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Archive for January, 2008

Sunshine and Chocolate

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Two of my favorite things in the world. It is still cold, but the landscape is brilliant with clear air and winter sunshine. It streams in the windows and takes away the chill. Maggie loves to find sunshine and just bask in it.

maggielovessun.jpg

The shrink wrapped windows seem to be working. Maggie and I are quite comfy in the basement.

I have been working on my chocolate piece for the Twelve X Twelve challenge. It is due at the end of this month. I am having fun with this. Sorry, I can’t share too much, but I am taking photos and will share the process later. I will show you this, which may make it into the final piece. I call it chocolate shibori.

chocolateshiboriweb.jpg

I have also been working on my homework for the Better Art by Design class. I had lots of fun tonight cutting up paper and making small compositions.

Thanks for all the positive comments about flipping the latest construction piece. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I am going to keep the latest configuration.

My car is in the shop, getting repaired from the accident I had last month. I won’t have it back until Friday so Mr C and I are sharing the Jeep.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!

Monday, January 21st, 2008

We have finally joined the rest of the country and have that frigid Arctic air mass over us. BUT, the sun is a shining so bright and cheery, that I don’t care!

If you have wondered where I have been, I just didn’t have anything really creative to share. Plus, Mr C and I have been accomplishing many tasks.

Speaking of Mr C, tomorrow is his birthday. Today, I took the family out to lunch to celebrate his birthday. We went to Papa Haydn’s, the restaurant known for desserts. They also have other great food. Mia thought she was going to Papa John’s Pizza, so when her mother told her she needed to mind her manners because we were going to a very nice restaurant, she was quite perplexed.

I found this photo of Mr C with his Mom and our kids. It was taken back in the 70’s. Doesn’t he look like “That 70’s Guy”? I never liked the mustache, and he didn’t have it for long. That suit is just classic. Look how the plaid in the jacket even lines up with the pants.

stevemustache.jpg

I am a very lucky lady because Mr C came in to my life 40+ years ago. He has always allowed me to have my space and truly indulges me, often when I am not worthy. We share a very warped sense of humor, which we passed on to our children. He is passionate about reaching out and helping the needy in our city. He is a deeply religious man, but not preachy. He is the best Grandpa to M & M. They love to do art and building projects with him and to hear his silly made-up stories. A great day for him includes a few hours with them. He thinks I am the best cook in the world. So a big “hippo birdy” to the man in my life.

The two of us have been pretty busy. I have been rather chilly down here in the basement. On Saturday, we went to Lowes and bought some shrink wrap for all the windows. It is rather unsightly, but it has helped immensely. We didn’t get it installed until yesterday. We had Sojourner’s potluck at 5:30 in Vancouver. I cooked my cheesy broccoli family favorite. We had lots of fun, and I almost got myself in trouble for bringing up politics! Steve started telling stories of all the times that I have gotten into political spats.

I also decided to move my computer desk away from the windows. I worked on that most of today. I had to unhook my computer and peripherals and get them all set up again. My studio and the office are still in disarray, but I am making progress.

I am taking Liz Berg’s online design class, Better Art by Design. We got our first assignment this week-end and so I have been doing some work in my sketch book. I am not going to show you much of what we do in the class as I think Liz wants to keep it on our Yahoo group. But here is a little peek. Please! No comments on my drawing skills.

betterartdrawings.jpg

Last night, Mr C went online to the GE store and ordered a new refrigerator for us. Since he is a retired GE man, we get a nice discount and rebate. We are getting a Monogram with all the bells and whistles. The fridge that came with the house has made us crazy. The plastic parts are breaking. The French doors never close properly. It does not have an ice maker. It has very poor design. So, it will go to the garage, and we will get rid of the energy hog that is out there. We have to raise the area over the fridge by 3 inches so I will lose a shelf that I could never reach anyway. Mr C started working on that today.

Finally, today, I turned my latest piece upside down and I think I like it this way. What do you think? Here is the first orientation:

fenceconstruction.jpg

Here it is, inverted.

constructioninverted.jpg

I Do Not….

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

. . . have two children in their forties. Oh, yes, you do. Lisa is forty, today.

lisa40.jpg

I am especially happy for Lisa because she has had the courage to jump into a new life as a full-time artist. Lisa, I am wishing you many years of success and enjoyment as you live out your new art(full) life. Hope you are having a great day and have tons of fun at your party tomorrow. Wish I could be there.

Wednesday This and That

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Let’s get this out of the way — I lost a quarter of a pound this week. To make it sound better, imagine a stick of butter gone from my butt!!

I think I have finished the latest construction piece. I chopped off some magenta and lime green from the top. This is what it looked like before:

summerdreamscomposition.jpg

And this is after I trimmed the top.

fenceconstruction.jpg

I am trying to think of a name for this. I see fences. I feel the warmth of summer sunshine. Here is a detail.

fenceconstructiondetail.jpg

Things on my to do list.

  1. Twelve X Twelve chocolate challenge – due Feb 1
  2. Aspen quilt for Kristin
  3. Collage quilt of Japanese textiles — a commission
  4. Art cloth for the Jane Dunnewold project

Tomorrow is STASH at Beth’s house. Fun with good friends. Now, I am off to watch Project Runway.

B is For Binding

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

I don’t usually put bindings on my quilts. Abstract paintings don’t have bindings and since that is the look I am going for, I usually do an envelope finish, a facing, or a satin stitched edge. The current quilt was going to be compromised if I took too much off the edge to do a facing so I have decided to do a fused binding, using matching fabric for each section. After all the bindings are fused I will do some stitching to make them look more a part of the design.

constructionbinding.jpg

When I was looking at photos of the quilt tonight, I decided that I need to trim away some of the edges. I had too much of the magenta in the upper left hand side of the quilt so I will cut away some and shorten the lime green. I always find that looking at a quilt on the computer screen helps me to see how I need to work on the scale of elements.

Tonight, Terry and I went to our High Fiber Diet meeting. We received the sad news that we will not have our annual show at the Japanese Garden this year. This was the major activity for this group so it will be interesting to see where we go from here.

Thanks to Karoda, I found the Fiber Artists for Obama group. If you are interested, go to the Obama for President site and click on Join a Group. If you put fiber artists in the search box, you will find the group. There are currently 37 members. Come and be an Obama Mama with me.