Duhhhhhh!

Well, I wish that I could tell you that this is my Thanksgiving photo, but it's not, for alas I have left my camera at the home of C's cousins, where we celebrated the best Thanksgiving ever!! So, you may just have to do without some photos for the next few days! And here I've been patting my own self on the back for finally figuring out how to download more than the usual 2-3 photos to blogger, and now I'm cameraless....well, almost: I suppose I could always borrow C's! Hmmmmmmm!!!

Hope you had a marvelous holiday, ate waaay (or weigh?) too much, and are enjoying a productive Black Friday. I personally try to avoid the malls today and instead have scarves steaming on the range and am now off to do some "work" in the studio.

An Incredibly Wonderful Day!

Let me begin by telling you that I have written this post twice before, and both times my internet connection on my laptop has failed just as I was about to publish, so I lost everything. Although Sunday was one of the most wonderful days of my life, it has lost a bit in translation! But, I am now posting on C's computer, so this should be better!

I taught Cara Gulati's Radiant Suns at Intown Quilters in Decatur on Sunday afternoon. I had a great class and the time just flew by. In teaching, my hope is that my students will leave feeling very confident in their ability to complete their piece and understand the process. They all seemed overjoyed with their accomplishments, and very happy that they had taken the class. Here are a few of the first completed quilt blocks:


Didn't they do a great job!!!

This is Kate and her first block:

Kate told us that she had recently completed her very first quilt. I think that she was very ambitious to attempt curved piecing for her second quilt, but then what do I know? She is a very precise sewer and turns out beautiful work. When not quilting, Kate spends her time in Public Health, and was quick to ask if we had all had our Flu shots....have you???? (I read this morning that even my county here in Georgia has already recorded its first two confirmed cases of the season!)

This is Thelma, another precision piecer:

Thelma came all the way from South Carolina to take the class. She is using fabrics from her stash and making this quilt for one of her great granddaughters. I think Thelma's Radiant Suns will be a lot of fun to look at, and I hope she will send me a picture of her completed piece.

This is Hilda, who came all the way from Macon:

Hilda also chose to clean out her stash and was using some leftover fabrics. I think she is doing a great job. She had a very dry sense of humor and a twinkle in her eye, which were unfortunately not captured on my camera.

And this is Jan:

Jan used to own Dreamquilters, a fabulous quilt shop in Tucker, GA. I went their often, and was so disappointed when she closed the shop. Jan had asked Jean Wells of the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon to send her her fabric for her Radiant Suns quilt, so we were having a great time chosing her block layouts.

So, that was a very fun start to my day. C and I had a nice but chilly walk with Barker through our favorite Midtown neighborhood late in the afternoon and then we went out to One Midtown Kitchen for dinner. YUMMMMM!!! Tuesday was our 36th wedding anniversary, so we were getting a jump on the gun in celebrating. We shared several of their "small plates", including the griddled sourdough bread stuffed with goat cheese and the mussels, cooked in a vaporized beer, chorizo and cilantro sauce. They were the very best mussels I've ever eaten...and I've had my fair share over the past 36 years. We also shared a wonderful Caesar salad with huge curls of Parmesan cheese. For our entree, C opted for the Tuna Tartar while I splurged on the Hangar Steak with Parmesan fries. It was done perfectly and a pure delight to my taste buds!!! We never order dessert, but that night we decided to break from tradition and enjoyed their yummalicious KitKat dessert, which puts the candy bar to shame!!

To top it all off, I've got a new playmate in my sewing studio!!! WooHoo!!! I've been severely challenged in my machine quilting with my 20+ year old Horn sewing cabinet:

When C and I attended Intown Quilters' grand opening gala last summer, we noticed that Horn had come out with a new cutting table with an insert for a sewing machine. I had been looking at several sets of plans for one of these and had thought long and hard about getting one. Well, C did it for me!! Here is my new baby:

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon setting it all up and I am pleased to announce that everything fits and it is a great new addition to my space! Several years ago, C gave me a wonderful cutting table that has drop down sides, a drawer and is on casters, so when I used to machine quilt, I would set up my machine on it and do my work. Now I won't need to, plus I have an additional large space on which to work. I am so thrilled!!! What a guy!!! Who would have known all of this 36 years ago!!!!

