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Archive for the ‘Quilting Friends’ Category

More from the Archeological Dig

Thursday, November 14th, 2013

postcardshelf

Part of the clean and purge is coming in contact with things that have been around you for so long that you forgot how special they are. One of the nice things about this office is the wainscoting with a little shelf on top. I have had all my mini fiber art pieces displayed there. I started picking them up and putting them in a box to go with me to the new studio. I can remember who made each one without looking on the back. These two are by Kristin La Flamme and Connie Rose.

I found this drawing of Lisa’s long gone rescue dog, Megan. I was taking a class with Lura Schwarz Smith and I was going to make an art quilt for her with Megan’s image. I think I did just her head. I will probably find it when I get to the studio next week.

megandogdrawing

I had a big pile of yarn. Most of it was put in a bag to donate to the Prayer Shawl ladies at Trinity. I saved this variegated yard. Love the colors in all of these.

variegatedyarnleftovers

I also boxed up all my magazines. I will offer these for sale at my studio sale and the leftovers will go to the Guild Silent Auction.

quiltzines

I thought I would share some of the other journal I found. The first page says: Journal of Visual Observations. It was started in October when we lived in Wilmington, NC – I don’t know what year or why I started this. I was active in the local art museum as a docent and took art classes there. Anyway, I was amused by what I wrote.

At the beach, ocean colors change from dark  blue green to a pale, pale blue green as the waves hit shore, Sky is deep blue that becomes softened near the horizon. Clouds on the horizon at first seem to be hues of gray and white but then become shades of purple and mauve.

The sand character is determined by several qualities – the water content – wetter sand is darker and very smooth. At the shoreline as the waves meet the sand, there is an ever changing effervescent quality – bubbles and water splashing, flashes of light, stones and shells pushed to a new location.

Sailboats are beautiful to us because of the graceful lines of the sales and the hull contrasted with the vertical lines of the mast and ropes.

Walking the dog on my street, I notice the man-made clutter that punctuates nature. Paint spill on the leaves of a shrub. Trash, a yellow paint line and red flags left by NCNG, Although unappealing, the artist can use this jarring juxtaposition as an attention grabber or to make a point. Art is not always beautiful.

Dawn – dark shadows change to splashes of sun light. Followed by dapled sunlight and then full sun. Sun is sometimes bright red whe it’s hazy. This week it is bright yellow.

6pm- Sun is setting. Airlie road is in shade. Sun is still shining across the waterway on the beach community. The light is beautiful reflecting off the beach cottages and water. “Glisten” After dark, lights are reflected in the water – reds, oranges, greens. Water was still – reflections were slightly rippled. A boat is passing by causing the reflections to fracture and become distorted.

There are a few more entries. Each entry became shorter. I obviously do not have the attention span to keep up with something like this, and, yet, I am a pretty faithful blogger. Guess I just need an audience!!

I will be taking a day off from sort and purge tomorrow. Mr C and I are driving down to Eugene for the Episcopal Diocese convention. I am manning the Trinity Arts table with the prospectus and entry form for our juried show in May.

A Fun Day with the Brilliant Daughters

Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

StJohnsBridge

Lisa wanted to go on a day trip to some place she had never visited so we picked up Steph this morning and drove west to the charming town of Astoria where we enjoyed the ambiance of the shops and a great meal along with many cruise ship adventurers. I have never seen Astoria so bustling with activity.

That is the beautiful St. John’s bridge which we passed as we drove west. It is such a pretty bridge. We had lunch at the Astoria Coffee House and Bistro — I had great fish tacos. The place has some really interesting decor. A shelf up near the ceiling had globes lining the whole room.

bistroglobes

I loved these whimsical folk art animal heads.

animalheads

After lunch we wandered into shops and managed not to spend any money, but enjoyed looking. A vintage hardware store was especially interesting.

vintagehardware2

vintagehardware

This sign tickled me.

shutThen we wandered down to the edge of The Mighty Columbia where Lewis and Clark ended their trek west.

themightyclumbia

columbiaclouds

It was so much fun spending the day with the girls and having great conversation. I am so lucky to have them both.

While we were there, I got a text from my friend Judy. She had already received the package that I sent yesterday. FedEx is fast. So she texted me photos as she opened it. So, now I can share the other chemo wrap that I made for her. It is actually called a Chemo Bandana. I used hand-dyed fabric and some really soft flannel.

chemobandana

Here I am modeling it.

chemohatmodelTomorrow, we have appointments to look at condos in three different areas of Portland so that we can begin to decide if that is the route we want to take.

Recap of the Last 3 Days

Saturday, September 14th, 2013

BundlefromJane

My three days with Jane Dunnewold were fantastic. She left this little bundle of luscious complex cloth bits as a thank you.

janelucious

On Wednesday, she gave a lecture to my guild on Making and Meaning. Jane is such a thoughtful and caring person as well as being an artist. I think she touched many people with her admonition to keep making, stay centered and find joy in your work. On Wednesday night, we had an SDA dinner out with Marci Rae McDade, the SDA journal editor and Amanda Melbostad, our area rep.

