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Archive for April, 2007

A Beautiful Day at the Beach

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

It was a gorgeous day in Oceanside today. Not too warm, but sunny and bright. We were happy to have Linda show up today to spend the remainder of the week-end with us. We took a walk on the beach, and I got some great beachy photos. Here is a sampling. To see the full set of my beach art, go to my flickr set.

skitterbirds2.jpg

3arches2.jpg

turquoiserope.jpg

sanddollar.jpg

butterflykite.jpg

I brought lots of projects and lots of good intentions for getting work done here, but having fun with friends has taken precedence. I haven’t laughed so hard, so often, in a long time. We have shared silly and serious stories as we have spent time getting to know each other. Terry and Beth are wonderful story tellers. Terry can do great imitations of annoying and endearing people who have inhabited her life. So, so what if I didn’t get a lot of work done.

I did get the center of Viola’s garden quilted. I just did simple diagonal lines of quilting with some stitching in the ditch to hold things together. I am going to quilt some butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and leaves in the borders.

quiltingviolasgarden.jpg

Terry offered to teach us how to make the fabric house from the pattern that she designed, but I really needed to get the quilting finished today. So I observed the process as she taught Beth.

makinghouses.jpg

Here is Terry’s finished house:

terryshouse.jpg

And here is Beth’s front. Look at the cool stone fabric that she used.

bethshouse.jpg

I would like to try Terry’s pattern and then attempt a more modern house design.

Tomorrow morning we will pack up and head back over the coastal range to the Willamette valley and home to Portland. The back of Beth’s SUV will be roomier because several bottles of wine, decadent snacks and nutritious breakfast food has been consumed by us. But, we will take with us a stronger bond of friendship and memories of our retreat on the Oregon coast.

Retreating With Friends

Friday, April 27th, 2007

There are only five of us here in Oceanside, retreating in a beautiful home high up on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We arrived yesterday afternoon, after lunch in Tillamook and a tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory and the requisite Tillamook Ice Cream Cone. This area is a quirky combination of bucolic farm land and beautiful seaside homes.

We got some work done yesterday, but spent some time going out to dinner. We worked a bit this morning and then decided to go back to Tillamook for a trip to the quilt store and the Latimer Textile Museum and more ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We also hit the Blue Heron for some french cheese and a visit with the farm animals. Sorry, I forgot my camera – no photos. Ellen Ann Eddy has a retrospective of her work at the Latimer. We also saw rug hookers and weavers in action.

Here are some photos of our walk this morning:

oceanview.jpg

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Here is a view of our house from the road above us.

backofhouse.jpg

Here are Terry and Beth relaxing in their jammies last night.

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Here are scenes of my friends peacefully working today.

Terry:

terrycutting.jpg

terry.jpg

Beth:

beth.jpg

Reva:

reva.jpg

Gale, who is also with us has not been feeling well and has been taking some long naps. Linda has not made it over the mountains yet as she was not feeling well, either.

The rest of us are indulging in stuff like this – the scene at our table after dinner tonight.

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Needless to say, we are on a sugar high!

This sign on the wall is our motto for the week-end. So far no one has left!!

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Life’s A Beach

Thursday, April 26th, 2007

I’m all packed up and ready to drive over to a beach house with the STASH group for a long week-end of fun and quilting! There is Wi-fi so I will check in from the beach.

Here is the requested photo of me in my batiked shirt with  the new hair cut which is sort of bed head this morning. You can also get a gimpse of how messy my studio is!! I need to stay  home and get organized again – but what fun is that. Ta!

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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.

batikedshirt.jpg

Here is a closeup of one sleeve.

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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.

kimonofabrics2.jpg

kimonofabrics1.jpg

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.

Sunday Stuff

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

I was so exhausted yesterday that I managed to unpack my suitcases and my supplies and get some laundry done and then I crashed. I spent the afternoon sprawled on the sofa watching The Learning Channel. I went to bed early and arose feeling myself again.

We went to the 8 am service at the Cathedral today because the Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, was here. We knew the later service would be mobbed and no place to park. She is an inspiring preacher and a wonderful person. We had the requisite protesters outside the church, against abortion, gay rights, etc. I am so proud to be part of a church that has elected a woman to lead the church.

So, we were home by 10ish. I read the paper and walked the dog. Then I made a shopping list for the family dinner. Whoops, I got to the store and no list so I had to rely on my memory – dangerous!

I made steamed artichokes, Japanese rice bowls with seasoned turkey, veggies and hard cooked eggs with lots of ginger, garlic and Tamari sauce. I also made lemon pudding cakes. Can I just say that I love my new island table – so much workspace for cooking family meals!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Miles said that the pudding cake was the “best dessert ever”! Here they are before and after baking:

lemonpuddingcakes.jpg

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artichokes.jpg

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