What Friends

I met with my silk painting group this afternoon in Atlanta. I love these ladies!!! There is always so much information to share: not only about our art work, but also about our families, that the time just flies by!

Several of us got together before the meeting for a wonderful lunch at the Gallery Cafe where a couple of our members have pieces of art for sale on display. The food was great, the service was fantastic, and I highly recommend it if you are in the Atlanta Metro Area.

Please go to our blogsite to read about our meeting. I shared this piece, which is a Rozome rendition of my first Christmas scarf of the year:

Here's the first scarf:

I learned a lot by trying to adapt the Rozome technique to this resist technique. While I like both scarves, I think this second one is more in keeping with the Christmas season. Perhaps the first one is more of an Autumn scarf. What do you think?

I'm on to bigger and (hopefully better) things, so stay tuned for more ramblings!

PEACE

"Red Sky at Night:

Sailor's Delight". I think that's how the saying goes. On our drive into Atlanta this evening, we were in awe of the beautiful sky. The clouds and the jet contrails looked almost like a lady jogging with a long scarf trailing behind her. Can you see it:


There she is again:

And now she's just about gone:

PEACE

.......and so it goes

C and I recently listened to Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" on our ipods. After every death the narrator would calmly say, "And so it goes". Today we attended the Memorial Service for our friend Price, who lost his battle with Leukemia last week. It was a beautiful service, with each of his five children participating: three sons read lessons from the Bible, the fourth and oldest son delivered a loving Eulogy, and Price and Carol's only daughter sang a beautiful song in tribute to their Dad. Those parents must be very proud of their children. I wore a brown suit and topped it off with the scarf that I had completed last weekend. I was talking to my friend Rosemary after the service and she asked if she could buy the scarf! Of course I agreed!!! That was my fastest sale yet, and I have to say, one of my most rewarding, as Rosemary is a very accomplished artist, and one I have admired for as long as I've lived in Gainesville.

If you are a reader of Virginia Spiegel's blog, you will know that not only is she an incredible fiber artist, but she does a fabulous job with Fiber Art For A Cause, and I am not giving her near the credit she is due here. On Tuesdays Virginia conducts the Garbage Day Project, which has made me so much more aware of other folks' trash. As I was walking the neighborhood this morning, I came across some interesting stuff:

Our friends Doug and Jo had this out in front of their house, ready for pickup by our friendly trashmen. Do you know what it is?? C'mon, give it a guess! I was so thrilled, as it had already started to rust, so I could just bring it home and get busy with some more rusting........and think of how nice that would be with wax, or with spray paint, or..................! I was in 7th heaven!!!
Here's a closeup of my great find:

Yeah, I know Rayna, it's a bit hard on the eyes, but I had to do it!

I spent the better part of the afternoon in the Dentist's chair getting my new teeth (2 crowns).........growing old ain't always what it's cracked up to be! So, tomorrow I'm ready to start on another scarf and get busy with the rust!

Ciao!

PEACE

Rusty Gusty

My maternal grandmother's name was Augusta Bendikta Anderson Peterson, but her friends knew her as Gusty. She was born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States around 1900. I loved spending time with her and she taught me my great love for fiber art. Gusty would sit me in her lap and let me guide fabric through her treadle sewing machine as she treadled away. Later, she taught me the treadle rhythm, which I find very soothing to this day. I am playing around with rusty stuff and also photo transfer on watercolor paper, so I've incorporated these two techniques in this piece that I'm calling "Rusty Gusty":

That's Augusta and Herman, my grandfather, on their wedding day. My piece is not complete yet, but I dabble with it a bit every afternoon, and find the connection to my grandparents to be quite pleasing. Amy has been helping me along with the photo transfer technique, which I am finding a bit trickier than transferring onto fabric.

While testing the DuPont gold gutta on my silk swatch, I doodled a bit and then added the dyes for my scarf (see yesterday's post). I mounted the silk doodle on some watercolor paper and have made it into a little Christmas note card:

I probably ought to market these and call them "Holiday Doodles". Hmmmmmm, maybe next year!

PEACE

What Fun!

