City Stuff

Last night C and I were incredibly fortunate to attend Bishop Gene Robinson's lecture "Why Religion Matters in the Quest for Gay Civil Rights" at Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Bishop Robinson's election as the Ninth Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in June of 2003 caused (and is still causing) quite a stir as he has openly admitted that he is Gay.

I LOVE this man!!!

He is intelligent, he is eloquent, and

he is oh so sensitive to the needs of everyone!
We listened to the Bishop speak for over 90 minutes and it seemed like seconds!

God Bless You Bishop Robinson!

Here is my City ComplexiTee Cardigan:

Our friends John & Troy, have a cute little shop, Occasions, off of the Square in downtown Gainesville. They hosted an open house this evening, and so I debuted my little Complexitee Cardigan there. John and Troy display and sell the freshest of cut flowers, amazing arrangements PLUS wonderful works or art, including my silk scarves. This gathering was a 'meet the artists' affair. I really enjoyed seeing so many folks out on a coolish and drizzly evening!

PEACE!!

Sock Talk Plus

This just arrived in the mail this morning...

I can't wait to get started!




The designs are yummy,

like this one:

Here's where I'm at on my second Diagonal Rib Sock.
Not too much longer till they'll be on my feet!
Yeah!

Saw this and a few other captivating designs
in the latest issue of Vanity Fair............
I'm enchanted, how about you?????

PEACE

Blue Moons

This is Blue Moons. She measures 22 x 90" and is wonderful Crepe de Chine, The background is more of a lemon yellow, and there is a lot of both turquoise and true blue in the foreground.

a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer, emailed me this lovely poem:

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?

How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?

What scent of old wood hovers, what softened

sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world

than the breathing respect that you carry

wherever you go right now? Are you waiting

for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this

new glimpse that you found; carry into evening

all that you want from this day. This interval you spent

reading or hearing this, keep it for life -

What can anyone give you greater than now,

starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

~ William Stafford ~

Rainy Days

It's been a long time since we've had rain set
in like this. I kind of like it! Barker isn't very
happy about it, but C does seem to manage
to get him out for frequent walks between
the rain drops.







I'm including pics of a few pieces I've been spending my time on.





Last night we finished watching Australia. I wish we'd
seen it on the big screen. The photography was incredible.

"Art evokes the mystery witout which the world would not exist."
Rene-Francois-Ghislain Magritte

Not a Fit Day Out

As the saying goes: "Not a fit night out for man nor beast", but like Blue our resident Great Blue Heron, I am totally loving this weather! We need the rain soooo badly and it is great weather to get some creative sewing accomplished! The precip did manage to stop long enough so that Barker and I got in our golf course walk this morning!
Note to heaven above: Thanks!

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." (Kahlil Gibran)

Ahhhhhhhhhh: Spring!

I took a little walk around the garden this morning, and snapped these Spring flower pics for you. It is warm and lovely here today. The weatherman is predicting rain and cooler temps for the rest of the week, so I'm enjoying this bit of Spring time today.

I love the native Red Buds...in fact I love them so much that we planted three in our yard several years ago.

Daphne is another of my favorite early bloomers.
She sits right near our front door and greets visitors
with her sweetest perfume.

These Hosta are just poking up their first little shoots.

Our Hellebores have been blooming
for several weeks now and will soon
be going to seed.

I think this is called a Siberian Squill. I just adore it...it seems to pop up out of nowhere, blooming away in its pretty blue hat.

You all are very quiet of late...I know that you are there, but you are so silent! Do drop a line and let me know what you are up to!

"Choice by choice, moment by moment, I build the necklace of my day, stringing together the choices that form artful living." Julia Cameron

Weekend Update

We had another weekend where we literally hit the ground running...........well, almost! Friday afternoon we hurried down to Atlanta, gave Barker a quick walk through the neighborhood (which is gorgeous right now with all of the spring flowers and trees in full bloom!) and then met friends to enjoy a sumptuous wine dinner at the Oceanaire Seafood Room. Not only is the food and service excellent there, but the atmosphere is terrific AND, and this is a huge plus for us, it is well within walking distance of our digs! The featured wines were from the Lambert Bridge Winery in Sonoma County, and they were introduced by Andy, one of the winery's owners. We began our meal with fresh Spring Rolls of Ahi Tuna and Mango, followed by Seared Alaskan Halibut, then Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon, then surf and turf consisting of grilled sirloin and smoked rock shrimp risotto. Dessert was incredible: warm center chocolate cake and coconut ice cream. Phew!!! Did I mentioned that we walked? (The amazing thing was that when I stepped on the scale this morning, I had actually lost weight!!!)

