...........Fibresoul...............

Finishing things!

2012-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Early in January I got together with my friend Joan and we decided this would be the year for finishing things. Joan loves to journal and does a spectacular job of it. I haven't done any of that yet, other than this blog! She gave me a beautiful small notebook which is divided into sections with lined paper, graph paper, plastic sleeves for photos or samples and some dividers in random places. I decided it would be my journal of my "Finishing Adventures of 2012".

We sat down on our regular Friday stitching day and began our lists. She had gone through all her unfinished objects (heretofor referred to as UFO's) and listed them. So while at my house we went through my cupboard of UFO's and listed them in my journal. Even I was horrified at what I had in there. If I finished all the things in there I would have an entire closet to put to better use. I think there's a fine line between storing and hoarding and I may be on the verge of crossing it!

My book is now divided into types of UFO's. Unfinished quilts, unfinished dolls, unfinished paper projects (handmade books), unfinished knitting projects and unfinished art trading cards!

Throughout January I have been applying myself to finishing things. I have finished a felted purse....it had been in my closet for at least 3 years and it needed a button sewn on it!!!! WHY do I stop when I'm so close? But it's done now.

I then got out a doll that I think I started at least 15 years ago. She's lovely and just needs her clothing completed. I had started to make a skirt of leaves with decorative machine stitching on them. The silk I was working on had bunched up and I didn't know how to fix that so into a box she went with all her parts and pieces to await ...... well, to await more knowledge I suppose. This month she emerged and I was amazed at how much I've learned in the past years and how easily I could do that stitching now that I know what supplies to use and how to use them! I've got the stitching done now and am adding beads to the skirt petals....beading is another skill I've learned since starting that doll. I'll be going to the doll club meeting in Victoria next week and I intend to take her with me. Some of the members were in that class when I took it with Patti Culea, and I'd like to ask if anyone can remember how many years ago it was!

Another thing finished in January is a knitted collar which I'm very pleased with. It was started in a class at Needle & Arts in Campbell River http://www.needlenart.com/ with Miriam Leth-Espensen from Santa Fe, New Mexico. I love the way it fits and believe I will do another. It would make a lovely gift for someone who doesn't knit and it's so simple!

This is a pot holder that has been on the shelf for a number of years.....I don't dare guess how many. I don't even think I made it....it's folded squares and all it needed was a binding! It's done now and crossed off the list!

And last but not least, while at a retreat with my quilting group in April of 2011 I put together a kit quilt that my mother gave me and asked me to make for my sister to hang in her office. I'm not a Halloween officianado, but I was willing to sew it together and finish it. Mum had used the center panel to translate into graph work and knitted a sweater for my sister in the intarsia method, which incorporated these designs. (My sister works is a pediatric heart specialist) Mum does this in her head, without even drafting it out on graph paper!

So this January I got out that quilt top, basted it and proceeded to quilt and bind it. Yahoo....another finished project! And the last step for January is to enter in my little journal of UFO's, what I finished, when I finished it, and any notes I think appropriate. The only appropriate note I can think of is "Why the heck didn't you go all the way to the end before you started the next thing!!!" See that big word at the bottom of the page????

I can hardly wait to see what February brings!

A Tea Flower Ceremony

2012-02-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

My mother, father and I were having dinner together the other evening, as we do every evening now that they live with us. it was a quiet meal with not a lot of conversation. I cleared the table of the main meal and brought out dessert and as always, a pot of herbal tea. Only this day the tea was different. We had a coffeemaker that stopped working and I had thrown out the body of it and put the pot in a box for the local thrift shop. Mum saw it there and brought it back into the kitchen. She told me she had a tea flower that her granddaughter gave her and she needed a clear pot to put it in and wanted to use the nearly discarded clear glass coffee pot for that.

Now you should know that Mum has downsized considerably in this move, and can't let go of a lot of things she has. So when she can't find a place for them she brings them into my part of the house and places them somewhere. I find little surprises in the oddest places. Some I leave there and some I put in the box for the thrift store. I've found that once Mum has actually gone through the motions of moving something out of her space, she will often forget about it. (Altho I have gotten into trouble the odd time because we "can't find" something she knows she brought over to my house!) But this time it was worth it......

But back to the tea. Mum brought her little tea flower over. It's a tight little ball of tea leaves. This one was called Sunset Oolong...."Wild oolong leaves and orange lily offer a golden full-bodied flavor with hints of peach, some caffeine. Brew time 3 minutes." It was from Spice Merchants .

We put the little ball into the pot and topped it up with just-boiled water. And then the three of us sat and watched the little thing unfurl. I must admit to having had thoughts along the line of "what has my life become?" But little by little the leaves rehydrated and spread out and lo and behold, we had a lovely flower floating in a pot of tea! We poured three cups and it was surprisingly tasty. I had seen these little balls in the tea shops in our area, but never before appreciated the zen quality of the tea ceremony using one of these.

My natural (or destructive?) curiosity overcame me when we were done tho. I got out kitchen scissors and dismantled the leaves. It was interesting to see that it was constructed like a bouquet.....many long tea leaves, a lily flower which still had it's stamens, and what I think was a strawflower in the middle. I can't imagine making these and wondered how it gets dried into the ball shape!

But what started out to be something I thought laughable was actually pretty interesting and educational as well as tasty!

Zen Doodling

2012-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

"Zentangling" has become a very popular form of doodling. Check out the "home site" for this new art craze at http://tanglepatterns.com There are many blogs on-line also that have photos and descriptions of other "tangler's" pieces, as this one is going to do. My friend Donna Pepper is a Certified Zentangle Teacher and treated a group of us to a class. It was amazing in that it made a group of very close friends go from chattering and laughing to total silence the moment we started to concentrate. I can understand why it's called "ZENtangling" by that experience.

Zentangles can be done in a book or journal (one of the participants has a fabulous collection in a little book and they are incredible) and can be any size you like, but the typical is a 3" card referred to as a "tile". Donna gave us each a few tiles and a pen (pencils and erasers not allowed), and started us out on the essentials to begin our very own tile. It was great fun and I loved it.

So I decided to try it at home.....in fact....finish the piece I started in that mini-class. Now I'm wondering if I missed the "zen" aspect altogether because the piece I did is so uptight and strangled that it doesn't look like I relaxed or got into the zone at all! Too many tiny little squiggles, too much black.....I think a psychiatrist might have fun analysing this one! I don't remember what mood I was in when I tackled this one, but I do believe I'll have to try again....or then again, perhaps I should just stick to stitching! Here's my first tile (she says unhappily)....and I know the photo isn't in proper focus, but figured it shows well enough how badly I did~!

Pennant Exchange

2011-12-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

The online group I belong to, Stargaze Tomers, with Yahoo, occasionally does an exchange. Last spring Patti Culea, leader of the group http://www.pmcdesigns.com/index.php organized an exchange of pennants. I volunteered to take part. This was just before the insanity of construction started and I had fantasies of being able to sew while the crew worked. Needless to say it didn't work out that way. The deadline was August and I missed it by a mile, but I did finish. The picture above is the five that I made.

The photos below are the ones I made paired with the one I received from the person I exchanged with. Some beautiful work by some very talented people. My chosen theme was "trees" and you can see that reflected in each pennant I received.

This is the set exchanged between Patti Culea and myself. Patti's theme was Steampunk/Fantasy and I had a lot of fun looking for charms and decorations to do that theme. It has a real watch face, new charms, a piece from a broken digital camera, and rusty lock washers for goggles.

This is the set exchanged between Kari Curley and myself. Kari's theme was "pink" and this one is done on tissue paper fabric (tutorial at www.joggles.com) with a stamped and stitched face. There is tattered lace covered with puff paint, a technique taught by Eileen Neill of Qualicum Beach. It is quite heavily beaded but unfortunately does not show in the photo!

This set was exchanged between myself and Rayna Shone. I did not get hers before I made the one I was doing for her, but was pleased to see that she does "crazy quilting" because mine turned out looking that way too! It is a transfer image at the center with some of my own tatting for trim and hand painted fabric.

And this set was exchanged between myself and Sue Crook. Her theme was the most challenging for me and was "bright colors". The one she made for me is wool felt with some pretty incredible quilting on it, and mine is applique, stamping, hand painted fabric, beading and some paper beads from Africa.

The fifth one I did and mailed was a "cat" theme and is paper pieced in the tail, has google eyes and a mouse charm hanging off the background. I haven't received a pennant from this participant yet, which makes me feel not so bad for being as late as I was!

A QUILTED ROCK!

2011-11-21T16:39:00.001-08:00

An idea was formed when my friend Angela and I went to a rock show last March. I love rocks, and always find it intriquing to see what people can do with them. But I keep telling myself I have enough interests, and I don't have room, time or finances for more.....but these are rocks and I love them. So I bought some pieces, with a new idea forming in my mind.

This particular rock show had a lot of slices available for sale. I couldn't help but see pictures in them and thought it would be fun to find a way to incorporate the slices into a quilt. I purchased four, thinking that I would experiment with them. The idea percolating was to extend the design in the rock out into a surrounding quilt.

It is always exhilarating when the idea in your head comes out of your hands. This slice of stone is actually called "Ocean Picture Stone". (I had to take it to The Rock Shop in Courtenay, BC to have it drilled because I don't have the correct tools....I'll be getting them because this was FUN! The owner told me the name and that it's from mainland BC and is getting hard to find.)

I spread out the fabrics I thought would go with the stone and blend the colors and this is what came of it. I've used a mixture of commercial solid colors, hand dyed fabrics by Ionne McCauley, and some of my own hand painted fabric. The funny part is that the quilting design in the "sky and water" area came from the pocket of my jeans! Inspiration can be found anywhere!

I have spoken often of the group in which I am privileged to be a member. We had another "retreat" this past week and it was again, wonderful to be with friends for three days and catch up with what is going on in their lives, as well as share what is happening in mine. We met at a new location this time, Honeymoon Bay Lodge Lodge in Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. It was sooooo comfortable, luxurious and absolutely perfect for our group. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to have a gathering of this sort.

We stitch and quilt and inspire each other, share finished projects at our "show and tell" evening and in the last two gatherings have instigated a 12" x 12" challenge. Last time the theme was trees and the work submitted was so varied and intriguing....so many different ways to interpret trees.

The winner of the "Tree" challenge set the theme for the next one. This time we were to produce a 12" x 12" piece with the theme "Ocean".

Lo and behold.....I won first prize for the 12" x 12" (and it WAS a challenge for me to make it the right size!) I will be doing more of these with the other slices I bought, and I'll be looking for the next rock show I can go to!

Next Chapter......

2011-11-18T18:56:00.001-08:00

Well, It's done. Mum and Dad are officially living in the addition we spent all summer building and life is wrapping around that change. There is a song called "Rescue Me" that I recall from my teen years......what does that say?

Actually, it's going reasonably well. I am adapting to conversations that repeat themselves and repeatedly loop. I am understanding that conversations like "I don't believe I remember where I put my teeth" and "where did I put ****?" are going to be commonplace now. My sweetheart has been home this week and he's been a boost to my daily routine as well as my spirits.

Life changes when you live with your parents. It's difficult to see them have problems with things that seem simple to me, but are a hurdle to get over for them. Dad has been enjoying raking leaves every day to help me out and says he loves it here because he feels useful and is enjoying having a yard he can putter in but is not totally responsible for. After 7 years in a condominium environment, he's enjoying feeding the birds and having a back yard fire with nobody to say he can't!

Mum's attitude is yet to be determined. She hasn't committed herself to whether it 's good or bad yet. Here's hoping she decides good! We've done a lot of running to town to get things they need to get settled....part of that is Mum's gradual withdrawal from the privilege of getting on a bus and going to West Edmonton Mall. But as long as I'm willing to drive her to town, there should be no problem. For me, the hardest thing is the "pace". I have to be careful not to appear to be rushing people that just don't move at the same speed as I do anymore. But.....someone may do this for me someday and fully believing you get what you give out, I'm being the most patient person I can possibly be......Wine helps!

But there's one personality in our home who is adapting well. Our cat! Another lap is always welcome!

The "Up Side" of a West Coast Storm

2011-09-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

We've officially reached autumn, my favorite season. But it has come in like spring.....srain, rain and more rain! Strangely warm temperatures, but strong winds and the sound of the rain on the skylight is constant patter, with the odd interruption when someone up there dumps a whole bucket right over the house! Or at least that's what it seems like!

However, remember the back yard that was all dirt in my last post? It's since been hydro-seeded. We watered for three days and the rains came. We haven't had to water since and the yard is such a lush brilliant green everywhere! How lucky is that!! Here is a photo where you can see the green if you look past the carpenter's saw on the deck! He was busy putting trim in the addition as I was going around catching up on my "progress" pictures.

But we had a break in the rain and our dog needed a long walk. Without his exercise, he turns into a bad dog.....or should I say a worse dog! He makes the cat's life hell wanting to play with her and she's a cranky old lady so it's all bad. Off we go to the beach. What a delight it was to be there on this post-storm afternoon with the sun shining!

First of all, I really do prefer the beach during or just after a storm. It is so much more interesting and beautiful. This walk was no exception. As we walked down the path, there in the field were a group of Canada Geese. They were just standing there and I stood there and watched them. I wished I had a better camera for this picture, but I took this one with my phone, and then just stood and admired them. Even the dog snuffling around didn't bother them. And my error, I was so entranced just watching the geese that my picture completely cut off the mountain range in the background!

When Tuffy and I emerged from the park trails and came out onto the beach it was absolutely breathtaking. The sky was whipped clouds with feathers on them, the water had all kinds of whitecaps, the sound was delightful......water lapping on sand, mixed bird calls, wind in the trees.....just generally a stunning day at the beach. My favorite birds are the sandpipers. They dart about so quickly and usually if you move they pick up and fly off in a cloud of feathers all together, travel 5 feet and settle on a new piece of sand until they feel the need to flit away again. But this day was not calm enough for them to be darting around on sand and they were playing in the updrafts at the edge of the water. My walking there and them squeaking and enjoying their play allowed me to be closer to them than I've ever managed, but of course no picture as they are just too fast for me to capture. The sandbar a few feet out from the beach, actually at the mouth of the river, was literally white with seagulls just sitting on it! Usually they are up and floating and diving in the wind too. Here is the view from where I was walking along the trail at one point.

Even tho I haven't had a chance to be creative in my sewing room for quite a while, I'm still able to appreciate the beauty in our corner of the world. But I have to admit to looking forward to getting back behind my sewing machine!

An Indoor Avalanche

2011-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

We've had an incident! I may not have mentioned this before, but perhaps I have....I admit to a pretty overwhelming book fetish. I LOVE books. I have a great collection of books on all the things I'm interested and they need a place to live.

When we lived in the biggest house we've ever lived in, I purchased an IKEA unit to store them in because they had outgrown the other bookshelves I had. This is a photo and link to it as it's the best storage system for books I've found to date! http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/80208652

Now, we've moved again, to a smaller house, and that storage unit was relegated to holding fabric in what would, for other people, be the master bedroom! this left my collection of books with no place to live.

There WERE plans. My dear husband was going to build bookshelves in the extra wide hallway, or on the biggest wall of the living room. The problem was that I couldn't decide where I would like to have them! So the plans waited till I made up my mind. The books remained in boxes.

But then when we got settled in just a bit, I wanted to refer to one of them and I couldn't find them. By then Bob was away and I dare not try building so I solved the problem by buying three plastic storage units from Wal-Mart. I brought them home, assembled them and proceeded to place my books on them. It was a delightful evening sorting, finding and fondling some of my favorites all over again. This solution worked well and I still haven't decided where I would really like to have them permanently.....well I have, but I'm not allowed to take over that room too! So it's now a waiting game! Bob has some idea he should have one room in the house that isn't consumed with my sewing possessions!

But who would have guessed that these units wouldn't hold books for more than 9 months? Two days ago I went down the hall into my sewing room and I noticed that the one shelf was leaning out from the wall. I pushed on it and it swayed dangerously. I thought I should find something to wedge between it and the wall to hold it in place. There was nothing around and it was dark out, so I decided that in the morning I would go out and find a piece of 2 x 4 and wedge it into place.

