My sister and brother-in-law, Christy and Marshall, were visiting from Boulder City, NV last week. During their visit we took a road trip to visit a winery they particularly enjoy — Van Ruiten Winery is in Lodi, about 1 1/2 hours from the Bay Area. Our mild winter weather made the trip easy and very […]
Blog
Win Dell’Ario’s TRUE COLORS Exhibit
I love going to solo exhibits of art quilts. I get a chance to see a body of work by one artist and that can be revealing, surprising and — did I mention fun? The only thing better is when I know the artist. I slipped under the wire for seeing this exhibit advertised as […]
Skill Building with Jenny Lyon
I’m always interested in learning new quilting designs and generally building my free-motion quilting skills. Jenny Lyon — quilter extraordinaire, teacher and friend — teaches at several quilt shops in the Sacramento area. I asked her to come to my home to share her skills with a small group. My friends Aileyn, Jean, Dolores and […]
Lesson 3: Pen with Continuous Line Drawing
This lesson focuses on drawing with the pen only (no pencil sketch!) straight on the paper with no lifting of the pen. Yikes! This was scary for me. But Jane explained that this can be a very freeing kind of drawing, allowing for quick work that produces a more loose, wonky image that tends to […]
Lesson Two: Green
Let’s face it — there are more possibilities for mixing the color green than I can assign a number to. Understanding that means it’s no mystery why Jane devotes an entire lesson to just doing that. For this weeks’ sketching exercise I selected three different green leaves from the yard. After sketching each leaf, I […]
Broken Color
I spent all day Wednesday hanging out with three friends — Denise Oyama Miller, Aileyn Ecob and Jean Jurgenson — learning a design technique new to three of us. Last year Aileyn and Jean said they wanted to learn about the technique Denise uses in some of her art quilts. She calls it broken color […]
Another sketch
The Buddha Hand may have been a bit ambitious of me. Who am I kidding? It was very ambitious of me. I’ll have other chances to come back to this fruit. For now, Jane is moving us on to lettuce. This has been a fast week!
G is for Gray
Not so long ago I was distracted by dryer lint and started running amok. That first sidetracked adventure turned into a successful (by my standards) landscape postcard — affectionately known as the Lint Landscape. Well, the adventure continued and here I feel I should explain. My fabric postcard trading group Postmark’d Art is in the […]
Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style
Well, I won’t be taking commissions any time soon, but I’m tickled with what I’ve been able to do with my first two attempts at sketching and watercolor. This week we are working on FRUIT in Jane LaFazio‘s class. Here’s what I did on Wednesday after I completely read the directions and got myself all […]
Skill Building
Last month I posted a question to the members of Postmark’d Art about which pens they liked the most for writing on fabric. The conversation became quite lively as members shared their experiences with a number of pens. Sarah Ann Smith said she was quite happy with a set of pens purchased for an on-line […]
Buddha Hand Harvest
My first harvest from the tree — so exciting! They are ripe and beautiful. They measure about 5″ long and the same width. Don’t you just love the color? I wish you could smell them. YUM! They have their own distinctive aroma and taste. If you run across these at your local farmer’s market, be […]
Mini Stockings Finished
Here are 12 of the 14 stockings I completed. As the final stitches were being done, my mind turned to the possible uses for these little charmers. Naturally they will be wonderful on the Christmas tree. But how about using them on your holiday table? Or hanging them on a door? Or attaching them to […]
Mini Stockings: Work in Progress
I had more fun than the law will allow yesterday putting the final decorative stitches on the applique designs for the mini stockings. (See my earlier posting about the start of this project and the book I’m using.) Next up is assembly — and with 14 of these little cuties to finish, I’m very glad […]
More Lint
Remember the lint landscape from December? I had some lint left over so I felted it. This time I tried something new: I felted it directly to fast2fuse, the double-sided fusible stiff interfacing I use for my fabric postcards. One of my postcard-trading buddies in Postmark’d Art mentioned that she does this. It […]
