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.

27

My son David celebrated his birthday on November 4th. It's hard to believe that he is 27--and now engaged to Jenn. We have a wedding to look forward to in 2008.

More Art and Soul

More photos of class projects. I'm having a little struggle getting the pictures and words arranged here in a cohesive manner but think you'll get the idea. The "heart" piece is from Beryl Taylor's "Making Paper Fabric" class. You can take a look at her book here. I'm in love with Beryl's exquisite artwork.

Another fun class was "Twentyfirst Crazy Quilt" with Janet Cooper. Janet brought a huge amount of vintage bits for us to use. You can see that she combined our pieces into a wall quilt display.

The two-day workshop painting faces with DJ Pettit was awesome. DJ is a generous and patient teacher, and one of my very favorite artists.

I always have such a great experience at Portland Art and Soul and so lucky to have it right in my own backyard. Next year, I'll allow more time and energy for socializing. It's too much fun seeing old friends and making new ones!

Catching Up

It's been a while. I have so much admiration for my blogging pals who manage to post on a regular basis come rain or shine. My daughter has been nudging me along, asking when am I going to put up some new pictures.

Where to begin, again? Well, the bracelet here was made in a class taught by the super-talented Jan Harris at the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland. Jan did an amazing job of putting together a kit for her students and patiently took us through the process of drilling and riveting the adorable silver house charms. As usual, I needed a little extra time at home to get the job done, adding all those sparkly flower and leaf beads. I love this bracelet!

I have other things to share from additional classes at Art&Soul
and will post those soon, I hope. Meanwhile, I need to get cracking on artwork for the PAC Holiday Show. More about that later...

Daisy Day

My talented daughter, Jessica, shared her cool floral photos with me. I plan to use some of them to make new monoprints and in the fabric collage class I'm currently taking with Susan Sorrell. Susan is an inspirational fiber artist and generous teacher.

Terrier or Terror?

OK, Simon is a little too far along in dog years to be much trouble. Still dashes out the front door at every opportunity. And begs at the table. With that mug, he gets away with a lot.