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Archive for February, 2009

On the Road, Again

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Where was I when Mr C dragged me off to Golden Gate Park. We were driving from Sonoma County, our recent home until 3 years ago, to San Francisco.

ggbridge

Church cross/sign in San Francisco.

sfchurchcross

Driving through the Castro to get to Lisa’s home, in the Mission.

castro

Look at who was happy to see me. Please ignore the double chin.

doublechinandwilfredo

We went to Lisa’s show which was inspired by Victorian Valentines. She is just so creative and full of ideas. Many of her friends were surprised to see us there. She runs with a very talented crowd. Amy Ruppel drove down from Portland, too. She followed us all day and we had a big laugh about it and commiserated over the horrible drive on 101.

The show was at the Bell Jar. It is a very electric store, and I enjoyed looking at all the goodies and collectibles. This guy looked out over the event. Isn’t he cute?

showonlooker

Here is a photo that I snapped of Lisa and Clay, her girlfriend – such a cute couple. I never did get a very good photo of Mark and Jayme.

liliandclay

After the show, Mark, Jayme, Mr C and I went to Delfina pizzeria and after a short wait enjoyed some fabulous pie!!

mrcdelfina

Here is a piece of pruciotto pie – so good. That is fresh arugula on it.

priosciuttopie

We had a change of plans today and spent most of the day at the new Academy of Science building in Golden Gate Park. It was very crowded, but still very enjoyable. I got some teriffic photos of tropical fish, jellies, butterflies and colorful frogs which I will try to post in the future.

Tonight we had a fabulous family dinner at Foreign Cinema, a really cool restaurant in the Mission, near Lisa’s home. They show foreign films on the wall in the outside seating area. Tomorrow, we will leave early for SoCal, trying to bear the bad weather that is heading this way.

On the Road

Friday, February 13th, 2009

We are in our hotel in San Francisco, planning what we shall do today. I think we will take in the DeYoung and do a little retail therapy.

i5trees

Trees along I-5

We had a wonderful drive along the Oregon Coast on Wednesday with some showers and lots of sun breaks. I am posting some of my drive by photography. I enjoyed the Coos Art Museum shows soooo much. I had forgotten that the SAQA Transformations: Icons and Imagery was there. That show sent me into ecstasy. The work was evocative and inspiring. I loved seeing all of the techniques that were used. It was a thrill to see the work of many that I only know from cyberspace. The small works invitational show New Focus, was equally delightful, but in miniature! I had to keep walking around and finding something new in each piece as I  spent time admiring the work. I should have taken notes. The third show, STITCH, was some interesting work by 5 Portland artists. I congratulate these women for doing the work and getting this venue. I have learned that you get what you ask for!!

101bridge

We wanted to get as far as Eureka to spend the night. It was my turn to drive and of course the rain started in earnest. If you have ever driven highway 101 through the redwoods, you know this was a nightmarish drive. We stayed at a lousy motel, but had a fabulous dinner at Cafe Oberon.

redwoodsthruwindshield

Redwoods through a dirty windshield.

restroomstop

The Thursday weather was  beautiful  – partly sunny and chilly. We headed on down 101 and stopped in Healdsburg for lunch and a quick stop at the shop where I first got hooked on using vintage Japanese textiles. I found some very exciting turquoises which I will share later.

ruralsonoma

sonomavineyards

Mr C is waiting so I will continue the adventure later.

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Why is this woman smiling? (Photo taken by June Underwood at Terry’s last week.)
gerrie

She is five years out from her last breast cancer diagnosis.

78285527_240x240_front

Woo hoo!

We are almost ready to leave in the morning. Steph and family are moving in so that they can demo their kitchen in preparation for a remodel. Maggie is so happy because she does not have to be boarded and the kids will be here. She probably won’t enjoy Chester the three legged cat.

I will be checking in from the road!

And the Winners are:

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

Liz Hinze, from right here in the Portland area, will get the funky valentine collage and Missy Jordan, from Louisiana, will get the Kyoto Hearts postcard. Missy, did you know that I my maiden name was Jordan? Thank you to all 39 of you who left me such wonderful comments and have inspired me to keep on blogging for at least another 5 years. Mr C drew the names.

I am quite busy trying to get some things done before we leave for a little soujourn to California. We are leaving early on Wednesday and heading South. We will stop at Coos Bay to see the quilt show at the art museum. Then we will keep driving south on 101 until we need to stop to spend the night. Thursday we will stop in San Francisco for a couple of days visiting Mark, Jayme, Lisa and her gal pal, Clay. Lisa has a show opening on Thursday night.

Saturday, we will keep on heading south to the Mojave desert and the town of Twenty Nine Palms where we will spend a week, hoping for some sunshine and warmer temperatures. Looks like it will be a bit rainy and in the 60s. While there, we are planning lots of side trips with Mike and Ann, my husband’s brother and wife. We are going into Oceanside one day to see the Visions Quilt show. I am so happy that it has been extended this year. It is usually over by the time we go down in February. I will have a studio available for doing some work so I will take some supplies with me.

I started work on the collage piece. First, I fused all the fabrics with Misty Fuse.

fusingfabric

I used some Japanese fabrics for the background. I usually use dupioni silk.

collagebackground

Here is a sneak peak at the work so far. I think I will have to stop at this point and take it with me.

collageinprogress

As I have mentioned, the High Fiber Diet group is doing a show titled line dancing. Each piece will have a lime green horizontal line. I rotated Indigo Construction and am contemplating entering it. I will remove the dangling threads, if I do this. What do you think?

indigoconstructionsideways

indigoconstructionrotatedagain

A Good Saturday

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

I had a great day today. I made more progress on getting every thing reorganized down in my office and studio. It is not quite finished, but I had to fit in some fun time, too. We had some nice sunshine today so we enjoyed a long walk with my favorite four legged companion. I love her ears and nose!!

maggie2_09

After lunch, I got out my vintage Japanese textiles and started arranging possible color combinations for a collage for the Fiber Art for a Cause Reverse Auction.

I ususally do reds, yellows and golds, but I really want to do something a little different this time. Here is a palette based on turquoisy fabrics:

turquoisetextiles

This is turquoise with a little more orange:

turquoiseandorangetextiles

Here is a set based on blue as the anchor color.

bluetextiles

And finally, oranges and browns.

orangeandbrowntextiles

I am really leaning towards the turquoise with lots of orange. I like to select large and small prints for variety.

Tonight, we had a dinner with friends from church. I was responsible for the salad. I really did not want to go to the store. I had some nice baby greens on hand.

babygreens

I candied some walnuts in balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and olive oil.

candiedwalnuts

Granny Smith apples, sliced and splashed with lemon juice.

grannysmithapples

Add some Gorgonzola cheese and you have a yummy salad.

delicioussalad

I am really enjoying all the comments on my anniversary blog. Keep them coming. I will select two winners on Monday.