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Archive for the ‘This and that’ Category

Hello!!

Thursday, August 10th, 2017

I know I have been missing from this blog for a loooong time. I lost interest. I got wrapped up in political stuff. I was spending my energy on Instagram and Facebook. I love reading other people’s blogs and realized that I should get back at it so here I am. I am currently very jet-lagged as Mr C and I just returned from 12 days in Paris and London. We accompanied the Trinity Cathedral Choir. They were invited to sing at Notre Dame Cathedral and the American Cathedral (Episcopal) in Paris. That is where we started our journey on Friday, July 28th.

I had not been to Paris in a long time so it was pretty exciting when our bus from the airport drove by the Arc de Triomphe. We got settled in our room and slept a bit because who can sleep on a plane?? Then we took a walk to the Eiffel Tower which was in the neighborhood of our hotel.

We found a nice restaurant near our hotel and had an early dinner. We were the only ones in the restaurant for most of our meal. We only had one day to do something fun in Paris. My choice was to go to Le Marais to the Picasso Museum. We got a ticket for the metro and off we went. When we got to our stop, Mr C went to one door and I went to another. He is out on the platform and my door is not opening and suddenly the train is taking off. I lost it! I was abandoned. A lovely family (Dad, Mom and 10 year old daughter) came to my rescue. They are French but live in Pittsburgh. They got off at the next stop with me and hatched a plan. She would wait for the next train to come and watch for Mr C. He insisted on escorting me back to the previous stop. She would call him if Mr C arrived before we got on the other train. As luck would have it, both trains arrived at the same time. She contacted us before we got on the train and Mr C and I were reunited. As scary as this was at the time, I loved what happened. This family was so kind and so generous with their time. I will never forget them. I learned that you need to push a little green button to get off the metro in Paris.

We finally arrived in Le Marais. I loved this section of Paris. I could spend days there. We found the museum with a little help from random people on the street.

We thoroughly enjoyed a couple of hours here. There was a special exhibit of his work that involved all the women in his life. But, I enjoyed the permanent exhibit of his work.

 

At one time, he was into multi-media collages and so was kind of a fiber artist!!

(This piece has a reflection from glass.)

That evening, the choir sang mass at the Notre Dame cathedral. When we got there we were amazed to find a long line of folks waiting to get in for the service.

After the service, we enjoyed a wonderful meal with friends from Trinity. One of the couples has a second home in France where they spend several months of the year. It was good to see them. She had made a reservation at a wonderful restaurant. We had a private room and closed the place down. We decided to take a taxi back to the hotel.

The next day, a bus was supposed to pick us up and take us and our luggage to the American Cathedral, but, oops!, it never showed up. People started calling Ubers and taxis and somehow we all got to the cathedral before the morning service.

 

 

After church we had lunch nearby and then a bus picked us up and took us to the train station where we boarded the Eurostar which would take us through the chunnel to London. Another oops, as 14 people got left behind. The Eurostar waits for no one! The next train was a half hour later. They got to go first class and were served dinner and wine.

I will continue with our awesome London adventures tomorrow.

 

Stitching and Knitting and Coping

Tuesday, January 10th, 2017

It is snowing again in Portland. This is a photo taken from our dining room window tonight. I was so happy to get out and take a long walk with Mr C and Scooter and not worry about slip sliding. Schools are closed again. Trinity is closed and we will not have our lovely Wednesday night community meal and classes.

I have been getting some stuff done. I finished the first round of stitching on the background up above. I started stitching on the second one tonight. It is interesting to see how the same color thread looks different on the two backgrounds. It probably doesn’t show in the photos.

I also cut and pieced some more fabrics to make two more arty oven mitts.

I knitted a pink pussy hat to wear to the Portland Woman’s march on January 21. I used the Prisma app on the photo. It makes a photo look more arty!! I am knitting two more hats, hoping some family members will wear them.

I have lots to do while I am snowed in. But, I really am getting tired of this winter weather. I did not sign up for this.

Gathering Stuff

Thursday, January 5th, 2017

Yesterday, I went to my new studio to get some things done for a couple of projects I am planning to do. I gathered some of my more heavy weight scraps and fabrics to piece for making the oven mitts. I also, pulled out some of my hand-dyed silk fabric to use for Laura Wasalowski’s silk stitch along.  We were to fuse the silk to wool batting. I didn’t have any so I used wool felt for one piece and a scrap of something that looked like it would be easy to stitch through. I prepared two backgrounds because I like to practice on one.

I also pulled out all of my Perle cotton in sizes 8 and 12. I am missing some colors I think I might want to use. I will need to go down the hill to In Stitches and do some shopping.

I didn’t accomplish much today because I was feeling a bit slammed. I went back to boot camp at the condo gym yesterday morning, and we did weight training. I am feeling it today plus the really cold weather we are having is aggravating my sinuses.

Last night I started a great class at Trinity – 4 weeks of studying the work of Bach. The teacher is an organ virtuoso and a Bach expert. We sat around our beautiful organ as he demonstrated many parts of a famous Bach toccata and fugue.  I took some photos of the organ and the Christmas decorations.

Some of you may remember the quilt I made from a photo I took of the pipes.

A New Year and A New Me

Monday, January 2nd, 2017

As I posted on the last day of 2016, my word for 2017 is action. I plan to take action on many fronts. Today was my first day to put it all in action. I got so much done and no back ache which is what has kept me from doing much for several months. Today’s activity involved some sorting and purging on the clothing front and also a trip to pick up some supplies to make Maria Shell’s Oven Mitts.

Our STASH Christmas party/lunch got postponed because of winter weather so I have not been able to show you what I made for them, yet. Soon!

We enjoyed a quick trip to California to spend some time with our effervescent granddaughter, Paige, and her Mom and Dad.

She wore the coming and going Winnie the Pooh sweater for me. The photo is blurry because she hardly stays still.

Jayme had a 28 hour shift in the NICU at Stanford Children’s Hospital so we went for a hike with Mark and Paige to the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. It was in the 60s and we had a great time.

I love this collage of a photo of trees that I made using the Prisma app on my phone.

Speaking of my phone, I found out that mine was eligible for a battery replacement. I took it to the Apple store near my son’s home. When they replaced the battery, something happened to my phone camera so they gave me a brand new one. Pretty cool.

I managed to finish and mount the wool stitch along with Laura Wasilowski.

I am scared and angry about our narcissist president, but I plan to find joy in my daily life by being creative and loving to those I encounter. I will also resist and dissent against what ever is coming from Washington.

Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you for staying with me.

Getting Up to Speed

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

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Just a quick post to let you know what I have been up to. First, I am happy to say that I am getting stronger every day. I can get back up the hill to the condo faster and without stopping to catch my breath! I can stand up from the sofa faster ad easier each day. My backaches are subsiding. That is great progress for me.

Above you see the house that I created from the blue moon quilt.Here is the original – kind of boring. I love it as a 3-Dconstruction.

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It was on display with other fantastic 3-D objects at the Oregon SAQA conference. Our Blending Poetry and Cloth exhibit is on display there now at the Salem Historical Center. I loved getting reacquainted with my Ode to aTree quilt.

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That was an all day affair, and the next day, I took myself to the NW Quilt Expo to wander amongst the quilts and do some retail therapy. I love Marcia Derse fabrics and I selected these from her new line. Love the greens! I also picked up some thread and needles from Superior Thread.

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The big news is that I am moving my studio next month to a place a bit larger where I can have a design wall that I can stand back from. It will be a shared space with my daughter Lisa who needs a place to do her fine art painting. More about that as we progress with the move and setting up the space to accommodate both of us.