The Winter Garden
I took a little stroll in the back yard this past Sunday. Though most plants in my garden are saving their energy for the big spring party, there are a few show offs this time of year. My wall of climbing camellia is filling in nicely If these big, frothy blossoms can’t put a smile […]
Christmas 2012: Planning Ahead
You read that right. Just last month I was thrilled to take the tree down on December 26th. For me, when it’s over, it’s over. But I also had such a wonderful Christmas Day with friends at our house that I’m already thinking about Christmas 2012. So. . .when I joined friends this last Saturday […]
The Chop Challenge
Last week there was quite a buzz among the Postmark’d Art group about Chops. No, not the kind you eat, the kind you use to sign your art. Jane Davila had a wonderful story she shared about obtaining one while she was teaching in Korea earlier this year. That prompted the question of where one […]
A Clean Slate
This is the time when so many make resolutions, only to set themselves up for disappointment. My friend Suzanne Kistler makes two lists at the beginning of a new year: the first list is of the quilts she completed in the previous year; the second is a list of goals for the new year. I […]
Inspired Gifting
It’s always nice to know that you have inspired someone to action through your own actions. Well. . . almost always. Just before coming to my home for Christmas dinner, my friend Shari discovered her lint trap was full of pink lint. Remembering my recent post on needlefelting my own dryer lint (be sure to […]
Merry Christmas to All
May the beauty of Christmas surround us… May the wonder of Christmas astound us… May the gladness of Christmas delight us… May the Spirit of Christmas unite us.
Maple Print
I played with quite a few possibilities for thread painting the final maple leaf prints. I wanted a clear contrast to the weight and value thread I had used the first time around. I chose two threads: a dark navy and a 1960’s green (think Laugh In, mini skirts and Goldie Hawn), both 60 wt. […]
Slow Down
I’m hearing this from several sources — Simon Sinek recently posted an article entitled “Go Slow” and Jenny Lyon talked about slowing down in a class I hosted recently. Simon addressed the subject as a life-style issue. Jenny was referring to the peddle-to-the-metal approach for quilting. Her experience has taught her that if she wants […]
Lint Landscape
The Lint Landscape is done! And I’m quite pleased with it. It seems to have a nice structure, movement and a bit of whimsy. Click on image for a larger view. Whodathunk that a mundane weekly task like laundry could lead to the creation of art? I’ll admit that needle felting has been […]
Distracted by Dryer Lint
I cleaned out my lint trap the other day and couldn’t throw it out. You see, I usually toss the lint so frequently that I don’t have much to toss. Thanks to my recent slovenliness in this area, I had a nice 1/4″ deep pile of lint in an interesting shade of gray. Well, one […]
Sun Print – Work in Progress
When the paint has dried — I use Setacolor Transparent paint — the fun begins. This print is 17″ x 22″. I always enjoy the surprises: the effect of the rock salt, my last-minute decision to add some muddy brown paint here and there, the variation of the blue. When my friend Jennifer […]
Atmospheric Snow
Oh the weather outside is frightful, but this blog is sooo delightful Until the internet gets slow, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! No, it isn’t actually snowing in Oakland, CA. I couldn’t resist sharing a bit of holiday cheer thanks to the clever folks at WordPress. They even supplied the poem. […]
Buddha Progress
Here’s an update on the progress of the two large Buddha Hand fruits on my tree. I should be harvesting them this month. They will be candied and used in future jam recipes.
Grandma’s Legacy
I’ve been fortunate to receive a few pieces of my grandmother’s fine hand work. Not necessarily things I would make for myself, they are nonetheless, a treasured legacy from a woman who influenced me deeply. Hilda Elizabeth Packer Preston lived with my family for 10 years — my ages 3 – 13 — and it […]
One-Sentence Journaling
Late in 2009 I learned about a woman who began keeping a one-sentence journal in an attempt to capture highlights of her life on a regular basis. I thought it was a great idea and something I could commit to. For ease, I decided to keep it on my computer and augment the written journal […]
Wordless Wednesday
