Make Everything Right

December Work and Fun

2011-12-29T06:57:00.000-08:00

I have been a busy girl... Sorry for my very long absence! I have been working at my real job and sewing for friends. Work is very busy around the holidays so I spend more hours there than I am accustomed to but I work with some wonderful people so it is all OK... It also provides more money for fun things like fabric.

The first photograph are the two gifts I created for two of my quilting friends. The two women I went on the quilt run with in February and I purchased fabric at each store we visited and then divided the fabric between the three of us. We were each to make a wall hanging that measured 10 x 55 from the fabric we received and then we would present them to one another at our Winter Solstice Party. The two hangings below are the two wall hangings I received from my friends. I think they are just beautiful. So different from each other but incredible together! I will also make one for myself so the Three of them can hang together.

We had a last minute change in our holiday plans. Our kids had very busy schedules so Mark and I decided to pack everything up and travel to our daughters home for Christmas and our son who lives in the same town came to join us. It was such an enjoyable time. All I cared about was spending the time with my family and we did that so I am a very Happy Mom! I hope all of you had a safe and fun holiday.

Butch Wishes each of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Photo Enhancement

2011-11-20T07:25:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I won a blog drawing for a Quilting Arts DVD from Diane Rusin Doran. I wrote about it here. I have been playing with photos and learning how to manipulate the photos and prepare them for printing on fabric. I have been working on single photos at this time but I hope to spend some time soon layering several photos together to form a single image. Above is the unaltered photo, and below is the enhanced photo which I will use in my first project.
I love the intensity of the altered photo and the images will reproduce so much better on the fabric it will be printed on. Unfortunately I have not been able to work on this very much. Life seems to keep getting in the way...

I spent the last week on the couch trying to survive a terrible cold. I have not had one like this in years... fortunately! I kept trying to work on photos and applique but it just was not going to happen. Instead I napped and napped some more. I am feeling so much better now!!!

Now I am preparing for my family. Our children will be home for Thanksgiving along with my Mom and Dad and Brother and his wife. I am very excited about all of them being here at the same time. I am looking forward to some quality time with all of them. Unfortunately my Sister and her family will not be joining us and we will miss them!

I hope all of you are going to have an incredible week, and for those of you here in the US, I hope you are going to be able to enjoy some time with family and friends.

Something starting with S

2011-11-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

Here is my addition to my pet robin. The rule was "something starting with S" Being me I decided it could not be something simple like a stripe or star or other things as obvious. I did my version of sawtooth... I like it and I like the addition of the yellow. Next I need to come up with "Braid" and I will be all caught up.

I have also decided I want to add more of the purple which you see on the right half running from the top to the bottom. I want to incorporate more of this color. My problem is I don't have much more of it left. I am going to send off samples today to a couple of my favorite quilt stores to see if they have it... Wish me luck.

One rule at a time

2011-11-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Our Quilt Guild had a challenge last February, every month we would each put a "rule" in a bag and one was drawn. We have been doing this for 9 months. This is my progress so far. I am not really liking it but I am going to keep going. The rules have been as follows:
Square in a Square
Checkered
Triangle in a Square
Applique
Circles or Dots
Stripes
Braid
Flying Geese
Something starting with "S"

I have the last few rules to complete. I am using Shot Cottons, these fabrics have been very enjoyable to work with . I went into this with no real plan other than wanting to use Shot Cottons. If I were to do this again I would really concentrate on my fabrics colors. I think I got carried away here....

I am hoping to get the top finished this weekend...

Pumpkin Carving Party

2011-11-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Mark and I were invited to a Pumpkin Carving Party. It was an incredible afternoon and evening with friends being creative, making a mess and watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean! We had such fun.
Mark was not sure he wanted to do this and even he had fun carving his spider. The hostess provided patterns for us to use. I had never used a pattern for carving a pumpkin but it proved to be very fun. You tape the pattern on the pumpkin and follow the pattern by poking holes along the lines. After marking your pumpkins we removed the patterns and began carving by following the dots... I enjoyed the process. Next year I think it would be fun to draw our own.

These are my friendly ghosts... I hope all of you are having a wonderful week.

Proud Mamma

2011-10-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you some work from my daughter. Stevi is an incredible photographer and has opened an Etsy shop! She is running a special this month where she is offering free shipping.

She has an incredible eye for beauty. Go take a look and let me know what you think. Please feel free to share her site with anyone you think would enjoy her work!

I have been busy working around the house and have not been stitching very much. I hope that will change soon. I am off to carve pumpkins with friends today so I will share photos of that soon.

It is my lucky day!

2011-10-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

I entered a blog giveaway the other day for this DVD by Diane Doran, I am so very excited, when I got up this morning and checked my emails, I had a message from Vivika Denegre that I had been selected as the WINNER!!! This is the perfect DVD for me. I won it by visiting a wonderful new blog, Vivika DeNegre Art Quilts. I love Vivika's work, she makes wonderful art quilts. Her blog really struck a cord with me since she has some quilts where she has incorporated vintage maps in some of her work. You should go and visit! I really have a thing for maps. In college I took classes in cartography and had always hoped to draw and color maps for a living...
Here are a couple of photos I toke last month and think they will be very fun to incorporate into a quilt using the new processes I will learn all about with my new DVD!!!

We have had a couple of incredible days here! No wind and lots of sunshine! We spent a couple of hours on the beach yesterday with Butch (the dog)... He is still trying to sleep off the effects of chasing the tennis ball a few too many times! I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend. ENJOY!!!!

Quilt Raffle

2011-10-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. This is the Gold Beach Quilt guild Raffle Quilt. We have been in the planning and sewing for the last 10 months or so. I was part of the design committee which consisted of 6 members. The quilt itself was worked on by 20 members of the guild who did the piecing and the hand applique. One of our members, Shelley Knapp who is a professional quilter did the quilting.

I am very happy with the completed quilt. It is a Queen size, 82" x 106". It is currently hanging in a local bank. We will be holding the drawing next year at our local Quilt Show, on September 16, 2012.

I have tickets available if any of you are interested. The tickets are a dollar each or 6 for $5.00. You don't have to be present to win. So if you are interested drop me an email or leave a comment and I will contact you.

The money we raise will go to our educational programs, and purchasing batting and flannel for our Quilts for Comfort.
We provide a flannel quilt to every newborn in the county.
We provide quilts to the County's American Red Cross, providing quilts
to families in need.
We provide lap quilts to people receiving hospice care in Curry County.

Thanks for allowing me to post an advertisement. :-) I hope all of you have a wonderful week.

Playing with Value

2011-10-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a bit of the progress on my Color Value Quilt. I found this pattern in the book by Christine Barnes, called the The Quilters Color Club. The pattern came from the book. I enjoyed picking out colors based on value. As you can see I do well with dark's and light's but not so good on the medium values. I am liking this though. I am also doing a bit of thinking and trying to decide whether or not to use any sashing. The pattern does not use any but I am not sure. I may just use the striped fabric for the border and maybe a strip between one row of blocks... What do you think?

I will probably be moving squares around today and playing with it a bit. We are having some rainy days so it is a good time to play in the studio. Oh, and I guess I may have to do a bit of ironing today... :-( Not my favorite thing. M is running out of work shirts so I guess I better be a good wife and do a bit of ironing.

Earth Teeny Weeny

2011-09-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

I took part in the Port Orford Guild's Teeny Weeny. This time the fabrics were "Earth"... We were given 16 strips of fabric one from each of the participants. I added the background fabric. I had fun with this. Years ago before marriage and children I worked as a Cartographer for a geologist in Wyoming. I drew maps and one of the other jobs was to assemble logs from various core samples of the earth. After they were arranged I would connect them and color them for a visual representation of the earth. So when I got my fabrics and thought of the earth, that is where my mind went.

