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Archive for June, 2009

Inspiration

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

stashoregongarden

Today, four of the STASH group went on a field trip to the Oregon Garden in Silverton. A Frank Lloyd Wright house is next door to the garden and Reva and I toured it without Terry and Gale as they had already seen it. Here is the group waiting for the tram to give us a leisurely ride around the garden.

Here is the FLW designed house, known as the Gordon house. It was originally built nearer Portland and was moved, a few years ago, to its current setting. It was due for demolition – imagine that. The design for this house was a modification of a family home which FLW designed for Life magazine. (Note: I should have mentioned that FLW called these Usonian Houses. Click here for more information about the house.)

gordonhouse

Here are some interior shots. Here you see how the interior matches the exterior, an FLW design element.

exterior

For the less expensive family home, FLW designed these windows with an abstract wood design instead of the stained glass windows in his higher end homes.

gordonhousewindowdesign

The floors inside and out are stained concrete.

gordonhouseview

The kitchen was small and was designed so as not to be seen from te living area. How cool is that paneled refrigerator – original to the house.

gordonhousekitchen2

gordonhousekitchen

The house had 3 bedrooms – 2 up and one down and 3 full baths.

When the house was moved, the top half was moved intact. The bottom half was dismantled and only the built-ins, windows, appliances, etc were moved. The rest of the first floor was rebuilt and then the top floor was reattached. Pretty amazing.

After lunch we toured the garden and then did a little bit of walking around the water features. I got these interesting and inspirational shots.

lilypads

bullfrog

bullfrogeyes

inspirationfoliage2

inspirationfoliage

giganticleaves2

You can see all of my photos from the day on my Flickr Set.

Tonight, Terry and I met up again at the High Fiber Diet meeting. Terry was in the spotlight and got to tell about her art quilting journey. I learned lots of new things about her and saw some quilts I had not seen. I should have been taking photos, but was so enthralled with her presentation, that I forgot!

I did get a photo of a guest from Alaska who lives an amazing life, working out on the Alaska pipe line.

lindapowell

She has a wonderfully written blog. She does not blog often, but when she does, she writes beautiful stuff. Her name is Linda Powell. Her blog is called Sweet Dream Baby. I particularly recommend this entry: to walk is to dream. Linda is a fiber artist and a friend of Bonnie Bucknam. Bonnie is our current coordinator and keeps our meetings interesting and moving along.

And to close, I just had to share this silly photo of Scooter. He looks like he has a doofus grin!

sillyscooter

Wandering in the Wilderness

Friday, June 12th, 2009

It has been so long since I have been in my studio that I wonder if I can remember how to do anything. My house is in dire need of a spring housecleaning. I really miss Maryama. I hate doing that dirty work. Having Scooter in and out has only added to the messiness. Here is the thing. I love a clean house; I just don’t want to do it. Anyway, I am spending way too much time diddling on the computer, playing games and reading QA and FB posts. I missed another show deadline that I was really hoping to make this year as the show is near my hometown back in NYS.

I need to get back on a schedule and get off the computer. I have used up all my excuses — new puppy, resting up from the conference, its raining, the sun is shining, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

OK that is off my chest.

Yesterday, I had M & M here because their Mom is in San Francisco doing a photo shoot for friend and hanging out with her sister. After breakfast, we took Scooter to the groomer’s for a summer hair cut. He is so cute. We can see his big brown eyes now. And a bonus, he does not slobber as much water and track in as much dirt and stuff.

icanseeicansee

scooterthebeautiful

Back at the house, Mia asked if she could use my sewing machine. Miles became very intriged by it. She very proudly showed him how it works and let him push the button to select the stitches.

mmhowwedoit

mmsew

They went home with their Dad last night and he took the day off to spend with them.

Mr C and Mark are making great progress on the steps to my garden.

gardenstepsprogress

gardenstepsprogress2

Today, I went to WW ( lost!) and then took the dogs for a long walk. It was a pretty nice day. Basically, I vegged out for the rest of the day. Well, I cleaned up from the mayhem of having two children around and took Scooter for a walk in the Rhodie Garden. I really have to shake this “being in limbo” attitude I have. Somebody light a fire under me!!

