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Putzing Along

June 15th, 2014

picassowomanquilting

So much good stuff going on here. Enjoying our new place and neighborhood so much.

Last Wednesday was Mia’s graduation from Junior High School.  Here she is with the flowers I gave her. We are so proud of her and the confidence and maturity that she has gained over the past year. We are excited to see what she will do in high school. Her gift from us is a trip to Seattle on the train with her Mom and I. Probably won’t get to it until July. After the ceremony, we all went out to a late dinner at Mia’s favorite restaurant. It was great to have time with them before they took off for NC to visit Jack’s parents.

Miagrad

I have been quilting away on the Picasso woman. I was worried about how to quilt the face and body, but decided on straight lines that sort of follow the contours. There have been a lot of thread ends to deal with.

picassowomanthreadends

One of our new adventures was to take the street car to the Portland Farmer’s Market on the Portland State campus. Wow, what a fabulous weekly event. It is considered the best farmer’s market in the country, I was told. I think we will make this a weekly event, when we are here and able.

farmersmarket1

farmersmarket2

I hope to finish Picasso woman in the nest couple of days and get started on a larger version of Sky Blue Pink.

Wordless Wednesday

June 11th, 2014

WW6-11

Would Picasso Approve?

June 10th, 2014

picassowomanfused

I got the blue picasso woman fused and ready for quilting. I debated and made a mess of my studio looking for the right background fabric. This has been really fun to put together. I don’t think the quilting is going to be easy, but it has to be done!!

 

picassowomanontable

I needed a large workspace to fuse this so I worked at home on the dining room table. I think I need to make her rosy cheek larger. Need to go back to the studio and find the right fabric.

I used an old drop cloth for the back. I think Picasso would approve.

picassowomanquiltback

We have been enjoying our walks around the neighborhood. There is front yard across the street from us with the most amazing poppies.

redpoppies

I am venturing out of my comfort zone tomorrow and going to a new person to get my hair cut. Tomorrow night is Mia’s Middle School graduation. Can’t believe she is off to high school in the fall.

How cute is this little girl. I am missing her so much. Might have to head down to CA soon.

Screenshot 2014-06-10 20.44.43

Keeping Busy!

June 7th, 2014

picassowomanpattern

This is my larger than life Picasso woman. The original file was rasterized and printed on 20 sheets of legal size paper. She is going to be one of my entries for the What’s Blue to You show. I originally created her as an etching when I lived in North Carolina, where I took a print making class.

picassowoman

I eventually made her in fabric.

picassowomanportrait

 

I made a modern day version of her, as me.

nowselfportrait

So, now, I plan to turn her into blue Picasso woman, larger than life. I wanted to use a pale shade of blue for her face and neck and didn’t have a large enough piece so I quickly dyed some.

bluefacefabric

I was going to go out and buy batiks for the hair, but on second thought, I felt that I should print some fabric – some dark blue with orange red highlights. I used russet metallic paint.

 

I used my wavy wood block.

wavywoodblock

wavyprint

And sequin waste.

sequinwastestencil

And a Stencil girl stencil.

stencilforhair

 

I created patterns using freezer paper by tracing from the large print out. It will be relatively easy to do the eyes nose and mouth. My next decision is what to use for the background. I think I want to bring in some other colors for fun – maybe a Picassoish cubist background!!

I am having fun and learning how to work in my smaller space. I can not leave things out. Every thing has to be put away when I am done and moving to the next phase. When I took Judy Robinson’s class last month, I found a new clean up tool to have in the studio. Baby wipes, if used soon, will clean up dye and acrylic paint from your skin.

huggietool

Last night, Mr C and I took the street car over the river to the venue for the High Fiber Diet show, Simply Red, which is at the Architectural Heritage Center. Here are a couple of scenes from the exhibit and reception.

simplyredshow

You can see my moonstruck piece in this shot.

simplyredshow2

I have been doing lots of walking – yesterday, I walked to my studio and back home. I did over 8000 steps before lunch! In the afternoon, I got some training on the SDA website. I am going to start helping with membership stuff. It will add a few hours to my work load with them, but I think it is manageable.

That is all for now. Enjoy your weekend.

 

Wordless Wednesday

June 4th, 2014

WW6:4