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Archive for the ‘M & M’ Category

Putzing Along

Sunday, June 15th, 2014

picassowomanquilting

So much good stuff going on here. Enjoying our new place and neighborhood so much.

Last Wednesday was Mia’s graduation from Junior High School.  Here she is with the flowers I gave her. We are so proud of her and the confidence and maturity that she has gained over the past year. We are excited to see what she will do in high school. Her gift from us is a trip to Seattle on the train with her Mom and I. Probably won’t get to it until July. After the ceremony, we all went out to a late dinner at Mia’s favorite restaurant. It was great to have time with them before they took off for NC to visit Jack’s parents.

Miagrad

I have been quilting away on the Picasso woman. I was worried about how to quilt the face and body, but decided on straight lines that sort of follow the contours. There have been a lot of thread ends to deal with.

picassowomanthreadends

One of our new adventures was to take the street car to the Portland Farmer’s Market on the Portland State campus. Wow, what a fabulous weekly event. It is considered the best farmer’s market in the country, I was told. I think we will make this a weekly event, when we are here and able.

farmersmarket1

farmersmarket2

I hope to finish Picasso woman in the nest couple of days and get started on a larger version of Sky Blue Pink.

Hanging In There

Tuesday, December 17th, 2013

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Our beautiful Mia is 14 today. I can hardly believe it. She is becoming a very special, sweet, kind and funny young woman, right before my eyes. Here she is opening one of my gifts to her, Urban Ears coral headphones. I love the color. I also got her some really cool leggings in a great print.

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, her choice. I love a girl who can eat and she can eat. She still had room for some Peppermint Mud Pie.

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She and Miles raced to see who could pull out the most candles and lick the ice cream!

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Here are the two of them waiting for cake. Miles has a fork mustache.

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I have been busy finishing my Christmas shopping, doing Christmas cards, decorating and cleaning the house to prepare for the PDX SAQA holiday lunch here tomorrow.

I am almost ready to post the fabrics that I have available for sale, but I have to get through tomorrow, first.

Thought I would share this pretty Christmas Card that we received from the White House yesterday.

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Time Out for Some Creativity

Friday, November 22nd, 2013

8x18spiralprint

 

I took some time out from the sorting and purging for some creative time. I needed to get a print done for the current queen bee of The Printed Fabric Bee. She wanted blue spirals, 8 X 18 inches.

I started with one of my pieces of fabric that was over dyed with indigo. It was basically blue and yellow. I first printed small blueish spirals with a stencil.

small spiral stencil

Then I mixed up some  turquoise Dynaflow paint with this Liquitex iridescent medium. The directions said that a transparent paint works best and that it would be darker before it dried.

 

irridescentmedium

I used this large stencil that I made in a workshop with Jane Dunnewold.

largespiralstencil

One I finished the spiral printing, I thought it was a bit lifeless and needed some red.

spiralprinting

And so I got out some red fabric paint and some sequin waste and added some red. Here is a detail shot.

sprialprintdetail

It was fun even though I had to keep running into the storage room to find my printing equipment.

Yesterday, I finally finished the office decluttering. I kept getting sidetracked with meetings – SAQA was here on Wednesday and on Thursday, I had an SDA conference call in the morning and a Trinity Arts meeting for lunch. On Wednesday, we also celebrated Miles 12th birthday. He is wearing his new gray suit, on his birthday list. His mom found the cool hat at a thrift shop. We went out for sushi and then had a birthday mud pie at their home.

milesbirdypie

Also on his list were a new robe and slippers and some good toffee. We obliged by gifting him with those items. He loved his new robe so much that he got ready for bed early so that he could wear it. I love the rare times I get to spend with my growing grandchildren. I miss the babysitting days.

milesinnewrobe

Here is how my office looks now. I feel as if I am in some strange place.

declutteredoffice

Today, I started sorting and setting aside fabric for my studio sale on December 6th. I have so much fun folding and fondling fabric. I have worked my way through the fabric that reads as a solid in greens, blues, purples, reds, oranges and yellows. I have sorted out those that have small prints and a pile of marbled fabric.

fabricsortingI hope to get a lot done tomorrow. I am taking a break to get my hair colored in the middle of the day.

 

Still Catching UP

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

redgraycollagefabrics

 

It is taking me some time to get my mojo back. Things are still in a mess around here, but I have made some progress. I managed to unpack the supplies that I took to San Antonio and sort of straightened up my studio. I started working on a piece for the High Fiber Diet red show. I have had a piece in my head that is a collage of grey, black and red organza. I started to work on it, but needed more of the gray background. I went to the store where I bought it and they didn’t have just the right color. I am trying to make what I have work. I didn’t like the gray organza on white batting so I painted the batting black. I will have to see how that looks tomorrow, if I have time since it is father’s day, and I am cooking for the family.

Yesterday, I went to Miles’ graduation from 5th grade to Middle School. I really enjoy being at the school. It is such a great school where they really work at making all the kids feel welcome and important.

hugmiles

 

You will notice that Miles does not appreciate hugging. This kind of public display of affection, except from Mia, is uncomfortable for him. Here he is in a natural Miles pose with his diploma.

sombermiles

 

And here he is, obliging us with a smile.

smiliemiles

 

Despite the Aspergers/Autism, Miles has made great achievements in his ability to interact with the outside world, even though it is uncomfortable for him. One of his teachers told Stephanie that he is different, but better. That made her very happy.

Some Studio Fun

Friday, April 19th, 2013

blacksilkwithdischarge

 

I used a torn newspaper as a resist today to do some discharging on this piece of black silk. This is before I washed out the discharge paste and this is after.

blackdischargewashed

 

I was hoping to get some undulating organic shapes. My plan with this is to layer it over black wool prefelt, do some stitching and then throw it in the wash to shrink it. My Twelve buddy, Karen Rips, does a lot of this kind of work and I have been enamored with it. I have  not taken a class or seen a tutorial – I am just experimenting on this. Hopefully, I will have time to do some stitching tomorrow.

Today, I took some time to go get my hair cut. I went to a new place and got it really chopped off. Not sure if I like it or not, but the great thing about hair is that it grows back fairly fast. I also got the nice news that one of my Aspen quilts was juried into Sacred Threads.

I am so proud of my granddaughter, Mia. She and her friend, Devin  created this book of illustrated quotes from the videos at itgetsbetter.org. They are for sale at sunnysideitgetsbetter.bigcartel.com. All proceeds benefit itgetsbetter.org!

miaitgetsbetter

 

 

 

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On another note, it is nest watch time. I love watching the Great Blue Heron nest at Sapsucker Woods on the Cornell Campus. Here is a screen shot I took a couple of days ago. Today, there are 3 eggs.

heroneggs

 

I didn’t sleep well last night. I happened to discover the craziness going on in the Boston area and watched too much of it and never really fell soundly asleep. I am so happy that tonight, the other perpetrator was captured alive. I hope that we can get some answers as to why they did this horrific act.

Tomorrow, I am meeting one of my blog readers for lunch. She is from Seattle and is down for orientation at Oregon College of Arts & Crafts where she is going to start studies.  Tomorrow night, Mr C and I will be off to the symphony. Next week is looking great, sun wise. Maybe I will get my garden planted.