Dinner and a Movie

What does one do with an over abundance of ripe juicy tomatoes, beautiful basil and a lovely loaf of Ciabatta? Well, I for one decided to make some Bruschetta. MMMMMM! We had picked up some very fresh and pungent garlic at our local farmers market last weekend, and also had a bit of the chevre remaining, so we were in business!

C was doing some grocery shopping yesterday at Whole Foods, where we happen to adore their very fresh fish, so he picked up some Halibut and I made Halibut Provencal. Another winner!

Recipes for both of these tasty treats can be found here.

And for after dinner entertainment, now that the Democratic National Convention is history, we watched
If you enjoy animation and are captivated by color and creativity, this is a must see! We turned on the commentary while the shorts were playing (because I thought I was going to knit and listen....NOT: the eye candy was too tempting!) and I highly recommend you do the same. There is so much to learn from these incredibly gifted designers. We got our dvd from Netflix, but I happen to know that Amazon also has it.

I am very hopeful that the Obama/Biden ticket will be victorious, but if not and, God forbid, something should happen to McCain, would our country be run like a small town in Alaska or like the state itself? I applaud Sen McCain for choosing a woman as his running mate, but someone with a bit more experience might be in order (I have a lot more issues with Ms Palin, but I won't delve into them here).

PEACE & HOPE

WooHoo!

I am still flying very high after Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last night! Wasn't he magnificent!! His message has filled me with such hope not only for those of us here in the US, but also for the rest of the world. and what a message to the younger generations! I am so looking forward to January 2009....but we've all got to do our part to elect the Obama/Biden ticket! I hope you're with me on this. Leave a comment and let me and my other readers know!!!

I had two pieces of very important mail arrive on Wednesday afternoon: First, the pretty one:


a lovely fabric postcard from my friend Terry Grant in Portland, OR. I had sent Terry three colorful wine bottle corks, and she sent me this in thanks. I think I got the far better end of the deal, don't you!!!

The other package was from Pro Chem and included this lovely accessory:


Cute, huh?!!! I already had a respirator, but decided to update to this one, which ProChem claims is suited to Thiox. Since I use the stuff a good bit in my 'work' (and my play) I decided I would bite the bullet and get one....besides, I know that I am stylin' with the purple and yellow against my red hair! (By the way, the latest word from my ENT since my CT Scan is that all of my sinuses are gunked up, so I will be on a round of prednisone AND antibiotics in hopes of remedying the situation! I am so full of hope these days!).

And lastly, I want to share this with you:


I have finally put the finishing touches on this silk charmeuse halter top for K! I hand-dyed, dishcharged and stamped the buttery soft charmeuse, and then used Amy Grant's Cabo Halter pattern to construct it. K is so tiny that it required much alteration, but we've finally gotten it right. Ethel, my mannequin, is a bit larger than K, so she doesn't show it off quite so well, but you can get the general idea!



That's all for today............but don't forget to leave a comment about the Obama/Biden ticket! We finally have HOPE for a CHANGE!! WooHoo!!!

PEACE & HOPE

Filled with HOPE!

I am so filled with HOPE that there will soon be a huge change for the better in the US and the world as I listen each evening to the Democratic National Convention! Michelle Obama spoke so eloquently and so forcefully! She would definitely have my vote if she was running for President! And how about Mark Warner and Bob Casey? I loved hearing them both. Hillary still leaves me a little "eh" but I did like her "No way, no how, no McCain". Our country and the world just cannot endure another 4 years of this same Republican administration! OK, enough of a political rant from this former Republican!

On Monday afternoon I had a bit of studio time, so I applied stripes to this fabric with some thickened print paste. I'm not sure if Barker approves, what do you think?

I also prepared another screen for more deconstructed screen printing. Here's the newspaper that was under the screen:



I'm also filled with HOPE that our drought will be ending. Tropical Depression Fay has been sitting over the top of us for over 24 hours now, just dumping rain down upon us. Here you can see the banks of the creek alongside our house are being flooded by all of the rain. Normally there is a peninsula that juts out into the lake, but it is about to be flooded:


Our little boat dock is engulfed by water. If you look carefully in this picture, you will see our blue canoe behind the tree to the far right. It is about to float away!
One more rainy day picture from my sewing room:
The peninsula is now totally flooded!

The nearby tornado sirens blared the warning that a tornado had been sighted several times yesterday afternoon. I was very glad that C was home with me and Barker. I was prepared to head for the basement shelter, but fortunately never had to do so.

I'm quilting away on this piece of silk that I painted a year or two ago:

I just LOVE the colors!

I'm also filled with HOPE that my curious sinus issues will soon be solved. I had an appointment with my ENT on Monday and after a long examination which showed only a slight deviated septum, he ordered a CT scan of my sinuses, which I had yesterday morning. I will hear the results later in the week. My sinuses have been clogged since last December, so I hope we will get to the root of the problem soon.

