FALL TO WINTER

It came early this year. In my limited experience of 7 years here in the valley, this year's "weather" has come early. Typically I've enjoyed beautiful autumns lasting till Thanksgiving. After that it seems to go to hell. But this year? Much earlier. 

We've had daily fires in the wood stove for a month now. Leaf raking is a frequent activity. I seem to be making stews and soups more...yum! And best of all, my studio is getting a good workout.

Just finished a top that was very spontaneous...I started it Monday night after our local SAQA meeting. Inspired by the election.

There's always good inspiration at our meetings. Here is a portrait from a photo by Deb Runnels. "Praying for Rain".

When possible, I try to make it to the Monday dye session at Cynthia's. There's been a leaf craze lately. Silk screened leaves. I love this photo!

Lots more going on in my fiber world. To be continued...

ANOTHER EAT YOUR GREENS

A few years back I was into an "eat your greens" placemat series. Now I am working on one for a SAQA poster exhibit. I used a 7 color collection dyed from lemon yellow and steele gray. Today I free-motioned the sun and some lettering. Next step is the greens. And on and on. With buttons!!!! Yeah!!! This is a fun one, and speaks well to my graphic skills.

ITS IN THE DETAILS

The patterns and designs in clothing from Latin America represent individual villages/origins. Here is a sun motif typical of Chichicastenango in Guatemala. I used the book "Threads of Identity: Maya Costume of the 1960's in Highland Guatemala" by Patricia B. Altman and Caroline D. West as a reference.

RELAXATION

Last weekend we went camping at Union Creek. There is nothing more relaxing than swinging in the hammock with a good book, the sun filtering through the canopy of trees.

ALL DRESSED UP

What is it about this piece that fits with the theme "All Dressed Up"? Look closely.

It's been ages since I've participated in my Cyber Fibres quilt journal group. This theme has been brewing in my brain for awhile, waiting for the perfect time to execute. The time arrived this week.

I had a much more complicated piece planned, but when I fused the first eight pieces that filled in the mandala form, I knew it was time to UNcomplicate. Less is more right?

I knew "buttonizing" was going to finish it off. I played with black buttons and white, and white won out...they popped more. 

In my world, buttonizing IS a word. It's definitely a verb and it's what I do a lot of. 

Now if you're still wondering about the theme, just look carefully at the black shapes and it will come to you.

WALKING FOOT NOVICE

After all these years, I finally decided to conquer the walking foot. I've had two of them in my closet, encased so well in their small Bernina boxes, just sitting and waiting for me to use them. It's kind of embarrassing actually...but not anymore! 

I've been on a circle kick lately and just finished these two table runners. The top one was seen with my normal foot etc. but the one at the bottom was seen with my walking foot.

I easily found a video on You Tube and in less than three minutes I was off and running. It was a bit jerkier than with my normal foot but I just focused a bit more and soon things smoothed out. I sewed the edges of the table runner without one little crinkle or pleat!

I'm so happy to have a new tool and technique under my belt.

CONCRETE AND GRASSLAND

I just entered this 38" square mandala into SAQA's upcoming exhibition. Here's my kindergarten art skills at their finest!...at least it appears that way, but it really wasn't all that easy. The foundation was a nine patch of blacks/grays, then I basted a grid of white thread for guidelines to align my pieces, which helped immensely. I loved the look of the big stitches running through and decided to leave them in.

BACK AT IT

Finally I have a sewing station up and running. It's been a wild and hot summer, and we survived!

This piece ( 20"x20") is going to a friend who need a pick me up. I used Barbara Ramsey's circle technique and just added more filler pieces. The fall colors sing to me!

GROUPS

This is the longest we have resided in ONE PLACE in the last ten years. Our remodeling project (aka "gut job") has kept us here in the Rogue valley of southern Oregon throughout the winter, and we now call this area home. Once finished, we'll start "gypsying" again, but for now we are planted and establishing roots. For me, I am super happy to be able to connect with the fiber art community here, and I haven't wasted any time in doing so. I love my groups.

This little frog has a mouth to catch all your scraps at the sewing machine. 

I joined the local chapter of the American Sewing Guild when we first arrived here in 2010. This is an amazing group of talented and generous women who promote philanthropy and education through sewing. The frog above was presented last week at a monthly meeting, and we had a "Make It and Take It" event last Saturday. I had a great group with me trying their hands at "raw edge applique birds".

"Make It and Take It" is a popular annual ASG event.

A local chapter of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) was started here in Southern Oregon last fall. This keen group of art quilters meets once a month and we work on critiquing, encouraging, and networking. SAQA has opened up a new avenue of exhibition submissions for me. I recently received notice that one of my pieces was accepted into the SAQA show "Balancing Act" (a future blogpost), and I am working on two pieces for an upcoming Oregon show (Poetry and Cloth). And I love meeting other like minded women in this area.

