Cheryl Sleboda has issued a challenge to other bloggers to post to their blog every day this month. I know that I have been posting a lot less. I will blame a lot of that on Instagram and FaceBook. I feel as if I am duplicating my activity by then posting to this blog. So, I am going to give this a go and see what I can come up with to entertain you for a month. If you would like to know more about it, click here.

We had a great Thanksgiving with all our children and grandchildren in town. Mark, Jayme and the whirling dirvish 3 year old Paige stayed with us. It was fun to spend so much time with her. Jayme had to take very important medical boards yesterday and today so she spent a lot of the week-end studying and taking practice tests.

Here is a rare quiet moment while she watched Sesame St.

We took her to OMSI, a science and technology center with lots of interactive stuff for kids. She got to walk on a giant guitar in the guitar exhibit.

Paige and Scooter got along very well. Scooter wanted a turn on the iPad!

We had Thanksgiving at Lisa and Clay’s home. On Friday, we moved on to Steph’s home. She made us turkey and butternut squash enchiladas. On Saturday night, we took everyone out for pizza.

During the bedlam of the holiday, I tried to get me November assignment finished up for my Master Class. I love the color palette, but with the rush of finishing, I didn’t notice that my background columns had gotten askew before I quilted them down. I call this Christo’s Fence Redux.

As a reminder, here is the photo inspiration:

Posted in Family, Holidays, Inspiration, My creations, Paige Ada | 3 Comments »

Photos of Our San Francisco Week

Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

I promise – this will not be only pictures of Paige. She is, however, very photogenic and adorable. She chooses her outfits and usually has a tutu on or at least under her dress. Very girly and very strong willed. She is 2 1/2 and carries a tune perfectly. She knows all the words to let it go and several Christmas songs. She is just something special. As are all my grandchildren!! I am prejudiced!!

We arrived on Christmas day and enjoyed a seafood meal caught and prepared by my son.

Jayme and her mom made an assortment of Christmas cookies. One batch was gluten free which I enjoyed. Paige did the sprinkles.

We stayed at an AirBnB which was a ten minute walk from Mark’s home. It was very simple and cold. We did not spend much time there. We slept there, ate our breakfast and spent the rest of the day with family.

On Friday, we drove to downtown SF to see the big tree in Union Square and the ice skaters. Then, we walked up, up, up a steep hill to the Fairmont Hotel to see the gingerbread house. I was quite proud of my ability to keep up with the youngun’s. The house is full size. You can click on it for a better look.

Here is a gingerbread doghouse – full-size.

Loved this view into an Asian shop at the hotel.

We had a late lunch/early dinner at a seafood restaurant. Jayme’s mom’s husband was leaving the next day to go back to Denver and he wanted some more seafood.

On Saturday, Lisa, Clay, Mr C and I took Bart to the Ferry Building Farmer’s market where I bought food to make dinner. Jayme took Paige on her bike and met us there.

The photo of Paige in the orange tutu was take there. She was entranced by a string quartet that was playing. We had a delicious lunch at a Mexican eatery.

On Sunday, we took it easy and played with Paige. Mark made soup from all the leftovers in their fridge. They live in the Mission and there are so many wonderful visual delights. We saw this door on one of our walks.

Here is a close-up so you can see it is created with bottle caps.

On Monday, Lisa, Clay and I went to Marin. I wanted to stop by the Dharma Trading retail store to touch some fabric so that I could decide what I want to purchase to dye or paint for my solo show. I bought some samples to run some tests. Clay bought some yarn and a pattern so that I can knit her a button cowl scarf. We had a delicious lunch in San Anselmo and did some looky loo walking around Mill Valley. I forgot my phone. No photos!!

On Tuesday, Karyn, Jayme’s Mom, Mr C and I took Paige to the California Academy of Sciences. I love that place. Mark has a membership so he takes Paige there quite often. I must say that keeping up with a two year old, makes the visit a bit more challenging. I snapped this photo while waiting in line to get into the rainforest exhibit.

There are so many beautiful photo ops. Here is a pitcher plant.

