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7.24.17

MONDAY MANTRA

Trying to get one of my nieces to adopt this mantra:

"I am a strong, capable woman. I am loving and caring and worthy of love and respect."

I am also trying to get myself to use it. I am venturing out, being bold and solo. I went into a bar by myself for the first time since I was 14. Yes, well, that's another story for another day but let me just say that episode did not involve alcohol or inappropriate adults.

Anyway, I found myself walking around in the metro area (in the Alberta district), and I was drawn to MOLOKO because of the giant saltwater tanks. And the air conditioning.

Had my first mojito and a charming dinner of cold salmon, with an onion caper relish, black and green olives, and delightful chevre cheese.

I am not sure what delighted me most; my first mojito, being alone and ordering a drink and a meal, eating at the bar next to the calming, graceful fish. I expect I will do it again.

7.22.17

Another beautiful 3-D quilt from Sisters. GOING FOR WATER is made by Kathy Chism. I'm not usually a fan of Bargello style quilts, but I love the way the sun and the heat seem to press down on the women.

It was inspired by Yaa Gassing's book Homegoing.

Detail of Chism's qult shows 3-D skirts and baby!
look at the bricks and mortar. Painstaking.

7.21.17

More dress forms. I love to dress them!!!

I call this one Zelda. She is circa 1890 something, probably original to the store. She has a square of bathing suit fabric tied on in that old way we used to do in the 1980s.

We have a number of fluorescent laces and this drape is one of them.

This is embroidered black netting over gold charmeuse. It is just pinned on but I think it looks pretty good.

This is a fairy. Can't ever have enough fairies!

Something whimsical from the Sisters Quilt Show:

SELF PORTRAIT by Denise Applegate-Schober

Close up, so you can enjoy some of the 3-D aspects!

17.20.17

When I signed the mortgage and bought the place I have been living in from my middle brother, I gave him this turtle wall hanging I have been working on for two years. It's about 20" X 20", give or take. It is the first one I have done that has been finished with facings. It was a lot of fun to experiment with the Kantha style/ primitive Sashiko style of quilting.

Even though the hand applique' went pretty quickly, I hand quilted through 2-4 layers of batik fabric, with garment fleece in between the layers. This is tremendously labor intensive and I could only work on it a few hours every few days.

Hanging sleeve shows pleat

Some of the last stitching included adding small snail shells, beads, turquoise (to honor his bride) and some small twig beads we bought when he comforted me on a particularly difficult day.

The only machine work on it is the application of the facings and the seaming and hemming of the hanging sleeve.

Here's another something special from Sisters. This quilt, made by Diane Ottenfeld, was inspired by the book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, particularly the Akan proverb on the first page.

"The family is like a forest; if you are outside it is dense.
If you are inside; you see that each tree has its own position."

Exciting raw-edge choice for the fronds in this quilt by Diane Ottenfeld

7.19.17

I'm back to playing with my elephant applique'.

Applying the ear

I started with some colorful pachyderms on gray fabrics, but ran off on another tangent and did this brown paisley on batik.

Better, but back to the PENDING box

It totally got lost, so I embroidered around it. The elephant's ear is made of the very first piece of batik fabric I ever bought, making it about 25 years in my stash.

I'm not sure what's next for this guy.

Die Beem (Trees), by Lindsey Neill. It is 47" X 64"

Neill says this quilt, "combines two favorite sewing techniques (drunkard's path and bias tape applique')" She attributes her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage and love for Dutch design for her inspiration.

7.18.17

TEA TIME TUESDAY

Guess whose quilt?

Yes, Sue Spargo

7.17.17

MONDAY MANTRA

I will try to play, every day.

Ungrammatical Thought for the Day:

There is always time for the things that are important enough to make time for.

Something from Sue Spargo to inspire you to play a little every day.

7.15.17

Another featured artist at Sisters was Tula Pink

Made from Tula Pink's SLOW AND STEADY fabric line
featuring the tortoise and the hare

One from our group carried around a special piece of Tula fabric, found the woman, and got her to autograph it!

Close up shows what I believe is probably the Eleanor Burns method
applique', with machine quilting to anchor the down the hearts.

I have bought one or two of Tula Pink's pieces when they have fit into my elephant applique'.

You can find a lot of them at BLESS MY STITCHES in Murphy, NC.

7.14.17

7.13.17

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, 2017

This was the 42nd annual show, which is always held the second Saturday in July. The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is the largest outdoor quilt show in the world. There were over 1,300 quilts adorning every fence, railing and building.

