Dye Me to the Moon

CHIAPAS - PART TWO

2012-02-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

I am back home now and spin-drying the full color memories of my trip to Chiapas. These are guaranteed to be color-fast, not to fade easily.

We were on the go each of our twelve days, either on our own, roaming the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas, or with our guide, Alex(www.cieloytierratours.com), exploring the ruins,

or the villages, or popular “water” spots: Sumidero Canyon, Agua Azul or El Chiflon.

Since Chiapas provides 35-50% (two different figures I heard…take your pick!) of Mexico’s hydroelectric power, you can imagine how much water there is in this southernmost state of Mexico. Supposedly the rainy season is from May through October, which adds up to big rivers, big waterfalls, BIG water. And with big water comes amazing GREEN, particularly in the lower elevations.

Most amazing were our visits to the indigenous communities. With Alex we felt comfortable, rather than intrusive gringas. Under his direction, we put our cameras away, and tried to respect these villagers' requests to not be "in their faces” with our pushy western ways. San Juan de Chamula was the most unique village and certainly the strongest in their desire to retain their culture.

They have created their own religion (within the structure of the Catholic Church) and use this building as a gathering place for worshipping in their own way. The priests have been kicked out (except for baptisms) and it is common to see healers of all types at work, along with hundreds of candles burning (different colors for different requests),
pox and coca-cola being consumed (burping up coke is a way to rid oneself of the bad), groups or individuals chatting, all dressed in indigenous clothing that is the norm. As I said before, it was like stepping back in time.

All throughout these Mayan lands (from the Yucatan down to Honduras) there are many ruins of ancient sites. On this trip we visited three: Palenque, Tonina, and Tenam Puente.

To imagine what these sites must have been like 12 or 13 hundred years ago, with their incredible architecture and connection to the planets and the stars, seasons and their mathematical mastery is truly mind-boggling.

Another interesting aspect of this area was the recent revolution of the Zapatistas against the government. We saw two good movies on these revolutionary events that began in 1994, and although there is little that we witnessed on our trip besides signage along the roadsides and souvenirs in the shops, I believe it’s not over yet. The government has been more responsive to the Chiapanecans, but there’s a long way to go for the indigenous people to have their basic needs met.

Our travels in Chiapas once again confirmed that we are living in a truly amazing country with gracious people, fascinating history, and interesting culture. We never felt unsafe, as the northern media would like travelers to question. Go, visit, travel, search and find. All of Mexico is a jewel, waiting to be discovered.

CHIAPAS - PART ONE

2012-01-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

I've been in Chiapas for almost a week now. Along with seven girlfriends from my Mexican home in Mazatlan, we arrived last Saturday and have been busy, busy, busy from our very first day. We've had a mix of free exploration throughout the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas and guided tours throughout the surrounding area with our wonderful guide, Alex. (www.cieloytierratours.com) If I could describe my experience so far, I would say I have been a time traveler into the world of Mayan culture and indigenous Mexico. Textiles and traditional dress are everywhere which is quite a difference from other areas I have traveled in this amazing country.

Each Mayan village has its own distinctive dress. On our first day we traveled with Alex to the village of Tenejapa which was celebrating its annual feast of their patron, San Idelfonso. Men of political and religious status wore ribboned hats and black dresses woven from sheep hair along with various embellishments and accessories that identified their role. We were surprised to find out this dress was their daily attire, not just to be worn on this day of celebration. (These idigenous people do not like their photo taken as they believe it robs their soul so we had to be careful to only capture their dress from the rear.) The women had beautiful ribbons in their hair and wore village blouses and skirts, along with a wide, stiffly woven belt to help give them support in their daily activities of carrying heavy loads of wood, corn, and other items, not to mention children.

While in Tenejapa, we were allowed into their church while they prepared for their procession throughout town that honored San Idelfonso and other regional patrons. We were the only "gringos" there and Alex knew enough of the locals so that we didn't feel unwelcomed at all. It was a social setting with people chatting while they waited for the church officials to prepare the statues of the patron saints to be carried throughout town. Men would come to talk to Alex and the women would gather close by to curiously eavesdrop and watch us. As Alex described the role of the healer to us, the women watched his gestures and nodded, laughed, or whispered among themselves, and as time passed, smiled warmly to us. Once the procession began, the local distilled drink of pox (pronounced poash), carried in bottles by the women, began flowing throughout the crowd, even to us. Men wore a steer-horn vessel and a funnel around their waist that held any pox that they wanted to save until later. We spent about a half hour inside the incense filled church and were happy to follow the procession outdoors, into the fresh air, throughout the town. This was an amazing event that left a strong impression on all of us.

Later that afternoon in San Cristobal, we visited the museum of Dr. Sergio Castro who has devoted his life to serving the indigenous Mayan people in Chiapas. (Of the 5,000,000 people who live in this state, 1.5 are indigenous.) He personally greeted us and led us through his incredible collection of the traditional dress of individual communities, showing us examples of what both men and women still wear to this day. His medical work is renowned and well respected throughout the state and an award winning documentary has been made of the work of this amazing man. (http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4872)

The following day we traveled to the village of Amantenango where we visited two sisters who create brightly painted pottery.They too wore dress that is specific to their Mayan village.

Another interesting visit was to Na Bolom (house of the jaguar), the home and center of Frans Blom and Gertrude Duby Blom who devoted their lives and studies to the Chiapas jungle and the Lacondones people who live their. Franz began his connections with this area in the 1920's, while Gertrude came a decade or so later, and they met in the mid 1940's. They too had an amazing collection of artifacts, including many textiles from the area. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Bolom)

Cooperatives from surrounding villages are located throughout San Cristobal. On days when we're not touring with Alex, we make our way through town, visiting these shops that feature the textile work of women from individual villages.

As we wander through the streets of San Cristobal, we are starting to connect the local traditional women to their villages by the dress they wear. (Outside of their local villages, few men wear traditional dress.) We have just touched upon a tiny portion of this amazing state and look forward to six more days in Chiapas.

DAYS TO DYE FOR

2012-01-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

We’ve had lots of fun in my studio this month. I love the camaraderie of my Mazatlan friends who happen to be enamored with the dyeing process as much as I am. We gather together twice a week and dye our little hearts out. AND lots of fabric.

My friends come from Canada or the US and some now live here full time. After I give my little “shpeal” to any newbies, we fill the day with happy chatter, laughter, and ideas. When something is taken out of the dyebath, all attention goes to the sink, which is then followed by oohs and ahhhs. My Toronto friend, Rosemary, is now in her 4^th year visiting my studio (she created the beautiful pelican piece last year), and every week returns with the same fabric for overdyes, discharging and making changes…and if it’s not up to her satisfaction, we’ll see the same pieces for more treatments the next time. Linda, newly returned to Mazatlan after a two year break, is creating a piece to partner with the fictional story she is writing about a young woman in the circus. Finally, after 3 tries, she achieved the perfect RED for the background.
Sharon, a full time Mazatlecan, brought an enormous bag of lovely whites and is having a great time giving them a facelift. BC (there’s a story with that name!) and Kathy are also producing some fantastic “revived” outfits, while Rosemary #2 (oh, that was a confusing day!) has sampled the process and is anxious to return! What fun we have and we’re learning so much from each other!

Now I’m taking a two week break for a vacation to Chiapas with friends. Textiles will be a highlight for me, along with the amazing Mexican culture that I love so much! And let’s not forget to mention the camaraderie of being with a great group of women! Life is good!

BUCKETS OF FUN!

2012-01-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

I received an email from Christine the other day with an interesting pdf file called “Gallon Bucket Dyeing” by Terri Stegmiller. The idea behind it was to dye many fat quarters with different colors in a large bucket. I forwarded it on to a few of my dyeing friends, and when they showed up at my house the next day to play in the studio, they all were keen to try it. So we took the plunge into “gallon bucket dyeing”.

I gathered up 10 white cotton fat quarters and decided to use them dry rather than to pre-wet them as I usually do. In my 1.5 gallon plastic container, I poured one cup of soda ash, set an oddly folded fat quarter in the solution, then topped it off with a three-quarter cup solution of a teaspoon of deep yellow concentrate and soda ash. Next I threw on another piece of cotton and poured a similar quantity solution of a teaspoon of Chinese red and soda ash on top, being careful not to agitate any of this. I continued this layering of cotton and dye solution (adding navy and black to the colors I was using) until I had completed a 10 layer bath of what now looked like very muddy water. I was not very hopeful.

The directions I received over the internet said to let it sit overnight, but patience is not one of my virtues. I wanted to give it just a tiny bit of movement to get the colors to mix, so I set a yogurt tub of water on top of the whole thing to add a bit of weight. I thought three hours was enough processing time so rinsed them then.

The results were amazing. I’d say 7 out of 10 pieces were fabulous blends of the four different colors I used and the others are certainly usable in my projects, or perhaps for overdyes. Isn't it hard to imagine all of the above fabrics coming from one dyebath?

LETTING GO

2012-01-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just have to let go of things that don't work any more.
I've carried these threads around for over ten years. AND I remember buying many of them at a closeout sale in Fairbanks...probably because they were already past their time. They are shiny threads that look great whenever I use them, but break every three minutes or so during the sewing process. It was a New Year's moment, during another thread-break, that I told myself to let them go.
I put them in the plastic bag that has been their home for many years and was ready to toss them in the trash, when I thought of a friend who is looking to build up her stash. So I offered them to her (with full disclosure, of course!). She was happy to take them, but I'm not sure it was a kind gesture on my part.
Like life patterns that don't serve us well, there comes a time to let these things go. Good-by shiny threads!

CHRISTMAS MORN

2011-12-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

What a lovely Christmas morning! We woke up, grabbed a bite to eat and headed out for an early morning bike ride along the beachfront malecon. It was cool and breezy but the sun was shining on the ocean and glistening on the sand midst the wave action. The typical hustle bustle of traffic and street-front cafes was non-existent. There were a few other early risers out to enjoy the peacefulness of the morning, either walking or riding, and we recognized a few friendly faces for exchanges of “feliz navidad”. The pelicans were soaring so gracefully overhead…I was reminded of my friend, Rosemary’s lovely fabric piece of the pelicans she created last year. There they were, just riding the currents, creating a beautiful image of peace.

I have really gotten into holiday baking this year. Thanks to my Quadra Island friend, Carol, I now have a new favorite recipe that I will save forever and SHARE on my blog. I have made 3 batches of these amazing gingerbread squares in the last week and have enjoyed taking little plates of them to my Mexican neighbors. They are not your typical Mexican taste, so I delivered them with a bit of hesitation, but reports are very positive…now I have to translate the recipe in Spanish, so they can make them too.

Gingerbread Squares (Soft on the inside with a crackly finish on top, these gingerbread squares are packed with dried fruit and warm, bold spices. They’re the ideal holiday treat with a pot of tea.)

½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

¼ cup molasses (in Mexico, ask for melado)

2 Tbs. brewed regular coffee

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. dried apricots, chopped

¼ - ½ c. candied ginger (I couldn’t find this in Mexico but was directed to the internet where I found out how to make it…easy!...from fresh ginger.)

2 Tbs. icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x9 pan (My buttered pan burnt a bit on the first batch…from then on I used parchment to line my pan and I was much happier.) Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, molasses, and coffee until well blended. Sift dry ingredients together, then stir into wet batter. Mix in fruit. Press batter (it will be sticky and stiff) into the prepared pan. Bake for approx.. 30 minutes, or until just starting to crackle on top. Let cool completely, then slice into squares. Dust with icing sugar if you choose.

If you like the flavor of ginger, you will LOVE these! Enjoy!

THE GHOSTS OF MOTHERS PAST

2011-12-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

The email came as such a surprise. It was forwarded from my cousin Sally, who lives in Pennsylvania, and initially it made no sense to me. Most of the recipients’ names were unfamiliar, except for my three cousins’ names. It took a while for the puzzle to come together.

My mother, born in 1915 in Seattle, was one of five children. The first three of those five were girls, and I believe these sisters were not more than two years apart. Were they close? Like Velcro, I’d say.

These three sisters also happened to be tied closely to a group of friends they went to grade school with, then on to high school, then on to the world of work or education, onward into married life, post-children, grandchildren, their “mature” years, etc. etc. etc. They were lifelong friends. Close? Like glue. They celebrated not only major events together (weddings, baby showers, etc.) but also frequently gathered for luncheons, bridge, shopping, and always the laughter. My cousins and I remember learning about life from those gatherings – huddling on the stairs, eavesdropping on the stories and the whispered comments, and always, the laughter.

What this unexpected email contained was an idea put forth by two of the female offspring of these BFF’s – to have a reunion of all of the daughters to share stories, pictures, and the like. The response was positive, and a date and place was set. Laurie was going to be the hostess, and her mother, Minty (they all had nicknames: Odie, Andre, Mariah, Minty, Dickie, etc.), was going to be there too. Minty, at 96, was the last of the friendship group, and word was that she was looking forward to the gathering. Being able to spend time with one of my mother’s special friends was one more draw for me to attend.

In the recipient list were approximately ten names. Five of us were cousins, and of the others, I only knew one. Because I have lived in faraway places, I haven’t connected much with my cousins in our adult years, and I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to do so, AND get to know some women I’d heard so much about many years ago.

I cashed in some air miles for a brief flight from Medford, Oregon, to Seattle. My rental car carried me on that rainy October day to the Magnolia neighborhood, where I arrived at Laurie’s beautiful home overlooking Puget Sound. This was actually the home of her parents, and I imagined my own mother enjoying similar festive events with her friends. I had a feeling she, her sisters, and other friends now long past, were with us that day, their spirits shadowed among the beautiful flowers and table setting she had prepared for us that day.

We either introduced ourselves or hugged those we knew, and quickly got on to the stories and photos. We shared and laughed about the tales and antics of these lifelong friends, and pieced together different chronologies of events with the photos we brought. I’m sure the ghosts of our mothers past were giggling at our guesses of what their lives were like.

When our guest of honor, Minty, arrived, we all were awestruck that a link in this chain of friends was there with us. In a wheelchair, accompanied by an attendant, she was elegant in her pink suit and beautiful white hair. Now the questions began: “Who was the first to get married?” “Where was this picture taken?” Even though she is hard of hearing, she did her best to help us out. She became the missing link to the bits and pieces of information we brought together that afternoon.

Lunch was served and we gathered at the dining table that our mothers ate at many times with their hostess, Minty. The same china and silver were used, so lovingly preserved and cared for by Laurie. Outside we could view Laurie’s beautiful garden, still full of fall flowers. Our lunch setting was magical and we all commented on how we felt the presence of our mothers. We shared favorite recipes these women loved to make, and then brought home to their own families. We were networked together as young girls by these Seattle gal-pals. Little did they know that their friendship would carry on to such an event as we enjoyed that rainy Friday.

My cousin Kristine brought each of us a present: a lovely coffee/tea cup to remember the camaraderie of our moms and the connection we now had as a group of their daughters. Perhaps when sitting and enjoying a cup of tea, we would conjure up found memories of either the generation past or the present one we had now solidified.

It was an incredibly special day. We vowed to not let this connection be broken. I know our mothers were smiling.

Technique: This is another piece in the style of Pamela Allen, collage work with pieces hand-stitched in place, then free-motioned with a design on top. The fabrics are all hand-dyed of course! The flower on the teacup is discharged (bleached), and if you look closely into the little faces on the flowers, you’ll see some eyes peering out at you.

AN INAUGURATION

2011-12-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

The economic rug has been pulled out from under the lives of many Mexican people. The drug war and reports of violence have warded off many potential tourists, and in our town, Mazatlan, it has even brought a stop to the cruise ship industry…hopefully only temporarily. The effects of all of this can be seen everywhere, and our group of snowbirds scratch our heads in wonder as to how many locals can survive in this horrible economy.

Sometimes hard times bring unexpected situations. This is certainly true in the case of Mazatlan’s “sewing ladies”, a group of 12 local women who have been organized through an umbrella group, Pro-Mexico, for over a decade. They create an array of items: placemats, tote bags, table runners, aprons, dolls, wall hangings, napkins, etc., and sell them at venues such as rv parks, the cruise ship terminals, and local hotels. As you can imagine, these selling spots have diminished with the lack of tourists.

Today their new storefront in the Golden Zone (hotel zone) was inaugurated with a ribbon cutting and lovely reception. One of Pro-Mexico’s founding members generously has given this shop to the women rent-free, allowing them to set up their wares in one spot where the tourists that ARE here can buy their products and support them. It’s a great opportunity for them, jumping them up to another level of merchandising, and giving them the experience of running their own store and problem solving , with the help of Pro-Mexico members and some gringo volunteers, to make the most of their new shop.

These women are skilled, honest and hard-working. The community of Mazatlan wishes their group much success. And we all hope that Americans and Canadians AND the cruise ship industry will realize that life is good here in Mazatlan, and will take advantage of an amazingly beautiful and welcoming Mexican destination to spend their vacations.

MAZATLAN HOMECOMING

2011-12-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Here we are…another winter season in Mazatlan. We migrated (via Alaska Air) five days ago and have been busy cleaning out the dust bunnies from our open-air home that takes a bit of a beating during the rainy season. Washing walls, cleaning out cabinets, unearthing treasures…slowly but surely we are reacquainting ourselves with our Mexican hacienda.

But that’s not all we’ve been doing. This is a diverse city of close to a half million people and after spending close to ten winters here, we have gotten to know many aspects of it. First of all, there’s our neighborhood (barrio). We live on a very Mexican and family-oriented street, and happily I can say that with every year that passes, we feel more and more accepted. There were hugs and hellos and many stumbles with our rusty Spanish.

Beyond the barrio (about three blocks worth) is the larger area we live in called Centro Historico. Of course we’ve been curious about any changes that may have taken place in our eight months absence. Without a car, we walk most everywhere, and these first few days we have been criss-crossing the area, catching up with familiar faces and places.

A constant question we hear up north is “aren’t you afraid in Mexico?” The answer we give is always a “no” but we also say that we make sure to be cautious with carrying valuables and where and when we walk. Use common sense we say. With the economic crisis (“when the U.S. gets a cold, Mexico gets pneumonia”), petty theft is up and in the past few years we have known a friend or two who have had purses and jewelry stripped from their bodies. Added to these questions are the constant media reports we hear about more and more violence here, so of course we have also been checking out the pulse and the feel of Mazatlan during these first few days of our homecoming.