It was a very fun project and I am happy with the result. I did Needle turn applique and hand quilted this piece. I also tried something new and made a facing like binding. I did not want the piece to have a traditional binding but it needed a clean finished edge.

I am excited for next week when we will share our creations with the group and I will get the next batch of fabric which will be "air"...

Oregon to Colorado and back

2011-09-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I got to fly to Colorado and spend some much needed time with my Parents and then I drove a car back to Oregon. It was a wonderful adventure. I flew into Denver, Mom and Dad picked me up and we spent the night in Denver and then went to the Denver Art Museum the next day to see the show called "Marvelous Mud" It was so great. There were so many incredible pieces of Ceramic art work. I was inspired. There were wonderful pieces around every corner. The museum itself was a beautiful piece of architecture.

Then we traveled south to my parents home in the Mountains of Southern Colorado. It was fun to be with them. Time passed to quickly for me, I enjoy spending time with them and it seems to never be long enough. One of the reason's for my trip was to pick up a car they were giving me. So I had a 1,700 mile trip ahead of me to return home.

My travel home went well and I did really enjoy myself. I am now here and hoping to get back to my sewing and back to quilting. I have missed being in my studio.

2011-09-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago our community Hospice had a fund raising Rummage Market. It was a huge success and brought in over $46,000 for end of life care for those in our community. It is such a worthy program. I volunteer for these sales. It is a fun social event as well as a worthy cause. The above photo is one of my favorite purchases. It is a hanging lamp. It has a few wiring problems so I am still thinking about how to fix that or have it fixed. But for $7.00 it was a great purchase and is already hanging where it will live. I think it is so beautiful.

I have it hanging with one of my little Port Hole pieces in our bedroom.

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe weekend.

Thinking of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks...

Tile Fun, NOT

2011-09-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Good Morning, I spent the Labor Day weekend Laboring... I got the bright idea to remove the old dirty white, icky, sticky grout and replace it with a nice soft gray grout that will not show stains. I was shocked to find out the person who laid the tile originally did not use spacers and the tiles are too close together to use the grout removal tool I purchased. So I took out my trusty Dremel tool and went to work on the grout. After so much dust and grime I was able to remove all the grout. After the cleanup, I was able to grout with the new gray grout. I am very pleased with the results. It will be so much better to live with. I am not a real fan of the color of the tile but it is in good shape and now that it is not dirty it is not so bad. Next it will be time to remove the white grout between the white tiles on the floor and replace that with the same gray. Now who thinks white tile and white grout are a good idea on a Kitchen floor????

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. I am preparing to head off to Colorado for work and pleasure next week. :-)

Paul Klee Revisited

2011-09-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am back at it again....
I keep going back to Paul Klee paintings for inspiration. Last summer I attended the Sister's Quilt Show and won a Jelly Role of fabric. I have had it sitting in my studio waiting to do something fun with it. I thought of just using pieces of it but decided I really liked them all together, so I just would look at it, feel it and think, and think some more.

I was also looking for something to take with me on our trip to Sweden to work on. I needed to be able to pack it in a small space with a minimum of accessories. So I cut a section of each fabric and a piece of Kona gray for my background. Packed a small sissors few pins, needles and background colored thread. It all fit into a small zip-lock bag and I was ready to go. This is how my piece is coming so far. I have not added but a couple of pieces of fabric since we returned. but I am liking what I see... I have a ways to go and this piece will be going with me on my next trip.

Karen Kay Buckley Class

2011-09-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

Back in July our Quilt Guild had Karen Kay Buckley come to Gold Beach and taught her process for applique. It was a full class and we all enjoyed Karen and her teaching. I was fortunate to spend some extra time with Karen and have dinner with her two evenings and walking on the beach after. She was very fun, and easy going.

Her process of applique is to use Templar templates and spray starch. I enjoyed learning her process. I enjoy using needle turn for my applique but I can see where by using both I can have my shapes more precise when needed. My favorite part was her process for circles. My circles have never been very precise now I can make the "Perfect Circle"

The photo above was the pattern we received in the class called "Garden Medley" I am using shot cottons in my piece.

HI, I am back...

2011-08-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while, I have been working much more that I am used to so my time in the studio has become less and less. My blogging has suffered too. I have decided it is time to either not have a blog or make a commitment to it. I am going to start slowly. At a minimum I am going to post weekly to start. Since it has been over a month since I posted I figure that is a reasonable goal.
Life has been busy but good. I have been taking photos and walking on the beach when time allows. The above photo was taken a few weeks ago on an early morning walk at low tide. It was an incredible day and incredible place.
Now, I am going to share with you my first ribbon. I entered a few pieces in our local County Fair and got several blue ribbons on my pieces but got this fancy Judges Choice on my Calla Lilly. The ribbon is just about as big as my piece. It is nice to have this little bit of recognition. I tend to go off in my own direction and not everyone likes or understands my work, so this bit of recognition feels good. I like to think this is not very important but I guess it is.

Have a great day!!!

More of Sweden

2011-07-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

This is our chief tour guide, our son Rick. He did a great job. It was fun to have this time with him!
This is the view of Stockholm from the Tower in City Hall. It was a long climb up stairs which the stairwell got smaller and smaller but the view of the City was incredible.

This was our Home away from Home. It was the cutest little summer home in a very beautiful area west of Stockholm.

Sweden

2011-07-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

We had an incredible trip to Stockholm, Sweden and Iceland. Here are a few photos. I was fascinated and loved this country and especially the people!!! We were able to see Sweden with our Son who has spent a year here, and our exchange student Kristina and her family from 7 years ago. They all took such good care of us. The provided a place to stay, included us in their Mid-summer celebration and the list goes on and on! I have posted only a few photos at this point and took 1500 photos...
This was our view for Mid-Summer...

Sweden here I come!

2011-06-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

I hope all is well with all of you and I hope you will excuse my absence. I have been preparing for a big trip. My husband and I are heading to Sweden to visit out son. He has been going to school over there this last year. I am so excited to see him and excited to see Sweden. I made myself a new carry on for the trip. This bag was made from an Amy Butler pattern and Ikea fabric. I am very happy with it. I scotch guarded it today so it will be ready for the trip.

While I was making my carry on bag, I decided I did not have a messenger bag that would hold my camera. So with the same fabric I made this. I will be quite the wild one. I am quite happy with it.
I also wanted to share this photo. I got it today, it is our son and daughter. She flew over to spend a bit of time with her brother and the two of them are running around Seville Spain. I was so happy to get a photo of the two of them having such a great time.

Now, this is my tinny weenie which is complete. I have finished the quilting and I am quite happy with the way it turned out. I did several new to me quilting. If you click on the photo you can see the stitching.

Well, I will be leaving in a couple of days, so this will be my last post until I return in July. I hope all of you are enjoying your summer so far and have some great adventures planned. ENJOY!!!

Design Wall ?

2011-05-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

So, most quilters have a design wall, mine is a garage door.... I have figured out how to make it work but I see these great work areas others have and I am envious. Now saying that I also feel very fortunate to have a space I can call my own and make a mess and play.

As you can see I am still contemplating the teeny weenie's quilting... I am also working on a thread painted fish and a quilt for my guest room. This is the beginning of the blocks then they will be cut in quarters and re assembled.

Here is the progression of the colorful quilt also. I am working on so many thing but I am loving being able switch between projects!!!

I hope all is well with all of you.

Teeny Weenie Quilt Challenge

2011-05-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

First I want to apologize for this terrible photo. The cell phone just does not do a great job but I wanted to get something posted today.

Here is the progress on my Teeny Weenie Quilt Challenge. This is a challenge from the Port Orford Quilt Guild. Those who wish to participate were told to bring one yard of summer fabric and it was then divided between the participants. The instructions were to create a small quilt no larger than a fat quarter with the fabrics provided. We could eliminate one fabric and add one. I received 17 fabrics. I was not sure at the beginning what in the world I had gotten myself in to. When I initially looked at these fabrics I could not imagine what I was going to do with them. So I looked at them and rearranged them for about a week or more and finally decided they were best arranged in order of the colors on the color wheel. I was able to cut circles out and cover most of the colors (kind of). I added the background fabric. My inspiration for the design of this piece was a quilt by Carol Bryer Fallert.

