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Archive for October, 2010

PIQF Report

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

As we were driving away from my son’s hood, I took a photo of this cool mural across the street. He lives in the Mission and many residents are of Mexican heritage. When I walk around the neighborhood, I know what it is like to not look like most people you encounter. I never am afraid. I love the whole scene.

I met Liz Berg at the Pacific International Quilt show between 10:30 and 11. Mr C was coming back at 3 so I didn’t have a lot of time to see the amazing array of quilts.

I bought some beautiful hand-dyed silk/cotton from my friends from Sonoma County (no website – I learned to dye from Judy and Carlene). I learned to dye from them. I also bought some of Judy Robertson’s lovely fabric. I also bought a couple of garments from Ananse Village

Here are some quilts that caught my eye, that I remembered to photograph.

I always love Noriko Endo’s quilts. She creates the landscape with small bits of fabric then it is covered with tulle and machine quilted. She gets a very organic and realistic landscape.

Loved the colors and geometry of this. The intersecting lines look trapuntoed.

This is a Carol Taylor quilt. That is Liz looking at it. We thought this seemed like a new direction for her. I really liked it.

I know Betty Busby through FaceBook. She does wonderful scenes of the natural world. It was great to see one of her quilts up close and personal.

Of course I loved this quilt  by Patti Morris from Canbadawhich is another take on Aspens in the fall. A really nice composition.

You need to click on this to see it better. It is the Russian River done by the art quilt group that I started in Santa Rosa, The Pointless Sisters. It makes me so happy to see that they are still going strong. This was designed by Linda Morand and each member did a section with the rivers connecting.

I forgot to take photos of the High Fiber Diet show. I was having too much fun running into old friends and catching up.

Tonight, Mr C and I walked to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Mark and Jayme were invited to the home of one of her professors at Berkeley, where she is in an elite program with only 16 students. Half the class was invited tonight.

I am very tired. Time to call it a day!!

In California

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

The sun was setting as we drove across the Bay Bridge late yesterday. We had an uneventful drive and found 91° temps and bright sunshine in California. I have a love of the late summer/fall landscape.

This is a view of the Crocker Bridge. I love to photograph bridges as I drive across.

My son made a delicious birthday meal and bought me a cake. We were exhausted from the long drive so did not celebrate too much.

This is the view from the flat where Mark and Jayme live.

Today, we went to the De Young to see two exhibits: To Dye For: A World of Saturated Color and Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Beyond: Post Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musee d’Orsay. Both exhibits were fabulous – The Impressionist show required special tickets for a specific time and it was quite crowded.

The To Dye for show was right up my alley – saw old and new textiles that had different methods of resist dyeing.

We saw Van Gogh’s Starry Night; it was underwhelming to me. I really loved his Painting of his Arles Bedroom. It was painted just before he committed suicide. I think the sunny yellows and sky blues give it a happy feel.

I loved the work of Emile Bernard and Maurice Denis – two artists that were new to me.

We drove over the hills of San Francisco to Lisa’s studio for a visit. It was such a clear and sparkly day.

I found a quilt that I made a few years ago and gave to Lisa. Her chihuahua, Wilfredo, uses it. That makes me happy. It was a trial for me to do this precision piecing. I am glad some warm body curls up in it.

Here is a shot of Lisa’s studio – always inspiring.

Tonight we went out to dinner with M & J and some of Jayme’s relatives who were in town. We had yummy Mexican food. I had chicken in a mole poblano sauce – very good.

Tomorrow, I am off to PIQF.

Here I Am!

Monday, October 11th, 2010

I stitched all week-end and finally realized that I was totally crazy to think I could finish this by today! I have so enjoyed the sitting and stitching. I will take this to California with me this week and continue stitching and hope to enter it in another show later this year.

I ran out of the perfect Valdani embroidery thread and couldn’t find a local store that carries it so I ended up with another brand that has a slightly different colorway, but I think it is blending nicely.

Lisa drove back here last night and since her flight wasn’t until tonight, I got to spend the day with her. She is in a show at Flora, here in Portland, so we went down to check it out since she missed the opening on Friday night.

Here are some pretty photos I took at the store which has lots of natural elements.

Lisa’s friend, Trish, met us there and then took us to a nice little Vegan restaurant in the Pearl. I had a delicious bowl of chili and a Marionberry lemonade.

After some shopping and roaming around town, we picked up Stephanie and went to M & M’s school to surprise them. They love their Aunt Lisa.

The kids showed us their crazy bands (colorful rubberband shapes) while we had an after school snack of edamame.

Here are Lisa and Mia checking out photos on her camera.

All of a sudden we realized that Lisa needed to get her bags and get to the airport. Fortunately, the airport was pretty quiet and she made her flight because we were a bit behind schedule.

I need to get moving and finish packing up. We are leaving for California in the morning. I am going to be at PIQF on Thursday so let me know if you are going to be there. Our High Fiber Diet show, Bird’s Eye View, will be there.

Sittin’ and Stitchin’

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

I decided to seed stitch the planets in my alternate universe. I am wondering if I can get this done before we leave next week. So, I am watching mindless TV and stitching and stitching.

I used one of my discharge samples for my fiber sketch today. It is a bit silly, glittery and fun. I call it Star Struck. I used some organza and glitter. I managed to spill half the container of glitter on the floor.

I got to spend an hour with both of my brilliant daughters this morning. Lisa flew in to town and borrowed one of our cars to drive to Grant’s Pass, where she is teaching a drawing and painting class for Ace Camps. Steph came over, and it was so nice to have a sharing time of what we are all up to. Lisa, of course, wins the medal for doing the most.

I added a lovely piece to my fiber art collection today. I purchased this piece by Natalya Aikens from the SAQA auction. Can’t wait to see this in person.

An Alternate Universe

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

I often feel that I exist in an alternate universe that is connected to another, but is upside down and in reverse. So that is what I am trying to portray in this discharged piece.

I dreamed about doing this all night. I was going to hit the studio early this morning and get on it. Life intervened. I had to do an SDA website update this morning and so I didn’t get started until after lunch.

I drew the pattern on freezer paper and ironed the circles to one side and the remainder to the other side.

I used a chlorinated gel cleanser to remove the color. It was a nice warm, breezy day do I was able to do the work out on the patio.

Now, I have to work out how to quilt this. I think I will do hand stitching on the planets.

There is no fiber sketch tonight. On Wednesdays, Mr C and I have dinner at Trinity Cathedral, followed by a class. Tonight we started a class on the writings of David Abram. He writes about the cultural causes and consequences of environmental turmoil from a very spiritual point of view. He has done a lot of study with indigenous people and it strongly informs his writing. He gave a lecture at Trinity last week-end, and I was captivated and spell-bound.