With the help and guidance of my dear friend and Web Mistress Eva, I labored over my website a lot on Saturday, but we took a break and enjoyed "Tent Meeting" at the Theatrical Outfit. (If you follow the link, you'll hear the opening song from the musical.) What a great production....but we wouldn't have expected less from the fabulous director, Tom Key!! We again walked to dinner that night.........we walk a lot in the city! Sunday morning included another great walk, this time through Piedmont Park, which is lovely this time of year.

During all of this time, I was fiddling around with this scarf:

It was indeed a labor of love! I'm thrilled with the outcome, and can't wait to wear it!!!


A few detail shots:



It has been overdyed, tied, salted, alchoholed..............you name it! But it was great fun and I love it!

PEACE!!!

Happy Spring!

It was a bit of a grey morning when I snapped this pic of my forsythia, but they have been gorgeous this past week, adding even more cheer to our lovely weather. Happy Spring Everybody!!!




Here are a couple more scarves that have recently come out of my steamer:

I love, love, love the combination of red and violet, don't you!!!

a detail shot:



Another yummy one:


Spring obviously appeals to me! Between the time change and the warmer weather and increased sunshine, I could spend all day dyeing!

ENJOY YOUR DAY!!!

Checkin' In

It has been warm and lovely here for the past few days. Ordinarily, I would be gardening, but my life has taken a turn to the studio and I have been having such a grand time!

Here is one of the pieces that I have completed since I last posted:

I really, really like it! It shimmers and has an iridescence about it.

Here are a few detail shots:


this is the overall pattern:

14 x 72" silk crepe de chine.............mmmmmmmmmmmmarvelous!

PEACE

Fun Fun Fun

This is our last week of Art Quilt Explorations with Jane LaFazio, and we are all suffering from extreme separation anxiety! What a wonderful class, and what a great teacher!!! This week we are stamping and stenciling, with no particular end result in mind. But I do have some definite ideas which I cannot share with you right now! After the class assignment arrived in my email box last Thursday, I began sketching ideas in my little purse notebook as C and I drove around the city. Whenever I saw something that caught my eye, I'd sketch it out, thinking it might be good stamp fodder. So there you have it!



I started carving my stamps yesterday, and it got waaaay too addictive! I ran out of erasers, so I'll have to go back to Utrecht and buy some more! (They love Barker there, and since they are only a block down Peachtree from our condo, he goes often. In fact, he automatically turns into the doorway when we pass it! He loves all of the young ladies who work there....and they love him!!!.........makes for a happy shopping trip for me!)

I have been waking up in the middle of the night thinking about the designs I wanted to add to Susan Purney Mark's Round Robin piece. Here is how it arrived on my doorstep:















Last night (well, this morning at about 2:23 AM) I finally decided to draw a Thermofax screen and then do some discharging of the dyes on Susan's lovely piece. This is what happened:







I really like it! It was great fun (I used Publix Dishwasher Gel) and my friend Robin arrived in the studio just as I began, so we talked and laughed while I completed Susan's piece! What fun!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had decided to make another soup! What is it about cold, rainy days that seems to bring on the soup mentality? Anyway, I had clipped out yet another recipe from the AJC and this afternoon I whipped up this recipe for Creamy Butternut Squash Soup. It is so delish!! Trust me!! I'll let you know when I get the recipe printed out here.

Be creative! Every Day!!!!

Oh the Places We've Been!

