home
about the artist
gallery
blog
links
contact

Archive for the ‘Scooter’ Category

Making Progress

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Today, I got my office back in ship shape order — just need to dust and vacuum. I also rearranged my work space in the studio. I have had my ironing and print tables in the middle of the room and I constantly trip over the iron cord, knocking it to the floor. I have gone through quite a few irons. I moved the tables which require an outlet to the wall where there are a couple of outlets. The cutting table is now in the middle of the room. I think it will work once I get used to it.

Today’s 3 X 3 is up there, and I did some remedial work on yesterday’s.

Here is another lovely gift from one of the Twelves — Brenda Smith, from Australia. Many of her pieces are shibori with wonderful stitching. This piece is a replication of her Illumination piece in our first set of quilts.

I hope you can see the lovely hand quilting on this.

It has been a while since I posted a photo of Scooter. He loves the cold weather we are having because he has a wonderful winter coat.

This and That

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

 

Here is today’s 3 X 3. This was needle felted, by hand. Am I going to get sick and tired of red. We shall see. I will certainly continue to discover all the ways that I can design a small piece of art. I want it to be fun and no stress.

We were awakened between 4 and 5 this morning by Scooter barking. As you can imagine, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It was one year ago this week-end that we had our first burglary. There was no intruder. Scooter had pooped in his bed. We let him stay upstairs on his bed in the family room. When we got up, he had pooped in the living room. Steve took him out for a walk and he did another gigantic poop. We wondered what was going on because he had normal movements for the last few days.

Then, I remembered the box of dog bone biscuits we bought at Costco. They are pretty big biscuits — bigger than we usually get him. Mr C had left them on the floor of my office. Last night when I was down there, he didn’t seem to want to come back upstairs. I thought I should put the biscuits up, where he couldn’t reach them. It turns out, it was like shutting the barn door after the horse got out! There are 40 biscuits to a layer and there were only 10 left when Steve counted them. We have had a big laugh about it all day. Fortunately, he did not get really sick, just felt lethargic all day.

We are looking forward to the return of Downton Abbey on PBS tonight – how about you? Our young priest even used the show in his sermon this morning!

And It Isn’t Even Spring

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

We are having a very tolerable winter, I must say. Today the temps were in the 50s and there were clear enough skies to see Mt. Hood, hardly every happens in the winter. I accompanied Mr C to Trinity this morning. He was working the pantry food handouts. I had some arts stuff to take care of. We took Scooter with us and I walked him around NW Portland. There is a part of me that would love to live down there and walk to everything and be part of the hustle and bustle of the downtown.

Scooter was such a good boy and got lots of loving from the folks coming and going from Trinity. I also enjoyed listening to the conversation between the homeless and Mr C and Lydia. It was a complete departure from what I would normally do and I enjoyed it. It is part of my plan for the new year — get out of my rut.

This afternoon, I finished yesterdays 3 x3 by sandwiching it and doing some simple stitching.

I also did some felting for today’s 3 X3. It is up at the top of the post. I used red prefelt for the background. I have to admit to a love affair with felting fibers together. My friend Terry thinks they look like something the cat threw up!! LOL But, I love the melding of fibers and colors and then adding simple embellishments. So, I am very happy with this little piece.

This is what I did tonight:

These are the pages of my Sketchbook Project for this year. The deadline to send these in must be coming up. The watercolors that I have done are just backgrounds for stitching that I want to do on each page. Some of the stitching will be done by hand, but most will be free motion machine stitching. I hope it works!!

Tomorrow, I hope to finish cleaning my studio. I want to pull off the felt from my main design wall and redo it. It is kinda grungy looking after five and a half years.

 

Getting That Holiday Spirit

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Some of my readers have wondered if I was OK. I have just been very busy. Last night we had a party for one of our priests from Trinity who is retiring. She has been with the cathedral for 18 years. Mr C was on the commission that worked with her. We had a sit down dinner for 20 people. Here are the plates!

Mr C and I worked very hard for a few days getting the house spiffy and decorated. I made chicken breasts stuffed with spinach and goat cheese, salad and brown rice. The rest of the food was pot luck.

Today, I had back to back meetings  — Columbia Fiberarts Guild in the morning and SAQA in the afternoon. I am just about done in tonight.

I got my Christmas present to myself yesterday — a 50 mm lens for my new Nikon camera. I am loving playing with it. It is the lens that Steph uses in her work, and I now see why she uses it so much.

Here are some photos that I have taken so far.

The pretty morning sky:

The Scooter Man:

And some of our Christmas decor.

The tree lights detail:

The tree without lights turned on.

This last photo was not taken with the new lens. It is Scooter impersonating one of Santa’s reindeer. He had a good time at the party last night and got lots of loving from every one.

Tomorrow, I am going to do a profile of one of our guild members who does felting. She has had a manifesto of no waste since the late 1990’s. I think you will enjoy hearing about her work and seeing what she produces.

With Gratitude

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

 

I am full of gratitude for the life I have been given, my family and my friends.  I am happily ensconced in this house facing the Pacific Ocean in California, just across the border from Oregon. All my children and their partners, grandchildren, Scooter and Wilfredo, my granddog are here for the Thanksgiving holiday. Above is the house we are in. The top floor, where those windows are, looks out across the ocean.

We all had harrowing drives through wind and rain to meet here. Now, it seems so worth it.

Sunset last night, after the rain stopped and the skies began to clear.

We brought Scooter with us and he has been such a great traveling companion. He was very excited when his buddy, Mark, showed up.

This morning we arose to find blue skies and set out to check out the beach and the state park across the street.

 

Scooter and Wilfredo are getting along quite well. Last time, he drove Wilfredo nuts!! Here is Wilfredo chillin’ with Lisa.

We are all contributing to the holiday feast. I am doing the turkey, stuffing and cranberries. Here are Mark and Jayme chopping veggies for their veggie dishes. They also made us a delicious kale frittata for breakfast.

And, best of all, here is the baby bump!!

 

If you have made it all the way to the end, I want to thank you for checking in on my blog on a regular basis. I am grateful for you, too.

Hope you are having a happy day.