I got some new DuPont gold water soluble gutta from Dharma in the mail the other day, so I had to try it out. I hurriedly drew a design on the stretched silk before we left for Atlanta last Friday. I could hardly wait to get home to begin applying the dyes, which I had mixed up on Friday as well. Sometimes I get these designs in my head, especially when I'm swimming, and they just won't go away until I get them down on silk. They become an obsession! So here is my new scarf before it went into the steamer this afternoon:

I've had several bad experiences with the metallic water soluble resists, so I went over the gutta lines with soy wax, just to be extra sure. I couldn't decide what to do with the background, and because it looked so nice while white, I was seriously tempted to leave it that way. However, I decided to go with a creamy beige, with some swirly resist lines, also done with soy wax.

This was one of the most fun pieces I've painted to date.

This afternoon I got busy quilting this little number for my Mother for Christmas:

Her two favorite colors are blue and lavender. I don't think that the quilting lines show up in the pic, and I'm fairly certain that blogger won't let you enlarge it, so I apologize. I used some blue Shimmer, and it is quite lovely. As I was quilting away on it, I thought how nice it might look in Christmas colors, so I've started another scarf. I hope to get some wax on it tomorrow, and I will use the Rozome technique on it.

The "kitchen designer" is coming tomorrow to have a look at our disaster area and draw up some plans that will hopefully encompass ALL of my hopes and desires. I'm very excited about our new project. If you have any helpful hints or want to share the very best and/or very worst parts of your kitchen with me, I'm all ears. But you'd better comment quickly because she'll be here in a little more than 12 hours!!! HURRY!!!!

PEACE

Roses

Hope you all have enjoyed a fine long holiday weekend. Those of us in the States are concluding our Thanksgiving celebration. C and I had a wonderful time at his cousin's lovely home about an hour east of us. Lots and lots of family, friends, good food, and conversation. I hope to get some pictures out about that soon! We spent a quick 24 hours in Atlanta, dining out and looking at new (to us) condos with our realtor friend Jennifer. Maybe there'll be some pictures to share about that soon too!

C gave me these lovely roses yesterday..........isn't he the best! Amongst other things, I'll always be thankful for him!

PEACE

Happy Thanksgiving

My friend Bobbie sent me this yesterday:

May your stuffing be tasty.

May your turkey be plump.

May your potatoes ' n gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious.

May your pies take the prize.

May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.
MAY YOU ALL HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

PEACE

Happy Anniversary

to us!

Thirty seven years ago today was a warm and sunny day for November in Massachusetts. "Come Saturday Morning" by the Sandpipers and "If I were a Carpenter" were two of my favorite songs. We had known eachother for exactly four months: we were madly in love and he was going off to war. I had a few days off from nursing school for the Thanksgiving holiday, and C was scheduled to leave for Viet Nam on December 1st, so we set the date and gathered as many of our family members and friends as possible to celebrate with us.

Short dress eh? Didn't have time for much more, but I didn't care...and neither did he! C was a bit chubbier back then, and I was a bit slimmer. We both smoked. My, my how the years have changed us!

Here we are with C's parents:

and cutting the cake.
They said it wouldn't last. They also said I must be pregnant.....our baby was born 8 1/2 years later.....it was just love!

Today I celebrated at the dentist's office, then visited my Mom, later went swimming, and now we will go wash windows: how romantic. We are planning to celebrate with friends this evening.

PEACE

Gettin' Rusty but Squeeky Clean

It was another gorgeous morning here in Northeast Georgia: 50 when Barker and I walked the golf course at 7:30 AM. I got busy washing windows while it was still cool. Here are the necessary implements:

A few years back I was in an internet quilting group (which has since disbanded because some of the key players couldn't get along) and one of the gals recommended her window washing formula. We have some huge windows looking out on the lake, so I thought I'd give her recipe a try, and I am happy to report that it works like a charm! Here it is:

Fill an empty 5-quart "ice cream" pail with approximately 4 quarts of water and enough dish detergent to make it a little sudsy. Add 2-3 tablespoons of distilled vinegar and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Don't use a spray bottle; just apply the solution with a clean rag and a lot of elbow grease.

From what Marcie, the originator of the recipe, said the cornstarch makes the windows shine. I know that something does. It goes on easily and really isn't that difficult to wipe off. I use an old face cloth to apply the solution and then wipe/rub the windows with a microfiber cleaning cloth.

