Terry Sargent Peart

LUNCH AT MAWADDA CAFE

2012-01-26T19:46:00.000-08:00

This is fast becoming one of our favorite lunch places. There are several Mawadda Cafes that serve Mediterranean type food. This one is in Burien, right off 1st Avenue by Fred Meyer. There's another just north of the Admiral Junction. Great food!

This is my semi-blind contour sketch of a group of people jammed into a booth. It sounded like they were co-workers. Although, they posed outside the restaurant for a group photo.

LAST ROWS ON WINTER QUILT

2012-01-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

As I started putting the last blocks up on the wall, I realized I didn't have enough variety.

Arrrrgh. It was back to making more blocks.

I hate going backwards, but I only needed a few and I had lots of parts, and it only was a short set-back.

Having a few extra blocks to pick from really made a big difference in how it looks anyway.

I started the day so excited about getting it finished, but it seemed like there was set-back after set-back. Just little things, like breaking a thread, spilling water all over everything....you know, annoying little things, and I think I'm still tired from the big push yesterday. And, I'm tired of being in the house all the time - I need a good walk!

Enough whining.

Here it is, too big to fit on my work wall, so it's flowing down onto the floor.

This is Connecticut Winter Quilt: (the top)

I really am liking how it turned out.

Hours today sewing were only 3.5, and 1.5 hours dyeing some fabrics for the back. That brings the grand total to date to:

drum roll, please...

76 hours!

Turns out, the sun came out this afternoon, and Lucy and I were able to get to the park for a very nice walk. Boy, did I need it. Lucy wasn't too happy about the snow and ice, and her muddy belly.

DINNER AT PAN AFRICA GRILL

2012-01-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

After being snowed in for the last several days, we went out for dinner at a place we've been wanting to try for a while now. In West Seattle on California is a relatively new restaurant called Pan Africa Grill. As we pulled up there were the most appetizing smells emanating onto the street, and the place was pretty crowded (a good sign). The atmosphere was enticing, the walls were painted a deep rich orange, the art on the walls was very interesting. Best of all, the food was fantastic! The granddaughter even liked it, although she thought a few of the dishes were too spicy for her. We had the injera bread (made from Teff grains) with a variety of vegetables, lentils and chicken dishes.

Here is a quick sketch I did before our dinner arrived, of my husband and our granddaughter. She's writing in a journal about a story she wants to tell (that's all we could get out of her).

SECOND AND THIRD ROWS

2012-01-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

Back at it, after finishing up Victoria's projects.

Here's the next couple of borders.

I got the second side, opposite the last one. Then I flipped it sideways, so it would fit on my work wall, and added the third row.

1/19 trimming - 0.5 hours
1/20 piecing - 3.0 hours
1/20 piecing - 3.0 hours
1/20 dyeing - 0.50

I'm tired.

Total hours so far - 71.0 hours. Almost there!

ICE DYEING ON A SNOW DAY

2012-01-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, this week, we got 5-6 inches of snow here at our house. The Seattle-Tacoma area was slammed with 5 to 12" of the cold white stuff. It brings this town to a standstill. Since it was treacherous to go out and I didn't need to, I made good use of the time, spending it up in my studio, sewing.

Then on Thursday, we got freezing rain on top of it.

Since I'm working on my Connecticut Winter Quilt, and I'm getting close to finishing the top, I naturally started thinking about the back. I knew I didn't want to use the leftover fabrics - then the back would be too much like the front. And, I really don't want to buy fabric for it, because all of these fabrics were purchased while on our trip to Connecticut last winter. That leaves just one option - dye my own! I love this idea.

As my mind wandered while piecing the many blocks into rows, I thought remembered ice dyeing.

I had done a little of that a while ago - and the fabrics where beautiful.

I started some fabric heating in some soda ash mixture.

Then I let it drip dry for a short while.

I got out a large tray and over that I put an old window screen, where I arrange the folded prepared fabric. I was thinking about using it as binding, so I folded it into strips, thinking that when cut on the diagonal for binding it would look very nice.

And then I headed out to get some of the 'local' ice.

Brrrrr. With bucket in hand, I smashed through the thick ice crust and broke some up and brought it in.

I had to break it up into even smaller pieces - it was soooo cold - and arrange it over the fabric.

Then sprinkle the dye over the ice...

And wait, and watch as it melts.....

....and drips dye onto the fabric beneath....

...and does weird and magical stuff....

...it is so beautiful to watch as it slowly melts....

Then, the next morning, the ice is all melted into the tray below and the fabric has absorbed the dyes.

The dye-design on the fabric is like none you'd get in a conventional way...

Here's some close-ups...

Beautiful and strange and so much fun.

SNOWED IN

2012-01-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well, the storm came and we are officially snowed-in. I should say we choose to be snowed-in. There's no school (in the whole state I heard), I don't have to work this week, Darrell works right outside the backdoor. So, there's no reason for anyone to go anywhere - which is good, because when we get 5-6 inches of snow like this the roads are impassable.

I spent my morning adding another row to the quilt, and the afternoon working on a sewing project with the granddaughter, Victoria.

It's getting bigger...

Only 2.75 hours today. Bringing the total hours to 64.

SECOND SET OF ROWS

2012-01-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

Another day back at it. I'm really liking how it's turning out.

Today I spent 3.25 hours piecing rows and trimming blocks.

Total altogether - 61.25 hours

WORKING ON WINTER QUILT

2012-01-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

It's going to snow!

The city is planning for a big snow storm, and I'm on fire to get my Connecticut Winter Quilt finished.

How appropriate to be working on my Winter quilt in the snow, huh?

I pieced the middle lights and added the three medium rows.

Then I had to stop and trim some more blocks

Total hours today - 4.25 hours

TRIMMING THE BLOCKS

2012-01-15T20:34:00.000-08:00

I pieced all 700-something of these blocks over-sized so that I could re-cut the blocks so that the center slash through them would be on an angle. (It would have been way too difficult to cut and piece all those weird angles - this way used more fabric, but probably doesn't take any longer, even figuring in all the trimming, and at this point I'm all about using as much fabric as possible).

I did this at work on the weekend, when it's really slow, in my spare time - but don't tell my boss.

I went out and specially bought this little rotating cutting mat. I opted for the least expensive one, because I figured I'd only need it rarely. The Olfa mat was like $40, and had ball-bearings, I think. This one, I won't say what brand, just rotates on another mat below it. Doesn't work very well at all. In fact, I didn't use the rotating feature. I needed to cut all the way around this 4" ruler, so I just stood up over the table and was able to cut all the way around without moving the mat or ruler (wasted money on the mat).

I ended up having a really difficult time cutting because of the seams in the middle of the block. The ruler wanted to rock, and it shifted easily. I had to be very careful.

When I got home Saturday night, my husband Darrell gave me some sticky-backed sandpaper and I put some little squares on each corner and it was a lot easier on Sunday. Sunday, the weather was bad - it was snowing here and there and we got very little business. Most everyone was sitting around doing nothing (in my office).

I got all of the lights, and most of the mediums cut out over the weekend.

January 14 - 3.00 hours total

January 15 - 4 00 hours total (in little fits and spurts)

Total hours up to now - 53.75 hours

PATTI'S BIRTHDAY

2012-01-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Patti had a special birthday this year, and we all met at the Olive Garden to celebrate. Her parents had sent along a beautiful bouquet of carnations, and I thought they should definitely be included in the sketch.

Here is a quick sketch I did before dinner of Patti and her friend Sue, with the carnations.