PEACE & HOPE

weekend update

C and I had the best time in Atlanta! We enjoyed a fabulous lunch on Friday at the Globe. One of the great perks of our condo's location is that we can walk to so many things, including hundreds of fabulous eateries. I ordered and loved the Grilled Lamb Salad: grilled lamb (very tender) served with sliced celery, mint, feta cheese and pine nuts. C had some sort of pork and pasta dish, which he also devoured and thoroughly enjoyed. Needless to say, there was no room for dessert! The restaurant is in the new Tech Square area of Midtown, part of the spreading Georgia Tech campus, so there was the constant hustle and bustle of students and much activity. After eating, we wandered into the nearby Barnes and Noble and spent a good bit of time browsing around. Later that afternoon, we walked to the Midtown Arts Cinema and took in "Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona" Woody Allen's new flick starring among others, Javier Bardem (be still my heart!), whom you may recall I wrote about after seeing the Coen brothers "No Country for Old Men". The sharp contrast between these movies illustrates Bardem's fabulous acting ability!

I think I told you the other day that I had 'dreamed' about grilling some eggplant and tomatoes and putting them on sliced Ciabatta with roasted garlic infused olive oil, and then topping the whole thing with some crumbled feta cheese from Decimal Place Farm. Well, last evening while C was out cutting the grass, I fired up the gas grill, sliced some eggplant and tomatoes, sprayed them with a little olive oil, and started roasting them:


While they were roasting, I was entertained with my new edition of Cloth Paper Scissors
you'll have to turn your head sideways to see the article I was reading! This photo appears correctly in my photo album, but every time I upload it to my blog, Blogger turns it a quarter turn! It's just one of those days in Bloggerland!

Here is my dinner plate once again turned (!):

In case you are wondering, it was yummy! Both C and I ate every last bit!

My latest knitting project is a cotton Shrug for my Mom for Christmas. Since she is in a wheelchair, this shrug will be perfect to keep her arms and shoulders warm next winter. Here's where I'm at:

The pattern isn't that complicated, but I am very challenged by it! It seems that I spend almost as much time ripping out rows as I do knitting them. Sort of like two steps forward and one back! Here's a closeup:

The yarn is Rowan denim 100% cotton, which can be thrown in the washer and dryer: a big hit for me since I do Mom's laundry.

Here is how the Shrug should look when it is finished:
If you decide that you just have to have this pattern, you can get it here.

Well, on the weather front: Fay has now been downgraded to a tropical depression and she may actually (finally) be headed in our direction with a bit of rain. The forecasters certainly have been challenged with this girl! A week ago they were predicting that we would get upwards of 10" of rain yesterday and today........we haven't had a drop yet. I know many of my Florida friends would love to share, and believe me, we would love to have some! I think I'll boogey on out to the studio and work on some tees!

PEACE

What's Goin' On

I'm sitting here writing this in the glass corner of the 14th floor on the corner of 8th and Juniper. The wind from Tropical Storm Fay is really blowing here in Atlanta, but we have no rain. The days have been busy and productive, but now we are taking a break in the city..........aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I finished this tee for my friend Dr Sock the other day:



gave it to her at our knitting group yesterday, and got orders for three more tees! WooHoo! The t-shirt arrives in my studio like a blank white canvas and then I have all the fun of mixing the colors and adding the motifs. What a great life! It's particularly fun when clients suggest their color palette (as Dr Sock did: she showed me a yummy skein of yarn and said 'go for it') and maybe a couple of favorite motifs, as Joey has done. My friend Karen knows just what she wants......knows it so well in fact that her daughter's mother-in-law literally bought the shirt off her back. So, I am making her another. Not to worry: I do aim to please!

Here's another that I completed last week:

I didn't photograph it as well as I painted it. You'd have to see it in person to really love it! Let me know if I can help you out too!

C and his friend Bob showed up the other afternoon and suggested that they add some new lighting and electrical outlets to my studio. I don't know about you, but I can always use more power! So, Wednesday morning they electrified a previously powerless corner of my work space.


I had intended to play around with a linen shirt/jacket of mine, in preparation for working on an order for Pat, using a favorite linen shirt of hers. Well, that wasn't going to happen! I didn't want to disturb the guys as they worked, and I could see that there was lots more organizing for me to do in the studio. Besides, I didn't want them touching any more of my stuff than they needed to, and I wanted to supervise their every move!

This wall needed my attention in the worst way:

I've gotten into the habit of mixing up jars of dye, labelling them, and then leaving them on my counterspace. Well, that only can last so long and then the counterspace is gone. My silk stretcher frames also needed new hangers, so while the extension ladders were there, I had C reposition the large hooks and I rehung the stretchers. I moved a baker's rack between my sink, washer and dye storage cupboard and then put all of my mixed dyes there.