It feels quieter. Some storefronts are empty, and our local plaza, typically a thriving place, is sleepy at best. But other than that, there are impressive signs of life. Cultural events at our local performing arts theater (Angela Peralta Theater) are plentiful. Mazatlan Film and Theater is an active group that provides great classic movies and also frequent playreadings. Over 200 people wandered the streets last Friday for First Friday Artwalk. A new beautiful gallery has opened its doors. The Mazatlan Marathon drew a group of participants that nearly filled all of our hotels. An amazing skateboard park located on the waterfront opened last night and was buzzing with activity. The locals are as friendly as ever and the gringos we have come to know continue to return. The tempo is upbeat, and our slice of Mexico feels as magical as ever.

Our little street saw two big parties this Saturday night – one on each side of us. (Two parties = two karaoke machines!) One was a 40^th birthday celebration and the other was an early Christmas posada and each lasted until 4 or 5 in the morning. Our bedroom is located on the street side so you can imagine the noise level throughout the night. Typically we close our windows, put in earplugs, and TRY to get some shut-eye. But this night, we joined the birthday party until midnight, then came home and went to bed with windows OPEN and without earplugs. Unbelievably, we slept well.

There are those who can’t get past the media reports about Mexico. They truly are missing out on a wonderful experience in this beautiful country with our neighbors to the south.

FASTURN

2011-11-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

Do you know what FASTURN is? When I first moved to southern Oregon I kept driving past this building and had no clue what it was all about.

The signs in front said SEWING, QUILTING, CLASSES and STRIPPERS WANTED. "What is this FASTURN place?" I asked myself.
It took awhile before I found out. But when I finally got around to going there, I knew I had found a new sewing home and community. Fasturn (http://fasturn.net/) is the manufacturer of one of the top twenty five sewing notions of all time. They produce all sizes of metal tube turners. I can't tell you the number of times I've sewn a skinny strip, attached the safety pin to the end and then struggled to turn that darn thing. When I saw that tool, I was thanking the universe!
But I was more thankful for finding this wonderful welcoming place. They offered open sewing (just come and sew!!!) every Friday and this sounded great to me. Living in my little mobile that happened to be torn apart with remodeling just didn't offer me the sewing time and space that I needed, so an open door session with other like-minded sewers sounded fantastic to me.
I've met a wonderful group of fun, talented and generous sewers. Everyone comes with their own agenda, maybe to make a bag, a table runner, a quilt, or a machine-embroidery project. For me, I was there to work on a "diamond" quilt that I started at a class on Quadra Island in September.I had hand-dyed the fifteen pieces for this quilt, and the 60 degree "stance" of this quilt really challenged my mind. But there was help and support surrounding me at FASTURN.

Open-sewing on Friday is not the only thing happening at FASTURN. There are classes held frequently throughout the month, and the facility is the home to the local faction of the American Sewing Guild. One corner holds shelves of folded yardage, batting, and hanging close-by are a number of completed quilt tops. In the midst of this area is a long-arm quilter, where ASG members take turns to put together quilts for local charities. And let's not forget the shop full of beautiful fabrics and notions (not to forget FASTURN products), and unbelievable samples that have been made up by the friendly staff. It's a great place and I thank the universe that I found it!

MATERIAL GIRLS

2011-11-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

It was a bit of a blustery November day and with my friend Corrine visiting while on her yearly sojourn from Refuge Cove to Long Beach, we felt it was the perfect day to take a drive up to Shady Cove for a quilt show.

I had heard about this show, sponsored by the local guild Material Girls, from Christine who had a booth there to sell her beautiful hand-dyes. It was great to see her there midst all the amazing, very organic, screened prints that she and Cynthia have produced over the last year or so.

The show had some beautiful quilts, both big and small, traditional and whimsical, and a great collection of hospital quilts made by this active group of women. Corrine and I both enjoyed our visit to Shady Cove.

We topped off that event with wine tasting in Ashland. What a fun, blustery November day!

RETHINK EVERYTHING

2011-10-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

This was the graffiti message that I saw on my recent drive from Refuge Cove to Oregon. Long hours of endless miles, passing streams of traffic, shopping malls galore, listening to NPR and my favorite music: the message of RETHINK EVERYTHING really jumped out at me. My next quilt journal with the theme of “TEXT” had some content here.

What do I think needs rethinking? Our polarizing politics, overbearing religion, our endless consumption of stuff, stifling immigration policies, how we prioritize the environment, education, our out of control health care, are just a few items (not to mention the American tendency to get involved in way too many foreign situations). Even though I live in countries other than my own (United States), I still pay close attention and am very concerned about the activities of the US. Yes, Mexico and Canada certainly have their share of problems too, but the US just seems so CRAZY these days. The problems we face are endless and I believe we need some major mind shifting, rather than the same-old, same-old ways of doing things, before we can make any sense out of our mess.

The bottom line for me is that this all seems so out of control, and I am once again reminded that my little world is all I have any impact on. My quilt journal for this month reminds ME of that message FOR MYSELF. Thus, my new favorite mantra is RETHINK EVERYTHING (rivaling my new favorite bumper sticker: DON’T BELIEVE EVERYHTING YOU THINK). On this personal level, it’s a call to challenge the beliefs that no longer serve me.

For construction, I chose to continue with a diamond pattern that I was using for a quilt, yet on a smaller scale. This diamond piece was certainly a thinking challenge for me, and I was hoping that making a small piece would help me with the larger quilt. When everything that is normally straightforward (90 degrees, etc.), is now cocked to a 60 degree angle, it can really mess up your mind (at least it did mine), so here was another situation where I had to rethink everything. I was hoping to have a full rectangle to work with, but my planning was poor and I ended up short. I added an oval frame which solved my problem. I then stitched in my words. I thought I had planned it well, but quickly ran out of room at the end and had to squeeze in my last letters. I bleached out my letters and the border and added tiny buttons for accent. I was hoping to find some in brown, beige or gray, but the store was out so, rethinking it, I settled for blue.

SCREENING

2011-10-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

Now in Oregon, I have pick of activities to choose from: classes, groups, sessions and workshops, all fabric related of course. I'm like a kid in a candy store. Today's item on the agenda: screening with Christine. Once my neighbor in Alaska who I taught to dye, she now is my southern Oregon neighbor who has pursued this craft to the "nth" degree. She always has something new to show me.

This year it's screening. You know, like silk screening, but with a twist.

She set up the screens a few days ago with a thick layer of print paste and then imbedded all sorts of textured objects into the paste and let it dry. We pulled off the objects and were left with our screen for printing. The hardened paste was a dark color and I chose a ruddy brown as my printing color.

On the screen, the wet began to break down the dry and the pattern emerged onto my fabric as I sqee-jeed across the screen. I filled up my meter of soda-ashed cotton and set it aside to cure.

But there was more to show me. She pulled out her collection of textured goodies and high-density foam roller and set to demonstrating how to put these beautiful textures onto fabric. Not only could we place the texture under the fabric while rolling on top, but also roll over the texture with the high density foam and capture the pattern for a quick transfer. I loved every minute of this process and my mind started reeling with possibilities. I went on to try a few stencil transfers and of coursed watched Christine with her creations too.

At the end of our session we set up the screens with more print paste and a new texture design. They will take a day or two to harden and be ready for more printing.

Now curing, the fabrics will be ready for adding a background color in a day or two. For now, I am searching out online silkscreen frames to haul to Mexico to continue the fun down there. Muchas gracias, Christine.

ANOTHER JOURNAL PIECE: A FAVORITE THING

2011-09-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

If by chance I find myself in the Seattle area, the region of my birth and upbringing, I am always hoping for a clear day in which to view Mt. Rainier. I am consistently awestruck at the sight of this majestic mountain. It truly takes my breath away. I am taken back to an infantile state, subconsciously a small child, feeling the emotional power of this iconic giant.

I not only grew up with Mt. Rainier at my doorstep, but also spent my summers during my college years there, working at Paradise Inn. My father worked there when he was that age too. First a maid, then a waitress, I worked hard during my shifts and took to the hills on my off hours. Four times I climbed to the top, and on that last ascent I was part of a research crew who spent an entire week living at the 14,000+ foot summit. On our last day there, we were overtaken by an electrical storm which really made things interesting. We tried to descend the mountain but our fillings (in our teeth) and pack frames were buzzing, and the lightning was feeling way too close for comfort. Back up we climbed to wait it out for another few hours inside a snow cave.
My last adventurous experience with Rainier was in 1980. I had been hired for the upcoming summer, so I was heading to the mountain for a training session on an early May morning. The closer I got to the park entrance, the darker the sky became, and then a dusting of something snow-like started to fall from the sky. Darker and darker, with dust now billowing up around the few cars as they motored along, I knew something was happening, but had no idea what it was. I arrived at Longmire, half way into the park and was pulled over by the ranger. Mt. St. Helens had just erupted, and all cars were detained there until the situation could be assessed. For four or five hours, we watched the sky turn pitch black, the air turn thick with ash and collect on the roads in a 6” blanket. Slowly the light returned and we were allowed to leave, but only back to where we came from. My job was put on hold that summer, and I never returned to work there again. The next year I left the area, and since then my experiences with Mt. Rainier have either been from an airplane or from the highway, a long distance away.

Sometimes when I am mulling over ideas for a journal quilt, I gather possibilities for not only what I want to do, but also for what is possible. For example, with “favorite things”, I was leaning toward books or maps. That is, until I was looking through a tub of odds and ends and came across a scarf/handkerchief of Mt. Rainier. I can’t remember where it came from, maybe a second hand shop or a leftover at a laundromat, but there it was, reminding me of its importance in my life (and a bit map-like too!). So I simply sliced it up, added a border and called it good.

SUMMER JOURNALING

2011-09-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Summer of 2011...it's been a good one. Lots of company, fishing, gardening, hiking, rain (early on), and sun (in September). The harvest was good to us. Refuge Cove once again comes through!
My creative juices were at a standstill this summer. At first I was worried, but now see my hiatus as a needed break.
Last week I conquered three journal quilts, long overdue!

#1 Prairie - Since I have never been to the prairies, I was a bit stumped at how to interpret this theme. But I have lived in a number of places that I have described to others as "Little House on the Prairie" type settings, and a wood cookstove has been a part of a few of them. ('Tis the simple life for me.) This was another bleach study, this time piecing together oddball pieces, dyeing this patchwork black, then stitching in the woodstove and bleaching out parts of it with Softscrub.

#2 Hallelujah - This is my interpretation of a U-Tube of K.D. Lang singing "Hallelujah". Beautiful song, amazing stage, but my internet connection was uncooperative that night and all I could watch was about 10 seconds at a time. I watched frozen scenes of lights on the stage, and decided I would try to capture that. I pieced together blues with white elements in them, then stitched in concentric circles with lines and bleached out sections. I was pleased with how this turned out as it truly was only an idea in my head.

#3 A Thin Green Line - This came out of no where, or maybe it was from my box of scraps that I was rummaging through one night. First I found the hand and the rest just followed. Yes there's some bleaching here: the hand, the forks, the lettering. I really love playing with bleach over patches of color. I was hoping that the vertical yellow would bleach out white, but it decided to blend in with the rest of the utensil.

MINI RETREAT

2011-08-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

Two days away from home, hosted in a lovely setting on Quadra Island, with the focus being FABRIC...what more could I ask for? I left my family behind and my day-to-day chores to join my two friends, Terry (our hostess) and Ellen, for what we called our mini-retreat. I packed my tub with dyes, white fabric, stamps, and a collection of embellishment tools with the idea of creating fabric pieces in both new and tried-and-true methods.

Terry's new home, not yet completed to the stage of being move-in ready, was perfect for the 3 of us. Downstairs was our makeshift studio and upstairs were our living quarters. Her husband helped to rig up a hot and cold water sink, complete with a 5-gallon bucket underneath as our drainage system.

We busily tried a number of methods: wheat paste cracking, stamping and making stamps, carving stamps out of styrofoam trays, palette dyeing and folding. Using wheat paste was a new one for me. The sun cooperated by drying out the pasted fabric quickly, then I gently crushed it to get the "cracked" look. I painted over it with thickened dye to fill in the cracks. My results showed that I should have been more aggressive with my crushing, so I went ahead and tried it again. Terry drew a lovely picture into her wheat paste AND pressed lace into it which produced amazing results. This is one method I will definitely try again.

We stopped in time to spruce ourselves up a bit for a lovely dinner at the Heriot Bay Inn. What a treat to go out to dinner with friends.
Sunday was another day of more of the same. By day's end I was exhausted, but filled with a much needed burst of creative energy. We vowed to make it an annual event.

SUMMER MONTHS THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER J

2011-07-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

June and July.

I'm living the good life at Refuge Cove, tending my garden, fishing and prawning on a regular basis, enjoying time with friends and family. Squeezed within all of this I have been working to create my summer stash of goods to sell. For the first time in 10 years, I am opting out of participation in the Cortes Craft Shop, and only working for the "Feathered Fish", the local gallery owned and operated by fellow Co-op member, Sandie Dixon. This is her second year and I was quite pleased with results last year, so have decided to keep my focus here in Refuge Cove. And, I haven't made that much this past winter, so the little I can get accomplished in these two summer months that begin with the letter J will be it for the year. Next week, my sewing room gets taken over by one grandson as his makeshift bedroom, so that will be it...4 more days.

One of my goals this summer has been to use up my stash: fabric pieces large and small, thread, small pieces of batting that I sew together to make larger pieces. I even went through my collection of small quilted pieces, either finished wall hangings or a practice piece that I've carried around in the stash box for way too long. I looked at them, took myself back to when I created it, then sliced and diced to make something new. It was liberating to let go of these pieces.

I've focused on two items, luggage tags and tote bags. They have been the perfect recipients of my scraps and remnants, or the small piece that has been folded in the bottom of a tote for many years.

This is a pattern for me: clearing out what I'm not using. I do it in my closet, in those junk drawers that collect all sorts of oddities, my kitchen cabinets. I like things simple and minimal. Minimalist Mary is what someone called me, and the title fits well.

So 127 luggage tags and 7 totes later, I am soon to put the commercialism aside and focus on more play and creative expression in my craft. And I'm looking forward to that!

FAIRY HOUSES

2011-06-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering, "What is that?" Look hard, what do you see?
I live in the coastal rainforest of British Columbia. The name of the community is Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island, in the middle of Desolation Sound. This community is a land and housing cooperative shared by 18 shareholders, our family being one of them.
You enter " Refuge" from the series of docks, where, depending on the month of the year, you can see a wide range of qualities and quantities of boats moored there. In the summer months, it is a mecca for boaters in search of fuel, groceries, a meal out, perusing through the book exchange, or just some socializing-on-the-dock time. You might even catch a game of washers. In the wintertime, you may see a few float houses and a skiff or two.
Past the "commercial zone" are the "keep out" gates, the boundary of the members-only zone. This is how you would come to my house. I pass boardwalk, hillside and the last 100 feet of thick forest, which pops right onto the bluff where our house sits. This little forest trail has become the home for a few of my ceramic, metal or glass collectibles. I was ready to part with them (probably more like a de-cluttering mood) and decided to give them a new home along this trail. This all started about six years ago so some of the items have a nice coat of moss on them by this time and are getting hard to see.
Today five fairy houses appeared on this magical little mossy path. They are made of sticks, moss, rocks, pinecones and built into the natural curvature of the rock cliff that winds its way next to our path. They are hard to spot, but they are definitely fairy houses. (I don't think the fairies are living there yet, but are probably on their way.)

Who built those fairy houses? My niece, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Chris, were visiting for a week, and just this morning, I walked them to the boat to say good-by. On our way down the hill at 5:30 am, they mentioned for me to look for the fairy houses. It took a moment, but my eye finally tuned in. They had created them the previous afternoon, adding more magic to the path.
So the little quilt journal piece above is a fairy house. It's the one built under a cleft of rock that has the perfect triangle shape, so naturally created by the moss. Sarah and Chris added the finishing touches: sticks rocks, more moss, pinecones.
I've been trying to come up with an idea for this quilt journal challenge with the theme of "TODAY". Lately I've been in the sort of creative funk that does not allow me to have fast reaction times (from idea to reality in just one day???? You must be kidding!). Once I had taken photos of all five fairy houses and got to looking at them, putting it onto fabric seemed like a doable project, with the main idea to create a basic structure, similar to one the actual homes, covered with lots and lots of green stitching to represent the moss. It was therapeutic and the perfect activity to get some of the spider webs and kinks out of my free motion system. I finished, not on the "today", but on the "tomorrow" which isn't too bad for me.
So on this "TODAY" (which actually was the "today" of about 5 days ago), the fairy houses appeared, and Sarah and Chris left Refuge Cove for their return to Annapolis, Maryland, after a fantastic week-long visit. Two, bright and capable recent college graduates, they truly appreciated the uniqueness of our environment and took advantage of all the highlights of Refuge Cove: kayaking, canoeing and swimming in the lake, fishing, prawning, hiking, eating amazing home-harvested meals, playing washers, and enjoying family time together in a special surrounding.
Each time I walk down our path, I look hard to find the "fairy houses" that are tucked so secretively along the path and in the cliffside. Warm memories of a good visit come back to me.
Here's one of the real fairy houses:

QUILTER'S BLOCK

2011-05-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

It’s kind of like writer’s block, but only with cloth, not pen and paper. And I’ve got it!

There are a wealth of distractions here in Refuge Cove that keep me away from the sewing machine. Actually my desire to sew is about nil - thus,"Quilter's Block".

But maybe it’s because of all the amazing distractions I have here in Refuge Cove. Like, my new garden fence (put up last year), recently fitted with a beautiful gate made by Tom.

Or playing in the dirt in my new greenhouse. It’s 80% completed and plenty adequate for growing and taking advantage of our summer.

The hummingbirds are really keeping me busy. I fill 4 feeders every day. Those little hummers are inhaling a half gallon per day.

We’re still hoping to see more goldfish in our pond. Every day it’s the same answer…3! Two years ago, we had 17.

Our good friends and neighbors, Jim and Sharon, arrived yesterday and we helped them move. With hamburgers on Cortes first!