Happy Birthday Patti - we hope you have a great year!

I LIKE SCRAPPY

2012-01-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

You can't help contemplating about life and things while making a quilt. Between the head-scratching and figuring, there's usually lots of mindless time as you perform the repetitive tasks. Recently, while working on the Pine Tree Quilt, I noticed the different blocks and spent some time thinking about them. They were made by several different people, members of the Issaquah Quilters, a guild to which I belonged. We would make blocks for each other in exchanges and different kinds of events. This way you could get a lot of the kind of blocks you request in exchange for making one block per month for the other participants. It was a pretty good deal. I have lots of "Blocks of the Month" stashed away that need finishing.

These Pine Tree blocks are very appealing. They are made from mostly triangles, which I find add interest. Plus there is a difficulty challenge with making all of those half-square triangle squares. The easiest way to do it is to use just two fabrics. That way you can stack and whack and sew them up pretty quickly. I noticed that was how I did most of the blocks I made. And some of the others, too.

Some blocks had three or four different fabrics - that added interest. And when I had to make up a block quickly because one of the original blocks wasn't going to work - I chose a fabric that was multi-colored and textured to make it appear to have more than one fabric.

But the best ones, by far, were the ones made by Elsie Nagle. She made her's completely scrappy! Almost every triangle was a different fabric. It is definitely my favorite. The greens, the blue-greens, the yellows, the different textures and patterns...it all works together to make this block stand out from the rest. Next to the other blocks, this one just sparkles!

Thank you Elsie, you are a quiltmaker extraordinaire!

PINE TREE QUILT

2012-01-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

I ran across these blocks a few months back. And, they've been sitting out where I can see them and think about them. I love blocks with lots of triangles, and I love tree blocks.

These blocks were made by me and some of the members of Issaquah Quilters in 1997 (most are signed and dated). Great people made these blocks - Diane Becka, Patti Benedict, Elsie Nagle, Margaret Hartman-Saunders, June St. Claire, Bobbi Brown, Andy Carroll, and some nobody signed.

A block with my signature and date

My first thoughts when I put them up on the wall was, "what was I thinking with that horrid background fabric?" It was tan, but it was very cold and I hated it. It definitely needed something.

Blocks on the work wall

I thought about adding some more blocks...there are only 28 10" blocks. Not a very big quilt.

Then, I started looking through my stash and came up with a perfect Jinny Beyer border fabric in black and dark brown, with a little tan. And, lo, I had a lot of it!

I cut out some of the strips and put them between the rows. What a difference that made. The blocks began to look good!

I had put them in this configuration right off. I liked it and so I never tried any other settings.

Next I cut out and stuck this border up on the wall with it.

I was thinking I wouldn't have enough of the border to make mitered corners. But, it looked so good I just forged ahead - I'd think about the miters later, it might be really close.

I started sewing the blocks together in the rows. I hadn't bothered to measure any of them, but I noticed that one of them was definitely smaller. I measured it, it was a good half inch smaller, both directions, than the others. So, it got set aside (it's now on the back) and I made another block out of fabrics I had. Luckily, there was a whole yard of the background fabric in the bag with the blocks. I guess I was thinking I was going to make a lot more blocks. You might notice the block in the bottom row, far right, is the one that gets replaced with the new block, which I signed, with my new married name, and dated 2012.

I came across another one that was too small! I didn't want to stop my momentum and go back and make another block - so I just added a half inch border of background fabric all around it. It's different, but it's still involved. (Most of quilt-making is about problem solving, isn't it?)

After I got the rows of blocks sewn together, I marked the back of the sashing in 10" increments, so I could line up each block. If you don't do this sometimes things will go awry and the blocks won't be straight across from each other going the other direction. Situations like this are the rare times I actually use pins to hold things together as I sew.

It went together like a breeze.

Then I had to think about the outside border.

I measured and remeasured. I definitely did not have enough for mitered corners. Dang! It was only short by a few inches, too. I love mitered corners with a border stripe fabric.

I thought about trying to make up something that looked like mitered corner, but the other strip I had leftover, was going in the opposite direction from the ones I was using. I thought, what the heck, I'm going to make it work anyway, until I realized it was narrower, too. I just did not have enough fabric to make it work.

So, in my frustration, I made these horrid corner blocks, which I now hate, but am going to use anyway, because I'm tired and frustrated. And what was I thinking making bias squares - on the corners. Not smart! But, I'm moving on. Here's the top, like it or not. (I'm going to ignore the corners.)

P.S. I like it!

The top on the wall

I was going to move on to something else, but I realized it's still a UFO at this stage. I must finish it! So I whipped up a back using some tan fabrics from my stash that I knew I'd probably never use. It worked out that there were a few with enough yardage, so I didn't have too much to piece together. I even used up the majority of the leftover background fabric - which I inked a label onto. Plus I included the address to this blog post. Hopefully, this story about the quilt will be here for a long time, I have this dream of someone getting the quilt, years and years from now, and coming to my blog to learn about it and me. If you do, please leave a comment!

The label with the address to this post - weird, huh?

I cleaned the studio floor and pinned the quilt on Friday, all before lunch. Usually, as I'm pinning it, I think about how I want to quilt it. I just want to do something quick and easy, but complimentary. I started thinking I needed not only tan thread, but probably a dark thread for the sashings and borders. Hmmm, I have lots of black thread. But, that would be too harsh. I needed dark brown thread. That was a great excuse to go to the new quilt store in the Admiral district, West Seattle Fabric Company. So, we went for lunch in that direction, and I ran in for two spools of dark brown thread (that is the only thing I bought new for this quilt [$6.37], everything else I had on-hand. Well, except for the batting. I had bought a case of bats last year, just so I could finish some old projects).

Back stretched out on the floor

Batting added, then the top is smoothed out.
Ready to pin

I got it pinned up after lunch, that was definitely enough for one day. But it was ready to go and waiting on my work table for me.

Pinned and ready to quilt

The next day I got a lot of the quilting done. Probably more than I should have done in one day. But I finished it up Sunday morning, after our usual breakfast at Luna Park Cafe followed by the weekly grocery shopping.

Just simple out-line quilting

Darrell was cleaning up his office and wanted to do some work on it before we did anything else, so that was my chance to work on this, too. He took more time than he said, so I whipped up a binding for it also. I had thought a dark brown or black binding is what it was going to want, but it ended up being a lighter brown, like the light parts of the border. Which is good, because I didn't have any large enough pieces of darker fabrics. I only had a few of the right color browns I could pick from, so I guess I'm lucky I had something that would work - or it would have been back to the store, and we didn't want to do that, now did we?

Quilting on the corner, seen from the back

I knew the choice of dark brown thread for the quilting would show up on the tan backing, but I kinda liked that idea. And it does look interesting, even though any errors are shown in glaring detail. I quilted the whole thing using the walking foot because it's easier on the shoulders and neck, but I kept thinking it would look really cool if I quilted around the 'scallops' on the outside border. Cool, but a lot of work. I tried it on the corners with the walking foot. It actually turned out pretty nice. But, I put the binding on...and we'll just have to wait to see if I ever go back and quilt around that scallop.

FINISHED THE BLOCKS!

2012-01-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Finally, in a flurry of piecing, I managed to get all of the blocks pieced for my Connecticut Winter Quilt.

I need 675 blocks for the quilt top - I made extras.

January 2 - 3.25 hours

Total hours - 46.75

Now there's a lot of trimming to be done.