I began quilting yesterday. I only have one section quilted but will continue on this path. I am still thinking about whether I will quilt all of the blank spaces with the same color or weather I will change colors. At this point I am thinking I will try and keep things in the same color family but vary it a bit. However by later that may change too. I just am not sure.

I have had a great time playing with this once I decided I could now I am thinking about doing another working with colors in order of the color wheel. I am going to try and focus on color for a while and see where it takes me.

I hope all of you are having a fabulous weekend. I hate to say this but as I look out the window the rain has begun again and that makes me happy, I think it is time to sew some more and not feel like I should be doing something else like work outside...

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T07:53:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!! Mom, you set such a wonderful example for me!

This is a photo I received last week from my parents, they are in Stockholm, visiting my son. I have been having such fun hearing all about what they have been doing. In June, Mark and I are going to be visit. I am so very pleased that they are spending time together!

I apologize for my absence from writing in my blog. As many of you know I have been visiting and reading just not writing. I don't know what has come over me I have just not felt much like writing. Last weekend I even painted our master bath and have worked this week on doing all of the other little things that go along with painting. I even removed all the caulking around the tub and shower door and replaced it. :-) I am proud of myself!

I have been sewing and keeping myself busy. I am continuing to work on the colorful quilt which is a very slow process. I am doing a quilt challenge with the Port Orford quilt guild it is called the Tennie Weenie Quilt Challenge. They do a challenge every few months, this one has a summer theme. Everyone brings a yard of summer fabric and it is cut in strips and divided among the participants. I have 18 strips of fabric that the only thing they have in common is the fact they made the purchaser think of summer. I have started the design process so I will show you photos soon.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter. These are the agates and sea glass I found yesterday. I decided they were my Easter Eggs... I was hoping for a repeat this morning but it is raining and the wind is blowing. :-(

I don't think we will be going for a walk on the beach. Have a great day!

Second Section of The Colorful Quilt

2011-04-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

It is coming together slowly. I have added the second section.

This quilt is such fun and such a surprise. I have been moving slowly but I am loving the results. It has been a challenge picking colors but I do think I like how this looks so far. There are so many options with the color selection. I am not following the suggestions on the pattern. I like to do a bit of my own thing. Sometimes it works and sometimes not so much. But I think it is working here. :-)

I am enjoying the little bits of spring we are getting. We get a bit of sun and then the rain returns. We have received over one hundred inches of rain since October. This is amazing to me, and we have not floated away, Yet. Today it is sunny and there is a chance I will spend time on the beach rather than in the studio.

"My Favorite Artistic Advice" Tales Of Mere Existence

2011-04-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this with all of you. My mom sent it to me this morning.

I thought it was something we could all learn from.

Have a great weekend!

The Colorful Quilt revised

2011-04-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the new version. I posted a photo a couple posts ago of my original version of my colorful quilt. I had used Gray and just was not happy with the way it turned out. I have been looking at it for a week and just was not happy. So yesterday I took it to the quilt store and picked out another background. So here it is...

I am very pleased with the new version. What do you think?

Thread Play

2011-03-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

So what do you think? I spent some time practicing my thread painting. This is from a photograph I took. So this one is my own. I am very pleased with it. It was so much fun. Now, I need some other colors of thread so I can do some more!

It was a nice Sunday and to top it off my sweetie will return from his trip so it will be a great day.

The Colorful Quilt

2011-03-27T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the beginning of my Colorful Quilt...
I have started a project... It is the Colorful Quilt by Jacqueline de Jonge. The photo above is the picture from the front of the pattern. This is my first paper piecing piecing so I am learning so very much good and bad. There is a lot of trial and error.
I have to apologize for the quality of the photos since we have not seen the sun in days. This photo is the first section of the quilt. I am having second thoughts about the gray for the background color. What do you think? I could change at this point if I need to. I just don't know if after some time it will grow on me or is it just the lack of sunshine.

I hope all of you are having a good weekend.

Busy day!!!

2011-03-20T20:10:00.001-07:00

My husband spent the day watching Basketball, so I spent my day sewing. As you can see I have finished my Blue Heron. I am pleased with how he turned out. Stitching this way was time consuming but fun! I am anxious to try and apply what I have learned to a piece of my own!
I also finished this piece today. I used some of my new skills making swirls on this piece. I used a variegated thread for the machine quilting. I also added a port hole with one of my photographs transferred onto silk fabric. I hand quilted around the flowers in the photograph.
Last but not least I did a bit of paper piecing. This is a new skill for me. I have never done this before and I enjoyed it. The two quilters I get together with every couple of weeks wanted to make a quilt called the Colorful Quilt. This is the beginning of that quilt for me.

So, I feel like I had a very productive and fun Sunday. I hope all of you had a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Rick

2011-03-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Rick's 21st Birthday. We have not gotten to see him in person since late July of last year. He is studying in Sweden this year. I am missing him quite a bit latly. We are fortunate we get to visit on Skype on a regular bases though. I don't know what I would have done without that. It is spring break right now so he is spending his 21st birthday in Paris and then on Tuesday he is off to Morocco. What a life.

I am so thankful he is having a wonderful year and I am sending Birthday Wishes to him and Safe Travels!

2011-03-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

The ocean has an ominous look today. The surf is very high and there is so much debris in the water. Most of it has come down the rivers since we have had continual rain for many days.

I have not been spending any time on the beach lately. It has been very rough. The power is very humbling.

As I watch the power of the water I have been sending many good thoughts across the ocean. The unbearable loss the people of Japan are having to deal with . It is difficult to wrap my head around.

Thread, Thread, Thread

2011-03-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

OK, no one ever told me I would be wanting lots and lots of thread. I purchased a few spools this week when we went to Eugene to see our daughter. I am surprised at how much it cost. I have always looked at thread as being something out of sight and not payed much attention to it. I now have a whole new appreciation of it as a design element. Now I have done machine quilting before but I have used thread I had on hand. I will now be paying attention to sales of thread so I can add to my thread stash. The thread I purchased is for me to use on my Blue Heron piece.

I hope to spend a bit of time this weekend sewing and playing with thread.

I hope all of you have had a great week. I am thankful it has been uneventful here but my heart goes out to Japan.

I really have been sewing

2011-03-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of my heron. I am just amazed at how much time it takes to cover a piece of fabric with thread. As you saw in my previous post I took a class from Barb Shapel. I have been having fun trying the techniques she taught us. I have practiced many of them on my heron. He has quite of bit of work left to go.
I need to finish his body and his beak. I don't have the proper colors to complete him so he is on hold for now until I am able to purchase more thread. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would want a stash of thread like my stash of fabric. It is such fun.

So while I have to wait to go and purchase thread I have been working on a small piece of my own. Here is a close up of what I have been working on. I hope to show you the entire piece later this week. Taking Barb's class has enabled me to look at machine stitching with a new eye and many new skills. One of the best things I learned is to set the speed on my machine so I can keep a consistent stitch size as I move the fabric.

I still have a long way to go but I am loving the journey.

Sending many good thoughts and prayers to Japan!!! They are an amazing people!

Sending good thougts

2011-03-14T07:41:00.001-07:00

pacificrimbowl a photo by conniesayler on Flickr.

I have been thinking about these young men. The two Japanese young men stayed with us 3 years ago and played a football game with my son. They are Ken and Ken. :-) They are such sweet young men. We were unable to remain in contact with them after they returned to Japan due to the language barrier. We had such a good time spending a couple of weeks with them. Their team came to Oregon and spent a week learning about our lives with the ultimate goal was to play a football game. This game was between the Ashland High School and the Japan All-Stars.

