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Archive for the ‘SAQA’ Category

Nostalgia

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

This is an aerial view of the farm in upstate New York where I grew up. A highschool friend sent it to me last year. It was in one of those Christmas photo cards — very retro. Based on how the house looks, I think it was probably taken in the late 50s or early 60s. She found it amongst here fathers things, after he passed away. I scanned it and uploaded it to Photoshop and zoomed in and — whoa— there was my father standing there. Almost in the center of the photo is a gas tank that was used for filling the tractors and truck and the family car. He is standing right there.

I uploaded this because I want to make a quilt of the family homestead. I have done a couple of sketches in my class with Elizabeth Barton. I think it tugged on some buried brain cells. The night after I was looking at the photo and reminiscing, I had a dream and I was walking through the house and I remembered almost every detail of each room.

We had a very successful SAQA meeting today. I think we had about 12 people here and we had some great conversation about entering shows, photography and critiquing. We have decided to meet monthly.

I spent a lot of time, after the meeting, reading my second week lesson for the class and doing some more sketching.

For today’s 3 X 3, I decided that I wanted to do some foiling on red silk. I didn’t have a thermofax screen small enough so I made one. Here is today’s piece.

We got a lot of snow last night, but by this morning, it had turned to slush. And by the time I took Scooter for a walk, after the meeting, this was all that was left in our neighborhood.

 

 

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Today, we have a pieced 3 X 3. I love finding scraps of fabric with red.

So, I am exhausted. I pretty much have my studio and office ready for getting down to making larger work than 3 inches square!! Mr C and I cleaned the living level this morning. Two people can get a lot done in less time.

I am having a Portland SAQA meeting here tomorrow —thus, the frenzy of activity. I made some delicious apple oatmeal scones.

I also hung the latest two SAQA auction quilts and rearranged them. They look great in our living room.

 

Here is another Twelve gift to share with you. This one was made by Terry. I love bees and bee imagery so this is a delight to have in my collection.

It’s In The Bag

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Oregon SAQA has specific requirements for the bag that holds our quilt when it is traveling in a SAQA show. It must be a muslin bag (no prints or plastic wrappings), with a velcro closure and no ties. It must have a plastic zip lock bag sewn to the outside and a label in the baggie which has a photo of the quilt and name, address, measurements, etc.)

I am delivering the quilt next week so I decided to get mine done today as I have some busy days ahead. I made the muslin bag a few inches longer than the quilt when it is rolled on a swim noodle and big enough in circumference so that the quilt will slip inside and out, easily.

I made French seams to prevent raveling when it is in use.

I stitched velcro to the open ends.

 

I should remember to stitch the plasic bag to the outside before I sew the seams as it is difficult enough to stitch on plastic as it is.

The curators do not like ties around the quilt so I fashioned some velcro closures to keep mine in place when it is rolled around the swim noodle.

Here it is holding the quilt around the noodle.

So, I am happy to have this done and ready to deliver.

I found this great little gizmo on Etsy when I was surfing for Christmas gifts. The Nikon camera I have, does not have a strap for the lens cover and so I am always misplacing it. This little gizmo  holds it when not on the camera and attaches to the camera strap. It is made from leather.

 

Elder Sentinels

Thursday, September 29th, 2011


I have had a desire to make a piece about old growth forests. My last attempt was not very successful. I love the mystery of them. The trees stand like sentinels, watching over the  landscape they inhabit.

I used 3 photos that I have taken in forests of the Northwest. I played with them in photoshop and then printed them on silk with my large Epson printer. I had this amazing, earthy hand dyed fabric that I have been saving for this piece.

This is the enter photo that I manipulated in Photoshop and printed on silk.

These are the other photos that I printed in triplicate for the side panels.

This piece is a departure from what I normally do, and I am not over the moon about it, but it is not too bad, I think. Here is a detail:

On another note, my second cataract surgery was uneventful. I opted not to have any sedation and was very relaxed through the whole procedure. It was nice to come home and not be blotto. I was able to drive the car and pick up some groceries and drop the CD for the show at the FedEx store. I have mild pain in the eye tonight, but I am seeing quite well. I don’t need my cheater glasses for most things – like working on the computer.

I must stop and pay attention to Project Runway, now.

Oregon Old Growth Trees

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

For the Oregon SAQA State of Diversity juried show, I am attempting to do a quilt about old growth trees. This is a photo that I took and printed on silk – it is about 13″ X 18 “.  I cut it into 4 pieces and mounted each piece on green fabric.

I also have these smaller closeups of trees that and printed them in triplicate.

This is the background fabric:

I am doing a balanced symmetrical layout with some tree trunks framing each side. I am using this fabric for the tree trunks.

It didn’t quite blend in with the other fabric and photos so I went at it with some black and green paint.

This really isn’t a very good photo of the end result.

I got the layout done and started quilting it tonight. The quilting is bringing the piece together. I am feeling better about it than I was this afternoon.

I need to get this finished and photograph it tomorrow so that I can overnight it to arrive on Friday. I am always working up to the last minute.