March 2012 Archives

I don't know if your week was like mine, but it sort of just whooshed by. After settling back into my studio space after being away for 12 days, I realized that in the newly configured space, I could have many projects out on my walls and the big cutting table at one time. So this week, I could move from one project to the next easily, back and forth and back again. It was a good week as sewing projects go.

This morning I took the last few stitches to complete the binding on a collaborative wall hanging that was started at Amy's house. We call this series "My Line"...and this one is #3. What makes it unique to all others is that we used only 'bits'...pieces left over from other projects mostly. We cut very little from whole fabric. We finished three of these in just a few days, working in rhythm back and forth in her sewing aka dining area. I brought the tops home to finish here. So this one is complete. I think it is beautiful and happy.

This is the piece when I started quilting it.

Finished!

A detail of the piecing and quilting.

I have been exchanging blocks with an art quilter in Holland. Her palette is blues which is not easy for me, not being one to have a stash of blues. This block is #5 in our year long exchange. I call this Camano Bird....most of the block is raw edged, with some machine quilting and piecing. It can be mailed to her tomorrow.

Bread making is not new to me. I've made it over the years in phases. But I've never tried to make sourdough bread. I've wanted to make the starter, but put it off for way too long. Finally, after reading a fictional book, "How to Bake A Perfect Life" by Barbara O'Neal, I used her recipes to make the starter, and the whole wheat sourdough. But now, my starter is almost two months old. I thought I had lost it when I came home from the visit to find my starter watery and with no bubbles...I did all the right things...I stirred, I took out, I added, and I watched. It didn't get any better. So today, I thought I would use it to see if it was good. Well, the sponge stage scared me...it was hard and dry and ugly. But I went ahead with the kneading and three risings...and when I took the loaves out of the oven, I was smiling very much so. The first slice, always the best, proved to be sour and the crust crunchy...with nice holes...so maybe my starter has just matured and settled into its adult stage.

And today end's a week of prompts for using Legos in Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your 365+1 photo a day project. There are many bins of Legos in the garage and the grand boys' bedroom...some are only bricks...others are characters...and then there are the jumbled bins. I had to dig and sort and root through them all to find what I needed to shoot for the day. This photo was a response to "In The Great Outdoors"....This project has really stretched my knowledge of my camera, and challenged me to do photos I would never do on my own. It's not too late to start. You can find her and the Capture Your 365+1 photo a day project at Facebook.

The day started with the Big Ben ringtone of my phone to wake me earlier than usual. I hoped to get an early start to the day, deciding late last night to drive back to the Quilters Anonymous Quilt Show at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington, about 90 minutes from my bluff. It was a long drive with snow and slush, but a quick stop for coffee and pastry helped fuel the drive. The drive was well worth it to go back and see this collection of quilts again, up close, and without any time constraints. And did I really join this guild in order to get in 'free'...well, maybe.

With my ballot in hand, I started at the back end of the new exhibit building and worked my way forward. I studied the quilts, and marked my ballots judiciously. I'm sharing just a few of the photos I took today. If you are in the Seattle area, I hope they will entice you to visit the show tomorrow. It is well worth it.

Well, if I thought I had seen it all, I had a big surprise. The featured quilter was Sally Laboeuf. Her work was rich in colors, and beautifully free form and "wonky." I loved all of her quilts.

I ended my visit with a tour around the perimeter of the building to 'shop' the vendors. There were my favorites and a few new shops. I headed for home with a good supply of new fabrics for projects here and there, and a pattern for a great jacket (someday), and a bit of this and that. I feel inspired by all the fiber art I saw today in this community of quilters.

It is a stormy Thursday here. I woke way too late after reading way too late last night. The day looked dark and windy, and wet. I went out to fill the bird feeders, scaring off a handful of sparrows and house finches, and just then the sun came from behind the layers of wet and gray and lit up the bluff. The ocean is churned with white peaks. It is a good day to be inside.

After making a sponge for sourdough bread and a cup of coffee, well, not in that order really, I headed in to the studio to continue the putting away bins of fabric.

The painter finished off the patched hole in the wall, so the last shelving unit could be moved into place. I wonder why I never thought to remove the closet doors before now. It opens the space even more. It took some doing, and many trips down the short hall to the grand boys' bedroom, schlepping the bins into and on the shelves. Most of it is moved. I think as I use the bins, I'll move them around for easier access, especially the colors I use frequently.

I took a short break for more coffee, and back to work on sorting 'bits'....these are designated less than 4" in length and a few inches in diameter, or less. The process is slow, but one I've wanted to do for a long time. I love how the bins look on the shelf. All the colors are visible, and within reach.

The space in here is working well. After living with carpeting in my space, the slickness of a hard surface surprises me. I do have to anchor the chair (with wheels) before I sit.

I got an unexpected invitation to attend another guild's pre-quilt show party this evening as a guest. It is a bit of a drive from here...maybe 90 minutes each way. But then, nothing is close by when you live on an island. It will be fun to get a peek at the quilts that will be in the Snohomish quilt show this weekend.

On my list to do today before I leave is to work on my fruit bowl collage. Once I get these bitty pieces glued on, I can move it to the design wall to work from.

