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Archive for the ‘House and home stuff’ Category

You’ve Gotta Have Heart

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

I am slogging through life. I can’t seem to get my energy back. I think I might have a sinus infection. I did manage to get down to the studio and do some class samples for the fabric valentine collage class that I am teaching at the end of the month at the cathedral. I don’t really like to teach, but they wanted me to do something to tie in with my show.

To warm up, I played with some Angelina fibers and some cute flowers that I found at Michael’s.

angelinaflowers

I cut a piece which I glued to white organza using this fantastic valentine glitter glue.

valentineglue

I stamped some hearts on a blank card.

stampedhearts

I collaged some of the Angelina fibers and other Valentine ephemera and stamped and glittered, etc. I call this the Glitzy Valentine.

valentineglitzycollage

Here is a detail:

glitzdetail

Here is a more sedate Valentine postcard with vintage Japanese textiles and hand stitching.

kyotohearts

And this is my favorite that I call my Mod Valentine collage –

modvalentinecollage

This is hand stitched and mounted on velum Bristol board with gel medium.

moddetail

It sort of felt good to get back in the studio, but now I am feeling blah again. I did get to the paint store to select paint colors for my office. Mr C is done with the dry wall. We are going to paint the red brick fireplace and the wainscoting a lighter color and I selected a pretty green for the walls. He got the fireplace primed this afternoon.

Today is my darling Lisa’s birthday. I am so happy that she has a wonderful new lady friend in her life who is treating her very well today. Happy birthday, sweetie! I remember on the day she was born, it warmed up to 20° in Schenectady, NY. It had been 15 below for days.

I am off to make a salad for dinner. Mr C is picking up cracked crab and sour dough bread.

Seeing Red

Monday, December 29th, 2008

I am seeing red, but not because Lisa and I made a typo in my postcard (caught by my new editor, Dale Ann :}). We were able to catch it before it was printed and do an edit! Whew!

I am seeing red, but not because of the weather. It is in the 40s; the snow is a distant memory; we had rain with beautiful sunbreaks, today.

I am seeing red because Mr C and I bought this yesterday, and it was delivered today. Are we crazy?

redleathersofa

It is an Italian red leather sofa, now in Mr Cs office. He was tired of the ratty old thing that was once here. He started looking online and then went out to check some at Macy’s on Saturday while Lisa and I were shopping with Miss Mia. Yesterday, he asked me to come and look at one that he liked — it was black leather. I nixed it, and then steered him toward a taupe fabric piece. While he was talking to the salesman, I wandered off into the clearance section and found this lovely. It is the same sofa as he had seen in black. He was smitten, too. They are discontinuing the red so we got it half price!! Look how nicely it goes with the rug.

redsofarug

Lisa left this morning. I am going to miss having her around, but maybe I can get back to work. Today, I printed some images on fabric which will be part of a collage.

I thought I would post one of our Christmas presents. Steph and Mav had some of their diptychs, from the blog and book, printed and framed. We purchased the one on the left and she gifted us with the one on the right. Don’t they look great in my kitchen.

twodiptychs

This and That

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Where did Monday go? I did the washout on my remaining fabric from the workshop. I hobbled around the house and the neighborhood like an invalid. (More later) I spiffed up the house, went shopping and put together some appetizers for later. By 3 pm, I had to shower and get ready to greet our friends from Schenectady, where we used to live. They were visiting Bill’s sister in Beaverton and he and his wife, Joy, came by to spend the late afternoon and evening with them. We gave them a tour of the Rhodie garden, which they proclaimed as the best back yard they had ever seen! We came back to the house for drinks and snacks before walking over to Reed College for a picnic on the lawn and a concert of all Schubert music — it was divine. Throughout this, the tile guy laid the bathroom floor; it looks great – photos later. And, we discovered that Maggie had a very swollen cheek:

Now, on to the good stuff. Here is the cotton piece that I stamped the potato dextrin with a net and a plastic grid and over-painted with dark turquoise. You can click the detail to see the wonderful. subtle  netting.

Next, is the yellow/green silk scarf that needed help. I used combed potato dextrin and over-painted with dark turquoise dye.

This piece was pfd cotton. I  screenprinted corn dextrin using a thermofax of a hand drawn circle and stamped with bubblewrap. I rolled on chocolate brown dye.

This is silk organza that was stamped with chocolate brown dye (no resist) using a round sponge. I then squiggled it with black dye.

This habotai silk was painted with dye in the primary colors and generously squiggled with black dye (I have to learn how to control that syringe!).

The last piece is silk organza, painted with left over dyes that I  mixed. It was the last piece and I did not want to mix up more dye.


I just love doing this thickened dye work. I have plans for some more good stuff!!

Back to the goings on here at home. It seems that I have piriformis syndrome causing sciatica pain in my left hip. I couldn’t get physical therapy until July 22 and I am going to be at the Coupeville Art Center  then. So, I did an internet search and found some exercises and other things to do for this. It seems that women who walk or run a lot are more prone to this. I am doing the exercises and icing and I am feeling better. It is worse in the middle of the night when I need to get up or when I have been sitting for some time. Lots of ibuprofen, too.

Maggie went to see her Doctor this morning and she had to have 2 abscessed  teeth removed. She will be out of it for awhile and eating soft foods, but hopefully, she returns to her normal joyful self. I gotta run; I have a communications committee meeting at the cathedral.


What is Bubbling in the Front Yard?

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Mr C is making great progress with our bubbling fountain for the front yard, adjacent to the garage. Mark helped us buy the pots when he was here last month. the black plastic will get cut back. There will be larger rocks surrounding the pots. The water will filter and become clearer. Here is a close-up

While I was out in the front yard, I saw a big fat bumble bee getting nectar from these flowers, but the bee would not stay still long enough for me, but I did get a nice close up of the flowers, which also attract hummingbirds.

Annie and her dad, our next door neighbors, came by to check out the fountain. I had to get a photo of her shoes and socks — tres cool!

I managed to send some goodies off to Kristin and Diane, today. I also sent in my entry for the APQN show in August. Some snow and cold weather is forecast for the next few days. Will spring ever come to stay?

This and That

Friday, March 7th, 2008

The Kimono Collage is getting there. I finished the circle layer and am now playing with the red lines. I need to do some more work on this.

kimoncollagewithred.jpg

This afternoon, Mr C and I went shopping. First, we checked out some bathroom sinks and cabinets at a couple of showrooms. I am liking this simple look.

31xhyg7yqpl_aa280_.jpg

Or something like this:

111817.jpg

We then did some clothes shopping, and we each got some cool stuff for the changing seasons. I love Eileen Fisher clothes as they are very forgiving to the aging body. I was able to select some items in smaller sizes that fit a bit snug, but that will fit for a while as I continue to lose the lbs.

Then it was off to the reception for Lisa’s mixed media show. I took my camera, but did I take any photos? No! We brought M & M home with us. After they got into their jammies, they had some ice cream and a bed time story.

redjammies.jpg

miloicecream.jpg

Miles now wears glasses for reading. I will try to get a photo of him tomorrow. They are blue wire rims, from France. He looks so darn cute.