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Fun in Seattle

December 2nd, 2014

paigeataquarium

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was in Seattle for 3 days with Stephanie, Jayme and the precocious Paige. Jayme had a long day of interviews and touring the U of W Children’s hospital. It is one of many interviews she is having this month for her residency in pediatrics which will start next July. She will rank the hospitals and they will rank the med students. On March 20th, she will get her assignment. Tomorrow, she is off to Stanford for her next interview. She has several in Southern California and a couple more in the bay area. We would love to have her come to Seattle – so much closer to us, but it would be difficult for my son to change jobs.

Anyway, Steph and I were there to spend time with Paige who is an inquisitive, talkative and adorable child. Jayme was recovering from the flu and needed to rest so on our first day there, we took her out to lunch. Just look at that face.

pandsteph

On Monday, we took her to the Seattle Aquarium and it just happened to be Toddler Time with some fun activities for children her age.

paigeaquarium2

She enjoyed touching the anemones and sea cucumbers and followed the instructions of one finger touching.

paigeanenome

I love going to an aquarium. I find the colors and markings of the sea creatures and coral so inspiring. I took a few photos, but my phone battery got low so I had to stop. I brought my portable charger, but forgot the cord – duh! Here is some of what I enjoyed.

seahorse

A Sea Horse – such an interesting creature.

purplecolor

Fluorescent coral.

mussels

Giant mussels.

jellies

Angelic jelly fish.

redcoral

Coral and anemones.

starfish

Star fish.

anenomes

More anemones

greenanenomes

Loved these green anemones.

moreanemomes

And more anemones – love them!

We managed to fit in a little shopping in downtown Seattle before heading back to the hotel. The whole time we were there, the sun was so bright and the sky so blue. It was very, very cold, but manageable because of the sunshine.

Back at the hotel, Steph did an art project with Paige which she loved.

2014-12-02 08.57.04

We bought her some Japanese washi tape which she put all over her paper Paige.

We drove home today after dropping Jayme and Paige off at the airport. I am exhausted but so happy to have spent the time with Paige and Jayme.

The 100 Fundraiser to Fight Cancer

December 2nd, 2014

FFAC2015logo

I am so happy and pleased to be an invited artist for “The 100” to be held on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. The goal for this fiber fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is to raise $10,000 in one day. Virginia Spiegel and her Fiberart For A Cause has already raised $240,000 through the generosity of fiber artists and patrons. I think I have participated in every one of them. As a cancer survivor and as one who has lost too many friends to cancer, I love that I can give back in this way,

How can you participate? Click here for all the details. I’m sure you will want to be one of the very exclusive 100 patrons who will be randomly assigned artwork from an extraordinary line-up of international fiber artists. Later, I will post a photo of the work that I will be donating.

 

Deconstructed Sunflower Print

November 30th, 2014

deconstructedsunflowersusan

Here it is the last day of November, so soon. Where did the month go? For The Printed Fabric Bee this month, Susan Purney Mark was the Queen Bee. She asked for sunflowers. I tried coming up with various sunflower motifs and they all looked like ordinary sunflowers. I decided that what would suit my artistic sensibility would be to deconstruct the sunflower into its essential parts.

I started with printing a leafy background on a pale green hand-dyed cotton. I used a real leaf that looked like a miniature of an actual sunflower leaf.

greenleafprint

After doing some random leaf prints, I cut a couple of petal shapes from a piece of foam and started printing petals in various shades of yellow and yellow/orange.

petalspongeprints

morepetalprinting

For the sunflower seeds, I used some sequin waste to print random dots of brown.

sunflowerseedsprint

Susan requested that her piece be 6 inches by 24 inches. Here is the piece that will go into the giveaway:

deconstructedsunflower6

When we get the collage of all the pieces put together and we are ready for the drawing for the fabric collection, I will post it here.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Stephanie’s home. She cooked a whole turkey for the first time and it was delicious. I brought cranberry chutney, roasted squash and gluten free pumpkin pie.We enjoyed a walk in the neighborhood between dinner and dessert. Miles is really bonding with Scooter now, but he still is not ready to pick up the poop

TDay walk

I spent Friday and Saturday getting end of the month SDA work completed. This morning, Steph and I headed to Seattle, where I am right now. This is what greeted me in our hotel room.paigeinseattle

Paige’s Mom is having an all day interview at U of W Children’s Hospital tomorrow and so Steph and I are going to entertain this little charmer. The weather here is very cold, but with bright sun so it was a nice drive and nice to be out walking around in the University Village area.

Maybe I will check in tomorrow after our day in Seattle with Paige.

Wordless Wednesday

November 26th, 2014

WW 11-25-14

Moving On

November 24th, 2014

quiltcoins

I am somewhat in limbo because I can’t start dyeing the fabric for my solo show until January when I can have a larger space to work. I have been putting off making a couple of kid quilts for my great nieces, using the fabric line from my daughter, Lisa. I have a huge pile!!

pileoflisafabrics

I went looking on the internet for a quick and easy pattern that would work with the 9 different fabrics I have. I found this quilt which is designed to use a Moda fabric pack. I am going to modify it for my use.

63cb4-002

I am going to make mine a bit larger. I have cut enough rectangles to get started on the first quilt. You can see them up at the top. I have two rows stitched.

quiltrectanglesstitched

I think this is going to work great and be easy to stitch together and quilt. I might have them done by Christmas.

Stephanie is going to do the Thanksgiving dinner this year. I am taking a couple of dishes and wine. It feels weird not to be in charge of the whole thing. But I think I can do this.

On Sunday, she and I are driving to Seattle to meet up with Jayme and Paige. Jayme has an interview for her residency at U of W Children’s Hospital. Steph and I are going to entertain Paige on Monday, or vice versa! It should be fun. An all Congdon girl party.

I found out from my friend, Mary, that she finally got a letter from the church and she has the commission. I asked her about their desire for a sculptural piece with uneven edges. She has done a piece like this that they liked. I am happy she got this. Doing sculptural quilts is not in my wheel house.