I love the colorful little frogs.

I caught one in a whoosh of a jump.

I had fun playing with the jellyfish in photoshop.

And here is Paige, queen of the Galapagos, on her throne.

And checking out the touch area.

We moved over to Oakland to stay with Lisa and Clay for New Year’s eve. It gets a little wild in the Mission and our AirBnB was next to a park. They prepared a delicious meal and we had a lovely evening with them. Here is Wilfredo wishing for some cheese to jump into his mouth.

On New Year’s Day, I got this great selfie with Paige. I hated to say good-bye. It was so much fun.

So, I missed getting this done yesterday, but I had my hands full getting caught up on SDA work and doing laundry, and all the little things you have to do when you come home from a trip.

Posted in Family, Holidays, Paige Ada, Travels | 1 Comment »

Ch-ch-changes

Thursday, January 1st, 2015

That was 2014 for me.

January: We finished purging and cleaning the big house in Eastmoreland. This is what my studio looked like, ready for the looky loos. Gosh, how I miss that space! We sold our house very quickly and then had the angst of not finding a new place to buy.

February: I finished this quilt for Paige, using Lisa’s line of fabrics.

I also tried my hand at snow dyeing and got some great and serendipitous results.

March: This was a month of good news, family celebration and hard work. Prairie Fields was installed at the Portland Airport in a special exhibit for six months.

We found The Congdo, where we now reside. We packed up all of our worldly goods and I had lots of aches and pains.

We traveled to California for Paige’s second birthday and I gave her the quilt that I made.

April: I spent most of this month getting The Congdo organized and settling into my new studio.

The Congdo now looks great, but my little studio still looks a lot like the above photo.

May: I took a fantastic dyeing class with Judy Robertson down in Eugene. I came home with lots of great fabric.

I made this piece for the annual SAQA auction. It sold, but not as early as other pieces I have done in the past.

The Congdo began to take shape.

June: I took on a new job with SDA which has been time consuming. Another change.

We discovered that we could walk to the gorgeous Portland Rose Gardens. We enjoyed many walks through the rose gardens.

I decided to do something really different for the High Fiber Diet show, What’s Blue to You. I created this enormous Blue Picasso Woman.

We traveled to Seattle to see the Sacred Threads Show.

July: We enjoyed weekly trips to the Portland Farmer’s Market on the streetcar.

Lisa and Clay came for a few days over the fourth of July and we had a family gathering here.

I took Mia and her Mom to Seattle on the train as a graduation present for Mia. We had a great time. I finished another quilt for the blue show.

August: We made another trip to San Francisco to hang out with the CA peeps.

Lisa’s new book, Art Inc. came out and I was honored to find this dedication.

My art quilt daughter, Kristin LaFlamme came to town for an exhibit she was in and to attend the Quilt, Knit, Stitch show. Here we are, helping to set up the SAQA booth.

September: We traveled to California again, to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with the family. It was loads of fun for me to have everyone together.

Our friend, Heidi Rose, made this macaron tower for out celebration at Trinity.

Then, Rayna came to town to teach for my guild. Had so much fun with her and got some nice fabrics from her workshop.

Found out that Kelp Dance sold while at the American Art Company exhibit in Tacoma.

October: I became another year older. I worked on rehabilitating the leaf quilt.

Lisa and Clay came to Portland for some talks that Lisa was giving during Portland Design Week.

November: I started work on a couple of kid quilts which I hoped to have finished by Christmas. Didn’t happen.

Stephanie hosted Thanksgiving dinner. Big change for me there.

December: Steph and I drove to Seattle to take care of Paige while Jayme had an interview at Children’s Hospital for her residency. We had a great time and she kept us on our toes.

I was excited to be part of the What’s Blue to You exhibit installed at the Portland airport. It will be there for 6 months.

We did minimalist Christmas decorations in The Congdo. Another change. It was fun to see many of my ornaments hanging on Paige’s tree. We traveled there on Christmas day and arrived home today.

I will post some pictures from the California trip tomorrow.