Tom’s latest garden project was to build my 3^rd raised garden box.

He asked me to check it out for size…what’s that all about!?????

I quickly filled it with dirt and plants….thankfully, I haven’t seen him building a lid!

So quilting is the last thing on my mind, but I really should be thinking what I’m going to put in Sandie’s shop (Refuge Cove Gallery) this summer. My first QUICK little commercial project was to cut up a few of my old, undesirable pieces into 3”x6” rectangles and then I proceeded to making them into luggage tags.

And we’ve also been prawning, which is horrible this year because the commercial guys have totally scraped the bottom clean. So now we are trying our hand at fishing, which also hasn’t been too fruitful .

And then there’s my new Kindle. I’ve powered through 4 books in the last 3 weeks. That’s a lot of reading by me. They are: 1) The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, 2)The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea, 3) Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, and 4) Stoned into Schools: Promoting Peace with Education in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson. These all were great reads!

So, you can see, I’ve definitely been pre-occupied.

ESTADO DE OREGON

2011-05-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

We now claim our legal U.S. residence as Jacksonville, Oregon. After faking our U.S. address as Fairbanks, Alaska, for the last five years, it feels great to have our little place in America. Of course not much will change with our seasonal migration between Refuge Cove and Mazatlan. Our Oregon life lasts for 6 weeks in April/May, plus the two months of October/November, the transition times for us. Southern Oregon, in particular the Rouge Valley, is truly beautiful. Neighboring towns to our small historical community are Medford and Ashland. Vineyards abound. It's a quick drive to the coast. We like it...a lot!

We just spent the last 6 weeks fixing up our cute little trailer. Midst all the projects, I did get some time to do some fabric play with friends! (Yes, we moved to a place where we know a good number of folks!...How wonderful is that!!??) My awesome Fairbanks/Ashland friend Christine, hosted dye days and collage sessions. Look at the fun we had!

We had fun just letting loose in the dye studio!
We went from watercolor-like blobs to multi-step stamping all in one enjoyable afternoon.
And then we moved on to collage work in the style of Pamela Allen...I shared what I know with Chris and then pulled in Cynthia for another day.
Looked what we produced!

Lovely composition, Cynthia:

Christine, this piece just flowed out of you. It's so, so , so ....Christine!

I just couldn't resist those buttons!

MI MEXICO

2011-03-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

The big feathered serpent called Alaska Airlines leaves today at 1 and takes us to our northern home. As we prepare to depart Mexico after another winter season, passing through the neighborhood to say our goodbyes, carefully storing my quilted works to protect them from the elements, we reflect on another special moment in our lives.

The warmth of the Mexican sun touches our souls. We carry the warmth of the Mexican people in our hearts. It will last forever.

This recently completed piece, save for the button on the eye of the serpent, was created in response to the trip I took to the Mexico City area this winter. I was moved by the idea that Quetzlcoatl, the winged serpent, was a part of Aztec legend that was long awaited for by the people. What arrived instead, and was sadly mistaken as Quetzlcoatl, was Cortes in his winged sailing ships, followed by his complete takeover with the Catholic Church at the helm. My friends and I climbed the Pyramid to the Sun, raised our hands high at the top to see who was the tallest, and felt the energy of being at this sacred place.

I hand painted the background, found interesting hand-dyes for the serpent and pyramid, added the sun and feathers, and proceeded to stitch away. Skulls in the pyramid (a common theme), details on the serpent and feathers, and an attempt at the Aztec calendar inside the sun were bleached out.

This 32" x 50" piece is now displayed above my bedroom doorway.

MI TALLER (my studio)

2011-03-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

This winter has sped by! We are two days from leaving Mazatlan and I'm amazed at how another snowbird season was so fast, furious (in a positive way) and full! A good part of the richness of my experience here can be attributed to my associations with those who came to share in my studio "play days". Twice a week I opened my workshop to up to 4 who came to explore in the arena of fiber arts. In past years I have held more structured classes, complete with handouts and a schedule, and packed the day with everything I believe that EVERYONE should know about fabric dyeing. I took a more open approach this year, just wanting to share studio time with others, giving them the basics and allowing them to "do their thing". I was so amazed at the range of directions that people took, at the variety of projects and products that evolved. We all truly learned from each other...maybe me the most!

Robyn, who shares my hometown of Tacoma, Washington, really enjoyed making these tablecloths. She also added some stamping to a very traditional cross-stitch done by her aunt. Beautiful!

Pam, my non-sewer (I'm working on her!), had fun making tie-dye shirts for her husband. Some she liked so well, she vowed to keep them for herself. On her third and last session, she came with ideas she pulled off the internet for new and interesting techniques. Here's an amazing shirt she produced.

Anne brought her artistic skills from painting and eagerly applied them to fabric. Her first project was to create pillow tops for her grandchildren.

Then she moved into painting on fabric. She pulled two images from the internet and chose one for reproducing on cotton. She put her painting experiences to good use here. I have little experience in that area, so together we took the process poco a poco (little by little) and she ended up with an amazing piece. After washing, she decided to add more color.

Anne's second computer image was used by Olivia, a Mexican neighbor who happened my way. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do, so she jumped right in and started putting thickened dye to cloth. I admired her courage and she too came out with an interesting piece.

Basha was one of the last to join in on the fun. She came with a keen and energetic interest in all things dyeable. She set herself up with a collection of beautiful hand-dyes to keep her busy through the long summer ahead here when life slows down to nothing. Plus she created some new outfits for herself.

Here's to this winter's wonderful partners in the fascinating world of dyeing: Bobbie, Anne, Edwige, Heather, Ann, Kathi, Marie, Rosemary, Sharon, Aldo, Basha, Pam, Robyn, Joyce, Nancy, Olivia, Val, Doreen and Anne Marie! Thank you for all your blooming creativity and inspiration. And special thanks to Edwige for her gelato contributions!

A SUMPTUOUS CELEBRATION

2011-03-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

My Mondays in Mazatlan are set aside for working with the local sewing ladies. Typically Toy (our fearless leader, in the foreground above) picks us up (Bev and I) and takes us to the community center in one of the outer colonias. Bev starts with her English lesson, while Toy follows with a meeting to organize selling, discuss marketing ideas, or lead a reflection pertaining to self-development. I add to the mix with some sort of sewing idea or ways to add personal, artistic touches to their wares. These 12 women make my Mazatlan experience very special.

There are others that are connected with the group. Art and Jackie Plunz (pictured above, Art is the tall guy in the back and Jackie wears the pink scarf in the front) have endeared themselves to this group in many ways. They aren’t regulars with us on Mondays, but certainly are there for special events. Last year they brought down a dozen sewing machines to Mazatlan, and distributed one to each woman. Through their church, they have collected donations to help us with special projects. Art, a retired dentist, has helped one family whose daughter has some serious dental issues. They are incredibly kind and generous and lots of fun too. Jackie loves to sing and joins in with the few Mexican women who entertain us with their talents at our parties.
Art and Jackie invited all of us to their oceanside apartment today for a lovely catered luncheon. Judith and Gustavo created an amazing feast for us on the grill while we had an hour of our regular meeting time. Patty (our one women now working on her degree in social work) led us in an activity.

After lunch, Art brought out maps of Alberta and showed the women where he and Jackie lived, and showed photos of their northern life. Images of snow, dogsleds, snowmachines, ice roads, mining operations, small planes and decorated parkas were source of stories and questions (happily translated by Toy).

With dessert we were treated to our delightful singers, Ceci, Lola and Jackie. Their voices and creative talents penetrate my soul!Thank you Art and Jackie!

A NEW BABY

2011-03-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ligia is a friend of mine. She is a single mom with two teenagers (Ligia, 19, and Juan Jose,15) and her 78 year old father. The weight of her family falls on her shoulders, as is so typical in many Mexican homes. She’s tough, she’s strong; Tom calls her a “pitbull”. On top of that, she’s funny and talented. She began as our half-day-a-week housekeeper more than five years ago, but now she’s certainly more than that.

Her young daughter was scheduled to have her baby at the end of February. Because Ligia works for a myriad of northerners who make Mazatlan their winter or full-time home, it was only fitting that we have a shower for her. Two neighboring sisters from Holland were the hostesses (with the mostest-es!) and the rest of us were the fortunate guests who just brought sweet baby gifts and enjoyed the pleasure of giving to a woman and her daughter who gives so much to all of us. Oh yes, and the food was fabulous!

I made her a colorful diaper bag. I remember the one I had when Ben was born – dark green, nothing special, jammed with clothes and diapers, pacifiers and toys. I’m hoping it will be a tiny, cheery moment in the reality of crying and dirty diapers; a comment that this baby is special! (as all babies are).

Baby Ligia was born last Monday. Both momma and baby are back at the family home now, settling into new roles. A small group of us went to visit (and get our turn at holding her!) and arrived just in time for her little bath. What a beauty!

Life is tough for our friend, and now there is another mouth to feed. We see the stress she lives with and can only hope and pray that this little girl brings her grama incredible joy and happiness and love to overshadow life's daily struggles.

PELICANS

2011-01-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Mazatlan has such breathtaking stretches of coastline. One can join walkers, skaters, bikers, runners, and the like along the popular malecon that follows the oceanfront. You can sit at a local restaurant or bar and enjoy one of our sensational sunsets. You can swim or surf or beachcomb. However you experience the ocean, pelicans are most likely to be a part of the scene.

Rosemary is enchanted by pelicans. So when she came over for a PLAYDAY in my studio this week, she had pelicans on the brain. She loves to photograph them and capture them in all phases of flight and feeding. She proceeded to create a pelican scene by painting with thickened dyes on cotton. She first created a stencil and painted five bold pelicans on cloth. She next added three more pale pelicans, and topped it off with some lovely pale sky painting. Using plexiglass as stamps, she made a matching meter to use as a border. I can’t wait to see her finished product.

She plans to create a panel to cover her bathroom window in her home in Toronto. That is sure to carry her back to the breathtaking beaches of Mazatlan with pelicans floating overhead.

And here's the finished product! Lovely isn't it!

TRAVELING

2011-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

I’ve just returned from a trip. Tom and I joined three other couples on a near-three week journey around central Mexico, in particular, Mexico City, Cuernavaca, Valle de Bravo, Morelia and surrounding areas of these cities. We had our wonderful guide, Luis Miguel, with us to act as our driver, story teller, historian, language instructor, music aficionado, culture consultant and friend.
Everyone in Mazatlan told us that our destination cities would be “mucho frio”, so we packed extra sweaters, turtlenecks, a hat, scarves, etc. My little suitcase was packed to the brim, but I did find a tiny space for some handwork: two collages of applique work that I would later turn into pillow covers. They fit well into a gallon size Ziploc, along with a needle, a few bright bundles of embroidery thread, and my itty bitty Swiss Army knife, complete with mini-scissors.

Our weather was beautiful so half of the clothes in my suitcase were ignored. And our days were busy and involved which left little time for hand sewing. My Ziploc and its contents were ignored too.
So now home, I have pulled out this project and started on it. I designed the collage prior to leaving and now find it so connected to what I experienced on my travels. We made daily visits to the amazing archaeological sites of the area, climbing pyramids and temples along our route. I think this piece reflects much of the amazing beauty and history of Mexico that I experienced these last three weeks.

MORE PLAY

2010-12-31T09:19:00.000-08:00

Two PLAYDAYS in one week make for much color exploration and fun. I marvel at how we all approach the creative and learning processes in totally different ways. Since there are NO RULES in dyeing fabric, I'm regularly observing new and interesting ways to achieve new and interesting effects on cloth. I have a tendency to try the same old tried and true methods that consistently serve me well, but as an observer this week (8 different women coming to my studio), I have been privvy to other ideas that push my brain in new directions. These new dyers think that they are the learners in these sessions; if they only knew how much I am gathering and learning as the outsider looking in.
This week we had Pam, Robyn, and Ann trying out some beautiful striping patterns. Anne was back to work on embellishing the personalized pillows for her grandbabies. Kathi too was planning and prepping for more grandbaby projects. She brought amazing photos of the fabric books she created last summer and now she's dyeing up more for an advent calendar. Nancy showed us the collage she's working on (Surfer Boy in Mazatlan!) and then proceeded to dye up 3 gorgeous rainbow palettes in preparation for new dining room chair covers. Sue brought in an old chenille rug and attempted to "stripe" it. (Not sure of the outcome there as she took it home for a second go-round of dyeing.) Filter wraps were popular methods this week and Ann shows one of hers here.

And Bobbi took her time to create this amazing spiral print. When she finished it, she dipped it in a lemon yellow bath....it was gorgeous!

Two PLAYDAYS in one week make for much color exploration and fun!

SCOTTISH PLAID

2010-12-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

On our last PLAY DAY, Heather was exploring stripes and started wondering about turning those stripes to create a plaid. “I’ve always wanted to try that”, I told her…”Go for it!” She pleated and dyed, rinsed, then turn it a good 90 degrees for another sequence. After about eight color go-rounds, she had a beautiful plaid. Her first plaid palette was with yellows, reds and blues, and then she tried another with yellows, greens and blues. Beautiful! And wouldn’t you know that Heather is from Scotland. There must be a little bit of plaid in her blood.

If you're in Mazatlan and want to join in on a fabric PLAY DAY, just drop me an email (maryruzich@hotmail.com) and I'll sign you up for a Tuesday or Thursday session. A little bit of play with friends (old or new) makes for a very good day!

HACIENDA HOMECOMING

2010-12-11T21:24:00.000-08:00

Oh, it's great to be back in Mazatlan! The friends, the culture, the colors and the festivities!

And that sun! We left chilly and gray Oregon to enter the warm winter days of Mexico. To the locals, this is a cool winter, but for us, it's perfect. Of course one of our first days was to visit beautiful Stone Island with its breathtaking beaches and leisurely palapa restaurants.

Restaurants? Food? This year I'm finding I have much less energy to cook at home. Heck, it's hard to put together a meal for the price of street food. And so delicious too! We've been hopping on Tom's scooter and searching for new and interesting places.

And all the beautiful textiles and crafts here. I've been busy getting my own studio set up for fun winter playdays! Check my class schedule to see what I have in store.

Yes, we've been busy in the 10 days we've been here. Maybe that's why we both started feeling a bit punky the other day. Now we're both laying low with "la gripa" (bad colds), but thinking of all the wonderful ways we're going to take advantage of this wonderful scene once we're feeling better!

CRIBBAGE

2010-12-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Cribbage. This game is a mainstay of our marriage. My husband, Tom, taught me to play 30+ years ago and rarely a day goes by that we don’t play. Somewhere around 4 or 5 pm, we stop whatever activity we’re up to and join together at the dining room table, cocktail and snack on board, and play our best two out of three game match. Keeping score on a piece of masking tape affixed to our crib board adds to the competitive spirit. There is no prize for the winner, just the opportunity to gloat and rub in the loss to the loser. The tourney ends when we pack up and move to our next station in our gypsy lifestyle.
I wanted to play with design elements on this one: shape, line, angle, number, balance, etc. I “bleach-dotted” some colored strips to resemble crib boards, arranged and rearranged, then found space for buttons in lines of five to add a bit of interest. I bound it in white and wrote out scoring sequences around the perimeter.
Tonight was our last match of this tourney…bright and early tomorrow morning we leave for Mexico where we’ll start another strip of masking tape on our crib board. And thank goodness because I lost horribly in this one and I HATE TO LOSE! Tomorrow is a new beginning!

MY MATURE MATISSE

2010-11-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

It's journal time again. This small monthly activity is sometimes the only thread of fiber connection I can conjure up. Thank goodness for quilt journals! This month's focus, from the MASTERS, was brought forth by Terri, who seems to always come up with good artistic challenges. In my mental ruminations, I felt I had two options for approaching this: to study the style of one of the masters and create my own piece in that style, or to just replicate a piece in fabric. With my busy and disheveled life, smack dab in the middle of remodeling projects, I chose the latter.
One of the things I love so much about my new town, Jacksonville, Oregon, is the library. In my summer spot of Refuge Cove, the closest thing we have to a library is a tiny book exchange. In Mexico, there is a great gringo library, but mostly filled with donations over a period of 10+ years. No interlibrary loan, no search engines. Mostly I am forced to bring along my own books to keep my reading spirit fed, and I'm always checking with friends to see what they have available. Here, I am a 15 minute walk away from a small but beautiful building that has the world at my fingertips. So on a lovely fall day I headed downtown to check out books of the MASTERS.
Dali, Degas, Renoir, Matisse, Monet, van Gogh... I spent a lovely hour perusing through these books to see what would jump out at me. What was I most attracted to? What could I handle in fabric? It was the color, shape, line and abstarct qualities of Henri Matisse that led me to focus on his work. And from there I chose his 1950 piece "Zulma" (he was 80 at the time) to recreate.
I dug out my stash of hand-dyes to look for potential colors. I started slowly (hand stitching all the way) with the shapes of the background, moved into the side tables and then struggled with the body form. Achieving that perfect drape and stance next to the table was tricky. And then when done, my form was so much more MATURE than his. But I let it go and continued. After all, mature figures are a good thing, as I tell myself these days! I know, many fiber artists use transferring tricks and materials to get the perfect copy, but that's never been my thing. There's something about the "look and cut" method that I like...so far it works for me!
I was just about ready to leave off the two vases but then decided to go for it. The stark white against the colors of this piece seemed to be quite an anomoly to me, so I chose to go with buttons which also stand out in this piece. I'm happy with those little white buttons. The eye is drawn to them, but then back to the colors, the shapes, the lines. There's much going on of interest in my little piece.
Thanks again Terri, for your MASTERS challenge!

NEW DIGS

2010-11-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of nothing lately. At least with fabric. I do have a few hand stitching projects nested next to my "spot" on the couch, and occasionally they get a few more stitches added to them, but mostly I've been involved in our "extreme mobile makeover" project here in southern Oregon. It's a two month project to set ourselves up with a little home between our frequent travels between Canada and Mexico. We've been ripping and tearing, digging and planting, and just plain having a pretty good time.

