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Archive for the ‘Quilting Purchases’ Category

Wednesday Potpourri

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

First, some eye candy. Look at this gorgeous fabric that has been arriving. I am working on a commission piece that will be a collage of vintage Japanese fabrics with reds and yellows as the main color theme.

Next, I just had to share this delightful e-mail that I received through my website contact form. It really made my day!! I disguised her name, but she is from Scotland.

Just found your blog and website whilst trying to find a reason why after 10 years doing a proper job I can’t get my procien dyes beyond the level of wishy washy! I’m not a blogger-haven’t got any idea what its about, but thought this woman thinks a bit like me when I meandered facsinated around your website-I hope I haven’t got completely lost here-I am talking to the lady who has a bottle of pinot gringio in amongst the threads-aren’t I?
Anyway, I’ll work the recipe out, I always work stuff out or remember in the end, I’ll have multi coloured fingers for a while but I’ll get there. I just wanted to e-mail you and say its nice to know that I’m not the only middle aged woman who finds fibre, colour, and cotton wrapped round the vacuum cleaner exciting, in fact more exciting than most things except homeless people, running, chocolate, cats and maybe that other thing that people do when they’ve got time!

Be interesting to hear from you-great site.

Rxxxxx

P.s I’m a lapsed textile designer, batik in particular, but the ex-husband wanted ‘stuff’ and I meekly responded by getting a proper job. I’m now divorced-yeehaa! Liberated and making my way back to my creative soul-and for the first time in over ten years re-discovering textile, colour, design, dyes, cloth, beads and art! What a relief, I thought I’d lost not only passion but even interest forever-but its back!

Fatima, on the other hand, is making our lives a living nightmare. Someone, or some robotic Internet form filler, is using the name Fatima and our phone number to apply for every loan and mortgage available on line. In fact, I got one message that she was pre-approved for a business loan of $270,000. The calls have been coming about once an hour on average for two days. A live person that I talked to says that people often use a fictitious phone number so that they won’t get phone calls. I have taken to answering the phone with, ” Fatima does not live here. Don’t ever call here again!”

On the weight loss front, I lost almost 2 pounds today. I am at a new low weight. I think it is because I gave up cheese for Lent. I can’t wait for Sundays, when I can break my fast and have a little cheese, yum!

The big news is that I finished the Art Cloth. I produced a computer journal of my process with photos — it was burned to a CD and all will be overnighted to San Antonio tomorrow. I am really happy with my final result.

Tomorrow is STASH meeting. We are going to meet at Terry’s new house and get a tour of the estate, then out to lunch. It will be a lovely day. Mr C is taking me out for Lover’s Day tomorrow night. If I am not careful, I will gain the 2 pounds back!

And Liz, if you are reading this, I am so behind on my week 4 homework!!

Happy Heart’s Day to all my blogger friends. I really do love you!

Posted in Art Cloth, Just for Fun, Quilting Purchases, Rant, This and that, weight loss/gain | 4 Comments »

Wednesday This and That

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

OK, let’s get it out of the way. I lost what I gained over Thanksgiving. I was hoping to lose more. We had to decide on a goal for the month of December: lose, maintain or gain weight. I really want to reach my 20 pounds this month so I am going to go for losing.

In the past 3 days, I have had excellent e-mails coming in from my website. One of Mr C’s cousins who lives in NC, bought one of my quilts and told me how much she enjoys keeping up with the family through my blog — Hi, Ruth! Someone else, from Virginia, checked in on my website and said she loves all things Japanese and wished that my Kyoto Collage was still for sale and wondered if I had anything similar. Then, an old friend from the Bay area checked in through my website to let me know that she has remarried and her new husband has roots in Portland, and she wants to get together next time they come up here to visit family. All of this in a matter of two days is very exciting.

Kristin has a pattern for a really cool Mod Log Cabin Table Runner on her web site. I decided to use the pattern to make some Christmas gifts. I went to Mill Ends and picked up some Christmasy fabric.

I have a huge stash of Dupioni silk so I decided to attempt to make some silk runners in Christmas colors. I got 5 blocks done, but one of them had to be rejected.

I am not sure if I am happy with the striped fabric in the center.

Tomorrow, the STASH group is getting together for some holiday cheer. We are meeting at the Contemporary Craft Museum and then out to lunch. I am hoping to do some gallery hopping and shopping in the Pearl while I am down there. Hopefully, the weather will be a bit better than it has been. It is raining again, tonight.

Posted in My creations, Quilting Friends, Quilting Purchases, This and that, Uncategorized, weight loss/gain | 6 Comments »

Happily Exhausted

Sunday, July 8th, 2007

Lisa left this afternoon to go back to San Francisco. I am very tired, but a good kind of tired. I realize that I do not have the stamina of a thirty-something!!

Today, on the way to the airport, we stopped at a couple of up and coming neighborhoods on the north side of Portland — Mississippi Street and Alberta Street. We had lunch at Grand Central Baking, thank goodness they don’t just serve sandwiches on their great bread. I was able to get a salad with chicken. Steph and M & M came along for the outing, too.

We stopped in at Bolt, and some reddish brown burlap caught my eye. I bought some as a possible background for the bamboo fence quilt. I think it works, but now I have to decide how to finish it. My inclination is to stretch it around foam core.