I spent the bulk of yesterday making a pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving. C's cousins Heather and Scott host a huge gathering, all based on tradition. So, every year I bring those two things. I hope to get the recipes posted here later today.

Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy (get your flu shot!) and safe Thanksgiving!

A Two Second Post!

I'm just hurrying by, procrastinating on tasks at hand, to spend a minute with you!
Thanks to one and all who offered advice on where to find the Citra Solv. I'll check out the Atlanta Whole Foods tomorrow!

Here's a shirt I've recently batiked for my brother-in-law. Shhhhhh.....don't tell him! I'm sure he never reads my blog, so I'll be safe. It's actually quite a bit more olive than it appears here, and will look nice on him. The turtles are a wonderful reminder of the night we walked the beach in Tortuguera, Costa Rica looking for sea turtles coming up on the beach to lay their eggs.



Gerrie mentioned that she has begun playing around with Shiva Paintsticks. I ordered some from Laura Murray a couple of weeks ago and have begun embellishing some fabric as well:



I really like the gold one on the right...looks like fireworks to me!! Although the silver appears white in the pic, it is really quite attractive. I want to try some stenciling with them, but need to get myself a proper stencil brush.

And last but not least, I've been fiddling around with some of my "dog scarves"....ones that have very obvious bleeds in the gutta lines and I wouldn't even feel comfortable giving away. I decided they would make nice little sashes to wear with jeans or even black slacks. They are about 2" wide and 60" long. Here's my first, in silk crepe de chine:




OK, now it really is time to get to work!!!

Time Flies

Where does the time go? I've just resigned up with the QA group on line, figuring I was woman enough to handle all of those emails, but alas, I believe I was underestimating those gals once again! Jeesh...my mailbox is overflowing with posts just since I emptied it last night! When do these folks get to do their work??? I dunno, but maybe someone will clue me in!!

I spent a bit of time playing with my tjaps in the studio the other day. Here are a few of my pieces:

I've always been a sucker for blue!

Don't know if you can see it, but there are two roosters in the center of this piece. I have a never ending love affair with most foul, so when I found these two roosters bosom to bosom on this tjap, I just had to have it!!

In this piece, I was playing around with getting "almost black"....I'm "almost there"!!! I do love m turtle tjap and have a lot of orders for turtle tees for Christmas gifts this year....hooray, more permission to play!!!

I dyed the background of this piece with a bunch of pastels, then stamped on my fish and then overdyed with, of course, blue! This piece looks better in person.

I'm on a mad hunt for Citra Sol...or is it Citrusolve or Citrusol????? Anyway, Rayna said that she gets it at Costco, but ours doesn't have it. I found it on Amazon last night, but the shipping is exorbitant, so I want to find it locally. Anybody have any ideas? Two of our local janitorial supply services has something called "Conquest". Does anybody know if this works the same way??

I am venturing out in the cooking department and tonight we'll be having Shrimp with Yellow Curry....YUMMA!!! I'm on a hunt for a good recipe with lots of veggies in it. Today will be fun....I'm off to visit my Mom, go to the gym (well, that won't actually be fun, but it will be nice to have behind me!) and then I have meeting my best bud Joanie for lunch at the new 2 Dog, affectionately known as the New Dog.

Have a great day!

What's in my Mailbox???

I was thrilled to find this in my mailbox yesterday:


It seemed like I had ordered it absolute eons ago, so what a very pleasant surprise!!

And then here was an even better surprise:



When I finally sat down to peruse "Creative Quilting" last evening, there to my delight was the work of my friend Gerrie! WooHoo...way to go Gerrie!!! Actually, I remember when you blogged that your pieces were being photographed and added to the book, but it was so great to actually see them!!!

Here is Gerrie's second piece, an art quilt of her granddaughter, the lovely Mia, blowing bubbles:


I'm so impressed!!!!

Today is my big brother David's birthday. If my calculations are correct, he is celebrating the big 6-0 today, since he was born in 1946! Oh, and I am emphasizing the word big because he is older than I am...just in case you didn't catch that! So happy birthday David, even though I doubt that you read my blog!!!

So, I'm off to do the happy dance for both my friend Gerrie and my bigger and older brother David. May you both enjoy your day!!!

Jacket du Jour

Here's Thursday's jacket.....I know it's Saturday, but I'm a bit behind in my picture posting.


