Finished

Alma Stoller's online class "She's So Unusual" at joggles.com looked like a good way to be inspired to use the paintings of faces I did last year in DJ Pettitt's workshop. I'm happy with the way the quilt turned out and plan to develop this idea further . These photos are laid out in reverse order but, oh well!

Beach Blanket Weekend

A small window of warm weather and sunshine opened up over the weekend so we went out to our beach place to take advantage of ideal conditions. We were pretty lazy, overall, although Scott washed the outside windows. And I worked on a blanket that's been in the works for some time. The block patterns are from this book I picked up a few years ago when the crochet bug bit me again, but I tired of making the blocks and decided to fill in the sides with some fast-working strips. There is hope that this will be done soon!

Remembrance

Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the Earth
Ties of sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead...

--James Taylor

Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968

Wish I Were Here

News has it we're heading for the 60's. Not the decade, the temperatures! That always makes the Northwest Heart beat a little faster. Looks like we need to head out to the beach real soon.

I had a little indoor fun last week at the Bead Expo at the Oregon Convention Center. Lots of great vendors at this show. According to receipts (ahem), my faves included Wynwoods Gallery. Lois had a nice variety of things for me to bring home; from fibers to vintage beads to abalone pendants. You will find Wynwoods Gallery in Port Townsend, Washington, making it an excellent place to visit when heading up to Artfest. I dropped a few dollars at the Beaducation booth. Loads of tools and other goodies for wire and PMC jewelry enthusiasts. I found this and this, along with a few other essentials. Beaducation is the place to go for online jewelry making classes as well as supplies. They had many gorgeous samples at the booth. Drool, drool.

I ran into one of my PAC buddies, Carrie, so we took a break from shopping and visited for a while. Carrie was taking a couple of classes at the bead expo.

I wanted to share some photos of pirate booty from the show but my camera is hiding somewhere. Hopefully it's just hiding and not lost. Not a good thought.

Anyway, I'm off to catch some rays.

On My Street

This Sue Hoffman must have been someone important in Westport, Washington. It's very strange to come across a street with your name on it, in this case a maiden name.

Anyway...


February was one of those months where nothing held still for a moment. Illness came and left our household. Home improvement projects begun and finished. A new floor laid down and paint for the laundry room. Now the contents of the den have been moved into the living room and wallpaper is being removed in preparation for some new color. I guess we hoped that we wouldn't be here when that wallpaper started looking like, well, the 90's. That room needed a major purge, anyway. It's amazing how much dust accumulates on two bookshelves.

Not much time for making things these days. Except for crochet that gets done in the time between all those other things that fill the day. Like, looking at wedding dresses with your future DIL and daughter. David and Jenn have set their wedding for September 27.

I have ideas for fabric painting and making new jewelry; and will begin an online class next week. That should give me a much needed jump start.

Comfort Crochet

The Portland weather finally broke it's streak of dreary days and we were brightened by cloudless skies today. A sunny day with bitterly cold wind, that is. A good day to be inside and sitting by a window and catching up with ones blog, and thinking about what to fix for dinner. I noticed that the Foodnetwork channel has moved past the light and healthy recipes they always feature at the beginning of January and are now doing "comfort foods". In my book, all food that's made with good, fresh ingredients and tastes wonderful is comforting. And can be healthy. Or not. I made hearty and healthy Mexican Chicken Soup last night, a favorite around here, which simply must be accompanied by a piece of this naughty cornbread. Yum.

There is also something very comforting about crocheting, I think. Craving some new Amigurumi projects. I headed over to the Kinokuniya bookstore last week and found a new book with charts that are easy to follow. Good healthy fun.



First Amigurumi project out of the new book. I finally ordered some stuffed animal eyes with locking washers which are easier than sewing on buttons, and definitely cute.


Crocheted and felted balls like the ones I sold at the PAC holiday show. Just for fun.

Happy New Year

The last couple of months have been insanely busy, as it seems to be for most people during the holidays. I don't want to get any further into 2008 without sharing a few images from the PAC "Open Doors" show and sale, held on December 7th and 8th at the Multnomah Arts
Center in Portland. My photography is as spotty as my blogging and I didn't manage to take any pictures of my own table, but as you can see, there was a fabulous display of art from our participants. The show was a great success and wonderful experience.