FIRST SKETCH OF 2012

2012-01-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Not many places open today, January 1, 2012.

On our way home from visiting with Matt and Julia, we stopped for dinner at one of the many Chinese restaurants we've passed by.

The food was good, we will return.

Here is the quick sketch I did of my husband, Darrell and granddaughter Victoria. I glued our fortunes into the book when we got home. (This is a really bad sketch of Victoria - maybe someday I'll capture her image and she won't be embarrassed by it.)

VICTORIA'S FIRST QUILT

2011-12-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

My Mom bought a new Singer model 15- in 1957. She made lots of clothes for my sisters and I as we grew up. Eventually we all learned how to sew on this machine. It's a great workhorse, it just sews a straight line, forward and back. No fuss, no muss. Somewhere along the line, I ended up with this machine. It's been sitting around for years with no one using it.
I even had it for sale at our moving sale for $30! Only one woman looked at it, and when she sewed with it the belt broke, and I wouldn't drop on the price so she didn't buy it (good thing).
When our granddaughter, Victoria, age 11, expressed an interest in sewing I took the machine in to be cleaned and serviced (and to replace the belt). I was saying to them that the machine probably isn't worth what it was going to cost to tune it up, but they said, oh no, this machine is probably worth about $175 today, with the cabinet and all. It's a great machine.

I figured this would be perfect for Victoria to learn on because it is so basic. Nothing too tough to figure out. And a simple one on which to learn how a sewing machine works.

She picked some fabrics from my stash. I cut the 4-1/2" squares (I didn't want her using a rotary cutter. She wanted a big red square in the middle. She arranged the squares on my work wall. She was fascinated that the fabric would just stick there by itself!

We talked about seam allowance, I put a piece of blue tape on the machine and told her to line the fabrics up with that. I even started her off without pinning the fabrics together.

I can remember making my first quilt. Every piece was pinned together, then one at a time, into the machine, back-stitching at the beginning and end. Pulling the piece out and snipping the threads and starting all over with the next piece.

Victoria didn't have to go through all of that. I showed her how to chain-piece and she was off and running.

She was very excited about it, and wanted to get it finished as soon as possible. She worked for hours at a time, getting the top finished within a few days.

She quickly pieced together the back. We pinned it and she quilted it on my Bernina with the walking foot. I thought the binding would be beyond her skill level, so I did it myself, just folding it over the top and top-stitching it down. It is about 48" by 72", perfect for a little lap quilt.

This is one great first quilt. We are very proud of you, Victoria! Good job.

Victoria's First Quilt Completed

LUNCH AT ENDOLYNE JOE'S AGAIN

2011-12-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

My parents came over to pick up some wood scraps and then we all went out to lunch at Endolyne Joe's down the road from us. We had an extra granddaughter staying with us this week, too, while school is out.

Here is a quick sketch I did before our lunch arrived of the two granddaughters, Victoria and Kimberly and my husband, Darrell.

PIECING MEDIUM COLORED BLOCKS

2011-12-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here I am back on the Connecticut Winter Quilt, keeping track of the hours as I go.

December 10 - .75 hours piecing
December 11 - 1 hours piecing

Total hours - 43.50 hours

CITY OF THE WORLD

2011-12-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

I finally finished my block for the City of the World Project by Maria Arango of Reno, Nevada. She organizes these Monumental Puzzle Print Projects (and blogs about them). This is the first one I've been involved in.

She's a dynamo.

Basically, she plans a large puzzle print, cuts out the pieces of the puzzle, mails them out to participants, who carve an image into them and mail them back to her. She then puts the pieces back together, inks it up and prints up enough prints for everyone, then mails each participant a print. Sounds easy, huh? Pah!

You never know what you'll get in the end, and you have to put your trust in a lot of people to follow through, but boy, what a payoff in the end.

I'm secretly hoping I can make myself available to go down and help her with the printing this year. I don't know how much help I'd be, but I'd sure learn a lot.

BERKELEY WHIRLWIND TRIP

2011-12-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

Darrell is on the Board of Directors for The Friends of the Thorsen House and travels several times a year to Berkeley California for board meetings. This time was truly special because we were invited to spend the night at the house. They do this very rarely, so we were quite excited.

Goodbye Seattle

Good morning, Bay Area

We flew out early Friday morning, grabbed a rental car and headed into San Francisco for some sightseeing before heading to the Thorsen House.

First stop was the DeYoung Museum. This was our first time there. What a fantastic place. But, I have to say the first thing I noticed was the smell...eucalyptus trees...the museum being located in Golden Gate Park. Wonderful.

We came primarily to see a Greene & Greene chair that Darrell needed pictures of, but we enjoyed the rest of our whirlwind tour of the highlights. In the picture above, notice the tower. At the top, on the ninth floor, is an observation room, glass from floor to ceiling, with a 360* view of the city.

The Blacker House dining room side chair

Very interesting sculpture made from gun parts and artillery shells

Darrell with a FL Wright barrel chair

An Arthur Mathews

Song of the Sea by Arthur Mathews

Stairs next to Fern garden

Fern garden

Ruth Asawa wire sculptures

Ruth Asawa near tower elevator

Ruth Asawa, sculpture and shadow

Andy Goldsworthy installation - Tectonics

We had lunch at the DeYoung Museum Cafe, sitting outside under this amazing architecture. Did I mention it was about 70* and an absolutely beautiful day. Quite a pleasure having just come from Seattle, where the high was 41* and going down to freezing at night.

Then, we made our way to the Legion of Honor Museum, where we have visited several times, the first time on our honeymoon.

Entrance to the Legion of Honor Museum

Rodin's Thinker

Entrance to Legion of Honor, looking back.

Artists sketching in the museum - I love seeing this!

Monet

Cezanne

Seurat

Monet

We saw this great exhibit, Pissarros's People, featuring Pissarro's gathered from all over the world. We really enjoyed it.

Bernini's Medusa

Next stop, the Palace of Fine Arts, where we were married, one of our favorite places.

I'll spare you the million pictures we took.

Next, it was back to Berkeley. Being at the mercy of the GPS machine, we ended up going right through downtown San Francisco at commute time. It was very interesting, if somewhat slow.

We depended on the GPS machine and my smart phone to find a good restaurant for dinner, also. The first place we went we rejected from the outside, it didn't look too good. But we ended up in Berkeley at a great restaurant, La Mediterranee. Excellent food.

Then, on to our ultimate destination, The Thorsen House! We joined up with our friends, who were also spending the night. They had planned cooking their own dinner in the kitchen there, and we joined them for wine and nibbles.

After a virtually sleepless night (what were we thinking, staying on Frat Row on a Friday night) Saturday morning, the students who live here at the fraternity, made breakfast for us all .

Then, they cleared off the breakfast and got down the real reason for us being there - the board meeting.

Our whirlwind trip was almost over as we made our way back to the airport and flew away from the Bay area in the dark.

Thank you Sigma Phi for allowing us to stay in this treasure of a house.

ON THE JOB INJURY

2011-11-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

I finally talked him into going back to the Salvadorean Bakery in White Center for lunch again. He did not have a pleasant experience there the first time we went. But I had dinner there since and loved the food and wanted to go back.

He was more impressed this time, and we both enjoyed the meal immensely.

Darrell had recently been fighting a bout of tendinitis in his left arm and has not been working in the shop, but catching up on book work and drawings (slowly but surely using his right hand, he's left-handed).

I really wanted to get a sketch of him in his sling.