It wasn't to be. I was in bed reading a couple of house later and heard a strange sound. It got louder and more staccatto-like and ended with a clatter. I got up, looked out my bedroom door into the hall and this is what I found! It seems the plastic corners that the posts are inserted in separated and split and the books very gradually and gently slumped onto the floor and the broken unit fell on top of them! No books were damaged at all. Needless to say I now have the two remaining units braced against the opposite wall in hopes of stalling their demise!

The next morning I restacked the books on the floor, removed the broken plastic, and went straight to my computer and ordered another IKEA unit! I guess I'll be sorting and purging books some time this fall, an activity I actually look forward to!

Appreciating Retirement!

2011-09-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm smirking today. It is my first day of retirement that I am actually appreciating being retired! It's the first day of school, and I'm NOT THERE! How wonderful that feels, even though, instead, I'm raking rocks! Amazing the things that can make you happy.

Our addition is going well, in fact drawing to a close. I never thought I'd see the day and there were some days I never thought I'd survive! Needless to say, any kind of textile creativity has lain by the wayside over the past six months. Altho there's been a bit of other kinds.....design decisions, paint colors, and deck designs!

My retirement started out with three weeks in my chair with my foot broken. Then I flew to Edmonton because my Dad broke his hip. I was there six weeks. Then my Mum had a heart attack. I was there another two weeks. These incidents resulted in them asking to move to my house so I've been working on making my house bigger since about March. The paperwork is overwhelming, the permits and inspections seem a bit like make-work projects, but the contractor has been fabulous and my experience with construction has been a great one. I'd recommend Denise Mitchell Interiors in Campbell River, BC to anyone, and 2 Hills Renovations as a contractor extraordinaire!

It was a sad day when they took their tools and
left, with the only things left to complete being done by other trades. The foreman, Dave, was here a lot and we got to know him really well. A wonderful thoughtful and talented man. Very attune to the people who will be living in the addition and made several improvements for their benefit. He will be coming back for one more day, finishing up the front door and handrails on the deck. As he was packing his tools I said "This feels something like ending an affair!" He grinned and said "True, but I'll be back for a quickie!" Needless to say he's just as fast with the sarcasm as I!!

Above is a picture of he and Bob preparing to install a new picture window in our very dark living room. A project I came up with in the midst of everything else! A woman's prerogative right?

Now, on to more appreciating retirement....and raking rocks! I'm preparing the area where a new septic field was installed to be hydro-seeded at the end of this week. I'm hoping it's grass before the winter rains hit so that we don't have two little dogs in the mud all the time! Here's what I'm fixing up. It's all covered in and back-bladed, but I'm raking it to level it as much as possible and get rid of the surface rock. The idea is that if we can turn it into grass quickly, we can fill potholes and patch next spring when it's all settled a bit. Wish me luck!

A Twisted Sort of Good Day

2011-08-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning with a plan. It’s my constant error to think things will work out the way I planned! My plan was that I would:

1. Take the dog for a walk

2. Go to a Dr. appointment

3. Buy some paint

4. Go to the farm market

5. Go see my friend Joan

6. Go to Costco and get that laundry sink that looks perfect!

Not such a ridiculous idea right? Except that when I got up, there were already 4 people working in my yard. Two carpenters....pardon me....5 people....and three furnace people in the crawl space. By the time I’d had my shower (always a little unnerving to shower with three men yelling at each other over their stereo right underneath you when you’re naked in the shower) and got ready to go, there were two more people in the yard....one running a backhoe.

“So” thinks I....with all the gates open, trucks and backhoes all over the place, “the safest place for my dog is not to be left at home running unsupervised.” So I took him with me. We drove up towards Campbell River and the Dr. Appointment and the paint store, and I stopped on the side of the parkway at a pullout that has a delightful gravel path through the forest, with a bridge over a stream, where I can let him run loose. We walk for about half an hour, turn around and walk back to the van.

But, when we got close to the van, he decided he didn’t want his walk to be over so he ran past the van, right across the highway, and onto a path on the other side. I called him and he sprinted a little further. I yelled at him. He went even faster. I ran across the highway. He spun around and wiggled his tail and acted like “Isn’t this fun Mum?” Now I’m mad and I want to go back to the van, get in and drive away as if I’ve never met this little monster.

Right about then a big delivery truck comes along the two lane section of the divided highway.....stops in the middle of his lane, and out gets a very tall, very BIG man with a shaved head, ZZ Top style beard, and a sleeveless undershirt with cut offs and work boots. He squats down in the middle of the other lane like a gentle giant and coaxes my rotten dog over to him, scratches him and grabs his collar. I’m thrilled, but embarrassed and feeling angry at my poorly behaved dog. I get up to this man who I would guess is about his mid-30’s, and tell him how much I appreciate him catching Tuffy for me.

But he is not to be deterred in his mission. Right there in the middle of a two lane highway, with traffic passing us and staring (I’m now ready to crawl under the truck and hide)....he proceeds to give me a lesson in training my dog. He says....and I quote.....”You need to pinch his ear like this, and then mount him. You know .... in a sexual way (my comfort level is plummeting about now).....twist the ear and mount him so he knows who’s boss.” I figure I’m not going to escape without doing what I’m told, and he is BIG, so I twisted Tuffy’s ear and squatted on him. By now I’m wishing I had a bag over my head. Tuffy yelps. The big guy says “Good. That yelp is what you want to hear. Now put his leash on him.” I replied that I didn’t have his leash....that was the problem! And I picked Tuffy up under my arm rather like a sack of potatoes and thanked the guy again. He said “Good luck with that.”, got in his truck and drove away. I’m left hiking along the side of the road back to my van which is sitting there with the door and the hatch open and there’s no denying I’m with this stupid dog! I stuffed him in his dog crate, got in the van, started the engine and did a U turn onto the road to get to the Dr.’s appointment. (and not an appointment serious enough to warrant all this embarrassment either!).

I am now driving down the four lane highway that passes through to the center of Campbell River. I’m angry, embarrassed and frustrated. I’m drawn out of my reverie by flashing blue and red lights. Yes.....he does the dreaded U turn and is after ME! I put my signal on and pull over, wondering if I can pay my fine by giving him my purebred registered monster.

He pulls up behind me and I wait and wait and wait. Finally he gets out of his car, walks up behind the van staying behind my tail light (if I HAD a gun I’d have used it by now....on the dog). The officer approaches my window and tells me that he clocked me at 95 kmh. I tried not to be the stereotype that says “Really? I find that hard to believe.”, and just tried to look ashamed....which I was! He asked if I was in a hurry to get somewhere. I replied that no, I actually was just shaken up because I’d just had to chase my dog down the highway and a delivery truck stopped and helped me catch him. I was just distracted because I’m mad at my dog. He very professionally points out that this is not a reason to be doing 95 in a 60 zone and looks into the van to see the dog. I said “He’s in the crate at the back now.” He takes my license and insurance and goes back to his car.

I wait and wait yet again. My cell phone rings. I don’t know if I should answer it right now and think probably NOT is a good idea so I let it keep ringing in my purse. My anxiety is mounting while I wait. Now I’m mad at the dog AND worried about what this is going to cost.

The officer comes back to the window with papers in hand and says “MRS. LOVE.....” I did my best imitation of a contrite driver and he proceeds to tell me again how fast I was driving. He explains that this offense is punishable by having my vehicle impounded for up to 30 days (I couldn’t help thinking that Tuffy would have starved to death in the compound by then so..... TAKE IT ! ). Then he adds that I can also go to jail for up to 8 days and the fine is minimum $300.00. I’m sure I went white right there in front of him. Who am I going to call to come spring me from jail? Certainly not my kids, who would never let me hear the end of it. Not my husband who is in his own little world on his island.

And then he adds.....and this is when I know I am blessed....”I’m going to give you a verbal warning today, but I note that you have lived in the area for long enough to know that this is not a place to be driving at 95 so you need to keep that in mind.” I almost fainted! He said goodbye and drive safely and I thanked him very much and took off.

And then I realized I was speeding again!!!! I couldn’t believe I was so silly! I was over 60 before I got to 5^th gear! So the rest of my day I drove with cruise control on.....which took more concentration than was safe, but at least I wasn’t speeding! So silly me and my stupid dog got home without further incident, and I feel like I should just stay right here and not go anywhere for a while.

When I got back the electrician was here putting plugs and switches in the walls that are painted, and when I told him my excitement of the day he said I should go buy a lottery ticket! The guy on the backhoe said I must have really dazzled (I loved that word) the policeman because the guy he knows that got pulled over for that got 8 days in jail, his car impounded and the fine was going to be “discussed”. And then when Kurtis, the 23 year old kid that is the hardest worker around heard about it, he looked me right in the eye and squinted and said “It’s because you’re a girl!” I laughed and said “No Kurtis.....I think it’s because I’m 63 and have gray hair instead of 23 with blonde hair!” He laughed and said “You might be right.”

Right or not, I’m just glad that I’m not in jail, don’t have a huge fine to pay, and that I must still have what it takes! What a day!

What kind of Quilter am I?

2011-08-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

The following contains excerpts of an excellent newsletter from Quilt University. www.QuiltUniversity.com A great place for on-line classes if you haven't discovered them already. I have put the parts from their newsletter in italics, and I do have their permission to repeat their thoughts here. I thought it was a great thought-provoking and introspective article.

If I asked what kind of quilter you are, how would you answer? A dear friend of mine told me I couldn’t call myself a quilter until I had at least five unfinished projects under the cutting table. If that is true, I think I qualify to be three quilters by now!

Can you remember when you actually finished one project before starting another? I don’t honestly think I ever did! The fabrics and patterns became very insistent, shoving each other and jostling to the front of the line, screaming "me next!!" That was pretty hard to resist. Soon my sewing room had UFO’s everywhere.

At the same time, there were new books, each one showcasing beautiful projects and new techniques. How could I keep quilting if I didn't learn it all? I became a technique junkie, afraid I might miss the one magic trick that would change my quilting life forever.

Pretty soon, I began designing my own quilt patterns. This came as much from a personality flaw as from any great urge to be a designer. It seems I am constitutionally incapable of following directions for any length of time.

Have you recognized yourself yet? Let's look at some other kinds of quilters. First, there are those who are just stopping by, trying this as they have tried decoupage or knitting. They usually move on after a quilt or two. This was not me.....I got into quilting because four friends that I made lace with challenged me to take it up. I said I was not good with math, not good with color, and I couldn’t afford it......I was right on the I couldn’t (or shouldn’t) afford it!

Then there are those who see themselves as part of a great tradition. They are interested in making a quilt for each member of their family because that's what grandma did. They often stick with traditional patterns and methods. A subset of these quilters are the ones who are driven to recreate quilts from the past. They often search out vintage fabrics to work with. If old fabrics are not available, they buy reproductions. They want their quilts to look old. They value the historical aspect of quilting above any new explorations. This is most definitely NOT me!

Some quilters just like to sew. They enjoy handling the fabric and seeing the patterns. Their real love is the process. They like to keep their hands busy and making a quilt gives them an outlet and produces a useful product. This description is definitely a part of me!

For some, their favorite part is the quilting. They lavish endless hours on marking and quilting, taking up to a year creating tiny little stitches. They are creating heirlooms to be kept and treasured. NOT!

Then there are the explorers. They want to learn it all, do it all and then change it all. They use a bit of this and a dab of that, mix it with their own ideas of what a quilt should be and add new depth and richness to an old tradition. They often become teachers because quilting has taken over their lives. They need to support their habit, but they also feel driven to bring others into the fold. I'm not sure if this is an urge to share or a variation on misery loves company, but nothing makes a teacher happier than watching a new student share her addiction. Now we’re beginning to describe my quilting life!

Finally, there are those who make art quilts. Sometimes they are explorers who have moved in this direction. For others, they were artists in another medium and have moved to fabric from painting or drawing. Some even come from dimensional art like sculpture and they experiment with ways to make fabric dimensional.

So, who am I? Like many, a combination of most of the above! This summer we’ve been working on an addition to our house which is for my parents to live in, which you’ll know if you’ve read my earlier posts. This week the electrician found a wire that was live in the crawl space, but not connected to anything. In order to fix that, he needed to get at a plug in the back wall of my sewing room, behind my fabric storage unit. He asked if I could move all that out of there while they had lunch so that he could access it! I said a bad word! But I did it! And in these photos you can see the results of my obsessions.....it takes great organizational skills to keep all this stuff where you can find it when you need it......and I don’t have them! Here's a little video to show you just how it looked!

However, the happy outcome of this rather frustrating day was that everything got tidied up and reorganized and I actually got some sewing done this week, as opposed to painting, staining, digging, sweeping and all the other construction related interruptions!

Following my Dreams......

2011-07-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

I've been absent from my blog. I apologize to anyone who is following it. Retirement is so busy! I don't know when I found time to work! But, I'm not really retired.....I've just changed how I'll be spending my days!

I found a quote taped to the counter in the used book store I frequent and I loved it for it totally describes my life since retirement.....and as I think back, perhaps my life in general:
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they are going and hook up with them later. (Mitch Hedberg) This quote sums up my life so perfectly I think it should be my mantra!

My Mum and Dad had a terrible winter....Dad broke his hip and Mum had a heart attack. I stayed with them for quite a while in February and March, as I explained in previous posts. However, Dad has asked if they can come and live with us as they are finding the winters where they are to be more and more difficult. He phrased it like this: "You are going to build a studio at your new place aren't you?" He was teetering on the edge of his hospital bed at the time. I replied "Yes, but not for a couple of years because we have to save." He then said "If we help you out with that, could we live in it until we kick off?" I said yes, my husband said yes, and that's why I've been absent! Needless to say, it has somewhat changed my retirement plans!

DESTRUCTION FIRST! Removing this part of the deck gave me a one inch hole in my shin from a rusty nail..... Luckily, my granddaughter is more coordinated!

We've been building an addition on the house which will be home to Mum and Dad as long as they live and then my studio when they "kick off" as Dad so eloquently put it. I've been busy shopping for finishes, cleaning up the construction site, painting tar on the foundation......just generally helping out in any way I can. Phew! These people start so early in the morning!

However, I've been blessed in the designer and contractor that I found. Denise Mitchell Interiors came up when I 'googled' "renovating a Pan Abode". Here is what I saw: http://www.denisemitchellinteriors.com/photo_gallery.php?gallery_id=27 I could not believe my luck when I read about that project and then saw that she is located in Campbell River, about half an hour from my home! I called her and the rest is history. Denise and her team got us through the process of designing the addition, getting the permits and all the stuff that would have had me screaming in frustration before anything got started. I'd have offended the inspector badly enough to not pass any future inspections before we got to the starting point! I can't say enough enthusiastically good things about my dealings with them.

And then when it came time to build, she put me in touch with a contractor: 2 Hills Renovations: http://www.2hillsrenovation.com/ Highly recommended for anyone looking to do any construction or renovations! This is the view from the front driveway. I LOVE that piece of driftwood leaning against the house!

Now a combination of teams like this is when you realize that God is looking after you.....they are so good at what they do, so caring about what they are doing, and so thoughtful about who they are building this for that I am amazed each day. While I expected and had heard that building and renovating can be an experience that invokes stress and arguments..... to date I must say that I look forward to each new step in the process. Dave Hunt is so incredibly thoughtful about us as the customer and my parents as the incoming residents that I am amazed each day at his knowledge. Heis such a patient foreman and explains whatever I ask about, Steve Hills is the contractor. The two of them have worked together so often that they tease and hassle each other and make each day fun, whether it's hot and sunny or pouring rain! They often make me laugh at their antics, but they make the entire project a pleasure.

Here is where we are today....a view from the back yard. I think this week brings roofing.....altho I'm not sure. I'm just glad that today blessed us with some sunshine after three days of torrential downpours.....at least I think that's what it was...... yellow, warm, bright....no water falling from the sky...that's sunshine right?

And with that little bit of sunshine today....my creative muse is back....look for great things happening! Hopefully some finished projects!

Liquitex Playtime on a Rainy Day

2011-05-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Rain. More Rain. We've had enough Rain! But there's a pleasant side effect. Even here on the coast where we are supposed to be used to rain, we get tired of it....and then we stay inside and do something else that pleases us. My house is clean, the floors are washed, I baked, and then decided I'd do something in my studio.

I perused the situation in there.....had a look at a number of different projects on the go. Several quilts ready to be quilted, but I didn't feel like getting the table cleared and set up for quilting. One project on the design wall, which is arguing with me so I didn't want to tackle that one. Some dolls I could finish. Some mending to do. Some hand stitching to do. And amongst all these started projects I couldn't find anything I wanted to do so I started something new! Well....it's better than retail therapy isn't it?

So I decided on a journal page. 8 1/2 x 11 for size. I've had an idea percolating at the back of my mind after seeing all the eclectic funky houses in my Mum & Dad's neighborhood (see my post of March 2, 2011). I thought why not do a small version of it and see how it works. Well....it wasn't long before I was buried in scraps and having scads of fun with my machine.

I had a piece of fabric that I scrunched up, dampened and painted with Liquitex Inks. The experiment was to see how much differently/the same it worked like fabric paint. Here are some photos of the results. It seems it worked very much like fabric paint in this method.

This piece seemed like a good choice for the background as I wanted to portray bright sunny skies but with lots of snow and ice on the ground. I used it so that the darker green areas got covered and the white/pink/light blue areas showed. It has a little bit of Liquitex pearlescent medium in parts, and I hoped that would be the sparkle off the snow.

Next to the houses. I used only scraps and most of them in the shape they were already, just trimming here and there. These were glued down on the background with a bit of UHU glue stick (I'm not a fan of fusing). From there I proceeded to stitch the pieces down with satin stitch. It wasn't long before I was trying out the variety of stitches my little machine offers as embellishment. Here are the results so far. I should iron things before I photograph them!

I have another piece of fabric done while I was playing around with the Liquitex Inks. This one was a "mono print". The inks, thickened a bit with the opalescent medium, were painted onto a big ceramic tile. When I was pleased with the arrangement of the colors, I put a dry piece of pfd cotton on it and rolled it with a little brayer. It was left sitting there for about 5 minutes and then lifted. Here is what came of that experiment:

I plan to cut this piece and use the brownish red piece on the bottom to add a "sidewalk" to the bottom of my little "cityscape", and then will quilt the little journal page. When that's done, I will do a bit of hand embellishing with beads and buttons and whatever else I can find. All in all, great fun on a rainy day!

Mother's Day at the Beach

2011-05-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

I heard from all my children, still children in my mind despite their mature ages, early in the day. I called my own mother, age 82, and she was already out with my cousin but I had a delightful conversation with my Dad! He was home fielding all the "mother's day" calls. I puttered around in the house and noticed the floral delivery van going up and down our road 8 times before I set out to walk the dog.

So, all that being done, and being on my own for the day, I decided to take the dog for a walk on the beach. Such a privilege to have the beach accessible on a daily basis. I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a thermos of tea, my sketching kit, and off I went with the dog. We walked a good long way until I decided on the picnic table I would rest at with my sandwich and tea.

It was a beautiful sunny day. I passed evidence of other peoples' exuberance, in the photograph above, and was such a delight to be able to spend my time in this way. Tuffy and I sat at a table, munched on our snacks, sipped on our tea, and sketched in my journal. I'm not a dedicated journal keeper, but this particular day it was a pleasure. Here's a photo of my inspiration.... not anything at the beach, but something that has struck my heart with it's simple beauty. They are "Pink Fawn Lilies"
and there's a huge patch of them behind our fence, growing wild, as well as a bunch of them scattered along the trail I walk with the dog in the morning. Here's more information on them: http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/education/ecomap/georgia_depression/2pflilly.html

When I got home I sent an email to my three sons telling them how lucky they were. I had seen the floral delivery van going up and down our road about 8 times before I went out with the dog. My youngest son replied that he couldn't afford it this year, but that he would like to take me on a vacation for Mother's Day some time soon. Nice.....let's make it tropical with a swim-up bar! Number Two son said he had weeded the flower bed in his front yard and thanked me for the incentive to get that done! Number One son cracked me up. His response was "Are you guys under surveillance? If I saw a floral delivery van going up and down my road 8 times, the last thing I would be thinking of would be mothers!" Now that made me laugh!

Art of a Different Sort....with Rocks!

2011-05-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

We have finally been blessed with some decent weather, which instantly takes me outside into the yard. Being a yard we've only lived in for one year, there is lots to do! The house was neglected and deserted for about five years before we bought it at a bargain price. The yard was a disaster. It is a conglomeration of buttercups, dandelions, moss, fuzzy fernlike ground cover and one really obnoxious weed I can't identify but let me tell you it STINKS when I pull it out! But this is a picture of our "Pink Champagne" clematis in bloom already!

I've been mowing, weeding, shaping beds, planting, moving dirt to fill low spots and pruning. But there came a point where one bed is almost complete, which brings me to the point where I absolutely HAVE to embellish it with some of my rock and pebble collection. So.....having reached this point, I had to get the buckets and bags of rocks that I moved with us (yes, I move my favorite rocks from house to house, and I know where I got them all!....call it an obsession!). I think it interesting that this one looks like a paw print, but I didn't realize it until I photographed it! Remembering my special dog, Buddy, subconsciounsly.

But my collection was in a state of disarray having been left in storage over the winter in their various containers. There was nothing to do but pour a glass of wine, sit down in the sun, and sort my collection. My husband thought I was nuts. Of course I had to have some water to wash them off and new containers to sort them according to my plan....the really black ones will go in the bird bath, the olive green ones (quite rare) will be in a bowl that is featured in the garden, the red ones we got in Montana , on a very special vacation, will be kept separate, the weird shaped ones will be used as features, also in the garden, and the flat ones I can't resist picking up will be little "cairns" dotting the landscaping! I've sprinkled this post with photos of my afternoon of sorting and organizing.....if there's a rock lover out there that sees this post, I know they'll understand! And here's a photo of my collection of heart shaped rocks, begun when I lost my dear friend "Buddy". A Rottweiller who wanted to be a lap dog!

A lesson in contrast well learned! Liquitex Inks!

2011-05-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

I was working on a project using Liquitex Inks. I've had it in previous posts. I finished it!!! Did you read that correctly???? I FINISHED IT!!! Here's a close up photo:

And then there's "Show & Tell" at our groups recent retreat. It was set out on display with several other 12 x 12 "tree challenges". I was HORRIFIED !!!! There is my beautiful and well loved project looking bland with no focus. The color of the tree I chose to put on the inked silk background doesn't show from 10 feet away. Talk about a lesson in looking at things from a distance as well as right at arms length. The little tree I chose to put in there fades into the background and is lost! Here's a picture from a distance. See how the tree is lost on the horizon?

So my only recourse is to replace the tree with something that offers more contrast. Oddly enough, when I was working on it I made two little thread trees. The one in these photos, and a blue one. As soon as I saw the tree was not enough contrast I decided I needed to replace it with the darker one I stitched at the same sitting. But.......I can't find it!!! I've cleaned my entire studio and organized all my supplies, UFO's and threads. That darker trees is not to be found. So, now that I've wasted more time than it would take to stitch a new one looking for the one I have already done but can't find.....I'm stitching away making new one with more contrast. And here I thought I'd tidied my studio rather well!

A good lesson learned about stepping back and looking at your work from a distance. Or perhaps it's a lesson in needing a bigger studio so that I CAN step back to look at it.....either way, next post should be the finished project with a tree that shows from any viewpoint! *sigh* :(

Liquitex Silkscreen Medium, Results & Game On Diet!

2011-03-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back at it! Feels good. All the travelling/nursing/babysitting grandkids has passed for a while and I've managed to get moving again.

Part of this happy development is that my niece talked me into joining a group called the "Game On Diet". Go here to check it out. http://www.thegameondiet.com/ In short, it's a healthy living plan that not only helps you lose weight, but also encourages exercise, sleeping the correct amount of hours, drinking water, and best of all, changing bad habits and trying new good habits. And that part has resulted in this FINISHED project!

This is the result of using Liquitex Inks, provided to me by C&T Publishing as one of their author ambassadors (means I get to play with new products!) I'm loving it.

These inks are wonderful. Lots of pigment and easy easy easy to use. I've tried stamping with them, painting fabric with them, monoprinting, and silk screening on both paper and fabric.

One comment on an earlier post of mine regarding silkscreening asked what I was using for medium to allow use of the inks on a silk screen, and to answer that.....

I laid out as much Liquitex Iridescent Fluid Medium as I thought it would take to scrape across the silk screen itself. To that I stirred in drops of the Liquitex Inks until the color was intense enough for my liking. I stirred it really well so that it was completely mixed. And that's it! The only thing of note here is that the iridescent medium takes more attention to wash out of the silkscreen than regular medium. If not cleaned well, your silkscreen would not last the predicted 100+ prints! So as always, the price to pay amidst all this exciting play is careful clean up!

With a spoon I laid out the inked medium at the top of the silkscreen and pulled it with the soft edged scraper to the bottom. This was the result.

This is a piece of commercial fabric, with the silk screen placed on the print where I thought it would work well.

I pressed it when it was dry, to set the colors altho the inks supposedly don't need that, but having added the medium I thought I'd ensure permanence.

Then I decided to cut the tree up and displace it in a wall hanging in the required 12 x 12 size. The results above are what happened. The blue fabrics are the ones used in an indigo dye workshop I took with my girlfriend (where I managed to stab her in the elbow with my scissors but that's another story)! The reason you see my last name on one strip is that I couldn't use it if I cut off the name. I love how some of the shading in the dye process fell into the design.

The orange piece on the right side is a piece of hand painted and sponged fabric that I did when playing around, and the border is a piece of hand painted fabric that was cotton, but had a textured weave and I've used the bumpy strips in it, which collected the paint in a different way, to represent bark around the hanging.

The quilting of the Garry Oak leaves is done with King Tut Thread from Superior Threads http://www..com/shop/category/king-tut/description/ The quilting of the tree is done with blue Sulky Sliver metallic.

Here are some close ups:

A New Chapter in my Life!

2011-03-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

It's not a book yet, but it could be! I'm setting out on a new chapter in my life.....the one that begins when you retire from your full time office job and start another life style. I've looked forward to this for some time now, as do many of us. But it was expedited by the twists and turns that life throws at us.

First of all, my retirement date was planned for the end of March.....making April 1st or April Fools Day the first day of my retired life. An auspicious date for such a monumental change don't you think? So, as always, with "the best laid plans of mice and men" .....things didn't work out that way. During my Christmas vacation, I fell and broke my foot. That put me in an air cast, with instructions to keep my foot elevated for a period of time. But, beyond that, I was unable to drive our standard vehicle, so had to take extra time off work. Rather than have the office go through training someone for my absence with the broken foot, and then again six weeks later for my permanent replacement, I decided to expedite my retirement date.

So, I guess if you want to get technical, I retired at Christmas break because I've been away from work since that time! My last official day on payroll was January 28th, and my first official day of retirement turned out to be February 1st.

But nothing is ever that clear and concise. I was sitting here in my chair on the morning of January 30th when the phone rang. It was my Mum, and she was upset. My Dad had fallen, broken his hip and was in the hospital. She asked "Can you come? I can't handle this alone." I said I would be there as soon as I could. I was on a plane within two and a half hours, with the help of my friend who drove me there. She was great as we put things into her vehicle. She asked "Do you have your other shoe? If you're there long you may want it." So I dashed back inside to get the other shoe that matched the one I had on my "good foot". Turned out to be a good thing because not only did my stay stretch to three weeks, but the ice and snow was treacherous with an air cast, so as soon as I thought it feasible, I took the boot off and wore my runners, with my Mum's "cleats" attached. Great invention that one!

So, my Dad waited 2 1/2 days for surgery, but has pulled through miraculously considering he is 96. There were some long worrisome days, but Mum and Dad have yet again surmounted the obstacles thrown in their path and Dad is gaining strength and Mum is able to help him. there was a week in the hospital, a week in the rehabilitation center, and then a week at home. I stayed until I was sure they could handle the shower, cooking, the trips to the lab for blood tests etc. I didn't really want to leave when I did, but I had things at home that needed to be attended to as well! One being the pets I had deserted in my rush to get there. People were looking after them and I totally appreciated that, but you can only let people help you for so long!

One of the things I did to help out was to walk their adorable and extremely well trained little dog three times a day. I couldn't help but notice the houses in the neighborhood. I like unusual buildings and this district was amazing....everything from the heritage home to the ultra-modern....side-by-side making a very eclectic neighborhood. It was a pleasure to walk around and see these places.

So now I'm home, adjusting to retired life, checking on my parents every second day by telephone, and planning to go back for a short check-in on spring break. I'll be taking two granddaughters to see their Dad at that time and will tie in a visit with Mum and Dad. In walking around in my back yard yesterday, I discovered a surprise....crocuses blooming all over the lawn in our back yard. A harbinger of spring that was very welcome after walking a little dog dressed in boots and sweater in -37 degree windchills!

Liquitex Inks, Silk Rods, Tutorial continued.....

2011-02-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of my silk rod project. I posted the first steps earlier on this blog. Today I worked on the little project created by the silk rods colored with Liquitex Inks. Those inks were provided to me as an Author Ambassador for C & T Publishing. As shown in my previous post, they were soaked and laid out to re-glue themselves to each other as they dried. It worked but only partially. There were some gaps that separated.

Now I've taken embroidery floss and done some big hand stitches on the seams and above the seams, to create some texture, some embellishment, and the hidden bonus was sticking the bits together. Can you guess what's next? I'll make one of the thread trees featured on the cover of my book to add to it. I never know when it's enough.....could keep going and going. I feel I need to add some beads as well! I like to embellish....what can I say?

I especially like the shape this project has taken on. I plan to mount it inside an artists canvas, with the backing wrapped around the frame. That way the "bubble" developed in the silk rods would be protected from being crushed. We'll see. For now, the tree and some beads.

Teaching Trees at the Schoolhouse Guild

2011-02-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I had the privilege of teaching the tree technique (used in the project on the cover of my book) to the Schoolhouse Quilter's Guild of the Comox Valley. http://www.schoolhousequilters.com/ What a delightful group of students I had. Humour reigned supreme in this class, as did self confidence and creativity. These ladies were enthusiastic, dedicated and outstanding students.

I only have some quick pictures of their work, they've promised to send me individual photos as they finish them up. It's such fun to teach that class because people are always amazed at how it works and that they can do it.

And in the midst of the class, one of the students looked out the window and noticed this tree. We all found it fascinating how it had hung onto it's seed pods all through the winter winds, rains and snow! It's a Chestnut tree, but also inspiration for another project! Zoom in on this one if you can to see nature's decorations hanging in the branches (I couldn't leave the classroom to go out and get a better picture!)

The Rainbow is .... Finishing!!!

2011-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

While on the island for holidays I fell. I'd love to say I was rock climbing or beachcombing, but it was actually a slip in the bathroom. How "old lady" is that!! I've discovered that gum boots and heavy socks are very forgiving footwear......that and a holiday season where a lot of visiting is done and not a lot of activity. But I did trek around the island, wander on the beaches and get in and out of boats! Albeit tenderly.

I came home three days before I had to go back to work and took it fairly easy, other than a walk to the beach and back with the dog. But it was when I went back to work, sat at my desk all day and was wearing a work shoe that it became apparent something was really wrong. My foot swelled quite badly and was burning inside. I decided I should go to a walk-in clinic and have it checked. Long story short.....I ended up with my foot in an air cast with three broken metatarsals to nurse back to health! I was quite honestly surprised as I thought it was just sprained! I told my husband that I'd felt like a very old woman getting in and out of the boats....bad enough they rock and slide away from you when you get in them, but I was nursing a tender foot. His reply? You looked like one too!

However, the rainbow in this story is that I've been instructed to keep the foot elevated as much as possible, and haven't been able to drive. Doesn't seem like a silver lining does it? But it's led me to FINISHING things! Anything I can do sitting with my foot up. I've done hand quilting, stitched on binding, and even did some hand mending! I used to say "Finishing is an "F" word", but now I'm thinking it's a pretty good feeling.

Here are some pictures of the things I've completed. The top one is a quilt for a friend's baby, two are samles of classes I'll be teaching this spring.....and I won't bore you with the mending!

QUILT INSPIRATIONS GALORE

2011-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

One day while spending Christmas vacation on the island with my husband, he was out splitting kindling and I was inside cleaning the cabin L He called me to come out and bring the binoculars. Across the channel there were a pod of Bottlenose Dolphin swimming along in front of the most beautiful rock wall. I watched their every move until they were out of sight. Then Bob said “There’s an Eagle....look at him through the binoculars”. WOW. A Bald Eagle through binoculars looks vicious and scary! I actually took a step backwards from the effect of the close up view. This photo is the rock wall....picture it with a school of dolphin swimming in front of it!

All this told me I need a new camera, with a telephoto lens and a tripod. My current one is geared towards close-ups for stitching! The dolphins and the eagle were completely out of reach of my camera, as was the kingfisher that landed in the tree in front of us. He was so striking with his color amongst all the blue/gray/black.

After viewing the dolphin through the binoculars I asked Bob to take me over to the other side of the channel so that I could get a picture of the rocks they had been swimming past as a backdrop.....yes, a quilt is percolating. He was happy enough to do that. I got close up photos of the rock wall, the beach, a waterfall, the kingfisher, and best of all, when we turned around to come home, a log in the middle of nowhere, with two seagulls on it. Here's the picture I got....you can see why I say I need another camera, with interchangeable lenses so that I can try telephoto!

Bob slowly brought the boat up on that log and I was thrilled at his sensitivity towards my artistic endeavours. I got a couple of pictures of the seagulls on the log, missed them when they flew away, and turned to thank Bob for giving me that photo opportunity.

But he just kept creeping up on that log. Next thing I know he is hammering in a metal loop, tying a rope to it, and we towed it home. It was a cedar log and HE was pleased to find so much shake (roofing) material and kindling. I groaned at having been sucked in yet again. A new-age-sensitive-man he is NOT! Here he is towing the seagull's roost home! You can see the log behind his left arm following us home.

Tyson Vick.....an Artist

2011-01-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Check out this link and read about half way down the page. I've been corresponding with this man for two or three emails now and have his permission to mention his work here on my blog. I am so proud to see one of my designs used so spectacularly!

http://onedelightfulday.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/il-re-pastore-a-fugitive-princess/

Stitching on an Island in the Pacific!

2011-01-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

Not a tropical island, but one that was just as beautiful in it's own way. This winter saw a change in our lifestyle as my husband has taken on the position as caretaker on a remote island. The island has several cabins on it and is owned by a doctor whose family only visits in the summer months. They are missing a lot by only seeing it in one season! This is the view from the caretaker's cabin. Just at sunrise and that mountain was SO pink! My camera has not done it justice!

This Christmas vacation it has been my pleasure to join my husband and experience remote island living. I am fortunate enough to have two weeks off work over the Christmas holiday period. This year I spent that with my husband on that tiny little island in the Pacific Ocean. It didn’t start out well when he said as we climbed out of the boat onto the wharf.....”You’re in my domain now.” I laughed at him as I unloaded a suitcase of fabric, two sewing machines, all my stitching equipment, my laptop, my clothes, my baking supplies and a couple of boxes of fresh vegetables! However, at point of writing, day 7 of my visit, most of the fresh vegetables are gone, and I’ve staked my claim on “his” domain!!! Because he works on that island, I took things with me to keep me busy. Samples for upcoming classes, some mending (I know...quilters don’t do mending.....but he hasn’t caught onto that yet)! We had ten days in the wilderness and it was spectacular. Here I am in the biggest house, doing what I love, in a "dream studio"!

When he was working I spent my time working on sewing projects. The skipper on the crew boat who brought me into the island asked if I was staying six months! But I left at least half of it there for next time. A sewing machine, sewing supplies, cutting mat, pressing cloth, design wall....everything I would normally take to a workshop. It was like dying and going to heaven. Here's a photo of the view from where I was sitting.

I cut fabric, arranged, stitched and just luxuriated in the time available to just design and sew. I worked on a class that will be offered at Serge ‘N Sew in March. And this one......to be offered at Serge ‘N Sew in April. Here’s the link to their web site so you can see other classes they offer as well. http://www.sergesew.com/

During the times I wasn’t sewing, we went on boat rides to beach comb. We saw Bottlenose Dolphin which have caused another quilt to percolate, noisy Ravens, Bald Eagles, Flying Squirrels, any number of tiny birds looking for crumbs, and best of all, on the day I went home, Killer Whales! Absolutely exhilarating!

Stitched Christmas Cards

2010-12-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a good day. I was teaching a class at Serge N Sew in Nanaimo. http://www.sergesew.com/

The technique was the stitched tree in my book, "Embellishing with Anything." It's the same technique used in the tree on the cover. On Saturday we were translating it to Christmas cards.

The most delightful group of 6 ladies were registered and what a great group. Three left with beautiful cards, one made TWO trees and decided to do a wall hanging with one. Two had trouble with their machines but coaxed them into working..... with the help of Linda from the store who saved the day.

It encouraging to see the students I had catch on to what they were doing and then talk about different ideas for the same technique. To the left we have Tina who has been in one of my classes before. She's a delight and a creative "power sewer"! Lots of ideas and unstoppable energy. She's produced many many postcards since that class and has a travelling kit to do more!

To the right is Mary, an elegant woman who mastered her machine and the technique. Her card was completed except for embellishments when she headed home. Her husband picked her up and he was the best man for being interested in what she had accomplished!

And this is Irene, who also took a class with me previously. On Saturday she brought her binder of finished projects, all of which she worked through following the instructions in my book after the one class. She had an amazing variety and quality to her collection. I was really pleased to think that someone had spent the time she that she did with my book and produced such wonderful treasures, both the patterns and ideas in the book and more of her own design. Beautiful work Irene!

To the right is Maryanne. She had a terrible time getting her machine to cooperate, but once it got adjusted, (thanks to Linda, at Serge & Sew)....she was on a roll....look closely at the lovely tree she is working on.

And here is Judy, the maverick in the class. She worked quietly and intently and asked great questions. She is the one who made a wall hanging, and then started on a card and had great ideas to use the technique in other ways.

I love it when that happens. Such great ideas when they all started with the same project.

Liquitex Inks from C&T Publishing – Another tutorial of sorts!

2010-12-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of November 11, I had the privilege of meeting with a group of quilting friends for our bi-annual retreat. While there, we work on whatever we want to, and appreciate the input of friends of almost 20 years when pondering our work. It’s a great time together, lots of fun, food and laughter, wine too! And believe it or not a LOT gets done!!!

This time one of the projects I took along was the Liquitex Inks provided to me, as one of the “author ambassadors” by my publisher, C&T.

One of the talented people there has a machine at home, which makes silk screens out of good contrast photographs. I had sent her a photo of my favorite tree, a Garry Oak, earlier in the month. She prepared two silkscreens for me and brought them to the retreat for me. I set out the inks and medium that had been provided free of charge and promptly 16 very creative and talented minds went to work trying them out on various silk screens.

The ink itself is a little too runny for silk screens and flows too freely, smudging the design. However, when mixed with the medium, it is perfect. We tried several different silk screens and this is the one I produced. Making something of it will be a challenge as it’s so beautiful just as it is!

Here’s some photos of the project “happening”. Note the elegant container that the “medium” and ink are mixed in? (I DID say we were at a retreat!)

Here are the steps we followed:

1. Use a slightly padded surface.
2. Smooth out target fabric, right side up on padded surface.
3. Place silk screen wherever you want the design (this one was done three times).

4. Lay out a line of the medium/ink “goop” at the top of the silkscreen.

5. Pull it down across the design with a credit card, paint scraper, anything with an smooth edge that will not tear the silk.

6. Second screening. No extra ink needed.

7. Load again for third screening. Scrape as before.

6. Lift carefully.

7. If not re-using, wash the silkscreen in cool water immediately and lay on a tea towel to dry. Be sure to handle it very carefully so that it’s good for the predicted 1,000 copies!

One detail that we noticed is that the silkscreen, after being thoroughly washed, still has a bit of iridescent flake here and there. Next use will tell whether that blocks the screen or is just visual!

This design was done with white ink in iridescent medium. I was thrilled with the results. This picture doesn’t do it justice. Now to stitch on it!!

Liquitex Inks, Silk Carrier Rods - Another Experiment

2010-11-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

An article in Britain’s Embroidery Guild magazine, “Stitch”, http://www.embroiderersguild.com/stitch/

It used silk rods and Liquitex Inks and enticed me to try this project. Since being designated an author ambassador by my publisher, C & T Publishing, and receiving some of these inks to experiment with, I had everything I needed on hand so thought it would be a great little project to try these inks out on. http://www.treenwaysilks.com/

Happily on this sunny morning I got out all my supplies and proceeded to arrange everything for this project. I soaked the silk rods in a bowl of warm water. The article said 20 minutes to an hour, but I found after about half an hour they separated easily. The goal is to not lose the gummy stuff that makes them stick together! They are multi layered so this was also an experiment in how thin to use them. Here is what they looked like when I started.

When separating these “carrier rods”, it isn’t unusual to find bits and pieces of stuff other than silk. I found two little brown bits, that made the silk in that area a color just a shade earthier than the surrounding silk, and I think there was one piece that was a silk worm! However, they are hard and dried and just fall out as you separate the layers. I tried to capitalize on those spots, but two of them got lost in the inking!

There are two good sources for these silk by-products. One is Treenway Silks on Saltspring Island, BC http://www.treenwaysilks.com/ .

Another supplier is Stef Francis in the U.K. http://www.stef-francis.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=12236 I have purchased from both and find both of them to give excellent service, mailing the order quickly and providing a high quality product.

Here is a photo of the soaked and separated layers. They are still wet here.

From here I laid them out on wax paper on top of paper towel, laying the strips horizontally and overlapping so that the gummy residue could glue them back together. Another layer of wax paper was placed on top of the wet layers and more paper towel, and then it was pressed with a dry iron.

And here is a picture of the project after laying out the strips, pressing it dry, peeling it off the wax paper, and painting water diluted Liquitex ink onto the surface with a paintbrush. See the inks here: http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1987 The ink worked very well but I was not too happy with this sample, although it did stick together the best of the two:

But this one I painted while it was wet, and then pressed it almost dry in the same layered arrangement as the first one. I think this one has potential for embellishment and mounting on a quilted background. You can see that some layers didn't bond, but I think hand stitching with embroidery floss will fix that problem and add another design element. I can’t wait to get to that.

I hadn't worked with Silk Carrier Rods in any capacity other than an already colored item that made an excellent embellishment. I have a number of items that I’ve done with Liquitex inks now, and they all worked well. I recommend the product highly. Now I need to get busy and put them together into pieces of art! What a lovely way to spend the day.

Draperies, Grommets & Rotary Cutters

2010-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

Since moving into our new house, we have done a lot of upgrades, one of which was replacing all the windows throughout the house. Since they were installed and finished, I’ve been working on window coverings. Some are for heat retention, some for privacy.

Having quite a good “stash” of fabrics, and after looking around at all the local suppliers for ready-made window coverings, I have decided I can create what I want more satisfactorily and for less cost. Have I mentioned that I don’t like making draperies? Or that my skills at measuring are ok but I seldom use them, preferring to rush through and get it done rather than achieve perfection! Terrible to admit, but that’s the way it is.

This time however, I’ve been quite diligent in measuring and cutting, in the sincere hope that I will never have to do this again and these will last until I personally don’t care anymore.

To this end, last Friday evening, my 7 year old granddaughter and I were happily ensconced in my sewing room. She was playing games on my lap top at the end of my sewing table and I was measuring and cutting circular holes for grommets in the draperies I had just finished cutting and hemming. The last step before hanging them up and believe me.... I was pleased to be at that point.

I have a delightful little Olfa Rotary cutter designed for cutting perfect circles of just about any size. http://www.olfa.com/Default.aspx?snLocation=2 It was doing well, but needed a new blade. So I proceeded to insert that new blade. All was going well until the unit slipped out of my hand……and my instinctual reaction was to catch it. And catch it I did…..with two fingers and a thumb and quite firmly. This is like catching a round razor blade; instantly blood was flowing. My granddaughter looked up at my exclamation and said “Grandma! You’re getting blood everywhere!” (Thankfully none of it was on the drapery….a miracle in itself.)

We dashed off to the washroom to get tissue and Band-Aids, but the forefinger just would not stop bleeding. I was sorry to have to decide that we needed to go to the emergency ward as I was pretty sure I needed stitches.

So off we go to the hospital. My granddaughter took great pleasure in using my cell phone to call her father, two provinces away, to tell him we are on our way to the hospital. He was so relieved when he found out it wasn’t because she’d been hurt, that he didn’t ask what I’d done till the next day! She called my oldest son, her uncle and an hour away, to tell him the story. He wanted to speak to me and she said with intense disdain “Uncle Kris, she can’t talk to you while she’s driving, and besides, she only has one hand.” He chuckled about that. She called my youngest son, three hours away, and told him all about it as well. She was enjoying being the bearer of such exciting news!

We got to the hospital, me dreading the usual three to four hour wait, especially on a Friday evening. I was amazed to be in a room being looked after within 20 minutes. The Dr. and the male nurse were wonderful with my little girl…..the doctor offered to let her sew Grandma up ….since we were in the sewing room together she must know how? She declined that privilege to my great relief. After four stitches in one finger and two in the thumb, as well as a tetanus shot, we were on our way. The nurse said she should look after her Grandma….she said “I will” and managed to look like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders!

We were on the way home and she wanted to phone her friend who was also spending the weekend with her Grandma. I said no it was a bit late to call by now. She said “Oh, I was just wondering if she was having fun with her Grandma or if she had to go to a hospital too! Maybe it’s just my luck.” I wasn’t sure if she was saying her evening had been exciting or if she thought her friend might be having a better time! I enjoyed her comments so much. She’s seven and amazes me with the observations she will come out with. She did call her dad and all the uncles again to give them the end of the story!

And here are the draperies completed, hung up and serving their purpose well. Don’t those grommets look great? I should trim that thread that’s hanging there off though!

Quilt Market Houston & Embellishment Village

2010-11-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

Now this was a rewarding moment. A friend of mine went to Quilt Market in Houston. When she came home she emailed this photograph to me. The booth is "Embellishment Village" http://www.embellishmentvillage.com/ . My friend Hennie was pleased to get her permission to photograph the booth display because both my book, "Embellishing with Everything" and our friend Pippa Moore's samples were on display in the same booth. Pippa designs these very colorful quilts and another friend of mine, Joan Darling, does all the embellishing on them.

My book, "Embellishing with Anything" shown here in this picture, is published through C&T Publishing and has been out for about 1 1/2 years now. It's been a wonderful experience to do a book like this, C&T are a wonderful publisher to work with, and I am planning another! My thanks to Hennie for thinking of recording this International exposure! It sure made me feel good! I hope to be there one day myself! Doesn't every quilter?

A Beautiful November 7th Walk

2010-11-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Our first day on Pacific Standard Time http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.htmland I woke up earlier than usual! WHAT is that all about? However, not to complain, because I woke to an incredibly beautiful, sunny, warm November 7^th. What to do with such a special day? First of all I played with some silk rods (more on that later0, but couldn’t stay inside. It was too beautiful. So the dog and I went for a walk on the beach. It was stunningly beautiful, lots of people with lots of dogs, all of them friendly and in just as good a mood as I was.

I had my camera with me and was happy about that because there was an eagle sitting on a piling in the middle of the bay, with possibly 500 seagulls on the gravel bank behind him, and behind that the water, the mountains, the clouds and the sky…..all brilliantly colored. I took several shots of this scene, thinking I could crop and paste and manipulate and add some text so that I could post a beautiful picture of what November 7^th looked like where I live.

It was not to be. When I got home I somehow messed up a task I’ve done hundreds of times before and I lost the pictures of my silk rod project and worst of all, the picture of the eagle. The silk rods I can do again but that scene won’t be duplicated just because I want it to when I go back to the beach! So here’s a post with a totally unrelated picture! At least it’s the same dog!!!

LOOK UP!!!!

2010-10-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Looking UP is something I forget to do. When walking about and especially in a quilt shop, I am so intent on the displays in the window, the people passing by, the litter that may be a piece of art,the fabric and notions on display..... I often forget to look above my eye level.

This past weekend was a perfect example of that. I had the pleasure of travelling to Victoria, BC with my very good friend. The trip was a gift from her sweetie, who sent us away together to shop and find upholstery fabric! I think there may be a message in there somewhere, but that’s not what this is about!

We went to Munro’s books, where a quilt artist described to us by the clerk in a nearby clothing store had quilts on display. They are mounted on the wall space between the top bookshelf and the ceiling. This building is a heritage one so you can imagine how high they are! I’d never have noticed them if I’d been there without the advice of the sales clerk! I would have been absorbed in the books on display at eye level!

You can see great photos of the entire display here at this link. http://munrobooks.com/about/ These quilts are described in the lower paragraph and are quite stunning and amazing to see in person. So “look up” if you go to Munro’s! The artist is Carol Sabistan. The one to the right is one of a series of 4, my personal favorite, but they are all amazing works of art. And huge!

After our sojourn into the book store, we decided we needed to eat something. A restaurant named “Mo:Le” was recommended to us. We walk everywhere we go, and often get distracted (I bet you’d never have guessed that!) by something we pass. We had the address of the restaurant in hand, but we walked by this building. I had to stop and take a picture of this piece of impromptu art mounted on the wall, at eye level, of the deserted building. I thought it was beautiful in the fact that an unidentified artist had chosen that spot to display it.

This somewhat derelict building is in the Chinatown area of Victoria, and this painting is done on the column next to the wall where the mixed media art was mounted. You can just see the edge of it on the left side of the picture.

And then Ang pointed out the roofline of the building. I looked up to see that the building was actually just the front wall and portions of the side, but the windows were gone and the sky was showing through! No roof, no windows and no back. How intriquing is that? I was quite fascinated.

After our little photo shoot we continued our walk to Mo:Le. We were walking along looking at street numbers on the doors and buildings and unable to find the one we wanted…..554 Pandora. Since I am "directionally challenged", we decided to use the map application on my phone to get a map from where we stood to the address we were looking for. There we are in the street, typing in the address and waiting for the data to download. Aha! We have two dots….start walking and see if they get closer together or further apart……they got closer together.

FIVE steps later they merged!! We stopped in our tracks and looked around not seeing anything that indicated a 554 or a “Mo:Le”. And then we looked around and UP! There, hanging above the street visible to people down the block, was the restaurant sign. Go to this link and check the menu selections: http://www.molerestaurant.ca/ The food was absolutely fabulous….we were eating from the breakfast menu. Everything made right there: salsa, tortillas, hot sauce, the works. It was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten and when I say that it really means something because I don't enjoy cooking, but travel with a food oriented person most of the time! I will certainly be revisiting this one!

After a most delicious meal, we walked to Chintz & Company, to buy the upholstery fabric. http://chintz.com/t-victoria.aspx Ang has a lovely funky old chair that was her Grandma’s, and we are going to recover it with fresh fabric. I’ve done a chair before so have promised to help. That should be another interesting adventure….only we’ll be looking down!

Weddings, Windstorms and Melancholy

2010-10-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of weddings. My middle son and his wife are visiting because she is a bridesmaid today. Wearing the dress I altered! My youngest son, his partner and I were invited to the wedding of a friend's daughter, whom he grew up next door to and went to school with.

Last night everyone was here for dinner before the celebrations today. Five adults, and 2 children and this little house was warmed with children's voices, laughter, sarcasm, teasing, good food and best of all, family love. But that much fun is exhausting I must say!

Today the bridesmaid and family took off to attend their wedding, and we other three went to our wedding. It was alarming for me to be at a reception with all these adults, who turned out to be what I remembered as little people, all of whom have stayed in touch since heading out to their adult lives! It was incredibly heart warming to see the number of people who just accepted my son and his partner with no reservations. And hilarious to see the number of people who had gone to school with him and approached with funny memories and anecdotes!

It was a horrendous wind storm last night, and today was terribly rainy so both celebrations had to take place inside. But with so much happiness in the room, the weather didn't dampen anyone's spirits. The couple in the wedding I attended actually got married last summer in the groom's homeland, Israel. This reception was for those friends who couldn't travel that far. It was very well done, with a slide show playing at the front of the room with pictures of the actual wedding ceremony where it was held. They were spectacular and I found myself going to my friend, the mother of the bride and asking if I could please come over and look at all these pictures individually.....there was some fabulous quilt inspiration in there. She seemed to think that was a great idea so I can't wait till she's recovered from the stress of planning and preparing and we can do that. Two projects are percolating in my mind already.

What about those unfinished projects you ask? I know I know.....I'll try to apply myself to them while I wait for the photos and permission to use them!

After the reception, I came home to walk the dog and Josh and Gil went to town to visit friends they haven't seen in quite a while. My walk is normally in the forest but in heavy winds that isn't wise so we went to the beach....always my preference anyway! It was a perfectly wonderful winter beach day. Crashing waves, lots of wind and rain (I was soaked when I got home), and birds dipping and floating on the updrafts. I couldn't help feeling a little melancholy at all these young people growing up and starting new things while I grow old and finish a career, but they are so happy it didn't last long. And finding some super special rocks and some beach glass fixed my mood instantly!

Re-Living City Quilter, Scott, Mussels and my Hostel!

2010-10-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

4:00 at City Quilter. Met Scott there and some other nice quilters.....all so friendly. Picked up goodies I had on hold from an email conversation with them. And two books....It was fun.

On the way home I stopped at Macy’s looking for housecoat. (besides it’s air conditioned so even if you only cut through, it’s a nice break! ) as for housecoats....only short ones....too expensive and not my style....I’ll have to make my own.

Charles, another student from QBL, who was the teacher of the class at the City Quilter, recommended that I stop at the Ginger Jar (or was it Pot), on my way home. It supposedly makes delicious Chinese and Thai food, spicy and with a little curry. However, besides being able to get Chinese food which is good at home, and the fact that I don’t care for curry, I decided to walk on and see what else there was. I went in Red Lobster but it was going to be a 40 minute wait. Nothing else was appealing, so I once again headed towards restaurant row. I read the menus posted out front to see if anything struck my fancy. Lo and behold, on a corner with tables outside on the sidewalk, was a restaurant tat served mussels and chips. So I sat down, ordered mussels, escargot and a glass of wine. Truly delicious meal. I enjoyed it so much I had to ask the waitress for a spoon so I could finish up the “soup” they were steamed in.....milk, peppers, onions, carrots, and some parsley. Yum Yum.

Another day of lots of walking so it was ok.....I knew I’d already walked it off.....? The scales will be interesting when I get home! Again I went to my room, luxuriated in the air conditioning for a while, sorting out my bits and pieces that I’d purchased at The City Quilter, and stroking my fabrics, dreaming of what I’ll do with it. It’s all their special line of New York Designs so it will be cut big and be my own New York Quilt. I think I have enough to make Angie one too! Now there’s that resolution to spend this coming winter finishing my UFO’s.......trouble is something else always comes along that I want to do first!

Again, I had a quick shower (one doesn’t need moisturizer in New York in August. It is so muggy that you are moist most of the time. And washrooms aren’t as much of an issue as some places because your body is using the fluid in other ways. ) After my shower I again went out and wandered around people-watching in Times Square and then back to the hostel to sit in the common room for a while to check and send emails. The connection there was slow, but free. Other hotels charge up to $15.00 a day for High Speed WiFi. Another part of the hostel that I enjoyed. Spending time in the common room with the students from everywhere. But they were all truly gracious to an old lady in their midst, and I felt comfortable with them....perhaps because they were all so nice or perhaps because I work at a school, but either way, I enjoyed the young people. There were other people my age staying there, but they kept pretty much to themselves. I got a chuckle out of the common room each morning and evening. There were anywhere between 3 to 7 people in the tiny room, sharing little round bar tables, and all of us clicking away on computers or I phones. Nobody turned on the TV. It was all very quiet until someone laughed or read their email out to someone.....usually in German or Japanese. When one young man exclaimed “F**@” I looked up and he shame faced lookd at me and said “Deutsch?” I replied “No, but apparently that word and email are a universal language! His eyes popped and he clapped his hand over his mouth and said “So Sorry!” I laughed and said “Just don’t say it to your mother....” His girlfriend started laughing. She explained to me that they were short of money to pay for their last night at the hostel and had emailed his mother to get it sent to them. They were waiting anxiously to see if it came in time. I told them I’d lend it to them rather than see them doing dishes or something and they laughed. I said I meant it and they could email it to me when they got home....if they didn’t it would be another life lesson. They were amazed. About an hour later they came looking for me and told me with great relief that they had received their money and would be fine but wanted to thank me for being so kind. I was just happy to know they could get home and wished them a safe and enjoyable trip.

Liquitex Playtime sort of a Tutorial!

2010-09-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

My publisher, C&T Pulishing, has designeated me, amongst many others, to be an "Author Ambassador". That means I'm willing to accept gifts of new products and provide them with samples done with the products.

About two weeks ago I came home from work and as I came down my road, noticed a Purolator delivery truck cruising the neighborhood. I pulled into my driveway and got out of the vehicle to open the gate. By then the Purolator truck had turned at the dead end and was on the way back. As he pulled up behind my vehicle he said "You live here?" I said "Yes." he said "Got a parcel for you." I wondered what it could be as I couldn't remember ordering anything (but that doesn't always mean anything!!). I signed for the package and came in the house to open it and discover a package of 12 Liquitex Inks and one bottle of medium to use with them. Woo Hoo....such fun!

So, for a couple of weeks, things have been percolating. This is particularly important because since moving I've done nothing but unpack, organize, renovate, paint, purge, sort some more.....going from a big house to one half the size isn't easy! The price paid is that I didn't have a creative bone left in my body, unless it had to do with finishing the outside of the house! Here's what we accomplished this summer.....doesn't look like as much work as it was!

But after some thought and some puttering around I've tried two techniques with the Liquitex inks. They work beautifully. And I am grateful for the creativity spurt they brought on.

The first technique I tried was stamping on fabric. I painted the rubber stamp with straight ink and stamped on fabric. The results weren't thrilling because the ink dried too fast. Then I tried mixing the ink with the medium, painting the rubber stamp, and I got these results. I was happy with this for a start.

Then I decided to try a paintbrush with the inks and a teeny bit of water, and painted in the design of the stamp. It worked!

Once the stamped portion of the ink dried, any new ink added didn't make it bleed or spread. I did try wetting a portion of one stamp when it was fresh and it did bleed, but a couple of days later it is dry and did not spread or bleed with the addition of new wet ink or ink and water. Nice! Here is the second step.

Then I decided to try monoprinting. I got out a big ceramic tile kept for such experiments, and spread a smooth coating of the medium over the entire surface of the tile. Next I placed drops of Liquitex Ink in rows down the tile. I used White, Blue, Yellow, Blue, and Red. Then I added a bit of iridescents in between. Like the picture to the right.

You have to work quickly with just ink, but with the addition of the medium, it gave some plotting time! I used several different brushes to spread these inks and mix them. I forgot to take a picture of the tile with the inks spread on it, but when I was happy with the mix, I placed a piece of dry fabric over it all and used a brayer to press it into the ink.

The fabric was lifted off the inks immediately and here are the results. This will be a fun piece to work with. It may get rotated to the right and it may get cut up a bit!

But there was still ink left on the tile. I couldn't resist poking my finger into it and making a squiggle. It was still moist, thanks to the medium, so I decided to lay another piece of fabric over it and brayer that too. The results were lighter, and I had brushes that still had ink and medium loaded in them. So I put that second piece of fabric on a surface to dry, and then decided to scrunch it up to see if it would make ridges in the color the way fabric paint does. So it's now sitting drying in this position:

More tomorrow.....I've had fun and am beginning to think of millions of ways to use these inks.

Imagine, Create, Discover....all those things.

2010-09-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Not a great picture (I'm not a good photographer). And on top of this, I managed to change my camera to a different setting than usual, and couldn't get it changed back again. How? I'll never know.... I'm actually lucky that I got pictures at all! But all that aside, I liked what this said and asked permission to take a picture of it so that I could remember it! This was in the entrance at the King Tut Exhibition in New York City.

King Tut & Garage Sales

2010-08-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

The King Tut items were on display at “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” in the Discovery Times Square Exposition. Having always been enthralled with the mystique of the Egyptian tombs — I HAD to go. After seeing a partial and wonderful display at the provincial museum in Victoria, I went prepared to spend time soaking it all in. It was fabulous. (New York is its last stop before the artifacts return to Egypt in January.) I felt blessed to be able to see more! The average time to go through the display is estimated at 90 minutes. I took three hours. Of course there I was making notes and sketches for future projects, taking down details and just generally studying everything. And then, going through the souvenir shop, I bought the book!

A girl who was travelling at the same speed as me started speaking with me (altho the general mood is one of silent awe) and she told me she'd been to Egypt and seen the actual pyramids, and many other details, adding exponentially to what we were looking at. She made me giggle amid the silence when she said "they thought the scarab, a dung beetle, was the beginning of life. I don't really want to believe that I descended from a dung beetle, but they do look artistic don't they?" Several pieces of jewelery on display were absolutely stunning when you consider how primitive their tools supposedly were!

I particularly enjoyed this exhibit. A "funny story". Several years ago, my sister-in-law and I held a garage sale. We cleaned out my sewing room, our kitchens, our book shelves, our garages and our crawl spaces. We advertised. We set everything up in the garage and advertised in the local paper. The morning of the sale arrived and we were out there bright and early. The garage door went up and there were at least five cars parked in the street already! Things moved so fast after that we hardly had a chance to catch our breath.

We had agreed that we would put all our profits together and take our partners with us to Victoria to see the Egyptian display at the BC Museum. Between her awesome collection of pocketbooks, and her knowledge of who wrote them and which series they were part of, and my quilting and needlework supplies, we did very well. So, a couple of weeks later, off we went to Victoria. We wandered around downtown, had a great dinner, stayed in a motel where we visited together, and the next day had breakfast at the Empress Hotel, all on the funds we had earned at the garage sale!

After breakfast we went to the Museum, where we waited in line for quite some time, winding back and forth and down the hall before we got into the actual display. Needless to say, our husbands were less than enthusiastic by this point, mine in particular. He had HIS dog in the car and didn't like him being alone this long, let alone the time it would take to see the display. When we got in, it was dark, quiet, and we had the headphones to listen to the details about the displays. Needless to say, I lost him within five minutes. I suspected he had sped through the displays and went back to his dog. At first I felt I should worry about him and look for him, but I decided no, I was going to enjoy this as it was likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. (I had no clue I would be lucky enough to see more in New York City!) So I did the same thing threre.....read every plaque, listened to each description, sometimes more than once, made some sketches, and generally took my time to absorb it all.

When I came out, hubby was indeed outside walking the dog. I accused him of roaring through to get back to his dog and...... he denied it. I asked a couple of questions about what he saw and what were his favorite things. He gave answers that showed he'd seen something but not much detail. It was a long quiet ride home! So he and his dog still enjoy themselves together while I travel with girlfriends or alone, and thus I truly enjoyed this opportunity in New York to see such splendorous objects with NO pressure to hurry!

Harlem Gospel Tour and Lots of Walking

2010-08-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the Harlem Gospel Tour – great history of Harlem....good guide....got out and walked around taking pictures, went to church service, fantastic music, no sermon. There are two tours, one with a "soul food" lunch and one without. I chose without ...thinking I would have that time to wander around, but no, we were whisked back onto the bus and back to the beginning. Next time I would do Harlem Tour but with lunch. Would have liked to get off tour and just take pictures of people. Very interesting. Would do it again, and get permission to take pictures of interesting people like the tiny elderly lady in a black dress black and white scarf, black heels, black stockings and the wildest black and white hat you've ever seen was dancing like hippies used to do in front of the stage when they were stoned. Only she was about 90 by the look of her., and stoned on Faith....Adorable. And she was so busy that I couldn't get more than a blur of her as a picture because we weren't allowed to use our flash.

After the tour, I changed, and then went on subway for first time to go find The Ink Pad. http://www.theinkpadnyc.com/ I took the train too far and ended up in Brooklyn! Got out, crossed platform and got back onto the train. There was a young man, about 7 feet tall with dreadlocks that were to his waist. I asked him if I was in the right place to get back to where I had intended. He was helpful and informative. We carried on a conversation in the subway, on the train and right till I got out onto the street. I don't know where the reputation that New York people are rude comes from. Absolutely everyone I talked to was overly helpful! When we parted he said "Good luck Mum." I loved it!

I got off at Canal Street this time, which was an overcompensation for going to far south the first time! And, of course turned the wrong way and wandered in huge loops to get there. I wandered through Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village and into Chelsea....finally I had to put my I-phone on roam so that I could get a map with directions. That worked, but still lots of walking. I found the shop, got stamps for Angie and I and was pleased with my mission being accomplished.

Little Italy....Sidewalk cafes, streets blocked off for walking, delicious aromas!

That being done, I decided I would find The City Quilter, http://www.cityquilter.com/ so that I could arrive on Monday at 4 for the class (which I was invited to) looking fresh and clean. I again had to resort to the I-phone directions. It was at this point that I discovered it makes a great difference if you put it on walk instead of drive when dealing with one way streets.....you can walk them in any direction but cars have to go around.....so extra walking was my own fault!

Surprisingly, the store was open on Sunday! It is closed on Mondays. I didn’t go in. I needed a shower, and was exhausted so I headed back to the hostel.....so my walk was a very convoluted route from Canal Street to W 45th Avenue. I thought of doing the subway again, but couldn’t find an entrance so just kept plodding along. Luckily I hadn’t been doing a lot of shopping so only had a little bag of rubber stamps to carry!

I arrived at the hostel wiped out, tired and was incredibly grateful for my air conditioned room. Took a shower, relaxed for a while, and then went out to wander around in Times Square some more!

But, points I learned are:

• Below Greenwich Village is the oldest part of Manhattan

• The stone everywhere is called “Manhattan Schist

• 8.5 million people live in 5 burroughs

• 1.5 million people live in Manhattan (and then there’s the tourists!)

• Avenues go North to South and are either Uptown or Downtown

• Apartments in Uptown Manhattan rent for $6300 per month on average

• Streets run East & West.....even running East and Odd #’s running west

• This is called Randalls Grid and was created so that immigrants who can’t read can find their way to work.

• “Manhattan” means rocky hilly place

• Wall street got it’s name because when the Dutch Settlers were living there they built a wall to keep the indigenous people out. The indigenous people used it for firewood in winter.

• In 1658 Harlem was set aside for the aristocracy

The Dakota

• Harlem used to start at 106th but because of Central Park being built, now starts at 110th.

• The Dakota (John Lennon) was built in 1884 by Mr. Clark, who also invented Singer Sewing Machines. (picture #1678)

• The Church of St. John the Divine looks over Morningside Park, where camp fires and picnics are allowed and clean up happens each morning. Becoming a problem because people from other sections of NYC come there to experience this and it’s getting out of control.

• Next to the Church of St. John the Divine is St. Luke’s Hospital. St. John was a preacher and Luke was a Dr. One building was built to take care of man’s spiritual side and the other his physical side and the combination is meant to represent Jesus as God and Man.

• A lot of development was by Frederick Douglas who was a slave who arrived in NY via the Underground Railway

• One area of Harlem, the oldest was built before real estate got so valuable and because of that, each home has a stoop and a back yard. The trees in those yards now “kiss” each other over the fences. They have “stoop sales” instead of garage sales.

• The Harlem Globetrotters are not from Harlem but were named that so that people would know they were all black.

City College of New York

• The corner of Broadway and Duane is an African Burial Ground.

• There are 400 churches in Harlem alone.

• City College of NY was created to allow people of little means to get an education. Even today the tuition is between 5 and 8K, depending on the program.

• The problem for those students is the cost of accommodation so many commute from the outer burroughs and also have a job.

• People in Harlem consider it not just a black Neighborhood, but THE black neighbourhood.

• The Harlem Bridge crosses the Harlem River to go to Yankee Stadium.

NASDAQ has a good point!

2010-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

This was the rotating billboard for NASDAQ in Times Square. I liked what it said. In all truth, I took pictures of it out of order, as they rolled by on the billboard, and have cropped to place them in order here. Good theory for life, art, and whatever you would apply it to don't you think?

Meeting New People, Making Friends

2010-08-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

I’ve never been to a quilt class without a girlfriend accompanying me on the journey. This time I decided to go at the last minute, and was therefore alone and a stranger amongst many others. Normally I would be with my friend and we would an insular group amongst the larger group, which is wonderful and a privilege to have friends I can do that with. But this trip was different. I was there alone, as were most of the others. Only two sets of best friends were in our class. That allowed everyone to make friends with everyone equally and that has its own rewards.

I arrived in a taxi. My flight was to Newark and therefore was half the price return than a flight right inot Syracuse. The trains didn’t connect at a good time, so I bravely decided to rent a car. If you knew how easily I get lost and the reputation I have for doing that....well, it was brave. I picked up the car, and headed out on the Interstate. Approximately 20 minutes out of Newark, out on the highway, the GPS the girl had so sweetly programmed for me died! I felt a note of panic, but kept driving. Somehow I ended up in the center of a little town. Where you ask? I don’t know! But finally I stopped and asked a man at a gas station kiosk if he could give me directions. He scribbled on a scrap of till paper, the numbers for three highways .... I-80 and two others. I drove off and took the first turn as he had directed. Lo and behold, I drove straight to the Syracuse airport, where I turned in the car and caught a cab to Onandaga Community College. The plan for my return was to take an Amtrak train back to New York City, where I planned to spend three days before heading home. When one of the other students heard that, she asked if I would ride along with her to a train station within 20 minutes of where I was going, which was 10 minutes past her house. I said “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to impose.” Her reply was that she would be pleased to have me accompany her for the drive because it would go faster with someone to talk to. Isn’t that wonderful?

I made another friend who is creative, talented and fun to be with. She is Jewish and is studying Sacred Jewish Music and the Hebrew Language. She did some stitching with those letters on a bread cloth that turned out beautifully, and shared the use of a bread cloth and the story behind it. I was intrigued and happy to hear more of whatever she wanted to share. By the end of the class, we decided to keep in touch via Facebook and email. I look forward to a long term pen pal relationship with her, and hopefully, seeing her again at the advanced class.

Another woman in the class befriended me as well. Her work is so admirable and I couldn’t help exclaiming over its perfection and intricate detail. We started a conversation over lunch, and I hope to stay in regular email conversations with her too. She generously offered to spend an afternoon with me in her city before I go home. That’s New York, and I’m so pleased to have someone that was born and raised tell me about the intricacies of the history and the different areas. I am hoping she will be at the next class as well.

And there was Scott. A designer by trade, he was a pleasure to share the time with, as well as to watch his design choices and the confidence with which he approached the projects after only having been sewing since March! He was by far the most computer helpful person in the class and dedicated the better part of Day 2 to the needs of others. He was very generous with his knowledge and everyone appreciated him.

And then there were my room-mates! We were in a dorm situation where four people stayed in separate bedrooms with a shared kitchen /living room area. Those girls were generous and welcoming as well, and happy to show a “newbie” the ropes. Because I had flown in from further away than most, I didn’t have snacks or wine, nor did I have a car to go get any. Next time I’ll plan that one better! We were all in different classes so we got a smattering of information from them about the other teachers and their subject matter as well. Everyone was pleased with the class they were in, as varied as they were.

Carol Shinn, Machine Embroidery Artist

2010-08-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

It has been my great privilege to spend the last five days taking a class from Carol Shinn.. The class was held at Quilting By the Lake in Syracuse, New York. http://www.quiltingbythelake.com/ It was a last minute decision and I was encouraged by my husband to “just go.” I think he wanted to paint on his own as he is convinced I am a messy painter (???) We are at the last stages of the upgrades we planned to do this summer and I truly believe he wanted me out of the way! All that’s left for me when I get back is scrubbing and re-varnishing the interior walls!

However, I digress. Check out Carol Shinn’s website at http://www.carolshinn.com/ Her work is stunning, I own her newly published book, and now I’ve met her in person and learned what a true and total artist she is (read.....my work didn’t begin to compare to hers!) However, practice makes perfect and I do intend to practice. I LOVE the technique.

But best of all, besides the teacher and location, were the people in the class. Firstly there was Carol Shinn, not only an artist, generous in spirit and with her knowledge, who has a great sense of humour and best of all, is an excellent teacher. She leads the class keeping everyone on track while doing their own thing. Each day of sewing was interspersed with little demos that showed us tips and tricks for different results, problem solving, color mixing....I can’t begin to cover all that she taught......I think just buy her book: Free Motion Machine Embroidery.

I loved her philosophy on teaching her skills to others. Unlike some who teach but not everything they know, Carol’s approach is that if the base of skilled people is broadened, it makes those who are presently on top try harder to stay there, thus increasing the skills of themselves and everyone else in the “pyramid”. I didn’t quite say that as well as she said it, but you get the picture.

The class was one of the best groups of students I have ever been part of. Usually there are one or two students who don’t quite fit with the mix when you are in a group that big, but this time it was absolutely the most perfect mix. Humour was rampant, design skills shared, personal stories told, and ideas offered freely. It was a precious group I hope to have the pleasure of meeting with again. Carol has promised she will put in a proposal to teach an “Advanced” class and we all hope to practice enough to go and take part in that one when it happens. Here is a picture of one of the pieces I did. I have to get in touch with others in the class before I post pictures of their work....I hope they say yes because there were some very talented people there and it showed in what they produced!

All in all, "Quilting by the Lake", Carol Shinn and the fellow students, were a fabulous experience. Look for more work including this technique!!!!

Natures Artwork

2010-07-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

My husband and I worked at sorting out a pile of dirt, roots, weeds, plants, branches, .....you name it ..... it was in there. Waist high and about 8 feet around, we wanted to sift out the rubble and spread out the soil so that we can rake everything level and seed it to grass. It's too late in the year for seeding, but we can have it ready and then perhaps seeding in the fall will take and we will have "lawn" there by spring. We'll have to spread lime to sweeten the soil and get rid of the over abundance of buttercups too!

But there were two huge clumps of Pampas grass that got scraped off with the front end loader's bucket, along with all the other unwanted plants. We salvaged some of the roots and they are recovering and will become beautiful. Other parts went in the pile of stuff we took to the "yard waste" section at the dump. But in the process of cleaning all this up, my husband was frustrated by my enthusiasm. In the midst of the clean up, he had to stop so I could take pictures. This is Pampas Grass that has dried and curled after being treated poorly. I couldn't help but think that nature is pretty beautiful, even when it's been treated badly. This grass got literally bulldozed out of it's "happy home" and here it is making fabulous artwork in exchange!

2010-07-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

A piece copied from my grand daughter's Facebook page. I love what it says and sometimes am not capable of living up to the sentiments expressed. But since she found it and I like it, I thought I would share.

Visiting Victoria

2010-06-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I visited our youngest son in Victoria. This is about 4 hours from home, and I was absolutely astounded at the traffic that was out there. School isn't out yet? It's not a long weekend? There's nothing special going on? I didn't know why, but the traffic was solid and steady for the entire drive. I didn't even want to use cruise control because I tend to daydream and find myself right on someone's bumper before I remember to back it down! (I blame that on my husband who is always the driver so I don't get enough practice!)

It was a great visit, and I was delighted to meet some of his friends Friday evening. Saturday morning, we visited most of my favorite shops, and even one of my husband's....Valu Village. Josh and I did well in that we found a pair of blue jeans for $7.00 which were my husband's favorite brand and his size as well. He was thrilled when I got home and pulled them out of my suitcase. Amazing the little things that please him. He would not have been near as pleased with the same pair of jeans purchased brand new!

One shop we went thru had this fountain on the steps at the entrance. Inside they had the most fabulous wall hangings. They were made of bits of wedding saris by women in India who were garnering an income from these projects. They were all beautiful but one in particular was fabulous and I would have loved to purchase it. I didn't have the nerve to ask if I could take a picture and not buy anything, but I was thoroughly impressed with the work. It was all shades of greenish gold, with hand stitching and hand beading and was about the size of a lap quilt. Exquisite work. Another was a mixture of fabrics and the hidden shape in it reminded me of "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt.

But, back to the fountain that is pictured above. This is the sign that was behind it. I thought it was intriguing enough just seeing it in operation, but then reading the sign I thought it was a great project. And.....it would be fun to try and make one with some of the favorite stones in my collection!

For more information on this project, check out http://www.fountainofpeace.com/

For information on the store or the work of the women in India, visit http://www.fullcirclestudio.ca/

Is Rock a Textile Too?

2010-06-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my friend and I went to the Rock Hound show and sale. We do this every couple of years and always come home with some kind of beads, rocks or trinkets that we can use in our artistic pursuits. There are also some other friends of mine that I invariably run into at this event. This year was no different. We walked in and the first thing we saw was this incredibly colorful display of strung beads. This picture hardly does it justice since my focus is unfortunately more than a little off! But you get the idea!

From there we walked to each display and admired the work of the rock artists. These photos were a banquet table set up with each plate looking like food being served. My favorite were the cookies (no surprise there), and the steak.

This photo shows a rock that is found in this area, on the beach mostly, and is commonly known as Oyster River Flower stone, used. It can be stunningly beautiful when sliced open, and equally as beautiful just as it’s found. I’ve got some in my own collection! This rock is a beautiful example of nature's art.....in fact ALL the rocks were! Polished pebbles, polished slices, carved shapes, jewelery, beads.....all a testament to the beauty inside something that usually doesn't look too exciting at first glance......sort of like a lot of people!

This is one I found somewhat intriguing, although I can’t say beautiful. I just think it’s one of those formations that everyone would see a different shape or subject in when they view it. Interesting isn’t it?

And yes, I did come home with a couple of pieces I'm going to try tying into my textile art. More on that later.
You should know that my friend and I are rock and stone "hounds" too. We don’t slice or carve the rocks, but we have our collections of pet rocks that are placed in strategic locations in our gardens. Yesterday my husband and I went to his brother’s home where we had “stashed’ all my pet rocks before we listed our house for sale. I didn’t even want to take the chance of someone asking for any of my collection to stay with the house! They were found in local rivers, on the local beaches, and even two that I hauled all the way home from a trip to Alberta! They will show up in future pictures when they get strategically placed in my garden!

A Forgetful Start and a Happy Ending

2010-06-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I was invited to teach at an “Art Quilter’s Day” for the Parksville Quilt Guild http://www.parksvillequilthousequilters.com/ . I mentioned it in a previous post where I had been preparing to teach a class that was not the one advertised!

Preparations were done in advance. The class was scheduled and organized before our move, and then took place after the move. I felt accomplished in that I not only remembered that I had to teach, but I could find samples, demo items and supplies I had packed beforehand. Picture me patting myself on the head here!

I got up on the Saturday morning confident that all was well. I was up in plenty of time to have tea before I left, and had everything in the car the evening before. But my husband seemed as if he couldn’t wait to see me off. He kept offering to help, offering to put things in the car, offering to fill my travel mug……I couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to and why he was so anxious to get me on the road.

But I left, took the turn onto the new inland Island Highway, which zips past all the towns and various turn offs and makes for a faster trip. It’s an hour’s drive and I’m in plenty of time. It wasn’t until I crossed the overpass on the intersection that I USED to use to turn onto this highway that I realized what my husband was fretting about. I’d forgotten to add distance we moved north of our previous home….twenty minutes!!!

Now I’m driving with the cruise control set at 10 over the limit, in hopes of getting there a little sooner and not getting caught! Added to my anxiety is the fact that I have proven to be directionally challenged and often take the wrong turn…..I’ve even done it WITH a GPS! But luckily this time I found the place without a false turn. I was so relieved.

I walked into the room where all the classes were set up to find two classes ready to go and my students all ready to go but looking a little concerned at their lack of a teacher. walked in, stood in front of everyone and said “I forgot where I lived!” One student, who knows me, said “Oh Right….you moved further north didn’t you?” And the laughter burst out.....he discussions about the difficulties of moving, and the stories of my previous meanderings on the wrong road, and then we got down to the business at hand. It was a class teaching how to make the tree on the cover of my book, “Embellishing with Anything” published through C&T http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1288

OR, you can find it here http://www.amazon.com/Embellishing-Anything-Techniques-Quilts-ATCs-Wallhangings/dp/1571205888/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276821483&sr=1-1.

It was one of the best classes I’ve taught. Excellent students, all with a sense of humour and a sense of adventure. All with different color choices, all with different applications for the same project and every student finished at least one during the day, some doing a second one as well.

Thank you to all of you because you forgave my silliness in not leaving quite on time (I did thank my husband when I got home), and I look forward to another day like that one any time you want to organize it!

A Great Evening Walk

2010-05-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening was the first pleasant one in about five days. Rain Rain Go Away has been our theme song for about two weeks now! After work I had every intention of finishing the job of sorting in my studio, but it was just too nice and hadn’t been for so long that I decided to take the dog for an extra long walk.

I’m in a new neighborhood and don’t know all the routes yet, but decided I didn’t want to do the “evening circle” that we have been doing. My husband had already fallen asleep in his chair after eating dinner, and I just thought some fresh air would be more satisfying than listening to him breathing heavily (he insists he doesn’t snore)! I’m sure anybody who might be reading this knows exactly the feeling I’m describing!

So off I go. Put on my great walking shoes purchased in NYC last year (which are unfortunately wearing out and need replacing), and I headed off to see how long it would take to walk to the beach. Now you have to understand how spoiled this dog is. This is HIS walk and my husband expects him to be allowed to stop and sniff and leave pee-mail every chance he gets. So it’s not a quick walk, it’s downright dawdling. Somewhat like it was when I walked down the sidewalk with a baby doing his first big walk!

We got to the beach in TWENTY minutes! The walk took us down a residential street that is across from a farm field all planted in very tidy rows, through a park which rivals Cathedral Grove in its beauty of big, tall, standing and fallen trees, and moss covered stumps.http://www.vancouverisland.com/trails/?id=12

I foolishly had left my camera behind.

The beach was stunning with water lapping just strongly enough to make that rhythmic noise, the sky with beautiful clouds in it and the mountains glistening in the background. I couldn’t resist taking this picture with my phone and sending it to my son in the prairies!! Slightly sadistic since it was snowing in Calgary at the time!

But the best was yet to come! Here is the view down our street as I ambled back home. And this photo does NOT do it justice at all. All in all, a great evening!

Purging "Stuff" - Studio to Studio

2010-05-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

It would appear that moving has flustered me more than I thought. I see on rearranging my blog that I have repeated myself……or do I do that a lot? Please don't answer that!

But more of this adventure….While clearing out your old belongings can be very therapeutic in a 'life-laundry' sort of way, it can also be strange in a “letting go” sort of a way. Plus the stress of getting your husband (or in this case myself) to actually admit I’m never really going to use this precious bit of fabric, or this pattern, or even be able to find this little bit of wool when I get re-settled, is truly difficult for me! But moving to a new house – especially a smaller one - is a chance to start afresh, get rid of the clutter and NOT qualify as a candidate for “Hoarders” on TV! I tried, I really tried, and I thought I was successful.

I gave two trailer loads of “stuff” to the high school fundraising garage sale. Dishes, my reclining cycle, picture frames and vases. I sent loads of fabric to a representative of Doctors Without Borders. http://www.msf.ca/ Her group makes simple drawstring bags designed to hold the things needed after surgery for women in third world countries. A good home for the fabrics I had to admit I wasn’t going to use in the foreseeable future.

I sent a garbage bag of clothing to the thrift shop and boxes of magazines to the walk-in clinic. We even sold some furniture we knew would be excess in a smaller home. After all we were going from 2200 sq ft to 1100 sq ft!

My husband donated some of the things from his work shop to the local church youth group. They were grateful as it allows the kids to learn new things in their environment. See yucv.blogspot.com. This photo is copied from their site and I just love its design, the shapes of the negative spaces, the colors, and of course it’s message. But I digress.

And all this purging DID feel good. The current theory that de-cluttering your home helps de-clutter your mind is totally true! The old house looked empty…I felt downright saintly! Not only did I have the reward of gifting all these different groups, but I felt I had substantially downsized.

Here’s a picture of my studio as it looked when people viewed the home we had

And here’s some photos of what I am dealing with now. Suddenly I feel less successful! But I will persevere and re-do the exercise. Wish me luck!

The sewing table and wall storage by the patio door, exiting onto the deck.

The far end of the room showing more storage and my china cabinet holding wool and decorative yarns! Design walls leaning to the right hand side. Haven't decided for sure where they will be mounted when I get the surfaces cleared off. Each day is a little more progress!

And this was the closet in the "master bedroom" I took off the bifold doors and inserted my storage shelves from the previous laundry room. The shelf unit on the right hand side in this picture is ENTIRELY filled with UFO's (UnFinished Objects). I think there's a message in there somewhere! I think this winter will be geared towards clearing off that shelf!

EXHAUSTION IS THE WORD OF THE DAY!

Moving House....Yet Again

2010-05-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Not that I think this is a new revelation to anyone, but I must say, moving has a tremendous psychological impact on a couple. Imagine a person in their seventies selling their home of 30 years and moving to a retirement home. I’ll never be that person. We moved 2 ½ years ago, and here we are, completing yet again another move! (That’s where I’ve been instead of blogging since about mid-April.)

Last fall, my husband and I finally had a conversation over a glass of wine, which led to tremendous honesty with each other. We both disliked where we were living!! (Other than my spectacular studio of course). We both would like to downsize and thereby downsize our expenses. We had discovered an amazing concept: the ratio of the house size and the heating bill coordinate with each other!

So, now we are into the discussion “when shall we do this?” (neither one of us is known for patience or waiting easily!). We have to make an effort now to communicate with each other exactly what it is we do not like about where we are, what we don’t want to do again, what we’ve liked best about homes past and what we would like to accomplish with this move. This discussion went on for several weeks actually. We discussed things like stairs/ranchers; being visible by all the neighbors; size of yard; size of house; detached workshop; water source; heat source; on and on and on it went. Much wine was consumed!

It is commonly said that moving from one house to another is one of the most stressful life events, right up there with divorce and bereavement. I’m happy to say that I haven’t had a lot of bereavement in my life, but I have experienced divorce, so I feel qualified to say that statement is very true!

There’s the idea of moving, the indecision of whether it’s the correct thing to do….will it make life better, the same or worse? When the decision is made, there’s the de-cluttering and the de-personalizing, living in that newly de-characterized space, the constant cleaning and the life interruptions created by the viewings! I tell you, half way into this one, I was sorely tempted to give up on the idea. He was too….just at different times….which equaled more stress!

Our plan was to get totally out of debt. Sell the big two storey house in town and get a little one. Thus allowing me to retire from my job and focus on my next career as a textile artist, teacher and writer of books related to that! Well, the big house sold but what a search there was for the little one that would suit both of us! Buying a new house seems like a happy and exciting occasion… at first. But we couldn’t find anything that fit all our pre-requisites in town! Did we have too many expectations? Had we made a mistake? Was it possible to achieve what we hoped for? Panic began to set in.

How do you find your “new dream” home? Not the expensive perfectly located one on the beach with all the amenities, that is paid for by the lottery, and is your dream home, but the one fitting this “new dream” goal of retiring early and having peace and quiet with room for your hobbies? This involved many hours cruising the internet and believe me I surfed for hours and hours. After viewing many unsatisfactory places with the local real estate agent, we were blessed by our daughter-in-law, who was beginning to worry about us. Now why do you think she would worry?

She is an accomplished real estate agent as well as a very special daughter-in-law. http://www.onepercentrealty.com/realtordetails.cfm?rid=238 We’ve considered Monica to be a saint with wings and a halo for years, but this time she really scored. She went on-line and came up with several listings that she emailed to me, branching out the search area and checking into foreclosures to get more for our dollar. Lo and behold….she found us the house that fits….and it’s a foreclosure….and it’s not in town! Should we get involved in this even tho it will answer all our requirements with some extra work? Does living out of town again look good because we are panicked about finding a home or do we really like that better? Or should we keep looking for a home that won’t involve a court date and the possibility of being outbid or arriving on possession day to nothing looking the same as it did when viewed. We decided to go for it…..and were successful. Thank heavens for that! And we’ve moved in with no rude surprises and the budget worked out exactly as planned so far. Phew! And yes, we both really do prefer to live out of town. So in the end, after all this up and down emotion, we are settling happily. Exhausted and physically sore, but happy. When I emailed pictures to our son working in Alberta, his reply was “Wow….it just screams ‘DAD’!” And he’s right, it does. But it fits me too and with the renovations that are included in the plans, it’s going to be perfect for these two people! We can walk to the beach, walk to the river, walk to a pub, walk to a little grocery store, walk to the walk-in clinic, and walk to the liquor store. What more would we need as retired people who aren’t in town every day? Ahhhhh, the very thought is soothing!

"PRIVATE SETTING - Warm and cozy 3 bedroom, 1 bath rancher with a large deck that can be accessed from either the master bedroom or the living room. This home also boasts a beautiful river rock gas fireplace. Large workshop/garage at back of property. The property can be accessed from Croydon Road or Wimbledon. For the young family, Oyster River Elementary is within walking distance. "

Fibre on the Forest Floor at Loon Lake

2010-04-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

This is my unfinished project from the workshop!

The highlight of April for me was the opportunity to attend a class at the Vancouver Guild of Fibre Arts. http://www.vgfa.org/ This was an anniversary retreat they planned and they had all sorts of classes planned. I registered in one with Barbara Shelley, called “The Forest Floor – Painting with Thread”. The retreat was incredibly well organized and had some delightful classes offered. I would have loved to take Akira Blount’s class in dolls, (http://www.akirastudios.com/ )but the class I did get into was just as good.

Barbara Shelley doesn’t have a web page, but her class was delightful and she was so encouraging and helpful to everyone in the class…..from the student who’s machine caught on fire, (honest) to the one who had an embellishing machine there and showed the teacher how to use it. The class was only five people and it was a wonderful mix of personalities. We had a wonderful time together. I’d do it again in a second.

Perhaps it was especially wonderful because my employer has brought in a new rule this year. We are not allowed to take any time off during instructional days….that means we can only be away if we are sick, or if it is a day when there are no classes. We have to go through a lot of red tape to get the “allowable” three days of personal leave that go through a committee before being decided on. And my three days got approved!!! There are lots that don’t so I felt special and appreciated, and once at the retreat, was so happy that I had gone through the trouble.

It took place at Loon Lake…. the photo to the right is the view from our room....a division of the University of Victoria’s Forestry department and was the most spectacular location with incredibly beautiful scenery (the photo at the top of my blog is one taken there). The buildings were in the “lodge style” from a western resort scene. All in all, a fabulous place to be. The food was incredible…..I gained four pounds in four days…..and…well, I just can’t say enough good things about my experiences there.

It started out with my friend meeting me at the ferry landing and setting up her extra GPS in my vehicle. We headed out to go to Loon Lake. It is out of Maple Ridge and a distance up an active logging road. Well, I have to say I am the only person I have heard of who can get lost WITH a GPS. It said “Turn Right” so I turned right. I’m in the construction under a new bridge when the next sentence comes up and adds “in 100 meters.” Oops. And then when it realizes I’m not where I’m supposed to be, it says “Recalculating”. I swear every time it had to say that the tone of voice got a little snippier and a little less patient. And then when I got to the gate on the logging road, it thought I was at the destination. I kept going and it kept telling me “You are at the destination. Stop now.” Over and over! I unplugged it and kept going. I was sure glad to see people and buildings after a fairly long and pot-holey drive up that mountain! I got better at listening to the full instructions on the way out. But we had to stop at a gas station and I gave it back to Judy because at that point we were headed in two different directions to go home!

This was my favorite thing....a little pull ferry which crossed the lake so we could hike on the other side....unfortunately I had to try this at lunch and then go back to class, but it was an absolute delight!

While at the retreat, I shared a room with my girlfriend Judy. We hadn’t seen each other since last summer (although we email almost every day), so it was great to be together again. We chatted and giggled late into the night the first night, and just reveled in being in the same room to share our stories once again. But the room was too warm. We had a ground floor room, looking right out onto the lake so we opened the door and propped it with Judy’s cooler. We continued talking and eventually drifted off to sleep with the door open. It was such wonderfully fresh air.

In the middle of the night, Judy heard the door banging against a lawn chair so she got up and closed it. We went back to sleep. In the morning she poked her head out the door to get her cooler, but it was nowhere to be seen. We wondered if it had been stolen. It was still dark so we went up to the mess hall for breakfast (served for loggers because there was so much variety and volume!). After breakfast, back to our room and get our things for the class. I looked outside again for the cooler. I walked to the edge of the cement patio and looked down over the bank towards the lakeshore. Way down there, lodged against a tree, was Judy’s cooler, torn to bits with its bottle of juice and a can of Coke bent and and squashed. There were bear paw prints in the soil. I thought she should make a piece of artwork out of her Coke Zero can with the claw marks in it! Everyone laughed at my suggestion! I meant it!

I thought we couldn’t leave that garbage down there so I climbed down to get the stuff. About half way I thought to myself “What if this bear is sleeping under one of these logs I’m climbing over?” But he wasn’t, and I got the cooler and the rubbish and brought it back up. We were the talk of the retreat! At lunch that day we explained what had happened and heard that this same bear had been in the dumpster and behind the other residence as well. So the new rule was “No food to be left outside at all….not even anything that smelled like food. “ Judy said she was just glad that the bear didn’t come into our room. One of the ladies there said “You don’t know that he didn’t!” There was a moment of silence and then….you should have seen Judy’s face! Believe me the door was closed and locked every night after that!

Picture the ripped up cooler right there at the base or the tree right about the middle of this picture!

But the class was excellent, the surroundings unbeatable, and it was a fantastic experience. If I lived in Vancouver, I’d be part of that guild for sure. What a talented group! I’ve interspersed pictures throughout this post so that you can get the idea of where we were. The photo presently at the top of my blog is taken from the pull ferry, almost at the opposite shore. All in all, a delightful three days.

A Miscommunication

2010-04-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since the publishing of my book, "Embellishing with Anything", I have been invited to teach at several different locations on Vancouver Island. (My dream is to teach on a "quilter's cruise" some day). I was contacted just before Christmas about teaching at a guild. But the classes were all to be rather traditional and what I do doesn't fit into that category. I said so, and the woman who was organizing it came up with the idea of having a "Spring Art Fling" and have three or four teachers come in who would teach non-traditional quilting techniques. She would be in touch with me regarding the date when she had talked to other "art quilters" she knew of.

She contacted me again, and the class will be held in May. I prepared my sample, a supply list, and the instructions. I was quite pleased with my sample, and was looking forward to teaching this class. It uses one of the techniques in my book, but in a completely different way. Happy with my work, I emailed her a photo, the supply list and told her that I would get the sample to the guild meeting where the classes are being promoted through a friend of mine, Ionne. You can see her work at www.ionnequilts.com

Feeling very satisfied with my meeting the deadline and being so organized, I went back to my studio to continue quilting a memory quilt I'm doing for a friend. Within half an hour, the phone rang. It was the woman I'd been communicating with through email. She was in a fluster. The sample and supply list I had provided were not for the project she had been advertising! Somewhere along the line, she thought we had agreed to do a class for the project on the cover of my book. I checked my emails and can't find one that even suggests that, and the photos attached are all of the technique used in the new class project. Here is what I thought I was going to teach:

However, since the class had been advertised already and was in the guild newsletter, I said "No problem", and pulled up the supply list and photograph of the project she had decided on! She thanked me for being so flexible and I laughed. After all, I had the sample and notes for this one done already as they are in my book and along with the class, I will probably sell some more copies. And the plus of the whole exercise is that I have a new class all ready to teach sometime in the future! So, here is what I WILL be teaching at the "Spring Fling"!

Finding "Frogs" and Visiting Josh

2010-04-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

This month I went to visit my youngest son. He lives in a bigger city than I do and I needed sewing supplies.....always a good excuse to go see him because there is better selection there. Part of my finishing binge, (a knitted cape by Nikki Epstein) needed some frogs to complete it but I couldn't find them in my home town. So I contacted my youngest son and made arrangements to spend the day with him and stay overnight in his town!

What fun we had. I went straight to the fabric store that had a great selection of frog closures for my cape. http://www.galafabrics.com/victoria.htm It was a good thing that I had people meeting me because I could have spent hours here, and could have spent many dollars as well! But they did, as they said on the phone, have the frogs I needed.

After purchasing those, Josh, Ben and I went for a walk on one of the breakwaters. It was, to be honest, bloody terrifying! Josh and I clung to each other and walked down the center of the "wall", freezing in position when someone passed us, while Ben sauntered ahead oblivious to the height and the lack of railings! It was a scrumptious day, sunny and bright with a slight breeze. When we got to the end of the breakwater, we climbed down the huge concrete blocks to get to the spot where this photo was taken. This is Josh and I. We walked back to where the car was parked along the lower "steps" of the breakwater, and both of us felt far more comfortable. Yes, you had to watch your step, but there was no feeling of being so high up that the wind could blow you over the edge. Something to cling to! Somewhere to sit down and get stabilized! Solid cement in other words. I think the birds felt the same way. They were there searching for open mussels and anything else they could eat. I think they are Sandpipers. I love the way they peck around and when something disturbs them they all lift together in a cloud and then settle a few feet away and keep pecking!

After our walk, we went for lunch, a relaxing meal, and then drove to the motel where I had made reservations. After check in, we went to another restaurant and had dinner, and then picked up a case of beer (I usually drink wine but Linda taught me to drink beer when we were in New York City!) Josh and Ben had no problem with that. We sat on the balcony and visited to our hearts content. When it was time to go home, they sprinted to catch the bus and I curled up with my book, satisfied with a great visit and a wonderful day in the sun.

Next day we met for brunch. Here is a picture of the Hydro boxes on the street in Sidney, BC. I thought they were wonderful. Ever so much nicer than a plain green metal box! The artwork reminds me of something I've seen in a magazine, and I'd love to translate it to fabric.

Again, it was a good thing it was Sunday and most of the stores were closed. What a window-shopping treat this town was. I wandered up and down the street looking at the sites and eventually my cell phone rang. Josh and Ben were wondering where I was....I was across the street from them!

We joined each other in the middle of the street and laughed and hugged each other. Brunch was next on the agenda. We walked to a popular restaurant but the line-up was "out the door". So we wandered around until we found a nice place and went in for an excellent brunch. After that I had to leave and head home. I dropped the two of them off at their home, and headed off for my drive home....the miracle is that I found my way from their house to the main highway and in the right direction home! You have to know I have absolutely no sense of direction and get lost incredibly easily. If someone paints their door, I no longer know where I am. But this was a good day and I managed to find a straight route to home. It was a delightful weekend, and besides having a great visit with my son, I had what I needed to finish yet another project!

MARCH FLOWERS BRING APRIL SHOWERS AND WINDS AND STORMS!

2010-04-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures taken March 1 in our yard and at the school I work at. It’s been an extraordinarily mild winter….so mild in fact that I feel it was a very long spring. Obviously the plants think so as well! They are well ahead of schedule in their blooming. For a time I was worried that a frost or snow would come along and kill them off as their growth was untimely. But that didn’t happen.

Everything looked like this until April 4th…..when we had record winds for a 12 hour period. The poor little Star Magnolia blooms were whipped around and are now bruised from abuse. The gorgeous pink petals that normally cling to the Flowering Plum for at least six weeks are mostly sprinkled all over the neighborhood lawns as they didn’t stand up to 75 kmh winds! Imagine that! But the Daffodils bowed their gentle heads into the protection of bigger plants and popped up again looking as cheerful as they always do.

Notice the "pink" theme going on in our yard? Which reminds me....I need to dig up the "May Bush" my Dad saved me from their home of 52 years. it's looking healthy but hasn't bloomed yet. It will look great in the next yard! It is pink too~

Traumatic but Entertaining Times

2010-04-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Late in the fall my husband and I decided to sell our house. This decision was not an easy one to come by as we’d only been in it for three years. However wonderful my sewing studio is, the private office, the delightfully bright kitchen….the stairs have become difficult for him as his arthritis worsens more quickly than expected. So we put it up for sale. We know winter is not an ideal time to sell a house, but wanted this to be over with and be in a new place for spring since we both love gardening. (And there’s the secret hope that we won’t have to watch the trees we’ve planted spring into bloom and look glorious just as we moved.)

However, that was not to be. We spent the winter cleaning and purging. In fact, we took a lot of stuff out of the house to make it look larger and cleaner, and moved all that to our son’s vacant house. We did this ourselves. Several loads went across town and were stored in his house and shed.

But that wasn’t the end of our moving things. Our son came home from where he was working (out of town) for Christmas so in consideration of his family, we moved our things out of his house and back into ours! I’m sure by now the neighbors thought us insane. When he left to go back to work, we moved some big things back over to his house. And then he decided to rent it. A good decision as he was carrying two payments because of needing accommodation where he was working as well. So….back we go to get our things out of his place entirely and bring them back to our house. Some got put back in place, some got stored in the garage. By now the neighbors had gotten up the nerve to come over and ask about all this activity.

So, to make the winter seem shorter, I can sum it up in one sentence. “We moved several times and cleaned and tidied constantly”. The happy ending to the story is that the house sold during spring break, and at a reasonable enough profit. Since we had to do this thing, we hoped to be able to come out of it well enough ahead that I would be able to retire when I want to. I’m not sure when that will be, but soon. We have to be out April 30th, but we aren’t sure where we are going yet! I’m trying to remain calm about that.

It seems the house, being of good quality and in a desirable neighborhood, took longer than usual to sell. All the feedback we got from our real estate agent was that the “unfinished house across the street was not something these customers could see themselves looking at for years to come.” Now when we moved in I saw this house, but thought it was weathered and would be finished the next summer. After we moved in I found out that it had been like that for 11 YEARS!!! And since we’ve been here three years, it’s now been like that for 14 YEARS! The story is that the owner started the addition without a building permit or inspection and the city came by and stopped work on the project. They will not give him a permit unless he pays a penalty and he refuses to pay that penalty. So it sits there, actually rotting in the weather and he uses it for a storage shed and a place to tune up lawnmowers!

I think it terribly arrogant of him to impose his poor judgment on the rest of the street and have been told that his house probably lowers the price of the houses in the neighborhood by $20,000 each. The lesson there is that when you fall in love with a house, look around and see what surrounds it. That “Location, Location, Location” comment really does hold true! I spoke with our City Hall representative and he said that if I could get four neighbors to write an email to him complaining, that this guy would be told that either he gets busy and finishes it within a certain deadline, or they will finish it for him and charge him contractor’s prices. I got three people to write in……. Even tho I won’t be there anymore, I think I’ll continue to follow that one up, for the sake of the two very good friends we made in this neighborhood.

Preview of Quilter's Connection Article

2010-02-17T14:47:00.000-08:00

Much to my pleasure, I received via email, an invitation to contribute an article to a new Canadian magazine called Quilter's Connection. http://www.quiltersconnection.ca/ It was to be their "green" issue, concentrating on re-purposing, re-cycling and re-using. I agreed and decided I would feature Art Trading Cards, wonderful little tableaus for experimental artwork.

Fitting in with the "Green" theme, I have been picking up bits and pieces around the grounds of the high school where I work for quite some time now. I bring them home, run them through the dishwasher, and if they survive, save them in a basket for mixed media art "in the future". The variety of items I have found is amazing. Pop can tabs, broken earrings, plastic buttons, flattened bottle caps with unique designs on them, bits of rusty metal...the list goes on and on. My co-worker has even joined in and brought me little things she has found!

So with this invitation from Quilter's Connection, I suddenly had an incentive (and a deadline) to put together the things I'd been percolating in the back of my mind for a while! Here are the results. The complete article will be in the spring issue of the magazine so I can even add that to my list of where I've been "published"!

These are a sneak preview of what will be in the magazine. You can play a sort of "Where's Waldo" game and see if you can see the things I used below in the picture above! They ARE there!

An ATC Exchange

2010-02-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

In the fall of 2009, the Richmond Art Gallery (RAG) sponsored an exchange of Art Trading Cards. I decided I would like to enhance my collection by taking part in this exchange. The guidelines were that each participant sent in 9 trading cards in a "trading card" page with a self-addressed stamped envelope for returning the cards received in exchange. There was no theme, no regulations, and all forms of art were welcomed. This meant the ATC's would be photography, painting, paper art, mixed media, and mine...textile art. Any medium was ok.

Here is a sampling of the ones I sent in. The orange ones were made with the trimmings from a dye experiment where I quilted the sandwich of fabric first and then lay it in a tray and poured dye over it. I have a quilt on the design wall from this technique, but it's not finished yet. I couldn't bear to throw out the pieces....they were so bright and colorful!

And one day in the mail, an envelope arrived, printed with my own handwriting, and it contained these! They are a combination of paper art, mixed media, and two fabric ones. The one of the box jellyfish reminds me of the movie "Seven" with Will Smith. A thought provoking movie I watched one evening by myself. I can't say I loved it but I did enjoy it!

I especially like the one of the leaf in the bottom left. I "think" the leaf is paper but am not positive about that. The bird one is velvet on paper, and there's one that is First Nations buttonwork. They are all beautiful and have added nicely my collection. The best part was receiving these in the mail after I'd forgotten all about the exchange!

Liquitex Inks, Derwent Inktense Pencils & Author Ambassadors

2010-02-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

The publisher of my first book, C&T Publishing, is now handling more art quilting supplies. They asked several months ago if any of their authors would be interested in being an "Author Ambassador". I happily jumped into the experiment with enthusiasm. (I do have trouble sitting on my hands at meetings!) A package soon arrived in the mail containing a very generous and exciting bundle of goodies. Liquitex Inks in primary colors, a selection of Derwent Inktense Pencils, some fabric medium and some Liquitex paints. Enough to make someone like me salivate and instantly start hatching new ideas.

I set out to play with the products and to sketch out what I wanted to produce. I wanted to try the inks since I had not used them before. I've used lots of fabric paints, but not inks. So I tried painting with the inks, using a quill pen with the inks, using a rubber stamp and a brayer with the inks, darkening areas with the Inktense pencils, and just generally played around happily. Then I drew out my design on paper, put it on my tracing surface and got going with the inks and the real thing. It turned out beautifully. I was really pleased with the way the inks performed, both as a color medium, and as a resist when a second coat was added. The Inktense Pencils were really wonderful. They colored in spaces, they darkened lines, they shaded cheeks.....all depending on the wetness and size of the paintbrush used. In essence, I LOVED the products.

And then the inevitable (at least in my life) happened. I was beading away on a finished piece and spilled a glass of red wine on it. (There's a lesson in here......is it about drinking wine while beading? Is it about drinking white instead of red wine? Those are the only two options I'll consider OK?) Since the project was done on a very sensitive fabric, it lost it's glamour when it was rinsed, and in the end became unusable.....except perhaps as bits cut up and add to an Art Trading Card. Not to be deterred, I started over, albeit too late for my deadline by now! But, now it's finished. This project was done on polyester satin, with Liquitex Inks, Liquitex Fabric Medium and Derwent Inktense pencils......and a lot of hand beading. I'm not as happy with it as I was with the first one, but in the end I learned more about the product by trying to reproduce what I had done on the first round! I will definitely be using the products again, AND ordering more from C&T!

And this project, done with the same supplies except on plain muslin with the polyester satin background is one I consider to be successful. I love the intensity of the color achieved on muslin. The freckles are done by using very watered down ink on the Fast-2-Fuse before pressing the layers together. I was happy with where they fell in the composition. This is an idea I'd like to work on some more and into a bigger piece I think!

My Skechers and Various quotes on Walking

2010-01-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Today I had to change the laces in my favorite shoes. Oh the thoughts and memories that went through my mind as I put new laces into these shoes I consider a gift from God......

It was a surprise for me to have the opportunity to visit Pittsburgh and New York City last spring. Today, as I re-laced these shoes, I couldn't help but think of that trip again. In Pittsburgh the hotel that C&T Publishing http://www.ctpub.com/ put me in for Spring Quilt Market and the release of my first book, "Embellishing with Anything", was within easy walking distance from the show. It was a delightful way to discover the downtown core, people- watch and absorb expressions and sights I would have missed by any other mode of transportation. As well, the days of the market were spent walking from booth to booth and on my feet all day talking to vendors and quilt shop representatives. Unfortunately, I didn't have these yet or I'd have worn them there too!

Walking is a way of being somewhere, rather than striving to arrive.
-Hillaby,John

And that is truly what I did in Pittsburgh. It was an unforgettable experience. And I shared it with Jan Krentz, http://www.jankrentz.com/index.php Those were special days I hope to have the opportunity to do over again sometime!

When I arrived in New York City a week later, meeting two friends there, we again walked everywhere we went, except for our time on the buses and the trains. But walking was certainly how we spent the majority of our time....and well spent it was too!

"The true charm of pedestrianism does not lie in the walking, or in the scenery, but in the talking. The walking is good to time the movement of the tongue by, and to keep the blood and the brain stirred up and active; the scenery and the woodsy smells are good to bear in upon a man an unconscious and unobtrusive charm and solace to eye and soul and sense; but the supreme pleasure comes from the talk." ~Mark Twain

This quote very aptly describes our six days walking all over New York City. Three good friends on an incredible adventure walking and talking everywhere we went....and eating too!

But, by day three in NYC, I knew I was travelling with two women who are a decade or more younger than me. My feet were killing me! I had to miss out on one evening's activity (the Rockefeller Center) because my feet were just so sore. But the next day we passed a Skechers store..http://www.skechers.com/shoes-and-clothing/styles/fitness/women_s_shape_ups/list
...and my love of walking was rekindled the moment I put these shoes on. We walked all day and well into the night for four more days and I didn't miss one minute, and there was NO breaking in period either! All walking is discovery. On foot we take the time to see things whole. ~ Hal Borland

The following quote is especially fitting for a day in Central Park and Tavern on the Green: There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country. A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken at the right tempo. Paul Scott Mowrer

Here's a video on the shoes, and I whole heartedly support everything they say, except they haven't mentioned plantar faciitis, which they are fabulous for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWSdIlsnYfw Watch others on YouTube as well......there are many more people than me that think they're great!

Since returning home, I've walked miles and miles more in these shoes. I've walked the dog, walked to work, walked on the beach, walked to the store, stood all day teaching classes related to the techniques in my book, and more. I dread the day when this following quote can be applied to these shoes: When you have worn out your shoes, the strength of the shoe leather has passed into the fiber of your body. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Luckily I bought two pairs! YES....I went back and got more before coming home!

Statler & Waldorf Knitting Bag

2010-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

This will be the story of the Christmas present I had the MOST fun making this year.

One of my best friends is one that I am lucky enough to spend my days with at work with. She is of like mind, like heart, and the only work mate I’ve ever had who was willing to speak up for me when it might just be at her expense…..but that’s another story. I have worked at the school for 13 years and have no idea how I got along without her with us! She has such a hilarious sense of humour and an incredibly quick wit and sense of sarcasm. Whenever we can manage the time, we go to the staff room for a cup of tea together. We seldom talk of work….it’s what we’re knitting, our children, our family, personal things. Often we are laughing when someone else walks in the room.

One day, one of our favorite teachers came in, glanced at us and said “You two remind me of the two old guys in the balcony on Sesame Street.” We knew “the two old guys”, but couldn’t remember their names so we rushed back to our computers to “google” them (after hassling that teacher about knowing what he watches on TV ….and he doesn’t have children!)

This is what comes up as a description: “Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters. They are two ornery, disagreeable old men who first appeared in the television series The Muppet Show heckling the rest of the cast from their balcony seats….. Despite constantly complaining about the show and how terrible some acts were, they would always be back the following week in the best seats in the house.”

Their comments were fraught with sarcasm and double meaning. Here are a couple of examples:

Statler: You think this show is educational?

Waldorf: Yes, it will drive people to read books.

Statler: Well, Waldorf, they finally made it to Broadway.

Waldorf: Yes, and I already bought tickets.

Statler: Are they good seats?

Waldorf: Sure are. They're on the next train out of town.

Statler: This show is awful!

Waldorf: Terrible!

Statler: Disgusting!

Waldorf: See you next week?

Statler: Of course.

And yes, some of these comments are close to what we say to the younger teachers that come in the staff room while we’re in there!

So along comes Christmas and I want to give this special friend a gift that will make her laugh and be useful as well. I have a number of patterns for bags and totes so I went through them for ideas ….the plan being to make her a knitting bag. I taught her to knit socks last school year and this year she gave everyone in her family a pair of socks! More than I can say! Lo and behold I found my pattern by elinor peace bailey for a purse called “Repressed Bag”. See her website here: http://www.epbdolls.net/

And this is the pattern as she designed it.

Now my idea was to do a take-off on this bag and make it into Statler and Waldorf.

Because they are in a balcony and we never see their lower extremities, I just wanted to make the faces look like them. So I used the bag pattern, fabric that looked like an elderly man’s suit, doe suede for the heads and hands, and bits of fur for their hair, eyebrows and moustache.

Here is what I produced. Terry laughed so hard I thought her chair was going to go over backwards when she saw it. It is truly a pleasure to make something for someone special and have it so well received. That was MY gift!