Month: June 2007 | Crazy for Fiber

June 2007
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Archive for June, 2007

Discharge Workshop Day One

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

It was a beautiful day in Portland today. Here is Reva at work in the fiber studio at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts.

This is my first piece, discharged with some syringe writing and stamping with some circles.

It was a spectacular day for drying the discharged pieces.

We did discharging with a paste made of sodium alginate, thiox and soda ash. You can stamp, paint, screenprint, etc. The fabric is allowed to dry and then steam is applied with an iron or steaming in a big pot. You do not need a respirator until heat is applied to the paste. Here is Reva looking quite elegant in her’s.

Here is a piece that I did with the skinny masking tape. I taped a design on the fabric and then brayered the paste over it. You have to wait until tomorrow to see the result.

This is a screen that I prepared using torn masking tape. I did two pieces using this. One of them was a weird brown fabric that I had dyed ages ago. The discharged areas turned purple and it is really cool.

I did several other pieces, but no photos. After the steaming, they went into the wash. So, we will have the final reveal tomorrow. I love the camaraderie of a class like this. I am always so productive when I am in a group setting.

Lisa arrived safe and sound. It is so good to have her in the house. We took Maggie for a half hour power walk when I got home. Tonight, she took us out to dinner for a belated Mom and Pop’s day treat. I saved some Weight Watcher points for the dinner so that I could have wine. I ate no bread or dessert. I had a gorgeous mista salad and lamb and fava beans. We went to Nostrana, a happening and fairly new Italian restaurant. We have never been there and we will go back. It was good!

Posted in Discharging fabric, Eating out, Family, Quilting Friends, Surface Design Techniques, workshop | 6 Comments »

Good Things

Friday, June 29th, 2007

Things are looking up around here. I have several good things to report. First, my energy is coming back. I can put in a full day on my feet doing errands, cooking a meal, working in the studio, and I am not hitting the wall at 7 pm. I have managed to rack up 12 -13,000 steps in the last few days.

Secondly, my sinus allergies are sort of under control. I am being very good about following the regime prescribed by the hunky doctor.

Third, Lisa is coming tomorrow to spend a week in Portland. I get her to myself for a few days as Steph and family won’t be home until late on the 4th of July. We have some fun things planned.

Fourth, I am taking a thickened discharge class at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts for the next two days. Reva is taking the class, too. (Thickened discharge sounds like a severe sinus problem- yuck!!)

Here is my stack of fabric for the class:

I had some dye in the fridge that was left over from dyeing silk scarves last month so I overdyed some less than attractive fabric. Some of it was successful; some of it just proved to me that I need to toss it or just use it on the backs of quilts.

Here is the overdyed silk; this was the most successful. I should have taken before photos.

These are the overdyed cottons:

This is the largest piece that I did. It was a wimpy blue that had lots of white in it. I really like how it turned out.

I have managed to survive my fist two days on Weight Watchers. I am doing the Core plan which means that I have a list of food that I can eat as much as I want until comfortably full. I have 35 points for the week for goodies that are not on the list, like wine, bread, etc. At the end of day two, I still have 33 points. You can earn points through exercise. I have felt hungry and tell myself that this is a good thing, too.

Judy asked if anyone has hydrangeas blooming. I do, but they are not spectacular like many that I see in the neighborhood. I think they need more sun. We moved one to the back yard and it is really slow coming back. It used to be so pretty in the front yard, but didn’t go with the new landscaping. Anyway, here is my Hydrangea and a couple of closeups, which I think are quite spectacular. The thumbnails are clickable for larger views.

I’ll try to remember my camera tomorrow and post some pictures from class of Reva and I in our fashionable respirators!

Posted in Dyeing, Family, Flowers and plants, My creations, Surface Design Techniques | 6 Comments »

Bon Voyage

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

M and M and their parents are leaving on a jet plane in the morning — off to visit the other grandparents in North Carolina. Mia told me that it is hot there – really hot. I told her that I knew this to be true from personal experience.