There were more than 10,000 visitors there that day, and wouldn't you know, I ran into a woman from SC and we determined that we had been on the same Shop Hop and visited Country Stitches in Blue Ridge on the same day.

HEY APPLIQUE' BEE!!!!!

One of the featured artists at the Sisters Quilt Show was Sue Spargo.

YUP, saw it up close and personal. See the clothespins
at the top? This is a very small quilt.

As soon as our bus pulled up, I knew I was headed to the block of stores featuring one of my favorite wool applique' artists.

Spargo quilt with MACHINE QUILTING! Who'd'a thunk?

I was surprised at how small Spargo's quilts are. It inspired me to pursue some of the little applique' exercise projects I have piled up.

Spargo's stitching reminds me of stumpwork.
I'll find my book and share the title later.

Her butterflies, birds, and leaves are marvelous to look at up close because you can see how playful she got in her experimentation with different stitching embellishments.

Another tiny Spargo quilt

I will share some photos here, because I got to see them in REAL LIFE, but the photos you can find on the internet and in her books are professional and show the colors better. Most of the pictures I took were over-bright and some I could fix a little in editing, but sadly, my photos don't do her quilts justice.

Sue Spargo made this and I got to see it in REAL LIFE

Sue Spargo shows us how to play

Sue Spargo combines wools, cottons, rayon ric-rac,
beads, thread, and found embellishments.

7.12.17

Look carefully, and you will see me and my portable coffee drink (still trying to be one of the cool kids) taking this picture! GO DAWGS! Even in Oregon. This is not my car. I have not, nor will I ever own a Lexus. (See below about mortgages.)

Yes, it has been a long time since I spent the day writing and editing for the blog.

A lot has happened. I sold my Georgia home with the help of QuiltyFriend and countless others who helped behind the scenes far back beyond October, when the whole adventure started.

Then my mortgage company for my Georgia home sold my mortgage the day before the money from the sale processed, so my paperwork and phone call time doubled. Then there were the hoops to jump through for the current purchase. Well, it's all done now and I THINK yesterday was the last day I have to spend all day on the phone or scanning and emailing things to this person or that person. I can't believe how many times I've been asked if I have a FAX MACHINE.

I feel FREE.

Except debt.

During all that mess, I took a day off from and signed up for the bus ride to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, and I have some pictures to share! I hope to publish some of those over the next few days.

3.21.17

TEA TIME TUESDAY

After last weeks Sweet Tea Pie, here is another sweet treat.

We have a Keurig at work and I sampled one of these and was instantly hooked. Then Safeway had them for half price and I am a happy employee.

When I run out, I don't know what I'm going to do! I hate to pay full-price for anything.

3.16.17

In February, I posted some resolutions. It has been about six weeks, so here is an update of my progress.

1. 5,000 steps a day for one week, then bump up again until 10,000 is normal (Normal for me is 245)

Most days, level 8.

Since starting work, this has been ridiculously difficult. Most days I get about 4,000+ and at the end of the day my feet are so swollen and painful, it is difficult to walk. I spend the rest of the evening in my recliner, hoping I don't have to get up to pee. It takes the better part of my first day off before I can walk around without too much pain and by the second day, I am usually able to run errands. I have great shoes and the week before last I was fitted for custom orthotics, so I am well on my way to solving this problem.

2. Follow my 16 hour fast a day plan
This has been easy to follow, but I have slacked off the last week. I even did one 24 hour fast, but I was so energized, I did not even sleep at all that night after coming off the fast.
At first, I dropped some pounds, but I must be building muscle. My pants and jeans slide off without being unfastened and I have bought a second, smaller belt to hold them up. Still not a swimsuit model, but that ship has sailed.

3. Find live local theater and attend
I haven't even started looking. I will jump right on that after typing up this post.

4. Unpack those two rooms of boxes by March
I did the guest room before March 1, but as you know from yesterday's post, the sewing room is in sad shape. I am not sure if it can be done before March 31, but I am going to try. The first thing that has to happen, is the wire closet shelves have to come out. When I get to that, I will take pictures so you can see what I mean.

3.15.17

gggg

UGH! I forgot to tell you yesterday's pie picture was linked to its recipe for SWEET TEA PIE! Whoever heard of such a thing!

Rains continue for us. I have learned to drive the interstates at respectable speeds.

Actually, what they call rain here is not what experienced Floridians think of when someone says, "I am tired of all the rain." Still, even with the little drip-drips, we are often under flood watch.

Buy a shirt like this at teespring.com

Seriously, the rain we get here would not cause a Floridian to scurry about looking for a raincoat (what IS that?). Instead, we would risk getting our hair and clothes a little dampened, and luxuriate in the cooling breeze of the air conditioning of our destination. I asked around and some Oregonians told me there can be heavy rains. Not that I WANT to experience that. The ground is so marshy, I almost lost the dog this morning.