I am sending good thoughts to Ken and Ken and their families, you are in my Prayers

Thankful and sending Prayers

2011-03-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

As most of you know from my photos, I live on the Pacific Ocean, this is the view from my window, which I love! However yesterday at 4 am we were awakened by a tsunami alarm, this is a horn type sound which goes on for 3 minutes. At this point we got out of bed and wondered what to do and what was going on! I got on line and typed in Tsunami warning in Gold Beach and to my surprise there had been a major earthquake in Japan. At that point I felt so sad for all of those affected in Japan but at the same time was worried about what we needed to do...

Several months ago my husband attended a community education program on Tsunami Warnings and what to do. Since we were hearing an alarm that meant we needed to prepare for the wave and we had some time, and we are fortunate we are 80 or so feet above sea level, so our preparations are how will we be able to survive if we have to shelter in place here in our home. If necessary we can go further up our hill but we decided to stay put. We filled the bath tubs with water in case we were to loose our water. At this point I just wandered around not knowing what to do...

Then I decided to put sleeping bags in our car with water and a cat carrier, just in case we needed to drive up the hill we would have a few items. Then we just waited. M dosed a bit but I was not able to relax so I sat and waited for the sun to come up. It was a long wait. The not knowing what was coming was a very strange feeling yet we knew we needed to be prepared. I can't even tell you how many different thoughts were going through my head. Soon, family and friends started calling and checking in on us. It was so good to be able to visit with them and voice what I was feeling.

By 7:30 we could see that here in Gold Beach everyone was fine and the initial wave did not amount to much. We are so fortunate. We had high surf and rough water all day. You could also see that the ocean was very muddy looking and it was very rough. Some of the ports along the coast did not fair as well but we are fine.

I have never had to think about something like this before. I will now put a few things in place so I can be as prepared as I can.

I will be back to sewing today and I hope to post photos tomorrow. I am sending many prayers for those in Japan today!!!

Thread Painting with Barb Shapel

2011-03-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

I traveled to Roseburg, Oregon last week and attended a one day class with a couple of friends. We attended a class taught by Barb Shapel, she taught us to do what she calls thread painting. The photos I have included here are of Barb working and with her work.
Her work is incredible and she was a wonderful teacher. I learned so much. This is the first class I have ever taken on Machine Stitching and it was so helpful!!! I had a great time and learned so much.

In the class we learned how to create the heron. I am working hard to complete my version and it will take a bit of time. I know it will not measure up to Barb's creation but in the process I am learning so much and look forward to applying these processes to my own work. I will post photos of my heron in the next few days. I hope to spend sometime at my machine tomorrow while I do laundry. :-) It seems like housework always gets in the way!

I hope all of you have a great week!

Circles

2011-02-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

I have been playing with Circles these days. In a Quilting Arts Magazine from a couple of months ago I tried a process where you have several squares of fabric stacked and you machine stitch a free form spiral. After you have sewn the spiral you cut the circle in quarters and then you trim away some of the layers.
This is the results of my experimentation. It has been fun. I have stitched tole over the top of these and quilted them in place. I now have a fun and very colorful table runner. It was fun to do and very freeing. I did not have to think much or plan. At this point in things I am needing to be creative but I just don't have much concentration. This was a great way to spend a stress free day in the studio and create something fun and new. Beryl Taylor is the author of the article and I have to apologize because I can not find which month the article was in the magazine.

Life has mellowed a bit but things are still a bit up in the air. I hope someday to be able to tell you all about what has been going on in our lives. It is a character building experience and my husband and I. We have decided we are going to live our lives and be good people and send out good thoughts.

My first quilt run

2011-02-17T10:17:00.001-08:00

I spent 3 days this last week participating in my first "Quilt Run" Two of my quilt friends and I traveled the entire Oregon Coast and visited 14 quilt shops. We had a great time. I had imagined we would visit the quilt shops and have lots of time to visit and do hand work and beach walking while we were at our hotel. I was so surprised. I think I sewed for about an hour in three days. We drove, ate, shopped, laughed and talked for 3 days. It was such fun to do this with some incredible quilters and I feel I learned so much from them in many ways especially when it comes to choosing fabric... I have a new outlook on the whole process.

We decided to create our own challenge. We would each purchase a fat quarter in each shop to coordinate with a focus fabric we had. We will then cut the fabric in half and give each person our fabric and in turn we will make something with their fabric and we will exchange our quilts on the Winter Solstice this year. So I will have adequate time to create something but I hope my work can measure up and that my friends will like what I create. It will truly be a challenge for me. A welcome one though.

I think it is so inspiring to spend time with people who are so creative and FUN!

I am still working on sending out good and positive thoughts in a challenging time. I figure if I send out good thoughts the same will return. :-)

Confusion

2011-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

I live in a beautiful part of the world. It is a small and wonderful place most of the time.

I am spending much of my time lately wondering about choices people make. I would like to live in a world where people are kind to one another and respect each other. Our small world has been shaken up. When you are faced with individuals who chose to do everything in their power to make life difficult for those around them, what do you do. Why try and manipulate things and lie. I just have such a hard time understanding what would make people so unhappy or angry that they need to make everyone around them unhappy.

I like to think the best of people and my faith in people is being tested...

2011-01-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

I really didn't fall off the face of the earth!!!
I received a comment this morning from a wonderful blog friend, Karen. Karen has a wonderful blog about Embroidery. It is a beautiful and inspirational place to visit. Now back to her comment. She wondered if things were OK. I spend much of my time online wondering if anyone pays any attention to what I am doing. Now I know I have one faithful follower. If I know someone is visiting it is enough to keep me going. So, Karen I want to thank you for caring... :-)
I have been practicing my machine quilting and making portholes. Here is a small wall hanging which I used both processes. I love the way the shot cotton looks with the stitching. It was fun to do too. I was inspired to practice my machine quilting after reading an article by Teri Lucas in the newest Quilting Arts Magazine (February-March). One of her suggestions was to practice Doodling with pen or pencil. So I have been doing that and much to my surprise it has helped me immensely! I now have a sketch book I hope to doodle in every day.

So If I am not here reading or writing my blog I will be doodling with pencil or machine.

Thanks again to Karen for bring me back...

Journal Square #3

2011-01-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here it is. Finally I completed my third journal square. Our one rule for our square this last month was use any embellishment we chose. I have a role of these hooks and eyes a friend gave me and I have been trying to figure out how to use them. Well I tried this...
This project took a bit more planning than I thought it would. I tried several different approaches and this was the most successful. I do like the way it turned out. It is not perfect but it does have some good points. The purpose of making these squares is to learn and I feel I learned quite a bit. At times I learned more than I intended but it was a good learning process. Oh, the tape the hooks and eyes were attached to was very white so I tea dyed. Now it is not so harsh with the shot cottons.

New Etsy Shop

2011-01-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize for my absence but I have been busy, I now have an Etsy Shop... I have not figured out how to put the shop on my side bar yet. If any of you have any advice on that one I would appreciate any assistance or advice you can give me.
While my lovely daughter was home for Christmas she got me motivated and helped me build a light box, she photographed my work and did the initial set up of the shop. I am so happy she got me going. I don't know if I would have done it on my own. I needed the push and a lot of assistance.
Those of you who have had an Etsy Shop and have any advice or suggestions I would love to hear from you.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying the New Year...

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

I wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope your holiday is going wonderfully and you are spending quality with family and friends. Our daughter is home for Christmas and our son is in Sweden. This was the first Christmas I have not had both of our children with us. It is a strange thing. My family is changing right before my eyes! I am not sure I am ready but I guess I better hurry and get there. Our son did have a great day too and we were able to Skype with him and see his smiling face!!! I am a very fortunate MOM!