You see, southern Oregon is an amazingly beautiful area. Add autumn to it and you've got a prize winning setting. And to top it off, there's an amazing wealth of fiber artists here. My friend and neighbor from Alaska, Christine, is one of them. I certainly have an inside track into the fiber arts scene with Christine. I've already had a couple of dye days, and one evening I wiggled my way into a crowded living room of women who have organized themselves into a mini guild with an art twist. They most recently created a "River" project that shows 20+ individual quilts connected side by side as if it flows along the banks of the local Rogue River and its valley. A treasure for sure. The talent and enthusiasm was emanating from their beings! So midst my metal sculpting (trailer renewal), I've found very inspiring ways to keep my passion going.

So these fall days I just live vicariously through my friends, both old and new. Here Christine shows off her hand dyed, then bleached (discharged) bag that she whipped up one afternoon. Hmmmmm.... love that dreamcatcher motif, Christine! I think I'm going to like it here in Southern Oregon just fine!

MY OLD GOAT

2010-11-03T21:36:00.000-07:00

Next to my TOILET in our summer home in Refuge Cove is a painted mask of a GOAT. The background for this west coast Native piece is weathered barn wood. I love northwest art and when I was hanging my eclectic collection around the house when we first moved in, the GOAT piece was the last to go up. Despite its sentimental value, I never found another spot for it and it resides in my bathroom to this day.
When “masks” was introduced as the October assignment for our quilt journals, I knew what I would do. I took a photo of the GOAT and cropped it so that when I printed it out onto 8½”x11”paper, the size was perfect for transferring onto my fabric. I chose a hand-dyed piece that had a similar weathered barn wood look for the background, and simply put them both up to a window on a sunny day and proceeded to draw the outline of the mask details with a black “sharpie”. Now all I had to do was color in the lines with my new Shiva Paintsticks. Finally, I sliced it with my rotary to represent the barn boards and placed it on a backdrop of black cotton. My current living situation is such that handwork is a better option than machine work, so that was my choice for finishing off my piece, along with a few buttons for eyes and teeth.
At the bottom of the original piece, the word GOAT is written in white on the left, and the artist’s initials are on the right. I found I didn’t plan for that, and was stuck with a tiny slice of black background on the border in which to squeeze my altered words.
So why is this GOAT so sentimental? I purchased this piece as a birthday gift for my dad about 30 years ago. I was working at Mt. Rainier National Park, a place he too worked as a young person, and found it among the NW art treasures in the gift shop. I knew my dad would like it as he too was a lover of west coast Native art. He chose his patio as the display point for the GOAT. When he passed away 15 years ago, I was happy to receive it back into my life as a special reminder of my dad.
As adolescents, my brothers and I secretly called him “Art the fart”, or a casual friend might have referred to him as “Arturo”. His undecipherable, scrawly signature somehow displayed “ABC Jr.” But most of the time I just called him “dad”.
Born in 1915 to Gertrude and Kim, he was the oldest of five boys and one girl, all raised in an ultra-Catholic home in Tacoma, Washington. He lived through the depression, avoided WWII with his bad eyes, and spent his career as an insurance broker in his father’s business. He married my mother, Mary, and together they raised four children in the Catholic tradition. But my father had a conflicted inner world, perhaps as a result of pressures from being the first born, and slowly grew distant from my mother, divorcing after 20+ years. He had two other marriages (the last which was happy through his final days) and battled with alcohol (in the closet). He loved traveling and was keen on accompanying his travel-agent wife on the many trips she organized around the world. He always stayed close with his siblings and their families. Multiple cancers got him in the end and he died at home at the age of 78.
But my memories are unique. I remember his large record collection and loved to hear his newest acquisition. He taught tennis to the neighborhood kids at a local court, loved gardening, and wore flashy clothes. After my parents divorced, I was estranged from him for about 4 years, probably through anger and confusion, but we later reconciled and maintained a strong relationship from then on. He was always my supporter, there for me through thick and thin, without questions. I’ll never forget his words to me as I was floundering through life in my early 20’s: “no matter what you choose to do in life, I’ll always love you”. Those words gave me the freedom to live my life according to my own personal values, and to this day I try to extend that message to my own son.
So my altered words at the bottom of this piece read “my old goat…ABC Jr.”

And first on my list is to move the original OUT of the bathroom to a place of much greater honor.

HANDS ACROSS THE WATER 2010

2010-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

I've been traveling lately...it's that time of the year for me. It must be the migration thing...that pull, that force that says "go". In our case, it was "go south", and my pull was to attend this year's wonderful quilting event, Hands Across the Waters. And it just so happens that my guild, Quadra Quilters, was the sponsoring party for this five guild event that annually celebrates quilting on upper Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Discovery Islands. Typically this is just a one day gig, but Quadra always seems to know how to do it up right. We extended by two more days and offered some great classes taught by talented women. And I couldn't say no to those classes! Plus it was also a chance to hang out with my quilting friends. Hosted by Joan at her very special Open Bay cabin for 3 nights, my friend Jan and I had one great quilting weekend.

My two classes focused on applique. Ursula Riegel taught me everything I wanted to know about hand applique. Being self taught, I always seemed to struggle with it and I inately believed there must be a better way. Ursula, definitely the queen of this craft, set me straight. Plus, I had never tried reverse applique and now I know all the tricks. (Just have to practice!) Daphne Greig, on the other hand, helped my explore applique using fusibles and let us play with our decorative stitches to accent them. I didn't come out of these classes with any finished projects, but certainly a good amount of hands on practice and a much better handle on tips and techniques.

During breaks, I would run around to see what other groups were doing: ripless paper piecing, a play session with embellishments, and thread play to create bark and branches. Amazing things were happening!

The luncheon on Saturday was a chance for 200 of us to come together, see old friends and meet new ones, see what local vendors had to offer, check out the challenge entries (theme of "nature"), hear keynote speaker Karla Thompson share her wit , wisdom and beautiful quilts, and experience the generosity that Quadra extends to each visitor.

LIFE

2010-09-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's what I think about life...it is what it is.
It's the end of another Refuge Cove summer, and now we're off on the next adventure awaiting us in Jacksonville, OR. But its those unknown, invisible curve balls that are the really interesting parts of life. They test your soul and check your resiliency. Whether it's a husband with a few border crossing issues, or a grandson who shows up on your doorstep, or a creative project that doesn't quite turn out quite as you planned, or something coming at you unexpectedly, out of the blue, there is something amazing to be found in all of it. It is what it is, so hop on, and enjoy the ride. It's one of the great things about being retired - the ability to shift gears and grab on to new things as they pass by.
Adios Refuge Cove, see you next year!
(This little project was done as a class sampler last winter. It still sits as an unfinished piece, but I love the way the discharging turned out. This project taught me that its more important to plan your design around the seam lines - rather than just positioning symmetrically - as the change of colors is what really makes it interesting.)

HIGH TECH VS.LOW TECH

2010-09-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes (maybe more often than not) modern technology just doesn't quite fit the bill. Here in Refuge Cove, we are on a creek system as our water source. Since summer droughts typically bring on water issues in our small community, we decided to purchase a lovely water-saving, front-loading Whirpool washer last year. It was expensive and heavy (a huge issue for us as we haul it from the truck, down the ramp, into the skiff, across the water, onto the beach, in our old beater freight truck, up the hill and into the house), but we wanted that water-saving feature. Needless to say, my hand-dyes just don't wash out as well, retaining much more dye than I'd like. A few of my customers who purchased fat quarter bundles commented on the "running". I cringed, and started to put them through TWO cycles....my energy efficiency was going "down the drain" so to speak.
We have had a cool and wet September. I decided our abundant water would be put to good use in my low-tech tub. After this rinse, I put them in my washer on "quick wash"...now that's a saving!

THE CHALLENGE OF SUMMER

2010-09-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges of summer is finding time to quilt! But these women did, and entered this year's "summer challenge". Yesterday was our first quilt guild meeting after a long, lovely summer. It's always great to connect with old friends, see what's new in their lives, check out quilts and projects they're working on, and hear what's on the guild's agenda for the year. (Quadra is sponsoring the five guild "Hands Across the Waters" 3 day event in early October...now that's an agenda!)
As last year's winner, it was my job to organize the event, which involved handing out a fat quarter of fabric that each entrant must use, and establishing a theme. I chose the theme of "inspired from a photo" as I've enjoyed the challenge of doing that myself a few times. So here's a close up of the six entries.

This sunflower was the winner (most votes) and Barb Round took a round of applause , a stack of hand-dyed fat quarters as a prize, and the honor of organizing next year's challenge. Congrats to Barb and all other entrants for a job well done!

RUBBINGS

2010-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

I was pondering Marci’s “rubbing” idea for our journal quilt assignment and had thoughts of using crayons for rubbing, an iron for setting, and an array of textured pieces, etc., when I accidently discovered something totally different. That’s how it works sometimes, isn’t it?
In Mexico I buy a brightly printed, plastic material for my picnic table up north, and every few years I need a replacement piece because of fading, etc. This year I brought back an extra-long piece and used this remnant to protect a piece of plywood that I use in my studio.
Two days ago it was super rainy and this was the perfect opportunity to get out my thickened dyes and try some painting. I was in a salmon mood, so prepped my space for painting a few of these fish. I didn’t want the bright, colorful distraction of the plastic print behind my cloth, so turned it over and put the white side up. I painted two similar 14”x14” pieces and I discovered that when I picked them up to set them off to the side for drying, there was a residue left behind. I decided to set a piece of cloth on top of it and I watched a light waffle texture appear along with the paint left behind. I rubbed it a little and more appeared. That’s when I started moving my intentions towards journal quilting.
The next go round I just painted one lone salmon onto the white texture, added some bluish, watery color on the outside of it and then pressed my fabric onto it. That’s what you see above. Isn’t it perfect for the bottom side of the salmon?
I now wanted to rub the sense of a fish net onto some cloth for accent fabric. I found some old net, cut a piece the size of my large dyeing tray, and soaked it in a thickened bleach solution for a few minutes. In this case, I used Clorox toilet bowl cleaner with bleach because it is a thinner consistency and I thought would have better coverage on the netting. I spread it onto the tray and then set a folded piece of black on top. I wanted to rub and get the full effect of the net texture, but I knew that if my roller picked up the moisture, I would drag it across the fabric and it would smear and ruin it. I picked out a random orange piece that I didn’t like very well, folded that in half and set it on top of the black. I was now pretty well assured that the moisture wouldn’t soak through. I rubbed and rolled and then pulled the pieces off and set them to the side for 10 minutes or so before I rinsed them. I loved them, and the orange piece that I didn’t care for as a solid now had new interest for me.
I constructed my pieces with simple strips and finished it off with some abalone buttons that I’ve been saving for the perfect occasion…this was it. They are the rocks where the salmon lay their eggs which I feel are represented by the lovely thin strip of “salmon” color.
I now have a stack of so-so fabric waiting to get the “net effect”. I really do love accidental discoveries!

SELF PORTRAIT

2010-08-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here we go on another journal quilt. This was really fun.
I’m not sure what little bird of an idea flew into my head one night, but it all started with wanting to try a continuous line drawing of myself and then coloring it in. I also was encouraged by Shawna’s painting she did (her son flying over the ramp on his bike) and Dawn’s comment on the class she took where she stitched first, painted later. Thanks ladies! (These are fellow journalers.)
I went to the bathroom mirror with paper and pencil and did a quick two step (line) drawing, first my face and then the hair. It was a bit congested around the nose, but other than that, I could live with it.
I prepared my sandwich of white cotton on both sides with batting in between, and proceeded to reproduce my self-portrait that I had previously done on paper. So far, so good! (I actually took pictures of all these steps but somehow lost them when I was messing around with my camera last night.) And I realized that this was now reversible.
The next step was to soak my sandwich in soda ash, dry it, and press it. I mixed my dyes and thickened them with alginate. I first started with the portrait of my coastal B.C. self in the cool colors, and then flipped it over to paint my southern, Mexican self in the warm colors. I loved being able to try two completely different palettes of color on the same drawing.
As far as how I am connected to these pictures, these facts are true: 1) I have been wearing the same blue, round earrings for the whole summer!, 2) although I don’t have red hair, I have a ton of it in my genes, 3) I do not have blue eyes, 4) my hair is multi-color these days – brown, gold, reddish, gray, white, and 5) I was surprised about all those lumps and bumps and folds and furrows in the neck, chin and forehead areas. Oh well!

MORE JOURNALING

2010-08-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

Journaling has become an important part of my creative life. When I first began, two years ago, it was more of a sampler session, a way to try new things on a small scale. Since then it has evolved into that and more - sometimes an intimate connection with a part of my life that might otherwise go untold, or an opportunity to share a snippet of my experience in fabric. I love having the pallette of journal assignments (themes) before me, free floating in the back of my mind, and like a slot machine or the cosmic planets, the plans and ideas all line up one day and I begin on another.
I recently had a week with 5 themes on my plate...that was a lot of ruminating!...and I took the plunge and knocked off two. The first, seen above, was in response to the idea of "stripes". Hmmmmmm....I had always wanted to try simple stripes and then re-stripe with bleach to form somewhat of a plaid. What would that look like? And that's what happened. I love it and now the wheels are turning on how I can incorporate this into a larger piece. Here's what it looked like before the bleaching...what a transformation, yes?

My next theme I attached myself to was "All Tied Up". Suggested by Linda about 3 months prior, it became a most difficult assignment for me. She hinted that it had to do with how busy women's lives are, how at times we are all tied up with a million or two responsibilities (or three?). After struggling with that connection for a month or so, I had to finally let it go and move on to other "ties". The brainstorming began.
I had a photo floating around that I had taken last summer from the Refuge Cove dock. I loved the composition of the fleet of kayaks tied up together and knew that I would put it to fabric someday. The shapes, the colors, the lines of the dock all added such interest for me. And yes, they were "all tied up"! So, round one came out like this:

I was preparing for a discharging class I was scheduled to teach and thought I'd take it one extra step and apply the thickened bleach (Soft Scrub with bleach) within the spirals of the water. And we all know what happens when bleach is applied...there's no turning back!

I think it's a totally different piece. It's hard to know what to focus on at first until you realize what the subject is. I think I like the simplicity of the first one better, but I always love to try the "what if...?. What do you think?
Summer is soon to be over. I think I better get in my kayak and go exploring...

KELP PICKLES

2010-08-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Summer's bounty is still with us. And that theme, "summer's bounty", was a quilt journal theme from way back in the early days of our group...one that I never quite got around to, until now. It must be my current focus on harvesting and the amazing abundance that I am surrounded with that brought me back to this theme.

For me, quilt journaling starts with this long rumination, a tossing and a turning, of thoughts and ideas and what ifs and maybes. Some blips on the brain frame immediately are tossed out because the project, even though 8.5"x11", is way more complicated than I want to commit to. In this case, it started with a list of some of my favorite summer bounties...beets, shrimp, peas on the vine, flowers, carrots, berries...and nothing quite grabbed me. I delved a little deeper...zucchini, nasturtiums, garlic...still no hits. Then I moved into jars and the pickling/canning process, and there I had it - kelp pickles! And with it a story of a person in my life connected to teaching me about making kelp pickles.
How to do it? (My piece, not the pickles!) This is really where the complicated tasks get canned. I had just finished an applique piece and had a brief moment of wanting to create a kelp bulb and frond in applique, but knew that would be WAY too much for my skills and patience. I could free motion, then discharge, but the kelp would be white/pink and I wanted it to be green. Soooooo....add another step, that being paint over the discharged part with green thickened dye, and I had it!
My ex-mother-in-law, Dorothy DeBoer, taught me how to make kelp pickles. We lived in the southeast Alaska community of Gustavus, and we spent a lot of time on the water – fishing, crabbing, traveling to Center Island for deer hunting, etc. In the summer, we’d come upon huge kelp beds, and if I had a 5 gallon bucket along, I would cut a bucket full of healthy looking 2 foot stalks and bring them back home. Dorothy was proficient at both pickles (rings) and relish, but I didn’t have a food processor so just made the rings (which are most delicious with a tuna sandwich!). She showed me how to soak them for 2 days to get the slime off prior to pickling. She also would make sure she had extra spices to share with me.
Dorothy was born and raised in Gustavus, and lived there with her 8 siblings, parents, and numerous relatives. As an adult, she became a teacher, and both she and her husband taught in the Juneau school system. She was Juneau’s first female principal, only after the school board’s request that she complete a doctorate. After retiring, she spent much time doing world-wide ministry work for her church. She was an amazing woman.
But most of all, she was a good friend. Despite the fact that I divorced her son (yes, instigated by me), she remained connected, supportive and the best grandmother my son could ever ask for. He spent every summer with Dorothy and her husband, Charles, until they were unable to return to Gustavus. As a testimony to the power of these wonderful people, my son Ben has the most amazing tattoo of his grandfather on his arm. Maybe Dorothy will be portrayed on the other arm someday.
For me, I’ll just remember Dorothy every time I see this piece. And also be reminded of summer's bounty!

DOORWAYS

2010-08-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here in coastal B.C., every waterway is DOORWAY. It may be a doorway to distant lands, new adventure, or even a place for the imagination to activate. Its everywhere, inviting one to explore, to stretch, to grow. Whether traveling by sail, power, kayak or canoe, you can swim, fish, dig clams or beachcomb. Be it north, south, east or west, there are doorways at every turn.

August's theme for our Cyber Fibres group is DOORWAYS. My first thought was to replicate another piece I had already done called "Mazatlan's Doors", but I wanted to try something new, so put my thinking cap back on. I had tried a few raw-edged landscapes this summer and wanted to try more, so I pushed it to my next step of turned-edge applique using freezer paper like I have seen so many doing at my guild and elsewhere. I learned a few things on this piece: 1) this process takes a long time, 2) I could use a few lessons on better technique, 3) color value work isn't easy, and 4) that my camera's photo program has some neat features for enhancing your shot. Here I super-textured everything. Interesting effct isn't it?

And I didn't use one speck of bleach!
I'd also like to take note of an amazing landscape project by the Rogue Art Quilters (http://www.rogueartquilters.wordpress.com/). My friend Christine is a participant in this collective view of the Rogue River all created in art quilts. It is an amazing creation...well done Christine and group!

