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Archive for February, 2016

Searching for Periwinkle Blue

Monday, February 29th, 2016

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I have been on a quest to get a periwinkle blue fabric. This is the closest I have gotten. At least the darker piece is close to what I have been wanting. I added the tiniest bit of fuchsia to blue dye.

I also squirted a melange of dye on some cheesecloth, just to see what I would get. And, I love it.

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I am still feeling mopey and having good and bad days of pain. If I go to the studio and take a walk, it seems to be too much for my knee. I then have to spend the next day, doing as little as possible. I have gotten this much done on the sleeves for Paige’s Winnie the Pooh sweater.

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I am going to work on doing a stitched collaged, using some of the demo fabrics I did for our printing class at Trinity. I want to give the students an idea of how to use their fabrics. Maybe I will have something to show tomorrow. I spent leap year day doing very little.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, February 24th, 2016

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This and That

Monday, February 22nd, 2016

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It has been an interesting few days since I last posted. I had all good intentions of celebrating my 11th blogiversary, but life got in the way. On Friday morning, Mr C had a TIA or mini-stroke and I spent a couple of days running back and forth from the ER and the hospital. It was minor and he recovered very quickly, but it was scary for a time.

Up above is a snippet of an old piece that I did for my Israel trip solo show, a few years ago. It is about the graffiti on the Palestinian side of the security wall. I thought it would work well for the SAQA turmoil show, but it was not quite big enough so I am mounting it on black dupioni silk. I quite like it. I think it gives it more presence.

Last night, Mr C and I had the fun experience of attending a chocolate tasting party with our friends who took a chocolate class at the London Cordon Bleu when they were living there. We had six different chocolates, 3 from France and 3 from Portland. They had varying amounts of cacao.

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We were given sheets to keep notes on aroma, taste, texture and finish.

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There was only one chocolate from Portland that we liked: Moonstruck. All of the French chocolates were divine.

After the tasting adventure, we got to dip our own truffles in tempered chocolate. Here is the tempering machine with the luscious chocolate.

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Here are my truffles. I like the little swirls I got on the tops.

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Cheryl packaged them up for us to take home.

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Paige wants a purple sweater with Winnie the Pooh. I found a pattern and picked up the yarn, yesterday.

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Week One of Printing on Fabric

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

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Last night was week one of a printing on fabric workshop that my friend, Allan Oliver, and I are teaching at Trinity. We have two wonderful assistants, both named Liz!! Mr C and I went down in the afternoon and raised two tables on pvc pipe. Then, I covered the tables with plastic, two layers of felt and muslin. I set up tubs for water to wash screens and stencils.

I also set up a sample for a demo to show how to layer designs with paint. I sponge painted a background.

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We had a full house, many of the participants were men! I think everyone had a good time.

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We have a big empty bulletin board where we hung work to dry.

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Here are samples of some of the best work.

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Today, I am just plain pooped. It has been a busy week so I am taking it easy.

An Oldie But Goodie Gets a Chance

Tuesday, February 16th, 2016

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One of the favorite quilts that I have ever made, XXOO, was accepted into Fantastic Fibers at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, KY. I entered it on a whim last month thinking that it was time for it to get out in the world again. I am so excited to be in the prestigious fiber art show. Wish I could go to the opening, but that is about when I will be having knee replacement — April 9 through June 4th.

I am having a busy week and trying to pace myself. I had High Fiber Diet meeting this afternoon, SAQA in the morning and then I start teaching a printing on textiles class at Trinity for 5 weeks, tomorrow night. I hope to have some fun pictures to post.