My husband smoked salmon for us yesterday and we had a lovely dinner, the three of us! Now today will be spent hanging around and putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I love days like this! However next year we will all be together, I hope. :-)

Oh, our daughter got some very exciting news the day before Christmas. She has been offered a job 4 hours from here!!!! We are so very excited! She has been a 10+ hour drive from us and now will be close enough for weekends!!!!! I think this is one of my favorite Christmas Presents!

Sorry for the long absence but there has not been much sewing going on! Sending good thoughts for a wonderful Holiday!!!!!

Tis the Season

2010-12-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get motivated... I am having a difficult time making myself do some shopping. This year most of it will be on line which is hard for me. When you live someplace you can not purchase socks and underwear the availability of Christmas presents is very limited.

My home is looking a like Christmas thanks to my daughter, while she was home for Thanksgiving She did some decorating for me. Now I am looking forward to her arrival for Christmas. :-)

I am off to the studio this afternoon so I hope to have something to post in the next day or so.

Hope all is well!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

We woke the other morning to snow. Since we moved here I have never seen snow on the beach. It was beautiful. It did not last for long but it was beautiful while it lasted. The photos do not do it justice but it was quite a wonderful thing.
I am anxiously awaiting my daughter's arrival. She traveled part way yesterday and will come the rest of the way home this morning. I hope her drive is a bit more relaxing today. She spent about 9 hours in traffic traveling from Seattle to Eugene, I feel very fortunate she is making this trip. Our son will not be with us this year since he is in Sweden. He has classes and research today. I am sure it will be strange for him and strange for us not to have him here.

I hope this morning finds you all of you with the ones you love. Happy Thanksgiving.

Absence

2010-11-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my long absence. I have been a busy woman these days, I have started working, as in a real paying job. I am working 3 days a week. Now to many of you this may not sound like much but to me it is quite a change. I have been a stay at home mom for 23 years. That is a very long time to basically be self employed. :-) I loved being at home with my kids and since our youngest has been out of the house for 2 and a half years it was time. I think I am going to like my job quite a bit. I am doing a wide variety of things, mostly clerical. The people I am working with are very nice. It is a pleasure to go and spend time with such nice people.

My blogging and quilting may slow down for a while until I get my act together...

The photo in this was taken a couple of weeks ago on our trip home from Portland.

Here is the progress

2010-11-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

I am having such a great time quilting squares. I love the way they look together. I am just going to keep going and we will see how it comes together. I have 5 colors of quilting thread I am using and I love the look.

I also won a book today, The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff I won it from Judy, of Judy in the Dyes
It looks like a great book, so who knows where that will take me.....

I hope all of you are well and having a great creative week!

Beautiful day and a little work

2010-10-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

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.

A bit more from the Garden

2010-10-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

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!

The Oregon Gardens

2010-10-22T09:33:00.001-07:00

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.

Messenger Bags

2010-10-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

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.

Journaling

2010-10-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Just had to share

2010-09-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

This was our walk this morning. There are beautiful days here but some are just so incredible I just have to share. We have not had many days of summer but I think our fall may prove to be our summer. I hope all of you are enjoying a beautiful weekend.

2010-09-22T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I have entered my first contest on line. I have submitted my Paul Klee inspired piece. The theme this week is Stained Glass and I think with the black background and the appliqued fabric it resembles stained Glass.

You should visit the Quilting Gallery site and vote for your favorite piece between Friday and Sunday...

I hope all of you are having a great week.

Quilts hung and one day down

2010-09-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of our Gold Beach Quilt Show. It has been good so far. We hung quilts yesterday and had visitor's today and again tomorrow. Things are going quite well. This is my first time attending our show and first time working on it.... Oh, and first time entering my quilts. My nine patch is here to the right. I think it looks really nice on the railing!
This photo is taken from the balcony and this is a view of a portion of the floor. My western quilt is in the center.
Now this one is from above and it is the few art quilts in the show. My pieces are on the lower left. I think my pieces are kind of lost but oh well. I like them. My idea of an art quilt is different from others. I did not win any awards. There were 14 awards given by community leaders and were awarded based on what the presenter liked. I am hoping next year we can add a Best of Show category and let the visitors vote. I have learned so much from this experience and it has been a good one. I do think I dance to my own music when it comes to my quilting.

I hope all of you are enjoying your weekend. It is very wet here on the Oregon Coast.

Quilt Show this Weekend

2010-09-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Good Morning to all of you. I have been preparing for our Quilt Guild's Annual Quilt Show. I am going to enter some quilts for the first time ever. I will be entering 2 small Paul Klee inspired applique pieces, my scrappy 9 patch, the still to be completed Western Quilt...

Needless to say I have been stitching like crazy. I have one more cattle brand to stitch on the western quilt and binding. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. I needed some motivation to finish this one and this is it. I think I will get it done!

I also volunteered to paint some sandwich boards to place around town the day of the show. I have them complete and I need to do a bit of touch up today. I learned quite a bit on this project. I now can tell you what not to use when making stencils for spray painting lettering. Thankfully my neighbor had some sturdy plastic I was able to cut the stencil from and use spray adhesive to hold the stencil in place while I sprayed the paint.

I will return next week and fill you in on the adventures at the Gold Beach Quilt Guild Show.

Butch Says Hi

2010-08-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Butch is complaining that he has not been on the beach as much as he would like and I am happy to report that he and I spent a wonderful morning on the beach!

I have been a busy woman lately. I am a Hospice Volunteer and here in our community we have a Rummage Market with donated items from members of our community. This year I was in charge of shoes and bags. We had an incredible sale this year. In 3 days we made over $45,000 dollars. :-) and some 50 volunteers. It was a lot of work but what a wonderful cause. This money will go for end of life care for members of our County. Now, one thing you have to understand is we live in a community of 2,500 people. I am just astonished that we were able to bring in this much money. Every year more and more people hear about our sale and plan their vacations around it! I have a month or so off before we start collecting items for our other sales.
This has been one of the best organizations I have ever been part of!

I would encourage anyone to see if there is anyway you can support your local Hospice Organization. I do not think I could ever be a care giver but I sure feel good about helping out in this way.

I hope all of you have a great week and Holiday weekend. Butch and I will be spending more time on the beach.

Oh, and I am quilting. I am trying to finish a couple of projects so I can enter them in our local quilt show mid-September...

Shaving Cream Marbled Fabric

2010-08-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I took a class in Marbling Fabric and we used shaving cream. It was a very fun process. I imagine many of you have done this but it was a new process to me and I had a great time doing it. I am not sure what will become of my fabrics but it was a great way to spend a morning.
I love learning new things and new processes. A couple of these pieces of fabric are more successful than others. I like the fabric with more dye and less white. We dyed fat quarter pieces of fabric.

I hope all of you are having a great week. We had a great week with our guests. Three little boys 3, 5 and 7. Busy, Busy Busy. I loved having kids in the house. They have such great energy.

Now back to my quilting, I am working on the hand quilting of my Batik Applique piece. Photos to follow soon.

My obsession with Paul Klee

2010-08-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

OK, my obsession continues! As all of you know I love Paul Klee and have made 2 pieces inspired by his paintings. Well, here we go again. This time I am cutting into my stash of shot cotton. I have had it sitting here for about 8 months so here it goes.
Here is the start. I am planning on making mine square. We will see if I follow through with my plan. I work very loosely. I cut pieces and place them as I go. I love applique with this cotton it is very nice and soft and easy to work with.

Now, I have company coming for a few days and the house is only partially ready and I need to prepare something for dinner, or at least have a plan of what I will prepare...

Have a great week!

I really have been working

2010-08-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here it is... My second piece of applique where a Paul Klee painting was my inspiration. Several months ago I won a blog giveaway on June 8th from Applique Addict I received a lovely bundle of 4x4 batiks. I thought since Marjorie was an applique fan, I should do just that applique.
I think the batiks are such fun for this piece. I have it pinned and ready to quilt. I will be quilting between the pieces of applique. Thanks so much Marjorie for sharing your stash of lovely batiks with me!