MORE FOOD

2010-08-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

I have a few "foodie" friends, but I myself don't quite fall into that category. Don't get me wrong ... I love to cook! To me the term foodie indicates, among other things, that someone is using some hard to find ingredients and my lifestyle just doesn't go there. I've always lived in quirky places, be it Gustavus, Alaska, Mazatlan, or here at Refuge Cove, and I haven't exactly had shopping options at my fingertips. I'm a complete ignoramus regarding trendy food items and I'm not a food channel nut (sorry, no tv!). But I like good food. And that last post I wrote about my mom's pie crust just really got my food juices going.

Here at the Cove, I do one or two MAJOR shopping trips for our 5 months here. I hit on all the staples, then throw in a few extras which sets me up for about 50% of our summer grub. The rest is all local, split between the garden (mine or others), eggs from friends' chickens, honey from the local beekeeper, prawns, salmon, and cod from the sea, and our tiny store for everything else. There is one restaurant here in our community and they only serve burgers. Not that we don't like a good burger, but the food at home is WAY better, so why look elsewhere? Believe me, when I'm anywhere else, I'm the first to suggest going out so I don't have to cook, but here I'm in my glory. Home cooking, good home cooking.

Kieran, one of the local teens, caught a 19 pound Chinook salmon last week, and last night we had a most amazing potluck. His grandpa Rick cooked it "wickininish" style - cold smoked all day(placed in a wooden box with the smoke vented from detached alder coals). It is my absolute favorite...incredibly moist and so full of those omega 3's! We all brought our favorite side dish and bottle of wine, and yes, there was a "joint effort" blueberry pie (I made the crust!, Barb picked the berries and made the pie) as the featured dessert. Here, Cathy is carrying the salmon from its cooking box to the table.

Speaking of boxes AND Cathy, she just finished painting Rick's wickininish box, and this was its christening. You should have seen it with the smoke rolling out of it!

As for me, my awareness has truly been on food lately. (Maybe Thanksgiving should be celebrated in summer!) So much so, that I've got a thing going with aprons. All hand-dyed, one-of-a-kinds for sale down at Sandy's shop. Maybe a foodie or two will buy one.

MOM'S PIE CRUST

2010-07-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm going to write this blog and then make pie crust. Mom's pie crust. My mom made the best apple pie west of the Mississippi and certainly the best pie crust in all of North America. At least in my book she did.

When I was a young girl in Tacoma, Washington, we had fruit trees. The gravenstein apples trees were always our favorites and they provided my mom, Mary Comfort, with the wealth of resources (apples, gravenstein apples) to perfect her apple pie. And that she did! Even after we moved from this place, she always seemed to find a source for gravensteins, and every August and September she became the human pie factory. There was nothing like my mom's hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream on the side. Nothing! She would make a whack at a time (somewhere between 2 and 8), freeze them (unbaked) and provide for every festivity from then until Easter. Besides our family festivities, she was quite social, and always found an excuse to share her well-loved and reknowned apple pie.

To me, summer is highlighted by apple pies, barbecue, garden goodies, fresh catch from the sea, berries, homemade wine (from the local u-brew, Good Libations!). That's exactly what it's all about here at Refuge Cove each summer. And right about now, the end of July, we are coming on the abundant season of wild edibles! Just today, we pulled our prawn traps (even snagged a crab in there), pulled some fresh beets from the garden, and got involved in a blueberry pie project with fresh berries picked yesterday in Bellingham, Washington. And that's just the delectable fare for today...tomorrow will be another food adventure, Refuge Cove style.

My mom used Crisco. Here in Canada, many women use Tenderflake. I've been involved in a few Tenderflake vs. Crisco discussions. We all have our loyalties.

This small quilt was made 4 years ago for our guild's summer challenge. We were given a quarter meter of fabric with baking implements printed on it. We were to use it in a fabric piece with the theme of "Well behaved women never make history". This was my interpretation and entry. I figured that my mom, quite well behaved in her lifetime, never made history but did make a darn good apple pie. Now this piece graces my kitchen here at the Cove.
Now I'm off to make pie crust for 2 blueberry pies.

CORTES DAY

2010-07-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Summer is such a great time for putting the projects down, closing up shop, and heading out for some local fun. We piled a group of friends into our boat last Saturday and headed over to Cortes Island for their annual Cortes Day. The five-minute parade, games (they lasted much longer), events, fabulous food, dancing, music, costumes and the unexpected were all there, and we were too!

The honorary firetruck and ambulance opened up the parade, and then came all the rest. It was a quickie, but there was lots of ingenuity, plenty of candy showers, fern decor, colorful attire, and children.

This 5-seater go-cart was a hit with the little ones. It was not only in the parade, but was zipping around throughout the day. You know those headrests that you take out of your car and either store or throw out? Each seat back was a discarded headrest. Now that's riding in style! There's a handle on the back for the pusher.

These two boys were so proud of their fish costumes. A large cardboard box, a little paint, and they were good to go!

On to the games. The saw pull was a popular one.

The "Nail Sail Bail" had six 2-person teams. They were given a few supplies, 2 hours for building, and then...

into the water, around the buoys and back again! Only one team member needed to be in the boat (they built paddles too!) and the other was able to swim behind for a little exta oomph! Just one out of six capsized...not bad. Of course I was disappointed that the women didn't win.

A tiny booth off to the side caught my attention. There was lots of groaning and grimacing coming from this stand. A well fabricated troll's face was on the board and there were two holes cut for nostrils. Pay your money, put your hand in and see if you get a prize or ??????...it's the "Booger Booth"! The attendant kept telling people to "just flick it over there" or "get way in there and see what you get". I thought it was pretty creative!

Another fun event was the chicken poop contest. A large grid with 512 squares were available for a $2 per square. When all the squares were filled with names, it was set on the ground, surrounded with chicken wire, and the "official" chicken was set inside. The owner of the square where the O.C. happened to poop, was the winner of $512. Drat! I didn't win!
AND, on top of all the fun and gaiety and laughter, there was amazing food! Salmon, burgers, salad bar, pies, cakes, ice cream...only as Cortesians can produce! I grazed to my hearts content! Thanks to Cortes Islanders for a fantastic day!

MY NOT SO DESOLATE WORLD

2010-07-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

On a day like today, it's hard to understand how this area where I spend my summers came to be known as Desolation Sound. It has such an ominous and lonely feel to the name. It must have been a stormy December day when Captain Vancouver first arrived in these waters and bestowed what he believed to be a fitting title to the area. This week, with our crystal clear, hot days, it deserves a name like Island Heaven.
This is a boaters' mecca. Be it big or small, fancy or simple, sail or power, kayak or rowboat, this is the place to be. There are a wealth of lovely anchorages where you can imagine that you are the only one alive, communing with eagles and songbirds, the lapping tideline, the beach walks and the sunsets. Or you can visit one of the interesting coastal communities, (like mine at Refuge Cove), where there is always a colorful character or new friend to chat with, a washers game to observe (much like horseshoes), or groceries to stock up on. If you are the hunter/gatherer type, you may want to try your hand at fishing, setting a prawn trap, or harvesting clams or oysters. Or maybe just kicking back and doing a lot of nothing. And did I mention swimming...how could I forget swimming. We have the warmest waters north of Mexico. Summer water temps are often near 70. (The large mass of Vancouver Island protects us from the cold Pacific waters.) There is nothing desolate about this area ... it is rich with nature and activities and experiences and true coastal beauty.
For my husband and I, we relish the getaway-ness of it all. No malls, no roads - just one small grocery store and hiking trails. I go for a major shopping trip about every 2 months, and then just sit back and bake, cook and eat! Our home is a five mninute walk up a rocky bluff - we call it our built in gymnasium. Our garden provides us with salads and veggies, and our daily prawn trap pull adds to the stash in our freezer. About twice a week, we feast on prawn kabobs, shrimp curry, or some other delectable feast. Good friends and good books (and my faithful sewing machine), along with never ending outdoor chores, keep us happy and healthy.
Island Heaven...that's where I live.

JOURNAL JUNKIES

2010-07-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

These are some of my journal junkies, quilt journal junkies that is. Terry, on the left, and Barb to the right, are two of 13 in our online quilt journal group, Cyber Fibres. They are standing in front of a display of 40 of our quilts at the recent Quadra Island Quilt and Garden Tour. Both of these gals worked hard on the display, securing them (with small stories attached) and tidying them up for their DEBUT event. Close to 200 visitors checked out our quilts, our stories, and Phil Stone's lovely garden where they were housed. It was wonderful to be a part of it all.

I've been a part of this group since September of 2008. I joined simply because I liked the idea and I wanted to have an outlet for my work. I never imagined how connected I'd become to the other quilters, most whom I've never met in person. I never imagined how I'd cherish my little pieces of quilt and story that reflect my life. I never imagine I'd be touting the wonders of quilt journaling.

For now, I am stuck on June's theme of "All Tied Up". One of these days, soon I hope, it will all click and come together - the idea, the connection, the fabric, the image, the story - and I will proceed on another of my quilt journal adventures.

QUADRA ISLAND QUILT AND GARDEN TOUR

2010-06-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

I was on my way to participating in Quadra's Quilt and Garden tour, an amazing event held every two years. You see, Quadra is the home of some truly amazing quilters and many truly keen gardeners. Saturday and Sunday saw the marriage of both and invited the public to share in this scene. Happily the weather cooperated! Twelve gardens were featured, and of those, six included quilts. As guild members, we acted a hosts. "My" garden was at the home of Chris and Margaret Rose (such an appropriate name for avid gardeners!), a lovely property on Quadra's south side. Chris, a professional artist (soapstone sculpture), also opened his lovely gallery that day and allowed us to include quilts there. Sadly, my camera batteries were on their last little bit of ooomph ( after the tour I was heading to town to buy some new ones, but little good that did me then!) so I was only able to shoot 4 photos....only 4 photos! All of the photos here are from the Rose garden, but my mind holds other lovely images of a living roof, fabulous ponds, lasagna (layered) gardening, unique scarecrows, bonsai trees and of course exquisite quilts blowing in the wind, adding color and grace to already glorious settings! And of course I can't forget the garden that featured 40 of our little journal quilts. It was a fantastic event and I dare say you better not miss it in 2012. Or better yet, be on the lookout for other local garden tours and take one in! You won't regret it!

: Carol Perry's iris graced the Rose's entrance.

: Barb Round's seagull hangs next to a traditional mask.Kate White's quilt became the backdrop for the vegetable garden.

Kate White's quilt was the backdrop for the vegetable garden.

SPROUTING SEEDS

2010-06-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Seed and plant images are often times associated with the promise of growth, life and new beginnings. This sprouting seed image, taken from a Cretan seal over 4,000 years old, certainly indicates new growth and beginnings for me. Now back at Refuge Cove for two weeks, I am daily reminded of summer's new life. The weeds have abundantly taken over my garden, and slowly I remove them and give them their own new life in my burn pit. My old crooked and toppling fence that protects my garden from deer has just been taken out and is being replaced with a new, straight and secure fencing system. My boxes are full of small lettuce plants, waiting to be thinned and cared for. Old friends are being reunited after a long winter, for another summer of activity. The potlucks are starting and for once the wild salmon are seeming to be standard fare. Perhaps this is a positive sign!

I hustled and hurried to get my summer sewing work completed while in Mexico. I knew my spring would be swallowed up with waiting for Canadian immigration to do it's thing (our issues aren't over yet). But now, for the first time, I am free and able to pursue my OWN work, without the thought of production or sales or inventory or the like. So, off to try something NEW...

Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers by David Hornung has been sitting on my shelf for a year now, waiting for a moment such as now to get into it and see what evolves. I was attracted to this book initially because it was referenced in Nancy Crow's website, and I certainly love her color work. So assignment one titled Chromatic Gray Studies, set me off to dyeing a set of monochromatic swatches, all with a heavy dose of black to hopefully move them towards the gray side. Perhaps there's not as much gray as I'd like, but I'm more than happy with the results and know I'm going to have lots of fun with these.

For now, slowly getting into my summer pace of gardening and creating and renewing friendships, I feel a bit like the sprouting seed. With trust and patience, I know my harvest will be abundant.

BACK AT IT

2010-06-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my life feels like when you're in the middle of a good read and somehow you lose the book, or have an emergency occur that pulls you from the book, and when you do return or find it, you wonder "what was happening here?" or "what was this all about?". I'm feeling very rusty after a 2 month transition from Mazatlan to Refuge Cove.
So I set up my machine to look at it and remember how it feels to have it around again. It feels like an old friend.
Then I thought I'd look at my blog, reaquaint myself here...

ADIOS MAZATLAN

2010-04-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

To say adios is not to say goodby, but to say I am passing with no time to chat, yet will return another day, my friend.
Adios Mazatlan, adios friends. I am only passing, soon to return.
The threads of your people and your culture have woven their way throughout my my heart, mi corazon, my soul, mi alma.
Neighbors of all ages with friendly greetings to welcome us with our white skin and angular speech.
Music heard at every corner, arias and concertos coming from the apertures of the plazuela, young ballerinas chatting in groups outside their studio door, and competing musicians entertaining their local audiences on the benches.
Of course the events: Carnaval, Moto Week, Semana Santa, Navidad. There is always something to entertain, to enjoy, to feed the soul and help to shadow the daily sorrows and pains of life.
The fiestas! The birthday party at the Senior Center was our highlight this winter, with a spunky attendant helping her 90-something wards shimmy and shake their way across the floor to take a swing at the pinata. Be it a baptism or a street party, the elements are always, family, friends, food and music. What else matters?
My daily walks on the oceanfront or up to the lighthouse with neighbor Chayito not only conditioned my body but strengthened our bonds of friendship.
Of course our travels: Morelia with its history and natural beauty, Akumal with is white sand beaches, and Copper Canyon with its depths of landscape and indigenous peoples. Mexico, you are so rich, so amazing, so unique.
And my local friends - be it in yoga or bridge or fabric related - women sharing experiences of life and love and joining together in friendship. Thay are vibrant and alive and an important part of my life.
I can't forget the sewing ladies - they are a bright light to my Mexican experience. If they only knew how much they have given to me with their friendship. Along with cherished partners Bev and Toy, we push them along the path of empowerment. They are so strong!
My 84 year old neighbor took my hand yesterday and with a fortune teller's gaze, she predicted "much love, much health, but not much money - just enough for food!" - and then laughed and hugged me. Here in Mexico, that's what it's all about!
Adios, Mazatlan, adios friends. I am only passing, soon to return.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

2010-04-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

We're on the short list with two more sleeps before departing north. Not only are we tying up loose ends here, but I want to put closure on a few of my blog posts from this winter. The three amigas above are myself and Val and Edwige, cohorts in the shirt and chenille shawl projects. On this day we were divvying up our rayon, both black and white (for dyeing), when we decided to get good and silly! We each produced some beautiful shirts (sadly no pic) and the chenille project had mixed results. Another friend, Karen, also wanted to get involved, but we were a bit short of fabric to each have five layers. Karen remembered she had some black rayon in her stash so we then were able to stretch our resources 4 ways. We each dyed up four colorful layers and with the black as the backing, we each set off to sewing straight lines across these layers to later slice for chenille. I think I put about four hours into the line-sewing and was only half way done. At one point my bobbin thread ran out so I was punching holes, like perforations, in my fabrics, and later the black began to tear. This was a bad sign, and I suspected I needed to change my needle. (I have to admit I am not the best at changing needles.) I reported this to the group, and they agreed that it must have been the needle. I received an email from Karen one night with the info that she had finished BUT after slicing, she put it in the wash and it came out in split strips...the black had totally disintegrated and left nothing but the sliced colorfule chenille strips. It wasn't my needle but rotten black rayon! So we all pondered on how to proceed. Val finished sewing hers, but flipped it over and included the black in her slicing. I never got to see it but a friend reported it was lovely. Mine sits half finished on a shelf, and Edwige has hers only basted together. Some projects are best to just chalk up to experience! Karen is now incorporating her strips into a vest.

These two cute cousins came to model the shirts I made for them for Christmas. Aren't these girls adorable?

My invitation to the dinner club inspired this piece. Alistair's grilled shrimp with green curry was not only delicious but beautiful too and I couldn't help but put it to fabric. I love these dinner plate pieces....I know I'll be doing more. For background stitching on the placemat, I go to Epicurious.com and look up a simple and relevant recipe and proceed to stitching it on, weaving the ingredients and process in and out of the scene. It's lots of fun!
And finally, on to my mystery quilt. I've been conscientious about producing the squares each month when Heather from Quadra's guild sends out the instructions. In March we received instructions for putting them all together and basically it was a "how you like it" option. Two nights ago I put them together on my design board, moving them here and there until I got it just right. This is the last pic I took and isn't exactly as I'll piece it, but pretty darn close. Initially the task was a bit of a headache, but after a while I really got into it. Thank goodness for design boards! My pieces and mini sewing kit are set aside so I can have them handy in the car to help me while away the miles. I have a sketch of the layout in my notebook and I'm good to go.
Now to clean out the fridge!

DIPLOMA DAY

2010-04-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Monday was my last day of the season to work with our wonderful Sewing Ladies. My awesome co-hort, Bev, and I are both heading north in a few days, so the ladies had a celebration for us, a day of food and friendship and more food and more friendship. These are the moments I live for. We took this opportunity to hand out diplomas for the different programs we have been teaching this winter. (The ladies giggled with delight at being honored for their efforts.) Bev taught English each week to this fine group of twelve. They interact each week with tourists at different market venues and English skills are invaluable to them. Fantastic job, Bev! Fantastic job, ladies!

My role this winter has been my usual attempts to help them enhance their sewing work with artistic expressions and personal touches. This year I wanted to teach them paper piecing which I was pretty sure they had little or no experience. (I was inspired by Pippa Moore, a fellow quilter from Vancouver Island who has done a similar program with women in Africa. I attended her slide show just before coming to Mexico in October.) Each Monday I brought a new pattern, demonstrated it , and sent them home with the homework of finishing it. We started with simple stripes and finished off with a more complicated sailboat. All twelve gave it a try, some liking it and others struggling through the process. Here's Sylvia with one of her boats...she was one who really took to this activity and I'll be sure to bring her more patterns next year. Then on to silk painting. This was a project we started last year. I had seen an article on Dharma's website about a silk painting project in Haiti, so of course I wanted to try it here too. I think I brought 50 scarves last year and each woman painted 4 or 5. This year they requested more, so I brought another 80 down and we set up shop each Friday at their community center with our pvc frames, silk blanks and colorful silk paints. Ivan, the art teacher at the center was instrumental in helping with painting skills (hey's a great watercolorist!) and design. In the end, the 8o blanks turned into beautiful scarves that are now for sale at their venues. How they loved using salt in this process. I'm wondering if they'll be continuing this next year. Sales will tell and I'll await an email in September with their "wish list".