Last night Craig and I went out for Mexican with our friends Barbara and Chuck and then we all went to "movie night" at our church. Our friend Bob was showing "Inherit the Wind" with Spencer Tracy and a cast of thousands that you would recognize and know. We had a great time. Afterwards, we slipped over into the gallery, which was closed, and added the new plum jacket to my display. This afternoon one of my church friends called to say that she fell madly in love with it and wanted it but was afraid it would be too small, so she bought two more scarves instead (she's already bought two last Sunday)! Yeah!!! I have ideas on another friend that will be entranced by the jacket....let's see if she bites!! Tomorrow I will stop by the gallery store after church and check my inventory and sales. This morning a friend of a friend called to invite me to be in a Christmas show the first weekend in December. Crazily I said yes, but now I am thinking that my stash pile is low and I'll have to get busy and order more from Dharma and get dyeing! Oh darn!!! I just hate that! LOL I already committed to teaching and another sale in Atlanta that weekend, so I'll have to enlist someone to babysit my booth here in Gainesville. Mama said there'd be days like this, and I'm not complaining!!!

Our daughter Kristin and her husband Dave have come home this evening. One of Kristin's high school friends is getting married, so they are attending. Tomorrow morning we will all go to church together and then out to lunch. It's always so nice to have K & D here. So many of our friends ask after her at church, so it will be fun for her to see them again, since they've known her since she was itty bitty. Our beagle granddog Marley is also here to visit. As I write, he and Barker and curled up next to eachother, sound asleep. Awwwwwwwww

OK, it's toddy time, so I'll sign off for today.

Soul Food

Yesterday C and I took Barker for a ride up into the mountains of Northeast Georgia, and for a hike along Duke's Creek. It was a lovely day: beautiful blue sky and temps in the high 70's. Global warming? Probably, but we were happy to be outside and enjoying the unseasonal surprise. On our way, we drove through the small town of Helen, Georgia. This used to be just another small town and then in the 70's somebody had the "bright" idea to turn it into a Bavarian destination. It's quite schlocky, if you ask me, but maybe you didn't. This lightpost and sign tickled my fancy:

Ya know, I think that November 10th is a tad bit early to be decorating for Christmas....and also a tad bit late for Okterfest signs....just my humble opinion.

Our first destination was to Fred's Famous Peanuts. We try to get to Fred's at least twice a year, Spring and Fall, so as to enjoy his goodies. I first stopped there years ago while attending a church retreat at nearby Unicoi State Park. Several of my companions (including our Rector who also happened to be named Fred) wanted some good boiled peanuts, and they said Fred had the best, bar none. Well, being of Yankee stock, I was not about to stoop to the lowliness of a boiled-in-the-shell legume of any sort, but let me tell you, those suckers are WONDERFUL!! Since that fateful day, I've eaten my fare share, and then some.

So here's Fred's Famous Peanuts, in all its glory. We bought boiled peanuts, fried peanuts YUMMMM, freshly pressed apple cider and some mutzu apples. Then we said good bye to Fred and headed on up the road to Duke's Creek, where we enjoyed our picnic lunch and then set out along the trail to the falls.

Barker was having a great time! There was another couple with a beautiful and friendly female Boxer who started their walk just a few minutes before us, so Barker was hot on the trail of that little girl!

It's only about a mile walk along a very well mainted path down to the falls, and it is really lovely.

The falls look pretty dinky in my pics, but believe me they are massive and LOUD! I stopped along the way to snap a lot of pictures, and look who was waiting for me at the observation deck.

After our little walk in the woods, we headed north along the beautifully scenic Richard Russel Parkway...who would believe that Georgia has such mountains! It is so picturesque!!! C was on a mission to find his beloved Nantahala sausage. It seems that the aforementioned is made in North Carolina, and only a small portion is shipped over the state line into Georgia. So, we were on our way to the Ingles supermarket in Blairsville, in hopes of finding said sausage there. Here we are at one of the major intersections leading into Blairsville:

Remember, this is Deliverance country!

This is the Union County Courthouse, in the center of the square in Blairsville. I think I've told you before about how all of the 159 county seats in Georgia were laid out pretty similarly, with a central square and the courthouse in the middle. Since the Civil War, or war of Northern Aggression as it is often referred to in these parts, there is ALWAYS a statue of Old Joe on the square, and he is always facing north, to guard against future invasions!