Now, my babies are doing well! Stevi purchased a beautiful used car. She did it on her own and made a great purchase. As I am writing this Rick is on a train from Germany to Sweden where he will spend the next 9 plus months studying, we hope. :-)

Summertime

2010-07-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to figure out how and what to write about. I was reading other blogs this morning and I was visiting one of my favorites, The Silly Boodilly. Victoria has such an incredible way with words and as I read her blog I was inspired to just let you know what has been going on here in my world. I will not do it as wonderfully has she has but here it goes...

It has been a wild and busy summer, sure I am doing my own thing but the adventures of my babies has taken a major part in my world these days. Now, I am not complaining one bit, however I am one of those women that once a mother always a mother. My babies are grown and out in this world making me proud but I don't have the time with them I would like.

Let's start with Stevi first, She is the oldest and living a 10 to 12 hour drive from us and working her first adult job since graduating from college. Which means no vacation... :-( So we have not been able to have much time together. Her car has also died (really gone) and she is having to make her first major purchase of wheels. It is a daunting task for anyone let alone being 23 years old and away from home. I am sure she will make a great decision but doesn't she need her mommy??? Not really...

OK, now on to the boy, he is a Junior in college this year and going to study abroad in Uppsala Sweden, now that is a looooong way away and he will be gone for 11 months! He left last week for Europe and is going to travel around with a couple of friends for a few weeks before he settles in at school in Sweden. I am having major withdrawal. I am getting an email from him periodically and they are not terribly informative. However he is having an incredible adventure and I am thankful for that but I really miss him and again Doesn't he need his Mommy??? Not really...

So I am spending a fair amount of time thinking about my babies and what they are up too. I keep telling myself I raised them to go out on their own and have a wonderful life and they are both doing just that. But shouldn't they still need their MOMMY???

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer and I will try and get some photos taken of my work and post them and let you know what I am up to.

All is good though! I am a lucky Mommy!

Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show

2010-07-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a fabulous weekend with friends in Sister's. I was fortunate enough to be invited to join some friends from our quilt guild and attend the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show. What a fun trip!

It was overwhelming. It was just too much to really put into words. I saw so many wonderful quilts and had an absolutely wonderful time with friends. The women I went to the quilt show with were such fun. I did not know any of them real well but I sure do now.... :-)

I would like to tell you all about the wonderful quilts but there were just too many to talk about them all and I am still on overload. I still do not believe I was there to see all of them.

I can hardly wait to put all my new ideas together.

I am off to sleep and dream about quilts.

This is why I have not been blogging

2010-06-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

The rain finally stopped and it has been beautiful here. I have not spent much time in the studio or on the computer. Just stopping in to let you know I will be back at some point but right now I am needing time for my thoughts and time on the beach!

The fish

2010-06-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

OK, now I have a question for you. Here is my Salmon #2 without an eye. As you can see in the previous posting I set a button on for the eye but I don't think I like it. In the wool Salmon I embroidered an eye.

What do you think?

Under the Water

2010-06-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

OK, I have had sea creatures on the brain lately. It seems to be all I am thinking about. I am having fun with it. Here is my version of a dungeness crab. He was really fun but a very time consuming. I used re-purposed wool. He is not quite what I wanted so I will work some more today.
Now here is the Salmon again and this time it is fused fabric with machine quilting. I need to do the background today and the fish head needs some work. I just laid the button on for an eye but I don't know if a button is the way to go...

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. These are works in progress.

Creating

2010-06-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I have been missing from Blog Land... I have been busy working to make things to sell in a local gallery. Here are a couple of cards. I am having fun creating these.

Now these are some accessory bags. You can use them for anything. I made them to use for small items in your purse or as evening bags. I am also making I'pod, gps and phone cases.
Now here is the completed salmon pillow. I am not sure about it but it was fun to make and now I am going to try and make some more salmon...........

As I write this I am watching the rain go sideways and thinking, "Where is our spring?"

Playing with wool and fish...

2010-05-26T08:33:00.001-07:00

I have been playing with some wool I have gathered. I have taken some wool clothing, deconstructed and washed it so I have all these great pieces of wool fabric. I decided last night it might be fun to try and make a salmon pillow. Since I live on the Northwest Coast and Salmon is such an important thing here I decided the wool would be great for fish. Below is the image I used to get the shape right. This is my first attempt so I am not sure things are just right but it is a starting place.
I have spent the last week working and thinking about making things to sell. I have an opportunity to have some items in a gallery here in Gold Beach and I am working on some items I can make and that are not too expensive. I am finding it is terribly difficult to decide what price to put on items. I will post some photos later this week of the items I am submitting to the gallery.

Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated...

Blogger's Quilt festival

2010-05-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

I know those of you who read my blog have seen this quilt but I thought it was a good one for the Blogger's quilt festival. Since it is the first bed size quilt I have ever made. I started this quilt because of a blog. Crazy Mom Quilts challenged her readers to make a nine patch a day and that is how this started. I had so much fun making these and even more fun putting it together.
This was the first quilt I had someone else quilt also. I did not feel confident that I could quilt a queen size quilt on my own. I am happily living with the quilt in my guest room. It makes me smile when I look at it and all the bright colors. I still have not painted the ugly wall but someday. Life just gets in the way.

2010-05-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

One of my Mother's Day presents. This is the blossom of an orchid cactus or (Epiphyllum). It is beautiful and strange.

I hope all of you had a great Mother's Day, I sure did. :-)

Life is tooooo Busy

2010-05-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

A lovely agate from the day.
Sand dollars from the view of my macro lens.

I have been so busy this last week and I can not even tell you where all my time has been spent. Unfortunately it has not been spent sewing... So I don't have anything to show you. I have however been able to get a walk or two on the beach so I will show you a couple of fun photos. I hope everyone is having a great week and I hope to have work to show you next week.

Since my youngest is coming home for the weekend I won't be around blogland much. :-) I am so looking forward to some time with him.

Another Hoya

2010-05-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have had this Hoya for probably 20 years or more and it has never bloomed. Every time my mother would come visit she would wash it's leaves give it some attention and then it would grow a leaf or two and then it would just be there. It never has grown much until we moved here to the coast. I think it just loves the moisture in the air and the sun.
I have never seen one this color before and I just think it is beautiful!

I hope all of you are having a nice weekend.

The Great Potholder Swap of 2010

2010-04-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here are the potholders I created for my partner in the Great Potholder Swap.
I am very excited about them. It will be hard to send them on their way. These will be going off to Australia.
There are just two potholders but the square one is pieced on both sides. I think I will have to make some for myself. I also drew my own pattern for the pie shaped potholder and I was so very excited that it went together well and it all fit. I have decided that a potholder is a great way to practice new things and have something great to use in the end.

Helicoptor Ride

2010-04-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am sorry, I was going to post about my pot holders I made yesterday but..... Our hospital foundation had a fundraiser and it was helicopter rides and me being the wanabe bird I am had to do it. One of our friends had 2 kids she wanted to experience the ride but she did not want to so I got to be the stand in parent and sacrifice myself and go on the ride. I was so happy to be asked.
We went up the Rogue River and up the coastline to the North of Gold Beach. It was a spectacular day and oh, the view...
It, is such an incredible part of the world here, don't you think.

I hope all of you had a great weekend. I will post pot holder photos tomorrow. But enjoy the view for today. :-) I am still smiling...

Yipee!!!

2010-04-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am so very excited! I have finished the calligraphy on the wedding invitations. It feels so very good to have them done. I will put them in the mail tomorrow.
I had made this such a big deal in my head that it is such incredible feeling to have them done. I just may have to have a glass of wine tonight and toast the invitations...

Thanks for putting up with my absence. Now tomorrow I am going to the basement and sew. I have a couple of potholders to make for Makala's potholder swap. She has an incredible blog. It is A stitch in Dye. I have never participated in a swap before and the potholders I make will be traveling to Australia.