I was gifted an extra three weeks here as our plans for leaving changed, so with a bit of time at hand, I taught them the ladder stitch I so often use to applique shapes to fabric. It was a quick one hour class, and they loved it. For the next two weeks, they brought in items they had made using this stitch. They are so proud of their new skills and I am incredibly proud of them too. My summer will be spent thinking about what to teach next year. Any ideas?

Take a look at the feast that Bev and I were treated to that day...as a way of saying thanks to us for our classes and friendship. These truly are the moments I live for!

EARTH DAY

2010-04-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's Earth Day, and my computer greeted me with the question, "What are you doing for Earth Day?".
Maybe Earth Day has now become as important as Easter and New Years and Christmas and Valentine's Day and any other holiday that is taken on by the marketers. I hope so. At least it has risen above Groundhog's Day and Secretaries' Day (sorry secretaries, I don't mean to belittle your job!) I'm waiting for the day when its an international holiday, celebrated world-wide with celebrations to raise our environmental consciousness.
Along with packing up my belongings for our upcoming trip back north, joining some friends for lunch, and sharing dinner at our sweet 84 year old Mexican neighbor's house, I don't have many Earth Day activities planned. Perhaps the finishing of a recent collage is appropriate.

I recently gathered a group of women for a collage class. It was a fun day of "intentional" dyeing, another day of design, and a final day of free motion quilting. My creation was of an earth angel, which turned out not exactly as I envisioned, but my message of our need for angelic help is there. Yes, we need help, and lots of it. Our poor Mother Earth can't get a quick face lift; she's stuck with what we dish out to her. And stress, being the killer that it is, is taking its toll on Mother Earth.

While I'm at it, I really want to congratulate my three students on their awesome creations! Dragonflies, bassett hounds and beach scenes (and earth angels) filled our days. The colors and compositions are fantastic. And Nancy, you have now set me off on a cheesecloth spree...it is an amazing and versatile dyeing tool.

IDENTITY THEFT

2010-04-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

I received a call from an old friend in Alaska a few months ago. He was wondering if I had heard about the problem with the public employees’ AND teachers’ retirement systems from the state. “No, tell me more”, I replied with a bit of trepidation in my voice. Apparently the administrator of these two systems (and I belong to BOTH) had lost data of 77,000 employees and had failed to report it immediately. Somewhere, out there in ether-land, was a lot of personal info, maybe mine, floating around doing who knows what. My friend referred me to the local newspaper for further details. I was to receive a letter from the state if I was involved, but for me, living in Mexico, receiving regular mail is not an option. I did find out that the administrating firm was offering every involved person 2 free years of identity theft coverage, and that the deadline for signing up for this was May 3^rd. A few weeks ago I tackled this issue. I first called the state to see if I was involved. The answer was yes. I had the info for identity theft coverage, but I needed a special promotion code. The state worker also gave me this. From there I applied online for a program to protect my identity. (Doesn't that sound re-assuring??!!)
The process was relatively easy, but once again it was a situation to create a username and password. I opened my little notebook where I keep track of them , and upon looking at my way too lengthy list, it just hit me…how crazy it is, how our lives sometimes feel to be reduced to a password, and by golly, you better get that password right or else! And be ready to change it at moment’s notice! My grandparents and even my parents must be rolling over in their graves thinking about what a crazy world we live in. My husband was kind enough to let me vent for a day or two.
We also are still dealing with my husband’s inability to enter Canada. (See my post "Locked out of Life".) Last year he returned on a 6 month permit, but this year he has to re-apply all over again. Last year he had a criminal background check from the U.S. FBI which took 3 weeks at most to process, but this year they are backlogged and the wait will be 13 weeks. So that’s another piece of bureaucratic BULLSH** we are challenged by. And I know that we aren’t the only ones involved in the junk of life. Ours is just a blip on the screen, a hiccup in life, but my heart goes out to those who truly are trapped in the system.
The bottom line is to enjoy and cherish every HUMAN, face-to-face connection. Don’t let the cyber life rule. Except, that is, Cyberfibres...Online quilting is VERY IMPORTANT!
The story behind this piece is more important than the construction….fabric, bleach, thread, buttons! Put it out there! Vent on fabric!

POOCH PILLOWS

2010-04-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

One of the many great volunteer organizations here in Mazatlan is PAC, or Projecto Animales de la Calle. Jan McDonald and her many devoted helpers (Susan, Danny, Judith, Tracey, etc. etc.) work to help the dogs and cats of the street - those forgotten creatures that are quite abundant here. They use a program known as TNR (trap, neuter,return) and have helped to stabilize the population here in the Centro district of Mazatlan. Their main fundraiser is the annual Bow-Wow Meow Mixer, a fun buffet/cocktail party and auction, which generates the majority of revenue for the group. I always try to make a little something with a dog/cat theme, and this year I was stumped on what to make. A wonderful blogger, Jude Hill of Spiritcloth, shared info about an Anchorage surface design project headed by Diane Melms (the Alaskan glue!) of students creating primitive and bright animals on fabric. My inspiration had arrived! I got out my scraps and got to cutting. The pillows were a hit and raised a nice sum for the group. I even got a commission for more pooch pillows, as seen below. Doobie and Lolita's mom and dad love them!

THE GREEN FUSE

2010-04-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Last summer I found an old classic at Cortes Island’s Free Store: The Artist’s Way – A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julie Cameron. This was added to my stash of Mexico-bound goods, and once here, I devoted an hour each morning to working through this book. I found it valuable in many ways, mainly digging deep inside to the heart and soul of my own creativity. This quote was introduced early in the book, with reference to higher powers, life forces, etc.. It really struck a cord with me and I have been wanting to put it to fabric ever since. Many times, I feel, that I am driven to create just as the flower is driven to grow. So this is my current quilt journal entry for GROWTH, representing the growth we experience in so many ways in the creative process.
I wanted to try something simple, without a machine, so initially wrote the quote on with bleach pen, leaving room for a simple flower. For hand quilting, I tried to put in stitch lines that hinted at upward, flowing movement. The last touch, referencing Dylan Thomas was of course added with machine.
Some of you have expressed interest in trying your hand at bleaching. You can try brushing a bleach gel product (Vim with bleach, Soft Scrub with bleach, or Clorox bleach pen) onto a foam stamp and stamping directly onto the fabric. Or you can use it with a paint brush. I typically put the product into a small, fine-tipped bottle for application….I can write with it and fill in shapes, or even create dotted or striped fabric. I order the bottle from Dharma in California, but Maiwa in Vancouver also has them. Someone told me that they may be available in places that sell cake decorating supplies. Once in the bottle, I cover it with fabric or foil as light breaks down the bleach. I usually let the bleach set on the fabric for a few hours before rinsing away the residue, but it can even be rinsed after 10 minutes. So that should be enough info to at least get started in playing with thickened bleach.
Happy spring to all….may GROWTH be with you!

SIMPLE STEPS

2010-03-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Nancy and Anne came over the other day to have a dye day in my studio. I was able to capture the step by step process of Anne's "refreshed" and fantastic jacket.

We accordian-folded her well-worn white jersey jacket, clamped it tight and set it on a tray of black dye.

The result was a nice striped pattern with a lavender toned background.

Now, how to proceed? Fold, reclamp and put in another dye bath, or just re-dye....? Here's Anne's decision: a bright lime-green dye bath brings this old jacket a brand new life! Well done, Anne!

TRIAL RUN

2010-03-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my upcoming class at the Hands Across the Water (HAW) event this coming October. My guild (Quadra Island Quilters) is hosting this annual gathering where five Vancouver Island guilds come together for a day of fun, food and sharing. Quadra likes to combine classes when being the host guild, not only because everyone loves quilting or fiber art classes, but also because Quadra is so beautiful and we want everyone to come and enjoy it for as long as possible. I proposed to teach a class on all the ins and outs of discharging, and yesterday a small group of fiber-loving friends joined me for a trial run of the class. Will the 6 hours be enough time to get everything done? What kind of glitches will we encounter? How long will it take to piece the backing? Will the free-motion quilting bog people down? My group of four included one experienced free-motioner, two with some experience, and one novice.

I demonstrated the steps of the project: piecing, designing the area to be discharged, layout, sewing, and discharging. All went relatively well and there was only one machine that was tempermental, so I switched this friend to my trusty old Bernina. It wasn't long before they were all involved in their own creative worlds and processes. The wheels were turning. Before I knew it, the sewing was done, and they were on to discharging.

The finished projects were amazing - all unique and personal, each with its own flair. My students were happy with the results and were amazed with the discharge process, just as I am each time I do it. The glitches were few, and now I can just focus on some of the small details before the October class. I love successes!

FOOD AS INSPIRATION

2010-03-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

The invitation came with such a simple phone call. "Hey Mo, do you want to go to the movie Monday night...'Julie and Julia'?" Although she wanted to see it, she had a prior commitment with her dinner club. And suddenly I was on the receiving end of the invitation - as her guest at an evening with well known food fans. "But", she told me, "curry is our special ingredient, and you'll have to bring something to share."
Of course I was on. I had been in a food mood with my most recent piece "Friday's feast" (perhaps influenced with a bit of Catholic upbringing?). I had such fun with the colors, the arrangement of the table setting, the discharging of the fish skeleton and the border, and stitching the recipe onto the background. What other food and fabric marriage could I perform? Maybe the upcoming evening would bring me inspiration...
It was an amazing evening...a warm and welcoming setting, hosted by Linda and Bill. The eight courses were each a sensual feast...not only full of warm and complex curry flavors, each unique, but presented as eight visual feasts too. Those curry smells... the earthy colors... the rich tastes from another part of the world......mmmmm, I was in food heaven. Our evening went like this:

There were FOUR fabulous courses of appetizers: chinese dumplings with ginger curry sauce, pear-squash soup, salad with chicken and curried peanut dressing, orange-avocado-jicama salad with curry vinagarette, and don't forget the wine. Three main dishes wow-ed our group: grilled Thai green curry prawns, balti chicken, and a chicken curry to die for. Yes, more wine. And to top it off, amazing chocolate curry cupcakes with curry ice cream! This meal was not only over the top, but such a treat for those of us who have been inundated with the flavors of Mexico - of which we certainly get our fair share. To put it simply...my mouth was happy.

After such a lovely evening with old and new friends, my heart was happy too!

As for inspiration for another fabric piece, I may have to go for the grilled Thai green curry shrimp....the fringe from the shawl across the table, the spiral at the ends of the cutlery, the swirl of the bamboo plate, banana leaves, three delicately placed shrimp on a bed of rice, lemons and limes as garnish, a lovely pink flower...mmmmmm!

TREMENDOUS

2010-03-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

TREMENDOUS… yes, I experienced a tremendous event recently.

Each winter, during my Mexican retreat, a group of women friends get together for a traveling adventure. This year we decided on the colonial city of Morelia in the state of Michoacan. Eight of us toured city and countryside with a personal guide for 7 days; the entire week was tremendous. The highlight of the trip was our visit to the Butterfly Sanctuary in the small mountain puebla of El Rosario. Here the monarchs spend five months each winter, CLUSTERED on the branches of the trees. At first I thought the orange tint of the trees was because of a bark beetle problem or the like, but it was only the MILLIONS of monarchs nestled closely together, waiting for the right daytime conditions to take a short flight in search of water. On the day of our visit, the sun was out, with nary a breath of wind. Around noon, as we began our short hike uphill to the edge of the forest, we found ourselves surrounded by monarchs…in the air, on the ground, in our hair, on our backpacks, everywhere! At trail’s end, we were able to sit and just take in the magic of the day. Now that was TREMENDOUS!

I’m in a “using up my stash” stage now, so pulled out my scrap bag and found some butterfly worthy swatches, located a piece of interesting green for the background, and set to work appliquéing them on. Now what? It was awfully BUSY and I wasn’t sure where to go next. (That seems to be my mode of operation…one step at a time, take a look, see what evolves…) I was digging around in my stamp collection yesterday and discovered a lovely butterfly stamp. How about a little bleaching? I was curious if bleach would work with the appliquéd stitches (too bulky?). So I held my breath, crossed my fingers, and began stamping bleach product on my piece. I love how the bleach creates dimension, a sense of layers. It’s still busy, but it truly represents the masses of butterflies on that TREMENDOUS day.

CLEANSING THE PALETTE

2010-02-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

I love the moment when images and words connect; their marriage, at least in the mind of the beholder,seems meant to be.
My cousin Carol came to visit two weeks ago. A ten year disconnect gave us great cause to fill in the void with talk and laughter and sharing. Those three days went by way too fast. In response to busy lives and how, for me, I am taking a bit of a breather, she shared her personal term for this: cleansing the palette. Yes, such an appropriate term, and of course actively done to prepare us for the next flavorful bite of life.
Lonely and forlorn, the unfinished mask hung on my design wall FOR EVER. I had glued up some potential fabric masks and this one never made it past the wall. It was the image of that tongue that connected with "cleansing of the palette". It was the perfect fit. AND it was the perfect size...with a little modifications I sliced it down to the 8.5x11 that I use for my quilt journals. Typically they are done in response to a chosen theme, but this was so ready and so aligned with those meaningful words and a meaningful visit! Now it lives happily among my others and is a great reminder of the beauty of cleansing the palette, AND looking forward to that next delicious bite!

BUGS

2010-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

Terry's suggestion of "the secret world of insects" left me with a bit of a void, but once I set aside some time for research, I was taken in with all the interesting info and images out there in bugland. I initially was interested in representing the leaf-cutter ant as they are frequently seen here in Mazatlan flying their ficus leaf flags, carried behind them as they single-file bob along our crumpled sidewalks. These leaves are probably 20 times their size, and perhaps are more like sails than flags. Regardless, seeing this lineup of leafcutters is quite a site! My granddaughter took this picture when she visited two years ago. She and I sat and watched them with wonder.

I was pondering what fabric I was going to use. Nothing was jumping out at me, and I also was having trouble thinking about putting a lineup of ants on a small 8.5"x11" piece....then adding the leaves of green. It was too crowded and busy for my likes, so I got back on the internet for some more searching. That's when a simple image of a scarab beetle caught my attention. I thought about all that foil I had in my "transfer papers" stash and I knew I was on to something. I had never conquered foiling. There were two ways that I learned to apply it - with glue or with iron-on transfer (like Steam a Seam Lite or the like). The iron-on transfer was hit and miss for me...I always held my breath when I pulled the paper off as I was doing good size suns and moons. For the most part, it worked out, but I didn't like the lack of control I felt. I wasn't very successful with the glue because I never squirted out enough to get past the watery part in the bottle. This time I did...I got into the pure white glue, then carefully painted it onto the body of the beetle, let it dry, then rubbed on the foil. It was perfect.

The scarab beetle is also known as a dung beetle, collecting large amounts of dung and rolling them long distances into a hole, where they will lay their eggs. This dung ball then becomes the perfect incubator and feeding system for those baby beetles. The Egyptians immortalized the scarab beetle, often times burying its image along with the dead, as it represented everlasting life and rebirth. It was also associated with the sun god, Ra, who was thought to roll the sun across the sky by day and bury it by night, just like the scarab.
So I "cybered" my quilted piece off to my fellow journalers and Barb wrote back with more interesting info: scarab beetles have been used LIVE as brooches - tiny jewels may be glued to their backs, and they are tethered to clothing with a tiny gold chain, creating a brooch that moves! Apparently adult beetles do not feed, and last quite a while as pet/jewellery. She found live beetle brooches on YouTube at the Merida, Mexico market. They refer to these as MAQUECH. ..and since we will be traveling in that area next week, I am certainly going to be on the lookout for them (but not to buy).
I love the idea of a lowly creature, pushing poop around all day, being immortalized forever!

SUNSCREEN SUE

2010-01-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

She is a true sun-lover, hanging out at the beach at Stone Island from sun-up to sundown. She only wears the finest beach wear and always looks HOT! Her necklace states her mantra: SPF 4 ever! I think if she had a head, she'd certainly be wearing a hat.

Sunscreen Sue is my creation out of the wooden heart I was recently given by the local Hospice group. She will be placed in the silent auction at their fundraiser next month. Hopefully she will be a sunscreen reminder for one of the sun lovers here in Mazatlan.
The body was a challenge. I was hoping for much more cleavage, but 3-d in fabric is not my specialty! I was considering some sort of traditional Mexican garb, but this bikini trial took hold and I went with it. The feet, legs and necklace were embellished with my bleach tip. I embellished the legs, then wash out the dried bleach residue before stuffing and attaching them to the heart body, but the necklace was done on the finished product. I was nervous about the brown background fabric losing color, but it didn't.

For me, I am much happier in my studio than on the beach. I love swimming, beachcombing and sunset strolls, but I can't do what Sunscreen Sue does. My skin doesn't like it. I'll just live vicariously through her and ALWAYS remember to wear my sunscreen!

CHENILLE PREP

2010-01-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Linda's gift of 30 yards of white rayon has gone a long way. Three of us are making shirts (in process), and now a fourth has joined in to make chenille shawls, approximately 2' x 6'. There were 16 yards to divide among us and Karen showed up with black rayon to share with us for the backing. We all chose individual colors for dyeing each of the four layers (last week's step) and now we're on our own for prepping. Today was my day for this part of the process.

I carefully taped the black to my 6' table as that rayon slips and slides like crazy. I began laying the other pieces on top, one at a time, squaring to the black. Since I want to trim the sides with black, I cut the colored layers so they had 1" of black on each side. Then starting in the middle, I basted the 5 layers together for hopefully a little less slipping as I sew. After stitching and slicing, I'll be able to turn the black over and hand stitch. I haven't quite solved the issue of how to do the black fringe on the ends but I have a few ideas. Karen has experience with chenille (oh that beautiful vest!) and recommends stitching on the bias...that's my next step. Then I'll be slicing between the stitch lines, finishing with trim and fringe, and washing to get that lovely chenille effect. I can't wait!

