Taking some time out

Last week, we started rearranging the rooms of our house. This was a direct result of my youngest son moving to his own place, once again.

I have had these plans both in my mind and on paper, for quite some time.

We have re-purposed two of our upstairs rooms.

From the start, it was a little disorienting. 

Jonesy was just as crabby as I was for the first few days. But, after he discovered that this was all to his advantage - he actually has a bed to himself  for now -

I found him this weekend, none the worse for wear.

I haven't really done any sewing during this 'move' of ours. I've decided to take some time out and continue with the cleaning out and rearranging of the house.

Enough is enough!

 

Rain. . .

 

 Rain. . .

Go away!

Usually, I don't really mind the rain here in Portland. There are always enough sunny and beautiful days to offset the gloom.

This year, however - not so much.

I am getting weary. . .
and very homesick.


Today in
 Portland, Oregon

55°F

Current: Overcast
Wind: S at 12 mph
Humidity: 64%

 

 Today in

Minneapolis, Minnesota

83°F

Current: Partly Cloudy
Wind: SW at 10 mph
Humidity: 46%

 

Here we are - all loaded up and ready to pick up one last person. 

Two mini-vans, four quilter's to a vehicle, provided just enough room to be comfortable.

After we picked up Jere we were ready to hit the road.

Our first stop, was the 'Paisley Duck' in Kelso, Washington.

It was like having 'hors-d'oeuvres' to get acquainted before a meal.

 

 

 

Next, was 'The Quilt Nest" in Castle Rock.

 

 

Then, 'Sister's Fabric' in Chehalis.

We added 'Ruby Street Quiltworks' to our list, and stopped briefly in Tumwater.

Now, at this point my memory gets a bit sketchy. I'm really not sure what pictures and what stops I did not get documented, and therefore have already forgotten. I'll have to check with everybody to get some of the blanks filled in. . .

Our destination, was the 'Wild Rose Quilt Shop' in Orting, Washington.

 They had this great service elevator to help get our sewing machines and all our other stuff  up to the second floor retreat/classroom area. Sleeping rooms and bathrooms were just behind us on each side.

 

 

 

 We enjoyed about a day-and-a-half of sewing, while we solved all of the worlds problems. . .

 

. . .lunch at the local Mexican Restaurant.

For breakfast and one evening, we shared a meal prepared in our little kitchen.

 Sunday, was our morning to pack up and leave.

After settling our tabs at the shop downstairs, we loaded the cars.

One of our van drivers had to return home earlier than those who road with me.

So, . . .

we thought we might have time to squeeze in one more quilt shop stop!

 Lucky for us, 'Carriage Country Quilts' in Des Moines would be open.

What a great ending to a wonderful weekend.

Time passed quickly, as we drove back to the Portland, Oregon area. 

We only experienced a few sprinkles of rain along the way. Everyone got home safely. Perfect!

Thanks girls, for all the weekend fun! 

 Now, the difficult part is getting back to the 'day-to-day'. . .

Yes, Dortha - it's time for "Recalculating" your route.

Retreat Weekend!

Here's my van. All cleaned out and ready to be loaded up with machines, sewing supplies and food.

My quilting buddies and I are headed north to Washington State this weekend, for some serious Quilt Shop hopping and a little sewing time away from home.

Now, doesn't that sound pleasant?

See ya!

Remember this weekend . . .

. . . Enjoy some time with the ones you love.

All in a week's work

Grown Wild 

29 3/4" x 28 3/4"

This week, as gardening slowly crept it's way into my days, I finished up a quilt I made using Rayna Gillman's method of piecing from her new book;

'Create Your Own Free-form quilts'.

You can read more about her here on her blog http://studio78notes.blogspot.com

If you haven't discovered this gem yet, I think you might be missing something.

 Of course, this doesn't look anything like her quilts do, but don't expect yours to either. 

That's the whole point - to find your own voice in your work.

Peas, Please

Ah! Peas.

They are the first ones out of the gate after planting.

The rest of the vegetables have all made a successful start in our garden by now.