I hope all of you have had a great week.

Calligraphy

2010-04-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy practicing and perfecting my calligraphy skills which have not been used in many years. I just assumed when I wanted to do it I could. Forgetting how much work it was and the amount of practice I needed. My skills were as rusty and my pens...

I have ordered new pen tips and some new ink but I have continued to practice with the pen tips and ink I have.

I told a friend I could do her daughter's wedding invitations not stopping to think how much I needed practice. Now the time as come...

Wish me luck.

Playing in Seattle

2010-04-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

This robe was created with dog tags, they all say nonsensical things. It is an incredible piece and looks so much like fabric. The little opening inside makes me want to climb inside.
Now wouldn't this be an awful thing to wake up to! This extra large rat was in the Seattle Art Museum. He was very cool but also creepy!!! I am not a fan of large rodents.
Stevi and I went to the Seattle Sculpture Garden which is very close to her apartment. She is in the perfect location for a girl who loves art. It was such fun to go and visit the SAM with her and to see the Sculpture Garden. I also love to look at art which my mom and I do when we get together. So it is continuing to the next generation. :-)
These chairs were all lined up facing the water, so perfect and unoccupied. There was also this very cool building with all these funky photos as part of the sculpture garden. I was so happy we were able to see it before the rest of the city showed up...

Finished

2010-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here it is. I have finished the applique work on my Paul Klee piece. I am very pleased with it. I have gotten many suggestions on quilting but have settled on hand quilting in the black between the pieces. Since I don't want it to look puffy I will not use batting in the middle of my quilt sandwich. I am going to use a piece of fabric.

Now as far as the edging goes I am very up in the air on that. I do know it will be a wall hanging.
I also thought I would hang it vertically and now that I see it on the blog it may be better horizontally. Time will tell.

2010-04-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had a wonderful one. I spent some quality time with my first born. It was such fun seeing Seattle with her and having her show me around and some of the fun places she has discovered. We had fun exploring and just sitting and visiting. It has been too long since I have had this kind of time with her! I hope we can do it again soon.

We visited the Seattle Art Museum, the sculpture garden and lots of general wondering and people watching. Oh, it is a great city to watch. Winter seems to have a tight hold on the northwest but we did have one day to get out and not get wet or blown away.

I hope to have more photos of my latest piece tomorrow. It is slow going but it is coming along.

Easter Adventures

2010-04-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy few days. I have been on the road... in route to Seattle to deliver this little furry friend back to my daughter. I left home with my husband on Thursday to our son's home to see him. We had a great dinner and even better time to visit and hear about all of his adventures. Then I delivered my husband to the airport so he could fly to Colorado to do his 94 year old mother's taxes and have their annual mother son visit. :-) I think it is so nice that the two of them have some quality time together! Next on to Seattle for lunch with our first born. I also got to see her new office and place of employment. Such a wonderful thing. Then on to her apartment which is the new home for she and her kitty... She and I will have the weekend together to do what ever we please. This should be extra fun because we both enjoy looking at art, taking photos and general adventuring around her new city.
This is just a fun photo of my two babies. It makes me smile! I am feeling so very fortunate that their lives are beginning out in this big world in such a wonderful way!!! It is so exciting to hear about all their adventures. So many people have so many challenges yet I can not help but count our blessings!!!
I would like to wish all of you a wonderful and Blessed Easter with loved ones!!!

Progress

2010-03-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here is my fun needle turn applique project. It is coming along nicely, I think. I am enjoying working on it and I have about 4 more inches to the right to go. Now that I am getting closer to the finishing point I am contemplating how I am going to quilt and finish this piece. There will be approximatly 9x15 of applique area. So I have many ideas swimming around in my head. I do not want to get to fussy since it is a loose piece.

I would love any suggestions any of you have.

I have had a busy week and I am not sure why it has to fly by so quickly. I want more time to sew but I am just stealing moments as I can.

9 patch

2010-03-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here is the 9 patch complete and in the guest room. I have to apologize for the paint color. This room has not been painted since we moved into our home and it is in need of another color.

I completed pillowcases yesterday to coordinate with the quilt but I am unsure if I like them. I was so sure this would look good but I am disappointed. I may have to make some dark purple pillowcases or shams. What do you think?

Slow Progress

2010-03-25T10:45:00.001-07:00

The progress is slow on this piece but Oh, am I ever enjoying putting it together. I have yet to get a photo with the colors exact but this is close.

It is really fun to be putting something together with a very loose plan. I think this is my favorite way of working. I am still contemplating how it will be quilted but for now it is just a nice thing to pick up and play with. I am about half finished, the piece is being dictated by the size of the black fabric I am using for my backing.

I hope all of you are enjoying your week.

New Exciting Direction

2010-03-22T11:51:00.001-07:00

Several months ago I look a needle turn applique class and it has sent me in an interesting direction. I really love handwork and especially work that I don't have to think about. I found doing needle turn very meditative. That said I am not a very traditional quilter so following a pattern was not really one of my favorite things to do.

I got a new, old book a few weeks ago of the paintings and drawings by Paul Klee. He is an artist from the early 1900's and was very innovative. I have loved and admired his work for a long time. However since I started quilting I started looking at things in a different way.

I decided to take one of his paintings and use it for inspiration on fabric. These photos are the beginning of this process. I am not sure where it will take me but for now I am feeling very satisfied and having fun putting this together.

Happy Birthday Mom

2010-03-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

I am sending Birthday Wishes to My Mom. She is celebrating her day today!

Now don't you just love that dress in this photo!! I think it is sooooo cool. This photo is of my parents before I came into the picture, I am not sure if it is before or after they were married.

Mom, I hope you had a wonderful day and I wish were were there to Celebrate with you and eat that yummy cake....

My Baby is 20 today!

2010-03-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

I find it so hard to believe that my Baby is 20 years old today. I just can not believe where the time has gone. Time fly's when you are having fun....

Rick is in school and spending the day with friends snowboarding and having a great day. I really do not like not spending birthdays without my kids but I guess that is what happens when they grow up.

However I keep reminding myself that I did not raise them to live at home and not become the incredible adults they are becoming... I am not a proud parent at all. :-)

I hope all of you are having a great weekend.

More playing with free motion quilting

2010-03-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have continued to work on my free motion quilting. This is some of the quilting I have done on a wall hanging I posted several months ago. I have had fun with this project and I am hand quilting the photo of the aspen tree you can see in the right corner.
Now I am not sure what this will become yet. I think it will be a bag or I-pod case or something of the sort. It was very fun to quilt this one. I just used the lines from the patterned fabric for my inspiration. The fabrics are fused on and then stitched for some added security.
I am heading off to a quilt guild meeting today. I enjoy these meetings and it is fun to see what everyone has been up to with their work. The group is very traditional and I am not but I am learning so much from them. Sometimes I think they look at me and shake their heads but I guess most people do that with me anyway, so it is nothing new.

I hope all of you have had a great week....

Lots of free motion quilting going on here

2010-03-16T16:24:00.001-07:00

I have been practicing and playing with my free motion quilting. I am also trying to make a few small things to possibly try and sell, I am not sure if I will but I thought it would be kind of fun to try and see what I can come up with. This is kind of a funky round pin cushion.
Now this is the mystery project I did with Mrs. Moen from Norway. I love the rosters. Now I did not follow the instructions very well so I have a few of the pieces in the wrong places but I liked the way it turned out so I assembled the squares and made this table runner. I also did some stippling on this. It was a great thing to practice on.
Now last but not least I had a request to show my binding on the 9 patch. It is nothing special but I do like the way it turned out. I used scraps for this so it would blend with the rest of the quilt. I have also ordered a new dust ruffle for the bed it will be on so I will take photos of the completed room when I finish. However, it may be a while because now that I have made a new quilt I think the room needs to be painted and I need to make some pillow shams.... The ideas never end. I just need more time, on second thought I am so fortunate to do what I want to do I will not complain. :-) I hope all of you are having a great week.

