Month: June 2008 | Crazy for Fiber

June 2008
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 June, 2008

Not Finished, Yet!

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

(Forgot to mention that my Indigo Construction quilt was juried into APNQ, which will be held in August!!)

I have taken your comments to heart and I really appreciate all the comments you have shared with me.

I found this piece of hand-dyed fabric in my stash. I think this will complement the Construction piece, with a little help. I dribbled black paint with a syringe. I love how this looks:

Before I painted this larger piece, I did a small sample to see how it looks. I think this might work for another layer and a focal point on the Construction piece.

For Kristin, I threw on some thin mustard strips for good measure. I do like adding that bit of color — not sure where or how they will end up. I didn’t even know that I had a nice big piece of mustard yellow hand-dyed fabric!!

I hope to get some time to work on this tonight. M & M are coming to spend the night, and tomorrow, we are taking them to the Evergreen Aviation Museum near McMinnville. Mr C really wants to see the Spruce Goose, which is housed there.

My week is getting away from me. I start a class with Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer on Thursday, Working with Liquid Resists and Thickened Dyes — Woo Hoo! It is at the Oregon College of Arts & Crafts for 4 days.

The dry-wall guy is finishing today. I had to get paint selected for the bathroom as they will do a coat of paint before the tile is installed. Yesterday, we went to IKEA and the Container Store to check out fittings for my new closet. We decided to go with the Elfa System, although, IKEA has some really cool accessories.

Posted in Construction series, My creations, painting fabric, Quilt Shows | 6 Comments »

Is It Finished?

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Construction #2

I realized that my problem with this piece was that I had made a beautiful background showcasing some of my complex cloth. But, it lacked something. It just wasn’t finished. You can see the original versions in the preceding post. I was so afraid of putting something on top of the fabric and destroying it. Instead, I have found that I did not cover it up, I enhanced its beauty. I used orange construction fence as a template. I had also used construction fence as a resist when I discharged the fabric in the upper right so I thought the repetition of shapes would work as an element. I really wanted to do a torn paper screen print with black paint, but I was afraid of really messing it up. This seemed safer.

It needs to be blocked. I really stretched it as I did the rework on it. Other than that, is it finished?

I forgot to mention that I was back down a couple of pounds on Wednesday. I am not giving up my attempt to lose another 20 pounds before my 70th birthday. Speaking of age, the recent Sunset magazine had an article about some women who live here in the West who are over 100 years of age and going strong. One of them who lives here in Portland and is 101, still sews for a living, making children’s aprons and wine bags. She delivers to her clients, still driving her car. The article talks about how Westerners live longer than people in other parts of the country. The reasons:

We catch more rays and in small doses, it is good for you.
We are farmer groupies. We graze on fruits, veggies and nuts.
We drink wine – (you betcha)
We love to inhale – physical activity and deep breathing regenerate neurons in our brains.
We enjoy spas – taking in treatments that de-stress.
We take stairs. We climb mountains. One of the centenarians said that she deliberately got an apartment on the second floor so that she would use the stairs.

The bathroom renovation is moving right along. The drywall mud is drying over the week-end. He will be back on Monday for the last coat. Painting and tile work commences next week. Mr C picked up the tile today. We went out to the granite showroom and selected a lovely piece of granite for the counter top of a piece that will be built for my closet. It will be in the entry to the bathroom and the walk-in closet. I also picked up some paint chips. They are all so yummy with the tile mosaic, I am not sure which to choose. Steph and Jack will come over tomorrow and help me.

Posted in Art Cloth, Bathroom Renovation, Construction series, My creations, weight loss/gain | 8 Comments »

Re-construction

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Here is one of my construction pieces. It has been bothering me. I used some of my art cloth. I love each of these pieces, but I think that I saw these fabrics as too dear and ended up with a piece that does not have enough value change and no focal point.

So, I rotated it and added a new piece of green at the top. This will make it easier to hang and gives it some balance.

I also painted the green sections to darken them and give them more character.

Remember the construction fence on the black fabric in my last post. It has been cut out and applied to this piece. Here is a sneak peak. I am having fits trying to stitch it down. I finally decided to do a wonky zigzag stitch. I am not ready to show the whole piece yet, but I am pretty happy about what has happened. You still see the gorgeous background fabric, but the construction fence gives it some weight and a focal point – sort of ties things together.

An update on the other construction around here — the bathroom. The new plumbing and electrical work was completed last week and early this week. New insulation was put in the ceiling area, and we passed the inspection by the city. This afternoon the drywall arrived and is partially installed. That will be finished tomorrow. The special tile mosaic is done and ready for installation. We are raising the ceiling in the guest room shower and putting in a new shower head. That is in the middle of being done so we have no showers on the main floor. Fortunately, we have a shower in the basement so I guess I will be schlepping down there in the morning.

Posted in Art Cloth, Bathroom Renovation, Construction series, My creations | 4 Comments »

What the…?

Monday, June 16th, 2008

I am not telling. It is what I am working on today.

I also went to Fabric Depot, looking for something I really need and they didn’t have the color I need. Oh oh. I will have to make some calls tomorrow to see if I can scare up a Fabrico pen in the Pine color.

But, look at what I found on the remnant sale table. This is a gorgeous piece of silk – 2 yards and half price. Not sure what I am going to do with it, but I had to have it.

Today, Lisa, Diana and Amy took Mia out and about with them – to galleries, Amy’s studio and lunch. At the end of the day, she plunked herself down on the sofa and announced that when she is 12, she is going to quit school and become an artist. Better than waiting until you are a Grandma!!

Posted in Construction series, Stuff I Buy | 4 Comments »

A Happy Dad’s Day

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

The sun seems to have returned to Portland. It was a nice day to BBQ and entertain the dads in the family. Lisa is here, after driving to and from Seattle for her show opening. Here is the resident dad in the cool shirt that Lisa gave him.

Lisa, Amy Ruppel, M & M and Diana Fayt. Amy is a Portland artist and good friend of Lisa. Diana is a ceramic artist from San Francisco. We have loved having her in town with Lisa.

Here is Amy hanging with the two dads, Mr C and Jack:

A better photo of the beautiful Diana:

Look at the lovely little vase that she gave me. It is smaller than it looks in this photo:

We feasted on hamburgers, golden beet, haricot verts, and goat cheese salad, wild rice, corn, black bean and roasted poblano pepper salad, Asian slaw and strawberry shortcake. Look at the beautiful short cakes that Steph made.