C and I have been busy out on the town, and now we are home for a few days of R&R! We went to a fabulous organic wine tasting at ecco, one of our favorite Midtown restaurants with some friends the other night. The wines were all excellent, the hors oeuvre's were out of this world and the conversation was great (one friend had just returned from a trip to Paris, so that alone was enough to keep us busy all evening)! If you haven't been to ecco, you really need to experience it: fabulous food and incredible service, not to mention the lovely atmosphere. After the wine tasting, we enjoyed "13th of Paris" at the Horizon. We wholeheartedly disagree with the AJC's review: it was a very good play! The next day, we caught up on some reading and then headed over to the Dekalb Farmers Market, where we loaded up on veggies and the fixins for this. YUMMMM! That night we caught up with some more good friends and enjoyed dinner at P'cheen. Our friends tried to convince us that P'Cheen has the best mussels in Atlanta, but we are very fond of those at Top Flr, so maybe we'll have to sample them both again in order to make our final decision. What a tough job lies ahead of us!!



Last week I dyed this piece of silk yardage. Of course you all know how much I love the salt effect, and I know how much you all love the salt effect, so I guess this picture makes us all very, very happy!!!










I sewed up this little silk top this afternoon, using my yardage.








I think I rather like it!










This is the back........almost looks like a landscape, doesn't it?

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Dr. Seuss

Catch Up

Just a few pics to let you know that I'm alive, well, and being productive!

I'm in the home stretch of Jane LaFazio's Art Quilt Exploration Class hosted by Joggles, and this week's lesson has kept me busy. I hope to have a few pics to share with you in a day or two.

In my spare time, I've painted a few scarves. This one, 'Spring Sorbet', is steamed and ready to head to John and Troy's shop, Occasions, just off the square in Gainesville. Stop by, say hello, and check out all of the wonderful things they have to offer!


here's a detail shot of 'Spring Sorbet'


and here's where I am on Ann Budd's Diagonal Rib sock:


Terri, from Quilternity's Place, introduced me to this lovely pattern and I'm having a great time knitting away on it. Of course, she is finished with her pair, wearing them, and on to another great pair of socks! Sometimes I feel like such a slacker!

I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
Marie Curie, Physicist and Chemist

Sacred Spaces

My friend Gerrie has just had two of her wonderful art quilts accepted into the Sacred Spaces exhibit! WooHoo! Go Gerrie!!! Garland Reynolds, the architect of our new nave is giving a lecture series each Wednesday night at our church entitled Sacred Spaces. All of this got me to thinking about the sacred spaces in my life.......and of course, my church, ranks right up there. I am working on an art piece for the church youth group's annual auction and have been snapping pictures around the church lately. I thought I would share just a few with you today.

Here is the new nave, dedicated December 6, 1992:


This is the old nave, which was wonderfully transformed into the chapel. You can see the exterior of the altar area of the new nave to the right:

I was confirmed in the 'old nave' and our daughter was baptised there.....indeed, a sacred space. I remember oh so well the cold day in December when we processed out of the old nave after the last service held there, and into the parish hall, where services were held during construction.

The cornerstone of the old nave:

if you look very carefully, you will read that the first church was destroyed by the tornado of '36, which took many lives in Gainesville, including that of the church sexton, who was trying to save the church silver

This is the altar area in the old nave, new chapel:

We have kept the original altar, which is a comfort to those of us who worshiped there for many years.

And this is the rood screen, carved by parishoner Winston Garth, back in the 40s, I think:

be ye doers of the word, not hearers only

the baptismal font where our daughter and so many others have been baptised


the door knob and old lock on the chapel door.........I can't help but think of all of the people whose hands have turned that knob!

and from the sublime to what you might think is the ridiculous: a part of my sacred space in my studio:
the box is a new addition on one of my two sacred walls. Jeannie told me how her husband had given her a box in which she places her inner art critic. I thought that was such a great idea...and what a nice and supportive gesture on the part of her husband!! That whole concept ran around in my head over the past couple of days, and I finally hung the silk fusion box (that I made in a class taught by Sue Bleiweiss) there by the door. When I enter, I remove the top, toss in my inner critic, replace the top, and get down to playtime! Oh, and above it you will notice several art related quotes.......the last one from Pam Rubert, who is always so encouraging!

Diamonds are only chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs, you see.
Minnie Richard Smith, poet