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Archive for February, 2006

Getting Back on Track

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006

Today, I watched Coretta Scott King’s memorial service. So many of the speakers either made me cry or jump up and shout amen. Then you had to occasionally catch the smirk on our president’s face as he sat center stage, and it just would make me so mad. He just doesn’t get it. I was most impressed with messages from Maya Angelou and Bill Clinton. Later, I watched the Jim Lehr News Hour which had over 30 minutes of an interview with "talk out of the side of your mouth" Cheney. Can you believe anything that man says?  I just had to have this mini rant.

I have been working on a miniature prototype of the liturgical commission. This is done in cotton; the final piece will be done in hand-dyed silk, and I want to know what I am doing. They want a rainbow effect with the crosses on it, similar to the one I did for the Straight and Narrow challenge on Quiltart. The final piece will  be 7.5 feet square. So I have been cutting little squares of fabric and laying them out on a grid that I drew on batting. I am not totally happy with the layout. I have to do some fine tuning in the red/orange/magenta area. These squares are 1/1/2 inches finished. The final piece will have 3 or 4 inch squares.

Prototype

I have to fuse them down. Then each section will be pillowcased ala Mrs. Mel and quilted. Then I will fuse on the crosses and satin stitch the edges. I am doing it in three parts because I think it will be easier to quilt the final piece.

Look at what I have! Do  you think this is how Mrs. Mel got started with her match stick series? You gotta do something with them!

Matchsticks

My studio is such a mess because I couldn’t find a periwinkle blue that worked. I was pulling out bins of fabrics from everywhere. I finally used the backside of a print.

I’ll Have Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Sunday, February 5th, 2006

Some of you have wondered why we are moving to Portland. We currently live in a place that many call paradise. Portland has a reputation for being cloudy and rainy. Well, here is the reason:

Miamiloplay

The effervescent Mia.
Mia_1

The pensive Miles.
Milo_1

Saturday was a very trying day. We had put a deadline of 1 pm to counter our offer on the house. 1 pm came and went with no response from the sellers and their agent. Cynthia, our agent, and we were beside ourselves wondering what the heck was going on. She kept leaving him messages. Finally, at 4:30 pm, he called and said he had been busy with other things and thought their response could wait. We were ready to head back to CA with no house. After an hour of countering, we came to an agreement, and we got to go out to dinner and celebrate. The house is now ours!! All together, now – YEAH!! We close on March 1 and are now trying to decide when to make our big move.

So, we headed south late this morning and are spending the night in Redding, CA, where they have free wifi in the Best Western. Look at these beautiful photos that I took from the car.

Mt. Shasta in the distance:

Mtshastasunset1

Mt. Shasta sunset, a little closer
Mtshastasunset2

Mt. Shasta, sun setting.

Mtshastasunset3

This is a photo of the beautiful sky tonight:

Sunset_2

I will end with some things I love about Portland:

  • No sales tax
  • No self-service at the gas pumps
  • Great public transportation
  • Great Asian food
  • It is a very green place, environmentally and physically
  • Mia and Milo live there!!

Happy Blogiversary!

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

One year ago today I started a blog so that I could share pictures and creative endeavors with my daughters. Little did I know where this would take me and the wonderful friendships that I would make in the blogosphere. Thank you to Diane for starting the Artful Quilter’s Web Ring. It has been a wonderful experience to be part of this group. As of a few minutes ago I have had 47,000 + visits to my blog!!

We have just finished two grueling days of looking at houses – 22! We have looked in vintage neighborhoods, hillside neighborhoods, new houses, old houses, really cool houses, not so cool houses, houses on the lake, small houses, big houses – you get the idea!

To make this quilt related, look what I have been up to when I am in my hotel room:

Fabricsort_1

Rotarycutting_1

Did we find a house, you ask? Well, yes. We made an offer on the very first house we looked at yesterday. It was the only one that really met our criteria. The irony of it is that Steve did not want to look at this house. It has a lot of square footage and he just thought it would be overwhelming. It is about 5600 sq ft, but half of it is the basement. It is a mid-century modern daylight ranch, meaning that three sides of the basement are not underground and have windows and a sliding glass door to a patio. The main floor actually has a very usable, livable 2700 sq ft.