On to more exciting news, I've been busy making some more "Emily Bags" for Christmas. Here is one that I quilted:

As for getting rusty, I've been experimenting with rusting fabrics with a few findings. You never know quite what you're gonna get, so it's always fun and surprising.

Those are fabrics that I dyed in my very first dyeing session several years ago. I'm not sure why I was saving them, and I like the contrast of the colors.

Hope you've had a nice day. I look forward to hearing from you!

PEACE

Out and About

in Atlanta, GA........our home away from home.

Yesterday was another beautiful day in the southland. We've been in Atlanta for a few days of wonderful R&R. In the afternoon we mosied on up to St. Anne's Episcopal Church where the folks from "Work of our Hands" are holding their annual holiday sale to benefit Emmaus House and Holy Comforter Church.
Here's St. Anne's, a most lovely church:

While I was paying for my goodies, C had a guided tour of the fabulous nave with none other than Elizabeth Allen, wife of retired Bishop of Atlanta Frank Allen, who had once been Rector of St. Anne's. I have met and spent time with Mrs. Allen, so I was pleased when I met up with the two of them touring around the nave. There is an incredible mosaic surrounding the Baptismal Font and also a most marvelous piece of needlework in front of the organ, done by Doug Johnson, an old friend of mine from EGA. The stained glass windows at St. Anne's are just incredible. Here is the rose window with its incredible dove, viewed from the outside:

After leaving St. Anne's, we headed over to the OK Cafe for a very late lunch (or was it very early dinner?). Our friends Margaret and Jeff had told us about it and said that it is one of their favorite eating establishments in Atlanta.

C had the vegetable plate: corn muffin, black eyed peas, collard greens, cabbage casserole, and macaroni and cheese (only in the South is macaroni and cheese considered a vegetable!)


I had the very rare cheeseburger, with Maytage Blue Cheese:

Those are deep fried pickles on top of the tomato...I didn't really care for them, but then again, I love my pickles plain. The french fries were fabulous, but I only ate a few. And don't worry, I couldn't finish the burger........and barely touched the bun. But it was a yummy meal!

We headed back to the condo in rush hour traffic and found a kindred spirit in front of us on the road........check out those bumper stickers:



We avoided much of the traffic on the interstate by keeping to the surface streets and enjoying the Georgia Tech campus:


Last evening we walked up to the High Museum for a bit of culture. The new Louvre exhibit is open, emphasizing the Egyptian works that Napoleon and Josephine brought to the collection. It was very interesting and educational. I hadn't realized that Josephine dressed in flowing Egyptian style gowns because they favored her shape over the attire that Marie Antoinette had worn. Josephine also wore her hair in an Egyptian fashion. We enjoyed the new Impressionist Exhibit, and are hoping to go back and revisit both before they close.

Today we are going to the Balzer Theater to see "Gee's Bend".

Have a great weekend!

PEACE

Thanks a Million!

I want to thank everyone who viewed my painted silk piece yesterday and then took the time to leave a comment. What wonderful suggestions! I'm going to get busy on this piece and will share the results with you SOON. Yesterday I think I had more comments and more viewers on my blog than I ever before. Was it because I offered a penny for your thoughts???

That said, it's time for me to play the Pay It Forward game! My cyber buddy Karen was participating in this, having "won" from Vivien, and I was lucky enough to log onto Karen's blog (and leave a comment) right after she posted her pif entry. So, if you're not familiar, here's how it goes: if you are among the first three to leave a comment on my blog today, I will send you a gift made by me sometime within the next 365 days. The only thing that you must do is also agree to make the same promise on your blog (for complete details, either go to Karen or Vivien's blogs). I hope you will play and I hope you will win!!!

The weather forecast for today is highs in the 50s (it was 70+ here yesterday) and strong winds. I just know that the leaves will blow away today! So yesterday afternoon I took the camera out for a walk around our yard. The trees along our driveway have been breathtaking, as are those around my studio. So here are a few last pics, until next year, that is!

PEACE

A Penny for YOUR Thoughts

I doodled on silk the other day, after doodling in my French Architecture class, and this is what happened:

After doodling what I thought would remain as a black and white drawing on silk, I started fooling around with dyes and wax. I didn't take it too seriously until it came out of the steamer late yesterday afternoon, and then I rather liked it.

