Month: May 2014 | Crazy for Fiber

May 2014
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Archive for May, 2014

Printing Text

Friday, May 30th, 2014

This morning, I awoke, feeling like the crappy virus had left me. By late morning, I was up for a walk with Scooter and Mr C. After lunch, I headed for my studio to get the printing done for this month’s Printed Fabric Bee Queen. The criteria was – text based, favored color – turquoise and other bright colors, 12 inches square.

I found a turquoise fabric that I had painted a while ago.

Lisa said we could use any kind of text, real or imagined. I have a stamp with fake handwriting. I used purple dynaflow paint.

Here is the base printing on the fabric with the stamp and purple paint.

For the next layer, I used a thermofax screen that I made some time ago. I used chartreuse screen printing paint.

I was disappointed that I did not get a sharper print with the chartreuse. My test on plain muslin was much better. But, it has a nice subtlety.

I got a great idea for my What’s Blue to You quilt for High Fiber Diet. It has to be 24 x 60 inches. I printed out a rastorized version of my idea and pinned it to my design wall. I think it is going to work. So that is my project for next week. Stay tuned for the fun.

I snapped a photo of the street car that rolls by my studio. Love the sound.

Posted in Mark making, The Printed Fabric Bee, thermofax | 1 Comment »

SAQA Donation Quilt

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

I finished this piece, Sky Blue Pink, just in time to get it shipped to SAQA by the deadline and then, boom, today, they extended the deadline to June 15th. Well, it is done and it gave me something to do while I have been nursing a crappy, achy virus. I did copious handstitching on this. I only used my sewing machine to do the edges.

I used some of the fabric that I snow dyed last winter — cheesecloth and cotton.

First I did random seed stitching on the cheesecloth.

Then I used a running stitch to finish the other sections, following the undulations of the cheesecloth section.

I was hoping to get to my studio today to do some printing for the Printed Fabric Bee, but instead, I have stayed in my jammies and watched tv and dozed away the day. Hope I will be better tomorrow. That is the good thing about a virus, you usually wake up and feel fine after a day or two.

Posted in handstitching, My creations, SAQA, Slow Cloth | 2 Comments »

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, May 28th, 2014

Posted in photography, Wordless Wednesday | Comments Off on Wordless Wednesday

Another Marathon Day

Saturday, May 24th, 2014

This morning, Mr C and I spent some quality time in our storage area, getting it organized and doing some purging. I was hoping to locate my container of perle cotton threads. It wasn’t there. We did find some lost items that made us happy. I did finally find my perle cotton in the storage hassock in my multi-purpose room -whew!

After a walk to the dog park where we hoped Scooter would get worn out, we headed to the closest street car stop and rode the street car to the Portland Art Museum. They are between special exhibits, but we enjoyed checking out the contemporary art galleries. It has been so long since we have been there and it just made my heart sing to wander the exhibits and look at all that creativity. Here are some favorite pieces. The opening photo is a detail of a painting I love.

High Fiber Diet is doing a blue themed show, so this piece intrigues me. Wonder if I dare to do something really minimalist.

The colors in this piece just sing for me.

But then, I can be totally drawn into a monochromatic piece with simple lines, creating an abstract figure.

And who couldn’t love this blue woman with a table of red fruit.

Tonight we walked down to a wonderful restaurant and ran into some friends. We shared a table and enjoyed our time and walk back home. I managed over 15000 steps today and am feeling quite proud of myself. So far, it has been a great week-end.

Posted in Art Dates | Comments Off on Another Marathon Day

A Busy Week

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

I didn’t realize that a week had gone by and I only posted Wordless Wednesday. I am a bad blogger. But, I have been very busy. We had the opening of the New Heaven, New Earth show last Friday. Here are my two pieces in the show.

We had a good turn out at the reception and have sold a few pieces of art. We gave a Genisis award for best interpretation of the theme. It was won by a quilter from Montana who used to be a member of Trinity and comes back in the spring to be in this show.

On Saturday night, we went to a gala dressup fundraiser dinner for an organization that provides quality experiences, such as summer camp, for abused children — Sparks for Hope. We were invited to be at a table put together by one of Steve’s former co-workers. I was thrilled to be able to get into the dress I bought for Lisa and Clay’s wedding. Speaking of which, how great is it that gay marriage is no longer banned in Oregon! State by state, we are winning.

Sunday, I took part in a forum at Trinity. The artists in the show talked about our inspiration and other things. I also sat at the show on Sunday afternoon and got a sale, just as I was packing up!

I have spent a bunch of time getting my studio set up. Almost there! Today, I wrangled four 2 foot by 4 foot insulation panels and taped them together and covered them with flannel to make a 4 x 8 design wall. It was a bit hysterical as my studio is not that big so there is no place to lay stuff on the floor. I guess I could have gone out in the hall!!

The photo at the top is of my tjaps and printing blocks on display in front of my encaustic experiments. I have utilized the back of the door for some hanging storage.

We also put up lots of shelves for storing stuff where I can see it.

I have also been to a couple of meetings this week — High Fiber Diet on Tuesday night and SAQA on Wednesday, followed by lunch with a group of friends.

We continue to get the condo in order. I hung a bunch of quilts and other art in the hallway and bedroom

I hung Motherlode in the entry way and realized it has the complete color palette of our new home!

One of my aspen quilts graces the hallway.

I also hung some of my work in the bedroom

We bought a nice little glass topped desk at Crate and Barrel for my desktop computer. It is a lovely place to work and look out on nature. It is in the bedroom.

This is the really cool walnut dresser that we found when we went on our hunt for Midcentury Modern furniture.

That wall needs some more art, don’t you think?

Our chandelier arrived this week, too. And with much ado, we got it installed.

Today, we walked up to the Rose Garden from our home. It is a good hike — straight up — but it only takes about 15 minutes to get there. Portland is known as the Rose City and the rose Festival is happening, soon. Here are some photos. The first is a view of Big Pink from the garden.