As I have reviewed my year, I realize that I have not been very productive. I am grateful for the participation in The Printed Fabric Bee. I did something every month and it was fun and challenging. I also noticed that my blogging waned as my creativity waned. I plan to do something about that. I am going to try to blog something every day.

I have a solo show coming up in May so I have to get cracking on those pieces. I need to work on getting my studio better organized.

Stay tuned, as I try to rediscover my inner artist.

Happy New Year to all of you. Wishing you creativity in the new year.

Posted in Holidays, This and that | Comments Off on Ch-ch-changes

Checking In Before Checking Out

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

Can’t believe that tomorrow is Christmas eve. I am rather organized this year, trying to keep things simple. It is easier here in The Congdo. Not much entertaining going on or decorating. We didn’t have room for a Christmas tree so I have divested myself of all the ornaments and tree skirt. Instead, we have this lovely bare limbed tree which is covered with little lights. We also have two smaller ones on the buffet with some of my creches.

Up at the top is a beautiful felted scarf gifted to me by one of the SDA reps that I work with. Ellen is the rep for Connecticut and is a new Rep. She puts together really newsy e-mails for the CT members which I format in Constant Contact and send out for her. She gave the scarf to me for my help this year. It was not necessary, but I sure do love it. She said when she saw a photo of me with my red hair, she knew that this one had been made for me.

Today, I made peppermint stick ice cream to go with Christmas cookies for Christmas eve. The Portland peeps will come over for supper and gift opening with us. We are going to have Dungeness crab and salad and bread. Very simple. On Christmas morning, Mr C and I are leaving on a jet plane to spend a week in San Francisco with the California contingent of the family. I was excited to see this weather forecast.

While walking Scooter in the neighborhood yesterday, I found a new store that sells beads and a large variety of wood printing blocks in different sizes. That was exciting.

Wishing you all a lovely holiday with your favorite peeps. I will probably check in from San Francisco with some Paige cuteness.

Posted in Holidays, My neighborhood, Surface Design Association, This and that | 1 Comment »

Crazy Busy and Shooting Quilts

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Today, I did something I have not done before, I had two quilts professionally photographed. All I can say is, I should have done it long ago. My problem is, I rarely have work done early enough to get it photographed before I need to enter it so I had my own set up. Now, I don’t have the space to do it myself so I am going to have to get my act together. Here are detail shots of Taking Leaf of My Seasons.

Looks so good. Here is Flying Through Sky Blue Pink.

Details:

A better camera and knowing how to set it makes a big difference. I get it now.

I have been incredibly busy. SDA is having an important and huge fundraiser. The organization may have to disband if we don’t get an infusion of cash by the end of the year. It has added a great deal to my work load. If you read this blog and are an SDA member, I would appreciate it if you could make a pledge. The money does not have to be paid until next hear and can be spread out in payments. Click here to check it out.

Then, to add to the craziness – it is December! Managed to get cards out, finished shopping, shipped some packages, attended to Christmas concerts and several holiday festivities. And this lovely girl turned 15, yesterday. We met the family for Thai street food, one of Mia’s favorites, followed by cheesecake back at their house.

At Miles’ school they get to chose a short class for the last week before they are off for the holidays. He chose metal working and one of the things he has made is this unicorn. Isn’t it fantastic?

So, today, I finally had some breathing room and did some more sewing on the two kid quilts which are not going to get done by Christmas. Tomorrow, I am getting a much needed haircut and hope to work on the kid quilts.

The Barnes family is coming over for Christmas eve; I am keeping it simple – fresh dungeness crab, salad, sourdough bread, Christmas cookies and homemade peppermint candy ice cream. On Christmas morning, we are heading to California to see the rest of the family. I love this photo that Jayme’s mom e-mailed me.

There is a new store down on NW 23rd called Arcteryx. They sell high end outdoor wear. We were in there with Scooter and they took his photo for their Instagram site, Barcteryx. He was the first dog photographed. Now, when we go in, they say “It’s Scooter!”

I hope to be back in the next week, really!

Posted in Family, Holidays, M & M, My creations, photography | 2 Comments »

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