ON TO THE MEDIUMS

2011-11-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

I finished piecing the light blocks and have moved on to the medium colored blocks on my Connecticut Winter Quilt.

November 27 - 1.5 hours to finish the lights
November 27 - .5 hours cutting and sorting
November 27 - .5 hours starting on the mediums

Total up to date - 41.75 hours

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2011-11-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

We went out for dinner on Darrell's birthday to Endolyne Joe's.

Darrell got a nice phone call from his youngest daughter, Julia, and I caught him on the phone in my sketch.

From where I sat I could see the kitchen, and I noticed one of the chefs had purple hair. I had to include her in my sketch. Boy, she was a dynamo, never standing still. But I think I caught her essence.

Victoria (granddaughter) was pleasant as always, unlike what turned out to be a sour look on her face in my sketch. I don't know where that came from.

I wrote out the words to the Happy Birthday song, showed them to Darrell and told him that was the only singing he'd get from me. I wouldn't even attempt to carry a tune in a bucket (unless I'm in the shower).

PIECING THE LIGHT BLOCKS

2011-11-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I worked on my Connecticut Winter Quilt.

I'm piecing the light colored blocks.

November 13 - 2 hours

BAMBOO GARDEN

2011-11-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

While out and about for the day, Darrell and I stopped for lunch at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant near Seattle Center, Bamboo Garden. Wonderful food, very pleasant hosts, I highly recommend it.

My fortune cookie read, "Your next business venture will be very profitable."

That implies I'm going to start a new business venture....

I'll have to think about that.

QUILT FOR AUCTION

2011-11-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

The employees where I work are having a Silent Auction of donated items to benefit NW Harvest. I rummaged through a box of quilts and came up with this for the cause.

It's a quilt I made in 1998 from a mystery quilt pattern. That's where you receive instructions on what to cut, what to sew together, piece by piece, not knowing what the final pattern will be until you are finished.

I really loved this batik fabric covered with zebras, the colorway is called Chili Pepper. I named the quilt "Chili Pepper Surprise. It is about 56-1/2" by 84". Nice for a lap quilt or to throw over a twin bed.

Chili Pepper Surprise detail

Update: It sold for $125. I'm glad to see it being put to good use, and benefiting NW Harvest, rather than gathering moths in a box somewhere.

100 TINY LITTLE PRINTS

2011-10-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

"Lucy's Morning"

I've mentioned before I follow an online group about Japanese Woodblock Printing, Barenforum.org and that they have organized exchanges. Well, in honor of the 50th Exchange they decided to do a very small format. And it was finally decided to do them in the size of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) 2.5" x 3.5". There was a lot of excitement about the project and we got settled on 100 participants. The usual has been around 35.

It has turned out to be a lot of fun. The hardest for me is picking an image. I settled on an image of Lucy sitting in the sun. It's from a photo I snapped one early morning, and I've always liked it. It has the advantage of having a lot of contrast, which makes it easier to convert into a black and white image.

I wanted to do more than one block, though, more than just black and white. So, I went with grey, black and white, two blocks. Almost as simple as you can get. Registration has always been my nemesis, but it turned out to be a non-issue with such a small print.

Carving the blocks

I carved the blocks from boards of Basswood that Darrell made ready for me.

A pencil rubbing of the first block

I used Nori paste and Daniel Smith Watercolors, Lamp Black and Iridescent Blue Silver (which is Mica and Titanium White), it has little flecks of mica in it and is very interesting.

Daniel Smith Watercolor 'Iridescent Blue Silver'

Adding the pigment to the first block

Paper and baren on the first block

The first block printed.

Beginning the second block with black

Printing the second block with black

I cut out 160 little 2-1/2" by 3-1/2" pieces of paper, 20 of which were Japanese type paper, and the rest were thicker white American style paper (I never write the names down, so I never know what it is). I rejected 50 of them, and am keeping 110. So, I'm calling it an edition of 110. I'll be sending 101 to the Exchange Coordinator. I might send one to my sister Sue, she loves animals.

All printed!

Back of cards

All of them, the pile on the left are going to the Exchange, the smaller pile on the right are the Rejects, those in the back are some of the test prints and the ones I'm keeping.

Ready to go!

SKETCHES FROM CALIFORNIA

2011-10-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

After Darrell went to his booth Saturday morning, I went for a walk. I ended up in Pasadena's Central Park, where I sat at a picnic table next to a man practicing his flute (Christmas songs!) and painted this little watercolor of Castle Green. I don't have enough practice with palm trees. I got frustrated and quit.

Below are a couple of semi-blind contour drawings I sketched quickly before we were served our food.

A couple having lunch at Islands Restaurant

Dinner with Kyle and Gail at El Cholo Cafe. Excellent food and good company.

6th & ROYAL WIP

2011-09-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

I must have been extremely bored today. I actually got out an old painting and started working on it.

No, I don't think it was boredom, as much as wanting to pick up the paintbrush and paint something...anything. And this painting seemed to be the handiest and easiest.

It was already laid out and started. I remember being very tired of painting freeways at the time I set it aside. But, I must say, I really enjoyed myself today. I think I took it in a different direction from where it was originally headed. And I don't think its done yet. But I had a great day.

How it looked before I started.

At the end of the day.

DINNER WITH MIKE AND ADAM

2011-08-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

One of Darrell's old high school buddies was up from California. We met up with Mike and his grown son, Adam, at Endolyne Joe's for dinner. It was such a beautiful night, we ate outside. The food was great, as usual, and we had a nice visit. Mike likes to talk with his hands.
Afterwards, we came back to our house so Darrell could help Mike repair a vintage guitar he had recently acquired.

APWQ 2011 QUILT SHOW

2011-08-26T12:50:00.001-07:00

At the Tacoma Convention Center

The Association of Pacific West Quilters had their semi-annual quilt show in Tacoma, Washington on August 26 - 28.

Being a member I had submitted one of my quilts for inclusion in a special showing of 'Star Quilts'. It was accepted, and I mailed it off to them several weeks ago.

I took the day off work, Friday, to go see it and the show.

I got there rather early and was pleased that it was not crowded and I got a good look at the exhibits and the vendor booths before it started to fill up.

As I entered - hardly anyone there yet.

It was starting to fill up with people

Some of the vendor booths

My quilt is the one of the far left - Mistletoe Mountain.

I was a little disappointed. The space where the special exhibits were was very under-lighted. And they spelled my name wrong on the placard next to my quilt, and they really got it wrong in the catalog. I am now Terri Pearl.

But, it is nice to have the quilt out and about and hopefully being appreciated. When it comes home, it goes back in it's box. Unless, someone wants to buy it.

A COUPLE MORE HOURS

2011-08-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

Still keeping track of hours on my Connecticut Winter Quilt ...

August 2 - 2 hours piecing
August 3 - .75 hours piecing

Total so far - 37.25 hours (but who's counting?)

NICE DAY

2011-07-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Kimberly is spending the weekend with us. We started this beautiful morning by having breakfast at Luna Park Cafe outside in front. Then we meandered around the Admiral District looking for cool things at garage sales, before we went to the first showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part II at Southcenter.

It is an excellent movie! Go see it.

Afterwards, we went to Georgetown for a Teriyaki lunch then perused the Saturday Market there. There are alot of weird and wonderful things to see in Georgetown. Darrell bought some Wenatchee apricots (I haven't heard the verdict on them yet). I bought an interesting little wooden pose-able woman stick-figure for $7. I thought about buying some beads and an African mask that the man wanted too much for. We had some great ice cream bars from Whidbey Ice Cream Company.