Fortunately for me and Barker, C was successful in his suasage quest, and next thing we knew, we were heading south, towards home. We took a different route, avoiding the downtown Bavarian schlock of Helen, and instead drove through Dahlonega. We passed over Stonepile Gap and C told me and Barker the old Indian legend. I thought he was kidding, because he is so good at that and also because in the 26 years that I've lived in this little corner of the world, I'd never before heard that story. You can go here to see a picture of the gap and to read the legend.

After listening to a couple of John Updike short stories and enjoying the scenery, we were back home. What a great day....and such wonderful food for my hungry soul.

More pictures of our day will be posted on Flicker.

Red Friday

This is the jacket that has gotten a lot of attention at our church art show/festival.
It is rayon and has two little ties in the front. I've done a low immersion dye job on it and then painted in the gold gingko leaves.
Last night, I finished one in a "plummy" sort of color...quite mottled, in a good way! Rather than the gingko leaves, I painted on some Chinese characters in black and stamped some other interesting Celtic motifs. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Hope to get a pic of it later today.



Here's a closeup of the gingko leaves. I think that is my favorite leaf!


Three scarves that I dyed earlier this week: The one on the right came free from Thai Silk. I love the little pattern in the silk. It also has a very thin golden thread running through the weave, but I don't think it shows up in the photo.



A stone washed crepe de chine scarf that I batiked and dyed a myriad of colors:



This is another stone washed crepe de chine scarf that I waxed and dyed. It has an all-over fish motif in the middle, and a bit of a potato masher on the border. It looks much nicer in person, trust me on that.

And last but certainly not least, a shot of our lake. Now you can catch a glimpse of the homes across the way. See the duckies on our shoreline? There is one grebe in amongst them. It seems that each winter we have one solitary grebe...or are there lots but they are simply solitary? I don't know, but I do know that when the grebes and the sweet little Buffleheads return, winter is not far behind. The leaves are really falling now, but those that remain are lovely. C and I are taking Barker up into the mountains today to buy apples and take a hike. He will love it....and so will we!!!

Great Wednesdays

Yesterday morning found me at our church, helping Jeremy our sexton (aka "events planner) set up for our evening dinner and program, which we call "Great Wenesdays at Grace", or GWAG. Normally it is quite informal, but since we eat in the Parish Hall and that is presently the site of our Art Festival, Jeremy wanted to dress things up a bit, and I agreed to help. We were expecting 88 for dinner, and spread our ruby red table cloths, and then china and wine glasses. The serving tables were adorned with our silver candlabra and silver serving pieces. In the kitchen, Kristy, our caterer, was preparing roasted Cornish Game Hens, rice pilaf, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, poppy seed buns, roasted cauliflower, tossed salad, and homemade chocolate sauce to adorn her cheese cakes and/or coconut pound cake. As I was setting the tables, my stomach was grumbling and protesting because it wanted to begin sampling things right then and there!!!

I was in charge of the program last night, and if I do say so myself, it was a huge success. First I introduced myself and told a bit about my journey into quilting and dyeing, and then I introduced our guest speaker, Holly Anderson. I first met Holly back in 1994 when she appraised a crazy quilt that I had found in a second hand store in Seattle. At that time she was curating the Olympic Quilts exhibit at the Atlanta History Center. People from around the country were making and donating quilts that would be given to participating Olympians, as a welcome to the '96 Olympic Games held here. She has curated several other exhibits in the Atlanta area, including "Georgia Quilts: Piecing Together History (1800-1920), "Not Just Grandma's Flower Garden", and best of all, she was a consultant for Tinwood Alliance and "The Quilts of Gees Bend" when it came to the High Museum in Atlanta. Holly was certified by the American Quilters Society as a Quilt Appraiser in 1991. Many parishoners brought in old quilts that had been in their families for years or ones that they had purchased, and it was really interesting to hear Holly tell about those particular quilts: their dates, their motifs, the quilting style, etc. She was very wise not to publicly value the quilts, but I'm sure she would not have a problem doing so in a private setting. Most importantly, Holly gave advice on how to restore those quilts without ruining them, how to launder them, and how we should document them. Since I was busy helping hold quilts, I have no photos, which is a real shame.

Well, Blogger is up to his old tricks again, not allowing me to upload pictures. What's the deal here?