Guess Who Came to Dinner

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

roastedveggies

…and is staying for awhile. It is my handsome son, Mark. He arrived yesterday afternoon to help Mr C install some new steps down to the garden from the front yard.

markjune

Here is a closeup!!

markjune2

Tonight, we had a big family dinner. I made the roasted veggies up there and some other good stuff. Stephanie is flying to San Francisco in the morning to do a photo shoot for her friend Lorena’s catalog of things she sells. So M & M are here over night and tomorrow. They haven’t stayed overnight in a while so I am very happy to have them here.

mylittlehippie

Today was the last day of school and Mia is showing Grandpa her third grade yearbook.

miasteve

Miles was recently diagnosed with high functioning autism. I love it when I can catch him in a happy, animated way.

milesjune

milesjune2

milesjune3

Oops, he caught me.Wow, is he ever growing, right in front of my eyes.

I also had a lovely lunch with Terry, June and a couple of SAQA members who were visiting the area – Sheila and Joanelle.

Here are Terry and Sheila, who is from Sand Point, ID. I love this photo of Terry.

sheilaandterry

And this is June and Joanelle. I was sitting next to Joanelle, who is from Huntington Beach, CA, so I only have a profile.

juneandjoanell

They all went on to the Portland Art Museum to see the Escher exhibit and I came home to go to the Farmer’s Market and prepare dinner for tonight. I am going to take Mia next week.

Here are my couch potatoes taken while Mr C was walking Scooter, who had an exhausting day helping in the yard and playing with kids. They are watching Mythbusters, one of their favorite shows.

couchpotatoes

In case you are interested, here is a before picture of the area where new steps are going in. The new steps will be on the right and the old steps will be removed.

gardenstairsbefore

Pardon the Pause

Monday, June 8th, 2009

scooterjune8

First, a Scooter update. He is a growing boy. Loves to annoy Maggie. Is housebroken as long as we get him outside several times a day. He is still calm and loving. His favorite spot is down in my studio and he also likes romping with the big dogs on the Reed College lawn. I am going to take him to the groomer’s this week for a summer hair cut. Mr C does not want him to look like a poodle!!

I think I have finally recovered from the conference frenzy. I was quite ill over the week-end. Every joint in my body ached and I could barely get out of bed. Today, I feel great. Lots of sleep seemed to be the cure.

Since I haven’t done any thing creative of my own, I want to share lovely, handmade gifts with you.

First, is this beautiful piece by Sue Reno, which she gave me when she was here for a visit last month. I have always been a fan of her work. It is titled, Plume Poppy #32.

suereno

Today, I received a package from Belgium. In it, was this lovely piece of art from fellow Twelve X 12 artist, Francoise Jamart. The message on the card said, “From a new Grandma to a seasoned Grandma.” She has a beautiful new granddaughter. She also sent me some wonderful fabric. Thank you, Francoise!!

f

francoisefabric

I also took some photos of some purchases I made in KC. I bought this great lime green shibori kimono jacket and an apron in red (no photo of the apron).

greenshiborijacket

I also purchased some Ink Aid from Kathyanne White who taught a class on printing on uncommon surfaces. I want to compare it to Golden’s Digital Ground.

inkaid

I have one more report to write and my expense account to assemble and then I am done, done, done. The conference was an incredible experience. As Judy said to me one day, every one here understands what I do and they value it. Well, she didn’t use those exact words, but you know what I mean. The other thing I loved is the cutting edge techniques and art that was part of this conference. My mind is still reeling. I want to get back to work in the studio!!

My Video Debut

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

flox

Flower from the Neighborhood

It is not UTube, but it is on the web. Much of the SDA conference is videotaped and recorded and put on DVDs for sale through our website. A smidgeon of my workshop with Alice Kettle is on a site promoting another workshop she is doing in Italy in the summer. I thought he was only videotaping my hands, but there I am, all businesslike, stitching away on my sewing machine. Click here, to watch the video by Andrew Galli, our super duper videographer.

I have spent most of today working on the SDA website, catching up on work and updating the conference pages. I still have a lot of work to do before I can have some creative time in the studio. Soon, soon.