We came home for a little while. Kimberly and I went up to the studio and painted a little. She got her hands really dirty playing with my pastels. Then we took Lucy with us and went to the very crowded Waterfront for a fish and chips dinner. We found a parking place right off the bat.

It was a very nice day.

SCOOTER GIRL- WIP

2011-07-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I started on this painting and hated it. The face was horrible. I kept reworking it and reworking it. Children are definitely different and I don't know how to paint them.

I let it sit, covered up. Yesterday I pulled it out and went about it at a different angle. I don't think it's quite done yet... but it's definitely on the right road.

POSTER FOR WHITE CENTER

2011-06-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Recently I was commissioned to paint an image for the White Center Community Development Association's (WC CDA) promotional poster.

I worked with Kathi Wheeler of Noise Without Sound, who is helping the CDA develop a logo and who designed the poster.

It relates back to the Basket Sculpture at the center of White Center. The idea being of weaving a diverse population into a "global village". Hence, the multi-colored reeds in the basket in my painting.

At a recent CDA Meeting the poster was revealed and all of the members attending received a free poster, to hang in their stores or whatever. They asked me to stay a while after the meeting and sign the poster.

I had talked Darrell into making a frame for the painting and presented the framed original to the CDA at the meeting.

There was a reporter there from the West Seattle Herald, he took pictures and wrote an article. You can see that here. Once you open it, you need to click on the picture to see the slide show.

Here's a bad picture of the poster. I need to get it framed.

A QUILT FOR AMELIA

2011-06-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

I had originally had a very dark brown as one of the bricks, but it was too dark. So, I cut it up and stripe-pieced some fabrics together and then cut that into bricks. I like it a lot better now.

Here's the label:

I actually dyed some flannel for this quilt. I actually sewed the flannel - that's a first. I don't like flannel.

When I showed my sister Julie this picture - she reminded me that she had told me the baby's colors were pink and chocolate. I had only remembered the pink.

So, I made another trip to the store, bought more flannel and dyed some browns and a really interesting pink tie-dyed. I bought some browns and a printed brown to hurry things along, which was good, because my dark brown looked too much like 'camouflage' and I didn't use it. I even started over with a different focus fabric that ended up on the back.

It all worked out.

And now I have an extra baby quilt - do you know anyone that needs it?

This is the Welcome Quilt:

SKETCHBOOK PROJECT IN SEATTLE

2011-06-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

The Sketchbook Project was in town for a few days at the Form/Space Gallery downtown Seattle.

Somewhere in all this is my Sketchbook:

Just to give you an idea:

Here's a YouTube link that someone made about going to one of the exhibits.

Here's another one - this one in Seattle...

BIRTHDAY BOUQUET SCARFS

2011-05-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

My husband gave me a dozen red roses for my birthday, and after I enjoyed them for a few days, I smashed them into a scarf:

Petals before going thru Press

Petals after going thru Press

The finished 12-Rose scarf

I also got a mixed bouquet. I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't. The bouquet consisted of purple daisies (I think they were dyed - that is the brilliant pinks at the ends of the scarf),pink carnations, white chrysanthemums, and a yellow rose.

I arranged them, and then smashed them!

Birthday Bouquet Scarf

Now I can have my birthday flowers forever!

Detail of Birthday Bouquet Scarf

A BABY QUILT

2011-05-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

MORE HOURS

2011-05-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Still keeping track of my Connecticut Winter Quilt hours -

May 10 - 1.5 hours
May 11 - .75 hours

Total hours to date - 34.50 hours

PROCESS PHOTOS OF WEAVER

2011-05-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

CAMP HUSTON RETREAT

2011-04-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

I packed up all my sewing stuff - my machine and tools, packed up the stuff for my Snitzels and my Connecticut Winter Quilt and headed north to spend a few days with the Snitzel gals at Camp Huston.

There's a large room where everyone set up their 'stuff' and set about working on Snitzels, quilts and whatever, long into the night (and in my case, early in the morning).

I mostly worked on my quilt - put a lot of hours in.

Everyone spread out their stuff and got busy working

There were even demos

My space over by the window

I couldn't sit and sew all day, so I went out for walks in the beautiful surrounding woods (rain forest).

April 27 - piecing 1 hour

April 28 - piecing 2.5 hours
April 28 - piecing 2.25 hours
April 28 - piecing 2 hours

April 29 - piecing 1 hour
April 29 - piecing 6.5 hours
April 29 - piecing 1 hour

Oh, my aching butt...

Total hours, so far - 32.25 hours (still making lots of little blocks)

KEEPING TRACK OF HOURS

2011-04-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

Cutting fabric and sewing on my Connecticut Winter Quilt and keeping track of the hours...

April 16 - cutting 5.5 hours

April 22 - sewing 1 hour

April 25 - sorting and cutting 1.5 hours

April 26 - piecing 1.5 hours

Total all together so far - 16 hours

CUTTING MORE FABRIC

2011-04-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

I cut the rest of the fabric up. The next step is to sew some of it together. Then I'll re-cut the blocks.

Time today - 1.5 hours

Total hours - 12 hours

CONNECTICUT WINTER QUILT STARTS

2011-04-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm starting on a new quilt and this time I'm going to keep track of how many hours I put in. People are always asking me how long it takes to make a quilt, and I never have an answer. So, now maybe we'll get some idea. I know a lot depends on the complexity and size. But, I think this quilt is pretty average for what I usually do.

So far, I've got about a day into buying fabrics. Should we count that? If I was in this to make money, I'd have to factor it in, as my time is worth money.

I've got receipts for the fabric - do I want to know the total I spent? Should I put it out here where everyone can see what I spent? Okay, here it is: I managed to spend $328.42 in the six quilt shops I went to in Connecticut. You can see my Connecticut Shopping Spree at http://terrypeart.blogspot.com/2011/03/shopping-spree-in-connecticut.html

I've got pretty near 30 yards of fabric, so I'll have some leftovers. But, I also will need fabric for the backing, and I'll need batting. I'll use some of the leftovers for the back, but I don't want the back to be all the same fabrics as the front.

I've been thinking about what pattern to use off and on for months and one pattern kept coming back up over and over. So, I'm going with it. I spent about a half hour doing some drawing and figuring and then started cutting. I cut fabric for four hours, then I had to stop because it was dog-dinner time and Lucy was insistent that we go in the house. And besides, my arm was getting very tired.

Hours at this point:

Shopping 6 hours

Figuring .5 hours

Cutting 4 hours

Total 10.5 hours and counting.

HOW TO MAKE QUILT BINDING

2011-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

I make great quilt binding. I learned how to do it years ago, and am amazed at how many quiltmakers don't know how easy it is. So here it is, step-by-step.

Start with about 3/4 of a yard of good quality quilter's cotton fabric. Cut off the selvages and cut a 45 degree angle across the fabric, from selvage to selvage (or where they used to be). Somewhere in the middle, it doesn't really matter. Line the 45 degree line on your ruler with the bottom edge of the fabric. You may have to use two rulers to go from edge to edge. If so, line them up precisely and be very careful when you cut by where they meet. You don't want to run your blade into the corner of the ruler.

Here is how it should look after you cut the 45 degree angle:

If you cut your fabric face-up (which I didn't) then you can flip one side over on top of the other and line up the straight sides, right sides together. Like this:

Take them to your machine and sew a quarter-inch seam allowance along that straight side:

Press seam open. This is very important. All the seams in a binding must be pressed open. It helps to eliminate the bulk.

