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Archive for October, 2010

Seeing Red

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Driving home from the STASH gathering today, we saw a stand of trees with gorgeous fall color which inspired tonight’s fiber sketch. I took the photo as Reva was whizzing through the intersection.

We had a great time at Suzy’s home. Suzy is fairly new to our group so we had not met there, yet. It was a visual treat. She has lots of Japanese and Asian items in her home. She is not afraid of color and she loves red as you will soon see. I should have taken a photo of the living room rug which had gorgeous red flowers.

Here is Suzy in her kitchen.

She made us a fabulous lunch, served in red dishes.

She had made the quilted placemats:

She said she bought the Wolf range because of the red knobs:

And there is a red microwave and glass tiles to match.

And even red cabinet doors!

We had a good time. I always love sharing stories with my friends. Beth was just back from 3 weeks in Europe and had fun stories to share.

Tomorrow, I think I have my first stay at home day this week. I hope to get started on my Rusty piece.

I leave you with a very sleepy puppy.

Getting Rusty

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

I suddenly realized that I must get to work on my next Twelve X Twelve colorplay piece. The theme is rust with a blue-green patina. I found some scraps and warmed up with a fiber sketch using some blue-green silk and some copper mesh.

Here are the fabrics that I plan to use. I am thinking of incorporating some copper mesh or wire.

Obama was in town tonight. We thought about standing in line for two hours to get in, and then thought better of it. I was happy to see that there was a capacity crowd and were not missed!!

I used to rant about politics on this blog. It was part of my schtick. Then, I started a separate political blog. I deleted that.  Now, I find the whole political scene so depressing that I just want to escape from it. I feel in limbo, waiting for the next shoe to drop. I will be glad when November 2 is done and over, and we can move on.

Slow Start

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

I started the day rather slowly, curled up with the lap top, doing SDA work, reading blogs and Facebook. I did run over to the Post Office to pick up my latest acquisition from the SAQA auction. This piece is by Natalya Aikens. It is really exquisite.

I also took Scooter for a walk. It was such a beautiful, almost balmy, fall day. After lunch, I roasted the latest bunch of cherry and Roma tomatoes that I harvested yesterday. All of a sudden, it was 3 pm.

I decided to get down to the studio to pack up stuff for our High Fiber Diet meeting tonight. I felt the need to do something constructive so I vacuumed up the glitter I spilled over a week ago. Then, I grabbed the quilt that I needed to touch up with paint because it had some fading problems. I was a little nervous, but I matched the color really well and it was actually fun. It has a layer of tulle over the silk, so I can not heat set it. I will let it dry for a couple of weeks and then spray it with an ultra-violet light protectant.

Then, I was off to pick up my organic farm produce for the week. I have tomatillos and jalapeno peppers. There will be salsa!! I also got Brussels sprouts leaves (have never cooked those), turnips, beets, garlic and other goodies.

I met Terry Grant at a Mexican restaurant for a quick supper before out High Fiber Diet meeting. We had a packed house. Our group is growing be leaps and bounds – very exciting. One of our new members, Wendy Mamattah, shared her work tonight. She is originally from Ghana. I particularly like this quilt about the Masai.

Tonight, after the meeting, I was dorking around on the computer and watching Dancing with the Stars when I decided to do a quickie fiber sketch from some scraps I had on the cutting table. It is up a the beginning. I call it Deconstructed Fence.

Lastly, here is another birthday gift. This gorgeous glass ring from my daughter, Lisa.

And so, I ended up having a quite productive day!

Back to Business

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Wow, it has been more than a week since I have done a fiber sketch. I grabbed some scraps and came up with this simple composition that reminds me of autumn.

We arrived home from California on Saturday evening — exhausted and happy that we had spent some great time with family and friends in San Francisco. I think I need one more good night’s sleep to get the energy to get caught up with stuff.

Yesterday, we drove out to the farm to pick up Scooter. It was a beautiful day for a drive to the country. I snapped this photo of Mt Hood. Looks like it is time for snow – Mt. Hood is getting bald.

Today, we stood in line to get our flu shots. It was the first day that Kaiser offered them so there was a pretty long line, but I entertained myself with my iPhone and the time passed rather quickly.

My good friend, Judy from Georgia, sent me a package for my birthday with these two goodies — one of her beautiful scarves and a sand timer with lime green sand.

I just love the colors that Judy put into this scarf – can’t wait to wear it.

Last SF Day

Friday, October 15th, 2010

I thought I would post early today as tonight is my last night with the whole CA family together. I know you want to see what I bought yesterday. These are the hand-dyed Radiance (Cotton/Silk). I use a lot of these colors. The rust will probably go into the next Twelve x Twelve challenge.

Here are the cottons dyed by Judy Robertson:

The larger piece of fabric is a lovely muslin.

I bought two garments from Ananse:

I love the indigo tunic, but the batik dress needs to be exchanged. It has a flaw at the bottom. I tried on another color and then bought this instead. Love the fabric.

They gave me this beautiful piece of batik. I didn’t know until I opened the bag.

This morning, we took our daughter-in-law, Jayme, out to lunch at Tom Colicchio’s sandwich shop, ‘Wishcraft. I had a half goat cheese and avocado sandwich and split pea soup.

I love to photograph the city sights:

The above photo shows the Contemporary Jewish Museum on the right. That was our first destination to see the Maira Kalman exhibit. I so enjoyed seeing the work of this very funny woman. I bought a copy of her illustrated Elements of Style.

It was $5 day at the SF MOMA, so we ran in to see the Anniversary Show of 400 works collected over 75 years. Diebenkorn is always our favorite.

I know I have posted a lot of photos, but I just had to show the beautiful clouds that we saw this morning from Mark’s front window. We don’t see the sky that easily from our home so this is a treat.

Time to get ready to meet Lisa and Clay for dinner tonight.