The house has had one live in owner who built it in the 50’s. It was purchased a year ago and lovingly restored and the kitchen was  remodeled and upgraded. It is in the neighborhood of Eastmoreland and is adjacent to Reed College, across the street from a golf course and very near the Rhododendron gardens. There are great places to walk Maggie and ride our bikes. It is near great shopping and restaurants and Mia’s best friend, Madelyn!! It is about a 10 -15 minute drive to Stephanie’s.

Here is the exterior and the front doors (we may add windows):

Thehouse_1

Frontdoors_2

Here are some views of the kitchen:

Kitchen1_1

Kitchen2_1

Kitchen3_1

Kitchen4_1

 

Here is the living room with the awesome 50’s fireplace. The walls are curved – that is not a weird photo thing – they are paneled in a wonderful wood.

Lroom_1

Lrfireplace

The kitchen is to the left of the living room and there is a room off that with a fireplace and big windows and doors to the deck which we will have as a dining room – it was meant to be a family room. Here is the fireplace:

Droomfirepplqce

The actual dining room is across from the living room and not very open so it will become Steve’s office. Look at these pristine vintage bathrooms. The tile work is in immaculate condition.

Vintagebathroom

Vintagebathroom2

There is a large master bedroom with 4 closets and two other bedrooms.

Downstairs in the daylight basement will be my ultimate studio!!!

There is a large tiled room with windows, and a sliding glass door to a patio. There is a fireplace and a sort of kitchenette with a sink and a place where I will put a fridge for holding dyes.

Here are a couple of shots of the room:

Newstudio

Newstudio2

Here is the fireplace:

Studiofirepace

The downstairs also has a carpeted room with another fireplace that was probably a family room. We don’t know what we will do with that. It has dark wainscoting and not much window light. There is a full bathroom and a room that has a concrete floor which will be perfect for drying dyed fabrics and a workshop for Steve, roller skating for the grand kids – a real multi purpose room!!

So there you have it. We are waiting for the sellers to counter or accept our offer. Cynthia, our Realtor just called to say that the other agent seemed happy with our offer. I am babysitting with Mia & Milo. Steph and Jack have gone to a concert and Steve has gone to pick up Lisa at the airport. She was supposed to arrive at 7:30 and her flight didn’t leave until then.

Drive By Camera Shooting

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006

We left Santa Rosa at 7 am; dropped Maggie off at the doggie camp and headed north on 101 towards Oregon. I drove the first leg of the trip, but when I wasn’t driving, I amused myself taking photos. Many of these are done on the action setting.

It was rainy for most of the trip and because the ground is saturated in the northeast, there were many mudslides where we had to wait because of one way traffic.

Here is our first stop for a mudslide:

Trafficstop

Here are trees along the side of the road and a shot through the sun roof:
Intheredwoods

Sunroof

The next mudslide was at Confusion Hill. We heard later that the road was closed here and they would evaluate the situation at 5 pm – whew we mad it through in the nick of time. This is a totem at the site (taken on the move):

Totem

Driving up 101 through the Redwoods brings back so many memories of trips up here when the kids were younger – driving through trees, chatting with a giant Paul Bunyan – just the majesty of these remarkable trees.

Redwoods

Moreredwoods

Fog

Roadsidetrees

Trees_1

Trees2

Oh, look, I saw some blue sky!

Bluesky

We made it to Eureka and a glimpse of the big surf in the ocean.

Eurekaocean

A fresh water lagoon on the other side of the road:

Lagoon

After my next driving session, it was getting dark:

Nightlights

We arrived at our hotel 12 and a half hours later. Here is the lobby:
Lobby

And some cool art in the lobby:

Lobbyart

Lobbyart2

I loved this painted floor in the restaurant:

Paintedfloor

Some red wine, some great food and I am ready to crash and head out tomorrow in search of a new home. I’ll keep you all posted.