I've moved!

Due to the difficulties with this blog format,  I'll be posting at a new location.  Come visit me here

goodbye, summer

Seems like the season just buzzed by...we now enjoy the last of warm summer days.  But nights have cooled quite a bit and are a reminder that fall is on its way.  I spent a lot of time at the beach house with family and friends the last few months.  Took in a garden tour and International Kite Festival on the Long Beach Peninsula. 

 Enjoyed playing with my camera; did a bit of quilting, and reading.  Tried to spend as much time as possible outdoors, appreciating all that the Pacific Northwest has to offer in summer.  I'm looking forward to new creative projects this fall, and hope to be sharing some of those soon. 

Shrine and Botanical Gardens

 Shrine flowers.

 A young hummingbird resting at The Grotto.

 Bank of windows in the Meditation Chapel.

It's a brilliant Fourth of July morning and as all Pacific Northwesterners know, the real beginning of summer.  The urge is to go out and take some photos but then the realization that the camera is broken, the victim of a fall (let's just say it involved a rambunctious puppy on a leash in the same hand as the camera; my bad).  Also, feeling a little blue about missing the fireworks tonight at the beach house.  I'm a little grounded right now, getting ready to move my mom into assisted care tomorrow.  But we'll still go out for a drive today to enjoy the sun and have a barbeque later.

So, just sharing a few pictures from a recent outing at The Grotto with a couple of friends in a newly-formed sketching group.  One of my PAC friends, Sandy Keating, is the force behind our group...we hope to get out in the Portland area once a month to draw and take photos.

Modern Cross

  I've loved this quilt design since spotting it on the cover of Susan Beal's book, "Modern Log Cabin Quilting".  So, it came to mind when planning to make a baby quilt for a friend who was expecting her first child; a young woman I've known since she was a baby herself.  It really is a simple log cabin pattern, so all of the fabrics begin as 2-1/2 inch (I think) strips.  It was a lot of fun picking prints from my stash and setting them off with white Kona cotton.  The top photo shows the back, which is mostly Kona "Robin's Egg", with a pieced inset and some added embroidery.  I'm happy to say all is finished and on it's way to the sweet new baby, Taryn Rose, who was born last week!

scenes from New Mexico, May 2012

 San Felipe de Neri Church, Old Town, Albuquerque

 One of many interesting windows and doors...

 Whimsical shrine outside a shop in Old Town, Albuquerque

 There were many colorful signs and murals along old Route 66, Albuquerque

 Blooming cactus near Corrales

 One of many quirky features of the Tinkertown Museum along the Turquoise Trail

 Inside La Parada Merchantile, Albuquerque

 Collection of masks at the International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe

 Sanctuario de Chimayo

 Folk art gallery along Canyon Road, Santa Fe

 A little magic in the Plaza, Santa Fe

 At the Blumenschein Home and Museum, Taos

 Outside "The Love Apple" restaurant, Taos

Taos flutist, Robert Mirabal, performing in the Plaza at Santa Fe, and lastly, Taos Pueblo

travels and stuff

 I had the good fortune of spending 8 fabulous, art-filled days in New Mexico last month with three of my friends.  In the last several weeks, I've been working on a visual journal of sorts; it's mostly my photos along with various bits of paper and postcards picked up along the way.  Working on it has been a joy because it brings back memories of the trip.

 I think Taos was my favorite place but Albuquerque and Santa Fe were also wonderful!

I've had a problem getting things composed here at blogger lately so will put some of my photos up on the next post.

it's in there!

This quilt top was artfully arranged by members of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and chosen by Kathy Miller of Michael Miller Fabrics to be displayed in their booth at Quilt Market next month!  My block is in the third row, far right.

There were 48 awesome blocks submitted by guild members for this challenge and the ones not in this quilt will all be made into 2 other quilts that will be shown at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and the Northwest Quilt Show.  Yay! 

 

edit:  well, I guess Quilt Market was this month and here's a photo of the finished quilt taken by Elizabeth Hartman as it appeared at the Michael Miller booth in Kansas City.

Workshop at Teahouse Studio

 I traveled down to Berkeley, California recently to experience a two-day workshop at the Teahouse Studio,

 which is the workplace of artist, and gracious host, Mati Rose McDonough.

 The star of the workshop titled "Layers of Lines, Layers of Meaning: Thick Embroidery" was our instructor, Rebecca Ringquist, who is a wonderful fiber artist from Brooklyn, New York.

 Rebecca shared with us her techniques for creating richly layered, embroidered pieces.  These are some examples of her beautiful stitched art.

 Rebecca, on the left, checks out the work of her students on the sunny patio outside the studio, where we also gathered for delicious catered lunches.

 One of my classmates, Penny, had a clever way of organizing and storing her threads...wrapped around photographic slides in a carrier.

 One of the exercises in the workshop was to do some timed embroidery sketches...I was Penny's subject for one of her pieces. :o)

 Here's a portrait of our class group, from left; Mary, Jessica, Rebecca, Penny, Leah, and myself.

Below is a sampler I made in class, using hand and machine embroidered sketches on sheer fabric and linen, and applique.  I came away from the workshop with new embroidery techniques and a load of inspiration!

new things

The sun finally came out for a while today so I ran out to take a few pictures of recent projects. This wall hanging started out as a table runner but in the interest of being completed within a reasonable time frame became something a bit smaller. All of the prints used came from a deconstructed rag rug. I will explain... One of my very creative friends, Tory, discovered that within a modest rug may be some very interesting material (you can see what she did here). So, while in World Market one day I decided to pick-up a rag rug that was on sale and see what I could do. When I got home and took it apart I ended up with a pile of super-colorful cotton fabric scraps of wax block prints. They needed to be washed and pressed but it was worth the effort. With the addition of some Kona solids and silk pieces, I was able to put together the panel, and there are still a LOT of scraps left. It was fun to use fabrics that I probably wouldn't come across anywhere else but in that rug.

I decided to add a beaded fringe to the bottom border as it just seemed to be the right finish.

I couldn't resist deconstructing another bargain rug, this time finding some lightweight silk scraps. My grand dog, Baxter, decided they made a comfy resting place.

In another instance of using what you are given, I created a quilt block for a challenge from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild to use some lovely cotton solids donated by Michael Miller Fabrics. Some of the blocks created by our guild members will be made into a quilt to be displayed at quilt market in Kansas City this year.

back to blogging...

It's good to be here again, been a while...my computer-savvy son managed to restore my blog background. Isn't it great when our kids grow up to be so helpful? It looks different here now, but I kind of like the change.

Lots of things going on in the last couple of months, and several fun things to look forward to this year. I'm trying to be more focused with my art making; and more recently, learning how to use a new camera I picked up on craigslist (purchase initiated by the above mentioned adult child...).

One of my customers from the PAC holiday sale requested that I make a few more wire-worked pins so have been working on those. Also, I've finished a quilt and taken on a major project in re-doing my work space above the garage. More on that later.