Here's my countertop now, a bit more organized:

The microwave had been across the room, which made no sense at all. Now this almost looks like a kitchen! eww: scarey thought!!

You may have noticed this little poster hanging up on the wall amidst my silk stretchers


I keep that hanging as a very fond reminder of Martin, who originally built my studio space to refinish old wooden Chris Craft boats. I believe he could work on 5 at a time in this space. At that time, we lived next door and I can remember watching the construction of this building from my old sewing room. Little did I know then the hours of happiness that this space would eventually bring to me. Thank you Martin!

Here is the little corner that the guys electrified:

The table is on wheels, so that when I am discharging I can just wheel it out right into the doorway, giving me lots of exposure to fresh air. The surface is padded with carpet pad remnants (thanks Sherrie!), which makes stamping a breeze. And of course, Barker the studio dog is fending off potential invaders!

Speaking of the studio, these new dyeing shoes arrived in the mail yesterday:

They were on sale: half price! I've not owned a pair of Crocs before and now I know why they are so popular. I've barely had them off my feet since they arrived! I also picked up a navy blue pair, which will be great in the winter with jeans and some funkily knitted socks!

On our way to the condo last evening we stopped by the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market. I know, I know, that's not exactly on the way to Midtown from GainesVegas, but I just had to go and get some of this:


I think I've written before about this yummy goat milk cheese from Decimal Place Farm. I had read about it in the AJC and had asked Kristin to pick some up and give it a try. She had served it to us one evening, and we were all just raving about it. So yesterday was our turn! As Kristin's friend Sarah said, "It's barely out of the goat when you get to enjoy it"! Our cheese was made on Wednesday and we were stuffing ourselves with it on Thursday. MMMMMM Mary, the owner of Decimal Place, is delightful and very interesting. She says that the goats only ask two things: greens to eat (which keeps her farm tidied up) and to be milked twice a day (which keeps her busy making the wonderful cheeses). The bread that you see is Ciabatta from Bernhard's Bread Bakery in Marietta. We enjoyed chatting with Bernhard, a native of northern Germany near Hamburg, who has the most alluring accent. Check out his website and look at all of the yummy desserts he has to offer! Last night we enjoyed his Ciabatta sliced, toasted lightly and spread with some Decimal Place chevre. Early this morning I was lying in bed dreaming/thinking about grilling some eggplant and tomatoes, drizzling some lightly toasted Ciabatta with roasted garlic infused olive oil and topping it with the eggplant, tomatoes and some basil........now wouldn't that be a tastey treat! How many WW points, Gerrie? Actually, I don't think it's too bad!

OK, the whole city awaits us and it's a cool and incredibly breezy day, so I'm outta here!

PEACE

It's Done

Well, let me amend that: I thought it was done until just a minute ago when I read the guidelines for submission, and now I see that it must be bound, so I'll be taking little miss Losing Track back to the sewing room for one more session!

All in all, though, I am very pleased with the outcome of my little art quilt. Thanks to everyone who offered support and comments throughout this long ordeal. Gerrie has been very patient and gentle with suggestions, and yesterday Terry emailed that she thought the curve of the track would be more effective if it was in the shape of an 's' rather than a 'c' (go here for more info on that)......so here you have it:


I affixed the tracks with some hand-dyed perle cotton, hoping to make the tracks appear a bit distressed. I borrowed that technique from Gerrie as well!

Yesterday afternoon was cool and lovely for studio work, so I did some more deconstructed screen printing with my mimosa screen. Rayna suggested that I go over the original pulls with more thickened print paste and dyes, positioning the screens every which way, so I did:


I've gotta admit, that is waaaaay out of my comfort zone, but for some reason, the piece is growing on me.

PEACE

Still Losing Track

I am still working on Losing Track, but thankfully I am no longer losing any sleep over it. I am learning, through very constructive comments from so many of you, plus reading more about color and composition. Here is where it stands right now (and probably where it will stay):



I spent a terrific afternoon with Dr Sock yesterday and came home filled with inspiration! My friend Roberta is truly a treasure. I learn so much from her just by being with her. She energizes me and yet calms me.......are the two possible at the same time?

We have been to the local Farmers Market this morning and come home laden with fresh, local corn, beans, 'maters, melons, okra, sweet onions and peppers, eggplant, blueberries and of course Georgia peaches. YUMMMMMM!

PEACE

Deconstructing the Screen

I finally had a chance to deconstruct my Mimosa screen this afternoon. Having learned that the first few pulls of the squeegee often don't produce top notch results, I wasn't too terribly disappointed in this, my first draw:

What I did like was the great delineation of the small leaflets, which I think you can see if you click and enlarge the photo.