On Thursday and Friday, 20 of us had a workshop with Jane on Making Art, Strategies for Transformation. We alternated between arty exercises and writing exercises.  It was very intense and emotional for many of the participants. Tears were shed and secrets revealed as we shared our artistic journey and quests.

On Thursday, we dumped funky supplies on a big table to share. Our task was to create a container for our artist. I grabbed these supplies to start.

artistcontainersupplies

The copper scouring pad became the basis for my container. I began by collaging the insides with bits of ephemera abd adding sparkly purple yarn. Then, we stopped for lunch. I came back to the table and felt uncomfortable with my container. I needed it to be more comfortable and organized.

artistcontainer

I lined it with soothing fabric and made little parts out of beads and sequin waste.

artistcontainersideview

Here are some of the other containers:

artistcontainers

It became very clear, as we discussed our containers that they revealed a lot about our selves. I realized that my chaotic container did not work because of the decisions Mr C and I are currently making about changing our living arrangement and I needed an orderly container to put my mind at rest.

On Friday, we did more writing about our work: history, process, content, things we love to do, things we are good at, if we were to be the optimum artist that exists in our mind, what would our work look like.

We also took some time to make marks with india ink and brushed on paper. It was amazing to look around the room and see the difference in the personal marks.

markmaingSept2013

As I said earlier, it was emotional and tears were shed as we faced our fears.

I took Jane to Ann Johnston‘s home for her last night. I had fun seeing her gorgeous studio and newest work which will debut at the Baylor University Art Center in October. You can visit her site and order her new dvd, Color by Accident.

Today, I spent most of the day reformatting and updating my artist statement and resume for High Fiber Diet. It is supposed to be only 2 pages, but I am well over that. Some things will have to go, I guess.

An Exciting Day

Monday, September 9th, 2013

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This morning, I found a message on my Face Book page from Vivika DeNegre, editor of Quilting Arts. It had two photos, the one above and this one:

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That is my Hugs and Kisses (XXOO) quilt on the cover of the next issue. Way back when, I  was asked to send my quilt to Quilting Arts for an article about the new Dinner@8 exhibit, An Exquisite Moment. They would then ship it to California for the Long Beach show.

About a month ago, the phone rang and I saw Vivika’s name in the caller ID and my heart went pitty pat. She called to tell me that the quilt would be on the cover and said some really nice things abut it. But, I couldn’t say anything until now. I am very excited as I have never been a cover girl before!!

The other piece of news is about a new group that I was invited to join, The Printed Fabric Bee. We are going to be a FaceBook group and reveal our projects on our public page.

The Printed Fabric BeeThe Printed Fabric Bee is a collaboration of 10 professional textiles artists printing fabric collections for each other. Each month a member of the group chooses a theme, making her the Queen, and the members of the Hive create a piece of fabric based on her choices. In the end, each member will have a collection of custom made fabric made by all the members of the Hive. Here are the other members and links to their websites.

Lynn Krawczyk
Julie B. Booth
Leslie Riley
Carol R. Eaton
Jackie Lams
Lisa Chin
Susan Purney Mark
Lynda Heines
Pokey Bolton

I hope you will visit our FB page and like us and follow along. Lynn is the first Queen and she wants orange circle.

The other exciting thing for today is that Lisa finally got a link to photos from the wedding. I can’t show any with them in it yet, but here is one of Mr C and I which I quite like.

Screen shot 2013-09-09 at 9.40.33 AM

OK, as if this were not enough excitement, tomorrow afternoon, I am picking up Jane Dunnewold at the airport and get to spend a few days with her. She is giving a lecture at my guild on Wednesday and teaching a workshop on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday night, we have our local SDA meeting with her. She is the current president of the board.

So, if you don’t hear from me for a while, you know why!

And Then the Lights Went Out

Sunday, August 25th, 2013

sumptuousindigoorganza

I had a fairly productive day yesterday. I took some photos to share and was ready to blog about my progress after dinner. In the middle of dinner prep, the lights went out. This is a rare occurrence. We have lived here for more than 7 years and we have had very few power interrupts. Apparently, a tree was down in the neighborhood. First it was to be back at 9 and then 11. We finally went to bed at 10:30. I think it came back on at 1:30 this morning.

Anyway, I went back to stitching the organza to the wool pre-felt. It has such a luxurious tactility. I just love touching it. This is why I work in textiles.

stitchingbluemoon

I think I can finish stitching it today and do the shrinking. The Barnes’ are coming over for pizza so I may not get totally done.

I also made a quick trip to Mill Ends to get some yarn to make a chemo hat for my friend Judy who starts chemo this week for breast cancer. She is so upbeat and positive about this whole experience — she makes me smile when I want to cry about it. I promised her a chartreuse hat and I found this yummy mohair:

chartreusemohair

But, in the end, she is such a colorful person, I had to go with this:

judyhatyarn

It is really soft. I think it will look great. I was going to start knitting last night, but that didn’t happen!!

While I was at Mill Ends, I saw this colorful burlap. Have been wondering what I could do with some of this.

colorfulburlap