Oh, I love binding a quilt. I think it is my favorite part of quilting...

9 Patch almost complete

2010-03-10T09:08:00.001-08:00

Here is the 9 patch quilted and partially bound. I sat and did the hand stitching on my binding last night and I am amazed and how much there is to sew down. But It will be on the bed in the next couple of days!
I had it long arm quilted since it was a queen size and I just did not think I could handle machine quilting something this large.

This is the first bed size Quilt I have ever made and I just am so very excited about having something on the guest room bed that I made!!!

Ramblings

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

Well, I can hardly wait until tomorrow. This 9 patch has been quilted and I pick it up tomorrow. I made the decision to have it quilted since it is queen size and I decided I was not experienced enough to do it. I spent quite a bit of time making the binding for this. I cut strips and pieced them so I would also have a scrappy looking binding. I will take photos tomorrow if the light is good and share the results.

One very nice thing about being excited to pick up this quilt and add the binding gave me some motivation to clean my house so I can spend the afternoon in my studio working on the binding.

I also got some very exciting news today. My youngest applied to the study abroad program at the university he is attending and had his interview today. He has been accepted!!! He is so very excited and will be spending next year studying at Uppsala University in Sweden. I am going to have a hard time with him being so far away for an entire year but what an opportunity. I am also thinking I will just have to go and visit.

Snow in Austin

2010-03-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

When I flew into Austin last week it was snowing and the flight after mine from Dallas had been canceled. I had not seen snow since Christmas in Colorado and did not think I would have to deal with snow in Texas... It was quite a surprise to see so much snow.
After I arrived at my parents house my dad came out and made a snowman. He was a cute little guy. However something was missing. In their yard was a prickly pear cactus which made for perfect ears. I think he is a very cute little guy. It was so strange to be in Texas in late February and have the weather be so cold and strange.

I have returned home

2010-03-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have returned from an incredible adventure to Portland, Oregon, Dallas and Austin, Texas. Mark and I spent a few days in Portland and after I flew to Texas. I delivered Bronx(the dog) to my brother and his wife and then off to Austin to visit my parents. It was such a nice week with family. I just love being able to spend time with them. I do have one complaint though. The weather was not perfect. It was very cold in Dallas and then the day I flew to Austin it snowed and it snowed quite a bit... It was so strange to see snow in Texas!

I took so many photos while I was gone. I hope to post more photos as the week goes along. The photo in this post I took out the window of the plane as we were approaching the Portland Airport. It was an incredible view of Mt. Hood. I could not believe my good fortune of being on the right side of the plane to see this site.

I hope to catch up on what all of you have been up to for the last couple of weeks.

Out for a Couple of weeks

2010-02-15T19:37:00.001-08:00

I am off to Portland, then Dallas and Austin Texas. Mark and I will hang out for a couple of days in Portland and he will drop Bronx and I off at the Airport. Bronx on the left is going to join me and I will deliver him to my brother and his wife. Then off to Austin to spend a bit of time with my Mom and Dad. I am looking forward to the trip. Should be fun.

I hope to have time to do a bit of blog reading but will not be posting for a couple of weeks.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

I hope you have a nice Valentine's Weekend. These are the Valentine's I made for my friends and family... I am not very good at sending out Christmas cards so I figure I can make up for it by sending out Valentine's... I had a good time making these. I did a lot of free motion quilting on these. It was good practice and fun.......

OK, in my last post I was whining about the rain. It did finally quit but not before dumping 2 and 1/2 inches of rain. I am so very thankful for a warm dry home to be in.

Rain, Rain Go Away

2010-02-12T10:23:00.001-08:00

I am so sick of rain. I never thought I would say that but we have had 23 inches of it since the first of the year and over an inch of it today... I normally love rain but enough is enough.

Sending wonderful thoughts to all of you!

Mystery Applique

2010-02-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

I took a class a couple of weeks ago. It was a mystery applique class. I am very new to applique and I thought this would be a fun way to learn more and test my skills or lack of them. The class was a local one so there was no travel and most of the participants were from our guild.

I enjoyed taking the class. Our fearless leader was Nancy Chong and she did an incredible job. She is such a great teacher and has a very nice way about her and is incredible at what she does. I would defiantly take another class from her.

We were given one piece at a time and told where to sew them and by the end of the day we had a block. The two blocks on the left of the bottom photo were done by other class participants, aren't they nice. The other blocks were created by Nancy. I love how when you see one they don't look like much but when they are assembled they form wonderful circles. It is fun to see what everyone created. They were all so different. This will be a work in progress for a very long time for me but it will be a great thing to know how to do. Oh, the top photo is part of my first block (the second one is much better)....

Happy Birthday to my first born!

2010-02-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

Today is Stevi's 23rd Birthday. I can not believe that she is 23 or that I am old enough to have a 23 year old daughter. She will be spending her birthday in Washington with her Boyfriend. She has so much to celebrate not only is today her birthday but she has been offered a job with a hospital in Renton, Washington as The CDM & Charge Capture Specialist. Now I have to tell you I do not really understand what she will be doing but her father does. We are so very proud of her, she has worked very hard to challenge herself and learn something new. It has paid off!

I am sending much love her direction today, I wish I was with her to Celebrate!

Mrs Moen's Mystery

2010-02-04T16:19:00.001-08:00

I am taking part in a Mrs. Moen's Spring Mystery. She has a wonderful blog and I love what she does so I figured that I could not go wrong with a Mystery she was having. Today I did the first and second steps. I am enjoying not knowing what it will look like.

Time will tell......... Oh, and the other thing that I think is very cool is she is in Norway.

The Boys

2010-02-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Remember back in April last year I wrote about Bronx, graduating from Guide Dog School, well here he is with my dog Butch (right). Bronx was retired early from guide dog service because of his exuberance and for being opportunistic. I went and picked him up last week. As the person who raised him I was given the option to take him and either keep him or place him with a family member. He is a very happy fun dog. These issues are not a problem for a pet dog but they are for a blind person. I feel bad for his blind partner since he will have to receive a new dog and they will have to get used to each other. But it has been fun to have the wild boy back home.

He is settling in but with two large dogs under the age of 3 things have been wild around here.
Bronx is going to be living with my Brother and his Wife in Dallas, Texas. I think they will really enjoy him. In a couple of weeks I will be traveling to Texas with him.

I have been continuing to work and practice my free motion quilting when I have had time to play in my studio. I hope all of you are having a great week.

I Pod Case

2010-01-22T17:37:00.000-08:00

I have been having just too much fun with fusing fabric and free motion quilting. Yesterday I finished a case for our I-pod. This was a fun little thing to make...
The wonderful thing about these is there is no pressure to make it perfect and I know if I mess it up I can just start over. It seems like the less pressure I put myself under the better things come together. I do not know where all of this little doodling with the sewing machine will take me but I am enjoying playing for now.
I think this was very successful and I really like the combination of fabrics. I just may have to make these as gifts for my friends and family. Oh, I ordered a 24 inch quilters table for my sewing machine. I am looking forward to having a larger workspace for quilting.

I am also working on ideas for my annual valentine but nothing is materializing yet.

Playing with free motion quilting

2010-01-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

After spending 8 hours without power yesterday I am so very thankful to have electricity again so I headed down into the studio to play.

Today I played with some free motion quilting. This is a process which I really enjoy. I will post photos of that piece later. However several months ago I posted a blog about free motion quilting and today I took the practice piece I made and constructed a case for my Christmas present... I found that every time I took the GPS out of the window of my car I was just putting it in my purse or the glove box and decided it needed a case to protect it. I thought that using these little pieces I made to practice would be put to good use. I am happy with this case and now I need to make a safe home for my cell phone and I-pod.........

I hope all of you are having a great week.