At this point you should have a large parallelogram. The top and bottom are straight, and the right and left sides are at a 45 degree angle, going the same way.

Back at your large table, using your see-thru ruler, make a line using any kind of marking tool. I usually use a pencil, ink pen or Pigma marker. It really doesn't matter, because you are marking a cutting line and it will not be seen. But it needs to stay on until you cut and be easy-to-see. Starting on one of the diagonal sides make lines 2-1/4" apart all the way across to the other side. I like my bindings tight, if you want yours bigger or looser then make your marks 2-1/2" apart:

When you reach the other side and can't fit another line on, cut off the excess where you would have made your line:

If you look really hard at this photo, you can see the pencil lines, 2-1/4" apart across the whole piece:

Okay, here's the weirdest part. Now we are going to sew right-sides-together on the long straight sides, making a tube of sorts. BUT! When we line up the sides, slide one side over by one marked row. So, you want to put a pin, 1/4" (seam allowance) down from the edge, through the marked line one the front piece and into the marked line on the other piece, in back, down 1/4" right through the line. Do this for each line. When you are done, the last line should be right at the end of the other fabric end:

And, you will have a twisted, odd shaped tube of sorts:

Sew a 1/4" seam allowance along where you just pinned. You are seaming together two bias edges, so it will be stretchy. Be gentle, and do not stretch or tug. The seam will gently curve around, but you'll hardly notice:

Sew right up to the pin before you remove it:

When finished you will have an odd tube-shaped thingy. Press open the seam you just sewed. This is tricky, you don't want to press unwanted lines into the rest of the tube. Take your time and turn and straighten the tube as you go:

Okay, now the tedious part, cutting it apart. You can't use a rotary cutter. Get out your good old Ginghers. Start cutting on the line you drew. Since you offset it by one row, it is now on big long continuous line. And around and around you go:

Cut and cut and cut some more.

Back at the ironing board, fold the strip in half, wrong sides together, and iron the whole long thing. Again, keeping in mind that this is now all bias-cut and very stretchy. Do not stretch it out of shape.

You now have enough binding for a large quilt, a queen-sized anyway. When you start the binding on the quilt, leave about a 12" tail to facilitate when joining up the other end, once you come around. It usually doesn't matter where you start on the quilt with a normal binding. Put the raw side of the binding on the outside edge of the quilt sandwich on the topside and sew it on using a walking foot and sewing 1/4" from the edge. On my walking foot, that means the outside edge is actually hanging off the edge a little bit. Throw all that binding into the middle of the quilt (it helps to have enough table to support all that quilt) and here we go:

When you get to a corner, sew up to 1/4" from the edge and stop and backstitch a few stitches.

Take your needle out and remove the quilt from under the foot. You don't have to cut the threads. Turn the quilt to the next edge.

Fold the binding up and away from you. It will make a 45 degree angle on the corner of the quilt. Finger press that perfect little angle in there.

Then fold the binding down, back towards you, so the fold lines up with the top edge of the quilt. This is critical, not too much, not too little. You want it to line up right on the edge.

Then start sewing, 1/4" from the edge and 1/4" from the top. Take a stitch or two and then backstitch. Continue on your way.

You will have three more corners to practice on. After the fourth corner, judge how far it is to where you started. Sew up to a point where you are leaving at least 6 to 12" inches from the end of the tail you left loose at the beginning. Here you will need to stop, remove the quilt from the machine and figure out how to join the ends.

I was in a hurry and didn't take the last few pictures, so you are on your own.

After you get the binding all sewn on, then iron it over, all the way around. Don't mess with the corners, though.

Then working from the back hand-sew the binding down. I use cotton thread and a good straw needle. Use no more than a 24" section of thread. You can start anywhere on the quilt, it doesn't matter. But, may I suggest you start after a corner, so you have a long way to your first corner and get the stitching down to a science before you get there.

I work differently than most. I sew towards myself. There are valid reasons for this. I think it's more ergonomically correct and it's easier to see where your needle is going.

(These instructions are for right-handers, and yes I know how frustrating this is to lefties, my husband being one).
So, with the edge of the quilt on your left, put your knotted thread through the quilt back under where the binding will cover it. I go in, come out and then knot the thread again to the back (all under where the binding will go. Then come up through the back of the binding, just catching a few of the threads on the edge. Make sure the binding is starting out straight and flat and then put your thread straight down into the backing, through the quilt and come up a fat eighth of an inch closer to you. Then up through the binding catching, again, just a few of the threads of the edge. Then straight down into the back...etc.

When you come to a corner, continue sewing the binding down, straight out to the edge. At this point I put another knot in, even though I have thread left on my neeedle, and then continue sewing with that thread.

Turn the quilt over and come up on the front, and put 2 to 3 stitches in to hold the mitered corner together.

Then flip back over to the back, fold the binding and make your mitered corner as good as you can before you take any stitches. Use your needle to help push the fabric underneath back and flat. Place 2 to 3 stitches along the miter and then continue on your way around the quilt. You'll have three more corners to get it right!

When you come to the end of your thread, come up under the binding and knot it off in the backing. Leave the tail, as it will be hidden under the binding. Re-thread your needle and knot it and anchor it into the backing under the binding again. And off you go.

Have fun.

DENVER QUILT QUILTED

2011-04-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's quilted. All the pins are out, and back in their jar. And I trimmed off the excess batting - I hate all that fuzz.

PAINTING?

2011-04-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Covering up the white. Yes, it's quite a change. I'm doing it while the husband is out of town. He'll be surprised.

Well, maybe not now.

CHANNEL QUILTING

2011-04-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

You know, you have to shove half of the quilt through the 'keyhole' when you get to the middle...

But, I'm half way done!

OKAY - I STARTED QUILTING IT

2011-04-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

MAKING A QUILT SANDWICH

2011-04-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

A quilt isn't really a quilt until it's quilted.

And first, you have to take the top, the batting, and the back and make a quilt sandwich.

And to do that, you need a clean floor - since I don't have a table big enough.

Here's the studio before:

I moved it all away and cleaned the floor:

Then you put the back face down, and tape it taut:

Then smooth down the batting:

Then smooth and straight the top:

Then pour out the pins and start pinning it all together:

It's a large quilt, and I don't particularly like pinning quilts so I asked Lucy if she would help....she just kept sleeping, like she didn't even hear me:

After it's all pinned, you cut away the excess:

I picked it up, shook it off, folded it up and put it on the table. It's ready to quilt. It's technically still not a quilt, but just a quilt sandwich. I will quilt it on my machine. But, that's another project.

It's on the table, it's in the way - that will be motivation to finish it!

BACK FINISHED

2011-04-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

The back is finished! It's too large to photograph. Here it is on the ironing table.

HANDMADE LABEL

2011-03-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Using my lightbox, I inked the label, onto a piece of the lightest hand-dyed fabric, using Prismacolor Pigma pens.

THREE QUARTERS OF A BACK

2011-03-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

No this is not about football.

The bottom half is done.

Today I got the left side of the top done.

It gets difficult to handle when it gets this big. But...the bigger it gets the sooner it's done.

HALF A BACK

2011-03-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

I got a little less than half of the quilt back done. I pinned that part to the bottom of the work wall. It's the part from the leftover-block-row down.

I put the rest of the plain squares up and just moved them around a little to get the basic layout of the colors. I need to tweak it still, I see.

I reorganized all the leftover pieces so I can find them easier.

Then, I went to work on a different project.

