Summertime

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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...