Deb Runnel presented this "found object" piece at our local SAQA meeting.

Early stage of my submission for the "Poetry and Cloth" exhibit.

I've also been teaching at Sew Creative in Ashland (great shop!) and have loved putting together these classes and getting back at teaching. My free motion quilting classes have a different slant by focusing on objects, text, and borders rather than the typical stippling practice. Students seem to love it and are encouraged to keep at it..."practice, practice, practice" I tell them!

We work on these fun and personalized placemats in "FreeMotion 2".

Sew Creative also has a quilt journal group that I was immediately attracted to. Six to eight of us get together once a month to share a small journal quilt with a central theme. Store owner Karen sets the theme and also teaches us something new or presents a new product for us to try. Being a minimalist, there are many products I have never tried so I am thrilled to broaden my my scope and skills.

Journal Quilt for February (Doorway).

And then there's my ever faithful online Cyber Fibres quilt journal group of which I have been a part of since 2008. Currently we have a 60+ piece show going on in Campbell River, BC. This group is like family to me!

Last but certainly not least is the small dye group that meets once a week...Cynthia, Christine, and Lene... they are my avenue to advanced dyeing and I love to see what they are up to. Winter activities tend to focus on paper creations, and when the weather warms up, we head to Cynthia's basement for dyeing fun. I love to hangout with them during paper crafts, but join in for dyeing. Lately they went on a bookmark binge...beautiful!

Beautiful bookmarks with handmade tassels.

And let's not forget the classes that are out there to take advantage of. This weekend I'll be trying "Improvisational Circles" at Sew Creative.
I love my groups! Will I be able to "gypsy" again? (I'll worry about that later!)

CONCOURSE A, PDX

"A Path to St. Johns" by Carol Wilborn (45"x45")

Yesterday I was stopped in my tracks at the Portland, OR airport as I was bee-lining it to my flight back to Medford. The long, well-lit hall leading toward Concourse A was lined on both sides with TWO attractive fiber art displays that made me park my suitcase and take some time to enjoy these beautiful quilts. Here is info about the show along with other pieces. I was wonderfully reconnected with memories of living in this city in the mid 80's when I was working on my Masters degree. Daily I traveled over one or more of the bridges that dot Portland's skyline.

                                      

I love the night scene here.

This digital-like image title " The Bridge of Life" by Janet Murdock was particularly interesting.

Then I turned around for the next exhibit:

By this time I was needing to get to my flight, so two photos needed to suffice.

IF in the airport, head to Concourse A for a fiber treat!

BALANCING ACT

February always zips by. Here in southern Oregon, the month started out in the midst of huge rainstorms (much needed), and now we are witnessing an intense arrival of spring. I pruned my rose bush last week and now I see buds popping out. It's all happening so fast...just like time zipping by.

My head is wrapped around my upcoming trip to Alaska to visit my brother and his family after the passing of his wife Leona. She died last month and now I am finally able to head north. She was sweet and funny and was loved by all. She loved berry picking and all native crafts (beading, basketry etc.) and when I imagined making a small memorial quilt for her, I imagined small berry plants, maybe some salmon (she used to have a set net site with her mother in Bristol Bay) or the like, but what came out was a simple mountain scene. In past memorial quilts (these are small - 8"x10" - and are actually a sleeve that fits over an acrylic frame) I have added small lines to attach photos with mini clothespins, but here I just zig zagged the photo to the fabric and am so happy with it. I now have lots of new ideas for photo quilts!

My goal this year is to step in to the world of exhibitions. I have just entered my first to a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) show called "Balancing Act". Here is a small slice of the piece I entered yesterday. It represents the many roles we play not just throughout our lives, but each day...balancing roles and responsibilities. Now another theme for our southern Oregon chapter is swimming around in my head...Poetry and Cloth...and when I return from Alaska I'll be making those ideas real.

The main focus this month has been our house remodel. We are in the midst of a major gutting of a 1951 house and while Tom is there working away, I am researching, shopping, being the courier, cooking lunch, and this week getting some yard work done. My own studio time is squeezed in where ever I can....sneaking in bits and pieces of sewing moments, BALANCING it all out, and eventually getting it all done, or at least most of it.

And let's not forget the important stuff...

Whether it be on Facebook, online quilt journals, phonecalls, or actual coffee dates and connections, our friends are always the best. When life may feel OUT OF BALANCE, friends always pull it all back together!

INSPIRED BY LIFE

Life is good! I recently returned from a short visit to Mexico where I experienced, once again, another amazing trip with my traveling group "Sisters of the Castor Beans". This year our group of eight went on a journey through the little advertised Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, located in the north central area of the country. We visited the capital city of the same name, two amazing "magic towns" (a tourism designation...Real de Catorce and Xilitla), beautiful rivers and waterfalls, all happy being together with good food and good laughter at our sides. The serotonin was flowing!