Also, it hails here. Not the size of baseballs like I saw one day in Georgia, or golf balls, frequent in Florida, but itty-bitty cute little things.

Sunday was a busy day, so not much pre-post blog writing got done. This is my day off and I am relaxing before the beginning of tasks and errands.

I would like to sew/quilt, but I still can't get into the sewing room, it is so disorganized.

My resolution update will post tomorrow.

3.14.17

TEA TIME TUESDAY PI DAY EDITION

Click HERE to see this picture right on the
Taste of the South site and find the recipe!

I am feeling a little nostalgic for a Georgia Spring.

Ironic, because WE are having spring and THEY are having snow.

Here is a little Tea Time and Southern Cooking and PI(E) celebration for 3.14

I haven't made this, but since it is from Taste of the South Magazine, I'm sure it has southern charm. I'm going to go explore their site and see if there is anything low in saturated fats, and low in white sugar...wish me luck.

3.13.17

MONDAY MANTRA

I love Jon Stewart

3.12.17

It's Sunday, day of rest for many people. While you are reading this, I am cleaning house and doing laundry because I don't have to go into work until a little after 11:00.

I am also writing blog posts for the following week. When Sunday gets busy, you see fewer posts during the week following.

I'm still enjoying my work and more memorable customers. Some make several visits to perfect their creation. The man who needed a particular type of material for inside his puppets, the women who made bird costumes for a local charity event (They said they would come in wearing them and I will take photos, if they let me, and post them here with permission), the couple who make coats for dog show dogs to protect the coats they grow themselves, a roller dancer in search of coordinating material for himself and his partner, a 13-year old competitive skater looking for masculine styled swim fabric for practice shirts, a MULTITUDE of designers, some with their own shops, some working for films and TV shows, costumers for opera, ballet, and theater, mothers of the bride, brides and bridesmaids, and it goes on and on. Each is fascinating. I learn something new every day.

3.11.17

This poor sad example. The BOSS said PINK and I didn't know if I was permitted to take the fur vest off of Tiny Tina.

She is right next to the table where the small hides and pieces of suede are displayed and wears a vest of fur to showcase their availability.

I slipped a rose pink piece of polyester through her sleeves and pinned a deeper rose and metallic gold knit around her, making some flounces. In real life, the colors WORKED. In photographic light, not so much. It was fun, though.

After I took this shot, I pinned her vest so she had a waist and fixed up her sleeves a bit. Too bad the metallic gold gives the overall appearance of a rusty red. They were PERFECT together. Trust me, I'm not a politician.

3.10.17

Here's another one of my drapings--PINK is the theme!

I tied the rayon into a knot at the back of the neck and then fanned it out to make a rose. Looks like summer, doesn't it?

3.9.17

I am still enjoying my job and I have picked up a few hours. I think I am just this side of full-time. My feet and back are still bothering me but I may get used to it soon.

I got to dress more mannequins. The skirt on this one is one I had in my mind since the first day of work.

I was looking at the fabric and my trainer said, "If you want to drape a mannequin, go ahead!" It took me a few weeks to feel comfortable doing that and I still wasn't ready to do this skirt.

I had mentioned my idea for the skirt to a co-worker and she looked at me funny and said, "You might want to try Pinterest and see what's in style." Understandably, I let that idea go back to the mental file cabinet.

But then the BOSS said she wanted PINK featured. I told my supervisor I was thinking about the pink theme and she handed me a scrap of pink eyelet and I was on my way! The challenge I impose on myself is to NOT cut the fabric. We are allowed to cut off a salable, useable amount, like 1.5 yards to 2 or so. So far, I have managed not to cut.

The BOSS wants a ball gown out of some funky pink and white striped fabric. I don't have any experience with a ballgown, but one of my co-workers is an expert and designs ball gowns professionally, specializing in the Disney Princesses. Pretty good for only 24 years of age, right? She was away at a Cos-Play event in the Emerald City but says she can help me out when she comes back. I just want to stand back and watch her drape that mannequin into a princess.

3.8.17

I was snowed on last week. Only a few flakes, but most of us in my area are tired of snow.

I took a picture of these begonias outside my bank a few weeks back to remind me that spring IS on the way.

I will have a couple of planters on the deck and on the walkway to the garage to manage pretty soon. I am beginning to think about what to put in. Lavender and Rosemary are high on the list. Probably don't have to worry about watering whatever I put out there.