This morning, I turned my self in to Weight Watchers. I get a really good deal through Kaiser Permanente so thought I would give it 12 weeks. I am saying this out loud to all of you as I need your support. I am not going to tell you how much I weigh, but I will report my weekly loss or gain, right here for you all to see. We also get a free health club membership, so that is next on my list to do.

I came home, had lunch and headed to Westmoreland for a hair cut. Hi, Tonya!! I ran into Tonya, the daughter of the owner, who looked at me as if she knew me and she did — at least the blog me. Turns out she is one of those crafty young women who follow my daughters’ blogs and so checks in on me occasionally.

I offered to help Steph get ready for her trip by entertaining M & M this afternoon and making dinner. She dropped them off mid-afternoon. Miles hung out with Grandpa while Mia and I went to the farmer’s market and the grocery store to shop for dinner.

Here are our baked goods: apricot tart, mini chocolate bundt cake, two kinds of bread.

Mia selected the veggies: green beans and carrots.

This lettuce was so fresh and lovely – 3 heads for $3.

Mia couldn’t wait to chomp on the carrots. She ate four, before dinner.

For dinner we had, linguine with shrimp, arugula and lemon oil, green beans, fruit salad with raspberries and blueberries from the farmer’s market, and bread and dessert from the farmer’s market. Yummm!

Thank you all for the good wishes for surviving my latest allergy attack. I am still suffering from vertigo in the morning. By later in the day, I feel much better.

Posted in Cooking and Recipes, Family, M & M, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Karesansui

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

This is finished. I am calling it Karesansui which is Japanese for a dry rock garden. I originally called it Pathways, but since it is going into the Wabi Sabi Japanese garden show, I thought I would give it a Japanese name.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

This piece has some discharging and screen printing done with the same linear screen design. I also discharged some circles. The other section is circles of vintage Japanese fabrics with an overlay of metallic silk organza which has been stitched and cut away to form a pattern. The other fabric is a commercial batik.

This is one of those pieces that I have been working on for a long time. I sort of started it in a class with Charlotte Yde at Art Quilt Tahoe back in November. It has changed quite a bit. I find that the longer it takes me to finish a piece, the less happy I am with it. I’m not sure why.

I checked this site and found out that the pollen count here in Oregon is the highest in the nation. The rest of the country is green, and there is a big orange circle over us. So I guess that is why I had this major sinus attack. I am feeling a bit better, but I am here to tell you, this is one nasty ordeal.

Posted in My creations, Surface Design Techniques | 6 Comments »

Monday Musings

Monday, June 25th, 2007

I am so jinxed! On Friday, I told Terry and June that I was over my sinus/allergy problems for the season. Ha! I awoke on Sunday with a major attack. I had vertigo so bad that I had to leave church early and come home and take to my bed. With the help of some Sudafed and Aleve, I muddled through the day. I called the Dr’s office this morning because I still had a serious case of vertigo and a raging head-ache. I spent 2 hours there and saw a really cute resident. He convinced me that I need to work on a more holistic way of handling my allergies, and so I am now doing the saline rinses 2 or 3 times a day and using a steroid as well as Afrin inhalers. I do feel better tonight.

I really did have a great Saturday, and I am trying to think what triggered the attack. It was Eastmoreland Garage Sale day. The Barnes’ family arrived early to head out and look for bargains. We followed a little later with Maggie in tow. We never did catch up with them. I found some great books and toys for M & M. I had promised Mia that I would look for some Nancy Drew books and I found a few. She is currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia.

I found some beautiful vintage napkins; one set is beige linen. I found an interesting cheese slicer which I intend to use for printing fabric with soy wax for batiking. I want to do some rubbings on fabric with the brass Asian symbol.

We came home at lunch time and found the rest of the family here doing the same thing. Steph and Jack wanted to go back out and shop some more so we hung out with M & M. Mia found these great lime green sparkly shoes: