Saturday, October 30, 2010

Beautiful day and a little work

We have had some beautiful days. This fall has proved to be a nice one. We have had a few days with rain and wind but the nice days have been so nice that I can put up with a bit of rain and wind. Now today the wind is back and the rain is on its way.
I have been continued to work on my Paul Klee inspired piece with shot cottons. I think it is coming along nicely. The bottom is going to be straight but the sides will be random and I am going to quilt the black area to mirror the shapes within the body of the piece with colored thread. The pieces are done with needle turn applique and I will hand quilt this piece. I am loving it, I hope the rest of my plans for it are a good choice.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A bit more from the Garden

This was my partner as I spent time in the Oregon Garden's. Butch was a good sport. He would just lay and watch me as I took photo after photo of flowers, leaves, birds and whatever else I could find.

I am back home after a wonderful trip. I now have soooo many photos of flowers. It was a fun to have so much time to myself and just be able to take photos. I was amazed at how quickly the time passed when I was taking photos and walking. It was a wonderful day and a great trip. We also had a great time with our daughter!

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Oregon Gardens

We have spent the last few days in Silverton, Oregon. We stayed at the Oregon Garden's Resort. I have wondered the grounds and taken about 400 photos. I have been in heaven.

On the Garden's Grounds is the Gordon House which is a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It originally was built about 40 miles from where it sits today. It had fallen into disrepair and the individuals who purchased it from the Estate of the original owner wanted to tear it down. Fortunately a group of individuals saved the home and moved it to it's new home on the Grounds of the Oregon Gardens. They have tours and I took the time yesterday to go on a tour. I have always been an admirer of homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and to be able to see this home was incredible. He designed this home to feel like the outside was part of the home and I just love that.
I also wandered the grounds of the garden with my camera in hand and went crazy. I just love this photo. Since Fall is here and winter is approaching the plants were changing and drying up but it made for a great opportunity and the weather was so great.

I will be spending the rest of the weekend with my husband and daughter who came down from Seattle to join her father for some work related opportunities. I hope all of you have a lovely weekend.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Messenger Bags

Good Morning to all of you, I have been keeping myself busy. I have been making wool messenger bags. Here is a photo of my beautiful daughter with her new bag. I made this for her and was happy to receive the photo yesterday and know that she is happy with the bag.

I have been using repurposed wool. I have enjoyed taking suit jackets from the thrift store and making them into bags. The wool washes beautifully and I line them with fun fabric.

I am also so excited because next weekend our daughter will be coming to join her father for a conference (work related) late next week. So I will also get to have some time with her. Which always makes me happy! She is a 10 hour drive from us and whenever we can get sometime together it is always special.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Journaling

I have been getting together with a couple of very talented quilter friends and we decided we were going to challenge each other once a month with a Journal challenge. We are all making 8 x 10 journal squares. Our first challenge was based on color. I chose Red, Turquoise and Purple... This is what I came up with. I have always wanted to do something that looked like a highway interchange from the air, this is my interpretation in my chosen colors...
Now our second challenge was to use some organza we painted. I did various shades from White to Black... I also did other colors but I have only incorporated the shades of gray with my purple pieces. We had fun painting organza.

I am so anxious to get together again and share our work and set up our next challenge. It is wonderful to get together with women who share my desire to explore! I feel so blessed to have met these women and have a couple of new quilty friends.

The week is going well. I attended a new yoga class and found out it is an incredible way to start the day.