 Here we are getting ready for our canoe trip on Rio Tampaon.

And the Edward James gardens were amazing! This is worthy of a GOOGLE!

Beyond all of this adventure and fun, I was able to visit with my Mazatlan friends and of course my sewing ladies.

It was the first time I had seen them since our San Francisco trip, and of course they had brought lots of good food to share with us. We recounted our memories and had lots of laughs together.

I was so happy to see Paty again. She is the only one of the group who was denied a visa for the SF trip. She is the youngest and most educated of the group and the rejection by the officials at immigration was crushing to her. Happily she also received a box with a new machine and lots of fabric. Here she is holding Frances' beautiful new granddaughter, Helen.

I was able to finally divvy out the Day of the Dead fabric I acquired in San Francisco. I know they will come up with some great creations!

 Vilma and the ladies made some beautiful tops for Bev!

Once again, I said "adios" to my Mazatlan... Until next year!

HEADING TO MAZ

It's chilly here in southern Oregon. My timing for a visit to Mazatlan couldn't be better. In two days I'll board the plane for the land of sun and good friends.
This little piece has inspiration from many angles. Our Oregon SAQA chapter has an open call for pieces "blending poetry and cloth". I've been playing with little samples to see which direction I'm going to take. This one is getting close. Textwork is right up my alley, and yes, the birds too. My birds have typically been more improvisational, on the wonky side, but lately I've been focusing on the work of Charley Harper and loving the simple shapes he has used to create them. In this case, I used fusible to attach the simple bird, then stitched over them in large, loose, swoopy circles. I love the illusion of movement. My "mini-haiku" works well with this design and these little guys...I was trying to match the patterning of the birds with the syllables... FUN! I free-motioned the letters and lines and filled them in with a black sharpie. So now I have three weeks IN THE SUN to ponder over my next step.
Here is another sample:

HEADING TO FINLAND

 Oh I wish it was me!

I just finished a fun project of seven personalized placemats for a client in Washington. Now they are heading over to Finland and will deliver them as holiday gifts! I love these pieces!

SPICY!!!

After crossing the US/Mexican border at Nogales, it’s another 14 or 15 hours to Mazatlan, so there’s always a decision to be made as to where to spend the night. There are many small cities along Highway 15 with a wide range of accommodations for sleeping, but there also are a few destinations of interest that are less than an hour off the road. Alamos is one such place that we always had heard about from friends, so one winter we took an extra few hours to fit it into our journey.

We turned east at Navajoa and drove for another 45 minutes before reaching this 17^th century colonial town that is a winter home to many NOB (north of the border) ex-pats. With only a short afternoon and early evening for exploring before heading out the next morning, we did a quick drive-thru on the cobblestoned streets, and then set off on foot to look for some refreshment, sustenance, and lodging.

We eventually landed at Plaza Alameda, and here at this main square we found everything we were looking for. Hotel Los Portales allowed pets (our main criteria), and after getting settled, we found our way to the attached bar, La Corregidora, with outdoor seating overlooking the plaza.

Oftentimes, generous bar owners will bring a small botana with your drinks, typically chips and salsa. In this case, the chips came with a white, spicy spread that both Tom and I liked very much. Of course I had to ask how to make it, and now it’s a regular at our afternoon cribbage games.

I was told to use California (or Anaheim) chiles, but in Mazatlan, the wax chile (a bit hotter) is my choice. I turn on the burners of my gas stove and roast a dozen chiles, turning them until the skins are blackened. When finished, I put them in a plastic bag to cool. I clean them under cool running water (over a colander or strainer) by rubbing the skin, opening them gently and discarding the seeds.

I place the cleaned chiles, two-8 oz. packages of cream cheese, the juice of three small limes and a pinch of salt into a blender, and process until smooth. This is a delicious spread with traditional tostaditas or tortilla chips or even as a celery-filler, and of course a cold beer or margarita is always a perfect accompaniment. At Christmas time, I love to sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top for a festive look.

Our stay in Alamos was short-lived, but this recipe has been enjoyed by us for many years.

HARVEST TIME

I'm not sure where November went, but it quickly disappeared into the ethers of time. My harvest energy was isolated to dyeing in jars and producing a lovely collection of solids. Love those solids. My kitchen energy was devoted to memorializing my mom's pie crust recipe AGAIN on cloth. I haven't gotten around to the actual pie yet. 

Not that remodeling a house takes up every moment of my time. I am squandering every possible moment in my studio: quilt journal pieces, placemats for Finland (a commission), thinking about series work for our newly organized SAQA group here in southern Oregon, prepping for classes at Sew Creative. Goodbye November. Hello December and more of the same busyness. When not on the job at our new remodel project, I'll be in my studio, having fun.