I'll be back.

BACK FOR DENVER QUILT

2011-03-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

I redid the fabrics, this time reading the directions first. Always a good idea.

Just as a reminder - here's a comparison from the first batch:

I cut up the fabrics and started putting them up on the wall:

I came back the next day with the realization that I didn't have enough fabric. I have a lot of scraps leftover from the top. So, I started adding them. I'm stuck in a grid. That's how my mind works, I guess. I like grids. Besides, we've been talking and thinking about maps lately.

I sewed all the extra blocks together in one long row and stuck it up in the middle. Then I started on the upper left and started sewing things together. There's a lot of blank spots to fill up yet.

LUNCH AT THE FIVE SPOT (First Time!)

2011-03-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

First time we've ever had lunch at the Five Spot on Queen Anne. We had to wait about 20 minutes, but it was worth it. The theme was "Tornado Alley". There was some great art on the walls, including a great painting of a lonely road with a Spam billboard and the most beautiful clouds. There was a painting of Dorothy and the Witch, and there were photos of tornadoes all over. There was even a twirling sculpture of a tornado in the middle of the restaurant. For dessert you could get "The Flying Monkey" with chocolate, caramel, banana cream and nuts. We resisted.

VALENTINE FINISHED?

2011-03-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

This painting has been on my easel since February. I've been messing with it off and on since. If you look at the progress pictures you'll see I was not happy with it for a while.

So, I've been puttering. I added some colored paper, then added some actual petals from the roses.

I had to abandon it for a time while I worked one week, then we went out of town for a week, then it was back to work for a week. By that time the roses were long dead and Darrell had taken the black board I was using in the composition for it's intended purpose. Needless to say, I was working without reference.

This week I got out my pastels and used those - then I sealed the pastels in with matte medium - which changed the colors. But, it added some interesting texture and I found the medium will 'melt' the pastels and you can use them as paint.

So, here it is, finished (or not). This is this year's Valentine's Day Flower painting, as is.

Ten roses - ten years.

BACKING FABRIC FOR DENVER QUILT

2011-03-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted to dye my own fabric for the back of the busy Denver quilt.

I got out this great new book I got recently -

Great book, but I didn't read all of the important parts before I started so....

I thought I was using an awful lot of dye....

I was! After I had the fabric in the bags with the dye solution, it looked a little darker than I wanted. So, I went back and read the directions. Oops.

The fabrics turned out beautiful, but they are not what I wanted.

So, today, I actually read the instructions and then started again. I will post the results tomorrow.

DENVER QUILT TOP FINISHED

2011-03-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Finished sewing the rows, and sewing the rows together today. Tomorrow I'll start on the back.

See progress photos at:
http://terrypeart.blogspot.com/search?q=denver

RABBITS ON THE RUN

2011-03-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

I went to a local Stamp Collecting Shop and bought a bunch of old unused stamps and went a little nuts on my Rabbit postcards. I figured they needed some added value.

Good luck on your journey Rabbits!

See progress photos here:

http://terrypeart.blogspot.com/2011/02/year-of-rabbit.html

DENVER QUILT ON THE WALL

2011-03-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

Putting blocks on the wall and moving them around...

SHOPPING SPREE IN CONNECTICUT

2011-03-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

We went to Boston and then Manchester, Connecticut. Darrell was teaching a class in Manchester (Boston was the vacation part of the trip). While he was busy making money (that paid for the trip) I was on my own for two days. So, I went fabric shopping with the intent being to make a quilt commemorating the trip.

As I drove around, from quilt shop to quilt shop, I looked at the scenery and absorbed the colors. Then while buying fabric, I tried to buy prints and colors that reflected what I saw.

I must say, the GPS machine made my mission so much easier. I just programmed all of the quilt shop addresses into it, hit the 'optimize' button. It reorganized them, and then I just drove where it told me to go. I was on a lot of secondary roads and saw some wonderful scenery.

When I took these pictures I was trying to capture the colors of the landscape.

First stop, Quilters Dream in Willimantic, CT.

It was a very nice shop set in an old house on a corner of what appeared to be a main street. They have a great selection of fabrics, books, lots of patterns and sample quilts on the walls. This is where I picked my 'focus fabric' - a fabric I would use to take into the other quilt stores and try to pull colors from. I picked a fabric that was a little vintage looking and I also grabbed a group of 8 fat quarters that are reminiscent of 'Colonial'. I was thinking I'd try to reflect some of the history of the area also. Below is the fabric, the large piece across the bottom is the focus fabric.

Oh, and I'll add that I bought a yard of the focus fabric, everything else will be half yards, except for the set of 'vintage' fabrics, which are fat quarters (on the left).

Next stop was in Glastonbury, Close to Home Sewing Center.

I was a little worried when I saw the outside of this place in a strip mall. But inside, I was pleasantly surprised. The front of the store is dedicated to Home Dec and selling blinds. But, the rear of the store is a wonderful selection of quilting fabrics. The people working there were very friendly and helpful. I found a collection of William Morris fabrics that I had a hard time keeping my hands off - but I did find three that fit into the theme. It is a great store and here is what I bought there:

Next stop didn't fit into the quilt shop category, but when planning this online I took what I found. I didn't realize until I walked into the store at Rocky Hill. It is called Affordable Fabrics, and that's probably because everything in the store is only $1.99! See the sign in the window on the left?

The catch is you have to buy one yard minimum. They have mostly fashion fabrics, but I did find a few cottons I could live with and one questionable one, but I love the colors, it's the one on the right below.

Next up is Lisa's Clover Hill Quilts in Berlin. Berlin Connecticut, that is.

Another great quilt store with a very nice selection of fabrics, I had a hard time controlling myself. She has a great selection of batiks. I wanted to get more than I did, but I don't know if batiks go with colonial...? Here's what I limited myself to:

The next stop seemed a little farther off than the rest, it's in Simsbury. It was a lovely drive out there and there are these fantastic looking huge Sycamore trees lining the street as I got near the shop. They were so beautiful, silver and white, and majestic.

The quilt shop, Sew Inspired, is located inside a small shopping mall which is mostly restaurants. It's a wonderful store, they have a very fine selection of fabrics. I think I'm getting farther from 'colonial' and more towards what I like.

The people were very nice and gave me a shopping bag with the store's name on it. They said I was the customer that had traveled the farthest that day! And it's a good thing they did, because there wasn't room in the suitcase for all this fabric and I ended up carrying it all home in the bag!

That was all my travels for Saturday, but Sunday there was one more shop, in Vernon called Quilting By The Yard.

This place was something else. It has a really fantastic selection of fabrics, but they are all over the place. They are leaning against the racks, lined up out into the aisle ways, making it hard to maneuver around or see anything for that matter. They have a huge selection of batiks, but they were all disheveled every which way. The gal said it was because they were on sale (20% off) and people had been buying them like crazy. But, all the shelves of the other fabrics were the same way. While I was there I wanted so badly to start straightening things up! Old habits, I guess! I even thought about asking them if I could hang and just put things away, but decided against it - they'd think I was just nuts. Don't get me wrong - I loved the store and highly recommend it. It's just quirky. I think I found more to buy here than anywhere!

Well, that's my fabric frenzied weekend. Stay tuned for the Connecticut Quilt updates. Already there are ideas buzzing around my head.

SKETCHES IN BOSTON

2011-03-08T19:29:00.000-08:00

PIECES BANNER

2011-02-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

I had a Quilt Shop in Renton, on Burnett Street.