This is drag number three, with a bit more color coming off of the dried screen:


By the time I had done a couple more draws my ADD was taking over and I was getting pretty darned bored, so I decided to add some color to my remaining soda ash activated print paste. I divided what I had left into two batches and added a scarlet red to one and lemon yellow to the other. Realizing that I could easily make some mud if I wasn't careful, I only drew the print paste across the screen enough times to produce one complete draw. I was livin' then! The red wasn't quite as awesome as I had hoped, but the yellow produced some nice color. Then I decided that I didn't like the first three pulls at all, so I went back over them, the first two with yellow and the third one with the red. Here is the sum total of my 'work':

So, the top three are overdyed pulls, the middle three are pulls 4-6, and the bottom are pulls with first red and then yellow dye added.

Here is my waste paste as I was preparing to wash it down the drain:

Isn't that pretty?

Now my question is (and I hope Rayna will comment), is there anything worth saving on the screen? Here it is:

I think next time I would remove the Mimosa leaves, as two of the three stuck (as you can plainly see). The middle branch came off easily and there is still a lot of dried dye paste there. I don't think it is of any value though........but if it is, I don't want to waste it!

Between the monoprints that I was able to take off of the newsprint when I was preparing the screen, and these deconstructed prints, I think I can make an interesting wallhanging.

PEACE

Mimosas Anyone?

Our weather has been unseasonably cool and yesterday morning I was enjoying those lower temps (and decreased humidity) while working in my studio. It is very pleasant to have all of the doors open and the sun pouring in! I was dyeing some tees and some yardage and decided to start a screen in order to do some deconstructed screen printing later in the week. I was following Rayna Gillman's instructions, as described in her book and also in her article in the latest edition of Quilting Arts magazine.

I wanted to use some of the smaller branches and leaves off of our Mimosa Tree, but here's the rub right off the bat: C HATES that tree and tries to destroy it every chance he gets (admittedly it is trashy, but I love the leaves and little powder puff blossoms). I was so pleased to find that one very persistent branch had indeed persevered over the summer, and there were some leaves for me to print! I mixed up my thickened pastes, squeegeed them across the leaf covered screen, lifted the screen and voila:

I loved the print that remained on the newspaper below the silkscreen when I picked up the screen. I wondered what would happen if I carefully laid a piece of soda soaked print cloth on top of that newspaper and brayered it. Well, here's the answer:

I was so excited that I grabbed more print cloth, threw it into my soda bucket, wrung it out, and brayered it on the newspaper and remaining print paste. I ended up with four fairly good pieces:


I'm thrilled with this result, as I now have even more prints of my mimosas!

Here is the screen drying with the mimosa leaves still attached



I hope to get back to it later in the week. But for now I'm on to other things, like that @#$%^&*! Making Tracks!

PEACE

I am

Yes, I am:


Thanks to my good friend Barbara for the gift of the wonderful bumper sticker. My car is proudly illustrating my political flavor.

What's in my knitting basket these days:


Isn't that a yummy color combo! I'll show you more when I get it finished.

I did stop by Knitch the other day to do a bit of shopping. I LOVE Knitch in Virginia Highlands:


I love everything about it: the funky and inviting entryway, the wonderfully helpful and friendly staff, the calm while at the same time exciting atmosphere, and of course the beautiful yarns! I bought this pattern and some beautiful Rowan cotton yarn for a Christmas surprise for my Mom. SHHHHH: don't tell her! I am hoping that one of my next knitting projects will be this for MOI! Perhaps you'd like to get me one of these!

Saw this beautiful Hibiscus while I was walking through the Highlands:

and this morning, I spotted these Lobelia blooming against my garden fence, where my Sweet Autumn Clematis is also blooming:
Remember last summer when my garden and fence were all being redone? It was worth all of the deconstruction, I say now, in retrospect!

And here's what you've undoubtedly been waiting for, more on the progress of 'Losing Track': Here's where I left it last evening:


Gerrie had suggested that I put a focal point in the center, and I had been thinking the same thing all along, but I just didn't know what. It struck me that my underlying point is fleeting time and losing family, so I was tending towards the photos being hours on the face of a clock. I had removed the one clock face photo, and thought that it belonged in the center.

This morning while Barker and I walked the golf course, I began to think that perhaps a swirl of the tracks would be more appealing:

Still unsure. One thing I am certain of however: this art quilt business is very difficult for me!

I'll leave you with one last photo from the weekend. We went to see Hallelujah St Blues at the Horizon Theater in Little Five Points on Sunday evening. It's a great show and a 'must see' if you are in the area! This lovely old home sits next to the theater:


This is just a side view, but I wanted you to see the lovely upper windows. I have admired that home for years and years, and the folks who live there keep making it better all the time! Yeah!

Have a great day!

PEACE