Simply Red

The red foliage in our little neck of the woods is incredible this week. Even though today is sort of dreary, with rain forecast for later tonight and all day tomorrow (blech), the reds are awesome!!! Here, let me show you what I'm talkin' about:

This is the walkway leading up to our front door. The Japanese CutLeaf Maple is a real bright spot...very much a warm, red-orange welcome to those who come calling.

Here is Barker frolicing in the backyard...it's difficult to believe he has that much energy after just completing a 4 mile walk, but perhaps it's the Red Japanese Maple that is exciting him?

This is our "Burning Bush", some type of Euonymous, near the garage door. The remaining green leaves will all be red in another few days....and then they will drop kerplunk, just like that!

This is our other Japanese Red Maple out on the pool patio.

And one of my favorites, the red berries on the Nandina....now ripe and ready for the birds to feast upon.

I know you're wondering how the Art Show and Sale is going at my church (see blog below if you're not wondering and don't know what I'm talking about!). Well, last night after the Festive Evensong, the gallery was again open during the reception, and I had a lot of traffic, with several buyers. I don't know my total sales as yet, but I am very excited about the large quantity of silk scarves that has been purchased. WooHoo!!! I also had one order for "Middle Bird's Big Bird" last night, one of my favorite quilted wallhangings, so I will get busy on him after the holidays. I had a fun this afternoon, doing some more silk scarf batiking, so that I can replenish my stock. (Rayna, the first scarf to be sold on Saturday night was the one that I did in your class...remember, the one that I hated so much!! You were right, folks loved it!!) I've also had a lot of orders for my new "line" of little jackets, which are dyed and either foiled or stenciled. I'll try to remember to post a pic for you in the next few days. Batiked t-shirts for the kids are also a big item this year, with cute little frogs and fish all over them. I love what I do...isn't that the best way to live!!!!

My 89-year old Mother lives in an Assisted Living Facility not far from us. She often tells us that on the weekends the food is not particularly good there, especially the desserts. I had found an apple cake recipe in the newspaper's food section that I wanted to try, so last Saturday afternoon I whipped one up for Mom. You can find the recipe here.

An Arty Weekend

Last evening was the opening reception of our church's Festival of the Arts. Several of us had spent untold hours cleaning, setting up, hanging, printing signs, etc. It was indeed a labor of love, and I am so pleased and proud to be part of this wonderful event. Last night's opening was lovely, with musicians playing in the background, wine and fabulous hors d'oeuvres served, and a huge turnout. I made some big sales, and folks are placing many orders for scarves, jackets, t-shirts, etc for Christmas. I'm going to be one busy (but very happy) lady for the next few weeks!! VERY BIG GRIN!! And you know what, it's not the money, it's the love of fooling with the dyes, the wax, the fabric, and seeing what comes out!! I just love it!!! Here are a few photos:

The large amaryllis on the table in the foreground is actually sculpted copper done by a church member and local artist. She does magnificent work. The blue piece over the sofa was done by our friend Rob. I wish I had a closeup of it, because it is fantastic...and really looks like fabric!

Here are our friends Nina and Rosemary discussing art no doubt....what else? The piece right behind Rosemary (she is in the vest) is her fabulous creation. She is well known in the area for her very bright florals, although she does many other magnificent pieces.

A folk art piece by Durwood Pepper, whose day job is serving as the meat man at our local Publix supermarket.

Another wall of art, mostly by Rachel Landers, who is a very young but up and coming artist in the community. The large painting in the middle is of Rachel's Mom, Judith. I spent a good bit of time socializing during the opening, so most of these pics were snapped "after hours". C was chomping at the bit to go home because it was almost past his bedtime, but I just kept snapping. The funniest thing that happened to me last night was when two of my church friends were fighting over one of my scarves!! How good is that? Like Brer Rabbit said, "Don't throw me in that briar patch."!!!!!

I think my photo limit on blogger is up for now, so I'll try to post more later. The Art Festival continues this evening with Choral Evensong at 7:00. The gallery is open all day today and I will be manning the checkout this afternoon. What fun!!!

Where Am I??

I 've been busy helping set up the art show at our church over the past few days.


In between times, I've been treating a nasty case of sinusitis. Things I've learned about sinusitis:
1. take a decongestant, NOT an antihistamine
2. make sure that you get a full 14 days of antibiotics...10 days don't cut it!
3. get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids

Stay tuned for more news and some photos in the next couple of days.