I opened it in 1996 and sold it in 2000 and it moved to the Fred Meyer Center.

It closed this week.

I received the banner I had made back in 1996 in the mail today. It was a pleasant, yet sad, surprise. This banner was used in our booth when we would take the store to events, such as quilt shows. It has seen it all and holds the memories of the store. It represents my dream, the hard work of a lot of people, many of them my family, and the good times and bad times.

Thank you to all who helped make the dreams come true and thank you to all who patronized the store over the years.

This banner is an odd shape, it's about 3' high and 7' long. Not useful as a quilt or a wallhanging, and it's not great art. But, I love it and want to keep it. I want to turn it into a bone fide quilt, something I can use and maybe when I'm gone, something that someone else can appreciate and want to keep.

I told my sister Sue I was going to take it apart and slash it up and add to it and turn it into a quilt and she was sort of upset! She thinks I should keep it just as is. I told my sister Julie my plan, she didn't sound too upset, so I asked her what she thought. She said, it was my quilt store, my dream, my banner and I should do what I wanted with it.

I'm going to think about it for a while.

What do you think?

EAVESDROPPING AT LUNCH

2011-02-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

While at lunch at Eats Cafe, I was fascinated by this guy's looks and mannerisms. I had to sketch him. This is more of a portrait, very little blind-contour. I loved his cowboy-plaid shirt with the pearl snaps. But, I couldn't really capture that with this little drawing. He was talking about selling real estate - condos on Beach Drive. So I titled this "Realtor".

YEAR OF THE RABBIT

2011-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

This was the first time I used Darrell's new carving tool - is it cheating? It wasn't as fun, but it is accurate. Too much sawdust - I prefer chips.

ZIPPY'S BURGERS OLD PLACE

2011-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

Had to get a sketch of the old Zippy Burgers before it moves to it's new digs.

The place is camp, crowded and frenetic! You place your order, then stand around until it's ready because there are only two tables, and they are always filled. Consider yourself lucky if there's even room to stand! The staff is on the ball and going full bore. So...I didn't have time to paint it in - maybe next time we'll be able to get a table.

Best burgers in town, too.

VALENTINE'S DAY FLOWERS

2011-02-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of discussion about Negative Space lately. So that's where I started with this year's Valentine's Day flowers from my husband.

I set aside two of the dozen, because....this is our 10th Anniversary together, and so I wanted to paint just ten roses.

I started with a pre-painted canvas. I usually just scrub the paint that's left in my palette onto a canvas. This canvas has been around awhile. And then just to complicate things, I decided to use a palette knife (which I'm not very proficient with) instead of brushes.

First I painted the background around the composition with white:

Then the black:

I really liked it.

I went for a walk, went out to lunch with my husband, came back and lost my mind. To heck with that palette knife - that was too difficult. So I pulled out some small brushes and 'painted'.

I hate it.

I should have stopped while I was ahead!

I left it for the day. Maybe I can fix it tomorrow.

OUR ANNIVERSARY

2011-02-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

Darrell and I spent the day out for our 10th Anniversary. [Congratulations to us!] We had lunch at the Antique Sandwich Shop in Tacoma, near the Port Defiance Park. We went later to Wild Wheat in Kent for dessert, but it was sooo good, I didn't sketch it!

But, they were so rich we couldn't finish them and took them home.

TODAY'S SKETCH

2011-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

At our usual lunch place, I quickly sketched these guys. The man was one of the fidgety-est people I've ever tried to draw!

MIGHTY MO

2011-02-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I participated in a printmaking project, Prints of the Periodic Table of Elements. Organized by Jenn Schmitt of Massachusetts.
http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/

All of the prints are now on exhibit in Philadelphia at the Chemical Heritage Foundation: "Elemental Matters: Artists Imagine Chemistry."

Wish I could go!
Here's a link to some photos she took of the exhibit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/azuregrackle/sets/72157625858725641

I requested and was granted element 42 Molybdenum.

Those of you who know me well will know why I picked this one. It was irresistible to me for several reasons and I'm so pleased I was able to represent it.

This is a linoleum cut, hand tinted. I only made a few and sent the best one to Jenn.

PROGRESS ON DENVER QUILT

2011-01-19T16:53:00.001-08:00

Over 240 blocks made all with an inset seam and there's still fabric left!

DINNER OUT

2011-01-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

With nothing in the kitchen, we started discussing our options. I suggested Mike's BBQ, or Proletariat Pizza which is just down the street from Mike's. He agreed to Mike's BBQ, saying he's pizza-ed-out. So, off we went to Mike's.

After parking a half a block away and walking up to it, we see the lights are out and there's a sign reading, "Closed for Repairs". Dang.

So, we went for the pizza, a little ways further up the block (my favorite anyway).

While waiting for the pizza, he checks his Facebook - Mike's BBQ just posted that they were open and a warm place to stop into for dinner. Ha! Darrell commented back, "We stopped by to warm up, but you were closed. Brrrr."

The clincher - as we walked back to the car, Mike's lights were back on and there were people inside.

I guess it was my night for pizza.

I love Proletariat Pizza.

DAY OFF!

2011-01-12T16:53:00.000-08:00

We played hooky today and went to SAM to see the Picasso Show before it leaves town.

Picasso - Portrait of Dora Maar - 1937

Then we went out to lunch...

then, a little shopping before we came back home and I went up to the studio to play with the leftover pattern I used for my last project, Winter Stand, and messed around with collage (which I hardly ever do)!

SAME SKETCH DIFFERENT DAY

2011-01-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Same setup, different day, different restaurant - Luna Park.

NEW SKETCH BOOK BEGINS

2011-01-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

I got a new sketchbook (because I mailed the other one back to Art Co-op House). And I indulged in a new setup for my watercolors. A really cool box from Daniel Smith. Love it! It comes with empty pans and you put your own colors in it.

http://www.danielsmith.com/Item--i-E-DSTravel

WINTER STAND

2011-01-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

NEW NOODLE PLACE

2010-12-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

48 LITTLE TREES

2010-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

My Christmas cards for 2010 are ready to be mailed out.

MORE GLUING

2010-12-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

I spent some of the morning and a few hours in the afternoon gluing the insides into the card.

SKETCHING AT A RESTAURANT NOT CALLED RASPUTIN'S

2010-12-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

We didn't look at the name of this restaurant in the U-district as we went in...so we named it Rasputin's. It was a place we've driven by many times, but never went in.

The service was friendly, but very, very slow. The food was great, and almost everything, sandwiches included, was available gluten-free. Oh, happy day.

We will be returning.
What's funny is I usually only give myself the time from when we sit down until the food arrives to sketch the semi-blind contour drawing and paint it. I was done with this waaaay before the food arrived!

SKETCHING AT TOM YUM KOONG

2010-12-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

It was raining cats and dogs. I tried to show that in this sketch and realized - I don't know how!

THREAD DECORATING

2010-12-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

CUTTING PAPER INSIDES

2010-12-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

I printed the insides and cut them out today. I got some of them glued in.

Still lots left to do.

Still working on decorating the trees.

GLUING

2010-11-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

Using 'Yes' I glued most of the trees to the cool card stock I bought at Paper Zone. I went with my husband to the woodworking store the other day and right next to it was the Paper Zone. I said, "I'm gonna run in there and get some stuff." I must have been taking too long because he eventually came in to see what I was doing. I asked him what he thought about the color of the cards I had in my hand. He didn't like it. He thought it was too lime-green, which it is. But, I thought it would work great with my trees, which it does.