BABYCAKES

2010-01-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

Being a cruiseship day, which means an influx of possibly 10,000 tourists on one single day, we decided it would be wise to do our shopping early this morning. I noticed many large cake boxes in carts, at the register, being carried out, when finally it dawned on me: babycakes! The real name is Rosca de Reyes but I call them babycakes. Today is Dia de Tres Reyes (Three Kings Day), signifiying the gifts they brought to baby Jesus. It closes out the Christmas season here in Mexico and I would assume in other Hispanic countries too. These cakes (I believe typically without icing) are in a ring shape and imbedded deep inside are one or more tiny plastic baby Jesus dolls. If you find a baby Jesus in your slice of cake, then you are the one to supply the tamales at the party on February 2nd (my Catholic memories think this is called Candlemas Day). Babycakes.

Dia de Tres Reyes is traditionally a gift giving day in Mexico. Although some families give gifts on Navidad, others wait until today, and probably there are some that use both days for gift-giving. I believe the tradition even may vary by region. For me it's a second chance; if I can't get my act together the first time around, then here's another opportunity to make up for it - which is exactly what happened this year. There are two sweet little cousins on my street whose parents are our friends. While on the search for holiday gifts, I decided I wanted to make them shirts...but it was December 22nd and I wasn't into the Christmas rush thing! Fortunately here in Mexico, today is a second chance for gifts, and that's just what I did.I printed the names on the shirts, then hung them on a hanger, creased right across the name. I carefully suspended them into a bucket of pink dye, then over time added more soda ash or water. I was so happy with the gradation result.
Stay tunes for a picture of these sweet little girls modeling their shirts! Babycakes!

TIME WARP RESOLUTIONS

2010-01-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

I clearly remember the event that shifted my perception of time with regard to my fiber art. I had invited 2 friends from my Quadra Island guild over for some dyeing fun, we finally had finished our outdoor projects and escaped the 100 degree heat, and lo and behold another quilter shows up at my door. "A fellow on the dock told me to come up here to the quilting session." And so she wandered up my trail and joined our group. She was from LaConner, Washington, and was obviously an accomplished quilter as she was wearing a tiny silk pieced (centimeter sized pieces) bag around her neck that held her sewing tools. It was a work of art. With our icy lemonades in the cool of my living room, the conversation took on the personality of a crazy quilt: sharing experiences, shifting topics, laughter and fun. But when this visitor told us of the quilter who decided to dye all of her FINISHED quilts BLACK, I was taken aback. "NO WAY!", I exclaimed. And from then on I have shifted how I approach the process.

I had recently finished a queen-size quilt that had 13 specialty dyed strips to which I free-motioned an ocean scene: over 40 rockfish, 6 crab, 3 large jellyfish and rocks at the bottom. I finished it off with swirly spirals as the ocean's currents. It was a ton of work and I loved it, but had to admit that the free-motion objects were totally lost in the busy-ness of the fabric. So, the fact that someone else had taken their finished quilts and dyed them black, gave me the liberty to continue on with my ocean quilt. My supposedly finished quilt now was work in progress, and I began bleach painting the objects to finally get them to pop out. And now this sequence flip of discharging the fabric AFTER the piecing and the quilting are completed seems as natural as breathing.

And so it is: dye, piece, sandwich, quilt with CLOSED shapes that can later be discharged( bleached) or painted, then fill in with spirals or other filler pattern, discharge, wash and finish as desired. I'm enchanted with the process.
And so, as I enter the new year and toss around resolution ideas, I keep coming back to time. I always seem to struggle with it, want more, get cranky when I'm time crunched...it's a no-win situation. But with mindfulness to how I shifted my creative process, I'm trying to be more mindful of shifting my life process. Linear time (schedules and time blocks) only cause me angst, and I believe I can reframe this. Not sure how, but the mindfulness is my key. My friend Glen has a mantra that she embraces: I have all the time I need to do what I have to do. I believe I'll get there too.
So, if you want to try your hand at discharging, you can try a sample patch with any of the gel cleansers with bleach. I apply it with either a paint brush or from a small metal-tipped bottle. I work with lots of ventilation and in short spurts, not longer than 30 minutes.

And by the way, Happy Hew Year. 2010 is going to be amazing!

ANOTHER BLANK SLATE

2009-12-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

This wooden heart was delivered to my door last week. I am one of many local artists who agreed to participate in a local Hospice fundraiser by creating a piece of art out of a simple wooden heart. The hearts will be put up for silent auction at a Hospice dinner that I believe coincides with Valentine's Day.
I've had the heart sitting on an open shelf in my kitchen; we look at each other a lot. That's how I often times begin creations - starting with one element as a blank slate and letting the ideas and images that might possibly follow roll across my brain until something takes hold. This one hasn't been easy for me. It's the hard wooden object that's getting in my way. Yes, I'll add fabric (of course), but I seem to be stuck on dressing this heart, and that 3-d form of sewing is a bit out of my element. With a due date of February 1st not much more than a month away, I decided today would be the day to get started and at least see where my attempts lead me.

So......wanting to put some feminine curves into this heart body, I began to imagine how I could do this. All I could think of were the darts and curves and piecing I did in high school (MANY years ago) when I was sewing my own clothes, so I reverted to that idea. I traced the heart and dissected it with some feminine lines, then cut individual pieces of muslin and hand stitched them together again. I realized part way through that all I was doing was putting together another flat patchwork piece, but now that I'm partially completed with this step, there seems to be some dimension to it so I can stuff batting into the covered form to get somewhat of a shapely object to work with.
I haven't yet decided if this is the direction I'll take. The jury's still out on this one. The next step is dyeing to a color somewhere in the red family, but that will be another day. Hopefully sooner than later!
I really love blank slates. I receive a new one each month with my quilt journal group. I participate in my guild's summer challenge that provides a theme and less-than-attractive swatch of fabric with the direction to "CREATE!". My pattern is to hear the task at hand, initially dig my heels in deep, deep, deep, and say something to myself like "no way will I ever come up with an idea for this...", and somehow, as the slate and I spend time together, gaze at each other, and those ideas start drifting and mulling around my brain, I grab on to something and go with it. I'm usually pleased with the results and my confidence builds with each completion. It's an affirmation to me to try different things, get out of my rut, be open, take challenges, accept new ideas.
So here I am again, the blank slate at hand, playing around with ideas, and seeing where we'll go together. There's such joy in the journey!

SEASONAL SPIRIT

2009-12-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

Pinatas. Parties. Music. Family. Food. Friendship. Lights. Celebration. More family. Late hours. More parties. More family. That's the holiday season in Mexico. Maybe a gift or two, but they aren't mandatory. It's lovely!

Decorations in our house consist of one very tall (9') artificial tree we purchased used in Anacortes, WA., and hauled down here in our truck. It cost us a whopping $25 and is even complete with lights. It graces our entrance, and because we have our front door open throughout the day, neighbors and visitors can catch a glimpse our beautiful tree. For decorations we have a few store bought items, some trinkets and memorabilia from travels and such, and then there's my homemade spool ornaments. I save my empties, cover them with glitter (ah, glitter!), then hang shreds of thinly sliced hand-dyes from the bottom (ah, the rotary cutter!). A sweet paper bead or two attaches to the string, and voila...it's my funky homemade ornament. I love them. Last year I had a stash of spools waiting to "glitter-up" when I decided to give a young neighbor teen this task. The perfect teen job, only I had no idea what to pay her and I hadn't bothered to count them. At my offer of 3 pesos each, those 150 spools (I had no idea!) cost me almost $35. Oh well!

I have another Christmas item that never gets packed away. I use it as a coaster on my desk. Years back (maybe 5?) I wanted to try some flower pounding...and did so with my poinsettia. I treated my cotton with alum and salt, carefully placed the petals, and headed to the beach to look for the perfect rock for pounding. It's a bit faded now but the stitching keeps its poinsettia essence alive! And it's reversible!

Seasonal spirit in the streets and seasonal spirit in our homes....representing love in our hearts, generosity, and hope for peace in our troubled world. May the spirit belong to all of us!

SANDRA

2009-12-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

If you have ever been to my home, you probably have noticed that some sort of fiber art, mostly mine, is on the walls. For a few years I was active in the "artwalk" scene here and I just went ahead and set up our new home as a personal gallery. It suited me well, and was ready to go when people came through. Plus, I love and am proud of my work.
But this piece jumped out at me at a local art show 4 years ago, and I instantly knew I wanted it. Plus, it was a few days before my birthday, so I had good reason to splurge. The texture, the color, the light and the content spoke to me. Suddenly my eye noticed other paintings from this artist, who signs SANDRA on each, that were equally amazing....a load of pinatas, bright woven satchels on a hook, stacks of traditional Mexican fabrics on a shelf. The choices, the choices, those textural choices . But my eye returned to the initial attraction and I began negotiations with Sandra.
If you have ever been to my home, I know you have noticed this painting in a prominent position high atop my kitchen sink. Everyone does. I don't take offense that it receives more comments than my work; I am honored to display them together. Everyday, without fail, it draws me to its light.

But those other paintings, particulary that stack of traditional fabrics, kept calling to me. So last April I called Sandra to see if she could create one for a space over my sofa. She checked my colors, measured for size and promised a finished painting in November on my return. Last week she delivered it and I am more than happy. These paintings face each other in my big, open-spaced home so I feel surrounded by their color and warmth. So lovely!

Sandra Felix Donnadieau is my favorite Mexican artist. Who's yours?

FELIZ NAVIDAD

2009-12-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is my quilt journal piece for the month of December, with the theme of "food". I'm not sure where this idea came from, but somehow watermelon had been swimming around my brain as such a lovely simple design element. I often see trucks brim full of watermelon driving down the road and I always wonder where they've come from and where they're going. The watermelon image kept swimming, and swimming some more and then all of a sudden did a flip or two and turned into the perfect Christmas tree...thus here is my holiday card this year! I first made the 3-layer circular cross section of the melon, then sliced it into sections and set them on top of the dark green fabric. Hmmmmm.....now how was I going to add the message? I first considered quilting it in, but there wasn't much space, so I decided to scribble "feliz navided" across my background fabric with my favorite little fine-tipped bottle filled with Soft Scrub with bleach. There's a few blobs and blurbs, but that's my style, I think. Stars atop each tree were added with embroidery floss as finishing touches.
I wish you a wonderful holiday season, my friends! Love, Mary

FINDING INSPIRATION

2009-12-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes inspiration seems to be just beyond our reach. We know it's there, but the arrow just doesn't quite hit the mark. Fuzzy, blurry, out of focus, or maybe scattered. For me, I just plug on with some sort of project or another until it comes to me. Also for me, the inspiration I'm looking for isn't just ANOTHER project. It's an expression of my soul, something that sparks me and touches me. Sometimes it is fabric-driven and other times it comes from someplace else. This recent one was a marriage of the two.

I belong to a wonderfully supportive women's group: four of us meet once or twice a month for sharing our lives, our goals, our fears, etc. At our last meet, one friend shared one of her "yoga" poems - she is a yoga teacher and was inspired to write lovely little poems to exemplify each pose. She read this one aloud to us:

Her words must have drifted around me like the smoke that lays down in a valley on a calm day. Her words were powerful and affirming. Two days later, as the smoke of the poem was still lingering in my "valley", I found a fat quarter in my stash that was the perfect match for Mo's poem. It had a large white area for the words, a solar burst, and lovely earthy movement that I knew I could work with. Contrasting mountain pieces were easy to find. Originally I envisioned putting a small yoga stick figure on the mountain top, but since then I have decided to keep it simple. Maybe I'll lay a figure on top to see how it works, but for now I am happy with the strength and simplicity and message of this piece.

THE SHIRT GROUP

2009-12-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

Mazatlan is my social fix. For all the solitude I have in the summer at Refuge Cove, I have a world of events and people at my fingertips here in Mazatlan. It's quite a nice blend, and I love the diversity. I feel like I'm given a fantastic menu to order all the fun things and interesting friends that I care to consume at this retirees' cafe. There's never an end to activity.
So when my friend, Linda, moved back to Michigan last summer, she left a hole in many hearts here. She was well loved and oh, so talented. She became a friend last year when she took my dyeing class, and became instantly hooked. We spent many a dye day together, and I lent her lots of tools and books and etc. when I went north last spring. But she decided to move north herself, and when she returned my things, she also bestowed a bevy of hand-me-downs to my doorstep. One item was a 30 yard bolt of beautiful white rayon that she had recently ordered from Dharma and hadn't used an inch of it. Wow! What a gift...now what to do with it?
About 5 years ago, I made the shirt above out of dyed cotton...I wanted a simple Mexican-like shirt that was cool, colorful and comfortable and I achieved it with this design. This summer, I made a few more, with side pockets, but they never did quite fit the same as this first one (I didn't have the original with me to use as a pattern). So, why not try more shirts with rayon. And why not include others who might be interested? So I contacted two friends, Val and Edwige, who both like to sew, have done some dyeing, and have sewing machines. Also, Edwige has a most wonderful book,Clothing from the Hands that Weave, (Anita Luvera Mayer) that reduces all ethnic clothing to the simple rectangle and gives wonderful ideas for making all kinds of simple garments. With the rayon, my dyes, the book, and our ideas and collaboration, I knew we could have some fun in designing and constructing rayon shirts, or other items of choice.
Last week we got together to get our fabric (to wash at home) and to decide on a color palette so I could have the dyes mixed and ready. Today we each dyed our 3 yards of rayon with our individual designs in mind.

These final results will now be used for our shirts. Next week we'll work on design and cutting. Our finished products are just a few weeks away.

DIGGING INTO THE ARCHIVES

2009-12-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Sundays can be such lovely days. Quiet, peaceful, with minimal agendas that even can disappear. Here in Mazatlan, the streets are relatively quiet and families are gathered together for food and togetherness, one aspect we love so much about this country. For me, it was reading and writing, then a trip to the market with neighbors. Afterwards we shared lamb tacos together...yummmm!
Slowing down lends its way into digging back through time, like perusing through an old photo album, remembering fondly times gone by or old friends who warmed your heart. Or, in my case today, looking through the archives of old pieces from the past. They too are like old friends, time spent together lovingly, and maybe not with us anymore or perhaps ones that we've just lost contact with. Good memories.
This piece started out as a whole cloth that I just loved. I produced it in the early days of using water filters, and the light and movement attracted my attention. It was a storm at sea, and the Pisces in me was drawn to do something with it. I was new at foiling which became the perfect glowing medium for an orb of energy.
There is a lovely hotel/apartment comlex here in the heart of Mazatlan Centro called the Melville. Outside its entrance is a plaque with a quote by Herman Melville: "as for me, I am tormented by an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts". I have always been moved by that quote and it seemed to be the perfect marriage with my whole cloth stormy sea scene. So I put them together into a piece approximately 20"x24", hung it on the wall at one of the artwalks, and it was quickly purchased by my good friend Maureen. She also is a kindred spirit of adventure and risk and listening to the spirit within. It found a good home, and I smile about that.

MY GIFT TO MYSELF

2009-12-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what it was about Tom's "denial in Canada" situation (June, 2009 - "Locked Out of Life"), but it shook things up enough inside of me to know that I wanted some "time off". I really hadn't taken a moment after retirement to really breathe in the waters of life, to reflect on myself, and to just take the time to devote to myself. Yes, I do live an interesting life in two very special places, my husband and I work extensively in building our homes in both of these places, and I have been avidly pursuing my passion of fiber art in BOTH places. (I wondered where that word "schizophrenic" came from?)
This winter I have been totally into myself....journaling, searching, breathing, exploring...all of the above and then some. I have dropped out of pressing commitments, yet have maintained one or two that are quite meaningful to me. I wake up each morning saying "the day is mine". (I don't think my husband has figured this out yet!)
November's quilt journal theme was "inspired from a nursery rhyme". My imagination stops short here, because when one is given the nickname of "Muffy" as a young child, its hard to go much further than the tuffet and the curds and whey. So what was I going to do with that damn spider???!!!! I throw alot of things onto the page in my morning journal write, and lots of issues surface. The spider has come to represent all the "junk", the fears, the issues and all that needs exploration and reflection.
Its a friendly spider... he's going to be sitting next to me quite often, and I won't be running away!

UNIVERSAL STITCHING

2009-11-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

"Kuira" (quee rah) is a greeting of the Raramuri people of Northwest Mexico. This indigineous group lives along the rim and canyon areas of the Sierra Tarahumara and the Copper Canyon, where we traveled last week.
A ten hour train ride took us from the town of El Fuerte to Creel, located in the heart of this area. The beautiful and open expanse of this canyon area was breathtaking to behold, and the Raramuri (all ages) were ever present as sellers of their handmade goods: baskets, carvings, and sewn items. The women wore beautifully crafted traditional dress of brightly colored skirts and blouses, and babies were often held to their back in a shawl. Small children would run up with baskets of trinkets to show us, and then would head back to their mothers who were making more items right there on site.
The Raramuri speak their own language and live a harsh existence along the rim and into the canyons of this rugged terrain. I witnessed many groups of women doing their laundry at river beds, and hanging the clothes to dry on fenceposts. Their beautiful outer garments contain meters of cotton, so I just couldn't imagine doing all that washing at the local stream, soaping, rinsing, hanging to dry... this certainly gave me a renewed appreciation for EVERYTHING!
One women gave me reason to pause as I watched her sew one afternoon....it appeared to be a running stitch to later be gathered on her expanse of muslin. Maybe an undergarment? Maybe some bedding? She obviously had been doing this for many years, stitch after stitch, the memory of the needle through her fingers strong and firm. I felt a small connection with her and that repetitious task, yet also knew that somehow I had been blessed with a much easier life. I don't think I'll forget her.

WHAT A MORNING...13 NEW MACHINES!

