Quilting Friends | Crazy for Fiber

November 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

Archive for the ‘Quilting Friends’ Category

A Good Day

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

The cruciform piece is finished except for the edges. I am thinking of framing it so I am holding off on the final edge finish until I see if that is feasible.

I started adding some beads to the Undulations piece. I found some very organic beads that would integrate well with the piece and not really stand out. However, now that I look at the charcoal beads, I don’t like them so they are coming off and I am going to stick with the dusty pink ones.

Today was a good day because I finally got to hang out with my STASH friends (Second Thursday at Someone’s House). I have missed at least 3 meetings because of my crazy life. I made 3 delicious salads for lunch and some almond bread. It is a non-gluten bread with almond flour, eggs and a bit of honey. It is very dense and moist, but was enjoyed by all. For dessert, I made parfaits in wine glasses, layering fresh berries with Balsamic syrup and culture coconut milk. It was an experiment and very good.

I received this thank you post card in the mail today.

It is from one of the young fiber artists here in Portland who needed some help funding a residency. I contributed to her Indie request. The postcard is embedded with clover and poppy seeds so it can be planted. I have some room in the center of one of my raised beds behind he house so I am going to plant it there. I’ll let you know how it does. If you click on the photo, you can see the little seed bumps.

When I was shopping yesterday, I saw these lilacs in the flower shop. I brought them home and our home is filled with their aroma. It brings back such good memories of my childhood and the lilac bushes that always signified the coming of summer.

I have some busy days coming up as I finish my own work for the Artists Among Us exhibit. I got a good start on name badges tonight. Next, I have to print labels and bar code stickers for all the art. Monday is check in day. The producer of the Quilt Show.com called me today and wanted me to do a segment for the show on my stitching and shrinking project, but they are filming next week-end when Quilt Market is in town and I am too busy to fit into their schedule. They are going to keep me in mind for future shows. She was interested in my 3×3 project, too. Interesting fact, the producer lives here in the Portland area, and she is not a quilter.

Posted in Cooking and Recipes, My creations, Quilting Friends | 1 Comment »

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

The sun is certainly shining, and I am attempting to keep moving through my daily to do list. I had two great days with friends. Something I have not been able to do in a while. It was wonderful! I felt rejuvenated.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Del Thomas and Terry and her daughter. Terry made a delicious salad and had rice crackers for me and tangerines for dessert. It was perfect. Del brought some small pieces of work from her collection and I really loved seeing the beautiful textile art. I had to rush off because I was scheduled for an SDA Conference Staff conference call. I didn’t get home in time so I had to pull off into a parking lot and call in from my cell.

Today, I started a new piece. I am starting with those little cruciform blocks. I have some dye-painted silk that I made in a workshop two or three years ago. I decided to Mistyfuse it and play around with some fused segments. I like what is happening.

We are have such luscious weather. It is like July in May. Scooter is too hot so he is going in for a haircut tomorrow. I took an hour this afternoon to run to the nursery to get some more plants — veggies, herbs and some flowers. Tomorrow, before it gets too hot, I will get out and do my planting.

I will leave you with this pretty photo I took at the Rhodie Garden this morning.

Posted in Fusing, My neighborhood, Quilting Friends, The Farm | 3 Comments »

The Visitor from Down Under

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

Brenda Gael Smith, one of our Twelves from Australia, was here in Portland for a quick visit with Terry Grant and I. Terry picked her up at the train station. She had been in Seattle visiting friends. We all met up at a fun restaurant and had dinner. This morning, Terry brought Brenda over to my house. We spent the morning looking at quilts and just talking about the Twelve project. We are going to show the 20×12 quilts here in Portland at Quilt Expo in September.

We then went in search of a food truck pod so that Brenda could have that quintessential Portland experience. After enjoying some Mexican fare, we went off to Powell’s book store, another necessary experience. The photo up there of the three of us was taken there in front of one copy of our book that we found on the shelf. I snapped this photo of myself with the book.

Next, we stopped in at Josephine’s Dry Goods, a wonderful, upscale fabric store. No money spent there. Around the corner is The Playful Needle, a great place to pick up embroidery type thread for hand stitching.

I did spend money here.

And these that I think will work with my current project.

Here is a detail of the stitching I have done so far.

Terry dropped me off at Whole Foods where Mr C met me and she took Brenda to the train station for the next leg of her journey, visiting friends in the Tri=cities area of Washington before she flies home at the end of the week.

It was a lovely day and a nice day away from the computer and my current work load.

Tomorrow, I am heading over to Terry’s house for lunch with our friend, Del Thomas, who is passing through town on her way home from a workshop on Whidby Island. She is bringing some new art quilt acquisitions to show us.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, handstitching, Quilting Friends, Quilting Purchases | 1 Comment »

Like Butter

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Here is a snippet of the big quilt I am making. I started the quilting. I am doing simple diagonal lines of stitching. I am using Superior’s Kimono silk thread and it looks gorgeous – quilts like butter

I have six color and am doing a few rows of stitching and then change color. I like the effect. I usually use variegated thread which add another element/layer of design, but I think the solid colors are better on this quilt.

I am using a batik that I got on sale for the back. It is a rather in your face piece of fabric which is why I think it was on the sale table. Here it is, fused to the back.

Here is a detail:

I managed to get in a drawing tonight and some stitching on the 3 x 3’s. I grabbed a wilted tulip from my patio garden. I can see that I should have blended the yellow an orange better.

It was a nice day. I had lunch with my friend and sort of neighbor, Reva. We haven’t had face time in quite a while so we really yacked and caught up. We had lunch at a Paleo restaurant, Dick’s kitchen. I had a venison burger – no bun – and salad. It was very tasty.

Posted in Eating out, Machine Quilting, quilting designs, Quilting Friends, Sketch Every Day | 2 Comments »

This and That

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Have you heard that Google Reader is going away? I know some people have been bemoaning the fact. I have started using Feedly and I really like it. The iPad and iPhone apps are really great, too – better than Flipbook.

It has been a crazy couple of days. I had SAQA meeting here yesterday. That meant some spiffing up time by Mr C and I. Not to mention getting seating set up for about 20 people and making 3 pots of coffee. We had a good meeting. One of our members gave some great information about thread. I learned some things.

Today, I went in for my quarterly blood work and wow, are my numbers down. I am not sure how low my cholesterol should go, but it is now 127! Mr C says I should start eating eggs!

Tonight, I went to see an exhibit of art quilts by a group of 5 women I know. They also showed the documentary, “Stitched,” which was a lot of fun to watch since I know a lot of the featured people.

I completed stitching another row of 3 x3s. I have 3 rows done, so far.