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Archive for July, 2011

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Construction Zone Continues

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

I managed a little bit of studio time tonight. I fused 2 more organza sketches to silk for hand stitching. They hope to finish the decking on the outside area of the deck tomorrow so that the aluminum railings can be installed next week. The deck is going to wrap around between the house and the garage where we have our BBQ and will raise the floor so that we do not have to do so many up and down steps.

We had a bit of excitement late this afternoon when a golf ball came through the living room window.

It is a very large window and will be pricey to replace. Mark ran down and found the golfer who hit it. He has offered to pay what the home owner’s insurance does not cover. We find lots of balls in our backyard. This is the third window to take a direct hit. The other two were smaller windows downstairs that Mr C repaired.

The next and last Twelve by Twelve colorplay challenge is orange — pure, unadulterated orange. I found these at Trader Joe’s today and they followed me home for inspiration.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, House and home stuff, My creations, This and that | 3 Comments »

Northwest Winter — A Study in Gray

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Winter in the Northwest is gray. So, when Kirsty issued the Twelve X Twelve color challenge of gray — my mind went there. I had some photos that I had taken of my son and his wife at the Oregon Garden in winter.

I love the shape of the bare trees and the bleak landscape with the simple golden grasses. I turned the photos into sketches in Photoshop. The single tree became a themofax screen of a row of trees.

I first printed the larger photo on Jacquard’s Extravorganza, but the gray I got was not working. I was using a beautiful gray organza shibori for the background which I ended up painting a darker gray.


I used some of that with a full page self stick label to run it through the printer. I loved the color and the shibori lines added some interest to the photo. I printed the third photo as a smaller version to help balance the composition and to add some interest.

I did some simple running stiches with variegated perle cotton, and added some grasses in green and gold as a nod to the grasses in the original photos.

Here is a detail shot:

I learned a couple of things about this challenge. You can have fun with gray, and there are many shades of gray!!

Posted in 12X12 challenge, photo transfer, photography, screenprinting, thermofax | 8 Comments »

Monday Meet-up

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Today was a great day! In the photo above, looking at Terry’s 12 X 12 quilts are Tomme Fent, Jane Davila and June Underwood. We had a great time talking and eating lunch at Terry’s home. Jane was on her way home after teaching in Sisters this past week. Tomme recently moved here from Iowa and the other of us are of course the home town trio. I was thrilled to see Jane in person as we have been internet friends for a long time.

This morning, I saw Lisa and Clay off for their drive back to San Francisco. Wilfredo was in the car, ready to roll.

Work on the deck is moving along. Mark finished most of the framing today, and Mr C started oiling the decking hard wood which is called Ipe. I love the color.

They will start installing it tomorrow.

Last night, the whole family went out for pizza. We had left overs to bring home for lunch for the guys today. Mr C went to bed before I did. When I came into the room, he groggily announced that the pizza was still in his car. I had already taken my clothes off so he went to get the pizza into the fridge. I reminded him that I had set the alarm. All of a sudden, this horrible screeching sound had all of us running from our rooms to the hallway. Clay had the good sense to run down to the kitchen counter and hit the stop button on the alarm remote. Mr C thought he had turned it off. We now realize that the sound of the alarm is so distressing that no one could stand to do anything like rob a house while it is going on. It is really awful. At least I know what it sounds like now. And Clay stopped it soon enough that the call did not go to the police.

Gotta stop and do my post for the Twelve X  Twelve reveal tomorrow.

Posted in Quilting Friends | 1 Comment »

Checking in from the Craziness

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

Here is a sneak peek at my gray Twelve x Twelve piece. I have some finishing touches to put on it and then get it photographed for the reveal on Tuesday.

Other than relabeling two quilts and packing them up and sending them off to SAQA and Art Quilts Lowell, I haven’t done much in my studio.

The construction of the deck is taking over our lives. I spend most of my time providing support to the Mr C and Mark. This is what one side of my studio looks like.

This is the view out my sliding glass doors of the studio.

I love this view.

Here is the view from the dining room which has sliders exiting to the deck.

And here is the long view of the deck. There are some sunspots on the photo. It is a gorgeous day.

The decking material is ipe, which is a Brazilian hardwood. They delivered it on Thursday, but did not have oil in stock. The wood has to be oiled before it is installed. I did an internet search and found a suitable product and picked it up. I will probably get involved in oiling the wood at some point.

Look what I harvested from my raspberry patch today – yum, yum!

Lisa, Clay and Wilfredo arrived on Thursday. Scooter wants to play with Wilfredo, but he is a bit too large and exuberant for Wilfredo.

I had some quality time with M & M while Steph had some appointments. We had a nice walk in the Rhodie garden.

Tonight, Steph is making dinner for her siblings so that Mr C and I can have a quiet evening together. I can just imagine the conversation about how to deal with us old fogies!!

Well, that is all the news from here for now. I will have a nice rendezvous on Monday, but will share that later. Hope you are having a great week-end.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Family, House and home stuff | 4 Comments »

Winter in July

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

There is a lot going on around here. Family partying, deck construction and a very happy dog, enjoying every minute of it. Even so, I managed to finish my Twelve x Twelve piece, which you can’t see until July 12. I also finished this little piece. I should have measured it before I came upstairs. The photo was taken in the winter at the Oregon Garden so I have titled it Northwest Winter. Click it to see a larger version.

Here is a detail:

I fused some of the gray shibori fabric to black felt and then appliqued the handstitched piece to that using a really nice random looking satin stitch which is one of the programed stitches on my Jamome. I am quite happy with this little piece. I hope to get a couple more done.

Our son Mark is staying with us for awhile to build our new deck. Jayme flew back to San Francisco this morning as she needs to get to back to work on a research project which is her summer activity. They spent most of the week-end out in the gorge with Steph and family. Everyone got together here at our house for the 4th of July.

Here are Mark and Mia playing fetch with Scooter.

And Miles couldn’t wait for dark to sparkle.

There have been some glitches, but the work on the deck is proceeding. Here are the two of them checking the plans.

The first thing is to prepare the holes for the rebar and concrete for the deck footings. Mark is cutting holes in the concrete patio outside my studio while Mr C breaks up the concrete.

All of the openings now have the rebar in place. Tomorrow, the city inspector comes back to sign off on them and then they can pour the concrete.

Mr C is working so hard with Mark. You all know how spoiled I am, but I am really pulling my weight and doing all the dog walking, the clean up from my cooking escapades and trying to keep the house in ship shape order. Lisa and Clay are arriving on Thursday, with Wilfredo. Tomorrow, I have to move Mark into the smaller guest bedroom and get all the bed linens laundered and replaced. I am also going to have M & M for most of the day.

All I can say is, I am so happy I finished the gray colorplay quilt done early.

Posted in 12X12 challenge, Family, House and home stuff, My creations | 5 Comments »

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