My question to you is this: would it be better applied to a piece of canvas as is, or quilted and then hung in some fashion?

I really hope you will comment on this........pretend you are part of my crit group and say whatever you think (good or bad) because I value your opinion and need some guidance here!

Thank you and

PEACE

Every day I think that the foliage can't get any more brilliant and that our lake view won't be as pretty, but I am proved wrong when I see this:


It has been so very dry here that I thought our leaves would just turn brown, shrivel up, and fall off, but no, they have put on an incredible show this Fall.

Here are a couple of pictures of a commissioned scarf that I have just finished:

I'm really pleased with the way that it turned out. I will be mailing it off today and hope that the person who ordered it loves it half as much as I do.

Now that I have my new steamer, I have been spending a bit more time playing in the studio and steaming away while I work. Yesterday afternoon was just glorious....I had all of the doors open, my ipod playing some NPR podcasts I had downloaded, and the steamer cranked up. Heaven has gotta be something like yesterday afternoon!

PEACE

Veterans Day

November 11, 2007

Those were different times and different wars.

I am proud of my veterans:

My Dad and my Mom (no, she did not serve). He must have been home on leave. He enlisted right after Pearl Harbor, even though he was too old. And he and Mom were apart for the better part of four years. Dad spent a lot of time in China, repairing B26s. When he came home he told my Mother he never wanted to see rice served in our house.......so I never ate rice until I went away to school!

Here they are again:




and here is C:

I hunted high and low for an official Air Force photo of him, and could find only this one of him in his flight suit in Thailand. We were married eight days before he left for southeast Asia, and were apart for 9 months, then spent two wonderful weeks together on R&R in Bangkok. In discussing the lack of photos, we decided it was because Vietnam was such an unpopular war that we just didn't take a whole lot of pictures of C in uniform.

They fought the good fight, we were lucky that they returned home to us, and now my wish is for

WORLD PEACE

Revelations!

Now that the Quilt Festival in Houston is over with and the Journal Quilts have been revealed, I thought I'd post a few pics of my journal quilt. This was my first year to participate, but it was so much fun and such a learning experience for me. I journaled about being the "sandwich generation" and how I am feeling so very crushed by the weight of my 90 year old mother's health and well-being. So many of us can identify with that these days. Mom had just been hospitalized in extremely serious condition when I began to feel the need to work on my "jq", so she was always on my mind. I had just closed up her apartment and moved her into a skilled care home, so I was also feeling the burden of hoping I had found the right niche for her and also packing and unpacking her belongings again. I came across an apron that my daughter and I had made for her when my daughter was about 4. We had put her little handprint on the apron and then I had embroidered "I love you grammy" on it. I fabric painted on the apron, so that it's former cream background now looked more like a flower garden. Mom's favorite hymn is "In the Garden", so my friend Joani photocopied that for me, and then I made an inkjet phototransfer of the sheet music and scattered the lines over the piece. I also made phototransfers of three photographs of my Mom as a child. I free motion quilted it and then added trinkets of my Moms that I had found while cleaning out her things. This top and heaviest row was very cathartic for me!
"My" row (the sandwich filling) consisted of different colors of my hand-dyed silks in flowers (depicting my moods) that were placed in sort of a roller coaster effect, since my emotions seem to go that way these days! The centers of these flowers are tiny gold colored jingle bells. I like the sound they give the quilt.
The last row (the other slice of bread) is that of my daughter and son-in-law, who are both engineers.......hence they are in black and white diamonds. The white on white dog fabric that is the other part of the diamonds, I colored with green and blue shiva paint sticks, symbolizing the colors of their eyes......and of course the dog fabric is a no-brainer.

You might notice that the quilt top is torn........my mother's life is unraveling.

That's it for tonight!

You can see more shots (and closeups) of my Journal Quilt on my flickr site, on the right of this page. Thanks!

PEACE

Monday Morning View

Thought I'd share with you my view this morning as I enjoyed my yogurt and granola:

It's in the mid 30s here, and as you can see, there's a bit of mist rising off of our lake.

Have a great day!

PEACE