Yesterday, we had a girls day out. We went to Oregon City to take Mia to the Museum of the Oregon Territory. She loves anything about pioneer life. Here she is in her sunbonnet, bravely getting weighed in front of everyone.

I loved the reproduction of the pharmacy with walls of bottles and tins.

There were several quilts at the museum. Some were displayed on beds and they looked good enough to crawl in to for a nap.

These log cabin quilts were my favorite. The bottom was made from silk scraps.

We also did lots of antiquing and thrift shopping. In the afternoon, Lisa and I checked out NW 23rd. She loves all the trendy little boutiques. Last night, Steph made fish tacos for all of us. It was a delicious end to the day.

It was great having Lisa in the house. She took lots of walks with Maggie and I. We sat on the sofa and watched HGTV and read our favorite blogs together. She even dieted with me. I don’t know why she thinks she needs to lose weight, but I guess that when I was that age and weight, I always felt like I needed to lose 15 pounds. I am going to drag my tired old body off to bed.

Posted in Eating out, M & M, My Brilliant Daughters, My creations, Quilting Purchases, Stuff I Buy | 3 Comments »

Freaky Friday

Friday, June 8th, 2007

Well. it wasn’t really freaky, but I got your attention, didn’t I. And thank you to everyone who left those lovely comments on my last post. I want to report that less TV and computer time is a good thing.

Yesterday was a good day. I spent the morning with the Stash group and Terry made us a delicious lunch. We had fun with some show and tell and discussing the Twyla Tharp book. This particular chapter discussed the possibility that our DNA is contributes to the way we work — do we see the large view or do we see things in detail. I have often wondered why I am not motivated to make large quilts with sweeping motifs. I love them, but don’t want to do them. My commission quilt was large, but it had a repeating detailed image. I now have an excuse, it is my DNA that makes me do it.

Back at home, I did some quilting on the latest cruciform. Reva told me about a neighborhood guided walk with a mid-century modern theme, starting at 6 pm. So, Mr C and I put on our walking shoes and joined the throng of 50 – 60 people.

We started out at Reed College, where the original architecture is rather Ivy League Gothic. But many building constructed after the 1950’s have a decided mid century modern look. Brick was added to many of the new buildings to help them blend with the other architecture.

On the other side of Reed College is a development called Reedwood. Until the 1950’s, this area was dairy farms and gardens — the last farms within the Portland city limits. The area was built differently than most of SE Portland. It has no sidewalks and most of the houses have pools. There are many styles of mid-century modern architecture. The Oregonian used to publish a house of the week with plans and encouraged good design. Here is one of the houses.

And a detail of the cement screen, that I love. Many of the homes were influenced by Japanese architecture and have Japanese style landscaping.

One of the homeowners invited us to her back yard which was a Japanese garden; she served drinks and snacks — very classy! Here are Reva and Jer.

Today, I finished the latest cruciform and decided to make it asymmetrical. I also did the Sue Benner satin stitched edges with the corner threads.

This afternoon I worked on postcards for a demo that I am doing for the Columbia Stitchery Guild artist’s tea, tomorrow. I’ll show pics tomorrow.

I found out today that my entries to the Lowell Art Quilts at the Brush Gallery did not get in, but one I am soon to own will be there — Village Series #2, by Kristin LaFlamme. Congrats to Kristin! Rayna, one of the jurors, said that there were hundreds of entries for 38 spots so I guess I am in good company. But, I am still bummed about it. On to the next show — or maybe not. Rayna said she had to recuse herself when she recognized work like mine so I will not hold her responsible. : )

Tonight, M & M are here. We had some fun playtime and bought them helmets to wear with their scooters, then went to Burgerville. They were really tired and went to sleep very quickly. When those two are around, I feel so blessed.

Posted in House and home stuff, Quilting Friends, Quilting Purchases | 7 Comments »

Turquoise Fingers

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

I mixed up some dyes today so that I could squirt some dye on my white shirt that I batiked with soy wax in Rayna’s class. I now have turquoise fingers! Here is how the shirt looks. I am going to let it sit overnight and wash it out tomorrow.

Here is a closeup of one sleeve.

I also dyed some silk scarves yellow. I will batik them with the soy wax and over-dye them with some other colors.

I forgot to show you all the gorgeous Kimono fabric that I found on my trip to Santa Rosa. There is a store in Healdsburg — Yasuko — that sells clothing trimmed with Kimono fabrics. She also sells scraps of the fabric in the shop. I really miss being able to select them from the bins in the store. Here is what I came home with.

I will have lots of fun making fabric collages with these.

If you have read my blog for any time, you know that I have an on-going problem with my hair. I lost my favorite stylist back when we lived in Santa Rosa and never did find someone to replace her. Since we have lived here, I have tried two different stylists. Today, Frances, a lovely Chinese woman, cut my hair and I really like it. She listened to me. I said I don’t want to have hair I have to fuss with unless I want to. I now have a simple pixie-ish haircut. She seems to be quite knowledgeable about color, too. Mr C seemed to like it, too, which is important.

Speaking of Mr C, he is in the midst of a big project — building a fence in our backyard. A load of building materials arrived today and he has already started sawing wood. I’ll try to get some photos of the project in progress.

Posted in My creations, My hair, Quilting Purchases, Surface Design Techniques | 4 Comments »

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