It has been a few days since leaving San Francisco and the easy view of ocean to the west and bay to the east, and the still life composed of fruit in a green bowl on a black stool in front of the dining room window, the sounds of boys in the adjoining room, the life in that home intermingled with the art becoming on the design walls. It was a very good visit, our 12th to date, with plans underway for the next one when hopefully the pieces we created this time will be quilted and finished and shared.

The time after such a compacted shared time is always a bit like the day after Christmas...a stillness of sorts...and time to settle back into our separate households. I came home to snow and freezing temperatures, the handful of days away of beautiful weather now a memory.

While I was away, my studio got a bit of a facelift. The old carpet (baby blue?) was removed and a beautiful wood floor installed. The big oversized cutting table (aka Ikea modular units with top attached) was moved into the center of the room, and other furniture moved in to house the sewing machines, and one for my computer. There is now room for three design walls, and enough shelving (baker's wire shelves) for most of my bins of fabric. Slowly, these are being moved from the grand boys' bedroom to their place in here. And already the shelves seem full. I unpacked my bags little by little, and now most of that is on top of the cutting table, to be sorted and put into a bin for this project and that. We added some fabric to our stash for our 2012 project pieces...Amy's are a rich palette of greens...mine are 'earthy'...although we disagree somewhat on that term.

The hole in the wall was repaired this morning. That happened when the baseboard was pulled up in the bathroom area and hot water flooded out of the copper pipe to the sink. It seems that when the house was built, the carpenter shot a nail into the copper pipe unknowingly, and with the movement of the baseboard it loosened. It was a good accident since it could have happened with any movement or shift of the house...so good, but untimely. It has now been repaired and the hole covered, and tomorrow the painter comes to paint over the spot.

It always takes me many days to settle into my routine here after being away. I have a list of things to work on for Here2There, and things for us, and for me. But instead of any of that (and, the fact that I haven't found the list yet), I sat on the floor and sorted through a bin of 'bits' by color. These will be used for collage quilts. I have four more bins to sort through...and what do you do with that fabric that defies color definition, having a multitude of various colors?

For now, the pieces we worked on are up on the wall waiting to be quilted. The photo shows two of the wall hangings we made, and various other projects in progress. Tomorrow I'll work on finding the list, maybe sandwiching the first wall hanging to get it ready to quilt, and work on my banana in the still life piece.

The morning is bright and soft, the light from the south windows adding richness to the colors on the design walls. Our orange themed wall hanging, #6 in our My Line series, is ready to be sewn together and the next is ready to start. We will work with colors familiar and comfortable...pink and orange...set on a background of white. A list of things to do today is sitting here, things to do before and within the few hours left of our time together.

There is a challenge, of sorts, to interpret a still life photo of a bowl of fruit. There are photos to take, notes to make, ideas and details to record, and then the busy of the day here.

The colors for our 2012 projects are well defined, and fabrics framed for the months ahead. Our color ways are very different, but each reflecting a range of colors to love. We shared bits of our fabrics so our blocks will share some common elements.

I walked a bit earlier to take in the morning. The air was cool and crisp and moist. Sutro Tower above and up the hill was showing through the fog.

I smiled at the sprinkling of Calla Lillies which must have opened this morning.

There are moments to capture in photos and words, a day full of fabric, color, line, and friendship, good food, endless cups of coffee and tea, and memories.

The days have flown and skipped and fluttered by as they do when there is a collaborative visit. Projects are finished, others are in progress on the design walls, and others still ideas on paper, or thoughts shared on this and that, the somedays of what will be. This morning started with a bit of fog and cool out the windows that look to the bay in one direction, and to the ocean from the other windows in the room where we work.

There is so much to see and take in at every turn of the eye to fuel the creative flow. Down below the window is a magnificent flowering plum in full splendor...a branch cut earlier to fill the kitchen with the sweetness of early spring.

Piles and stacks of fabric, books, pins, thread, machine, and cutting tools fill the working (aka dining room) table, the palette of color changing almost daily.

I look over now and see bits and pieces of oranges for the piece on the wall, there are two coffee cups, cameras, scissors, and in the center of it all, a vase of week-old pink roses, soft in scent and color, waning in the light and the days, a sure sign that the visit is almost at its end.

There were visits to the local park, a beautiful little spot of green with views of Sutro Tower high above, trees to climb, and paths to follow.

There have been walks....sometimes with cameras in hand, enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean....looking for sea glass and the antics of birds high above, a breathtaking view of the city, sparkling in the light of a warm sun.

Coffee and tea fueled the days as seams were sewn and beautiful pieced wall hangings took shape on the walls, our ideas becoming real. Dinners have been simple and delicious...homemade corn chowder, broiled tomatoes, fresh salad, a soup and quiche rich with brilliant red chard, homemade sourdough bread, and last night, the best pizza I've ever tasted...and yes, ice cream from a special place nearby...

Evenings are time to relax a bit....

The week is coming to an end...but the time together has been alive and full of creative moments that will span to the next visit....projects that will come about and be finished in that time. And, there is a day yet to happen..another project to start in the early hours of Sunday.

See other photos on the Creative Mom Podcast blog.

See other photos on the Creative Mom Podcast blog.

Amy's posting photos of our collaborative working visit on the Creative Mom Podcast blog.

As you can see, we moved a bunch of "food" bits and pieces into place in the last 24 hours. To see more photos of the piece evolving, visit Amy's site.