The warm weather just hit Oregon, and we're all enjoying every minute of it.

Egg stolen

So sad to find our nest ravaged sometime during the night, and the last surviving egg stolen.

Quilter Barbie!

A few years ago, I was playing around in my sewing studio with this Barbie doll that I had rescued from our local Goodwill.

I really don't know what possessed me to take her home. 

I think it was the 'hippie' style hair. She had no other clothing at the time.

She caught my eye in the store, and the first thought that popped into my mind was; Why haven't they made a 'Quilter Barbie' yet? (Every other occupation from the 'Barbie' generation has already been covered.)

Yup, still sewing those Barbie clothes. Never grew out of it.

Piece On Sisters!

You are Invited

'Leaf and Twig series'

Today begins the Village Gallery of Arts art show and sale.

They are located at:  12505 NW Cornell Road here in Portland

villagegalleryarts.org

More than 100 participants entered the art challenge/fundraiser where each artist created 

four 6" x 6" pieces in 30 days. 

There is a wide range of work which include paint, fabric, clay, en-caustic and just about anything you can imagine that can be mounted onto a canvas.

Art is priced individually, and prices range from $20 to $50.

Check it out!

Show dates are Tuesday, May 1 thru Friday, June 1st, 2012

Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

Gone Hiking

My oldest son arrived for a visit last Friday. The weather here in Portland changed to sunny and warm, so Saturday we headed out for a day of hiking trails in Forest Park.

The beauty of the trees and undergrowth is always amazing.

Even the native 'Oregon Grape' plants displayed exceptional color.

Yes!

A sure sign of spring here at our house.

If you look closely, you can see a tiny bit of white in one of the birdhouses. It is part of the little headband on the top of a Chickadee keeping a nest warm.

Judy's Fabric Challenge completed

Okay - today, I am posting my quilt from Karen Musgrave's newest challenge:

28" x 24"

To begin, I’d like to share a comment about the fabric. My first impression was one of hesitation. The fabric itself had a lot going on in the print. When I brought the piece to my small group meeting, a few of us agreed about the dark, negative and uncomfortable nature of its design. - Which I thought that I could use to some advantage. 

The obvious direction and ‘flow’ of the colors in my fabric piece (teal, deeper blues and black) reminded me of water. These were violent waves, moving forward and carrying with them other elements, textures, remnants of things more tangible than the water.

What most directly came to mind, was the March 11, 2011 magnitude 8.9 quake off the northeast coast of Japan, which sent a tsunami across the Pacific Ocean and killing a still-undetermined number of people. 

This quilt became that Tsunami wave.

I stretched myself and moved out of your comfort zone by moving thru the free form cutting and piecing and into layering.

After the first layer was complete, I decided to quilt directional lines into the top of the quilt to show the violent movement of the waves.

 Next, I went to another set of fabrics and cut out specific elements that I fused to the first layer of the quilt.

Later, these were top stitched in place.

I hand stitched around the edges of clustered cherry blossoms with a metallic thread, to highlight the metallic in the fabric, adding small glass beads to the blossom centers.  

Later, I machine appliquéd three paper-pieced Japanese lanterns, after altering their sizes. Additional top hooks for the lanterns, as well as decorative hanging beads were added by hand to complete the quilt.

I researched Japanese Culture and found meanings for the colors and representational symbols I chose to include in my overall design :

1. Green – which represents Life
2. Blue – representing immortality
3. White – representing death
4. Kanji – Japanese symbols or 'words' in the black and white fabric
5. Chrysanthemums are symbolic of lamentation or grief, were in the fabric used to construct the paper-pieced Lanterns that symbolize enlightenment
   
6. Two cranes, cut from another fabric, are a symbol of longevity
7. Cherry blossoms symbolize clouds, being a metaphor for the ephemeral or transient nature of life.

In the end, I felt that the quilt became a pictorial representation of metaphors for all things good and bad in life. Suggesting a resemblance between all that is positive and negative. i.e. One is included with the other.

Jonesy on Spring Break