2009-11-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

This morning was my first return to the community center where I spend every Monday morning when I'm in Mazatlan. It was a celebretory homecoming for my friend, Bev, and I who have been working with a group of "sewing ladies" there for several years. And what a great morning it was! These gals know how to pack a lot of punch into one event.
Initial greetings are always full of hugs and kisses and Spanish phrases I try to interpret without losing the flow of the moment. There were many. Then I was greeted by Ivan, a young man who has been teaching art to this group. He assisted me last year in teaching the women to silk paint; it was a great collaboration - Ivan with his art background and my limited but sufficient silkpainting experience. In his arms, he presented me with a beautiful watercolor he had done. It is similar in style to the large mural he recently completed at the center....colorful and full of life, displaying all of the classes and endeavors that take place at this community center in a poor colonia in Mazatlan. I felt so honored! After the greetings and casual catching up/show-n-tells of projects they've recently completed, the real guests of honor showed up. Art and Jacquie Plunz of Red Deer, Alberta, arrived to see each of the 13 women involved in the group receive one of the sewing machines that they brought down in their truck and fifth-wheeler from Canada. Our group leader, Toy Pruneda, had been in contact with Art and Jacquie and had discussed the needs of the group, and this generous couple took it from there. All of the machines where donated through their church or community members and are in excellent condition with recent service records. Toy also told them that the ladies like to make purses and other items out of used jeans, so the youth group at church took over and collected MANY...I didn't count but saw at least 5 or 6 huge bags. Art told me that the box of his truck was packed full, and initially the Mexican border guards were hesitant to let him pass through without a tariff, but gave him the "green light" upon realizing they were from Canada. One by one, each lady sat with their "new" machine for a photo opportunity. Here is Dora Alicia, one of the most accomplished sewers, who was chosen by Toy to receive the newest machine. In her hands, she holds a photo of Sharon Dickaw, the owner of this machine, who recently passed away. Her kind husband, Dale,wanted to make sure her machine was passed on to someone very special. What a beautiful and generous act! Dora Alicia, like all of the other twelve, were so happy and so appreciative of these gifts. Each then bestowed gifts of items they had made to Art and Jacquie to deliver to their generous friends in Red Deer.

Jacquie is holding one of Lola's dolls and wearing one of Magui's beautiful scarves. Art was the recipient of a great apron along with many other sewn and hand-crafted items.
But the party wasn't over. As it was Cata's birthday (29 again!), we shared a lovely meal together of tamales, frijoles, ceviche, fruta, etole, and pineapple cake (pastel de pina). She was given a pile of canned goods and household items (from tp to laundry soap), collectively donated by the rest of us, as a most utilitarian gift.
And, as icing to the cake, we were blessed with two solos by our talented singers, Ceci and Lola. My heart was full and warm!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEE!

2009-11-12T14:34:00.001-08:00

Hey Lee, this one's for you! You're the first recipient of my birthday quilt, and I can't think of a more deserving one. May your days be abundant and full, your garden the best ever, your dog walks full of sunshine and warmth. Enjoy enjoy! Cheers and hugs, Mary and Tom
(This was October's quilt journal, with the theme of "repetition". It started as a car project during our travels, and those candles are the repetitious part. Like the hands on the clock, the candles go round and round, repeating themselves, another year, another birthday.)
It's great to have friends like Lee to share in the repetition!

OBSERVING MY PROCESS

2009-11-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

I am currently having the opportunity to observe my creative process. This all has become very apparent to me as I began to undertake my first "mystery quilt". For those of you not privvy to this activity, the directions are doled out a month at a time (as is the case in my guild), and after the 5-6 months of directions, you end up with a surprise quilt.
Some people plan a quilt or other project with great care and planning. The colors, the design, the fabric acquisition, the borders, the binding, the batting, the backing, etc., are all decided upon beforehand, much as a professional does when contracting for a job. It is not left to happenstance or midstream changes - everything is written out beforehand. Well, that is not me. I've always known this fact, but this activity has made me more acutely aware, and I actually am stepping back and watching this whole process of mine unfold. Yes, I guess I could blame my schizo life-style...half time in BC and halftime in Mazatlan. But I'm not looking to place blame here....just observe. I really don't think there's any other reasoning than it's just me.
Month #1 had a major heading at the top : "Sept. 2009 - Fabric acquisition and step 1". There were three parts to this page: (part 1) finished size and fabric needed, (part 2) fabric suggestions for each of the 6 steps, and (part 3) directions for step 1. Here's where my trouble began - I read SOME of part 1 and then went directly to parts 2 and 3. In part one, I read that I needed 6 fat quarters that went together but totally passed over the other fabric requirements, which happened to be alot of fabric - for background, inner and outer borders, binding, backing etc. I never had a clear idea of the size of this quilt. I told myself I would deal with it once I arrived and got settled in Mazatlan. But I did follow the directions in parts 2 and 3 that told me to cut twelve 5"x5" squares from a focus or pictorial fabric (the rooster above) and then I threw together some fat quarters that I had in my stash, put everything in my suitcase and headed south.
October arrived and my second set of directions was sent by email. I was directed to make twenty 5"x5" squares using fat quarter#2 and the background fabric. "Background fabric????" I said to myself. "What background fabric?" I now go back to September's directions and see this whole section that totally passed by my attention. So now, anxious to get started, I am making myself go back to the beginning and I am putting together my fabric for the WHOLE project (well, maybe not the backing!).
And what do I observe? Reading ALL the directions and moving along step by step are challenges for me. The idea of taking a moment to visualize a potential finished project is almost foreign to me. I tend to either get in a hurry or get so focused on one little element that the whole gets lost in the process. I can't tell you how many times one little VERY IMPORTANT element has gone unnoticed. It's embarrassing... but it's me! I honor my serendipitous, seat of the pants, flexible, adaptive ways, but stepping back and observing my process through this mystery quilt can also be used to my benefit. Maybe I'm the mystery to be solved in all of this. I love surprises!

UNEARTHING TREASURES

2009-11-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

After a month on the road, we finally arrived in Mazatlan. With a mountain of tasks ahead of us in setting up our house, organizing etc., I set my personal priorities: get the kitchen clean and set up, make the bed, get the phone and internet reconnected, and then dip my toes into the waters of dyeing, sewing and creativity! My few handsewing projects while traveling kept me busy but now I want to fill my life with fabric! Of course I know how to multi-task the everyday household tasks with the fun stuff!
So first things first...unearthing all my pieces to hang on the walls, setting up my studio, etc.
I have always been concerned about storing my cotton hangings in the horribly humid climate here in Mazatlan during the summer. A few years back, I found mildew on one piece, and another had some running of dye that left some unsightly stains. With washing, the first came out fine and the second had remnants of staining that I never did remove.
My current method is to set up a large diameter dowel across 2 tall objects so I can drape pieces over it. I start with a towel, and then alternate hangings with towels or pillow cases, until I am done. I never want two hangings to come into contact with each other, just in case some dye runs. All of this happens in the middle of a room in which we leave a fan running to keep the air moving. A large sheet drapes over the whole package. Everything came out beautifully except for pieces I had to fold...even with this summer's Hurricane Rick! Those creases are buggers, but I am hoping they will disappear after hanging for awhile. I'll be keeping my eye out for a longer dowel this year to accomodate my bigger pieces.
It has been great for Tom and I to connect with our Mazatlan friends, and for me to get back with my favorite quilts and hangings. They, too, are just like old friends!

MOVING DAY

2009-10-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been putting off this moment. I guess it makes it official...I am moving my blog to another site. My friend Catherine, also a computer wiz, offered to help me set myself up on another system, one that allows for more layers, more depth, that I THINK I want. So far, I'm a bit frustrated, but once settled in Mazatlan, I will put my efforts into it and see what I can produce. So, please visit: http://dyeme.com

Who knows? I may end up returning here, but I'll give it my best shot.

Tonight is Halloween and we are tucked away in our Best Western room in a border town near Eagle Pass, Texas. Tomorrow we cross to our welcoming winter home of Mexico. More later!

FARMERS' MARKET DAY

2009-10-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Our travels have taken us through areas of the beautiful Southwest that are new to us: Zion, Bryce, Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott, and Santa Fe. On arriving at this last stop, it became apparent that it was worthy of a much longer visit to really explore all of the art and energy and creativity that was so apparent. I scoured the visitors' guide for ideas on what to experience, and I realized that our Friday/Saturday visit coincided with the local Farmer's Market, and I knew I couldn't miss it! Organic meat, vegies, artisan cheese, breads, apples, flowers, herbal products and more. It was a huge display and wonderfully supported by locals and tourists (like us!). I was happy to see worm colonies for composting available, and of course was looking for any new sewing ideas I might pick up and borrow (there were one or two!). We purchased fresh bread, some garlic/caper goat cheese, a jar of pepper jelly, and a few apples for our picnic lunch along the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos. It was fantastic! Santa Fe, we'll be back!

MOTHER NATURE AT HER FINEST

2009-10-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Our journey south to Mazatlan has taken on a new look this year.
No more drive till we die, blast through the miles, or end our days cranky, sore and tired. We have turned over a new leaf...it's called the NO-SCHEDULE road trip! After wonderful visits with friends and family along I-5, we then ventured east to new territory for us, namely the amazing parklands of southern Utah - Cathedral Gorge, Red Rock, Cedar Break, Bryce Canyon and Zion! We are loving it and are in awe and breathless wonder over the colors, textures and formations that meet us at every glance. Add in the brilliant fall colors and today's first dusting of snow, and it truly is Mother Nature at her finest.

Of course I'm wondering how I'll put some of this imagery into my work. It's that amazing combination of vertical and horizontal in the rock formations that I think about capturing. And those colors....the clay reds, the burnt oranges, splashes of gray and brown, aspens with sparkling yellow diamond leaves. The shapes, the light, the depth and layers....the powerful images are ruminating inside of me. This traveling break is just the inspiration I have needed!
So onward we go....Arizona, New Mexico, Texas bound before heading to our Mexican home.
Many many thanks to our great hosts over the miles: Ray and Diane (Cortes Island), Jim and Sharon (Sidney), Scott and Donna (Anacortes), Chris and Dave (Vancouver, WA.), Kathe and Mike (Ashland), Cathy (Redding), and Michelle and Mark (Big Bend, CA.). These are our five star friends!

THAT MIGRATORY FEELING

2009-09-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, here it is, that time of the year again. The temps are dropping, daylight disappearing, and that little niggly feeling inside that time has come to think about heading south. We are 9 days away from departing and I am circling and spinning through my world, finishing projects, sorting though my stuff, dividing my world into here and there boxes, and making lists: to-dos, to-buys, to-write, to-finish, etc., etc. It's a multi-tasking whirlwind.

This morning I was sorting through my sewing stash, prepping for a last minute class I'm taking this weekend on Quadra with Pippa Moore. Into the tub goes my fabric, thread, pins, needles, scissors, rotary cutter, ruler, etc., etc. Being in my multi-tasking frame of mind, I thought I would also sort through my thread, choose what to take with me to Mazatlan and what to leave behind. (My thread option in Maz is limited to the small size Guterman - approx. $.50 each.) I pulled out all my large-spooled neutrals, and then noticed how many GREENS I had. For some reason, I rarely use them and decided to sort them into a container of their own. From there I reeled into a quick green-design of spools before moving on.... lovely, I think.

Our travels will take us from here to Cortes, then to Cumberland for the annual Hands Across the Water event for all area guild members, then Sydney for a few days before crossing the border. A meandering path through the states will take us to Texas to visit good friends Bob and Gisela where a lot of catching up and laughing will take place. Then Mazatlan bound.

Mazatlan.....my first class will be a part of the Embracing the Artist Within Workshop where I'll teach silk painting with a color focus. And from there, the winter will unravel into more fiber activities with friends and newcomers, exciting projects, classes, adventures, maybe a retreat or two, cooking classes.....hmmmmm, I am getting excited for that other life I lead.

But in the meantime, I have more thread to sort.

FAVORITE NEW TECHNIQUES

2009-09-14T13:20:00.001-07:00

I love trying new dye techniques and it seems like I was presented with many this summer. I can't say that I took any classes to add new ideas to my repertoire, but I did happen to be in the right place at the right time WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE. I know talented, creative people when I see them, and if I sense any connection with fiber, I glom right on and start asking questions or discussing a focal point of interest.
A few years back, Christine showed me the most beautiful turtle that she had carved onto a piece of "easy cut", a material similar to a linoleum block but much easier to use. Graciously she allowed me to use it to make an image on fabric that I later put into a piece I titled "despacio" or "slow down". I knew I would try the easy-cut someday. Last spring, I purchased eight 4x6 inch blocks and began cutting simple geometric shapes to make fabric for one of my journal quilt pieces. The day came when Cathy came up from her boat and the time felt right for both of us to have some printing fun. The results were fantastic and I readily put them together for my August journal assignment.

The next new technique came out of my own swirling thoughts. It's such a dilema when ones hair starts to go gray. Intervene or let it go? My mood swings to and fro on this one, and recently I started wondering about a major intervention after the last few years of the au natural look. For some reason, I began thinking about the foil wraps I've seen during color treatments at the salon, and from there moved right on in to my dye studio to try it out. Of course, my hair had nothing to do with this process....but just had to get the cotton and the foil sheets out to see what would happen. I have some 10" filters, taken from the guts of old water filters that I now typically wrap fabric on, secure tightly with rubber bands, place in a tall cylinder, and then start pouring dye down through the middle of the filter. I love the wild results. But now I was about to use foil instead of the rubber bands, and I also tightened the foil around the bottom of the filter to hopefully hold the liquid in the cylinder.
I have to admit that I used REALLY OLD dye for this. And not just really old, but dye that had sat out in my studio in the recent heat wave temps in the 90's. I ALWAYS am so disappointed when I do this, but there's that frugal side of me that hates to waste anything. Maybe someday I'll learn. BUT, I do think the process has merit and I will be trying it again.
Another new technique, one that I need to explore much more, is using shaving cream with my dye. Christine explained how to do it over the phone, and that was enough to set me off and running. I mixed the shaving foam with three different colors and squirted them in a spiral design on a piece of cotton. The result was less than pleasing. A little later that afternoon, local teens Meghan and Matt brought over some dyeables, and among their cotton was a khaki green canvas hat that Meg's dad wanted us to try out. This is what we did with the hat.Although I don't have a picture of the finished result, notice how the dye kept its shape on the canvas and remained on the surface without melting into the fabric and blending with the other colors. I think there's lots of potential for more exploration here.
Okay, on to other techniques. At last month's guild meeting, Laurie Ann brought a collection of hand dyes she had fun with this summer. She sewed a square of cotton into a sleeve that would tightly fit over a large-diameter pvc pipe. Then she bunched it all up togther on the pipe, and secured it at the top and bottom. This tightly pleated sleeve of cotton was now taking up about 2" of space on the pipe, and into the dye bath it went. (I WISH I had taken photos of her amazing work.) So back at home, I set to trying it myself, but using a wine bottle instead of the pipe. ( I tend to have many more wine bottles around my house for some unknown reason, and I'm always looking for multiple uses.) The results were fabulous and I WILL be trying more of this. I'll have to figure out how to create larger pieces. Thank you Laurie Ann for your great inspiration.

Then that creative wizard, Cathy, applied ink to the salmon she caught and printed it onto an old sheet. That's will be on my list for next year!

Last but not least, Tom brought up an old canner from under our house (storage area) that we inherited from the past owners. I was in need of a kettle for heating water, and what should I find at the bottom of the canner, but those round spacers to keep the jars off the bottom. Two of them....just perfect for sandwiching fabric between and pouring dye over. What would be the result?

Did I mention what I found at the local free store on Cortes yesterday? I just couldn't pass these up!

SUMMER CHALLENGE 2007: WELL BEHAVED WOMEN

2009-09-12T13:12:00.000-07:00

Terry and Ellen, co-winners from last year's challenge, presented our guild members with a small piece of very domestic, kitcheny fabric showing a myriad of baking tools. Then came the theme: "well behaved women seldom make history". Hmmmm...this one would require some thought (as they all do!).

So with two months to ponder on how to meld the fabric and the theme into something meaningful for myself, I eventually wound my way into honoring my mother's great pie crust recipe. After all, she was well-behaved, never made history, but did make a damn good apple pie, of which family members still talk about.

I knew the exact wall where I would hang this piece so took my measurements and worked out my plan from there. I chose fabrics that blended with the focus piece and also the light colored fir of my cabinets. I remember needing to have a hand-sewing project (must have been a travel day or a craft shop sales day with time on my hands) so I fussy-cut the small baking tools and hand pieced them with a gingery-colored hand dye. I stamped out the title with foam stamps and thickened black dye, but needed to hand letter the actual recipe, as keeping it within a relatively small space was important. I put the pieces all together in somewhat of a "temple" look, then added the small white buttons as a finishing touch.

This is one of my very favorite pieces! Its a wonderful testimony to my mom and it gets me making pies (pumpkin for me) on a more frequent basis. It also may start the discussion or debate on "best pie crust recipe", or "crisco or tenderflake?".

SUMMER CHALLENGE 2008: RECYCLED MANDALA

2009-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

The theme for last year's summer challenge was something in the "green" realm which also seemed to be a popular theme in quilting magazines. The main criteria was to use recycled fabrics and fibers within the challenge piece. Janet (the previous year's winner) presented the information and spirally-green and not-so-great fabric (of course!) to all interested participants at the June meeting.

I had been saving "chip bags" for awhile and had quite a good collection of them. I had seen some totes and purses made from them and thought that SOMEDAY (the famous Someday!) I would try making one too. I particularly liked the fact that I had chip bags from both Mexico and Canada which gave me three languages.

I love symmetry, and mandalas always attract my attention with their beauty, simplicity and symmetry. So I started cutting them up for some design work. I found them tedious to work with, so ended up carefully ironing on a fusible to the back, which helped in placing them and sewing them down. I realized that once a mistake is made with sewing, its hard to undo as the needle holes/perforations are left behind. Anyway, allof this fussiness took much of my interest in chip bags away, but I persisted and managed to complete the mandala.

For further embellishment, I cut out red aluminum circles from coke cans, hammered in two holes to make them buttons, and sewed them to the outside of the mandala. That was enough. Then the binding and I was finished. For a finale, all my saved chip bags went into the trash.

On the day of our first fall meeting, all challenges anonymously went onto the wall and we placed our votes. Norma, the winner, had a delightful flower display, with 6 different varieties and their botanical names. For example, one flower was made totally of the selvages showing the little circles of color from different fabrics and she titled it "selvagia veriganis" or something of the like. Clever and well done Norma!

My mandala sits in a box. I'll have to find a fitting place to hang it! Perhaps near my recycling area....